"The opportunity of a life time...

Family pictures

2010-11-16T17:25:00.001-08:00

We took some family pictures and had a lot of fun doing it. Nobody got hit by the train. (However some boys got themselves scolded for screwing around and would have rathered the train over mom's wrath!)

Nice Mellons

2010-10-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

I finaly did it! I grew some good mellons in Utah. This is actually quite a feet for me. I had 2 watermellons that actually made it to being fully ripe. I seem to allways do good with the Cantalope but this one in the picture was huge. It was as big as a full size football. The watermellon was an "icebox" watermellon. By desighn it is small. Next year I am going to go for a full size seedless watermellon.

Scout camp with girls.

2010-09-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

This summer Kenneth worked as a life guard at Camp Steiner in the high Uinta mountains here in Utah. It is the highest elevation scout camp in the world and they have the ice cold lake to prove it! Our family got invited up for a full week. We got to stay in a cabin and were fed all of our meals. There were a few things we did by way of PR but that was about the only chores we did. We could use all the facilities there. We went out on the canoe, fished, shot the bows, fished and all kinds of other things. It was a great deal of fun.

We went fishing most everyday. We did not catch a lot of fish but we did catch some. They were very good eating and Lisa had fresh fish for the first time and liked it. Fresh trout out of the lake are very tasty, especially when I am the one cooking them.

Daniel earned a fist full of merit badges. He had a lot of fun and was busy all day long. This is a picture of him making a pen that looks like an arrow.

Lisa did this while we fished. It is always nice to sit on the edge of a beautiful lake and read. I like to sit and fish but we all have our thing. For me it is not so much the fish I catch as the view and peaceful setting.

Adam was a counselor for Basketry and this is a picture of him in action. Kenneth was a life guard and taught canoeing. You can see a picture of him teaching canoeing on the previous post about him turning 17. They were both very good counselors and were spoken of very highly by the staff at the camp.
I took this picture while we were out on a hike one day. The place was beautiful and made for some great memories. I have lots of other cool pictures but All I can put on here were these. Maybe I will put up another post with some more.

Pioneers, well sort of.

2010-09-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

Lots of things happened this summer. One of them was a youth confrence for our stake. Both Kenneth and Adam were able to attend. They pulled handcarts around our area for three days. Well I am sure there was more to it then that but in a nutshell they got to reinact the handcart experiance. They did have portra-johns and 4 wheelers but hey it's all good. Ask them about it some time or just check out the video that will be on the http://www.lds.org/ website soon.

This one is a Rant!

2010-09-13T20:39:00.001-07:00

I received an email from Orin Hatch, The Senior Senator from Utah. I sent the following letter to him. I would suggest you do the same.

I just received the following in an email.

"I think there might be three things that almost everyone can agree upon; first, most everyone dislikes paying taxes; second, most everyone thinks the tax system is too complex and unfair; and finally, most everyone agrees that when it comes to taxes, Washington needs an attitude adjustment.

"What many do not realize and liberals refuse to acknowledge is that fully half of the income that would be taxed at higher rates under the president's plan is income earned by small- and medium-sized businesses that report their taxes on individual tax returns."

That is just a piece of what was in the email but it is enough to show my point. Does it not occur to you that YOU ARE WASHINGTON! You have a senior position on the Finance committee. When George Bush was president and with a republican majority in both the house and the senate none of these things you are now talking about got fixed. John McCain talked about immigration in his last campaign but what did he do about it when you guys had a majority. He screwed America right along with all of you republicans. He was a calling for amnesty! It does not matter who is in power the American people are getting raped everyday. You say you are fighting for us but with a majority you did not cut government spending you grew it. You did not create meaningful reduction in taxes to the middle class. I would like some real answers not just rederick about why things are still out of control after both parties have had a chance at control of the government. I will be voting the incumbent out regardless of party in the next few elections unless I hear an apology for being a liar and a thief to the American people. On your watch we are spending our children's money. Without a complete and total break down and disolvement of our Government I do not see a way out. Like a large number of irresponsible Americans bankruptcy is the only way out. The numbers are there to prove it and you do not walk in ignorance. You are not the solution to the problem and you have been the problem for many many years. Senator Bob Bennett was run out of office on a rail and I think you are on your way there as well. Come clean and repent of what you have done to this country. Show us that you can take the blame and that you are willing to make great sacrifices in order to fix what seems by all accounts to be an unfixable problem.

Show us that you can turn off the spicket to everyone, including Utah and then I may consider sending you back. If not, I guarantee you that you are as good as out at the next election.

Kenneth turned 17!

2010-09-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

Today our oldest son Kenneth turned 17. It's hard to believe. It doesn't seem that long ago he was sitting on the floor playing with his trains and blocks. The years have shaped him into a fine young man. One that we are very proud of. He is currently working on his Eagle project. He is building doll houses to donate to our Stakes annual HEARTS for the holiday's. These doll houses will go to some little girls for Christmas. He spent the summer as a life guard and canoing and rowing merit badge councilor at the boys scout camp, Camp Steiner. He worked there for 8 weeks coming home on Saturday's for 24 hours. Long enough to wash his clothes, take a shower, eat a good meal and sleep 12 hours. We missed him while he was gone but were so excited he had that amazing opportunity.

Wow an actual post!

2010-09-07T15:45:00.001-07:00

If there is anyone out there who still hits this site from time to time I am back ... well I hope so anyway. My aunt sent me an email and told me she misses my blog so since I have a fan club, I decided I would start up again. , To bring you up to date, I have been studying to become a software engineer. It is consuming my time and the time I don't spend at that has been used up with projects around the house and a few family trips. The blog has had to sit on the back burner and will continue to play second fiddle but I am going to try to keep it up a little better.

Krislyn just started kindergarten and so Lisa has expressed an interest in posting stuff from time to time on a blog. I told her she could use mine. That means that if you see a post that is in good taste and non offensive in any way she posted it. If it is mumbled jargon and rants of all different kinds it is probably from me.

Stay tuned for some posts of what we did this summer. It was a fun summer for my family and I.

New Ice Cream Flavor.

2010-02-22T08:51:00.000-08:00

My friend Aaron sent me this. I could not help but post it. I am assuming that some people have already recieved it in an email but here it is just the same. It made me laugh.

A NEW ICE CREAM FLAVOR

In honor of the 44th President of the United States , Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream has introduced a new flavor: Barocky Road.

Barocky Road is a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts and flakes. The vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient. The nuts and flakes are all very bitter and hard to swallow, and the cost is $100.00 per scoop.
When purchased it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, but after you pay for it, the ice cream is taken away and given to the person in line behind you at no charge.

You are left with an empty wallet and no change, holding an empty cone with no hope of getting any ice cream.

Are you stimulated?

Random Ketchup

2010-02-22T05:40:00.000-08:00

Due to the last few comments on my last post I figure that I should put up another post. Kind of random and loosely joined but here goes. I turned 39 years old on Feb 9th. It was nothing different but made me reflect. People say that 40 is the hump but that is based on the assumption that you will live to 80. Since I am only planning on 70 I crossed the hump 4 years ago. Nothing to worry about it now.

I am the assistant coach on Troy's basketball team and having fun with him on that. Had an incident with some crazy parents this weekend. Some parents are just way to out of control. I was embarrassed for them and their coach. Poor kid has to accept the fact that his parents can't behave. Lisa pointed out a fact to me. She said "no wonder these kids have such horrible behavior, look at the way their parents act." Seriously folks lets all take a look at our behaviors. If your kid is doing something stupid there is a good chance you need to do a re-evaluation of your example.

I recently to a trip to Arizona and found it to be very nice down there. I am past ready for the snow to be gone. Lisa and I left the kids for 4 days and they didn't so much as set off the smoke alarm. The only thing that got broken was the mixer and Kenneth had it replaced before we even got home. I am impressed with them. Lisa and I had a lot of fun visiting our families that live there. I am thinking we need to take these kinds of trips more often.

Ps. Yes, I spelled it ketchup and not catch up. Just thought I would drive the spelling Nazis nuts.

Heads up!!!

2010-02-03T06:11:00.000-08:00

I came across a statistic today in an article I read.

CNBC estimates that pornography is a $13 billion industry here in the U.S. Every second, according to CNBC, $3,075 is spent on porn; more than 28,000 Internet users are viewing it; and 372 Internet users are using search engines to find it. And every 39 minutes, a new porn video is produced.

Most kids are more plugged in then their parents and savey on technology. If they have an Ipod you can bet the option has most likely been presented to them to put porn on to it. When I was a kid you had to get an older looking friend to go to the 7-11 and try to buy a magazine in another town because the clerk knew you in your own town, or find someones dad or brother who collected them. (Not that I did that stuff I am just saying that is the way it was.) With $13 billion to spend don't think for a minute they are not trying to get stuff to your kids. It is there and it happens.

Often times I think, "my kids are good kids and I am not worried about them going out and finding it." I am that way with my kids a lot of times but now days you do not have to go looking for it, it comes looking for you. This post is just a reminder to all of us to be involved with our kids and their technology.

Wow, how do you like them Apples?

2010-01-28T09:44:00.000-08:00

Apple released the Ipad and I am impressed. I am by no means a techno junky, I rely on Jason Barker and Jimmy Anderson to keep me up to date on the techno geek world. However I am impressed. This little gadget brings all the gadgets into one. The way I see it, is that all of your devices are now wraped together in this thing. Look out gadget companies this one is going to be hard to beat, especially at $500! I think I will wait for version 2 but this one is on my list. Lisa and I are betting Jason will own one by the end of February.

click here for more info.

Jazz Vs Heat

2010-01-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

Troy is playing basketball this year and as a player he gets a ticket to a Jazz game. As the assistant coach I got a ticket as well so we went to see the Jazz play the Miami Heat. They did not bring much heat as it was very cold but we had a lot of fun. We were so high up I thought I was going to fall in. I am a little iffy on the whole heights thing and that did not help. I would prefer to sit on the couch and watch the game however it is fun to actually go and watch it live. It is exciting and load along with the charged atmosphere. I also don't have kids or neighbors distracting me from the game. All in all I think it is something to do at least every once in a while.

The Jazz won 114 to 89 and so our spirits were up. My friend Aaron Ball took the credit. He said that the Jazz have never lost a game when he is in attendance. For this reason I am thinking of taking up a collection for season tickets for him so that they can win every home game.

