The Nightly Short Cut

I was a 12 year old boy conducting an Eagle Court of Honor for Jim when I heard my grandfather tell this story. I have never forgotten it and though I may not have the details correct or exact, the message remains the same.

Every night a man would take a short cut through the cemetary on his way home from work. One day it had been raining and during his walk home he went through the wet cemetary as he usually did. With the storm the night was dark and it was difficult to see but he knew the route well and continued on his way. Suddenly there was no earth beneath his feet and he fell into a deep hole. He realized what had happened. A fresh grave had been dug. It was wet and muddy inside. He began to try and climb out of the grave but the walls were slippery with wet dirt and there wasn't much to hold on to. He tried repeatedly but kept falling. After sometime he heard a voice from an unknown companion in the grave. "You might as well give up" the stranger said "I have tried and tried and there is no way out. We will simply have to wait until the morning when the workers return". Undettered by this new companion the man continued to climb and to struggle. He continued to fall but he did not give up. Finally he found a foot hold here and a hand hold there and was albe to make his way from the hole and continued on his journey home.

Grandpa Al then went on to share the poem It Couldnt Be Done by Edgar Guest. That has been my favorite poem ever since. I think I have written that in the blog allready so I will not write it now. Maybe I have not. Can't remember. I will review later and add it to this post if I have not. Anyway, sometimes we encounter challenges in our lives and we may find those that are telling us to give up and to stop trying that there is no way out. There are plenty to tell you that it cannot be done. It is then that we must redouble our efforts and keep climbing, continuing faithful and trusting in the Lord. The trial will pass and we will find ourselves stronger on the other side.

Just a little reminder for myself tonight.

Shape The Back

I want to start by expressing my love for the Prophet. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of God and that he has been prepared by the Lord to lead us today. I am grateful for that. I am grateful for the Spirit that testifies of this and for the comfort it brings.

With my calling I have the responsibility to oversee one of our Home Teaching districts. One of the companionships in my districts has dissolved because both Home Teachers moved away. Two of the families they were teaching have also relocated which left one that was without Home Teachers. It happened to be Cameron and Chelsea Brown. Cameron is also in the Elder's Quorum Presidency. President Fawson and I decided we would go and visit with them. When I set the appointment I asked Cameron if there was a special message his family needed and he mentiioned that his wife was in the middle of student teaching and that she was having a hard time with it. He said if I wanted to give some encouragement there that would be great but if I allready had a message I didn't need to worry about it.

I find it interesting that today we studied Home Teaching in our Presidency meeting. Finding out from the head of the home if there are any special needs or messages that are needed is one of the things a home teacher should do. I have not always done this. I think I will do so more frequently with the experience of today. Naturally I took Cameron's invitation seriously but knowing the message this month was a call for Missionaries I didn't know exactly how the Prophets message would apply. I came home and read it again. I was moved by the following paragraph:

Now, some of you may be shy by nature or consider yourselves inadequate to respond affirmatively to the call to serve. Remember that this is the Lord’s work, and when we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. The Lord will shape the back to bear the burden placed upon it.

Through my own experiences I have found this to be true. I believe that the Lord blesses those who delight to serve him and I also believe that when we go about on the Lord's errand he does help us. That help can come in a variety of ways. Further as the Prophet says, the Lord will shape the back to bear the burden placed upon it. I believe that those burdens are not limited to those directly tied to the errand we are on but to all burdens we may be facing.

Well, I talked to Sister Brown specifically about student teaching and some of what she is experiencing. She mentioned that she has been doing okay, she is learning a lot and there was a week that she did come home and cry everyday. I did not start with the forementioned paragraph, rather I started with a story about a couple that was called to serve a mission to Poland. Of their mission the Prophet said:

The work was lonely, their task immense. A mission had not at that time been established in Poland. The assignment given the Fusseks was to prepare the way so that a mission could be established.

Did Elder and Sister Fussek despair because of the enormity of their assignment? Not for a moment. They knew their calling was from God. They prayed for His divine help, and they devoted themselves wholeheartedly to their work.

In time Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Elder Hans B. Ringger, then of the Seventy; and I, accompanied by Elder Fussek, met with the religious affairs minister, Adam Wopatka, of the Polish government. We heard him say, “Your church is welcome here. You may build your buildings; you may send your missionaries. This man,” pointing to Juliusz Fussek, “has served your church well. You can be grateful for his example and his work.”

Like the Fusseks, let us do what we should do in the work of the Lord. Then we can, with Juliusz and Dorothy Fussek, echo the Psalm:

“My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

“… He that keepeth thee will not slumber.

“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:2–4).

We had discussed Missionary work and serving a couples mission when they reach that season of their life but there was a further application to the Prophets message and it is found in the Psalm that was quoted as well as the message previously mentioned, the Lord will shape the back to bear the burden. As we discussed this principle the Spirit was very strong and we all felt it. I did my best to not be a boob and managed though our eyes were wet. I shared my testimony, I expressed to the Browns that the Lord loves them and is aware of their needs and that he would strengthen Sister Brown, he would shape her back.

I am grateful for this experience as the Spirit bore witness of the love the Lord has for each of us. It bore witness of the inspired counsel we receive from His Prophet. I am grateful for the things I was taught tonight. My hope is that I can live worthy of the guidance of the Spirit in my life and worthy to receive the blessings of the Lord shaping my back. I don't know of anyone that I would rather have my back.

A Day at Red Cliffs

We had a great day today down at Red Cliffs with Jay and Sara and fam. We just went down and hiked around, had lunch, climbed around some more and then to a second hike. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Here we are on the road.



Here are the kids and cousins posing for a picture just off the trail of the first hike.



After lunch when we ventured up out of the picnic area and just started climbing around the cliffs and rocks it reminded me of Carson City and going climbing with Lystra Pitts up on Prison Hill around his house. We would go and climb the rock face and then continue running around and exploring some. Those were fun times. Today was very much the same except that I was watching these little kids get excited about the next rock formation or wondering what was around the bend. Certainly there were areas where I was a bit nervous with how close they got to the edge. It was a good time though.

Here's Jack and Andy while out climbing around.




Wouldn't you know it but Jack found a couple sitting up on this big rock that had cliffs on three sides. He just sat down with them and started having a conversation. That is what he does. I love the fact that he has no fear and yet it is something that we have to manage as well. He started scolding a boy and his father later in the day because the boy was climbing up a rock area that was not on the trail. He really let them have it and so we talked about not doing that. He makes me laugh though.

Here is Jack with his new friends.



I was just thinking about the day and how amazing Red Cliffs was on the drive home. I was also looking at the surroundings and could see Kolob Canyon up in the distance and the rest of the mountains surrounding the drive and I thought just how beautiful Southern Utah is. What an amazing place. I think trips to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and other beautiful sites around the area are definitely in order. What a neat place to live.

So anyways, here are some additional pictures of the day.

These two pics are of Jack and Andy up at the second pool. This was part of our second hike and is as far as we decided to go. There is a rope and some foot holes in the rock that would allow us to go further but I was all ready helping kids up challenging areas before we got to this and, well, it was time to turn around. Liked this hike quite a bit.





Here is Jack at the first waterfall on the 2nd hike. He really liked this little pool and the area.



Ahhh, a family pic up at the top of the trail on the first hike. Fun day.



Pretty Natty up and on the move. There were these little tunnels that would take you right up a cliff. All the kids were loving them. This is Natty on top of a cliff after climbing through one of the tunnels. Very cool.



Here are the kids and cousins once again during our post lunch explorations. Andy decided he was not going to be in this picture. Poor guy has no idea that he is. I thought this was a fun picture anyway.



Really grateful for a day filled with fun and family. Thanks for the invite Sara.

Oh What Fun

The kids are all about Super Mario on the Wii right now. It is actually pretty fun. Reminds me of playing Mario on the original Nintendo as a kid. This is a bit more high tech but that is okay. The other thing that I enjoy about this game is that it doesn't make me physically ill. That is a big plus.

Anyhow, the kids love it and so we did a game night with the four of us playing away. I sit on the couch between the boys and Natty sits in the chair by herself. There is certainly some "strategery" in the sitting arrangement. First, Andy needs help on occasion. You don't always know when that will be. His controller just suddenly appears in your lap. It's a great little handoff. It usually happens when visiting toad houses but there are other times as well. I also sit by Jack to serve as a shock absorber and I absorb a lot of shocks from him. I don't know what it is but he bounces the entire time he plays the game. When he has to jump he physically jumps right there with it. Seriously, when I say he bounces the entire time, he does. I wonder if it is the music. Funny. The constant jumping and bouncing is precisely why Natty sits alone.

