Impossible is Nothing

Bike Accident

2011-11-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I started riding a bike for recreational purposes about a year ago. It has been a great way to exercise and I have enjoyed learning all about cycling. I have a good friend, Craig Schafer, who has been riding bikes for many years. He has been a real friend in helping me to know what equipment to purchase and teaching me the rules and etiquette of cycling. However, on the morning of August 5, 2011, Craig was not able to ride so I decided to head out by myself. I left the house before 5 am and rode a few miles away where another group of riders usually meets up. No one was there and after waiting for 5 minutes or so, I decided to just go by myself.

The route I choose to ride had a bike lane and always had other cyclists. I saw lots of other riders; however, I didn't hook up with any groups preferring to ride solo and push myself through my workout. After a good workout of about 30 miles, I was heading home around 6:30 am feeling good about my decision to ride even though I had to go it alone. I was riding past a large Boeing plant that frequently had lots of morning traffic as workers hurried to their job. I am always careful in this area because cars are often moving into the bike lane as they make their turn into the parking lot. I was headed west bound and I noticed a car in the east bound left turn lane and I supposed they were waiting for myself and possibly other traffic to clear before turning. I was traveling about 22-23 mph and the car suddenly turned right in front of me. I didn't have much time to react but I recall yelling loudly and slamming on my brakes. I was able to stop a few feet short of the car but my momentum threw me over my handlebars and I slammed into the right front part of the vehicle. My left leg landed in front of the right front tire and the tire went over my leg. As soon as my leg was free, I pulled back from the car and laid down on the street. I felt excruciating pain in my right shoulder area and my left leg and I think I was pretty vocal about the pain I was feeling.

The driver of the car stopped immediately and got out of his car to check on me. He called 911 and then apologized for not seeing me. Soon other people were on the scene including other cyclists who stopped to offer assistance. Someone asked if there was anyone they could call for me. I asked them to call Camille although I knew she would be very worried getting this phone call. The paramedics arrived soon and began to assess my situation. They took one look at my shoulder and knew something was not right. They put on a neck brace and strapped me to a board (which is very uncomfortable by the way). Camille arrived just as they were loading me into the ambulance. She was able to see me for a second before we headed for the hospital. I remember asking her to check on my bike and to see if the driver was cited by the police.

Road rash

Soft tissue damage

Left Ankle

At the hospital, we spent a lot of time waiting for doctors, taking x-rays, having an MRI, and a myriad of other things that were deemed necessary to find out what was wrong. They determined that I had separated my right shoulder (a few days later, the orthopedic surgeon diagnosed it as a 3rd degree separation) and had some soft tissue damage on my lower right back, and some road rash and bruising on my left leg. They sent me home with some good pain medication and told me to see an orthopedic doctor in a couple days. While at the hospital, Craig stopped by to pay me a visit. I could tell he felt bad about not being with me on the ride but it probably wouldn't have made any difference. He called a friend and they were able to give me a priesthood blessing before I left the hospital.

Ready to go home

My bike took a few hundred dollars to repair. In addition, the doctors at the hospital cut off my riding bibs and jersey and my helmet was slightly damaged. Fortunately,

My recovery has been much better than expected. I heard from some that recovery was extremely difficult and painful but my experience was as good as could be expected. I only took one pain pill after leaving the hospital and I had my arm out of the sling within a couple days. The shoulder was sore and my mobility was limited but I had very little pain and recovered fairly quickly. I couldn't run for several weeks and I didn't get back on my bike for a couple months but all things considered, the accident could have been much worse, my injuries could have been much worse, and my recovery could have been much more difficult. I believe the priesthood blessing I received directly aided in my recovery and limited the amount of pain I had to endure. Although I would prefer to not experience an accident such as this, I believe I was watched over and protected so as to be able to accomplish other things in my life.

Tender Mercies

2011-07-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (June 18th), I had the opportunity to hike Mt Humphreys with Tanner, my brother Shad, and my nephew Riley. I had talked about doing this hike several times over the past few years but had never actually gotten it done so I was grateful that my brother Shad invited me to come along. I really love the outdoors and this hike was a reminder of how much I have missed backpacking the past couple years. We left Mesa at 6 am so we could get to the trialhead in Flagstaff at a decent time and begin hiking. I think we started hiking around 9:30. The weather was perfect - a little cool but not cold.

Here are Tanner and I at the trail head - 9.6 miles round trip with a beginning elevation of 9,300 and ending at the summit with an elevation of 12,633.

Tanner and his cousin Riley taking a water break along the trail.

My brother Shad on the trail. Still lots of snow but very little actually on the trail.

The views were beautiful!

Here we are after reaching the saddle. It was very windy and the temperature was cooler thus the additional layer of clothing.

Here are Tanner and I after reaching the summit. We sat down behind some wind breaks, ate some food and water, and enjoyed the fantastic 360 degree views. We spent about 30 minutes at the summit before heading back down the trail.

Although downhill, the hike back to the trail head was challenging and required you to pay attention to all the rocks and tree roots in the trail. At one point, our group got off the main trail. As we made our way back to the trail, we had to descend a steep area that was covered in loose rocks and sand. My footing slipped and I reached my hands back to catch myself. In the process, the back of my head smacked a large boulder. As I sat down on the ground with my head spinning, blood began to run over my head. My brother began to get out his first aid kit when up the mountain came another hiker. He came upon us within a minute of the accident and he immediately started to assess the situation. None of us had seen this guy before so my brother started to question him by asking if he was a doctor. He said that he was a nurse and that he was a volunteer with the forest service. He and my brother cleaned the wound on my head, applied pressure to stop the bleeding, and bandaged it so I could continue down the mountain.

Later as I pondered about this experience, I felt very blessed that my brother had packed an excellent first aid kit and that a skilled nurse had happened upon us almost immediately. This experienced reminded me once again of the tender mercies of my Heavenly Father and how He is constantly aware of me and my needs. Although my injuries were minor, I was watched over and my needs were met allowing me to continue on my hike and enjoy the day with my family. This has happened repeatedly during the course of my life. I feel like the Jaredites did as recorded in Ether 6:12 - "...And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them."

Summertime

2011-06-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

Another busy week as we transition from school schedule to summer schedule. Here's an update on where everyone's at these days.

Chase is quickly becoming very independent and feels he needs his parents less and less. We are glad that he's such a good and responsible young man and he continues to make good choices in his life. He just completed the 11th grade and was able to attend Prom with a young lady from our ward. He enjoys singing in the choir and was accepted into the Chorale Choir for next year (nice job Chase!). We were able to attend the Rock 'N Roll concert that the music department held a few weeks back and all the choirs did a great job. It was a fun evening with lots of fun music and dancing. Chase is currently occupied with studying for the ACT test which he will take in a week. He starts training this week for his lifeguard job at Big Surf water park (the job starts the following week so long as he passes the training). He was also recently called to serve as the 1st assistant in the Priest's Quorum at church.

Jordan has started early morning football practice as he prepares for his first year playing for the high school team. He has practice every day at 5:30 am and then he had an additional football camp that he attended at another high school for 3 evenings. He has been pretty sore from lifting weights and doing lots of cardio work but he seems to be enjoying being a part of the team. As a sophomore, Jordan was in choir for the first time this year and learned a lot about singing. He was reluctant to take choir but I think he really enjoyed it (not sure he will admit it though). So much so that he decided to take choir again next year! He participated in the Rock 'N Roll concert as well and did a great job. Jordan continues to be a voracious reader, devouring books whenever he can. He is a very attentive older brother to Ryder and loves to spend time tending to his every need (explains why Ryder is spoiled beyond belief).

Since completing the 7th grade in Jr. High, Tanner has been very busy with friends and parties. Seems like he is always off going somewhere with some group of kids. Fortunately, he runs with a good group of kids and they all keep each other in line. He continues to grow like a weed and we have trouble keeping him in clothes and shoes that fit him. He is now taller than Camille and Chase with no sign of stopping. Tanner just completed his first season of Juniors baseball in Little League. This was his first time playing on a regulation size field and he adjusted well. His team had a great season although they didn't fare well in the end of season tournament. This week, Tanner is beginning a 2 week baseball hitting camp with one of his friends and he has been exploring the option of club baseball. Tanner has continued his creative ways - some of his creations rival McGyver. He received several different styles of duct tape as a present and has found many different things to make including wallets and shoes. He also is starting a Junior Lifeguarding program next week with the city pools.

Trevor is a unique spirit who loves to play with his toys and his friends. Fortunately, two of his good friends live just around the corner. These 3 guys can usually be found together at one of their homes playing with toys, swimming, playing video games, legos, or doing something else that they dream up. Having friends close by at this age has been a real blessing for Trevor since he is sometimes "too little" for his bigger brothers. Trevor just finished the 3rd grade which included the infamous Rain Forest program. This involves Trevor making a hand puppet to resemble one of the animals that reside in the rain forest. Camille loves (not!) this part of the 3rd grade curriculum. It involves a lot of time and effort mostly from the parent(s). However, when all was said and done, the puppet turned out great and the program was a success. Trevor was one of the narrators for the program and he did an excellent job (as did all the kids). Trevor just finished his first season of Minors Little League baseball. He showed steady improvement and his team had a successful year. This summer Trevor has been taking swim lessons, attending basketball camp and will go to cub scout day camp at the end of this week.

Ryder is such a joy and a blessing to our family. He is adored by his brothers and as mentioned before, completely spoiled. He is finally starting to get some teeth which has slowed his appetite somewhat but he continues to be a happy, loving toddler. He LOVES to be outside - just mention the word "outside" and he lights up. He loves shooting hoops, feeding rocks to the dogs, playing in his car and on his slide, splashing in the dog's water dish, anything outside! Sometimes he will press his face up to the back door like he wants to come in but if you open the door, he squeals and runs away inviting you to follow and play. He will spend hours outside pausing only for a few moments to get a drink of water.

He sometimes get confused when feeding the dogs a bisquit - "Do I eat this?"

Here's his basketball shooting form. We're going to have to work on this!

Camille and I spend most of our time just trying to keep up with all the events mentioned above. Camille is an angel to put up with all the testosterone in our home. She is great at teaching our kids about the details that I often forget (like that tan and gray don't match). She is the chorister in Primary and does a fabulous job. Her love for music and for the children is very evident as she teaches songs each week. She rarely misses a day at the gym, she loves her book clubs and her bunko group, but she always puts us first and we would certainly be lost without her. She was able to attend Women's Conference at BYU this year with some friends and with Suzanne. She had a great time and I'm sure it was a nice break from the boys.

Journal writing

2011-05-29T17:46:00.001-07:00

I have need to repent. No, this will not be an all-inclusive confession but I have felt an strong urge to make an improvement in my life specifically in the area of journal writing. I have been setting a very poor example for my children and for others that may or may not know whether I keep a consistent journal. But as my mother would say, "I was raised differently." And she, of course, would be correct. I was raised in a home where journal writing was stressed and where my mother was and still is the queen of journal writing. As a youth, I wrote in my journal at least once a week albeit many times under duress. Nonetheless, my journal "chore" was done. I believed my parents and felt of the importance of keeping a journal. I imagined myself a modern-day Moroni writing to my posterity who would in some future day look back and be grateful that they had a faithful ancestor who shared great wisdom and knowledge through their journal writings. However, the amount of writing I actually did would put me in the same category as Chemish.

Many of my entries revolved around my daily activities and the results of various sporting events in which I had either participated or viewed. I do have some entries that contain who I had a crush on that week and an admission or two of some of my youthful indiscretions. I have read much of my previous entries and the only knowledge I can glean is...on second thought, maybe not.

As a full-time missionary, I believe I improved not only the consistency of my journal writing, but also the content of my entries. Writing a journal became something different - it was more about how keeping a journal helped my development and less about how my writings would help someone else. My journal writing provided a private way to express my feelings and frustrations, to discover and expand my character, and to give substance to my dreams. I continued my journal writing after my mission while I attended undergraduate and graduate school. Gradually, I wrote less and less, sometimes going several months between entries. As the frequency became less and less, I found that the content of my writing became more of the travel log of my youth. Sometimes I would convince myself that I didn't have time to write since it would involve trying to "catch-up" with all the daily happenings. Several years ago, some of my journal writing was entered in this blog as an electronic history of my life and that of my family. But the past couple years, my journal writing has been virtually nonexistent. My time has been occupied by work, family, church, hobbies, media distractions, and a host of other demands.

As my children reached an appropriate age, my wife and I encouraged them to keep a journal. In fact, similar to my own upbringing, we included "Write in your journal" on their list of Sunday duties. Some weeks it is a pleasant experience as they write about the happenings of the week but often it is a struggle as we enforce the rule and try to help them see the value in journal writing. For several months now, my older children have complained about their journal writing and vocally questioned why they should be required to write when I neglected this supposed important duty. I always had a excuse about how busy I was what with my Sunday church duties and the other demands on my time. However, it was just that - an excuse.

In addition to my kids' gentle (or not so gentle) rebuke, I was provided another reminder of my journal neglect when our high councilor spoke last week. His remarks were centered around a talk given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf about refocusing our efforts on things that matter most. I was reminded about how many television shows and sporting events I had made time for while I neglected things that matter most to me or that should matter most to me. Journal writing is one of those neglected items.

I have recommitted myself to keeping a consistent journal. I will make sure my journal writing takes priority over things that don't matter. I know that developing this habit will benefit me and I'm hopeful that my example will help my children see the importance of this latter day commandment.

Birthday & Baptism

2010-03-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe but our once little Trevor turned 8 years old last month. For our family, that means two things: baptism and birthday party!! Our family tradition is to go out for dinner and the birthday boy gets to pick the location. Trevor picked one of his favorites - California Pizza Kitchen. We all had a yummy dinner and Trevor was treated to a special birthday sundae!

Trevor then participated in another family tradition where we hide his birthday gifts around the house and he has to find them. He got a little frustrated and disappointed after finding several presents (cub scout stuff and books) but not the one he was anticipating. It was all good after he discovered a new Nintendo DSi (something he had been requesting for quite some time).

On February 27th, Trevor was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He has been preparing for this day for quite some time (a special shout-out to all his primary teachers) and he was excited for this event. Prior to the baptism, I was talking with a member of our stake presidency and he made a reference to the fact that this was our 4th child to be baptized. He didn't imply this but I got to thinking that some people might suppose that the experience becomes less special because we've participated in several baptisms. To the contrary, each child's baptism has been a unique experience and something that never gets old or mundane. It is a special thing to be able to perform a baptism and to help another individual partake of a saving ordinance of the gospel. I especially look forward to talking to each son after the baptism to get their perspective on what just took place. Trevor explained that he felt clean and happy. However, he was concerned that the confirmation was going to take a "long time" since he was anxious to go home. We were glad to have several family members in attendance including Grandma and Grandpa Campbell, Grandma Bonnie, Aunt Janel and Tynan, Uncle Shad, Aunt Jodi, Owen and Nya.

Later that evening, we all went to dinner at Fuddruckers. It was nice to be able to spend time with family and we were grateful for everyone's support of Trevor and our family.

The following weekend, we held a birthday party for Trevor and 10 of his friends. We went to Golfland where the boys played video games, ate pizza and cake, played laser tag and finished things off with a round of minature golf. Everyone had a great time and Trevor enjoyed the attention showered on him and the fun presents everyone brought. I'm just glad these events only happen once every few years - these kids have a ton of energy (does that make me sound old?).

Ragnar Relay 2010

2010-02-27T21:04:00.162-07:00

One more check mark on the bucket list - I was able to participate in the Del Sol Ragnar Relay! The whole event was very well done and I really enjoyed getting to know the members of my team and cheering them on to success. For those that don't know, the Ragnar is 204 miles (Prescott, AZ to Mesa, AZ) and you run with a team of 12 individuals who are divided into into 2 vehicles. Each individual runs 3 legs which vary in length from 3 - 9 miles. Our team was called the Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins (see the movie Elf) and consisted of friends of Glade and Laurie Smith who organized us into a team. I was invited to join this team because Camille and Laurie are in the same Bunko group.

Our team started Friday morning at 7:30 am. Thursday night, Van #1 headed to Prescott together where they stayed in a hotel. I'm told that it was a brisk 28 degrees when they woke up and it didn't get a lot warmer at the start of the race. Glade was the first runner so he got the freezing cold, early morning run. After Glade, Julie went, then Jake, Janice, Laurie, and Charlotte. Our vehicle, which had runners Jay, Dave, Janelle, Brett, myself and Kristine, left Mesa around 8:30 am or so on Friday morning since we didn't start our legs until about 1 pm.