The Blind side.

2010-01-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

It is a busy month but I needed to put up a recommendation. The movie "The Blind Side" is a definite must see. If you have not seen it yet, get out and do so. It is well worth it. Sandra Bullock redeemed herself from "The Proposal" with this one.

Bear Hunting

2009-12-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

Last year for Christmas Adam and Daniel got .22 rifles and have been learning how to shoot all this year. For Christmas today they both got a scope to go on their guns. I took them out and we sited in the scope. Daniel's gun is dead on and Adam's is close, we just need a little more time and it will be dead on as well. Once we were sited in on Daniel's gun he scanned the horizon and about 150 yards out he caught site of a black bear! being the daring boy that he is he carefully took aim and squeezed the trigger. To both his and my surprise the bear fell down. The bullet had gone through the right side of his chest and exited on his left shoulder. When Daniel landed his 22 inch trout I had no camera to prove he caught it but this time I happened to have the camera and took a picture for all of you to see. I don't know of any other kids who are able to claim they took down a black bear from 150 yard with a .22 rifle. Of course since he killed it I made him haul it out.

The Trail to Eagle is crowded.

2009-12-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

I have been swamped of late at work and have not posted. But hey the waffles were good to look at. This last Sunday evening we had a court of honor for the boy scouts in our unit. It was fun to see them. They worked hard and got a number of merit badges and rank advancements.

Kenneth got his Cycling merit badge. He is so close to Eagle I think he is sprouting some feathers behind his ears. You can see how many merit badges he already has. I think he has one or two more required merit badges and and his eagle project and he will have the Rank. He has gotten way more then I ever did.

Adam has caught on fire and has been bugging his scout master to give him merit badge counselors for all the badges he is interested in. He received 11 merit badges at this last court of honor. He also got his Advancement to Star. That means that by this time next year he will also be an Eagle along with Kenneth.

Daniel is new to scouts. He received 3 rank advancements, Tenderfoot, Second class and First Class. He also received his first aid merit badge as well. If he sticks with it by April 2010 he will be an Eagle Scout.

All the boys in the troop got the first aid merit badge given out by Steve Conger who is a firefighter/paramedic. I sure appreciate guys like him that are so involved in helping boys grow into men. (You will notice that Jared Carnes has already grown full size! He is only 13.)

I am very proud of my boys. They are achievers and polite and respectful to others. They are by no means perfect but they are good boys who give me no cause for grief or sorrow. I did things that caused my parents grief and I feel bad for that. I still remember the cops calling my dad to come and pick me up one night. (That is a story for another time) It is nice to see that my boys are turning out better then me.

Oh Boy Waffles

2009-11-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

My Dad had a recipe for waffles that was the best you can possibly imagine. They are 100% whole wheat and very good for you. I like to make them and pour blended fruit over them and then top it all with whip cream. It has less calories then syrup so my health agrees. If you would like to have some of these you can. Here is the recipe:

3 cups of Wheat Flour. (You can use white but that will just make you fat and it doesn't taste as good.)

3 eggs beaten

1/4 cups oil

1 tsp Salt

1 1/2 Tbs Sugar

4 tsp Baking Powder

2 3/4 cups Milk

I first beat my eggs till they are foamy then add milk and oil. Mix these together and then add the dry ingredients. Poor into a waffle iron or onto a hot griddle and enjoy. (If you want them fluffier just add a little watter to make it more runny.)

A few days ago I got out the powdered egg and powdered milk and made up a mix that makes 10 times this much. It was a lot of fun. Now I can just scoop out some mix, add the water and oil and I am eating in no time. Maybe on my free time this week I will work up a brownie mix!

TGIF!

2009-11-13T05:49:00.000-08:00

Some weeks are longer then others and this one is just such a week. I am glad it is over. I was out sick the first two days and it has been a grind at work each day. Maybe I will get to relax this weekend. That usually never happens but hey, we can always hope.

It is Friday the 13th of November and it rained in Eagle Mountain last night, not snow but rain. It is like it just can't get cold enough to snow. I am of course perfectly fine with that but it is a little weird. Oh well life goes on, snow or no snow.

Anyway there is some randomness for you. Have a great weekend.

A sad state of affairs.

2009-11-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

As most of you know I am a resident of Eagle Mountain UT. I love Eagle Mountain and have many friends who live there with me. It is a quiet little community that is growing at an incredible rate. It is estimated that they will grow by 10% a year for the next few years at least. In 1996 they had about 250 residence and according to the US Census Bureau in 2008 there were approximately 22,309 people living here. The population is largely young families. In a 2007 statistical survey, more than 85% of residents rated their quality of life as “good” or “excellent.” This brings me to the point of my blog this morning.

This week we had a municipal election. It was a vote for Mayor and for 2 city councilmen. Not a "big" election some would say. I disagree. It is my opinion that what impacts us the most is what takes place on a local level not so much state and national. With the populationof Eagle Mountain at 22,309 and assuming each home has 2 parents and 3 children I came up with the following voter information.

Potential registered voters - 8923

Actual registered voters - 7578

Number that don't care to vote - 1345

Now These 1345 for the most part are uninvolved and uninformed people who are probably to stupid to vote and I am fine with them not participating anyway. There is no end to the damage that can be done by a large number of stupid people. I am sure that in that group are some great people who for one reason or another have a good reason why they have not yet been added to the voter registry. The other 1339 can be left out of the voting pool and I do not care.

Registered voters - 7578

Votes cast - 1655

Total voter turnout - 21.8%

Less then one in 4 people voted in this last election. In the Book of Mormon Mosiah points out that it is not usual for the voice of the people to choose that which is wrong or bad. However 21.8% really is not the voice of the people. It is becoming clear to me that the voice of the people is "I don't care, I am to busy with my little world to care about anything or anyone else." It is kind of ironic that this is about the same percentage as the home teaching numbers I was seeing when I was the High Priest group leader.

I sit in Sunday school or at different activities with people and hear about how bad things are in "the world" and how hard it is to raise kids. Just yesterday Kenneth came home and said that the Westlake library has more books on gay marriage then they do on us history. I have not been down and counted them myself but Kenneth is pretty good with his facts so I will assume he is right. When you tell someone that they shake there head and say what is happening to us. Why is there so much evil and wickedness in the world. I submit to you that it is the good men and women who turn their focus inward and have left the "gates of the city" unattended. For example, the school board makes the decision on what happens in our schools. I am sure that they do not select each book that gets put in the library however I wonder if anyone has submitted complaints to them about this. I have not. I do not know what their agenda is nor do I know what their track record is. I have allowed just the watchmen of my children's education to go unchecked. I have allowed the watchmen for my community and nation to go unchecked and the as such we now have the fox guarding the hen house.

It is a sad state of affairs and a dangerous one. It is time that the people wake up and take action if it is already not to late. (Ps. Start by doing your home teaching!)

I love power tools

2009-11-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Every year my kids love to get out the knives and carve the pumpkins. It is a lot of fun and I enjoy seeing all the different creative ideas that they come up with. However cutting out all those pumpkins with a knife, no matter how sharp, is a bit tedious. A couple years ago I saw something on a web page where someone used power tools to carve their pumpkin. I thought it was cool and so I tried it. I have taken this idea and never looked back. A one inch wood drill bit makes a perfect circular hole and cut thing out the mouth and eyes with a jigsaw is fast and easy. I break out the dremal for the detail work and within a third of the time I have a finished product. If you have never used power tools you should try it.

Daniel got grossed out by the pumpkin guts so he went and got a sandwich bag to use as a glove. It was kind of funny. Boys are all rough, tough and macho but it is funny the things that will turn that whole notion upside down.

This was Krislyn's first year where she actually designed the pumpkin. It was a simple design but cute. She really did have fun with it. Notice the nice jig saw laying on the table in front of her?

Meet the Flintstones!

2009-11-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

Lisa and I have not been big Halloween people. It is fun to let the kids dress up and go out and trick-or-treat but we have never gotten into it much. However the last few years my friend Aaron has been inviting me to his halloween parties and so we have dressed up. This year Lisa and I were Fred and Willma Flintstone. It was a lot of fun. I made both costumes, not bad for an amature. After all a sewing machine is nothing but a powertool with thread. I would actually like to get a new one but the one we have does what we need. The funniest part was all the kids who did not know who the flintstones were! This rising generation needs some good old fashion cartoons. We thought it a great deal of fun to go as a famouse couple. Does any one have any suggestions for us for next year?

Redneck Friends!

2009-11-03T06:24:00.001-08:00

People call me a red neck and they are right I have lots of redneck tendencies that Lisa, try as she may, has not been able to get worked out of me. It is my redneck friends that make me who I am. They are very dear to me and their ways and habits are just a little to persuasive to my natural down home tendencies. Take my friends here, Dave and Melisa Leatherwood.

They are the salt of the earth and some of the best people on the planet. I enjoy spending time with them as much as I do any family member. Heck some relatives I would love to replace them with. Although Dave has a mullet and rotten teeth and Melisa wears a hat everywhere she goes they are great company and I look forward to spending time with them.

They love bowling, 4 wheeling and all kinds of Redneck activities. Who cares that they have a shovel like this for camping? If you ever have an opportunity to meet David and Melisa Leatherwood just be sure to look past their redneckedness and see them for what they are on the inside, just downright good folk that make the world a better place to live.

Scouting is awsome.

2009-10-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

I am now the 11 year old scout leader. I started back in July so I guess it has been a little while. This last weekend I took the boys on a camp out. We had a few of them who have just turned 12 and a few others who will be turning 12 in the next little bit so we decided to take them and the older boys so they could get used to each other. It was a great camp out. We did not have as many of the older boys go but the two that went are awesome.

My Adam and Jackson Balser were the two older boys who showed up. What I like about these two is they show up and generally carry their weight around camp. You don't have to be their mother. Their packs are packed with the right stuff, you never hear them say, "my mom didn't pack me..." nor do we have to tell them everything to do. They are a good influence on the younger boys and I was glad to have them along. I told all the younger boys that these guys are the ones to watch and be like. I think a key part of the scouting program is good scout leaders and older scouts to roll model the younger boys.

