Hughes Family: May 2014

The May run down is going to be super quick. I have so many things going on that my head is spinning.

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Nice weather, flowers, gardening. That sort of thing. But seriously- I’m glad for the nicer weather (not allergies though).

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My kids have a wonderful mother. I’ve got a wonderful mother too. Happy Mother’s Day!

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As school draws to a close the kids are forced to dance. See those glasses on Mike? Those are mine and now they’re missing. At least he looks like a stud.

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We went hiking on the Timpooneke trail. I am not in hiking shape right now! It didn’t help that a couple miles up the trail turned into mud.

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We had a fun little picnic…

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… in this little valley. Obligatory panorama shot. All in all we had a good time.

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Mike got his Webelos badge. He also started playing World of Warcraft. He had to set up a sidewalk business to help pay for his game. He works hard when he’s motivated.

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Claire and Chloe shopping (they love to shop for clothes). Gabe dressed up as a pirate with his wench. Chloe with her new haircut by Chloe.

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The house is coming along but it’s causing me massive stress. So far I haven’t had a lot of fun. I’m pretty picky though. For example I wanted straight stairs. Alas, all my stairs are crooked. Why am I so unreasonable?

Fun fact & tip: I edited these pics on the Razer Blade in Photoshop CS5. Photoshop doesn’t offer a HiDPI GUI so I have to change the desktop resolution to 1080p to use it (booo!). If you’re in the same boat be sure to click the “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings” box under the compatibility tab (right click on application icons) or PS may ignore your resolution settings.

Hughes Family: April 2014

Since May’s more than halfway over I guess it’s time to post some highlights from April (maybe a few lowlights too).

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Fran finally busted out the trailer! This was the first time I saw it hooked up to the Yukon- looking good! Destination-: Goblin Valley for a rendezvous with the Wilson family (no plans to push over any rock formations though). I’m not a four hour drive to visit sand kinda guy so I opted out of this trip.

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Fran needs to come along and fill in some of the captions in this post. Usually I write something and she’ll read through the post and say “That’s not what was going on there!” I wasn’t there but I’ll give it a shot. Here’s Chloe walking through bacon. The kids loved climbing on the Goblin Valley rock formations. Mike & Gabe resting under two rock mushrooms.

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But seriously- the rock formations are really cool. Some of the kids adopted frogs. The landscape almost makes me wish I’d gone…

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A good time was had by all. The kids had a blast playing together and everyone came back dusty, bruised and tired (all the hallmarks of a fantastic trip).

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While the family was gone I decided to tackle the repair of our basement couch. The kids had jumped on it so much that part of the frame had broken- although I didn’t realize this until I got inside. Since the couch had originally been pinned together I had to use right-angle braces (16 of them) to reattach things together. Then springs needed to be stretched and hooked back into place. I wasn’t strong enough to do it (they are are tough!) so I had to wrap rope around the springs and tie weights to them. Makes my top 10 list of most difficult projects. Elapsed time: 8+ hours.

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And since I was on a project role I redid some of the caulk in our upstairs bathrooms. Caulk seems to wear out pretty quickly so it’s important to keep an eye to make sure things remain properly sealed. Bathtub tip: Fill the bathtub up with water before you caulk. This will help mimic the weight the caulk will experience later and help prevent it from pulling apart.

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Activity Highlight: Marshmallow towers. We go all out on our FHE activities. Who built the tallest tower? Please.

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Activity Highlight: In addition to the basement couch the kids also ruined the couch upstairs. Since the repair was such a nightmare I decided to have my kids help me with this repair. Haha… that made it so much worse. They really tried, but in the end I just gave up.
For another FHE activity we did some limbo! I can’t really compete with the kids so I got to hold the stick (I actually resisted the urge to conk anyone).  Fran and the kids all put fourth a valiant effort but in the end it was Claire who became the limbo champion.

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In honor of the resurrection of Christ we colored eggs. Nice eggs, kids.

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And then, in an effort to continue our Easter worship, we hid the eggs and tried to find them. It’s very similar to the Biblical account of Christ rising and then Mary being unable to find him. Except in that story Christ appeared to her and the eggs rarely reveal themselves to the lookers.  Although religious leaders would probably agree that Christ is not hiding from us it is a good reminder that we must seek him out. Maybe. I don’t know how the rabbit fits in.

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Here are a few pictures from Easter. We went to my parent’s house for Easter dinner where we ate and made merry with some of our extended family (Uncle R2 D2 was present but is not pictured).

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What do I like more than spending an evening doing something enjoyable? Why making a rain gutter regatta, of course! As responsible parents it would be all to easy to let our son become a victim of his failure to plan and prepare. But naturally Fran and I helped get the regatta preparation moving along. Michael kicked in some spray paining at the end. A fine water craft indeed. It’s not about whether you win or lose- it’s about whether you have a boat at all.

