WABBIT SEASON!!

THOUGHTS: Easter Weekend was a fun one. We had beautiful weather. On Saturday Emily, Grandma and Cousin Eric came up to visit. We went to the park and played football, baseball, frisbee, and played at the playground.

We also had fun dying Easter eggs.

Then of course we had an Easter Egg hunt. We do the hunt with the plastic ones filled with candy. Every year no matter how hard we try we always end up finding an Easter Egg months later somewhere in the yard.

EASTER MORNING!!!

DEEDS: Easter Dinner with the fool err I mean full Vorhauer family.

WORDS: Holidays with Family are the BEST!

March Madness

Thoughts: I really Enjoy playing basketball. The past 4-5 months I have been playing regularly at the church on Sat. Mornings. This year has been really fun because I started bringing Todd who is also really getting into basketball. He has become pretty good in a short time and I hope to continue to teach him. This past Saturday was the Mens Basketball Tournament. I had invited the whole "Crew" from Rockville to come play. Asif decided to play and was so dedicated he stayed in a hotel in Winchester over night. I also brought a guy, James from our neighborhood that the missionaries have been teaching. We had fun playing but ended up losing both games in the double elimination tournament. Some of the highlights for me was Asif shooting a long range shot and I caught it and put it right back up and in even though I was surrounded by 3-4 large players. I like to think Asif was just throwing an "Ally-oop" pass rather than an airball shot. The other highlight was I referreed one of the games. It was the first time I had ever done that in my life. Right in the middle of of the action Asif comes running up the sidelines and grabs my arm and points at the other referee and says...

Words: ..."Look its Jacob from 'LOST'...". I guess he did kinda look like him...

Deeds: This week for Family Home Evening we went out to Home depot and let each of the kids pick out a packet of seeds of their choosing. This evening after dinner we got out the dirt and planted them into some eggshell planters. Everyone planted a vegetable except Hannah who planted Parsley. It was a fun activity that kept the kids from fighting and playing video games for a little bit.

Oldest and Youngest

Thoughts- I love spring. Today is the first day that has felt "warm" outside since last fall. It is in the mid 50's. We still have snow on the ground especially in the front yard but it is melting rapidly. I love the spring changes and I love seeing all of our plants and bulbs "spring" back to life. I am excited that I can start yard work in the next coming weeks. I love landscaping our yard. It has been so fun working it from a pile of dirt 5 years ago to what it is now.

Words- Primary Themes. At church on the first Sunday of the month the Primary asks me to come in and present the new primary theme for the month. The themes are just a simple phrase like Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I usually try to do something that will grab the kids attention for a few minutes that presents the theme in a fun way. I brought in our Gardenia that appeared to have died so we put in on the back porch and rainwater brought it back to life-Analogy to the Savior and the resurrection. Last month I brought in the childrens book "Are you my Mother" and applied to the concept that their is only one Savior. Today the theme was "God Speaks Through Prophets". So I told the children I was going to tell them the theme but then I went out in the hall and said it where they could not see or hear me. I did this twice and then said I was going to tell the theme to a messenger and then the messenger was going to give the theme. So I did this using an old missionary badge of mine so that the person represented me. I love doing these theme's each month its fun to interact with the primary children.

Deeds- Oldest and Youngest. Last Saturday was Todd's (My Oldest Son) Birthday. He had some friends over for a party Friday night (Video Games/Pizza). A friend gave us a bunch of old XBOX games so he got those. We also got him a new Bass Guitar case, and a book of rock bass music. On Saturday Seth (My Youngest Son) played in his indoor soccer game. Watching 4-5 year olds play soccer reminds me of the old Charlie Brown cartoon where the baseball players are standing in the outfield counting clovers or watching the clouds, meanwhile the ball falls right between them. After the Soccer game we went to the Mall in Hagerstown to meet Grandma. Grandma bought Todd a new suit and then he got to buy an XBOX360 with his money/giftcard and the rest we paid for as he met certain promised conditions from the past couple of years. After the mall we went to Golden Corral and stuffed ourselves. That place is good but I feel like such a glutton when I go there...

On Sunday Todd wore his new suit to church. In Sacrament meeting he was Recognized for completion of his Duty to God requirements for Deacon. He has been working hard on completing this and I was extremely proud of him. After church I was able to ordain him to the office of a Teacher.

