St Louis

I recently got to take a trip to St Louis for a localization conference. It was my first time in St Louis, and I was impressed. For the most part, it is a pretty clean city with some beautiful gardens and fountains everywhere. The conference was held on the campus of St Louis Univervisty, which has to be one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. I did got to the top of the Arch. The creep factor was pretty high. To get to the top, you climb into a little tiny pod with 5 other people and go to the top. It is part elevator, part carnival ride. The view was spectacular. The Mississippi River flows through the north end of the city, when I got there on Sunday night, the water level was still easily 20 feet away from the stop sign you see below.

If you don't get better grades...

My dad always warned me about not getting good grades and having to pick-up garbage of the side of the road. I thought I would pass this lesson to Austin (who by the way is getting great grades). Our Branch has an "Adopt A Highway" in Lancaster. Each quarter they clean the 2 mile stretch of road leading outside the village. Yes, it was gross. Yes, it was smelly. Did we have a good time? YES!

Junior Player Development

Austin has been very fortunate to be part of a 12 session football camp sponsered by the NFL and the Buffalo Bills. The following is taken from the NFL-JPD site.

The NFL JPD program, developed in 1998, as an instructional football camp for children age 12-14 in underserved communities. The program provides step-by-step instruction for every position on both offense and defense in a fun and engaging atmosphere. It also serves as a feeder system for high school football programs that may not have organized football in nearby junior high schools. JPD integrates on-field skills development with life skills and character development. As youngsters plan for future high school interscholastic activities, participants receive instruction from NFL-selected high school coaches, as well as counseling that focuses around a variety of life skills, such as responsibility, goal-setting, sportsmanship, self-control, smart moves, and teamwork. Each life skill addressed through the context of football allows coaches to make the connection between life skills as they are applied on the field, in school, at home and in the community.

Austin loved every minute of it and cannot wait to play on the Lancaster Middle School modified team this Fall. He makes a pretty good tight end!

Tin Grin

Most people think of Austin as that two year old kid that was a terror on two legs. There were some amazing temper tantrums, destruction of property and over all revenge on his dad for the things he did (if any of you tell him you will be sorry!).

But - in reality - Austin is a teen now. 13 years old! He is a fun loving kid who loves sports, still loves to draw and illustrate (and don't tell his Mom - has already driven a car in school parking lot). We love Austin to death, even if he can pick-up Russian radio stations with his mouth now.

Finally

The warm weather seems to finally have hit Buffalo. It was well over 90 degrees today. Of course with that warm weather comes the humidity. Last night I participated in the Chase Corporate Challenge - Buffalo. It was a 3.5 mile race through downtown Buffalo. I have not ran that distance in awhile and I felt every step. My time was not all that bad really, 37.08 minutes. There were definately faster, but I was proud I did not leave the race on a stretcher as Tania thought I might. Not too soon after the race ended - the clouds decided to give us a little shower. It was the heaviest down pour of rain I have ever seen. The lightening was striking everywhere and of course we were in a very wooded part of Buffalo. So - I stood in the monsoon vs. getting very charred. Good memories were had by all.

With the warm weather comes the time that I open the pool. The boys have been bugging me for weeks to open it. I relented and opened it on Memorial Day - but it was only 67 degrees outside. The boys jumped in and jumped right out. Today was a different story, they have been in the pool since the got home from school.

And what goes best with hot weather?? Well FROG EYE SALAD of course. After months of talking about it, I finally made big ol' batch of the heavenly treat for a friend of ours that is coming to dinner tomorrow. I am out to convert the world to the King of Mormon Salads!! I think I was missing my Mom just a bit too and making something that she knows I love helps bring her a bit closer to the heart.

Doesn't get much prettier

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. Everything comes alive in the spring. I can finally start digging in the dirt instead of shoveling pile after pile of snow. After such a rough first winter here in Buffalo, it would be hard to deny the existence of God when there is so much beauty all around us. Some would see this picture as a nice rainbow and some pretty white flowers on a tree. I see this as God loves us enough to create something so spectacular as a rainbow that arcs in the sky to create wonder and awe. I see the flowers on the tree as His promise to us that we too can be reborn.

Giant Water Bug "Toe Biter"

I was walking back from lunch today and saw one of the biggest bugs I have ever seen in my life. Naturally I had to bring it back to my office to ask people what it was (of course I knew it would scare the daylights out of people... that's part of the fun).

Nobody seemed to know what it was. I did a quick search and found out that it is called the "Giant Water Bug" or "Toe Biter" sometimes it is even referred to as a "Water Scorpion". Apparently they can deliver one of the most painful bites of any insect. I had no idea of this when I picked it up with my bare hands.

Burt is now living in a plastic container on my desk (at least until it is time to go home). Below is some of the info I found online.

The Giant Water Bug is one of the largest insects in the U.S. and Canada. Giant water bugs are approximately 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in length. Some species grow as long as 4 inches (10 cm). Because it often turns up under street lights and porch lights, it is also one of the most asked about insects. It is commonly mistaken for a beetle or even a cockroach. Alternate names include toe biter because they can deliver a nasty bite, and electric light bug because they are attracted to lights.