The first van did great although they somehow didn't arrive at the end of Jake's run for 10 minutes. However, they handed off to Jay only 5-10 minutes behind schedule. Van #1 went to Wickenburg to get a shower, some food and hopefully some rest. Jay flew through his run averaging under a 7 minute mile over the 4.6 mile run. That seemed to inspire everyone and we all had good runs making up several minutes by the time we handed back to Van #1.

My run was the longest at 8.5 miles. At this point in the relay, we were on a dirt road which was great for safety and for impact on the joints but the dust from all the vehicles was a bit annoying. In addition, there were 2 washes that had running water in them. Fortunately, the race organizers allowed me to ride in the vehicle through the wash. I completed the run in 1 hour 7 minutes or about a 7:51 average. I felt good after the run knowing that I still had lots left in the tank for my next 2 runs.

After we handed off to Van #1 in Congress, AZ, we headed into Wickenburg to use the hotel rooms that Laurie reserved for our team. We ate dinner at Denny's, took a shower and crashed for a couple hours. Before long, it was time to head back out for our the leg of our run. We barely made it in time for Jay to take the exchange from Charlotte.

Towards the end of Dave's run, a runner on another team was hit by a vehicle while crossing the highway. Both our vehicle and Dave were past the accident so it didn't effect our ability to keep going but most teams were behind us when the road was closed. We continued our exchanges up to exchange point 22 which is where I was to begin my second run. The race organizers stopped all the runners at this exchange point and said we all had to drive to exchange 24 where the race director would let us know how to proceed. So my 2nd leg and Kristine's 2nd leg were cancelled. Because of the timing of these events, Van #1 was not at exchange point 24 yet. The race director determined to let the race continue beginning at exchange 24 so we decided that I would run leg 25 in place of my 2nd leg. I was not mentally prepared for this leg and I hadn't even studied the map. I had a vague idea of the length of the leg (turned out to be 8.5 miles) but no idea about the elevation.

I was finally able to get started on my run around 5:30 am on Saturday morning. This was a difficult leg with a fair amount of uphill climbing but I felt pretty good throughout the run. Camille was coming to pick me up after this leg (so I could be to Trevor's baptism - see next post) so I had Kristine call her to let her know of the changes in the race. Around mile 3-4, I see Camille on the side of the road cheering me on! What a supportive wife to get up in the early hours to pick me up and then she stands out in the dark and cold in her pj's cheering me on! I finished the leg averaging about a 8:30 mile - not great but not too bad all things considered.

I went home, showered and ate before heading off with Trevor for his baptism. Right after the baptism ended, I called my team to see how things were going and if they needed me to come back and run my 3rd leg. They had shifted things around such that I was not needed to run but Camille and I headed to the finish line so the whole team could finish together. We met up with other team members and waited at the finish line for Kristine. When she arrived, we all ran, limped, shuffled (you get the idea) together across the finish line. We received our finisher medals and took some pictures before heading back home.

Unfortunately, the runner that was hit early Saturday morning died a few days later. He was a senior at a high school in Phoenix and his accident kind of left a dark cloud over the event. In spite of this trajedy, our team had a great time and we are already making plans to participate next year.

New addition

2009-12-10T22:02:00.060-07:00

We are excited to announce the addition of son #5 - Ryder Monson Campbell was born on December 4 at 2:40 am. He was 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 3/4 inches long. He made it a little difficult as he was posterior but the doctor was able to get him turned around and all went better after that. We are so happy to welcome this sweet spirit to our home - his brothers are fascinated with him! Trevor is anxious for him to play. Almost immediately upon his coming home, Trevor had some toys and wanted Ryder to play. He was a little disappointed when we explained that it will be several months before he is able to play.

Eagle Scout

2009-11-22T14:00:00.011-07:00

After dragging his feet for over two years, Chase finally got motivated to finish when he realized we were serious about him not receiving his driver's license until he earned his Eagle.

Earlier this summer he organized his Eagle project which was to paint all the fire hydrants in a 1 mile square block assigned by the fire department. He learned a lot about leadership and organization skills in completing this assignment. He had a great deal of support from family, friends and members of our ward - I think 65 people turned out on the Saturday of the project. In addition, he had help from his quorum prior to the project.

Before painting:

After painting:

Many helping hands

In October, an Eagle Court of Honor was held where Chase was awarded his Eagle Scout rank along with 2 other young men in our ward. Chase requested that his Grandpa Doug (Jerel's dad) present him his award so both Grandma and Grandpa traveled from California to be in attendance. We also had other family in attendance as well as many friends. It was a great evening but Chase's commented that his feeling was one of relief.

Grandpa Doug presenting Chase with his award.

Proud grandparents and parents with Chase!

(The Eagle backdrop was painted by Camille's step-dad who passed away last year--Chase's Grandpa Randy. He is a very talented artist.)

4th of July - Heber, AZ style

2009-09-06T11:36:00.007-07:00

As we have in past years, we headed out of town for this holiday to one of our favorite 4th of July locations - Heber, Arizona! What a great town and they put on a great celebration capped off with a fabulous fireworks display. Obviously, we head up north to escape the summer heat but we really enjoy the festivities and we always run into several friends from the valley who are also escaping the heat.

We had some great food, played some games, and just basically relaxed and enjoyed the weather.

The fireworks show was fantastical (not a real word but it seems appropriate) as usual. Camille was able to capture these images.

And we were treated to another light show curteousy of Tanner and Trevor complete with Tanner's execution while Trevor laughs in approval.

New addition

2009-08-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

After the conclusion of the family reunion in Cascade, we were able to stop in Burley, Idaho to visit with my sister Megi and her family for a few hours. And it was even more special because Megi had just had her 3rd child, a perfect little girl whom they named Atley Jacille Jones.

Here she is (although she doesn't do much).

We love all our nephews and nieces and we were glad that Atley arrived healthy and that Megi was recovering well. They have a great family and we always enjoy the time we get to spend with them. We miss having them close by but we know they enjoy being close to Ty's family in Burley. We were only able to stay a couple hours but it was fun to visit with them and see where they live.

Goodbye Jones family - we love you!

Idaho reunion (6/20/09 - 6/27/09)

2009-08-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer we participated in a fabulous reunion in Cascade, Idaho. My Dad's brother Roger lives in Cascade and he had planned a reunion with all 8 of his children. He invited his 2 brothers and their children to also attend. We jumped at the opportunity to spend time with family and to get away from the summer heat of Mesa.

We left on Friday (June 19th) after work and figured we would drive until we got tired. This was an exceptionally long trip (18 hours) and the reunion activities started with dinner on Saturday evening. Fortunately, we have been blessed with children that travel really well and we rarely have to stop except when it is time to get gas. The trip was fairly uneventful with a couple exceptions. We had just crossed the Hoover Dam and Trevor woke up and started to whimper a bit because he had gotten tangled in his seat belt. Jordan and Chase attempted to help him but they concluded he was stuck. Camille and I were both wondering "how hard can this be" so I pulled over and tried to free Trevor. He was STUCK! We tried several things but the seat belt had retracted and was too tight to get him out. I ended up having to cut the seat belt ($$$) in order to release him. I guess when we have prayer before leaving on vacation we need to be a little more specific, "Help us not get tangled in our seat belt"!

We drove to St. George, Utah and decided to get a room and sleep for a few hours. It was 3 or 4 in the morning and there was an Amway convention in town (people still sell that stuff?) so we had to search a little to find a room in a Camille approved hotel. We slept for about 4 hours, had breakfast provided by the hotel and continued on our journey. We arrived in Cascade around 9 pm and went to Roger's home for dinner before checking into the Ashley Inn which would be our home for the next week. Most of those attending the reunion stayed at this hotel. Cascade is a small town with a population of 1,000 people located about an hour or so north of Boise. It sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet on the east side of Lake Cascade and along the north fork of the Payette River. When we arrived on Saturday, it was cold and raining. This weather continued until Tuesday when it turned sunny and warm for the rest of the week.

On Sunday, we attended the local branch (my uncle is the branch president). The surrounding area has about 250 members but many are less active so attendance is often boosted by visitors to the area. Our family reunion significantly added to the numbers as did a couple other family reunions that were taking place. We spent the afternoon just hanging out in the hotel and relaxing. We also took some family pictures at Roger's home. Sunday evening we gathered at the church building for dinner and a family home evening. Rolland spent a few minutes showing us pictures of some of our ancestors and relating stories about their lives beginning with Vernon and Juniata. It was very interesting and we were all reminded of the legacy our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. have left for us. We then spent some time looking at scrapbooks and photo albums documenting our lives and the lives of our ancestors. It was fun to remember past times and to see some photos that I hadn't seen before. There was even a photo of my grandpa Vernon's motorcycle - perhaps that's where I get the bug to ride.

Roger had planned for us to spend most of Monday at the lake. He had reserved a great location with good access to the shoreline but the weather was not cooperating. It was windy, raining, and very cold. However, we thought we'd give it a try and hope for the best. We headed to the lake around noon and the car thermometer said the temperature was 46 degrees. We brought our jet ski and my cousin also brought his jet ski so we put them in the water and headed to the beach that Roger had reserved. Roger put his boat in the water too but had a dead battery and was unable to get it started. We spend about an hour or so trying to stay warm and hoping the weather would break. We ate lunch and then decided to call it a day.

Some went back to the hotel and swam in the indoor pool and others went to one of the local hot springs to warm up. Dinner was at Roger's home again.

Tuesday was a much better day as far as the weather went. The adults and older kids went on a rafting trip down the Payette river for several hours. The rapids were fun but nothing crazy. It was a relaxing time with the occasional water fight between rafts. The younger kids were taken to a friend of Roger's who had some horses. He took them on a buggy ride and then a few of them (led by Camille) went tubing down a calm part of the Payette River. For dinner that night, we gathered at a local diner called the Whistle Stop Cafe where we had pizza.

The weather was great on Wednesday so much of the day was spent on the lake. Several of us took some time in the morning to play a round of golf on the local public course. The course left much to be desired but the views of the lake and surrounding mountains were spectacular! We had a great time on the lake. Roger used his boat to pull a large tube for the kids. We had both jet skis on the water all day too with everyone taking turns. The church branch had scheduled a get together at the lake at 5 pm so we welcomed many members of the branch and enjoyed a great dinner with them.

Almost all of Thursday was spent traveling to the Salmon River, enjoying a jet boat ride up the river, eating lunch, riding the jet boats back down the river, and traveling back to Cascade. During the course of our trip on the river, we saw several mountain goats and other wildlife. Again, the weather was perfect and we had a great time. On the ride back down the river, Chase, Tanner, Trevor, and Aaron (Grant's) were riding on the front of the boat. A huge rapid hit the front of the boat completely engulfing it. All four of the boys were wearing life jackets and for good cause. The water lifted them all off the boat and they started to wash to the side. Chase was able to grab Trevor and Aaron to prevent them from going overboard but he was unable to get to Tanner before Tanner slipped off the side of the boat. Fortunately, Tanner was pushed back along the boat where I was able to reach out, grab him and pull him back into the boat. He was pretty wide-eyed when I saw him floating in the river but otherwise he was unharmed. He was excited to tell everyone about how he survived the mighty Salmon River! We missed Camille on this trip since her doctor had advised her to avoid the bumpy river ride. She stayed back at the hotel and enjoyed a quiet, peaceful day reading and relaxing.

Friday was another beautiful day. We spent some time at a local park playing horseshoes and volleyball before going to the lake for a couple hours. Today also brought about the conclusion of our week-long basketball tournament. The church building had a small (half) basketball court and it became a very popular place during the week. Teams of 3 were formed and Matt put together some brackets for a tournament. Games took place after breakfast and after dinner with a round robin portion followed by a single elimination tournament (Alan's team ended up taking home the championship). We had a great time and worked off some of the calories we consumed during the week. In addition to basketball, a few of us also went running in the mornings. On Friday evening, we ate dinner at Roger's home again and made plans for the next reunion.

It was a great week full of fun memories with family. We love spending time together which seems to be somewhat abnormal in this world we live in.

We lost a true friend

2009-06-07T10:09:00.006-07:00

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to a good friend and fellow member of the family - our dog Pepper. Pepper has been a part of our family for the past 14 years. He came into our life a few months before Jordan was born. He was a Border Collie / Akita mix (we think) and when he was a puppy he had dark fur with a sprinkling of white reminding us of pepper - thus his name.

He wasn't always the most obedient dog. He was just a puppy when I planted several citrus trees in our back yard. He would dig around the tree roots and eat the sprinkler head off the drip line. I replaced many drip heads and tried a variety of solutions to curb his appetite. It took many tries before I was able to come up with a way to stop him.

Then there were the nights when he wanted to come in the house. He would sit by the back door and perform a half-bark until someone would let him in. I'm sure our neighbors loved it!

He would occasionally sneak out and roam the neighborhood. One time, he got out at night and we couldn't find him in the morning. We were all feeling some despair so we gathered as a family and offered a prayer to our Heavenly Father that He would help us locate Pepper. Not long afterwards, a friend of ours recognized Pepper as he was bounding along the side of the road having crossed at least one busy intersection. He was soaking wet but otherwise unharmed. We felt blessed and once again gathered as a family to express our thanks to God for His tender mercy in bringing our dog home.

He loved to run, wrestle, and play. One of his favorite activities was going for a walk in the neighborhood. He would practically drag you around, sniffing and checking out the sights. He loved our family and was a great watch dog. He hated to take a bath and he very much disliked going to the vet. He was a big dog (around 75 lbs) but he was gentle and patient with our children as they grew. He took a lot of abuse from toddlers over the years, probably more than we realized. But through it all, he was a true friend. He was always there to lend an ear for your troubles - there were many times when we would find an upset child outside talking things over with Pepper.

He had slowed considerably over the past couple years. His hearing had diminished and his joints gave him problems. But he was still always happy as he would struggle to his feet and make his way to you for an affectionate lick. We loved Pepper and he loved us. He will be missed.

Fathers and Sons

2009-05-22T21:25:00.003-07:00

Our annual Fathers and Sons campout put on by our ward took place a couple weeks ago. We went to Airplane Flats campground which is close to Canyon Creek and the Canyon Creek Fish Hatchery. We left on Friday afternoon around 2 pm and headed up to the campground. We had an uneventful trip stopping in Payson to fill the water tank on our trailer. We discovered at that time that the hose which runs to the water tank had developed a large leak from age and heat. Fortunately, the tank sits higher than the hose so most of the water remained in the tank.

The campout was well attended and we had a great time. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed being in the outdoors. We had a campfire program on Friday night and a fabulous breakfast was provided by the ward on Saturday morning. After breakfast, we relaxed and went fishing in Canyon Creek. Soon it was time to clean up and head home so we could finish our preparations for Mother's Day.

Shooting a Potato Gun

It's just not any fun unless you're several feet from the ground!

Wild Hogs vs Stormin' Mormons

2009-05-05T21:51:00.005-07:00

Our neighbor, James, has a Fat Boy Harley-Davidson motorcycle and has talked to Jerel for a while now about renting a motorcycle and going on a day ride with him and some other guys.

So of course, Jerel invited his brother Shad to go too since he loves to ride motorcycles. One night they even got together with some of the guys who had expressed an interest in going, ate a bunch of food and watched "Wild Hogs." Well, this past weekend was the BIG DAY!

In the days and weeks leading up to the ride, several people in our ward indicated they would like to come along. When all was said and done, 6 guys (5 in our ward plus Shad) made the trip. They left around 7 am with plans to be gone most of the day. They had a route in mind but not really any particular destination - just ride and enjoy the sights. One member of the group was Jay Klepinger who is Chase's teacher's quorum advisor. When Jay pulled up on his Harley, complete with doo rag and leather vest, Chase said, "Oh wow!"

The event went off without a hitch arriving home around 4:30. No mechanical problems and no accidents or incidents to report. They traveled around 300 miles stopping along the way including breakfast in Fountain Hills and lunch in Globe. Jerel had a great time and they have already begun planning their next trip.

Here's James with his Harley.

Shad on his sport bike.

Jerel ready to ride!

"Word of the Day"

2009-05-05T12:21:00.001-07:00

Word of the day #1:
ostracize -- to exclude, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, etc.

Story: I was doing several things on the computer--updating Quicken, trying to blog, upload pictures, etc. Well, Chase wanted to use it and was frustrated when I told him I wasn't done yet, was in the middle of a lot of things, and he might have to wait a while. He then replied, "Could you get off the computer and quit ostracizing it?" Good thing Chase is good natured and let me post this. He quickly corrected himself and said, "I meant monopolize." But it was still funny and I couldn't help posting it.

