March Madness

So George is a bonafide two year old now... so I guess that means his tyrannical reign can begin.  But before it begins, we hope that he spares us... his humble subjects for a couple more months and allows us to bask in his sweetness.

George is a really sweet little guy and loves to give kisses and hugs.  He almost likes them as much as he likes to throw things off other things.

A couple of Saturdays ago we went on a fun little adventure-hike.  It was sunny out, so we went for a walk along one of Bozeman's many trails.  I'm really glad Ashley has a zest for going on adventures... Or I fear that I'd waste my days longing to do the things that Ashley actually makes happen.  That's why I love her.

Did I mention George likes to throw stuff.  Take a look on that mug and tell me it's not the profound satisfaction that comes from hurling objects into water from heights.

Ashley and I played an important role in supplying George with projectiles.  The problem that demand far exceeded supply in this case, and we were relegated to arming George with sticks, leaves, and anything else that could be unearthed from the frozen ground.

George admiring his work.  As a dad with bigtime baseball fever, I must admit my heart leaps with anticipation at the slightest glimpse of George favoring his left arm.  He definitely throws with both, but his left more often.  But just when I get those dollar bill signs in my eyes...

He goes double barrel on me and keeps me guessing.  Guess I still have a few years to wait on the verdict.

Did you guys hear that the moon was huge Last Saturday?  Here's the proof.  Ok, it's a crappy photo so what?  I'm really into astronomy and astronomical events.  I think I want to get a telescope.  Do any of you guys have one? If so... any advice for a nascent stargazer?

The other night we had Scott & Celia's crew over.  After exhausting the streaming netflix options, we all settled in for some delicious fun-fetti cupcakes and and some exhilarating games Ashley picked up at BYU.

The second day of spring here... marked THE toughest day I've had bike commuting since moving here.  Tons of wet, sticky snow.  My normal 20 minute commute took nearly 40 minutes. The plus side to this obviously is that it made some sweet fort snow.  Here George & Jackson summit Mt. Pulsipher.

Here is George looking all Reinhold Messner on top of Mt. Pulsipher.  Montana is pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie.  Even though there are challenges, I love that George is getting a childhood with copious amounts of fun snow.

The fun didn't stop there.  I built a tunnel for the lads to cross.  Some are likening its engineering to the great Eisenhower Tunnel project.  George manned the preliminary inspections.

After his trip through, George declared the project a success and called for an exploratory committee to be formed to consider the viability of tunnel expansion in the future.

Hope everyone is enjoying the fruits of  spring.  Can't wait for summer and hopefully to see some of you soon!

two years old...

It hardly seems possible that a year ago we George was one... and we were in LA with all our friends from near and far.  George was just getting introduced to the concept of sweet tasting food and literally dove in head first.  Just in case you needed a reminder on how cute he was at one:

This year we tried to make it a very special day for George.  The whole day we told him it was his birthday.  We took him out to lunch downtown at one of his favorite spots, the Naked Noodle.  He had spaghetti and meatballs and wolfed the entire bowl down in about ten minutes.

The afternoon festivities started off with a balloon surprise.  I bought two and rode home with them, but only one made it.  Good thing I got two. I didn't even notice that I had lost one.

George didn't seem to mind.

Ashley made a beautiful, adorable cake just like last year.  George LOVES planes.  He keeps calling this the "cake plane."

George was much more composed than his father at the age of two.  Thank you Polaroid:

Look at George... cool as a friggin cucumber.  "Oh, what's these... candles, I know how to handle this situation."

Candles. Out.  One second and they were gone.  We've got the video to prove it (see below).  My heart swells with pride... the good kind. 

After that George began eating his cake in a very civilized manner.  Not like a year ago when he was eating like the... portly gentleman from the pie eating contest in the movie Stand By Me.

The Pulsipher Family.  Bozeman, Montana. 2011

Here's George and his buddy Jackson digging in.  The cake was a big success.  We were very happy to spend George's birthday with our neighbors and friends the Barnwells.  We are lucky to have them as neighbors.

Here's a video montage of some of the days events...

Thanks to everyone for the presents and birthday wishes.  We live a very blessed life.

ralphie

"...be... sure... to... drink... your... ovaltine? It's a crummy commercial! Son of a ..."

whoa

George was really excited about the ball getting thrown up in the air.  See for yourself.

whoa!!! from David Pulsipher on Vimeo.

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.

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!

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...