We love Holidays!

Okay, since I have been a slacker and haven't really posted much about our family since before Christmas, I am going to try and have a little catch up here. We have had a lot of fun holidays lately and it has been fun to celebrate them with the girls. They get excited over the simplest little activity that we have really enjoyed the holidays.

Here is just a little glimpse from Christmas since I didn't post one thing for it. Some of our funnest things we got to do were: making gingerbread houses, looking at lights, being with lots of different family (cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas), our ward activity (where we dressed up like biblical times and got to be in Bethlehem when Jesus was born) and of course decorating the tree and opening presents.







I am going to share a little of our Valentines day. We had yummy pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, and we had our little heart shaped sandwiches for lunch, and of course we had a fun candle lit dinner for four, including one of our favoritest foods....SHRIMP. Our family loves shrimp!


Then for St. Patricks day of course we wore green and then we had lots and lots of green food to celebrate. I didn't do the corned beef hash, that just doesn't sound appetizing to me, instead we just ate the foods we like that are green. Starting with breakfast we had green milk on our cereal. For lunch we had green juice and green grapes. And then we finished the day with a dinner fit for a leprechaun. We had green spinach tortillas that we used for burritos, which had green salad and avocado and cucumber on them. We also had lime green jell-o and more green juice, which was followed with green ice cream. Needless to say we won't be wanting to eat anything green for a while.


Then we had Easter and we enjoyed that too. We had our easter egg hunts on Saturday. First we woke up and found the little hidden treasures left by the Easter Bunny and then we loaded up and headed to the church for a Primary Easter egg hunt.



The girls had fun all day, they were just so excited to find all the little spots where the eggs were hiding. And then on Easter Sunday they wore some new dresses that I found. ADORABLE!! And Ashtyn even gave a talk in Primary about Easter. It was a great day for us to remember the Savior and all He has done for us.



Then on the 24th we celebrated Ashtyn's 5th birthday. We went to story time at the library and then went to lunch at dad's work where she got to open a present. We stopped at the park, by Dad's work, on the way home and the girls played for a little bit and then we headed home for some down time.
Then that night as soon as Dad got home Ashtyn opened the rest of her presents and we enjoyed her request for dinner which was hamburgers. Then we had a little party with her Grandmas and Grandpa and Uncles. (It was also her Uncle Brad's birthday so we did a little bit for him too). Then we all enjoyed Ashtyn's delicious Castle cake (also her request for this year) with ice cream. Even the ice cream was happy that it was Ashtyn's birthday(2nd pic, isn't that hilarious?). She has two of her favorite presents on in the third picture. A pink guitar and pink cowgirl boots. She has been the singing star at our house this past week and has almost worn her boots nonstop. It was a great day for her. And we just can't believe that we are already old enough to have a five year old. YIKES!!

Snow fun??

First of all we have had a winter full of more snow than I have seen in a while. And while it was here we enjoyed it. We went sledding, made snowmen, (in this picture it is actually a snow mom and her snow baby), made snow angels, and of course had some taste tests. And although we loved it at first we are tiring of it now that it should be acting like spring. Well, I should say Sam and I are tiring of it. We keep thinking that it is going to act like spring but it just isn't, and it has been seeming more and more like winter since March 20th, which was officially the first day of spring. The hardest part about it is that we got a glimpse of spring for about one week and it was wonderful. The girls had started riding bikes and I had taken them to the park one day for just a little while. We also took a little outing up to Long Lake and threw rocks in the lake. This picture is the cousins watching Uncle Cody throw the BIG rocks into the lake. It was so nice to start doing more things outside and now it is acting like winter all over again. We all feel like it is January. We are definitely ready for some spring like weather, although the girls have been excited during this last week, because almost everyday there has been surprises of snow. Two days in a row we even had all of the possible forms of weather. We had snow, sleet, hail, wind, and even some sunshine. Here the girls are hopefully enjoying their last tastes of winter.

How to win the Pinewood Derby, Period.

Our Elders Quorum had a Pinewood derby for all the guys in the group. The only rule was no open flame. Other than that , it was wide open to what ever you wanted to do for your car. It had to, of course, stay on the track long enough to cross the finish line, and was still subject to laws of physics, such as gravity, drag, etc.

I live in a ward with 3 brothers that are extremely talented in the art of crafting. They have a family metal shop that supports a good part of their family. Needless to say, they have every tool at their disposal, and during the weeks before the race, were talking about and planning their cars with each other. We also have a good number of other guys in the group that are somewhat skilled in such arts, and judging from their weekly EQ discussions, were actually spending time and resources on their cars.

