Did anybody see this? It was on right after a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving the other night. I don't know if they usually show it but this is the first time I've noticed. I watched it yesterday (I was a day late) and I have to say I was impressed. They even mentioned John Howland, the guy who fell off the Mayflower during a storm. Supposedly I'm related to him. Most of us can probably find a connection since he's so far back, actually. Anyway, I learned a lot. We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at Ryan's parents, and before we ate Nancy (Ryan's Mom) gave us a little quiz about the first Thanksgiving. Sam had mentioned that he knew a few of the answers from watching this. Now I understand. And now I know that the pilgrims were taught to plant their corn alongside dead fish for fertilizer.

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but . . .

One of the Baer family's favorite Christmas albums was Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. A lot of the songs sound dated now, but this one still gets me moving. Plus, it has Chaka Khan. I think this was the era of silky shirts for guys, which brings back memories of Church dances. Silky shirts plus a sweaty teenage boy doesn't make for a good combination, especially during the slow dances when I had to put my hand on their shoulder. Anyway, I remember telling Joel that this was the song that I wanted to have playing when I die and (knock on wood) go to heaven.

keith morrison snl skit

This made us laugh.

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I wanna be a cowboy

Well, it has happened. The cowboy blood that runs deep in Ryan's veins is starting to surface. Recently we adopted Grandpa Haslam's horse Socks. A friend in our ward was nice enough to let us rent out a place for him to stay. Socks is somewhere around 30 years old so we don't know how long the fun will last, but for now Ryan is going almost daily to see to his needs and ride him a little. The boys are getting the hang of using the reins.

Charlie had a fit when I took him off the horse.

Not the best pictures, but I'm sure we'll have many more opportunities for better ones. It's fun for me to see the cowboy hat, Wranglers, and boots side of Ryan. Especially the Wranglers side. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Question of the day

From Benjamin:

Do monkeys make good pets?

(This is not the first time he has asked.)

Unsinkable

Alex has been a little obsessed lately with the Titanic. It is the subject of the last three books he has checked out from the library, and he has built several models of it out of his legos. I finally decided to get a picture of the latest one. He even built little lifeboats for it.

Don't worry, I have no plans for letting him watch the movie Titanic.

look alike

Ryan is often told that he looks like certain celebrities. Here is a sample.

Ricky Martin:

Jim Carrey: Johnny Knoxville: Josh Duhamel: Bob Hope: Matt Damon: Timothy Olyphant:

Edited to add: He says a lot of guys tell him he looks like Tom Brady.

And I once told him he had the same nose as Tom Hanks (I think he was a little offended):

If I pick him apart I can see some resemblances. Matt Damon's hair and mouth, Timothy Olyphant's eyes, etc. I don't think he looks like Jim Carrey but he can get goofy like him so I think that's what people see there. What do you think?

And now for my list. I've been told I look like:

Mary Lou Retton:

Kristin Davis:

Candace Cameron: Rachel Leigh Cook: A bat:

that's some good photoshopping