Teresa's Games

One of my FAVORITE games when I was little was garbage truck with my dad. We would lay on our stomach across his feet (he would be laying un his back lloking like he was about to do a sit up) and he would flip us up (similar to how a garbage truck flips a trash can over). We would also play Barbies alot... oh and tents. We loved building blanket tents in the house. We usually had a pool wherever we lived, so we spent alot time swimming too. I don't really remember any more specific games. I usually played whatever I wanted and made my brother and sister play along with me. They usually got the worst part of whatever game I had planned for us and I always had fun. I'm alsmost positive that my brother and sister did not have as much fun as I did, but I can't say for sure. :)

Heidi's Games

We did a lot of different things in our neighborhood. We'd walk up to High Plains Elementary and play on the playground or baseball on the field. Like Mindy said, we played a lot of tennis on our street. Riding bikes was fun because we'd go up Rusty Hinge's hill, turn around and just coast back down. We played every kind of tag there is, and even made up some. Remember T.V. tag? Sometimes on summer nights we played flashlight tag. That's one of my all time favorites. In Colorado, there's plenty of snow to play with and David showed his creativity by making a nice tall igloo once. We had lots of fun with games in the snow building forts, having snowball fights and sledding.

Inside games were board games most of the time because we never had any playing cards (unless you count SkipBo, Uno and Pit). I think the official Lauritzen family game would have to be Spoons. Nice that you guys decided to play that AFTER I left in May, by the way. I enjoyed playing games with my family, even though I was a very poor sport. Encore and Trivial Pursuit were great. David made a game out of torturing us when he was babysitting. Matt was an expert at the human cannonball. Dave would lie on his back with his feet in the air, set Matt on his feet, then kick as hard as he could so that Matt went flying. We all got to participate in one way or another in this little circus, though none of us wanted to. It's no wonder we would cry when Mom told us David was babysitting us.

As You May Have Noticed

We were out of town. Sorry Courtney for the late birthday wish. And sorry to the rest of you that emailed a post to me a while ago! Anyway it's all updated now!

Mindy's Games

I always played Barbies. Even when I was too old to play Barbies I still played with them. As some of my friends outgrew them, they also outgrew me because that's all I ever wanted to play. The twins and I liked to dress up, hit the tennis ball back and forth across the street, look for spear grass or Indian paint brushes in the field, play parachute with the sheet on the big bed we shared, and sing along with little records that we played on my red and white striped portable record player. David and I would set up the army guys on the hearth and shoot them down with rubber bands. I also read a lot. I don't remember any neighborhood play.

Question of the Week:

What games did you play in your house or neighborhood?

Nickell's H.S. Activities

I was on the tennis team. That's all.

Uncle Remus

For those of you who haven't tried it, you must know: Uncle Remus rules! When Dad first sent out the CDs, Nico wasn't very interested so I got the book of Uncle Remus' Stories. Keep in mind, I read old southern black man very poorly. He spent most of the time we were reading laughing hilariously at my pronunciation and stumbling over words. Just recently he asked if he could listen to the Uncle Remus CDs that grandpa sent before he went to sleep and now will only settle down to sleep while listening to those CDs. He says, "Grandpa says the words better than you!" Go figure!

Thank you, Dad, for those CDs. It does bring back memories and I love that Nico is now learning to share the memories!

Lori

Dad's Activities

One of the great advantages of being a "big frog in a small pond", i.e Mullan High School, was that I was able to participate in almost anything that I wanted.

I played the sousaphone in the band and marching band (they were the same band) for three years. I sang in choir for four years. I had a role in every play put on by the school during those four years (I believe there were two each year). (Note: Due to a lack of talent depth, we did not do any musicals.) I played piano in the school dance band, and sang in the barbershop quartet.

I played basketball all four years, and football in my freshman year until I blew out my left knee. That knee still bothers me to this day.

I was the baseball team manager, and threw the shot-put and discus in track.

I was Freshman Class president, Student Body president my senior year, Boy's State representative (held in Pocatello), and participated in other student government activities.

Oh, yes! I also attended classes.

My high school experience was one that I remember almost entirely with great fondness. Of course, there were the teen-age problems that we all have to endure, but they were few compared to the good things we enjoyed in Mullan.

And, I knew every single student in the school. Not hard with only 149 students in four grades.

Grandpa Lauritzen

Happy Birthday Courtney!

Courtney turned 13 on Monday, the 25th! Happy Birthday Courtney! We hope you had a wonderful birthday! Now you are a teenager!!!!

