Happy Birthday David!

Wish we could be together again this year to wish you HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICO!

Miss you! and miss your under-the-radar humor and your creative opinions and ideas and your recollection of almost any date/family event ever, and your killer work ethic with anything you do :)

Love you tons!

1. How old are you turning this year? 24

2. What is your favorite food? Chicken Wings (family recipe version)

3. What is your most frequently purchased grocery item? spaghetti

4. What is your bedtime routine like? brush my teeth, read some news, read scriptures, bed

5. What are three things you absolutely have to do every day? check email, listen to some music, read sports/entertainment news

6. What do you listen to most (artist, radio station/program, podcast)? arcade fire

7. What’s one skill you wish you had? Handy man skills

8. What skill are you most proud of? Retaining information

9. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go? Germany

10. What is your favorite place you’ve been? Chile

11. What are three of your favorite books? Lord of the rings trilogy, Harry Potter series (except book 5), Zeitoun

12. If you had to buy any magazine what would it be? Entertainment Weekly

13. What is one thing that gets on your nerves? When people I don't know sit right next to me in a lecture hall when the whole row has empty seats

14. What is your favorite sport to watch or play? Basketball

15. What do you love to do when you have nothing to do? Surf the web

16. What are three things you wish you had? better musical skills, a job after college, better time management

17. What is your favorite treat? Twix

18. What are a few things you hope to accomplish or learn this year? Graduate, read more books, make more friends

19. What are your favorite things to watch (tv show/movie)? Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Arrested Development, 30 rock, Mad men

20. What are your three most visited websites (besides facebook/email)? ESPN, wikipedia, youtube

Plugging in!

I've been wanting to get one for a while now, so a few days ago, I finally just went ahead and ordered.... an electric violin! This picture is actually the exact one I got. It's black and has a weird cutout on the side and it's awesome! It was a very reasonable price (maybe too reasonable) so I was a little worried about how well it would actually work, but it works great. I plugged it into my friend's extra amp and we had a grand old time jamming together, him on the electric guitar and me on the electric violin. We hope to start a band of some sort which would be great fun!

There's no place like home.

It's a small bungalow on a very quiet, nicely treed street. Less than a half a block away is a huge field with two playgrounds, a spray park, a little climbing wall and two hockey rinks - one outdoor and one indoor. It feels perfect for us. I came here a few times before we moved everyone in to do some cleaning and setting up and it felt kind of weird to be living in someone else's space. It didn't feel like home until we were all in here together - with the boys running all over the place, having our first meal here as a family - that's what really makes a home - home. Here are some pictures. http://comfree.com/home-for-sale-fulton-place-alberta-250422

We've spent a lot of time taking off wallpaper and painting in the basement and in one of the bedrooms. I've also spent hours painting the stone fireplace in the basement white. It's been kind of fun to have a place of our own again.

Uninvited Guests

Summer is here in northern Alberta, along with millions of uninvited guests, flying, buzzing, biting, drawing blood, and generally afflicting and tormenting.

A very rainy spring left many pools of standing water which are a perfect breeding ground for, you guessed it, MOSQUITOES. The local researchers tell us that we have at least 36 different species of these little pests, and some of them are attracted to the CO2 that we exhale, and some of them use infrared to target their victims. Both methods seems to be working well, as this is the worst mosquito season here in 30 years. Part of the reason is that efforts to

spray them have been hampered by high winds, although we suspect that this is just the official excuse to cover local government mismanagement...

Bug spray has been flying off the shelves and some are even hoping for an early frost to kill them. As the weather gets warmer and drier, the numbers are expected to decrease. We're getting a small taste of what the Egyptians must have felt when Moses unleashed the plagues on them. It's a great opportunity for character building.

Love and swats to all,

Gramps

Stay to the End...

As you've probably realized by now, I'm a pretty big sports fan. While watching a game live, one of my mantras is "Stay until the end." In LA, a lot of people tend to leave games early to try to beat the traffic back, but miss out on last-second heroics and other cool stuff.

