Birthdays

Okay, since it has been a while (not that any one out there reading this has any room to comment) here are a few pictures from the Cora's and Emmett's birthdays, as well as a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving at Zeb and Leah's. Although we took everything we could possibly fit in the truck, we failed to pull out the camera until Friday, so that is what you get pictures of. If you want actual pictures from Thanksgiving day, I suggest you leave a comment on Zeb and Leah's blog. Aside from that, it is down to the second to last week of this semester (WHOOOO). And I only have one final left (Hallalujah!). Next semseter I have five classes and then I will be done with course work (FINALLY!). Other than that and just getting all of our clan back into good health, things are fairly uneventful here. Enjoy the pictures.
~Josh
(Oh, the pictures are backwards time wise, and I don't feel like correcting it, so sorry)

For you Leah, since you made the request.

Cool, Water Fountain!

Yeah, Chuck E. Cheese.

While we were in Rockwall for Thanksgiving, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Guess how much I love this place. I guess that is what I get for dragging my parents and all 7 of us there for my birhtdays when I was little.

Just try and Tackle me.

That's my boy, he held on to this for a good half hour. He still gets upset if Maren plays with it!

Don't watch me, I need to poop.

MMMmmmmm I like cake it is so good!

Funky candles on Boston Cream Cake.

Cora got a new soccer ball and cones. To bad the weather has been so cold lately.

Cora opening presents.

Punkin's

The girls with their pumpkins.

If you look closely you can see a Cora ghost moving from left to right.

Jess wanted a dog, and Cora and Maren both wanted frogs. I drew to different frogs but they both ended up wanting the same one. Not to bad, if I do say so myself.


CAUTION DELUSIONAL (and possibly self serving) RANTING FOLLOWS
Continue at your own risk

So for the past few weeks, I have been contemplating the global warming issue. I find myself somewhat in a minority. I consider myself an experimental scientist first and a psychologist second. Placing me in what I consider to be a minority is the fact that I am much more politically conservative than my colleagues or professors. As a result, I feel I may hold the beliefs in their findings under a more critical review than said colleagues. Here's my thoughts. First, if we look at measurement theory we discover that every measurement is subject to error. It may be minuscule such as the difference between a board cut 72 and 3/4" long and one cut 72 and 25/32" long. Such a difference isn't going to make a difference in whether a house stands or falls but there is some error there. If I understand the theory of global warming we are talking a world wide increase of only 3 degrees. If that is an accurate representation of the theory a 1/32 of a degree becomes a very big deal. The result is you need to have a very accurate thermometer to measure such changes. I don't argue that we don't currently have that accurate of a thermometer, but it has been a relatively recent development, which leads me to my second criticism that follows directly out of measurement issues. The model is based on past data and trends. At best the data has the type of precision necessary for maybe the past thirty years (I think that is a pretty generous allotment of time), gathered by the same people who can't create accurate models that predict 3 days out let alone years. So we are expected to trust a model based on an extremely finite degree of change when we have such a limited capacity for measurement of said change. Third, suppose the model is fairly accurate, and the climate has been increasing in temperatures, we have only recently been able to demonstrate some of the issues we have been discussing, and therefore have very little supportive evidence of the so called man made effect were talking about. It is just as reasonable to suppose it is due to natural fluctuations of the earth. Finally, and perhaps most convincingly (and this is where the psychologist comes into play) if you were really seriously concerned that life on this planet as we know it was going to be over if we did not take drastic measurements to change our current course, would you choose Al Gore to be the poster boy for that? Now I have heard that Steven Hawking is an absolute jerk, but at least his name lends some credibility, he is, after all a well known and renowned scientist, but what credentials does Al Gore have? Now that I have laid down that base, here comes my conspiratorial rantings. Now I am not proffering my opinion based on any research just my own logical examinations, and I am not putting a world dominating body of "they" who are orchestrating political events around to produce this. After 9/11 the right (and left) grabbed onto the terrorist threat and used it very successfully for political capital. As we saw when we went into Iraq, very few members of the House or Senate opposed those actions. The right has continued to use the war on terror for political capital. In examining global warming the thought occurred to me that the left is now using this for political capital. The huge green movement has been grabbed and pushed in front of us so heavily that the left has easily used the same tactic as was used after 9/11 to ensure that people vote out of fear; whether it is fear that terrorists are going to blow you up the next time you get on a plane, or fear that you are going to have beach front property in Utah, it's still fear based persuasion. Anyway, that is just my take. I can recognize my own limits, first of which is my inability to see the logical fallacies in my own thought processes. So, just thought I would throw that out there. Finally, I am not against conservation, and the development of alternative renewable resources, but I am also not against continued use of the resources we have (ANWR). I am getting a little tired of it being shoved down my throat, followed by ridiculous legislation, like California's new law that bans big screen t.v.'s that use "to much" power. Personally I think that is to protect all those aging actors from having their wrinkles broadcast in 72" of HD. Okay, I'm done.
~Josh

