Nap

I have not slept very well for the last few days and have had full days. Today began with meetings that went a little longer than I thought they would. The meetings were good. Dan and Jesse from US Foods were up to help us with some stuff at the Depot. They also met with Each yesterday at Brick House. Always good to have them up.  Had another meeting after that with our front of house people. That went well also.  I hope we are moving things in the right direction. 

I stopped in to check on the Brick House afterwards. They had a busy lunch and were starting to recover.  We have some good people there. 

I made it home sometime around 4:30. I was going to get moving on some projects but made the mistake of sitting down for a minute.  I was out at that point and got a bit of a nap in.  Still tired.  Time for another nap. 

Go Cart

I got a wild hair and decided to paint the go cart. Actually, I had sanded it down well over a year ago and then didn't do anything with it. So I really just got around to continuing this project. Tonight I removed the motor Now that seems a bit more involved than my original idea.  Any how, I am tired and need some sleep. Heading for bed.

One AM Haircuts

Sometimes when you are a man, you give yourself a haircut at 1 in the morning, just for fun.  I had several things I was working on this evening. At 20 or so after 11, I decided to go on a bike ride. It was a good ride. Anyway, I got home sometime after midnight and took care of A few things before heading up stairs. I was going to have a shower then saw my hair in the mirror and decided it was time.  I am pretty much asleep.  Time to call it. Goodnight.

6/26/2018

This year is passing quickly.  I am amazed that it is almost July.  Time is passing too quickly. We will see how fast the year passes once I begin my student teaching adventures.  Hopefully it will pass just as quickly and without too much trouble.  I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed and nervous for what has to happen  It will be a busy time and I hope that I can keep up. 

Cast my vote today as it was election day. Looks like a couple people I voted for were able to win.  One is too close to call  It is okay.

I treated the Nat to a movie tonight.  We saw Jurassic World.  It was pretty good.  Apparently Natty got pretty emotional through several parts of the movie.  I enjoyed the movie but it wasn't exactly a tear jerk-er.  Fun times.

Flooring Depot

The day began early and went late. It never slowed down for me. Had to get over to the Brick early to let the floor guy in.  I was also throwing away the old tile that we put in the back of my truck. I was then out running errands for the flooring guy. Home Depot was pretty much a joke and made a mess of this entire order. The only bright spot from their end was the installer that came and did the work. He was good in a  bad situation. Anyway,  the floor is done and it looks a lot better. It was a good time. I am passing out and need to get to bed.

Grass

Last week I planted some grass seed in the front yard. I wasn't sure how it would do and I'm still not certain what will happen with it.  It is supposed to make some magic happen in two weeks. I was not seeing any magic. Yesterday I finally started seeing a few little green shoots. Today that number has increased a great deal.  I am pretty excited to see that happening.

Our garden is also making some progress. Radishes are doing quite well and I have eaten several right out of the dirt. Delicious. We have zucchini and summed squash both doing well.  Finally, there are a couple of pumpkin plants getting bigger every day. I don't know if we will see anything come from any of those but maybe we will.  These are low maintenance plants so know that my effort has been minimal. I have never had a vegetable garden of my own before. It is pretty fun stuff.

Congratulations!

Just before 10 PM this evening, I received congratulatory notice that I had passed my second task for children's literature and successfully completed the course.  As of right now I am 87% done with my degree.  I have 119 out of 137 credits completed and will finish the final 18 during my student teaching, or direct teaching, in the fall.  It has been a full three years. It feels really good right now.  I am looking forward to finishing and graduating with my bachelors in special education / elementary education.  It is hard to believe that I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel and that end should be sometime in the middle of December.  Sweet!  I now have the month of July to relax a skosh before the school year begins in August.  I need to find something fun to do. Perhaps some hiking is in order.  Well, congratulations to me I guess.

Crash

I spent the day working through my last task for my current load.  I say my last task for current load because though it is my last class I still have tasks that I will need to complete during student teaching. What a pain in the shorts that will be. I just need to knock it out.  It will be heavy and a bit overwhelming but I will get through it. I hope this final task makes the grade on the first round. I will feel wonderful when it is over.

I was on a walk on Tuesday evening and all was good on my path. Tonight I was riding my bike and ended up on the same walkway I was on the other night. It is over at the high school. I was cruising right along, fast, when all of the sudden the sidewalk was gone. I tried to stop quickly but it was rough and I went down.  It was graceful..  No major damage but I did break my phone holding contraption. Good times. I guess I better sleep it off.

