My Dad, My Friend.

Christmas was great this year. As always it is fun to watch the kids open their gifts and get excited. What I have found as a father is that the excitement of the kids is far more enjoyable then opening a gift. When we grow up and become parents so much changes. When I have ah-ha parent moments I often think of my parents and in particular I think of my dad.

I was 23 years old when my father was killed in a wreck out in California, A defining moment in my life. I had never felt that kind of loss before and it was very difficult to deal with. The part that makes me the saddest is what I did not realize at the time I had lost. I lost my father and I saw him as such. What I did not realize was that I lost the opportunity to be his friend. To share my experience as a father with him. He was always my dad, the man who instructed me. We were just beginning a relationship that was not boy and man but man to man. I missed the opportunity to be his friend and companion. Yes a boy can have a friend and companion in his father but it is on a different level. When I was a boy we could not share common feelings. I had no concept of what it was like to be a dad and so there was a gap. Now I understand and wish with all my heart to go on a fishing trip and sit around a camp fire and talk with my best friend, but I can't.

I am not trying to make a sad post here just a realization what it means to have a friend in your dad. Now that I know what being a dad is all about I wish I could talk to him about being my dad. The stories he could probably tell me...! He was a great dad and I am grateful that I got him for 23 years, there are many who do not have a dad like him or as long as I had him. It makes me want to take care of myself so that I can be around with my boys as they become fathers.

How do you rate?

This is a test from the 1930's to see if you are a good Husband/Wife. Take it and see how you stack up. You might want to take it with your spouse, just to keep you honest. When I took it I got a 153. Maybe I should have Lisa take it with me.

153

As a 1930s husband, I am
Very Superior

Click here to take the test.

Next summer's high adventure.

Last year I went to the Uinta mountains and spent 3 days in heaven fishing and hiking. I intend to do it again next year and I wanted to invite anyone who wants, to come along. Mind you this is not a simple little hike. It is over a 2,000 foot gain in 8 miles. However there is so much up and down on the trail you are probably climbing closer to 3,000 feet total.

Without question you will need to be in shape. Once in the basin we will set up a base camp and then fish and hike for 2 days with little or no climbing or hard physical exersion. You can lay in a hamock all day if you would like.

We will be leaving early afternoon on June 24th and returning on the evening of June 27th. Those who come will split the cost of gas and depending on what everyone wants we will either all chip in on food or buy our own. The trip will be pretty laid back. So if you are seriouse about joining us then let me know. This is kind of an early notice but by the middle of January I always have my year planned out.

These pictures are from my trip last year. If you would like to read the details on my last trip click here.

Dad knows everything.

Yesterday Krislyn and Lisa had the following conversation.

Krislyn: Mom, who wrote jingle bells?

Lisa: I do not know. It has just been around for a long time.

Krislyn: But who wrote it?

Lisa: I do not know.

Krislyn: I will just ask dad, he's smart. I know because he told me he was.


So I get home and Lisa says, "Krislyn, ask dad your question." It took her a minute to remember it but she then said "Dad, who wrote jingle bells?" I immediately said "Santa Clause of course. About 200 years ago." See mom, dad does know everything. Does anyone else think I am setting myself up?

For the real story on jingle bells, which is actually kind of interesting click here.

Sugar Cookies

Yesterday we made some sugar cookies and took them around to different families that we know. I have to say Lisa did a great job on them. I would have to say they are probably the best sugar cookies she has ever made. Soft, moist, sweet and the frosting was to die for. Troy almost ate himself sick on the frosting. If you cookie makers want to get a really really good recipe give Lisa a call. For those of you married to a cookie maker find a way to convince your spouse to make Lisa's recipe. (It might just be worth the wrath of suggesting they call for someone elses recipe.)

Obama Crossing the isle.

Saw this picture and had to post it. It was a screen saver on a customers PC. I went out and googled it and had to laugh.

