Cinder

Okay, since our dear Cinder is going into get spade this afternoon, I thought it was time to tell you a bit about her. First of all it was last summer. Jennie and I were nonchalantly walking through Smith's parking lot and a guy was giving away 8 week old Puppies. He had like 14 of them. It was a huge litter. They were German Short Hair Pointer mix with American Bull Dog. We saw the father, he was beautiful (he was the American Bull Dog, which looks a lot like a Pit Bull). Anyway, we were looking at the puppies, on a bright sunny afternoon that was warm, and they were cute but nothing really caught our eye. Then in the last crate in the very back I saw a small little black faced creature. I immediately called Jennie over and she took one look and wanted her. We asked the guy to hold her while we decided inside Smith's. So I walked in with Jennie and she went straight the Pet Aisle and started buying puppy stuff. I guess she didn't need to think too hard! So we came out and picked her up, and took her home. We introduced her slowly to the other dogs, and she was this calm... calm... quiet... little thing. That lasted about 3 days. Then she became the most hyper active and intelligent dog I've ever had! She loves to chew, and has destroyed her share of things already, not the least of which are two lazy boy recliners and the bed cover. She's also the most intelligent dog I have ever had, and she potty trained easier than any dog I've ever seen. She grew like a weed, and is now about 60 pounds. She looks far more like a German Short Hair Pointer than an American Bulldog, and so I have just taken to calling her that instead of explaining the mix. She thinks she's a human, and just loves the kids and playing. She is particularly fond of Boo and Churchill, as Princess is getting too old to play with her anymore, and Figgy, well... Figgy isn't much for playing with anyone. Cinder is a lovable dog, she's energetic, and just fun to be around. We've taken her up to the Cabin in Idaho a couple times, she rides in the car well, and she walks on a leash well (Thanks to the Gentle Leader!).

Here are some pictures!

Cinder in the Grass the day we brought her home!


Cinder First Day Home


Cinder at the Cabin with Princess after a day on the River!


Cinder today at the Office!

Weekend

NOTE: On Monday, January 19th, the family participated in a great and grand science experiment. I have pictures of it and everything, but just haven't put it up yet. This note is to prod me to do that tonight!

As for LAST weekend, well... we didn't do much. All the kids stayed over at Grandma's Friday night. They had a great time. Jennie and I took the opportunity to relax. We ran to Smith's and got some treats, and then came home and had more Shepherd's Pie and Chicken Pot Pie which I had cooked the night before. Jennie had a taste for Shepherd's pie, I guess she had a baby sitter who fixed it for her when she was young. I made it and a homemade chicken pie, and both were really good. I need to make some modifications on the Shepherd's pie with portions, but otherwise it was really good. Made it with lamb. Anyway, so we stayed home and watched some TV. Slow quiet evening.

Saturday, I went and got the kids. A huge warm spell had come into Utah, and it was raining. The kids had skiing and so I took them over there, and sure enough, it was cancelled becuase of the rain. Weird, because you figure it wasn't raining up on the mountain, but only down in the valley. So they came home and hung out, and that night I took Asher over to Grandma's for another night there. We all pretty much spent the day cleaning and hanging out. Sunday was pretty much the same. I did a lot of cleaning downstairs in the basement. You know when you do some cleaning and you have a few boxes of junk that you just don't have the energy or will power to go through, so you just set it aside? Well I had done some MASSIVE cleaning a few years ago, and still had a few vistigial boxes to go through. I went through them and threw most of the stuff out. But I found an old picture of me with Gus, our lion, when I was a kid. I'm going to scan it and include it in a future post!

We also watched a Lot of Battlestar Galactica. We are into Season 3 now. Very good. We also went over and hung out with Jan and Smitty. My Mom and I talked about her life and the pain she's in, and how much she worries about me! I told her I worry about HER! My Dad and Jennie talked photography. I showed him this blog, and he was pretty amazed by it.

Monday, the kids went to school, I went to work, and Jennie went to class in Salt Lake at the U for her Molecular Diagnostics class. I hope I have that right! It might be something different. Oh, in the morning Jennie and I took Bo, Churchill, Princess, Callie, and Tux in to the vet to get their shots. Little Chili and Bug were supposed to come but they are too smart, and hid so we couldn't find them. That was a chore! All those animals! But we did it!

I'm reading Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, and I'll have something to say about that when I finish, which should be shortly.

