Flying Furball Productions

Andy the singing Jedi

2011-10-22T18:33:00.001-05:00

If you liked such genre-melding movies such as Cowboys and Aliens, you'll love Andy the Singing Jedi. Critics are raving that Andy the Singing Jedi is "the strangest mix of ideas never to come out of Hollywood.

-- Post From My iPhone

Misunderstood

2011-10-12T16:33:00.001-05:00

What was said: That's a Pez dispenser.

What Sam heard: That's a Pez de Spencer.

How Sam replied: No it's not. That's a Pez de Sam.

Mission to Honduras

2011-09-23T19:35:00.002-05:00

I will be the first person to admit that there have been times during my association with the Army that have been supremely frustrating. Health care is not the primary mission of the military, and sometimes the differing expectations clash with what I expect as a physician. That being said, there are times when I feel fortunate for the opportunities that the Army provides.

A view of part of Hospital Escuela, the indigent hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

For the past two weeks, I have been part of a medical mission to Honduras. Our team of 14 people (all active-duty military) includes everyone you would need to run two operating rooms—nurses, techs, orthopedic surgeons and residents and, of course, an anesthesiologist and some anesthesiology residents. During our time here we were able to provide care for 35 people, many of whom would never have been able to afford the surgical hardware we were able to donate. Patients at Hospital Escuela don't have to pay their doctors, but they do have to buy their own implants for surgical procedures. That can be a difficult task considering the amount of poverty here.

Waiting in the hospital with one of my residents, Mike Patzkowski, for another case to finish

Part of the challenge of providing anesthesia in Honduras is the fact that we can't bring all of our equipment with us. We can borrow some things from the Hondurans, but we try to be as self-sufficient as possible. To make this possible, we go about providing anesthesia a little differently than we would at home. Instead of using general anesthesia and keeping patients asleep with inhaled anesthetics, we relied on regional sedation using nerve blocks and then provided intravenous sedation. Of all our 35 cases, not a single patient received a general anesthetic or required ventilator support. That's a big deal for us because there isn't much monitoring in the recovery area. If the patient has been breathing continuously on his own, we know it is safe to leave him in the recovery area and hurry back to our next case. If the patient just barely came off a ventilator, he needs to be watched closely, at least for a little while.

One of the residents places a nerve block under ultrasound guidance

And nerve blocks like those allowed our orthopedic surgeons to place hardware like this on our patients

In addition to all of the operative cases, we also had the opportunity to interact with the Honduran attending physicians and their residents. I was impressed with how hard they work and what they do without.

Resident Mike Dimeola describes the popliteal nerve block to Juan and Alejandra, Honduran anesthesiology residents, while Mike Patzkowski acts as the ultrasound guinea pig

I'm glad that I've been able to put my medical knowledge to good use for some people who really needed the help. I hope that I can continue to find ways to participate in this kind of medical mission, whether military or civilian. I know I will be going home with a renewed appreciation for all of the amenities and comforts we have at home.

Might want to think again

2011-09-05T14:21:00.001-05:00

Spencer: I don't like Scottish people.

Dad: That's ironic considering your last name.

Spencer: You mean Scott comes from Scotland?

-- Post From My iPhone

Small engine repair

2011-09-04T10:15:00.001-05:00

This would be the intake manifold—or what's left of it

The last time I used our lawnmower, it unexpectedly shut off, but since I had just finished mowing the lawn, I didn't think much of it. When I tried to start it up this week and it wouldn't work, then I started putting some thought into things. It appeared that the engine wasn't getting fuel. The fuel line was looking pretty bad, so I replaced that. That didn't fix the problem so I pulled off the carburetor. No problems there, either. I started pulling off even more parts. it didn't take long before I found my problem—a broken intake manifold (pictured above).

As I was digging around on this engine, I had a flashback to a childhood memory. My father taught a small engine repair class at South Bonneville Junior High. This was back when North and South Bonneville were sharing a school so I wasn't any older than Mason. Anyway, the kids in Dad's class were pretty good about tearing these engines apart, but not so good at putting them back together. At the end of the school year, Dad would have boxes of engine parts, and he conscripted me and sometimes my younger brother to help put them back together. I guess that exercise ended up being rather useful after all.

Grandma gets busted

2011-07-30T17:31:00.004-05:00

Grandma Sandy looks way too happy about her incarceration

Wouldn't you know it—we try to take Grandma Sandy out for a good time and she goes and gets in trouble with the law. We just can't take her anywhere she's such a reprobate. So we're out in the Texas hill country when Grandma gets picked up by the sheriff on an outstanding warrant and thrown into the paddy wagon. In Grandma's behalf, I will say that the warrant was for snoring and that the sheriff has no jurisdiction outside of Enchanted Springs Ranch. Still, I don't know how the children will live down the fact that their grandmother is a jailbird.

Bullseye

2011-07-22T17:49:00.001-05:00

Today is the last day of Cub Scout day camp. Today I got to line up next to Mason at the archery range for a little friendly competition. The photo is the target of the winner. Want to guess who it belongs to? (Hint: it wasn't mine.) Yes, Mason officially gave me a beat-down.

-- Post From My iPhone

Don't shoot your eye out

2011-07-20T20:49:00.001-05:00

This is Mason. This is Mason with a gun. It's a bb gun. And that's still a somewhat scary proposition.

-- Post From My iPhone

Fun with owl poop

2011-07-20T17:16:00.001-05:00

This week is Cub Scout day camp where boys can be boys and do exciting things like deconstructing owl pellets. Ah, the wonders of nature.

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Holbrook Rd,San Antonio,United States

For sale

2011-07-10T11:03:00.009-05:00

Considering how rough the housing market has been lately and considering the high likelihood that we will be moving somewhere else next summer, we decided to put our house on the market. We spent the day yesterday shooting photos to improve our realtor.com posting. As I was searching through our photo library today, I also found some photos of the house when we initially decided to purchase it. So here are some before and after photos to see how things have changed in five years.

The front yard before

And the front yard after

The loft before

And the loft after

The living room before

And the living room after

As you can see, I think we have made some significant improvements. Now we just need to find someone who wants to buy the house. So if anyone knows someone who is looking to buy in the San Antonio area, we'd be happy to hear from you.

End of the (school) year

2011-06-05T09:52:00.002-05:00

Mason receives his end-of-the-year awards from his principal

This week marked the end of another school year. Mason and Spencer both had awards ceremonies. Spencer was deemed the "best scientist." Mason garnered a long list of awards including being commended on two sections of the TAKS tests and making the all-A honor role. At the end of the ceremony the top 10 Accelerated Reader scores for the grade were honored. Mason had the top score for the grade—by far. We are certainly proud of his accomplishments at school. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Spencer's accomplishments as well, seeing as he has been doing reading and math with the first graders for much of the year. OK, so I'm bragging a little—I can't help being proud of their success at school.

Fun with fish

2011-06-02T20:52:00.003-05:00

My sister Andrea and her family are not the only ones who have been fishing lately. I have been out camping (though not in a fancy cabin) and fishing, too. The first weekend, Mason and I went out, he caught six fish. Mason had reeled in three fish before I had time to set up my own pole.

Mason was pretty pleased with his fishing success

Spencer and I went out the next week. He was determined to catch as many fish as Mason did, but we got skunked in the morning—possibly because the worms I brought were all dead. The campground host saw us out walking later that morning and suggested we come to the fishing competition at 9 am. I figured Spencer was bored of fruitless fishing, but when he heard there were door prizes, he was ready to try it again. Fortunately, the organizers of the event were able to provide some life bait.

It may just be a baby bluegill, but just one fish makes for a much more successful fishing trip

I had a great time going out individually with the boys and can't wait to do it again soon.

Oh, and I managed to catch a few fish of my own, too

Dr. Coconut

2011-05-01T20:16:00.003-05:00

Sam has decided to call himself Dr. Coconut

For the past several weeks, Sam has taken to calling everyone "coconuts." Then he turned things around and started calling himself "Dr. Coconut." It was so endearing that Teressa had to get Sam a real coconut. From the time it came home, Sam started asking to open it up. So I drilled a hole, threw in a straw and Sam went to town. It seems to have become a habit. This week when we were grocery shopping, Sam noticed the coconuts on display and wanted another one. It seems that Dr. Coconut is nuts for coconuts.

Say it ain't so, Diego

2011-04-20T20:59:00.007-05:00

Sam has become a big fan of Go, Diego, Go (among other TV shows). But after we had this conversation, I'm starting to wonder about the educational content. I'm guessing condors probably like to eat more than rocks. Before I started filming, Sam was quite adamant that condors do not like flying. I'm sure that's a common misconception.

From the vault

2011-02-27T20:49:00.003-06:00

I know there are many of you out there who have seen this, but I have been going through my collection of home videos and figured this would be worth posting. If there is one thing you can take away from this video, it's an understanding of just how bored I was while I was sitting around in Iraq. And yes, my sense of humor is a little odd. I'm glad you noticed.

Over the airwaves

2011-02-27T20:32:00.002-06:00

Antennas have certainly gotten more attractive since the last one we bought

It is time for another installment of how can Ethan use alternate technology (in this case much older technology) to avoid paying out to the cable company. This episode was inspired by the news that the BYU vs San Diego State basketball game would be airing on CBS. Since that is a network that actually broadcasts its content, I went out Saturday morning and purchased a new antenna. They do some nice things with antennas these days. In fact, I wouldn't even recognize the thing as an antenna if it didn't say so on the box. Where are the rabbit ears?

