April Struggles

You know, April may be the toughest month of the year for me and here's why:
Growing up in Northern California, by the time April comes around we have already been hanging out at the beach, playing baseball and enjoying the green grass & flowers (well, Lance and I would go surfing year round, but still...). Here in Utah, April still means snow, cold, an occasional teasingly nice days. You just know that the real nice weather is still a ways away. And what usually happens is that one day you wake up and it's 95 degrees!
Take the storm last night, geeze, it was like a blizzard! Howling winds and blowing snow. Blimey! I could go for a nice 80 degree sunny day. I would even be happy to mow the lawn.
But, the redeeming beauty of April is baseball season has begun and the Giants are 2-0! Holy Dooley! I am so happy because it seems that basketball season never ends.
Still loving my job.
Anyone for a Tiger's Blood Snowcone?

New York

For work I was able to go to a conference in New York with Doug and Reed! We stayed at the Marriott Marquis at Time Square. We left on Sunday around 1 and arrived in Newark, NJ around 9:30. Wow, it's a different type of cold out there. We caught a cab and got to our hotel around 10:30. We hopped over to McDonald's to grab a quick bite. Man, Time Square is pretty amazing. Total sensory overload! Monday morning we went to start our conference, but whoever booked us didn't book us for Monday! So, we went for a big walkabout. Pretty fun. We took the subway to Battery Park then headed out to the Statue of Liberty. That was pretty cool. We didn't go up to the top (I think you have to book it a couple months in advance). But we did walk up inside the base. It is very cool to look all the way up the statue from the inside. We walked around outside, then got on the boat and stopped by Ellis Island.
After getting back on land we walked to Ground Zero, then around the Financial District. I took some pictures of Trinity Church- you know, National Treasure. I was already to start bashing through some walls, but decided that would be bad.
Our conference was very informative. After Tuesday's session, we changed clothes and headed out in the super cold rain to Katz's Deli. We took the subway to that, too. It's where the famous scene from When Harry Met Sally was filmed. I had the pastrami sandwich. Oh baby it was good!! It's just fun walking around the city.
Wednesday afternoon we walked up Broadway, stopped and got a picture of Rupert from the Hello Deli (You know, from David Letterman). That place is a dive! Saw Letterman's studio. We went to the Manhattan Temple and walked around inside. Amazing. And right across the street from the Juliard Music School. We walked through Central Park and then swung by Rockefeller Center. Pretty cool.
Doug and I ate at Bubba Gump's. Delicious! We also ate at Junior's. Holy cow, best French Toast I have ever eaten in my life! Even better than the French Toast in Switzerland. I stopped by the Junior's Bakery every night for a cookie. I had a black & white, just because of the Seinfeld episode. But, it was delicious!
The hotel is HUGE and the elevators are super fast. Fun stuff.
Anyway, it was a great trip and I learned a lot, too.
The Olympics have been fun. I think my favorite event is the Short Track. All of us at my house are always leaning and bobbing and making noise. And those blasted Korean's!!! Man they are good. I shouldn't be so happy when they lose, but I am.

But They're Good for my Heart!

OK, have you tried the new Chocolate Cheerios? Man, they are delicious!!! As my daughter, Chelsea, says "it's the perfect amount of chocolate... not too sweet, and made with real cocoa!"And you know me, I love to eat, and if anyone gives me crap all I have to say is "But they are good for my heart!" Delicious. You doubt? Pick some up and let me know.
Loving the Olympics, too. Short track is awesome. Not too sure how I felt about the opening ceremony. Kind of boring, and you gotta hate the cauldron malfunction. Oh well.
To my favorite nieces, hope your faces start feeling better and the swelling goes down soon. (double wisdom teeth extraction). Drugs. Use them.
Had a lovely Valentine dinner with my beautiful wife (and cute daughter, Madalyn) at NicolItalia. Yummy calzones. My wife does the 'all meat' whereas I go for the chicken, onion & peppers. Burp it all night long, oh yeah!
Loving my new job... still!

