One of the most delicious candies available is undoubtedly LIK-M-AID FUN DIP. The idea of dipping a sugar stick into flavored sugar is genius. Not long ago I went to a nearby convenience store to acquire some LIK-M-AID FUN DIP but was quickly disappointed to find that original LIK-M-AID FUN DIP was replaced by a "tropical" variety. Understanding that it would be difficult to damage the concept of sugar/sugar candy I went ahead and purchased the new flavor.

I'm an IDIOT! I was shocked when my tongue was assaulted by foulness. The sugar sticks were lime-flavored and the sugar dips were watermelon, strawberry and mango flavored (are watermelons and strawberries considered tropical?). It was so foul that I ended up throwing most of it away. I immediately went to the Nestlé web page and contacted their customer service department regarding this traumatic event. Although nothing can undo the damage that was done, I received gift certificates for three free Wonka candy items. A nice gesture, but c'mon! Fire the guys that works in R&D and quality control! Anyway, I must not have been the only one because "tropical" LIK-M-AID FUN DIP seems to be disappearing and the original is coming back.

Chase went to the nursery for the first time this last Sunday. I always had the impression that Chase would love the nursery once he was old enough to go; however, all our friends assured us that once the time came he would not want to go. I'm glad to say that we were right. Chase went right into the nursery and appeared to have fun the entire time. I checked on him through the window a few times and he was just hanging out like it was no big deal. He's very independent and very social. I wanted to feel bad that there didn't appear to be any separation anxiety, but really it was niiice. I actually got to listen to the lesson in priesthood for the first time in a long time.

I know that 99% of you come to our blog to get family information (baby information, more specifically). I also know that saying 99% turns two of you into fractions. As sad as it may be to be a fraction, today is a happy day for many. I've decided to finally provide some sort of a baby update.

Yesterday was a fun day for Emilie. She went to the doctor and he told her that she is now considered full-term in regards to the size of her tummy. And she still has a ways to go. There are good times to be had by Emilie. Unfortunately probably not before the babies come out.

The babies both appear to be doing well. Here are some 3D ultrasound pictures from the 20-week checkup.

We had a lucky day that day since we were able to get fairly good pictures of both babies and they didn't look too weird for their age.

Chase is doing very well, although he wasn't feeling too good last night. He had a mysterious fever that we had a hard time lowering. He was acting okay, but he couldn't really sleep well. He's doing better today, although he's still a little feverish.

He's learning quite a few words. Although "ball" still appears to be his favorite, "circle" is close behind. His pronunciation is something more like "girkle", though. He's learning several animals and can make the sounds for a few of them. He has the horse sound (sorry - whinny doesn't sound like a cool word) and "woof" nailed.

Emilie has taken him swimming a couple times recently. Last week Chase took a sudden dive in a pool requiring Emilie to play pregnant lifeguard to rescue him. This week she's been going to sort of a "water babies" thing at the Bower's Manion pool. She went yesterday but not today because of his fever. Emilie likes to go to the pool because the water makes her feel like she doesn't have a small family inside her.

Anyway, that's a bunch of information worded quite abruptly. I didn't want to give you too much information to digest. Especially since you haven't even finished digesting your dinner yet.

After spending almost a week in Las Vegas I had to travel to each of our main offices for work stuff. The first stop was Henderson, which was uneventful after having spent a week in the area the previous week. I flew to Henderson the morning of May 8th and then flew to Glendale that night. Before continuing with these thrilling tales of travel, I will share a story at my expense for your amusement.

After landing at the Burbank Airport I headed to the baggage carousel to pick up my bag. I had one bag checked and also had a backpack and a laptop bag that I had carried on. My bag came out onto the carousel, but it stuck near the top of the belt. I had to stretch to get the bag since it was stuck high up on the belt; however, the camera and laptop bags apparently made me quite top-heavy. I ended up falling onto the belt and started to go around the carousel. People looked as if they couldn't decide whether or not to help me. On the one hand they didn't want to demean me. On the other hand, they could see my dilemma. They obviously seemed concerned. Or maybe it was amused. Actually, they were probably just embarrassed for me. In any case, I grabbed my bag and finally worked my way off the carousel.

I happened to be in Glendale during the Griffith Park fire. I could clearly see the fire from the plane while landing in Burbank. I stopped on Los Feliz Blvd. on the way to the hotel, since it was basically on the way. I took a few pictures, which I think turned out pretty good. Here are a couple samples:

I flew back to Reno the next night. The following morning I flew to San Francisco and experienced something I had never experienced before. Since I flew on Southwest and Southwest only flies to Oakland, I decided to take the BART to our office in downtown San Francisco. It was an interesting experience. I found my way fairly easily, but the ride from the Coliseum station to the Embarcadero station was a little scary. The Coliseum station is in an area that appears to be pretty rough. The ride through Oakland made me glad that I was on the train and not driving through.

Anyway, I came back to Reno the same night. Hopefully, I'm done traveling for a little while.

That last post (dated April 18) had been sitting in the queue since, well, April 18. I finally published it. Why does it take so long for me to do these things?

Anyway, a lot has happened so I'll try to bring things relatively up-to-date over the next few posts.

Last month was super crazy since I was traveling quite a bit more than usual. My travels consisted of a 6-day trip to Las Vegas, followed by another trip to Henderson, then Glendale, CA and finally San Francisco. The latter three trips took place over the course of three days so it was pretty crazy.

My initial trip to Las Vegas was for ITIL Foundations training and certification at HDI 2007. The good news is that I passed the certification exam and am now ITIL certified.

Here are a few pictures taken while there - the first is the view from my hotel room, the second is a shot of the strip from the House of Blues Foundation Room and the final picture is the Las Vegas temple. I took a morning off to get away from the Strip for a while - visiting the temple grounds was a good break.