There were 8 boys and 3 leaders/parents who went with us and in the picture they are left to right, Daniel, Tanner, Adam, Brother Gardner(Cadens Dad), Brendon, Pk, Brother Balif(Scout Master), Jackson, Caden and Ben, I was taking the picture. I am excited for this group as they are all really good together and have the potential to be a solid group of good peer pressure.

We went hiking up American Fork Canyon by Tibbel fork. It was a little bit past the season of fall colors. There were still a few leaves left on the trees but not many. It would have been a lot better 3 weeks earlier. It was only relatively cold so all in all the whole things was a success. We did a 5 mile hike that was quite an adventure. We took a wrong turn and indeed up having to climb strait up the side of the mountain through the underbrush to get back on track after the trail we were on ended. I would recommend that hike to anyone who wants to see some of the beauty that exists in the rocky mountains, just make sure that you take the turn to the left when the trail forks.

There were some breathtaking views when we got to the top. I saw a hawk circling over the lake below and watched him with my binoculars. It was really cool. The lake you see way down below the boys on the left is Tibbel. Adam is about half way up the side of the mountain where we had to blaze our own trail. I did not have enough room for all the pictures but just out of the picture of Adam there are two caves on the far mountain. Maybe some day I will hike up there and check them out.

I try to be the last one in line when on the trail so that I can pick up any stragglers that might be falling behind. This was a section of the trail that I pictured as being just beautiful 3 weeks ago. Right now it is just bare oak trees but picture all those leaves you see on the ground still attached to the trees above and full of color. I love the outdoors and I love the scouting program because it gives me an excuse to go out and enjoy it.

Monday night basketball, Really? Come on now...

2009-10-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

I get irritated about national politics and feel that this country is in a tail spin. However I get it and realize that the voice of America is choosing these things and my voice is becoming more and more of a minority. So I simply do my best to voice my concern and then I go on living my life realizing that the train is on a crash course and will most likely crash with all kinds of pain involved. This I accept and deal with. However there are some things that just down right piss me off! I received an email from the city of Eagle Mountain announcing a men's basketball league. I love basket ball and got all excited about it. I read on in anticipation, thinking of the guys that would be fun to play with on a team. Then I read the part that makes me so mad. It is to take place on Monday night! Now those who read my blog and are not LDS may not understand. Since I was a small boy I have heard the leaders of the LDS church ask local church, civic and other leaders to not plan things on Monday nights so that families could have that time for family night. In Eagle mountain you have a concentration of LDS people that is greater then any other place in the world. In some neighborhoods you are upwards of 80% LDS. I am sure there is some reason that they have selected Monday night but in my opinion, based on the demographic there is no reason to do this. In the national theater I have no voice but in my community I think I do and so I am asking all who read my blog to join with me in making our voice heard. If you are of the same opinion as me please respond to this with me. I have sent an email to the Eagle Mountain Sports Director, Jason Hall, letting him know how I feel about them scheduling this on Monday nights. His email address is jhall@Emcity.org. You can read up on the details of this by clicking here or going to http://www.emcity.org/. Please join me in responding and tell all your friends and neighbors to do it as well. Lets have as many people as possible respond.

This afternoon I recieved an Email from Jason Hall and the city has changed the nights of the basketball games. Thanks to all those who participated. The website has not been updated but I am sure it will be shortly.

Snow, hummph!

2009-10-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

I hate the snow. I prefer to be warm and dry. Yes, from time to time you can find things about the snow that are fun but for the most part I hate snow. Today was the first snow and I scowled at it all day long. It did my no good but at least I gave that blasted white stuff the what-for. Makes me wonder why I left Mesa!

Am I just getting Old?

2009-10-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

So I have noticed something. When I was younger I used to be able to memorize phone numbers like crazy. I had at any given time the ability to call 25 to 30 people just from memory. I noticed the other day that I only have about 5 numbers in my head and Lisa's cell is not one of them. It has been suggested that the brain only does what it needs to and in todays culture we have cell phones and auto dial and so there is no need to learn these numbers. Thus the brain does not store it. Now that may be true for some but I have no cell phone (the one I had went through the washing machine) I have never used auto dial and so I have to say I am a bit perplexed as to why I can not remember phone numbers anymore. I think it is just like the glasses, old age is starting to catch up.

New Pictures

2009-10-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

I took Lisa and the kids up American Fork Canyon on Sunday and we got some pictures. It was a lot of fun and we kenneth got some nice shots of us. Have a looksee.

I like pie!

2009-10-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize about not blogging for a bit. Work is crazy so sometimes you just have to relax and take a break. I did that a few weeks ago when my mother and father in law were here visiting. Lisa and her mother went up to Salt Lake City to the Women's conference held every October. They had a great time. It was her mom's first time to attend a meeting there. I on the other hand stayed home with her dad and the kids. I was not in the mood for the root beer floats Lisa left us. I wanted pie! I like pie and will eat it to engorgement.
I went out and picked some apples off my apple tree in the back yard and pulled out the "Fat Sisters Cookbook." This is a wonderful cookbook and let me tell you those fat sisters can cook! I followed the instructions to the best of my abilities and made probably one of the best apple pies I had ever tasted. I am sure that I was a bit bias but it was really good. I felt like the little red hen. I grew the apples, baked the pie and enjoyed it to my hearts content. Dosen't this shot of the finished product make you think it's about time for thanksgiving?

1 and 5

2009-09-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Football has been fun this year. We are currently 1 and 5. (1 win and 5 losses) In spite of this the boys are having a great time. We no longer get blown out. The games are much closer and the skill level much improved. My favorite thing is to see the boys that are not so good at the first of the year get it and become these great little football players.

This shot is of Daniel. He looks great, don't you think. He is not so big of course but man is he ever fast. If he can break away from the pack there is no catching him. However when the pack catches him he still gives them a good fight.

We run a play called the 24 lead. As you can see we open a hole big enough to drive a car through. We send a lead blocker through the 4 hole (between the right guard and right tackle) and the running back follows him through. It is almost allways a 6 yard gain on this play. It works better on the right as our right side of the line does a better job of blocking. Once the other team figure it out they stack half their team in front of that hole and it slows us down.

Sometimes we clobber them and sometimes they clobber us. The cool thing about this kind of football is that it is a very exciting game. There are lots sudden changes and break away plays that keep you on the edge of your seat.

Coaching is a lot of fun for me. Nobody ever realy took the time to coach me in football. All the coaches I ever had simply took the most talented guys and used them the best they could. In all my years of playing none of my coaches ever tried to develope their players. They did not take the time with the less talented and help them become good ball players. I was a big strong farm boy so I was able to hold my own but if I knew then what I have learned now I think I would have been more effective as a player and had a lot more fun.

Thomas S. Monson

2009-09-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

My aunt was one of president Monson's missionaries when she served her mission in Canada. She was an awesome missionary and stayed in touch with him and the other missionaries over the years. On Monday the 14th of September my aunt died and I attended her funeral on Monday the 21st. While I was sitting there talking with my relatives in walked Thomas S. Monson, president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later day Saints. He greeted many people who walked by and shacked his hand. There was a family just in front of us who took a long time and just as they were finishing the funeral was to start so I did not get a chance to shake his hand, but we turned together and payed attention to what was happening. I stood shoulder to shoulder with the prophet of God. He did not shine with a glorious glow nor was there some magic about him. I was fascinated with the humble man that stood next to me. He had greeted my family members with kindness and grace. He had a natural way about him that made everyone comfortable. I guess we all kind of look at the prophet as near immortal but he was just a man, no different then my grandpa or my father. It made me stand a little taller to know that he was nothing of a super man just a good man who made many righteous choices. He cared enough to come to the funeral when he was very busy. The really neat thing to me was that he seemed to be interested and feel for each person that was there. He wiggled his ears at a small boy, waved at Krislyn and in genuine concern and love took each he greeted by the hand and took time with them. What comes to my mind is when the savior came and met the Nephites. I think it was much the same. When I picture the savior doing that I picture the exact same kind of person. It makes me want to be like that. It is an experience I will always remember.

Pay it forward.

2009-09-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

I participated in a blog post on a friend's blog and as a result, that friend will make something and give it to me. I'm rather curious about it and wonder what it will be. However, there was one condition which was that I had to offer the same deal on my blog. So here I go...

The Giveaway

The first three people to post a comment on this blog posting will get something made by me that will be especially for you.
There is some fine print associated with this deal:

1.I make no guarantee that you will like what I make (but I hope you will).
2.What I create will be just for you.
3.I have a year to get it to you.
4.You have no clue what it's going to be. It's a surprise to both of us at this point.

There is a catch! You must repost this same offer on your blog and offer the same deal to the first five people who do the same on your blog.

Sweet 16, well kind of.

2009-09-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

I set this to auto post at 6:15 am on Sept 12th but obviously I did something wrong. Anyway, enjoy.

Today my oldest son turns 16 years old. I don't know that I would call him sweet but he is 16.It has been a long time since he was born. I still remember Lisa's labor and delivery. The hospital we were in at the time has since been torn down. At the time I remember watching the doctor sit and visit with my mother in law While I was helping Lisa with stuff. I said to him if I'm going to do all the work here do I have to pay you? He replied that he only charged for office visits. When It came time to cut the cord, I was not to sure but when he told me he would charge me if he did it I jumped right in. It was a few moments later when they had cleaned him all up and I was holding him that I was hit with the realization I was a dad. Those little eyes just looked up at me and he seemed to listen to what I was saying. He had stopped crying and was so content. Of course that didn't last to long and before you know it he was wrestling on the floor and running through the house before I knew it.

Probably the funniest story about Kenneth as a kid dealt with a "johnny jumper." It was a seat that he could sit in and it had a spring so that he could jump in it. He was about 1year to 18 months old. Our townhouse had a big wood beam that ran through the middle of it and he would go to hopping with those fat little legs and get him self swinging all around the room. He would pick up his feet and just fly. Kenneth may not do a lot of sports but don't let that fool you, he is about as athletic as anyone you will ever meet. I could see that in him when he was launching himself in that swing. None of my kids ever did that again. He was my only flying infant.

Anyone who knows Kenneth can attest to his great qualities. He is a good brother, student, priesthood holder and friend. He is becoming a well rounded and reliable man. When I look at Kenneth I see the hope of the rising generation. There are young men out there who will have the character and strength to carry us forward into the future. I would go on and on in my admiration of Kenneth but he reads my blog and I'm afraid I might embarrass him. But seriously, I have nothing but love and respect for this boy that has become a man.