Word of the day #2:
monopolize -- to acquire, have; to obtain exclusive possession of; keep entirely to oneself

Battle of the Books update

2009-05-04T21:36:00.003-07:00

Well, as you know, tonight was the district finals for Battle of the Books. Tanner's team didn't miss a single question until the very last question on the very last round. They ended up in a tie for 5th place. His team did such a great job and were VERY disappointed at the end--we all were. To take 5th place out of our entire school district is not too shabby, but it's still hurting a little tonight. They all were awarded with a pin for participation.

Battle of the Books

2009-05-04T13:17:00.007-07:00

Battle of the Books is a program for 5th and 6th graders where students are put into teams of three, read 12 books of the district's choosing, then answer questions about those 12 books for points. The questions are judged very strictly and have to be answered in 20-30 seconds depending on the type of question. For example, if the questions asks "In what book . . . ?" and the answer is "The Door in the Wall." If you just say "Door in the Wall" then the answer is incorrect. You have to say "THE Door in the Wall." The competition begins at your local school and is divided throughout the school year into three rounds (4 books for each round). Tanner's team did really well during the first 2 rounds but missed 2 questions which put them into 3rd place going into the final round. His team was perfect and got every question right in the 3rd round while the 2 teams in front of them missed just enough questions to put Tanner's team into first place for his school. This is the final school competition.

Last week, Tanner's team competed in the district semi-finals which consists of winning teams from the other elementary schools in the district. Due to the large number of schools (I think there are 37 schools that competed), the semi-finals are divided into 3 heats with the top 4 teams from each heat advancing to the finals. Tanner's team was the only team that answered every question correctly, and therefore won their heat. They will compete again tonight against the other advancing teams in the district finals. We are excited to see them compete and hope they can take home the district title!! And here they are at the semi-finals.

The winners of the semi-finals!

Salt Lake City Marathon

2009-04-23T21:56:00.007-07:00

Last Saturday, April 18th, I participated in the 6th Annual Salt Lake City Marathon. I have come to realize that running a marathon is so much more than the actual race. Having said that, I really enjoy race day and all the anticipation, excitement, comraderie, pain, agony, and satisfaction that comes from running 26.2 miles.

I left on Thursday evening with Chase, Jordan, and Tanner and we drove to Las Vegas. Camille and Trevor stayed home so Trevor could participate in his 1st grade program on Friday. Then they would catch a flight to Salt Lake on Friday evening. We stayed at the Hilton where we got a great rate on a room. We got in around 12:30 am and quickly went to bed. I got up around 7 am on Friday and went for an easy 4 mile run on an outdoor track at the hotel. I got the boys up, we all showered, and had breakfast at McDonalds. We drove to Provo where we stopped and picked up our race day shirts that had been delivered to my brother Boyce. Our timing was pretty good as we arrived right before my parents and my sister Lindy. We said a quick hello and then headed to Salt Lake.

We went straight to the Salt Palace where the marathon had an expo in process. I picked up my race bib, timing chip, and goodie bag. The kids and I then spent some time viewing the various booths and merchandise on display. I was finally able to find a decent headband to wear - something that doesn't look like it came from the 80's (I know I'm getting older but I don't have to completely look the part). We then headed over to my mother-in-law's home where she had prepared an excellent pasta dinner for me and the kids (thanks Bonnie). After dinner, I got all my running stuff ready to go and got myself and the kids ready for an early bedtime since we would be up early the next morning. Camille's flight was delayed so Bonnie agreed to pick them up at the airport so I wouldn't be up late.

I got up around 4 am or so and got all prepared. I dressed warmly and took some water and granola bars to eat while I was waiting for the race to begin at 7 am. I felt good - not nervous but just a little anxious about the race. However, I was dreading going outside and waiting to begin because I was fearful that it would be cold (and most people know that I can't stand to be cold). Fortunately, the weather turned out to be warmer than anticipated so my worries were for naught. Camille drove me to the light rail train station and I took the train to the race start. The train was crammed-full of bikers and their bicycles since the bike tour started at 6 am.

The start of a race is always fun probably because everyone is in high spirits and is excited to begin. There are always interesting people to observe and it's always fun to share war stories with other runners. However, on this morning I kept more to myself as my thoughts were turned to my sisters who have suffered with Cystic Fibrosis. I thought about Shannon who passed away last October - what a great fighter she was through it all and how she fought valiantly to the end. I was also thinking of Lindy and her struggles with this disease. Having run the marathon before, I knew the pains and agony that was to come during the next few hours. It was emotional to think about how it would feel running down the final stretch to the finish line wearing their pictures on my shirt.

Soon it was time for the race to begin and I went to line up with the thousands of other runners. As I was standing and waiting for the start, I turned around and there was Paul! I didn't think I would see him before the race with there being so many people but there we were standing next to each other. I was able to meet Kat, Paul's fiancee, who was running the half-marathon and we briefly chatted before hearing the starting gun. We were quickly separated by the throng of people pressing forward but we were finally off and running.

The first half of the race went well. My plan was to push for the first 9 miles and try to bank a few minutes for the later miles and I was able to do this pretty well. Most of the course was a gradual downhill over this distance and I felt really good. I had planned to take an energy gel every 5 miles but I missed the aid station at mile 5 so everything got pushed back. There were a few hills during this time that were much more severe than I had heard but I was still feeling good when I passed the halfway point. I saw Ty & Megi and family around mile 14 as they were on the side of the road cheering. Just before I rounded the corner, I saw and heard Boyce across the street. He was cheering and yelling loudly - I kind of felt like a rock star with all that attention and it gave me a little boost to keep pushing on. I was still on pace to run a 3:30 although I was beginning to tire.

At about 15.5 miles, I ran into problems when both of my calves started to cramp. I slowed my pace and tried to run in such a way as to prevent any cramping but I had a feeling that it was only going to get worse. It did. By mile 21, my calves, quads and my left inner thigh muscles were all cramping. I would walk until the pain stopped and then run until one or more of the muscles would lock up. I was very frustrated because at that point there was nothing I could do except push on and try and rehydrate at the aid stations. By mile 24, things started to feel a little better but I was still cramping. However, I really wanted to finish in under 4 hours so I ran as best I could, determined not to walk anymore. As I headed toward the finish line, I was relieved to be finishing, excited to see my family and friends, and satisfied that I had run as hard as I could. It was such a high point to be running down the last stretch and hear words of encouragement from my family and to see them pulling for me. There are so many metaphors about life that I have learned from running but I won't go into them all here. Suffice it to say, it was a great experience.

I finished in 3:56:01 which was a PR by over 2 minutes but still a disappointment from where I had hoped to finish. I went and got something to eat and drink and receive a massage (which was awesome!). I headed back to the race to see all the family and to watch Paul finish. It was fun to talk with everyone and see how they did (Boyce ran the 5K, Suzanne did the bike tour which covered the marathon course, Kat did the half-marathon).

It was fun to cheer Paul as he came across the finish line. Paul's mom had talked the announcer and informed him of why we were running the marathon. So as Paul is coming down the final stretch, the announcer is telling the crowd of people about Shannon and her struggle with Cystic Fibrosis, how Paul had donated part of his lung to her to prolong her life, and how we had used the race as an opportunity to honor Shannon and Lindy and raise funds to cure this disease. It was a grand moment!

We all went home to clean up and relax before we gathered later that day for a barbeque with many of my aunts and uncles on my mom's side and several cousins as well. We had a great time visiting, sharing stories, and just being with one another. We spent the night again at Camille's mom's house and left for home early Sunday morning. It's always a longer trip going home but we arrived safely and without incident.

Oh Baby

2009-04-05T05:35:00.001-07:00

Last week my good friend Laura helped her daughter host a baby shower for her young women's leader. And it just so happens that Laura and I both visit teach her too. So I really wanted to help with whatever Laura would let me help with. You see, Laura is amazingly talented, and does a great job on everything. She's a hard act to follow. I've posted a picture of the "cupcake pop" party favors that Laura made for everyone--AMAZING!! They were mini cupcakes on a sucker stick and dipped in chocolate.

Anyways, she asked me and Stephanie, another friend, to help make cupcakes. Laura suggested that we try to make them look like flowers since she was decorating with pink hydrangeas. Stephanie was going to be gone and couldn't help decorate. So she baked the cupcakes and I decorated them all. I tried two different frostings--some the regular buttercream and the other a whipped cream topping frosting. I tried to variate the colors in the petals too so they would be two-toned. Some turned out better than others, but overall I think they turned out pretty cute. Thankfully Laura sent me a youtube clip on how to do the cupcakes, or I would have been lost. I forgot how much I like to cake decorate. Thanks Laura for asking me to help! It was fun. :)

Falling in love with you!!

2009-04-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

Speaking of "True Love" . . . I just realized that I never blogged about my Valentine's gift from my sweet hubby. I have to say it was one of the greatest Valentine's Day gifts he's ever given me. There is a cutie pie girl in my ward, Caitlin, who offered to do a singing telegram and deliver flowers as a fundraiser for the performing group she's in. I was totally surprised! I had NO idea and I think that is one of the best parts. I love being surprised, but am very impatient and have been known to spoil a surprise or two. She and a guy friend of hers sang the song "Falling In Love With You!" I videoed the whole thing, but Caitlin made me promise to not post her singing. They were FAB, the flowers were beautiful and I have to admit--it made me cry. I know--surprising! :) It reminded me of when Jerel proposed to me. I had no idea it was going to happen the night it did, and he took me by total surprise. It was a perfect propsal--and just the way I dreamed it to happen.

True love . . .

2009-04-04T12:04:00.003-07:00

A friend sent this to me this week, and I think anyone can get a good laugh out of this one--even non-Twilight fans!

Cute quips

2009-04-02T07:22:00.003-07:00

This morning I was discussing that I needed to go to a bridal shower tonight, especially since we would be out of town the night of the reception. Jordan asked, "What is the difference between a bridal shower and a reception?"

Jerel explained, "It's a party just for the women. And sometimes they give them girly things like lingerie."

Tanner asked, "How do you give someone longer legs?"

This week . . .

2009-03-30T07:32:00.004-07:00

This is why I love Arizona!
This week . . . we went to an Angels spring training game.

And this week . . . my mom (in Utah) tried to plant some flowers and found this in her backyard.

Yep, it's good to be in Arizona right now! :)

South of the Border

2009-03-29T17:30:00.004-07:00

For spring break we were invited by our good friends, the Davis', to go with them to spend some time at their home in Mexico. We had gone with them a couple years ago and enjoyed the experience, especially our kids. However, we were only able to spend a little over a day at that time so we were looking forward to this trip since we would be spending about 4 days. The Davis' also invited another family in our ward, the Klepingers, so we had over 20 people in our whole group.

We left after work on Tuesday and drove straight to their home in a town called Puerto Lobos with a couple stops to get gas and treats. The trip is not too bad but the last hour or so is on a dirt road with absolutely no lights anywhere. It is very dusty and can be hilly in some parts. In this case, the road had been graded pretty well but the last 10 minutes were pretty rough. Everyone had been sleeping but the rough road cured that problem. So we arrived at 2 in the morning and everyone was wide awake! It didn't take long to unload the vehicles and get everyone back to bed. Here's a picture of the back of the Davis' home looking from the beach.

We spent the next 3 1/2 days enjoying the wonderful outdoors and all that Mexico has to offer. Puerto Lobos is located on the Gulf of California about 70 miles south of the popular resort destination of Rocky Point. The town has no electricity, no running water, and no phone service. Most of the residents of the town are fishermen and they are very poor. Below are some pictures of the local homes.

We enjoyed riding quads...

playing in the ocean and with the ocean critters...

fishing...

playing in the dunes at the beach...

eating...

and enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery that is Mexico!

(Chase took these pictures--aren't they amazingly beautiful!)

We had a fabulous time and it was over way too soon. On Saturday, we cleaned up the house, put all the toys away and headed for home. We stopped in Caborca (a small town right after getting off the dirt road). While there, Mason discovered a screw in one of his tires. So he went to a local tire repair store and had it fixed. This took close to an hour because they didn't fix it correctly the first time. We headed out, thankful that this problem was discovered while in town, and got down the road a few miles when one of the tires on the trailer Mason was towing blew out. He quickly removed the wheel, unhitched the trailer, and headed back to Caborca to replace the tire. Soon we were headed out again. We were only a few miles from the border and the tire that Mason had repaired on his vehicle blew out. He put the spare on and once again we were back on the road with no further problems. What an adventure!!

We had to make mention of this contraption. One of the residents in Puerto Lobos, Arturo, is the local fix-it guy in the town. He is very smart and can fix most things even though he has access to very few supplies. There is no boat dock so the only way to put boats in the water is to back your vehicle in the salt water. Arturo designed and built this vehicle so he can put boats in the water but keep himself and the engine dry. He charges $20 to put your boat in and out of the water. I guess necessity is the mother of invention.

The lesson for today is.....

2009-03-27T14:16:00.005-07:00

For the past couple months, Camille and I have had the pleasure of teaching Trevor's primary class (6-7 year olds) on a pretty regular basis due to some work and medical issues with his regular primary teachers. I really enjoy these opportunities especially teaching kids at this age. If I ever were to become a school teacher, 1st or 2nd grade would probably be my thing. The kids still think you're pretty cool and are impressed by the simple things of life. However, they can also be brutally honest - not necessarily a bad thing as it often helps to keep me humble.

Case in point: we were teaching the lesson a few weeks back and the kids had paid attention and were doing great. For the last few minutes of class, the kids were coloring a picture that related to the lesson. I was going around and checking on their progress. One of the girls in the class asked me a question and I proceeded to answer her. She looked very intently at me and seemed to be taking it all in. When I finished, she looked at me and very matter-of-factly stated, "Your breath stinks." Excellent - just the response I was looking for.

Makes me wonder what she told her parents after church when they asked what she learned in Primary today: "Ummm, that my teacher needs to get some breath mints!"

Heaven Scent

2009-03-05T10:52:00.007-07:00

This is the time of year that I remember why we love Arizona so much. The days are warm but not hot and the evenings are cool but not cold. And the best part? The wonderful aroma of orange blossoms which fills the air, especially in the evenings!! A friend of ours blogged about this fabulous smell and commented that this is what heaven must smell like. I couldn't agree more.

Cure Cystic Fibrosis

2009-03-03T13:41:00.006-07:00

As some of you know, Jerel has two sisters, Lindy and Shannon, who were born with the genetic disease Cystic Fibrosis (CF). On October 5, 2008, we lost Shannon due to complications from CF. Our determination to fight this disease has intensified and we invite you to join us and our family in this fight as we raise money to cure Cystic Fibrosis.

In recent years, we have supported the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's (CFF) national fund-raising event, Great Strides. This year, Jerel decided to run the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 18, 2009 in honor of his sisters and raise funds for the CFF. He invited others to join him and recruited his brother, Boyce and Shannon's husband, Paul. Those of us not running will be cheering them on! Running or not, we are united as a family in our efforts to honor Shannon, and to raise as much money as possible for research which will benefit Lindy who continues to fight CF.

We are asking for your support to help fund research and improve the quality of life for everyone fighting Cystic Fibrosis. We know we can be successful with your help. Any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated and will put us one step closer to our goal.
To make a tax-deductible donation, click HERE and select the "Click to Donate" button or you may send a check made payable to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to: Rinez Campbell, 2119 Scott Place, Bakersfield, CA 93306.

We are grateful for your support as we fight to cure Cystic Fibrosis. Thank you for your donation and most of all, your love.

First runner up

2009-01-30T12:30:00.003-07:00

Tanner competed in the School spelling bee again. There were 20 kids competing. Each 4th, 5th, and 6th grade class sends 2 representatives to compete in the "finals." Tanner was his classroom's winner. The winner of the School then goes on to compete in the district competition. One time during the competition, they asked another speller to spell the word "sequin," Tanner looked at me in the audience and smiled. That is the word he messed up last year and he for sure knows how to spell it now. He did very well, this year and spelled 11 words correctly before making a mistake. When he misspelled his word in the 12th round, there were only 3 spellers left. But all 3 kids got their words wrong and so they all got to stay and try again. The next round someone messed up and that left only 2 kids--Tanner and Dean. It went back and forth between these 2 for several more rounds. One of the kids would misspell a word and then the kid who got one right would have to spell one more word correctly to win. Then that kid would misspell his "winning" word and it would start the round over. Tanner eventually got out-spelled on round 22. There were some hard words at the end of the competition, and I was impressed that both Tanner and Dean did so well since they are both 5th graders. I'd write some of the words they got wrong but I don't know how to spell some of them myself. I'm so proud of him that he made it to 2nd place. The teacher in charge said he made it as "First runner up" because she thinks that sounds better. Good job Tanner!

The final two! At the end they shook each other's hands.

It was great!

The number to beat is . . .