Aebleskivers

Some of the Young Women were supposed to have come over for breakfast this morning, but for whatever reason it ended up being just Chelsea. Teresa was already planning on making Aebleskivers. Even though Chelsea was the only one from her class there, it worked out great for the rest of us! Man, those things rock! A little strawberry jam with a touch of powdered sugar. Ooooh, mama! We were wondering what the word aebleskiver meant in English. My translation was "delicious, yummy round little puffs". My family disagreed. We wanted to ask T. Grove to be sure, looking forward to a gruff, loud German translation, but he didn't pick up his phone. So, I am sticking with my translation! Anyway, after inhaling about 50 of them, I am very satisfied. Geeze, Young Women, you missed out!!!

WORK- A Sweet Four-Letter Word

I have a job!!! I can't tell you how absolutely wonderful it is to go to WORK! And it is at BYU of all places; they have a hiring freeze going on. Back on December 9th I decided to apply for a rare job opening at BYU. Two days later I was contacted for an interview for the following Monday. The job is for a marketing consultant at the Print and Mail Production Center in the University Press Building. I interviewed with 5 people and left feeling OK about how it went. I was called on Wednesday for a 2nd interview for Friday. That interview was much more formal and was with one of the VP's. I left that one feeling a bit down, thinking that I should have done better. Not a good way to go into the weekend. Monday morning Ken, my former boss, called me to say that BYU had called him for a reference check. John Gerhauser called to say the same thing. Monday afternoon I was called by Doug, my new boss, to come in Tuesday morning. I got there and he offered the job to me. I got emotional right on the spot! What a HUGE blessing and relief! And I love my new job, the environment, the people are all awesome and I truly couldn't be happier! And my wife likes me again!!!
November was getting real depressing- thinking about not having a job going into the Holidays. The Wakefield's were getting ready to move and I was really struggling. The weird thing is I couldn't get into the Christmas spirit, even though, as my daughter said, "You've been listening to Christmas music since October!" I just couldn't feel it, though. I told Jayton that I would probably get a job as soon as he moved and sure enough, after packing their truck in the 9 degree weather, this all happened. (We still are having Wakefield with drawls) This was one of the weirdest Christmases ever. We did go to Carl's house for Christmas Eve and had a fun time as usual. We came home and Madalyn did a Family Home Evening lesson for us that saved my Christmas! It was a great spiritual experience.
I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning where Nephi first mentions the "tender mercies of the Lord" and also about keeping the commandments and being led to a land of promise. It was a small reminder to me that the Lord has blessed me with this job.
So, there you have it. It has been a HUGE learning experience for me and my family, and hopefully one we won't have to endure ever again. The stress of unemployment is not fun, but I learned you have to just keep plugging away day after day. It gets way depressing at times and you almost don't want to be excited about interviews because when they fall through or don't work out and your back to square one, well, the emotional roller coaster is not fun. Our hearts go out to our friends who are still looking for work. Maybe our stupid fool President and the bumbling congress should come live with a few unemployed families and see what priority healthcare or cap n' trade really are on the list when you don't have work.
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers and to those who have been so generous with their means. It has been an eye-opening experience of the goodness of my neighbors and the Christlike attitudes and love they share.
And as Peter, one of my classmates in the MBA program said, "Make sure you Pass it on".

Glee Quotes

We have tried to catch most of the episodes of Glee this fall. Weird that it is done and won't start back up till April. Anyway, the character of Sue Sylvester cracks me up with her comments. The Deseret News had a little write up with her and recalled some of her lines (that when we were watching we bust out laughing).

"I want it on my desk warm from the laminator at 5 p.m. And if it is one minute late, I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat. And then on some dark, cold night, I will steal away into your home and punch you in the face."

"I'm tired of hearing people complain 'I'm riddled with this disease!' or 'I was in this tsunami!' To them, I say 'Shake it up a bit! Get out of your box! Even if that happens to be where you're living.' I'll often yell at homeless people 'Hey, how's that homelessness working out for you? Give not being homeless a try, huh?'

She is pretty hardcore.