Ps. Your cars are in luck, he will not be able to drive on his own until December so the streets are safe. However I can not say as much for your daughters. He has been given a license to date. If you have a daughter who is 16 let her know Kenneth is eligible. However, don't wait to long for him to ask you out, you might have to do the inviting to get him going.

Five years! Where has the time gone.

2009-09-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

5 Years ago after having 4 boys in a row Lisa had a little girl. I was not aware of her gender until she was born. I did not want to know and Lisa did. It made for an interesting pregnancy. However nobody ever slipped and so I got the surprise of my life. Lisa thinks I should have cried but why cry on such a happy occasion. I had no idea at the time what it meant to have a little girl. I thought babies were babies and gender didn't have much to do with anything until puberty, boy was I wrong. It is like we had some kind of different species. I guess being married to Lisa should have clued me in but you know me, kind of clueless in those things.

Lisa and I are not the only one who loves her. Her brothers watch over her like a mother hen and I pity the fool who picks on Krislyn Stock. He just might spend the rest of his life without arms or something. She adores her brothers and thinks the world of them but when push comes to shove she will hold her own. Just ask Daniel about that.

for the last 5 years I have seen the most sweet little thing grow and developed into the sparkle she is. Everywhere she goes she seems to bring sunshine with her. Maybe it is just the fact that I am her dad and so I see her as I think she is but any way you look at it the world is a happier place because my Krislyn is in it.

Line in the sand

2009-09-03T06:56:00.001-07:00

I debated on this post as it is someone elses words and opinions. However Lisa and I were having a conversation the other day about how things in America seem to be heading south, and I don't mean to Mexico. The question we were talking about is where is the line in the sand that we draw and say we will not comply with what the government says to do. For example if they said you can not store food. Would I refuse and store anyway or if they wanted to take my guns, would I turn them over or use them in my defence of the second amendment. This article is one that really makes you think about where the line is.

Gun control and the Mexican excuse
Published August 24th 2009
By Bob Confer of the Niagara Gazette

Two weeks ago, President Obama met with Mexico’s Felipe Calderon and Canada’s Stephen Harper in Mexico for a get-together of North America’s leaders. Since the inception of this annual meeting during the Bush presidency in 2005, many have rightly believed that the heads of state have used this powwow to sell-out the rights of their peoples in an effort to foster North American unity while forsaking national sovereignty. This year’s meeting was no different. Barack Obama, never the fan of our Second Amendment, said for the umpteenth time that the U.S. must assume responsibility for the weapons that have accounted for 4,000 murders so far this year in Mexico. He believes, as does Calderon, that the vicious Mexican drug cartels are outfitted solely with American guns and by controlling guns in the U.S. the federal government can control the violence in Mexico. So committed is he to this far-fetched pursuit that, following the leaders summit, Obama directed Homeland Security’s Janet Napolitano to sign an agreement indicating the U.S. will work hand-in-hand with Mexican law enforcement to, among other things, track the guns, even going so far as to share information which includes state handgun registries. This is a disturbing development. Sharing gun ownership information with a foreign entity is unprecedented, if not illegal. Data about who owns guns in the United States should be none of Mexico’s business. Quite frankly, it should be none of our government’s business either. The gun owner should be the only one who knows what he owns. Our leaders have been so willing to deny our privacy because they have succumbed to false statistics. Popular ATF and media reports indicate that 90 percent of all guns used by Mexican cartels come from the United States. This number is only partially correct: In one study, 90 percent of all traceable guns (taken from a managed statistical sampling no less) lead to the U.S. Not all guns — especially long guns — are traceable. The only weapons that are truly traceable are handguns from states with pistol permits. Most of the guns used by the cartels are not of American origin. This is a fact, not hearsay, according to a detailed analysis conducted by ATF agent William Newell. He found that just 17 percent of guns confiscated by the Mexican government are actually from the U.S. The remaining 83 percent of the cartels’ firearms come from Mexico’s southern neighbors as well as the Mexican government itself — many of them are assault weapons that came with the more than 15,000 one-time Mexican military men who have jumped ship to the higher-paying cartels. Nevertheless, Obama and the gun-control lobby don’t see it that way and, when their statistics fail, they prefer to use fear-mongering anecdotal stories about Mexico’s violence spilling over into the streets of America. Take the guns off our streets and you’ll take them off Mexico’s streets, which, in turn, will keep them off our streets, they say. They believe that restricting the ability of an individual to buy guns is the best way to curb this violence. When President Obama was Senator Obama, he constantly trumpeted this cause (even without Mexico in the equation), calling for strict limitations on who can buy guns and ammunition and how much of both.He and his followers fail to understand that you can never regulate lawbreakers. Gun control does not work. Mexico is proof positive of this. Among the North American countries, it has the strictest gun laws and, of course, it has the highest percentage of gun crimes because the gun-toting predators have the advantage over their straight-laced weaponless prey. Gun control (against the law-abiding) is so rigid in Mexico that there is only one gun store in the entire country of some 109 million people and it is run by the Army. Only a few very lucky souls are licensed to own a gun, and they face limitations on how much ammo then can buy and where they can take their firearm. This has done absolutely nothing to curb violence: 14,000 Mexicans have been murdered since Calderon took office in 2006. Taking all of this into consideration, we cannot allow ourselves to be duped by the Mexican myths that are used by the Left to foster support for gun control. Mexico’s gun problem is Mexico’s gun problem. Not ours. We as the United States have a long history of being a freedom-loving people who believe in the natural right to self-defense. Our nation was created from that right. We cannot allow a neighboring nation to directly or indirectly strip that right from us.Bob Confer is a Gasport resident and vice president of Confer Plastics Inc. in North Tonawanda. E-mail him at bobconfer@juno.com.

Harvest Festival

2009-08-31T05:24:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I, as the stake humanitarian specialists, are a part of our Stake Welfare Committee(SWC). This year the SWC was in charge of the Stake Harvest Festival. It was a great time this weekend for everyone, well except for the poor kid who broke his arm. We had carnival type games, bounce houses, big blowup slides, a live band and food, food and more food.

The idea was to try and get people to be excited about gardening. We made it out to be kind of like a county fair. We had contests for things you grow, bake and make as well as fun things like the carnival stuff and the live band. I have to say that it all came together well and fun was had by all. We started the festival with a parade of gardens that showcased cardens throught the stake. People got a chance to see what other people were doing. I was one of the judges for the food and so I would taste something and then, so that I did not get full or my taste buds get desensitized I would spit it out. There was a buttermilk pie there that I swallowed, twice! Once the judging was done everyone showed up and we ate a great deal of chilli, cornbread and deserts.

Being on the SWC is a lot of fun at times and very rewarding when you see the people have a good time and come away a little bit better people. It does not matter what the activity is the people show up and help out and turn the whole thing into a success. I have learned how important even the smallest contributor is in making the whole thing work. It is not the person in charge or at the head that makes it work. It is the people doing all the little things like running a carnival booth or setting up the water table. that makes it a success.

So if you missed the Harvest Festival it was your loss, even you people in Arizona. It would be worth the trip to come up for this thing. For pictures of the whole event click here.

Coach

2009-08-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

So let me get you caught up. I am, for the next 8 weeks coach Stock. I took over as head coach of one of the Eagle Mountain B teams. Nobody else wanted to so I took it on. Lisa hates this time of year as it gets really busy and I become obsessed with football instead of her. Yes folks she gets jealous of football and she should there is nothing better then football. It is played at a beautiful time of the year, it is the greatest game ever invented for Men and boys to get out all their energy and aggression. But in all fairness Lisa would leave me for several conservative commentators so I do not feel so bad.

We had our first game last Saturday and I was very impressed with the team. In the first quarter they scored 3 touchdowns on us. In the second quarter they scored 1 touchdown. In the second half they got only one first down and that was with only 2 minutes left to play. Offense went much the same. We did not score but by the second half we were getting first downs right and left. It was a lot of fun to see them work so hard for it. We got within 3 yards and on the last play they did a shift on the defense just before the ball snapped and we could not push it through. But coming from last year where we only got something like 2 or 3 first downs the whole season I think we are doing great!

I tell the boys that in life all you have to do is improve a little bit each day and you will eventually pass up all those people who do not improve a little bit each day. Simple yet profound, kind of like me.

The costof rasing a child

2009-08-19T05:32:00.001-07:00

Check out this article on the cost of rasing kids. Explains a lot. My kids better get me an awsome nursing home!

Perspective

2009-08-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid my Dad always tried to get me to see things through other peoples eyes. As I have gotten older I have learned the power of doing that. My favorite Aunt sent me a link that explains this perfectly. It is a video made by pampers that you have got to go watch.

http://www.pampers.co.uk/en_GB/video/babyseyes.jsp

17 Years

2009-08-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

I have now been married to Lisa for 17 years. The actual date is July 30th however I am very late getting this posted. I did not forget I just have not posted. This year I surprised Lisa with a getaway to the other side of the Wasatch. We had a lot of fun. On Friday the 31st I took the day off work and we went up to Park City and rode the alpine slides. It was a lot of fun. We had passes to go three times but the lines were so long we only went twice. Personally I think the slides and coasters are a rip off but who listens to me. For an all day pass it costs as much as Disneyland! I digress...
After riding the slides we drove over and checked into our bed and breakfast. It was a quaint little place that was really nice. It is ran by an older couple that do a great job. We stayed in the old world room which is really nice. Although it is a little pricey it was a great place. Bed and Breakfasts are pricey anyway. When we were all settled in we went downstairs and had ordurves. I am not that kind of guy but these were really good. They also have a never ending cookie plate and that was nice to have around. The nuts and other snack items were great as well. That evening we went to dinner at a roadside place and had some tacos. It wasn't to bad. We then went to the Rodeo. Lisa and I love the rodeo. It is always a treat to go to and the Wasatch county fair puts on a great show. Half the fun is the announcer and the clown in the ring. We did not stay for the bull ridding as much fun as that would be because it was just getting way to late.
The next morning we had a good breakfast. They did German pancakes which Lisa really liked. I thought they were OK but I am a breakfast snob. I did love the sausage, it was spicy and full of flavor. We then caught a movie, the proposal, and went shopping. The shopping was shopping and I have never understood it but I do like hanging with Lisa and seeing her enjoy herself so it was fun. The proposal was great except they through in a scene with Sandra Bullock naked. Yes her nipples were covered and her crotch but it was tasteless and unnecessary. I would not recommend it. It was a great weekend but the real fun has been being married to my best friend for the last 17 years.