Just like her mother

Everyone knows that Lisa is a great homemaker. I brag about her all the time. The house is always clean, dinner is on the table at 5:30 every night, as well as the dusting and vacuuming. I never have to do house work because it is always done when I get home. I'm not saying she is perfect, just pretty darn close. Well last Sunday we realized that Krislyn is her mother's daughter.

A friend of ours, Janet Leth, was a substitute in her primary class. They were all together in opening exercises and they had one of the children come up to the front of the class and hold up a picture of Jesus. They were unable to find it in the church library so they just pulled it off the wall in the primary room. Janet said that as the little boy was up there holding the picture Krislyn turned to her and said, "Do you think they ever dust that thing?" With out question she is her mothers daughter.

Guns

There are all kinds of guns. I have several. I have my right gun and my left gun as well as my shotgun. This is an area that most people seem to have strong opinions on both for and against. I find it interesting. The guns them selves are harmless just lying on the table so the guns themselves are not the issue. It is the people who are the issue. I have heard the arguments over and over but I think, as with all issues that we see debated, it boils down to personal responsibility. All of my boys have pocket knives by the time they are 8 years old and in cub scouts, some sooner but at least by the time they are 8. I teach them to use them so when they do have them they do not hurt themselves. The question is not whether they will or will not handle a pocket knife when I am not around. The question is what are they going to do with one when I am not there. If they know nothing about them then they will have a much higher chance of getting hurt with them. The same holds true with a gun. By the time my boys are 8 years old they usually have a bb-gun. I believe it is like sex and


drugs. It will be offered to them sooner or later and there is nothing I can do to stop it, all I can do is teach them what to do with it when they are presented with it. If my child is in someones house and another child pulls out a gun to play around with, they will know what to do. So I think every boy and girl should be taught what guns are, how they are used, and the dangers and enjoyments of shooting them.

As far as adults go I think it is the same. I think every American has an obligation to own a gun. If every burgalar knew that he or she was going to possibly face a shotgun when breaking into a house you would see less people breaking into houses. If ther was a reported statistic that 75% of women in the US had a consealed wheapons permit and carried a pistol in their purse, I think you would see less rape. I think the answer to gun problems in the US is more responsible gun ownership, not more gun regulation.

I hate Christmas lights!

I do not mind looking at them as they are nice to look at but putting up Christmas lights, for me, on the same level as changing 2o leaky, poopy diapers all at the same time.

I pulled out the lights and tested them. I have learned to test so I do not get a bunch of lights up only to find that half of a string does not work. So I plugged them in and the icicle lights that I hang on the eves were not to bad. There was one burned out bulb that I was able to find and replace. I put those up and was doing ok. Next I turned to the colored lights. This is where it all went wrong. I have about 10 strands of lights and not one of them worked completley. Some did not work at all but most of them only had about half of the strand working. I spent almost 2 hours replacing bulbs and testing fuses and in the end, I still did not have a working string. I kept one short string for spare bulbs and threw the rest in the trash.

At this point I thought I was done with the frustration. Not so. I set up the tree that already has lights on it and lo and behold half a strand did not work. I pulled each bulb out that was not working and replaced it with one I knew was working, nothing worked. At this point I nearly threw the stupid tree out the front door but Krislyn was so excited about the whole thing I decided against it. I finaly found a short strand that worked and threaded them onto the part of the tree that was not working. In the end the lights went up and the muttering ended after a few hours.

Hence, I hate Christmas lights!

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to a great dinner. My mother-in-law can cook like nobody's business so I am really looking forward to it. However, more importantly I get to take time to really focus on what I am thankful for. I have never been to the impoverished and war torn countries of Africa, the slums of some of our South American neighbors or any of the other place in this world that house the less fortunate. I know that everything is relative based on what we are used to, but I can not help but think about the fact that God gave me what I have simply by sending me to the home he did. All of my blessings started on the day I was born. I have received many more blessings since then but none so great. How grateful I am to God for my birth. How grateful I am to him for my parents as well as Lisa and the kids. It is easy to take so much for granted but for at least this week, I will focus on these things and be forever grateful for them.

