It's a baby ....BOY for Christmas

The latest Guffey arrived today, and sure enough, he came on Christmas Day! He was born today at about 1pm. 8 lbs, 12 oz, 22 in., healthy and very handsome. Mother and baby are doing great. Check out the pictures below. More Pictures to come soon

In the Presence of a Prophet

We had a special  event this last weekend.  Elder Richard G Scott, an apostle in the quorum of the twelve apostles visited our stake for stake conference.  It was a rare opportunity to be taught by true apostle.  I have always been impressed by his genuine, sincere personality.  Many of his talks and teachings in general conference seem to be of a very personal perspective of the gospel.  He offered to be available to shake hands with everyone after the conference -- so both Spencer and Ben waited in line to shake hands with Elder Scott.  They both described the good feelings they at the chance to be in the presence of the apostle.

Check out this link to a biography of Elder Scott  :

Elder Richard G. Scott: "The Real Power Comes from the Lord"

Ben does Hockey

Ben has been enjoying some hockey practice on Saturdays with some of his good friends.  Here are some pictures - he is the one in the white shirt.

Spencer and Ben go on a Hike

Ben and Spencer love the outdoors.  They like to hike.  They love to identify the plants and animals.  On memorial day we took a day hike on the Hieroglyphic canyon trail in the Superstition Wilderness area.  Ben's favorite part was the colorful lizard we saw on the trail.  Take a look at the video we made. Ben specifically chose the music for the video, it is the theme to his favorite video game, "Smash Bros. Brawl" To make the video larger, click on the little button on he bottom right just to the left of the volume control.

Saturday Fun!

What did you do yesterday? did you go rock climbing? Did you play African drums on the street corner? Did you go to a professional hockey game? No.  Well .....  We did.

What the boys say about about the rock climbing--
-coming down was the best!
-It was kinda scary
-We almost go to the very top!

 

Drumming playing
-Easier than playing the piano
-Very hard to keep the beat.

 

 

About the hockey game--
-The best part was when they would slam each other into the side walls!
-The Roadrunners Won! by 1 point in overtime
-Ben says he wants to go ice skating now
-The nachos were the best.

Sam the acrobat

:
I know you are all in shock that I would laugh at such unsafe behavior, but this is just one moment in the life of my toddler, professional climber. I had to share it with you. He never sits, only eats when moving-needless to stay-he doesn't stay in the high chair for long.

Christmas 2008

So, where did we go for Christmas this year? SeaWorld!! Santa came a day early, and brought us the tickets, and we left on the morning of the 24th to San Diego. We stayed in a cute motel right on the beach. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold and rainy for our stay. But that meant that Sea World wasn't very busy Christmas Day. We enjoyed so many fun shows, and exhibits. Sam's favorite were the big aquariums where he could stand right up to the glass and the fish would swim right by him- that's him and Shamu in the picture on left. My favorite was the Beluga Whales. Spencer liked the Atlantis Ride which he went on 5 times. Shayne liked the exhibits of interesting fish, and touching the Bat Rays. And Ben giggled throughout the Sea Lion show. We stayed half a day on the 26th, and drove home right when the park started to get really crowded. We love having this family time together and focusing on making special memories each Christmas.

A December Wedding

I know this is belated, but I wanted to post my Congratulations to my brother and new Sister-in-law. I am so happy for them! Tomorrow they celebrate 3 weeks together. They were married in the Mesa temple on December 18. They did it simple style with quick pictures after and a lunch at Montis for their closest friends and family. The ceremony and lunch were wonderful. I am truly blessed - I had no sisters growing up -now I have 5 that I love. Becca fits right into our family and brings out the best in my brother, Joey.

The Top 4 Things We Liked About the Baseball Game

    Ben, Spencer and I went to the Diamondbacks game last night at Chase Field.  This was their reward for accomplishing the summer library reading challenge--free tickets to a Diamondbacks game.  So I asked them what they liked most about the game-- they gave me list.

 

 

1.  Free bobble head toy of player Dan Haren

2. Diamondbacks hot dog

3. Using binoculars

4. Watching the moving ball sculpture outside the ballpark

Note the absence of anything to do with baseball.  Yep we went to a major league baseball game and their favorite thing was the toy.

I've got to admit, the game was great, but the moving ball sculpture was really cool and kept us watching for quite a while.  After some searching I found some information about the contraption -- I wish I had a good picture, but none of my cell phone pics turned out.  Check out the artist George Rhoads' web site.  Or check out his catalog of work.  He is my favorite artist for the week -- he does painting and novels too--lives in Tucson I think and has sculptures all over the world.

