Come to the Share House!

No TV!

I know, I know. It's been a while since I've posted. Life got in the way as it often does. This last little while we've been reconnecting with long lost friends--Brynn wants to shout out to her Snow buddies on facebook--and are starting to count the days to Baby #4. The weather out here has been rainy, then sunny, 70 degrees, then 53. My kids are all going stir crazy. What's more is we have turned off TV, movies, Wii, and other video games for a whole week for earth day. It was instigated by Samantha's school and we thought it was a good idea. So far the kids seem to be using their imaginations more and we haven't seen as many tantrums from everyone except my son, who is having going to bed without Mom or Dad issues.

Bravos and Boos

Bravo

This week(ish) my Bravo goes to Washington, D.C. weather. Some of you probably think I'm nuts since it's been so schizophrenic and kind of cold, but it has provided a backdrop for some pretty cool pictures. This picture was taken at 10:00 pm as I walked out of the Capitol Visitor Center. The fog made the light beams visible and created a halo around the dome. I also snapped a photo of a full rainbow near our house. Couldn't find the pot of gold though.

Killer Palm Trees

I was downtown today doing research at the Library of Congress. After I was done with my research, I thought I would go to the Botanical Gardens on the mall and take some pretty flower pictures for practice. The ladies at the front desk said that I should take a picture of a tree frog sitting on one of the leaves by a huge palm tree. I had set up my tripod, had only taken two photos and was looking through the viewfinder at the frog when I heard a huge crash right by my head, nearly collapsing the tripod. I look over and an actual piece of the palm tree fell off and landed about 6 in. away from my head! It must have weighed at least 15 to 20 lbs and actually broke one of the tripod legs. I was shaking so bad when I realized how close I had come to being knocked unconscious or worse, I had to sit down for a minute. The poor ladies at the front desk apologized and said that they would pay for the damage. But holy freakin' cow!

Here's the frog:

Here's the thing that almost killed me:

Coronets, Carbs, and Cars

Here's our little thespian! Samantha's favorite part was marching behind Harold Hill. Yes, its true. Samantha was in "The Music Man," the same play I was in during my sophmore year in high school. I have to admit that by closing night, things actually ran pretty smoothly. I actually had a lot of fun helping people with their makeup and playing with the little kids (the director was nowhere to be seen it seemed). We played a game with Uno cards called "Green Grass, Red Heart, Yellow Fever, and Blue Sky." It was interesting to see how much more fun the kids had playing in a group than just the select few playing with the Nintendo DSs while the others watched. I love video games as much as the next guy, but sometimes a good old card game at least gets people interacting with each other.

Bretts Bravos and Boos

Bravo

This week my Bravo goes to my brother, Jared Hansen. Jared is a fitness expert with total health and fitness--www.thfonline.com--and has been working with me since last fall to lower my body fat percentage. So far I've lost more than 20 lbs of body fat and feel oh so much better. I used to literally fall asleep at my desk at work and ate like three candybars a day. Now, I have energy throughout the day and don't crash at 7:00 pm. He has also sent me a bunch of stuff to help me, like some really good protein powder that tastes like carnation instant breakfast and these chocolates that are actually healthy. I know this totally sounds like a paid testimonial, but I promise that the program really works. What has earned the bravo here has been Jared's willingness to bend over backwards to help me out. He has been patient and extremely helpful. Thanks Jared!

Boo

This week's boo goes to my car. Yes, I am blaming an inanimate object. My rear brakes died as well as the roters and my ABS light is on, which means that it didn't pass the safety inspection. We knew that the car was wearing out, but why did it have to wear out right now? We are deciding whether it is better to try and sell the thing now or wait and pay for repairs. We'd have to have one car for a while, which is a major pain in the rump roast.

Babies and Way-Off Broadway

Brynn thinks this image is cute. I think it looks like that thing that crawled out of that guy's chest on the movie Alien. Well...maybe not that bad. She does have a cute nose. In any case, we found out she was a girl. We were kind of hoping for a boy to even things out around here but we are excited for a girl. Even Spencer, who will have to share a room regardless, said "I think I like another girl. That way Jane can have someone to play dress ups with." Anyway, she's due on July 4th. So much for the name Yankee Doodle!