Today is Tuesday. Jennie is down at work, the kids are at school, and I'm here. I took Cinder over this morning to see my Mom, and we had a good chat. Those little Chihuahua's are so CUTE! Anyway, we then came here to the office. Cinder is going to the vet today to get spade! She's old enough, and we've decided to do it. So I brought her to work with Figgy to have a day with me before going under the knife.

Riley's Grades

Well... well.... well.............

Riley didn't quite do as well this term as Asher. Yes... he did improve all his grades except one... and that IS good... but the one that went down.... not good. Not good at all! As the rule goes, if you get a C+ or below, you are grounded. Not allowed. This is even a bit worse because his teacher told us: "Riley is a bright young man. I know he doesn't like homework but he really does have talent when he wants to show it." This indicates that he's being lazy. He does tell us that he had a personality conflict with this teacher from Day 1, but I don't accept that as an excuse. Jennie and I both had bad teachers, and we got through it. He is no different. So... without further ado, here are Riley's grades!!!!

Same format as Asher's, first and second term!

English: B+/A-
CTE: A-/A
Fitness: A-/A-
Algebra: B+/A-
Student Government: A

At this point you are wondering why he would be grounded, aren't you? Well look below:

Science: B+ / C+

Riley's GPA: 3.56

Asher's Grades

Jennie and I are pleased to announce Asher's 2nd Term Grades. First term grades? Not so good. In fact Asher was grounded for a full month. But this term? GREAT improvement. We just discussed that he needs a reward, and we think we will be taking him to a dinner. What have we learned? That GROUNDING WORKS!!! :)

Here are his 1st/2nd Term 2009 9th Grade Grades! The first grade shown before the / (slash) is first term grade, the second grade is the second term grade. Note the improvement in every class!

Earth System: A-/A
Food and Nutrition: B/B+
English: B-/A
Geometry: C+/B
Drafting: C/A
Foundation: B/B
Computers: B-/B+
Geology: C+/B+

His grade point average went from a 2.71 to a 3.5!!!!!

Congrats Asher!

NEXT: RILEY'S GRADES!!!
NEXT WEEK: Ame's GRADES!

Boo Cinder

Boo's favorite creature to sleep on has always been Churchill, our baby St. Bernard. But the other day I caught her sleeping on Cinder!

Odds and Ends

Here are a few photos of our pets that I thought were cool!

Here is Boo!

Here is Figgy!

Here is Houdini!

Saturday Visit to Mook's!

Saturday I went down to Ben and B'Andra's to say hello, see their baby Elspeth, and teach them a new game called Dominion. We hung out, ate some food, talked, and finally played a game of Dominion. By that time, Jennie came over, and we all sat down and played about 5 or 6 games, each winning a game along the way. Afterwards, Jennie and I and B'andra went to the game store to meet with Sheridan and Erin who had been playing there in a Power Grid Tournament. Sheridan ended up winning it! B'Andra headed back to Ben, and the rest of us went to the Bombay house for an incredible dinner and about an hour long discussion of Battlestar Galactica! It was a great evening! Oh, and Jennie got her hair done.

Here are Ben and B'Andra:


Here is Elspeth playing Dominion!

Here she is playing again!

And here I am holding Elspeth!

And here is Jennie's new hair!

More Dinosaurs

So that previous post, (which I'm fully aware comes AFTER this post) was very short little video. I'm going to show you a longer one so you can get a better feel for how the dinosaur robots worked!

Let's Try That Video Again...

On the last part of the previous post, I said there was a T-Rex Video. There wasn't. So let's try that again...

More Dinosaurs

Here are some more pictures of the Dino Show! The last picture is a Video. I got lots more pictures if anyone is interested, but for the sake of brevity (yeah!) I'm just showing these.

This is the T-Rex Mommy and her baby:


This is the Stegasaurus


This is everyone on the steps of the Energy Solutions Arena before the show:

And here is the video of the T-Rex!

Jennie's New Camera

For Christmas Jennie got a new camera, a Nikon 9 Pick S2 Pro, digital Camera. Let me tell you that this camera has brought out the very BEST in Jennie. And by BEST I mean I've NEVER heard someone SWEAR, CURSE, and absolutely LOSE their mind more than I have in the past two days as Jennie attempts to get this camera to work. At one point, (the very high point) she was ready to give the camera back because it wasn't working!!! But she persevered, and finally got the thing to work! Here are some of the fantastic pictures she took using the camera today! (Note that these pictures are super high resolution pictures that probably won't look quite as good downloaded to Blogger! - All the same! It should! Look! Good!

Dinosaur's Live!

