Ode to Indy.

Lets talk action heros. In my humble opinion there are only a select handful of mortal men that can be classified as actual honest to goodness action heros. Superman doesn't count, he is super human, Spiderman doesn't count, he a mutant, as is Wolverine. With those great men out the the running, you only have a select few that actually qualify; 

1) Batman - Bruce Wayne, he isn't super human, he is just super rich. More power to him for using his wealth for good, instead of evil.

2) James Bond - super spy. No one does action better than James Bond. This guy has had a corner on the market of good looking super spy for years. And the new James Bond just at

tests to the lasting power of the white hot super spy. 

3) This third one is often over looked, but he is a action hero of biblical proportions: 

Indiana Jones!

 It has come to my attention that there is a new Indiana Jones' movie on the horizon, and we could not be happier! The first three Indy movies are only some of the greatest movies ever to be produced by George Lucas and Steven Speilberg, second to some other Lucas movie about a galaxy that is far far away. So in preparation for the new upcoming movie Andrew and I decided to dive into the recesses of our DVD bin and pull out the beloved classics.  

First off we have Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark 

                                                             

Made in 1981, and set in 1936, Raiders tells the story of the hunky professor trekking the globe to foil the plot of the some very evil nazis to gain the Ark of the Covenant. A couple of things, first off Andrew and I would like to recognize the brilliance of using the nazis as the antagonist.  Anytime any movie needs a bad guy, look no further than nazi Germany. There is no end for plots containing nazis. Secondly, the nazi in the movie apparently had some secret underground submarine station in the Mediterranean, unbeknownst to the Allied forces. And thirdly, the Ark of the Covenant is currently in some secret warehouse, owned by the American government. I am thinking this warehouse could be a possible location for the next National Treasure. Maybe with a cameo of Dr. Jones, or at least his grandson. In this movie Indy, not only goes to the jungles of South America, but he also goes to Nepal, Egypt, and some uncharted nazi island. Some memorable scenes, going into the pit of snakes, many of which I noted are not indigenous to Egypt, blowing up the nazi war plane, and the best scene is at the end were they actually open the Ark, and see what's inside....but I won't ruin it for you. On to the second one:    

  

                                            Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

                                                                          

This movie includes; snake surprise, eyeball soup, cockroaches, chilled monkey brains, ancient village witch doctors, a maharaja, child slavery rings, chinese gangsters, Data from Goonies, the ripping out of live beating hearts, rope bridges over ravines with starving alligators at the bottom, and a some sort of magical glowing rock, oh and there are some elephants. One thing many people don't know about the second movie, its actually a prequel, set in 1935.  All I can save that I've pretty much seen this one a thousand times, and who can't help but act out the scene when he rips out the beating heart to sacrifice to Kali Ma? Classical. 

It's getting late so lets move on to the last installment (until now)

                                           Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

                                                                    

Before Dan Brown, before the Da Vinci Code, there was Indiana Jones. In the Last Crusade Indy pairs up with his dad, Sean Connery (aka James Bond) and once again goes to battle against the evil nazi empire, to prevent them from getting their hands on yet another sacred artifact. Indy travels to Venice, were he promptly meets the lovely but deadly, Dr. Elsa Schneider, who Andrew thinks is the most attractive of the Indy ladies. They then proceed to find the lost tomb of one of the last three knights templar, who were said to protect the holy grail. This is only after wading through a tomb flooded with petroleum and swarming with rats. With the protectors of the grail (similar to those protectors of the City of the Dead in the Mummy), hot on their trail.  Elsa soon reveals herself as a nazi worker, (which we should have figured out because she does have blonde hair and blue eyes), we meet up with Indy's father, Sean, and there is a ride on a zepplin.  In the end Indy must choose the right "grail" to take the water from the fountain of everlasting life, back to his father who lays dying from some sort of wound.  All in all an excellent adventure, one that should not be missed. 