Jack ran over to Wal Mart with me tonight. We were getting a few picnic items for a family hike tomorrow. He really wanted yogurt with his lunch so I let him get some. He was really excited and was staring at it while putting it in the cart. Only problem is it was not our cart. He thought it was pretty funny when he realized it. It is amazing how much easier Wal Mart is when I only have one of the three. Actually, it is still somewhat of a challenge with Andy but not near as difficult as all three.

All in all the day was just fine. I painted today and after discovering the problem with the spray gun I was able to fix it and it worked a lot better. Funny how that happens. Anyhow, everything is painted with some touch up remaining then a little sanding work and shellacking. Oh won't that be nice. I am beat at the moment and still need to run. Sure do love the chitlens. Thanks guys for a great game night.

The Lazy River

Tonight we had a family outing to the Cedar City Aquatic center. Yes, we have previously written about the aquatic center and included some pictures. That was a trip on opening weekend that was free to all and it was packed. Tonight was also free to members of the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce. As the Little Brick House belongs to the Chamber we received the free pass. What can I say, membership has it's privileges. It was tonight only so we took advantage. I have to say it was much nicer going this evening as the pool wasn't nearly as busy.

Andy started off in the kid area and then I convinced him that we needed to check out the lazy river. We spent probably an hour playing in the lazy river. At times we had Natty with us for a bit and then we had Jack around for a few. For the most part it was just Andy and I floating around and having fun. It was nice to just get in, be lazy, and let the current move us around. Then we were back over to the kid area and Natty and Jack were off doing their thing which consisted of a mix between the water slide and the lazy river. A few of our neighbors were there as well and that was fun for Natty.

Anyhow, the kids all enjoyed themselves and I had fun as well right on up until it was time to go. I waited around for 30 minutes for the kids to get out of the pool. I was not exactly happy with it. We had established the rule before going in that when I said it was time to go that was it, out of the pool and getting ready to go. Not one of them obeyed that rule tonight. I have been giving them little treats everyday for completing different tasks or whatever. Well, the treats were off the table tonight. None of them were happy with that but hey, we earn our treats when we do what we are supposed to do. Andy yelled at me the entire drive home and I got a "your the worst dad" comment from him. I know. Perhaps we have the foundation laid for a lesson on obedience bringing blessings.

Well, other notes. Had a brainstorming meeting with Andy's teachers today. That was fun. Couldn't convince Jack that French Toast would be good for breakfast so we went with pancakes again and more custom shapes. Jack requested pancakes for breakfast tomorrow and fortunately he only wants the large caterpillars trying to break into toad houses. Okay, that is easy. Worked on shelves with some sanding and painting. I guess that is furniture no just shelves.

During scriptures tonight Jack whispered in my ear, "John, I want to be like you when I grow up". Thanks Jack. Sure do love Natty, Jack and Andy.

6 of 50

Had my weigh in today for week number two. I am down 6 pounds this week which is still good for a week but not as good as I was hoping for. I came up one less pound then what I had dropped last week and that is a bummer. I am going to have to step it up this final week. Actually, I have 10 days (including today) remaining on the 500 calories. If I can drop a pound a day i will be in perfect position heading into maintenance. There my goal will be an additional 10 pounds over a 3 week period. If I can manage it I will be down in the weight range I was at when returning home from my mission. That will be good.

The 6 lbs this week brings my total weight loss since beginning this journey to 50 lbs. That is since July 7th of last year. My clothes are all a little on the big side. They will remain that way for a while as I have no way of getting new clothes right now and quite frankly I really don't care if things fit me loose. I actually find it easy to simply slide pants on and off without needing to mess with the zipper and button. My belt has holes throughout it so I don't have to do anything there and I can simply fold my pants a bit when tightening my belt and create pleats. I am sure it looks terrible but I am a guy that simply doesn't care. Who am I going to impress anyway? Not real worried about it.

Mom just mentioned today how I looked when I got off the plane when returning from South Africa and my mission. I had my suit pants folded with a couple extra pleats and safety pinned in that position as well. I had lost 50 lbs. on the mission and the suits and clothes didn't really fit any longer. I was a little suprised one day when I went to gather my old suit and it was gone. Oh well. Ma decided it needed to be parted with. Very well.

So I've got a ways to go still. That is okay, we will keep pressing forward one day at a time.

Pancakes

Yesterday at breakfast I had made pancakes and provided a few standard shapes for the kids like Mickey Mouse, Sponge Bob, a turtle, and my favorite a large coin - this is the easiest. Jack suggested that I should make him caterpillar pancakes based on large caterpillars that are in world 5 of Super Mario. Last night I told him I would knock out some of those for breakfast and he was excited. Anything that can get Jack excited to get out of bed and get moving in the morning is a good thing. So this morning I went in to his room and told him I would be making his caterpillar cakes. I told him he could sleep a little longer and that I would get him when they were ready. When the time came he was anxious to see them and it was no problem getting him going. I like that.

So he liked the caterpillars but I must have misunderstood. The chosen shape was based on the large caterpillars and he wanted the smaller ones that get angry and turn red when you jump on them. Other then the red I managed to knock out a couple of those for him quickly and all was well. I also tried to make a kumba (sp?) but made the mistake of giving it arms which I now know they do not have. Anyhow here is a pic of a couple caterpillars and a kumba. Jack had already eaten the other larger caterpillar pancake. Funny how these shapes seem to make the pancakes taste better and much easier to eat. Not sure what happens chemically there to cause that change but they are simply more delicious. No, really, they are.



Natty has always been a fan of the sponge bob cake and I have made them for her for a number of years now. Mind you, there really isn't a great likeness to sponge bob or the caterpillars for that matter. Today Mr. Square pants was having issues with an arm and a leg and a hat that decided to part ways with the rest of his body. Anywho, here are Natty's cakes.



Andy doesn't really care for special shapes. He prefers tiny round cakes. The old silver dollar sized cakes do the trick. Other then a lot of pouring and a lot of flipping these are much simpler to make.



The secret to good pancakes is adding lemon juice and powdered sugar to the batter. I like the Krusteaz instant stuff. I also include a little vanilla. Actually I trust that this makes them taste better. I don't eat them so I must rely on the kids feed back. The lemon juice/powdered sugar thing is something I read on the pancake package once. Just sharing the secrets of restaurants and what they do to make delicious pancakes.

I know this is a very exciting post and you probably have found yourself well fed. This is history folks and that is what we are going for here. Someday the kids will look back and remember the poorly shaped pancakes that dad made for them. Oh well, fun times. Sure do love my kids.

uuugggghhh, the diet

I am not having fun on this diet. It is at a point of just dragging on right now and I am not enjoying it. The fact that I made my kids cookies tonight and lacked the will power not to nibble a bit has absolutely nothing to do with it. I had to nibble a bit. I tried making snickerdoodles which happen to be one of my favorites and, dang it, I have never made them before so I had to sample. I mean come on, really, I couldn't feed these to my precious children without first making sure they were edible. Happy to report that they were. I didn't follow a recipe, just added cinnamon to a sugar cookie mix someone dropped off for Christmas the week I was gone. I looked at a recipe or two online and I thought it would work. It did. I will follow an actual recipe the next time I make them and I won't be dieting then so I won't feel at all guilty about stealing a nibble or two maybe even three or four. Who am I kidding, I will eat half the bowl of dough. That is, after all, the best part of cookies.

Anyway, the diet is dragging on and it isn't much fun. The thought of eating an orange makes me want to die. I don't even want to think about pounding another heart of romaine. I splurged on a rotisserie chicken today because I thought it would be delicious but it was terrible. Terrible is a bit harsh, it was mediocre at best. When I think of rotisserie chicken I am afraid that the standard I use is that of Publix supermarket in Florida. Their Mojo flavored chicken was the best. Let me also plug quickly their sandwiches - the Ultimate on 5 grain with garlic pickles and loaded with all other fixins is perhaps my favorite sandwich. Well, I think tomorrow I need to have a steak. Yup, steak and some asparagus. Another watermelon is in order as well. I picked one up last week and it was amazing. I normally am not a big watermelon fan but on this diet I am. Even at $4 for a smallish watermelon.