Fly Like an Eagle(s)

Thoughts-On Saturday I had the pleasure of going to a double Eagle Court of Honor. Both of the young men are Brothers, Tyler and Jacob Grow. I was their Young Men's President at Church for over 3 years. We had lots of fun experiences together in Scouts and Church including the goofy Videos we made for the Cinematography merit badge. It has been amazing to see these two young men grow and mature from 12 year old Tenderfoot Scouts to Eagle Scouts.

These Two young men also have the blessing of having very loving and involved parents.

At the end of the ceremony the Eagle Scouts themselves presented three awards/pins. One is for the Mother and one is for the Father and the third pin is for a Mentor. To my great thrill and honor, Jacob Grow presented me with his Mentor Award Pin. He stood before the audience and told everyone how I had made an impact in his life even before he was a Scout and he tried to do everything I told him to do. I could not have been any more proud at that moment. To know that I had made such a difference in this young teenagers life and had been an example and mentor was and is a great feeling.

(Jacob and I after he pinned on my Mentor award)

Words-The Scout Law-A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.

Deeds- Saturday Afternoon Seth and I went out and started making a snowman. Pretty soon Joseph was out helping us. Then Julie and Hannah joined in by finding the items we needed to complete our Super-Snowman!!!
(I Love the eyes...)

Thirty-Ate

Thoughts-I turned 38 this week. Is that old? I used to think so but i'm not 40 so I am not THAT old...We watched "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". I warned the kids that it was funny but would probably make no sense to them...I was right. We had lemon bars for dessert. Dusty called me for my birthday which was really nice. Julie and the kids got me a really super warm and soft micro fleece. Seth also got me some basketball socks. I have been playing basketball every Saturday until we have had the recent snowfalls. Speaking of snow I think I have been shoveling snow every day of my 38 year old existence.

After last Saturdays record snowfall we then had another foot of snow on Tuesday/Wednesday. Its like the most snow in 100 years in this area.

Deeds-This Saturday we went to Manassas. I had been wanting to visit my Grandma (95 years old) for awhile. I had called her a few weeks ago after she had been in the hospital for chest pains. It turned out to be nothing but I still needed to visit her. So I dropped Julie off at the movie theater in Manassas to get tickets for "The Lighting thief" while I went over to visit my Grandma with Todd. She could not believe how big Todd had gotten. We laughed and talked about old times and memories I have like picking string beans in her garden with her. She really got excited when we started to talk about her model trains. Those are some great great memories of playing with her model trains at her house growing up. She even got out some of the ones she still has and we took some pictures of them.

It is amazing that she is still as sharp as a tack and can remember everything. She was telling me about the first radio her family had. I love her very much and I am so thankful to have been able to have her in my entire life. It is amazing to think she was live during WW1 and WWII. After visiting with her we went to the movie theater and saw the Lightning Thief and then went to the Golden Corral for dinner. It was kind of a Valentines Date for the whole family. After being shut in due to the snow for the past week it was nice to get out.

Words-I LOVE JULIE!!! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY LITTLE LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once There Was a Snowfall...Tall...Tall...Tall...

Words: It began yesterday morning and Ended about 5pm this evening. The biggest snowfall that I have ever experienced in my life. We had snowdrifts in our backyard that were well over 3 feet deep.

Deeds: I Started to dig out the driveway in front of our garage. I only dug out one side just in case I had to back the van out. It wouldn't go very far because they have not plowed our alley yet. This pile of snow below was at least as tall as me when I was done. Joseph tried to sled down it. He was outside today more than any of us. Here he is climbing (or hugging) the snowpile I made.

Thoughts: Spending time with the family in the snow is lots of FUN!!! Except why is it that as soon as I step foot out the door I get hit by snowballs or have shovel loads of snow get flung at me by the three other "Boys" in the house...?

(Of course tomorrow is the Super Bowl so I made sure I risked my life to ensure that the Satellite Dishes were snow free...one of them was completely buried...Priorities...)

Catching Up with Steve Mode

Thoughts: Okay so only a few people might get the joke/reference of the Title of this post. Yes I have not written in 2.5 months but mostly because it has been one of the busiest times of my life. I decided to do a timeline to get caught up and then I can continue with the random posts.

Deeds:

November 20-Seth does a "Backflip" off the couch and lands on the back of his neck

November 23-We are planning to leave for St Louis at night. Julie takes Seth to an Urgent Care to check out his neck because he has been holding it to the side since his fall. They do not like the look of the xrays and send him to the hospital. The hospital does not like the look either and they send him by ambulance to Childrens Hospital in DC.