June 21, 2018

It is the 21st of June. Not much to report on.  I went over and helped Dan with some sprinkler repair stuff.  It was a good time. Had some restaurant stuff to take care of and then had a teaching seminar to attend for my teacher work sample.  This was an overwhelming meeting for me.  It was like the first day of a semester when the professor outlines the course, it always feels pretty heavy to me.  I am not looking forward to it but it must be done and I am going to have to keep moving.  Gotta get it done. 

Nat Home

Ran down to Vegas today to pick Natty up from the airport.  Strange to have the Nat home and not the boys.  Great to have Natty home. Still missing those boys. 

The drive went well.  I was planning to refuel in Mesquite on the drive home.  I started talking to Natty about the trip to Reno and seeing Mike and Liana and Meta.  I was telling about the Miracle that she is and their experience.  I looked up and saw the second exit to Mesquite as I was driving right by it and then I looked down and saw that my fuel light was on and I hadn't even notices it.  I thought about making an illegal U-turn and heading back into Mesquite but it was difficult to see areas where that could happen and all were marked with a no u-turn sign.  Nat pulled up that there were a couple of gas stations in Littlefield so I felt good that we would be able to get gas there.  Not the case.  Both locations we followed GPS to had no gas stations.  We were on empty and headed back to Mesquite.  Natty was nervous and didn't think we were going to make it.  I had no worries.  We got there with plenty of fuel to spare. 

Good to be home.  Time for some sleep. 

Ruined

I am working on a task right now that involves examination of children's books.  The task requires me to look at a pre-21st century book that is considered controversial as well as two other non-controversial books, one from the 21st century and one from any point in time.  I found that The Giving Tree is considered controversial.  How sad is that?  The book is all about a boy who loves a tree and a tree who loves a boy and gives all that is has to the boy throughout his life. The tree gives and receives little or nothing in return and it gives repeatedly.  I love the story as it demonstrates much of what I experience as both a child to my parents who so willingly gave to me, and also as a parent and my desire to provide for and love my children.  Why would this be controversial?  Well, good question. There is a professor out there who has her classes read this book at the beginning of each semester and then engages them in exploring the book once again while considering gender inequality.  It is said that the tree represents girls and women while the boy represents boys and men. When you read it in that light it kind of changes things and suddenly you see women as being oppressed and taken advantage of by men in pursuit of their own desires with no thought of what their actions do to the woman.  That is kind of a sad interpretation of the story.  I wonder if that thought ever entered the mind of Shel Silverstein when he wrote the story?  Perhaps it did, I don't know.  I do know that I like the idea of reading the book with the mindset of serving and loving others. Certainly we can all give of ourselves to help those around us regardless of what our gender is.  We can give of ourselves and give again.  The law of reciprocation says that when someone does something nice for us, we want to do something nice for them in return.  That doesn't fully fit the narrative in this book but maybe it is something that could be focused on instead of gender inequality.  I don't know, I understand the message of the lesson and the challenge of the task I am working on, however, I don't know that I want to focus on something that never even popped into my mind before as it relates to the aforementioned book.  That thought kind of ruins it for me. 

Submitted

Well, it is quite nearly 2 AM.  I have just submitted my first task for my children's lit task.  It made for a late night. I hope it goes through and we can wrap up this class up.  Well, I have one additional task to do and I am going to get started on it tomorrow.  I want to be done and so I have to do.  Looking forward to being through with this. 

Father's Day 2018

I would say the highlight of the day for me was being able to see my kiddos via FaceTime.  They have been gone for almost a month and I am missing them. They all look pretty good and seem to be doing well.  They showed me outside of their house. It is very green and marshy looking. Very flat.  They say it has been raining for the last few days. Anyway, wonderful to see them. 

Other highlights of the day would be dinner at the folks and spending time with the fam.  Always a good time.  Pops made ribs for dinner. We had them a couple weeks ago and they were amazing.  Not quite as amazing today but still very good. There was a kickin spice pops used last time that was fantastic.  It was a good meal and a good time.