I knew I had a formidable challenge, and up until the day or two before, was going to simply go to the race with the expectation of loosing. I would do a modest job on my car, with a modest design, and just hope for the best. I am not a competitive person. My high school coaches would get frustrated with me, because the fear of loosing what NOT a motivation for me, especially when the other team was trying so hard to win.

I toyed with several designs in my head, including: fan with motor, mouse trap, motor to axle, RC car modification, CO2 cartridges, and the like. Now remember that I have as my foes guys with endless tool resources, and a couple of them have more time on their hands at this time of year due to the weather.

Well, with some urging of my wife, I decided to take on this challenge with a little more thought, and spent an afternoon in the garage working. While I was out there, contemplating the different designs and what I would need for each, a thought came to mind to just make the thing heavy as a tank, and just go strictly with gravity power. I had a weight in my “project supply” bin that would fit pretty well on the car, and was definitely heavy enough. I was toying around with the idea of just sticking to gravity and admitting defeat against the other powered cars, when that light bulb went on.

Just like some martial arts, I need to make their strength their downfall, and use it against them. But how will I be able to do that? How can I just steal their speed or design, no matter what it is? One word came to mind: an ARM. I would just have a bar of some sort sticking out in front of their car, and then just put a piece of wire on my car out in front of that, and I will win, every time, no matter what.

So, here it is.

The arm lays on the track, and at the starting line, the other car has to line up behind my arm. I made it so I could pivot the arm to either side, depending on the side of track I was on, and put that weight on the back to make her stable.

I made no modifications to the block of “Pinewood,” and spend about 2 minutes putting the wheels on, straight out of the box. No graphite. No smoothing of the axle nails. No turning of the wheels on the lathe. No tuning so only 3 wheels touch the track. No tilting of the wheels so only the outside edge touches. No aerodynamic paint. No exact weigh in the day before.

#1 -Screw on the weight.

#2 -Screw on the brackets. I made them with a Skil saw and drill press.

#3 - Insert the branch from the back yard tree that is the pivot for the arm.

#4 - Drive nail in front side of arm, to assure I am in the lead.

#5 - Attach wheels.

#6 – Done.

Now, you will have to prepare yourself for some mocking and scorn, but you will be victorious. No way around it.

When I walked in and set my car on the table of all the cars, most of the guys sort of chuckled at the crudeness of the car, and then it would register… “Wait a minute…” I also heard a couple, “Oh yeah, I thought of that.”

My first race was against one of the brothers of this family. He had obviously spent considerable time on his car, as it had twin fan props mounted to twin electric motors with a rechargeable battery for power. He set his car down and then said, “I’m not even going to turn my car on.”

I said, “O.K.,” and won.

The entire night was changed from “Who has the fastest car?” to “Who can beat Sam’s car?”

It was a lot of fun. Now, go make your own car, and get to winning.

It is unabashed cheating, but is it no rules, or is it no rules?

Front View:

Rear View:

Seat belt belt

Check out my instructable I just finished on making a belt out of a seat belt.

It was on the front page of http://www.instructables.com/ today at least.

You can just go to the search window at the above we site, and type in seat belt belt. Mine is the one with a picture of a black seat belt and buckle. Take a look, get inspired, and then leave feed back there if you like.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Valentines is the perfect holiday for our house. At our house: We love hearts. We love PINK and red. We love giving hugs and kisses. We love saying "I love you!" We love having special treats and surprises. And we love any excuse to do all of those things. So HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to you all! WE love you!!!

I've Been Tagged....

I have never done one of these before, but my friend Kim tagged me in her blog, so I will give it a try. I love remembering stuff like this.

Lovebird Tag...Hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about Sam and I!

