Having a Ball

Mechanic

2012-01-23T11:50:00.001-05:00

The other day Drostan decided he needed to fix Grayson's car. He got out his tools, climbed under the car and worked for several minutes to "fix" it. Apparently it was really broken. Good thing we have a handyman around. (too bad he can't fix hot tubs)

2012-01-23T11:24:00.000-05:00

We had such a fun time in Idaho for Christmas visiting most of our family. There made lots of fun memories; too many to post. But here are a couple of the best...

Spending time with our GREATEST blessings.

Thanksgiving Fun

2011-12-08T15:35:00.001-05:00

We spent thanksgiving at our house with Devan's aunt Elinor's family and the rest of our "substitute" family which includes our ward friends that also don't have family in the area. We ended up with over 30 people. What a blast!!! It was crazy so I didn't get pics of the event but here are some before and after.

Drostan rolling out dough for his great-grandma's monkey bread.

One of the great things with such a big group was we only had to make a few things. We fried a turkey and roasted a turkey breast and of course made green bean casserole and monkey bread. We had oodles of delicious food.

The kids played all day and were exhausted at the end. Drostan and Spencer love to do things together. At bedtime we found them both curled in balls, sharing Drostan's toddler bed.

Not thanksgiving related, but after living in our house 11/2 years I finally got my chalkboard wall comleted. Yeah!!!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-12-08T15:00:00.001-05:00

It's very late to be posting these, but I thought they were fun and they let you see some of the fun we've been having. For Halloween this year, we hosted a pumpkin carving party. We had lots of people and lots of fun.

My monsters getting ready for the party.

Drostan showing his claws and roaring. Scary!!!

We did several crafts for the kids. Here they are making playdough ghosts. We also made bat pumpkins and played a mummy game and eyeball race.

We even had a hay ride (yes there is even straw in there) for those who wanted to brave the cold.

We even carved some pumpins at our "pumpkin carving" party.

a few pics

2011-11-18T21:13:00.001-05:00

So I have decided to take over our blog since Devan is too busy on Facebook to bother. Anyway, I thought I would post some of our recent pics of the boys.

Grayson is growing so fast, he is smiling, cooing, and giggling all the time. He is quite a vocal child, always making some kind of noise. He is also carrying on the Madsen tradition in being "vertically challanged." He is 50% in weight but only 10% in height. He has also taken after the ball side in the hair department.

I finally pulled up the corn stalks and piled them on the driveway by the garden. Drostan went out to play with Devan and discovered a treasure. He made a depression in the middle and promptly sat in it declaring it was his nest. (it really did look like a giant nest)

Grayson doesn't like to be away from the action so this is where he likes it best when mom is cooking or cleaning--sitting on the counter.

Drostan is still a doting big brother. He is constantly hugging and kissing and generally mauling his younger brother (even when he isn't supposed to be on the counter).

This is a common occurance the last few weeks as Grayson has been teething. He frequently gets both fists in his mouth, don't ask me how.

Having a Ball

2011-09-20T10:38:00.005-04:00

For my birthday this year my wife took me to "Harry Potter" and dinner, after which I took her to the hospital. Her water had broken during the movie, but she toughed it out and then insisted that we eat before she went to the hospital. We showed up at the hospital at about 5:30 and at 3:09 am Grayson Wallace Ball was born. He weighed 7lbs 15oz.

After being home for a few days Grayson decided he wanted to go back to the hospital. His bilirubin had been high repeatedly and the pediatrician wanted to have him spend the night on the lights. In the morning his bilirubin had gone down and he was sent back home.

Drostan loves his little brother. People keep asking if he is getting jealous but everytime he gets to hold Grayson or help take care of him, he gets that same silly smile on his face. He is a great big brother.

Here is Grayson in his blessing outfit which was made by Kris (whom Drostan has named White Grandma).

Busy Summer

2011-07-11T15:34:00.002-04:00

Well it has been a little over a year since I have posted and a lot has happened. We bought a house and moved in and got settled. Got pregnant and now summer is here. Along with summer came a long list of honey do's. First up, Cassie decided that Drostan and eventually our other children need a swing set . No ordinary swing set would do, she wanted the one that takes three weeks and an engineering degree to put together. Luckily my friend has an engineering degree and I have time so eventually that project was done and Drostan loves his "house"
Next up was refinishing the deck (you can see the completed swing set in the background). First we had to strip off all the old weatherproofing, and then five gallons of Thompsons water seal later our deck was ready to take on the elements again. You never realize how big a deck is until you have to paint it three times. One layer of stripping compound, wash, one layer water seal, by the time you are finished it is time for the second coat, and that is just for the area around the firepit, tomorrow you have to do the rest of the deck by the house.
We also decided to plant a little garden. Three rows of potatoes, two rows of carrots, broccoli, onions, peppers (three different kinds), six roma tomatoes, six rows of corn, two rows of beans, two rows of peas, a summer squash and a winter squash. Some of them are doing better than others but hopefully we get some good food. We also had to redo our front flower beds. Cassie tore out all the pre-existing plants (because she didn't like them) along with the copious weeds and we replanted them and added 2.5 cu yrds of mulch. In order to accomplish all that........
We needed to buy a truck. It is really hard to rent a tiller and haul a truck load of mulch if you don't have a truck to do it with. 2.5 cu yrds of mulch is filling the whole truck bed to overflowing. Yeah, that was fun spreading around by hand. The problem is we still need probably another 2 cu yrds, but we'll get to that later. The truck was actually just luck. One of our friends was moving to Washington state, and after a little convincing decided that he didn't need to drive that truck all the way across the country. So he sold me the truck along with...........his hot tub. He was actually going to take it with him, but it ended up being 2 inches too big. Oh darn. Cassie and I really didn't intend to add a hot tub but if life gives you lemons you make lemonade. We had to have a second platform added to our deck because the existing deck was not sufficient to hold a 3000 lb hot tub. So we built the hot tub platform a little lower than the deck so you step down into the hot tub. Now we are just waiting for a little cooler weather to use the hot tub. Maybe we will just fill it with cold water and use it to cool down during the summer.
After getting all this work done Cassie gave me a great big long........ list of more honey do's. Oh well I better get back to work.

Two Years Old

2010-05-24T17:08:00.002-04:00

Well Drostan actually made it to two years old (and counting). Cassie decided that he needed a real party, so on Sat (May 15) we had a party at the park with some of his friends. Cassie took charge of all the planning and preparation. She made him this awesome cake. It had a little pretzel fence, but Drostan got a hold of it before it was put on the cake.

These are Drostan's (and our) friends. Unfortunately, this is the only picture that has Dad in it because shortly after this picture I was called into work.

Drostan loved all his presents. He is at the age where everything is so exciting. It is so fun to watch him play and learn.

Actually these are large bubble tubes, but they make a usable light saber for 2-3 year olds.

Cassie also made Drostan this Cars quilt. He may get to use it when he moves to a big kid bed.

Our New House

2010-05-13T20:27:00.003-04:00

Cassie started getting a little restless a while ago and decided she wanted to buy a house. So as luck would have it the Relief Society president in our ward decided to move back to Utah and sell her house. It is a fairly new house but Cassie only needed to see one thing before deciding to buy it.

And this was it. Cassie saw the tub in the master bath and she was ready to sign on the dotted line. The rest of the house is pretty cool too...