Holly's Answers

I am also way behind answering questions, so here we go:
I was heavily involved in the music and theater programs in high school. I also timed the swim meets with Heidi. I got very good at blowing up balloons for the theatrical society, and got $100 scholarship for doing that.
My name, like Heidi's, was just chosen because it ends with the "e" sound and my parents liked it. It means "the bush." I love holly plants, even though they are pokery.
I have a few favorite places to eat. My all-time favorite right now is probably Carrabas for the Chicken Bryan. Grandma thought that was a funny dish for an Italian restaurant, because it's an Irish name. All I know is that it is the best chicken in the world! I also love Tepanyaki for the filet mignon, but the restaurant we frequent the most right now is Chilis because it is less expensive. I like the chips and queso, the teryaki chicken wings, and the lettuce wraps.

I think you will enjoy this one.

Dad/Barry

Church Leaders preparing us for the 2nd Coming of Christ
http://www.youtube.com/user/davidkat99

or directly at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqaesQ2EE8w"

21!

Kelsey turns 21 today! Happy Birthday Kelsey! Have a great birthday!

Heidi's Activities

I did all the same things in high school that all the Lauritzen girls did, except I knew I would never in any way be an athlete, so I never even considered joining any sports team. The closest I got was timing the boys swim meet. Speaking of which, does anyone else love watching Michael Phelps swim? He is a freak of nature. He's awesome.

Anyway, all I ever did in high school was sing and play in the band. Marching band is very fun for percussion because you get to sit on the sidelines and laugh at the marching mistakes. We had a great time. My senior year I finally gave up on Mrs. Kronke (which I seriously regret not doing freshman year) and joined the pit band for the musical. That was a blast.

Happy Birthday Shannon

Today Shannon turns 2!! Happy Birthday Shannon, we hope you have had a very fun birthday!

Mom Playing Catch Up

I guess I need to play catch up. Let's see. My favorite place to eat is Ruths Chris. I've only been there once and it will probably be the only time. It is very expensive. Second is Steaksmith.But it is too expensive too. I love Carabas and like their Chicken Henri and Steak Marsala. And I love the Margarita at Pine Creek. Anything there. I just love food.

I have no idea where I got my name. It means dark eyed beauty, I think and it's spanish.

Activities at school. I didn't get involved in much at school for the first two years. I was too shy. Then I tried out for a group the seminaries were starting called Seminairs. For the first year I sang in it. The other two I was the director. We did sacrament meetings around the state, doing both the talks and the songs. Then my seminary teacher made me try out for an assembly in my junior year and suddenly people noticed me. I was girls org president, on the school council, Involved in planning a lot of activities. But I still didn't feel comfortable with the others doing that.

I can't remember what other questions there were.

We had a very busy 1st week on our mission. I got something Thursday that has kept me in bed for two days now. I hope it's gone by Monday. Dad is enjoying it and I will too when the other two missionaries come on board and I'm not so busy. I hope she'll help me. We kind of need two people to do the front desk. There are so many reports, letters and calls for one person to do.

We had a good trip to Idaho. I like to see where my kids live. I'll be glad to see Amy's and Heidi's, and Matt's too. Love you all so very much. I loved having Teresa and her kids and Nico and JD come up. We had a good time.

First Day of School

Teresa's Activities

I didn't avidly do anything in high school. I mostly just dabbled in a bunch of different things. This is a good excuse to get the old picture books back out!

I did basketball the longest. I have played basketball since I was eight years old. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't any good. For some reason, though, coaches were determined my whole "schoolhood" to make me play because I've been 5'11" since I was born. I played until my junior year of high school.

Another big thing I was into in high school was JROTC. I wanted to join the Air Force more than anything (still kinda do). I did really well in ROTC and did several extra activities like drill team and color guard and raised alot of money for our school. I was also a flight commander of the honor flight of our school and a recognized flight by the Air Force Academy. That made me very proud.

I dabbled in other things like choir (mostly cause mom made me) but I can't find any pictures of that. I did a little modeling too.

The thing I did best was, what my dad called, "chilling" or "hanging". I spent ALOT of time doing these things with my friends. In Colorado, I "chilled" with Franklin and Erika (I can't find a picture of Erika right now). The most important school influence I had though was "The Batman Squad". I need to explain this, because it was a very big part of life for me. You see, Batman is hands down the greatest superhero EVER! Everyone in our group had a batman code name. ( I was Batman because I was the biggest fan and I came up with our symbol) In the picture you can see us all with hooked fingers. The "hooked" space is the head and the creases in your fingers create ears. Thus, you have The Dark Knight. I know... Super creative. We started this sign in 7th grade and did it until I moved when I was 16. It was rediculous, but a constant.