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Check out this hole. Legend had it that a small neighbor child fell in the hole and skinned his knee. It took his several minutes to find his way back out. Luckily they filed the hole up with this foundation (more on that later… maybe). We’re on our way! Scheduled completion of our new residence is mid August. Frankly if they get it finished that quickly I will have to assume it sucks. I waved to an old guy and he waved back- great neighborhood to boot! 

Hughes Family: March 2014

I won’t lie- making this post feels like a chore. Maybe it’s because I’m especially grumpy today. Or maybe it’s because I know, deep down in my heart, that very few people really care. And yet I’m compelled by some force I don’t quite understand to keep posting the mundane, to divulge the uninteresting and to preserve the unpopular.I will never stop!

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We took our annual snowmobiling trip in early March. We went to up Daniel’s Summit in Heber again and the weather, snow and company were fantastic.

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Overall there were only a couple of small injuries and no one got irreparably entrenched. I was a bit under the weather going in and I figured I’d get worse after spending all day out in the cold. I ended up being sick for over a week but I’m pretty sure it was worth it.
Aside from cruising through the snow we had some great meals, fun conversations and we were introduced to Settlers of Catan – I don’t know how we had missed that one.

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My kids endlessly entertain and frustrate me. Here is Mike watching Netflix with his face against the monitor. Chloe having fun with yogurt (reminds me of my sister and her cottage cheese). Gabe doing sugar spelling… with his tongue. And Claire reading while arched over backwards (upside down). Such gifted children.

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Mike went bowling with his scout troop and the  other kids wanted to go too. My wonderful wife obliged but reported that by the third frame they already had “buyers remorse.” Do these look like the faces of grateful kids? Nope. But you’re welcome anyway.

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St. Patrick’s Day rolled around again. It was once more to dress everyone in green, eat clover colored pancakes, paint fingernails and party like an Irishman! I forgot to wear green and got pinched a surprising number of times.

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My birthday! I don’t know when it changed, but I wish my birthdays would crawl into a hole and die. This year I skipped the cake and party but got some nice gifts and dinner from Saigon cafe (delicious).

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In lei of throwing away my junk I’ve started listing it on eBay. I had forgotten how aggravating it can be. List junk. Answer annoying questions (“Hey man, call me about this part- got twenty minutes worth of questions before I part with my $10). Sell item. Get billed by eBay. Receive payment and pay Paypal fee. Pack item. Ship item (“Did you ship it yet? It’s been almost an hour since I paid”). Leave feedback. Wait for residual positive feedback that never comes. Net: $7. Or, another way to look at it: $0.75/hour. Yes!

 

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Other miscellaneous events from March: Fran and I repaired all the flats on our bikes. I think these are actually the residual flats from our trip to Moab! Took the kids over to work to play some darts. Darts are amazing when you’re a kid – it’s as close as you can get to that “being bad” feeling without actually doing anything wrong. And I broke my iPhoen screen (second time). Hooray for Apple care. Boo for being so sick you’re not able to hold stuff.

Hughes Family: February 2014

Another month in paradise! When it rains it pours. February was filled with so many things that I was almost certain I was going to blow up (I mean literally explode… I think I came close). Now mind you, these things weren’t the fun stuff you make blog posts out of (well, actually some of the work related stuff I will blog about – but it wasn’t fun). Nevertheless, here are the Hughes family highlights:

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We had a couple of “kid dates” this month. I took the boys to try sushi. Mike seemed to like it alright, but Gabe wasn’t a big fan. I’m not going to give up on him though. I didn’t like sushi the first time to I had it either.
Fran took Claire to walk around the temple grounds. Afterward they went to Pier 49 Pizza… where they apparently ate salad. Silly girls.

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Claire recently acquired a Rainbow Loom (apparently she was the “last person on earth” to get one) and she has been hard at work making bracelets and necklaces. The Rainbow Loom is a pretty nifty invention that allows you to string rubber bands together in complex patterns & shapes.
Gabe is great at games that involve memory and now we’re trying to expand his ability to develop strategies (for more advanced gaming) by playing things like Connnect Four and Yahtzee. It won’t be long and he’ll be settling Catan with us.

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February was an exciting month for Mike. He and I made a Super Bowl bet. I lost and he got more time on his iPod. There was never a happier Super Bowl bet winner.  Fran gave Mike a job scanning photographs (digital preservation is important everyone!). I think this is a great part time job for kids.  Fun fact: Mike is left handed, but he’s learning to play the guitar like a righty. He gave us a concert of songs he’s learned so far; three strings down, two more to go.