Brett's Bravos and Boos

BOO

For those thespians out there who acted, stage managed, or did anything else under the regime of Leslie Giles-Smith at Brighton, you will appreciate this boo I think. My seven year old, Samantha, is currently in a production of a musical for a local high school (I probably shouldn't name names here). She auditioned because they needed some younger kids and I thought it might be fun for her to be in an actual production. It started out as any productions seem to do, choir rehearsals, read-throughs, blocking, etc. But as time went on, things became a little more...shall we say, disorganized? Let me give you some examples of what I mean.

During blocking rehearsals, the students openly disregarded the director or argued with her, some calling her names to her face that I would not care to repeat. The assistant director kept shouting at full voice over the mic from the booth: "Shut up! I can hear you from up here! Shut up!" approximately every 5 minutes or so, while the director was onstage directing and students were asking her questions.

The makeup person is a Mary Kay consultant and is currently telling everyone in the show that they need to buy--in addition to the rather expensive Mary Kay cosmetics she's selling--facial clenser that costs approximately $40 (instead of a washcloth, some soap, and water, which works just as well).

The costume lady seems to think that everyone is out to get her. Tonight, which was supposed to be a dress rehearsal (the show opens the day after tomorrow), was changed so it was not a dress rehearsal. Samantha went unkowingly in full costume and with stage makeup on, done by Brynn. The costume woman, who apparently has no idea what stage makeup should look like, said that Samantha looked like a clown, chewed her out for playing in someone's makeup, and made her go wash her face (Brynn wasn't there at the time).

I could go on; I haven't mentioned the forgotten lines, forgotten song lyrics, forgotten entrances (did I mention it opens in two days?), and many, many other things. So this week, a very large BOO goes out to the one who should have earned a degree in all this and should have provided some semblance of organization, the director. (This is also an indirect Bravo to Leslie who never put up with anyone's crap and directed quality productions. You spoiled us all Leslie.)

BRAVO
This week my Bravo goes out to a grandma. Not my grandma (though she certainly deserves it too). This goes out to a woman named Angela Suleman. Some may recognize that name. She is the grandmother of Nadya Suleman's octuplets. Nadya, for those who may not know, is a single mom who happens to be addicted to having babies. Lots of babies. Many, including myself, think she is just plain irresponsible having all those kids, especially without a Dad to help guide and take care of them. But that's not what I want to discuss. I want to talk about her mom, the grandma. Psychiatrists believe that Angela is enabling her daughter's irresponsible behavior by helping her with the children and believe she should just walk away. She, despite the fact that she openly disagreed with her daughter and even went to the press about her feelings, still feels like she needs to be there for those helpless little ones. To me that is a clear example of selflessness, sacrificing your own needs and wants for the good of someone else. She may not be a perfect person for her tirades to the media, but my hat goes off to her for swallowing her own pride and doing what needs to be done for those kids.

Blog, Bravos, and Boos

I’ve decided to try and enter stuff on the blog once a week. I’ve also decided to divide each week’s entries into two sections: the general “what’s going on” section and my own personal rants and raves section, which I have cleverly titled “Bravos and Boos”. It will be where I pick one people, group, event, etc. to rave about and another to rant about. Anyway. This past week we got on Facebook and I must say, it is amazing how many people came out of the woodwork. I even found a FB group for my favorite techno pop singer from the 80s: Howard Jones. I also took the kids to an indoor playground where there was a bunch of bouncy stuff. I was trying to figure out how to use the manual setting of my camera. Some pics turned out better than others, but the kids helped because they are always cute. Samantha and Brynn are getting ready for Freedom High’s production of “The Music Man”. (She’s only seven but the high school opened auditions to the community and she wanted to audition—I would like to stress wanted to, there was no pushing by her thespian parents. Really. I promise.)


Brett’s Bravos and Boos

BRAVO-My first Bravo goes out to my friend Cami Purtchert for kicking me in the butt to get going with the Blog and on FB. It has been a blast getting reacquainted with people and seeing how 15 years has changed, or not changed, everyone. Thanks Cami!!!

