What the Heck?!

OK, I have been working hard the last few months to control my cholesterol, with great results, and I have been exercising a lot harder, such as running 6.5 miles with Jayton, and biking, and the Spinning class over at the Rec. Center (man, they need some better seats!!!) and a wee bit of weight lifting (I about killed myself with walking lunges). I guess I am burning more calories and trying to eat the right stuff, but the problem now is I AM ALWAYS HUNGRY! What the heck? I get home from work, want a snack, then we eat dinner and an hour or two later I want to eat again. Ken Donnelly tells me if I were to just eat some junkfood I wouldn't be hungry anymore, which may be true. My biggest problem is being in the habit of a bowl of cereal around 8 o'clock. I keep telling myself that instead of eating I should do something else, like do some artwork. My "room" is now downstairs because Chantel has taken over my art room. I have a small desk, my guitars, but really not a whole lot of room. Plus, there is nowhere to put my supplies. So, I guess what this comes down to is that it is Chantel's fault that I am hungry all the time. Oooh, she'll pay for this!

Memory Game

Jason Russell is doing this on his blog and so I thought I would do it as well. And if you have visited here before, you know how much I love memories!

Here's what you do

1. As a comment on my blog, write a memory that we have had together and it doesn't matter if you've known me a little or a lot.

2. Post these instructions on your blog to see what kind of comments you get. If you have left a comment I will assume you are playing and I will visit your site.

I thought I would throw this 1988 picture of me and Teresa up. We were freshly engaged. Man she's hot! And yes, my hair was parted in the middle!

Summertime Blues

I find it funny how different songs will elicit different memories. Like how No Quarter from the Song Remains the Same will ever be tied to dancing with Amy Dixon, who was a good foot taller than me, at Sandy's backyard party. My neck hurt so bad by the time we were done (it is a good 14 plus minute song) but man it was worth it! Any Air Supply song and I am right back at Stake Dances in California.

Well, in my iTunes library I have a number of Allman Brothers songs and any time 

they come up I am back in the summer of the 70's. I miss those days! I have two older brothers and one younger brother. We would get up whenever, watch Alice and Laverne & Shirley reruns, hang out with the dudes on the street, go over to the school across the street and play baseball, go swimming at the high school, hit the beach, and hang out in the evenings. Total freedom. We would beg people for their bottles then take them over to Safeway and get the deposit money and buy some junk. Plus, every year we would make the trek from the Bay Area in CA to visit my grandparents in Utah, who lived up in the hills above the Provo Temple. Those were always exciting trips. We would load up on all kinds of junk food for the trip and would buy a ton of Mad Magazines and Mad books. This was also back in the day when no one was really wearing seat belts. I recall a great deal of the trip would be spent up in the back window of the car as we seemed to be traveling for days through Nevada! We would sit on my dad's lap and he would "let" us steer the car. One year we dropped down south instead of just getting onto I-80. We stopped at Calico Ghost Town. We bought

 corncob pipes and my grandma wouldn't even talk to us about them! It was my ONLY time ever traveling through Las Vegas. This is back before it's major transformation; it was still where Sammy Davis Jr., Sinatra & Dean Martin were kicking butt.   

Anyway, the music has me waxing nostalgic. I even rode my bike up around Oak Hills just to get the smell of the bushes and trees that are up there. I just hope my own children will have

 these kind of memories to look back on and not just that gas is so freaking expensive.

Girl's Camp

One of the best parts of being the Bishop is we get to visit the Young Women at Girl's Camp at Mia Shalom, up in Fairview Canyon past Electric Lake. The setting is beautiful and there was even snow at the top of the ridge!

This year not only did my two counselors, Ken Roberts and Rob Clegg, go up but our Ward Clerk, Thomas Grover, and Exec Secretary, Brad Frandsen, went as well. I thought it would be good for them since Thomas' wife is our Young Women's President and Brad's wife is the

 Laurel's Advisor and both were already up there. It is our opportunity to bring dinner up for the girls so for the last couple years we have bought some pulled pork from the Smokehouse.

 Rob grabbed some rolls, watermelon and potato salad and Ken bought a bunch of Little Debbie's snacks. We met out front here, loaded up Brad's vehicle and took off. 

It was fun having the 5 of us cracking up as we discussed all types of topics in the car. While driving up the canyon we were impressed at Rob's deer spotting abilities and Thomas' know-it-all botany skills. My skills weren't needed (I can suggest and see the best places to go surfing). 

It's always fun to pull in and see the girls and their leaders all sunburned and dirty and so happy to see us.

 I was 

excited to see 3 of my daughters and to know they were fine and having a good time. The Grover's were so cute with their reunion of love. 

Rob's wife, Laurie, is our Stake YW President, so he was happy to see her and his two daughters, too.

We got dinner all set up and started eating. Holy crap there are a ton of mosquitos up there!

 We were grabbing the closest bug spray and would go to town! The food was delicious and it was fun hanging out talking. And how can you go wrong with Little Debbie Nutty Bars? Of course we peeled them apart to eat them.