Zion!

This last weekend was an incredible weekend. Lisa and I are the Stake Humanitarian Specialist. We have 2 things that we are responsible for. Once is a clothing exchange that takes place each summer before school starts. Everyone in the stake or elsewhere can donate clothes that are in good condition. With so many little children in Eagle Mountain you see clothes that they grow out of but are still in great shape. This relieves the burden of families when getting clothes for school. The other thing that we do in our calling as Humanitarian specialists is something called HEARTS for the Holidays.

The way this program works is each auxiliary and quorum in the stake selects 2 projects to do. For example, a High priest group can collect bicycles for one project and build doll houses for another. Some of the primaries asked the children to do extra chores around the house for loose change. Every week they would bring in their pennies, dimes, and nickles and put them in a jar. They raised over $200 in change and the primary president went out and bought toys to be donated. The auxiliary are High priests, Elders, Relief Society, Young Women, Young Men, and Primary. With each one doing two projects that makes 12 projects from each ward in the stake.

Around October the Bishop of each ward prayerfully selects families from his ward that are having a hard time and can not afford to do Christmas for their families. Our goal is to make Christmas a time of joy instead of a time of stress. Then in mid November these families are assigned an escort to take them through the stake center shopping. The escort is someone in ward leadership who is a part of the Ward welfare committee. They have sat down with the family prior to this event and evaluated what their needs are so when they are going through they know what to look for. Kind of the same concept as making sure you do not go grocery shopping when you are hungry.

We had just over 80 families attend and we met almost every need that was asked for. The stories are what is amazing. There were miracles that happened all day long. I would interview people who would say "the only thing my daughter wanted was X and I walked into the room and there it was." These incidents seemed to happen all day long. I have read the story in the New Testament that tells of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with only a few loves and fishes and this weekend I saw something similar. No matter how much went out that door there was always more. No matter what a family needed it seemed to be there. The spirit of God was there all day long. From time to time I would walk through the building and just look at things to make sure everything was still in order and I felt as though there were angles in attendance assisting all those who were there.

Most of the people who made it all possible never saw what I saw and probably will never know the impact they all had. I realized this weekend what Zion really is. Zion is "Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor..."(D&C 82:19) and what took place was the very picture of Zion. If such a program could be extended throughout the entire year I could say of us like the Nephites after the visit of Jesus "...there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God."(4 Nephi 1:16)

The pictures do not do it justice but here they are. The entire Stake Center was full.

Abraham Lincoln.

A friend of mine, Aaron Ball, has a blog and I have always enjoyed reading it. He posted a great piece on Abraham Lincoln. You can go directly to his post here on my blog list or click on this link. It would be worth your time to go see it.

Need some imput if you have it.

This morning I went and worked out at Golds gym and was not that impressed. It was an OK facility and had lots of stuff but while lifting I noticed it was a complete mess. Weights of all kinds were just laying around on the floor. The weights were not put back and if they were, they were in the wrong place. I spent way to much time hunting down the weights I needed. I did like the fact that they had racket ball courts as I love to play racket ball. I decided that I would do some looking over the next few months so if you have any suggestions for gyms then let me know. I would love some input.

Mr. President

I have been supper swamped at home as well as at work so my postings have dropped off significantly. I was thinking about what to post on and I decided to put my feelings out there about the election.

I kind of knew it would happen this way even though I did not want it. This country is slipping very fast down a slippery slope. As a country our morals are shot, our economy is a house of cards just waiting for a good wind and our overall strength and courage is no more then the next country. We have become just another country in the world. Maybe I am wrong, I would like to be but I do not think so.