And so I am counting down the days until I make it to maintenance and have just a little more freedom then now. Saturday the 5th of February will be a great day indeed. Of course I will still have 3 solid weeks before I can open the flood gates but at least I will be able to enjoy up to 15 nuts in a day. I am afraid I need to avoid making cookies until maintenance is done. It is too hard to resist and there is no reason to put myself in a position to fail.

I don't think I remembered last night to record Jack's prayer. It went like this:
"Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. Please bless that no bed bugs will climb up the ladder and crawl in my ear and lay eggs on my brain. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I thought it was one for the record books. Nobody likes to have bed bug eggs on the brain, well, I don't anyway and neither does Jack.

It is time to hit the elliptical. I am thinking that Invictus is in order as my entertainment tonight. Good movie especially since it is a true story and occurred during the time that I was serving in South Africa. That was an amazing time. Mmmm, love it.

Hey Sunday Sun

We enjoyed a beautiful Sabbath Day here in Cedar City. The sun was shining and though the temps were not real warm they weren't bad either. We enjoyed a little time outside together after church. The kids were anxious to test out their little swings. Yesterday I mentioned the rope that got cut into three sections so as to end the fighting over one rope. Well, they each ended up with their own little rope swings. Here are a few pics of them. I got really creative with the pics and saved them all in sepia tone. Hope that doesn't make anybody sick. Just mixing things up a skosh.

Anyhow, we start with all three kids.




Next is Natty who didn't want a sit down rope swing. In our last Florida house we had a large tree in the front and I tied a rope up in it for the kids to swing from. With the way the tree was situated there was not a way to put in an actual seated swing so we simply had a single rope with hand and foot holes. That is what Natty wanted so we made it happen.



Here is Jack enjoying a bag of fruit loops while he swings. He is such a multitasker.



Andy got a little twisted up. He really enjoys the swinging except that the rope hurts his bum. Looks like I need to put together a couple little seats for each of the boys. Can't have the rope hurting their buns now.



I also snapped a quick shot prior to our departing for church. They are a good looking bunch. Church starts at 9. So we were literally walking out the door in order to make it on time.




So tonight we had the battle of wills at the dinner table. Natty has always loved chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes. A couple months back she decided that she no longer likes chicken nuggets and even more recent then that she has started to lighten up on her liking mashed potatoes. Well, we had the battle of wills. She didn't want to eat and I wasn't going to let her skip it. Fortunately she only sat around the table for 30 minutes to an hour so as not to be sitting there all night.

We started the new testament today to accompany our daily book of mormon reading. It is a good book. I highly recommend it. Anyhow, I think Natty is quite excited about it. That is good. We have managed to make it through the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price along with our regular Book of Mormon reading. Now we are on the New Testament. Natty wanted to Old Testament but I decided the New Testament is where we would go because that is the course of study this year.

Well, I am worn out, falling asleep and I cannot eat sunflower seeds or any of the other things I used to keep me awake whilst blogging. So I am going to stop fighting it and call it a night.

Learnin the Ropes

Sometimes you simply need to cut the rope in thirds. Yup, that'll do it. I had three kids fighting over one rope and at one point had all three in time out. At that point I decided this is insane and there is a cure for this problem; cut the rope. It was a 50 foot rope that just became three slightly over 16 foot ropes. Oh the kids were excited about their individual ropes and for the most part the problem was solved. I love it when little moments of inspiration seem to save the day or my personal sanity anyway.

Jack has a problem getting to the toilet lately. I think he is just in a stage where he doesn't want to leave what he is doing and he has been browning his trousers some. It is really getting old quick. We are at three days in a row right now. He is not filling his pants, merely getting started in them. The good news is that he washes out his own undies, kind of. So after his premature movement today he left the bathroom a bit on the messy side. We had a little chat about this problem with getting to the bathroom and then we had a lesson in cleaning the bathrooms. We started with the toilet and he got right in there with me. Well, not in the toilet, in to cleaning them. He learned it pretty well so I had him tackle the toilet in the other bathroom also. We hit the sinks and then cleaned mirrors and finally a little mop up on the floors. He did a great job and seemed to quite enjoy it. Here is a pic of Jack in his bathroom manning his mop after the work was completed. Hopefully he has learned the ropes well enough that he can manage it with less oversight on the next go round.



There are a few things that I have learned about myself in recent years. First, my NFL career is probably not going to take off. Sad but true. At 5'10" on a good day I am simply too short. Next, my NBA career, well, I never was going to have one of those. Not a big fan of basketball but I enjoy playing occassionaly for the exercise. I would always much rather set up the volley ball net then shoot the basket ball. Perhaps that is because I am not very good at shooting the basket ball. Anyhow, we went to church ball this morning and I played some. Yeah, like I said, I like the exercise part of it. I guess if the NBA was looking for a short white guy to run up and down the court without accomplishing much in the game I could be their guy. It is hard to believe that I am now older then most of the professional athletes out there. I don't know how that happened. I mean when Bret Favre hangs it up there aren't many others that are older then I am in the NFL and I'm sure there are not too many in the NBA. We haven't even started with baseball and really don't need to, do we? No, we're good. Perhaps there is still a chance for a professional career in lawn bowling.



Aparently this is a pic of the Worlds #2 player. Obviously number two because it is not a picture of me. Lawn Bowls, it's for real. Like a big game of marbles. Had a few friends in South Africa that played regularly. I loved going by the "lawns". They are beautiful. I always thought they would make a great volley ball court.

Okay, so back to the point of the sports careers not coming to fruition. Church Ball. I have never been a good basketball player so to me it was always just about fun. When it was way to serious back in the University Ward days in Vegas I bought an afro to lighten things up. I guess I lack that true competitive spirit when it comes to hoops but I do get a kick out of everyone that really seems to have it. I don't know that everyone on the team appreciates that I am just out there to exercise. Oh'well. Perhaps the afro needs to come out of basketball retirement next week and we will try to lighten the mood a skosh. Understand Jay was trying the same in the official practice on Thursday evening. He did wear some lovely knee high red socks to the game today. I thought they were rather humorous. That settles it. I've just received a bit of inspiration. If I ever become the Stake Athletic director, we're playing lawn bowls. There shouldn't be too many trying to relive the glory days out on the lawn.

I think I have rambled enough for one night. I guess I should update that the painting has begun on the pieces spoken of in previous posts. All went fairly well until my sprayer started having problems. I went on to do as much as I could by hand. Didn't quite make it through but we've got a good start and some first coats on much of it anyway. Fun stuff. Last note, when that sun goes down it gets cold real quick. Painting without feeling your fingers is not the funnest thing I have ever done.

Sorry, one more note that I just thought of. Sometimes being a parent is rather difficult. I was ripped by my kids a few times today because of various things. Not a single one of them was happy about going to time out and I got the "I hate yous" and the "your the worst dad" (Andy on that one) a few times. I just love all the ego boosting things my kids sometimes say and I don't really take it personally. I am just doing my job the best I know how. Jack in his prayer tonight said some rather nice things about his dad and prayed that I can be strong and protect the family. He was emotional about it and, well, it was just a sweet moment. It is nice to have those moments sometimes.

Sanding, Mario, Popcorn and 93/7 Lean

I spent another day sanding. I know that sounds extremely exciting and that it is. The good news is that other then having to build two drawers for a little desk I have everything ready to paint. Well, everything that I currently have at my house. Pops has more furniture at his place that I am going to be working with.

During the labors of the day I discovered that it is somewhat difficult to listen to talk radio while the power sander is in operation. I know that there are some who will find this hard to believe. It is true. I am not real sure why I even had it on as I rarely heard a word of it. Just doing my part to tweek the ratings. I did hear that the Sean Hannity show was bringing brought to me by the Little Brick House. Great news. I didn't hear any of our commercials though. Probably ran when the sander was under power.

I cleaned the dust out of the garage. That took about an hour by itself. I swept three times and blew it out three times with the air hose. I could probably do it a couple more times. That is the only challenge with doing all of this in the garage. It tends to cover everything with dust.

In the middle of this I was also doing my best to keep up with Andy. He does not go to school on Fridays so we hung out today. I set him up on Super Mario and let him play away for a little while. He kept coming to get me so I could get him out of something or pass a level. I don't know. I am sure it won't be long before he understands what he needs to do with the game and just takes off. All three kids love to play it together and seem to have fun. I play with them on occassion and we have a good time. The nice thing about Super Mario is that I don't get motion sick with that one. That makes for a much more pleasant gaming experience. There is nothing like enduring the urge to vomit just so you can play Halo or James Bond or some other motion game. I am sure there are a ton and I am probably naming some seriously outdated stuff. What can you do?