Right after soccer games, we came home and I hooked the antenna up. We caught the whole second half of the ballgame. Go BYU! The picture was fantastic. There were some times when the signal would break up momentarily, but overall things were much better than they used to be on our analog sets. Hopefully, I will be able to watch plenty of NCAA tournament games the same way.

Winter weather

2011-02-04T12:38:00.003-06:00

This morning we were greeted with the sight of a cold, white, crystalline substance that is reportedly called "snow"

After seeing so many photos of blizzards and snowstorms this winter, we've been feeling left out. Fortunately Mother Nature finally decided to grace us with some winter weather. As you can see from the photo above, for the first time since we moved to San Antonio, we actually received some snowfall. Granted, the amount of snow can't be considered impressive when it doesn't even cover the grass, but it's a big deal for our area. As you can see, the weather was cold enough that the snow stuck to the sidewalks and roads. And before the snow started falling last night, we also had a light coating of freezing rain, so underneath that layer of snow is a layer of ice. And when south central Texas has to deal with ice, this is what happens:

Traffic is snarled during the attempted morning commute. The freeway was closed from this point on

I knew that getting to work this morning would be interesting. I nearly turned around and went home after seeing five cars that had been abandoned on the side of the road in the mile between our house and the freeway. But I forged ahead because I grew up in Idaho, and we don't let a little ice get in the way. What I didn't foresee was every freeway running through San Antonio being closed. I made it partway into work before I had to give up, turn around and come back home. The kids also got a day off from school. I can safely say that this is the first time I have gotten a snow day for an accumulation of about half-an-inch of snow.

Eat Mason's dust

2011-01-29T15:49:00.005-06:00

Mason displays his winning Pinewood Derby car and his first-place certificate

Today was Mason's last Pinewood Derby. Since we missed last year's Pinewood Derby, we decided to go all out. OK, I decided to go all out. I may have been a tad obsessive with my wheel and axle preparation. Mason, of course, did the design. It looks remarkably similar to the design of the last car—close enough that Teressa kept asking if there wasn't something else that Mason wanted to do to make it different. There wasn't. He wasn't interested in any elaborate decorations, either. All he wanted was the spoiler in back and the lightning bolts on the sides. Perhaps I spent more time that I should have on my part than I should have. Between the seven-step buffing process for the axles and the time I spent on applying graphite, I spent many hours on the project. After all the work, Mason was feeling pretty confident. I made sure to warn him that other families had done a lot of work on their cars, too.

Maybe they didn't do quite as much work as we did, though, because Mason took home the top prize. He won every heat he participated in and had the record time for the track. I think Mason was pretty excited about the results. (I have some video of Mason's reaction to the final race as proof. I may have to post it later after I load it on the computer.)

The Wright Brothers

2011-01-18T21:25:00.003-06:00

The boys pose with the airplane model that Grandpa made for them

This Halloween, the older boys decided they wanted to dress up as the Wright brothers. Sam wanted to be a dog. That worked out well because the Wright brothers had a dog named Cisco. When Grandpa and Grandma Scott came to visit right before Halloween, Grandpa built a replica of the Wright brothers' plane. He built it out of a discarded grocery cart. It was a rather sizable replica so fortunately, it could be dismantled. Otherwise, Teressa might not have had room to park the van in the garage.

Emotions during the photo shoot ran the gamut

Since I happened to be stuck in Iraq during the Halloween season, I didn't have the opportunity to photograph the boys in their costumes. So we pulled everything back out this week and finally got those photographs. I had forgotten just how challenging trying to photograph three boys can be. We finally got some good photos, but it took a while.

Sam's first fish

2010-08-29T10:28:00.002-05:00

Here's Sam with his first fish

I was going through some photos today when I realized that I had never posted this picture. We went out to Canyon Lake early this summer to do a little fishing, and even Sam got in on some of the action. He was initially quite excited, but it took a little convincing to get him to stand next to the fish to get his picture taken.

Filling a hole

2010-05-26T15:03:00.001-05:00

Earlier this year, we sprung a water leak in the garage. I had to cut into the drywall until I finally found the source of the leak. Yesterday, I evened out my jagged hole until it looked like the photo above. Then I cut some new sheetrock to fit the hole. Then I filled in the gaps. Maybe tomorrow I will attempt to sand and texture. At any rate, at least I managed to cover the hole on the wall.

-- Post From My iPhone

Big ball of wax

2010-05-25T10:35:00.001-05:00

We went to Mason's school this morning to see the wax museum. And by wax museum I mean a bunch of kids dressed up as historical figures and pretending to be in a wax museum. When you hit a button next to them, they would start speaking and educate you about their character. It was quite a creative idea. Mason chose to be Julius Caesar. He had his lines down and sounded quite authoritative. Of note, we noticed that to be seen as important to a third grader, it seems to help if you were assassinated.

-- Post From My iPhone

Going off the grid

2010-05-15T15:40:00.005-05:00

Using this converter sold by Apple, I was able to hook up to our television

When the cable bill came last month, Teressa had had enough. This time it was AT&T jacking the price up. Teressa had cancelled Time Warner the year before when they had done the same thing. This year it was AT&T's turn. For a while we entertained the idea of getting satellite, but we were seeing a pattern here. What was going to keep the satellite company from doing the same thing to us in a year? Add to this the fact that we just don't watch that much television. There are a total of two shows that we consider must see television—24 and Psych. In the past, we have had times when we made due with rabbit-ear antennas, but our televisions are the old analog kind, so that would have necessitated buying converter boxes. Then Teressa ask, "Do you think you could hook up the computer to the TV?"

Well, that seemed like a good idea. After some research, it became apparent that this was easier to do with a digital television, but with the right connectors, it should work in theory. I found the video converter pictured above that Apple sells. Now I should only need an s-video cable and an audio cable. So I went to Radio Shack. The Radio Shack guy didn't quite believe I could pull it off. He was wrong.

So now we watch our TV over the Internet. iTunes, Hulu and Netflix all work great. It may be a little harder to watch sports, but it's not exactly like we were getting a lot of BYU games anyway. And all for less than the price of one month's worth of cable. I love technology.

Photos in the flowers

2010-05-11T17:10:00.000-05:00

Teressa says this is one of her favorite photos of Sam ever

Spencer was my easiest subject to shoot. He pretty much did whatever I asked

We never did get a decent shot of Mason all alone, but he did have some cute ones with the other boys

When there is a rainy spring in Texas, the wildflowers come out in bunches. There's a field that we drive by whenever we go anywhere. Normally its just plain old cow pasture, but this spring it blossomed out with Texas bluebonnets. Ever since, Teressa has had me on a quest to take pictures of wildflowers. Last Saturday, we went to a different field nearby. This field was filled with yellow wildflowers (as you can see from the photos above). We spent a hour shooting photos of the boys in the flowers, and when it was over, our pants were covered with yellow pollen. We'll enjoy the wildflowers for a few more weeks before we get back to regular old dry, dusty south central Texas.

Bear scout

2010-04-28T12:06:00.001-05:00

We went to pack meeting last night where Mason received his Bear rank. The photo shows Mason pinning the Bear pin on his mother's jacket. We are proud of him and are glad he's so excited about Scouts. Of course, it touched his father's heart too that when Mason was asked what he did to earn the award, he picked out the birdhouse and the toolbox that we made together.

-- Post From My iPhone

Fishing in the dark

2010-04-24T09:45:00.001-05:00

We went on a short camping trip this weekend. We had planned on fishing, but we arrived later than planned so we didn't have much time. We certainly didn't figure that we would catch anything, but Spencer and his amazing fish catching powers proved us wrong. By the time he reeled his fish in, it was already so dark that we had to light him up with a flashlight just to take the picture.

--Post From My iPhone

Good as new (almost)

2010-04-22T18:16:00.002-05:00

Recently I posted about my plans to do some body work on my car. So I finally had a few hours to go out and work on the car and then shoot a couple of pictures when I was done.

As you can see, the parts fit pretty well, but the color is not quite right. Something about primer black doesn't quite match white paint. So now we're talking about painting another car. I seem to recall that didn't work out so well for me the last time. For a review of that episode, click here.

-- Post From My iPhone

Dented

2010-04-16T17:15:00.001-05:00

My car has lived a rough life. I dented the rear bumper pulling out of the driveway.

Of course, the just matched the dent in the front fender I notched when a hit a pillar in a parking garage. It has gotten so bad that Teressa hates to ride in my car. Recently, I splurged on some new car parts. Then we'll have to splurge on some paint. But after that maybe the car will almost look as good as new. Then I'll just have to fix up the inside.

-- Post From My iPhone

New trick

2010-04-16T17:09:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking how nice it would be to start posting from my phone, at least for quick posts. So today I took the technological jump. I've got a few pictures stored up here, so I'll give it a whirl.

-- Post From My iPhone

From the mouth of Sam

2010-04-16T16:38:00.000-05:00

Teressa: Sam, you're my angel.
Sam: No, I'm an alien.

