'Kung Fu' star found dead

All I want to know is if they found a pebble in his hand.

Yesterday

Just because something appears to be inevitable does not mean we have to facilitate it even though it is wrong.

Uncle Jay

Orson Scott Card had the following column today:

Here are my thoughts:

I think, perhaps there is a clarity of thought and action that the Spirit is able to communicate in urgent circumstances. Although it may not be a big deal, this very possibly will be a life changing event for Aaron.

When I was a Boy Scout we had the responsibility of running the local fireworks booth as a fund raiser. This included setting up the booth. The Scoutmaster (my uncle) and a couple of us boys were struggling with the assembly of several ungainly panels of the booth. Suddenly, the roof started to fall. The boys all ran. But, my uncle stepped in to catch the falling panel. I was struck (figuratively) , first by my very quick reaction to abandon all, and second by my uncle's clearheadedness and courage to do what he did. Now, I was probably too small and weak to be of much help. But, I realized that an adult would immediately know and do the right thing. That stuck with me and has helped me since then several times react with courage and clarity in emergencies.

Obama and CAFE Standards

Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away? - Ripley

Disaster!

I had a major disaster with my bike on Saturday. My rear dérailleur has been shifting a little sloppy lately. It seemed like it needed to put more tension on the chain. The chain was as short as it could be. So, I decided to adjust the mech. I did not touch the limiting screws. But, when I got on the bike to ride, the part swung into the spokes and disintegrated breaking two spokes along the way. It was a pretty expensive coast down the driveway. The dérailleur was $720 and the rear wheel (with dedicated carbon spokes) was close to $500. I am trying to work out their replacement.

Thought for the Day

I still take alarmists with a grain of salt. But, I've lived long enough to see what I thought was over the top concern in the '70's for the encroachment of "Humanism" and the dangers of Nationalized Education to have come true.

A(H1N1)

I hereby pledge that I will not start fist bumping instead of shaking hands.

"Carnival" night at McMillan Elementary School. You could dance in the darkened gym with dorky pre-pre-teens. You could wait in line for an overpriced hot dog or hamburger dinner (and pay more than they asked for, like I did.) Or, you could spend 10 minutes with a bunch of screaming kids in a pit of soap bubbles. At home you have to pay these kids to get in the tub. But, in front of public and peers they will fork over good money for the priviledge. It didn't take long for Laney to aspirate some bubbles and choke and gag for a while. Fun over.

We meddle too much.

We meddle.

River?

People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.

Letter to the Editor

Here

Marathon Bike Tour

I did the Salt Lake City Marathon Bike Tour last year and had a lot of fun. It was really my first introduction to “racing.” I decided a while ago to do it again this year. But, I'm not in nearly the shape I was last year at this time. And, I may be 15 pounds heavier than I was last year same time. So, as the day approached I wasn't too thrilled and didn't expect to do very well.

Like last year I was going to wake up early and just ride down to the U, because it seems to help if I get some 45-50 minutes warm up. But, Jeff Barton called and offered a ride and I took them up on it. We went a little early because we didn't want to get stuck way back in the pack at the start and we wanted to try to ride around a little and warm up first. As it was, it was so cold there that we just stayed in the car. We were able to get pretty close to the front for the start. Probably within the first 150-200 people out of about 1600.

I didn't have nearly the trouble with slow pokes in front of me this year as I did last year. I started even with Jeff Barton and his son in law Brandon. Teal and Craig were ahead of us and stayed there the whole ride. They changed the route this year and had us go through sugar House park. It may have actually been the real marathon route for us this year. I did more passing than being passed. I was staying behind a husband and wife team on a tandem again. This seems to be a pattern for me. I did this in the Century ride last year.

A group passed me on lower Holladay Boulevard. Brandon was in the group. So, I latched onto the tail. I stayed pretty much with this group for the rest of the ride. For the first little while on Van Winkle there were some wild ones in the group and it was a little dicey. After a while it seemed to settle down some. Except we would get fast and string out and then slow down and bunch up a little. I think the leaders wanted someone else to take the lead and no one wanted to.

The route going into Salt lake was a little different this year also. We went up a slight grade up State street and that strung out my group for good. I wasn't going very fast at this point. Then we went down South Temple and wrapped around Gateway. Brandon was about 100 feet ahead of me going down the stretch. He didn't know I was gunning for him. So, I was able to catch him at the tape. Teal and Craig had come in a couple of minutes ahead of us. Jeff cam in a couple after.

I turned in a decent time. I was within 1 mph of last year's speed. So, I was pretty pleased with it, considering my shape.

Walker Wedding

This is a picture from the Scott Walker Jodi Haney "Wedding." They actually got married about 2 months ago. But, they did a formal shindig on 11 April. Scott's mother is from Scotland so the all got into their Scottish kit. There was even a bag piper. It was very nice. We had been to the SL Temple in the morning to do sealings with the Youngs before Charlie left on his mission. We were real anxious about not being late to the wedding. So, we left the temple a little early. We were 15 minutes late to the wedding. But, ended up waiting an hour for it to start.

Hmmmmmmm?

People today believe that man evolved from apes but can't accept that men can become Gods.

Iowa

Is it time to start talking about revolution and secession?

(40.240131963149764, -112.19346208869865)

I've never owned a gun. We changed that in the middle of January. I went to Cabela's and bought a little Browning Buckmark .22. Now some will say why bother? If you want a gun for home defense you should get a shotgun or at least a bigger caliber. If you want a gun for hunting you need a rifle with a more powerful round. If you're buying for concealed carry, it's probably too bulky.

I didn't buy it for home defense or for hunting or concealed carry. But, if it came down to it, I wouldn't not use it simply because it is a small caliber.

Jensen and I took it out early in February to break it in and kill some rocks. We went to a spot out on Highway 73 (click on the link above.) There was a small pit that had been excavated for some reason. We had some things to shoot at besides rocks, a can , a bottle, a box. After we ran through 300 rounds. We used some “stinger” rounds with muzzle velocity of about 1640 fps. They were lots of fun.

Yay Steelers!

We got this really nice gift of a Super Bowl growl towel from Chris Hoke. But, I don't have the heart to tell him there is a little smudge in the lower left hand corner. I might just have to wash it out.

You're Harshing my Mellow!

Ailsa on the Glenn Beck Video

Big laugh. Oops don't look at the camera. "Here's another loser."

Choping for Hange

Some of you may have seen the new "Pepsi" ad campaign.



Here's my response:

OSC and Salsa Last Summer at Workshop

The Funeral

Kim told us Kathy Andreason was ill on 28 or 29 Jan when she was in town visiting. Within a day or two Tom Grassley also let me know. Then in another day or two she was gone.

The funeral was very nice. Tyler did a great job of organizing it and spoke very well. It was very good to see a lot of people. Mom and I sat with Diana and Ray Pratt. And it was good to catch up with Diana. I haven't spoken much to her in over 20 years. I got to see Tom Grassley and of course Steve and Joy and Diane. Shanna was there and spoke and did a wonderful job as did all of the nieces and nephews.

Mike Mabry was there and I caught a brief glimpse of Frits Tessers. I had forgotten that Ray and Diana knew him. I had also forgotten that there was a connection between Randy McCoy (Scott Lillywhite's first wife) and the Vongsawad family. And Ric Starnes (Brittany Porter's father in law) sang a musical number. The families evidently knew each other well in RSM. Mormon Philotic web again.

The funeral was very nice and the Spirit very strong. A true disciple of Christ. So, it wasn't overly sad.

The Car

Jensen called last Thursday unable to start her car. I had her on the phone for a few minutes trying to start it with me listening in on the other line. We couldn't get it going. She even had some local people try to help her that day and the following. They bought some spark plugs and replaced them. That didn't do it.

While Jensen and I were dealing with this I was extremely frustrated because of this problem and also her phone was running out of minutes and I was trying to refill it and I didn't have the credit card or a debit card because we canceled it because of fraud and the new one hadn't come yet. Anyway, it was very frustrating not being able to be there and help. And I saw the parallel between that and our earthly life and how Heavenly Father can't always help and sometimes he needs others to help for him.

I took my tools and some other stuff down to Provo on Saturday when mom and I went for Kathy Andreason's funeral and went to work on it right after the service. I had thought about it all night long the night before. I was only going to try so much and then I was planning on taking it to a auto shop.

About two years ago when we got it inspected it barely passed the emissions test. The tester said sometimes on older cars the spark just isn't terribly hot anymore because of deterioration of various parts. It was suggested at the time that I change the spark plug wires. I never did.

Friday night before we went down I bought some spark plug wires and I was also going to buy a coil. But, the parts store didn't have a coil on hand and they are $180 anyway.

When I pulled off the first spark plug wire the connector came off the end of the wire. I replaced them all. I was going to try putting some gas directly into one of the cylinders to prime it. But, when I pulled out the spark plug it smelled very strongly of gas. So, I was pretty sure it wasn't having any problem getting gas. So it was either not getting a strong/timely spark or the timing belt was broken.

Anyway it didn't start right up. I had to put the pedal down and hold it and crank for about 5 seconds. But, then it started just fine. Whew! What a relief. What a sweet ride.

Porkulus

Our ship is going in the wrong direction, so let's push it faster. This is what liberals disparagingly claim zealots do when they realize they are wrong.

Super Bowl

Nice article about Chris here.

Kathy Andreason Passing

Obituary is here.

A Facebook page dedicated to her is here.

The Andreasons were in our ward since I don't know when. Kathy was always in choir with me and we sang together in Chamber Singers for two years I think. It was especially fun to sort of be an in law, even after Kim and Steve divorced.

The first time I remember her and Ty being a thing was at a Young Adult conference in La Canada Flintridge or someplace like that. Ty and Mark Nebeker and Frits Tessers (who was a cheerleader with the Rams) were the 3 upon whom everyone was focused.

When Ty passed I was at BYU in Church on Sunday morning when the news arrived and I was just struck by it.

I saw her after that from time to time. But, our orbits were getting larger and probably 10 or 15 years passed. Then I saw her at Tamsyn's wedding (I think that was 2005) the first time in a long time. She asked me somewhat poignantly if life had turned out the way I thought it would.

We had shared a large part of our High School age years. She was always the nicest and funnest person to be with and a good example.