I have been bested by popcorn today. It is sad to admit it but I did not stick to the diet 100% today. No, I ate popcorn. The problem with popcorn is all it takes is one or two peices and then it is very difficult to stop. Hopefully it doesn't hurt the diet too bad. I didn't keep shoveling it in my mouth or anything, just a couple handfuls or so. Dang it. Well, I need to buck up tomorrow and be strong again. Funny how one little thing can get you. If I never took the first peice and put it in my mouth I would have been perfectly okay. I guess the next time I am faced with popcorn I will be like Joseph of old and run and get me out. Hard to do when you have to prep it for your children but it is possible. The first time I did this diet I didn't cheat a single time and was preparing all kinds of things for the kids. Have to master self.

So sticking with the diet a bit longer. Other then my popcorn fail today I did do some other things right. Lean ground beef is approved and that is fantastic. I cooked up some burgers tonight and got to have one. I was very much excited and then I bit into it. It was good and seasoned well but it was not the pure burger pleasure that I was hoping for. I like an 80/20 - I think that carries a pretty good flavor. This 93/7 stuff was okay but not what I was hoping for. In pondering the matter I was actually quite happy that cows do not get all caught up in size. Can you imagine a bunch of skinny cows walking around? What good would that be? We would have a bunch of lean beef to choose from, lean ground beef when they have no legs and are sitting on a hill - right pops? So fatten up the cows cause we like em big, we like em chunky. Besides, balanced nutrition calls for a little fat in your diet.

Well, that is all for now. Grateful for the opportunity to get up after falling and to start again.

Just a Bit of Sanding

The Little Brick House has recently sold some of its antique furniture. That is good. The challenge is that they need good looking stuff to replace it with. Right now we have picked up some shelves, little tables, end tables, and other things that all need a little attention. That makes for some fun for me as I am now in the process of pretty-ing it up. I actually spent the day sanding. I know that sounds extremely exciting and believe you me, it was. The shelves were in the middle of it all on the work table so I started with them. They took some time. They are solid shelves but just kind of ugly. Well, right now they are even uglier as I went through and sanded everything not necessarily to take off the paint that was there but to rough it up. They are black and I am going to go back with red over them (per mothers request). I think they should turn out sharp. The big shelf that I did a few months ago turned out rather well and we are going for the same effect with these. When I say these I am referring to two different book shelves. Anyhow, I will post pics of the finished products.

I also went to work on an end table today and have it ready or nearly ready for paint. That will be black and I will be roughing it up some after it is painted for effect. I think it will end up looking pretty sharp. There is another little bench like table thing, not real sure what it is but I have started it as well. Hopefully we will have those four pieces ready for painting tomorrow. I also have two more of my own shelves that still need painting. I also have little over the toilet cabinet type shelves or cupboards sitting in my mud room/pantry that also need sanding and painting.

Might I just say that my system loves the saw dust. Nothing quite like blowing your nose a few dozen times a day. My arms are actually dead tonight as I have been holding the sander and moving furniture around all day. The good news is that I didn't notice any problems with the shoulder. Nothing was really that heavy so I didn't really have to test it too much but I am happy about it none the less. Maybe I need to go sledding again. Or not.

It is interesting to take something old and worn down and to refine it some. A little sand paper, a little paint, a little effort and perhaps a little love can make a dramatic difference. I guess we are kind of like that as well. Sometimes we can get a little worn down by life but with a little prayer, some scripture study, a trip to the temple, attending our meetings, having a little faith, a little hope, a little charity and putting ourselves in a position where the Savior can heal us, well, we get refined as well. Being in the middle of the refining process isn't always pleasant and it can make things difficult to do. I have found however that these are the very things that carry us through. The simple primary answers put us in a position where the Savior can heal us. I guess I am hoping that sometime in the not too distant future I will have been sufficiently sanded and that I am ready for a new coat of paint. Regardless of what comes my way tomorrow I will do my best to love it and to carry on with a love of God and of all men.

For Heaven's Sake Dad!

For heaven's sake is one of those expressions that I used to hear mother throw out a lot. It is not one that I have used on a regular basis and very rarely does it even come to mind. So tonight I am sitting here wondering just how it became Andy's new comment on everything.

"Turn on the light. For heaven's sake dad, turn on the light."

"I want to watch a movie. For heaven's sake dad, I said I want to watch a movie."

"For heaven's sake dad, I don't want to go to school today."

Everything seemed to be for heaven's sake today and I just had to laugh. The way he says it also cracks me up. He musters as much drama as he can and lets out a big sigh while saying it. It is pretty funny.

I'm thinking he must have picked it up on a visit with grandma. I guess it wouldn't surprise me however if I was the one using the phrase at some point in the last 7 days.

Speaking of the last 7 days the diet moves forward. Had my first weigh in today and it wasn't as much as I was hoping but I am still happy with it. Dropped 7 the first week and if I can maintain that pace I will be happy. Two solid weeks left plus maintenance. Ohhh, for heaven's sake dad, shoot me if I decide to do this diet again.

A Neil Tribute

Oh my goodness this has been a day. It is late and so I am only going to post a brief story and then I am off to bed.

I have run into a problem that I have never experienced with the kids before. We are actually not making it through milk. I don't know what the deal is. We used to clip through four to six gallons a week and we have not made it through 2 gallons yet this month. I finally dumped out the stuff that was in the fridge as it was best used or whatever by the 10th. I guess we don't really do cereal, Jack no longer drinks chocolate or regular milk, Natty doesn't drink near as much because she has to make her own now and Andy has started to cut back on his milk intake. I don't drink it anyway so that has no effect on it.

Well, as mentioned I dumped out the stuff that was in the fridge and we headed in to Wal-Mart to pick up a fresh gallon. I also needed to put gas in the car so we stopped off at the gas station. I had selected Neil Diamond on the Ipod yesterday during our return trip from St. George. Well, we had more Neil time on this little run to the store. So while I am pumping gas and washing windows Natty is cranking Neil Diamond in the car. I could here it pretty good. So as I was washing the windows I started using the handle of the washer/squeegee as a microphone. I gave a passionate lip sync performance.

There were a few passers by that probably thought I was crazy. Not to worry, it was for the kids and they seemed to enjoy it. It was fun to just play around. And I also must say, Neil Diamond is fantastic. Glad I have three kids that love his stuff. When we got out of the car to walk in the store for the milk Jack was singing Sweet Caroline. It was great.

Anyhow, that is all for this evening. Cheers!

A Brainy Film with Lasers to follow

We were treated today to a fun trip to St George by Jay and Sara. It was a great time and the kids really enjoyed themselves. It started with a movie - nice to see that there is still a $2 theater around. Flood Street theater was showing Megamind and that was the movie of choice. I think everyone enjoyed it at least I know that Natty, Jack and Andy all enjoyed it. I thought it was very well done.

After our movie venture we went over and played laser tag. It had been several years since I last played laser tag. In fact I have to go back to 1994 when I was serving in the Belleville Ward the second time on the mission. That is a lot of fun. The kids all loved it and they are ready to go again. It all went by rather quickly. Anyhow, lots of fun.

In N Out was the choice for an early dinner. I didn't eat anything there because of the diet. That was tough as I am a big fan. Sara suggested that a burger protein style would qualify and it is close and would have been delicious I am sure but I passed. I still have a solid two weeks plus on this and that isn't real exciting right now. I have had a couple of cravings today, obviously In N Out was tough but also wanted some cheese and some nuts. It will be nice when I get to maintenance and those things will be okay in small quantities.

There is something that I don't care for when it comes to this diet. I don't know if it is the drops that I take or if it is just the fact that I am eating very little but patience really runs thin. I noticed it the first time I was on the diet as well. That is a tough thing and you really need to keep yourself in check. It will be nice to get through it. I am looking forward to eggs for breakfast as well as some sugar free smoothies not to mention some nuts/seeds, cheese and a few additional calories each day. Mmmmm, something to look forward to.

It was nice to be down in St George today. I must have officially defrosted because right now I am very cold. I don't know what the deal is. I have been cold since we got back to Cedar, hands are freezing. Just can't seem to warm up. It is a little weird. Hope I am not getting sick.