Andy's sure shot

2010-04-01T21:59:00.002-05:00

Andy never lets his limitations hold him down. When he comes to visit, he just likes to do regular things like bike riding and bowling and now, basketball. At one point today, he stepped back from the basket and hit five shots in a row.

Rain gutter regatta

2010-03-29T08:38:00.002-05:00

Mason blows his pirate ship toward the finish line

Mason accepts his first-place award

On Saturday, our pack held its rain-gutter regatta. Mason and I had spent some time this week sanding and painting and sanding and painting and sanding and painting some more. I had no idea how we would do with the contest. The regatta is something our pack only does every once in a while, so there wasn't a lot of local information on how to build a better boat. We must have done something right, though, because Mason blew through the field and won every race on his way to taking first place. Maybe it was because we had a better-built boat. Maybe it was because Mason is more full of hot air than the other children. At any rate, he was triumphant.

Is that a complement?

2010-03-27T21:12:00.002-05:00

So I've been working pretty hard lately on my pushups and sit-ups and running lately, and I think I'm looking good. My wife approaches me this morning and says, "You are getting pretty chesty lately." Is that code for "Wow, look at those muscles," or is it "Are those some man-boobs you're growing?"

Chair rail

2010-01-18T20:02:00.002-06:00

The bathroom wall before ...

And after putting up the chair rail

Part of the big plans for the bathroom that I discussed in the last post was to put in a chair rail. Teressa has been hoping that I would finish the job before her mother comes next weekend. As you can see from the photos above, it may not be done yet (I still need to caulk the edges and paint), but it looks a lot closer. Unfortunately, as I was doing the job, I discovered that the walls are nowhere near square. So instead of just using the power miter saw to cut 45 degree angles for the corners, I ended up coping them instead. This added at least another three or four hours to the project. Hopefully it will look nice enough that it will be worth it in the end.

The philosophy of decorating

2010-01-16T21:33:00.002-06:00

We have been working on redecorating the downstairs bathroom. I have painted the top half of the walls and am in the process of putting up a chair rail. While I am doing this, Teressa has been finding new decorations. I don't suppose I've been much help in the process. Every time she comes up with an idea, I shoot it down. First she wanted to hang up pictures of the family. My response: The reason I lock the door when I'm in here is to keep those same people from watching me when I'm going to the bathroom. Tonight we were at Ross when she found some inspirational phrases in nice frames. She thought those might be a good idea. Of course, they read things like, "You can't change the direction of the winds, but you can change your sails." I'm I the only one that sees something wrong with that?

So finally Teressa says, "Fine, what would you hang on the wall?" Well, I would hang a nice scenic photo — of a waterfall.

All aboard

2010-01-08T09:01:00.002-06:00

Teressa: Do you think Sam is is old enough to potty train?
Sam: Ride the potty train. Choo choo!

What really happened

2010-01-06T17:11:00.002-06:00

OK, so nobody is really buying the alien story. Maybe it's time to tell the real story. It's a doozy, too.

The van initially overheated in the middle of nowhere

The Mazda had worked perfectly on the trip to Cloudcroft and on the days while we were there. The drive home started uneventfully. We packed the van the night before so we could leave together with Berlin and his family. We had talked about driving separately, but he seemed a little apprehensive about the possibility of icy roads, so we figured it would be safest to be together. We were about an hour into the drive when the van overheated. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't get cell phone service at the time, probably because we were here. Fortunately, Berlin was able to drive back to a store to get some antifreeze. We tried driving on, but the car overheated again within a couple of miles. We parked the van while Berlin drove on ahead to call a tow truck. After he dropped off his family, he came back to pick up Teressa and the boys.

The tow truck driver decided to do a little muddin' on the way to Roswell

So the truck comes out to tow the van to the nearest town, Artesia, N.M. The driver asked me what shop I want to take it to. I told him I don't know since I'm not very familiar with the town. Of course, there's no Mazda dealer in town (and evidently no independent shops either). At first the driver wants to go to the GM dealership since he thinks Mazda is a GM brand. I informed him that the car is Japanese, but it does have a Ford engine inside. So we went to the Ford dealership. The discussion that followed went something like this: (The following account has been highly fictionalized.)

Manager: What on Earth is that thing?
Me: That's a Mazda.
Manager: Elroy, you ever heard of a Mazda?
Elroy: Nope, but it does have some initials on the back. I think it says UFO.
Me: That's MPV.
Manager: UFO? We only work on Fords here, not spacecraft. You'll have to take that piece of space junk to Roswell.

So maybe that's not exactly how it went down, but the gist was the same. There was no place in the whole of Artesia that would work on a Mazda. So the Ford folks called around until they found a Toyota dealership in Roswell that would do the job, but they couldn't take a look until the next day. At this point Teressa and I decided that maybe I should repair it myself, so the tow truck took me over to the Autozone, which didn't have the part I needed. Now there really wasn't anything else to do other than take the van to Roswell. The tow truck driver pulled around behind the Autozone (rather than backing out into traffic) and managed to get stuck in the mud. Eventually someone in a four-wheel-drive truck noticed our predicament and helped pull us out. It was just that kind of a day.

This is proof we saw an alien while driving home in the Honda

The next day we got a call from the Toyota dealership. They could fix the van, but it needed a new radiator. And because of the holiday weekend, it would be five days before they could get the part. That wasn't going to work for us, so we came up with a plan. We decided we would go look at some vans and SUVs at the Toyota dealership and see if there was something we liked. If not, we would rent a car and come back the weekend after the car was fixed to pick it up and drive it home. We ended up finding a nice used Honda Odyssey. We traded in the Mazda for the Honda and drove it home.

Fun in the snow

2010-01-02T07:57:00.005-06:00

Sam loved sledding

After Christmas this year, we decided that we were actually going to let the kids experience snow. Mason and Spencer hadn't seen snow in four years, and Spencer was so young that he didn't even remember the experience. Sam, of course, had never even seen snow. He had read about it in some books, but he didn't really have a clue. We decided to go to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Cloudcroft is a village in New Mexico nestled high in the mountains. We had gotten to know Cloudcroft while I was in El Paso for my internship. Unfortunately, Cloudcroft was snow-free that winter, but we decided to try again.

The drive across Texas is a long one, but we made good time. It helped to have Teressa's brother Berlin and his family along because we could foist one of our kids off on them. I just seem to make better time when I'm not having to reach around into the back seat to break up a fight. When we got to the southern New Mexico mountains, we were on the lookout for snow. At first there was nothing. We were starting to get worried that we might see a repeat of our last Cloudcroft winter. But as we went higher, we started to see faint traces of snow remaining in the shadows. The higher we went the more expansive the snow became. Now we knew we had snow, but it still didn't look deep enough to go sledding or skiing.

Finally, a few miles before we reached Cloudcroft it became clear that the snow was plenty deep enough to play in. What a difference a few thousand feet in elevation can make. So we were able to spend our next days outside in the cold.

Spencer started off the day wanting some help with sledding

Since our children had spent next to no time in the snow, we weren't quite sure how the boys would react. We made sure to pack plenty of warm clothes since the surest way to misery in the winter is to get wet and cold. I was worried that sledding would be a little too fast and exciting for the boys. I thought that perhaps Mason and Spencer would want continual help and that Sam might want to avoid sledding entirely. My concerns were entirely overwrought. Mason and Spencer were continually up and down the hill on their own. Sam went down on the sled with me, and every time we reached the bottom, he would exclaim, "Do it again, Dad." So we did it again. And again. And again.

It didn't take long before Spencer hit the slopes on his own

Mason was perfectly happy to be doing his own thing, too

Spencer was excited to go out on the morning of the snowstorm to check the windows of the van

Sam quickly warmed to the idea of skating

The boys have progressed with their skating. Mason required no help at all. He even says that he is the fastest skater in the family. (This may actually be true, but the way.) Spencer started out wanting help, but before we were done, he was skating all on his own. Sam didn't want his skates to touch the ice at first and preferred to be carried around the rink, but it didn't take long before he was skating, with a significant amount of assistance, of course.

This photo is proof that Mason really was riding the sled in the next picture ...

Where he appears to disappear

Before reappearing again

All in all, we had a great time playing in the snow and may even consider doing it again some day.

Aliens have landed

2010-01-01T15:56:00.002-06:00

This was the only image captured of our alien assaulter

While traveling home from our vacation to Cloudcroft (more on that in future posts), somewhere in the vicinity of Roswell, N.M., a blinding white light descended from above and fixed our van in its center. The van seemed frozen on the spot, and it wasn't long before I realized that the van was suspended in mid-air, being sucked toward the beam of light. I knew then that we were being pulled into a UFO. At this point I kicked open the doors and pushed the rest of the family out of the van. Suddenly the aliens were next to me in the van. We grappled for the keys. I never saw their mouths moving, but I could understand their thoughts. I knew then that the aliens were desperate to acquire an Earth transport and that I would be subjected to rectal probing unless I gave up the van immediately. At this point I dropped the keys and jumped out the door. As I looked back up into the sky, I watched the van disappear into the big silver spaceship which then sped away.

Alien abduction

2010-01-01T12:57:00.002-06:00

Stay tuned for details of our eventful family vacation. Coming soon.

