Aaris' b-day today

Today was Aaris' Birthday. (the above picture is her birthday party on friday, before her grandpa Wallace went back to colorado). I got her a Nintendogs for her birthday which she was happy to get.. Unfortunately, although it would be great for a 7 year old kid, Aaris' speech difficulty which includes Rs and other letters makes it difficult and frustrating for her. She can't get past the naming. While my nintendog took about 20 saying's of the name for the dog to learn it hers took about 50+ and doesn't keep, requiring her to redo it over and over. I would not suggest this game for anyone under 10 (especially if any speech impediment is present.)

Otherwise she had a great birthday. One benefit of being the only kid in a house of adults is lots of presents...

My playlist

Although my iTunes has 2271 songs (now more legal than from back in the napster days.) my current playlist is 140 songs. I thought I would post them.. If you are looking for one of these let me know, I know where you can buy/find it.. The one I want to add to my collection isnt currently available (and mastercard says they have no plans to do so). It is the one in the Mastercard commercial of a family shoping for a vacation. It is a version of "Pure Imagination" that sounds like it is sung by Barenaked Ladies or smashmouth type band (some say the ataris, whoever they are) If you haven't seen it, the commercial Gorilla-ed the charlie and the chocolate factory movie. That means the company found some way to use a popular movie to market something without saying the name. In this case they took a song from the first movie and reworked it to make it hip-er. Anyway here is my playlist. 100 Years - Five For Fighting A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Daniel Bedingfield All These Things That I've Done - The Killers Augustus Gloop - Danny Elfman Another Postcard - Barenaked Ladies Tarzan and Jane - Aqua Are You Jimmy Ray - Jimmy Ray Are You Sure You Want To Be Famous? - Preeya Kalidas/Raza Jaffrey Around The World - Aqua Back From Mars - Aqua Beautiful Child - Rufus Wainwright Believe - Josh Groban Better off Alone - Alice Deejay Big Yellow Taxi - Counting Crows Feat Vanessa Carlton Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Eiffel 65 Bolero (Original Film Version) - Various Artists (Moulin Rouge) Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day Bounce - Sarah Connor Burning Love - Wynonna Can't Hurry Love - Dixie Chicks Carrying the Banner - Newsies Clocks - Coldplay Come What May - Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor Complainte De La Butte - Rufus Wainwright Corrupt - Karissa Noel Crazy In Love - Beyoncé Featuring Jay-Z Dance with me - Debelah Morgan Destination Moon - They Might Be Giants Don't Let Me Down - No Doubt Don't Let's Start - They Might Be Giants Don't Release Me - Dalip Tahil Double Trouble - John Williams Dr. Evil - They Might Be Giants Snuff Out The Light (Yzma's Song) - Eartha Kitt / Emperor's New Groove, The Elephant Love Medley - Nicole Kidman Ewan Mcgregor Jamie Allen Endless Night - Jason Raize Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) - Sherman Brothers Feel - Robbie Williams Feel Good Inc (Single Edit) - Gorillaz Feeling This - Blink-182 Freaky Friday - Aqua Gasolina (Remix) - Daddy Yankee (feat. Lil Jon, P Green Hornet Theme - Al Hirt Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride - Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu & Kamehameah Schools Children's Chorus He Mele No Lilo - Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu & Kamehameah Schools Children's Chorus I Do - Toya I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do - Hilton McRae/Siobhan McCarthy I Should Be Allowed to Think - They Might Be Giants I Want to Break Free - Queen If You're Not The One - Daniel Bedingfield In My Head - No Doubt In the Middle - Jimmy Eat World Ironside [Excerpt] - Quincy Jones Island in the Sun - Harry Belafonte Island in the Sun - Weezer Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants It's a Small World - Baha Men Its My Life - No Doubt Keeping the dream alive - Freiheit Kitchen Kabaret Medley - Disney la breeze - simian Lady - Lenny Kravitz Lahaina - Volcanos Lonely - Akon Lonely No More - Rob Thomas Lose My Breath - Destiny's Child Making Out - No Doubt Mamma Mia - Siobhan McCarthy Millennium - Robbie Williams mm Mmm Mmm - Crash Test Dummies Morning Hymn and Alleluia - Nuns Chorus Move Your Feet (Radio Edit) - Junior Senior Mr. Brightside - The Killers Dayo! (Bannana boat song) - Muppets & Harry Belafonte Muppets,Kermit the Frog & Jimmy Buff - My Little Grass Shack - Lisa Loeb My Own Home - Sherman Brothers No Apologies - Alanis Morissette No Way Out (Theme From Brother Bear) - Various Artists NUMA NUMA... - O-ZONE Ob La Di, Ob La Da - The Beatles OJ's brandy- what about us - OJ's Brandy One by One - Lebo M. One Day I'll Fly Away - Nicole Kidman Picture Book - The Kinks Pineapple Princess - Annette Funicello Platinum Blonde Life - No Doubt Proud Of Your Boy - Clay Aiken Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani Feat. Eve Rock DJ - Robbie Williams Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake Rumors - Lindsay Lohan saturday night at the movies - robson & jerome Seether - Veruca Salt Seize the Day - David (David Moscow) She's an Angel - They Might Be Giants Shut Up - Black Eyed Peas Somebody Told Me - The Killers Something - There Celin Dion; Peabo Bryson Spider - They Might Be Giants Standing Still - Jewel Starry Eyed Surprise - Paul Oakenfold Stuck - Stacie Orrico Sunrise - Norah Jones Take Me Away (Pre-Release Single) - Avril Lavigne Take Me - Out Franz Ferdinand Tarzan Boy - Flipper Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus The End of the Tour - They Might Be Giants The Flower of Carnage - Meiko Kaji The Girl In 14G - Kristin Chenoweth The Lioness Hunt - Lebo M. Lime in the Coconut - The Muppets The Name of the Game - Lisa Stokke/Nicolas Colicos The Old Hawaiian Way - Big Kahuna The Reason - Hoobastank The Remedy (I Won't Wor - Jason Mraz The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room - Hilary Duff The World Will Know - Newsies These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Jessica Simpson The bells are ringing - They Might Be Giants This Love - Maroon 5 Toxic - Britney Spears Trouble - Coldplay Twisted Nerve - Bernard Herrmann Under Attack - Lisa Stokke Vote Beeblebrox - Andy Dunlop, Chuck Norman, Douglas Payne, Fran Balke, Hannah Thomas, Miggy Barradas & Neil Hannon Wakko's America - Animaniacs We Are All Made Of Stars - Moby We Both Reached for the Gun - Danny Elfman Welcome - Various Artists What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani When Christmas Comes To Town - Matthew Hall/Meagan Moore Who I Am - Jessica Andrews Woo Hoo - 5.6.7.8's Yeah! - Lil' Jon, Ludacris & Usher You Are My Number One - Smash Mouth You Don't Own Me - Bette Midler Goldie Hawn & Diane Keaton Your Song - Ewan McGregor And Alessandro Safina (now i just need songs with titles starting with J, Q, X, or Z)