The front room which has a gas fireplace. The fireplace is also hooked up to the generator so that it will still work if the power goes out.

The tub in the master bathroom is pretty sweet but so is the double shower....

and there is a large deck out back with a built-in fire pit where I can go light a fire and celebrate my manliness.

Easter Egg Roll

2010-04-17T13:43:00.002-04:00

This year since Drostan is a little older we wanted to do something really fun for Easter. So Cassie, Drostan, and I along with 50,000 of Obama's close friends went to the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll. After standing in line for a long time (made even longer by an anxious 2 year old) we made it onto the South Lawn.

Drostan did the Easter Egg Hunt, as you can see some of the eggs were hidden pretty well. You were only allowed to take two eggs, so we had to keep emptying Drostan's basket as he surpassed his limit.

There were a lot of other activities on the lawn. We had belly-dancers.....

.......Roof-top snipers.......

................Oh and of course, the Easter Bunny.

After it was all over we loaded up and headed home. Drostan was so exhausted after all the activity that he passed out in the back seat and slept pretty much the whole way home. All in all it was pretty fun little trip. The weather decided to cooperate and it hit nearly 90 degrees that day. The only downside is Obama never showed up, I wanted to talk to him about this health care fiasco...

Spring has sprung

2010-04-15T17:45:00.002-04:00

Spring has officially come to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Most of the trees are budding and bushes are flowering. One of the bushes in our backyard is even losing all its flowers already. Here are some of the beautiful shrubberies around our house.

Of course the downside of all the beautiful flowers and trees is the insane amount of pollen in the air and covering everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. My normally white car is a strange mix of yellow and green, and even the roads have a light green hue.

My Little Boy

2010-03-20T16:12:00.004-04:00

Wtih all my siblings having children and posting about it I figured I should put up something about my little boy. We went to a ward party and Drostan took the opportunity to introduce our new ward to his cute personality. One of the members snapped this pic and gave it to him. He didn't put it down for hours, thus all the wrinkles.

Drostan likes his toys about as much as any child (generally having more fun with the box the toy came in) but sometimes those toys just don't provide enough action for a very active boy. So Drostan found a few household items- a spaghetti scoop and a whiffle golf ball, and invented his own game. He played for hours and was getting pretty good at flinging the golf ball all the way across the room and then he found a box.

Four Little Letters

2010-01-26T12:07:00.003-05:00

Okay I know it has been quite a while since I posted anything. I have been relatively busy lately. After graduation we moved to Salisbury, MD. Then a few days after moving we went back to Idaho for Christmas. I came back to MD before Cassie and Drostan and got a start on studying for my board examination. I have been studying everyday since for 6-8 hours a day, it is worse than having a job!! So the day finally came (today) for me to take the test. For those of you that have never had to taken a computer adaptive test let me explain. After having to remove everything from your pockets, all jewelry, all piercings and all clothes except for your underwear (I might be exaggerating just a little). They take you into a room sit you at a computer and the test begins. You have to take a minimum of 100 questions and max of 180. You have three hours to take the test, and if you don't pass you face certain shame, mocking of your peers and worst of all you have to take it again (which is the worst part). Then the questions begin, questions that you would never contemplate in a million years. Let me give you an example. "if you were in the backwoods of West Virginia and you had to do emergency surgery on an 80 years old man with aortic stenosis. liver failure, renal disease and multiple gunshot wounds what would you use to intubate (intubate=putting a breathing tube in the trachea). A) a clean stick B) your finger C) your hunting knife." Are you kidding me????? Somehow I made it through all the questions and went to get my "unofficial" results. Just bear in mind that my entire future rests on the results of this one test. Four little letters P...A...S...S or F...A...I...L so which will it be. It was so nerve racking waiting for that piece of paper to print. So what do you think it said???

See for yourself

Drostan's First Snowball Fight

2009-12-05T15:59:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful storm this weekend. It rained for the first few hours and then turned to snow. Of course, at first, the snow melted as soon as it hit the wet ground, but after several hours enough snow had accumulated to actually cover the ground. So we decided to take Drostan outside and play in the snow. We felt like he was old enought to learn to properly enjoy snow. So first we taught him the basics.

After he had the basics down we went to the advanced round.

We're still working on his aim.

We also tried to teach him to build a snowman. We built the bottom for the snowman easily enough. Then we put on the middle (stomach) of the snowman and..........

The snowman was so fat(or rather the snow was so heavy) that the middle crushed the bottom. I guess the obesity epidemic is even worse than I thought.

After all that playing in the snow we also taught him how to enjoy being out of the snow. Hot chocolate with marshmallows. Yummy.

Check

2009-11-17T20:37:00.002-05:00

So right now life is a little busy for Cassie and I. I am set to graduate on Dec 19 (32 calendar days and counting). We have an 18 month old, crazy, energetic little boy. That keeps Cassie busy morning, noon and night. In addition to all that Cassie and I will be moving right before graduation. So running through the checklist: Apply for graduation, check; boxes for moving, check; moving van, check; employment, check. It seems the only thing missing is a place to live. That could be problematic.

Luckily, I have been completing my indentured servitude at the Veteran's hospital in DC. The OR was closed on Veteran's Day and I did not have clinicals on Tues because of class. So Cassie and I took Drostan for a road trip to Salisbury. My company put us up in a hotel and took us out to dinner. Cassie and I set up appointments to check out some houses to rent. (For those of you who don't know Salisbury has a university so many of the houses for rent are geared to college kids.) We looked at several places but most of them were small with little living space and even less storage space. A couple of places were okay and looked nice, they were all much cheaper than out current rent. However, the last appointment was for a real house in a nice neighborhood. The first time we called about it the lady said that she had some renters, but she called us back on Mon and asked if we were still interested. So we went and checked it out. It is a little older house that has not been updated since it was built, but it has some space. The link has many pictures of the house, some are kind of fuzzy but the pictures of the outside are pretty nice. http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/20581881. For those of you that have not come to visit (you know who you are) or anyone who wants to come visit again and hit the beach, we may actually have some room to spare. The best part, rent is still less than we pay now.

That's all for now, I have to go and study to make sure I do indeed graduate.

My Crazy Kid

2009-10-10T20:09:00.002-04:00

I have been called to repentance by my wife, for not posting anything about our son on the blog for far too long. Nevermind the fact that I tried to teach her how to post and she chose not to learn. Nevermind that I am in the final semester (yeah) of grad school. Oh well, it is what it is. Drostan is one crazy kid. In the last several months since I last posted (about Drostan) he has done a fair bit of growing up. He has gone back to Idaho and visited the grandparents, endured undue taunts and ridicule from his uncles, survived many long arduous journeys (my interview trips) and come out practically unscathed.

Drostan loves the playground. If we go for a walk and Drostan sees playground equipment he is gone. He will take off whether mom and dad follow or not. Trust me he has done it. He is playing with another little boy in our ward, who happens to be 4 days younger than Drostan (not that you would know it by looking at the size difference).

Drostan at the Baltimore Zoo. It was hard to convince the zookeeps that he didn't belong with the monkeys. He has started climbing anything and everything. Nothing is safe.

Drostan is in too big a hurry to grow up. After suffering the aforementioned torment (from his evil uncles). Drostan got another haircut, which he liked about as much as the first one. After that he looked much less like our cute baby and more like a little boy. Ever since he has wanted to be all grown up. Drostan climbed up into the car over the console and proceeded to "drive" the car.