November 24-Seth is still in the Hospital and they produce a grim diagnosis that includes the possible need to put him in traction

November 25-After extensive tests and scans they determine that Seth has been misdiagnosed and that the cause of his neck problems are simple muscle spasms that are brought under control by mild sedatives. Thank goodness for Priesthood blessings. (See Julie Blog for full details). Seth is released from hospital and cleared to Travel to St Louis (Wearing neck brace).

November 26-29 Fun in St. Louis with Blakemore Family.

November 29-Brianna's Baptism and we drive back to WV.

December 04-We go and get Christmas Tree.

December 06-We (The Charles Town Branch) have a special combined meeting with the Harpers Ferry Ward. A boundary change is announced and the Charles Town Branch becomes the Charles Town Ward. Branch President Nelson is called to be the Bishop and I am called to be in the new Bishopric as the Second Counselor. I am also ordained a High Priest.

December 15-We take Christmas Pictures

December 18-We celebrate Christmas #1 with Grandma V (My last day of work for the holidays).

December 19-We have the largest snowfall in years approx. 18 inches.

December 20-We celebrate Christmas #2 as a Family with Emily in the morning. I take Julie and Emily to the airport to leave for Germany to visit Tami and Jer for Christmas.

December 21-Kids have a sleepover at our house with the Postma kids.

December 24-We celebrate Christmas #3 with Grandma V again this time with Dusty, Amie and Eric.

December 25-We celebrate Christmas #4 as a family minus Julie but with the LDS Missionaries, Elders Godfrey and Crandell.

December 26-The Mitchells come over and spend the day with us. BJ fixes THE Pinball Machine of all remaining problems including replacing the powercord.

December 27-We visit the Christy's and sing Christmas Carols for them and give them our Christmas gift and cards.

December 28-We all get haircuts including Hannah

December 31-We pick up Julie and Emily from the airport. They are exhausted and do not make it to new years.

January 02 (2010)-We celebrate Christmas #5 with the Pickett side of the family.

January 03-I conduct my first Sunday Sacrament Meeting.

January 09-I celebrate Christmas #6 with the Twinbrook Crew and Asif at outback steakhouse in Rockville. I give out video game wristbands.

January 16-Julie and I go see Avatar. Amazing movie especially the 3D experience. But not my favorite by any means.

January 17-We visit MLE in Arlington VA for an UNFORGETTABLE Birthday celebration just for her and we eat Super Nachos.

January 23-Seth's first indoor soccer game. He scores 2 goals. One for his team and one for the other team. I go to the Washington Capitals game with Ben. They win 4-1 against the Coyotes.

January 29-I go with Todd and the rest of the Youth Ice Skating in Hagerstown. My 4th year attending the event.

January 30-We get another 4 inches of snow. We go and shovel snow at the church.

Words: I think that pretty much sums up the last 2.5 months. The month of January was my busiest month with a Church calling (and the most rewarding) and it was also one of my busiest months at work ever as we implemented all new processes and began using a new Tool for tracking issues. Time to get back to posting other weirdness...

This picture sums up everything in my mind.

Big Screen Blows-up

Deeds-So I was watching the BYU Football game and they were playing so horrible that it broke my TV. At first I thought the satellite was going out because the picture at the top was starting to twitch. But then within an hour the whole picture became scrambled. I tried the other inputs and found it wasn't the satellite but my big screen tv had broken. I was not a happy camper at the thought of repairing it sounded expensive and replacing it was out of the question with our current budget. However I have a friend at church, B.J. Mitchell, who is supposedly good with electronics. I mentioned my problem to Jarom Olson at church he said that B.J. was good and had fixed his robotic lawnmower. Encouraged I talked to B.J. and told him of the problem. He said to email him the TV models/specs and he would research it. So I emailed him the details along with a description of the TV problems. He came over a few nights later with a box of electric parts, soldering iron, and a stack of papers which he said was the service manual that he had downloaded. I must say I was skeptical that someone who tinkered with electronics would be able to fix a complex HD TV. But I had only expensive options so I was willing to let him take a crack at it. He basically took the whole back end of the tv apart looking for the power circuit board. He found it and said looks like we found the problem you have two blown capacitors. I did not know what a capacitor was except that a flux capacitor made time travel possible. But he showed me a picture of the circuit board he had downloaded with a common problem logged for my tv and it showed two battery like things on the circuit board with goook oozing out of them. He showed me my circuit board and I had the same thing. To my amazement he not only had capacitors in his box of electronic parts but he had two that matched the electrical specs. So he set to work on his soldering iron and took out the two bad capacitors on the circuit board and replaced them with the two new ones. He then started putting the tv's back together. We fired it up and to my astonishment the TV now works perfectly! I thanked him profusely and asked him what I good do for him, He said he would take payment in food. So we will be having his family over for dinner in the near future. While he was here he played the pinball machine and he now wants to take a crack at fixing some of the lingering issues it has...YIPPPEEE!!!

