I rode my bike to work again on Friday. It's been so smoky that the first day I woke up and could see mountains I jumped at the chance. It was actually a very good ride to and from work - not too hot and not too windy.

Saturday morning I got a call from Emilie's dad inviting me to go riding. It was the first ride I went on this year and I don't even remember the last time I went last year. It's definitely been about a year since my last real ride. We rode the Tunnel Creek trail (Tahoe Rim Trail from the meadows to Tunnel Creek Rd.). We only went one way, but it was still a pretty good ride - especially since I haven't been for so long. I rode this trail once about four years back as an out-and-back. It's definitely a great trail, but there were a TON of people hiking and riding. It made it a little annoying. While waiting for one large group of people to get ahead of us we decided to try riding the TRT "stairs". I didn't take any pictures of my own but I found a few pictures of this section on the internet so that you can imagine what it's like: look here and here. I almost chickened out but after seeing a few others successfully ride it I gave it a shot and actually made it! I was glad that I pushed myself to try something difficult - it was definitely rewarding.

On Saturday night we attended the big 3-0 birthday party for Sam. Unfortunately, we arrived a little late and had to leave early but we were able to attend sans children thanks to my mom. It was a fun little party. I have to admit that I was a little depressed, though. I hadn't seen Sam very recently and I have to say he's changed a lot since the last time I saw him. I didn't realize how old he looked until I went back and looked at a picture I took at the party.

That picture of Sam is completely fabricated. You can see the original here. I'm just afraid that unless I do stuff like this Sam won't ever come see my page :(

Sean Hannity, Oliver North and Mark Levin came to Reno on May 2nd to do a show at the Pioneer Center. You may remember that I mentioned this briefly last month. I didn't mention that two of the tickets in our group were the "VIP" tickets that KOH (boo) was selling. The "VIP" tickets offered exclusive backstage access, among other benefits. My ticket was not "VIP"; however, when Edge (I still don't know if that's really his name) declined to take advantage of backstage access I ended up going with my dad. It didn't take long to realize that backstage access meant being rushed through a long line as quickly as possible for a quick photo-op.

So, we waited in line. When we got to the front of the line I shook Mark Levin's hand and my dad shook Sean Hannity's hand. I started to turn around and *click* the camera snapped a shot and we were rushed off. For your entertainment I present the resulting picture below. Go ahead and laugh - that's what I do (it's the only way to hide the tears).

Oh, what excitement we've had in our household! Chase has been extremely creative with finding new surfaces to draw on lately. I came home Tuesday night to find that Chase had drawn all over the kitchen floor with a pen. That's not the only thing he drew on:

Last night Mason got his first haircut. We took the No. 5 to his head and he tolerated it surprisingly well. Not only does he now look more like a boy baby, but he looks almost like a different baby altogether. Here are the results:

You can clearly see how much happier Mason is with shorter hair. Actually the "before" picture was taken moments after the Jaxon "pen" picture. Mason was angry that I was paying attention to Jaxon and not him. Once I paid attention to Mason the smile cracked through the tears and snot (be sure to click on the Mason haircut picture for a larger version - it helps to deliver the full effect).

You can compare Mason's haircut pictures to Chase's haircut picture. Jaxon is not anticipated to need a haircut anytime soon. Or possibly ever.

Chase's favorite things right now are dinosaurs and rockets. Emilie bought a couple of books for Chase (The Dinosaur and On The Moon - both by Anna Milbourne) and he thinks they are the greatest things ever. He wants to read them over and over. It's funny that Chase has always been more interested in books than videos or TV. I guess that's a good thing.

Chase's current favorite toy is a rocket that attaches to a small truck (shown below). He carries the rocket everywhere and constantly counts "5...4...3...2...1...lift off!" and then lifts the rocket into the air, flying it until it is behind his head. He will ask, "where's the rocket?" After revealing that it was behind his head the whole time he begins the process again. It's normal for us to experience as many as 5 launches per minute.

We were also entertained by Chase the Monday after Father's Day. I was preparing to leave for work and was intercepted by Chase in the hall. He said, "Not go to work. It's Father's Day!" Emilie and I both had a good laugh and then I left anyway.

Random stuff: I gave blood two weeks ago. I rode my bike to work the day after I gave blood. Had a thrilling week last week when I traveled to San Francisco on Wednesday and Glendale on Friday. Glendale was HOT! We rode the BART in San Francisco. It was okay coming back, but was crazy busy on the way into the city. We went to a German restaurant for lunch and I debated about whether to get a hamburger from a German restaurant. And then it occurred to me - HAMBURGer. I'm an idiot. In Glendale we went to Gaucho's Village Brazilian Churrascaria "Steak House" as featured in my 9/19/06 entry.