Traveling Nativity

2009-12-24T21:12:00.005-06:00

Here is the cast of our traveling nativity

This year for Christmas Eve, Teressa decided that it would be more fun to take our nativity out to the public rather than just keeping it inside the walls of our home. Even though we had Mark and Heather Hill and their kids over to the house for Christmas Eve dinner, there weren't any extra people to watch the performance after all of the parts had been taken. So we travelled to a couple of different houses, performed the nativity and sang Christmas carols. Even though it was cold and windy (well, cold for San Antonio, anyway), it was a lot of fun and brought us some great Christmas spirit.

Mason and Spencer were wise men, Teressa was a wise woman and Sam and I were shepherds. The parts of Mary and Joseph were played by Olivia and Luke Hill while Mark was the angel and Heather was the narrator and the star of Bethlehem.

Pasta surprise

2009-12-15T21:13:00.003-06:00

This pasta replica of Jamestown took hours to create

The worst part of the project was putting the walls together

Mason recently came home with the assignment to build a model of Jamestown for school. One of the criteria for grading was creative use of materials, so we came up with the bright idea to build the model out of different types of pasta. At least it seemed like a bright idea until I started putting the walls together out of fettucini. Many hours later, the model was finally done. Monday, we sent the model to class, and guess what: No other kid had made their model out of pasta, so at least we have that creative use of materials down.

Game day update

2009-12-05T11:16:00.003-06:00

Mason's basketball team, the Timberwolves, played their first game today. Mason even played against Cameron, his good friend from kindergarten. Mason's team won 20-4 with a combination of good offense and stifling defense. Spencer plays his first game this afternoon, so I'll try to update again.

Essence of Andy

2009-11-28T15:01:00.002-06:00

As you can see, Andy is having a great time visiting us

Teressa's brother Andy is here again visiting us for Thanksgiving. The kids love having Andy here, and he seems to enjoy being around them, too. And if we get overwhelming, Andy just heads outside for a smoke, a swing and his own personal concert (as seen in the photo above). Even Sam loves having his uncle here, though he has taken to calling him "Uncle Rooster," much to Andy's chagrin. Cock-a-doodle-doo.

Lights, camera, action!

2009-11-25T21:35:00.002-06:00

Sam does his best impression of 'Blue Steel' here in this promotional photo

It's the time of year again for us to put on our Halloween costumes and make our family holiday video. This year, we decided to call in some help, so we could get the filming done in record time. So we called Lindsay Mullen. Lindsay shoots more video and makes more films than anyone else we know, so we knew she would do a great job with the filming. After the production was over, she stayed to play with the boys and help Teressa out around the house. The boys always love to be around Lindsay (as you can see from the photos below).

When we say "fight like lions," I didn't think they would take it literally

Lindsay and Mason pose for the paparazzi

Spencer was sharing his pretzels with Lindsay

Party time

2009-11-25T20:56:00.002-06:00

One party activity required the kids to decorate a cake in a pioneer style, then transport it to another house in the neighborhood

Unfortunately for the boys' team, their cake didn't survive the trek.

The year is drawing to a close, so Teressa decided to hold a party for her Primary class. They came over to our house, enjoyed some breakfast and then split up into teams to participate in a series of challenges. Her challenges included decorating a pioneer-themed cake and then transporting it to another house in the neighborhood, a wheelbarrow relay race, an object search and a tent building contest. Overall, the girls won, but everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. First prize was the opportunity to choose a breakfast treat for church on Sunday. The girls selected donuts and bacon. Interesting combination.

Better than ultrasound

2009-11-21T09:17:00.002-06:00

My siblings are going through a bit of a baby boom. One sister and both of my brothers are expecting children, all within a few months of each other. One night I was talking with my mother on the phone when the subject of all these babies came up. She mentioned what gender several of them were predicting for these babies.

"No," I said, "this is how it's going to be. Jon and Annie will have a girl; Andrea and Seth will have a girl; and Tyson and McKall will have a boy."

Now, this may sound like I was going out on a limb, but I knew what I was doing. (Boy, did I know what I was doing.) Sure enough, the first ultrasound comes back and Jon and Annie are having a girl. Then the second ultrasound comes back and Tyson and McKall are having a boy. Then, finally, Andrea calls this week and tells me they are having a girl. In case anyone was counting, that makes three-for-three. Boo yeah. If anyone is interested in my methods of deduction, you can send a self-addressed stamped envelope with a check for $49.95. I'll see what I can get back to you.

Leafy greens

2009-11-16T20:07:00.003-06:00

We made a nice salad from our garden veggies

Our beans have started to blossom, as have our peas

Growing up back in Idaho, we used to plant our garden after Memorial Day because that's about the time it would stop freezing at nights. Then we could expect to get veggies until about September when the frosts would start. Here in Texas, the growing season seems upside down. I just barely planted beans and peas back in the first of October and now they are starting to bloom. It just doesn't seem right, but the fact is that there have been no frosts yet this year (we haven't even been close), and there are no frosts forecast for the near future. So hopefully we will get some more good vegetables out of our garden yet this year.

Sam's big haircut

2009-11-12T12:13:00.004-06:00

Is it just me, or does Sam look a little older now?

Sam's hair has been getting pretty long lately. So long, in fact, that is was sometimes having trouble standing on end. Recently we've been hearing some disgruntled words from people at church, wondering when we were going to get Sam a haircut so his hair would stand up again. To all you people I can only say, today is the day. Sam has been shorn (as you can see from the photo above). It took some coaxing, but we convinced him (with the liberal use of Smarties) to hold still long enough to give him a quick trim. To see the before view, check here.

Staff 3, Residents 1

2009-11-11T11:32:00.002-06:00

Here at our anesthesiology training program in San Antonio, we have traditionally spent Veterans Day having a sporting contest between the staff and residents. The last five years or so, we have been playing soccer. In the first year of my residency, I debated about not going to the soccer game. I had never played competitive soccer. (Or really any soccer at all for that matter.) But I figured that I was a fairly athletic sort of guy, and besides, how many people my age or older had really played soccer, anyway. The residents had never lost one of these games before, so I figured I could waltz in, run around the field a little bit and I could bask in the glory of another easy win. Of course, that's not how things turned out. The staff team that year had some very good players. I didn't have a clue what I was doing and so even though I attempted to play defense, the staff scored multiple goals and made me look silly in the process. It was not a fun game.

Fast forward three years. We're playing soccer again, only this time, I am on the staff team. I am a competitive sort of guy, and I don't want to lose again. And more than anything, I don't want to look ridiculous. At least this time, I have been coaching Spencer's soccer team. And I've been helping them through some of their drills.And I've been playing with both Mason and Spencer at home. Of course, I'm not sure how working with a U5 team is going to translate to adult competition, but at least I understand how the game is supposed to be played.

We start off the game on the attack. We score a quick goal. Soon we're pushing the ball up the field again. I find myself in front of the goal with the ball right at my feet and nothing but the goalie in front of me. I punch it in with my left foot. Left foot? That's crazy. I can hardly kick with my left foot. But the ball goes straight and true, right to the left corner of the net, out of reach of the goalie. We start whooping and hollering like we just won the World Cup. Not too much later we add another goal for good measure.

Now, there are many more residents who are there at the game then staff. This means that they can substitute at will and wear us down. Right before half, they score their first goal. In the second half they keep trying to attack, but we push them back, and every shot they attempt goes wide. Final score Staff 3, Residents 1.

Perhaps it's a bit over the top, but yes, I am a little excited that we won this game. I'm even more excited that we won this game and that I played well. I will definitely say that I had a better time this year than I did three years ago.

Teeth jewelry

2009-11-03T21:57:00.003-06:00

Sam has a hankering for braces

Sam has been fascinated with Teressa's braces ever since she got them. I'm not quite sure if he understands their true purpose, though. He seems to think they are just for decoration, at least that's the impression I get from the name he gave them. Evidently Sam has been chased out of Teressa's jewelry drawer enough times that he knows what jewelry is. So same dubbed Teressa's braces "teeth jewelry." The name stuck. He kept asking to see the teeth jewelry so much that Teressa finally bought him some bling.

Would you say I have a plethora?

2009-11-02T16:23:00.002-06:00

Here is the whole cast in their Halloween costumes

Teressa decided that everyone in the family should keep with the same theme for their Halloween costumes this year. So Teressa dressed up as Carmen, the senorita who convinces the Three Amigos to come to her village, and I dressed up as El Guapo, the villain. I make a rather handsome El Guapo, if I do say so myself.

The Three Amigos

2009-10-31T21:36:00.003-05:00

We are the Three Amigos!

Ever since Mason was small, Grandma Scott has been making him a Halloween costume for his birthday present. Since his younger brothers all have fall birthdays, they have also taken advantage of the deal. The costumes that Grandma makes are very intricate (as you can see in the photo above). This year for the Three Amigos costumes, Grandma made every piece of these costumes except for the white shirts and the sombreros. The boys learned a few lines from the movie, such as, "Tell us we will die like dogs." When the person then repeats that the Amigos will die like dogs, they then say, "No, we will not die like dogs. We will fight like lions." Except for Sam who would shorten it to, "Fight lions!" They boys also learned the Amigo salute.

I do have to admit that the response we got as we wandered about trick-or-treating made me feel a bit old. There were many people who didn't know what we were trying to do with the costumes, but the ones who did thought they were great. (My favorite person though, was the guy who realized that I was dressed as El Guapo.