Their bite is considered one of the most painful that can be inflicted by any insect, the longer the bug is allowed to inject its saliva, the worse the resulting bite, and as the saliva liquefies muscle tissue, it can in rare instances do permanent damage. Adults cannot breathe under water, and must surface periodically for air. Occasionally when encountered by a larger predator, such as a human, they have been known to "play dead" and emit a fluid from their anus. Due to this they are assumed dead by humans and others species only to later "come alive" with painful results.

Happy Birthday Whiskers

Our cat, Whiskers celebrated his 3rd birthday last month. Pierce had a full blown party for him with cake and party favors. You have to admit, he is pretty cute!

Even the ducks can't wait for Summer

I looked outside the other day and saw something out of the ordinary. We had 2 ducks taking a dip in our pool. The ice has finally melted leaving a big puddle of water on top of the pool cover. Even the ducks can't wait for Summer to come...

Hiking with the Scouts

Today we experienced a true Spring day. Since the kids are all on Spring Break, we rounded up all the Scouts from the branch and headed out to Bennington, New York for a bit of hiking and advancement requirments. Bennington is a beautiful area East of Buffalo. It is very rural with some of the oldest still growing apple orchards on the East Coast. The boys hiked along Cayuga Creek, learned how to start fires with flint and steel and cooked their lunch wrapped in foil on the fires they started. Since Tania is at school and I couldn't leave Pierce and Brendon behind, they tagged along and had a great time.

Tania has started her clinicals for her anesthesia program. She really enjoys it so far. The pictures are of some of the people in her group in the lab at school. Just under 2 more years to go!!

More snow....

So we got a little more snow over the past couple of days. The storm started on Friday where we got 9 inches, Saturday came and with it another 9.5 inches with ice this time. Over night, we got another 4 inches. I know there are others in our family who have received more snow, but to us, and especially the boys, this is a novelty. They have never really had a complete winter. I am sure that one day will come when I will stop taking pictures of our snow covered deck and cars covered with snow... but until then... ENJOY!!

Buffalo Bandits

Pierce and I found a sport we both really enjoy. We went to see the Buffalo Bandits play last night. They are a pro Lacrosse team. We did not know anything about the sport prior to last night. We found it is a lot like hockey in some regards. There were lots of great fights, the crowd is VERY rowdy, the music is very loud... over all it was a ton of fun and we will be returning as much as possible. I added a video below for those of you who have never seen a Lacrosse game.

Pierce turns 10!

Well, our little man has turned 10. It is really hard to believe. Pierce has always been a special little guy and he is more amazing each and everyday. For his birthday, we took him to a place called Paradise Island in Cheektowaga (just down the road from us). It is like a tropical version of Chucky Cheese (without the hoardes of demon children). He had a great time. We had to cut it a bit short as we were getting slammed pretty hard with lake effect snow. By the next morning we had nearly 2 feet! Unfortunately, all the pictures from his party and the snow are somewhere on our memory card for the camera and I cannot get them off. I think it is time for a new memory card.

LET'S GO SABRES!!

Pierce and I had a great experience tonight. I won tickets to the Fisher-Price suite at the HSBC Arena in downtown Buffalo to see the Buffalo Sabres play the Ottawa Senators. This was the first professional hockey game we were able to attend and what an experience. Since moving to Buffalo, we have fast become huge hockey fans, especially the Sabres! Although the Sabres lost (5 -3), it was a great game with two great fights. Pierce said it was one of the coolest things he has ever seen. I wish I could have taken the other 2, but I only had 2 tickets so we held a drawing and Pierce won. Whenever the Sabres would make a goal, smoke would come out of the buffalo's nose on the jumbo tron.

Christmas 2007

We had a great Christmas this year. The boys got everything (almost) they wanted. We had a great dinner consisting of smoked ham, sweet potatoe casserole, green bean casserole, croisants, salad and shrimp cocktail. We spent the rest of the day having a Guitar Hero Marathon, and yes... Dad does ROCK!

Welcome to Buffalo!!

We had heard that there was a little snow in Buffalo... Until today, we were not too sure the stories were for real!

I put a yard stick in the ground last night before the snow started. We had 3 inches on the ground as of last night. We woke-up to lot's of white stuff. I have been taking pictures throughout the day of the accumulation. At 4:00, we had close to 9 inches on the ground and the storm is just getting started.

The roads were covered with a sheet of freezing rain before the snow started which shut everything down (including Church). The boys and Tania had a great time playing in the snow. Tania even tried her hand at shoveling the sidewalk. I know this is not a ton of snow, but for us, for not having seen more than a couple of inches for the past 10 years, it is incredible! I will take one more picture tomorrow morning once the storm is over to show the total accumulation.

UPDATE: We got a few more inches over night. a total of 13 inches fell yesterday. Amazing.