Well, that is pretty much it. Grateful for the fun day and for Jay and Sara treating us to a great visit to St. George.

A little something about home teaching

I don't know what to write about today. I have been sitting here for a few minutes just pondering a few things and I have not put my finger on what it is that I should record. Perhaps a word or two about home teaching.

I visited the Fawsons and the Smiths today. You know home teaching is an interesting thing. It is somehow so difficult to do and yet so rewarding when the labor is performed. I am sitting here trying to think of a time when I was angry about or regretted a home teaching visit. I cannot think of one. For the most part I always walk out feeling better for having been there. The times when I have regretted home teaching were those times when I failed to go out and make the visit. Then it is just a nagging reminder about what you are supposed to be doing. It certainly takes commitment as the month seems to quickly disappear. I believe however that there comes a point when you understand that you are not there for a number, you are there on the Lords errand. You have a duty to perform and that duty is to minister to your families as the Lord would.

I wish I had been a better home teacher and more dedicated throughout my life. There have been times in the past when I simply struggled with it and lacked the discipline to get it done. I treated lightly the responsibility. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to try again. Funny, I just thought about a conference moment when President Monson spoke about Home Teaching briefly. He was talking about obituaries and named a few of the headlines: Gone Fishing, Gone Skiing, Gone Home Teaching. That one caught his eye. He then mentioned that there will still be home teaching in the next life it will just be more perfected there. That is paraphrased and it is close but not exact. Anyway it drew a good laugh and I chuckle even now when I listen to it or think about it. I hope that I can perform my duties as a home teacher faithfully.

At the Fawsons all the kids were hiding when I came in. I saw three of them in their hiding place before I even walked through the door. I played a long for a few minutes and then found them. They all thought it was great. We had a good time. Ben and Jamie are great parents and are very faithful members of the church. I am grateful that I get to serve as their home teacher and to feel of their love. They are good people.

The Smiths are a neat couple. They moved in the ward right around the time that I did. It is fun to go and visit with them because Sister Smith is a talker. She has something to say or to share on just about anything. Bro Smith doesn't seem all that interested in the chit chat and would like the message to be shared and then wants you out. It is funny to watch him as he gets a little less patient with every comment she makes. They are also good people.

So there we are, something came to mind after all. I am grateful for home teaching.

Absolute Madness

There is a new aquatic center in Cedar City. It is a beautiful facility and a definite upgrade over the old City pool. That place was a wee bit on the gross side. It is no longer as it was torn down. I know it was home to many and holds great memories for some and I respect that but it was still pretty nasty in the end. Anyway, the new pool and the entire facility is really nice.

As a parent it is great for my kids. They have a lot of fun things including a great area for little kids, a water playground area, a lazy river, a big water slide, and just a lot of fun little things. I was quite happy with all that it has to offer. I am also a little disappointed for selfish reasons as there are no indoor diving boards. Is it too much to ask? They do have diving boards in the outdoor pool but I don't think there will be a lot of Winter swimming out there. None for me anyway. The other bummer is that both boards are low dives and my personal preference is the high dive. So selfishly, I am a bit disappointed but other then that I thought it was very nice.

So on we go to absolute madness. They opened the pool yesterday and had free swimming yesterday as well as today. We are in Cedar City and that means two things, there isn't a lot of this type of stuff to do and there are a lot of people like me that are looking for a good cheap option. Well, free is cheap and that place was packed. When we walked in Jack took two steps into the pool and then disappeared. I did not see him again for over an hour. After parting with Natty at the locker rooms I didn't see her again until a few minutes after I finally saw Jack. They are both great swimmers so I wasn't worried about that but with the number of people there it could have been very easy to lose them. Andy was also out and about all over the place and he loved it so I spent a lot of time following him around. I am glad that he has grown more comfortable with the water.

We lived in Florida for 5 years. Disneyworld was less then an hour away from our home. In that 5 years I went there only once. It wasn't that we could not afford it, we had the resources. No, the one time we went was during Spring Break when we first moved there and it was packed. We had a good time but that many people stress me out. I am not a big fan of crowds and so I avoided Disneyworld from then on. It didn't appeal to me.

They opened a park in Lakeland probably in late 2009. It is called Common Ground. The park is amazing. It is equipped with lots of cool things and the kids loved to go there. I had a good time watching them have a good time but it was always a very stressful experience. The park was good sized, had several things to do and it was always packed. With three kids running around doing different things it was near impossible to keep tabs on each of them. There were a number of times that I could not find Jack or Natty. Even Andy was hard to track. That is stressful especially when you think about your one little boy who will walk up and talk to anybody. I thought about predators being there just looking and waiting for the right moment. Unfortunately there was an incident there and frankly I was not surprised. Our best day there was right after school in a light rain. It was nearly empty and that made it much more enjoyable for me though it was still a challenge to track all the kids. I definitely had a love hate relationship with Common Ground.

Well, the pool today reminded me of Common Ground. Those same stressful feelings existed and though the kids loved it I found it exhausting. The excitement will wear off eventually and with the prices they are charging I don't think it will be near as busy in the future.

Fun times in store for sure. Here is proof that the kids were there and a quick shot of some of the area. Note that this pic does not do the crowd justice. They were over packed and as we were leaving they were not allowing people in because it was beyond capacity.

Sorry the pics are tough. This is Natty on the playground.



Here is Jack in a very brief moment of being still.



Andy was a fish but here he is drying off and relaxing after his busy swim.



Finally the quick shot of the pool. Note that all three kids are somewhere in this shot. I have no idea where but they are out there, somewhere.

San Jorge

I made the trek down to St. George this morning and took in a session at the Temple. Always nice to be in the Temple. Much thanks to Jay and Sara for having Andy over today as well as Natty and Jack after school.

Anyhow the Temple was good. There was a sister in the session that was in a wheel chair and had virtually no use of her hands. I would assume the sister next to her that helped throughout was her mother. They were both so happy to be there. It was neat actually and I was happy to see them there. I watched as the Temple workers assisted her and I thought how wonderful it was that she was able to enjoy the blessings of the Temple in her life. It is hard to write about this as you simply don't discuss certain things so I will leave it at this; great experience, glad I was there, grateful to think of the resurrection and the perfect form this sister will enjoy, humbled by her dedicated service.

I was in St. George for a meeting with my friend Bernie Bank. He and I have known each other for the last 10 years when we worked at Quality A/C in Vegas together and then were both GM's at One Hour. Actually Bernie and his wife Holly were on the trip to Costa Rica that we went on back in 2002. Good people. He and I have discussed some business plans over the last couple of years relative to training and providing tools for success to service oriented companies - plumbers, a/c contractors, electricians etc. Very much the same thing that our former employers were doing. A number of things have come about that will help this type of business to take off. Clockwork (former employer) sold out to an energy company from Europe. They are not interested in the training side of things that was such a big part of everything. There are thousands of contractors across the country that hunger for that stuff and over the last few years Clockwork has gone down hill in that regard. So a door has opened there. The other good news is that we were both successful in One Hour with company owned stores and were in the national spotlight at times because of it. Both Quality One Hour in Vegas and my stores on Florida were model stores and there are a few contractors out there that are aware of us. Bernie also did training with Clockwork and has several additional contacts. We also have one of their top trainers wanting to come on in this type of a venture who was well known and well liked, no loved in the industry. That is good. Finally we have Jeff Stewart, the former owner of Quality A/C and owner of Quality Technical Training on board and he and Bernie pitched the idea to his partner Art earlier this week and he was excited about it. 6 months ago they were still hoping to sell the company to Clockwork but that isn't a possibility now and they really like this idea. Bernie has a return meeting with them in 2 weeks and we are hoping that it goes well. The nice thing about combining with Quality Technical is that they have contractors all over the country that are using their services. That doesn't hurt our cause at all. We also believe that combining the technical and the sales training through one provider has been missing all along. Anyway, that is a positive thing and I am excited to see where it goes.

I made a stop at Costco while I was down there. Didn't buy anything just walked around for a bit, used the restroom, you know, the usual. Well, not the usual. I saw the free samples but I did not touch and I saw the hot dog combos but did not partake. That wasn't so fun. I use to live for those hot dogs.