For the ward we did the father's day pies. The young women were helping. I taught them how to make pies yesterday and today They served those pies. Sounds like everyone enjoyed themselves and were well fed. The young women did a marvelous job.  I snuck a half of lemon cream over to Men and Georgia.  Georgia missed mothers day pie and KB missed it today so I wanted to get over there.  Sat and visited for a good hour. Sure do love Men and Georgia.  KB said he wants to find out where they will have the Union Pacific Big Boy on display so we can go see it.  He remembers that night he took us out to see it fondly.  It was a great adventure. 

I am grateful to be a father and grateful for my own father.  I am grateful for others who are good fathers to their families and grateful for those who serve and love others as they seek to serve and to follow our Heavenly Father. 

Just Good

As I reflect on the day there were a number of things I liked about it. First was having the young women, their leaders, and Amy over to make pies for father's day.  That army of pie makers makes things so much easier.  I also think it makes it more meaningful for the youth as well as those partaking of said pie. We are set for tomorrow.

Had a great visit to the temple this evening.  Sometimes while I go i see people differently, I see them about the Lord.   This is a cool experience and helps me to feel a love for those that work in the temple.

Oh my, I must sleep.

6/15/18

Not much to report. It was a day. I had to get some house cleaning done in preparation for the young women coming over to make I picked up a tire balancer for Dan as a thank you for helping with tires and for giving them to me. We gave it a whirl. It worked pretty well. Pretty handy to be able to mount and balance tires on your own.  Well, have a lot to do in the morning.

Tires

Worked on my task this morning and made some progress.  Not quite done with it yet.  I had to run to the store for the Brick House and then spent a bit of time there.  It was nice to have a little break from the work.  Made a run by the folks, they were not home but Dan and Amy had stopped by.  Dan and I have been going to change the tires out on the little pick up truck for a while and decided we would do it today.  I think both of us should have probably been doing homework but changing tires is much more fun.  He had some studded tires that came with a ranger he picked up a few months back.  They were the exact size I needed for the Mazda PU and he gave them to me.  Granted they are studded but they were free and they have a ton of life still on them and the tires I had on the truck were dead.  I was surprised that one of the tires was actually holding air.  It was in really rough shape.  Anyhow, it was a good time taking tires off of a rim and putting new ones on. I had never done that before. Once you get the hang of it you can get them done pretty quick.  We do need to balance them and I might just go and get Dan a tire balance get up over at Harbor Freight.  It will allow us to balance the tires and also gives him a sweet tool for his collection and says thank you for your help.  Since he has the other tool for doing tires I thought this might be just the right addition.  Anyway, good time.  Truck is in much better shape with these new-er tires. 

Gotta Go

I am pressing forward with my children's lit class. Made some progress today on the first task.  Not so bad.  Now I need to write a lesson plan for it.  Hopefully I can get that knocked out tomorrow.  It will be a great relief to get through this final class.  I would like to have both tasks completed by next Wednesday.  We will see if I can get it done. 

Had no word from either Cedar High School or WGU today on their conversation  I don't know if I can get that internship or not.  Would be great if it can work out but if not, I am already gearing up to do my student teaching in the fall. 

Hoping and praying for the kids to be well.  Nat comes home next Wednesday and then the boys a month later.  It will be great to have them home again.  It is rather quiet here without them. 

Chance

I spoke to my placement coordinator today in regards to the possible internship at Cedar High School.  He told me how things would work if I were to become a teacher of record.  My student teaching would be pushed to the Spring semester. I would have to take a 6 week unpaid leave during the spring to go and do my elementary ed student teaching.  It is very much a possibility.  He was going to contact the principal to discuss the situation.  I don't know if this will go through or not but there is a chance that I could actually be a teacher of record beginning in the fall.  That is pretty crazy stuff.  We will see how it progresses.  In the meantime I continued working on my children's lit class and read several children's books today.  I think I have a pretty good idea of what I am going to do for the first task and made some progress on it.  I want to get that knocked out in the next day or so and then move on the the second task.  I have the books ready for that one and read those today as well.  It will be an interesting lesson about kindness.  I like it.

Went over tonight to give a blessing to the folks.  Dan came also.  It was a good visit. Pops is not in real good shape right now. He had a few doctors visits today and a few tests. He goes for more testing in the next day or so.  Hopefully we can get this figured out quickly and get him back to feeling better. Lots of pain in his back and that is a bit discouraging. It was good to give blessings.