And this is where we ended up. And where we will end up for the next few years. This is the beach at Ocean City, a few miles from Salisbury.

And we still have the cutest boy in the whole world.

Decisions, decisions

2009-09-14T13:50:00.004-04:00

As some of you may know, I have been looking for a job recently. I know I don't graduate for 95 days (but who's counting) but the credentialing process can sometimes take several months to complete. And after having been without an income for many long months I am a little excited to start getting paid. I regress-anyway I went on several interiews, one in New York, two in Pennsylvania, and one in Maryland. After the interviews I eliminated one in PA, the other one was #3 on my list, but the top two was a tie between Cooperstown NY (Baseball Hall of Fame/Lake Ostego) and Salisbury MD (20 minutes from the ocean). Decisions, decisions.

Ocean City, MD

Cooperstown, NY

As you can see not an easy decision. Both opportunities would be good jobs. Salary and benefits were comparable. Both were very nice hospitals that would allow me the kind of job/autonomy that I wanted. One (NY) was situated on the edge of a large lake inbetween the Catskill and the Adirondack mountains. The other (MD) is twenty minutes from the beach, and we checked out the beach-very nice. So how do you decide? We flipped a coin and it landed on edge-honestly.

Rock-paper-scissors? throwing darts at a map? I don't know.

After comparing everything from town size to sales tax, we made a decision, I think. We are relatively cetain that my first job as a CRNA will be in......

ummmm (clearing my throat).....

drum roll please.........

.My computer is running so slow..........

oh yea, my first job is going to be in ---as long as they still want me in January, and I pass my boards---

Salisbury MD.

Catching up

2009-07-09T10:14:00.002-04:00

So it has been awhile since I have had time to post anything. So I thought I would throw a few pictures up and let you all see what we have been up to. As many of you may remember Drostan's hair was interesting during his first few months, it would have made a perfect mohawk if it stood up. I had been telling Cassie for a few weeks that he was starting to look shaggy. Well she finally agreed and we attempted to cut Drostan's hair. Trust me he did not appreciate it at all.

But doesn't he look so much better. If you make the picture bigger you can see the remnants of a tear under his right eye.

Mom however would not cut his curls in the back.

Later Mom made cookies to make him feel better. Drostan wanted to help. Normally, for Drostan, eating with a spoon means holding the spoon in one hand and shoveling food in his mouth with the other hand. This time he got it right.
Drostan's new hobby is rearranging the furniture. I guess he takes after his mother after all.

Stay tuned there will be more to come..............sometime. For now I am going to bed.

.............Continued

2009-05-20T20:53:00.003-04:00

So our story continues after Drostan has had all his fun with his toys. Mom made him a cute little cake that looks like a teddy bear. Well what good is having a cake if you can't eat it?? Having never eaten cake before he was a little wary.

I'll just try a little bit.

Oh! that was good! Baby like!

What? It is MY birthday.
OOOHHH, cake is GOOD. More please.

yea, show of all those teeth. Two more are coming in on the top. Drostan had cake from head to toe. Literally there was cake in his hair and all down both legs, but he had fun. And after all, it was HIS birthday.

Drostan loves to play and dance.

Drostan's First Birthday

2009-05-19T18:04:00.004-04:00

It seems impossible but last Saturday, May 16, Drostan turned 1 year old. It has been so much fun to watch him grow up and play and learn. Drostan is one of the funnest, happiest, and definitely cutest babies ever. So to celebrate his birthday Dad took Drostan out to the woods. Our ward was having the Father and Son campout so we went and gave mom the night off.

Drostan chilling out watching the fire. He is tired so he looks a little zoned out. but check out his cool boots from Gma &Gpa Madsen.

Gma & Gpa Ball sent Drostan's present and lucky for us it arrived on his B-day. Drostan hit one of the keys on his musical caterpillar as he was opening it and he wouldn't even finish unwrapping it he just wanted to play with it as it was.

Everybody thinks that Drostan does not like the phone because he will never talk on it when we want him to, but he loves to play with the phone when no one is on it. So mom and dad got him his own along with some chew toys which happen to be some of his favorite toys.

Ain't my wife great. She made this teddy bear cake all by herself.

Drostan only needed a little help blowing out the candle. He needed a lot of help to keep from tearing the cake to pieces before we could take a picture.

To be continued..............

Spring has sprung

2009-04-10T10:25:00.006-04:00

Spring has officially sprung in DC, and with it all the tourists. A few weekends ago we decided to go and see the cherry blossoms. Drostan has "sort of" been there before but we thought he might like to get out and walk around. Generally DC traffic is not so bad during the weekend, but there was a hockey game and the Cherry Blossom festival, so it was a little crazier than usual. We finally made it to the Tidal Basin and it was worth it. The trees were in full bloom and everytime there was a breeze it looked like it was snowing because of all the blossoms in the air.

Drostan played it cool. He was just chillin until....

............we let him out of the stroller. He had a great time. He is so fearless, he was running after other little kids (mostly 2-5 yr olds) and walking up to complete strangers. He can be quite the charmer when he has an audience.

He especially liked being in the tree. He thought that was the greatest thing.

A night on the town

2009-04-10T09:45:00.003-04:00

Living in the DC Metro area is great, there is always something to do. Some of those things are free (Smithsonian, monuments, animal rights protests) and some of those things are not (a night at the Kennedy Center, football games, and the circus). We have tried to do mostly the free stuff, owing to our status as poor college students (again). However, while Randy and Kris were visiting we decided to do both. We heard on the radio that the circus was coming to town, oddly enough it was the same time as Randy and Kris (hmmm). Neither Cassie nor I could remember the last time we had been to the circus. So we took the Metro down to DC, and amazingly no one got lost. We popped up right in front of a show. PETA or some other group had come to protest (you can never have enough protests in DC). People were screaming and chanting for Barnum and Bailey (who I think are dead) to "go home" they also threw in there animal molesters, animal abusers, and just to cover all their bases child molesters. It was quite entertaining, I think there were more freaks outside the "big tent" than inside. Oh and the circus was fun too. They had all the usual accoutrements, clowns and acrobats, and animals. The stadium was so dark that a lot of the pictures didn't turn out but some of them are posted below.

The elephants were probably the coolest part of the animal segment. These might even be termed "big elephants" by my dad. Its amazing what they can do.

But for me the coolest part of the circus was these guys.

I gotta get me one of those.

No Safe Place

2009-03-31T21:10:00.006-04:00

Can I just tell you all that this has been a crazy month. Crawling around gets you nowhere fast. I was so sick of going everywhere on my hands and knees. Everybody else here walks around I figured it was time I started standing on my own two legs. It took me a few bruised knees but I figured it out soon enough. And since I did I am free. The world looks a whole lot different from this perspective, so many new places to explore. I found this great hiding place under the sink. Mom and Dad were a couple of killjoys and wouldn't let me hang out for very long, but I'll go back when they're not looking.
Getting in was easy enough but I had a little trouble getting out. I kept bumping my head (darn tight quarters)

After mastering the the whole walking thing, it was on to the next step, literally. My house has three levels and I like to play on all three but stairs can be tricky. My friend Hunter taught me how to go up the stairs easy enough, but I've fallen down the stairs once and I wasn't looking forward to doing that again. These two crazy old people came and stayed with me for a few days and the very first day they were here they started dragging me down the stairs backwards. I figured if I didn't figure out how to go down the stairs they were going to kill me. Lucky for me as soon as I started doing it on my own the let me, no more getting dragged by my ankles. I am doing pretty good too, only fallen a couple of times (when no one was looking).