2009-01-29T16:30:00.002-07:00

Here's another one of those "we crack ourselves up" stories. (Hopefully it will make you laugh too.) Jerel and I watch the tv show "The Office" and sometimes the kids see it too. A couple weeks ago, they had the funniest intro on the show. We called the family in to watch it and we all laughed and laughed. A few days later we all went to the zoo as a family. And while we were there, we had the opportunity to reenact the scene from "The Office" that made us laugh so hard. Fans of "The Office" will appreciate it more, but I think you will still have a little chuckle out of it. Sorry that there's 4 videos, but the first is the clip from "The Office." The next 3 are each of my kids reenacting it. Have fun!

Here's Jordan--he claims he didn't even try:

Here's Chase and Trevor:

Here's Tanner and Trevor (again):

The funniest part was afterwards. We had all had our fun and were walking down the path to the next exhibit when Tanner said, "Dad you should have run. If you would have got like 20 mph and then you would have been only like 4 or 5 miles slower than the fastest man in the world!!"

Jerel replies, "Well, while I am glad that you think that I could run that fast, I'm not really a sprinter. I'm really a long distance runner."

So Tanner replies, "Well, then start from back here and run it!" By that point we were a ways away from the speed sign. I'm sure Tanner was thinking Jerel could surely be fast if he ran it in a long distance then. We had a good laugh out of that.

Isn't it cute when a son thinks his dad has a chance of being the fastest man in the world?! It just makes me smile.

Dinner anyone?

2009-01-27T21:48:00.002-07:00

The other day I was making dinner and Jordan came in and said, "Hey mom, thanks for making dinner every night. A lot of my friends and other kids at school have mentioned to me that they think it's nice that you make dinner every night because a lot of their moms don't. So thanks. I know it's a lot of work and I'm glad you do it. "

I was overwhelmed with gratitude that my teenage son noticed something that I do for the family and was thankful for it. I just do it automatically and sometimes with not a lot of thought. And I have to be honest, I was surprised that so many of my sons' friends go out to eat a lot. I thought everyone had dinner at home every night. So I had to take a picture of the dinner table right then and there so I could remember the nice compliment.

p.s. We do go out to eat sometimes too. I'm definitely not perfect you know. :)

The parable of the serving spoon

2009-01-27T15:56:00.008-07:00

(I stumbled across these pictures while trying to find some other ones for the next post. Remembering how hard we all laughed when it happened, I just had to post them. Hope you think it's as funny as we did.)

Once upon a time there was a boy named Chase. One week he felt really sick. He even came home early from school one day, missed wrestling practice and slept the rest of the day away. He really felt pretty crummy all week. During one of those crummy days, he decided he wanted some leftover jello. (If you don't have teenage boys--let me enlighten you. They are always hungry--even when they are sick--seriously, hungry ALL the time.) He ate some. It was delicious! He wanted more and proceeded to scoop more out of the container with the spoon he had been eating with. His mom walked in. (I'm sure you can see where this is going.) Chase's mom taught him the lesson of not eating directly from containers, licking serving spoons, etc. --ESPECIALLY when you are sick. She let him eat the rest of the jello since he contaminated it for the rest of the family. Chase thought , "No problem. I'll eat it right now. I love jello."

"I like jello, this isn't going to be too bad."

(This picture doesn't do it justice--there was a TON

of jello and it filled the whole plate.)

"Wow that was a lot of jello.
I don't think I'm going to eat jello ever again!"

Moral of the story: When you are sick, don't let your "germaphobic" mom catch you licking the serving spoon.

p.s. He ate jello again last night--he was hungry! LOL

Fabulous family fotos

2009-01-21T19:36:00.011-07:00

Well, I'm sure you noticed my new family picture on the side--and if you haven't, now is a good time to notice. :) It's my favorite and is now displayed in my living room. Today my sister-in-law posted some beautiful pictures of my 3 year old niece, and I just loved looking at them. So then I decided that I needed to share some new pictures of my kids. Many of my friends and family don't live nearby and probably would like to see what we look like now. Hopefully you will enjoy looking at them as much as I loved looking at my niece's new pictures. These were all taken (November 2008) by my friend Mary who is an awesomely fabulous photographer. I wish I could share all the pictures she took because there were so many great ones--literally tons and tons. But here are some of my favorites.

Enjoy!This is my second favorite family picture.

(It's displayed in my family room.)

Aren't my 4 boys so handsome!
I love the one where they are all laughing. I love the candid shots.

Trevor -- age 6

Tanner -- age 10

Jordan -- age 13

Chase -- age 15

Cute quips

2009-01-21T19:29:00.003-07:00

Yesterday Trevor wanted to eat some of the leftover jerky that Jordan had on his campout. After about 15 minutes he said, "Hey, I really like beef jerky."

I replied, "You do? Well, I'm glad."

He then continued, "Yeah, I like it cuz you can even drink it sometimes."

I said, "What? Drink it?"

He explained, "Yeah, if you chew it for a long time, then it gets juicy and then you can drink it."

So there you go. Who knew you could drink jerky. lol

College Basketball

2009-01-16T09:54:00.007-07:00

This is such a great time of year. The weather is gorgeous and college basketball is in the air! Last month, our family was able to take in the Stadium Shootout at the University of Phoenix stadium (where the Cardinals play football). This was a one day tournament featuring four excellent college basketball teams including our beloved BYU Cougars. We purchased sideline tickets that included an all-you-can-eat buffet as well. We were treated to hot dogs, chili dogs, nachos, prime rib, bread sticks, pasta, brownies, cookies, soft drinks, water - basically everything you could want. There was plenty of food and it was all really good. Our seats were only a few rows from the court so we had an excellent view of the games.

The first game featured Louisville vs Minnesota. It was an okay game with Minnesota pulling out an upset win over ranked Louisville (although Minnesota is better than the experts say). We had trouble getting into the game but there were still some impressive plays. What I was more impressed with was the fact that Muhammed Ali was attending the game (he's from Louisville) and was sitting a couple rows in front of us albeit he was courtside. I was a bit star-struck with seeing him up close but it was interesting how many people around us, especially those younger than us, had no idea who he was, what he had accomplished and what he meant to the sports world. Boxing has not had many "class acts" as of late but Ali was the greatest! It would be like someone not knowing who John Wooden, Wilt Chamberlin, Knute Rockne, or Walter Payton where. Anyhow, I'm glad my kids were able to see him and learn a little bit more about sports history.

Some of the BYU team came into the stands during the first game to watch and relax. Camille took the kids over to meet the players and get a few photos with them. They were more than happy to accomodate, even letting the kids sit amongst them and watch the game.

The second game featured BYU versus ASU. This was the game most of the crowd came to witness since ASU is only a few miles to the east and they are ranked having only lost 1 game thus far. BYU has also started out strong going undefeated through their early schedule although they haven't played many strong opponents. The crowd was definitely pro-ASU; in fact we were surrounded by ASU fans, many of whom had a few drinks in them by tip-off. But everyone was respectful of us and complimentary of the BYU team and players. We had a great time cheering on the Cougars and the game was well-played by both teams. The game came down to the final seconds as BYU fired up a shot that was initially counted but after video review, was waved off. BYU lost by 1 point!! It was a disappointing end to an otherwise fun outing.

Snow Day

2009-01-04T10:25:00.007-07:00

Yesterday, our family traveled to Flagstaff to spend the day enjoying the winter weather. My co-worker, Bill Beverage and his wife Sue, own several acres of land in the area and they invited us to spend some time with them at their cabin. They have named their property Whispering Pines and we enjoy the opportunity to visit. It is always very relaxing and peaceful and Bill and Sue are the best hosts, catering to our every need.

When we were outside, we spent the day sledding, building snow forts, and having snowball fights. Then we would go inside to warm ourselves by the fire, dry our clothes, watch football, and eat. It snowed some while we were there and I had forgotten how peaceful the world feels when snow is coming down. The day was over much too quickly and we all wished we could have stayed longer.

Action figures update . . .

2008-12-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I found out that Trevor still likes to play with my "action figures." This is what I found. I'm so glad that he hasn't "grown out" of this phase in his life. It's so sweet. (Plus, I started collecting nativity sets a few years ago, and these are the two sets I bought this year. One is from my trip to Alaska--hence the north pole/eskimo motif. The other just reminded me of Trevor. I love how the animals are all grouped around the baby Jesus. Just so cute! . . sigh . . .)

Not what you would call tall

2008-12-21T16:35:00.003-07:00

The other day Tanner was telling Trevor about all his favorite teachers. He then commented that his teacher from second grade was really tall--"Even taller than dad."

Trevor questioned him, "Taller than DAD?!" (As if that wasn't possible. Isn't it cute when a child looks up to his dad and thinks he is like superman and that nothing can beat him?)

Tanner confirmed with emphasis, "Yes! Dad is NOT what you would call tall."

Trevor thought about that for a minute and then said, "Dad IS tall! He's really smart too. He even knows 2 + 2!!!"

But after we all had a good laugh about that, I have to say that Jerel may not be physically tall, but he is tall in character and that's all I could ask for in a husband and father to my children.

p.s. All this talk about "being tall" promted us to measure everybody and update our "tall wall." It's always a lot of fun to see how much everybody has grown.

I'm back

2008-12-21T16:10:00.002-07:00

I know I made a goal a while back to blog more often, and then I sort of got really really busy and fell off the blogging wagon. And then Jerel told me today that lately my blog was wonderful and awesome--actually he said it was boring and he might have even uttered the word "lame." So to prove him wrong--I promptly sat down right then and there to blog. Well, now that the bulk of my "busyness" is over--I'm back. Plus, I invited all of my Christmas card readers to visit my blog and if it truly is "lame" when they come to visit for the first time--they won't come back. And that would make me sad. So I'm back to the blogging world. Hope you all enjoy.

I love my action figures

2008-12-12T11:26:00.001-07:00

This month Trevor came up to me with a worried look on his face. "Mom," he said, "are you going to get out your action figures this year?"

"What action figures?" I asked him.

"You know--the ones you always get out." he explained.

I must have still looked confused because he then went on to say, "You know--Jesus, Joseph--THOSE guys!"

Oh, of course--my action figures. "Oh, yes," I told him. "I always put out the nativity scenes." He was very relieved after that. I guess since I was behind on getting my Christmas decorations out, that he figured I wouldn't be getting out my "action figures." I told him that the most important decorations of all at Christmas time are my "action figures."

(I have a few nativity sets, but this is the one my mom gave me. The building on the right is the inn and the inn keeper looking very solemn as he says "no room")

This was started as a short little blurb, but this now reminds me of when Trevor was younger. He used to rearrange the nativity scenes all day long. Sometimes everyone would be gathered in the stable all around the baby Jesus, other times the baby Jesus would be all by himself (and even outside the stable at times), one time the wise men were fighting the shepherds, and sometimes they were all laying down sleeping (Trevor said they had a war and were dead--I prefer to say they were tired and sleeping.) My favorite was when Trevor would put all the animals--and only the animals--all crowded around the baby Jesus. It seemed so sweet to me. "Everyone loves Jesus" you know.

p.s. While I was trying to find a picture of Trevor playing with the nativity scenes, I stumbled across this picture from a few years ago. Every year Jerel's parents send an advent calendar for the boys to share. You know the kind--you open a little window every day and there's a little piece of chocolate inside. Well, this is the year that Trevor ate all of the candy at one time on like the 3rd day. Look how sad his face was when he realized how disappointed his brothers were going to be. I couldn't resist posting this picture because he still looks so cute!

Summer Vacation - Chase at EFY (June 15-21)

2008-12-04T21:11:00.003-07:00

Chase is going to tell about Especially For Youth (EFY) session that he attended this past summer: On Sunday (June 15th) after church, I went to Nick's house and we met up with Nathan and Hunter. We all drove up to Nick's cabin in Flagstaff and stayed the night. On Monday morning we woke up, got ready, and drove the little ways to Northern Arizona University (NAU) where EFY was held. Nathan was my roommate so we got checked in and got our dorm keys to where we were staying for the whole week. We got set in our room and then we had to go meet our counselor and the other boys in our company. My counselor's name was Ryan and he was the coolest guy ever! My other counselor was Ashley.

Once we met with the guys in our company it was time to meet the ladies. Oh man were they cute!! We did all these greeting games to learn about each other. We went to an assembly after to learn all the rules and what is expected of us. Then our company had family home evening. We played games and then our counselors talked to us about different things. We then went back to our dorms for personal study and then went to bed.

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were the same. We woke up, ate breakfast, and then went to our classes. I'm going to share some of the things that were taught to me. One class was about how to communicate with heaven. How can I get heaven to talk to me more often? JSH 1:8-20. How can I tell that heaven is really talking to me? D&C 6:15 D&C 6:23 D&C 8:2 D&C8:3-4 D&C9:8-9.

Miracles are manifestations of spiritual power. How can I better live my life so the Lord can work miracles through me? 1)We need to pray for guidance. D&C 19:38. 2) WE need to take action. Our BEST effort is all the Lord needs to create a miracle. There is no need to worry about anything, because the Lord will ALWAYS do his part no matter what :-) I loved that part!

INTEGRITY. What is it? Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one else is watching you. Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone. The teacher told us this phrase and I didn't understand it at first, but once I thought about it made sense. That's how a lot of things are up at EFY. The quote is, "The followers are few, when righteousness is taboo." The teacher kept telling us that if we have the spirit with us it will make choosing the right so much easier. Then to close up his class he said, " It's a covenant to stay true to what we know."

Right before EFY, I wasn't getting along with my parents very well and I never understood why they did the things they do, but then a teacher told us these scriptures. Mosiah 4: 14-15. Then it just kind of clicked. They only punish me and take privilages away so that I will learn to walk uprightly before God and to turn away from evil things. I thank my parents for that.

I made a mission statement in one class. It is: I will be where I should, when I should, with the right people.

There was so much more that I learned but it would take about a Tuesday and a Wednesday to share all of it. Tuesday night there was the first dance and it was fun! I got to dance with a lot of cute girls. Wednesday night was probably the funnest night ever though. It was Game night! Our company competed against other companies in games and a banner/cheer-off. Our banner got third place! We kicked butt and took names at the games.

Thursday was probably the most spiritual day of my life. We had to wear our Sunday best all day. That alone, seeing all these youth choosing to wear their Sunday best, brought the spirit in over me. The young men and young women broke up for the first part of the day. My favorite part, besides the testimony meeting of our company, was when all the young men were in the ballroom for the priesthood session. We started out by singing Called to Serve. Our session director then asked, "Do you feel that?" I know that I did. The spirit was overwhelming! He then proceeded to talk to us about how we have so much power in this room. All the young men in that room held the priesthood and it hit me. We have the power of God. Jesus Christ created the world and all that inhabits it with the power of God. I have the power to act as a tool in the Lord's hands to work miracles and do his will. Then the director talked to us about how we are the chosen generation. We were saved on purpose to prepare the world for Christ's second coming. We were the strongest, most valiant spirits in the pre-mortal life. I hear that so much and it blows me away. It also encourages me though. The Lord has that much faith in me, and the youth of the church. Every time I think about this the spirit comes to me and it testifies to me that this is true.

Friday we did a service project where you and a partner made one of those little baby hats on the circle looms. I'm so glad that Alison was my partner. Not only was she really fast at the hats and knew what she was doing, but she was also pretty dang cute. That always helps :-) We had the banquet that night and the final dance at the end of the night. It was such a fun night!

Saturday we woke up and got all packed up. We went and said our final good-byes to our company and then left. I am so glad that I had the oppurtunity to go to EFY. It has strengthend my testimony and got me in perfect tune with the spirit.

Words of Wisdom

2008-11-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

"Never lose sight of the goodness of our cause. Difficulties are not insurmountable. Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages." -George Washington

The Secular Church

2008-11-26T10:53:00.001-07:00

Neal A. Maxwell shares a POWERFUL message about ALL religions and the aspiring state religion: The Secular Church.

I love the 80's

2008-11-21T19:05:00.003-07:00

Am I the only one that loved the 80's episode on The Biggest Loser? I loved it--actually, I just love the 80's!! And call me crazy, but I loved the big hair. Seriously, I did. BUT my favorite thing about watching that episode was when Jerel said, "See that's why I'm not sure I should wear my headband when I run. Now I look like I never left the 80's. I look like them. I look old." Don't you think he looks like Bob in his 80's get-up?! LOL

Cute quip

2008-11-21T18:49:00.002-07:00

I made cookies and when I tried to give Trevor TWO, he said, "UUHH, I only wanted ONE!" (Imagine him using a Napoleon Dynamite voice.) So funny. Go figure. Does this kid eat anything?

Trevor's class went to a performance of the "Snow Queen." We all thought it was going to be a play. It was a ballet. Trevor and his friend's take on the whole thing, "That was a chic play."