So anyway, I had thoughts of driving from Vegas to SLC with Pete for mission reunions back in October of 96. I had my F150 with dual fuel tanks and when we were up out of St. George I asked Pete how he was holding up. He said he had to pee but not to worry he could hold it for a while. I never stopped until we hit SLC. When the first tank was empty I switched to the second tank and it was a beautiful thing. I use to have a bladder that could handle that. Remember that I used the restroom at Costco, well I couldn't even make it back to Cedar without making a stop at the rest area just past New Harmony. How pathetic. Then I had to go again when I got back into town. It is this diet. I remember this from the first time I was on it. Drives me crazy. I went to the bathroom 4 times in 3 hours. That just seems a little excessive to me. I am turning into some sort of a wuss. I guess this is what I get for not stopping for Pete and also for Laura who about popped on a drive up to Carson City when I refused to stop. Sorry guys. Today I felt your pain, well, only to a point because I actually did pull over. Getting soft.

Ahh, it is late and time to close. Besides that I have to pee. Cheers!

The Awesome Part by Andy

Aren't potty moments just so wonderful? I have to say that I am so happy that my kids are all potty trained and that there are no longer diapers to be changed. I don't have a problem changing a dirty diap and have certainly changed my fair share but just don't miss it at all. There was great rejoicing when Andy finally made the leap and I really am not ashamed to say this, bribery is perfectly okay with me. Whatever it takes.

Natalie was a bear to potty train because she was scared to death of pooping on the toilet. She would hold it all day until we put her in a diaper for night time then she would drop her daily load. It was terrible. We would make her sit on the toilet before we would allow her to get her diaper on and no matter how bad she had to go she simply would not do it. Man she was a stubborn little girl. We finally made her start standing in the bathroom with her diaper on to do her business. Then we had her sit on the toilet, lid down to start then we progressed to lid up. After she got comfortable with that we tried again with no diap but it was useless. Finally I had a genius idea, we would simply cut a hole in the diaper and she would go right through it and into the toilet. It worked. Perhaps my greatest potty training moment.

Jack was a delayed toilet user but when he decided to do it he came on strong. There are times when he struggles to break away from an activity to relieve himself and that is never fun but he has learned that he cleans up the mess. Sorry to Jay and Sara for the accidents he has had there, hope he has cleaned up after himself and if not then special thanks to you guys.

Andy, as mentioned he is potty trained and has been for over a year now. There are a few little quirks with Andy when it comes to using the bathroom. He likes to have me sitting in the bathroom with him when he poops. Well there are other things that I prefer to do like pretty much anything. I did feel pretty bad the day he called for me and I told him I would be there in a bit. 5 minutes later I walked in to the bathroom and he is standing there covered having had an explosion with the runs. Andy doesn't quite clean up like Jack. It was nasty and I felt terrible. It was during our week of being sick. No puke from Andy that week, just this one episode. Bad.

Today Andy called me in to the bathroom for a pooping moment. I resisted but he insisted. "Dad come in here. I want you in here" he called. I responded "I don't want to watch you go to the bathroom." And then he gave this great line that made me laugh "Your going to miss the awesome part." I laughed and said "What, you squeezing out a poop?" He simply groaned at that point and I dismissed myself with "I'm going to finish emptying the dishwasher." And so our conversation ended and he managed to make it through on his own. Sad to say that I missed "the awesome part" but don't know that I really missed it.

Well, that is all I really have to say about that right now. Sorry to my faithful followers for bringing in a little bathroom fun. I am sure there is nothing more enjoyable then reading about bowel movements, well, maybe writing about bowel movements is slightly more enjoyable, just slightly though.

Calories O' Plenty to Calories Not So Plenty

After two days of packing in as many calories as I could possibly stand I was very ready to give up on that. I have no idea how many calories I packed in yesterday but it was a lot. Eating is not fun when it is painful to do. So I went from two days of trying to pack in 10,000 calories to a day when my max was 500. That probably messes with something internal but it is okay. I really have been perfectly fine today. At one point late morning I almost went for some food just out of habit and then I remembered that I could not. I enjoy grazing and that is a habit that I simply need to be rid of. The last time I did the diet I managed to get away from that but I have found over the last couple of months that I have begun to graze again. The okay part of that is the selection has been much healthier, well up until December when I simply bombed for a few weeks. The homemade fudge being made at the folks house was too good to hold off on especially that white chocolate macadamia nut fudge. That is some of the best I have ever had. Oh man, need to stop thinking about that right now. Will power!

Okay so my goal is to drop 30 lbs. in the next 6 weeks. That could be a bit of a challenge. I will maintain 500 calories per day for the next 3 weeks. Following that I will move to 3 weeks of roughly 1000 calories per day. I am going to maintain my exercise on this one though I am only going to do 30 minutes per day. With my pace on the elliptical that will put me around 3.6 miles per day. I was in such bad shape the last time I did this that I did not exercise during the first 3 weeks. I am hopeful that the exercise this time will help promote the weight loss at a more rapid pace then before.

I asked President Armstrong in one of my PPI's on the mission about motivation. He told me that GM had gotten together for a big meeting and they came up with a definition for motivation and it goes like this: Any man with a goal and a plan to reach that goal will be motivated. Well, I have a goal and a plan to get there and I am feeling motivated. I am in my 7th month working towards this goal and have had to make a few adjustments to the plan but I am still motivated and that is good. It means working out late at night after I get the kids to bed and after I write but that is part of what I need to do. Well, It is fun stuff and I am excited to be underway and look forward to the results show. We will include some before and after shots when the time comes. Won't that be nice.

So for now I will enjoy my Melba Toast, my pickles, my dressing less salad and all the other fun things that are allowed on this diet. Mmm, love Calories Not So Plenty. Have to record that because in a few days I will probably not feel that way.

Wants and Needs

I think we have all had budgetting 101 where you go through and look at finances and have the always fun discussion about things that are wants and things that are needs. When it comes to finances and operating a budget clearly the needs take priority over the wants. When the budget is loose the line that seperates the two can easily become hazy and perhaps a little more flexible. When the budget is very tight the line is very clear and quite rigid. I think the trick to abundant living is to keep that line rigid regardless of the income you might have and to be very careful with your resources.

When money was plentiful in my life I was not a very good steward over it. Getting all of the luxuries of life was easy and quite simply did not effect our bank account much. Now that I am scraping the barrel I don't spend a dime if I don't have to. I honestly don't know how we are surviving right now other then to say the Lord has made our dollars stretch. Miracles have occurred and resources have come in a variety of ways. I am grateful for that. I hope that when our financial situation improves I will be a much better steward over the resources that we are blessed with.

Wants and Needs in accounting is one thing and again, I think we can all understand it. There is another area of our lives where wants and needs play and important role. I beleive that deep down inside of us we all want to be wanted and we all want to be needed. Perhaps deep down is not accurate. I don't know that it is always so deep down. Before the divorce I struggled mightly with the fact that I was simply no longer wanted. I think I was needed and so Rachel stayed but she wanted nothing to do with me and no matter what I did, no matter what additional responsibilities I took on in the home that did not change. It is difficult to describe what that feels like. Perhaps hollow and empty are as deep as I can get on that one. Now my kids never stopped wanting me or needing me and that has certainly kept me going even through the worst of times. There is something missing though. I don't think the Lord was mistaken when he said it isn't good for man to be alone.

There was a time after the divorce when all seemed lost. Actually there are times even now when I feel those emotions. They are becoming less frequent and that is great but there are times of loneliness and it can be hard. Anyway, after the divorce and the pain experienced there I did not have a desire to be involved with women and the thought of dating someone was not one that I particularly enjoyed. I had been rejected by my spouse after 13 years of marriage and that was not supposed to happen. My self esteem was in the toilet and the thought of being worthy of someones love and affection was non existant. Talk about wanting to crawl under a rock and hide. And yet there is a need that exists in my heart and I suspect in the hearts of most, a need to feel wanted. If we break that down even further, a need to be loved. Funny that no less important is the need to give love.

It isn't quite so simple as there are defenses that exist and fortifications made to protect from heartache and pain, from rejection. After enduring chats with mother, sisters, and sister in laws regarding dating and lists of women they had in mind I finally went out on a date. Granted it was with my dad but it was great. He took me to dinner and a movie. What a deal. That is a true story but seriously, I have done some dating. I got closer to a gal then I ever thought I would again and for a while I felt wanted and it was absolutely wonderful. I also loved giving love and I think it was well received. That particular relationship is not going anywhere at this point and that is okay. There is a friendship there that I will always cherish and I guess you never know. I was discouraged by that for a while and wondered why but maybe it was there so that I could experience what it was like to feel wanted again. Sara described the relationship as a bright spot in my life and that is certainly the case.