So, there's my activities in a nutshell! YAY!

No I Did NOT Forget!

Yesterday I was searching for a picture of Joshua that I took. And I could not find it. It is on my website and I absolutely love it! Well.... Happy birthday Josh! We hope your 7th birthday was great! I stole this picture from Amy's blog, and decided to also go the The Payne Family blog to see what they did yesterday!

p.s. if you want to see the picture I was talking about, go to Nickell Photography, click on gallery, then portraits. It is on page 2 of the portraits, and if you click on his picture it will get bigger! I love it!

Mindy's Activites

I've always loved to swim, so my freshman year I tried out for the swim team. Problem was, I couldn't dive. It wasn't for lack of trying. I'd had several swim teachers try to teach me, but for some reason I'm not coordinated enough to make my body do what I envision it needs to do in order to dive in without belly flopping or getting a nose full of water. Because of this, I was one of only two girls cut from the swim team. Jeny was there to witness my humiliation. She was visiting and happened to be there when I was cut. I was embarassed, but glad for a shoulder to cry on at the time.
Of course there were always the plays and Ramantics, band and choir, solo and ensemble. I also participated in the drama club. We never did anything but fill balloon orders. That funded the drama club scholarship that was handed out every Spring, usually to the person who fulled the most balloons. I think that's about it. Nothing really exciting.

Question of the Week!

What kinds of extracurricular activities did you participate in when you were in school?

A Fun Day for the Brown Family

We just had the most fun day and I wanted to tell you about it. For some background, the kids have been kind of bored since we moved in. Jason and I have been unpacking, rebuilding decks, painting, and doing other odd jobs around the house, so the kids have mostly bugged each other to death for the last month. This is the last week before Jason starts school, so we decided to put off further house repairs for a while. We made a list of fun things that we could do within 30 miles of home, and we've been doing a couple of those things each day this week. We went swimming yesterday and had a movie outside with the projector last night. We've had some fun. But today was the best so far. We planned to go to a reservoir and let the kids fish (they don't have to have a fishing license because they're all under 14), which I thought wouldn't last long because fishing gets really boring really fast. We also planned to go find somewhere to pick blackberries. We'd been told they grow like weeds in Juliaetta, about 30 minutes away. I didn't think that would last long either, because it was hot and blackberry bushes are very pokery, and I didn't know if they'd like blackberries anyway. So first with the fishing. It wasn't very good off the pier. Just hot, and murky water that you couldn't see a foot into. So we went over to where we were going to cook our hot dogs for lunch, started a fire, and the kids went to play by the little stream of water that was nearby. Dylan was the first to find a bunch of little 3 to 4 inch perch all sitting in one spot. So he got out his pole, so the rest of the kids also got theirs. They didn't have to cast. The water was fairly shallow, and clear so they could look right in and see where the fish were. Mostly the fish were just eating the worms off the hooks, but Dylan hooked one of them. Yay! That's one for his merit badge. It was too small to eat, so he threw it back. The kids had so much fun just watching the fish eat their worms. So then came the berry picking part. That was awesome! The blackberry bushes really are everywhere down there. We drove to a gas station first, because I needed to make a phone call and didn't have service on the cell phone where we were. We parked at the gas station and picked from the bushes that were on the side of the road for about half an hour. Then we drove to another spot and picked for another 20 minutes or so. Most of the berries were still green, but we got almost half a gallon. Then Jason was done and was actually headed home when we found the jackpot. I've never seen anything like it! It was a relatively little patch in a field by a garage of some kind. We could have picked there for hours, but we only picked for about another 20 minutes. There were so many ripe ones. We ate at least as much as we brought home, and as you can see we brought home a full gallon bucket. We almost had to drag the kids away from there, they were having so much fun. And the berries are just beautiful. They're big and black and YUMMY. The kids want to make ice cream and syrup, freeze some for smoothies, and keep some for fresh eating, of course. I think I'll take the kids back there next week some time and get another gallon or so.

Enjoy... From Dad

A fawn followed this beagle home -- right through the doggie door --
in the Bittinger, MD area. The owner came home to find the visitor
had made himself right at home. This Hit the 6 o'clock news big time.
Sure beat out the McCain/Obama political news for a change.