Speaking of those old folks, Mom and Dad said they are my grandma and grandpa Madsen. They hung out for a few days and played. The old man is a big chicken (check out the video below), cracked me up how easy he was to scare.

Here we got into a heated argument, I think I won.

Walker

2009-03-07T15:55:00.005-05:00

He is no Texas Ranger, but nonetheless, Drostan is a walker. He has been teasing us for several weeks. As soon as he could crawl he would crawl over to anything he could and pull himself up on it. That soon progressed to pulling himself up and then letting go and standing there. Then he just kind of stopped there and was happy with that. Then he decided he could walk as long as he had something to hold onto. So Cassie and I went to Target (sorry Justin) and bought him a little walker. He loves it. He chases Dad and runs into the wall, great fun for little boys.

At times he has become quite the little chatterbox as well. You can see in the first video he jabbers quite proficiently. The second video is one of his first attempts at walking unassisted. He has been practicing all day and is doing even better now. However, our 81/2 year old camera is starting to show its age and may need to soon be replaced. Don't worry about the fall in the third video, no blood no foul, right? It actually looks worse than it really was.

Drostan and Dad

2009-02-04T22:02:00.004-05:00

Anesthesia school is somewhat stressful. I spend many hours at the hospital and almost as much time studying. As such occasionally I need to decompress. My favorite thing to do is to come home to my beautiful wife and my wonderful son. This makes call very difficult because after a full day I have to go to an empty room and try to sleep before waking up in the middle of the night because nobody in this area knows how to drive (Sorry, enough ranting). Anyway playing with Drostan is often what gets me through from day to day.

Super Bowl Sunday

2009-02-04T21:35:00.003-05:00

"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father..." I don't know how many times I have read this verse, but I figured if it worked for Lehi maybe I should do it too. So in an effort to teach Drostan "in all the learning of [his] father" we taught him about football.

On Saturday Drostan was standing up and throwing his arms in the air and it looked just like a referee signaling a touchdown. So I grabbed the camera and this was the best shot I could get.Next we tried to teach Drostan how to navigate the stairs. Now that we have a mobile son, when one of us leaves the room Drostan decides to follow. This is the first time he tried to climb the stairs (he was following his Daddy). He got up about three stairs and got stuck, but he couldn't figure out how to go down either.
Next, came mealtime/messmaking. Drostan loves to eat. He eats everything he can get his hands on, literally. Shoes, paper, random objects on the floor, etc. Well we were having spaghetti one night so we decided to let Drostan try some too. He eventually got some of it in his mouth.

With Randy for a grandpa Drostan also has to learn about all kinds of strange animals he may eventually encounter at grandpa's house. I don't know about the triceritops but if Randy could find a giraffe for sale he would probably buy it.

and this is just a picture to prove that I really do have the cutest boy in the whole wide world. As if all the other pictures hadn't convinced you.

First Christmas

2009-01-01T19:00:00.002-05:00

Even though Cassie and I have been married for 8 years this was the first year that we have ever celebrated Christmas by ourselves. It was extra special because it was also Drostan's first Christmas. Because we are poor college students we decided to go low key this year, besides Drostan really doesn't know what is going on, he just wants to eat the paper. Drostan was very good to unwrap all the presents, the trick was to let him rip a piece of paper off and then take it away so he had to rip another piece off to eat. I think he had fun.

You can see his mouth open and he is getting ready to eat the paper before he even has it off the box.

"Oh Mom, you shouldn't have"

At this point he just resorted to eating the paper while it was on the box because everytime he took it off the box someone took it away from him.

Mom and Das got some presents too. Since I am in the bishopric and have to wear a suit every week Cassie bought me a new suit, my old one is almost 6 years old. The piture doesn't do it justice, but the lining in irridescent and shimmers between the pink/purple you can see to a green and a gray. Very cool. Cassie got gift cards so that she can pick out her own cool clothes.

Later we all went to Doug and Elinor's to share some holiday cheer with our cousins. We had a lovely Christmas dinner, visited and played some games. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year and we pray that we might all keep the Christmas spirit alive in our hearts throughout the rest of the year.

Skyline Drive

2008-11-24T18:59:00.003-05:00

Skyline Drive (not the one in IF) is a scenic byway that runs right along the ridge of the Shenandoah Mountain Range. Cassie and I took one of our few weekends and took a short drive back in October. Unfortunately we were a little early for the full display of colors but it was a nice drive.

Just looking at all those trees you can imagine what it would be like if they were all yellow, orange and red. In the following weeks the trees lining the interstate between Laurel and Baltimore were blazing red and orange, but I never had my camera so you will all have to imagine what a sight it was.

Can you believe these pass for mountains out here?

Toothless No More

2008-11-24T18:30:00.003-05:00

Well, the toothless wonder is no more........., toothless that is. Drostan has gotten his first two teeth. Since getting his teeth he feels it is his duty to use them to the utmost. He chews and slobbers on anything and everything he can get his hands on. Just this morning he turned my lunch bag into swiss cheese. The problem is he has been biting Mommy, and as you can guess that doesn't go over well.

Just a friendly game of tug-o-war with Dad. (Probably the only time I can get in his face like this and still have him happy to see me)

"If I could just figure out how to move I would have it made". Drostan is trying his hardest to figure out this crawling thing. He is able to assume the position but as you can see.........

...he has trouble getting anywhere except back down. Timber. But he keeps trying and should have it figured out by Christmas when he will come home and show off.

This has trouble written all over it. But dang he is CUTE!

It's Official

2008-10-21T07:48:00.005-04:00

Our baby is the cutest baby. We went to the ward Halloween Party and our baby was judged to be the cutest, or at least his costume. Candie gave Cassie this costume when she was in Idaho.

He doesn't so much like to keep the gloves.

Announcement: Drostan cut both his bottom teeth this last week.

Where's Waldo

2008-10-17T21:17:00.003-04:00

Not quite Waldo but somewhere in all those toys is my little boy. It reminds me of that scene in E.T. when they are trying to hide him. I just thought the pictures were so cute so I posted several of them. These stuffed animals all belonged to Cassie and her siblings.

That is one good boy. He stayed still for all those pictures.

Animal Lover

2008-10-17T20:55:00.003-04:00

Well Drostan is certainly making his grandpa Madsen proud. On his first trip to the Madsen menagerie he has proven himself to be quite the animal lover. Big and small Drostan seemed to like all the animals and the animals seemed to like him also. Yes, that is a live dog/rat and it tastes good too.
First time on the horse, who needs to learn to walk the horses do all the work.
Second time on the horse, it was a much nicer day and Drostan slept through most of the ride.
He is shaking "hands" with Randy's psycho bird. The bird actually started reaching through the cage to touch Drostan and then Drostan started touching back. The bird doesn't do that with everybody.

He also got to help grandpa feed the horses and llamas, played with all the 50 different dogs, and he especially liked playing with the kittens. (No pictures)

Fun in Idaho

2008-10-14T10:37:00.004-04:00

So Cassie went back to Idaho for a visit in the middle of Sept and took Drostan. Of course, Drostan was the hit at every party and everybody wanted to play with him. I don't know that I missed the sleepless nights but I certainly missed my little boy and his mama. I was so glad to have them both home again.