Obama and the other liberals said they were going to change the country. They said they would turn around the economy and make us a shining city on a hill again. We are a country and what happens here effects all of us. Just because we did not vote for Obama does not mean he does not represent us. He is my president as well as yours. I will not call him Mr. Obama but rather he will be called President Obama. I say take the rains young man and show us how you are going to save us. I hope with all my heart that he can. From what I have seen of liberals I doubt it will happen but I will watch with an open mind. They have control of both houses of congress and the presidency so there should be no excuses.

Although the outcome is not what I wanted I am happy to see the Republicans get their tail kicked. I am no longer going to be registered as a Republican. I will be an independent as I think the Republicans are corrupt, i'm sure there are exceptions, but as a whole they are mostly just as corrupt and dishonest as the Democrats.

Perhaps out of this and what is lickley to come there will be a true conservative party rise out of the ashes. We can only hope.

890 pounds!

So I decided that I am loving lifting weights. I hate to run or swim and so my morning workouts mostly involve lifting weights. I have had a great deal of fun lifting and seeing my progress. Several of my friends are gearing up for a sprint triathlon so I was thinking of doing that but since I would only enjoy the bike ride I decided instead to enter a weight lifting competition. When you compete in weight lifting you have 2 different ways it is done. In the Olympics it consists of one lift over your head. In the other it is a combination of three lifts, bench press, dead lift and squat. For those who may not know what these lifts are, the bench press you lay down on a bench and press the weight up and away from your chest, kind of like a reverse push-up. dead lift is where while standing you reach down and lift the weight up to your waist. The squat is done by putting the weight on your shoulders, lowering your body to a sitting position and then pushing up strait again.

In the competition they add the three lifts and the one who lifts the most wins. I hesitated to make this post and I defiantly hesitated to post the following amounts, because there are those who would look at the amounts and laugh. However I have always known that if you share your goals with others they can help you stay on track and hold you accountable to them, so here goes.

My current:
Bench press - 255 pounds
dead lift - 335 pounds
Squat - 300 pounds
Total lift - 890 pounds

This is the first time I have done this in a long time so setting the goal is hard to do but I decided that I want to see a 20% gain by the competition in October of next year. So here are the goals.

Goal:
Bench press - 300 pounds
dead lift - 405 pounds
Squat - 360 pounds
Total lift - 1065 pounds

Got go hit the weights!

The greatest game ever played!

I love the game of football. In my book there is no better game. It is a game of Power, skill and all around athletic performance. I played football all the way into college and then I broke my knee, went on a mission and got married. That was the end of my football career. However I have always had a longing for the game and at one time wanted to be a school teacher just so I could coach football.

This year Daniel wanted to play football really bad. He normally never asks for anything and is very conscious of what things cost. The fee for playing was $150.00. As I said, normally Daniel would never ask for such a thing but this was different. He reminded me everyday and would not let it drop. I told him that football is a rough sport and he is not the bigest kid in his school, he is actualy one of the smaller kids. After a few weeks I realized this was seriouse and went to enroll him. The only issue I had was that I know little league and find it to be a place where the coach and all of his kids friends play and get coached and the rest of them sit on the bench and play the left field type of positions. I was pretty sure Daniel would fall into this catagorie so I signed him up on one condition and that was that I would be the head coach.

I bought a book on coaching and read it cover to cover, as well as talking to a Kelly Willey (One of the guys who's family I home teach) and geared up to be "Coach Stock." I have to say that it was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. I put it up there with a really good fishing trip, maybe even better. We never one a game, we did not even score a touch down out side of our scrimage. But what a season.! I took 24 eleven year olds, all but 4 or 5 had played before, and taught them how to play the game. We got put into a game schedule with some seasoned teams that had been playing together for 2 to 4 years and were realy good. The first few games my boys got to where they were afraid to pick up the ball. But thanks to a good assistant coach we turned them into tough well developed players. They got to where they could hit, run, block and tackle with some of the best. I saw some great plays come out of them by the end of the year and was so proud of them by the end of the season.