Thoughts-I really like doing things with Julie. A couple of weekends ago we were doing our annual garage deep clean so that we can fit both cars in during times of bad winter weather. The kids love doing this because we pull everything out and organize it back in. Which means they play with everything that has accumulated in a big pile in the garage while we organize it. So we spent a couple of hours doing this while kids rode bikes in and out. Julie and I screwed in some hooks to hang chairs and strollers. We just enjoy doing things like this together and it always makes a big job like fun. After we were done I said I needed to go get gas for the van so we could go to church on sunday and Julie said "Can I come with you?" I said "Sure" so we went on a quick date to the gas station. I pumped that gas while Julie got me a Slushy. I like slurpee dates with JULIE!

Words-I have finished another audio book, called Ship of Ghosts about the survivors of the USS Houston that was sunk in WWII and their enslavement on the death railroad in Bhurma during the war. I have been doing all WWII books up to this point.

Sir Dream-a-Lot

Thoughts- Yes I Dream alot. From the moment I start to fall asleep I start to dream. Most mornings I can remember the bizarre dreams that I have. I can still remember dreams I had when I was a child. I have deja-vu moments where I will during the day remember a dream that I had days, months or years ago. I usually don't remember full dreams just certain images or parts of dreams. Its funny that most of them don't make sense (at least not if I try to explain them) but within the dream they always seem to be real and make sense. On rare occasions I will be conscious that I am dreaming but I still do not have any control over my dream. I rarely have nightmares. In fact I can remember most of them and they have only occurred a couple times in my life. I have in my adult life had the exact opposite of a nightmare. I call it a "laughmare" because I will literally wake up laughing. Something happens in my dream that is so ridiculous or funny that I will start laughing uncontrollably until I wake up. This has on more than one occasion freaked Julie out in the middle of the night as I start laughing out loud and she has no idea what is going on. I only wish that I could remember what was sooo funny. I do remember trying to explain to Julie what was so funny in my dream but not really being able to articulate it. Lately in the past month or so I have been having a running theme in my dreams. At least once a week I have had a dream about my grandparents Vorhauers back yard. Their backyard in Manassas was rather large with several gardens and a hill that led into a small wooded area. As children this was a magical place and I still feel like I remember everything about it from the rocks, to the trees, to the garden, sandbox, Several Sheds. I almost feel like I know the yard so well I could dig under it and still know the different layers of dirt and rocks. I could spend several hours describing memories of summers spent with my siblings in that back yard. I love that backyard and the memories there. Not sure why I have been dreaming about it lately but it has been nice to think back on that magical place.

Words- Yesterday we went to my Moms house to celebrate her and Sarah's Birthday. On the way home for fun I put on the Sound of Music Soundtrack because Hannah and Julie like it(okay I admit I like those songs to...don't tell anyone). Well we heard a few grumbles from the "boys" but we kept playing it. Finally Joseph gave us the Quote of the day. My 7-year old says "THIS IS TORTURE!". Okay we can take a hint...

Deeds- Well since I have not written in a month its hard to write down all that we have done. I guess the biggest highlight was Seth learning to ride a two wheeler at only 4 years old. I then video taped the whole family riding bikes at the park. I took the 15 minutes of raw video footage and put together a 5 minute video montage put to music. I really love taking video footage and putting it to music. I put the end result on youtube to share with family and friends especially Tami and Dad in Europe who don't have opportunities to see the kids often. Another fun event was game night at Asifs a week ago with Asif, Barry and Troy. We played this crazy "board" game called Space Alert that took a total of 2 hours to explain and go through a tutorial. It of course is always fun when we get together. Its like being in High School again (at least we act about as mature as a high schooler or maybe Junior High Schooler...

