Nose News is Good News?

Have they managed to de-mangle Morgan yet? Or are we facing another Quasi-Moto School-Photo this year?

brad

Graduation

Mom/Dad

It looks like the opening ceremony with the speakers is at 9:30 in the Spectrum, probably not worth coming to that part. The college of Business ceremony isn't until 4 so I have a nice break for lunch in there. If your in town by then we could go to lunch. Don't forget to bring us some boxes for moving dad, we will reimburse you the lost cardboard money if needed.

"The Mormons"

You might already know, but PBS is airing a 4 hour documentary called "The Mormons". We will be showing it on KBYU in two parts, Monday (April 30) and Tuesday (May 1), at 8 p.m. I've seen about 30 minutes of it and would describe it as interesting and fair.

You can watch a trailer at this link: http://www.pbs.org/mormons/view/2514.html?&c=3wm

If you don't get KBYU but would still like to watch, you can find your PBS station at www.pbs.org and check the schedule there. Almost all stations are airing it next Monday and Tuesday. I just wanted to let everyone know so you can watch it if you're interested!

Nose Job

I broke my nose yesterday at softball practice. Our game had been canceled because the field was to wet to play on so we took the bases into the outfield and set up a little infield for practice. We were working on throw downs to 2nd and i was covering the bag. The caughter threw the ball a little short and it hit the ground in front of me. When it came up off of the bounce it kinda turned funny and hit me square in the face. My nose started to bleed from the inside but manly form the inside were the seems had hit and split my nose. I sat down on the ground and as soon as i felt it i knew it was broken by the strange shape it was in. Right as the coach started to call mom to come get me she pulled up. She drove me to the ER and they took x-rays to confirm it was broken. i didn't break the sternum (the main bone in your nose) but the bone right above it. Its a really clean break and ill go the ear nose and thought Doctor tomorrow to see if it needs to be set or anything. It doesn't hurt very bad every now and then it feels like i got hit the face with a basketball just kinda tingles i guess. When we were waiting to go to x-rays another softball player came into the ER she was the Teton pitcher and had taken a line drive to the face. It broke her cheek bone and her mouth was really swollen, teeth had been knocked out but since she had braces they were still inside her mouth I'm pretty sure she had to get stitches too probably were the seams hit her. After seeing her i didn't feel as bad about my nose. The picture i attached is a picture i took on my phone on the way to the hospital, so just right after it had been broken.

morgan

The case of the $222 fuse

After Adri used the self-cleaning function on our oven, it stopped working. I'm putting in long hours at work and I didn't have time to look at it, so she called an appliance repairman to come in. He came, stuck his head in the oven, turned on the light, and proclaimed the answer. We needed a new 'high limit switch', estimated total cost of repair, $222. He didn't have the necessary part, so he made an appointment to come back the next day. Well, since I now "knew" what the problem was, I went online to see what it would cost to fix it myself. Well, lo and behold, there's no such thing as a 'high limit switch' for our oven. There are some switches, maybe that's what he meant. Anyway, I pulled out the oven (it's a wall mount type), and do about 5 minutes of investigation. Turns out the oven has a thermal fuse, which is designed to shut things down if it gets too hot. There's a manual stored inside the oven for an electrician. In bold type at the top of the manual it stresses to check the fuse first. The fuse had blown. Total cost of doing my own repair $42, total time ~15 minutes. At $180/15 minutes of work, I should have become a repair technician. I mean, that's $720/hr, or about $1.5 million a year. We called the repairman and told him not to come back.

Kade's Superman Party

Kade had a superman themed 4th birthday party last Friday. It was a lot of fun. I made all the kids superman capes, which they loved. We played games, hit a pinata, played outside and had cupcakes with a superman figure on top. Ty spent most of the party on the floor eatting all the candy everyone kept spilling. He thought he was in heaven! :)

This is a picture of Ty wearing some of my boots. He is more obsessed with them than I am. He cries until I help him get into them and then he cries because they are too heavy for him to walk around in.

We have made an offer on a house in Idaho Falls. It is in The Village - just west of Pat and Dale's House. We made the offer yesterday afternoon and are just waiting now to hear back.
We'll keep you all posted.

A Few Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of Baby Morgan. I thought they were cute and felt like sharing. Enjoy!