I never set out to win a game. My purpose after the first slaughtering was to teach each boy who wanted to learn how to play the game and play it good. Daniel did awsome. We ended up using him as a wingback as well as a defensive crawler. That is a position that my defensive coach created. We put two little guys who were quick on all fours on either side of the nose guard. They were to crawl as fast as they could into the backfield and cause havock. It worked wonders and nobody was able to run a play up the middle. We also recovered any bad snaps instantly. Some of the teams got the point where they were using the shotgun position to try and avoid these guys. Daniel caught some good passes and ran some good plays. He truly became a good player and will be awsome next year. I am glad that he got the opportunity. I am glad that I got the opportunity to coach.

Adam also played. I was not able to be his coach and he had one of "those coaches" I was talking about. He was not interested in teaching football just interested in winning games. He never really developed his boys into more then they already were. And guess what, they didn't win any games either. Despite that Adam did well and had a good time. He is a huge boy and when he tackeled it was like watching a bear tackle someone. He just obsorbed them and crushed them to the ground. It was really fun to watch. In the games he was not fast enough to run down many ball carriers but in practice durring the drills nobody got past him or even moved him. I think with a little work this summer he might be ready to take on a few running backs in the open field.

I do not have any pictures of Adam as yet but Daniel is one of the kids on all fours in two of the pictures and I am in a couple of them as well.

I hated tag in school and not much has changed.

So I need to do some explaining on this one. I got tagged by some friends of mine in Arizona. The rules of this tag are that you have to go to your my pictures folder and get the 6th picture in the 6th folder. The problem is that I have no folders in "my pictures" only pictures. So I counted pictures And found this one. I debated on what to do. I could add a more flattering picture or just say sorry I do not have 6 folders but in the end I decided to just play along.

The picture was taken the summer of 2007 when I was 280+ pounds. Since I am now 238 pounds you can see my hesitation. Oh well here you go.

Lets see, how about I send the same tag to Justin Dow, Melissa Leatherwood, Kenny Balser and Kenneth Stock.

What am I to do with this little girl.

I came to realize that I am going to get my clock cleaned. No it is not from some 6'8" prize fighter it is from a 3 foot tall little girl with blond hair in pigtails. Yes folks James Stock has met his match. I just have a very hard time trying to hold my ground. I do not know what it was with all my boys but I was able to hold my own and keep their puppy dog eyes in check. With this one I am whipped. She just has to say "please daddy" and it is like taking a punch in jaw, it's libel to knock me out! The other day she got Ice cream out of me. We had gone to a movie with the kids and she said "Daddy I had a dream that you bought me an ice cream cone and I gave you a kiss." We all were licking ice cream cones inside of 10 minutes. The worse part is that she has discovered shopping, at 4 years old, and between her and Lisa I fear for my safety. If anybody can refer a good trainer I could use some training. A good defensive coach would come in handy right about now.

What my kids do when we go on a date

The software from 3M that I support is updated every October and things get crazy. So all of my followers have not heard from me, sorry. Thought this might make up for my absence.

So a couple weeks ago we got home I discovered that while we were gone the kids thought they would make a video. I think they are creative and funny. Now I know what they do when we are gone. What do your kids do? (Or have you learned it is better not to leave!)

Rant!

I have not had a rant in a while so here goes. As most of you know the federal government is debating a bail out of some really stupid people. OK I will not name call. Some people who were not using their heads. How is that? The argument is that if you do not bail out these companies they will fail and then there will be ginormous financial repercussions. My arguments is that you can only prop up a house of cards for so long. If it is going to fail, it is going to fail. If the private sector can not hold it together what makes you think that the proud owners of the DMV can do any better. What is really going to happen is that the government will, in the end, just print more money and hurt the dollar which will in turn hurt everyone, even more so then if they would have just let the chips fall where they fall. If the lending industry would not have loaned sub prime loans they would not be in the mess they are in. If they do not suffer the consequences they will just do it again. If my kids get away with steeling once, what is to stop them from doing it again. We bailed out the savings and loans in the 80's and here we are with it happening all over again.