Healthcare Reform

2009-08-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

I know I have not posted in a while. I have had an anniversary, birthday, I am now head football coach, and scout master. I will post about those things soon but had to drop this picture real quick to express how I feel about health care reform. You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. (If you click on the link for the economics blog on the left you can read a great article entitled "The Real Right to Medical Care Versus Socialized Medicine"
By George Reisman. Or you can click here)

Know any German swear words?

2009-07-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are not mechanics you may not get this one. It is kind of like fishing, you either get it or you don't, not much middle ground. So, while Lisa is gone I have a number of projects and one of them is the Volkswagen. On Monday I spent the whole evening, 4 hours, trying to get the shaft on the transmission to go into the clutch plate on the engine. It would not go. Now with most cars mechanics know that if you swear at them they obey. It is a matter of respect between you and the car. If the car does not bloody the mechanics knuckles the mechanic never has respect for the car. It occurred to me on Monday that I did not know any German swear words and that is why the little piece of *^&@#* would not work for me. The oil cap says "OEL" on it not "OIL" so it occurred to me that I was swearing at it but it did not understand and therefore did not reciprocate with respecting me. I finally got the engine bolted in last night and in the process I bloodied my knuckle, so I now have respect for the car. However the car needs some respect for me so If you know any good German swear words It would be great to have a few just in case. It is going to be Kenneth's car so he will needs to know them as well. A good "@#$(#" or "%$&(*#@" would be nice to have on hand, like tucked under the visor for those special occasions when you need to demand the cars respect.

Home alone

2009-07-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

As many people know Lisa leaves me for 3 weeks each year just to make sure I appreciate her. Lisa, it's working. I have been 10 days alone now and I do not recommend it to anyone. The first day or so the peace and quiet is nice but that gets old real fast. I have lots of honey do's to get done so that helps keep my mind off of the great big silent void at the house. The good news is that I only have 9 more days till the family comes home! It is amazing how tied we can become to each other. When I served my mission I went and did not look back. I loved my family but I was ready to go. I would see elders who were homesick and wonder what the heck is up with them. I am home but still very homesick. Until I was abandoned I did not understand homesickness, but now I truly get it.

To scare a Mom

2009-07-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Kenneth made a funny video where he scares Lisa. You should all go look at his blog. It will make you laugh. I am trying to figure out how to put the last part of the clip into a ringtone.

http://www.theprivatei.blogspot.com/

The Great Hike

2009-07-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in June I took a friend of mine, Kelly W., and our boys up to Island Lake in the Uintah Mountains. It was awesome. We hiked in just shy of 5 miles with a 1,500 foot ascent and about a 1,000 foot decent. At the very end there was a climb of about 5 to 7 hundred feet that we thought might kill us but everyone survived. The snow was there in patches but overall it was not an issue. It rained each night and the boys who didn't want to share a tent with Dad got wet. Me and Troy stayed nice and dry. The fishing was not very good but we managed to catch some nice ones and the fish fry was awesome. Kelly knows how to cook fish. This is a hike that is hard but worth the effort. Just do it in mid July or August.

This was taken at the trail head. Everyone was excited and happy. The backpacks were still light and the feet were not worn out or tired.

On the way in I carried a second pack almost the whole way. It was much harder then I had anticipated and some of the boys just were not able to carry the kind of weight we had.
On the way out I decided I didn't want to carry anyones pack so I loaded it all in mine. It was about 70 pounds or so. Are those mule ears I am growing?

Behind Troy you can see the lake. The picture does not show the grandeur of the whole thing. Behind him is a cliff that drops off a good 5 or 6 hundred feet.

This one is from way up where the last picture was taken from but that is our campsite down below. Kenneth is fishing from the shore.

Floating in mid air!

2009-07-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

The sears tower has added glass balconies that you can go out on and look down at the city. Yeah I would not be getting out on that thing. No way, no how. I could not handle looking that far down with seemingly nothing under me.

Good family fun.

2009-06-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took the family to Payson Lakes for a day trip. There was no camping just a drive up there for the day. It was a lot of fun. We did some fishing but did not catch much. However the worst day fishing is better then the best day working so it all worked out good.

we set up our stuff on a nice little line of the shore and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. We also did a peach cobbler that was really good. But hey how is cobbler ever bad.

The raft was a big hit. I got a good workout rowing the thing all over the lake and today I can feel the muscles I used. I took this shot is of Lisa and our niece in the boat having a nice ride.

Here we have me and 2 of my nieces going out for a ride.

Krislyn wanted to roast a marshmallow so when we were done with the coals from the cobbler she put a marshmallow on a stick and roasted it over the coals. She ended up standing in the coals and melting the bottom of her shoes. We asked her about it and she said "Yeah my feet were getting a little hot."

Adam and his cousin Kyle out on the raft.

I would recommend this trip to just about anyone. It is about a hour and 20 minutes drive and lots of fun. In order to get there you go south on I-15 to the payson exit. You will see a flying J as you go under the freeway. The road you are on is Main St. Take it about a mile to 100 north and take a left. Take that about a half mile to 600 East. The intersection of 100 north and 600 east is on a little hill. Turn right on 600 East which I think has a sign that says Mount Nebo scenic Loop. Take this about 12 miles up the mountain to the turnoff for the lake. The first turnout takes you to the lakes and the second one takes you to the camp grounds. It is a pretty place and makes for excellent camping as well. It cost $7 for a day permit per vehicle. I would also recommend taking your bathing suit. It is a little over 7,000 feet and on a warm day you will want to go for a swim.

Timpanogos Cave

2009-06-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

I had a first last week. I hiked up to Mt. Timpanogos Cave with Lisa's sisters family and my family. All together it was pretty cool. We started at the bottom and it seemed to be OK. It was a little steep but nothing I could not handle. I put Krislyn up on my shoulders as she was not moving very fast. About half way up it got steep. I was packing a 37 pound kid and it was hot. By the time we reached the top I was beat. I have had friends and family tell me it was no big deal and in the end it was just a good workout, but it was not as easy as it had been made out to be. The other issue is I do not do heights very well so I had to always look up and never down.

The cave itself was great. I used to explore caves as a kid in the hills behind us but they were never like this. I find it amazing that those places exist. It was an adventure that I would recommend to anyone. Just make sure you do not have a problem with heavy exercise. By the time we got to the bottom we were pooped but glad to have gone. When we got to the bottom Lisa and Krislyn had the following conversation.

Lisa: "Krislyn, was that fun?"

Krislyn: "Yes but my pants are wet."

Lisa: (Alarmed) "Did you pee your pants."

Krislyn: " No it is just Dads sweat."

Everyone: "Gross!"

Hey, when you ride a horse without a saddle for a 1500 foot gain your going to get wet. At least she got a ride up the mountain.

The results are in!

2009-06-16T06:11:00.000-07:00

I was logging into my email this morning and found an article on yahoo health. You can read it by clicking here. Isn't it amazing! Now I know how Lisa has stayed looking so good for so many years. After having 5 kids she looks like a hot mama all because she does her house work. Maybe I should take up vacuming and laundry.

Memory lane.

2009-06-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Not many people who know me know much about where I grew up. My aunt posted a picture on her blog that brought back a bunch of memories and so I thought I would share it. In the picture you see my Uncle Merts looking at my grandparent's and my dad's graves. However a little bit further you see the farm, orchard and hills I lived in and worked on as a kid.

You can see the sprinkler system with the yellow hood on it that we had to move morning and night. We had some lines without wheels that you had to move by hand but luckly we had these ones that made it so much easier. A little further you see a bunch of trees that made up the orchard. It was here that I became a fresh fruit snob and now I can't pick up an apple or peach from the grocerie store without having a cardboard taste well up in my mouth. There was nothing like going out on a crisp fall morning and picking an apple from the tree for me and one for my horse. You would bite into it and it would fill your soul with joy. Yes I am broken but until you experiance such things you have no idea. The hills go on for miles and miles to the left and me and my brothers hiked through them endlessly on foot and on my horse. It was a good life and unfortunatly it takes being away from it to realize how good it was. So if you are ever driving through Bloomfield, New Mexico just head south toward Albaqurque and turn east at the first chance after you cross the San Juan river. Take that road about 6 to 8 miles until you see the sighn that says LDS FARM and you are where I grew up. Go up to the farm house and tell them that James Stock said that the best apples in the hole world are grown on the 2nd tree from the north and west and see if they will give you one. Then come tell me about it.

New Phone number

2009-06-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I have a new phone number. Our old one no longer works. We decided to make a switch to vonage. The new number is:

801-653-1451

My second Love.

2009-06-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

I love Lisa first and formost. I cherrish her and the kids above all other things. However, the close second is my garden. Every day I walk in the door, give Lisa a kiss and then I head out the back door to the garden. I am seeing everything in full swing. The peas are forming pods, the carrots, onions and lettuce are pushing through and begining to grow fast. The watermellons and cantalope are sprouted and potatoes are big and green. It is without question the best garden ever. I am most excited about the 42 sweet corn plants. If each plant gave me 4 ears that would be 168 ears of sweetcorn! The only thing I have not planted is squash. I decided that since everyone else grows squash and has so much they can't give it away I would not plant any.

The exciting thing is my salad. I have 12 spinich plants and we have been having a spinich salad almost ervery night. I just go out and pick some leaves off each day and throw them in. I am so excited to get some peas on my salad from the garden. That will be awsome! Any time anyone wants to come see me show off my garden just come on over. Just a word of warning. Lisa is jelouse of all the attention I shower on the garden so it might not be a great

Hot air balloon

2009-05-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

I got sent this joke and I could not resist posting it.

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude. She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?” "Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me." The man smiled and responded, "You must be an Obama Democrat."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?" "Well" said the man, "You don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are due to a lot of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."

You are nothing.

2009-05-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine at work gave me this link.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2706/spaceb.jpg Be sure to click on the image so it is enlarged.

As I looked at it I could not help but think of God's conversation with Moses in Moses 1:30-35

30 And it came to pass that Moses called upon God, saying: Tell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them?

31 And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him face to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me.