Needless to say, we are very much looking forward to the new Indiana Jones movie, even though H. Ford is quite a few years older, but I think he will still prove to be one the greatest self made action heros, he doesn't need to rely on super strength, or a web of steel, he has something much more effective, a bullwhip, and a doctorate. I am sure Han Solo would agree.  

Two Additions to the Food Pyramid

So here are the two foods that make up the base of my personal food pyramid. First up we have Kudos, 100 calorie variety pack. With the convenience of a variety pack you get the basics: 

Chocolate Chip - a classic.

M&M - with mini m&ms that add a little splash of color and pizzazz to each bite. 

Peanut Butter - Contrary to what Tim may believe, PB and chocolate is quite possibly the greatest culinary combination known to man, and that combination in a kudos bar is no different. 

Snickers - This is my personal favorite, all the favor and chewy goodness of a snickers bar, but without the "feasting"

Simply put these kudos are "incredibly delicious, surprisingly nutritious." And since they are avaliable from your local Costco in a 50-count box, there is no need to ever go without. 

The second half of the pyramid base belongs to the cereal that has captured my heart:

Quaker Oat Squares

There are no less than 3 boxes of oat squares in my cupboard at any given time. I was first introduced to quaker oat squares a couple of years ago by my sister, but back then I was going through a sugary cereal phase, that lasted for about 5 years.  Because this cereal clearly had no chocolate bits, marshmallows, or crunch berries, I wasn't interested. How foolish I was! To think that I could have had these tasty little morsels in my life for the past five years, if only I looked past the brightly colored cartoon boxes. However I am more than making up for it now. I have a cup of these crunchy little oat squares every day for breakfast, or lunch, and sometimes even dinner. I think everyone should try oat squares at least once in their lifetime, so go out and buy a box today! But don't go to Albertson's, apparently they are above stocking the greatest thing to happen to oats since oatmeal. Kudos oat squares. 

A Startling Discovery!!

Ah! The British Isles, the land of my ancestors. After mentioning in the last blog that I wasn't sure whether or not I had celtic ancestors, I decided to do a little bit of research in the area of my own personal family history. Thanks to the userfriendliness of the familysearch.org website I was able to search through some names and discover for a fact that I do indeed have celtic roots!!! 

And I could not be happier!! No wonderI love celtic music so much, it was the music of my ancestors. So here's the break down:  My great-grandpa's mother's grandfather is from Scotland, and his mother is from Ireland. So thereyou have it! The beginning of my celtic roots! Here's another picture of celtic Ireland. Andrew didn't feel that a celtic cross on our blog was appropriate, but the celt's loved their crosses and it was hard to find a picture without them.  Here is a lovely picture of celtic Ireland, lamentably there are no crosses. 


For future reference please refer to the book of Celtic Iron-On Tranfser Patterns. Or.... ...The Ready to Use Book of Decorative Celtic Alphabets as possible gift items.  Remember St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner! 

This is just the first installment of a four-part series, there will more to come! 