Soccer update

2009-10-24T14:48:00.003-05:00

Mason chases down a ball during his game today

Mason and Spencer both had soccer games again today, and both continue to do well. Mason's team played a tight game today. His team had more shots on goal, but the other team had a really good goalkeeper and so the end result was a tie. I decided to bring my camera so we could get some action shots of Mason playing.

Spencer's team struggled last week. They were playing a team with some strong, fast players who kept breaking free and scoring goals. Our kids would run down the field with the other team, but they wouldn't cut them off and they wouldn't steal the ball (other than Spencer, who was all over the field when he was playing). So this week for practice, I tried to work on having the kids be more aggressive and stealing the ball. Something clicked, because today when the team played their game, they destroyed their opponents. I stopped keeping score, but it must at least have been 15-0. Spencer may have scored seven or eight goals. We had kids scoring goals who had never scored before. Thanks for making me feel like a great coach, guys.

I know these aren't my kids, but the photo is pretty great, isn't it? I still have mad skills

Sam's big hair day

2009-10-22T08:56:00.004-05:00

Look, Ma, I grew two inches last night

Sam's hair has never laid down flat. Nothing we do seems to matter. Water only works for a short time. Gel doesn't work. Hairspray doesn't work. No matter what we try, Sam's hair always ends up standing up on end. In fact, we tell when Sam needs a haircut by how far his hair stands up. (In case anyone is wondering, Sam's hair as it appears in this photo is about ready for a trim.) When Sam was younger, we spent a lot of time trying to comb his hair down, but amidst all our failures, we noticed that Sam was getting quite a bit of notoriety from his wild hair. So we saw the light and let Sam's hair be Sam's hair. Now we mostly just try to make sure he doesn't have bed head, otherwise he's good to go.

Things we will not buy

2009-10-19T08:44:00.002-05:00

Sam sure thought that kid in the mirror was cute

Teressa has been in the process of doing some redecorating in the house. It started with the loft, and like a trail of dominoes, the effects were felt as far away as the living room. Teressa has been considering replacing the living room lamps, so when Cassie Schneider told her she had bought lamps for her house that would look perfect in ours, Teressa borrowed one to check it out. The first thing that we noticed about the lamps was the four mirrored sides. This makes it so that the lamp will match practically any room in the house, but it left me with one basic concern. It wasn't long before Sam proved my concerns well founded (thank goodness I'm not as paranoid as I thought). We found him licking the lamp and giving kisses to the reflection of that cute kid he could see. Now the lamp is covered with fingerprints, nose smudges and tongue marks. Guess we'll be sticking with the old lamps after all.

Spencer on call

2009-10-18T19:53:00.003-05:00

Dr. Spencer Scott is seen here taking call with his medical equipment in hand

Spencer must have seen me taking call at work too many times, because he has decided to replicate the experience. He has gathered up the Fisher-Price doctors toys and is keeping it by his bedside tonight, just in case he needs to save a life. I just hope he sleeps better tonight while he is on call than I do sometimes when I am on call.

Green Dragons 2, Dynamos 2

2009-09-29T20:48:00.002-05:00

Spencer had his first soccer game of the season tonight. (Actually it was the second, but we were out of town for the first.) Unfortunately, I don't have photos because I was coaching and refereeing at the same time, but everyone seemed to have a blast. Spencer alternated between missing a couple of close shots on goal to rolling around in the grass to scoring his first goal of the season. The rest of the kids did a great job, too. I am starting to realize just how hard it is to hold a 4-year-old's attention for longer than two minutes. I did a lot of redirecting on the field, but the kids seemed to be having a good time.

Animal sanctuary

2009-09-16T05:19:00.002-05:00

So I go outside to take the trash to the curb last night. As I'm walking around the house I hear so rustling behind the fence and what sounds like a plastic trash can closing. Oh, I figure, the neighbor must be taking out her trash, too. Then I get a little closer and something jumps up onto the fence. At first I'm thinking cat, but this looks awfully big for a cat. Then I realize this "cat" has a masked face and a ringed tail. Looks like now we need to figure out a way to keep raccoons out of the trash. (Sorry there were no photos for the post. I don't usually take my camera to the trash, and the raccoon wasn't going to stick around for portraits.)

Snakes in the grass

2009-09-07T21:13:00.002-05:00

This is the snake after its demise

See if this photo gives you any hints as to which species this snake belongs to

Today Trenton Schneider was over at our house mowing the lawn. As he was using a blower to clear clippings off of the driveway, he noticed a snake and came in to grab me. I went outside and found the snake in the front bushes. At first I thought nothing of it because we had found several garden snakes in the yard in the past. But this one seemed different. The pattern looked somewhat familiar, and as my eyes traced the snake down to its tail, I realized why. We had a rattlesnake in our front yard.

Normally when we have had snakes in the yard, I have tended to be merciful and turn them loose in the greenbelt behind the house. But I had no intentions of letting a poisonous snake free where it could wander back into the yard. So between a shovel and a can of wasp spray I managed to kill the snake. Then the rest of the Schneider clan came back to recover the snake's body so that Ethan Schneider can take it to school. I figure if he wants it he can take it. Teressa was so unnerved that she is reconsidering her decision to postpone getting a dog. We'll be on the lookout for a while to make sure the yard is safe.

When kids dress themselves

2009-09-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

Spencer decided he wanted to wear more than one pull-up to bed

One night I walked into the boys' bedroom to find Spencer decked out like this. He decided all on his own that he wanted to wear every pull-up in the house. He even went to bed like this.

Overheard

2009-08-15T16:39:00.001-05:00

Chandler Schneider: I don't like strawberry flavored drinks. Do you know why? Because they have strawberries in them.

Bye-bye Bartons

2009-08-15T16:29:00.005-05:00

The Bartons had one last ice cream social with us before they left for Japan

This week the Bartons left Texas for a three-year stint of living in Japan. (I would love to go back to Japan, too, but the Army doesn't have any need for anesthesiologists in Japan.) Before they left Teressa put together one last get together and invited as many of the Bartons' friends as possible. We hope they have a fun time in Japan.

Blakely doesn't seem to mind Sam holding her at all. Of course, she probably gets mauled worse at home

Feeding the Deer

2009-08-08T16:32:00.004-05:00

Sam thought all the animals were very exciting

The deer were happy to socialize as soon as they knew there was food involved

Broccoli was strangely popular amongst the deer

The geese and peafowl followed the food wherever it went

As part of our activities over the weekend, we took Uncle Andy to the Fort Sam Houston Quadrangle. It's a historic building on post with a large open center filled with an assortment of animals. These animals like people, especially if the people bring food. The geese and the peafowl in particular made a beeline for us as soon as they saw us enter. The geese are a bit on the aggressive side. One snatched Sam's personal stash of peanut butter crackers right out of his hand. Another nipped Spencer on his thumb in an attempt to take lettuce from his hand. (I don't think it was being malicious; I just think geese are not the most gentle of animals.) The deer were a little more shy. They hung back under a shade tree until we walked nearer and they could see that we had a wide assortment of food. Then they were more than happy to come get some lunch. As long as we were feeding them, the deer would get right up close and tolerate being petted. ( Sam thought this was quite fun.) But as soon as the food was gone the deer became more nonchalant and wandered back away.

I had thought we brought a lot of veggies with us, but the animals made quick work of it. The next time we go back, we may have to bring extra helpings.

Wanted: Team Mascot and Colors

2009-08-08T15:46:00.004-05:00

We went down to register Mason and Spencer for fall soccer today. I have never played soccer, but I figured I could offer to be an assistant coach, because they're just 4 year olds after all. When we sat down to go through the sign-up sheet, the woman behind the table noted that I had offered to be an assistant coach and then asked me how I would feel about being a head coach instead. I explained that I had never played soccer and wouldn't really know what I was doing. She said they were really short on coaches, and besides, there was a workshop scheduled to go over rules and give practice tips. So here we are. I will be coaching a sport that I've never played in my life. I guess we'll all be learning as we go along. Besides, they're only 4 year olds. How hard can it be?

Our first item of business is to come up with a team name and a team color. This is very important because we can keep the same name and color next year. Any grand ideas?

The End of an Era

2009-08-05T23:03:00.006-05:00

This is what my old Powerbook looks like (though with considerably more wear and tear)

About eight years ago, I purchased a titanium Apple Powerbook. The laptop was a work of art. My classmates frequently commented on how beautiful the machine was. And it was fast, at the time. It made our old Power Mac desktop seem like a dinosaur. And it opened up all sorts of capabilities that I had never experienced before. I started editing videos and then burning them to DVDs. Of course, there were a few shortcomings with the computer. When I purchased it, I upgraded to the larger 20 gigabyte hard drive. It didn't take long to run out of room once I started doing larger video projects. Then eventually our DVD burning software ceased to work and I had to hack iDVD (Apple's DVD-authoring software) to get it to recognize an external DVD burner. And of course, the older it got, the slower it seemed.

Eventually we finally made the decision to buy and new iMac for home use. The switch has been wonderful, but I still found myself using the Powerbook from time to time. I took the laptop with me when I went on away rotations so I could stay in touch by email, and occasionally Mason will want me to pull it out so we can connect the two computers and we can play Age of Empires II together.

