Numero Three Landes Blog

Beating Tarah...to the news that is! GAVIN WALKS!

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:50:00 +0000

Officially, Thursday afternoon was the start of Gavin's biped adventures. With Savannah, I was sitting right there in the kitchen watching when she took her first, but Gavin decided to wait until I was at work. We actually thought he would do it about 2 months ago, which he probably could have, but he just never wanted to even try. He could stand for short times without holding on and he could walk like a pro with a loose grip on one finger, but as soon as we would let go, he would just drop like a rag doll. Up until Thursday, when he finally decided that 2 legs might be a little more fun than 4. Well. Here we go. Two kids now that we'll have to corral.

okay...so it's been a long time. I know.

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:47:00 +0000

yeah, yeah, yeah, but i'm not the only one who has slacked off with posting new blogs. and I know I don't have to say it, but...sorry that i haven't kept everyone up to date with what's happening here.

Ever heard of Sondre Lerche?

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:32:00 +0000

I changed the music playlist on my blog to give you a sampling. He's the guy who composed the music for the movie "Dan In Real Life." I really like his stuff so far, but I don't know too much about the guy, so I'll have to keep checking his music out for anything alarming. So far, so good. A little different sounding and unique timing of his own. Gabe, I'm taking a shot here, but I would bet that you might like his music.

what? 3 months since the last blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:58:00 +0000

wow. crazzzzy. ha. I just thought that I should at least break this cycle of neglect. At first I was just too busy to blog, but then it became kind of a cycle of shame that prevented me from posting. As long as you don't post another entry, you can always just tell people that you're too busy to ever even think about your blog. But if you post an entry, then you have to admit to yourself and every one else out there that you do, in fact, know how long you've neglected your relational duty to inform loved ones and friends about how life is going for you. Ahhh, the shame. And salt in the wound for me is the fact that my blog is my homepage. So, everytime I get onto the internet, I have to navigate right past its pleas for attention.

Anyways, life is going great. Off to watch a movie.

January Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:22:00 +0000

Just in case some of you out there aren't looking at Tarah's blog also, I am going to copy the slide show here from her blog. These are pictures of the kids from January.

Surprise...snow again

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Well, it was drizzling some light rain when we sat down to play Catan, and then when we finished, all we saw was white. This morning, as she usually does, Savannah came running to our room upon waking and realizing she needed to pee. Only this time she stopped in mid stride as she passed through the living room and saw the glorious sight outside. Luckily, we got her to go to the bathroom before she insisted on going outside to play (and make yellow snow!).

Humility.

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:53:00 +0000

Well, today has been a really good day...in a sense. I would call any day a good one when the Lord decides to grab ahold of you with any particular lesson for personal growth. He has a great way of just driving whatever his lesson is, right to core of your very being. My lesson today...humility in dealing with my wife. We awoke this morning at 6:45 am, which is early for us on a Saturday, so that we could get ready to go to a marriage conference at the church. It was a televised conference out of Colorado Springs, CO, hosted by Focus on the Family, and our church had the big screen set up and served as a satellite location for people to attend the conference. We haven't ever attended any kind of marriage enrichment type activity since being hitched, so we thought it a good idea to attend. We often feel that our marriage is rock solid and unshakable, and that we've got the best thing going already, but we have come to realize that the enemy is ALWAYS lurking around trying to do ANYTHING he can to absolutely destroy marriages. And we've witnessed it way too many times to even our close friends and even pastors. Sooooo....we jumped at the oportunity to learn something new and sure up any shaky parts that may already be present. I will say this......it was an awesome idea to do this and much was gained. There are so many misconceptions about what marriage really is and what we should expect out of it, that I wish every person even considering marriage could learn these truths that were explored today. Anyways, after the conference, I felt good about how our marriage has been, and even better about how it will be. But I know my struggle is to be humble in dealing with Tarah, and I will need to work on this---which, I'm sure, is why God put it in our hearts tonight...to play Settlers of Catan. ohhhh, the joys and frustrations of this game can unwind even the most even keeled of us all. You know it is the hand of the Lord when your settlements are all over the 6's, 8's, 5's, and 9's, and all you seem to throw are the 4's, 10's, and 11's that HER CITIES are on. I watched hand after hand of her gathering resource cards and buying up all the real estate around and cutting off my every move, and then jumping that stupid robber back and forth from my only sources of wood and brick like it was John Trovolta in "Saturday Night Fever". I couldn't help but finally give in to that still, small voice that wispered gently..."patience"...."humility my child". Come to think of it, I may have learned more from the game tonight than I did all day at the conference.......nahhh.