BOO-My first Boo is going to have to go to members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, for not getting their act together with the stimulus bill. First to the almighty Democrats for trying to put so much stupid pork on the bill and second for the GOP for being unwilling to compromise. Passing the stimulus bill is important because we can start getting funding for infrastructure projects that will give people jobs, not to mention the current state of our infrastructure (see http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2009/). C’mon and get your act together!

Latest News About Us

Here's a copy of Brynn's family letter to everyone.


Hello Friends,

I know, I know you probably thought we had dropped off the planet, but it is true that we are still here and it is also true that I am a horrible emailer. Sorry. Please forgive me for my faults. But we were severely chastened J by Cami lastnight for not keeping up. So today I thought I would send all an update since we did not get one out at Christmas.

For those that can’t remember or maybe didn’t know, we are in Northern Virginia. Today the weather is cold in the teens going up to a high of maybe 30 degrees with a chance of light snow. We have been here since September 2004. Brett is still an Associate Editor for American Society of Civil Engineers. He writes for their trade magazine and also does the newspaper for the society members.He is trying to work up to title of Senior writer. It takes time and so he is still plugging away. He just signed up for a beginning photography class because he has to take pictures for the newspaper. He is having fun with that. He got to buy a really nice camera for his department and he brings it home to play with it all the time. In his spare time he started a writing group with several members in the ward. They all like to write and one is even published. He is working on many children’s stories and also a teen novel. He has sent some of these off to be published, but no luck yet.

I (Brynn) currently work at a dentists office part time. I do scanning for them at night. I can go in any time that works for me and Brett watches the kids. I also go in 2 Saturdays a month to be the receptionist. I love it! It works out perfectly for a mostly stay at home mom. I love being with my kids and they keep me busy. (We all know how that is). Last April, I did a community theatre production of Little Women, the musical and I was the troll. A small part, yet perfect for my schedule and lots of fun! Brett and I take turns every now and then with a little theatre just to keep us going. I still love to scrapbook and try to get to that every chance I can; that is probably why I am so bad at emailing and blogging. Brett set up a blog for me but has not showed me how to use it and so when we get that ball rolling…Our big news is that I am expecting #4 on July 4th. The ultrasound is Feb 17th. So I will have to let you know what we are having.

Samantha is so much like her mom it is scary. She is very, very, very, very dramatic and she loves to be the center of attention. She loves to giggle and laugh and create. She is friends with everyone and not afraid of strangers at all (which worries me). In fact, she just informed us that she is engaged. But she is not sure which of the two boys she should pick yet. Does boy craziness really start this early? She is 7 and in first grade and she loves it. I held her back because she was on the border for the deadline and so she didn’t go to kindergarten until she was 6. But I think it was really good for her. She has been in one church production with mom. We did Savior of the World in our stake when she was 4 and she was an angel. She currently decided (and I promise it was all on her own) to try out for the Highschool play of Music Man. She made it and she is going to be a towns girl and a member of the band.

Spencer he is going to be 5 the 12th of February. He is all boy. That should say it all. He is rowdy and he likes to tease all the time. He also seems to be pretty mechanical because he loves to build with legos and magnexts and takes things apart all the time just to put them back together. He is not a picky eater and eats just about everything. He can be very tender and loving but he also has a very strong defiant side. He is as stubborn as they come and we have had to really learn how to deal with that. He is not a text book child in the least and with his personality I have had to learn to be very patient and “go around the back door” so to speak. But I love him and he can be so fun. He will start kindergarten next fall and I am already upset about it. But he is excited and sits with Samantha and constantly tries to read over her shoulder.

Jane just turned 3 in November. She is so funny! She is full of fun and can be a tease but also very helpful and sweet. She loves to cuddle. She is also our little one that is prone to accidents. She is always falling down or getting bumped. She has had stitches, surgery (for swallowing an open safety pin) and she also broke her arm last June. She had to have a cast all summer. You can see it in one of the pictures. Brett wanted to call her “Calamity Jane” but I told him it would give her a complex.

That pretty much tells you about us. Sorry it has taken so long. I will try to be better. I wish we could be there this summer to see all of you. We will have to do it the next year. If you ever want to come out to DC, let us know and we can show you all the cool stuff. We are 45 minutes from there. Feel free to drop in. J

Well, hoping to write again soon,