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There aren’t too many movies the whole family sees in theaters (we usually just wait and rent them) but we made the trip for The Lego Movie. Our kids love Legos and they were extremely excited to see this movie. It’s a cute family friendly film with plenty for kids and adults (it made me feel very nostalgic since I used to glue my Legos together).

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On Valentine’s day the kids were served a holiday-themed breakfast and they dressed in their holiday-appropriate clothes (Mike wore a taped on sign that said “Hello, My Name is Sweetie Pie” on a dare).  Claire baked cookies for her friends & siblings. And that night we ate Raclette and had Zupa’s chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Yum!

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Amid all the chaos the Blue and Gold ball added a little extra. Fran made Chili and prepared a slide show for the festivities. Chloe is at that wonderful age where it’s best just to keep her home so she and I spent a few hours working the Play-Doh.
And sadly we said “goodbye” to an old friend. Fran’s mixer has been with her since college and has helped make many meals and desserts. Gabe and I took it apart to see what was wrong, but the mixer was terminal (cracked parts).

Hughes Family: January 2014

I’ve decided to start blogging once a month about family stuff. Somehow the pressure to do even two posts per month started getting to me last year. January was a pretty low-key month and there wasn’t a ton going on (I confess it’s nice to have a break).

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This is technically work stuff… but I don’t want to write a work-related post about it. Seven of us from BHQ headed down to Las Vegas for the annual SHOT show. It’s always fun (and a lot of work) to visit with some of our vendors and look for new products. And it’s a blast to try out new restaurants around town. My favorite this time was an all you can eat sushi place called Umiya (Mastro’s gets “honorable mention”). Always fun to visit Vegas.

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The fam has been honing their skiing skills this January. Mike and Claire have it pretty much figured out and Gabe is still taking lessons, but well on his way! I stay home with Chloe for now, but come next year I think we’ll all be able to hit the slopes.

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Extended family dinners occur monthly, but they are always filled with intellectual stimulation and memorable anecdotes. This month, as part of our family book club, we discussed George Orwell’s “1984.”
I’m pleased to report that our kids have started helping out around the house (Fran made them). It’s great to watch them set and clear the table and then wash and load the dishes. Thanks kids- you have finally made me proud. 

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Fran and I went to see “Kiss and Tell” and the Hale Center Theater. If there’s one thing I like as much as movies it’s plays. Jim’s mom, Laura-Beth, had a role in this production so there was a great excuse to go see it. The play was excellent and quite funny.

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And I’ll leave all of you with this random piece of land. Where could it be? What is is? Everyone loves a good mystery. 

Hughes Family: December 21, 2013 – December 31, 2013

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It’s funny how much delight frozen water brings to kids. I guess it’s also funny how much I loved snow as as kid and how much I dislike it as an adult. Next time it snows I’m going to go out and build an igloo with my kids.

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We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner with Fran’s family. Per tradition there was amazing food and log shaped desserts (bûche de Noël). After dinner we had a nice Christmas program and sang holiday songs. If I didn’t have such chronic anthropophobia I’m pretty sure these kinds of parties would be awesome 🙂

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This year we decided to open a few gifts on Christmas Eve. That was a tradition in my family (well… we opened all of them on Christmas Eve). I have proposed it numerous times but was always met with rejection (bordering on outrage) so I was really surprised that Fran wanted to do it year with no prompting on my part. We settled on opening presents from extended family members and it was quite fun.

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We try to make Christmas low key but special. We start off with some croissants, hot chocolate and patience (the only thing I want for Christmas is to sleep in).

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We take turns opening presents and then we spend the afternoon playing with them.

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We go to my parent’s house for Christmas Day dinner. Prime rib roast and green bean casserole! After dinner we hung out for a bit and bask in the holiday glow (or what’s left of it).

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After hearing how great it was over and over we decided to go see Frozen. The whole family doesn’t usually go out together for movies but Chloe is finally old enough that she mostly sits though movies now. All she needs is a giant bucket of popcorn.

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On New Year’s Eve everyone was hard at work helping mom makes cookies and brownies for the party (from what I gathered Claire was the only one who was actually helpful).

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Before the party we ate dinner with the Browns (and Browns). The only thing that could satisfy this hungry group was a Chinese buffet!

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And then we partied like it was 2013. We had a few friends over, played a new game, ate ice cream (cookies and brownies too), took a trip down memory lane and enthusiastically ushered in 2014 at midnight. All in all a fun day!

And with a mighty “thud” the year was over. Cam congratulated himself on surviving 2013 and promised everyone that he would “accomplish miracles” in the coming year. He smirked as he said it knowing his only real goal was to read four book and exercise twice. The books were a good bet.

Hughes Family: December 1 – December 20, 2013

December. The month we celebrate peace, joy and love but practice none of them. Each year I think “Man, last December was rough… maybe this one will be better” and each year one of Santa’s gifts is always disappointment. Don’t get me wrong- I enjoy the holidays but for some reason they just bring out the crazy in some people. I’ll have to throw up (literally) a post about my retail adventures when I have time. Despite December’s difficulty there are periodic pepperings of pleasure.