32 And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth.

33 And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten.

34 And the first man of all men have I called Adam, which is many.

35 But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them.

Upon reading this I also thought about the promises of the lord in 1 Corinthians 1:9 and I can not think of anything that this world has to offer that would compete with what he offers.

9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

When I read these things and look at the pictures that I did it makes me sad for those who's God is their own strength and wisdom. I consider myself to be at least moderately intelligent but my knowledge compared to Gods knowledge is like the size of the earth compared to VY Canis Majoris. When one comprehends this it is a humbling thing.

What my kids do when I am gone #2

2009-05-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

More of what my kids do when I am not home. Check out this cool video they made.

Video

The Turkey goes to Turkey

2009-05-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Some things just set me off and one of those is people who are in a position of power or control and they are complete idiots. I probably fall into that category sometimes as a dad but hey in that position I can only screw up one women and 5 children. Anyway, I got an email from my father in law today, I get them everyday as he loves to forward stuff. This one was actually good, and true. It referenced President Obama recent speech in Turkey. He said: .

"One of the great strengths of the United States" is that it does not consider itself "a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values. I think modern Turkey was founded with a similar set of principles."

It is true we are a country of laws and Ideals but they are christian laws and christian ideals. Notice that women are able to go out in public without covering their head and they are not stoned for it. What struck me about the email was that included in it was a piece of each states preamble to its constitution. Every last one of them says that through their gratitude to God or because of God they were forming their form of government. In all documents relating to the foundation of the United States it references reliance on and allegiance to God. Either President Obama is an idiot or his speech writer is an idiot. I guess it is like the old saying, "When in Rome do as the Romans."

Alabama 1901, Preamble We the people of the State of Alabama , invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution...

Alaska 1956, Preamble We, the people of Alaska , grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land.

Arizona 1911, Preamble We, the people of the State of Arizona , grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution...

Arkansas 1874, Preamble We, the people of the State of Arkansas , grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form of government...

California 1879, Preamble We, the People of the State of California , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom...

Colorado 1876, Preamble We, the people of Colorado , with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of Universe...

Connecticut 1818, Preamble. The People of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to enjoy.

Delaware 1897, Preamble Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshipping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences...

Florida 1885, Preamble We, the people of the State of Florida , grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, establish this Constitution...

Georgia 1777, Preamble We, the people of Georgia , relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution...

Hawaii 1959, Preamble We , the people of Hawaii , Grateful for Divine Guidance ... Establish this Constitution.

Idaho 1889, Preamble We, the people of the State of Idaho , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings.

Illinois 1870, Preamble We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil , political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.

Indiana 1851, Preamble We, the People of the State of Indiana , grateful to Almighty God for the free exercise of the right to choose our form of government.

Iowa 1857, Preamble We, the People of the St ate of Iowa , grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of these blessings, establish this Constitution.

Kansas 1859, Preamble We, the people of Kansas , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges establish this Constitution.

Kentucky 1891, Preamble.. We, the people of the Commonwealth are grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties..

Louisiana 1921, Preamble We, the people of the State of Louisiana , grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy.

Maine 1820, Preamble We the People of Maine acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity .. And imploring His aid and direction.

Maryland 1776, Preamble We, the people of the state of Maryland , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty....

Massachusetts 1780, Preamble We...the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe In the course of His Providence, an opportunity and devoutly imploring His direction

Michigan 1908, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Michigan , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of freedom, establish this Constitution.

Minnesota, 1857, Preamble We, the people of the State of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings:

Mississippi 1890, Preamble We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work.

Missouri 1845, Preamble We, the people of Missouri , with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for His goodness . Establish this Constitution...

Montana 1889, Preamble. We, the people of Montana , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty establish this Constitution ...

Nebraska 1875, Preamble We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom . Establish this Constitution.

Nevada 1864, Preamble We the people of the State of Nevada , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, establish this Constitution...

New Hampshire 1792, Part I. Art. I. Sec. V Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.

New Jersey 1844, Preamble We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.

New Mexico 1911, Preamble We, the People of New Mexico, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty..

New York 1846, Preamble We, the people of the State of New York , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings.

North Carolina 1868, Preamble We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those...

North Dakota 1889, Preamble We , the people of North Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, do ordain...

Ohio 1852, Preamble We the people of the state of Ohio , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and to promote our common.

Oklahoma 1907, Preamble Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessings of liberty, establish this...

Oregon 1857, Bill of Rights, Article I Section 2. All men shall be secure in the Natural right, to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences Pennsylvania 1776, Preamble We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance.....

Rhode Island 1842, Preamble. We the People of the State of Rhode Island grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing... S

outh Carolina , 1778, Preamble We, the people of he State of South Carolina grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

South Dakota 1889, Preamble We, the people of South Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties ....

Tennessee 1796, Art. XI..III. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their conscience...

Texas 1845, Preamble We the People of the Republic of Texas , acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God.

Utah 1896, Preamble Grateful to Almighty God for life and liberty, we establish this Constitution.

Vermont 1777, Preamble Whereas all government ought to enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights, and other blessings which the Author of Existence has bestowed on man ..

Virginia 1776, Bill of Rights, XVI Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator can be directed only by Reason and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other

Washington 1889, Preamble We the People of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution

West Virginia 1872, Preamble Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God ...

Wisconsin 1848, Preamble We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, domestic tranquility...

Wyoming 1890, Preamble We, the people of the State of Wyoming , grateful to God for our civil, political, and religious liberties, establish this Constitution...

Moab!

2009-05-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago Kenneth and Adam went with the scouts down to Moab Utah to Arches National Park. They had a requirement with the citizenship in the nation merit badge to visit a national park or national monument. They had a lot of fun so we were talking with some friends of ours and decided we wanted to all go. Lisa and I had never been so it was really cool for us. In total we had 6 families go and we all had a good time.

We drove down on Friday morning and set up camp in a group campground (dirt field). I would recommend a person plan far enough ahead to reserve a place in the park. This campground was noisy and crowded but we made the best of it and had a good time in spite of all the idiots. We did a dutch oven dinner complete with bacon cheese potatoes, broccoli, and chicken. We topped it all off with 3 different kinds of cobbler. There was apple, blueberry and a peach-raspberry. I have to say that peach raspberry was probably the best cobbler I have ever slid down my gulit. It was so good I wanted to go throw up the rest of my dinner just so I could have more! The kids had lots of marshmallows as well. It was the first camp out where I did not eat a single marshmallow.

The next day we got up and went to the park. It was not a bad hike into delicate arch. I carried Krislyn on my shoulders part of the way as well as her friend Brooklyn. At one point I carried both for a little way. It was truly amazing and the pictures do not show the magnitude or the grandeur of it. Truly amazing to see what the wind is able to do. We visited the windows as well as double arch. All were so cool.

As we were leaving the park it started to rain so even our timing was perfect. I would have to say it has been the funnest so far this year. I enjoyed all the people I went with, It was a great experience in the park and making dinner with all the guys was a lot of fun.

You can take the boy out of the Farm but you can't take the farm out of the boy

2009-04-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last night I went and got some raspberry plants from a friend of mine. I am going to plant them tonight in my garden and hopefully I can load them up with fruit. We will see what happens. The garden as a whole is just about done. I still need to plant things like the tomatoes and the carrots but I have to say it is almost to the point of turning on the watering timer and letting it run.

I love to work in the garden. To make things grow is a fascination to me. If Lisa would live on a farm I would be a farmer without a moments hesitation. Oh well I guess I can feed my obsession with growing things in the garden and have Lisa all at the same time.

The Candy Bar Game

2009-04-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

For many years Lisa and I have loved throwing parties and an all-time favorite is the candy bar game. I have been asked for the rules so here they are as I know them:

Items needed:

1. Each person gets a paper bag.

2. There needs to be a candy bar for each person. If you are a cheapskate like me you make everyone bring their own. If not you can provide them.

3. You will need a pair of dice.

Rules of Play:

Set up

The candy bars are put in the middle of the table and each person is given a paper bag. If you are not well acquainted you can write your names on the bottom of your paper bag for everyone to see. If you have people who do not know each other start by going around the room and introducing yourselves.

Play

The time of play is established before starting the game. I find that 20 minutes is usually a pretty good amount of time to play. The tallest person rolls the dice first and play passes to the left. If a person rolls a one or a five they get to choose one of the candy bars from the center of the table. If they roll a one and a five or two ones or two fives they get to choose 2 candy bars. If they roll doubles of any number they get to go again. If no ones or fives appear then play passes to the left. Once all of the candy bars are removed from the center of the table, you begin the stealing portion of the game. When you roll a one or five you ask one of the players if they have the candy bar you want. For Example: "Lisa do you have the Twix?" If she does she has to surrender it. Until all of the candy bars are taken from the center of the table you can not ask someone for a candy bar in their paper bag. There is a variation that you can play with people who are unacquainted. You can make it a rule that you have to ask the person by name for the candy bar and if you can not get their name right you do not get to ask for the candy bar! When the time runs out the person with the most candy bars wins.

With large groups you can either use 2 sets of dice and extend the time or play at 2 different tables.

Another part of the game that Lisa and I added at our last party was to eat the candy bar when you are done. If you have couples or people who do not mind getting real close, you pair up and together you have to eat your favorite candy bar. The trick is you have to do it with your hands behind your back. You can only use your mouth to open and devour the candy bar. Oh, and no fair letting just one person eat all of the candy bar! It takes two.

There you have it. The greatest party game we have ever had.

What ever did we do in the good old days

2009-04-09T11:37:00.001-07:00

Since nobody posted anything about mighty mouse I guess I better make a new post.

As you may have noticed Lisa and I have been even less active in the cyber world then before. About 2 weeks ago I got a virus on the Home PC. Nasty little bugger. It kept telling me I have a virus on my system and that for a fee it will remove it for me. Ain't that lovely! I tried everything I could to get rid of it. It was called the security system virus I think. In the end none of the searches on the Internet or questions to all my computer literate friends gave me a solution to fix it. In the end I had to wipe out my hard drive and reload my windows system. I am now of the opinion that if you are found releasing a virus on the Internet the penalty should be death. Death to you as well as anyone else assisting you. And not just any death, but death by the most excruciating manner possible. Is that a little harsh? That is what should be done to all the guys that have a clean record as well as a wife and kids.