Summer Vacations - Havasupai

2008-11-14T15:16:00.001-07:00

Our family was able to take several vacations over the summer and we have neglected to record these events and all the fun we had. So I'll start getting caught up by documenting one of the first adventures which was the Varsity & Venture Scouts/Teachers & Priests Quorum trip to Havasupai from June 9-13.

We left Mesa on Monday evening (June 9th) and drove most of the night. We arrived at Hualapai Hilltop an hour or so before sunrise and just slept in our vehicles until it started to get light. Hualapai Hilltop is a cliff-side parking lot at the dead end of Arizona Highway 18. By way of some history, the Havasupai Indians were farming the moist valleys of the desert tributaries to the Colorado River four centuries before contact by Spanish explorers. In the 1880s, miners and ranchers invaded their homeland and forced them onto a 500-acre reservation. Finally in 1975, Congress enlarged their reservation to 38,000 acres. Today about 450 Havasupai live in Supai.

We enjoyed a quick breakfast of muffins and drinks and then began the 10 mile hike to the campground. Actually, the hike to Supai Village is about 8 miles and then an additional 2 miles to the campground. The town center consists of a modern school, cafe, small store, a two-story motel and the Havasupai Tourist Enterprise building where hikers register for the campground. Despite its remoteness, Supai resembles many small Arizona communities, except children play and dogs sleep in the "street" without fear of cars.

The trail continued past scattered frame houses with corrals and horses and continues another half mile to the first waterfall. Navajo Falls, named after a famous Havasupai chief who negotiated the first treaty with the Army, tumbles 75 feet. However, the waterfall cannot be fully seen from the main trail. We visited these falls several times during the next few days as it had one of the best "jumping-off" spots.

A half-mile farther, we could hear the roar of Havasu Falls as it echoed through the canyon. The stream plunges through a notch in the wall and descends 100 feet through mist and spray into an aquamarine pool. This was by far the most impressive part of the trip. We had just hiked for several hours through desert conditions and all of the sudden we are experiencing a tropical scene including one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. I would spend a fair amout of time over the next week soaking in the pool and relaxing while feeling the cool mist from the falls.

We dropped our packs for a few moments and took in the whole experience. We snapped a few pictures and I'm glad we did for reasons that will soon be obvious. We continued on the trail to the campground looking for others in our group who had gone ahead of us. We found them on the other side of the creek. I crossed the waist-high creek careful not to fall or let my pack become wet. Upon emerging on the other side, Josh Boatwright asked if my camera was waterproof. I quickly realized that I had left my camera in a pocket on my pants which was completely submerged when I crossed the creek. Needless to say, no more pictures for the remainder of the week. I knew that Camille would not be too happy since the camera is really hers (since she takes 100 photos to every 1 that I take). We had just got the camera back from being repaired (I broke it that time too) so I had all week to think of a good way to break the news.

We made camp while waiting for the pack horses and mules to show up which they did later in the afternoon. Daniel Palmer and James Smith had done an excellent job of preparing for this trip and came well supplied with food, treats, drinks, tarps for sleeping on, mule tape, and anything else you could possibly need. We were missing a connecting piece for our stove but we made due by borrowing from other campers. Water was easy to come by in the campground as there is a spring that comes out of the wall of the canyon from a pipe stuck in the wall. The only drawback is that all the other campers utilize the same water source which meant the line for water could sometimes be fairly long.

We spent the next several days swimming, hiking, exploring, reading, sleeping, throwing the football and frisbee, and generally just relaxing and enjoying being together as a group. Each evening we would gather as a group and we would listen and participate in a fireside. What a great experience to be learning the simple truths regarding our Heavenly Father all the while surrounded by a virtual Eden! It really made me grateful for the opportunity to come on this trip with my son.

One day several of us continued through the campgrounds to visit Mooney Falls. At 196 feet, it exceeds Niagara Falls in height. The trail to the pool leads through two slanting tunnels blasted through the travertine cliff. You had to grasp a not-so-reassuring chain and descend slippery steps cut in the narrow ledge. I later learned that the falls are named after an early explorer who fell to his death trying to reach the base. Who's idea was this anyhow? However, the falls were very impressive and we found a rope swing at the south end of the pool which made for some fun entertainment.

On Friday, we packed up and headed out and not a moment too soon. As the weekend approached, more and more campers began to file into the campground and our personal space quickly disappeared. The hike out was rumored to be extremely difficult but it wasn't too bad at all. Most of the hike is a gradual incline and only the last mile, which consists of several large switchbacks out of the canyon, proved to difficult. Everyone made it out okay (even those that chose to use the helicopter route). The outing was a great success and a good time was had by all who attended.

A related note of interest: on the 18th August 2008 the Redlands dam on Havasu Creek burst after days of very heavy rain. The potential threat to human life by the floodwaters caused the local authorities to evacuate the village and US rescue crews airlifted some 450 stranded people to safety. In addition, reports indicate that there may have been serious damage to some of the falls themselves, particularly Navajo falls. Supai and the campground are closed to visitors until spring. Here's a photo of Havasu Falls following the flood. This isn't the first time a flood has washed through this area but it can take many years before it resembles the beautiful oasis that we experienced.

Words of Wisdom

2008-11-14T10:09:00.001-07:00

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens;

but often we look so long at the closed door

that we do not see the one which has opened for us."

Helen Keller

Words of Wisdom

2008-11-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

"What sunshine is to flowers,

smiles are to humanity.

These are but trifles, to be sure;

but scattered along life's pathway,

the good they do is inconceivable."

Joseph Addison

Cute quips

2008-11-06T09:35:00.004-07:00

Jerel and I were talking about some great things I learned in my institute class. Chase asked, "What's institute? Is it like Seminary for OLD people?"

My first response was, "No!"

And then I thought about my class and corrected myself, "Well, yes." We all had a good laugh over that one.

----------------------------------

We all know how Trevor HATES to eat, especially dinner. Well, the other night I made another great dinner. It even had fruits AND vegetables--very well balanced. So Trevor announced VERY loudly, "I hate dinner!"

Jerel asked, "Why?"

Trevor explained, "It's BORING!"

Well, there you go. That's a new one. So does that mean that I now have to provide proper dining entertainment? lol

It'll be OK!

2008-11-04T16:43:00.007-07:00

I have been very, very afraid the last few weeks. I have been afraid of the economy; I have been afraid of government changes and leadership. I am mostly afraid of how our country is starting to define marriage. Arizona, is trying to amend their constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. It is Prop 102. It is like California's Prop 8. Many say that Prop 102 will easily pass. I am not so sure. It was on the ballot a few years back to change the constitution, and it did not pass. So I'm a little "cup is half empty" on the whole thing. The sad thing is that I have seen so much hatred amongst people in this election. There has been so much anger.

Two Sundays ago, as we were driving through the neighborhood, we noticed many yards where someone had come by and stolen the "Yes for Prop 102" signs. Almost home, we dropped off Jordan and another young man so they could collect fast offerings. As we were parked in the driveway, a man (I would say he was in his early 20's) walked by and without even skipping a beat, took the Prop 102 sign. I was shocked! I mentioned it to Jerel and we both got out of the car. We both called to the man to return the sign. He yelled back with much anger, "Why can't you just let people be? What does it matter to you if people want to get married?" Jerel called after him, "We all have our own opinions--that is why people vote." I again repeated, "You walked on private property to take that sign and it needs to be returned." He then started swearing and saying many derogatory things about Joseph Smith. So much anger and hatred, and he was ready to lash out at anything and anybody. I take it as a compliment that a complete stranger, who had only seen our family for a second or two, knew we were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Why he had to throw that into his anger towards Prop 102, I don't know. But I do hope we were good examples of the Lord's church--if only for a second or two. We tried to not show the same anger that this man had. We just encouraged him to vote.

Just an example of why I really was afraid and very concerned about how these changes would affect my life--my kids' lives. I was afraid of how this would affect my church. But then . . . I had stake conference.

Stake conference was a broadcast from Salt Lake City and for the whole state of Arizona, I believe. I was comforted in the Saturday night session as I heard from my stake presidency. They spoke about how fear is the opposite of faith--the absence of faith. I remember one of them saying, "It'll be okay" about three or four times in a row. It really brought peace to my mind. The next day during the broadcast, President Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke. He spoke specifically to the state of Arizona and told us that times were changing, and they would change "drastically." Those were his words exactly. But he then went on to say that we are to teach our children to NOT be afraid or be fearful. He warned us that we "need to learn how to listen to the Spirit" and to "gather as families and do the things we are taught." We are to "be steady" and "be inspired." My favorite was when he told us we could all still live happy lives. How my faith had been wavering. But I heard a prophet of God tell me that if I rely on the Lord and the gospel that I will still have peace and happiness. The votes may not go the way I want them to and the world may not be like I want it, but I can be happy and at peace. It will be okay!

I should have stopped, but "NO" I had to . . .

2008-10-31T16:11:00.005-07:00

Tanner cracked me up today after school. We all know that we eat WAY too much junk on Halloween, but have you ever seen a kid experience that? Or better yet, heard a kid ADMIT it? Tanner came home from his class Halloween party and was feeling a little, shall we say, "full." He kind of groaned and said, "I ate SO much today, that I'm not going to be able to eat for a while. I should have stopped eating, but 'NO' I had to eat that one last cookie." We are in BIG trouble if he feels like that already. He hasn't even left to go trick-or-treating yet. lol

Can I have some church bread?

2008-10-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Trevor came running in after school and said, "MOM! Can I have some church bread!?!?" (If you can't tell, he was extremely excited about it.) I was kind of confused at first and asked "What bread?" He then repeated with even more excitement and emphasis, "CHURCH bread!" I then thought, "Of course, CHURCH bread, yeah, that clears everything up." :) As Trevor ran to get the bread, I realized what he meant.

On Sunday, Chase was assigned to bring the bread for the sacrament. Usually I use a loaf of the wheat bread that I have here at home. But all my bread had been in the freezer for a while and sometimes it doesn't thaw out as fresh as you would like. So Jerel and I stopped at the store to pick up a loaf on Saturday night. I just randomly picked a loaf of white bread which happened to be Wonder bread. So there you go--church bread is white bread full of lots of sugar and preservatives. So I replied, "Sure." Trevor was pretty excited and ready to go, but then Tanner was afraid to eat it. He explained that some kids at school told him that you can get cancer from eating white bread. Are you serious? I quickly cleared that up and explained that we eat white bread often, it's not going to give us cancer, whole grain bread is healthier for us, blah, blah, blah . . . Trevor and Tanner finished off the loaf in literally a few minutes. Apparently white bread is quite the novelty in our house. Who knew! Just think, all I have to do is give Trevor a loaf of Wonder bread for Christmas and I'm all good. Sounds Wonder-ful to me!

Reflections of Christ

2008-10-29T10:53:00.001-07:00

A beautiful slideshow presentation of Mark Mabry's photographs (Reflections of Christ). Music is from the Reflections of Christ CD. These images were part of an exhibit that was on display at the Arizona Temple Visitors Center, and is now on display at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Temple Square until Nov. 8, 2008.

FHE fun

2008-10-28T10:35:00.002-07:00

For FHE last night, we all hurried home from school/work/football practice, ate dinner and headed to a mostly empty movie theater to view the latest edition of High School Musical. Our family has enjoyed the first two installments of this Disney production (although Jordan claims to have not seen the 2nd one) and we hoped that this episode would be just as entertaining. Being the cheapskate that I am, I had the kids all load their pockets full of candy from home (I tried to get Camille to take a whole bag in her purse but she thought the bag was too big). The movie always seems better if you know you didn't mortgage the house to pay for refreshments. So how was it? The consensus was that although it was entertaining, fun and whimsical, it came in last place of the 3 (or if you're optimist, it got the bronze medal). The music was good (not great) but it was lively to the point that Trevor was literally dancing in the aisle as we were leaving.

On a side note, why is it that young boys find so much humor in the bathroom? We could have saved some money by skipping the movie and just having the boys visit the restroom a couple times. There always seems to be someone or something in the bathroom that causes hysterical laughter and general giddiness. Oh, to be young again!!

St. George Marathon - The Race

2008-10-14T20:55:00.001-07:00

I woke up at 3 am and got prepared to go. The marathon is a point-to-point race so the race starts 26 miles outside of St. George. All racers are required to ride a bus to the start with the first buses leaving at 4 am. The race organizers offer some nice early bird prizes to encourage participants to come early. Camille drove me to Worthen Park again where I boarded one of the first buses. I dressed warmly because the temperature can be a bit chilly while you are waiting for the race to begin. I brought 4 granola bars, 2 bananas, 2 bottles of water, and one bottle of Propel. I got to the start, grabbed a pair of the free gloves they had available for the first 1,000 runners and found a place to sit down next to a fence. I spent the next 2 hours resting, eating my food, and visiting with the other runners seated close by. After about 30 minutes, it started to sprinkle. The forecast called for rain later in the afternoon so this was a bit of a surprise. The race organizers had large trash bags to use for rain ponchos and I was glad to have a little bit of protection from the moisture.

At 6:15, I laced up my shoes, attached my running chip, and headed for a porta-potty. There were dozens of them but every line was already at least 10 deep. After using the facilities, I headed to the start line to drop off my extra clothes in a bag provided by the race. Then I situated myself in the front half of the pack of runners (approximately 6,500 total runners) and waited for the gun. I never heard the gun but the pack eventually started to move and we were off. It was still dark so I had difficulty seeing the actual start pad to know when to start my Garmin. The first couple miles were very crowded but the pace was close to where I wanted to be. Runners began to spread out after that and I was able to settle into a good pace in spite of the rain which varied from sprinkling to pouring. In addition, we were running into a strong headwind for a good portion of the race.

I paced a bit faster over the first 7 miles but the course was mainly downhill and I felt like I was not pushing things so I just went with it. We encountered Veyo Hill at about the 8 1/2 mile mark and I took it very easy going up it so as to not burn myself out. Miles 10-12 were a steady uphill climb but I still felt good upon reaching the halfway mark and I was a good 2 minutes ahead of my expected pace. It was about this time that I started to feel my left knee. I have had problems with this knee over the years but it usually bothers me when I play softball or basketball. I wasn't too worried but I did wonder how it would effect me down the way.

I don't remember much from the next 7 miles except for the rain. My clothes were absolutely soaked which caused my shorts to hang a little low. While I didn't think they would fall down, it was just something else to bother and distract me. It is things like this that really wear on you when you are running long distances. When I got to mile 20, I knew that I had paced correctly and that barring some major problem, I would reach and exceed my goal of running the race in under 4 hours. However, about a mile later, I developed a severe pain in my left hip. I'm not sure where it came from but it might have been due to me favoring my left knee. In either case, it was very painful and I slowed my pace to see if it would work itself out. No luck. I just figured I would endure it the best I could and not push the pace anymore.

The last 4-5 miles were very long, slow and painful. However, it was about this time when we came into St. George and the streets were lined with well-wishers who shouted encouragement and cheered all the runners on. I was surprised to see so many people out considering the rain but it motivated me to keep running and finish. I knew that Camille would be waiting at the finish line to greet me and empathize with my injuries and that also spurred me on. I pushed through to the finish line completing the race in 3:58:24! You can click here to see the official results or here to see photos from the race. Camille came right up afterwards and congratulated me and took some pictures. I got some food and drink and enjoyed a post-race massage. My hip was so sore that I could hardly walk for a couple hours but after icing it, it felt much better.

St. George Marathon - Pre Race Activities

2008-10-14T20:50:00.003-07:00

On Saturday, October 4th, I ran the St. George Marathon. It seems a little unreal now as I think back on the event but what a great sense of accomplishment. I trained for 22 weeks and didn't miss a single workout. Here's how the race went:

Camille and I left early Friday morning and drove to St. George, UT which is about a 6 1/2 hour drive. We arrived and went to Worthen Park (the finish line of the marathon). I had incorrectly assumed that the expo associated with the marathon would be at the park but we were told that it was being held at the Dixie Center, a few miles away. We quickly went to the Dixie Center where we were able to hear the keynote speaker, Rod Dixon. Mr. Dixon is a world class runner having won a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics in the 1500 meters and winning the 1983 New York City Marathon in 2:08:59. He had a great deal of useful information and his comments were very motivating. Following Mr. Dixon, they held a first-timer's clinic. Again, excellent clinic with useful information concerning the race and the course.

We then went to the expo where I picked up my race packet and we visited many of the booths set up by various stores and companies. It was a smaller expo than we expected but it was well done and well attended. The race also sponsored a pasta dinner at the Dixie Center. We enjoyed salad, spaghetti, bread, and cake. They also provided some fruit and water. The dinner was well organized and the food was good.

