Curious traditions and some child endangerment.

It just so happens that us Condies have tradition of celebrating Christmas. We gather together as a family and we tend to eat goodies with an abundance of fat or sugar. At some point we exchange gifts ( ones nobody wants or needs but we all usually spend more than we intended). I can't explain why we do the things we do. It could be our Scottish heritage, or maybe it's because my father worked at a nuclear powerplant during our formative years.

We held the family party at our house again this year. I guess it just works out that way. I mean, December is the month we clean the house anyway so why not invite people over?



Grandpa and Grandma brought a couple bottles of 25 year old brandy for the white elephant exchange. We had an employee years ago that knew we were LDS but every year would give them a fruit basket and a bottle of brandy.


All of our best sides.


We want to wish all of our family and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I was planning to, but Rex and Dee took the brandy back. Who does that? Bring a preasant for exchange and then steal it back?

Look Santas spreading his cheer

Get this. I have a irreverent streak. Julie has learned to deal with this. If you can't, turn back now. I think some of the reasons I like these pictures is because I admire the people that could do this to there own homes and not worry what there neighbors would think, when in all actuality most of us would think it's hilarious.


Okay, It could be worse. He could be aiming down the chimney. The smell would be horrendous.



Is he just being funny? I don't think so. I think this home owner has found a creative way to share the Christmas spirit while staying Earth conscious. btw, I'm pretty sure that is Al Gores' house on the left.



Let's give this house it's due. I mean they still have me beat for number of strands of lights up.

A festive decoration that could compliment any trailer. Single wide or double.

He pulled a "Ralphie"

Last Friday we went to get Santa pictures. The boys were very exited to tell Santa what they wanted. (Flow charts, and spread sheets were involved) We waited patiently until it was our turn to meet the big man himself. Will walked right up and climbed onto Santas lap while John griped onto Julies pant leg like she was hanging out of a helicopter. He froze. He wanted no part of this. We at least got him to sit on Santas lap, but he was not happy about it. Julie and all of the helpers tried to get John to smile for the camera. I told them to not fight it and just take a real Holiday picture we might remember. The only thing that would have made this picture better is if John had fresh "fear drizzle" in his pants.

Later that day John realized that he blew his chance to tell Santa what he wanted. He freaked out and wanted to go back. It reminded me of Ralphie from a "Christmas Story". Only after promising that we would write a letter to the North Pole did he start to calm down.

Seattleites

So here we are in Seattle w/ nothing to do in this boring city. You know what they say, "When life gives you lemons, throw them at stupid people." Well we didn't have lemons so we went out today. Julie went shopping and out to lunch with her mom and sisters. Grandpa John and I took the guys to the Boeing Museum of Flight.


First we had to pay our respects to great grandpa Dale by stopping for lunch at his favorite haunt and get British burgers and root beer floats.



Super action team GO!


Cockpit of a SR-71 Blackbird.

Then it was off to meet Julie and spend the afternoon at Pike Place Market. We had been telling the boys about a fish market that throws the fish. Then we saw it on TV a few weeks ago.
10# King salmon in flight. Impressive yes, but when you see it in person it's like "What's the point."

Me and my Johnny. He is always good for a smile.


We went to a Joke/Magic shop. Will got a can of mixed nuts that is really a snake that pops out when you open it. I can't remember what John got.
Lastly a self pic in front of the famous sign.

Frank and Stein

Okay, I admit it. I am being that annoying parent that tells you every time their kid says something pithy or wipes his nose an interesting way. To be frank that's all I got right now. I take a lot of pride in my boys. This is always a very busy time of year for us. In 48 hours we have Halloween and the guys B-day. Now we add a student of the month award. (I am so glad they didn't give out bumper stickers)


Will was student of the month for his class. This from a kid that just 4 months ago was proclaiming that he would never go to school and would spend his life waiting for me to come home from work to make him grilled cheese sandwiches.
He also got a "One free kids meal at the sizzler" coupon. Umm.......We will be sure to jump right on that.

Who would win in a fight? A roided out super human soldier of the future or an elite ninja/ Mortal Combat fighter?