Super Bowl Fun - from Kim

Hi,

I just thought I'd share some of our photos from this weekend with you.
We had great fun with everyone, it didn't seem to be as well organized this time we're not sure why . . . Katie heard some rumors from a TSA guy at the airport who had worked security at the game. The stadium in Tampa is smaller than the one in Detroit and it was crowded, at one point while we were trying to get to our seats we had to walk through a narrow spot because they had set up a temporary wall to protect something (a press box??) and there was a great-many-lot of people trying to get through, it was a little scary, once we got so far and realized that we were caught in this mass of humanity trying to squeeze through a cattle gate. I started thinking about the man killed at the Wal-Mart store in the stampede of 'Christmas' shoppers. One guy came up behind us and said. "Excuse me, I have to get through". I just looked at him and said, "You're joking, right?". I could only move where the crowd moved.
The Cardinal fans and the Steeler fans that we came across were great, all of the razzing that I came subjected to was in good fun, all though I'm sure someone somewhere was being a jerk. But my impressions in general were good of all the folks who were there.
Before getting inside the stadium we walked a gauntlet of really obsessive 'Born Again' types, and on our way out too. Tamsyn, Katie and I were together when we were leaving and the 'very nice christian man' with the bull horn stated that women should be at home in the kitchen washing dishes, and having babies (not all at the same time I hope) and not at football games. The Steeler fan in front of us yelled out, "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" I looked at him and said, "Good thing your wife isn't here". His friend, says, "Oh don't mind him . . . he's a mormon." "So are we", I replied. . . . silence . . . then I said "You were kidding, but we weren't." I don't know if that was good or bad. There is a definite internal (and possibly eternal) struggle that comes with this opportunity of Chris', regarding going to games on Sunday. We try to go to the Monday and Thursday games and keep Sunday to a minimum, it's hard, we apologize.
Ed, and I, Ryan, Aaron, Cathy and Frank all had seats together at about the 25 yard line, we sat next to the Keisel family on one side and James Harrison's brother was on my left, Ed was on my right, I was a little squished. You should have heard James' brother when he made his run with the interception, I think he was pretty incredulous. He started out fairly soft and got to a crescendo. "Go . . . go . . . go baby brother . . . go!" That was so fun . . . I didn't see the interception because I had my eyes closed, I thought the Cardinals were going to score and I didn't want to see it.
Katie, Tamsyn, Shaun, Cameron, Jordan and Zach were sitting together in the end zone so they got to see James come running towards them. Jaimee and the two boys were on the 50 yard line (usually we get seats together but with the Super Bowl it works out different). Right in front of Jaimee were the guys who play Dwight and Kevin on the office. Near by was Hayden Panitierre (or whatever), the Baldwins brothers and Ashton Kutcher was in a nearby box seat wearing a straw hat. Anyway pretty fun.
At the end of the game at the Super Bowl in Detroit Chris was able to come to where we were sitting and point us out and the security guards let us climb over on to the field, they even helped us. This time it was crazy. They wouldn't let anyone climb over (well . . . some did), which is probably for liability reasons. They forced us to go to the stairs, people were pushing. Santonio Holmes' mother was right behind me with his three children trying to get them to him. She had the youngest a girl and there were two boys maybe about 7 and 5 years old. The 5 year old ended up by Ed and the 7 year old was with me, I didn't want to let him go because I knew who he belonged to (not because of who his dad is . . . but because I knew . . . well do you know what I mean?) Anyway Santonio came up to the wall got his daughter, then we were able to get the other two down to him. That kid was solid and at first his jacket was caught on something and it was crowded but I finally got him up and told him to lift his legs over the rail and sit down. Then his dad came and I started to lift him down, some one next to me helped, I'm sure they thought I might drop him but I wouldn't have. Ed and I and Cathy and Frank were all separated by the crush of people (Aaron and Ryan had jumped). When I finally got to the stairs, I could see Chris reach for Cathy and grab her hand then a tug of war ensued between Chris and a security guard . . . geesh. Where was the respect? Chris won but . . . what the heck. Poor Cathy. Katie and Tamsyn were there too which I was glad of except that Katie was really getting squished around, one guard would say that we could go down the stairs with our Steeler family passes and then another would say, no you have to have a security pass. One by one Chris got all of us down except for Ed . . . he was trying to come but he was being stopped . . . you should have seen the look on Chris' face! He started after the guy but luckily another security guard was observant and took control and got Ed down. Once we were on the field it was fine and calm. Crazy, crazy, crazy.
Anyway the RUMOR, that Katie overheard was that there had been a bomb threat at half-time and not all of the security force was aware of it and that's why it was so disorganized. She spoke to the guy to make sure she had heard him correctly. Still it could just be nothing more than a RUMOR.
All in all it was very exciting.
The people in Tampa (generally speaking) seem to really like honking their horns at the slightest provocation (I mean people honk at Ed all the time, but this was really crazy) and generally speaking the people working as clerks are very impatient with their customers. We met one guy that was really friendly at a Nestle Toll House Cookie Store (maybe it's the cookies that make him nice) but we would guess that he was born in India and had been raised in Britain . . . great accent!

Love you!

Kim

Tamsyn also has some fun insights and pictures here.

Holiday

What if there is no tomorrow?
There wasn't one today. - Phil Connors

Here's One For You

I met with a guy last night whose rent the Church paid in Jan and is paying again in Feb. He left mad at me because he doesn't like MY attitude.

I could write a book. But, I think propriety dictates that I shouldn't.

Yay Salsa!

Sister Elder

Christmas 2008

Lane successfully negotiated the stringent and rigorous interview process posed by her Bishop/Dad and was baptized in July. After years of competing against the two big girls for bandwidth in the household, she is now enjoying a fairly empty nest. She misses her sisters. But, seems to enjoy our undivided attention and also seems to demand less of it. When it comes to bikes, our kids are slow learners. But, Lane learned to ride a bike this year after putting her mind to it for a couple of days. She is looking forward to growing big enough to go on serious rides on the tandem with daddy. If she had her way she would spend all of her free time watching the Spongebob channel.

Jensen successfully completed 4 years of High School and 2 years of Junior College in the last 3 years. So we gave her a semester off for a huge Lollapolooza. Now she has her nose at the BYU grindstone. We were proud of her when she graduated from High School. Unfortunately, the biggest attraction at the event was David Archuleta in the audience. Each of us has at one time or another had trouble negotiating the entrance to the garage with the sideview mirrors on the car. Jensen is the latest to score a casualty in this game and as a result received a nice new OEM Ford Explorer mirror as a Christmas present this year.

While finishing up a 3 year plus stint working at Laser Quest and also teaching Kung Fu at a local private school, Ailsa successfully completed her Bachelor's degree at the University of Utah in English and launched into the LDS Mission life. She entered the MTC early in January and is going to study Spanish for two months and then share the Gospel in the Houston, Texas Mission. She is excited to be going to some place warm and that features yummy Tex/Mex food. Todd had a good number of vacation days to use at the end of the year (after Ailsa finished College and before she began her mission.) So, we spent A LOT of time together as a family STAYcationing at Christmas time, eating, watching movies, enjoying one another, taking a long drink before crossing the desert. We truly miss Ailsa. But, know she is doing a great thing. She has suspended writing for the interim. But, has several books completed waiting for an adoring audience. We recently learned that her uncle Wade met Stephanie Meyer a couple of years ago at some book show thingy in Arizona. He looked at her Twilight offering and soundly pronounced that it would never go anywhere. We are hoping he will make a similar pronouncement about one of Ailsa's works.

Lenore loves to troll the “Interwebs” and pick fights with and educate the unsuspecting liberals or anti LDS she runs into. She has taken Elder Ballard's admonition to "spread the Gospel" via the internet a little too much to heart. We seriously think she wanted another voting fiasco in Florida to provide hours of political entertainment just like in 2000. She has exhausted the local library's supply of books on polygamy and is working on putting together a “Women of Colorado City” calendar to bring in some additional income. She and Ailsa went to a Glenn Beck show a year ago and managed to get Ailsa a couple of dates with the son of a local Talk Radio personality. She loves to venture into foreign culture and is trying to figure out the difference between the hookah and the haka.

Todd participated in two cycling “races” this year and really enjoyed them. He placed fifth out of 715 people in one. He also finally met a cycling goal he has had for some time, completing a “century” ride at a 20 mph pace or better. He also compiled 1000 miles cycling during the month of July 2007. At this point we figure Todd has spent 54% of his married life serving in Bishoprics. This year at the beach, rather than have some kid call Todd an old man (as happened in the recent past), he was resting on the sand down near the water and overheard someone ask if he was alive.

Family Vacations over the last two years included a couple of trips to California and to Las Vegas for niece and nephew weddings and a nice Thanksgiving stay at the Colorado River. One of the California jaunts included a wedding Todd was able to perform for a niece. We also had our normal Beach romps in San Clemente where we concentrated on taking the big girls surfing just about every day. We had a really good rainy day at Disneyland when the park was very uncrowded. We seriously spent more time in line at a Churro cart than we did on average for the rides. We ate lunch at the Blue Bayou restaurant, something Todd and Lenore have wanted to do since time immemoriam. Laney had a loose tooth that was paining her in the restaurant, so Todd pulled it out right there. Later he thought it would have been fun to make a wish on it and throw it into Davey Jones locker. But, we probably would have gotten caught by Disneyland security and tasered on the spot.

Ruby the cat died and we got another cat from some friends. We named him Digory and he's got a great fluffy coat. So, he mostly gets called Puff Diggy and sometimes Snoop Diggy Dogg or Snoopy Dogg Dogg. The other cat, Tommy, loves to go out during the day to rid the neighborhood of any feline rabble. Seriously he has lost several collars in daytime tussles. We imagine a nice stash of them somewhere nearby where his most formidable cat opponent hangs out. It is not uncommon for him to return home with some nasty scratches and scars. Meanwhile Diggy looks at him like Rodney King saying "can't we all just get along."

When we are not studying up on the latest hypermiling techniques or learning ways to fend off attacks by Somali sea pirates, or viewing the first few seasons of Ugly Betty that we missed, We often think of you, all of our friends and family and wish we could spend more time with you.

More Attention from Prop 8 Noponents

Blog for Ailsa's Mission Letters

Click here.

LTM/MTC

When I left on my mission, it was the LTM. I had been to one semester at BYU. My parents dropped me off at John Wayne airport for my first airplane ride. A former roomate and distant cousin, Tom Grassley, picked me up in Salt Lake. I think a girl named Gina Darnall from Urbana Illinois accompanied him. They helped me with my bags into the foyer of the LTM and then waved goodbye. I sat alone in the orientation/induction meeting. I was special.

I am so glad I finally got the chance to do this with family. We were all kinda teary.

We had planned on my giving Ailsa a Father's blessing prior to her departure. The night before she was busy with friends and stuff. We then thought we would do it before leaving the house. But, we were running late and had to pick up Lane and Jensen. We left McMillan elementary school at 11:45. We were supposed to be at the MTC at 12:30. I disregarded all speed limits and drove about 85 the whole way. Once we got into Orem, we could tell we were doing okay on time. Still, we didn't get to Jensen's apartment until 12:20. We decided then to take a little time and do the Father's blessing. I am very glad we did. It was a special experience. Maybe as good for us as it was for Ailsa.

The MTC is a bustle of organization and positive energy. MANY local elderly volunteers helping at every turn. You can't help but feel the Spirit there. I hope many families with potential missionaries, inactive, or non members, take them to participate in this missionary dropping off.

If you want to see the true salt of the earth people and true Law of Consecration in practice, you must go. It is not unlike the Israelites leaving a child at the Temple to serve for years.

Ailsa Gone..... MTC. In case you missed it, here's her contact info as posted on Facebook

Alright everybody! I'm leaving tomorrow, and if anybody wants to write to me, please do! I really hope to hear from people while I'm gone. Let me know about everything that's happening and what I'm missing back home!

For the first 6-8 weeks, this is the address you can send letters to.

Sister Ailsa Christian Lillywhite
MTC Mailbox #158
TX-HOU 0310
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1783

And when I get to Houston, this is the address for now... until I get my first assignment that is.

Sister Ailsa Christian Lillywhite
Texas Houston Mission
16623 Hafer Rd
Houston TX, 77090 (add -4401 to the zip-code is your sending a package)

Goodbye everyone! I love you all, so, so much.

Ailsa

Snow Day!!!

I think this is a very sublime photo.

The Hunter and the Damage Done

Tommy got spooked early Christmas morning. Jensen reached for him and sustained near emergency room injuries.

Vampire Christmas Kitty

Unretouched except to remove a wall socket from beside his head.

December 2008

Nore and the kids have been very diligent about walking after they drop Laney off at school in the morning. On two mornings in a row last week they came upon seemingly stray pets. Maybe there was unusual sunspot activity?! In each case they brought them home and called their owner or the shelter. This picture is a particularly nice looking dog. He had a blond companion with him who is out of the picture.



This is Nore at the ward Christmas party waiting with Laney in line to see Santa Claus.



This is Laney all gussied up for her latest dance recital. She doesn't do that well at the dancing. But, you should see her smile on stage. She just lights up.

A Google a Day

Like Amanda Tanen and Gene Simmons I Google myself every morning (not). However, I did do it today and found some interesting things:

While finishing my undergraduate degree at BYU I worked for Dr. H. Donl Peterson translating some old texts. One of these is listed on the "internets" and attributes the translation to me. I never knew what happened to that work. You can find it right here. I don't expect it is a very good translation though since it was translated from French and I know very little French.