Successful Naps

Deeds--I know I don't write that much but a lot has happened in "Animal Crossing" so I thought I would give everyone an update. Last week was the "Bug Off" where the Town Creature that collects the rarest bug wins a trophy from the cameleon. I am the two time defending champ so I wanted to defend my trophy. But of course I cheated. I keep a stash of rare bugs in my basement then just when the contest was about to end I dropped off a rare butterfly that beat the next best animal by two points. Later in the mail my trophy arrived and I placed it next to the other two gold trophy's. Julie was very proud of me. This week I also hit a huge milestone of depositing 1 million bells in my bank account. I was sent the gold credit card from the bank in recognition of this feat. I decided with so many bells I would go into the city and see if they are selling any new high end furniture at Gracie Grace. However they were still selling the ugly candy furniture still so I guess I will keep saving my money. I did buy a green shirt and motorcycle helmet for Joseph since he likes me to send him anything green. He also wants me to sell him the dingaloids but I just end up selling them. I had not been in town for awhile so I also got my shoes shined and a new haircut. I am down to just two fish to catch to have caught one of each. Once I catch these two elusive fish then I will be awarded the Gold fishing pole. OH also I was shopping at NOOK's and they had the silver bug net for sale. That is very rare and it is the first time I have seen it. I tried it out but I don't see how it works any better than a regular net... BTW I thought I would like Drake the new duck in town but then he started talking smack about Pinky the panda so He is off my mailing list!!!

Thoughts--I think my Brother Ben is a "NUTBAR"

Words--From Jim Gaffigan talking about naps, "There are those people who don't take naps...what are they called?...successfull..."

Twitter Mind Control

Thoughts: I woke up in the middle of the night and somehow (Don't Try and wonder why) I thought wouldn't it be nice if I could give Twitter updates by mind telepathy. That way if I woke up from some weird dream in the middle of the night, I could Tweet it to everyone without having to get up (FYI I do not have a Twitter account but I would consider if they had a telepathic option).

Words: Barry left me a message yesterday saying we should all call ourselves by our middle names. AND not only that but that we should use a more endearing form of the name per the following;

Troy Vincent =Vinny

Barry James = Jimmy

Stephen Thomas= Tommy

Asif...well we haven't figured out Asif yet.

..

Deeds: Friday night Sarah came over for a sleepover to play with the kids. We got the legos out and I build lego people of Vinny, Jimmy, Tommy and ? The next morning for the first time in years we had a yardsale, participating in the community yard sale. All of the organizing from the past weeks paid off as we had a lot of good stuff to sell. I learned a lot about yard sales since I grew up doing it with my Dad every summer. We sold a lot of stuff really cheap but still made $82. The rest we gave to goodwill. Julie is going to use the money to buy closet shelves for the kids rooms.

I am a closet organizer...

Deeds--I took off work on Friday and Julie and I did something we have needed to do (Not sure we really wanted to do) for a long time. We went through every kids closet and the basement closets. Pulled everything out. Organized it. We found their were five categories of stuff.

1. Trash (You don't want to see a picture)
2. Yard Sale/Donation items --->
3. Items we are Keeping-to actively be used --->
4. Items we are keeping-for sentimental value that need to be put in storage
5. Unknown (usually ended up in category 1)

We also cleared off any shelf or bin that had toys in it. With four kids and over a decades worth of stuff this was a monumental task. We started in the morning and did not wind down until almost 7:00pm. Afterwards we all watched the "LDS" movie "Church Ball" and ate ice cream until bedtime. It was exhausting but extremely satisfying to have it done. Of course the best part was spending the whole day with Julie!

Thoughts--A couple of observation about the whole process.

• We found that we actually have a lot more closet space than we thought
• We are already talking about keeping some child toys for our "Grandkids". These are toys the kids no longer play with but are such favorites we want to save them for possible later use.
• Why is it so hard to throw away that random piece of plastic, game or puzzle piece that looks like it goes to something. Yet after going through every game and toy none of these "pieces" seem to go to anything. So in the trash they go. Still I have that nagging feeling that I am going to find the item they go to and kick myself for not saving them. Still if they have been at the bottom of that bin or closet for the past 4 years unused, I think we can live without them.
• Its funny what you can have a sentimental attachment to. Its almost always because it reminds you of someone (especially our kids) or a place in time. Baby things are really hard to part with because almost all of our kids used the same things and it reminds me of when they were babies (Tear rolling down my cheek...). Julie and I allowed ourselves to keep one bin of these "items" for "Grandkids" usage.

Words--After this project we made sure it was clear to the kids (Joseph and Seth) not to dump out all of the organized bins or trash the organized closets. We will see if that actually happens as it never has in the past, HENCE the need for this full day project.