Sunday, July 22, 2012

Ellie Pearl Foster

Ellie Pearl Foster was born on July 16, 2012, weighed 9 lbs exactly and was 20 3/4 inches.
 
Someone once told us that the best baby pictures are taken between 1-2 weeks of life because babies are floppy and their skin isn't all pimply. Since this last Saturday was the only morning I was going to be around for the next few weeks we set up a little studio and started taking pictures. I hope you enjoy.













Sunday, April 29, 2012

Dream House

This is the house we are going to be buying.  4bd, 2 ba, 2278 sq ft and it totally rocks the house.

Front of the house. Our realtor's name is Bruce.

Front half of the kitchen. The counters aren't granite but they look like they are.

It is a very nice kitchen. There is tile along the wall above the counter (a backsplash) Laura is quite excited about the gas stove. We asked if they would leave the fridge but they said no.

Nicely landscaped front yard. I thought Mom would approve.

Sorry this one is blurry. This is the family room. It is a gas fireplace.  I guess we will just have to get a TV that fills up the room.

The other half of the living room.  Laura was walking towards me that is why only she is blurry. The opening above the far wall is into the kitchen.

3 car garage. Need I say more. There is a work bench to the right (I think I will hang my one screwdriver and hammer on the wall above it)  and a floored attic above the garage.

4th bedroom. Just to the right of the picture you can see the door into the utility room and then into the garage. We think we will use this room as an office/guest room. Everyone is invited.

Hall bathroom.  This one was much bigger than most of the other bathrooms we saw.  There is a separate shower and bathtub. We don't really know the reason or advantage of that but it rocks!

Jane and Audrey's room.  They will have a walk in closet through the door on the opposite wall.


This room will be the nursery for Baby #3. It also has a walk-in closet. As you can tell the owners really liked fish. This is the third fish tank in the house.

Master bedroom. The whole house other than the three other bedrooms has 9ft ceilings so everything feels really big. The door in our room goes out to the back porch.

The rest of our room. That door goes into our bathroom.  For some reason I didn't take any picture of it but it is pretty awesome.

We were wanting a little bit larger backyard but this one is pretty good.




Saturday, February 04, 2012

Cruisiing!

As some of you may know Laura and I went on a cruise recently. It was a lot of fun. If you have any questions about whether or not you should try one out feel free to call us. Here is a little picture journey through our 4 day trip.


The ship!
Laura on the water slides! She loves this picture of herself.
Moments later
My turn

There were two slides like this one, a larger tunnel slide (that we didn't get a picture of), and a little kids playzone.

The Food!

The food did not disappoint. Sadly these are the only two pictures I got of it. All you can eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, mid-morning snack, mid afternoon ice cream, and late night hot chocolate, totally awesome! Now I will say that some of the food's presentation out did the actual taste. For the most part, however, the food was awesome and certainly one of the highlights. We had lobster tail, prime rib, barbeque pork ribs, honey glazed chicken, mahi-mahi, strawberry bisque (super good), pumpkin soup, artichoke dip, etc.., plus never ending desserts. We both thought they invest the most money in making sure there are good desserts because they are pretty stinking good.



Mexico!!A Mexican in his element!


El Luchador!!!


We bought these masks for Jane and a friend! Turns out Jane doesn't like scary masks.
  Other Entertainment!


Hot Tubbing! They weren't always this crowded. There were 4 hot tubs and Laura and I got in twice with no one else.

Lounging!

This is the main deck! Where the party is! That is the only pool on the boat and we never saw anybody in it!

JeROME! He was a comedian that was actually very funny! He does a family friendly show and then a R-rated show. We went to the family friendly. There are two comedians on the boat. The other guys wasn't as funny.

People watching! There are two guys break dancing in the middle as entertainment.









The Views!!!!!!!!
Beautiful sunset with a beautiful woman!

This is the kid playzone with a sunset behind it!

Nothing but water  all around during the day.


This was the sunrise in the LA port the morning we were getting off of the ship.

Same sunrise a little bit later with Laura pouring water on the railing to add interest.

The LOVE!!!!
A magical moment on a magical vacation with a magical woman! It really was a fun time and a great way to relax. We highly recommend that everyone try it.
 

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Reality Check

I would like to type up my thoughts on the resurrection. However, I would like to start out with a little movie critique.