Drostan and his cousin Dash (2yrs old)
Drostan and his cousin Alexis (5 yrs old) Drostan and his uncle Aaron.
Drostan playing with his newest aunt, Valerie and Jared.
Cousin Ryker sharing his teddy bear with Drostan.

Proud new owner

2008-10-06T21:19:00.004-04:00

So I am now the proud new owner of a Hyundai Sonata. Of course as soon as Cassie gets home she is going to steal it from me, but my name is on the title not hers (because I bought it while Cassie was gone). In fact, Cassie has not even driven it, but I have been enjoying being able to drive it. I found out that I can squeal the tires anytime I want if I floor it.

This is not actually our car because ours doesn't have a sunroof, but it is the same color. I can't take any pictures because Cassie has our camera. Of course I have been wanting to buy a new camera.............................

It has a big trunk, and not that I will ever need it, it also has a glow in the dark handle to open the trunk from the inside. How cool is that!

Glow in the dark is always cool.

Tagged

2008-09-17T12:13:00.002-04:00

So I have finally been tagged. Several of my friends have been tagged but I had somehow avoided it until now. Thanks Angie. Everybody does tagging a little different so I will explain the rules of this particular "tag" first.
-Link to the person who tagged you
-Mention the rules on your blog
-Tell your readers 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
-Tag 5 fellow bloggers by linking to them (actually it is supposed to be 6 but I only know 5 that haven't been tagged).
-Leave a comment on the tagged victim 's blog and let her know she's been tagged.

So in this particular tagging "Devan and Cassie" were tagged so we only need to come up with six things between us. That being said it was still kind of difficult. Try to find anything unspectacular about Cassie. Like I said kind of difficult. So I did my best

#1 Cassie is a backseat/sideseat/sidecar driver. It is horrible. It must be a part of her DNA. No matter where she is sitting she can't help but tell me how to drive. Never mind that I drive in DC on an almost daily basis (DC traffic being insane) she still tries to tell me how to drive in DC and anywhere else we go. On the way to my parents house she will tell me how to get there.

#2 Cassie is a spectacular mother. She is practically a single mother sometimes. According to some in my family, my boy is "very challenging" which is code for "pain in the ---". So the fact that she can do it all with a smile day after day is very spectacular to me. (Personal disclaimer: I try to help as much as possible but my schedule is a little full and we love our little boy, "challenging" or not)

#3 Cassie is a furniture mover. She can't leave furniture in the same place for very long. Growing up we never moved the furniture. In fact I remember when we moved out of our house on Kearney the carpet under the couch in the front room (a lovely golden shag) was a completely different color, we're not talking shades here, a completely different color than the rest of the room. The couch had never been moved. I have come home from work and Cassie would have rearranged the whole house. We used to have some pretty heavy furniture too. She's amazing thats all I can say.

#4 I love my job. Techincally, it isn't my job yet because I am still in school but it still counts. What other job lets you jam a 3-4 inch needle in someone's back and get away with it? Or knock someone out and watch them get cut open? Greatest job in the world. Now some of you think I am crazy but thats just me.

#5 I love the Nintendo Wii tank game. Whenever I have the time (which is almost never) I love to play it. I have reached level 50 and my record is 218 tanks. I can play it for hours when I don't have homework, or a screaming child.

#6 I hate raw tomatoes. It is the stangest thing. I love salsa, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup even but a plain raw tomato makes me gag. I have tried, on my mission, since I have been home, I just do not like raw tomatoes. I can even put them on hamburgers, as long as they are not too big. Weird.

So there you all go 6 spectacular and not so spectacular things about Cassie and I. Now I tag Ryan and Di, Trevor and Ariane, Melanie and Justin, Angelee and Jeff, and Brett and Celeste.

SAY WHAT?!?!?!?!?

2008-09-15T11:47:00.002-04:00

So Friday night I got a call from the stake executive secretary. He asked if Cassie and I could meet with the Stake Pres on Sat morning. We said that we could and then started to dileberate on which of us was going to get a new calling (what else would the stake president want). Cassie is the first counselor in the Primary presidency and I am first counselor in the Young Men's presidency. The executive secretary was moving out of the ward and I did not want that job. So Saturday arrived and we met with the Stake president. He asked us to tell him a little about ourselves (because he doesn't know us that well). Then he what callings we had and I told him I was in the Young Men's presidency and very happy about it, and Cassie was in the Primary presidency. After that he kind of lowered his head and said, "they not going to be very happy with me". Then he asked if I (Devan) would accept a calling to serve as the.............(drumroll please).................second counselor in the bishopric. ????huh????? What did you say? I was somewhat stunned. I didn't see that one coming. The Stake president said that I still got to work with the young men, so I accepted. So on Sunday I was sustained as the newest counselor in the bishopric. The bishop and the other counselor are the same (except 2nd became 1st) and I am the second. So when I go home next week Dad will ordain me to the office of High Priest and then I will be set apart when I get back. Now I have to figure out how to juggle school, clinicals, baby, wife, and ward. I better be earning brownie points for this one.

My how they grow

2008-09-13T14:01:00.009-04:00

Cassie and I were looking at some pictures the other day and we couldn't believe how big our baby boy has gotten. When you lug them around everyday you just get used to them getting fatter and fatter, and when you see them everyday it doesn't seem like such a big change, but when you look at the pictures........He looks like a completely different person.

He used to just lay around and gaze out the window, now he is sitting up looking around at everything. Look at that little boy sitting up, he isn't even four months old yet.

Mr Drostan "Joe Cool" Ball

Cassie saw these little sunglasses and had to buy them for Drostan. And he actually leaves them on.

The Instruction of Drostan

2008-08-25T20:37:00.003-04:00

Due to my insanely busy schedule time with my son is at a premium. I figured since I have so little time I should spend it teaching him the really important things first. You may need to turn the volume up to hear Drostan "talking" but he is becoming quite the chatter box. Cassie, for her part, is teaching him to be camera shy so everytime I pick up the camera he shuts up.

Drostan hasn't quite figured out how to actually bounce in his bouncer but he likes to play in it all the same. For a little while anyway.Here is one of the few times he didn't get all camera shy. It took about 20 shots to get this one but here is the toothless wonder.

Playtime with Dad is so fun.

Mom can be fun too.

Cuter Every Day

2008-07-30T12:50:00.003-04:00

Some of you have yet to meet Drostan so you are unaware of how unique a child he is. He sleeps less than some adults (I don't just mean at night) we are talking cumulative hours here. He is also brighter and more alert than many adults (read most of the working class on Monday morning). He likes to be held and wants the whole world to revolve around him, just try ignoring him for a few minutes and he will remind you that he is in the room. Then there are the universal baby issues, hungry all the time, poopy all the time, and throwing up on everything in sight. And yet despite all this he still gets cuter everyday.

He loves his daddy.
Definitely more alert than some schmo at a desk (right?)
Look at me and my bad self in my own chair. I am such a big boy.

Side note on the chair: it was in the garbage pile by our house and we snagged it and Kris reupholstered it for Drostan (like brand new).

