Working

I am pressing it with my current class. Just wanting to get through the material so I can take the assessment and move on. There is a lot of material, several tasks to do. I am on the 3rd of five sections and hoped to be through the third today but didn't get there. I need to push it. Just want to get through it.

Stomach Woes

The last 36 hours have not been the most comfortable.  The stomach has been in bad shape. I have felt a bit better tonight but there are moments when I just don't feel well. Hopefully I am nearing the end of this cause it just isn't fun. 

Field Trip

Today Andy had a field trip up to mammoth cave and cedar breaks. I went as a parent chaperone. It was entertaining to say the least. I rode on the bus with the students. I sat with Andy and we hung out quite a bit. I don't know if he would have preferred I not come or what. There were times when he seemed to be having a fine time and then there were times when he was not. Well, I am glad I went and glad I got to spend a little time with him. I did come home feeling like garbage and ended up in bed fighting a bit of a fever and body aches. I am sick in my stomach and don't know what the deal is. Natty hadn't felt well for the last few days and maybe whatever this is we are just passing it around the fam.  Not fun.  What a day. Ready for bed.

Studies

I spent the day focused on my current class about the history and philosophies of education.  I managed to make some progress today but I still have a long way to go. I want to wrap this class up in a couple of weeks. It is going to take some effort but I believe it can be done.

Tomorrow I will be out on a field trip with Andy and the 5th grade. They are going up to mammoth caves and Cedar Breaks for a little exploring and hiking around. Should be good times. I will be riding on the bus with a bunch of kids. Won't that be nice. 

Skinny P's

Andy made the request that we have zucchini casserole for dinner today.  I had a second one ready to go from that last time so that made it easier. Jack wasn't having it so I ended up making some skinny pancakes. That takes me back to childhood memories and how I loved skinny pancakes.  Anyhow, it was a double dinner... Again.

Great Finish

Tonight was a football game for SUU. They played Portland State. It was a great game. Holy cow I am tired. The tbirds had a pretty great game.  I worked the sidelines and other than some seriously bad language from the Portland team.  Well, I must go to sleep. I can't even think.

Football Game

Went to the football game tonight to work the chains. It is a fantastic job. Cedar was playing against the Dixie Flyers.  I was hoping Cedar would win that game but they didn't have a good game.  Dixie played very well.  Oh my goodness.  I am falling asleep.  Must go to sleep.

One Down

I took my assessment today for my first class and have successfully completed the class. On to the next class. I am pretty happy with being done with the class. I would like to have completed it sooner but ran into some challenges. Hopefully we are beyond the issues and everything will roll forward smoothly from now on. I've dived in to the next class and hope to knock it out in a few weeks.

Coaches Luncheon

We catered a lunch today for SUU Athletics.  I guess it was more that we sponsored a lunch today for SUU Athletics. We put together what I thought was a pretty nice spread.  Hopefully it went over well with all those who were in attendance today. Our contact there seemed pretty positive about it when he brought things back over to us. Said it went well.  It would have been good to stay but there was too much going on that I couldn't. We have another one coming up in October and maybe I will see if I can stay for that.  It could be interesting to attend and see what it is all about.  Certainly having our name out there involved in the program is a good thing.  Hopefully it will be a positive thing for our business and will help us expand into more with the athletic department and the university. 

Study

I am attempting to study for my assessment. I really have no idea what to look for or how to do the online assessment. I will get it squared away and hope to get this assessment done tomorrow. Sorry, just so tired. 

Buttock Kicked

The day was quite full and the majority of what kept me busy was the clean up of the tree. Kaden came over to assist and with the use of a big trailer from Bor..den we were able to get quite a bit and finished after two trips. It was wonderful.  I am zoning out so I'm going to call it a night.

Patriarchal Blessings and Fatherhood

At church today I attended Gospel Principles during the Sunday School hour and then Elders Quorum. Had two great lessons today. In Gospel Principles there was a great discussion about Patriarchal Blessings. Some of those attending the class shared some things about their own blessings that they have seen fulfilled or that are being fulfilled in their lives. It was a great discussion and the Spirit was strong. I couldn't help but think of my own blessing and the things that I have seen fulfilled in my life. I am grateful for the strength that I receive from those words from Lord to me.
In Elders Quorum we had a lesson from the Howard W. Hunter. In the opening section there was a story about his time playing in a band. He shared how he had played on cruise ships and made good money. When the time came for him to start a family he walked away from the industry so that he could be the husband and father he needed to be. It is not easy to give up our personal wants and desires but when we adjust our priorities our personal wants and desires change and we want to align ourselves with our Father in Heaven.
It was a good day and I am grateful for the lessons that were shared.