At work I have grown increasingly frustrated with the computers that are provided to us. Most of the anesthesia department is outfitted with Lenovo Thinkpad netbooks. In spite of the fact that they are new, they are slow—very slow. The screens are so slow that everyone is provided with a dock and a larger monitor, so you can actually see what is going on. The netbooks are portable, but they don't have CD drives and we are not allowed to use flash drives to move documents around. As a staff anesthesiologist at a residency program, one of my duties is to give lectures to the residents. I have watched more than one staff struggle as they have tried to find a way to pull up their lectures, and the thought of preparing a Powerpoint lecture on that small, slow machine was almost more than I could bear. I finally decided I was going to do my presentations on my Powerbook. Even if it wasn't the fastest way of doing things, I figured at the very least that I could make sure that the presentation would work on my machine and then just hook it up to the projector. I had done this in the past and it had worked out fairly well.

When I was discussing my situation with Teressa last night she suddenly said, "Why don't you go order yourself a new laptop." Well, how can you argue with that? Besides, we had always planned to purchase a new laptop before I get deployed so we can talk over the Internet. I'm just buying it a little early. So I put in the order last night for a new 13-inch Macbook Pro with extra RAM (4 gigabytes) and an upgraded hard drive (320 gigabytes). Now I should have the capability to make great presentations, and do a few other fun things on the side.

More from Spencer's camera

2009-07-07T20:47:00.002-05:00

I call this one "Putting Your Best Foot Forward."

Spencer continues to shoot non-stop with his camera. He is leaving tomorrow with Teressa and the other boys to go visit cousins in Washington state, and he wanted to make sure that I downloaded all of his new photos so he could have plenty of room on his camera for pictures from his vacation. As I was downloading photos, I found this gem and couldn't help posting it on the world wide web, hopefully to the future embarrassment of my eldest son.

Artistic genius

2009-06-25T11:31:00.007-05:00

This self-portrait was my favorite shot that Spencer took

Spencer has always had a fascination with photography. Of course, that seems to run in the family. For his birthday last November, Spencer received a digital camera. He filled up the memory again and has been begging me for days to load the photos on the computer so he could get back to shooting photos.

I haven't figured out what about this toilet was so fascinating

The photo collection was an eclectic mix of people and objects. Some, like the first photo were actually quite charming. Others, like the five photo toilet series were just downright bewildering. At any rate, Spence is so excited that he wants to shoot pictures with me some time.

No one was spared the ignominy dealt by Spencer's camera

Last call

2009-06-19T18:37:00.002-05:00

June 18 was it—my last overnight call as a resident. Of course, that certainly doesn't put an end to overnight call. It just means that I will be staff instead of a resident.

Pinewood Derby Time

2009-05-03T08:05:00.004-05:00

Mason's car (Number 23) sits among the other entries

This post is a little late, since the pinewood derby was months ago, but it still seems appropriate to mention Mason's experience. We had a three-ward competition. We would be racing four cars at a time on the track, and it seemed like Mason was always coming in third. But the track had an electronic timing system and it seemed like Mason's car was doing well from a time standpoint. When the times were summed up, Mason took seventh place out of 25 cars. Not too shabby for our first attempt. The top four finishers and six of the top eight were all from our ward.

The Prophet said to plant a garden (so that's what we did)

2009-04-27T20:34:00.003-05:00

Spencer discovered that digging though San Antonio soil was no easy work

As many of you know, I spent most of February and March away from home doing pediatric and major vascular rotations in Corpus Christi and Dallas. As soon as I came home, I decided to take a week off from work. During my time off, I decided to put build a small raised garden, a project that Teressa and I had been considering for a while. Spencer was excited. He even spent his own money to buy a pair of small shovels and a pair of gloves to he could help out. After two days of work, we have two small gardens with cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and carrots that are already starting to grow. We still have a long time before we will be harvesting anything, but we are hopeful that we will be eating tasty tomatoes this summer instead of the tasteless grocery store variety.

Closet BYU fan

2009-04-27T20:28:00.002-05:00

As part of a stake skit night, many of our ward youth and their leaders dressed up as if they were going to a rock concert at BYU. This includes Cassie Schneider, who has claimed in the past to dislike BYU. I have to admit that she looks awfully comfortable in that BYU football jersey, at least until she realizes that the camera is trained on her, and then she has to go back to pretending to hate BYU. Now we know the really truth, Cassie. Go Cougars.

And our destination is ...

2009-02-22T12:50:00.003-06:00

The list for Army anesthesiologists has finally come out and we now know where we will be living for the next several years. Unfortunately, I have bad news for all those people who were planning exotic trips to come see us in Lawton, Oklahoma, or Waynesville, Missouri. Yes, the bad news (for you anyway) is that we will be staying right here in San Antonio. And so, while our friends and relatives may be upset that they don't get to visit the previously mentioned prime vacation area, we are very excited to be able to stay put.

Birthday bling

2009-02-22T09:09:00.003-06:00

Just as I promised, here is my photo wearing my bling

On my birthday, Randy Schneider showed up with a gift bag. He told me that I could have the gift bag if I would promise to take a picture wearing what was inside. Since I could tell that there was also a candy apple inside the bag, I figured it would be worth the risk. How bad could it be? Well, you can see the picture for yourself. Personally, I think I look quite stunning in a grill. Maybe I need to get a permanent one. Of course, the apple was extremely tasty. We cut it up and served it as our family home evening treat.

Dancing Queen

2009-01-19T14:22:00.002-06:00

Teressa shows her funky moves at the youth dance

Teressa and I have similar philosophies on dancing. We both are perfectly happy to slow dance, but neither one of us is particularly willing to fast dance outside of the confines of our own home. We usually avoid the line dances at the stake youth dances like the plague. But on Saturday, for whatever reason, Teressa decided to join in. I think it may have been the influence of Cassie Schneider, who is usually quick to jump out there. Since I had my camera there to take pictures of the Marde Gras decorations that we had helped Cassie with, I couldn't help but snap a few frames of this rare occurrence.

Teressa-ism

2009-01-18T14:23:00.002-06:00

Today I overheard Teressa giving her email address, which includes the initials "tlgs," over the phone. "That's 't,' as in Teressa, 'l' as in love, 'g' as goat and 's' as in Scott." I guess I know what I will be getting Teressa next Christmas.

Tough love

2009-01-16T20:59:00.003-06:00

This past week, I had the pleasure of taking Mason to the lab to get some blood drawn. He needed to be tested for food allergies. Teressa had already tried to take Mason in for skin testing the week before, but once Mason saw how many times he was going to be tested, he wouldn't cooperate. I took Mason into the lab on a post-call day. I had prepared him by reminding him of the IV he had gotten when he was in the hospital. He hadn't even flinched when he got the IV. And when we first went back into the lab, it seemed that Mason would be fine. It didn't take long before Mason started worrying and then decided not to go along with the plans. The phlebotomist was patient and we tried to talk him into doing things the easy way. We tried for nearly 15 minutes before deciding it was time to do things the hard way. I sat down and restrained Mason on my lap, medic held Mason's arm still and the phlebotomist drew the blood. Mason screamed the whole time, even before he was poked with the needle. (Note the lack of pictures on this post. They wouldn't have been pretty.) Later, as we were driving home, I asked Mason if he would have rather done the skin test after all. He insisted that the blood test was better. He's probably right. I can't imagine what it would have been like to hold him down for over twenty skin tests.

Fishy story, part 2

2009-01-02T08:21:00.004-06:00

Maybe Spencer's fish was the only fish that was hungry

For Christmas, I gave Mason and Spencer new fishing poles. Along with those poles, I gave them coupons for a fishing trip with Dad. Teressa graciously provided us the opportunity to go fishing on her birthday. (She was more interested in the family time and in the hike that followed.) We went back to the fishing pier where we had so much success this summer. Unfortunately, the fish weren't biting the same way they were before, but Spencer did manage to make sure we didn't get skunked. The funny part is that right before he caught the fish, Spence had just about given up. He was ready to put his pole down and go play. Of course, as soon as he caught the fish, that's exactly what he did anyway. Attention spans are short, my friends.

Spencer caught the lone fish on this expedition

Thanks

2009-01-02T07:55:00.003-06:00

Our playground equipment looks much better after some work

Even though our swing set is only about two-and-a-half years old, it was in need of some serious work. The wood had become gray and weathered and the tarp that covered the upper level had come apart and fallen off. Teressa put me to work staining the wood, and Grandpa and Grandma Scott surprised us by making a new roof for us for Christmas. Now the swings look better than ever.

Strange tastes

2009-01-02T07:49:00.002-06:00

This little item was found abandoned on the kitchen counter

One day over the holidays, we came downstairs to find a new kind of sandwich on the kitchen counter. It seems that Mason decided it would be a good idea to experiment with sandwich innards. Judging by the amount that was left, frosted miniwheats do not make a very good sandwich.

Busted

2008-12-21T07:36:00.012-06:00

BYU is still number 1 in our hearts even if they didn't win the bowl game

Since we're too far away from Las Vegas to go to the BYU bowl game, we happily accepted the invitation to the Alpers' house for bowl game festivities. Also invited to the party were the Schneiders as the token Arizona fans. As part of our pre-game activites, we decided a little prank was in order. We went to the Schneiders and decorated their car in appropriate fashion for a BYU tailgating party. We intended to slip in quietly, do the job and then slip away unnoticed. Along the way, we made several mistakes. Learn from these follies, dear readers, so that you do not repeat them.