Amy's Name

I am answering just because I want to contribute but I have no idea where my name came from. I think they named me Amy because they already had 3 girls that ended with an E sound and the didn't want to stray from that (I think that's ultimately how they came up with Heidi and Holly cause they were originally supposed to be Katie and Megan). Amy is a form of the French Aimee and means beloved. I only wish it meant the world's greatest wife, mom, sister, daughter, and aunt.

Jenylyn's Name

When I was quite young, Lori and Kristi would tell me all sorts of “stories”, and since they were the sophisticated, idolized sisters, I believed them. They told me that they picked my name and my parents like it, so I got my great name from them. (Really, I love my name, and always have). But the truth is, they were pretty young when I was born and could barely talk, and they had nothing to do with it. Once I was old enough to think about doing that math, I figured out that many of their “stories” were less than true. The truth is, Mom and Dad thought my cries sounded like beautiful music, so they named me after the very famous Jenny Lind (Dad told me that one, not Lori). Really, they did get the idea for my name from the opera star. They just liked the name, so that’s what I got. The only meaning I have been able to find came, remarkably, from my own head. It must mean “The Greatest Mom, Daughter, Sister and Aunt that ever lived”. I’m pretty sure that’s what it means. My nickname is, of course, “Lokrijeyou”, and like all of my sisters I will answer to almost anything because I have been called almost everything (I mean that in a nice way).

Holy Secret 2

While Mom and I were driving to Northern Idaho and back, we listened together to the CD version of "The Holy Secret". That brings this second observation.

In the story, Albert gives a number of examples of how Old Testament notables and their stories were types or symbols of the Christ who was to come. There are so many of them, I won't try to repeat any of them. You need to read that section for yourself.

This is consistent with what Pres. McConkie taught us in our institute class. Almost everything -- scriptural or non -- testifies of Christ.

So, that evokes this short comment from me. Our focus in our personal lives, and the focus of what we teach our children should be Jesus Christ. We should pay particular attention to what He has done for us that we could not do for ourselves. And how much we owe Him that we can never repay.

He is the creator, the messiah and redeemer, the father of our bodies in that He has begotten us through His sacrifice. He really is so much more in our lives than that with which we credit Him.

I hope that we will all try much more diligently to focus on Christ and truly get to the point where we really do "...always remember Him." We should remember Him in the midst of both trials and rejoicings.

Dad

p.s. My challenge to you was to read the book and make comments on the blog -- not to just wait until I make comments and then comment on my comments (is that confusing enough?). I would like to hear what you have observed as you have read, and what the Spirit teaches you as you read this book. I know that all of us would benefit for your thoughts.

Ninja Nico

You may find this as amusing as did I. Nico is in a Ninja phase and everything is Ninja all the time! He's got the sword and the 'throwing stars' and he wanted a headband too. We've looked everywhere for what he wanted and he was never satisfied with what we found, so we decided to make it. This is his own goofy creation - made out of a thin polyester material and metallic paint. For those of you less artistically inclined, that is a silver medal with a metallic blue music note in the middle of it. Go figure!!!

A Real Eye Opener.....

Military Losses, 1980 thru 2007

Whatever your politics, however you lean, and however you feel about the
current administration, this report should open some eyes.
As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the
following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while
actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006 - by any cause.
1980 .......... 2,392 (Carter Year)
1981 .......... 2,380 (Reagan Year)
1984 .......... 1,999 (Reagan Year)
1988 .......... 1,819 (Reagan Year)
1989 ........... 1,636 (George H W Year)
1990 .......... 1,508 (George H W Year)
1991 .......... 1,787 (George H W Year)
1992 .......... 1,293 (George H W Year)
1993 .......... 1,213 ( Clinton Year)
1994 ......... 1,075 ( Clinton Year)
1995 .......... 2,465 ( Clinton Year)
1996 .......... 2,318 ( Clinton Year)
1997 .......... 817 ( Clinton Year)
1998 ......... 2,252 ( Clinton Year)
1999 .......... 1,984 ( Clinton Year)
2000 ...........1,983 ( Clinton Year)
2001 ............. 890 (George W Year)
2002 ........... 1,007 (George W Year)
2003 ......... 1,410 (George W Year)
2004 .......... 1,887 (George W Year)
2005 ............. 919 (George W Year)
2006.............. 920 (George W Year)
2007............. 899 ( George W Year )

Clinton years (1993-2000): 14,107 deaths
George W years (2001-2007): 7,932 deaths

If you are surprised when you look at these figures, so was I. These figures
mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS
than the loss of military personnel during Bill Clinton 's presidency; when
America wasn't even involved in a war! (Unless you include Bosnia or the
disgrace of Mogadishu , Somalia when Clinton failed to respond to terrorists.
Remember 'Blackhawk Down'?)