The bottom Line is that Governments, like ours, are not designed to be entrepreneurs. They make, enforce and interpret laws. In limited cases they provide certain things like roads, utilities, and emergency services. Out side of that, THEY DO NOT BELONG IN BUSINESS AND THEY WILL ALWAYS FAIL AT BUSINESS. The free market can do a much better job at meeting needs and regulating the market place. It is not perfect but close enough that it works. I might add that it works better then any other system that has ever been introduced in the history of the world.

What I believe is happening is that people are wanting things without thinking of the consequences. We are a buy now and pay latter culture. Take the City where I live, Eagle Mountain, UT. The City has reposed building a recreation center that is between 50 and 60 thousand square feet. They are going to hold hearing and if their is a favorable response they will put it on the ballet for a vote next summer. I think it would be great to have a place to go swim, lift weights, play racket ball and all kinds of other great things. However, It is not the City's place to build this. If it is profitable then let Golds Gym, 24 hour fitness,or any of a thousand other gyms in the US build one. If it is not profitable for them to build one then what makes them think that a group of people, who have major turnover every 4 years, can make it profitable? If it is a smart choice then it will work in the private sector, if it is not it wont. In Eagle mountain we have no businesses to shoulder the tax burden so where does everyone think the money will come from? Taxes will go to make up the shortfall that is naturally there blocking someone like golds gym form building it. The only thing people are going to see is "wow a rec center right here in our back yard, yeah." Buy now pay latter.

If I were to tell a young married couple to go and buy their dream home and brand new car on credit and just pay for it over time I would be told I was stupid. When I suggest that governments save for improvements instead of borrow for them people call me stupid. Am I just missing something? I fear for the storm that is coming. Nobody is thinking about what is going to happen when it all falls apart, and trust me it will.

Squash, Squash and more Squash

There is a movie called how to eat fried worms, I'm sure that most of you have seen it or read the book. I think I would like to write a book called how to eat a ton of squash.

The other night we were eating dinner as a family and I was still a tad bit hungry. (Not an unusual thing for a guy my size.) I asked for the squash since there was still quite a bit left. about 3 or 4 bites into the pile I realized this was just to much squash. I did not want to eat it at all. However, I had 5 children sitting with me at the table gagging down their squash. I could not say "no more for me thanks." Even though I had already had a helping they would doubtless say, "See dad, it is nasty stuff and we should not have to eat it." So for all you parents out there I took one for the team and gagged it down. The things we have to do to save face. Lisa could tell what was going on and she thought the whole thing was hilarious.

As a side note I have discovered that if you make squash brownies with the stuff you will have no problem eating them or getting your kids to eat them.

All time greatest movies.

Tonight Lisa wants to watch a movie for date night. I'm good with that. We always enjoy going to a Friday night movie. Over the years there are a few that have stood out and I enjoy watching over and over. Here is my favorites list.

Return to me - Lisa and I can watch this one over and over. It is a touching chick flick but the old men and especially James Belushi, make it a funny movie as well as a chick flick. If you have not seen this one I recommend it.

Indiana Jones - I am speaking of the first 3. Not to impressed with the last one. These are classics that I can watch over and over.

Star Wars - The series is a little bit long but for si-fi it is the one. It was one of the first movies I remember seeing as a kid in the movie theater. Maybe that is why I like them so much.

Spiderman - The current spider man movies I can see again and again. Once again my favorite super hero growing up as a kid was Spiderman. It is his vulnerability that I like. I hate superman these days.
Big Trouble in Little China - This is probably one of my all time favorites. It has some of the cheesiest scenes and awsome one liners in it. Lisa hates it so I don't get to see it very often.