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The first real snow of the year. I wish I was still a kid sometimes- not that I can’t play in the snow as an adult, but somehow as a child you’re immune to the wet, cold and dirty. Sledding, snow forts and shoveling (so far I have only done last).

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Mike wanted to go to Texas Road House and get steak for his birthday. We obliged. They made him ride the saddle and to my great surprise he actually hopped on (after hiding under the table for a but)! I like to pretend it was the only way to get the birthday ice cream. Happy Birthday, Mike!

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The Sabins hosted their annual Christmas party and rented a cabin in Sundance! Fran and I made the sojourn and were treated to dinner, games and the traditional white elephant exchange. Thanks Sabins!

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Later in the month we had Mike’s Party: The Revenge. Round two involved a plethora of pals and Percy Jackson. He and his friends watches Sea of Monsters and ate donuts. Manly.
In honor of Bubs getting married we hosted another LAN party for him (I think this is seriously like the third one). We played, laughed, cried and ate until we couldn’t go on. And then, despite being bleary eyed and disoriented, we roused ourselves and played some more.

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What’s Christmas without tiny houses covered in candy? According to the tradition of our fathers we crafted little cottages from graham crackers and used various sugared sweets to decorate them. We let Chloe sprinkle her roof this year which was a good start. On the right is Gabe’s house.

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Here is my house (I always add an extra wing to give it the “daddy flair”). Fran’s house is next, decorated in a fine mix of blues, and then Mikes house and Claire’s house. Quite a cute little village.

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We did some ornament shopping at Hobby Lobby (man that’s a lot of ornaments). Our artificial tree died this year (after serving us faithfully for over a decade). We toyed around with the idea of getting a real tree. We bought this little guy at Lowe’s (they use these on Fran’s island) and I suggested we use that. But in the end tradition won out and we got another artificial tree (save the Earth!). 

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For our work party this year we went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. There were enough people this year that we got our own theater! We had Zupa’s cater the event and it was a blast. Great movie too. 

The rest of December will probably be a blur of events. Personally I’d love a quiet Christmas but that’s just not in the cards.

Hughes Family: November 1, 2013 – November 30, 2013

I knew it- this month has been crazy and the blogging has been sparse. I have been racked with guilt so I decided to bust out a November post. One I thing I realized is that with Thanksgiving so far toward the end of the month some of our traditional November activities – like the Christmas tree and gingerbread houses – will get pushed into December. As if it wasn’t busy enough…

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At the beginning of the month Claire got baptized! My religious issues aside,  I feel that baptism is an important right of passage and I was excited to be able to participate. Our family and friends came out and I think it was a good experience for Claire.

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I took the kids to see Ender’s Game (Mike had read the book and was especially excited). We went with my Dad & brother. I think we agreed that while the movie was good, the book was much better.

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Speaking of books- I recently picked up a Kindle Paperwhite. Wow- what a cool reader! I’ve been looking for a way to read in bed without bugging my wife and the Kindle has seriously changed my life. The screen looks great (speaking in reference to readability) and the backlighting is excellent. If you read a lot I’d recommend this without reservation. I polished off a few books last month to break it in- one classic and two pop culture quickies.
1984 – This is an undisputed classic. The future just doesn’t get any worse than this.
The Circle – Sort of a precursor to 1984. The story outlines how integrated technology and total lack of privacy had have devestating effects. Not great, but worth a read.
Divergent – Interesting, but I didn’t find it particularly gripping. Don’t know if I’ll finish the series.

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Fran has really made some incredible efforts to keep the kids from turning out like me (you know, sedentary). Gabe is still taking basketball lessons, Mike got “Most Improved Player” in football and he has also started wresting. Claire is still attending her gymnastics too! Nice work, Babe.

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I set up a new blog for Fran a few weeks ago. The blogspot blog was getting neglected so I migrated everything over to WordPress and set it up at FranHughes.com. This was I can move some of my posts over to her blog and then she can translate my posts into French (and add whatever she wants) for her Family. I really think they’re going to enjoy reading about my cars.

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And of course what would November be without a few delicious Thanksgiving feasts? My efforts to curtail calories were seriously derailed…

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And some random stuff. Fran got LASIK! The best part of the proceedure was the awesome protective eyewear. Claire got a cut. She stabbed herself in the leg with a kitchen knife and ran around the house bleeding. She needed a few stitches- another right of childhood passage. And I got a hard drive. Fran picked this up as Costco. It’s a two terabyte USB mini drive. After a decade I have finally backed up my computer.

Okay… did it. What a load off.

I think you can guess which one I am…