Secrets of the Universe

Jon and Rebecca both participated in the School Science Fair this year. We only had about a week's notice for some reason and had to scramble to get them done in time. We found ScienceBuddies to be a great resource for science fair ideas. Rebecca chose to measure wind speed for her project. Mike helped her build an anemometer using Styrofoam cups, sraws, and a pin. We found that the wind was fastest high up on a hill where trees couldn't block the wind. Rebecca won first place for the first grade!
Jon decided to experiment with craters. We filled a pan with flour and then dropped round objects of different sizes and weights from varying heights. The kids enjoyed it. It was a little messy with the flour, but not as bad as we originally thought it would be. Jon won 2nd place in the 3rd grade!

Kablooie! Look at all they flour getting thrown up by the "meteor" impact!

Alyssa started nursery at church. The adjustment is a little hard for her. It doesn't help that it coincides with her typical nap time. It's hard to believe she's that old already.
Some days we kind of wish the kids would grow up faster and be more responsible, but they really grow up way too fast. We were talking about how old each of the kids will be by the end of the year and were really shocked. We need to try harder to just enjoy the time that we have now with them because it will be gone before we know it.

P90X Update

Well, I've been participating in the P90X fitness program for about 10 weeks now. We did our final fitness test with the Boy Scouts for the Personal Fitness Merit Badge, so I thought I would give an update on my progress. I've had a week here and there that I haven't been able to fit in the full workout because I was too busy, but for the most part I've been pretty consistent. I've just extended the length of the phases to make up for the couple of weeks that I didn't do as well. The results have been notable.

After 10 weeks:

Sit & Reach: 8.5 inches (1/2 inch past toes) increased to 10.5 inches
Push ups: 63 increased to 92 (in one minute)
Sit ups: 49 increased to 66 (in one minue)
Pull ups: 18 increased to 36 (half pull ups, we didn't go all the way down)
Mile run: 8 min 15 sec decreased to 7 min 30 sec

Note that I have gone from 6 full pull ups to 12 during my home work outs.

My measurements have also increased.

Arm: 11.5 inches to 11.75 inches
Chest: 34 inches to 35 inches
Waist: 30.25 inches to 30.5 inches (Yikes! Too many holiday treats!)
Let: 17.5 inches to 20.0 inches

Needless to say, I'm fairly pleased with the results. I really enjoy the variety of the work outs and the results are notable in a relatively short period of time. I have not done the P90X diet, but Lena does a good job of making sure we eat healthy balanced meals. I do use a protein recovery drink mix from Walmart, which costs about 1/3 the price of the one recommended with the P90X program. I have found the recovery drink helps a lot with reducing the soreness after the intense workouts. I do get notably sore with the start of each new phase when the exercise program is changed up to produce "muscle confusion", but it's no where near as bad as the first week was.

I should be finished with the program in a few more weeks and then I think I'll run through it again. There are some other options to make it harder or focus more on cardio/calorie burning, but I feel like the standard program is about right for me.

Mike

Happy New Year

We've started off with a very busy and cold new year. One fun point for the kids with the unusually cold weather is the snow. Even though we haven't gotten tons, they have had fun seeing and playing in the snow this year. We had a blast sledding down our side yard. The hill is steep enough to go sledding even without snow, but you really coast far with the addition of that white slippery stuff.
With the snow fall, we had hoped to build a real snow man, but by the time we got out in the morning, the snow had turned rather powdery. We couldn't do anything till it started melting, and that was tricky to do much with by that point. So we made a little fellow. He lasted a couple of days despite his small size due to being sheltered from the sun.
Kirsten started sunbeams in primary this year. She had a difficult time letting Daddy leave her there, but she was okay after a little bit. It's hard to believe she's that old! Alyssa will be starting in nursery next Sunday, so we won't have any small ones on our laps during sunday school or priesthood/relief society any more. Time goes by way to fast.
So our big project has been repainting the kitchen. It was a big task with 35 cabinets, 8 doors, and 10 drawers. We painted the trim, cabinets, and doors in a melted chocolate color and the walls were a golden buttercup (light yellow). The lower walls we used a slightly darker yellow with a vertical streaked glaze, which was a new painting technique we thought we'd try. Overall, it is a HUGE improvement over the old kitchen with green cabinets and crazy wall paper. Lena already tested the durability of the new paint job with a small food explosion on the stove. Fortunately, it cleaned up just fine. Before and after pictures are provided