 

 

More Animation Fascination Celebration

Ben and Spencer's new favorite thing

Say the blog title three time in a row and it will make this blog entry more fun right from the start.

Kids love animated cartoons?  Duh!  Of course they do, every kid likes animation.  Well what is better that watching -- well... making their own animations!  Since last week's introduction to stop motion animation Ben and Spencer have been itchin' to make even more animations on their own.  So...  We got out the camcorder and set up the ol' computer and --voilà!!  I think they are great, especially for kid beginners, very amusing and creative. Take a peak.  Don't forget to vote for your favorite and leave a comment - these efforts deserve  good critiques.

 

Cool Videos huh?  

Spencer and Benjamin really picked up fast on the idea of stop action animation.  How'd we do that?  It actually turned out pretty easy to set up too.  Here is how we did it - you might want to do it tonight too.  First you need a video source. This can be almost anything: a digital camcorder, a digital still camera or a webcam.  Then you need some software.  We found an awesome free resource out there called Animator DV simple+ --it is professional software, but they are generous enough to offer a free version.

Check out this site for a good review of several options for software.

You will need to use another video editing program in addition to the AnimatorDV in order to create sound effects and author it to a DVD--like windows movie maker (free) or Adobe Premiere (expensive).  But for the basic capture of the frames, Animation DV works great.

If you try the same thing, let me know how it goes--or let me know if you have questions.  I thought it was a blast to set up and do.

Spencer's Birthday Party - 9 years in the making!

Spencer pulled out all the stops yesterday for his best birthday party yet.  9 years in the making -- here is what he has to say about it...

 

 What did you like most about the party?
The best part was learning about the "claymation".

Tell me about the claymation, how did you do it?
This lady came over and showed us how to do it with computers.  Mine was about a blob that fight another blob!  (We invited "L.O.L. Techno Adventures" to make the activity for the birthday party, it was a real hit.  Check out their website for more information, we would definitely recommend them again.

Who came to your party?
I had over 7 friends.

Tell me about the cake
My mom spent like a who day on the cake frosting it so that it looked like a pile of LEGO bricks.  The studs on the bricks were made from marshmallows.  It was really cool!

How does it feel to be nine years old?
note: I got a bunch of ridiculous babble here, so I had to edit it out, but I will interpret it as "wow it is amazing, too difficult to describe in words, incomprehensible, being nine is is like ---crazy man!

Check out these pictures of the party and the animations they made

Brimhall Family Reunion - Day 2

 

A Town Named Eden

The reunion is being held in the little town in the Wasatch mountains called Eden.  It seems a bit ostentatious to call your town "Eden".  But after only a day here in this "hidden valley", in June, we have decided it is okay to call this town "Eden".  The wild flowers, the green foot hills leading up to the majestic mountains with traces of the snow still on the peaks, the blue reservoir in the distance--it is truly "eden-like".  Park City--phooey who needs it,  Eden is the new Park City.  The valley seems a little "untouched" even though it is only minutes from Ogden.  We suspect though that 6 months from now, the place is a bit more like the "lone and dreary world." 

We are staying a the Moose Hollow Condominiums.  I've included a image of the condos that we are staying in for the event.

Arial view of the the Moose Hollow Condos about a year ago during construction

Family Games

Today's events were games and lunch together.  Michelle was in-charge of the "wet-sponge" game, which was considered refreshing.  Jannell put together a series of relay games that were fun and family history related, there was: olive can open and eat relay - to remind us that Grandma Pearl and Grandpa Ernie Brimhall lived on Olive Street in Pasa Robles Ca.  There was the Fizzle Dizzle Relay to remind us of Grandpa Ernie's nick name for canned pressurized whipped cream, and the Slim Jim Relay to remind us that Grandpa Ernie was a butcher, and the "Aren't you glad it is your birthday?" game--to remind us of one of Grandpa Ernie's favorite catch phrase.

Visit to the McKay House

As an afternoon family activity, we visited the McKay house in Huntsville, just a few miles away from the Condos in Eden.  This is the birthplace of the prophet David O. McKay.  The house is a unique church historical site because it is still owned by the McKay family.  We were offered a private tour of the home by Eddie McKay, David's son, and Eddie's son John.  The stories of the home were great.  We were really given a sense of the humility that shaped the McKay family.  The family immigrated from Scotland and hard work was a big part of the prophet's early life. The tour was great and very persoanl with many stories about the prophet.  They shared with us that just a few minutes before we arrived, a couple visited the house and the fellow proposed to the woman in the master bedroom - he felt like it was a good place to propose because of how much the prophet McKay stood for strong families and love at home.  As we listened to stories of the prophet's family and their home, I definitely felt the confirmation of the spirit.

