Greatfull

I have been reading some of my friends post on their blogs. Some have had deaths in their family, children in the hospital, and boughts with cancer. It makes me so greatfull for my life. The last tragedy that my family suffered was when my father died more then a decade ago. Daniel was in the hospital for heart surgery almost 11 years ago and is now playing tackle football. I have been blessed beyond measure in my life. A friend of mine mentioned a particular year that was the best year of his life. My best year was last year and the year before that it was that year. Every year seems to be better then the last for me. I am not sure why some have more trials then other. I do not think I will ever know in this life. All I can do is be greatfull for the little trials that I have to endure and the unnumbered blessing that I receive every day. My heart and prayers go out to all those who have so many trials.

Time on my hands.

This Saturday I shoveled somewhere between 4 and 5 ton of rock. I now have rock on both sides of my house. There will no longer be mud there all winter long. It was a lot of work but I managed to pull it off. I might add that it is nice to finally have my sons big enough to be a big help in all of the projects. As I stood there admiring my handiwork I realized that I have now put in garden boxes, a lawn, window well covers, buried the trampoline, built a deck, finished a basement and put in flower beds. The only thing that is left that is relay pressing is I need to finish the bathroom basement. I am not sure what I will do with my time once that is done. Maybe I should take up fishing.

1957 VS 2007

For the most part I do not forward emails but this one I loved so much I just had to send it to the people I know. So here it is, a comparison of 1957 to 2007. We have come so far in the last 50 years and at the same time we have become so dumb in the last 50 years.

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957
- Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007
- School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to
jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for
traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957
- Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.


Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957
- Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.


Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested f or child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.


Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007- BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenar io: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

A great loss...

Today I announce with a heavy heart the loss of one of our family. After having almost 4 years of enjoyment with her my baby is no longer with us. It has been a source of great sadness and pain in the Stock home. We will always remember her with fondness and love. We will ever look at our time with her as special and preciouses. I sold her to a retired gentleman this weekend. My dune buggy is no longer mine. It has been a lot of fun to build these cars and I will miss them.

Tragedy or Stupid people?

So this week we had a tragedy here in Utah. There was a family doing a hand cart reenactment along the same path that their great great grandpa had done. It was on a 2 lane road in a small town here in Utah. A pickup truck came over a rise with the sun directly in the drivers eyes and not being able to see the truck plowed into them and killed the grandpa and a 14 year old girl. Complete tragedy. There are those who blame the guy in the truck for not seeing them or driving different so as to not hit them. But as tragic as this is I have to say it was the stupid people "playing" in the middle of the road. Ever since I became a father I have told my kids not to play in the middle of the road. In this tragedy we have a family that is pulling handcarts or driving wagons down a road with children all around. There is no shoulder on the side and they have a car with flashers on in front of the group. Heaven forbid we put someone BEHIND THEM!

Anyway, I am saddened by the loss of life for such stupid reasons. It seems that if someone would have said "Hey lets not do this on a paved road where 2 and 3 thousand pound vehicles travel" this could have been avoided. There are millions of acres of unpaved wilderness and roads that could have been used. I was the young mens president for 8 years in two different stakes and I found that if I would stop and think things through and then run the idea by some other people to think about it we could identify potential problems with outings and activities.

This is not an isolated thing. I hear stories of kids having loads of freight fall on them and kill them because they were riding on the forklift. There are those who loose kids out of car doors because they were not buckled in and it goes on and on.

There are a lot of people who I care about a great deal who read this blog and I just want to say lets all learn from this tragedy and be a little more intelligent about what we are doing. If you see something that is stupid be quick to speak up and say something about it. If that 14 year old girl had been one of my friends daughters or my niece I would be heart broken and torn up something fierce about it. Lets just all think about the things we do so nobody has to endure a stupid tragedy.

Thanks for letting me spout off.

Lisa's top 10

Today Lisa turned 37. I made her a top 10 list. Some of them are inside jokes and you will not get them but most of those who know her will join her for a good laugh.

Top 10 reasons why things are

better for Lisa at 37 then 36

10. No more seeing the bluick out the front window all day.

9. According to Krislyn…Now all she has to do is clean the kitchen and do the laundry.

8. The blemish on the front of the house has been there long

enough that there is no need to remove it.

7. No more visiting teaching reports.

6. You’re one year closer to never being able to retire.

5. You can still lie and say you are only 32.

4. Your husband has discovered where the power button is on the vacuum.

3. Not everyone gets to have a rusty VW beetle in front of the house.

2. You are no longer married to a fat man.

1. You have had enough bladder incidents that nobody cares anymore.

Great Concert.

Last night I went to a really good concert. I attend the Mormon Tabernacle choir concert "Music for a summers evening." There were 6 or 8 performers prior to the choir who did a great job. It is nice to hear good music. I have seen the tabernacle choir many times on TV but never have I experienced a live concert like this one. I sat in the old Tabernacle about 15 feet away from the men in the upper level. Between the choir and the pipe organ they shook me in my seat. When they sang "Oh though font of every blessing" it sent chills up my spine. Nothing compares to it. If you go to LDS.org you will find a schedule of events at temple square. I would recommend the experience to anyone. It was one of the more rewarding experiences of the year. (Sorry, I still would rather catch 60 fish but it was right up there.)

Tattoo

So I had a couple people ask about the tattoo on my bicep in my picture. It all started when my friend Aaron was in the office with his camera. He was taking pictures so I flexed my bicep for the camera. (Lots of dumb shots taken) So then another guy Brian, Aaron's cousin got out his photo shop and did a cut and past with Lisa and a pin up poster girl. Ended up as a tattoo on my arms.

The tattoo is not real but it is funny. Here is the actual pictures that were merged.