A Little Adventure

A few people I’ve know have gotten either an iPhone or an iPod Touch in the last little bit. I thought I’d do a post about some of my favorite apps and include links for your convenience.

There are a few websites, I’d recommend checking often. The first one is Free App Alert. Each day they tell you which apps have become free. You can get some good apps there. The other website is App Shopper. At this website you can see whether the price has dropped or increased as well as have them e-mail with app updates, if you put the apps you want on your wish list. This is useful so you can know what updates were included for the app. Also if you want to read someone else’s must have iphone apps you can read about them here on App Advice.

Now on to my favorite apps. When you are just starting out, you will need to expect to spent a little money to get some apps.

Groceries – The Grocery Shopping List ($1.99). This app is the best. I like that it has a lot of groceries already programmed in it. Also, you can have lists for different stores and change it around so the groceries are listed in order of how you get them. For instance, I always get my produce first, so that is on top of the list.

A To-Do list. I use OmniFocus, which is only on the Mac and a super expensive app. I really like it and use it all the time. You should look at the to-do apps on App Advice for some other ideas.

Weather Bug (Free). I have both weather apps on my phone. I like weather bug because it gives me an accurate feel for what the weather is currently at home. There is a weather bug station at a nearby school.

Darkroom Pro ($0.99). I got this free, but it is a great photo app that helps with taking better pictures. This is an iPhone app.

Evernote (Free). This is a great little note taking app and can be used on the web as well as on the desktop.

Facebook (Free). If you are on facebook, this is a must.

Flashlight (Free). This app is perfect for when you are up in the night and need a flashlight. I use it when I need to go help the kids.

RedLaser ($1.99). This is an app that I feel all iPhone users need. With this app, you can take a picture of any UPC code and it will tell you if you can get it online and if so, the price. This is a very useful app.

Church Apps – I have several free church apps, that are great.

LDS Radio (Free). This app lets you listen to anything on the Mormon Channel. You can also listen to things like General Conference as well when it is on. It does use up a lot of battery.

You should have a scriptures and hymn app. I use this scriptures app. Although I don’t use it in church. For hymns, I like this one. Both of these apps are free. Also, very useful is the iWard ($3.99) app. It gives you the ward directory on your phone. I like this better than iStake because I don’t have a need for iStake. I’m waiting for the new Gospel Principles manual to come out, but I understand that it is coming soon.

As far as games. You just need to decide why types of games you like. My favorites right now are: Phase 10 ($2.99), Angry Birds ($0.99), and Tap Tap Revenge (Free for now – get now it before the price goes up). I have a lot of other games. There are a lot of games for kids. Just check some out to see if they will work for your kids.

I’ll put in here the podcasts that I listen to. I regularly listen to This American Life and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, both of which are NPR podcasts. I also listen to a myriad of church podcasts. You can subscribe to them here. You can decide which ones you’d like. I also listen to audiobooks. You can download some for free at Project Gutenberg. I also get books from the library and them put them on my phone. You can also do this with any audio items you download off the internet and make them into an audiobook. If you want instructions on how to do this in iTunes please contact me and I will e-mail you.

There are apps for basically anything you could want. I have a lot more apps, but these are a few of them. If you have any other questions about any of my apps or which other ones I have, please let me know.

Here are the laptop sized wallpapers (1440×900…which is the resolution of my laptop…) for 2009. Enjoy! If you would like other aspect ratios feel free to drop me an e-mail and I will see what I can do.

Blind prickly pear cactus in Big Bend NP

Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend NP

Boquillas Canyon wall in Big Bend NP

Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch SP

Peekaboo Slot in GSENM

Peekaboo Trail in Bryce Canyon NP

Rock texture at Big Bend Ranch SP

Rock texture at Big Bend Ranch SP

Rock texture in GSENM

Rock texture in GSENM

Rock texture in GSENM

Snowy Bryce Canyon NP

The window in Big Bend NP

Thor’s Hammer in Bryce Canyon

Yucca in Big Bend NP

Yucca in Big Bend NP

Yucca in Big Bend NP

Happy Holidays!