Most movies I watch I do not like. They are either far too cheesy, vulgar, stupid, poorly done, or just down right a waste of my time. Laura and I have watched a lot of movies recently and one that I really liked for some strange reason was The Next Three Days. I expected it, as did Laura, to be your typical prisonbreak action flick full of high-tech gadgets, etc and in the end it would be unable to pull it all together and would end up closing with a stupid scene that you could have predicted coming 10 minutes into the movie. It might very well have had several of those things however the movie was not about a husband breaking his wife out of prison. The underlying story is the power of one's self created reality.

(Don't read this paragraph if you don't want to know what happens in the movie) Russel Crowe's wife is put in jail for murder and sentenced to life in prison. Russel Crowe is convinced that she is innocent. It is important to note that he has no proof of her innocence just his gut feeling that she couldn't have killed someone and then have come home and had a create night out with him. His Lawyer tells him that she is guilty because of all of the evidence and he should move on. His parents say the same thing. Then finally days before his attempt to break her out his wife tells him that she is guilty. He doesn't believe her and ends up killing, stealing, lying, and doing things he never would have dreamed of himself doing, all because he was convinced that she was innocent. He had no proof of it he just believed it. I kind of wish they wouldn't have ended the movie the way they did, but it still was a very good movie that I really enjoyed watching and even more so thinking about afterwards.

Reality. What is it? Is it the way things really are or is it the way we choose to perceive the things around us? I think as you ponder and reflect on that question you will gain a better understanding of how two people can look at the same facts and come to very different conclusions. This is very evident in the world of politics, religion, medicine, science, etc.

So the next question to ask yourself is what is my reality? and do you get to choose it or not? Why do you behave the way you do? Why do you like the things you enjoy doing? Why do you believe what you believe? Do you have proof?

That's the thing. It seems the whole world, and I would expect probably more now than two or three hundred years ago, is convinced that we need proof or a reason to truly believe in something. Without proof you are abandoning the scientific process and embarking into a world full of fluff and bias. However, as you think about the previous questions I asked also consider which is a more powerful influence in your life: proof or your reality?

The resurrection is just this way for me. I have no idea how it works. I have zero proof of Christ's personal resurrection and if possible I have even less proof that resurrection is in my future. The only thing I have is scriptures written thousands of years ago by prophets I have never met (also prophets that I have very little if any proof of actually existing); the thoughts, feelings and testimonies of thousands of like minded people; and most importantly my own personal thoughts, feelings and experiences.

When I look at the complexity of life and death I find peace and solace in the resurrection. There are terrible ways to die and often the worst part isn't the death in and of itself but the lives of the loved ones left behind. It breaks my heart thinking about it. How can it be fair? The resurrection. Why should I give my whole life to Christ? and more specifically why should I be the best husband and father that I can be? Why should I be a good person? The resurrection. It is the answer. The doctrine fills me with peace, hope and confidence in the future. It is how I can move forward with assurance that in the end everything will work out.

Proof? Who needs it. I have my own personal happy reality.

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Saturday, May 01, 2010

My message to the world!!!

I was going to post this on mother's day but then I forgot and now it is too late to actually be for mother's day but I decided to post it anyway. I didn't get around to finishing it but here is what I had. I have a wonderful wife.
...on a platform I'm gonna stand and say That I'm nothing on my own...


These are the words of Chris Martin from the song "A Message" off Coldplay's 3rd album X&Y. As I was thinking about what I wanted to write in my blog about my wife on mother's day, these are the words that came to mind. So here is a list of things that I want to stand on a platform and tell everyone about.


Things everyone should know about Laura

1.Laura puts up with a lot and doesn't expect much out of me in return. (just that I do the dishes every now and again)

2.She is the smartest, funniest, cutest person I know.

3. Everyone talks about how amazing it is to watch babies grow up and learn, which is very true, but you don't hear people talk about an equally amazing event; mothers learning to be mothers. Jane did not come with instructions or rules, but somehow Laura has become a mothering machine (and I am not talking about being pregnant again within a few months after giving birth). She is a wonderful mother and I enjoy watching her be a mother.

4. Laura is a very good cook. She loves experimenting and I get to be the beneficiary of these experiments. We have had everything from Turkish, Russian, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Greek, etc.