1. Where did you and your husband meet? Believe it or not we met country dancing at Ricks College. Every Wednesday night they would have dancing up on campus.
2. 1st thing said... Wanna dance?
3. 1st date... We doubled with Sam’s cousin Ty and we went up and hiked “R” mountain. Once we were at the top we had lunch and then hiked back down. Pretty fun!
4. 1st kiss... It was lightly snowing and Sam was just dropping me off at my house (my moms) after the Ricks College Christmas dance. We had been dating for a while and thought it was a good idea to wait a while to kiss maybe even till we were engaged and everyone thought that we had kissed already but Sam waited till he had bought my wedding ring. (I had no idea)
5. Long/Short Courtship.... Long compared to most. We met in March but didn’t officially have our first date until May and then we spent the summer apart just writing and then we dated from September till we were engaged the beginning of January and then we were married on May 19, 2001.
6. Where did you get engaged.... In the Salt Lake airport, back before 9-11. I was just getting home from a trip to Mexico, and Sam surprised me by being in the airport. I walked off the plane and my sister was there to pick me up as planned and then she handed me a little rose and then all the sudden all of these people that were standing around waiting for their friends and family to get off the plane starting coming up to me handing me these little different colored roses, which were all made out of colored duct tape, so I have them to this day in a vase in my room. (You know how Sam spent his Christmas break….hee, hee, hee) And after a bunch, seriously like thirty strangers handed me flowers I am thinking Sam has got to be here somewhere. And then I started to think that maybe he wasn’t. And then all of the sudden he came out of his hiding spot and got down on one knee and proposed. (I could show the video sometime….his brother was standing up on a table or a chair or something recording the entire thing.) It was lots of fun and I was completely surprised!!
7. Where were you married?.... Idaho Falls Temple
8. How did the Reception go? Great…..lots of friends, lots of family, good food, good music, we were completely exhausted
9. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We stayed in a cozy cabin on the beautiful Lopez Island, WA
10. Who's turn is it next?........ I would love to hear from Lori (this is one that doesn’t require pictures) and Jessie, and family (mom, Jessica, Amy, etc.) and anyone else reading this right now that would love to give us a little trip down memory lane.

MORE SNOW!!

So lately every morning we wake up and look out
the window and there is more snow. It is such a great
surprise! We are loving it. And one of the best parts
is getting to play in it. This is some pictures of our
fun day in the snow.
All dressed up for the cold.

Making snow angels.

Sledding on our little hill.


And we attempted to make a snowman but the snow
just wasn't sticky, so we just ate the snow instead.
I love these ones.




We will have to try to build one again.
Then Daddy decided to give rides.
The girls loved that.
And then of course, we came in and had hot cocoa
and grilled cheese for lunch. Yum!

Sawdust stove, Makezine style

Hello all, this is more of a "man" post, so sorry to all of you ladies out there...just tolerate this, as you do most of my other "man" things, (this often includes rolling of eyes, a slap on the shoulder, and often just strait up complete disinterest).

So, I have been on a kick about getting our home warm for free, or for very cheap. Also, a way to keep us warm should the power and or gas go out (part of our emergency preparedness). Granted, we all like the convenience of the gas furnace, I just hate paying that bill, with the rising price of gas, as well as all the stuff added on like taxes and fees. The first and obvious option was wood heat. So, this summer we went and got wood, cut it all, and split it, stacked it, and it is ready to go. But, all the while, I am just not so easily entreated, so I continued to search for something out there. Something that requires less work, and would be easier for my family to use.

Granted, I love the whole process of wood heat. Going out and getting the wood, cutting it, appreciating mother nature and the wonders to be seen, heard, and felt. Hauling the wood home, and finishing the cutting. Then the splitting and stacking. It is visibly satisfying, and good exercise, to split, stack, and watch the wood pile grow. I also very much enjoy the fire. The sound and the feel of wood heat is unique. On top of that great feeling, you know you are not paying for that heat. It is just so satisfying, and fun.

As my search continued, I was doing some reading and kept coming across people that use whatever is near and easily claimed to heat their homes. For example, many in the mid-west use kernel corn for heating. Many others in agricultural areas use things such as cherry pits, olive pits, grape waste (after used for juice), and so on. So, I started to think about what is available here in the Inland Northwest. We don't have any big food processing plants in our town, we don't grow corn here in abundance, no wine presses that I know of, etc. I just kept coming back to wood. There are a few saw mills around, but most of their cut offs are already being bought and sold by someone, if not by them.

So, what can I do to use wood, other than in the current way of just burning cord wood? Ah, the search continued...

I have seen wood pellets, and some of those logs that look like giant wood pellets (pressed sawdust) but I didn't want to buy pellets, buy the stove, and then have to tend the pellet stove. I have heard mixed reviews about them, and they require power to operate. One of my main objectives here is to be able to have heat even when the power is down, or the gas lines are all broken. But, the idea of a pressed sawdust "log" was a good one. No special stove needed, no power required, and they are available near here for quite cheap by the ton, if I come and pick them up. So, I went and bought a couple at a nearby store (60 cents each, which is a rip off, but I am just trying this out and only bought a couple). Well, they worked fine. No hassles. Easy to light, good burn time, no smells, no nasty smoke, etc.

So, there are a couple companies near by that I could go and buy this product from, buy the ton, drive it home and be ready to go for the winter.

But you know me, not easily entreated, especially when the solution requires me to buy something.