A Moment

This morning the boys and I drove up Cedar Mountain to the Thorley's land with a group from the ward to cut firewood for the ward pile. It was a good trip and the beginning of a long day.  After the wood project Kaden and I hauled three truck and trailer loads of pine tree remains to the dump. After that I took the boys to the ward party and we helped clean up after. I got the boys home and then went shopping. Natty spent the day doing homecoming things with her friends and they helped me out by baking brownies for the ward party. Anyhow, it was a nonstop day. On the drive home from the wood project I stopped and took a moment to snap this picture of the leaves changing color. It is a pretty time of year on the mountain.

Tree Down

Today was the day that this tree came down. It is something that has been on the to do list for a while. My buddy Kaden had a nearly identical tree in his front yard that also needed to come down. Russel Mitchell in our ward is a forestry service certified tree cutter. When you look at that tree and think about the layout of the backyard it would take a precise cut to get it down without damaging the house, the power lines, the neighbors house or whatever. Russ knows what he is doing. He put a block out in the lawn as his target and when he fell the tree it landed about a foot to the right of the block. I'm sure he does that all the time but I don't and found it pretty cool.

Rough Thing

Last night my neighbor Annie stopped over to let me know that one of Natty's fellow students had taken his own life.  That was not news I was expecting to hear as it is not something that happens in Cedar often.  Annie teaches at the high school and I asked when the last time something like this had happened.  They had asked the same thing and had no answer. This young man was a friend of Natty's.  They were in band together and in classes together in middle school. When Natty got home last night I told her what had happened.  It was a rough moment for her as I'm sure it was for many of her school mates.  I don't have a lot of experience with suicide except for a guy I worked with years ago.  I shared some of the thoughts and feelings I had during that time with Natty. This is not an easy thing to go through and there is definitely a grieving process that needs to take place.  I gave Natty a blessing last night and though there were some not so fun things that took place today I think she is doing okay. 

Sick Day

I had to take a sick day today.  It isn't often but today it happened.  I could not stand up or sit up this morning without major pain.  Even laying down was not the most comfortable.  I managed to make it through to getting the kids off to school but they new I was down and out.  I had just fallen back to sleep this morning when South Elementary called.  Apparently Andy was not feeling well and he came home sick.  Not sure he was actually sick or if he just knew that I was at home and sick, whatever the case he played his hand and made it home for the day.  I was way out though so I told him he needed to lay down.  I was pretty well out of it until after 1 PM.  Some of the pain had gone when I first woke up and got moving again.  I still have some stomach pain but nowhere near what we were experiencing earlier.  Rough stuff.

Fudge Machine

Yesterday we set up a machine that we purchased for making fudge. It is actually quite a cool unit. Today we made fudge, just a half batch of Vanilla. That half batch worked out to being about 3 of our handmade recipes.  The cool thing about this machine is that it handles the heating and the stirring aspects of the fudge making.  You take the batch and put it in smaller containers where you can then mix in whatever. In the three batches today we did white chocolate macadamia nut, vanilla pecan and then a sprinkle one for celebrations.  The machine is pretty cool. We will be testing. 

Trying to Finish

I've got a tree fixing to come down in the back yard I don't know how its all going to work but Russ Mitchell is a tree guy for the forest service and is going to come look at it tomorrow and then cut it down on Friday. When that happens I am going to have to haul some branches to the front so we can load them up in a dump truck on Saturday. That makes for a long day Saturday with several other things happening that day.  Anyway, I need to have a pathway cleared through the garage so as to be able to haul the branches.  That said I need to get the back splashes finished so I can get them out of the way. So tonight I sanded, cleaned and applied the second coat of epoxy. I should be able to get them out of the garage and onto the counters in the next few days. Always so much going on but it is good.

Teacher Training Round 2

We had our second Teacher Training Council today. I thought they went pretty well. We have so much to learn in this class and so many areas to improve ourselves as we strive to teach more like the Savior.  This course is quickly becoming one of my favorites as I love the participation we have had this far and the Spirit I have felt there. I am already looking forward to next month.