Our good friends from our days at BYU, Conley and Kari Gali, now live in St. George and they were so gracious to let us stay with them. We went to their home and got settled into the guest room that they provided. They treated us like royalty and fed us extremely well. What good friends they are! That night the Gali's were attending the local high school football game so Camille and I watched the BYU vs Utah State football game. Afterwards, I set all my gear out for the morning and got to sleep.

Camille has a birthday!!

2008-10-08T10:04:00.002-07:00

Today is Camille's 38th birthday. Oh wait, am I not suppose to say how old she is? At what age do women start lying about how old they are? But honestly, Camille looks so good, does it really matter how old she is? I was fortunate to catch her in a moment of weakness and she agreed to marry me (in spite of the fact that I was a "terrible dresser"). She continues to put up with me and I love her for doing so. Here are 38 things that I love about Camille (also click here to check out the blog of Camille's mom to see some great photos of Camille as a child):

1. She's a hottie!
2. Fabulous singer
3. Intelligent
4. Creative
5. Still a kid at heart
6. Romantical (her word)
7. Supportive of me in everything I do. Last Saturday, she sat in pouring rain for 4 hours at the finish line of the St. George Marathon just to see me finish.
8. Compassionate
9. Trys to understand sports
10. Great cook
11. Loves our children
12. Crys easily
13. Loves to read
14. Pays attention to the details
15. Worries about the details
16. Exercises even though she hates it
17. Loves Jesus Christ
18. Caters to our children (also known as spoiling)
19. Is the PR person in our family
20. Can prepare a FHE lesson in seconds
21. Puts up with my obsession with sports
22. Never sneezes just once (except for that one time in the temple)
23. Pretends she is not ticklish
24. Is patient with me when I break the camera (it's happened a few times)
25. Hates being dirty but goes camping with the family
26. My bestest friend
27. Loves to be spoiled
28. Embraces her role as a mother and wife
29. Magnifies her church callings
30. Volunteers her time to assist at the school
31. Loves to learn
32. Orders desserts to give to me
33. Will help anyone at a moments notice
34. Talks about herself in 3rd person
35. Is impressed by the simple things in life
36. Loves to be feminine
37. Classy dresser
38. Teaches our children both secular and religious studies

For the love of Shannon

2008-10-05T11:21:00.004-07:00

Jerel's sweet sister, Shannon, passed away early this morning. I don't know what to say. I have so many thoughts and feelings. I have deep sadness and miss her already, and yet I am grateful that her suffering is over. I'm glad she has found the peace that her poor body needed. The last few months have been especially hard for her. This last week, test results showed that the same fungus that caused her to lose her sinuses and eye this summer, had now gone to her lungs. She fought as long and as hard as she could, and then some. Her suffering is now over and she is now with our Lord and Savior. I have imagined her reunion with Him all morning. What a joyous reunion that must have been! I find great peace in knowing she was at peace with the Lord's will. Her testimony was amazingly strong, and she is an amazing person. She will always be alive in our hearts. If you want to see just the sweetest messages written about her, you can click on the link to her blog on my family list. Her husband, Paul, is a true saint that not only blessed her life, but our whole family's. He saved her life in more than one way. What a great man he is. I'm honored to have both of them in my life.

Shannon made me want to be a better person. I was reading Shannon's blog yesterday and was touched by her example. Someone who she visiting teaches wrote a thank you for a letter that Shannon had sent her. It was sent just a few weeks ago. Here she is feeling the worst she has ever felt--ever--and she is still doing her visiting teaching. That's the kind of person she is. I really have no excuse to not get mine done. Just one of the many lessons that I have learned from Shannon and her example.

I'm so grateful that we all saw her this weekend at Boyce's wedding. We all loved seeing her. We had such a great time. I'm glad we got to sit by each other in the temple. We are a forever family. I have a true testimony of that because the Spirit has born witness of it's truthfulness to me. The picture of Jerel with Shannon is at Boyce's wedding last week. I love how alike they look--same hair, glasses, matching clothes. He is really missing her today. He sure loves his family.

I find great comfort in the words of our prophet today. I can feel of his love for us. It reminds me of the last general conference we had in April. Six months ago, early Sunday morning, I lost my step-dad Randy. I felt great comfort in Elder Bednar’s talk that day. It feels as if the prophet and leaders are speaking directly to me. I know the Lord loves me; He loves all of us!

Sometimes it sinks in

2008-09-22T15:32:00.002-07:00

You know how us moms always feel like we are telling our kids the same stuff over and over again? It seems like I am forever repeating instructions. In fact, while I am typing this I had to yell to Trevor who just ran out of the bathroom, "Come back here and flush the toilet please." (Funny side note that I didn't expect. When Trevor came back to flush, he said, "This is the worst day of my life." When I asked, "Why?" He responded, "Because you make me come back and do stuff." lol Oh, the drama.)

Anyways, when Tanner and Trevor came home from school today, Trevor asked if he could have a cookie. I said "sure." Apparently he asked if he could have two. I didn't hear him and didn't answer. When Trevor tried to take two, because "I didn't say no." Tanner stopped him and said, "No. Mom didn't say you could have two. If you ask her a question and she doesn't answer, it probably means she didn't hear you and you have to ask her again. It doesn't mean yes."

I overheard the last part of what Tanner said, and when I asked him to repeat himself, I was so impressed. It finally sunk in, "If Mom doesn't answer, it means she didn't hear you and you need to ask her again." What a novel idea! lol What a good big brother Tanner is to teach this valuable insight to Trevor. I think he deserves two cookies for that--don't you?

Are you serious!?

2008-09-18T22:43:00.004-07:00

Usually I post cute things that Trevor says under the heading "Cute quips," but I'm not sure I can classify this one as "cute"--okay, it did make me laugh and I shared it with everyone as they came home. I made a great dinner tonight, one that I thought all my kids love. It has ribs, potatoes, and green beans. It's even more delicious than it sounds. It's a recipe that I got when I went to a cooking class at the local "we have every cool gadget you can think of for cooking" store. I went with my friend Stephanie and she tried the recipe first and said it was great. Stephanie is a great cook and I like to think I am too, so I tried it. The best thing about this recipe is that you can cook it in 10 minutes in the pressure cooker--I know--amazing.

Well, Thursday's are crazy days for me as I have scouts until 5:15, Jordan leaves for football at 5:30, Chase comes home from football at 5:45 and leaves for piano at 6:00, Tanner leaves for baseball at 5:50ish, and I have to drive some of those carpools. I decided to be a good mom and cook this "great" meal before I left for scouts. I came home from scouts to a delicious smell that I could smell before I even walked into the house. All the kids were very excited at what I made--because it is just so good. I'm trying to quickly make gravy so everyone can eat before they all have to leave and THEN . . .

I hear Trevor in the bathroom and he yells out "It stinks in here." I call back, "Well, you're in the bathroom, hurry and flush and come out." (Hello?!) He then yells even louder,

"No, in the kitchen!!"

W A I T!!! Did he just say that the kitchen stinks? My delicious smelling ribs?! He even went outside when Jerel came home from work and said, "Dad! Mom is trying to make me eat DINNER!" Oh, the horror! I wished I would have taken a picture of his face during dinner. His face varied between horror to utter sadness. To quote Chase, "He looks like you're trying to feed him poison." It was too funny to be offended, but is he SERIOUS!? This was a dang good meal. At least all the rest of the fam said so.

p.s. Tomorrow I am trying the coffee cake recipe on Laura's blog. Apparently it's absolutely addicting. If Trevor doesn't like it, well, then we know that Trevor is the problem--not the food. . . . But wait, if he DOES like the coffee cake, well, my dinner was still dang good!

They're like a bunch of mosquitos, they won't go away!

2008-09-18T22:21:00.007-07:00

Last Sunday night, we were having a nice quiet evening while we rewatched the the first half of the BYU/UCLA game. We usually don't watch sports much on Sunday, but come on, this was too good of a game to not watch again. As we were watching, I got a phone call. This is what started while I was on the phone. K, moms out there, don't your kids usually start into something loud just as you get on the phone? (And believe me, this was loud.)

Well, Jerel was right in there with them this time. I'm not sure who started "wrestlemania" this time, but Jerel towards the end said, "Geez. They're like a bunch of mosquitos; they won't go away!" Of course I had to start videoing.

When I replayed the video to the kids, one of them commented, "Hey is this the part where we captured Dad?"

I laughed, "You guys NEVER had him."

Jerel then had to add, "Just let them have their little fantasy. I kept waiting for the real fight to start."

I love a dad that still plays with his kids. And he still beat all 4 of those guys at once. He's quite the man!

Happiness is . . .

2008-09-15T18:45:00.002-07:00

. . . getting to lick the bowl when Mom makes a birthday cake!!

A little reward

2008-09-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

A lot of my friends have been getting really cool pedicures lately. The place they go to can do plaids and checkerboards and tons of other cools designs. I told myself that if I lost 10 pounds I could get one. I made it right before my high school reunion. So here it is for all of you who haven't seen me lately. Isn't it so fun?! I have to admit that quite a few people at my reunion in Utah had NEVER seen a pedicure like that before and thought it was awesome. I would be proud of myself for being a trendsetter except that . . . it's Utah! (Don't mean to offend my Utah friends and fam, but you know what I mean.) LOL

Quest for Perfection!

2008-09-14T18:52:00.003-07:00

That's Bronco's new motto for BYU's football team this year . . . and it's AWESOME! Their season so far has been so much fun, especially Saturday's game against UCLA. BYU handed UCLA it's worst loss in 79 years! I don't know which was better--that we scored 59 points or that we shut them out completely! I'm so jealous of my friends who got to go to the game. There's nothing like being there at BYU for the games!

I'm a Fully Invested fan!

(It's hard to choose one picture when they are all soo awesome.)

Class of 88 is great!

2008-09-12T00:52:00.000-07:00

Last month I also went to my 20th high school reunion. I left Jerel at home because he really didn't want to go and it was just so much easier to leave him at home to shuttle all the kids around to all their practises. Plus, we were leaving on another vacation a few weeks after I got back anyways. He seemed happier that way, and much happier than some of the spouses that did end up coming. :)

I had so much fun. I even found some old college friends that I had lost contact with. I really can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had. The best idea was that they had our high school pictures on our name tags. It was really fun and helpful at the same time. We all spent the whole night looking at someone that looked familiar, checking their name on the name tag, and then looking at the picture. That was then followed up by "Oh, my goodness I remember you. Hey, what have you been up too?!" I flew up on Friday afternoon, went to a late lunch with my mom at an Indian restaurant, and then went to my friend Angela's house to go to the "event" with her and her husband. BTW, her house is beautiful. It was fun that Carol came with us too. Here I am at lunch with my mom and then a quick pic right before I left for the reunion on Friday night. The next one I am with Angela; if you look close you can see our "fancy picture name tags." The next one I am with Holly, Jenn, and Carol. I have to admit that after seeing everyone that night that the women aged much better than the men. Honest!

Saturday, my nice mom let me sleep in for forever--a first for me! I felt like a teenager again. My body wakes me up at 6:15 automatically every morning whether I want to or not. But this time, I layed in bed and actually went back to sleep! Then we did a little shopping, went to lunch at a Greek restaurant that I had been craving and then I left to go to the park day with the "old high schoolers" again. It was fun to see everyone's kids. Some of them looked exactly like their parents did when they were "younger." Definitely didn't need the name tags for some of those kids. I really wish my family could have been up there for that day. I had so much fun, that I lost track of time (and it didn't help that I didn't change my watch with the time difference) and almost missed my flight home. I got there with less than 15 minutes to spare. A quick trip, but so much fun! Before I left, I couldn't help taking a picture of the street that my high school is on. I always wanted to steal the sign in high school, but never did. :) Cool sign, huh!

Mom! Michael Phelps is like this . . .

2008-09-11T22:30:00.003-07:00

. . . in the lunchroom. (You'll have to read further to hear the rest of this totally cute story.)

Well, I was going to post about how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Olympics, but I never wanted to stop watching them long enough to post. I was thoroughly addicted to watching as many events as possible. I would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning watching, and then get up with my kids at 6:15 for school to start. After two weeks of that, I am way tired. I'm one of those "fans" that cheers loudly and excitedly as the events are going on, much to my kids' amazement. Chase even replied, "I think this is why your voice is all messed up and you can't sing in the choir anymore." He is probably right. I always tear up whether the athletes win or lose--I know, big surprise from me there. lol I really love hearing our national anthem. And lucky us, we got to hear it a lot.

Funny story: Tanner came in one night and asked Jerel, "Why do they keep playing our national anthem so much?" Jerel responded, "Because every time we win the gold, they play it." Tanner asked, "Well, what do they play when the other countries win gold?" Jerel answered, "That country's national anthem." Tanner then said, "Other countries have their own national anthem?" Jerel and I couldn't help but laugh and wonder out loud "Hello?! Where have we gone wrong that he didn't know that?"

I loved how in one of the first events, we swept the medals. Michael Phelps was amazingly awesome. AND the opening ceremonies were some of the coolest I had ever seen. (And get this--my neighbor's son was actually there, at the ceremonies, on like the 4th row!!! Way cool and I am jealous!!) I loved the drummers and the moving cubes that were all synchronized. And the water cube is totally cool how it keeps changing colors. I could go on and on, and yes, I did cry quite a lot watching it all. lol

But the BEST part was when Trevor came home and said, "Mom!! Michael Phelps looks like this in the lunchroom." Apparently their PE teacher put up a bunch of pictures of the Olympics in the cafegymatorium. Trevor did a PERFECT imitation of Michael Phelps, don't ya think? Definitely!

Cute quips

2008-09-09T16:19:00.003-07:00

When Tanner was practicing the piano today, Trevor started humming along. It was a church hymn, but I can't recall which one right now. But then Trevor said the cutest thing, "Mom, it's weird. If you hum, the piano copies you."

Oh well . . .

2008-09-09T15:41:00.006-07:00

Okay, I'm back from my little vacation. I had a couple posts almost ready to go before I left and forgot to post them. Oh well, I'll get them posted tonight. So sorry if they are old news, but I already wrote them, and they are getting posted.

I was thinking today about how I am always a step behind on everything I do lately. I am always really busy with my church calling and my kids in sports and school stuff, etc. You know--like everyone else is--so I really don't need to explain. And I have to admit, I am busy, but I do know people who are busier than I am. I then told myself, "It's because I read so much. I get a little disorganized at times because I spend a lot of my free moments reading. That's the problem." . . . But THEN I thought about one of my friends who is truly organized and amazing. Her house always looks put together when I'm there, and you get the feeling that it's clean and organized all the way through--not just on the surface. Plus, she is involved with like so many things--school, church activity groups, going to the gym, her kids, her own business, etc. And she always does a good job--not half way like others do. And her kids are totally involved with sports, dance, etc. like mine. BUT, then I realized that she reads A TON! She not only reads books, but she reads the entire paper every day. So I realized I have really NO excuse for being a day late and a dollar short all the time. (sigh) Maybe my friend can give me some time management lessons, or something--you know, when she has free time. :)

p.s. I forgot to mention another friend that I also thought of today who has 9 kids, blogs every day, exercises every day, makes homemade bread, gardens and does cute crafts with her kids. That's just a few of the things she does. I'm starting to think that I have surrounded myself with amazingly talented friends. :)

Schoolhouse rock!

2008-08-25T23:51:00.015-07:00

Well, since I've been behind on posts (because of previously named reasons), I figured I better try to catch up before I leave on yet another vacation. The kids started school on the 11th. Don't they all look so handsome in their new school clothes?! As usual, I was totally and completely sad to see them go. I took Tanner and Trevor to school and as I was crossing the crosswalk, not even to the school yet, I started to cry. A friend even called later that day to see how I was, because she knows how hard the first few days are for me. So sweet of her. I am happy to report that I DID NOT drive up to the school this time to see how they were doing at recess. Jerel says it's like I'm "doing surveillance on the school." I just feel like I never see them anymore--I only get to see Chase for about 5 hours a day. Not enough. Especially when I think about him leaving on a mission in 4 years.

Every one so far has enjoyed their teachers and have had a great first few weeks of school. Chase has long days ahead of him right now as he is doing A-hour and has football after school. He leaves for carpool at 7:15 a.m. and doesn't get home until after 5:30 p.m. But he is excited to be starting Seminary this year. Jordan has had some late nights as he is still doing football every night for the next few weeks. On the first day of school, he came home and said "Mom, you're right. Girls do like contacts." (Enough said, wink.) And both are a little worried about their work loads as they have a lot of advanced classes. I'm sure they'll do great. Tanner wasn't sure what his teacher was going to be like and was kind of nervous, but says she's really nice. He's figured out that if you follow the rules then she's a good teacher. Funny how it works like that. And Tanner has talked Jerel, not me, into letting him play the trumpet. I don't know what he has got us into on that one. Trevor has been a little shy with the kids in his class, but I'm sure he will warm up to them soon. And he STILL is not eating his lunch every day. Trevor came home the first day and said, "Mom, I had a great day!"