So, I have come across some info about making your own sawdust logs. As I poured over that info, I become familiar with the term Biomass Briquettes. The idea is to make "briquettes" out of whatever you have available, (here is that theme again). So, not only could I use sawdust, but I could also mix in whatever "bio" product I want, such as paper, grass clippings, straw, weeds, cardboard, leaves, whatever. Many of these things are considered waste, and I could get them for free or very cheap. The process to make them is still under review. Like should I just press them by hand, or perhaps with a modified hydraulic log splitter? The briquette making press and further info will be coming. I have a couple other projects I need to finish first.

Now we are talking free, easy heat...

So, below you will see my first attempt at a sawdust stove. It is a miniature version, but some people have them large enough for heating entire buildings, using large drums instead of soup cans. I could have easily made a meal for two over this stove.

First, gather supplies, all things I had on hand:
Sawdust, empty can, dowel, and something to pack the sawdust with (a large bolt in this case).







Then, make a hole in the bottom of the can for airflow (I just punched thru it with my tin snips, then made it bigger to fit the dowel):

Next, pack in the sawdust. It needs to be bone dry, and nice and tight in there. This took me about 10-15 minutes, since it was my first time, and I paid close attention to getting the sawdust as tight as I could pack it. The dowel is in place to allow for the "chimney" to form as you pack in the sawdust. It is removed carefully before lighting, creating a hollow spot in the middle of the sawdust pack:


Now, put some newspaper in the hole, and light. The sawdust will sort of smolder with a lot of smoke, and then start to glow with not much smoke.

Make sure you have the can up on some spacers (waste wood blocks in my case) for the air to draw in from the bottom, and out through the top.


This is after about 10 minutes burn time:



This is after 1 hour burn time. It was about 27 degrees F. outside, windy, and snowing (you can't see the glow because of the camera flash).


This is after 2 hours burn time. Pretty much done, but the can was still quite warm to the touch. Pretty impressive, since this stove was out in the wind, falling snow, and cold temps, and it did not go out, or stop burning (you can see a 2 or 3 inch zone around the can where the snow is melted):

Conclusions:
This type of stove would be impractical for camping or hiking. It's heavy, and fragile. The sawdust would easily become loose and cave in with only the slightest movement. Also, in order to cook over this stove, some holes would have to be made around the top of the stove, or a wire rack made of some sort, otherwise the pan or pot would smother the flame.

Also, quite obviously, this would not work for whole house heating. You have to wait for the fire to go completely out before adding more fuel. I would have to again get or make a specialized stove, and then the mess of packing in sawdust every time we want heat. Not the answer I want, but quite possibly a good way of cooking if the power was out, and again, the sawdust is free, the can is already bought, and the process is easy and pretty quick.

Sam

Princess Wishes!!

Well, we have two princesses that live at our house and their wish came true the other night when we were able to take them to

"Disney on Ice Princess Wishes." It was the perfect night. We started out at our house getting all dressed up. I found a great deal on two princess dresses at Value Village at Halloween time and couldn't help but get them. I was saving them for Christmas or birthday but they came out for the princess show. They were both so excited, squealing and laughing. We got them dressed up from head to toe and fixed their hair all fancy. We invited Grandma Kathie to come with us too. We jumped in the car and drove downtown. We went extra early because there was supposed to be some fun pre-show stuff. First we got to go into a special room where they had a little display set up for some of the princesses. (A picture of the princess and then a dress and some other little things.) They also had a Prince and Princess dressed up and standing there so they could meet them and get a picture. Then we headed in to find our seats. The girls were so anxious for it to start. They kept asking how much longer. Then about 15 minutes before the show was to start they did a little etiquette thing. They talked to the princesses and princes in the audience about bowing and curtsying. It was so cute. They got them all ready and then Cinderella and her Prince came out in a neat carriage and they had them bow and curtsy and wave to Cinderella and her Prince. And then they declared them officially Princesses and Princes. Kind of fun. Then the real show began and it was amazing. Grandma and I got a little teared up just seeing the girls so excited (we are just so sappy). Ariel is Hailey's favorite, so when she came out she was glued to the ice, clapping and laughing and smiling, just soaking it all up. Cinderella is Ashtyn's favorite and when she came out she said, "I can't believe it, she really is real." Just so adorable. They loved it all. We saw Tinkerbell (who brought magic and scenes to life), Mickey and Minnie Mouse (who introduced the theme and each princesses wish, then we saw, Jasmine, Snow White, Belle, Ariel, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella, as it told just a little bit of their story. The show ended with all of the princesses with her prince and a sparkling carriage and fireworks. It was awesome and the girls loved every second. We can't wait to take them to Disneyland!! Someday.....hopefully. It will definitely be a night we remember for a long time!