More baby pictures

2008-07-30T12:38:00.003-04:00

For this post I am going to dispense, for the most part, with my clever commentary. I know the majority of people reading this are just checking for pictures of the baby, and I don't blame you. I have said, unbiasedly, before that he is the cutest darn baby. What can you do?

Sometimes happy
Sometimes not
Held by many, harmed by few. He does look a little worried though.
This is me looking cute.............
............ and this is me melting the hearts of everybody in the room.

July 4 2008

2008-07-25T14:52:00.003-04:00

So here is the idea: We are living near Washington DC, the capital of the nation, which has a fantastic fireworks show and we just had the cutest baby in the world. We should invite our families out to see the fireworks and visit the baby.

Here is what we didn't consider: Mothers+Fathers+Brothers and Sisters+Nieces and Nephews=28 people. We live in a two bedroom townhouse. We (meaning me) are the only ones that know where we are going.

I really got to think these things through better. Luckily only only sixteen of the 28 showed up. Even then herding 16 people downtown in Washington DC is like her sheep.

And to make matters even better, it decided to rain on us..............three times.
Some people apparently enjoyed the rain. Drostan is under the blue poncho eating, so he didn't mind it either.
He was awake for the show and he didn't cry at all. The first explosion startled him a little but after that he just looked up and enjoyed the lights.
Wild man in his leopard blanket and patriotic tee-shirt. It really all turned out very well.

Early July 2008

2008-07-25T14:36:00.004-04:00

July has been a wonderful month for Cassie and I and Drostan. There is no way that I can post all the pictures that we have taken so I will just try to post a few that I think are the cutest.

Drostan truly is a "Daddy's Little Buddy". He looks like his daddy, doesn't sleep (like his daddy) and loves his daddy. And in spite of all that Cassie still loves him and people keep telling us he is so cute. Apparently he got something from his mother.

"Hey I can make that thing out there move." Drostan has started to figure out that those things out in front of him belong to him and he can move them. For two days he did nothing but stare at his feet and move them. He is also starting to reach out for things, sometimes. He met his grandma and grandpa Ball for the first time.
He met his auntie Mel (and Uncle Justin, and cousin Ashley) for the first time also. Along with meeting Mandy and Tyler and kids, Ryan and Di and kids (Ashley belongs to them).
He likes grandpa Madsen too.

I AM DONE!!

2008-07-23T17:14:00.002-04:00

Yes! finally after many hours of tribulation, lots and lots of studying, even more praying, and some more studying (maybe even a little cursing mixed in). I have finally taken my last final exam. My final was a comprehensive final, anything we have learned from the beginning of the program was fair game. They were kind and mostly just tested on things we have learned this summer. After all the blood, sweat and tears I will have a few minutes and will try to add some posts that contain pictures of us and even the little one. But for now I am going to RELAX.

7 Eleven

2008-06-17T00:14:00.003-04:00

As of Thurs June 12 Drostan is 7lbs 11 ounces. He is still a skinny little thing, but he is finally starting to fill out (a little bit).
If you remember last time we took a picture of Drostan in his car seat it dwarfed him. Now he looks quite comfortable.

Ain't I cute, look I even have dimples. The ladies don't have a chance.
Since Drostan likes to have his hands in his face all the time he has started getting little bumps on his cheeks, but he is still pretty darn cute.
I have more hair....No, I have more hair..........No, I have more hair. Well it is a toss-up.
He is getting pretty good at holding his head up and moving his legs, but he hasn't figured out how to move his arms. He has started rolling over though. The first time he did it he found the edge of the couch.

Two Weeks Old

2008-05-31T15:06:00.002-04:00

I was recently chastised by my younger brother, among others, for not posting pictures recently. Never mind that I have a two week old baby and have started the most intense semester of my program. So regardless of the fact that I should be studying I have taken a moment to appease the masses.
The happy couple with their new bundle of joy. We are smiling because he is asleep.
During one of his frequent daytime naps. Now if we could just get him to sleep during the night, all would be well.
He has some of the scrawniest little legs.
He has already started to make me pull my hair out. Actually, I cut it. It gets a little hot under my helmet during the summer. Cassie loves (ha ha) my new do.
Cute as he is, he makes it hard to get a good picture of him because he always has to have his hands up by his face. This is about as good a picture as we can get of him recently, unless he is asleep, and even then he has his hands on his face.

You can all see more pictures of his first two weeks at the address listed below. Including his first bath and other events that have transpired.
http://picasaweb.google.com/devanball/TwoWeeks

New Baby

2008-05-16T22:32:00.003-04:00

As many of you may know, and some may not, Cassie and I had our baby on Friday May 16 at 6:15AM. He is a beautiful little boy. He was 7lbs and 19 in long. His first name is Drostan but we haven't decided on his middle name.
Thus far he is a pretty quiet kid, he only wails when being picked on (wieghing, bathing, blood sugars, etc). He is kind of a cute bugger.
Mom and baby are doing fine. She looks pretty good for just having a baby doesn't she? Unfortunately, after about 16 hours of labor Cassie had not progressed enough and the baby's heart rate was slowing down with each contraction, the doctor tried to manually dilate her cervix but it didn't work so she had to have a C-section. Aside from the wicked conehead most people seem to think he looks like his dad. Oddly enough everyone also thinks he's cute, go figure.
He is just a darn cute kid. Man I do good work. Cassie too.

New House

2008-04-19T11:40:00.002-04:00

It's official. On Thursday Cassie and I signed the lease on own new townhouse. And here it is. The address is underneath the picture (Zip 20707). It is obviosly the one in the middle.

This is the kitchen looking into the dining room. The countertops are granite. All the appliances are brand new, stainless steel, and the cabinets are new as well. There is actually overhead lighting in every room. WOW. This is the front room. The hardwood floors run through the entire first level: kitchen, dining room, and living room. This is the baby's room. It has three windows, the other one is around the corner in the closet. Stange I know, but it is a big closet. Lots of room for all the junk that comes with babies. Speaking of which, Cassie had her baby shower at work and they gave her a ton of stuff.

And now for the most important room of all. Drum roll please.....................................

The entertainment room. This takes up the majority of the basement. It has a built in place for the TV, fortunately ours fits, but a bigscreen would be nice......... Also there is a lot of closet space, since this is where Baby will be playing also. It has a sliding glass door that leads out to our patio area. The cupboard in the middle has all the cable wiring and outlets for TV/Vidoe and there is a hole in the top for all the plugs.

Now you have had the nickel tour. Now comes the not so fun part. Moving with a nine months pregnant wife the day after I finish finals. Why do I do this to myself?

Cherry Blossom Festival

2008-04-11T20:09:00.000-04:00

Every year in Washington DC the Cherry Blossoms herald the advent of spring. Seeing as how we happened to be in the area this year, Cassie and I decided to go and admire the views. There are over 2000 cherry trees in the downtown area, with the largest concentration surrounding the Tidal Basin. This year spring was a little early and Cassie and I had wanted to go on conference weekend, but it rained all day. So we went on Thursday before my pharmacology class. A couple of girls from the program went with us.

We walked (or waddled as the case may be) around the entire Tidal Basin. We also had or walk from the metro station on the Mall down to the Tidal Basin. Cassie did really well but she was very tired by the end of it all.

