NO!  No!  It can't rain on my parade.  It will wash my painted face away.  You see I am the clown along the hiway of life called to make people happy despite my saddened face.  So please dear cloudy sky do not wash my face until I make all happy.  Walwyn Green (2004)

Parade - represents our journey through mortal lifeRain - represents our fellow men who have not yet learned to love one another - anger, dishonesty, stealing, and deceit is their way of life.  Rain on our parade is discouraging.Clowns - represent you and I.  We are called to make people happy.Cloudy Skies - represent trials, tribulations, discouragement - "nobody loves me" attitude.  There is no God.Make Those Happy - it is our duty to offer a smile, a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, a listening ear, an encouraging word, a kind act of loveSaddened Face - painted to make us laugh through our sorrows

Family History

I've been trying to get things cleaned up in our family history for some time now.  I dead end a few generations back on the Nielsen patriarchal line into Denmark.  But have made good progress on a few other lines.  I found some fun sites that access the family history data.

https://rootsmapper.com
This map represents the migration of my childrens ancestors 10 generations back.

Looks like a lot of the Nielsen's came straight to Utah (Blue Lines are My relatives) and the Hudson's to the East Coast.

Even back at the 10th generation there is more US born blood in my kids than foreign.  Here's the total count of where my kids ancestors were born back 10 generations.  I was hoping to find some surprises in there but there were not much traveling going on back then I guess.

• United States: 308
  United Kingdom: 191
  Denmark: 73
  Belgium: 58
  Canada: 21
  Germany: 11
  Ireland: 7
  France: 7
  Scotland: 3
  British Colonial America: 1

Relative Finder is another fun site I found.

http://roots-fb.cs.byu.edu/

You can check your relationship to anyone with a deep enough family history.

One fun thing I discovered is that Gov. William Bradford of Mayflower and Plymoth Colony is our 11th Great Grandfather.

A few others the kids had me look up.

14th cousin 4 times removed from Bear Grylls

11th cousin from Sarah

14th cousin from President Obama

...

Fresh Paint

I got a touch screen ultra book from a project I completed at work.  There's a free windows app called Fresh Paint that's really fun.  It's like finger painting with oils.  You can also use pictures as painting guides.  If any of you have touch screens and widows 8 give it a try and post your paintings.  I'm sure there are other OS apps out there you could use as well.

You'll recognize these next two from Black Diamond:

 Black Hill

Vault Rock

Haunted Forest

 Sorry about the rotation...Arwen and I were trying to follow along with Bob Ross on this one and ended up liking the half finished painting better than the one he ended up with so the happy little path is a bit haunted. 

Zombies

Illusion Photos

One of these day's I'm going to get the whole family built into one of these.  

They are pretty fun to make though I'm not completely happy with the results yet.

Did anyone watch the first Season of Alphas?  It was pretty good.  Garry is hilarious, makes me laugh all the time.  All the characters are pretty good and plot is fun.

If you haven't watched it it'd be fun to rent-stream-download or whatever it is you do to watch your TV now a days.

Bang

I have recently been introduced to a game which I describe as the wild west version of Mafia. Glenn and I played this game once and we were hooked. It has cards with Italian and English directions and it is played like this. There is a sheriff which is known, a deputy, outlaws, and a renegade.

"The Outlaws hunt the Sheriff. The Sheriff hunts the Outlaws. The Renegade plots secretly, ready to take one side or the other. Bullets fly. Who among the gunmen is a Deputy, ready to sacrifice himself for the Sheriff? And who is a merciless Outlaw, willing to kill him? If you want to find out, just draw (your cards)!" (From back of box)

This card game recreates an old-fashioned spaghetti western shoot-out, with each player randomly receiving a Character card to determine special abilities, and a secret Role card to determine their goal.

Four different Roles are available, each with a unique victory condition:

• Sheriff - Kill all Outlaws and the Renegade
• Deputy - Protect the Sheriff and kill any Outlaws
• Outlaw - Kill the Sheriff
• Renegade - Be the last person standing

A player's Role is kept secret, except for the Sheriff. Character cards are placed face-up on table, and also track strength (hand limit) in addition to special ability.

There are 22 different types of cards in the draw deck. Most common are the BANG! cards, which let you shoot at another player, assuming the target is within "range" of your current gun. The target player can play a "MISSED!" card to dodge the shot. Other cards can provide temporary boosts while in play (for example, different guns to improve your firing range) and special one-time effects to help you or hinder your opponents (such as Beer to restore health, or Barrels to hide behind during a shootout). A horse is useful for keeping your distance from unruly neighbors, while the Winchester can hit a target at range 5. The Gatling is a deadly exception where range doesn't matter - it can only be used once, but targets all other players at the table!

Yeah, I copied the description because it is far more eloquent than I am. The best card in my opinion is the Dynamite which works like Russian Roulette and keeps everyone on their toes. Every game I have played ends up in everyone laughing and just having a good time. Check it out

Embroidered Portraits

Embroidered Portraits