Can anyone sense my distaste for these guys? Anyway, everything but the Internet is back up. I canceled blue zone, my provider, because they suck. I called to talk to them and tell them there service was bad and what I needed to do to cancel. I told them I wanted to cancel but I would need to call them back and give them the correct date. They went ahead and canceled me anyway so now I only have access to Internet at work. This is so frustrating. We use the Internet a lot and without it I am surprised how much we relied on it. We were just saying the other day, whatever did we do before the Internet. One of these days I will replace my cell phone and say the same thing about that blasted thing.

Almost is the same as not quite

2009-04-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

My Dad used to have a saying of "Almost is the same as not quite. I had a little taste of that yesterday morning. It was April fools day yesterday so I did not post as I am sure there would have been lots of people thinking it was an April fools trick.

If you will remember my post last October, in compatition lifting you do a deadlift, squat and benchpress and then add your totals. Yesterday morining I tested myself to see if I could lift 1,000 pounds in those three lifts. I had an almost but not quite moment. I did a 350 pound squat, a 255 pound bench press and a 370 pound dead lift. I had hoped I could do a 390 pound deadlift and a 265 pound benchpress but nothing doing. It was a disapointment but hey at 38 years old 975 pounds aint to bad. It was also a nice improvement from last time.

Two birthdays in March!

2009-03-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

My mother had 3 children born in February, that is a lot of birthdays in one month. Mine was first so I think I got all the good stuff and the other two got the short end of the stick. Adam and Troy's birthday are 6 days apart. Adam on the 20th and Troy on the 26th. Both of their births stick out to me.

Adam was born after my Dad died. I was playing on the floor with Kenneth a little while before Adam was born and I had a thought that my Dad was not going to get to know Kenneth. I then thought of Adam and how he and any children after him would have never had the chance to have met him. This was a sad moment for me and I thought about it for several days and was rather downcast about it. When Adam first popped out, and let me tell you he shot out and the Doctor had to catch him, I was excited to see him. He was a hairy little guy and had a set of lungs on him. I was standing there all excited about him and suddenly I felt bad that my dad would not be able to get to know him. At that very moment I felt my fathers presence next to me. It was so strong I turned and looked to find nobody there. It was amazing. I knew then that although he would not be there in body he would always know all of my kids and be aware of and love them. Every year on Adam's birthday I think about that.

On a lighter note, Troy's birthday though no less memorable, was quite an experience. Troy did not seem to want to come into the cold cruel world so the doctor scheduled Lisa to be induced on Monday the 27th of March 2002. Lisa wanted to have everything clean and done so her mom would not have to do anything after the baby was born. She started a load of laundry and the washing machine broke. The belt on the washer that turns the bucket had worn out and finally broken. I pulled the entire machine apart. The tub was full of clothes and out in the carport, the motor was pulled out and cleaned up, all that was left was 3 sides of the casing. It was 9:00 at night so no appliance stores were open for parts so I went to the auto part store and sized up the belt with one they had that looked to be close enough. I walked in the door and Lisa was vacuuming. The ironing was done, the dishes clean and the floor waiting to be mopped when I was done. Yes, those of you who know Lisa, that is what she does. Just as I sat down and started to put the belt on Lisa started having contractions and they were close together. I was in a panic! I needed to run her to the hospital and I had the entire washing machine in parts strewn all over the place. She insisted on a quick shower and some makeup. Again, those of you who know Lisa, that is what she does. So in 15 minutes I put that entire washing machine together. Yes folks that is a world record. It worked for several years after that and when we got a new one it was still working. Be sure to congratulate me on that some time.

We took off for the hospital and I ran a red light on the way there. It was 11:30 at night so no danger. I wish I could have got caught so that I could get a police escort but hey where are the cops when you really need them? I digress. I wanted to drop Lisa off at the doors of the emergency room as her contractions were really close. I told her that I did not want her to have the baby in the parking lot. She veminantly refused and told me to park and she would just walk over. Half way across the parking lot she had a big one hit her. I sprinted to the ER and grabbed a wheelchair amid all kinds of looks. I put lisa in the chair and when I got there they figured something like that was up so they were ready and whisked us up to labor and delivery. They put in an epidural but before it took effect out popped Troy. His ears were stuck to the side of his head. Finally after all of that the epidural kicked in. What an ordeal! Most exhausting child birth I have ever had.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

2009-03-18T07:32:00.001-07:00

So we had an interesting discussion the other day in the locker room at the gym. We were talking about the news coverage on the bonuses of AIG executives. In a nut shell there were about 70 executives who got a total bonus payout of $160 million or so. That is roughly $228,000 for each one. Now, I am willing to agree that for a company going under bonuses are bad business but in the grand scheme this is not unusual and there is nothing criminal about it. Bad business yes, criminal no. Executives all over the country get paid way to much for doing way to little. So lets look at the truth, shall we?

The AIG guys have a legal right to that bonus as the company has contracts with them and they get paid. Don't get lost in the fact that it doesn't make sense to write that into the contract, it is there and that is all there is to it. Most large corporations are like that so this is nothing new. The only difference is that this tax payer money verses shareholders.

The real issue is not being addressed. All the media coverage and attention is focused on AIG so that we won't examine the bigger issue. Remember folks Congress just passed a $1 trillion bail out for companies that have been doing dumb things for years. So lets look at this in a way we can all understand. All these companies that are getting bailed out made really bad choices and did stupid things so Congress bails them out. AIG does something stupid, again, and all of a sudden there is outrage. The stupid thing was to bail them out to begin with. They were not responsible with money before the bail out what makes congress think they will be responsible with money after the bailout? The real idiots here are the ones in Washington DC and then ones who put them there.

What the media should be reporting on is that we just had a trillion dollars spent, with one of the narrowest margins possible, that will be paid off by my grand children and great grand children. Lets look at that number. When you wright it out it looks like this, $1,000,000,000,000! that is a lot of Zeros. There are 525,600 seconds in a year. If you divide one trillion by 525,600 that is 1.9 million years! A trillion seconds ago was 1.9 million years ago. Did T-REX count seconds? Now where should the outrage be $1 trillion or $160 million. Lets look at that in my world shall we. It would be like me going out and mortgaging the house to buy a $30,000 fishing boat and then scream at Lisa for giving $5.oo to one of the kids when they did not earn it. That 160 million is .00016 of the trillion they gave out. If this kind of outcry is launched aver the 160 million there should be a run on Washington right now with pitchforks and hatchets! The Capital building and White House should be in flames and a complete and total revolt going on in America!

George Bush spent more money then all the presidents before him combined. Obama is on track to double Bush. But hey, those damn AIG executives are stealing us blind!

No folks the truth is that as long as the attention can be put on the $5 the rest gets brushed aside like it just does not even exist. Just pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Keep an eye on the smoke and mirrors so you don't see what is really going on.

A special thanks.

2009-03-16T11:55:00.001-07:00

I served in the young men's program for almost 8 years and had a great deal of fun doing so. I grew to love the boys and even still hear from some of them when they go on missions. I just thought I would put up a post in tribute to the leaders that take my boys on scout camp outs. This last weekend they went down to Moab and hiked to several arches. It was a blast for my boys and Kenneth got some great pictures. Keep checking his blog and you will be able to see some of them.

Having been a scout leader and knowing the kind of time that is required and some of the crap you have to put up with I appreciate these guys a lot. I am sure their wives would have appreciated having them home or there projects might have gotten done instead. Not to mention the packs they end up carrying for a boy or feeding one who either burnt his dinner or forgot to pack one. I am truly grateful to them for all that they do. I was watching the movie "Follow Me Boys", which if you have not seen you need to, and the main character, Lem Siddons, exemplifies the impact a scout leader can have on a boys life. Keep up the great work guys!

I love pictures.

2009-03-09T07:45:00.001-07:00

So the Leths are good friends of our family. We have fun together and the kids all seem to get along. I went on Janet's blog and found some less then flatering pictures of Kelly. Now I like to have fun teasing Kelly as much as anyone but we guys have to stick together. After seeing my pictures as well as his on her blog I decided to take action. I have two lovely shots of Janet below. The first is a nice photo of Janet on her old lady scooter and the other is her trip to the swiss alps.

2009-03-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

I suppose my last comment was a little deep so how about some lighter subject matter. Lets talk about Daniel. Krislyn loves all her brothers and they love her, however, the boys take a great deal of delight in teasing her. Normally she has fun with it and they all have a good time but they are learning that she can get to the point where she has had enough.

Lisa told me that the other day Daniel was teasing Krislyn and she had finally had enough so she cocked back her fist and let him have it! She planted the perfect shot right on his nose and it started bleeding. So the lesson learned, don't get Krislyn riled up cause you just might end up getting hurt. I suppose Daniel will never live that one down. Krislyn will be 25 years old at some family reunion and Daniel will be getting mouthy with her and someone is going to say "You better watch it or she is going to give you a bloody nose again."

Political rant.

2009-02-27T06:46:00.000-08:00

Time for a rant. If you do not feel like a serious subject now would be the time to close out and go to another more light hearted blogs. To the left you will find some nice selections.

I am beginning to loathe all politicians, actually I think I am already there. They seem to me to be universally corrupt and will sell their own mother out just to get re-elected. They say they are conservative or liberal but that is only because they want to cater to which ever majority they think will get them the election. In the end they seem to all sell out their constituents. It does not matter if it is on a national or local level. Here are a few examples:

Orin Hatch - Conservative?: Says he did not vote for the stimulus bill because it did not truly stimulate the economy and was a big fat pork filled bill. He was correct in that. However, conservatives believe that government should not be involved in business. They believe in a laissez fair policy regarding the government. Go read the definition I linked to the word and tell me if hundreds billions of bailout money is laissez fair policy. He said we needed a stimulus bill. Had the bill had the things he wanted he would have voted for it and charged us for it. Any bill that puts government in charge of managing the economy is a liberal move. Thanks for looking out for us, Not!

Governor Huntsman - Conservative?: Supports the stimulus package and seems to go right along with whatever Obama has to say. On his website he talks about how Utah needs to get involved in health care. he says "The large number of those without health insurance nationally and in our own State highlights a dilemma in defining the proper role of government and a critical challenge to the exercise of individual responsibility." Individual responsability yes, government intervention no! The government gets involved and going to the doctor will be like going to the DMV. If he is conservative I am Will Smith!