And, I was even more shocked when I read that in 1980, during the reign of
President (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter , there were 2,392 US
military fatalities! From what? How?

I think that these figures indicate that many members of our Media and our
politicians will pick and choose the information on which they report. Of
course we all know that they present only those 'facts' which support their
agenda-driven reporting. But why do so many of them march in lock-step to
twist the truth? Where do so many of them get their agenda? Obviously there
is one shared agenda. Could it be from the most powerful Democratic family
of the decade?

Do you want further proof? Consider the latest census of Americans. It shows
the following FACTS about the distribution of American citizens, by race:

European descent .......................69.12%
Hispanic......................................12.5%
Black .................... .....................12.3%
Asian........................................... 3.7%
Native American............................1.0%
Other............................................2.6%

Many media lead us to feel the military death ratio is off balanced compared
to the distribution by race in America .. Here are the fatalities by RACE
over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom. Do the comparison yourself.

European descent (white) .........74.31%
Hispanic...................................10.74%
Black ........................................9.67%
Asian....................................... 1.81%
Native American....................... 1.09%
Other....................................... 0.33%

I was surprised again. Our mainstream media continues to spin these figures
(for political gain). Nothing more. It's all about politics.

I hope that during the time between now and November, intelligent Americans
can decipher:
the facts from the spin,
the spinners from the leaders,
those who seek even more power from those that seek justice,
and the dividers from the uniters.

Over the next months let's be good listeners and see and hear who tries to
divide our nation; and who wants to unite our nation. Who wants to control
how our money is spent and who wants our money spent the way we would spend
it. Who seeks
power and who seeks justice? Who spins the facts and who is genuine.

(These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they
may be confirmed by anyone at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf ;

'History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid.' -
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Heidi's Name....

I don't have any story about how I got my name. My parents just liked it and that's what I got. I've never really felt one way or another about it. It's just a name. It means peacefully noble, but that doesn't mean much to me. Maybe that's something to live up to. I've met several other Heidi's in my life, and they've each looked and behaved differently.

Bruce Family Names...

I got my name from my name from my wonderful grandmothers (Thank you SO much for not being named Gerty or Olga). My nickname for as far back as forever as been Tere. (well, in middle school it was jolly green and high school it was amazon), but I really love my name. It's a wonderful name.

Keith got his name from his father's brother. He died as a baby in a car accident. My husband is the only person I know who could mix up their 1st, middle and last name and it still make complete sense. I can write this safely knowing Keith won't read this, but his nick name since he was a child has been Kee-Kee Poo. (don't ask me!)

I don't know where the girls got their names and neither does Keith

Derek has been a name I have loved since I had a crush on a neighbor boy in 4th grade. Had he been born on a Sunday, I was very serious on naming him Dale after my favorite race car driver.

Cassie (Cassandra) is one of the only names Keith and I agreed on. After she was born and named, we realized that was the name of his brother's dog. HA I thought that was funny.

Mindy's Name

I once asked my Mom how they chose my name. I never really thought it fit my personality. Mindy should be a fun, energetic, slightly dumb, blonde. She told me they just liked the name. I just looked up its meaning. The origin is Greek and the meaning is dark beauty. OK, so maybe the blonde image is a little off. Anyway, it still doesn't fit me. What I like about my name is that it's unusual. I very rarely come across another Mindy. I like that.

Question of the Week....

Well the responses last week were slim....lets get more this week.
Where did you get your name? What does it mean? Did/ do you have a nickname?

Megan's Favorite Place to Eat

My favorite place to eat is probably Golden Corral. My favorite thing to eat is probably my pepperoni salad. Golden Corral is my favorite because there are so many choices and I can stack my plate.

Where Dylan Likes to Eat

Today my favorite place to eat would be probably Olive Garden. I like the breadsticks and fettuccine Alfredo and soup. I also love Golden Corral's steak cooked medium and also their salads, without lettuce, and fried chicken and macaroni and brownies. I have more things that I like at
Golden Corral because we've gone there more often so I've tried more things there.

Where the Bruce's Eat

Alright, we'll start with the oldest:

Keith and Cassie like to eat wherever there is food. They aren't picky and really like to eat.

I love 2 places: TGI Fridays for their Jack Daniels Grill and Dixie Cafe for their Cajun Chicken

MaKayla LOVES Osaka's. She wants to go there for every special occasion.