Answer; It's a tie. The Mortal Combat fighters extreme stare is cancelled out by the soldier of the future's marsh mellow gun.

Happy Birthday boys. I love you.

Busy weekend

This was a busy weekend. On Friday was John and Will's Elementary school fall carnival. I remember it was a big deal when I went to school there. It is all they have been talking about for a month. They even seem to have forgotten they have a birthday coming up.


Will loves his mommy.




On Saturday was the Buckeye Heritage Days Event. My dad was the show chairman again this year. He has been working for the last 6 months working with the city and organizing club members. Most all day Friday I helped him move tractors and set up the grounds.



Here is Dad taking a few minutes from his duties to pull his crawler. By the way, look for it as 'Miss February' in the 2010 Classic Tractor Calender on news stands soon where fine calendars are sold.

Julie brought the guys out for a couple hours. They always like to play on the tractors.


A rare photo of me.

Kindergarten Mug Shots

Well, here is a rare post from Julie....really, it's a rare moment to sit down with no one needing something. Mike is at a meeting at church and the kids are passed out in bed after a torturous session of homework (for kindergarten, that means practicing writing letters the school way and not the 6 year-old cool way).

What I really have to share is school pictures. I'm glad we bought the cd too because John's envelope came home folded up in his folder. We are trying to repair it under a stack of heavy books.

He spits on me.

In the last several weeks Will has lost his 4 front teeth. It's been fun messing with him. We make him say things like "Sister Sally sat on a thistle." or "Sing songs on Saturday." He sounds like Amy Poehler from the "mighty B".

Watching him eat is also fun. I think we will have corn on the cob for dinner tonight. Either that or apples. Maybe I'll have some video to post tomorrow.

Baby sisters can be heroes too.

Yesterday my sister Katie was asked to speak at an event promoting blood donations by the United Blood services. Even after reading her words today I tear up thinking of all she has been through. I am so proud of my little sister.

Here is what she said;

My name is Katie Clarke and I am a Cancer survivor who was saved by blood donors.

Wedding day Feb. 7 2004

My fairy tale began five years ago. When prince charming, Ryan, swept me off of my feet, took my hand in marriage and carried me across the threshold we were well on our way to our happily ever after. But the next chapter in our story was scary. Not long after our beautiful wedding the monster of cancer attacked us.

Day 1 at Banner Thunderbird. 3 weeks after her wedding.

We basically spent our honeymoon in the oncology ward of Banner Thunderbird. The nurses called me the cancer bride because my family decorated our honeymoon suite with wedding pictures to cheer me up. We spent the first month in the oncology ward of the hospital and the first year of our marriage in and out of out patient care and Dr’s offices. I can talk for hours about the physical and emotional things that Ryan and I went through, but lucky for you I only have a few minutes to share my story. ☺

I was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. No one knows where this monster came from but it caused my bone marrow to over produce white blood cells and not enough of the other blood cells.

My symptoms came on quickly. I was bruising easily from the lack of platelets in my blood. I had red all dots over my legs from my blood vessels bursting in my skin. I experienced a shortness of breath because I did not have enough red blood cells to transport oxygen to my body. I was hallucinating from the white blood cells interfering with the neural connections in my brain.

I thought that I had a weird strain of the flu. It was not until I literally felt like I was dying that I decided to call my doctor to get a check up and some antibiotics. My primary care physician ordered me to go directly to a hematology/ oncology office for more tests. He suspected something was seriously wrong. His suspicions were right.

When I went to my Oncologist, Dr. Joseph Volk’s office for the first time and he tested my blood. He told me that the average blood sample has about a quarter of a million platelets; I had about 8. He also told me that I had more white blood cells than his machine was calibrated to read. He ordered me to go to the emergency room immediately; if I did not get fresh blood in my system before the end of the day I would probably die.

The Dr. called in orders for me to get a blood transfusion STAT while I was driving to the hospital. But there was a shortage in the blood supplies that day and I had to wait 6 agonizing hours before my first transfusion.