There are three websites that list me as a horrible despicable contributor to the Prop 8 campaign. I'll try to put their names here in such a way that that their Google ranking doesn't benefit from it:

qsaltlakeDOTcom
pridedepotDOTcom
kiltzeDOTwordpressDOTcom

I think in retaliation I am going to list them on a website that I will name, idontwantyoutodoanythingthatmightruinmyday.com

Todd Thinks:

City of Ember wasn't that great. Glad I didn't pay full price. Quantum of Solace was better than Casino Royale, and Wall-e may be better than them all.

And, I want to know what is this new large city in India I've never heard before, Mumbai?

If we are trying to pronounce everything the way natives do, then why don't the news people call it Deutchland? or Italia or Suomi? Why all the deference only to the noble eastern countries of the world?

Ailsa Drawing

CRat Cage

Recent Past/Near Future

I gave the annual tithing talk on Sunday (my fifth one.) I'm hoping I don't have to do too many more. It's difficult to come up with new material or a new angle. You feel like saying, "Look, just do it. Okay?" It went well enough, though. I also spoke briefly about supporting the Church in the current political climate.

Lenore and I sat down on Saturday and planned out Jensen's BYU classes for her. It took a little brain power. But, we have it worked out pretty well. Just have to get her into some housing now.

I have to do my annual performance review at work in the next couple of weeks. This is one of the most onerous tasks invented by man. You would think after 19 years you could just call it in. I should keep all my old papers and recycle what I've written before. They make a big deal about this being our thing. We are in charge of it. Well, if I'm in charge, let's cancel!

We are looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and also Christmas. With vacation days and extra days off I will be off early on the Weds before Thanksgiving (through the weekend) and then off the day before Christmas for 5 days and then one day of work and then another 6 days off. We should have fun. However, this could all change a little if anybody in the Ward dies. But, we are almost home free.

I think I've only had two funerals this year and one of those was for someone who moved out of the Ward years ago. We now have 9 people over the age of 90 and 35 over the age of 80. Poor Bishop Peaden. He's only been in 6 months and already done about 5 funerals.

Firefly - A Very Good Show

SIMON: I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can... How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?

MAL: You don't know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed.

SIMON: (smiles) Are you always this sentimental?

MAL: I had a good day.

SIMON: You had the law on you, criminals and savages... half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.

Mal looks out at the black sky.

MAL: We're still flying.

SIMON: That's not much.

Mal answers, almost to himself...

MAL: It's enough.

The Day After

Ugh!

Robin Hood TomCat Wanted Poster

An open letter to Steve Young and all those disinclined to support California’s Proposition 8, especially LDS.

Shame on you.

We graduated BYU the same year. We even had a class together. I thrilled when you did so well in Football: The final game winning touchdown catch against Illinois in the Holiday Bowl; Your $40 million contract with the Express; Your great career with the 49ers.

So it is with utmost respect and brotherly love I say, you are wrong.

Now, I don’t know your specific reasoning for opposing this piece of legislation. You may have huge pressure from family or loved ones. I myself have people close to me whom I love dearly, who live a homosexual lifestyle or who struggle with those desires. I can only guess what your motivation is. Most LDS who oppose this proposition and who have trouble with other moral issues like it, such as abortion, wrongly think that establishing laws (actually in this case we are upholding a law) to proscribe behavior is somehow “forcing” people to behave in a particular way and therefore wrong. This arises from a misunderstanding of Agency and Our Heavenly Father’s plan.

It is not Satan’s way to make laws and punish for their infraction. That is how Heavenly Father works and how a good parent trains their child. Satan works by lying, persuading, obfuscating, He lied in the Garden of Eden and he lies today. Agency does not imply unlimited freedom to choose. A simple look at our world will show that each one of us has a differing level of freedom to choose. It would go counter to Heavenly Father’s plan to give everyone the same opportunities in this life.

Many people act like this is the natural progression of society, the natural next step. It is natural for society to tend ever increasingly towards permissiveness and amorality. But, it is not Progress. It leads toward no good.

Many people think homosexuals were born with a predisposition toward their unrighteous behavior. Be that as it may. Perhaps I was born with a predisposition to be promiscuous. That fact would not absolve me of the duty to obey God’s commandments and be bound by them.

Some homosexuals seek for relevance and approval for one of their behaviors. Since biology and nature marginalize them, in our day of brash open wickedness they make their homosexuality their most significant trait and thrust it on society to accept them. There was a time when Society’s mores kept amoral behavior in check. The shame of society kept unrighteous behavior hidden. You may say it is hypocritical to hide the truth. But, it does serve a purpose; to keep the encroachment of wickedness at bay.

As Pat Buchanan so eloquently said: “Homosexuality has gone from "the love that dare not speak its name" to "the love that won't shut up."

Some people say that allowing homosexuals this small insignificant favor does no harm. A careful study of the Atonement will bring you to realize that any wrong, any infraction of a Commandment, even an innocent offense contributes to the overall burden of the Savior and thereby does harm. It drags our world further away from its rightful place as a Heavenly world. There are no victimless transgressions.

You find yourself at odds with the Lord’s Prophet. That does not seem like a good place to be. I assume that you believe your great grandfather was a Prophet. At what point did our current Prophets lose their inspiration and direction from the Lord? At what point has the Church gone astray?

Our society has gone so far down the road toward ruin; it may be too late to rescue humanity. Perhaps the line must be drawn here. This may be our last stand. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed when it became impossible for the children to be taught correctly and have a chance to succeed in righteousness.

Satan has taught some of our society to see good as evil and evil as good. He paints with great skill and makes it difficult to see the way. He continues to try to thwart Heavenly Father’s plan by lying and persuading and telling us that we won’t have to face the consequences of our crimes. Despite those mocking from all quarters we have to hold to the truth and stand for what is right.

Shame on you.

You may call me a hater. But, I am not. You may call me intolerant. But, I am not.

UPDATE: I understand now that news releases of Steve's opposition to 8 may have been premature. He may be in a very hard place between his own views and those of his wife.

Laney as Kattishaw or Nanki- Poo for Halloween

Prop 8

Many opponents of Prop 8 in California ask why we are so against gay couples living their lives they way they want to. Yet, no one has pointed out how the failure of Prop 8 would change the way they are living right now.

Movies

Between 11 and 19 October I may have set a new record for seeing first run movies at a real like theater. I saw:

Errand of Angels
Ghost Town
Eagle Eye
Journey to the Center of the Earth

I listed them in order of how good I thought they were. A few comments:

Journey was fine. It introduced a really cute new actress; Icelander Anita Briem. The story was silly enough. Kinda fluffy.

Eagle eye was maybe only slightly better than Journey. I mostly like Shia LeBouf. I could have done without so much action. make it a little more cerebral. But, okay.

Ricky Gervais often annoys me with his over the top caustic, sardonicism. But, he was kept within a box by something or someone on this film and it helped immensely. The message was very sweet. Tea Leoni's somewhat asymmetrical face of her youth maybe mellowing. She was a little easier on the eyes.

Errand of Angels managed to show mission life fairly accurately without demeaning it or opting for sophomoric LDS self deprecation. If you've been on an LDS mission you will probably relate. If you are planning for one it would be some good mild heads up and encouragement.

During the same time period Lenore saw all these movies plus the new Mummy movie. It was a Brendan Fraser week for her.

Another thought on Agency:

Satan could have sought to thwart the plan by not having us forget the pre-existence. The veil of forgetfulness seems like another essential element of the Plan and Agency. In the Garden of Eden he is surprised that Adam doesn't remember. He is all about getting them to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps he expects them to remember their pre-existence immediately upon partaking of the fruit.

Mission Call

Ailsa is going to serve in the Houston, Texas Spanish speaking mission. She enters the MTC on 7 Jan and is excited.

Ailsa is in Comics!

At Laser Quest there was a lot of these comics lying around and some of the workers got inventive. Notice the Soleil was changed to Si-Je, her Laser Quest moniker.

Santita' al Signore

Yay! A temple in Rome. We've been praying for this for years. Care to contribute to the Lillywhite family fund to attend the dedication?

Uma Watch Out!!!

This is Ailsa as Poison Ivy at the Laser Quest party last Friday night.



Jensen has been accepted to BYU. But, she may just go to Utah since it is cheaper. Ailsa has her papers submitted for her mission. We are anxious to know where she will be sent.

Legacy Parkway Tour 2008

Yay me!

Here are my results for this race. Below is a screenshot of the overall top eight riders. You can get to this page if you fiddle with the website. But, it doesn't look like I can give you a link that will work.


There was a total of 715 people who registered and finished this race.

One of my last unreached goals this year was to break 23 mph average in a time trial or solo ride of at least 20 miles or so. I have been wanting for years to do the World Senior Games in St. George. But, as this year ticked along I could see that I probably didn't have the vacation days to spare. Right now, I have 2 vacation days left for the year and I would probably need to use 2 days to do the Senior Games. I have to keep some time available in case someone else in the ward passes away and I have to conduct a funeral. This isn't an idle preoccupation. We have more than 30 people in the ward over the age of 80 and 9 over the age of 90. Interesting thing is most of those over 90 still come to their meetings! But, that's a story for another time.

I thought I might end up doing this ride by myself. But, When it came down to it Cliff, Eric, Craig and Teal Buchi and Jeff Barton participated. Although The Buchis and Jeff were too late to register.

Anyway I decided to do this race and try for a new best speed even though it was not a time trial. It is a lot easier to go fast in a race. But, I did so much faster than I was expecting that I'm calling it good.

There were a lot of people at this event. We arrived with only about 5 minutes to go and we squeezed into the middle of the start. So there were probably at least 300 people in front of us. This wasn't a big deal because those who registered had timing chips so your time didn't start until you crossed the start line. However, it was quite frustrating initially because there were A LOT of people in front who went quite slow and spread out all over the road making it VERY difficult to get up to speed and stay there for a while.

Anyway, once we were able, I got going about as fast as I could and just tried to hold on without exploding. I led a pack for most of the way out and then came upon a couple of guys I thought were going at a good rate of speed. I settled in with them for a while. But, then realized they weren't going fast enough. So, I tried to make it to the next group ahead.

I was on a guy's tail from about mile 7 to about mile 9 and then took a turn pulling up to the turn around. I was pretty well tuckered at the turn around and just fell into the back of a group of 6 riders with Cliff right in front of me. The four at the front took turns in the lead and didn't seem eager to include Cliff and me in the rotation. So we stayed back and let them do the work.

I hit something in the road at about mile 16 and briefly prayed that I wouldn't get a pinch flat. I must be living right because my tire did go flat after I got back home.

We came upon a large group of riders at about mile 17. I was a little surprised they were ahead of us because I hadn't seen that many people turn around and coming back before we got to the half way point. There was an electronic timing loop at the halfway point so you couldn't cheat by turning around early. I suspect some of this large group a) wasn't register/didn't have a timing chip, b) didn't go all the way to the half way point before turning around. We stayed with this group for about two miles and then pushed a little ahead. At one point someone in the group dropped a water bottle and I'm surprised it didn't cause a big wreck. As it was it was a little hairy riding with them.

When we came to the finish. I thought briefly about sprinting. But, didn't feel any great need to pass anyone else. As it was I wouldn't have been able to make it to the podium anyway with a sprint. Cliff crossed ahead of me but must have crossed the start a little further ahead of me because my overall time was slightly better than his. It seemed there were probably 20 or so riders who finished before me. But, they must have started way before me or not registered because the Milliseconds people say I came in 5th overall. I was faster than anyone over the age of 39. My power output averaged about 220 watts!

Laney Pic

New Camera

We bought a new camera this weekend. Our old one was about 5 years old and not that great to start out with. It got splashed at the beach and didn't work well for a day or two. We bought a Kodak 8.1 megapixel camera for $100. This ought to do us just fine for quite a while.



UPDATE: After going through two units of the Kodak model we baought (they both just stopped working after a while) we purchased a Canon 590IS and it is working just fine.