We just had "Mormon Night" at Dodger Stadium (which happens every year) and this was another example of why you want to stay until the end. Not only did we get to see a grand-slam home run (a home run with the bases loaded), but after the game came this:



And this:



Yes, fireworks! Fireworks are pretty cool, true. But more impressive was where we got to see the fireworks from:

Left field. Yep, they let us onto the field to watch the fireworks. For those of you reading the Ferrero blog (which you should be doing, hint hint!) this marks the second time in a month that I have been on the field at a pro sports stadium, which is definitely a record. And it's all because we stayed until the end.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! I can't think of anyone more deserving of a wonderful day and a wonderful year. Mom is always available to help whenever anyone of her kids especially needs it, even if she has to drop everything to provide the requested aid. It seems like she's always proof reading a paper, giving a pep talk, helping someone move or get settled in somewhere or thinking of ways to strengthen our family. What would we do without her? I know we'd all be a very sorry lot indeed. Happy Birthday Mom! We love you sooo much-

1. How old are you turning this year?  About 63.  That way I get lots of compliments on how well I look:)

2. What is your favorite food? Greek yogurt - honey flavor

3. What is your most frequently purchased grocery item? The same Greek yogurt! 

4. What is your bedtime routine like: I keep thinking I need a routine.  I'm working on that.

5. What are three things you absolutely have to do every day? Yoga workout from an old and free McDonalds DVD, memorize a seminary scripture mastery, take all my vitamins

6. What do you listen to most (artist, radio station/program, podcast)?  The most? Shakespeare plays on my Iphone

7. What’s one skill you wish you had? I wish I could speak another language.  Anyone would do.

8. What skill are you most proud of?  Organizing and directing programs, events, parties, wedding receptions, anything festive.  Also drama productions.  

9. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go?  Patagonia

10. What is your favorite place you’ve been? The Acropolis in Athens.  Back in 1971 you could stroll freely around the site.

11. What are three of your favorite books? Anne of Green Gables, Miss Rumphuis, the New Testament

12. If you had to buy any magazine what would it be? A home design/decorating mag

13. What is one thing that gets on your nerves? Whining and complaining

14. What is your favorite sport to watch or play? If hiking is a sport then I like to play hiking.  If not, then tennis.  I don't watch any TV sports but love watching a live hockey game/cross country meet/soccer practice that any of the kids/grandkids are in.

15. What do you love to do when you have nothing to do? Sit down and play the piano

16. What are three things you wish you had? A new pair of glasses (or just 20/20 vision), kids and grandkids who lived closer, and other than that I honestly can't think of anything

17. What is your favorite treat? Karamel Sutra from B and J and ginger chocolate from Oh Chocolate! on MI

18. What are a few things you hope to accomplish or learn this year? Travel to China with OJ, another road trip with OJ, learn conversational French, organize all the family photos - 35 years worth...I'm getting there!  And plan a Young family reunion.

19. What are your favorite things to watch (tv show/movie)? Don't watch any TV, but will make a point of seeing as many historical or period drama series or movies as possible.  

20. What are your three most visited websites (besides facebook/email). my bank websites, lds.org, schneidremarks

Trip to the Dakotas

Seeing the Dakotas has been on my bucket list forever so when OJ and I got to go last month it was everything I expected and more - It was an inspiring trip on many levels. I've always been intrigued by the name of the city I was born: Man-dan, which is named after a very peaceful Indian tribe. The name means 'river dweller' - which must be one of the reasons I'm excited to be living close to the North Saskatchewan River again :)

A highlight of the trip was visiting two similar, yet also very different South Dakota monuments. One was the iconic Mt Rushmore, and the other was one that most people don't know about - Crazy Horse Memorial. Both monuments are carved in granite, and are meant to be awe-inspiring works of art. One is finished and the other is a work in progress. One to 'celebrate the nation of America;, the other to 'celebrate the past glory of the native Americans'.

Both are the result of the visions of two talented sculptors who each had a grandiose vision of what they wanted to achieve - namely to build a monument for the ages that would inspire and teach.

I was taken aback by how moved I was by their stories. They each had to endure unending challenges, including dangerous working conditions, lack of funding, criticism, illness. But each of them overcame all the challenges to build monuments to people who inspired them, which in turn would inspire people from all over the world. It was an amazing experience.