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

Embrodered Portrates

Thought this was pretty cool embroidery so I gave it a try in Photoshop.

I started with black and white photo, I'll have to give color a try next to see if I can approach the effect of knowing how to embroider for real.

A New Hope

Late Harvest

Some of my favorite photos from wandering around the yard back home.

Cheap Vacuum Sealer

Sarah and I were thinking of getting a foodsaver for storing food in glass jars like Grandma has but thought we'd try a homemade version first. It works great!

Born to Run: The Hidden Tribe, The Ultra Runners, And the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

For all of you that are intrigued by running, barefoot running, racing, molding yourself into a healthy eating running machine, the evolution of running, or better running form, this is the book for you! I have been so excited and amazed by this book that I haven't put it down! I'm not even finished with it yet and here I'm posting about it! It amazes me the things the human body can do, for ex: 135 mile runs through Death Valley! Entertaining, enjoyable, and motivating. Anyone who runs or wants to run, needs to read this book!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Wow

Reminded me of a Steinbeck or Kesey, well written and emotional.

Chester's pumpkin

Uh, sadly we didn't get around to carving pumpkins this year.  Here is why...

...and this...

oh, well.  At least he made use of the seeds.

Meghan and Josh Pumpkins!

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Post your best pumpkins...

Steampunk

So I finally learned the name to the genre that I have always liked but never knew the title. I've always enjoyed complex geared steam powered machines or flying air ships that have no business defying gravity. I really enjoy the art of it but have never read a book with it as a theme. I'm not a fan of its cousin cyberpunk, with its Blade Runners and Johnny Mneumonics. I fine the dystopias in cyberpunk to be a little disturbing. Anyway, just wondering if any of you are familiar with the genre. Plenty of movies have some steampunk themes/art. I think Stardust is one, the Golen Compass, Wild Wild West, the latest Sherlock Holmes. Not to say these were great movies, but I do like the art.

Religious Knowledge survey

The PEW Forum conducted an survey on religious knowledge.  The results are interesting, but once you think about it pretty obvious.

Religious Knowledge Survey

Take short version of the Survey and see how you compare: QUIZ

I've added my conclusions below.  Read after taking the quiz and reading the article.

Brandon Mull

No so much a book review as an Author review.

Heidi and I have really enjoyed his books. The candy shop wars is perfect for little kids that love candy. As in all little kids. It's set in the shadow of Mt. Diablo. 4 kids discover a magical candy shop and adventure follows. Its a 2-4 day read depending on how much time you have in the evening. Our boys' attention span isn't up to a book with out pictures yet but it is definitly on our family list of books to read to our kids. I picked up "Fablehaven" in 2005 and really enjoyed it. Heidi picked it up a year or two back and we got to the point where we were anxiously waiting for the sequels to come out. Book 5 (the final book) had us reading into the wee hours of the night.
A brother and a sister discover that their granparents are care takers of a haven for magical creaturs; Satyrs, fairies, golems, trolls and some many others. It's your basic stop the bad guys before they take over the world but the imagery and "twists" are very fun. They draw upon the imagination that exists in all children and many of us "grown ups".



I hope some of you pick them up and tell me what you think. Start with "The Candy Shop Wars" since it is a very small investment in time and stands alone. Anyone with kids or anyone that remembers what it was like being a child will love them because its every kids dream to discover treasure, magic candy and have adventures.

Jodhaa Akbar

I am not much into foreign films but this one is amazing. As a history nerd it is my opinion that Emperor Jallaludin Mohammad Akbar was one of the greatest rulers this world has ever seen. He unified most of India and he was known as a great warrior and a merciful ruler. This is the story of him and his first wife, a Hindu woman who was the princess of the Amer region. Hindu tradition states that it was the people who gave him the title of Akbar which means "the great" after he instilled laws that allowed for greater equality among Hindus and Muslims. The romance is not heavy handed, it is something you could watch sitting next to your father. There is some battlefield violence so I would not recommend watching the battle scenes with children, the musical sequences however will make anyone want to dance. The sword fighting sequences are extremely well done (the Amer province was famous for their duelists) and most of it is correct according to tradition. It is a movie full of color, emotion, and history. However, if you do not like watching movies that need subtitles this movie is not for you since it is entirely in Hindi. For two of my favorite scenes follow these two links. They don't have subtitles but that doesn't matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8VCIzJMiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt93yH689Dg