Laney Learns to Ride a Bike

Her friends and peers have been riding for some time. But, in just two short days of practice this weekend, Laney joined the ranks of the bicycle abled. It actually went very quick. She wouldn't stay at it for very long. But, early on Monday I could tell she was getting the hang of it. She still liked me to be there with my hand on her back. But, she was doing a lot of balancing. Before this I tried to convey to her in words how it felt to balance, that she needed to "sit" on the seat. She figured it out without my accurately verbalizing it. Kids are pretty smart that way.

San Clemente 2008

Our summer vacation 2008 is but a faint memory. All in all we had a great time and got along very well. It's getting harder and harder every year to continue my normal level of activity without all sorts of aches and pains. I didn't throw myself into the cycling and surfing and body surfing quite as much as in the past. But, was still very busy. I didn't do as well surfing as last year I felt. I think the reason was with the swell that came through right before we arrived the bottom was uneven and at times I had an extremely difficult time with wave selection and my placement.



Our last day we went to the Trails at San Onofre State park. I may have been there once or twice back in the day. It was a wilder and less populated break. For the first half hour after we got there it was very active and I had a couple of rides. Most of the time the wave would lose power and reform further inside. Some of the biggest waves were in the 5 foot range. During the last 2 hours there was a lot of sitting around trying to catch waves that would putter out enough to make it impossible to catch.



With the bottom being messed up, a fairly deep trench had formed at San Clemente beach barely into the tideline that made it difficult and scary for the little kids to traverse. When the tide got right it was okay. But, Laney made me go out with her many times every day. Most of the time she would hang like a 50 lbs. sea anchor around my neck. I couldn't last long like this. So I got many workouts that were like someone trying to drown me for 20 minutes. Finally, the last couple of days the trench was nearly gone and Laney was mostly fine playing by herself with us just watching out for her.

Girls Camp 2008

San Clemente 2008

We are in Sacrament meeting in San Clemente. It is great to be here again. The trip down was enjoyable. We saw a really cool wildfire right up to the outskirts of Santaquin.

It is amazing to be able to travel at 80 mph in a very high level of comfort and safety, getting 80 mppg (miles per person gallon.) Jensen was on her computer. Lenore read a book to me, George Ritchie's Ordered to Return. Ailsa was already down at Kim's house, having been to OSC's writing conference in San Diego earlier this week. We are happy and trying to exercise more patience with one another.

The waves have been big this week. But, of course the swell was gone when we arrived.

I finished out the month of August cycling with 700 miles riding and 190 my last week. I finally hit 11.5 percent bodyfat Friday after work, a new record for me in the modern era.

Great Talk on Agency

Helped me clarify a couple of things in my mind.

Further to Agency Rant - Discussion at Girls Camp

President Daw doesn't like to say Satan's plan. He didn't really have a plan. Lenore calls it the plan and the sham.

I think the sham is that he told us he had an easier way and we could still be happy. This denies accountability, which must be an Eternal law or the other side of the Agency coin. Satan is the Father of lies, uses fear, is manipulative, binds us down through addicitions. He plays upon our lack of Faith and lack of Knowledge. We can overcome that problem by studying and acting on the knowledge we gain.

We have to choose good or evil. When we choose good we eventually receive "all that the Father hath." When we choose evil, Satan can't repay with what we want (to be happy) Our choice and our ability to choose are only taken away.

Since every sin, transgression, misdeed, slight, mistake, imperfection accumulates and adds to the imperfection of this sphere, until the Savior comes and raises it up through the Atonement to the proper fullness of its creation, there are no victimless crimes. Every wrong hurts and degrades the system and makes it worse for all of us who dwell here.

Warmup Weekend to San Clemente (300) Miles of Driving

This last weekend we had the ward campout and a Sarah and Daniel Johnson family reunion up in Preston.

Laney was really excited about the campout. This really is an outgrowth of the annual fathers and sons campout that most wards do. But, since the Bishop doesn't have sons we have made it a ward campout.

This year it was quite well attended and there were a lot of kids there.

We almost had a fiasco on the way up. I had gotten the keys out of our Bishopric closet and I asked Brent Winget if the locks had been changed in the last couple of years. He didn't know of any changes. I was pretty confident that Brent Gardner had used these keys last year to get in. Matt Brown came by the house early on Friday to get the keys since he was pretty sure he would be there first.

I got a call from Sherwood Preece after we just got into Parley's canyon that he was there and no one else yet. Matt Brown arrived within just a couple of minutes though and the key wasn't working in the lock.

I called Nate Cox.

I called Brent Gardner.

I called Brent Winget.

After some scrambling and having Nate Cox wait in town a couple of minutes to make sure we could get a key if we needed to, we found out from Brent Winget that there is a "super secret" key hidden on the property. We were able to let ourselves in and avoid a major fiasco.

We set up camp in our usual places, got a fire going to start toasting marshmallows. Soon we had a small contingent of kids hanging around the fire playing with burning sticks. They most annoying were Dain and Josh. Because, really aren't they old enough to be past the fascination with fire?

Kevin Westenskow brought a TV project player thingy and a screen and Luke Johnson brought up a generator and after the sun went down the kids watched a silly movie. It seems a little dumb to go camping and then watch a movie. But, after darkness fell the kids don't really want to go to sleep yet and it's nice to have something for them so you know where they are.

The breakfast in the morning was cooked by the Elders and they had everything you could want for breakfast.

Preston was also very nice. During the ride up there we had to endure Ailsa and Jensen talking nonstop about the new Batman movie. Sheesh. The weather in Preston was much milder than Salt Lake and we sat in the shade of a tree at Tutu's old house. Brian Woolley made a nice spread of food for us and I tried not to eat too much. But, I had to have one of each dessert.

We got back into town early enough that I was able to take a quick 26 mile ride on my bike.

Flight of the Conchords

I find this article interesting. I don't think it is necessary to charge individuals with crimes in this case. I have no problem with fining the companies. What I find interesting though is the sort of underlying, innate need to rectify everything that we see in man today. There are somethings that we just can't fix, or undo. Better to concentrate on those personal things or things close to us that we can change.

Don't Be Fooled

This story has been bugging me lately. It is a great example of how we sometimes let others define things for us or set the parameters of an argument. It took me a couple of times hearing this report and digging into it to actually find that the person is a WOMAN.

I'd Rather be Waterboarding

Regarding the stunt by Christopher Hitchens for his Vanity Fair article: I watched the video. Waterboarding looked a lot less horrible than I had expected. I'm sure the sensation of drowning and the fear for one's wellbeing is real. I go with what this guy said: Torture is any experience so horrible that no-one would consider trying it out simply for the purpose of writing a Vanity Fair article about what it’s like.

Passage to Zarahemla

I'm going to try to be un-brutally honest, but straight up.

This movie didn't stink as bad as I had heard. And for a fat girl you don't sweat much.

I must mention up front that my taste in film is probably more offbeat than most people. I'm the guy who thinks Lady in the Water is M. Knight Shyamalan's best work.

Hear me out. I have never done anything half as ambitious as Chris Heimerdinger. But, I have seen a lot of movies and I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Okay, I made that last part up.

If I had to place Passage to Zarahemla in the LDS film genre, I would put it in the same range as The Best Two Years, which I actually really liked, despite its weaknesses.

Passage to Zarahemla is a little bit better than Charly, not quite as good as Sons of Provo (another movie that wasn't well received, but I liked a lot) and somewhat more behind Saints and Soldiers, Brigham City, and God's Army in that order.

It leaves any Singles Ward, the RM, the Home Teacher, Baptists at our Barbecue, and Church Ball in the dust. Disclaimer: I haven't seen Church Ball. But, having viewed the trailer numerous times, there is no way Gary Coleman saved this movie.

My biggest problem with most of the LDS movie genre is I can't tell who they think their audience is. If it is non LDS, well welcome to the big leagues and prepare to get beaten up. Best, to leave the sledgehammer between the eyes preachiness behind and go for subtlety. If the audience is the active LDS world then maybe there is less need to tell us things we already know and once again go for subtlety. The audience likes to think it is intelligent and figure some things out on its own and notice angles others might not have caught.

Although it did dip into “Road Show Humor” at times, this movie did not rely solely on it, which move I praise. Keep moving in this direction. It's time to raise the level of entertainment produced by Church members. No need to continually go for the lowest common denominator. Continually pointing out our quirks and cliches has run its course.

Things I liked:

The analogy between modern gangs and Gadianton robbers. I thought the way the gang element was brought into the story was a little clunky, though. Also, for the most part the gang members were more frightening than the Gadiantons, might have been better to make them more on par with each other.

Best line in the movie: “You all with the Manti Pageant?” when the Gadiantons walk into the eatery. This might seem “Road Show Humor” but it worked for me. Give Mr. Heimerdinger credit for that.

I also loved Kiddoni's observation: “How can you live after the Messiah and not believe in Him?” This was preaching that would work on both members and non.

Costumes were good, seemed authentic, did not detract. A

Casting was good. That little girl (Sariah?) was adorable with her one line. A

Cinematography was good. (the rack mounted Elk-cam was cheesy.) A-

Acting for the most part was good. Grandpa Lee might have been the best of the bunch. B+

Soundtrack - I was half and half on this. It may have been Sam Cardon's original music that I enjoyed and other artists that I didn't always enjoy. - B

I had heard some people complain that the special effects weren't up to snuff. I was fine with them.

This movie had high production values. Box Office Mojo doesn't disclose its production budget, only its gross revenue. I am certain it hasn't lost as much as The Work and the Glory. But, it's just as good a looking film.

What I didn't like or would try to improve:

Mr. Heimerdinger may have been too involved with the project. He should have gotten someone who has sold a screenplay to help him with that and leave the rest to others. Let someone else direct. If you are going to be in the same shot as your daughter, stand on a box so as to be a little taller.

Grandpa Lee's hair color wasn't right.

Only LDS see the rest of the world as all infested with gangs and such. I don't think a young boy Brock's age would be hanging with the Eminem wannabees twice his age.

Screenplay – too many obvious and cliched plot devices and turns. Of course they get a flat tire while driving to Utah and of course their car barely limps into town. I like to be surprised.

The aunt doesn't have to have 18 kids does she?

Didn't go anywhere with the meme of the uncle's bad short term memory. Use it or get rid of it.

The wrap up is a little abrupt and anticlimactic.

The biggest hurdle that LDS cinema has to overcome, and that other genres don't have is trying to share something with others that is uniquely precious to us and part of our spiritual identity.

LDS cinema has yet to attain 90% of its potential. But, Passage to Zarahemla is a step in the right direction.

Trek 2008

Although she participated in a Trek experience back in 2004, I was pleased that Jensen wanted to do it again. Since I am serving as Bishop, it's nearly mandatory that I attend and it was nice to have her there. We had a smaller group than last time (due mostly to demographics than lack of interest.) I was also pleased that a large number of kids who attended last time chose to attend this time as well. Sean Carter, Lindsey Irion and Nick DeMann from my family in 2004 participated this time.

I didn't have to be in a family and was called a "floater."I could pretty much do what I wanted. I had one small presentation I was in charge of. The rest was ad hoc filling in where/when needed. I even rode for part of the hiking, probably a total of 4 miles out of 19-20. Tyler Jessop was in charge of driving the truck and trailer pulling the port-o-johns. His father called it a sh**y job. I probably could have done all the hiking. But, it was really nice for my 50 year old feet, ankles, knees and lower back to be able to ride a little. There is no way I could trek from Iowa City to Salt Lake at this age. Like Lenore, I would just wait for the train tracks to be laid.

No rain this time. We really had wonderful weather. Lot's of sun. But, the night were pretty cold, down into the 20's, a swing of 50 degrees throughout the day. By the third night I was pretty comfortable because I kept increasing my anti cold measures each night. The Leaders ate very well and really didn't feel too guilty about it. Occasionally we would "score" some of our treats for some of the kids, including a Dunford chocolate donut on the last morning for Jeremy Schumann. I was tempted to eat one of these in a bowl covered with whole cream.