Video's of Emmett

So, as you can see our Emmett is walking. Also, our neighbors little boy (Jacob) had his second birthday a little while ago and when we were looking for a present for him at Wally world we stumbled upon these foam swords. The girls, Carol, and I had a fight right there in the store, it was awesome. We decided to get the swords for the Jacob, and then we picked up a few more for our family. We have had some pretty fun - funny sword fights the last few weeks. That is all for now. Enjoy turkey day!!!! mmmmm turkey mmmmmmmmmmmm pie!
~Josh

Halloween Fun

Emmett as the rooster.
(Just like he's THE boy, Mom)

The girls were: Jess as Ariel, Maren as Jessie from Toy Story, Cora as Cinderella. Then of course Emmett was a rooster. Carol didn't dress up, and I dressed up as Hitman, from the movie and video game with the same title, when I went to my school party the night before, but didn't get a picture of it.

Here is Cora reading a book to her sisters. How sweet they are!

And Cora's new glasses. She looks way to big and grown up.

Carol's Dad had a couple of jobs in Texas, so he stopped by coming and going. The girls and Carol were super excited to see him. It's always nice when work brings him down here.

I think that is about all for now. No real funny anecdotes to post. Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween.
~Josh

You better hurry!

I just wanted to share a funny little story and hopefully give you a little laugh. I surely laughed.
Jessica was playing(talking to herself) in the living room while I was in the kitchen when all of the sudden she drops what she is doing and dashes past me saying: "HOLD IT, HOLD IT, HOLD IT." I didn't think much of it until I saw her cupping the back of her pants. Five seconds later, I hear the toilet lid being put up. And then it all made sense. People, here is a little advice: If you feel something honking don't wait too long or you will end up talking to your butt racing for the bathroom. Hope you laughed.........
-Carol

New pontifications to come soon!

Randomly ... because it has been a while ...

This is what I call Emmett's "Chris Farley Face". Hopefully he grows up to a be better looking than that guy.

For some reason I think that unless I have something important to say, a new post requires pictures. None of these pictures are very recent, but they make my heart smile.

I said this in short on facebook, but I think it is a crock that the frats, and sororities sit out on the lawns, beg people for spare change for some cause, and call that a service project. Begging people for change is vagrancy, not service. Who let's them get away with that?

The annual "hazing report" came out again a couple of days ago, and as usual the UNT cheer squad was on there. Do we really need those cheerleaders so badly that the school is willing to pay the fines to keep them every year? Especially at a school that has a better band than football team, come on.

I'm hoping that starting in the summer I can find a job. After this spring semester I will hopefully be done with all of my course work and only have research left (YEAH!!!). I wonder what it will be like to not have exams any more. Ahhh that is a nice thought!

The school keeps saying that they want the graduate students out of the program faster. I call bull #$%^. I can't take comps until I finish my 6610's (research credit). If they really wanted me out of here they would let me take comps as soon as I was done with course work so I could spend my last year working on 6610 and my dissertation. Besides, they are making bank on graduate labor.

I cannot believe how cute my kids are. I could just eat them up sometimes. (And isn't it weird how when a kid is really cute you say you are feeling cannabilistic.)

I am looking forward to getting rid of my air card. It's not bad for speed on the down load, but upload speed is like a turtle. Just a few more months.

Yeah, those pictures of my kids are silly. I wonder if that is some sort of projective by me posting those.