The temperature was a mere 75 degrees. I noticed that morning that the forecast was calling for snow in Idaho Falls. It looked like it was snowing here also but that was all the trees shedding their blossoms. Like I said spring came a little early this year so some of the trees were already starting to lose their blossoms, but most of them were still beautiful.
I thought this was a really cool picture of the Jefferson Monument. Nichole had taken a picture just like this last year and had it as her wallpaper so I had to see if I could reproduce it.These are the three most frequent women in my life. Cassie is kind of hard to miss (she is the pregnant one). Tina is the one in the middle (she is ultra Type A) she is the southern belle of the group. Nichole is the one on the right (my fellow Mormon) she is responsible for introducing my wife to the Wii. And a beautiful picture of my beautiful pregnant wife (holding her belly).

40 Weeks ??????

2008-03-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Actually, it is only week 32 but every week Cassie's belly gets bigger and bigger. She is actually over 40 inches, and still growing. The other day we were lying in bed and Cassie grabbed my hand and put it on her belly. The baby was going crazy, kicking/hitting. Looks like we may have a David Beckham/Mia Hamm on our hands.
The last few weeks Cassie ballooned out. People at work that didn't realize Cassie was pregnant (obviously not very observant) are no longer able to miss it. In fact it is hard to get out of her way. She has been so happy about being pregnant that she has never complained, it is starting to get harder for her to do this. Her feet are starting to swell and the baby is very active. She blames this on me because I can never sit still for very long myself.

New shirts

2008-03-16T21:56:00.000-04:00

Our class got together and ordered class T-shirts. The order just got here on Fri. Take a look. I got a grey hoodie, a navy long sleeve T and a grey short sleeve T.

This is what the back says. I need to order a couple for Mom, she will love it.

Cassie's new toy

2008-03-16T21:46:00.001-04:00

March 10 was Cassie's b-day. I wanted to get her a Nintendo Wii for christmas but they sold out so quickly that I never got one. So for her b-day I decided to get her a Wii. This is her favorite game on the Wii, bowling.
We played a game last night and I smoked her 262-167. The best thing is there was no smoke and she didn't have to carry that heavy ball.
Yes, it does make you look like an idiot when you play it but it is way fun. When everyone comes out I will have to borrow some controllers from our friends and we can all play.

Cassies

2008-03-16T21:45:00.000-04:00

The Quest for a New Car

2008-03-06T12:02:00.000-05:00

After dragging the Passat for over 2000 miles, it is no longer a viable mode of transportation (Justin read- "good car"). We needed a new car, so off we went to go car shopping. Luckily a friend of ours let us borrow his car for a few days and we were able to get around fairly easily. Now as I said in the previous post, Cassie wanted a different car. The truth is ever since I wrecked her Mitsubishi Eclipse (shown below) she has wanted another "pimpmobile".

This small modest car was Cassie's first choice, she has moved beyond Eclipses. The Audi TT, is made by the same plant/factory/company as VW (just like Mercury=Ford, Acura=Honda, etc.) Fortunately, Cassie in her present state had a hard enough time just getting in the front seat, let alone trying to haul a car seat out of the backseat. On to the next.

Just for fun, she thought a convertible might work better. Next.....
Yet again, I had to be the voice of reason. Finally, after endless hours in some of the most questionable establishments, we found a "good car". It is a '96 Toyota Camry (look familiar Mel?) The interior is in near perfect condition, it does have 120k miles, but it rides better than a lot of newer cars. The only downside is it's a two-door, but it is pretty easy to get into the backseat. Our grand plan is to use this car until Sept at which point we will need to purchase another car. I can't catch any buses to Baltimore when it is snowing or raining and I will have clinicals 4-5 times per week. Hopefully, our next car will be a four door. And after all our kids are grown and moved away my wife will be one of those gray haired ladies driving a Corvette or something like it, and all the kids will complain that she is too old to even enjoy it.

the Curse of February

2008-02-25T21:53:00.000-05:00

Historically speaking February has been a bad month for our family. Cassie always gets tired of being cooped up all winter and she gets the urge to make major purchases. For instance, in Feb 2002 she decided we needed to buy a house ($$$$$). In Feb of 2003 she decided that we needed a new car ($$$$). Well this Feb I had hoped that this trend would be tempered because we have no $$$$ (Georgetown tuition is $$$$$$$$$$$). Anyway, she is an amazing woman that can always find a way to get what she wants. I guess she figured if we needed something then we would have no choice but to buy it. Apparently she wanted a different car.

On her way to the doctor's office on Friday morning Cassie took matters into her own hands in her quest for a different car. She hit the rear side panel of a small truck as she was going through this intersection. Both drivers say they had the green light and there were two witnesses, one for each side that agree with the drivers. Luckily, no one was injured. Cassie has some bruising, on her abdomen, from the seatbelt, her forearm and a little whiplash. We took her to the doctor and she was checked out but he sent us to the hospital just in case and they ended up admitting her because she was having some minor contractions. (side note: I really don't like being at the hospital unless I am getting paid for it)

Papa always said if you're gonna do something, do it right. She done did good.

In all seriousness Cassie is doing fine. She is still a little sore and she stayed home from work today to rest and recover. The baby is fine and after 24 hrs in the hospital her contractions went away. We had another ultrasound and we decided to find out what we were having (any bets?). Well, it must be a girl because it wouldn't cooperate and so we still don't know. Coming soon, "The quest for a new car"

The Belly

2008-02-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

Since moving to Maryland not a lot has been said about our absence, until my wife got pregnant. Now people are complaining because they don't get to see her belly getting bigger. This should satisfy everyones desire to see her "all fat and sassy"(she has always been sassy).

Kris bought this shirt since none of her other clothes fit. It is very appropriate since we have a growing soccer player, according to my wife. I finally felt him kick for the first time this morning, it was very noticeable.

Cassie got mad at me for taking all the pictures of her in the kitchen. Well that is where I had the best odds of catching her. In the kitchen and on the couch are her two favorite places lately. I was surprised that I found her in the kitchen, since I have to do most of the cooking.
See her favorite place.
And her favorite activity on the couch.

Disclaimer: I know that my wife is not "fat" but rather pregnant. However, this is my blog and I get to say whatever I want on my blog.

Windchill

2008-02-11T15:41:00.000-05:00

Imagine if you will that it is 5:30 AM you are on your way to work (or school) and the temp outside is 20 degrees. Typical winter weather for most of us I'm sure. Now take a gander at the chart below and figure in a wind of 60 mph, and that is my daily commute. I am only ten degrees away from frostbite every morning (cause I can't get anywhere in less than 30 minutes). On Friday I had to drive to Baltimore and because there is no traffic going that direction I hit 85 mph. That calculates to -7 degrees. So the next time you are driving to work in your nice warm car, just remember "I hate you all". Peace out.

Bun in the oven

2008-01-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

Now I don't want to be one of those people that bore people to death with family photos, but there are those members of my family that would probably like to see pictures of their grandchildren, neices/nephews and/or cousins. So for those of you who are interested I have posted the following pictures, for your viewing pleasure.

These are the pictures that we had taken at our most recent ultrasound. Cassie has affectionately named it "our alein baby". That coupled with other things she has said about this fetus are making me wonder if I had anything to do with the conception. Things that make you go HHHMMMM? In a strictly physical sense the baby is fine, meaning it has all its fingers, toes, arms, legs, etc. The mother is also doing fine, cravings and all.

Winter drinks

2008-01-11T18:24:00.000-05:00

In an effort to keep up with my little brother I decided to post my own recipe for winter drinks.

