RUDY'S

Rudy's BBQ is one of our favorite places to eat. What's not to love?

• The restaurant is in a gas station
• They have a hand wash/spa: insert your hands, warm soapy water sprays all around them for 10 seconds, remove. Quite rejuvenating. Plus, you get a sticker letting the world know that you did indeed wash your hands!
• Everything on the menu is beige or brown:
  
• They serve lots of meat: brisket, sausage, turkey, and chicken
• They smoke all the meat on site
• The potatoes are swimming in butter
• There are also baked beans, creamed corn, potato salad, slaw, and pudding.
  
• They give you an entire loaf of cheap white bread with your dinner. (The kind you can smoosh into a tiny ball.)
  
• Rudy's sauce goes on everything.

Side note: One time Nate saw a guy pour some sauce on his hand and lick it off! Wow!

• There are bags of water hanging from the ceiling to keep away the flies (the eating area is an open air patio with plastic curtains when it's winter). It really does keep the flies away.
• They have the best breakfast tacos ever!
• Their smoked turkey's for Thanksgiving are pretty tasty.
  
• It is picnic style seating
• They give you sheets of butcher paper for plates

But the bottom line is that Rudy's just tastes good, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Come visit, we'll take you there. Then we'll roll you back home when you'r good and stuffed!

Tenderfoot ---finally!

Though Toby is a little late getting things done in Scouts, he is getting things done...finally. Last night he received his Tenderfoot rank. I think he is close to the next two rank advancements too. Maybe we'll be finished by the time he's 16.
And the face? It is the default expression anytime a camera is aimed in his direction. What can I say? He's 13.

I Have The Power!!!

Isaac is nearly done with his Bear badge in Cub scouts. The last thing to do is build a tool box. Last weekend, Nate helped him make this tool box. This was no ordinary toolbox. He used 7 major power tools to construct it. Just needs staining. We'll post the finished product soon. But really, it was just an excuse to wield all that power!
(In case you are wondering, that's a biscuit joiner. No nails were used in this project.)

i [heart] faces

It's silly week at I [heart] faces. This is my submission for the kids: Killer bunny rabbit (a la Monte Python) or Bunnicula?and for the adults:Go check out all the entries at www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com . They will definitely put a smile on your face today!

Was that a compliment?

"Your legs look like big missiles."

-----Isaac, talking to his mom

A Confession

I love my camera.
I worked hard to get it. I had to run 500 miles to earn this baby. (Although, I must admit that Nate bought it for me before I actually completed the 500 miles - but I did run them all.) My camera is my favorite toy/tool. My kids are old enough that they want to learn to use it. While I am glad that they want to learn, I wish they didn't have to use my camera to learn on. I also get a little nervous when other adults use my camera. I try to tell myself that it will be okay. But I am still anxious until the camera is back in my hands. I know this sounds bad and selfish and a little unreasonable. But my camera is almost an extension of myself. It is the means through which I record the important and everyday moments in my life. It is my visual journal. I feel lacking when I don't have it. I guess I'm a little addicted. I am still learning how to use it. I'm no where near close to mastering anything. But I love to try and experiment and see what comes out the other digital end. My goal is to be able to capture the feelings and images I see with my eyes and my heart using my camera. I think that it will take a lifetime.

Superbowl Sunday

I am not a football fan. I do not watch football on TV, usually. But for some unexplicable reason, I wanted to watch the SuperBowl. So we did. (To show how often we don't watch, I thought it was cool that they have that digital yellow line and the down/yardage graphic on the field to make sure you can tell what's going on. And those hover cameras on a cable above the field - pretty cool.) We watched a good portion of it on fast forward (thank goodness for DVR's), and rewatched the ads we liked (Hazel's favorites were the clidesdale horse ones). Explained some stuff to the kids about football (can't let them be lacking in their education) and watched some great plays. I wasn't rooting for either team in particular, but am a little sad that Arizona didn't win. Although the last touchdown by the Steeler's was pretty impressive. Maybe I could become a fan afterall.