The root beer cans (noncaffeinated) were the final touch

Mistake No. 1: Pulling a prank in the daylight. The game started a little less than an hour after dark, so we would have been pushing it to be able to get the job done before the Schneiders had to leave for the party. So we decided it was worth the risk of going out in the light. As I walked up to the Schneiders' driveway, I looked around, decided things were safe and went to work. The windows of the first van were soon decorated, and I slipped under the van to start tying soda cans to the car. At this point, I was surprised to hear the sound of a small voice, one that didn't belong to one of our children. "My friend used to live here. Did he move?" I assured the small red-headed child that his friend did still live here and that we were just decorating his family's car. "I'm going to knock on the door and see if he still lives here." Evidently this boy didn't believe my assurances and wanted to see for himself. I begged him to wait until after I was done with the cans and then he could knock on the door. This seemed to do the trick and the neighbor boy continued to chat with me as I worked on the van.

Mistake No. 2: Assuming that the target wouldn't have a lookout. As I initially approached the Schneider house, I looked over the front yard and the windows of the house to make sure I wasn't going to be spotted. "You have nothing to worry about," Teressa told me. "They're never out front." And so it appeared at the beginning of our adventure. Up to the point when I slid under the back of their van, I had managed to go unnoticed by our targets. Of course, as I'm talking to the neighbor boy all of a sudden he says, "There's a man painting in there." This doesn't sound good, but I can't see the front of the house, so the significance is somewhat lost on me at this point.

Mistake No. 3: Pulling a prank with our children in tow. You know they won't sit quietly in the car waiting for me to finish vandalizing the Schneiders' car. Both of the boys wanted to be out of the car. And if they are out of the car they certainly couldn't hold still. And none of our boys has ever been known as the silent type. In fact, I would say that both Mason and Spencer display an utter lack of ninja skills. (The book is still out on Sam.) The red-headed kid was right. At this point, Randy was up in the second floor front bedroom overlooking the driveway, and he had already seen both Mason and Spencer, though he hadn't seen me and didn't realize what we were up to at that time.

Mistake No. 4: Not pre-tying the string to the soda cans. In retrospect, If I had strung up the soda cans before we went to the Schneiders, I could have just tied them to the car and we could have been on our way. Next time I will know better. As things were progressing, Teressa became impatient with the wait and decided to wander over to help decorate the other van that was parked out in the street. She didn't properly reconnoiter the surroundings, however and totally missed seeing the man standing in the window over the driveway. Randy saw her slink over to his van and start painting the windows. He alerted Cassie and the next thing I know, I hear her shouting, "What do you think you're doing!" At this point I couldn't hold it back any longer and I busted up laughing. That's the only reason they knew I was there. I guess even my ninja skills need a little work.

Fortunately the Schneiders were good sports about the prank. Of course, after BYU lost they returned the favor by decorating our van while it sat in the church parking lot the next day. But then there were those University of Utah shirts they gave us for Christmas. Now it's starting to get personal.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown

2008-12-15T17:57:00.004-06:00

The boys were very intent on cutting down the tree

On Saturday we finally broke down and decided it was time to get a Christmas tree. Normally we have gone to get our tree on the weekend of Thanksgiving, but I was on call the day after Thanksgiving this year and we went to Seaworld for Spencer's birthday the day after that. By the time we made it to the Christmas tree farm, the place was looking pretty picked over. The tree we chose was certainly one of the more homely Christmas trees we have had. I know that if Teressa had her way, we would just go and pick out some fancy fake tree. The tree this year was so impressive that when Cassie Schneider walked through the door, the first thing she said was, "You got a Charlie Brown tree." It may not be the very tree that Charlie Brown had, but they may be cousins.

Yum, dirt

2008-12-14T08:12:00.006-06:00

Nothing better than a fistful of dirt

According to the stories that my parents tell, when I was a child, it was quite common for me to go outside and feast on dirt. I ate so much dirt that it would pass straight through and when my parents changed my dirty diapers, they were literally filled with dirt. Perhaps this is a genetic proclivity. While we were out cutting our Christmas tree, I set Sam on the ground, and before I could stop him, he was grabbing fistfuls of dirt and shoving them in his mouth. I think we were able to stop him before his next diaper will be filled with nothing but dirt, though. Hmm, I wonder how this Texas soil compares with that tasty eastern Idaho volcanic loam?

Andy's dinner

2008-12-13T14:23:00.001-06:00

Andy proves a blind man can learn new tricks

I thought about titling this post "Blind man fixes dinner, family survives." While Andy was visiting over Thanksgiving, Teressa decided to put him to work. So under her supervision, Andy fixed dinner. We had spaghetti and meatballs along with salad and bread. Andy did all the work himself. And yes, everyone lived to tell the tale.

Kiddie candids

2008-12-05T21:33:00.004-06:00

This untitled self-portrait was found when the camera was connected to the computer for the first time

Spencer's big gift for his birthday was a children's digital camera. He has spent hours taking pictures with Teressa's camera phone, so we figured it would be a gift that he could get great enjoyment from. Evidently he wasn't the only one. In the first few days, the camera ran out of batteries twice. We were even starting to wonder if maybe the camera wasn't broken, at least until I hooked it up to the computer for the first time. On the camera I found 233 images, mostly photos of individual Pokemon cards, but also including the great photo you see above. After consulting with Teressa, I realized that she had already deleted numerous Pokemon card photos. It seems we solved the mystery of why the batteries were drained.

Mason's baptism

2008-11-17T08:22:00.005-06:00

This photo in the hall was rushed, considering baptism to follow and Mason's dip in the font

After waiting nearly a month so that the grandparents could be here, we held Mason's baptism. We scheduled the church several weeks earlier and then made sure to spread the word to friends and family. We held the baptism after church, and since we were waiting for the bishop and some other friends while they were in a meeting, we decided to have a little lunch so that people wouldn't have to go home and then come back. While we were having lunch, the first councilor in the bishopric approached me and said, "Did you hear that the missionaries are at 5 o'clock?" My response: "No they're not. We have the building scheduled until 6."

OK, so I'm not really that difficult to deal with. We ended up moving Mason's confirmation to the chapel while the missionaries moved their meeting over to use the font right after we were done. Things ended up working out all right for everyone.

So, back to the photo caption. After Mason put on his white jumpsuit, I told him to go back into the other room, meaning the room where we were holding the opening part of the meeting, while I got dressed. A few minutes later Teressa pokes her head into the bathroom and tells me that I need to get Mason out of the font, now. It seems that Mason had misunderstood my directive to go back to the other room. He thought I wanted him to go to the font. By the time I went to go get him, he was doing the dog paddle. Teressa had been alerted to his hijinks by the sounds of his splashing. I fished him out of the font and had him put on a dry jumpsuit right before we took our photo in the hallway.

Happy belated birthday, Sam

2008-11-10T19:33:00.006-06:00

The wait for his birthday cake seemed worthwhile for Sam

Samuel had been waiting for his birthday party for a while. Even though his birthday was on Oct. 23, we decided to wait to celebrate until his grandparents were in town for Mason's baptism. The best part is that Sam didn't even care. He was perfectly contented to wait until the cows came home to have his little party. He didn't even realize that we were holding out on gifts for him. And nothing could have lessened the pure, unadulterated joy he felt as he was mowing down that very first birthday cake. (OK, so it was mostly the icing.) At least by waiting, though, Sam's grandparents were able to participate in that first birthday ritual. Of course, the rest of us knew there was going to be cake the next day at Mason's baptism, so Sam was the only one to really pig out.

All for one

2008-11-02T08:46:00.006-06:00

Sam certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, too, even though it was well past his bedtime.

Mason and Spencer enjoyed going trick-or-treating with the Schneider boys.

Ever since Mason was small, his Grandma Scott has been making his Halloween costume as a birthday present. When the other kids came along, we begged Grandma to make their costumes, too. We're lucky that Grandma is a softee. Of course that now means that Grandma is making three costumes instead of one, so she has to start preparing earlier. We had the costume idea and the pattern picked out over the summer this year.

This year the boys went out as the three musketeers (if you couldn't guess by looking at the photos above). They went to the ward trunk-or-treat and then I caught up with them after work, and we all went trick-or-treating with the Schneiders. And yes, those are mustaches that are painted on their faces.

Overheard

2008-10-26T08:22:00.010-05:00

On Saturday we went to see Mason's karate graduation where he received his purple belt. Graduation is a big event with hundreds of parents and family members there to watch these kids get new belts. The event includes videos and music playing while the classes demonstrate different techniques. As I was listening to this music play, I initially thought I was hearing well-known popular music. Then I started paying more attention and realized that the tunes were those I was familiar with, but the words had been changed. The words had been changed to something more in line with evangelical christian tastes.

My favorite example was the song where this band had taken the song "Pour some sugar on me" and turned it into "Learn some Deuteronomy." But since "Deuteronomy" has one more syllable than "sugar on me," it came out sounding like, "Learn some dude-er-om-ny." At first, I wasn't sure whether the song was some strange joke, or whether the song was supposed to be serious. I found the song on iTunes, and supposedly the song is meant to be a parody, though I suspect the song is not meant to be as big a joke as it comes out sounding like. It goes to show that sometimes you don't have to try to be funny to be funny.