After some debate, we decided that the Little family event of the year was our survival of the Texas summer. What a summer it was! Austin has 11 days of 100+ heat on average, but this year we had 67! We escaped the Texas heat with an extended Utah trip in July. We took the scenic route to Utah stopping in the Bisti Wilderness and Southwestern Colorado. In Utah, enjoyed the mountains, RSL games, and visits with family and friends.

Adding a real job and public school to the family schedule has complicated our ability to get out and see the beautiful landscapes around us, but we did successfully arrange schedules a couple of times this year. Thanks to some extra “vacation”, Scott found himself in Southern Utah for a fantastic week-long adventure with some friends and his boss(!). The weather was a bit colder than is ideal, but the landscape did not disappoint. In November we finally took in some of the beauty of Texas on a trip to Big Bend National Park. It was a fun, relaxing trip. We did some kid appropriate hiking and got a better idea of what Big Bend has to offer.

Milo has made tremendous progress this year. He loves playing outside with the neighbor kids. He took swimming lessons this summer and progressed from being afraid to get in the water to being able to do basic swimming strokes. It was a change for Milo’s water-phobic parents to spend so much time at the pool. Apparently we will all learn a few new things in this strange land of Texas. Milo recently learned to ride a two-wheel bike and loves to ride all around the neighborhood with his friends. Milo is now in first grade. He likes his teacher and going to school to play with his friends. He still claims to like recess best, but his interest in reading has recently taken off.

Holly is our two and a half year old rambunctious toddler. We struggle to keep up with her. She loves to watch movies, read books, and play outside with her friends. She has started a playgroup with some kids her age two times a week and enjoys that most of the time. Holly insists on doing everything herself which makes life even more interesting.

Scott is somewhat miraculously still employed. The rough economy coupled with a strategy to overhaul parts of the company has resulted in the majority of his team members being let go (only he and his boss remain on the previously six member team). He is still learning a lot and struggling to accept the realities of a real job. Monica is continually trying to keep up with the family and all that is associated with it. While Holly is at playgroup, she does get a few things done during the day. She also enjoys going walking on the trail near our house 3 days a week.

Have a great holiday season!

Scott, Monica, Milo, & Holly

And of course as bonus web content we have the 2009 Little Family montage. The photos are in rough chronological order from top left to bottom right.

2009 Little family montage (medium version)
2009 Little family montage (large version…big enough to see good detail on the photos at full size)

At the end of each year I try to assemble the best photos for a montage and wallpaper. It is a nice way to review the year and generate some fresh wallpaper for myself. This year we have added a new device to our arsenal…the iPhone…which we TOTALLY love. The only problem is it has a different screen size and orientation. Since I do most of this for myself, I created iPhone wallpaper this year in addition to laptop wallpaper. Those of you who have an iPhone can feel free to enjoy them on your phone. The laptop wallpaper will be coming soon. It is done, but I forgot to generate blog-sized preview images.

A blind prickly pear cactus in Big Bend NP

Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend NP

Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend NP

The canyon walls in Round Valley Draw in GSENM

Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch SP

Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch SP (My current wallpaper…I sort of like dark and mystical feel)

Peekaboo Slot in GSENM

A rock formation in GSENM (I used this one for a few days and really loved it.)

A rock formation in GSENM

A rock formation in GSENM

A rock formation in Big Bend Ranch SP

A rock formation in GSENM

A snowy Bryce Canyon NP

The Sentinel in Bryce Canyon NP

Thor’s Hammer in Bryce Canyon NP (I used this image for months…and loved it…particularly in TX.)

A yucca in Big Bend NP

A yucca in Big Bend NP

A yucca in Big Bend NP

At the beginning of October, Milo’s friend learned how to ride his bike. It took Milo a bit longer to overcome his fear. About a month ago, Milo was outside playing one Friday night and said to me “Mom, I want to ride my bike.” I had been talking to my neighbor about it earlier that day, and so we got his bike set up and he started riding. It didn’t take him long to get the hang of it. He loves riding his bike now and wants to do it all the time. Here’s a nice little video of Milo riding his bike on the first night.

Milo riding his bike!