 

Visit to the Catholic Monastery in Huntsville Utah

Many years ago, Michelle and visited the Monastery in Huntsville as one of our dates before we were married.  I have always remembered the great honey that the monks made and sold there.  So we decided to make a short detour to visit the gift shop again. Sure enough, they still sell the same great oney, but unfortunately the bakery was closed in 1996.

 

Memories of the Brimhalls

This evening,  the whole family gathered to share memories of Pearl and Ernie Brimhall.  Here are some short notes of things that were shared:

Keith shared:

• Their first stove was wood fired and not gas or electric like now
• they didn't have a telephone until he was in high school
• they would boil a tub of water, then butcher the chicken to sell to Safeway on Monday morning
• They would sometime travel to New Mexico to see family, which was always memorable because Grandpa Ernie wouldn't like to stop for anything, so they would always make a lunch to the in the car.
• Ernie would wake up in the morning and say, "it is another great day in California!"
• Ernie would say, "Save your money, there are hard times ahead"

Verna Shared:

• She spent a lot of summer times hanging out in the community pool in Shandon California, because there was not much else to do
• Pearl would maintain discipline in the home and didn't tolerate quarreling. 
• If Keith and Verna ever fought Pearl would "knock their noggins" together (Keith and Verna didn't fight much). 
• She as also inspired by a, now politically incorrect book, "Little Brown Coco" to keep a switch in the house, which she also used for discipline.

Lloyd Shared:

• Even though Paso Robles was a small country town, there was actually several cultural opportunities.  For example there was a community concert series where the Von Trap Family Singers performed. 
• We made our own music in the home, none of this fancy record player and mp3 stuff that exists today.

Peggy Shared:

Pearl used the dishwasher as a drying rack, never to wash dishes.

Pearl never went to church alone, always picked some one along the way and always took flowers to church from her own garden.

She worked as a nurse for three different physicians.  She kept her nursing license until she was 84 years old.

Pearl was very spiritually in tune.  Once, the prophet Harold B. Lee was traveling and met a group of youth.  One of the young men, Dayton Conway, an enthusiastic recent convert, expressed his desire to serve a mission but said he did not have the money.  That same evening, Grandma Pearl received a strong inspiration that she should help to support a missionary.   The next day she met with the Stake President and shared with him that she felt a need to offer support to a missionary.  Of course it was no coincidence that the Stake President received a request from the church for a member to support a missionary.  This was the first of many missionaries that Pearl helped to support.

Other memories:

• Grandma Pearl was the postmaster in Shandon, California while they lived there.
• The well remembered leather boxing gloves from the house were bought for Keith when he was a kid to teach him how to fight.
• Grandpa Ernie would say, "Would you like to have a haircut?" -- no one ever visited the barber, Ernie would offer to cut all the grandkids' hair.
• how they met: Grandpa Ernie said...  While he was a butcher in a market in Los Angeles, he a had a friend who was dating Pearl's roommate, he offered to set Ernie up with "some nurses" that he knew.  Ernie asked that he set him up with a "brown eyed brunette."  Pearl and Ernie's first date was a Halloween dance.
• Grandpa Ernie applied for a wedding license, it was going to expire, so he said to Pearl, "It is now or never" because he didn't want to waste the two dollar license application fee.

Brimhall Family Reunion - Day 1

Day one of the Brimhall Family Reunion did not have a slow start.  Triceratops, Eden countryside and family talent show are the highlights.  But of course the best part was just the actual event itself.  It was awesome to see every family represented, almost everyone was there.  This was no easy thing considering there are families here from Utah, Arizona, California, Maryland and Georgia.  Check out some of the pictures below.  Plus if you are from the family, leave some of your own thoughts in the comments or drop off some of your own pictures!

Yeah! We are back! For some reason, our blog had something in it that made spam seeking computer robots to be suspicious, and was disabled suddenly with no warning. It took a month for a human to review it and repost it. Thank for your patience and coming back to see us!
Just in time, too, I took Cara's awesome blog class at Enrichment last night, and am much less overwhelmed by the complexity of blogging. I am going to do better at posting.

Last week for Father's Day we took some pictures of our family. But it was just too hot. One of us was just too honest to pretend that it wasn't.

Boys Only Weekend

What do guys do when they have the whole weekend to themselves? Well they go camping of course. Spencer, Ben, and I, just got back yesterday form the annual fathers and sons priesthood commemoration camp out.

