We Are the Champions

The results are in.

The Cupboards

Ammon has discovered a jackpot of fun only hidden by a small door. The water bottles in there are the ONLY thing he wants to play with now and he remembers exactly how to get them as soon as I bring him downstairs. Looks like I've got to round up some of those dreaded locks now. For some reason I thought we could get by without them.

Snow Ride

Broke out the trusty steeds yesterday and hit the trails. A bit of some slip and slide action, but tons of fun. Especially the fast downhill sections where we could blast through the big wind drifts with the extra speed and momentum.

Foodbank Dough

Check out the pile of cash we've pulled in for the Idaho Foodbank so far. It's mostly ones so it looks like an impressive pile in there. Still, it's up to $324.18 as of tonight. Not bad for just sticking a lock box on the porch.

Back to the Future

What the? Saw this on my way in for lunch.

Test one two...

This is just a test of my new phone's blagging ability. Sweet sunset from our front yard the other night though. :)

Christmas Lights

My neighbor added a single string of lights to his house last night. Nice! Ya he's pointing towards my house. :)

Gross

Jamie got home from work just in time to put Ammon down the other night. I lucked out. (This is her trying to wipe the smile off her face and be sad.)

Snowbird

chillin at the pool.

Happy Birthday Makenna!

Check out that fancy tinkerbell cake.

The Star

Here's the start of the six foot tall star I'm working on for the roof. Also if anybody has a wild hair and wants to help put up some Christmas lights, come over tomorrow anytime. Hopefully I can get the bulk done in one marathon day. We'll see. :-)

Birthday Cards

Abby & Makenna made me 71 "birthday cards" last week. Thanks!

Winter's coming!

Thanks for the birthday pres Hauers! Exactly what he needed.

Giant Forklift

Oh how I love driving heavy machinery. My job on Monday was to unload a full truck of equipment on pallets into one of our theaters. Luckly I didn't even damage anything. I was pretty worried about that railing as the clearance was really tight. :)

The Stick

Ammon was fired up about the stick he found in our sliding window on Sunday. He carried it around nearly all day, even while he ate. It was whipping around bashing into all sorts of things, including his head once in a while. This went on until I hid it during his nap anyway... I'm a mean dad.

Goodbye Sweet RoboMower - RL1000

Well, the time has finally come to bid farewell to our friend, since more problems have developed. The mower would start on it's usual edge trim but then detour out into the yard and slow down only to start SMOKING from the underside. After what seems like me trying nearly everything... the RoboMower just refuses to work consistently. So it's time to go. One of the biggest selling points that pushed me over the edge to buy the robot lawn mower in the first place was that I could get it from Costco. With Costco's great return policy, we felt we had the extra insurance in hand to purchase such a unusual item.


So I packed up all the parts and pieces, cleaned everything up pretty, and took it back into the store. It did take some convincing, and I eventually had to speak with the manager of the store as well, but they took it back. I explained all the trouble over the years, the broken parts, the 3 sets of replacement batteries and the recent smoke. I told him how my lawn looked like crap and how I'd been paying the neighbor boy to mow in the robot's stead, etc. He had all sorts of rapid-fire questions, which I'm assuming my responses helped pacify since they slowed and finally halted. In the end he seemed to understand, and actually admitted that he owned one himself too, but it wasn't hooked up yet at his new home! I told him he was going to love it, while it was working anyway.

So now the question is what sort of mower should we buy as a replacement? I'll prob save the cash until spring when the lawn starts to grow again anyway... Costco rocks.


Costco's return policy: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. (Which is always in cash for some reason too.)

Cyclocross at Sandy Point

Jamie's first 'cross race was a flying success. 2nd place!

Macs just work?

I'm pretty sure this is the apple equivalant to window's BSOD. First time I've seen it and hope it's not a sign of more to come.

New Cyclocross Bike

Added one more bike to the garage, but at least this one is Jamie's.

Ultimate vending machine.

Man, we must live in a cave in Idaho. You can buy ipods and psps right out of vending machines in Texas.

Those people

Here's what we've become.

Our garden

Mutant carrots from our yard. Yum

The wash

Helping Nana with the laundry.

Hiking with your eyes closed.

This does take skill. Don't try at home.

New speed record.

Hit my new top speed of 58.4 on Ride Idaho a few weeks ago. My bike actually felt surprisingly stable even with some small wind gusts. Fun stuff.

Hiking

Found a new hiking partner to help me get ready to climb Mt. Borah next week.

Twilight Criterium

So it turns out that 8th place actually wins money as look what showed up in the mail. Score!

Dinner Time

Here's our auto floor sweeper standing guard. He's almost as good as a roomba.

1980 Yamaha XJ650 Maxim

Added one more "bike" to the quiver. Still deciding if the tassels and sissy bar will stay though.

New Boots

I've been needing some new boots for a while and finally decided it was time. Narrowed my choices down for days but still couldn't quite decide. REI only had one choice in my size, so I ordered them all and will just take the others back. So far the Asolo 520 is winning the try outs.

Anniversary Picnic

Took the cruisers out and had a great date by the pond thanks to the awesome dinner Jamie had hiding in the basket.

Thanks for nine magnificent years Hunny.

Boise Twilight Criterium

Managed to pull off an eighth place this year thanks to some help from Matt. I think next year the podium has our name on it!

What a mess!

He used to eat so well. Now he's figured out he can grab the food before it gets into his mouth if he's quick.

Fresh Chip Seal

They dumped a bunch of tar and rocks in front the house last week. Yuck

The Electra Navy

Jamie's in the Navy now.

DUKW

Looks like a 1940's army duck came to watch a movie, as I found this parked behind the theater today. Seems like it'd be fun to take a ride in.

Allergy Alert

Tons of pollen in the lake last week.

Brundage Lookout

On a ride today I found this. Definitely a strange rig to find on top of a mountain, especially with the NY plates.

Payette Lake

A three hour tour.

The Powerhouse!

So Ladd shredded his big chainring by simply throwing down a monster sprint tonight on our training ride. I've never seen anything like it. Must be all those secret squats he's been sneaking in at the gym.

Tour of Eagle Criterium

Not the best picture, but here's the after effect of the worst bike crash I've seen in person. Eric Slack was laying unconscious on the course for what seemed like forever and was barely talking when the paramedics finally hauled him off. Pretty scary since I had just raced an hour earlier. Rumor is he's doing OK now but had a serious concussion and no broken bones.

Sitting Babies

Ammon can sit on his own pretty well now, which is fun until he falls over and whacks his head.

Ron Paul

You know you're truly committed to a candidate when you spray paint it on your truck :)

Lyle Pearson 200

Still smiling after our 200 mile team relay.