I'm not 100% sure about Meaghan, but I would guess IHOP or Chick fil A are the places she asks me for the most.

Derek is in love with Burger King right now because they have mac and cheese.

Happy Birthday Uncle T!!!

Happy Birthday Uncle T! Payne is turning 49 this year! Next year is the big one as Amy says! Happy Birthday hope your day was great! We wish you guys lived closer!

Colorado Springs or Bust!!!

The Bruce family made a trip to Colorado Springs. They made a few stops in Texas and New Mexico. Here are a few pictures....Picture Gallery

There is a hummingbird that has been dive bombing me whenever I take garbage outside. I knew she had a nest somewhere near - but didn't realize until yesterday that the nest is on a limb right above the can. There are 3 little birds and it's pretty sheltered so I can't get any better pictures than this. The nest is about as wide as 2 of my fingers. The little beaks are about 1/4" long. Super fun!


-Jeny

Nickell's Food of Choice

Well, first I need to say for everyone that Tere, you need to come back! OK. I am the kind of person that can eat pretty much anywhere, but I only have one thing on the menu that I ever get. Here is a list of my favorites....
Red Lobster: Snow Crab 1/2 pound (full pound if I am really hungry)
Black Angus: Filet Mignon with the mashed potatoes and veggies (yeah we don't go there very often, especially considering they don't have one close to me.)
Olive Garden: It used to always be the Seafood Alfredo with shrimp only, but we went there for our anniversary and I was feeling adventurous, so now it will be the Sicilian Scampi as an appetizer and the Shrimp Carbonara. The Sicilian Scampi is amazing! It's shrimp in a garlic butter sauce on some kind of bread with diced tomatoes....amazing.
Subway: The Club on Italian herbs and cheese bread with Provolone, green peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, olives and salt and pepper....toasted...
Chili's: Classic Sirloin with LOADED mashed potatoes and veggies (they have the best veggies, and yes I am a steak person. I love my steak!)
California Pizza Kitchen: The California Club with no lettuce. Yum yum yum! It's a sauce-less pizza, melted Mozzarella, bacon, chicken, tomatoes and avocado! I think I am going to need to eat that soon!
P.F. Changs: Mongolian Beef, and Moo Goo Gai Pan (I don't know if I spelled that correctly but it is so yummy)

I think that is enough for now. There are many more places, but I also love the homemade...Chicken and Asparagus Pasta, and BBQ Chicken Pizza!

Amy's Food of Choice

Hands down, my favorite place to eat is Ruth's Chris. I know, it's a wierd name but oh so good!! It is outrageously expensive (about $50/person) so we only go about once every 2 years but it is well worth the wait. I always get the steak, it's the best steak I've ever had, and they bring it to you swimming in hot butter. Payne gets the blackened tuna. Even if you don't like fish you would love this. It tastes like a pork roast but a little lighter and not fatty. Dessert is always the key lime pie that is to die for. Makes my tummy rumble just thinking about it!

Jonah's Food of Choice

My favorite place to eat is Quiznos. I like to eat pretty much
everything there. I also like McDonald's hamburger kids' meal.

Kate Brown's Food of Choice

I love Subway, Sizzler, Golden Corral, and McDonald's. I don't know what
my favorite things to eat there are, because there are lots of things I
like to eat at all those places. If I could eat anything I want it would
be homemade chicken noodle soup or Mom's beef brisket.

Heidi's Food of Choice

Amen to having Amy cook for me!! She can come any time. I can still beat her in the pie baking category, but as quickly as she picked up bread, I'm sure that won't last long. I'd also go anywhere Dave is cooking, too. We LOVE to eat out. That's a huge weakness for us. Our favorite at the very top of the list is absolutely Panera for the French onion soup alone. Oh, my mouth is watering! We also love Texas Roadhouse and Carrabbas. One of my favorite things to do in a new town, though, is to try out the little local non-chain restaurants. Some of the best food I've eaten has come from the most unassuming places. All you have to do is ask the locals what they recommend. Food is just great!

Hope things are calmer now for you, Kristi. Thank you for keeping us all up to date on that.

A Frickin' Elephant

A Teacher's Dilemma....
My five-year old students are learning to read.
Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said, 'Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!'I took a deep breath, then asked...'What did you call it?''It's a frickin' elephant! It says so on the picture!'
And so it does...

' A f r i c a n Elephant '
Hooked on phonics! Ain't it wonderful.