This Sunday we took the kids and Caitlen to see Dinosaur's Walk the Earth, a live show at the Energy Solutions Arena. The funny part of this story is that when we bought the tickets online, we were both amazed at how CHEAP they were. I mean, they were $5.00 each! Hence we expected that the show would be kind of like a museum that you walked through. So we got there, gave them our tickets we printed out from our handy little printer, and they lady said... no, these don't work. These are parking tickets. Pissed off, we walked over to the ticket counter, waited in a long line, found out we were in the wrong line, went to a new line, and were told that we had purchased... parking tickets. Literally, Parking Tickets. Six Parking Tickets. Parking tickets that said, Section, Row, and Seat on them. Tickets that also said: Tickets for the Dinosaurs Walk the Earth show. Yes... that was what was written on them. Yep. The lady admitted the system was broken. People in line behind us had the SAME problem. Anyway, luckily they had actual tickets available, and so we upgraded and bought tickets and got to see the show! It was fun and pretty neat. Short... too expensive for what you get, but a pretty fun show. Kids liked it. Afterwards we went to the Pie for Pizza, then went to Jim's house (Caitlen's Dad, Jennie's Brother) and watched the end of the football game where Arizona beat the Eagles to go to the Super Bowl! It was a nice evening!

Houdini

Houdini is Jennie's 20 Pound Gorgeous Maincoon cat. He's an utter jackass most of the time, but we really love him. He lords around the house like he owns the place, he doesn't like being petted unless it's on his terms, and then he won't leave you alone (this is usually around 4:00 AM in the morning). When Jennie first got him from the shelter, he was thin and bony, but he's thick and fat now. She ALMOST took him back because he was such a demon. His greatest game was at 4:00 AM to leap off the dresser next to the bed and CRASH onto her. Then he would run as fast as he could ACROSS HER FACE in the middle of the night. And if that wasn't enough, he liked to snuggle close, and then BITE you on the nose or chin. He chases our Siamese cat Bug, and they fight. Once while breaking up a fight he bit Jennie VERY badly, and then a few days later, he bit ME. We both had to take antibiotics. Lesson: Don't break up cat fights. He loves TREATS. He hides in the pantry, because he knows the treats are in the pantry, and you can go in there for an item and jump out of your skin as this huge black cat is lying there on the shelf. Jennie once accidently locked him in the refrigerator, (when she opened it he climbed in real quick). She found him 15 minutes later. He loves bread, and will rip open a pack of bread and start eating it. He has no manners. If you are eating on the table, he will jump up and march STRAIGHT TO YOUR PLATE and starting eating off it. Oh yes, you can knock him to the floor, but he just keeps coming back. And whatever you do, don't leave a glass of any liquid out. He WILL knock it over (a trait her shares with Crabby Shack Calli). He goes outside once in a while, in the summer, if we supervise him and he can usually be found rolling in the dirt. His coat is long and prone to knots, and you have NEVER seen a cat that dislikes being brushed more than him. We get coats on, full big think ski gloves, and hold him down and get the knots out. You WILL get bit and you WILL get scratched doing this. Here are some pictures of the furry beast we love so much!

This first picture is the Smaug Picture. He looks like Smaug as depicted in animated version of The Hobbit.

More Boo!

I have a few new photos of Boo for you. She's getting bigger and more playful, but she still loves her Churchill to sleep on. It's weird, he tolerates this small Boston Terrier sleeping on him! He's so gentle and kind hearted, but when they get going they can play and roll and tussle. It's the funniest thing to see this huge St. Bernard play with this tiny Boston Terrier!

Here she is just lounging on him:


And here she is curled up fast asleep on his FACE!!!

Smith Salad Dressing

Growing up my whole life my Mom made an oil and vinegar dressing for salads (we ate green salad at almost every meal) which I loved. It was based on my Mom's Mom's (My grandmother's) salad dressing. Anyway, as years passed, my Mom made it less and less. Whenever I saw my brother Rick, I always got to enjoy it again, because he loved it and used it on many things besides salads. But he makes it with VERY HEAVY vinegar, so you have to get used to it before you can stand it.

The other day I was reading my new cook book, The Complete Robuchon, (which should elicit a new blog entry all to itself!) and he talks a lot about salads. So to surprise Jennie and the kids I made a salad and the dressing chosen was a simple Cucumber Curry. It turned out pretty good, though the kids thought it tasted a bit 'different'.

