2.25.2011

kevin costner vs. russell crow

I'm a HUGE Robin Hood Prince of Thieves fan.  I think like many people my age, that movie really pushed the boundaries of everything we wanted in a movie:
  • Archery
  • Luscious hair
  • Secret hide outs
  • Tree houses
  • Sword duels
  • Christian Slater's beautiful face
  • Kevin Costner's rear end
  • Redemption
  • Classic good vs. Evil
I'm sure I'm missing something.  So you can imagine the mixed feelings I encountered when I learned, last year, that Ridley Scott would be doing Robin Hood with Russell Crowe.  The last time those two tangled resulted in Gladiator, an absolutely amazing film.  So... nostalgia mulling in my mind, combined with Gladiator-esque expectations - I was very excited for this look at Robin Hood.

I saw the movie last year with my friend Chad. We thought it was... decent. I honestly can say at the time I liked Iron Man 2 more than Robin Hood, but I wanted to like it a lot more.  So we redbox-ed it the other night because Ashley hadn't seen it.

The first night Ashley fell asleep and I watched it straight through.  Then we watched it together again.  After those two additional sittings I can say that I'm a much bigger fan than after the first sitting.  Very good.  But still, how does it compare to Kevin Costner's cocky obnoxious charming palatable performance?

Well - fortunately for you I whipped up a little chart for just such an occasion.  Let me know your thoughts on the matter.

2.20.2011

snowy sunday photo dump

It's a snowy Sunday and I realized we've had a few adventures since the last update, so I figured it'd be a perfect opportunity to catch everyone up on what's been going on.

George and neighbor Jackson have spent a lot of time out in the snow.  We've had some beautiful days lately, and combined with the snow has made for very fun time out in the snow.  The plows make a nice little mountain of snow for the boys to summit, or for dad to make tunnels out of.

Just when you get used to the sun - the frigid temps come out and combined with wind - makes you really glad that you have a warm home to live in.  When George and I get cabin fever it the event usually de-evolves into wrestlemania. He's becoming quite the foe.


One of George's new tricks is climbing... summiting large peaks in our house.  Here he is proudly on our entertainment center.

What a difference a venue makes.  One day it was -19F on my ride in, the next day we are on the beach of California.  A couple of weeks ago we went for a very quick trip out to California to see some friends and thaw out.

George loved running on the beach, and in a very classy statement wore his socks while running in the sand.  I highly recommend this technique if your child has developed a dime-sized blister on his foot from the previous day of running in crocs.  It was effective at keeping the sand out of the blister.

Chad displays my favorite technique for diagnosing a dirty diaper.  Ashley is of the mind to try the ole "pull back the diaper with the finger and examine."  I don't like this tactic because it's likely that you'll get an un-expected surprise on the finger.  I prefer the sniff, because it's a much lower-risk maneuver.

George, Ashley, Kimber and Abe.  The Nelsons were great hosts and we hope that they let us return the favor and roll out the red carpet in Bozeman.

Pulsiphers and Nelsons - 2011

As quickly as the trip came, it ended and we were thrust back into the doldrums of winter.  We got a mid-February heat wave that melted all of the snow on our driveway.  It made for some epic puddle splashing.

Valentine's was just around the corner and Ashley made these delicious heart-shaped ice cream brownie creations that were the perfect compliment to an evening of romance on the Bachelor.

In a very historic move, Ashley finally embraced the reality of Bozeman living and got a sweet pair of Sorel's for 50% off at REI.  These bad boys are rated to -40F so she's preparing for our next transfer up north of the arctic circle.  It's like wearing comfy sleeping bags on your feet. Big improvement from her previous boots.

Extra Extra read all about it.  George is still pretty cute and we are trying to prepare him for the concept of being an older brother. Not quite sure he gets it, but once Ashley's belly gets really big I think that might make it easier for him to grasp.

Aunt Blythe sent George an awesome shirt that says "cycle" on it with a picture of a bicycle.  It is very cute.  George loves bicycles, and is starting to get comfy on his own push/balance bike.  I'm hoping that once summer hits we'll be able to do some camping, maybe even by bike.

Hope everyone is doing well and has spring on their mind, just a couple of months to go!

2.14.2011

valentine

Happy Valentine's day everyone.  I hope yours is as romantic as ours - watching the Bachelor and laughing our fool heads off.  I don't know about you - but if your Valentine's doesn't involve soviet fashion then it just isn't Valentine's...

2.10.2011

bargains, of the big sky variety

One thing that's kind of fun about moving to places is discovering the new names of grocery stores.  The weirdest names in the world can sound totally commonplace to you, if you've lived somewhere long enough. 
I'll never forget a time I was waiting in line to see a Ben Folds concert. I was the first in line... had been there probably 7 hours or so when one of the supporting guitarists for Ben back then, Snuzz - came out and asked me if there was a place he could buy fresh vegetables.  With out hesitation, I responded, "Oh sure, there's a King Soopers just down the road two blocks."

He looked at me like I had monkeys flying out of my ears. He looked at me blankly.  I continued, "It's a grocery store, just down the road." He nodded thanks and went about his way.  The interaction had me thinking.

King Soopers.  King Supers.  King. Supers.  Soopers.  What a stupid name for a grocery store.  There is no way at first utterance someone would know what that is.  Not to mention it's hideous spelling.  It's one of those things that if you live in Colorado it seems so commonplace, but visitors must be completely befuddled.  Or aghast at our whimsical spelling.

There's a store out here called Rosauer's.  We struggle with the correct pronunciation so as to seem like we fit in.

Row-sours.
Rose-ours.
Rows-ars.

We switch a lot.  Anyway, twice a year they have this awesome sale where a lot of things are on sale, including cereal.  Most boxes are $1.69.  Amazing deal. We bought about 25 boxes of cereal.  The dude at the counter said we saved $75 bucks.  That is nothing on facebook Ashley told me tales of individuals buying 30, 50, over 100 boxes of cereal.  We were a little timid as this was our first time, but next time you better believe we are going to come out guns a blazing.
Also - what are some funny regional grocery store names you can think of?

  • I've always been fond of Bashas (AZ) because of its quasi-Arab lettering.
  • And in the Valley there is an awesome Place called "Jons" whose logo looks exactly like Vons except the front of the V is cut off (at least in real life - online not as much).  Hilarious.