My bed is full of laundry, guess what we will be doing after the girls are in bed.

I think that is all, have a good night.

New family Pics!

I am so HAPPY with these pictures. Our dear friends/neighbors took these for us. Josh helped them frame a wall and to say "thank you" we got pictures! So here are just a few....I'll post all of them on facebook. And for those of you that are in the Dallas area and looking for a inexpensive photographer, you can checkout our friends website too! www.hitormissphoto.com
Enjoy!!!!

Just wanted to quickly post a picture of Maren with her birthday cake! She is very excited to be turning three. She tells me that she is now big enough to go to school and ride if the front seat....next year maybe. And the next picture is of me finishing a half marathon. I know it's not the best time by any means, butI am happy with it, it being my first one.

We're back!! And Jessica's 5!!

I just can't believe that my Jess is 5!! I also find it hard to believe that she will start Kindergarten in a few days....how time flies!


We got back safely to Texas Tuesday afternoon!! We were gone eighteen long days, but were filled with family, friends and beautiful weather!

My family and me! Some of my siblings I hadn't seen in several years. This picture was taken at a family reunion on my mom's side.
Here are the girls with cousins Alaina and Ammon (Annette and Rollie's beautiful kids) at Bridevail Falls. (Is that how you spell it?)
Boating with our dear friends the Cardon Family. Jess is on the left with Jourdyn and Hunter in the middle and although you can't see her, Cora is on the right behind Maren. I don't now why Maren was sitting backward. Sometimes asking questions causes brain damage.
This picture pretty much sums up our trip. At times it may have been a little stressful, but the girls had so much fun spending time with cousins, aunts & uncles, grandma's &grandpa's, friends, and outdoor activities.... that stress was well worth it. Thanks to all those who hosted us, played with us and made time to see us. I apologize to those that we didn't get time to see. Next time hopefully.

We made it

So after about 20 hours of driving we made it to Utah. We went through Kansas and Denver, because Carol's Dad had told us that New Mexico was pretty much road construction the whole way. We still haven't decided which way we will go home. Here are some pictures. Apparently my Dad has a little farm going. And also Walter slept over with the girls the other night. That's all for now.
-Josh

Fun Times... . . . . . ... .

Warning, sound is not so good (actually it sucks, you probably just want to mute)but the most important part is there. Someday I will figure out why that is and how to fix it.



We had a ward activity and they had this set up. Jess and Cora rode, but I think we only have this video of Jess.




Here is Maren taking a wee dive at another function. This was a brunch party at a family who lives in Denton proper and as of today is no longer in our ward :(. They just reorganized our stake and created a new ward, so I guess technically we are no longer in their ward since we are now part of the new Aubrey Ward. (You gotta know that got the rumor mill starting over the last few weeks.)




Here is Cora diving at the same brunch. Jess dove to but somehow I missed the video of it. Maren even tried it without a life jacket on and me catching her. She sinks like a stone!



And here is our little crawler. He has also figured out how to pull himself up on things. Oh how the time flies. (That last little burst of speed isn't to get to Mommy it is to escape Maren, poor kid, she just wants to love him a little to much.)



He is so big. It is crazy. Also all the images were captured with my phone which doesn't make for the highest quality but is to convenient in all aspects for me to switch. Enjoy.
Josh

Kiss n' tell

As you can see, the girls are sporting some sweet makeup in these pics. On the rare occasion that I actually do my makeup, the girls like to watch and go through my makeup bag and ask if they can have some of this and that on too. Well on one such occasion, I had some leftover sample eyeshadow from a facial. I would have never used it, so the girls were all about having some on. But they didn't want to stop there. So I indulged them and they got the works: blush, mascara, lipstick and gloss.



And here is a little nude shot of Emmett. That picture was taken the middle of May when he just started to get up on his hands and knees. Now I am sad to say that he is now crawling. Yesterday he even pulled himself up while holding on to a laundry basket. He is 7 months old today and before I know it, he'll be walking/running and talking.
Not much else to report here....I did however find out today that Jessica has been kissing a neighbor boy when they play house, because she's the mom and he's the dad. And she's going marry him when she gets older. I didn't think that the time to get out the shotgun would come so fast. ;)