Spencers Mountain - This is just an all around great movie. It tells of the struggle of a family who wants to elevate themselves. Definatly a great film. The oldest son's girlfriend is a little to interested in sex and reproduction but nothing bad. Annoying but not anything bad.

Better off Dead - Same category as Big Trouble in Little China.

The Count of Monte Cristo - This one is awesome. Lots of action, great story of triumph and a study in human nature. I love the priest. "... yes, you have counted all of them but have you named them?"

The Sand Lot - Ultimate boys growing up in life movie.

Silverado - This is my western. I like all of John Wayne's stuff but he is kind of like superman. I go for the guy that can be beat.

There are lots of other great movies I have seen and this list is not a complete one but these are defiantly my go to movies any time.

It's a new record

This morning I swam a mile again. I do it from time to time just to try and improve. The last time I blogged about it I swam the mile in 55 minutes. This morning I swam my mile in 49 minutes! Watch out Mr Phelps, I am coming up on you like a motor boat (Ha ha). To me this was a great thing because I have developed a philosophy in life that says, improve a little bit everyday. I do not shoot for a 30 minute mile I shoot for just a little bit better each time. The next time I swim the mile my goal is anything under 49 minutes and I win. This idea can be applied to marriage, work, church, parenting, fitness, education or anything else. If I want to be a better husband I can go home tonight and do something that Lisa would appreciate. If I want to be a better home teacher I can go home and set up an appointment or just go over to one of my families house and talk to them. If I do this for the next 30 years, can you imagine how much better of a person I will be? By focusing on little tiny things I can move mountains. The Lord said "By small and simple things great things are brought to pass." I am excited about my little improvements and I hope that when all of you come to my funeral one day you can say, "James was a great guy who made a lot out of the life he was given."

Ps. I could also apply this idea to my spelling.

The bug project

So I am thinking that I may start another blog with this one. We will see. A friend of mind found this 1974 Volkswagen beetle for sale for $400 at a gas station. He called me and I told him I wanted it. Kenneth turns 15 years old on the 12th of September and I was looking for some kind of project for him. A Volkswagen is an easy car to work on and great for a kid that wants to maintain his own car. Everything on these beetles is simple. So for the next year Kenneth and I will be fixing up this car and making it into a beautiful machine. The idea is a dark blue paint job with a light gray interior. The motor will remain a 1600 cc motor with everything stock (That means original not a spin on my name). Kenneth has never been one to have an interest in auto mechanics but now that it is his car and something he gets to drive he has suddenly plunged in with both hands. I really look forward to spending time with him working on this car. If anyone has any jobs they want done, give us a call, he could use the money to finance the project.

This is a picture of the car with him behind the wheel. It has a great body with only one rust spot that has to be fixed. The interior is in good shape but brown and blue aren't what he wants.

















The engine is actually in the garage right now. We started to do some work on it but came to the conclusion that we needed to just get it rebuilt all at once. The trunk on a 74 is nice because there is lots of room. In the 60's the spare tire made it hard to put anything up there but this one has all kinds of room.

All in all I think it will be great fun and a great experience for both me and Kenneth that we will be able to look back on with fondness for years to come.

21 Cantaloupe!!!!!!!!!!!!

They say you can take the boy out of the farm but you can not take the farm out of the boy. Such is true with me. I am having the time of my life raising a garden. I still have some bugs to work out but things are going great. I have grown this year watermelon, cantelope, yellow squash, carrots, white onions, purple onions, green onions, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, broclii, hot peppers, bell peppers (Green, Red, and Orange), and I have some peaches on the peach tree.

I have three Cantaloupe plants and this weekend I went out and counted the melons on the vines. There were 21 of them! I could not believe it. That was 21 big ones. I have lots of them that are the size of a baseball and hordes that are budding out the size of a marble. I will give it about 2 weeks and then they should be ready to pick. The kids are far more excited about the cantaloupe then they are the squash.