How about our local people in Eagle Mountain? We are a city in it's infancy and there is a proposal for a recreation center on the table in the millions. Our roads are torn up, the parks are ill kept and incomplete and they are looking for a rec center? Who are they looking out for? They are willing to rope me and my neighbors into a 20 or 30 year bond for a facility that will never return a profit.

I am a conservative and feel that government has no business in much of anything. I have two core beliefs that I filter most everything through.

1. It is wrong to take other peoples money they have worked for to further your own ambitions or to give it to someone else who has not earned it.

2. In the end everything boils down to personal responsibility.

When you take money in the form of a tax or state sponsored fee and use it for your own gain or give it to someone else for their gain you are stealing. For somethings like the military, ambulance, roads and police it can be argued that this needs to be done. I agree. However most of what they take our money for is akin to me beating someone up and then giving their money to the next homeless guy on the street.

If you have health problems most of them are because of bad choices. Take me, I am pre-diabetic. I have had a belly and been over weight my whole life because I eat to much. Is it not fair then for me to pay the price for my mistakes? Should I not have to pay the extra in premiums because of my choices? What about the job market? I know a man who decided he wanted to be an attorney when he was a boy and he made all the sacrifices to accomplish that. He know makes a lot of money because he did what it takes. I know another man who paid no attention to his career and lives from pay check to paycheck complaining about how he can not afford health care. (He does this of course while he is smoking a cigarette.) We are a product of our choices and we, for the most part lie in the bed that we make for ourselves. When did it become the role of government to fix my mistakes? Or when did it become their roll to force me to pay for their mistakes?

Now don't get me wrong, there is an exception to every rule. And I am sure most people can point to someone where they do not fit into my descriptions above. I can deal with that, but for every exception you show me I will show you 100 or more that are not exceptions. But the bottom line for me is "...the idler shall not wear the clothes or eat the bread of the laborer." Government tramples on that law every day just so they can get re-elected.

The Heaven we call the grill.

2009-02-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

Wow! I had the best meal last night. Lisa threw some chicken in the marinaide and when I got home I fired up the tool of the gods and cooked it to perfection. This is an art and when mastered it will make the most picky eater a happy person. As you can see I had it with mashed potatoes, brocholli, and rolls with Lisa's homemade Peach jam! It is no wonder I have to workout every morning with a meal like this.

It's Grilling Time!

2009-02-18T12:25:00.000-08:00

On my birthday I had some friends over and we grilled meat. Yes I did it again. To see a plate full of meat just makes my heart glad. (It probably makes it cry but hey what can I say.) So I went to fire up my beloved and the regulator was broken! What do you do when you are having a grilling party and the grill is broken? You call your neighbor. I called Shad and we used his grill so the evening was not a failure but I was still bummed. I went to Home Depot and they have changed the way they build grills so the fittings were not the same on the replacement hose. I Jimmy rigged it though and managed to make it work just fine. Tonight we grill!

Smoothie

2009-02-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged in a while. Mostly because of time but also my thoughts have not been on keeping everyone up to date on my random thoughts and crazy ideas. Here is a little random thought I was thinking of this morning.

I have come to love the smoothie. All I do is throw a yogurt in with some milk, ice and whatever else to flavor it and walla! I find that if I put in a little lemonade it gives it a hint of tartness. Summers are even better because all of the fruit is in season and good and tasty. I tried a little ice cream in one and that was heavenly. The problem is that It makes the sugar content a little high.

Yet another use for bailing wire.

2009-02-02T05:43:00.000-08:00

Just about every night I am home I give Krislyn her bath. After her bath I comb out her hair and often times I put her hair in braids. I tried the french braid but I am not that good with my fingers. Her Grandma Greta, Lisa's mom, calls her Pippy as in Pippy long stockings. So I got a piece of bailing wire and bent it around her head and braided her hair around the ends. I did of course have to take the wire out before she went to bed. She loved it and I just had to share.

I hate to paint!

2009-01-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

I hate painting the house and In the last month I have had to get out the painting supplies twice! First Lisa decided that she wanted to paint the upstairs. We went down to Home Depot and bought 5 gallons of "Brown Tepee." Brown is brown to me but hey what do I know I am just the dumb guy in the relationship. So we spent 3 days painting. Lisa did more painting then me but she also did more bossing around so I guess that makes it fair. We love the new look and are pickled tink about it.

Just when I thought all the paining was done Adam's Bedroom flooded. We pulled up the carpet to let everything dry out and when it was all pulled up Lisa decided it was time to paint Adams room. This time I did more painting then Lisa but she still did more bossing around. Go figure. Any way, it looks good and I am glad to have it over with.

Mouse Killer

2009-01-30T13:58:00.000-08:00

A number of years ago we had some of Lisa's homemade bread on the counter and we found that some little creature had nibbled into it and ate some of it. We assumed a mouse so we put out a mouse trap and sure enough, we had a mouse the next morning. Yes I use real spring loaded mouse traps that kill them instantly and they do not stick to it and slowly painfully die in fear and suffering. I digress...

So a few days ago Adam told me that he indeed had been the one to pick into the bread. He said that he did not fess up and when we got the mouse he figured it was done and now he was off Scott free! Yes family, friends and neighbors, my little Adam let the mouse take the rap for his evil deed. does anyone have a copy of Les Misérables? Perhaps Jean Valjean could shed a little guilt upon this wayward young man.

Hair is such a pain

2009-01-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

When I was a young red neck I wanted a mullet. I thought that was so cool. I have since decided that a mullet is like bell bottoms. It probably is not going to come back into style, at least not any time soon. However as I get older I seem to loose more hair off the front. I wish it would just all fall out and I could be fully bald. Since I am in between full bald and full hair it is tough to find a good dew. If I grow it out it looks like I am trying to do a comb-over to hide the baldness. The next best thing to that for me would be a nice buzz with the smallest blade on the hair clippers. Lisa is not down for that so I end up with hair that for me is to short to style but to long to be a buzz. I know I look good no matter what but I've been thinking I want a new look with the hair. Any body have any Ideas for me?

Bad form

2009-01-16T10:16:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since I posted, it is always busy during an update.

I have some things that really get me going and lucky for those of you who read my blog, they are to long to list hear. One of them is the whole political correctness of every one wins and gets a trophy idea. If nobody looses and everyone wins then the world would stop crushing people and that is not the way it really is. If you are not the best, you should loose. It makes you try harder the next time. I am of the opinion that sometimes the best thing that can happen to you is to loose. However that is not where I want to go with this post.

I was recently at a ward social where we had a chili contest. The everyone wins was invoked and everyone got an award. That bugs me but hey that is the way it is. What made me mad was that one of the awards was "Best use of a can opener." Either go for a top 3 and really give a true award or do the everyone wins bit. I really thought it tasteless to give someone an award like that. I have no problem with not getting an award but an insult is a whole other issue. If someone is going to donate a big pot of chili for people to eat, give them some respect. I think Thumper's fathers advice holds true, "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all."

New Years Eve party, well kind of.

2009-01-08T05:49:00.000-08:00

So the boys, Kenneth and Adam, went to a ward new years eve party with the other youth in the ward. This made it so that all the baby sitters were not available on New Years Eve. We wanted to have a party but decided that if there were no baby sitters we had better do it another day, so we did it on Friday the second. Although we would have loved to have invited more we had a house full of fun with almost 20 people. (I am surprised they all fit.) We played a game with candy bars that I just had to share the pictures from. The game was that you and your spouse had to open a candy bar and eat it without using your hands. They had to be behind your back. The pictures are great but it was a riot to watch.

For those who may not know them,

In order you have Me and Lisa, David and Melisa Leatherwood, Jimmy and Mary Anderson, Joe and Andrea Porter, Shad and Brittney Gifford, Kelly and Janet Leth,(Barkers in the back ground) John and Jessica Gifford and Jason and Bethany Barker. My question is did the Barkers even have a candy bar?

Tubing pictures

2009-01-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would put up a few pictures of our sledding outing that I posted a few days ago. I know someone has a picture of me and Lisa on an inertube but I am not sure who it is.

Picture #1 This one is my Troy on the left and my nephew James.

Picture #2 This is me and my other three boys as well as my niece Rebbeca forming a chain.

Picture #3 Daniel followed me around most of the day.

Picture # 4 This is the one ride Krislyn went on with the tube.

Christmas Is gone.

2009-01-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Yes you officially know the Grinch. On Christmas morning I had everything but the lights on the house taken down and put in a box. While I was taking down the tree and putting it in it's box Krislyn walks in, takes a look around and said, "But it is still Christmas!" The way I see it is like this. While the kids are all checking out their new gifts I can take the time to put things away and then have the rest of the vacation to do things with Lisa and the kids. Besides, in my opinion if you have Christmas lights on your house past January 1st your a red neck. If you have them past the 15th you are trailer trash.

Arizonans in the snow.

2009-01-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

On new years day I took the family and went sledding. It was a lot of fun and for a bunch of people who are from Arizona it is a new and exciting thing. Everyone but Krislyn loved it. She just happened to be in one of those moods where she was not going to enjoy or try anything. She finally tried it and was loving it but when we got close to the bottom of the hill she figured it was going to fast and started to cry.

Lisa was our only accident. There was this storm drain at the bottom of the hill about 18 inches by 18 inches. We had the whole hill in front of her. I talked her into going down the hill as she was a bit nervous. I pointed her sled and gave her a push. Of course it veered off course and BAM she hit the pot hole and hurt her butt. She was hobbling aroundfor a day or two in pain. I felt bad and it put a damper on the rest of the day. Maybe she is bad luck I mean after all she did go camping with me in June last year and it snowed on us. Oh well, I will keep her around anyway.

The day was a lot of fun. I only had sleds but my sister and her family were there as well as my brother Dennis and they had tubes. I way prefer tubes over sleds. It is a lot softer ride down the mountain. I do not like the tubes when you have jumps and bumps though as they have no control whatsoever. All in all I will have to go do the sledding thing again.

My Dad, My Friend.

2008-12-29T08:17:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-12-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-12-18T06:31:00.001-08:00

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.

2008-12-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-12-12T06:54:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-09T06:10:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-03T07:10:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-11-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-18T18:01:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-10T05:42:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-10-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-10-19T19:26:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-18T13:41:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

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.