Listen! You smell that?

Satisfecho

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:21:00 +0000

I was asking the boys today if they wanted to move (don't read anything into that). Rees gave an emphatic no.
"What if we could have a bigger house?"
"No."
"What if we could have a bigger yard?"
"No. I am thankful for what I have."

Rees Wrote Me a Note

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:09:00 +0000

Rees gave me this note this morning. He wrote it at school yesterday.

It reads:
Dear Dad
You know a lot of things we have alot. of fun togeter. Right? Right. You do love me. Right? Right! I love you. You love me. Love Rees. You always know I love you.
You love me. I love you.

The Invention

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:31:00 +0000

Jess made some picture slide shows that she has been displaying on the TV lately. Rees saw a black and white wedding picture of Jess and I and commented, "That's a picture of you and Jessica when you got married. Before they invented color."

Needs Salt

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:33:00 +0000

James came in the living room tonight, handed me a bunch of books and said:
"Here Dad. Read these books. They taste (smacks lips) booky."

Too Much Speed

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:58:00 +0000

Earlier this week I did an install in Gila Bend, AZ for Luke Air Force base. After doing an install of the Pronto4 we took it to their test range to test. We had limited time on the range and at the end of the time the vehicle was not performing well enough so we moved the test onto the uncontrolled access road to the range. During one of the runs at 30-35 mph the vehicle began to swerve off to the left of the road and I hit the brakes, switched to manual mode and tried to steer back onto the road. Too late. The vehicle slid off into the culvert and then slowly turned onto its side. As it urned the spare tire slid from the back and broke the rear passenger window. I had plenty of time to brace myself as I went sideways. The vehicle came to stop and I turned off the engine.

No one was around so I climbed out of the window and jumped down to the road.

I.
Was.
Ticked.

Yeah... I overturned the customers blazer. I then saw this painted on the underside of the Blazer.

Someone, a long time ago, painted it as a joke.

We flipped the vehicle over, filled the tires back up and I drove it back to the garage. We checked it over and nothing was damaged besides the window that was broken. Later I noticed someone added this helpful suggestion to the vehicle.

Thanks for the tip.

Barefoot Traveler

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:26:00 +0000

I am reminded of a flight I recently took where a guy entered the bathroom of the airplane barefoot. The same bathroom where earlier a woman exited to tell the flight attendant that there was some sort of liquid all over the floor. Somehow the man's misplaced familiarity was unwelcomed. We were afterall travelling together in a sealed environment where I believe a bit of discretion would be advisable. I felt guilty slipping my socked foot from my shoe for fear of upsetting my fellow travelers. This man felt no such social barriers and freely walked the aisles barefoot.
Is that freedom or the precursor to a nasty ringworm infection?

If it sounds like a duck...

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:56:00 +0000

Rees was going through the old Halloween costumes and found this duck costume that he wore two years ago. He has been wearing it all morning.

Is that a rock?

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:08:00 +0000

The boys were throwing rocks in the pond. Rees said to James:
"If it sinks, it's a rock. If it floats, it's cow poop."

Date Night: Burgers and Snow Patrol

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:53:00 +0000

Went to dinner and a concert last night. Jess had never been to Five Guys so we went there and got two bacon cheese burgers and fries. Delicious. Jess was impressed. I left super stuffed. After dinner we went to the David O. McKay events center for Plain White T's and Snow Patrol. We got there, found our seats and waited. It was fun to chat with Jess while we waited for the Plain White T's. Their lead singer was sick so they came out and played three songs. We were okay with that.
Snow Patrol was awesome! The lead singer was entertaining. Chatted up the crowd and made some funny local references to local culture including catching himself using the f-word and substituting flippin'. I wasn't too familiar with all of their songs and enjoyed the performance. Not to say it was perfect. He did screw up some lyrics and forgot others. He also kept calling us Salt Lake City (the David O. McKay center is in Orem).
The people watching was great. The night's cast of characters include:

People following path of least resistance
Girl with BO
Interpretive dancer with jazz hands that threatened Jess' personal space
Silas from Weeds
Girl with dirty looks, no rhythm and an awesome digital zoom
Typical Utah county dude (ill-fitting baseball cap, large gut, pale, blond)

Snow Patrol Concert

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:33:00 +0000

Row 12. Seats 10 & 11.

Doing my business

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:15:00 +0000

At one time or another all parents face the unenviable dilemma of what to do with your toddler while you are out in public and have to use the restroom.

Scout Camp: Sand Hollow

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:13:00 +0000

Last week I went with the Venture scouts (16-17 year olds) to Sand Hollow near Hurricane, Utah. It is a relatively new reservoir being only 4-5 years old (from what I am told). We occupied three of the sites with hookups that were adjacent to the bathroom and showers.