That led to Jennie making the comment, "We ought to have salads at every meal. I had salads all the time growing up." So last night I decided to make another salad with our Tandorri Chicken and what better dressing than my Mom's? Only after all these years I didn't know how to make it. Never had made it before. So after getting some advice and ideas from various people, this is what I came up with.

I put 1/4 of a cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a bowl. Then I added a pack of Zesty Italian dressing. Those little packs you get at the market for making dressing. I then added a lot of dried dill, I threw in a dash or two of Cholula Hot Sauce, (if you haven't tried this stuff you have to, it's far better than Tabasco sauce if you ask me), I added some Bouquet Garni from Spice Islands (unfortunately they don't make it anymore, but I believe you can get it from other spice companies), some fresh ground pepper and salt, and some dry mustard. So I let that all sit and soak up for a long time, then after 30 minutes, I added 1/2 cup of Red Wine Vinegar, and some Dill Pickle Juice. not sure how much, maybe and 8th of a cup. Mix and... it was fantastic. It was really good. Amazing. Seriously surprising. It tasted a lot like my mom's but was a bit different. It was really close though and everyone loved it. I mean... EVERYONE. The KIDS loved it! (Though they didn't like the avocado in the salad which blows my mind, but they love the bell peppers. We also add cucumbers because they love them!)

So here is a picture of the dressing.

Battlestar Galactica

On January 3rd, we had our New Years Eve Party, and we played two games of Battlestar Galactica. Jennie had never seen the show, so we watched the first pilot, with the agreement that if she liked the first one, we could watch more, but if she didn't, I wouldn't mention it again. Well she ended up really liking it! So tonight (Sunday) we finished Season 1 with the cliffhanging ending! It was a fun show and we will probably watch another episode tonight, the first of the 2nd Season.

Elspeth Visits Our Home

On Game Day Ben and B'Andra brought their new baby daughter Elspeth! Here are some photos of her (with Boo, our baby Boston Terrier) and a video of her getting gnawed on by Boo!

Game Day!

We try to always do a game day around the first of the new year, and this year it fell on Saturday January 3rd. This year (for the first time) we did it without kids, and it was nice! Menges and Mary, Ben & B'Andra, Kelly, and Erin and Sheridan joined Jennie and I for game day! We played two games of Battlestar Galactica, the new board game from Fantasy Flight Games. Jennie and I cooked spicy Tomato soup and New Mexico Chili Enchiladas. Everyone brought lots of food and goodies! Jennie and I also played Carcassonne (she won) and later in the evening Sheridan and Erin stayed to teach us Dominion (see an earlier post). Here are some pictures of the day:



Kelly contemplates a winning move! (The Cylon Traitor!)

Gaming! Battlestar Galactica Style!

Adventures in Boo

Boo is still a delight to us, of course, and here are another selection of photos of her from this weekend.



Mook and Boo!

B'Andra and Boo!

Jennie with Boo in her coat! It's her little Joey! She carries her around like this for hours!

And finally... Boo puts her best face forward as she lounges on Churchill our new St. Bernard!

Dominion

Dominion is a game by Rio Grande Games which we just played for the first time Saturday, January 2nd, 2009 at Game Day here in Heber. Sheridan and Erin taught us the game, and we were really pleased with it. So much so that we actually ended up playing it (Asher, Jennie, and I) all day Sunday! I highly recommend this game!

New Years Day

It was a relaxing New Years Day at the Smith Household. Asher was at Grandma's, so it was just Jennie, Jason, Riley and Ame. Around noon John Ackerson (an optomotrist who lives up the road and whose daughter Julie is great friends with Ame) knocked on our door and asked if we wanted to haul firewood! There is a neighbor who broke his arm, is out of work, and needed firewood. John found some, so Riley and I geared up while Jennie took a nap, and we went out for 2 hours of heavy hauling. It was refreshing good work. At one point John said: "It's great to see Riley work so hard! It always makes me feel good to see kids work!" That comment just warmed my heart! After that we came back and planned Saturday's New Years Eve Party, and went to Smith's to get supplies. Ame and Jennie took turns being goof balls at Smith's. I have a picture of them, but I didn't download it yet so it will have to come in a later post. We came back, ate quesadilla's (did I spell that right?) and then watched Kitchen Nightmare's on TV. Then we went to sleep! What a laid back New Years Day! Unfortunatley we had to get up early because Jennie had to work! 5:00 AM! Ug!

New Years Eve Jen and James Backman came over and we all sat and talked till about 1:00 in the morning. It was fun and the kids loving seeing each other again. Ame and Jordie and Jerimiah and Riley get along so well.