The first night, right after the women's pull, we were treated with a glorious full moonrise (the "strawberry moon" sounds kinda romantic doesn't it?) over a slight bit of clouds on the horizon. For those who were awake at the right time, you could watch the moonrise and then set and then the sunrise during the course of the night, all unobstructed by buildings and clouds and lights and such. During our final evening's fireside chat President Daw was interrupted by a herd of cows that wanted to come down the valley and through our camp. They reluctantly turned around.

On the second day of hiking we found a patch of snow near enough to the trail to play in a little. The photographer took pictures of me and Dain and another kid making snow angels. We threw some snow around. I rolled some up in my bandana and tied it around my neck and it kept me cool for a long time.

The testimony meeting Sunday morning was very nice. I was pleased that the kids stayed on topic. It was clear that many of them are very spiritually connected and on the ball.

Here is the letter I wrote to Jens for Trek.

Astute Thought of the Day

In Eternity you have no time at all - me.

American Idols

Jensen graduated from Murray High School on Friday. Her GPA for this term was 3.7 probably her lowest in High School. Her overall High School GPA was higher I think.

This picture is with her good friend Diana Madrian, Sterling scholar in Art from Murray.


She has 4 more classes to take at SLCC to graduate at the end of the summer. Only 49 other students at Murray were completing this.

In the fall she is planning on one big lollapalooza, no classes. May go to England.

The graduation ceremony wasn't too grueling. It seemed like they were reading the names rather slow. But, still it took only about an hour. I've been to worse.

The funniest thing in the world happened to Jensen as she was approaching the podium to receive her diploma. A stranger woman in the audience leaned out and reached toward her with her arm and asked her where she got her shoes!

Poor David Archuleta was in the audience and people wouldn't leave him alone.

Afterward we went to eat at TGIFriday's and we kinda decided that they have better hamburgers than Red Robin. Their brownie fudge sundae dessert thingy was really good too.

In UnremarkableMemoriam

Memorial Day was somewhat unremarkable. It was very rainy almost all of the day. We managed to finish our yard cleanup project involving a huge green waste trailer from Murray City. We did this yard work during the one major break in the rain. For a short while I thought I might go for a bike ride. But, within a half hour it was pouring again. I'm glad my lazy self prevented me from getting caught in a downpour. Laney and I found that on the Science Channel they were running back to back episodes of “How it's Made.” This kept us entertained for a couple of hours while I chewed on sunflower seeds.

We went to Leslie's for dinner and spent a good amount of time in the hot tub. Here you can see the girls showing how “hot” they are. If you look closely there is steam billowing from them.


After dinner literally about 10 of us ended up in Leslie's room on her bed watching the first disc of Arrested Development. It's a good thing I work full time. I seem to be unable to stop eating when I am at home. At work I can control how much food I have access to.

My talk on Sunday went pretty well I think. Lenore and I also sang with Brenda Christensen. Boyd Jensen says that Beverly is not doing well. He had a number of grandchildren there visiting. Ruth Palmer has cancer and is not planning on treating it. I probably will be doing both their funerals soon.

There Can Only Be One

We had a great time the other night when we realized that one of the baddest characters in cinematic history, "the Kurgan":



is none other than:



Eugene H. Krabs

Day 18358

The Cycle Salt Lake City Century ride was last Saturday. I have been kinda planning on doing the ride for some time. When it came right down to it, I didn't have anyone really to ride it with me. But, Cliff Lillywhite had registered and then his son was getting married that day. So, he offered me his registration.
A goal I've had for some time is doing 100 miles in under 5 hours. So I decided to try. This might have been easier if I had a fast group of friends to do it with. Anyway, probably within the first 5 miles or so I managed to get in with a fairly big group for the next 30 miles. The leader was a husband and wife on a co-motion tandem. I spent most of the time right on their tail and there were many riders behind us. I took a couple of turns pulling for them. But, they did most of the work and seemed happy to do it.
After the first feed station, I got a flat right away. So, I lost the small group I was with. It didn't take too long to fix it and luckily I had no more problems. It took another little while to hook up with some other people. One of the guys was on a Titanium Torelli. I passed him and then he passed me and I stayed on his tail.
Usually, the Antelope Island Causeway is just horrible. Headwinds both ways. But, you couldn't have asked for better weather for this ride. If there was any wind it was only a whiff. At the 50 mile point just before the causeway, my average speed was 21.7. By the time I had gone the next 20 miles it dropped to 21.4. I stayed with groups across the causeway and then we broke up going around the island because of the climbing. Then coming down the last hill leaving the island I hooked up with 2 other guys and soon a fourth joined us crossing back to the mainland.
I saw Jeff Barton and Teal Buchi at the Syracuse feed station at the 70 mile point. I left that point pretty much on my own and started to suffer. After a while, I noticed a guy on my tail for about 5 miles. He eventually pulled forward and we started taking turns pulling. It was just us two for the last leg. We began chatting a little. He was also 50 years old and was trying to make the same goal of better than 20 mph average. His name was Dave from Kaysville and he was on a Litespeed Tuscany. I'm glad I hooked up with this guy because on my own for the last leg, I'm not sure I would have made it. For the last 25 miles I just wanted to get off the bike. I finished 106 miles in 5:11 at an average speed of 20.45.

It's Dog Eat Dog in the Concrete Jungle....

...and I'm tiring of the taste of dog.

Dancing Fool

The Salt Lake City Marathon Bike Tour

Craig and Teal Buchi told me about this ride a couple of years ago and Beth Johnson also recommended it.

It is a little early in the year and they want to get the cyclists out of the way before the marathon starts, so they start the ride at 6am when it is still pretty dark. Thankfully the temperature was pretty nice. There was some fairly strong wind. But, the course is generally downhill with a loss of 575 feet over 25 miles, so I figured it would be fast.

I tried to get together with the Buchis and Jeff Barton to do this ride. But, we didn't hook up. Either way I was going to have to get up early. So I took an ambien and went to bed about 9:30pm. I woke up pretty alert at about 4am out of the blue. After thinking for a while and not feeling very sleepy. I decided to get up and ride up to the U instead of drive.

When I rode last Saturday I went partway up Suncrest. I am such a wimp I didn't even make it to the hardest part. Still farther than I have gone. All the way down I was on my brakes. I guess that wasn't good because last night the cables pulled and loosened the binding screws. I am so glad that didn't happen while descending Suncrest. I tried to repair by rerouting the cables counterclockwise around the screws so it would have a tendency to tighten rather than loosen the screws. However, this severely changes the pulling angle and greatly affects the leverage. I figured this out only shortly into the ride to the Bike Tour start. So I stopped to re-fix. So, I arrived at the start of the ride with about five minutes to spare.

I tried not to push too hard. most of the way there I had a tailwind. I didn't want to start at the back of the pack so I pushed my way into the middle. I wanted to try to call Craig or Jeff. But, didn't feel I had the time. As it was they were late and just exiting the LDS Institute parking lot as we came by. When the ride started, I had about 1:40 or almost a quarter of a mile before I was able to get up to a decent speed because of the crowd and slow riders. I should have arrived earlier and gotten closer to the front of the pack. They said there were about 1900 riders.

Once we got going I felt good and picked out a guy to tail. This was "not a race" and we weren't supposed to draft. But it became apparent pretty quick that a lot of us were racing and drafting. I lost my lead rider when we turned off Foothill to get over to 21st East because he just bombed the downhill. I took it a little easy. We couldn't really see the road well for the first 30 minutes or so. I caught up to him again and really for the most of the rest of the ride he and another guy were in the group I was with.

I would get a little tired but then regain my strength, and just kept thinking I only had to make it to Cotton Bottom because then the wind was at our backs. And boy was I right. After we turned north, we just flew, probably going 27-28 most of the time. Occasionally I felt our group should be going faster. But, then I couldn't even take the lead let alone go off the front. Amateur. I hit one pothole hard that made my handlebars rotate to a lower position. One fellow got slightly stuck in a groove in the road. He didn't get into too much trouble. Another guy right in front of me hit a pothole and went this way and that before regaining control. A few moments later I said, "I'm sure glad you pulled that out." Everyone around me readily agreed.

I lost my group and thereby about 30 seconds off my final time because my cyclocomputer almost fell off and I spent a little time and attention trying to do something about it. As it was, my "official" time was around 1:07:20. To get a better sense of the true speed, I lopped off most of the beginning before I could get up to a normal speed. So, it really ended up to be my fastest ride ever. Even though it was downhill and we had a good tailwind for half of the ride, it is very early in the season. So, I was very pleased with the speed.

I found Craig and Jeff et al at the finish and they offered me a ride home from the U. We had to ride back to the Campus and Craig wanted to take the scenic route which included going up City Creek a ways and doing a lot more work than I had planned on.

CSI

Quick trip to Las Vegas for Brandon and Kelli's wedding.

The drive wasn't too horrible considering we were only there in the city for about 28 hours.

All of us (Mom and Dad, the Porters, us) had much strife about getting lost and following directions.

We stayed at a nice Hotel and Laney got to swim some in their pool.

We had a very nice time at the Groom's dinner. I got to see Tom Grassley for the first time in probably 31 years and meet his wife. We had fun speaking with them and Steve Andreason.

Jensen watched the little kids at Kelli's house during the dinner. It was hectic because there were a lot of kids. But, she made $$$$ and said she still wants to have lots of kids.

Once we actually found it and arrived, the temple was very nice. The sealer was Pres. Bruce Stucki. I recognized his voice right away from his April 2006 conference talk. Joey stole the show when he came in to be sealed to them. He was looking around and waving, not paying attention at all to the ceremony. But, it was very touching to contemplate the great blessing this is to him.

Gioacchino Rossini

Laney had a "great day" on Wednesday. To celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday they had a green eggs and ham breakfast at school. It was a little bit of a fiasco because they found out late that they didn't have authorization to deal with raw eggs in their cafeteria. They soon got someone on sight who was duly trained in the proper handling of all things ovoid and able to spot salmonella bacteria with the naked eye at ten paces and the kids were adequately pleased.
I know the Health department has to worry about making people ill. But, how many lame brains handle eggs every day? Besides I'll bet the green dye kills all germs:)
In the evening all three girls went to a dress rehearsal of "Cenerentola." That's Italian for "little girl who sits in the cinders and goes to dances in glass slippers." Laney was especially excited. I am just glad she was able to sit through almost three hours of it without really being able to understand what was going on. She couldn't read the subtitles very fast, I'm sure. But, then young imaginations are probably pretty good at filling in the blanks when they don't have all the information. All three girls loved it and especially enjoyed seeing Lenore's brother, Dan in the chorus.
Late last night I was switching channels on the tube and came across the first "three Tenors" performance from 1990. I remember Ed showing this to us when they visited once. (He's not really into Opera. But, had really enjoyed watching the interaction of the singers and the conductor.) I watched it again simply for this aspect. I will have to make the big kids watch it for kicks. The setting at the Baths in Caracalla is magnificent.

Jensen Morp (Prom) Picture - Alice and the Mad Hatter

So Jensen's date shows up to get her for the dance and I'm getting acquainted. It turns out to be one of the Young Men in our ward whom I have never met before. We invited him and his family to Church.

Letter from Mommy

Fifty years ago!!!
I remember it well. We were living in Bell, California in a little 2 bedroom apartment at 6524 B Loma Vista Place. (Karl and Diana LeSueur also lived in the same little apartment complex.)

I was expecting you sometime around 27 March 1958. On Dec 26, 1957, I began hemorrhaging. Fortunately, I had elected to go to Dr Richard Clark who was the head of obstetrics at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. He was highly recommended and was LDS. However, it was about a 45 minute drive each way. I don’t remember if he had me come into the office or not. My memory is fuzzy on that. He did tell me that I most likely had Placenta Previa and that I would need to stay down as long as possible. If I could just make it to 34 weeks that the chances of survival for the baby would be greater. My mother came to help and the sisters of the Relief Society were there a lot. On the morning of Feb 11, 1958,1 got out of bed to go to the bathroom and hemorrhaged a large amount of blood. Craig called Dr Clark and he told us to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. We had the old Chevy station wagon at the time and Dr Clark told Craig to make a bed for me in the back and that I was not to sit up at all. With ‘break neck’ speed, Craig got me there and they took me in for an emergency C section.