Tea and Cider Wassail
bhg.com

Ingredients
• 6 cups freshly brewed hot tea
• 6 cups cranberry juice
• 6 cups apple cider or apple juice
• 3 cups orange juice
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/4 cups lemon juice
• 9 inches stick cinnamon, broken
• 3/4 teaspoon whole cloves
• Apple slices (optional)

Directions1.
1. In a 6- to 8-quart Dutch oven, combine tea, cranberry juice, apple cider, orange juice, sugar, and lemon juice. For spice bag, place cinnamon and cloves in the center of a double-thick, 6-inch square of 100-percent-cotton cheesecloth. Bring the corners of the cheesecloth together and tie with clean string. Add spice bag to juice mixture.

2. Bring mixture to boiling, stirring with a wooden spoon to dissolve sugar; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard spice bag.

3. To serve, ladle the wassail into a heatproof punch bowl. If desired, garnish with apple slices. Makes about 22 (8-ounce) servings.

4. Slow-Cooker Directions: Combine all the ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove and discard spice bag. Keep warm on low-heat setting for up to 2 hours.

For the tea I just got a raspberry herbal tea at any supermarket. I used the slow cooker method and it made my whole house smell so good. It is great for parties and large get togethers (like church parties). Try it you will not be disappointed.

My New Bike

2007-11-28T21:39:00.001-05:00

I'm sure you have all heard the saying "Getting there is half the fun". Well I am sure that whoever said that was definitely not going anywhere in a suburban with his whole family. I have also decided that whoever said it had a motorcycle.

This is my bike. It is a 2005 Honda Shadow 750cc. You can see the saddlebags and the two seats. Cassie is still to chicken to let me take her for a ride. Maybe in the summer when it warms up.

Here I am sitting on my bike with my new helmet and motorcycle jacket. (A quick note to appease my mother) The jacket has reflective stripes, foam padding and body armor, so if I wreck on the freeway both arms will be dislocated, several ribs will be broken and my spleen may rupture, but my skin will stay on my bones. No worries.

Lastly, it may not be snowing but at 6:00 in the morning when I leave for school, it's cold outside. Factor in the windchill and even I need a little extra covering. My jacket has an extra liner, I wear a scarf, and I just bought some new Gore-tex ski gloves, the only thing I am missing are a pair of sexy chaps.

Ma & Pa cont'd

2007-09-14T11:20:00.000-04:00

Sorry the last round of pictures took up too much space so this will have to be a two part post. Here we all are on the way home. Oh how I love the subway (not really it always feels like I'm going to school.)

On Monday we took Mom and Dad to the temple. Since it was Labor Day and 95% of the people out here are 9-5ers the temple was open so that those who did not have to work could go. I have never seen so many people at the temple here. That is not saying too much, our session was only a little more than half full.
After going to the temple we went to "a great and spacious building". The National Cathedral is huge and it is beautiful. I gotta say I think it rivals some of the european cathedrals, and yes I have been to some european cathedrals.
After taking Mom and Dad to the cathedral I took them to the campus and they were impressed. Then for the rest of the week I ignored them and went to school and Cassie went to work, except for Thursday Mom and Cassie drug Dad to a quilt show in Penn. Unfortunately, I had to go to shool. Darn the luck. So who's coming out next?

Ma & Pa visit

2007-09-14T10:48:00.001-04:00

Well Mom and Dad have come and gone, to my house anyway and I just thought I would share with you all some pictures of what we did while they were here. The first day Mom got here at 5:00 and I had to go pick her up from the airport, in the middle of rush hour traffic (I'll have to thank Elinor for that one). Then Dad was supposed to arrive at 11:30 pm (his own fault) but I got a call at 10:30 saying he was going to be late (Mother Nature's fault) so we, meaning Dad and I finally got home about 2:00 am. The next day was Sept 1, which was Mom and Dad's 35 year anniversary. So we took Mom and Dad to the zoo. Incidentally, that was the same thing Cass and I did for our anniversary this year. So with no further ado, here are some pictures of Mom and Dad at the zoo.

It was a nice 95 (that is degrees and humidity) at the zoo, but they have these nice misters to keep people cool.
No this is not Mom and Dad in the zoo.
This is Thai Shan, he is the baby Panda that was born at the zoo two years ago. He is still only about 1/2 as big as his parents but he is so much fun to watch. We spent quite some time watching him play and wander around in his little area. Here he is just chillin' in the tree.
Just like all babies Thai Shan is still learning to climb and move around, exploring his environment. Sometimes watching him try to get up and down trees or other obstacles is quite funny. Like watching your parents try to program their VCR.
This is just a really nice shot of the cheetah that Dad took.

Fourth of July

2007-08-31T21:35:00.000-04:00

Since moving out to Maryland I have been very busy and with the beginning of school this week I am afraid my time will become ever more precious and elusive. So as I am now waiting to go and pick up dad at the airport I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to post some updates. Hopefully this will sate some of your appetites for awhile.

I have always enjoyed living in Idaho Falls and I must say that I was quite proud of our fireworks display (props go to Frank). Well some time ago they were having a small party in Washington (July 4th I think) and they were having some fireworks. I went thinking how good can it be? Well word got out that there was going to be a party.

While we were waiting for the show to start it started to rain and rain and rain some more. Eventually they even evacuated the Mall. Then when it was reopened you can only imagine the crush of people that were trying to get back in. All of our stuff was soaked including the blankets that we had planned to sit on. The Metro reported over 100,000 people entering the system after the show. Let me tell you if you thought the Greenbelt was bad...........

They had a few good shells

I also shot some video and spliced it together along with some pictures and I will try to post it here as well. In the end ....

WOW!!!!!!!! the fireworks show here is awesome. It was over twenty minutes long and just phenomenal. If you ever get a chance to go to the show it is worth the effort.

Summertime

2007-08-31T19:31:00.000-04:00

This summer we moved out to Maryland so I could start school a little early. Cassie had a little trouble finding work, she had a couple jobs lined up that fell through. This is what most of our summer looked like.

This was my spot. This is where I sat everyday while studying Biochem. I would pop in my DVD and watch the lectures and then I would type up the notes that I had taken, and answer the review questions online. I ended up getting an A- in the class. I also got an A in my policy class.

P.S. My eyes are not closed I am looking at the computer screen.

This was Cassie's spot. She had a very hard time finding things to keep her busy so she kicked me off the desk and played on the computer all day. Now that she is working and I am in school full-time I am taking the desk back.

trips to DC

2007-08-02T20:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some of our pictures from our first sight-seeing trip to "the district" as we (we being everyone around here) call it.

Here is the Washington Monument. We weren't able to go up to the top because all the tickets had already been taken when we showed up at 10:00am. Darn tourists. Another day perhaps.

Here George W. needed to go to Starbucks or something. Marine One is landing at the White House. We were too far away to actually see Mr. President.

This is the Lincoln Memorial. He actually is inside you just can't see it from here.

Here is Cassie at "The Wall". The Veitnam veterans memorial. There are a lot of names on that wall.

Another view of George W's humble abode. If you want to go on a tour when you come visit you need to contact your congressman at least 3 months in advance. That is the only way to get tours now.

That us at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. They actually hosted the Little League world series on that same lawn two weeks after we took this picture. How fun would that be.

Stay tuned for more from almost DC.