I really wish I could get Chase's biology teacher on video describing the safety protocols for class. When Chase reenacted them (yes, I meant acting), it looked and sounded ha-larious. Maybe I can get Chase on video to act them out--GREAT idea! Here are some more pictures of Trevor walking off with his class (sigh) and the kids coming home.

The big 40!

2008-08-23T00:01:00.003-07:00

Jerel turned 40 today and I just wanted to share with you guys the top 40 reasons why I love Jerel. It took me only a few minutes to think of them because he has so many great qualities. I really could have listed much more. He's just such a great guy and I'm lucky to be married to him. Here's my 40 reasons why I love Jerel:

1. Honors his priesthood—dresses in his Sunday best to give blessings even if it’s 3:00 a.m. or Christmas Eve
2. Has a testimony of the gospel and loves the Lord
3. Loves musicals and can sing along to most of the songs too
4. Is my best friend—I can talk to him about anything
5. Doesn’t get mad when I start a sentence with “Promise you won’t get mad . . .”
6. Is very athletic, is great at most sports and loves anything about them
7. Extremely patient with me and the kids
8. Is totally funny—even “ha-larious” at times
9. Picks up after himself (without being asked)
10. Is a GREAT dad
11. Will turn off sports center or ESPN if I ask—which is a huge sacrifice since he watches anything on ESPN—including the spelling bee, basketball, table tennis, baseball, etc.
12. Coaches his kids in sports and does a fabulous job
13. Still pretends he speaks Russian and has a dragon named Zantha
14. Makes great waffles whenever the kids ask
15. Tries to come home early if I need him
16. Is really smart
17. Is a good provider for us
18. Never complains about being sick
19. Sees the blessings or “silver linings” in ALL things
20. Likes to go see plays with me
21. Went with me to American Idol and pretended to enjoy it
22. Has gotten really good at birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas gift giving
23. Doesn’t get frustrated when I read a book the whole time on road trips and never take a turn driving
24. Watches So You Think You Can Dance with me and make comments like he really cares about it
25. Love to wear and collect baseball hats from everywhere
26. Loves me no matter what, in fact he loves his whole family unconditionally, and I love how he treats his mom
27. Took me to the temple to be married and still takes me there often
28. My proposal was a surprise
29. Works hard at everything and teaches my boys that “a job worth doing is a job worth doing right”
30. Can fix pretty much anything
31. Keeps track of the kids when I’m talking with friends or playing games
32. Explains the scoring system of tennis every time we watch it on TV without complaint
33. Never acts worried, especially when I am
34. Cleans the house without being asked to—and does a good job too
35. Thinks it’s important for our boys to learn how to clean/work in the house AND in the yard—and works right along side them as he teaches them
36. Says he’s sorry first
37. Fulfills any calling he has whether it’s primary teacher or Elder’s Quorum President
38. Still insists he was raised by cheetahs
39. Plays tiger with the kids
40. Has a great singing voice even though he won’t admit it—and pretends to sing opera for the kids

p.s. To see a little tribute/slideshow about him, you can click here to go to his mom's blog. There's some good pictures there and a little blurb about him. She had three kids this week, including Shad and Jerel on the same day so there's a lot of good stuff there. Happy birthday Shad and Janel!

Oh to be young and a boy scout!!

2008-08-21T09:55:00.009-07:00

Here is a link to a video that one of Jordan's scout leaders compiled showing various scenes from Camp Geronimo this past June. Our troop had 9 boys attend scout camp along with several leaders and parents. They had a great time and earned many merit badges along with several camp awards. The end of the video clip shows a few scenes from a scout trip to Gisela, AZ which has some great locations for cliff jumping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IglnFGSXfkA

Cute quips

2008-08-18T19:04:00.004-07:00

"Mom, when I get married, I want a chocolate fountain. Chocolate fountains are so AWESOME! It's soo good!"-- Trevor (He went to a wedding reception with a chocolate fountain last weekend and wanted to leave with a cup of chocolate by the end of it.)

"Dad, is it true that you were raised by cheetahs."--Trevor

"Dad's not THAT old."--Trevor, after I reminded the kids that Jerel was turning 40 on Saturday.

p.s. Sorry that I have been MIA lately, I'm addicted to the Olympics, plus I went out of town. I'll get back to the blogging world SOON!

Happy birthday Aunt Charlene!

2008-08-03T13:46:00.005-07:00

Charlene, me, and my mom

I am so glad I have this opportunity to tell my Aunt Charlene Happy Birthday--she just turned 70! Her kids had a big celebration for her up in Utah yesterday, but I wasn't able to attend. They put together a little scrapbook of memories as a special gift and I wanted to share a little bit of what I wrote to her. I just love my Aunt Charlene, and I have great memories from times we spent together. I loved going to her house to spend a month every summer as I was growing up. It was great having her family live up the street when I was in high school. I remember going over to her house every day after school. Having all those cousins around helped me feel like I had brothers and sisters.

One of my favorite memories of her is when I saw her sitting at the piano, with a pencil behind her ear, as she wrote a song. I love that she wrote a song—just for me—for my wedding. She is so extremely talented in music, and I have always been so proud of her music accomplishments. I get a big smile on my face every time I sing “zip-a-dee-ay and heigh-dee-ho.” (One of the reasons why I love this song is because she wrote it!! Aren't you all impressed now!?) I love that I got to sing with her recently and hear our voices blend, even though it was a sad time for all.

She is one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. Even though she always has a million people around her, she always makes sure I get individual attention from her. I know that she loves me and my family, and we love her.

I can’t think of a more appropriate thing to “sing” right now than:

“This month is such a special one; it’s birthday time for you.
We’d really like to celebrate your happy day with you.
Zip-a-dee-ay and heigh-dee-ho, here’s something we can do.
We’ll sing a song that we all know, Happy Birthday to you!”

Charlene is holding my mom

Words of Wisdom

2008-08-03T13:12:00.007-07:00

"Knowledge without labor is profitless.
Knowledge with labor is genius."
Gordon B. Hinckley

My quotes for today struck a chord with me because we had a great lesson in Relief Society about the importance of work. We talked about how to teach our kids why it's important, benefits and blessings of working hard, having a desire to do "a job well done," and different ideas we can try as parents to motivate our kids. It's amazing to me the number of kids that don't do jobs at home. Yard work or cleaning the bathroom is a foreign concept to them. (I am not doing the lesson justice in my explanation--it really was just so good.) So here's my words of wisdom:

"Unfortunately, a few of our otherwise good youth are unstretched, having almost a free pass. Perks are provided, including cars complete with fuel and insurance—all paid for

by parents who sometimes listen in vain for a few

courteous and appreciative words."

Neal A. Maxwell

All It Takes Is All You Got

2008-08-01T16:37:00.003-07:00

Jerel decided to start his own blog of running adventures. Can running for almost 40 miles in one week be considered an adventure? I'm thinking more like torture. Anyways, thought you all might be interested. It's linked on my blog buddies list on the right. You'll know it when you see it--it says "Jerel's Running Adventures." Pretty self-explanatory.

Who would believe it?

2008-07-31T20:13:00.003-07:00

Last week when I filled up with gas, I was so excited to see $3.89. Isn't that sad? Who would believe that we could get so excited about gas being at that price. I was just excited to see it under $4.00. I checked; I paid $2.69 a gallon this time last year. (I'm married to an accountant.) And I remember being mad about those prices. I would love it if I could pay $2.69 a gallon now. (sigh)

p.s. My in-laws--ALL OF THEM--always monitor and check gas prices all the time. Seriously, it's like a hobby for them. If you ever need to know gas prices, they can tell you and where the cheapest ones are. One time I mentioned the price of gas and Megi said something like, "Mille, you know what the gas prices are? Wow." Now I totally feel like one of them. :)

Words of Wisdom

2008-07-31T20:04:00.002-07:00

I came across this great quote today and wanted to share. I decided that I might post more from time to time as I see quotes/ideas that I like. So I asked Jerel what I should title my posts for my quotes--I came up with Thought of the Day, Quotable Quotes, etc. He came up with Inspirational Crap. I settled on Words of Wisdom. So as I come across inspirational crap from time to time, I'll be sharing my words of wisdom with you. Hope you enjoy!

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Abraham Lincoln

8 is great

2008-07-31T20:00:00.004-07:00

I have been working out with a trainer for about 2 1/2 months. I was having a hard time pushing myself as I lifted weights, so Jerel was SOOO amazingly nice and got me a trainer. Isn't he great! Anyways, I lost about 8 pounds since I've been working out with Kelli, my trainer. But I have been kind of frustrated lately because I have been on a plateau for my weight for about 4 weeks. So today Kelli did my measurements . . . I lost 8 inches in the last 2 1/2 months. Woo Hoo!!!! So I love the number 8 today--8 pounds, 8 inches. Isn't 8 great!

Would you call this addiction?

2008-07-29T11:53:00.007-07:00

Trevor really, really, really likes to play x-box and wii. He asks me all day long to play, and the 30 minutes I allow him to play each day usually stretches into an hour. Today he informed me he was "addicted." I asked him, "Do you know what addicted means?" He replied, "You are really addicted and want to play ALL the time." He might be right--he could be addicted. Look at this picture we took yesterday--he couldn't even look at the camera. (I love the tongue sticking out as he concentrates on playing.)

Something funny happened on the way to the . . .

2008-07-29T11:46:00.003-07:00

. . . museum. I helped out with the Webelos last week and took them on a field trip to the Natural History Museum. But that's not the funny part. As I was making my rounds to pick up boys, this is what I saw. This boy's neighbor had a horse and goat grazing in their front yard. I just had to take a picture. My phone is all I had, so sorry for the poor quality. After we picked up the boy, I called his mom and said, "Do you know that your neighbor 3 houses up has a horse and goat grazing in her front yard?" She replied, "Yeah, sometimes we have neighbors that are a little white trash." I just thought this was the funniest ever--and so did the 3 boys in my car.

The eyes have it

2008-07-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

We thought that Jordan would like to wear contacts since football with glasses is a big pain. Even when he wears his sports goggles, they fog up and he has to use a towel all the time because his sweat drips all over them. It really is a BIG, BIG pain. Well, Jordan went to the eye doc last week and they gave him a trial pair for the week. After the first initial "drama" of trying to get them in and out the first time, he's quite the pro at it now. (When I say "drama," nothing could touch the drama that I gave my mom when I first wore contacts. Let's just say I was VERY emotional and was convinced that it had gone into the back of my head. Actually, it had just rolled up under my eye lid. No one I'm sure has had drama like I did at that age.) Jordan just had a little phobia about putting something in his eye and touching his eye--like everyone does. After the first couple days he could get them in and out in just minutes. I think it helped that Chase and I both wear them. BUT, he's so funny--he doesn't want to wear contacts. Go figure. So now I'm trying to decide whether to "make" him wear them because it really will be easier for sports. Ahh, the joy of kids and agency.

Look how nice he looks.

Hey Rocky!

2008-07-28T09:58:00.010-07:00

Chase decided to play football for his junior high (9th grade) this year instead of playing soccer for one of the local soccer clubs. It's his first time playing football, but he seems to enjoy it so far. He went to the local high school's football camp a couple weeks ago. It's a week long and they go someplace a lot cooler than here. From what I hear, it's pretty tough and they have 4 practices a day. Yep, that's right FOUR!! Chase texted me the first day that he was "tired, but he would be able to work through it." Good job Chase.

Then a couple days later, Chase texts me and asks, "Did you get the pictures?" I called him back and asked what pictures he was talking about. He proceeds to tell me that they were doing a "brutal" towel fighting drill where two kids hold on to each end of a towel and the goal is to get the other person to let go by doing anything you want (except headbutt and groin shots.) Oh, good, I'm glad there's safety rules. lol Yeah right. Apparently Chase beat this one kid in like two seconds, and so they did a rematch. The second time the kid accidentally headbutted Chase in the face and gave him a HUGE black eye. (Chase made a point to tell me that he beat the kid the second time too.) My friend Cyndi was up there visiting for the day and saw this happen and took pictures with her phone. A few hours later I get a phone call from her. She says, "If I send you a picture on your phone, you have to promise not to whack out." I told her that I had heard from Chase about it and that he said it wasn't too bad. She then told me that his eye was swollen shut, AND that his cheek swelled up so big that they thought he might have broken his cheek bone. Here's the picture she sent; you can kind of see how big his cheek is.

After hearing how bad it was from Cyndi, I called Chase and told him that we thought he was a pretty tough kid to feel and look like that and not really complain. This is how he looked when he got home. Not so bad anymore. It sure got a lot of comments when we showed up at church. I told him that every time someone asked "What happened?" that he should make up a different story. He could say he fell down the stairs during an earthquake, got in a fight with circus clowns, was capturing a wild cougar and got hit by a tree branch, you know, stuff like that.

Spy kids

2008-07-28T09:34:00.004-07:00

A couple days ago Jerel and I were in the living room. Suddenly, Jerel knelt down by the entertainment center and said, "Hey, let's go get the rest of the ice cream out of the freezer and eat it before Tanner comes back in here." I'm like "What?! Where did that come from? And why are you kneeling down on the floor?" Then I noticed that he was talking into one of Tanner's spy "bugs." Next thing you know, Tanner comes walking in all suited up in his "spy wear" and says, "Hey, you can't eat the ice cream without me!" We all had a good laugh. I snuck a picture of Tanner as he was listening in to another conversation with his earpiece. Oh Tanner, what a cutie, he loves to invent things and is usually up to something creative. He always keeps us laughing.

Here's the "listening bug." (Jerel wouldn't kneel down and restage the event for a picture, so you'll have to use your imagination.)

I guess I'm Superior! Not sure if that's good or bad?

2008-07-28T09:08:00.006-07:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Superior

Take the test!

lol

Not going so well

2008-07-21T22:56:00.003-07:00

Well, I'm not doing so well on goal #3 (as you can see the time that I am posting this). I did make it to bed 2 times last week before 10:30. (sigh) Well, I guess I can try again this week. Although I'll have to start the week tomorrow. :) I figured I better fes up since Jerel told me a couple nights ago that he was going to "out" me on my blog for staying up for forever still. Obviously it's going to take me a LOOOONNNNGGG time to reach this goal.

Skadoosh!

2008-07-16T10:40:00.005-07:00

I was talking to someone this morning who just saw "Kung Fu Panda." I was reminded of my favorite line. "There is no charge for awesomeness... or attractiveness." So funny! I loved the movie and would highly recommend it to anyone. Click here for more awesome quote from the movie.

WHY Dad?!?!

2008-07-15T13:00:00.004-07:00

Last night Tanner asked Jerel if he could go running with him in the mornings. Jerel replied that he probably couldn't because he goes a lot of miles each day and, in fact, just on Saturday he ran like 12 miles or something. (Many of you have probably seen him training/running.)Tanner asked why he was running so much. Jerel responded, "Don't you remember? I'm training to run in the St. George marathon in October. It's a race that's 26.2 miles long and so I have to practise running longer and longer distances." Trevor, my six year old, then asked, "WHY Dad???!!!" (Imagine him using a total "What are you. . . crazy or something?" voice.) It was so funny. Jerel then paused for a minute and then tried to explain the origin of the marathon race. Some story about how a guy named Marathon who had to run from Rome to some place (maybe the city was named Marathon) to warn them about a battle coming up. (Maybe I should look up the story again. lol) He had to run 26.2 miles to the next city and when he got there he died. Then one of the kids asked, "So WHY are you running in this race? The race that some guy died in?" I'm thinkin' "Good question!" Jerel then tried to explain about how he just wants to be able to work towards something and accomplish it. I think that's awesome, and anyone who runs a marathon is amazing to me. But I have to admit "Why?"

Happy birthday Randy!

2008-07-15T08:58:00.013-07:00

Today is Randy's birthday. I can't let this day go by without paying a little tribute to a man who made such an impact in my life. I can't believe he's gone. My step-dad Randy was the greatest guy. He always treated me like he was my real dad, and I was his real daughter. He filled holes in my life and heart. He always showed such love and concern for me, for my whole family—and actually for everyone. He was just a real genuine person.

I know he was only in my life for a short time, but he changed me for the better. He just had a loving way about him and EVERYONE who met him, loved him. My entire family loved him. My kids LOVE their Grandpa Randy. He always had time for my children, and I can't remember a time when he was impatient with them. He showed a sincere interest in their lives and was always ready with a funny joke or story or cartoon that he had just drawn (like a dinosaur riding a skateboard). That's why this is a great picture, because it shows his "full of life laugh," where he would tip his head back and laugh so jovially. It shows his fun personality. He had a great smile and sense of humor. We had so much fun telling stories about him at his funeral that many people came up to me afterwards and said they had never laughed(and cried) so hard at a funeral.

