Sam kisses himself

On my vacation day, at home with Char and Sam, I learned that they have a favorite activity of playing in the mirror. He was very intrigued by the other baby in it and insisted on giving him a kiss. Char and I thought it was adorable. Some of you may have hear rumors that Char and I are considering coauthoring one blog. Nothing had been decided to this date. The point of disagreement between us is which blog will be the vehicle for this merger. If any of you have any preferences feel free to comment on Char's blog about your preference for my blog over hers.

Fisherman's Tale

My internship is now over and we are back in Pocatello. I had a great time at Logan Regional Hospital. Now that I am at school I thought I should provide a report to my readers about my fishing escapades. There was not a lot of time for fishing so I maximized the time available. Total it was two full days of anticipation for the big catch of a tiger.

On the first I came to the lake early in the morning, mostly scouting it out. I was casting just to see what would follow my lure in. On my 5th cast I saw something that really confused me. Was it a log, some weeds, a cloud of muddy water, what was it? Then when it came closer to shore my brain finally was able to recognize it. It was a huge tiger following my lure in. In this moment of excitement I quickly sprang into action. Unfortunately, the time to prepare was past. First I began to adjust my drag-I only had 10 lbs test line. But wait... my drag was broken. Why was this happening just then, when the moment was upon me? I could still see the beast in the water swimming away. By the time I ran up to the car switched to Sam's reel and came back it was gone. I casted and casted with no sign of my newly formed friend. I did learn that I need practice casting a bait caster type reel.

Rejected I came back home and started to prepare for the next time I would go back. I got new line, steel leader, new lures, and some worms just in case. I fixed my old reel and went back. The second time, there was no sign of the tiger, but I did catch a lot of bass. I failed to catch what I came for. The next time I will probably need a boat and will start earlier in the morning.

The light is getting closer

The end of a long semester is almost here. There are two weeks until finals. I can hardly believe it. I only have two more years of this and then I can finally get a job. The first half of this semester went really well but lately I have been struggling to keep my head up.

In three weeks we are moving to Newton to stay with Char's parents. I will be working at Logan Regional Hospital in orthopedics. It should be fun. In November we are going to Boise where I will be working at St. Alphonsus in acute care rehab.

Sam is growing up fast. He is growing into and out of clothes all the time. He has a way of making life very difficult and also very pleasant. For those of you who have not met him, he is a lot of fun. Full of smiles and laughter. I just hope that he can maintain this attitude for 19 more years.

ParKour

ParKour (aka urban running, urban jumping, or free running) was originally founded in France by David Belle when he was only 15 yrs old. The name parkour [/paʁ.'kuʁ/] was thought of by Herbert Kuonde, a friend of David Belle... — and it derives from 'parcours du combattant', the obstacle courses proposed by Georges Hébert method and a classic of French military training. Kuonde took the word parcours, replaced the "c" with a "k" to suggest aggressiveness, and removed the silent "s" as it opposed parkour's philosophy about efficiency.

Belle was trained in Gymnastics and martial arts applying these disciplines to navigating an obstacle course. By some it is considered its own form of martial art. In life when we are faced with confrontation we have built in to our physiology fight or flight. Traditional martial arts cover the fight part very thoroughly. ParKour attempts to cover the flight.

In parkour the idea is to over come obstacles as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Below is a clip I liked that demonstrated this rather well. It is about 8 minutes long, I thought it was rather good. You may need high speed in order to watch it and it takes a few minutes for the guy in it to warm up, but if you are patient you are in for quite a show. In the recent James Bond movie Casino Royal the beginning chase scene is a great example of Parkour. The villain being chased is actually Sébastien Foucan, the founder of free running in London who trained with Belle in France.

Illegitimate, non-peer reviewed, secondary Reference: Wikipedia under Parkour

ParKour Video Clip

Hello

So we just got back from spring break. I had a great time. Boise was great, I spent time with my family and was able to help my Mom out. I realize that I like working and sitting around is boring so it is good that Mom and Char's family always has little jobs for me to do when I come. If you want more information about that refer to Char's blog.

While in Newton I learned some very exciting news. The Newton Reservoir is home to Tiger Muskie.

It is my intention to catch one this summer. The tiger muskie is a hybrid of the northern Pike and the Muskellunge. This parentage gives the Tiger unique characteristics. First it is sterile, it grows quickly adopting its size from its muskellunge heritage. Plus it is a really aggressive like the northern pike. It is stocked in lakes to help bring down the trash fish populations. Supposedly it doesn't eat trout and other game fish but mainly the pan fish, suckers, and carp.

In preparation of this I have been figuring out what I need to catch one of these beasts. I have the fishing gear, I think, but I don't have a boat. Char's dad has an old boat that belonged to his father that has been in storage for 10 years and I am looking into fixing it up. But if that is too much for me I found some plans on the Internet for making a canoe from scratch. I still haven't decided the details but I am exploring options of how I can accomplish this adventure on a tight budget.

Who does Sam look like?

There has been a lot of debate as to which of us, Charlotte or I, Sam looks the most like. We have heard equally for either of us. The problem of comparing Sam to us now is that Charlotte and I do have simular features.

To resolve this once and for all we must look at the baby pictures. I will let everyone decide for themselves.

Below is Charlotte on the top left, Sam in the top right, and me on the bottom left.

The one of me is a bit older than the others but it is all I have. Here are some more pictures of Sam to help you in your decision.

This outfit Chad and Lyndsie Feild gave to us for Christmas. Charlotte and I were actually having a photo contest between the two of us. I think that I won with the above picture.

Valentine's Day Desert Competition

Yesterday, February 13th, our stake had a Valentine's Day dinner. A part of the dinner was a dessert competition for the guys. The grand prize for the best dessert was one night at the Black Swan Inn which is a fancy hotel here in town with theme rooms, much like the Anniversary Inn. When Charlotte found out this she wanted to win more than anything.

To make her happy I set out to win. I contacted everyone I could think and looked in any recipe book I could find for help choosing a winning recipe. I decided on the Black Forest Pie. It was great. It is a chocolate cherry pie to die for. I will include the recipe at the end.

To make a long story short, the competition was stiff. In the end it came down to two desserts, my pie and a strawberry short bread thing. It was a tie and an alternate judge was brought in to decide. We lost. I couldn't believe it. That alternate wouldn't know good taste if it bit him. Even though I didn't win I thought the recipe was good enough to share with all of you.

Black Forest Pie
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling, divided
1 unbaked pastry shell 9 inch.
Whipped topping, optional but recommended.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa, flour and milk until smooth. Add butter. Bring to a boil; cook and sir for 2 minutes or until thickened. remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into eggs. Return all to the pan. Fold in half of the cherry pie filling. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until filling is almost set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Just before serving, top with remaining pie filling and whipped topping if desired. Serves 6-8.

I don't know the nutritional information. I am sure that this recipe is not too healthy but it is good.