Progress

I got myself to the library again today with a determination to gather the books I needed for the tasks that I have to accomplish for my childrens literature class.  I managed to find what I needed, not everything on my list but what I needed.  That should set me up to begin working through the tasks.  I really just want to be done but wanting to be done doesn't automatically make it so.  I still have to put forth the effort.  That has to happen.  Hopefully I can make sense of what they are asking me to do and can get it done with out too much trouble. 

I had a conversation today with John Dodds.  He is the Principal at Cedar High School where I will begin student teaching in August.  He wants me to come on for the full year in an internship.  I am totally on board with that but I actually have to student teach in the elementary school as well.  He is going to talk to WGU about the possibility of arranging things differently.  I don't know if that will work out or not but we will see.  I definitely want to get through what I need to in order to earn my degree.  That is of most importance to me.  I would love to do the internship if it can be worked out for me to also meet all of the requirements for my degree. 

We will see where we get from here.  It is an interesting time for sure. 

Released

After just over three years I was released as the 8th ward Sunday school president.  It has been a wonderful calling and I have loved the opportunity to serve. The changes to gospel teaching and teaching in the Saviors Way made this calling truly joyful.  It was fun to launch this new program, to grow from participating in it, and to see others grow.  I will miss that. 

I had three great counselors and a wonderful Secretary during my time. Jake Whetman, Gary Scholes, and Blake Clark served as counselors and William Bagnall as Secretary. I truly loved serving with these good brethren.

Not Enough Heat

I was up and starting breakfast before 6 AM. I had everything rolling and coming together.  There was only one problem; I could not get enough heat out of the camp chef and also out of the sternos I had with the chaffing dishes.  It was painful.  The good part is that I had cooked everything on Thursday night.  All I had to do was reheat items.  I thought it was going to go much faster and that I would generate the heat that I needed to accomplish my plan.  That was a bit frustrating.  I think the good part was the flavor of the sausage and eggs was pretty tasty.  Things were a little warm, just couldn't get it all warm and prepared quickly enough.  I learned some things today and the next time I do breakfast buritto's I will be better equipped. 

Father and Sons

I am on my way to the father and sons campout.  I will not have coverage to write my post tonight so I thought I would tap out a quick note. My sons are not with me for this camp out this year.  Normally this is scheduled in May but there were no available weekends in May so it was pushed to this weekend.  It is fine though I would rather have the boys with me.  I am doing the breakfast in the morning.  Everything is prepped.  I believe I have everything plus other stuff in the truck, ready to go.  I will review my checklist before departure. I suppose I will be in the middle of it tomorrow and find that I forgot to put something on the checklist.  I think I am pretty well prepared for it and it should be an easy breakfast.  We will hope for that anyway. Grateful always to go and participate in this camp out to commemorate the restoration of the priesthood. 

Cooking

Spent a few hours this evening getting food prepped for the father and sons breakfast. Sausage and eggs ready to go.  I made my store run this evening and picked up everything I need food wise. It is going to be a full day tomorrow and then an early start on Saturday. 

In other news, Dave and Dani had their baby boy Walter today. He is a tiny guy at 5 pounds 3 ounces. 18 inches tall.  He looks like his older brothers.  Wonderful day.

Back At It

Got up this morning and ran into the Brick House where we ran through the menu with the cooks and members of the wait staff.  We wanted to help people get familiar with what the sandwiches are and how they should look.  We also wanted to get the cooks familiar with proper cooking procedures and how we want certain things to be done and to look.  Things didn't go exactly how I envisioned and I don't know that those that the message was intended for were in attendance or were paying attention.  We will move on to individual instruction. Hopefully something about the meeting was beneficial to those that came and they are more familiar with the sandwiches.

I ended up spending the day at the Brick.  I did get a little bit of home time and mowed the lawn.  Later I was able to join Amy and Dan for dinner this evening.  A little shoyu chicken.  Delicious. 

Trying to get ready for fathers and sons campout this weekend.  I am in charge of breakfast.  Going to do breakfast burritos.  Working on scrambled eggs in a bag and a few other things.  Hopefully I can get it all together quickly. 

Not much else for tonight. Just back in the saddle, trying to keep up with it all. 