The entire experience gave me hope and I found myself wanting to break down barriers and overcome the challenges that I am dealing with. I am grateful for that. Though it is not easy to do I want to be whole and I know that with the help of the Savior I can. So I press forward with faith in the Lord knowing that it is possible.

So I guess whether we are talking about wants or needs one thing is for certain, we need to want and to be wanted in return or in other words, we need to love and to be loved in return.

Get Me Some Calories

In Chips and Salsa I mentioned starting a diet. Today was day one and it is all about eating, and by eating I mean eating a lot. Strange thing for a diet right? Well, the first two days of this diet consist of eating like a pig and packing in lots and lots of calories. Doing well on these two days helps the rest of the diet. The challenge I am having today is that most of my eating habits changed fairly dramatically from the first time I did this diet back in July. That has been a good thing as I kept off all the weight I lost the first time plus took off an additional 20 lbs with the improved eating habits and regular exercise. I am still not to my goal weight and have hit a plateau for some time now so we are going to try and jump start it again and see if we can't take off another 30 lbs over the next couple of months. That would get me back to the weight I was when I came home from my mission.

Anyhow, you would not think that it could be so painful to eat all you want of whatever you want and then eat more but it is. It becomes difficult to keep packing in the calories. For breakfast I had a piece of pistachio cream pie (my own creation yesterday, unfortunately it is sugar free and that hurts the calorie count but oh well)and 3 poached eggs with melted cheese and salsa. I threw in a couple of pepper jack cheese sticks (can't have them starting Wednesday so I need to eliminate them from the house) as a snack. I had a couple of chocolates at the little brick house just for calories. After dropping Andy off at school I stopped back by the house for some lunch and packed in another slice of pie, more cheese, some mixed nuts, a corn dog, chips and salsa. After I picked up Andy from school I dropped him off at Jay and Sara's and stopped back by my house for more food. I had some split pea soup, a bag of popcorn, a bowl of ice cream and I seriously felt like I was ready to vomit. An hour and a half later I picked up the kids from Jay and Sara's and Jack proudly showed me a sticker on his shirt about it being South Elementary night at McDonald's. Perfect. There are some calories there for sure so we went to support the school. I packed in a double quarter pounder with cheese, fries and a drink. Because that simply wasn't enough food for one day I polished off the rest of Andy's cheeseburger and I had another scoop of ice cream with melted peanut butter on top at home. Right now I am partaking of sun flower seeds. The thought of eating makes me nauseous. Tomorrow is a brand new day and I need to further pack in the calories. I think perhaps I will drink a bottle of Caro syrup and call it a day. No, there needs to be pizza, maybe tacos, perhaps another big nasty burger. Maybe a pizza buffet would be good. Ooohhh, Godfather's Pizza buffet with the taco pizza. Too bad there isn't one of those in town. My stomach has been suffering all day. I don't know if I will make it tomorrow. Who am I kidding? I am getting donuts in the morning and going for it. I make French Toast for the kids all the time and never have it because I rarely eat bread any longer. Maybe I need to splurge with some of that in the morning. The possibilities are endless, at least until the end of tomorrow anyway.

So I am not a crowd guy and I am not a big McDonald's fan anyway so when we pulled up and the line was out the door I thought there was no way I would stand in that kind of a line for that kind of food. I was obviously mistaken. We stayed. The kids went and hit the play place and fortunately Jay and Sara were also there and so we stood in line together. Then Sara told me they were treating us and that was splendid. Much thanks for that special treat tonight Sara. Thank you for contributing not only to South Elementary but also to the John Fontano Diet Foundation.

I thought the kids hit the play place. Turns out 2 of my 3 did and the other was sitting at a table in the restaurant talking to a friend. That would be Jack. Yup, there he was just shooting the breeze with this lady. Well, it turned out her son Hayden is in his class and she goes in and heps occasionally so Jack knows her. She was super and just listened to Jack talk, let him play with her earings and put his hand on her face and do all the things that Jack likes to do. Fortunately he did not put his hand down her shirt as that is one of his favorite past times and I don't think he got really close and sniffed her but I was in line for quite a while so he may actually have done that. Anyhow, she mentioned how much she enjoyed Jack. A little later there was another family sitting at another one of the tables near us. Their little girl Hannah is also in Jacks class. This is one of Jack's best friends. Anyhow, I didn't know it was Hannah sitting near us and then her mom was going to get something, stopped at the table and proceeded to tell me just how much she loves Jack. She said she reads with him every friday and loves him.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are moments when Jack is an extremely challenging boy. I live with him, I know these things. There is also no doubt in my mind that Jack is an extremely sensitive and loving boy. There are times like yesterday in church when he just needs to have his hands on your face or his face on your face. I don't know what that communicates to his mind but it is significant to him and it is part of his tender and loving personality. I am grateful for his heart. It is pure. Those that know him, not just surface know him or know of him but really know him, they experience that and they know. I was always a shy kid but Jack is not shy at all. He amazes me with his ability to sit and make a new friend and carry on a conversation with anyone. "Hi I Jack what's your name?" or "What's your name? My names Jack." Everytime we go through the check out at the store he asks the clerk one of these questions and then proceeds to talk about anything. Here is what I find everytime, a smile on the clerks face. I love that about Jack. I also love that Andy follows right a long in his foot steps. Natty Sue is a little more reserved like her father but these boys are not afraid to talk to anyone.

I don't mean to exclude Natty and Andy from the conversation and apologize if it seems I focus so much more on Jack. Natty is a tremendous sister and she does extremely nice things for Jack like collecting him from his class each day at school and walking him home. She also labors much for Jack on the Wii as he really likes to watch her play. He doesn't like to play as much himself as he likes watching her. She doesn't seem to mind that role too much. She is a good girl and tries so hard to be be a friend to everyone. I am grateful for her. I have spoken quite a bit about Andy recently. He is a great little boy and I am also quite grateful for him. I love these kids and feel very fortunate to have them with me each day.

So let me go back to McDonalds briefly and the ultimate calorie burger/sandwich. There was a family sitting to the right of me that consisted of two teenage boys. They were some serious dollarmenuairs ordering multiple sandwiches. One had two McDouble cheeseburger sandwiches in the middle of two McChicken sandwhiches. It wa quite impressive and I am sure it was fully loaded with all of the finest quality calories.

Anyhow, happy eating. I wish me all the best in my endeavors for food tomorrow and expect a good food report.

One Busy Meeting

There are some Sundays when church is a challenge. Perhaps it is adjusting still to the 9 AM schedule but my goodness Jack was a lot to deal with in sacrament meeting today. He had to be rubbing my head or sticking his hands in my collar or laying across my lap or sticking our faces together and staring directly in each others eyes. I probably did not do myself any favors today by allowing him to reverently walk out of the chapel for a drink of water three times but it did give me a small break in which to listen without distraction. Well, almost without distraction. I also had Natty begging me non stop for back scratches and Andy pressing for attention as well. We may have to discuss reverence during sacrament meeting in our Family Home Evening tomorrow. I was exhausted by the time the meeting ended and am exhausted now just writing about it.

Saying that, we had a repeat lesson in Elders today. I had given the Gospel Principles lesson on the Sabbath Day last month. Well, it was supposed to be open and I wasn't paying attention to the schedule just made the assumption that I taught the 3rd Sunday out of the Gospel Principles manual. With the new Presidency nobody noticed the change in the schedule. Today we had the same lesson again. It is a good lesson. Brian Allen taught this time and he does a great job. He told a story in closing about a Priest Quorum advisor he had that took all the boys in the quorum home from church and had them change into work clothes. Then they went up the canyon and cut some trees, split logs and then delivered firewood to an elderly widow in the ward who had no other means for getting the wood. He then taught about how the Sabbath is meant to lift others.

It reminded me of the Sunday that the Highlands Ward and others in the Stake gathered on the roof of Sister Pat Holly. Her roof had been damaged during the hurricane season of 2004 when 3 of the 4 storms that hit Florida came directly through Lakeland/Polk County and the Lakeland Stake. We had been out for a few Saturdays already, stripping the roof, replacing sheets of plywood,laying tar paper etc. There was a lot of damage to the roof from the storms but also a lot of damage by age alone and termites etc. This was a big project. I remember being up there with Pati Tanuvasa one Saturday and he and I discussing High School football in Hawaii. He was a Kahuku Red Raider and I of course was a Henry J. Kaiser Cougar. I asked him why it was the only school they made us wear our helmets on the bus for was Kahuku right there in the heart of Laie and all those mormons. He laughed and we had a lot of fun working together. Well, these were amazing days. We worked very hard.