In case you are thinking that I am being a little too harsh on the tune thieving evangelical christian crowd, feel free to check out this column printed in September 2000 where I pillory the Mormon crowd who brought us Book of Mormon action figures, among other things. Boy I sound like a hothead.

I've never quite been able to get into the christian rock thing. I think the mix of religion and heavy metal is just too much for me to wrap my mind around. And I will admit I feel the same way about Mormon attempts to mix religion and popular music. (See the paragraph on Afterglow in the above column.) This experience has done nothing to sway my opinion.

Mason's party

2008-10-18T18:58:00.004-05:00

Mason broke this board with one swift kick

Mason turned eight years old this week. In celebration, we rented the tae kwon do facility Mason goes to and invited 37 kids to come to a birthday party. Luckily for us, only 21 showed up. I'm not sure how we would have dealt with 37 kids. We were happy, however, to not have to plan activities for that many kids or have them running wild through our home. The kids had a good time playing games and running through different tae kwon do drills. Mason enjoyed being the center of attention. He even got to break a board with his foot. I managed to catch the photo of him above but unfortunately missed the look of utter surprise on his face when the board actually broke.

Conference craziness

2008-10-18T09:20:00.004-05:00

Before General Conference this year, we read a story from the Friend about a family that put up tents to watch conference, just like the people put up tents around the temple to listen to King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. Of course the kids thought that was a great idea and wanted to do it, too. As you can see from the photos above, the tent may have been more of a distraction than a helpful conference tool. Even certain adults were getting in on the fun.

Here little fishie

2008-09-28T10:33:00.004-05:00

The panfish were biting on nymphs just like this.

In the two years we have lived in San Antonio, I have heard stories about how it was possible to fly fish on the Guadalupe River north of town. At some point, I found out there is a member of our ward who goes fly fishing every once in a while. After several months, Joe Zamarripa and I were finally able to make our schedules come together and we went fishing Saturday afternoon. Not only did we go fishing, we also got to kayak up the river for a ways to get to the fishing hole. Even Teressa was slightly jealous, and she has no patience for fishing.

The fishing here is a little different from what I had grown up with. The Gualalupe is a warm water fishery unless you are fishing right below the Canyon Lake dam. So we weren't fishing for trout. We were looking for bass and panfish. I had never fly fished for bass or panfish before. My other issue was that we were using wet flies. I had never had any success with wet flies in the past, but I was sure willing to try again. I tied on a fly and started to fish.

In the end, I hadn't caught so many fish in a long time. The panfish were biting on the bead head nymphs I had been holding onto for a long time. (I think I had gotten these flies from Dave Falkingham 10 years ago.) Later on, when I saw Brother Zamarripa catching bass I switched to a wooly bugger I had tied myself ... and caught more panfish. That's OK. I think the seven panfish I caught would almost add up to one of those bass.

Chain saws: Part 2

2008-09-27T13:29:00.002-05:00

One week after heading down to Houston to do hurricane cleanup, I headed over to the Schertz animal shelter to help Cameron Alpers with his Eagle project. The project included cutting down brush and trees from behind the building and hauling it to some dumpsters. Once again the chain saws came out. This time I couldn't help it. The Schneiders had an extra chain saw sitting around and offered me a chance to use it. I just couldn't say no.

I've decided that chain saws are like crack. Only better. Way better. I could feel the testosterone surging through my body every time I felled a tree. I have to get one of these things. I even tried suggesting to Teressa that she could get me one for Christmas, but from her response, I would guess the odds are not good. I'll just have to be persistent. New contest: The person who comes up with the excuse that allows me to buy a chain saw will earn my undying affection and gratitude. What better reward could there be than that?

Cleaning up after Ike

2008-09-24T20:52:00.005-05:00

These piles of brush on the side of the road are just part of the debris we gathered out of this yard.

The call went out last weekend for people to help clean up after Hurricane Ike, so a group of us from the Schertz Ward gathered up at 5 am Saturday morning to travel to Houston to help. The emails we received made it sound like we would be cleaning up after water damage, which would have meant smelly, nasty, moldy stuff. But fortunately, the places where we went had managed to stay above water, and we were able to stick with cleaning up after wind damage.

This is the group from the Schertz ward that went to help clean up after Hurricane Ike.

Our work consisted of using chain saws to cut up downed tree limbs and then hauling the logs to the edge of the road. (My work mostly consisted of hauling logs to the road since I promised Teressa I wouldn't handle the chain saws. Oh well, I'll have to find some other way to get my power tool fix.)

Be careful what you ask

2008-09-21T08:19:00.002-05:00

Background information: Every Idaho state license plate is prefaced with a number and a letter. So it's easy for those of us familiar with the system to know where someone in Idaho lives just by looking at a license plate. The first councilor in our bishopric, Dan Taylor, is originally from Idaho. He has a car for sale, and I made a crack that he should be able to get an extra $500 just by switching his 1B license plates (Bannock county where he is from) for 8B plates (Bonneville county, where I grew up).

This led to a deeper philosophical discussion about how people from outside of the state would have no idea what the code stood for. To prove his point, Dan turned to some other members of the ward standing there and asked, "What does it mean if I tell you that I'm a 1B and he's (pointing to me) an 8B?"

The reply: "Well, if it were the other way around, I would figure it was your bra sizes."

BYU 59, UCLA 0

2008-09-14T16:31:00.006-05:00

All eyes were on the tasty assortment of tailgating treats, including these candy eyeballs courtesy of the Schneiders.

After going the last two years with nothing but rabbit ears to provide television reception, we finally ponied up for cable TV. Perhaps the best part of finally getting cable, at least from my standpoint, is that we actually get to watch a few BYU football games. So as a special treat, Teressa decided to throw a tailgating party and invite a bunch of friends over to watch the game and eat lots of good food.

Attempts to use voodoo to stop the BYU onslaught proved to be futile, but the fact that Cassie Schneider is using a gummy heart might have made the spell a little less effective.

We had to invite the Alpers and the Hills since they are BYU fans. Then we decided to add a little spice to the mix by adding the Schneiders, since they aren't fans of BYU, but we enjoy their company anyway. Last of all we invited the Zamarripas to top it off.

Before the game started, the manfolk were discussing the possibility that this could be a close game. At that point I remember saying that I would be OK with a BYU win by a nice comfortable margin. Little did I suspect the shock and awe that was about to follow. The game was so one-sided that even poor Randy Schneider had to agree that it was a magnificent performance by BYU.

A BYU point for every year of Steve Alpers' life—plus a few extra.

At the finale of the game, we celebrated Steve Alpers' birthday. For my birthday can I pre-order a big-time BYU win at a BCS bowl?

Time for school

2008-09-14T07:37:00.004-05:00

Spencer is pictured here with his preschool teacher Emily Ramos and with Marcus, her son.

It's that time of year again, when the kids go back to school and the house gets nice and quiet, at least for portions of the day. Mason is in second grade now, and Spencer is going to a friend's preschool. They were both very excited to start school, and I think Teressa was ready for summer to be over, too.

Taking the cake

2008-09-13T19:37:00.006-05:00

Teressa knew she must have the cake mould for this cake for her Beehives.

A few weeks ago, Teressa was out shopping with her friends when she came across a cake pan in the shape of a beehive. Since Teressa is the leader of the Beehives at church, she took this as a sign that she must have the pan. To put the pan to the test, Teressa baked the cake pictured above. She even used the exact recipe that came on the pan. I would be the first to admit that Teressa did a fantastic job, though Teressa might be the first to admit that baking isn't usually her thing. Alas, Teressa gave the whole cake to a new Beehive who had just turned 12, and we didn't get to sample the final product. And since we don't have any girls in our family (unless you count Teressa, who turned 12 a long time ago), we may not get to taste this recipe for a long time.

Where shall we go?

2008-09-04T08:03:00.003-05:00

The initial list of Army anesthesiology postings for next year was just released. The list won't be finalized until December, but the list does give us some idea where we may end up. Of course, there's some behind the scenes involved. What we can get will partly depend on what other people want. For instance, it would probably be very hard to get the slot in San Antonio because we know that someone else wants it. Anyway, the poll I've included is just for my own curiosity. We already have some ideas where we would like to go.

Girls will be girls

2008-09-02T18:42:00.009-05:00

This Labor Day weekend, Teressa's best friends from high school, Julie Kern and Lynndy Hurdle, came to visit her from Mississippi. So Teressa decided to have a girls night out and left me with the three boys while she and her friends spent the night at the Riverwalk. (Of course, I was post-call, so I was perfectly happy to stay home and go to bed early. It was a win-win situation.) Teressa had a great time having her friends here, and so did the boys. I think Mason talked non-stop about Pokemon the whole time they were here. (I wouldn't be surprised if he was even talking about it in his sleep, but I didn't stay up to find out.)

Jenga was a big hit at Family Home Evening

On Sunday night we had Family Home Evening with the whole nine yards—lesson, treat, game and everything. To finish the evening, we played Jenga, the game a blind man can play with his whole family. (More on that in our upcoming Thanksgiving post.) As you can see from the photo above, Jenga was a smash. The next morning I got up bright and early and drove Julie and Lynndy to the airport on the way to work. Teressa is already missing them and looking forward to the next time they visit.