At the time, Dr Clark was one of the few doctors who was doing a low horizontal incision rather than a vertical incision. The reason being that any future pregnancies would be less likely to rupture the uterus. He told me I would be able to wear a bikini again, too!! Yeah, sure.

They immediately gave me demerol and an epidural. Not many doctors were trained to administer epidurals at that time. He was one of the few. I was awake during the surgery and Dr Clark said I could watch in the mirror above the operating table if I wanted to. That wasn’t too appealing to me, so I declined. I could feel a lot of pulling and pushing going on but otherwise felt fine. I did hear the doctors conversation as they were delivering you. They commented that the umbilical cord was unusually small, about the size of a pencil. One doctor wondered if you might have been oxygen deprived. I think you just conserved your energy because you were very quiet in the womb. They certainly didn’t need to worry about your lack of oxygen —just look at you now and how smart you are!! I told everyone that the Lord wanted you here for a purpose and that you would probably be another David 0 McKay (or at least a Bishop).

You were pretty big for being 7 weeks early. They didn’t weigh you for a few days because you were so fragile. I think they told us that it would be “touch and go” for awhile until they could get you stabilized. We had to leave you in the hospital and in an incubator for 16 days! That was the hard part, especially since we only had one car and we lived so far away. So if you have had any “bonding” issues with your parents that may be the reason why. Hospitals weren’t allowing fathers in delivery rooms or parents in the incubator rooms.

We were left with a hospital bill of $2000 and NO insurance. You were worth every penny!!

We are so grateful that you were sent to us. You are truly a gift from our Father in Heaven. It was a miracle that we both survived. Dr Clark told me that I had lost over 1000 cc of blood and that he had only had one other patient in 10y that had lost that much and survived.

We love you and the wonderful wife you have chosen and our lovely granddaughters!!

PS Karl LeSueur still teases me to this day about the hemorrhaging. We were at their apartment that night playing Hearts when it started. I was losing so he said I had to do this extreme thing to get out of playing with them.

Is that Julie Christie?

Mindy and Shaun Hoke Wedding - Mondo Bizarro/Mormon Philotic Web Redux

We just returned from a very nice but very quick trip to California for the Wedding of nephew Shaun Hoke.

Lenore and I were originally thinking of flying down. But we waited too long and the fares increased. I am certainly glad the brown car works dependably enough to keep making these trips.



Although Lenore was in the midst of a cold she suffered through and I think had some fun.

We stayed with Wade and Kimberly, which I don't think we have ever done. It was very nice and fun. I had about a pound of bacon at breakfast Saturday morning. I had thought of bringing my bike and trying to get a ride in. I didn't. But, could have. Saturday morning after breakfast, I took a nap for a little while. I didn't feel like doing anything.



We met Mindy's family at the dinner Friday night. They were very nice and in many ways reflected and intersected our own family. She has a sister who looks a lot like Lauren. Her mother resembles Kim and her grandmother resembles Bonnie. In fact, Bonnie dated her grandfather (not such a big deal dad says because she dated everyone.) Mindy's great uncle was engaged to Dawna Rozsa when he left on his mission and then his brother (Mindy's grandfather introduced her to Claire Rosza.

One of Mindy's uncles served a two week training mission in the Orange III ward when Wade was Stake Mission president and in fact he resembles Wade.



We got to see Aron. This was the first time Laney has seen him, we think. Chris Hoke was also there. In fact, he missed the birth of a child by a couple of hours because he was in town for the wedding. This is the first time I have seen him in a couple of years and Saturday night he showed me his Super Bowl XL ring and let me touch it.

Brandon and Kelly were there with Joey. Kelly's adoption of Joey was final last week and we got their wedding announcement just a couple of days later.
When grandma and grandpa saw Joey they rhetorically asked him what was happening next month. Kelly had to remind him and then he said, "Oh yeah, we are adopting Brandon!"

The Temple was very nice. We had a tough time being quiet enough in the waiting room and also outside waiting for the couple to emerge.

As always it was great to see California. There is just something about the place, like it is heaven in waiting. Although it rained a little, I'm sure it was much better than Utah. When I napped on Saturday morning I was so groggy and it was quite peaceful. There was very little noise and I didn't feel like there was much pressing for my time.

I enjoyed listening to the roundtable discussion from the latest leadership broadcast on the way down and we all enjoyed Victor Borge on the way back.

Birthday Present Wrapping and Card by Lane

The Legacy of President GBH

President Daw called me within minutes of the passing of President Hinckley. It has always been difficult for me to imagine Pres Monson as the head of the Church. I was surprised that Elder Uchtdorf was chosen as counselor. But, Lenore nailed that one.
I wanted to listen to the funeral. But I also wanted to take a bike ride. I was able to do both by tuning my phone web browser to the Church website and getting the streaming audio feed.
This was possible because of the tecnology. But, more importantly because President Hinckley took advantage of the technology.

Staring Into the Gaping Maw

Yes, I'm turning 50 on Monday. My body confirms it (some arthritis in the hands during the colder months, persistent back problems that I have to stay on top of with stretching and therapy). My mind, however still thinks I'm in my early 30's.
Here's a catch up: If you haven't seen Lars and the Real Girl, Dan in Real Life (common thread here), Music and Lyrics, or The Holiday, they are all pretty good to very good movies.
I haven't written a Christmas letter and at this point, probably won't.
The weather has started to turn a little bit. We've had so much global warming this winter I can't stand anymore. I really think if I was no longer Bishop, we might consider moving somewhere warm.
The last time I rode my bike was 24 Nov until the last Saturday in Jan. I finished last year just 63 miles shy of 4000 miles, all at an average of slightly over 19mph. So far this winter I have managed to keep from gaining too much weight, only up 10 lbs or so fromthe summer.
The Christmas light are still up and probably will be until Easter.
We are all in mourning over the withdrawal of Mitt Romney. However, we are mostly mouring because the "Republicans" couldn't see the good case for his candidacy. We have large swaths of black cloth draped about the house, like the Italians. We may just write him in anyway come November. I don't want McCain. Better to have a real Democrat, than one who disguises himself as a Republican. Let Hillary or Obama be the Carter to Romney's Reagan in 2012.

Laney Pirate

Christmas 2007

We had a great time for Christmas vacation and all, except that it has hardly gotten above 30 degrees since the middle of December and every Saturday since we returned from the river has been rainy or snowy.
Laney has been sick with Strep Throat and stayed home from school a couple of days. She was especially disappointed to miss the pyjama party the Friday before Christmas. She is much better now.
Lenore's mom has an electronic organ in her home along with a concert grand piano. The organ is a the same dual manual version they put in the LDS meetinghouses.
On Christmas Eve, she fired it up and had Leslie accompany her on the piano while 20 voices or so sang Christmas Carols for more than an hour. We really had a great time and probably entertained the neighbors as well.
We had a similar enjoyable time at Kristin and Stuart's on Christmas Eve with grandparents. Thanks Krissy and Stuart for your hospitality and for the nice Christmas Spirit.
I fixed the Turkey on both Christmas and New Years and received "10 compliments." (Smith family joke.)
We went to see "I am Legend" along with 50 million other people on its opening night. The kids really enjoyed it and Lenore and I feel it was really well done. But, it's not our kind of movie, had us on the verge of a heart attack all night long.
Yesterday we watched "Music and Lyrics" with the family and it was well worth it. We were all quite pleased with how cute it was.
I'm sorry the Christmas letter hasn't gone out yet. I am working on it.

Slip Sliding Away

Last winter I was driving to work during one of the snowstorms. I took the road that goes around the Costco because the left turn arrow turned red at 53rd south. Rounding the curve in the Blue Explorer I spun out in the middle of the road. This maneuver elicited a round of applause from the construction crew working on the IHC Death Star hospital.

Fast forward to 1 December this year, the first snowstorm of this winter. I left in the morning to get McDonald's breakfast for everyone. As I pulled onto fashion Boulevard I thought to myself, "these tires feel a little splashy." Not 10 seconds later I found myself going straight when the road curved.

I had lots of time to see what was happening and evaluate and react. I just couldn't stop my slide. The car was going to hit the curb sideways and I didn't like that prospect so at the last minute I turned into the curb and went up onto it with the two front tires. Still sliding sideways I took out one of the no parking signs in front of the old Cottonwood Hospital.

The impact with the sign pretty well destroyed the driver side mirror, put a small dent in the driver side door and destroyed an ornamental quasi running board on the driver side. After we had breakfast I took the car to get new tires. A new mirror cost me about $40. I popped most of the dent out. I have yet to purchase the running board thingy.

I guess I need to drive more carefully around Hospitals.

P.S. I recently found out that the same day, same spot, within a half hour another guy in our ward did the same thing, except he hit the curb sideways and did about $6000 damage to his suspension.

Jensen at Buca on Saturday

Mommy on Bob Lonsberry show

Jensen Doodle in Sunday School Class

Lillywhite Family Letter Submission for Dec 07 (some duplication with last post)

We had a great time at the River seeing everybody. Thanks Ed and Kim! We would have liked to see Aron and Cheryl, though.
Ailsa loves her adorable Lillywhite/Hoke/Porter cousins and swears she is going to try to get down to Utah County to visit with them from time to time.
We enjoyed the beautiful river and its quieting influence. It was especially nice in the late evening, when the sun is setting down- river and everything gets calm. I caught Ed out there one evening taking it in. We enjoyed sitting and chatting with Wade about the Gospel. Laney enjoyed "fishing" with a hook that was big enough to catch a shark. I enjoyed a couple of swings at golf balls and managed to hit one across the river. (This is from someone who has held a golf club maybe four times and most recently "stroked out" (more than 10 strokes) on a hole on a Golf simulator.I tried setting a new personal best on my bike. I was doing a 10 mile sprint and the goal was to break 23 MPH I only did slightly better than 22. I've done better than that in the summer on a longer ride.
We enjoyed going to see Enchanted with almost all of the family. We enjoyed shooting the guns (Tanner was well behaved and a good shot.) Thanks again Ed for getting our Explorer unstuck! Don't worry about the taillight. I got a new one on eBay for $28.90 and it is already in place. I had a fun time building a retaining wall with Sean and Stuart and Clayton. Well, it was really two retaining lumps. But, it looks real good. We enjoyed watching "She's the Man" with everybody Wednesday night. After that we were hardly to be found during the evenings because the kids tricked us into watching the series "Firefly." And most of all we had some really good food (chocolate pie) and got to see all of the cute nieces and nephews again.
On the way back we stopped briefly at Mountain Meadows just north of Saint George a ways. It was very nice. And of course we stopped in Orem for Krispy Kreme donuts.

Thanksgiving Vacation 2007 - River Trip

Last Tuesday night after Jensen got home from her film class at SLCC, we all loaded into the car and headed to Saint George to begin our Thanksgiving vacation. We arrived in 3:45 driving time. In the morning we drove together most of the way with Grandma and Grandpa and Hanna and Katie in grandpa's car.

We arrived at Hotel Hoke about 2pm. Shortly after arriving I went for a shortish ride on my bike. I had the longer crankset on and the Kneesaver pedal extender device on the right side. It was very hard for me to clip in. I think from walking in the gravel. I should probably not do that again. Almost halfway into my ride the right pedal backed out almost all of the way and unfortunately messed up the threads in the crank. I managed to get it back in using the allen wrench on the end of the pedal.


In the morning I went for a ride also. Just as I was parking the car a man turned hs car around and parked behind me. I could see he was dressed in workout gear and wanted to talk. He gave me his card and invited me to ride with him and some friends. I had been wanting to try a 10 mile TT to see if I could get over 23 MPH. This is what I was trying Thanksgiving morning. I didn't quite make it, could only manage a 22 MPH average. I guess I'm in a lot better shape in the summer.

I helped grandma make the chocolate pies for Thanksgiving and then helped Stuart and Sean build small retaining walls for Ed on either side of some steps coming up from his beach. I felt like Stuart and Sean needed to lead on this project so I just kinda helped out where I could see it needed and tried to anticipate their moves.