Secret Obsession

So it is recent years I've found myself drifting further and further away from the main stream pop music that I so dearly loved in the days of my youth. My itunes library is slowing filling up with a variety of musicales, instrumental soundtracks,choir music, and a variety of solo vocal artists. It recent months however I have developed a secret love for all things celtic. Now, I wish I could say this passion steamed from a family history deeply rooted in celtic tradition. However, I don't believe I have any celtic heritage, but since I failed both family history classes at the Y, I couldn't tell you for sure, but I do know that some of my ancestors are from Wales, which geographically speaking is fairly close. No, no it all happened a couple of months ago when I was home visiting my family in Idaho. It was a stormy Saturday night and we were at home watching TV, I am sure Andrew and Tanner were watching something stupid downstairs, so I decided to go upstairs to see what daddy D. was up to. I didn't know then that my life would be changed forever. That Saturday night on PBS was a concert, a concert of mystical proportions. It was an outdoor, Celtic Women concert, and it was amazing. So I immediately purchased Celtic Women, A New Journey, I did not donate to PBS to receive the CD, I merely bought it off itunes. Sorry Public Broadcast Service. And I was not disappointed, from there I went ahead and purchased their Christmas CD, once again it went above on beyond my expectations. So began my love affair with all things celtic. I am even pressuring Andrew to take me to the Emerald Isle once we are in London. Sometimes I even ponder getting a celtic tribal band tattoo, but that's probably taking it a bit too far. So I just stick to enjoying the music. Then one night when I surfing the itunes music store I stumbled across a "Celtic Treasure": Hayley Westenra. Hayley is celtic by way of New Zealand, and while she is relatively young her voice is amazing. I now own two of her CDs and I enjoy them both immensely. Not all of her music is celtic in nature, by I still love to listen to it all the same. Now if she would only do a duet with my man, Josh Groban, my life would be complete. So I give this songbird from down under my highest recommendation.... 5 gold stars. Check her out, and if you have impeccable taste in music, like me, you will not be disappointed. Kara, I know you'll like it, oh and Dad would like it too, its way better than that bluegrass junk he listens to. 

What is a Toyger?

A Toyger? What is a Toyger? Well let me tell you. A Toyger is like a toy tiger, or it could be described as a domestic house cat that looks like a tiger, it is orange and black and is such a pretty kitty. And I want one, this certain breed can be a bit pricey, but as I pointed out to Andrew it would certainly be a lot cheaper than an actual tiger. (Andrew claims that he knew a lady in Venezuela that owed a tiger, (which I don't actually believe because tigers as everyone knows are indigenous to South America) that had to get rid of it because of all the pounds of meat she had to feed it.) Once again my sound logic is irrefutable and one day I will be the proud owner of my very own toyger, and a grey kitten, two dogs, a pony, a rabbit, a black pig and some ducks.... all of which I've already named after baked goods. This toyger reminds me of my dear friend Kristen, so maybe one day I'll buy two and give one to her! I think it would be a great companion to her dog CoCo. 

Dad's Face

So my mom sends me an e-mail today, and I open it up and I am greeted by the sight of my father with a fatty shiner! I thought the pictures were really funny, so I thought I would post them on the blog, just to try and make my dad feel better! Just imagine what the other guy looked like. 

And Tanner is the other guy!!! Apparently there was some sort of incident involving a snow shovel on Sunday morning. When J-town got 1.5 feet of snow! Good job shoveling boys. Tanner don't feel bad, Dad looks pretty tough with a black eye. Oh and I like your hat. 

Trains! Trains! And even more trains!

Here I am in awe at the Hogwarts lake. It really was that amazing.

Here is the proud owner of a really impressive train module, T. L., and his lovely wife Bonnie. T's display really was one of the best. It was very well done, and I know for a fact that he spent a lot of time working on it. He could be heard out in his shop pretty much all night. Then there was the time, he made a mess of the kitchen counter making trees out of green scrubbers. The end result was great, good job papa T!!
Here is an even closer view of T's display. There are a lot of little details, cars, people, people on stretchers. Apparently you don't want to eat at the cafe that is at this train stop. It was bad news for one little train goer.
Look at Andrew, he was so nice to take me to the train show. He didn't really want to go stating that he had been to more train shows than anyone else in the L family.
One of the exhibits that was at the train show was made completely out of Legos. It was awesome, they had ever Lego probably ever made, there were trains (of course), cars, people, dragons, castles, ships, carriages, burning skyscrapers, bulldozers, monsters, cats, ambulances, police cars, pirates, wizards, skeletons, you name it, the lego version was there. I could have looked at it for hours. Unfortunately, the train show is also a popular destination for screaming crazy children, so we had to tear ourselves away from the exhibits and get out of there before I was convinced to never rear children of my own.