Crazy Kid

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Right now, Savannah is outside playing on the back deck, which isn't that strange at all in itself. However, currently it happens to be about 18 degrees out there. At first, she decided she would just open the door and step out there with what she had on in the house. But that only took about 5 seconds before she returned saying, "I needs my shoes on. It's cold." Then, she went out for about 10 seconds before saying, "I gonna go get my jacket." Now, she's out there playing and I'm waiting to see how long she makes it this time....Well, that was better than I thought it would be. She actually stayed out 2 1/2 minutes before returning with, "whew, it's too cold out there." This morning, we awoke to about 7 degrees, but wind chill had to be below zero. Tonight, we'll get to about 9 or 10 degrees, but then the blast is over and it'll raise back up to about 40 tomorrow. Pretty cold, though, for Tennessee.

Childhood pics. Gotta love em.

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Once again, time for my monthly posting. Yeah, I know...I'm trying to be more regular about this, but then when I look back through my posts, it seems like it's just been hard for me to get more than one or two a month for some reason. Here's an idea, though. My brother, Gabe, is set up with the blog-follower feature, which will email or somehow alert you whenever a blog that you like gets updated. That way you can just check the blog whenever I put something new on it. Anyways, I was at the farm in Arkansas for Thanksgiving when I came across our photo albums from when we were kids. A picture of my kindergarten class was sitting loose in one of them and caught my attention. This picture made me think of so many people that I grew up with. In this one picture, I can see at least 10 people that I went all the way through high school with. And with today's crazy internet social networks, like Facebook, I've actually been back in contact with a few of these same people. I posted it on my Facebook page and tagged all the people I could remember names for. I'm waiting to see if I get any comments back. Much fun. Ha.

Goodbye to the Old, Helllloooo to the New...

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:36:00 +0000

The Old Espresso Maker--

The New Espresso Maker--

Eat your heart out Gabe and April. This thing was $240, but I snagged it at the Linens&Things going out of business sale for $65! Everything was 40-60% off, and this particular box was mismarked as $99, but the lady gave it to me anyways with the 40% discount on top of it. Yeah baby!

After-blog

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:10:00 +0000

I guess blogging and lattes puts a person in the mood to relax. Savannah decided it was time to kick back in her new vibrating chair...well, Gavin's new vibrating chair. I keep telling her that she's too big for it and shouldn't sit in it, but then again...I can't resist the call of those chairs in the Brookstone store either!

Blogging and Lattes!

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:02:00 +0000

Wow, she's learning early. And not only does she like the hot lattes, but she's taking a liking to the iced version as well. Today's selection: Pumpkin Pie Iced Latte. MMMM, mmm good. Here she is helping me blog and stealing a swig. Honestly, you have to keep an eye on that girl or your drink will be gone in 2 seconds.

Japan--not just the best cars...

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:37:00 +0000

Why don't we have great game shows like this one here? Gabe, I know you'll like this one.

Hiking just behind the resort...

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:38:00 +0000

Gabe and I went out for about 30 minutes hiking behind the resort and saw some great sights. We even came up on a herd of elk along the way. Awesome sights. We'll post more of the sights later.

Park City!

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:37:00 +0000

Utah Olympic Park---Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Games

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Ahhh, vacation.

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:25:00 +0000

Yes, that's right. We're on vacation! We haven't had been on vacation since April last year, so it's definitely a nice break from the normal routine. We are staying at a resort in Park City, Utah, and this place is nice! My brother, Gabe, and his wife, Cheryl, are here with us, which has been a lot of fun. One bittersweet point, though, is that Savannah and Gavin are not here. We left them with Tarah's parents in Ohio. I definitely miss having them around and would love to share some time with Savannah while I'm not having to work. But on the other hand, neither of them would appreciate any of this any more than they do being at Nanna and Pappaw's. And it's always great to actually have time to hang out with Tarah without kids jumping on us and needing things from us. I'll try to put on some pictures of what we've seen so far. The Olympic Park was really interesting and a lot of fun...it's where the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were held for the ski jumps, bobsled, luge, and skeleton. We're going back on later in the week to watch some athletes practice on the ski jumps.

Has it really been that long since my last blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:29:00 +0000

Wow. I guess we can all say that sometimes we get really busy, and the same can be said for me. All my down time has been taken up by relaxing on the hammock, enjoying the best weather ever, and hanging out my awesome kids and wife. But right now they're all taking naps...so here's some quick blogging to get back on track. First of all, work had a rough month in August with a strange and sudden drop in number of patients, which has since returned to normal, so everything is finally settling a little there. And home is still my oasis of relaxation. I must say again, even though I've worn this out in the past...our home is absolutely amazing. and no it's not a million dollar home. but i have all that i want right here. the woods, a hammock, a wonderfully shady yard with huge trees, a big deck with a grill, a place for a camp fire, and the best family ever to share it with. The other night, we were eating dinner out back on the deck with the fire going, the outdoor speakers playing some Cheeks (Louis Armstrong), and the table candles and hanging lights on, and Tarah made the statement, "I don't know why we ever even go out to eat when it's like we're on vacation right here." My thoughts exactly. Anyways, I wish you all could be up here to enjoy this wonderfully cool fall weather with us.

