Oh Boy

So Jack is supposed to give a talk in church tomorrow.  We wrote the talk and I thought it was coming along quite nicely.  When it came time to practice the talk Jack kind of freaked out a bit and refused to do it.  He is being a bit stubborn on this talk thing and I don't have any idea how things will go tomorrow.  Well, in 5 hours from now anyway. We will hope for his absolute best.  My gosh, it is so late that I cannot function very well. My brain is toast and I've got to crash out.   

Daddy Daughter Suprise Movie Date

A few weeks ago my buddy Kaden told me he was putting together a group to go and see Captain America Civil War tonight. I committed to joining in and also committed to two tickets, one for myself and one for a date.  The dating thing wasn't working out all that well, I asked two women and they were both going to be out of town this weekend.  There was another that I would have liked to ask but she would have had to travel from St. George and that seemed like a lot to ask for a simple movie date.  So a few days ago I decided I would take Natty.  She is a big fan of the Marvel movies and the last time we did one of these she came with me so we should carry on the tradition.  I talked to the boys about it a couple of days ago and they were on board so when I got home from work this evening I told Natty the plan and she was pretty excited.  It was a good call and something that she needed.  We had a good time. 

The movie, it is intense.  Natty described it as a roller coaster of emotions and she wasn't really sure at the end of it all where she was at on the emotional scale.  We stayed for all of the credits and yes, there is a scene at the very end of the credits that is quite funny.  I will say this, I was a little tired in the beginning and things were moving just a tad slow.  When the action really started to kick in I forgot about being tired.  Had a great time and would recommend this movie.  I might have to see it again...

Sliver

Got a call this evening while I was at the Brick House, it was the mother of one of Andy's friends who reported that Andy had gotten a sliver in his finger and wouldn't let them get it out.  He requested that I come over.  I came. It was a pretty good chunk of wood in his finger that came off a power pole.  I was there to conduct some business and Andy was being all kinds of dramatic so I let him be his dramatic self for a bit and then when he was able to settle down some I spoke to him about why we needed to get it out.  He let me do it and it was a bit of a bugger.  That thing was in there pretty good and it kept breaking apart instead of pulling out. Andy would wince and cry a bit every now and again and then suddenly I got it and it came out.  Amazingly the pain disappeared and Andy was much better.  There was another little sliver that needed attention and then he thought there was more in the finger from the bigger sliver.  For that one we came home and did a little work here.  He was scared and wanted to hold my hand.  I had to break it to him that I needed to use my hands.  He then asked if Jack would come and hold his hand.  I called Jack down from his room and he was willing to hold Andy's hand through out the ordeal.  It was pretty awesome to see this brotherly love.  We got it taken care of. 

The Swiss Report

So Jack has a major report due on Friday about Switzerland.  Here it is 1:24 in the AM and I just finished helping to put his special brochure together for him.  He had done a lot of research and wanted to have his info typed out for his brochure so I helped with that part of it.  I also found a few pictures to help spice it up a bit.  We have a little game plan for his report that will include borrowing a few things from the folks house so we can have some nice visuals.  We're also going to make some fudge to give out to visitors to represent Swiss chocolate.  Since we have some Swiss in us and since we are making the fudge we will call it Swiss chocolate.  Anyway, we will have fudge and Swiss cheese samples and we will also teach the visiting students a song.  It should go well.  Jack is very excited about things.  Well, that is pretty much all right now.  I am completely exhausted and need to crash out. 

Temple Walk

This morning I got a call from Natalie who left her flute and music book at home and needed me to bring it to school.  I took the opportunity to go on a bit of a walk.  I wasn't sure at first where I would go but I turned on conference and listened to the Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon sessions.  President Monson started the morning session by announcing 4 new temples. I decided I would walk up to the Cedar City Temple and check out the progress being made.  It was a good stroll.  Not sure what the distance of my route was exactly, it wasn't a short walk that is for sure.  Anyways, the temple is looking great.  It is exciting to see the progress being made. It looks like they are assembling the tower portion on the ground and are preparing to hoist it into place.  That will be awesome.  I am grateful to be in Cedar City at this time when we have the opportunity to see the temple being built unto the Lord.  Makes my heart happy.  Perhaps I will have to make this walk a few more times over the next year or so as things continue to progress there. 