He brought so much happiness to us and especially my mom. And that's what makes this day even harder, because today is their anniversary too. He was the perfect husband to my mom. He was the man of her dreams and treated her like a queen. I know he loved you so much mom. I love you mom! Know that I am thinking about you all day today. (It feels weird to be writing in the past tense.)

I miss him!

p.s. I think I will watch cartoons all day in honor of him!
Or I was thinking I might make a cartoon character cake
for my family each year on his birthday--bugs, popeye, etc.

Good times with great friends!

2008-07-14T16:41:00.005-07:00

Today is Laura's birthday, one of my favorite and great friends. Happy birthday Laura! I got all reflective today and a little emotional as I thought about how blessed I am to have such great friends in my life. I have friends that I can be upset, crazy, insecure, happy, sad, spiritual, mad, fun, excited, and bored with. They have hung in there with me through tough times and great times. If I need a sounding board because I am feeling like I had a "Wal-mart mom" experience, they are there with a listening ear (and a good laugh). If I had a "triumphant shopping experience," they are excited about the great deals I found. When I had my miscarriages and when Randy died, they were the first ones I called. We have SO MUCH FUN together too. We will laugh, and laugh sometimes. Whether we are shopping, going to lunch, playing games, going to cooking classes, losing weight, reading books, camping, watching movies, traveling, helping me with my blog, talking on the phone . . . the list could go on and on . . . it's always fun! I love that they all have strong testimonies of the gospel and are willing to share them if I need it. I love that I can call them anytime for any reason. They have been my help and saving grace in all of my sick pregnancy moments, bad parenting moments, losing Randy moments, Shannon health watch moments . . . they have fasted and prayed with me and for me.

Some of my greatest, greatest friends don't live nearby anymore, but every time we talk, we pick right up where we left off. My friends don't judge and just console, or laugh right along with me or cry with me. They know a lot about me and still love me despite it all. They don't always know the right answers, but they still know the exact right thing to say. They will have places in my heart for forever. (See, I told you I was all emotional and reflective.) They all have attributes that I want to emulate and help me become a better person. I'm going to do a little tribute to some of them, because they are great and deserve to be thanked.

I have many great friends in my ward. A few of them LOVE to play games--just like me--and so I love that about them. Some of them are FABULOUS cooks (or should I say chefs). I love it when I benefit from those talents. We have so much fun together too as I see them the most often. I have had many spiritual moments with these guys and appreciate that. They are the greatest. (And hey, thanks for helping me raise my kids, as they are at your houses a lot too.)

My Bunko friends are the best. We discuss everything and have so much fun together. Sometimes we get talking and talking and never play the game. There are times we just can't stop laughing. I love my Bookclub gals. These are some women that are older than me and so we never would have crossed paths otherwise--we don't sit together watching our kids at school events or ball games, etc. I'm so glad I found them and I always think "what would I do without them?"

I have always wished I had sisters and so I am grateful for my sisters-in-law. They are the greatest. Some of them I have known since they were 7 years old, and I have seen them grow up. Others are just new to the family. But I love, love, love how you have made me feel like I was a "real sister."

Julie is one of the greatest friends ever! I don't get to see her very often since she moved to Utah, but I love that we can still talk all the time. She has been my friend for a long time and we just never have lost touch. She's known me since my kids were tiny and has helped me raise my kids as they are growing up. Every thing I mentioned above about my great friends, and things we have done together or they have done for me--well, she's been a part of it all. She is one of the most true, genuine and best people I know.

Allyson has been my friend for forever! We've been friends since 5th grade--so that's 28 years!! She's the friend who ALWAYS calls at just the right time. She will just "get a feeling" that I need to talk, and she'll call. She now lives in Glendale, and even though she's semi-close, we don't get together enough. She's the one who took me to the temple after my first miscarriage. Her mom is like a second mom to me. She is one of the most caring and selfless people I know.

Last month I had a great day. Julie and Allyson both came to visit. I went to lunch with Julie and dinner with Allyson. It was just the best time ever. I love having good times with great friends. My friends are truly blessings in my life. You all are amazing.

Here I am with Julie . . .

and here I am with Allyson.

Fun, food and fireworks--part 1

2008-07-13T00:33:00.001-07:00

Since we didn't get to see some of Jerel's family at our family reunion last week (I'll blog about that later), we decided to go visit them in Bakersfield for the 4th of July. (Jerel's parents and his sister, Shannon and her husband Paul, live in Bakersfield.) Our main reason to go was to see Shannon. But we were happy to find out that his sister Lindy and family, his brother Boyce and his fiance (Suzanne), and his sister Janel and fam were also there. We had a great time. We mainly swam, talked and ate a ton of food that was bad for us and consequently extremely delicious. It was good to see Shannon. After seeing Randy look so not himself, and completely not expect it when I went up there, I didn't know what to expect when we saw Shannon. She looked better than I anticipated. She has a long road to recovery and is still very weak, but we are trying to be faithful and trust in our Heavenly Father's plan. Her sweet husband was so attentive to her while we were there. In fact, several members of the family served her in so many ways. It was very tender to watch Lindy, her sister, give her a pedicure and manicure one night. Now you need to understand, Lindy hates feet (I am the same way). So to me, this showed a great outpouring of love for her to serve her sister in such a sweet way.

Jerel's family has a few traditions that they do every 4th of July and so it was fun for our kids to see what Jerel did while he was growing up. They start out the morning with a HUGE breakfast that the Young Men's organization in the ward does as a fundraiser. They had pancakes, biscuits and gravy, aebleskivers (a danish food that I was super excited to eat because my mom made these for me growing up), eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, milk and juice. It was quite the spread and lots of good food ended up becoming a theme for the weekend. Later on that day we went to a family friend's house (the Faulkners) with several other families and had a great celebration. When I walked in there was quite the spread of food set out--and I mean A LOT of food! I ate probably more than I should have, and then when I realized that this was just the "appetizers," and that we were having "dinner" in a little bit--I knew I was in big trouble. How was I going to pass up ribs, pasta and everything else?! lol And we can't forget the 7 containers of homemade ice cream, Texas sheet cake, homemade pies, and sugar cookies for dessert. We spent the night playing volleyball, singing karaoke, playing guitar hero, talking, laughing, eating, and setting off our own fireworks. I lost track of how many boxes of sparklers we went through. In California, you can buy and set off your own mini fireworks. My kids thought this was VERY cool. We ended up buying some of our own and setting them off later that night at Grandma's house too. Granted, they aren't as big and amazing as the ones you see in the sky, but it's cool for a bunch of boys to set their own fireworks off. I mean what boy isn't entranced by fire and things that blow up!

On Saturday we just lounged around, watched movies with Grandpa, talked, swam, sang karaoke, watched home movies (Did you know Jerel had a perm when he was like 12? lol) and of course, went out for ice cream. This is one thing that I LOVE about Bakersfield--they have a great little ice cream parlor that reminds me of Leatherby's in Utah. They make all their own toppings and the servings are HUGE. It's worth every penny. Their caramel sauce is just the best ever. Grandpa grilled steaks for us that night, and it was very delicious! My boys LOVED swimming with their cousins and uncles; it was like wrestle-mania in the pool. And we all figured out, a little too late, that Uncle Paul, is a "pot-stirrer." That means that whenever he would start to get attacked and splashed, he would start the charge for somebody else. If you paid attention, you would hear "Get Uncle Boyce" or "Get Uncle Jonathan." At one point I noticed that some of the kids were biting. I got after them and then they called out, "Uncle Paul just bit me!" Too funny!

Sunday and church in Bakersfield is always entertaining. I will have to blog about that later since this post is getting a little long. After church we left for home. A quick trip, but a good one where we got to see family, share love and make good memories.

p.s. I made a slideshow of some of the pictures of our little trip. There's some real good ones in there--I'm surprised I actually was able to get some good action shots.

Fun, food and fireworks--part 2

2008-07-13T00:32:00.001-07:00

Goal #3

2008-07-12T19:00:00.005-07:00

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this "goal-setting" business. It's been a while since I sat down and set some goals, and I'm kind of enjoying it. (When I was 1st counselor in Young Womens many years ago, I did all the personal progress goals with my Mia Maids and received my jewelry for that, but now I am badly out of practise with setting goals.) I decided last week to try to go to bed by 10:30 pm every night. I am up until at least midnight or 1:00 every night, and for various reasons decided I really should get more sleep. So I set my goal and, . . . yeah, I think the earliest I went to bed was 11:15 ONE night. Complete failure. I hesitated to put my goal on the blog, for fear of not being able to accomplish it and then having to own up to it to everyone. But then I thought to myself, "What's the point of setting a goal if I don't really believe I'm going to accomplish it?" So as boring as this post probably is, I'm just trying to make myself accountable. I'm going to be realistic and just see if I can do it for two weeks starting tomorrow . . . OKAY, I'll start tonight!

So You Think You Can Dance . . . audition?

2008-07-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

(Another diversion) I have loved, no LOVED, watching "So You Think You Can Dance" this year. This is the first time I haven't voted. I like so many of the dancers that I can't pick my "one favorite" to vote for. I look forward all week to see the next show. A couple years ago, I wanted to see the top 10 tour, but they came on a Sunday--I was so sad. Maybe I can talk Jerel into going to it with me this year? Yeah, who am I kidding? He will never go. Anyone want to go with me?

I know some of you have seen this video, but last night when I was working on the blog and after I had seen SYTYCD, this clip came to mind. It made me laugh so hard that I knew I had to put it on again. Sorry if you've seen it before--but you have to admit, it's funny. My brother-in-law, Shad, was looking at past audition clips from "So You Think You Can Dance" and found this. I'm so glad he found it--and you KNOW I'm such a fan of the show! Shad, thanks so much for just being you! To see, click HERE !

A fun distraction

2008-07-10T16:12:00.000-07:00

As I have become easily distracted from doing what I am supposed to be doing today, I have found some little diversions that have become quite entertaining. (Sorry about the laundry Jerel.) A friend of mine took this personality test today. I too am nervous about taking tests like these. I'm not sure of what they will say. The truth does hurt sometimes. You can take the test here. Here are my results. You guys can be the judge if you think they match me:

Your personality type:
Warm-hearted, popular and conscientious. Tend to put the needs of others over their own needs. Feel strong sense of responsibility and duty. Value traditions and security. Interested in serving others. Need positive reinforcement to feel good about themselves. Well-developed sense of space and function.

Careers that could fit you includes: Home economics, nursing, teaching, administrators, child care, family practice physician, clergy, office managers, counselors, social workers, bookkeeping, accounting, secretaries, organization leaders, dental assistants, homemakers, radiological technologists, receptionists, religious educators, speech pathologists.

p.s. I was just wondering, isn't a homemaker pretty much already all of the other things listed? (home economics, nursing, teaching, child care, physician, counselor, secretary, etc.)

Family Scripture

2008-07-08T17:43:00.002-07:00

Last month I was at Enrichment meeting at the church and my friend, Mary, was discussing her family's scripture. She said she had been to someone else's house and saw that they had a "family scripture" but it was kind of long, and she thinks just posted on the fridge. Well, Mary decided that her family needed to choose a scripture. She of course, put it on her wall with vinyl letters and it looks fabulous--just like the rest of her house. (She is great at decorating!) Her scripture is "O be wise; what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12). Great scripture. Anyways, to make a short story long, I wondered out loud "I need a family scripture." Cyndi, another friend, pipes up behind us and says "We have a family scripture. It's 'Thou shalt not kill.'" She has 6 sons, plus some step-kids too. I totally laughed; she is so funny. But after the last couple days . . . I'm thinkin' that her scripture suggestion may not be that far off. Maybe that needs to be our family scripture too. Sometimes too much together time is NOT a good thing during the summer. So now I need to do some cool decorating to display my new family scripture. Any good ideas Mary?

Love my American Idols

2008-07-07T20:47:00.004-07:00

A couple months back I REALLY, REALLY wanted to buy tickets to the American Idol concert that is touring with the top 10 finalists. I asked Jerel if he wanted to go. He said "no" in his typical flatliner voice that kind of sounds like "I don't care." I said, "Please, it could be your anniversary present to me." He said, "Do whatever you want." I was like SWEET!! I bought the tickets promptly. He then never said a word about it again. Two days before the concert I reminded him about our BIG DATE! He again didn't say a word. The night of the concert we get in the car and again he doesn't say a word about going to the concert. Then after we were driving for about 15 minutes he starts to tell me that he really doesn't want to go. I'm like "Are you serious?! I could have invited a friend. Why didn't you say something earlier?" He said, "I did." I was like, "Yeah, forever ago, and then you didn't say a word about it again. I thought you had warmed up to the idea." Jerel asks, "What made you think I had warmed up to it? Did I ever sound excited to go?" I then explained, "You NEVER sound excited about anything. Even when I told you I was pregnant you said 'cool' in your typical flatliner voice. How was I supposed to know?" Jerel responds, in his flatliner voice, "That's true." VINDICATION! Anyways, we went, we had pretty good seats, and it was AWESOME! I know that Jerel enjoyed it too. He even took pictures with his cell phone. Well, I have to admit, he probably didn't like the 12 year old girl that was sitting behind him, and was screaming--and I mean SCREAMING not singing--the entire time that David Cook sang.

First day of summer . . . are you kidding me?

2008-07-07T19:00:00.003-07:00

We just got back from a quick trip to Bakersfield for the 4th of July weekend. It was kind of hot there, but not like it can get in Arizona. And then it reminded me of a few weeks back. It was June 20th, I was sitting outside trying to work on a project and watch the kids in the pool. I was sweating to death--I think it was 111 degrees that day. I don't know why I didn't get in the pool with them. Anyways, later on I had to check my calendar and it said "First day of summer." I just thought, "Are you kidding me? I think we've been there for a while now."

Goal # 2

2008-07-07T16:51:00.003-07:00

Wow, I set one goal and now my mind is racing with all sorts of goals I want to accomplish. I was reading in the June New Era this weekend and read a little article about a girl who was challenged by her YW leaders to read the Book of Mormon in 65 days. The 65 days was significant because it is the approximate time it took Joseph Smith to translate it. I decided to do it too! I read all the time, and decided I have been doing more "frivolous" reading instead of "uplifting" reading lately. So this is my goal to help me with more "uplifting" reading in my life. I will be done with the Book of Mormon on September 9th.

A glimmer of hope

2008-07-03T00:31:00.003-07:00

Many of you have asked how Shannon is doing. I felt like I needed to let you know a little update on her. She is now HOME!! Yeah!! We have had a LONG month of emotional roller coasters and questions, and so it's good to have a celebration moment. The last week in the hospital was rough as the doctors kept changing their minds about things--the infection may have spread to the right side of the brain, you can go home, no you can't go home, no the infection may even be getting better, you need another surgery, etc. It was tough to say the least. The infection has not gotten worse, but is about the same. We are not out of the woods by a long shot, but we are seeing answers to many of the prayers that have been extended to her and Paul. She still needs our prayers, but I am hopeful that this is a start of her to finally have some relief and just . . . be!

My First Goal

2008-07-03T00:22:00.003-07:00

My cute sister-in-law made a list of 56 goals to get done in 560 days. I have MANY goals that I need to work on, but I think I'm going to start with ONE. (I know my limitations.) I'm going to try to update my blog more often. I decided that there's stuff I should have posted--wanted to post--and never did. I never was good at journaling and here's my chance to finally do it a little bit in a fun way. Well, I'm going to try to catch up a little and, well, reach my goal. So we'll see how we do on this goal. Maybe then I can do say, 10 goals in 100 days?! I'm not as organized and amazing as cute Megi. It was fun to read her list and see what ideas I could borrow to better myself too. Thanks Meg for the motivation!

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We're gettin a new . . . grandma?

2008-06-20T22:32:00.004-07:00

Tonight Trevor mentioned to Jerel that we have a new grandma. Jerel said, “A new grandma?” And Trevor answered, “Yeah for Uncle Boyce.” Jerel thought to himself “Hey we know Boyce is getting old—but come on, he’s not THAT old.” lol So he explained to Trevor that Boyce’s new wife will be an aunt. So in his prayers tonight Trevor mentioned, “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for our new aunt. Please bless her that she will be nice and not yell.”

Isn’t that soo funny?! The things kids say.

p.s. For those of you who don't know--Boyce is Jerel's brother and he just got engaged last night. Suzanne seems like a perfect match for him. We are so excited! (And he's 31.)