Okay....WHAT?!

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:54:00 +0000

Wow. I would say that I'm a far cry from fanatical about the energy situation in the world, and, like a majority of Americans, it has only been the recent surge in gasoline prices that has raised my eyebrows and heightened my alert. However, I still go about my own hum-drum of life with only minimal changes to how I do things--one of those being my favorite choice...to drive my motorcycle to work each day! I have only fleeting concerns about whether we really are hurting our economy or our planet by the overwhelming reliance on gas and oil, and I must admit, I'm mainly worried about how my own finances may suffer. I know I should be more concerned about global implications of the situation, but it just doesn't seem like there's a lot of possibilities so far for the common person to significantly change his or her energy usage. BUT, today I was just reading some headlines on FOX News' website, when I came across this very interesting add: Run Your Car With Water.
On the add, it has an intriguing video clip from a FOX News story that must have been aired previously. This is really cool. And if it gets to be more viable in mainstream, I could really get behind this...only one problem--if everybody does it, then we'll have a water crisis! ha.

Hmmm. Just something to think about.

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Usually, when I open my email account on Hotmail, I find a long list of mass emails sitting in my junk box that I can quickly skim through simply by looking at the name or the subject line. I save the ones that got caught in there that I actually want, and then I hit the "check all" box and delete them. Next, is the inbox. Here, I skim through all the emails from people I know, or have ever known in the past and they still have me on their contact list, and I try to determine which ones of the notorious circulation emails I really do want to read or have time to read. The ones that I usually don't pay much attention to are the millions of emails designed to simply slander certain people or to somehow enlighten us as to what some controversial person is REALLY thinking. However, one email made it through my screening process since it was a short video, and I ended up thinking about it a lot. I'll put it below if you want to watch it. I know that even the person who made the video is coming from an intent to discredit Obama and may have even taken Obama's statements out of context, but the simple fact that Obama would even talk in such a way about Biblical scripture raises serious flags for me--especially in light of the views of his long time pastor, which he has only recently tried to distance himself from after the pastor was exposed to public scrutiny. Regardless, I want to make sure that I am voting for someone who reveres the Word of God and does not view the bible as just a collection of harsh rules and regulations and pacifist ideals, which I am still wondering if this is truly how Obama feels.

Ruh-Ed Nuh-Eck!

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:24:00 +0000

Most people think that the "Red Neck" variety of people is only found below the Mason Dixon Line. However, sightings in more unfamiliar territory have become much more frequent. Here's one in Michigan of all places. I stand in awe of the ingenuity and resourcefulness. Bravo, my fellow Red Neck!

Mower man: "A man with a big backyard has cut down on mowing time by attaching four regular mowers to his ride-on for a 3m cut. Dennis Bonkoski of Kimball Township, Michigan, started with one extra mower and found that four extra mowers resulted in the widest and most even cut. He achieves a 3m-wide cut with the combined mowers. Plastic strainer bowls prevent unwanted grass clippings from entering the engines causing them to overheat. "With this set-up I can cut my lawn in less than an hour," he said"

Bad luck vs. Bad decisions

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:19:00 +0000

"Tarah's Daze"

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:32:00 +0000

It's finally here! Tarah has decided to join in on the blogging craze. With the new addition, Gavin, her blog title is definitely appropriate..."Tarah's Daze". In fact, both of our days have become a blur. Maybe she'll find some time to post amidst her crazy schedule.

Daddy Time is the Best Time

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:45:00 +0000

Here's some pictures that I've collected over the past few months of my favorite time of day...Daddy Time. I have always been keenly aware, even before the kids came along, of how important time with loved ones is--time that does not involve an agenda and usually doesn't even have to adhere to a schedule. And these times are ALWAYS my favorite. I usually even stop for a few minutes in the middle of it all and just make myself drink it in. Just taking a short moment to recognize what's going on and how special the moment is helps me to capture it and remember it. I really love my time with these two crazy kids. I'll probably have a second edition of this blog at a later date.

Hanging out at Ma and Pa's

noreply@blogger.com (Jake) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:55:00 +0000

Well, we got talked into letting mom sneek away with Savannah after her visit to our house this past week, and I must say...I miss me some Savannah terribly. Way too quiet around this place now. This will be the longest that we've been apart from Savannah, seeing that it will be a week and a half before we are able to get down to Arkansas for the family reunion. I'm sure she doesn't even notice yet that Mom and Dad haven't been around much lately. She's too preoccupied with cows and cats, four-wheelers and golf carts, Ma and Pa, and Aunts galore. With all that to contend with, I don't know how we'll ever get her in the car to come back home next week!