Yeah, that kind of camping.

We took our time getting down there, stopping off for a tour and lunch at Cove Fort. Pretty interesting tour. Quite a different lifestyle back then. We arrived at the park in the late afternoon, and after setting up camp, messed around by the shore. I tried my hand at fly fishing again but was frustrated by the wind. Fly fishing on the shore of a lake is kind of lame. I didn't try fishing any of the other days.

On Tuesday I headed to St. George to get the Jimmy looked at. The brakes were making an awful sound but after $200 in replacement rotors, it was running like a champ. I also picked up a new battery for it. I also took the opportunity to visit Jess' grandma who will be 90 in March. It was a really short visit as I needed to get back to the camp to supervise. When I got back to camp the boys were over on the beach lying about and being bums. A few of them were out in a paddle boat and others were trying to fix the motor of the fishing boat they overturned. I played some bocce on beach. Not much else happened that afternoon. The activity planning was an interesting experiment. We presented the boys with numerous options, thinking that they would have more fun that way but they wound up doing nothing. That changed at the end of the week.
After dinner we busted out the movie projector and watched Forever Strong. The premise of the story is terrific with poor execution. It felt like a cross between an Afternoon Special and a church movie. I mostly did some Python programming while listening to it.

Wednesday was all about Zion National Park. We decided to climb Angel's Landing. A really nice hike which convinced me that my aspirations to be a person who runs can only be manifested by being a trail runner. Getting to the top was no easy task for many in our group but those who made it all the way up were treated to a great view. I went up in the first group and we were about 30-45 minutes ahead of everyone else. It started to rain and everyone got drenched. Right before the part of the hike with chains to keep people from falling off, there are latrines and 55 gallon barrels labeled "Human Waste". Later we found out how they fill the barrels and how they get them off the mou ntain. A lot of effort involved. I really need a t-shirt with a barrel of human toxic waste on the front. That night's movie was Kung Fu Panda.

Thursday we drove to St. George and took a tour of the visitor's center at the St. George temple. Later we went to a park, at a sack lunch and played soccer. Some refugees from Nepal that live in the Stake came with us and they humored us as we tried to play soccer with them. We then drove around looking for a basketball court. We found a court with 8 foot rims and played some dunk ball. Made me think of all those summers playing on low rims with Jeff. The movie that night was Nacho Libre. The rest of the trip was filled with quotes and references to that show.

Friday we rented a ski boat. All the kids slept in so the adults went out early and got to ski the nice water. I drove the boat most of the morning, swapping it twice and trying to dump all the kids off the tubes. Renting is the way to go. All of the fun and none of the hassle.

Saturday I had to go to Costco to replace a ski vest that we evidently lost. After that we packed up and left. On the way home we stopped off at Wendy's for lunch. I barely made it home without falling asleep.

Do Something Else

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:07:00 +0000

The kids were playing in their room this morning when the noise began to crescendo, culminating in James screaming. He came trotting into the front room where Jess was:

Jess: James no screaming. If you don't like what Rees is doing then use your words to tell him or go do something else.
James: Ok.

James then went back in his room.

James: Rees, I'm going to do something else.
Rees: Ok, I'll do it with you.

Locked out in the rain

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:50:00 +0000

Rees locked me out of the car today.

In the rain.

Then complained that I got him wet after he let me back into the car.

I left him in the car when while I loaded the trailer with supplies for camp next week. It started pouring so I ran to the car quickly only to find it locked, with Rees inside, oblivious to me pounding on the glass.

Quotes of today:

After hanging up the phone with Jess.
James: Who was that?
Me: Mom.
James: What kind of Mom?
Me: The best mom.
James: You mean my Mom?

After talking with Thomas at Target.
James: Who was that?
Me: Thomas.
James: Was he big?
Me: Yeah, he was big.
James: He was big. With nice shoes.

Later...
Rees: Can I have another gummi worm?
Me: No Rees. You have already had three.
Rees: I need a bonus round gummi worm!

Fun day with kids. A lot of laughs.

Backyard: Fence and Patio

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:38:00 +0000

I believe that Jess and I started working on the backyard from the first day that we moved in, 5 years ago. Every year for the past 3 we have been saying that the work was soon to be completed. There was the monster clothes line that needed to be removed, the evergreen bushes, new sod, the garden, the flowers, bushes trimmed and pruned, an old shed to cleanout, bushes and trees to rip out, fences replaced, pergola built, etc. It looks like this year we may finally reach a plateau where we can say it is 'done'. Over the last two weeks we have finished the patio, put in a sand box, landscaped the very back and put in a fence along the southwest corner.
It.
Looks.
Awesome.

Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning.

Monsters vs Aliens

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Rees and I went to a movie today: Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. Decent enough movie. Rees didn't take the glasses off from beginning to end. My favorite part was when the Monsters escaped the spaceship and Rees, who at this point was standing attentively in front of me, raised is hands above his head and yelled, "Hurray!!". I never want to forget the image of a five year old with his hands in the air silhouetted against a giant movie screen.

Cannonball!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:55:00 +0000

I was playing with the boys in their room today and took a break to lay down for a bit on their floor. I looked up just in time to see Rees standing on the arm of the green chair with a devilish look on his face.

"Don't jump on me Rees!"

Continues to prepare his jump and grin.

"Don't jump on me!"

I should mention that we play games like that often. Sometimes he will jump off the bunk bed and I will catch him. His jumping style is just as unique has his pooping style (picture the crab stance). After he jumps, he pulls his legs up and comes down in a cannonball pose.

"I am serious Rees! Don't jump!"

With that he launches and lands square on my chest, landing with enough force to pop my back three times. I then look up just in time to see James lined up ready to jump next.

Amazon Video on Demand

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:01:00 +0000

We bought a Roku a while back to stream videos from Netflix and display them on the TV. There have been recent updates to the Roku that allows media to be streamed from Amazon's media store. I watched some of the free content and was impressed by the quality. I went shopping tonight for some paid content and was amazed at the price! Amazon wants $1.99 per TV episode! Umm.... What? What a rip off! I think I will stick with Hulu for the time being.

Scout Camp: Horseshoe Springs

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:28:00 +0000

Headed out to Skull Valley on Friday to Horseshoe Springs. Had a good time with the group of boys that showed up. After we showed up and set up camp, I ducked out to check out the springs. Grabbed my rod and chucked the fly around a bit.

Fun with the Scanner

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:11:00 +0000

When I was a lad (5 maybe?), my mom photocopied my hand and then framed it. I have it somewhere. I tried the same with the boys last weekend except using the scanner.

Lost Luggage

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:14:00 +0000

I am not a big fan of traveling for work. Normally I make a quick overnight or two night trip to help out a customer and I just pack a carry-on. Occasionally I need to check a bag of equipment but I always do so with the feeling that it is the last time I will ever see it again. The airlines have lost my bag more than once (FYI, Southwest has no way to track where your bag is after you hand it over). This trip I had a case of equipment that I needed to check and I had a second carry-on. Half of the bags made it to Vegas. Grrr... Of course the bag that was lost had all my clothes and toiletries. I filled out the forms and pointed to my bag type on the chart. Then they asked if I needed some toiletries and gave me a bag of stuff. Made me feel a little better about my bag being lost. Until I opened it. Here are the contents:

T-shirt
Razor
Shaving cream
Brush
Toothbrush
Q-tip
Cotton ball

Notice anything? Yep. No toothpaste. Lovely. I decided to just use the toothbrush sans paste. Another mistake. The brush disentegrated in my mouth leaving bits of bristles in the back of my mouth. Thanks for nothing Delta! All that crap got left in the hotel room.

Moda and Baby Jesus

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:32:00 +0000

We found this Buddha statue outside yesterday. James really likes it but can't quite pronounce Buddha which sounds more like Moda. Today James found the Baby Jesus from the Playmobil nativity set and decided that they should be buddies.

Digging in the Dirt

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Rees was helping me out in the yard this afternoon. I was weeding and Rees was busying himself waiting for me to be done. "This is taking forever!" he kept saying and then letting me know what time it was. While I was weeding I unearthed several worms and called Rees over to take a look. He asked me some questions about them which I don't remember and then announced, "I am going to call this one... Marvin." We buried them and he went back to whatever he was doing. Every once in a while he would come back and ask if Marvin had dug his way back out of the dirt pile. We would then unearth him (or one very similar) then bury them again. During one of these unerathings, Rees found a small snail shell. He examined it and then told me:

I am going to put this shell back. That way a slug will find it and turn into a snail and stay safe from predators.

He spent the rest of the time making his snail shell collection. All those lucky slugs!

Rees' Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:45:00 +0000

Rees:

Our Father in heaven,
thank you for this day.
Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Reesie and Jamie.
Thank you for Percy's claws.
Thank you for Funniest Videos.
Thank you for Little Einsteins.
We say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

James:

Don't forget the library Rees!

Rees:

And the library.

Rees is 5!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan Berrett) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:49:00 +0000

Happy Birthday Dude!