We met with the whole stake and watched some fun skits. President Wolfert gave a great little talk and then we went back to camp and had a fire and testimonies. I was the smoke magnet! Oh well. It was a great meeting. I think one of the best parts of the whole experience is right after the meeting; we all seem to hang onto each other and no one wants to say goodbye. The feelings of love are strong. 

We packed it up, gave hugs and were off. We talked about all kinds of car accidents and freaky road experiences on the way home. 

Anyway, I love that opportunity of going up there and the feelings of being around the girls and the spirit that they are experiencing. 

We took our girls to China Isle for a big Chinese dinner after they got home and showered.

20 Years of Full-on Rockin' Bliss!

Today is mine and Teresa's 20th Anniversary! Holy Cow! It's so weird that it seems like yesterday, yet so much has taken place. We have moved from California to Utah, back to California, then back to Utah. The birth of 4 daughters, school, work, more school and work. Teresa has gone from sewing to making fabric dolls for boutiques (and me having to haul around her big giant backdrop fence things to Pleasant Grove and other places) to stamps to scrapbooking. We finally got into a house 7 years ago. My psycho-ness. All kinds of fun, stupid, boring, mundane, loving, hilarious, scary, tender, and every other type of experience has taken place through the years. I am still madly in love with my wife and say often to anyone who will listen that I still can't believe she said yes to my wedding proposal (what was she thinking?). I still feel like a teenager full of excitement when I hold her hand. She has the most luscious, kissable lips this side of Texas, and I love just hanging out with her. She's a freakin' babe! She taught and showed me that pork chops can be juicy, tender, and full of flavor! Our daughters are wonderful and beautiful because of her. I hope my daughters will realize that they have an amazing mom. If there is anything happening, Teresa is taking pictures of it. Anyways, I am excited for the next 20 years!!!

Independence Day

Well, I woke up at my usual time on account that I always wake up at 5:00, laid around for a while, then finally got out of bed at 5:15. I went upstairs and had a big bowl of Fiber One (Man, they should be supplying me for free for all the advertising!) then got dressed and ready to run. I had my iPod all ready with a 10K playlist. I stretched and hung out waiting for Jayton to pick me up, which he did at 6:20. We both grumbled that we are paying money to feel pain! We parked, got over to Kiawanis Park, then tied our Race Chip to our shoes. I had to go to the bathroom one last time so I headed over to the port-a-potties and waited in line!I made it back to the start of the race with a couple minutes to spare, but got right next to Jayton, which is miraculous with the thousands of people there. I never did find my brother, Carl, though. They shot off some kind of booming firework and we were off! To walk. It took a while to get the crowd moving, but your official time didn't start until your foot chip crossed the starting line. 

Jayton went ahead of me as we rounded our way onto 9oo East. I could see him the whole time and he was never more than a couple hundred feet ahead of me. We took a left by the Harmon Bldg and headed downhill. We took a left at the Chevron Station and headed south. Volunteers were handing out water, but it was too soon for that. We wove our way onto University A

venue right by Zions Bank (across from Provo High) and down the parade route! It was funny seeing everyone yelling for us. I saw the little KNRS tent and Bob Lonsberry broadcasting. I yelled "Hey Bob!" He waved. We ran passed a house that was cooking bacon. I wanted to stop. I tried to grab a water from the volunteers. You know, you can't, well I can't, run and drink out of a cup. I had more go up my nose than in my mouth! We made a left turn on 100 South then another left back to Center Street. We ran all the up by 7 Peaks then made a quick U-turn and

 came back down. At the turn, I didn't want Jayton to see me, which he didn't. A right turn back onto 900 East and back uphill! It was brutal. We turned back into Kiawanis Park and to the finish line. I managed to sprint it to the finish. I didn't realize that my wife and daughter were there with Jayton's wife, Beth. She took photos of me running. Wow, look at that muscle definition in my leg! 

So, I ended up with a 46:52 for the 10K. Jayton was at 46:23. Here are some pictures of us nice and squishy looking.

After getting home, our family ran over to Macey's for the French Toast breakfast. Yummy.

We came home, I dug up a sprinkler, and then we headed on out to my brothers for lunch. It's always fun going over there. Ivette always makes such awesome food! We laugh and mock each other and watched some of the Giants vs Dodgers game. We had to leave to get Chelsea to work at 4. Later we went to the Wakefield's, played games and had some delicious salsa from Rob Clegg, then we went to the back of a parking lot on State Street to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. The Clegg's, Wakefield's and Grover's all went. And Chantel's 

friend, Skyler, came, too. Beth brought cake, and I'm not turning that down... ever!

We watched the show then got ready to leave. Thomas Grover yelled at Skyler in German a few times, which really warms my heart. Ah, German, the language of love.

We got home and had to light off our fireworks. Oye, are they not all the same orange sparks with the white, crackling sparkles!?!

So, there you have it. It was a fun and tiring day. My legs don't really hurt today, in fact I got up and went for a bike ride this morning. 

I guess I will need to train so I can beat Jayton in a race. I wonder if he'd be as ticked as my brother?