My tomatoes are doing great. I planted 10 but 0nly 8 made it. I was a little worried about them but they are now impressive. I have a few plants that are over 6 feet. It is amazing to see these things grow. I have picked a few tomatoes but most of them are still green. I have dozens and dozens of tomatoes that are just starting to get a yellowish tent to them. I can not wait to start using tomatoes in everything. If anyone has a really good tomato soup or spaghetti sauce recipe please let me know.
I am looking for all kinds of things to do with tomatoes.



The Squash has been unbelievable. I have picked dozens of large, and I do mean large, squash off of my 3 squash plants. The boys are sick of squash and even Lisa admitted to being sick of it (We had it for almost every meal for 2 weeks). We blanched a bunch of them and froze them so we could eat them this winter. There are 6 of them in the fridge right now and about 5 more on the vine waiting to be picked. I have never seen so many squash in all my life. Lisa said we only need one or two squash plants next year. So the same thing goes with squash, if you have a recipe just let me know and I will put it to use.


Watermelon are hard to grow in Utah. What happens is you end up with these nice looking melons and then the frost comes about 2 or 3 weeks before they are ready to eat. I just might get to eat some this year. I have about 5 melons that I think will make it. As long as I can cover them up and beat the first few frosts I will be spitting seeds while eating watermelon on the deck. I picked my biggest melon over labor day only to discover that I was about 2 or 3 weeks early. I was totally bummed.




The only one of my fruit trees that has produced is my peach tree. It has about 15 peaches that are within a week or two of being ready to eat. This is one of my greatest excitements with all the stuff I am growing. There is no fruit, in my opinion, that is better then a peach. Next year I expect I may have some apples and cherries in addition to the peaches.







So there you have it. Not a very exciting post to those who do not have a farm boy trapped inside them. After all the practice this year next year I hope to have an even better production. It is always exciting for me to grow things and I look forward to it each year. Next year I may even be able to get Lisa to let me grow some potatoes in the flower bed. (Put in a good word for me if any of you get a chance :-)

All my projects done!

So I had posted a blog earlier about all my projects and how I had nothing to do except take up fishing. I had Kenneth take some pictures for me of the diffrent projects. It is amazing how much work putting in a back yard is.

I do not have a picture of the side of the house. I put gravel on both sides of the house so now when it rains I don't get a big mud mess. I will try to get a picture of it put up here. The rest of the projects do have a picture.


This picture is of the trampoline. It took us about a year to dig the hole to put it in. Every time the kids misbehaved we made them pull weeds in the back yard or dig in the "pit" for 30 minutes. The problem was that they started to behave a little better. I finally took a day off of work and Lisa and I finished it off. You can also see the garden boxes up against the fence. I have cantaloupe and watermelon on the left, carrots, onions, lettuce and spinach in the middle. The squash is in the middle in the back. On the right I have 8 tomato plants. I planted 10 but 2 died.



This picture is on the other side of the yard. You can see the garden box with the strawberries, broccoli, peppers and some more watermelon. You can also see the fruit trees. I have an apple, peach and cherry tree. The peach is the only one that has started to produce. They are in their 3rd year so I expect that maybe the other two will start producing something next year.







This is another shot of the garden box that runs along the back fence.













The deck is finaly done. I got it all waterproofed right before it rained. It was nice to be done with it. I look forward to a lot of grilling on this thing. Next year I plan to build a picnick table that you can fould out into two benches to put on it.










These next few pictures are in the front of the house. The one that does not have the house in it is out front. We did not plant anything there this year and thought we would only have the rose bushes but all the petunias came up from last year. It was a pleasant surprise. I also have a picture of Daniel and Troy on their first day of school. Daniel is in 5th grade and Troy is in 3rd. You can tell how much Daniel loves school The only redeeming quality of school according to him is that he gets to play football at lunch time.