Friday morning I met with Mark Paterson and his friends Chad and Dave for a ride out to the Havasu dam and back. We stopped at a very nice little cafe a friend of theirs runs 5 miles outside of town. We rode at a pretty good clip. We were pacing for a while and were doing great. Dave needed us to slow down some and the pacing stopped. These were very nice people to ride with.

After returning we decided to go shooting. I got the Explorer stuck on a rock. So we had Ed come pull us off with his jeep. Unfortunately the Explorer rolled into his Jeep and we broke a taillight. We had lots of fun shooting and I shot a hole in a 12 gauge shotgun shell at 25 yards with the revolver.



The whole family went to the movies that afternoon. We went with those watching Enchanted. Mark Paterson and his wife and daughter were there at the same showing. So they got to meet some more of us. On the way home we got pulled over by the local constabulary on account of the broken taillight. Family passing in other cars were concerned that he might find the firearms that were still in the back of the Explorer. He was very friendly and didn't write me up. I think the two broken pieces of taillight sitting on my bumper helped convince him that my story was true, we had just broken it earlier in the day.

We spent most of our nights with the big kids watching and enjoying immensely "Firefly."

We left town on Saturday right after BYU beat the U in their football game. For some time Lenore has been wanting to visit mountain meadows. So we made a small trip through there on the way home.

For the most part our trip was very enjoyable. We still have problems with Laney getting bored in the car and not knowing what is appropriate behavior for interacting with her older sisters.


Laney "fishing" off the dock. She had a HUGE hook on the line.

The Smuths (Brogue)

The Joseph Fielding Smith family reunion was on Monday the 12th. It was fairly enjoyable. The last few years they seem to have learned that it is best to keep the meeting to 1 hour. Elder Ballard came in a sat right in front of us next to uncle Spencer. Then when Janet came down after she gave the opening prayer, he moved to the other side of Spencer so she could sit next to her husband. He ended up sitting between Ailsa and Spencer.

The moderator complained that we only ever hang out with and talk to the immediate cousins, so she did that silly new age thing where you take a minute or two to introduce yourself to your neighbor. I took the opportunity to speak briefly with Elder Ballard. He is descended from Edna. I mentioned his Conference talk where he noted that the Ballards were converted by Joseph Kimber in Thatcham England and told him Ailsa had attended Kimber Academy.

Lenore and I were praying that Ailsa wouldn't say anything inappropriate. On our way home we expressed our gratitude to Ailsa that she had behaved herself. She said, "Oh, is that who that was? I thought he looked kinda familiar."

Not Oakley Rodeo

We had our annual Bishop's retreat the second weekend in Novemeber. Rather than go to the Sorenson cabin near Oakley, the Stake Presidency put us up in the Marriot Hotel downtown and treated us like kings. We ate lots of good food and spent a very nice night in the Hotel. President Daw and his wife had a wonderful suite on the 15th floor. We ate at the Elevations restaurant twice, had room service for breakfast with their very yummy house granola.

We toured the Church History museum and then the Tabernacle, got to see some areas underground that not many are shown. And, we had a very nice instructional/testimony meeting at the end, right before lunch at the Lion House. Above is a picture from our Hotel room, looking right through where the old mall used to be.

In Honor of George H.W.

We've had a tree in our backyard since the very beginning that has gotten very large. A couple months ago the power company told us that we needed to trim it away from the power lines.
I borrowed an electric pole trimmer from Brent Gardner and did this on Saturday. I wasn't sure this tool was going to do the job. But, it worked out great. Many of the branches were too thick to have cut any other way. Jensen helped and we mostly cut just lower branches. A secondary motive for doing this was to allow a little more sunlight on the peach tree that is nearby. After we got done the tree looks like a broccoli.
Many of the branches I cut up for firewood. I was planning later on getting a big dumpster or a chipper/shredder to dispose of the smaller branches. They ended up in a pile on the back lawn and it was soon evident what was going to become of these. Jensen and Laney started working on a little hut made from these remainders. It's exactly the kind of thing I would have done when I was young. It will probably be there now through the winter. Jensen said it was a really fun day. She especially liked climbing in the tree to fasten a rope to branches so we could try to keep them falling on our side of the fence.

Journal Entry Kinda Sorta

Many of you are wondering about Ailsa's writing. Things are kinda on hold for now. She is still writing. But, school eats up a lot of time. Probably needs to focus on one story at a time. That has never been her style. Her latest "Andwyrden" that I was helping her edit, she wants to majorly rework. This after the first three books were in finished form and the fourth was nearly there. I think she feels a little bummed that Stephanie Meyer has stepped into the vampire romance arena before she could have a crack at it.
Jensen is trying to do everything and mostly succeeding. She is the one who brings the most sunshine and the least amount of strife into the household. She and Ailsa get along swimmingly, which we love. But, often Laney feels left out.
I haven't been cycling nearly as much the last couple of weeks. The weather is much colder and it is too dark in the morning to drag myself out of bed. I will occasionally get a ride in during the evening of a weekday and sometimes on Saturdays. But, the last 4 or 5 weekends have been gloomy while the weeks have generally been great. Figures.
I recently changed the first counselor in my Bishopric and the new guy is helping to inject a little but of new vigor into our efforts. I didn't initiate the change. But, now it seems like it was probably a good thing.
Laney is following in her sister's footsteps and is very conscientious about completing all of her school work and not getting into trouble at school. She is growing her hair out so she can donate it to locks of love. It is almost long enough without having to give her a crew cut when she is shorn. I think I'll do the same thing. Do you think the Stake President will mind?
We had the Bishopric over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and Lenore fixed a very yummy meal. Roasted pork and creamed corn and roasted potatoes. She has been reading a lot lately about the Mountain Meadows massacre and the Polygamists. If there is ever any controversy she wants to read about it.
We went as a family to see Transformers last Saturday and enjoyed it a lot. We are all pretty big Shia LeBeouf fans. Did anyone else notice the fairly marked Religious/Conservative memes in this film?
We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving together and enjoying The Hoke's river house. Thanks Kim and Ed!

Naughtius Maximus Numero Trois

Almost every time I come into the house from the garage, Tommy is waiting there trying to get out. He often succeeds. He probably spends a lot of time outdoors every day. We try to limit his outside play, though, mostly because of the unfortunate episode from his past when he stayed out for about 36 hours and scared everyone.
He's pretty good about coming back though. We often leave the garage door slightly up for him and often find him waiting on top of one of the cars for us to let him in the house.
Nearly once a week he will return from his romp in the neighborhood without his collar. We know he gets into scraps with other cats. I imagine some neighborhood bully cat with a series of cat collars painted on the side of his litter box.
When he was young he would climb the canopy of our bed a lot. At a certain age, or perhaps a certain body size, he stopped doing it. However, now that young Digory is around and climbing the canopy, Tommy has taken to it again. It is funny to see them tightrope walk the rails with their tails whipping around like a propeller.
They will often just perch near a cross member where they can balance more easily with three paws on one axis and a fourth on another. I have fun teasing them when they are in that position. I touch tap them on the fourth, outboard paw. They can't just pick it up because they would lose their balance. They try to swipe at my hand. But, they aren't very well poised to do that either.
A couple of times Digory has jumped from the canopy to the top of the bookcase. The other night he spent most of the night sleeping in a basket on top of the bookcase.

Italian FHE at Young's

Saturday after I had been out and came back home, Lenore told me that Michelle Young had called and said and Italian Saint was here visiting in town and would we like to come over for a Family Home Evening Monday night. Lenore couldn't remember who it was. So, I was a little surprised to arrive monday night and find Giuseppe Pasta. You would think that Lenore could remember the name "Pasta."
We had an enjoyable evening with Brother and Sister Pasta and the Burrups, Ashbys, Bensons and Youngs.
I most likely met Brother Pasta on mymission when I was in Torino, before he moved to near Bergamo.
Brother Pasta told us how things were going in Italy. He has served as the Church Public Relations head for some time. He has previously served as Stake and mission President. Last June he was at Palazzo Chigi for the signing of an agreement that further formalizes the Church's standing in Italy. This is one of the hurdles that needs to be cleared before a Temple can be built there. It still needs to be retified by Parliament. He said that there really aren't enough members attending the Madrid and Swiss temples right now to warrant a temple in Italy. Most of the people who attend the Swiss temple are Italians.

Jensen's Senior Picture

Labor Day Hot Tub Pic

The Heavyside Layer

You know how our family is with nicknames. The latest for the cats are: Tommy is called "He who must not be tamed." He is the more manly in attitude and demeanor of the two males. He struts around looking very tough. He's always trying to get outside so he can go marauding with his homies. Last week he got out and Jensen tried to lure him back with some catnip (Kitty Crack). He attacked her arm and she has really bad scratches and a bite, scarred for life. Digory's name is evolving to Diggy and then the logical progression of Doggy and now also Snoop Diggy Dogg. Funny thing is I think he is actually tougher when it comes to fighting than Tommy is. But he looks and walks like a bit of a pansy. Here's some fun video of Digory the first time we put a collar on him. He does some really funny dance moves.

Jordanelle Triathlon

Near the end of July when I was doing all my riding. Barry Miller at work mentioned that he was doing the Jordanelle Triathlon this year. We got to talking and put together an ARB team to compete against him. Darren did the mile swim, I did the 25 mile bike and Tom did the 5.2 mile run.

This was kinda fun. It was held Saturday 25 August and took a big chunk of the day. It was very cold when we got to Francis. I was glad I brought a sweatshirt. There was much standing around waiting for the start. But, I entertained myself chatting with the other Olympic Relay cyclists.

By the time Darren got to the transition after the swim I was the only one in that group left who hadn't started yet. I did manage to pass five of the relay riders on my leg because we came in fifth overall and there wasn't anyone on the run who was significantly faster than Tom. The ride was tough. The route had a slight incline on the way out. They say on a TT that you should hold back a little for the first third or so. But, knowing it was a slight downhill on the way back I felt I should push about as hard as I could. Still, I didn't want to blow up.

I managed to keep my average heart rate quite close to my maximum. I maxed out at 173 and the average was 167 for the whole race and 169 for the first half. There was one rider who I was behind for several miles trying to catch and pass. It was a 56 year old woman. So I gave her some praise and encouragement when I did pass her. I did the ride at a 20.8 mph pace which was second overall for the Men's Olympic Relay. I averaged 24.66 MPH for the second half.

The shuttle system after the race was really backed up with a long line. So, I rode my bike back into Francis to get the car. There was one climb on this route that I wasn't looking forward to. Many people were riding back. But, most of them walked their bikes up the hill.

I saw the Buckwalters, Scotty Johnston, and Bishop Workman who was there cheering on a son and son in law. Maybe we will do this next year. I hope to have a TT bike by then.

ITT

After the 1000 mile month in July, I took 2 days off from riding and then on Friday 3 August I did a time trial to see if I could better my best average speed for a 20 mile plus ride. I stayed down in the drops the whole time and tried to concentrate on keeping my shoulders low and using a low cadence. I managed to do the ride in just slightly over one hour and upped my best average speed from 21.8 to 22.3, which seems like a significant increase, meaning I can do better still. I got up to 35.6 mph in a dead sprint while merging into the left turn for Vine Street. Then on the little rise up from the creek near the Church I also sprinted and just about blacked out.

San Clemente Redux

This year at San Clemente was marked with good weather (very little cloudiness) warm water (in the low 70's most of the time) and perhaps a little less noise and confusion around the apartments because of the maturing group of kids.

We stopped in Saint George and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa both on the way there and on the way home. I flew home Saturday the 11th and back early Monday the 13th, so I wouldn't miss three Sundays in a row and so I could attend Tyler Schumann's missionary farewell. I saw Shauna Robbins and her daughters on the way home and Missy's Dave on the way back.

I haven't flown since the increased airline security of a couple of years. Boy, what a hassle. I'm surprised there hasn't been mass revolt.