HSA

Dad and I have an HSA, we've had it for years now. We can put in 4,000.00 each year and it gives us a state tax credit. I'm not sure if it helps with federal taxes. We have it with Wells Fargo and it does accrue a small interest which none of my other bank accounts do. It doesn't matter how much you put in or what's left at the end of the year, its yours. We can put in more than 4,ooo.oo but the credit limit is 4,ooo.oo. It has to be used for medical and dental purposes. I keep very good records of what each check goes for, receipts, bills etc. But because we have very few medical expenses, its very easy actually. Most years we use some of it but not all, occasionally we have used most of it, ie when dad had surgery on his hand.
We have found it to be nice.
Mom

A distant relative?

Marbury of the NY Knicks has a line of shoes that only cost 15$. Link. Notice that if you click on a model of shoe, there are many color schemes for each shoe you can get.

He wears them in games and so does Ben Wallace now. "Experts" say that they are as good as Air-Jordan's or the 170$ Lebron Shoe.

Unfortunately, there is nowhere in Utah or Idaho to buy them. I might be getting a pair through an acquaintance in NY. It looks like you can get them on Ebay for about 25$ plus shipping, which works out to be a great deal compared to a 100$ shoe, but about average for a clearance-rack shoe.

Anyway, I figured any person who thinks that 15$ is all you need to spend on a basketball shoe must be related to us somehow. For the record, I would rather wear a Ben Wallace shoe than a Marbury shoe. . .

I remember Rich or somebody telling be about this a few months ago.

brad

Spud-Man Alternative?

I won't be able to participate, but there is a Triathlon in Rexburg that could take the place of Spud Man for anyone who was unable to sign up for Spud Man but wanted to.

Here is the link.

Buffy

Hey, a girl in my ward -Emily- is all interested in vinyl lettering. I sent her to the web site, but sheis all worked up about the colors. I told her you have a lot more than what it says ( I am assuming you do, since the stuff in Macie's room uses 6 colors that aren't listed) Anyway, I told her to email or call you. I also mentioned that you would be here this weekend and that maybe you could just bring it. She wondered if that would save her shipping and I told her you probably wouldn't charge her for it...so if she mentions that, she got it from me. Argh. Hopefully I didn't fill her full of lies :) She knows what she wants, so hopefully it isn't too crazy. She is a funny girl. Lots of energy. Anyway, Don't let me forget to give you your pants back. I keep wondering what is sitting on my dressor, then I remember it is the pants. Thanks for letting me borrow them. Call us when you get here. - Val

any egg hunt photos or stories to share?
we hid about 12 plastic eggs around the apartment where Ezri would likely find them while playing. They almost all had Cheerios inside...but the egg that had the Peep in it was the "jackpot" egg. It was fun to watch her eat 2 bites of it and get crazy hyperactive. the rest of it got smooshed into the rug in a sticky goo mess. Then, I dressed her up for church - but it was already time to leave for work, oh well.

Albuquerque is the place to be, and other musings

So, I'm sitting in church yesterday and 3 people get up to introduce themselves as new to the ward. All three of them are from Idaho Falls, and one is Chet Taylor. They're all here to sell security systems for the summer, apparently it's become like their careers.

Crafty people, how do you make those cool clocks? Where do you get the parts? We desperately need a new clock and I though it would make a nice Mother's Day gift for Adri Anne. Otherwise I'll just go buy a nice one. In a related question, does anyone know how or where one can get either a large print or canvas (something like 24" x 36") of "The Living Waters" painting? I'd like to get one for our dinning room, but all I can find are 11" x 17" prints reasonably priced (~$20), or canvases already framed in these gaudy frames for like $900. I don't really care for the frames they come in, and $900 is more than I'm willing to spend. I might be willing to spend as much as $150 on the actual paining, then just get a frame I like and frame it myself.

Dentist Visit

Val or Todd,
Thanks for the email with pictures of Riley at the dentist. Kade has his first appointment next week and seemed fine with it until recently he said he was getting a little nervous for it. Kade saw the pictures of Riley and we got some fun books from the library about going to the dentist and he seems o.k. with the idea now. He really liked seeing the pictures of Riley at the dentist.

We are coming up to Idaho Falls next weekend - the 13, 14, 15 to look for houses. We will probably have a birthday cake at Pat and Dale's Sunday sometime - I don't know when there church is but it would be fun if you guys could come over for some birthday cake.

I hesitate to ask...

but has there been any update on Rich and Buffy's work/living situation?

Easter

Just wanted to let you know you are invited to come up here for Easter. Ham, twice baked potatoes and the best easter egg hunt EVER!
Mom

Keep It Simple

Florida Wins = Todd Wins
Ohio Wins = Brad Wins.

I think that is right.

brad