Catching Up With 2015 - February

This first major event of 2015 was me getting a pacemaker.

I had been having severe dizzy spells and briefly passed out a couple of times. One evening it got so bad that I had LaRue take me to the emergency room. They checked me out and said my heart was not beating properly. My heart rate was down to about 29.
Next thing I knew I was being loaded into a helicopter for a 1:30 AM flight to the University of Utah Medical Center.

Here's the view from my ICU room window. I was able to watch people coming and going. The cool thing is they have free valet parking. Just pull up to the curb, get out and they take care of your vehicle.

Here's me later that afternoon with a temporary pacemaker. I got the permanent one the next day.

LaRue was a trooper through the whole time. I don't have pictures, but Robin and Emily visited and stayed to help out. 

Here we are after the implantation of the regular pacemaker.

A bit of a bruise where the pacemaker was inserted.

Andy flew out to help for a couple of days. We were home in time to watch the Oscars. This was his reaction when Boxtrolls didn't win.

After a couple of days Andy had to head back.

Robin and Family Visit

Since he had a long weekend break from his work at Hill Air Force Base, Robin and family decided to come out for a visit!

Chris got up early Sunday to help Grandma make German pancakes.

Kjerstine, Brighton, Chris, Quinley and Josh (on the couch)

The kids found our collection of Christmas bears.

And they had to share with Emily.

Her's Kjerstine all dressed up for church.

Grandma had fixed a nice vegetable tray for us to snack on after church.

Unfortunately Monday came and they all had to pile in the Suburban and drive back home.

While they were here, they drove up to Dutch John to visit Emily's sister. On the way up they saw two big moose in the road!

It was really nice to have them out for a visit. LaRue and I are planning to go to see them next month to celebrate Quinley's 3rd birthday.

2015 Oscar Nominations

The Oscar nominations for this year were announced today. Of course the one film we are interested in knowing about is The Boxtrolls. So the first thing I did was look at the nominations for Best Animated Movie and sure enough it was there!
I don't know how optimistic I am that it will get the Oscar because it seems like it's really hard to go up against the Disney/Pixar machine. But we are really happy it got nominated.

And we're really happy since our son, Andy, was one of the animators!

Here is a link to the complete list for this year:
2015 Oscar Nominations

 

New Year - Maybe a New Effort

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions. But I really ought to put some time into this blog. I need to do some maintenance and start blogging more regularly.

I might go through and remove some of the political stuff. That's what Facebook is for, right?

We Backed a Kickstarter Campaign

Granted, it's something our boys have created but we would probably buy it anyway -

Mini Fux Capacitor

Boxtrolls

We have been waiting for Boxtrolls for a long time. So LaRue and I went to the very first showing here. It was the afternoon matinee.

We loved it! It was so fun.

There were quite a few families there to see it. And hearing the reactions of the kids in the audience was great. There were several times when we laughed out loud.

I don't know how anyone can see it just once. There is so much to look at in the movie. I don't think you can fully see everything on the screen until the dvd comes out and you can freeze frame it.

There are a couple of cood article on the Ain't It Cool News site:

Here is an interview with the directors - Capone goes frame by frame through THE BOXTROLLS with co-directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi

And here is another article - Capone has a great deal of love and admiration for the artistry of THE BOXTROLLS

We have already made plans to see it again in a few days. Unlike the 2D matinee we will see it the second time in 3D.

And, of course, we loved seeing our son's name - Andy Bailey -  in the credits as an animator.

Finally Another Entry

Yes, it's just another movie entry. This time The Expendaables 3.

We saw this the other night here in Omaha.

The Reader's Digest version goes like this:
Lots of bullets, explosions and humor. Plus lots of stars.

I'm not going to spoil the story, but it was a good ending to the trilogy (assuming they stop at 3).
Bottom line - its a fun popcorn movie.