More to come - breaking up the entries for easier reading.

Well they accepted our offer down the street, so I will still live on the same street just a different address, weird huh. I actually live in the cul-de-sac instead of on the end of it.
We are expected to move in by the 14th of July.
I like the house, the yard is beautiful. Hardwood floors on major traffic areas, stainless steel appliances, lots of storage. It's a two story so all bedrooms are upstairs and it has a loft. Things I don' t like..... Cabinets, they are oak and I hate oak (but will make due because they are only 3 years old) Kitchen countertops are tile and I hate tile, once you have had granite you cant go back and that will have to replaced soon. It needs some paint in certain areas, like our bedroom and one or two of the boys rooms. Need some new tile or vinyl in bathrooms, because I don't like the color, and of course it needs plantation shutters in the front areas. Thats all do- able I think.... I just wish that could all be done before I moved in, but I will have to live with it for awhile.
Brad and I feel that we are lucky that we were able to still be in the same area (which we love) and were able to afford a big enough house for our growing family since we didn't make anything on our current house.
We are counting our blessings.

Well....actually it is in escrow, we are scheduled to move out in just 2 weeks. I need to find a house fast. Stay tuned on where we are moving.

It could be down the street: but it is on a so so busy road, we are trying to stay away from busy roads.
It could be down our street: I mean really 7 houses down. I would still have almost the same address.
OR it could be around the block, where there is a house in forclosure, needs a little work but it would fit the family, and then some. Biggest floor plan in Curti... I wouldn't have enough furniture to put in it for years!

I had to get a few student loans to get my wonderful college education, And I am finally done paying for them. It only took 7 years. This is the cool thing though.... I still had a balance in March and I paid my normal payment back in March. Then they returned my March check. I thought these people are idiots sending me back a check when I owe them money. Then I forgot about it. Well I finally noticed that I haven't received any statements. I check my account online and it was paid off. I thought it was kinda weird and I checked all my records and I showed I still owed. Well I finally called my lender this morning and they informed me that the balance was paid off by them. It was because I was ahead on my payments and had no problems with my account. They asked if I had received the letter informing me that the account that was paid off. I nicely informed them no, unless I would not have called. So they are resending the "Paid Off Letter". Well ...this is major and I'm pretty darn happy about it. What nice people, I now want to go and buy something with the money I didn't have to pay. WOO HOO What a relief.

You Are Snow White!

Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.

The twins like to wake up really early. Sometimes they just hang out until Emilie gets them and sometimes they just go back to sleep for a few. We generally try not to get them out of bed until about 7a so that they don't get too comfortable with getting up at 5 or 6 in the morning. Last week Emilie was out walking and Jaxon was crying. It was about 6:30a so I let him fuss. After about 5 or 10 minutes of crying I went in to make sure he was okay only to find that his bed and face were covered with blood. He had a bloody nose, presumably caused because of the dry climate. Of course, I felt awful that I ignored him for as long as I did. This was the first bloody nose we had to deal with. He continued to bleed a little bit all day and we had to put a humidifier in his room when he went to bed.

You may remember that a while back Jaxon had begun to surpass Mason in the teeth area. Jaxon was slow to start, but once he got going he turned into an animal - literally! The last time we checked he had 9 teeth. Mason now has three and the top teeth are looking like they could be coming in soon. It's hard to imagine was it looks like when a little baby has so many teeth so I figured I better provide a picture.

Chase has a new thing that could be annoying if it wasn't so hilarious. Any time you touch him he says, "Hey! That hurt!" Throwing a blanket or pillow at him will initiate this response, as will softly hitting his shoulder or poking his arm. I definitely need to try to capture this reaction on video or audio because it's funny. Not that we want to "hurt" him for our amusement, but if he wants to be funny about it then he deserves it.

It's been interesting to see the personality changes in the babies. Mason used to hate going to bed, but now willingly goes into his crib without any fussing. Even if he doesn't go to sleep he typically just hangs-out until he falls asleep. Jaxon, on the other hand, hates going to bed. Laying him in his crib is a sure way to turn Jaxon into a human siren. He used to be fine in bed and Mason used to hate bed. Now it's the other way around. Fortunately, they sleep surprisingly well through each other's fits.

Still no crawling. They can both get on their hands and knees, but they won't crawl. Mason's poor arm is always red and chapped from scooting around. They'll be crawling any day now. Or else.