Whilst trying to post this I suddenly lost the internet in my home.  Not sure what is going on.  I don’t know if TDS decided to do maintenance on the lines starting at midnight or what.  I can say that this has happened before and if it is TDS doing something then I am a bit disturbed by it.  I was trying to publish the document and then it quit.  That is a bit frustrating.  Now we can’t get it to come back up.  A royal pain. I was just wrapping this up and suddenly I have internet again.  Wonderful.  If you ever lose the internet just start typing meaningless stuff and before you know it the internet will be back on.  Amazing. 

Six to Seven

After a brutal week last week with work and finals I decided that I needed to take a few hours today and just go hiking.  I went and hit the C-Trail around 11 AM and somewhere around a mile or so from the top I found myself on a very muddy and slippery trail in a rainstorm.  I decided at that point that it was time to turn back.  It had been just shy of two hours from when I had left the car.  That is pretty much all up hill which is not my favorite hike but it was good exercise and it was a beautiful day to be on that trail.  It had sprinkled a couple of times on my way up and that kept the temperature nice.  At my turn around point the rain was more than just a sprinkle and at that elevation the trail was already wet and muddy.  The mud was building up on the bottom of my shoes and my footing was much less stable than earlier on the hike.  I managed to only go down once and that was only to a three point stance.  I was happy not to have had to roll around in the mud.  The return trip was roughly an hour and there were several stretches where I ran a little or jogged it.  It wasn't by any means a sprint or anything like that.  There were moments that required a lot of caution because of the rain and the condition of the trail but otherwise it went well.  I mean, my body felt the impact of the running and the downhill run working the legs.  I am sure I will be feeling more of that impact tomorrow.  It was a great time though and I was happy to be out and on the trail.  That feels good.  I figure the entire trip was somewhere in the high 6, low 7 mile range.  I want to try and be consistent with hikes this summer and use them as a great workout regimen.  Anyway, it is wonderful to be out enjoying nature. 

First Time

Today Jack passed the sacrament for the first time.  There were some silent prayers offered on his behalf.  He did a great job.  I kept looking over to see how he was doing in the beginning of the meeting and he was sitting reverently.  When there were hymns to be sung he had the hymn book and sang.  During the prayers he bowed his head and folded his arms.  When it came time to pass he went to his assignment and did a great job.  He was reverent and carried himself well.  My heart was filled with joy to see my son passing the sacrament.  After church he had another first as the deacons quorum went out to collect fast offerings.  Michael Nelson took Jack and together they went out.  I was truly grateful for that.  They walked from the church and did their assignment.  I am so grateful for a quorum of young men that work together and help each other to grow.  Jack is certainly growing.  This is a wonderful thing for Jack.  In addition to all of this I learned tonight that Jack will be speaking in church next week.  He has a 5 minute talk on influential mothers/grandmothers.  We will have to get started on that soon so he can be ready.

For dinner today I decided we would do a grilled cheese sandwich fest.  I picked up a variety of cheeses, some bacon, some avocado, some ham.  I had grand ideas that this would be something that everyone would enjoy and the creative juices would just flow and amazing concoctions would come together for the perfect grilled cheese sandwich.  Jack had cheddar cheese only and Andy had cheddar and colby jack.  Nothing too fancy just the basics.  Natty got a little crazier with Muenster and Gouda, some bacon and some avocado.  I had a very similar sandwich to that of Natty.  With that it was over.  My two boys who love bacon hardly touched it.  Andy might have had two bites of his sandwich and he was done.  Well, grilled cheese fest was not a raging success.  It was simple, which is what I want to do on Sunday, so that was good.  Natty is excited for the sandwiches she will be able to make with the left overs.  Well, we gave it a shot.  Maybe as they grow up a bit and get a little more excited about things like grilled cheese sandwiches we will have better luck.