Anyway, on the running front: a couple weeks ago I did some walking lunges, something I haven't done in a long time due to the accident. I only had about 60 pounds on the bar. Well, the next day I was so sore I thought I was going to die! My legs and butt were on fire. I decided to try running to loosen things up a bit. After 3 miles I got a knot between my calf and heel. I took Friday off then Jayton and I went running the following day. After about 3/4 of a mile I felt a "boing" happen! Then pain. Lot's of pain! So, I have taken some time off of running. It's a mental game right now. I did use some of my quarters and hit the Rec Center and used the eliptical. I weighed myself on two separate scales and both said 141. Geeze, I need to eat a steak wrapped in bacon! I am going to give the leg 3-4 weeks before running again.

The Wakefield's moved. What the heck! Of course they pick the coldest weather of the year! I think it was 9. As my wife would say "What's the temperature outside?" "Dumb! With a windchill of LAME!" Anyway, we will miss the Wakefield's. They are great friends and Hobbs, NM are lucky to get them! Hey Hobbs, send them back soon!!!

Thanksgiving and Things

Well, once again it seems I have waited too long to write about some of life's wonderments. At the beginning of November I was released as bishop. I was blessed to serve for over 6 years and it was a great learning experience. I was honored to serve with so many wonderful people. I will miss certain aspects of it, but am happy to see Bishop Prete now hold the keys!
My brother, Carl, and I ran the Turkey Trot again this year on Thanksgiving morning. Chantel's friend, Austin, who had run the St. George Marathon a month or two ago, was at our house listening to us talk about running the race. My wife was goading him on that a forty-something year old guy would beat him (a 21 year old) in the run. So, to keep whatever manhood he had left, he agreed to run it with us. We got over to the Rec Center at 7:45 am and it was about 24 degrees. Carl, Austin and I stood there in the road with the hundreds of other people, jumping around, waiting and trying to stay warm! Shoot the stinkin' gun and get us going!!! Finally we were off. The picture Chantel took of the start of the race- you can barely see me at the top left of the photo (my white long sleeve shirt and black shorts). Can you find Carl in his orange gear? I guess he was making sure he didn't get shot by any stray hunters.
Austin was in front of me for the first hundred feet and apparently didn't see me move to the right and pass him. Oh well. I had a good run. OK, I was so specific with my girls to make sure they actually get a photo of me finishing the race! Somehow that never seems to happen-- oh, hey, there he goes... and I end up with a back shot. Chantel was out on Center Street as I passed her by and I thought "she's gonna miss me coming in". She was waiting to see Austin come by. He was mad that I had already passed by. So, I truck it on in to the finish line and finished at 27:10 for the 4 mile run. I was really hoping to be under 27, but maybe next year. And of course Chantel didn't get any pictures of me. Lots of Austin coming in, but not of her dad. Oh well, I figured as much. The sad part was some teenage kid behind me. As we were waiting to have the crew take our tags, I notice this kid has the goopy-spit all over his mouth and nose. But upon further review (I'm trying not to look too hard) he has barf all over himself. My daughters and niece's said that as he finished he started barfing. Lovely. Anyway, the last run picture is the three of us after the race.
We went to Carl's for Thanksgiving dinner. My cousin, Gary, and his family came as well. Many of you know I am not a big turkey fan, but Ivette cooked a beautiful bird. Gary and I took turns trying to carve it. Wow, we were pathetic. Gary was mocking that I got to use a real knife where he had a butter knife. Lots of yummy food. We played Sequence and as always we marvel at how the womenfolk all cheat. (we have to say that because we always lose). A rousing game of spoons ensued, too. Austin came over. He is both a Dallas Cowboys fan and a Ute fan. Geeze, if things get serious with him and Chantel, he and I are going to have to have a wee talk. It was fun having my nephew Taylor there, too.
I put the Christmas tree up on Saturday and for Family Night we decorated it. We joke that the tree is our heater because after having the lights on for an hour the living room is about 500 degrees! The cats love to lay under it.
Can't believe the Wakefield's are moving next week! I think we are all in denial about it. I think Jayton has a fear of losing a race to some old guy and is taking off. They say they are coming back in 3 years. Just long enough for me to be slowing down. He doesn't understand that I have found the fountain of youth and it is called Fiber One!!!