And not only did I just have APML I also had an additional condition called Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation or DIC which is also called Death is Coming. My blood was clotting in my veins. The nurses told my husband to start planning my funeral. I had asked to be buried in my wedding dress. I paid a lot of money for that dress and I wanted to get my money’s worth. ☺

Fresh blood and the love, prayers and support of my husband and family were the only things that kept me alive for the first weeks until the chemo could restore my bone marrow to produce the proper blood chemistry again. I had 24 transfusions of red cells and platelets in 21 days.

That is when I became my alter ego of the vampirate. I wore a bandana to cover my baldhead. I wore an eye patch after an adverse reaction to one of my meds caused me to get double vision, my low red blood cell count made me deathly pale and I craved blood. One part vampire- one part pirate.

Transfused blood was the only thing that gave me relief from my malaise and pain. The transfusions instantly caused relief from my symptoms. They gave me energy; color in my face and life again. The transfusions helped my body to heal and gave me my life back. It took a year of chemo, radiation, tests, surgeries and daily doctor visits but I am finally in remission. An APML specialist at UC Davis who studied my case said that she had never seen an APML patient so close to death as I was and be as healthy as I am today.

Katie at one of her fundraisers

My husband is my prince charming. He never left my side and made sure that I had everything that I needed to get well. He was my motivation to recover and we grew so close together. I would not trade our first year of marriage for anything. It has made us who we are today.

Even though my husband is my prince charming, blood donors are my knights in shining armor.

I am now the site coordinator for the university where I work. I recruit new knights from the staff, faculty and students.

You never know who’s life you will save every time you donate. It took 24 people to save mine. I don’t know who they were so I try to thank every donor I meet; as far as I am concerned every donor saved my life.

The moral of this story is that we all have our own challenges in life mine was cancer. But the most important thing that we can consider is how we deal with our challenges and remembering to help others along the way.

And to all of the donors here, from my husband, my family, and me thank you for giving me my happily ever after back.

I got nothing to share, so it's funny time again

Is calling it a "Tard" really any more insulting than calling it a "Tart"?


Maybe he just needed to feel a little sexy that day.


Those extra ketchup packets no longer seems so important, does it?


And I mean it people. Not one thing! If I find one sign hanging from this pipe, heads are going to roll. R-O-L-L!! In fact, write this down and hang it from the pipe.


And his ego grew three sizes that day.





And now for your palate cleanser.

Teach him old school

I try to make this Blog about my family and stay away from the political stuff, but those of you that know me know I have strong opinions about our rights. I saw this video and had to put it up. It is just too perfect. While the left would like to portray my hobbies as vices, I say they are my constitutional rights.




Obama. "Don't Tread on ME!!!"

Weekend trip

Last week was my t.ugh,cough...ish..ixth birthday. My parents gave us their timeshare in Sedona for the weekend. I snuck Julie out of work early on friday and we made our way north.

We were going down the stairs on Saturday morning and it struck me how beautiful Julie was and I made her stop for a picture.

We had the second floor room.

This is the view from our balcony.

Here is my patented "self pic". Notice the superb composition, light shadow, second chin. We are on top of the Mogollon rim (about 6500 ft asl) looking down towards Sedona.

These are a few of the shops close to the hotel.



Julie by the fountain at the front lobby of the hotel. We left Sunday morning, and got home just in time to pick up the guys, put on their church clothes, miss Bishopric meeting ,but make Sacrament meeting.

After this weekend it has become even more clear to me that I am a lucky man. I have parents that love me and sacrifice on my behalf. ( Maybe because their retirement rests right on my shoulders). I have a wife that I adore and is the most selfless person I know. And I have two wonderful boys that I missed, ....mostly.

Be brave my little ones.

The first day of school has come. After a lot of begging, screaming, and desperate bargaining John and Will started Kindergarten yesterday. The last month or so has not been pretty. After a couple of serious tantrums in Walmart while buying school supplies, the boys finally sat us down and said "Mom, Dad, you have to get over this and let us go to school.".









Post Script.

The day after we got back from vacation Will lost his first tooth. As you can see the replacement is already coming in.......in his right nostril.