Shut Down

Had a fine day filled with plenty of excitement. I installed a hitch and roof racks on the folks car. That was good fun. I had a jack I was using to hold the hitch fall and hit me in the mouth. What a wonderful feeling. I got it all installed. Should be good

I had SUU football tonight. I enjoy doing the chain gang. My body is exhausted and has pretty much shut down and I need to sleep.

Best Seats

Worked on the chain crew at the Cedar High football game tonight. We always tell each other that we have the best seats. That is true. We are right there In the middle of the action. It is a fun thing to participate in. Cedar played a great game tonight against Juab and beat them.  Tomorrow it will be chain crew time at SUU.

Late Night Laundry

It is quite late. I just finished folding laundry and was about to go to bed when I realized I had not written in this here blog. I kind of got caught up in a show whilst doing laundry and just didn't get it done.  Well fabulous, at least I hadn't turned off the lights and climbed in bed. The day was good but I think I will need to clamp down on this school stuff. Actually I passed my first pre-assessment with a fairly good score. It could be that I can just take the assessment, pass and move on to the next course.  Well, much to be grateful for. Must sleep.

Jack Hammer

Jack has picked up the pogo stick recently and is all over the place jumping to his hearts content. He went through some dirt like a jack hammer today. Sorry, I am falling asleep and must needs call pass pu.  Sorry all, I can't keep my eyes open. Must sleep.

Hobart Hernia

I should have taken a picture but that didn't happen so I will just have to explain it.  When we moved into the restaurants current location 3 years ago we inherited some equipment. One of the items we got was this rather large Hobart mixer. It doesn't actually work and it was not something the repair guy had a lot of hope in fixing. We finally asked the landlord about it and he said we could get rid of it if we wanted to. Today Tyler and I tried to move it. We got it over to the door but had no hope of getting it up the stairs. Some genius that writes a daily blog had the idea that we could tip it over on the stairs and slide it out on its back. That genius should stick to writing his bad blog posts because this idea was anything but genius. It was a disaster. After a few hours, a major machine oil spill, removal of a few parts I finally borrowed a floor jack and we managed to get it standing back up and out of the door way.  I don't recall if I have ever lifted something that heavy. Oh my.

Flags and things

This morning started early as I had to be up the street to help take young men around to set up flags for the holiday. It was cool outside and the sun had not come up yet. Anyway, we had a small group this morning but we got it done.  I do like to see the flags out on the street. Our street is completely covered and I love it.

Took care of a couple really old projects that involved some painting. It was an old secretary and a chair.  Nice to be almost done.  Had go cart projects that were fun

A Stroll to the Temple

We had a little time this evening so we took a little stroll to the temple. We enjoy the temple and It is fun to see the progress. I wasn't supremely confident that the kids would make it from our house, not without a lot of complaining. We drove up to the folks house and walked from there which worked out well. There was minimal complaining. We also visited with the folks and played with Sam for a while. Good times.

Baptism, Ordinations and Backsplashes

We got up early this morning and set out on the road to Springville for the baptism of one Anna Fontano. It was a great baptism. Following the baptism Jayson and Jaykob received the priesthood and were ordained as deacons.  Pretty dang awesome. Afterwards we went and hung out at Jay and Sara's for a few hours.  We enjoyed lunch and visiting and ping pong cup basketball because we have to find something like that to do whilst visiting.  Anyhow, I always enjoy hanging out with the fam. 
Tonight I had a little spare time so I got the first coat of epoxy on the backsplashes.  I am looking forward to getting them done and installed.  I've attached a pic of the backsplashes.  They will look great when they are finished and installed. 

Friday Night Football

Had a great time tonight at the Cedar High vs Canyon View football game. The game was excellent.  I love working the sidelines and this should be a fun year.  Holy cow though, I can't stay awake.  Must call it a day.

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Back In

I'm not sure what happened to last nights post. I just got on to do today's entry and it was showing up as a draft. I went ahead and fixed that.

Today I am back in school. The summer break was wonderful and I am not quite sure how excited I am right now to be back in but it is what it is.  I guess like other first days of a semester I experienced the gut rot at the thought of the work load. It all just seems so painful.  Hoping things get easier as I become more aware of the goings on at WGU.

Anyhow, we are back in school. It is a good thing