Celebrations and an Addition

The past couple of weeks have felt like one celebration after another. First we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. On the one hand it's hard to believe we've been married that long and on the other it seems like we've been married forever. Mike surprised Lena in the morning with balloons, orchids, and presents on the table. The best item was the note in the bottle. It was a poem that Mike wrote. Incidentally, the bottle, parchment, and stylish twine were all provided by the room of requirement.
Our original plan was to go on a sunset river tour, but due to lack of participants, the cruise was canceled. Instead we went to an art gallery, went hunting for some scenic cypress trees we had heard about, and went out for dinner. It was a nice day.
Here we are at 10 years. It's hard to belive how much has happened in that time. We've had some challenges of course, but overall it has been wonderful. We are so grateful to have found each other and our love and appreciation for each other is increasing year after year. The song "Then" by Brad Paisley kind of sums it up.

A few days later we celebrated Mike's birthday. Mike chose to have apple pie instead of cake since he likes it much better. It took a few tries before he could blow out his candles since the kids kept blowing them out for him. Lena got him a new tool chest and his parents sent Mario Bothers Wii, which the kids have had a blast with over the holidays. The one unfortunate event was that we got a plug in the sewer line that prevented our toilets from flushing. Fortunately, we were able to get it fixed that morning, which was essential since we already had a couple extra families visiting us for Thanksgiving. Apparently a single wet wipe was the culprit. In the evening we went to a friend's house where he had a recording studio to sing some Christmas songs as a family. It was a lot of fun and it will be interesting to see how it turns out with the little kids. They especially liked the drum set.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with a total of 30 people at our house. The kids really enjoyed having several of their cousins here to play with. They were very sad to see them go.

Our family has been joined by the addition of a puppy. Although we hadn't really been looking to get a dog, Lena had been pondering how to help our kids be more responsible and felt that a pet would be just the thing. As we were going to the store, we spotted a man selling some puppies and stopped to take a look. Rebecca fell in love with a mini schnauzer that licked her face after she picked it up. So we decided to go ahead and get it for her. Later we discovered that it's one of the more popular breeds in the U.S. for it's temperment and size. It also sheds little to no hair, which is an added bonus. The kids are thrilled to have a dog and Rebecca is enjoying taking care of the new pet. The dog is a female. Rebecca wanted to name her Princess and Ethan wanted to name her Sally. So we've named her Princess Sally. Here are a couple pictures.

Conversations with Kids

The following conversation happened on our way home from school this week.

Rebecca: I got invited to a party today.

Me: When is it?

Rebecca: I got the invitation today.

Me: Let me see the date on it. . . Oh, we're going to _____ on that day. (This was followed by sad silence). But Aunt Deborah and Aunt Ruth are coming on that day. And Uncle Sam.

Kirsten: Uncle Sam is nice. He gives us candy.

Ethan: Is our friend Sam coming over or Uncle Sam?

Me: Uncle Sam.

Ethan: Uncle Sam is a candy man.

Kirsten: Uncle Sam is the candy man!

Ethan: No Kirsten, Uncle Sam isn't the candy man, he's the sharing man. Just like me. He shares his candy with us.

//The Next Day//
Me: Is Uncle Sam coming to our house?

Kirsten: Yes!!! He knows the way to get to our house. He gives us bubble gum.

Me: What else does he give you?

Kirsten: Umm, chocolate chips.

Me: Does he play with you?

Kirsten: Umm, yes and then he gives us more bubble gum. He go and around just like me and Ethan. Then he was running again and running again and running again. . . and then he said "Kirsten we're here. Every time we're here". And then he said, "Jon you're here." "Rebecca you're here!!!!, Ethan you're here!!!! Lena you're here!!!! Uncle Mike you're here!!!!"

Me: Is there anything else you'd like to say about Uncle Sam?

Kirsten: He likes to go fishing with us.


Uncle Sam the candy man. Uncle Sam the sharing man. Uncle Sam the caring man.

We love you Uncle Sam!!!!!