Somehow, over the last couple of years, Joel Pearlman and I, have elected ourselves as camp organizers. I have always had fond memories of my own past fathers & Sons camp outs, so I enjoy the challenge of putting together an event that matches up to my memories. Just a few days ago my father and I were remembering together our outings the the church campground at Owyhee dam in eastern Oregon. I remember the river, crawdad traps, the huge dam, the "glory hole", and
crappie fishing.

My sons always look forward to our camp outings as well. Here are some of their thoughts about their weekend at Reynolds Creek Campground. What Ben and Spencer liked about the camp this year:
- We found a snake skin that was shed from a King Snake
- I got skittles from Jack's dad (Ben)
- I got to sleep in my tent! (Ben)
- I ate pancakes for breakfast and hot chocolate for dessert
- I had fun with Joey and we played Star Wars with figures
- For the campfire, we sang the german orchestra song, and we were the "bagpippens"
- I liked seeing the waterfall (workman Creek Falls) on the mountain that was tall
We got to go to the top of the mountain (Aztec Peak, see picture below) and we got to see the fire look out tower, and meet the fire ranger. The ranger said that he stands on a rubber mat to keep the lightning from striking him when he is in the tower. He said that when the lighting does strike the tower it makes the air all turn blue! (Spencer)
- For dinner we had hot dogs and chili.
When walked on a trail near a river that had a hermit's home on the side of the river (Spencer)
- In the morning we played tug-of-war, archery and blow darts!
- I got to to ride a ATV! (Ben)
- I got to stay up until midnight! (Spencer)
- We got to see the Tonto National Monument Indian ruins
- There were tons of flies/gnats that bugged us, it was annoying!
- Joey and me saw a chocolate milk cow (Spencer)
- I saw a donkey and a horse come through the grass in our camp.
- We watched tons of Tom and Jerry and the first Loony Tunes cartoons on the ride up and back from the camp out! It made us laugh a lot!

Young Pianist Amazes Crowd With Recital Debut

Spencer Guffey, age 8, joined the pianist community (including the likes of Elton John, Jim Brickman and Schroeder of Peanuts) with his breakout debut recital. His performance was crowned with ovations from the crowd and requests for return performances. Unfortunately, for the next six months, the artist will only be available by select request for private performance, while he goes back into "artistic reclusion" to prepare for a fall recital. It is reported however that he "will play for pizza" which is understood to be his "nectar of inspiration".

Q -- What do you like about playing the piano?
A -- Spencer: I like to use my fingers,

Q -- What songs do you play for your recital?
A -- Spencer: "Sailor Jack", "Echo Song" and "Morning Prayer". Sailor Jack is my favorite because it is mostly played on the black keys, which are my favorite keys.

Q -- What was it like to play in front of an audience?
A-- Spencer: It was nice, cool, and I liked it because... It really got to want to play the piano more. I was kind of nervous, but I sat up tall and pretended I was playing at home so that I wouldn't be too nervous. I practiced a lot just before the recital too. I even rehearsed for my great grand Parents, Patricia and Jose just before the recital. I also liked listening to the other student's songs.

Great Visit from Nicole

We loved having Nicole come to visit with Reagan (Thing one) and Abigail (Thing two). They are such great guests -- or at least thats how we remember it now two weeks later!
Check out the picture we took with them on some of our outings. The best visit is definitely the picture of Abby holding the snake!

Successful Open House!

I'm a sucker when it comes to "grand opening events". Balloons and searchlights are about all takes for me stop and take a look at what is going on. The success of our open house/grand opening event, tells me that I'm not the only one! I was certainly concerned that it might be a bit of a bust. I mean, a grand opening event for a new grocery store is one thing (hey maybe free donuts... or even some... bacon), but a dental office is another (uh...free root canals?). To some people it may as well be free tours of a maximum security prison (hey kids!, do you wanna see what it feels like to sit in a real electric chair -- yippee!). But sure enough, the people showed up and stopped by, and looked around. Thanks to all our patients, friends and family and business supporters! It really was a great success. the energy of the event was great, and best of all we were able to meet many people who were interested in seeing us as patients! Maybe the free pizza had something to do with it!

We are looking forward to making this a bit of a tradition-- a anniversary / patient appreciation event next year. We will keep you informed!

-Shayne

Spencer's First Pinewood Derby Car

It has been months in the making -- well actually months in the procrastinating and one mad, late night, dash in the end. But we made it, and we followed most of the rules. Spencer named his care "Cien Pesetas" because it took a spanish cien pesetas coin to get the car to weight 5.0 oz.

Spencer was very pleased with his car --- it was awarded the "Most realistic" award and also won 2nd place in his den race. Spencer helped quite a bit with the car, he sanded and painted the car.