Hamilton Happenings

Melissa and I are adjusting to our new area. It's different living in an apartment complex. And our new ward (or church congregation) takes a bit of getting used to. We've met nice people though. Turns out that one of the families is from the mission I served in (Las Vegas West), and was taught by an Elder that I served around. So it was nice doing a little reminiscing. But there are also things that are hard to know how to respond to. An activity this week is a perfect example: A Hotdog, Indexing Party. Nothing like doing some family history work while munching on bulk, rolled beef. There certainly isn't anything wrong with eating a hodge-podge of meat while attempting to read illegible names. Just an odd event. Not really sure why, but hotdogs often remind me of bologna. As a kid (a child - not a baby goat) , if I was craving a hotdog but we didn't have any - I'd simply tightly wrap up a slice of bologna. If I was feeling creative I'd maybe even roll up a s

For the last 4 months I've been living in a family's basement in Riverton, Utah because of my internship. There are 4 other guys that also live in the apartment. It's a nice place. This is my last week! Woohoo . One of the other roommates decided to move out as well. Turns out he was the one that owned most of the dishes in the kitchen. (And almost all of the food in the freezer) So what are we supposed to do for cereal now? I'm not above using tupperware as a bowl. I don't care. Here's an idea I hadn't thought of though: A paper plate! And then there is always the ever classic of stuffing a handful of cereal in your mouth and taking a swig of milk from the jug. But thankfully I have foresight and I brought 2 bowls with me. Not sure why I brought 2... Only need one. Not like I'm going to have any breakfast guests over. But like I said, this is my last week. Then some guy in his late 60's by the name of Rolf will move in and take my place.

I don't often read the news But when I do, I do it from a satirical point of view: 1. It's often easy to look at the negative side of anything. A news article I read today gave me good reason to not let my kids have an Idaho education! Summary: An Idaho man was wanted for selling fake drugs. They identified that he worked at a Pest Control company so they setup a sting. On his way to the job the cops arrested him. He later got out of jail and didn't realize what had happened. He sent a text to the fake customer (an officer) apologizing for not making it to the appointment. -My first reaction was to decide not to let my kids suffer through an Idaho education. But maybe I should instead consider - At least he was diligent! He wasn't going to let going to jail stop him from accomplishing his job. Guess he needs the money so he can continue to afford to make fake drugs that he sells. (Oops, that was negative again...) -And if I was to base my child's educatio

Melissa and I enjoy going on a walk - after all we don't have cable, what else is there to do? Also doctor orders are to walk a half hour each day while being pregnant. Being that we now live in a new place, we have new opportunities to explore! And on our first walk together we decided to walk towards G's Dairy (local ice cream place)! We had only made it a few blocks when I hear this noise coming from a bush. It was a loud, dirty kitten meowing. We briefly petted it with our fingertip before we decided we'd keep on walking and let it go back into it's bush. Nope. It followed us down the sidewalk. People in cars driving by gave us envious looks. "How did you train your cat to do anything other than lie around the house? That's awesome. " At least that's what their eyes were saying. We decided that it must be really hungry and that we'd take it back to our apartment to give it some quick nourishment before we dropped the cat off at our old nei

It's no secret that my dad works on cars. He was doing it long before I was born. And most of my life he's been doing it as a profession. As a result of this, I ended up spending a lot of time in the shop as well (sometimes whether I wanted to or not.) Starting pretty young, my dad would pay me to be out in the shop working on vehicles. It was a good thing thing for a pre-teen boy. It instilled hard work in my early years. As the years went on, I continued to spend more time in the shop. Sometimes it was for customer cars, my problem cars, family cars, or even just to keep my dad company. Some of our projects would last until 2 or 3 in the morning - when I'd then go to bed leaving my dad to continue to work! He is a great example of sticking through with something until it's finished - and finished right! I realized as I got into my 20's, that in the shop was a time when my dad and I could easily talk about things. I have the ability to be pretty introverted and

What is it about human nature that makes people want to compete in so many areas of life. Even with simple story telling? What creates the need to "one-up" someone else? Maybe this stems from people wanting to feel like they've been heard. I was listening in on the conversation on the other side of the cubicle wall among the database gurus. They were talking about bad experiences they've had taking their vehicle to a mechanic. Nearly everyone has a story about that. It's one of those subjects that you don't mention - unless you are prepared for a one-up battle . The same goes for wisdom teeth stories!

What a busy weekend! We moved apartments and got our first ultrasound. Melissa called it a gummy bear; I called it a sour patch kid (just trying to be different.) And then Melissa proceeded to show me the difference between sour patch & gummy bears. It's a great impression! Definitely ask her to show you. She didn't want to redo it on video for me to post. But it came down to the sour patch has more developed arms and legs, whereas the bears only have nubs. But I'll continue to call it the sour patch ultrasound though - maybe I can get Melissa to re-enact the differences again. Anyways, I'll stop having you read my nonsense and just post the image (assuming you haven't already skipped to it.)