Pawel's birthday

when I sent this post from my phone I posted "We had cake and Pawel is now a citizen." Well that sounded like the cake made him a citizen or something, (which is of course not the case). Well congrats to Pawel. Only Aaris' and Sammy's Birthday parties to go. Pawel's today (Thursday) Aaris' Friday and Sammy's Saturday. Sheri is getting a bounce house and shaved ice for the party. It will be like a circus around here for the next few days.

Steven returns home

My cousin Steve returned home today. Everyone met him at the airport. He served a mission for 2 years in the Chicago, Illinois mission. It seems that young men who leave on a mission from this house are cursed to go on a state-side mission. Well, like Ben Karoly says, the best place to serve a mission is wherever the Lord sends you.

Well this family never has trouble finding excuses to have a family BBQ. So after arriving home, about 5 times the ten or so who showed up at the airport joined us for swimming and food.

A day at the fair

Today our family went to the California State Fair. We saw the animals and exhibits. The show today was Carrot Top (who was actually quite funny). Aaris, of course, wanted to ride the carnival rides. They were around $3-4 each so we let her pick one. Keith went with here on the fairis wheel. Uncle Walace (Aaris' Grandpa) won (at great cost for foam pellet stuffed animals) 3 stuffed animals and a couple goldfish.

Washington City here we come...

Its almost that time.. Camping at Aunt Nelda's up at the Yuba River. This year I will need a new air mat. We just got back from a vacation at the Santa Cruise area where we camped one of the nights. I found out then that my AeroBed has a slow leak. I woke up several times in the night to find myself on the ground. While I'm at it I might get my dream camping set up. As camping at the river there is a bathroom and shower in the cabin, a stove for heating up the potluck dinner and lots of family. Is it really camping when you can shower and put your clothes in the laundry? Here is my wishlist to make it even less like camping.

Of course a airbed is a must. $39 at Sam's Club is a regular air queen bed. But at target a double high is only $49. Which got me looking at target. (The pump is extra for $19 so its actually nearly $70.)

I thought that with a pump for coleman air furnature why not a chair. They are only around $20 each. But if I was willing to pay $60 for chairs I would go with This bowl style chair.

And no setup would be complete without a table for dice & card games and stuff (Zilch maybe?) And for some reason coleman has a table and stools for half what just a table costs ($24 vs. 50). I will have to go instore and look at it.. It may be cheap plastic.

The Creme-De-La-Creme is the tent. Ah, for $199 for a tent might be worth it for this. Rooms, Shelves & Big windows is only the start. Room to stand and power and lighting build in!! Wow!

But why spend $350 when you can spend $35 more on this? A rechargable electric lantern that looks like a regular camp lantern?

My first parking ticket

Stupid downtown and their crazy wacky rules.. I was doing deleveries in my own van for work. The city hall offices has parking out front that I always use.. Well it turns out that if you park there after 4 you get a ticket.. Passenger loading and unloading only... They should have signs more promenent then at the end of the road.. (blocked by trees I might add. Well thats enough of a rant. Its not like I haven't had my share of infractions with the traffic code. Last year i stoped on a stopsign about 5 feet too late, turned and saw a cop waiting, stared at him for like 20 seconds and ended up at traffic school... At least I didn't get a DUI as I was wasted on nyquil. (I guess he took my word I was sick.) My first anything was a warning on the day of my Grad Nite in high school... I did a U-Turn from the meridian lane, (thought no-one was watching) Anyway.. School is fast aproaching.. I hope i can figure out what I want to do with my degree now its only a year or two away.

Mark and Nedla

Something you rarely get when going to a wedding. Dress=Casual.. Like a present to the guests the wedding and following reception was as casual as a BBQ. This is not to say it wasn’t a nice wedding. The chairs, tables and dress were nice and white. Very Beautiful centerpieces matching the bouquet (I may be biased as my mom made them). And a great dinner with plenty of ice-cold bottled water. All in all, I think that comfortable guests made it even better. After we met a lot of Nedla's Family and there was plenty of fun. Aaris loved the tire-swing, and also the shaved ice. Keith and Scott left early, taking Emily’s car to visit Tim, Scott’s friend who lives in the foothills on the way home. They didn’t show up at home till 3-4 hours later. It was nice to go into the foothills because of the heat.. If it is as hot tomorrow I am for sure getting an air conditioner. Whether a window or portable has yet to be seen. (Although a window one is less than a hundred while a portable is $300 I have slider windows)