The Drive

It was time to return home to Cedar today.  I have to say, that drive really wasn't too bad. I realize Highway 50 is supposed to be the loneliest highway, didn't find it that bad.  The GPS said we were looking at an 8 hour 17 minute trip. We took about 9 hours. There was construction that heald us up multiple times between Fallon and Austin. That was a bit of a pain. Oh my goodness I am tired. Had to stop so pops could go to the bathroom., had to stop for dinner.  We made pretty good time all things considered. I need to pass out about now.

Carson

Carson City's Nevada may very well be the place I consider as my home town. I was not born in Carson, nor have I lived a majority of my life there.  It was the place we lived when I started school and it is the place we lived when I graduated high school. It is just one of those places in my life that has had an important impact on me.  Today we drove in to Carson.  It was fantastic! Had to eat at a couple of places. China East and Basil. Not hungry at all right now. It was good.  Mom and Laude had planned that menu for some time.  Laura and fam, Jim and Clo,  Mike and Liana were at China East for lunch with us.  Jim and Clo headed home to Vegas, Laura and Miguel took their kids up to a children's museum in Reno, the rest of us went up to Tahoe.  Tahoe is a beautiful lake.  I love how clear the water is there.  We went to Sand Harbor and walked around the board walk.  Wonderful.  Also headed in to Incline Village and found Aunt Junes cabin. Love it up there.  We came back down and went to Basil,  Thai place in Carson. It was a good time.  Wow, can't keep my eyes open.  Time for bed.

Beautiful Meta

Today was a very special day. I am so glad that I was here to participate I'm the baby blessing of Meta, the miracle baby.  Mike blessed his beautiful little-known girl. It was sweet, it was powerful, it was tender.  I walked from that circle when the blessing was over with tears in my eyes.  It makes me very happy to watch Mike and Liana with their little one. I see their joy and their gratitude to the Lord and I am filled with gratitude.

In the fast and testimony meeting both Mike and Liana shared their testimonies and it was very powerful. Mike talked about how they were called to be temple workers and in being set apart were told that their dreams would come true.  After 9 years of marriage and trying and wanting to have children and then believing that they would not have children of their own, the promise was fulfilled and their dream of having a baby came true.  Mike spoke about Liana's faith and how powerful that has been. It was quite moving. 

Liana also shared her testimony and talked about how hard it was to want children but to be barren. She talked about seeing a picture in her head of a barren wasteland she would see when she thought of having children, not because she didn't want them but because she couldn't. One day that wasteland vision changed to flowing water and she knew she would be having a baby. 

When I say miracle baby I mean miracle baby.  This is a special little girl and a tremendous gift to Mike and Liana and our entire family.  Feel quite blessed today.

Family Time

Had a fine day here in the Reno area.  Prior to going to a nice family gathering at the Olive garden we made a run over to Scheels. That was a pretty impressive store. I had never been their before. I had been to a Cabellas or Bass Pro Shop before but never Scheels. We didn't get to explore everything as our time was short. We had a good time over at the Olive Garden. After that we ran over to Mike's ward building where we played a variety of games. Had some fun playing 4 square and dodge ball.  Had fun with a couple other games, one I can't remember and then a game Chameleon.  Fun times.  Always good to hang out with the fam and enjoy a little-known time with them.

Reno

Today we made the drive from Cedar to Reno.  We went out to Panaca, up to Ely, West on Highway 50 until we got on to the 80 in Feebly and then into Reno.  I had never driven that route before. It was pretty cool and a bit mire scenic than the drive from Vegas up the 95. Sometimes you just need to spend 8 or 9 hours behind the wheel. We are here for Meta's baby blessing.

Jay put up some pics and videos of taking his kids up to Chimney beach today.  It has been a lot of years since I have been there.  The water level is way up.  That is good.  Jay said the jump wasn't quite as exciting as it was in the passed. Love that place.  Maybe one day I will get back there. 

Quick Visit

Made a run up to the temple tonight. I enjoy being there and participating in the work. I need to try and make that more of a regular thing all the time.  I get there weekly when the kids are in Alaska or away from home.  That is a little more difficult to do when I am juggling life and responsibilities with the kids. There is a season when I will be more available.  I thought about that tonight as I walked upstairs. Taking an assignment as a temple worker would be something I would love to do but right now I am unable to because I am a single parent with young children.  And so there will be a season for that. Until such a season I will do my best to be there serving in the ways that I can. Sometimes that will be a quick visit.