Sister Holly had waited patiently for her roof and we were heading into another Hurricane Season. There were actually storms on the horizon and we needed to get her roof done. I remember getting the call on Sunday morning. The brethren were not attending church that day, rather we would be up on Sister Holly's roof working. The sisters and children attended but the brethren did not. I loved the service we rendered that day and I loved serving with my brothers. Jeff Holmes, John Schatz and I did a lot of work together that day. These were two of my closest friends in Florida. Mike Williams was in there as well as Jeff Jackson. Scott Shuman and his boys were there as was Mike Bingham. I don't recall if Fred Buss was still in town at that point but I worked on a few roofs with Fred and he was amazing. There were several other brothers out there as well and the work went forth. The ox was certainly in the mire.

As the work came to a close and the roof was completed we began cleaning up. Bishop Olds had come out and we held a small service in Sister Holly's yard. The Sacrament was blessed and passed. We sang a couple of hymns and offered prayer. I remember thinking about the neighbors across the street that were gathered out front looking at a motorcycle and wondering what they were thinking. I am sure they found it humorous to see this large group of men and young men gathered to rebuild a roof, sing and pray. Where the heck do you find a work crew like that? I will ever be grateful for this day and the lessons taught. There were bonds of friendships made and brothers that I will forever love because together we worked in the service of the Lord. It was the most important thing we could be doing that day and we did it with glad hearts.

Perhaps a roof to rebuild would have been welcome today though the weather in Cedar is a bit colder then it was in Florida that day. Only joking, I love my children and though the meeting was exhausting today it was also somewhat amusing. We will see what we can do to fine tune our behavior and hopefully make things a little easier henceforth and forever. If a roof or other project comes up and the work needs to go forth, count me in, every time.

Chips and Salsa

What is it about chips and salsa that make it one of my favorite things? I have yet to go out to a sit down Mexican restaurant here in Cedar and don't know that there is a good one. La Fiesta I remember from 13 years ago and have to say it did not blow me away back then. It is however still here and perhaps that says something about it. Hmmm, I may need to go on a quest for a great Mexican restaurant - the ultimate test being the quality of the chips and salsa they serve at the get go. Well, maybe not the ultimate test but definitely up there on the charts.

Okay so I have been pondering all time favorite Mexican restaurants and there are a couple of chart toppers. El Charro Avita in Carson City has to be one of my all time favs. Still there and operational from the days when as a 17 year old I would go in during the day with Pete and Shane Suacedo and we would hit up the bar for the free chips and bean dip. Ooohhh, that was good times. There was the time that we got in trouble because Curtis Wheelhouse decided to eat a fish out of the aquarium. Not sure what possessed him to do that. We use to go in there with a huge group of us and order multiple Mexican pizzas. I cannot truly speak for the quality of the food as much as the company that I was in when I would go. Those were certainly good times.

Toto's on Tropicana in Las Vegas. That was perhaps the best right up until the chef must have disappeared. I remember when we attended with Grandma Vi and she got the El Burro. I thought she was going to die right there with that thing. I loved that place and loved the service. There was the one waiter there that knew our family well and he was always so great. Don't know if they are still in business. Don't know if I would be brave enough to venture back. Back there for a while Toto's was one of the best. It was a sad day when they served me Spanish rice with frozen veggies mixed in. Oh, the horror.

As far as a chart topper I am not putting this next one at the top but I have to say it always sat on solid ground for me. In Lakeland there is a place called Tapatios. Food = good. Service = fast and friendly. Chips and Salsa = good (the mild salsa is quite mild but the hot will take the paint off your house and give your family a permanent orange afro so it is usually best to blend the two, unless you prefer an orange afro). The queso dip was also rather delicious and the prices were phenomenal. Always enjoyed a visit to Tapatios.

When we lived in St. George there was a place that our neighbors highly recommended as the best Mexican food in the area. It was perhaps the worst. I got taco's and the lettuce on my tacos had Italian dressing on it. I couldn't get past it and thought that it was the left overs of someones side salad that ended up in my taco. I just remember being sorely disappointed. Great was the day when we discovered Cafe Rio tucked in to a little space over by the outlets. They did not have everything I like in a Mexican restaurant with the sit down chips and salsa action but they did have great food. Still do. They since have moved from that location and also have a restaurant here in Cedar. Ate there last week as a matter of fact. I think size wise the burritos rival the El Burro. Well, can you really rival the El Burro?

I had some rather delicious Salsa that Amy introduced me to. It is expensive stuff but very tasty. My last time at the store I decided against that purchase and went with the large container of Rojos. I usually like this stuff but I made the mistake of polishing off the last couple bites of the expensive stuff and then delved into the Rojos. I could not believe the difference. Seriously. I started looking at the Rojos to see if there was something wrong with it. Wow, I was shocked. So I have decided that an experiment needs to be conducted. I believe that I made mention around Christmas Day of the Root Beer experiment that we participated in and conducted for that matter. The same needs to happen with Salsa. It may have to wait for a few weeks because I am about to embark on a diet that will not allow the consumption of chips so I might be looking towards the middle of February for this little experiment. Anyhow, should be a good test. May have to just throw a Fiesta and include this as part of the festivities. Ooohhh, a valentines fiesta, or not.

Okay on to a couple other items. Stained the table today. Ahhhh, not so thrilled with it yet. Still have another coat and shellacking to do. We'll see how it turns out. Trying to get a match to the entertainment center is not easy when the wood is different and the color of the stain is different as well. If all else fails I will just go black with it and antique it a bit. Also worked on three of the shelves today - Dave and Dani's, the folks and then one for the shop. Need another coat and then have to play with the sander and see if we can't get the right look with them. I have two more shelves completed and also ready for paint. I am going to do another red one like the one I did for hanging stockings and also going to try something with green. I am hoping that the green turns out as sharp as the red. I will post some pics when they are all done.

Ethan Gilmore was baptized today. He is a great kid, second son of Heidi. Ethan and Jack were on the same soccer team this fall and while Jack preferred to be off the field picking flowers Ethan preferred being in the game scoring goals. He is really sharp and quite fun. Jay and I can only laugh about soccer because practice was definitely like herding cats and even more so when Ethan and Saul "the wall" got together. Well, back to the baptism. Jack wanted to come so he and I went and picked up Jay on the way. Jack did pretty well. He picked our seat in the Chapel, front row. Would not have been my choice but that is what happens when Jack is in charge of seating. We talked about baptism and Jack was excited because we were on the front row right by the sacrament table. There were two pictures on display. One was of John the Baptist and Jesus while the other was of a modern day baptismal font with a father and his child. Jack picked up on the difference immediately and excitedly said "John, there are pictures of baptisms, one from then and one from now. The then is on the right and the now is on the left". There are some things Jack does that surprise me and this was one of them. Perhaps it should not but it did.

He was really excited to see the baptism and got a little restless. They had Ethan and two girls that were also getting baptized come up to the podium to be introduced. Jack mentioned seeing Ethan and said "There is proud Ethan up there in the middle of those two proud girls". Sometimes I would like to see into his mind and understand his thoughts. Not sure where proud came from but it was fun for me to watch Jack in all of this.

We were off to the font. Jack excitedly sat on the front row and all was going well until he got up to look at the font a little closer. When he turned around a little girl had slipped into his seat and there were no more chairs. I knew we were going to be in trouble. Fortunately Heidi picked up on it and had Miles slide back a row so Jack could have his seat. Very thankful for Heidi and Miles for that one. The baptism was great and Jack said right after it was done "He dunked him!" It was pretty funny. I just got a note from Heidi who said that her brothers have all been called "dunk" at some point in their lives (their last name is Duncan) and they took it as a play on words. Jay and I had a laugh.

It was good for Jack to be there. He isn't too far away from turning 8 and it will come before we know it. 16 months away. That is hard to believe. We were there for just shy of an hour and that was an hour very well spent. There was an impact on Jack and that is good. He was nearly 4 when Natalie was baptized and also quite sick that day. I don't think he picked up much there so this was neat for him to be a part of. We are happy for Ethan today and grateful for his example.