We were awakened about 7am the first Monday morning with construction going on right next door. We were reminded of our Italian vacation and how the generous landlord dealt with a similar problem.

The first night I was repeatedly awakened by Ameer who was pounding his head on the floor because he couldn't sleep. We fixed that real quick and told him to quit doing it.

Despite some attempts I didn't see Chris or Stuart or Toni this trip. We borrowed Ed's very nice new unused surfboard (10'2" Robert August) and the two boards that we usually borrow from Sean and did as much surfing as possible. I think we might have missed two days. The best day for me was the second Tuesday when we went to "Old Man's." I had a great time and was finally getting the hang of it again. But, I was always sore; my arms and shoulders and my knees. Near the end of each session I could barely push myself up off the board.

I didn't go cycling a ton, only 219 miles and only saw one rabbit. My last ride a guy on a Carbon Kuota TT bike passed me right before the turnaround. I caught up to him. But, every time I went to pass him I couldn't fight the wind. So, I just stayed in his slipstream for about 8-9 miles.

I didn't get called an old man like last year. But, once while I was lying with my eyes closed on the hard sand near the tideline I overheard someone ask, "is he dead?"

There was really only one day where there were some OK bodysurfing waves. Of course, when I picked up the boards from Sean he said, "you should have been here last week."

Laney got braver and braver in the water throughout the stay until she was using the boogie board a little and playing in the smaller waves. On the last day I took her out to where the big people hang out and she had fun with me holding her. I got her into a little trouble with one larger wave though. I tried to get her out past where it would break. But, we didn't make it. So, I tried to throw her over it. She came up sputtering. But, not to much worse for wear.

We ate plenty of Cassano's pizza and soft serve ice cream cones. The kids went to the Spectrum one day and I went with Ailsa and Jensen to see Bourne Ultimatum one night. We have so much fun on this vacation, it makes it hard to leave.

Cute Kids at Puggas House

Brave Laney at the Beach 2007

She likes "the bumps without the white stuff."

Mini Toor day Frants (Tour de Todd)

This was a chemical free event. Not a dope free event.

In slightly under 52 hours of riding time I rode 1000 miles during the month of July.

At the beginning of the year on BikeJournal.com someone started a thread about stating your goals out loud. So, I chimed in and said I would do 1000 miles in July. As I got closer to the month I came to realize that it wouldn't be so easy.

Some of the obstacles I had to overcome:

Hottest July on record for Salt Lake Area with an average temperature of 84 degrees. This wouldn't be a big deal. But, our AC at home went out for a couple of days.

Breaking in a new saddle. Actually I had it about 2 weeks before the beginning of the month. But, when I started to ride longer distances, I began to experience some soreness. I took a couple days off and then I was pretty good.

During this time I thought my chances of meeting the goal were next to nil. I only did about 130 miles the second week. But then that second Saturday I rode in the evening and realized I could maybe still make it.

We finally figured out a sleep disorder that I have been dealing with really for years. It kinda came to a head and I couldn't get to sleep early enough to wake up early enough. I got some medication to help me sleep. Then, the problem was I didn't want to get up in the morning. After some experimentation, I am taking half a dose half as often as the Doctor said and it seems to be working great.

Had to fit in two overnight campouts.

We had bad air quality because of rampant wildfires in the State. This bothered my throat for a couple of days.

We had several episodes of season four of "24" we had to watch.

I managed to steer clear of all the thundershowers.

My knee gave me almost no trouble, which is very untypical when I increase my mileage.

At the end I was ranked 909 in BikeJournal.com for my overall mileage. I probably won't stay there.

I expected my average speed to suffer quite a lot because it usually does when I increase my riding. I kept it up though and did the whole month over 19 mph average and slightly higher than all of my solo miles last year.

It was probably a good thing to do since I was kind of aimless and lackadaisical about my riding in June.

But, I probably won't be doing this again anytime soon.

For the Lillywhite Family Letter

Laney is turning into a real fish. In the Spring you couldn't get her to consider swimming lessons. Now, she doesn't need them. I think she will have a great time at the beach in San Clemente. Jensen is struggling through the classes she has to take to finish with her AA degree by next year. Both she and Ailsa have devoured the Harry Potter book. Ailsa had it read in 48 hours. They have also seen the new movie 3 times. We will see it soon. Ailsa has mono and is certain she is dying of cancer. Her publisher (a little mom and pop operation) folded so she has no deal cooking on any of her books. But, we think we have a good lead on a publisher through one of Lenore's cousins. Lenore is feverishly reading the latest Mountain Meadows Massacre book. I tell her she really needs to counsel with her Bishop about reading that stuff. I'm 750 miles into a 1000 mile month on my bike. Looks like I will make it.

Ailsa and Lane at Hotel Hoke on the Colorado River

The girls are safely back from Parker, AZ. They skirted the Milford Flat fire on Sunday during a short opening of I-15. They had a great time and are none the worse for the wear.

We weren't able to go to the River to stay at Kim's house near Parker this July. I don't have a lot of vacation time to spare and Jensen is taking a class that she can't miss. But, Ailsa and Lane went.

We were a little apprehensive about Ailsa driving with Kiddo. But, from Spanish Fork to Saint George she caravaned with the Porters and then from Spanish Fork they drove with the Grandparents in their car. On the way back from Saint George she and Laney will be alone, I think. It was a little hard to get over the anxiety of letting them go and questioning their safety. But, all reports are that they are having a great time and Laney is behaving herself.

I've been trying to ride 1000 miles this month on the bike. But, as of today I am behind. On the 4th I rode 60 miles and it wasn't too bad. After the last turn home around the RR tracks in Draper I saw a couple of riders up ahead of me and set out to catch them. The first rider wasn't too hard to overtake. But, I didn't catch up with the second rider for about 4 miles. And it was a girl. We were going around 24 MPH. I fell in behind her for a while and then passed her. But, she kept me close. Then we got stopped at a light. Same thing, I fell in behind and then tried to pass her and it took forever. Finally, she turned on "Creek" road.

Later in the afternoon we went to Leslie's to swim in the pool. Right before dinner I was really enjoying just lying on the floaty mat and soaking in the Sun. It was wonderful. I could have fallen asleep.

Wednesday Last

Last week we had a lot of things going on. Tuesday night was the wedding dinner for Kathy Pedersen and Cyrus Hanks. Kathy is a sweet girl from a very nice family. We would like to get more activity out of her parents. But, thankfully they have gotten her off to a good start in life. Her husband's family is very strong and nice. The dinner was wonderful.

On Wednesday noon Kathy and Cyrus were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. The sealer was GA Emeritus Philip Sonntag. He was a bit of a cut up. He said he married his wife 10 days after he got home from his mission and it was the worst decision of his life.... He should have married her 9 days earlier.

I am told that they routinely admonish the Sealers at the Temple to keep their remarks to 20 minutes or so because of backlog on the sealing rooms. I think Brother Sonntag took about 50 minutes.

Cyrus' family lives in Sandy a little further East than the Smiths. Their Bishop is Bruce Lindsay, local TV anchorman and personality. We got to meet him a chat a little while at the Temple.

Morendo Jusqu'à la Fin

Ailsa and Jensen had a piano recital last night. It was very nice. Thankfully it wasn't very long. Malena Moore's sister also had her students there. They were all very young except for my kids. I was a little surprised that one of the students played "chopsticks." She also played another more complicated and less plebeian piece that proved she was capable of more.

Jensen played an original composition and Edvard Grieg's 2nd piano concerto (I think). She did very well. Right as she was beginning the Grieg number she started on the wrong notes. Ala Napoleon Dynamite she muttered "dangit" under her breath and started over on the right notes.

Ailsa played the first two movements of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." She says she considered going on and on with the first several bars as Victor Borge would do. She did very well and puts a lot of emotion and dynamic into the piece. It's such a nice number. I have to admit that I don't recall hearing the second movement much. But, I like it a lot. Makes me think of an "art" song such as I sang when I was taking voice lessons.

Malena then played the third movement of the Sonata. It was also very lovely. What a workout!

Stake Girls Camp

We have a really nice Stake camping property located east of I-80 just opposite of Rockport lake. The young women in the Stake just got done with a four day "rough" camp and the Bishopric was invited to attend last night.





As you can see from the picture of Jensen, the girls can be pretty silly. Nothing like Boy Scouts. I think everyone needs to get out into nature once in a while to correct their perspective.

Besides, it's fun to play with a camp fire and roast marshmallows.

This is the kind of dandelion we get in our yard!

And Lenore wanted me to leave it alone.

Pirates!!!!

Rachel Serna Sealing

On Cinco de Mayo we went to the Salt Lake Temple in the morning for the sealing of Raquel (Rachel) Serna to Merlin....?

Rachel was sent on a mission from our ward. She and her sister joined the Church shortly before I was put in as Bishop and moved here from McAllen Texas. Her sister struggled some with the Gospel.

We were happy to nurse Rachel along and onto a mission. She was great. Her return was only last December.

The sealing was very nice. I recognized many who were likely missionary companions. One of the Elders who taught and baptized her was there and it was sweet to see the joy in their embrace.

Both Lenore and I were very moved by the Spirit when we greeted her after the Ceremony.

We also went to the party that evening. Thank goodness for mobile Google maps because it was in North Salt Lake (not SLC as we assumed) which is really south Bountiful. We wouldn't have found it without my palm.

There was lots of Mexican ranchero music and somewhat ethnic food, which was quite yummy.

Rubeus Hagrid - The Cat

Is on her last legs. She was actually named after a Donald Fagen song, Ruby Baby. she is about 15 years old. I guess the timing of Digory's arrival was fortuitous.

Her sister and litter mate, Maxine died almost two years ago. Ruby was fat, but for the last couple of years has only weighed about 3 ounces.

She had a stroke last night and can't move around well at all.

When I came home after a meeting last night Lane mentioned that she asked mommy if her nose was running. She intimated that she actually knew Lenore was crying. But, "it's not polite to ask if someone is crying." She seems to be getting a lot of exposure to impolite questions from one of her classmates.

Young Womanhood Recognition Dinner

At the JSMB 3 May 2007.

DDR - Dance Dance Revolution

We went to Lane's semiannual dance-a-palooza last night. Sometimes these are fun. Fortunately, they keep them to around and hour.

My comment dovetails into the standing ovation and three curtain calls at the Wilberg Requiem the other night and the behavior of the crowd at the Sean Hannity and Rocky Anderson debate last Friday.

Utahns don't know how to behave in an audience. At the debate people were constantly yelling things from the audience.

Last night, same thing. They cheer on their dear little Johnny or Susie like they were at a basketball game and hoot at every chance. I'm sorry, the performance isn't about you or your little kid. They cheer wildly and fawn on their kids as if they just won an Olympic Gold Medal. These are the same people who wouldn't know the difference between a William Hung and a Kelly Clarkson.

I'm afraid Ailsa bore the brunt of it. The most vocal and loudest fan was seated right behind her. Too much wooting. Too much people.

Happy Wanderers

Val-deri,Val-dera,Val-deri,Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Just some final notes on our most recent trip to California.

The car, although aging, performed wonderfully. Through the years we have enjoyed a lot of good Kharma with our cars (Carma?)

Lenore kept us entertained a lot with input from the Mad Board, Mormon Apologetics and Discussion Board. Two main topics absorbed our time, differences (degree of leniency) between Bishops in dealing with repentance of members and the Word of Wisdom as a Covenant. This last one was a Red Herring. The Board members should have been smart and stopped it in the bud. They allowed the person posing the question to establish incorrect definitions without challenging her on it.

I managed to get in one short bike ride in Saint George on my Dad's bike. I went down River Road past the AZ State line a couple of miles. The road turns to dirt after the border so it's really not the best ride.

The family was really great and for the most part got along very well. Laney managed to barf again just as we were arriving into Barstow. We gave her some Dramamine. But, Ailsa accused her of palming it because it didn't put her to sleep.

Of course, we stopped at In-N-Out in Barstow both ways.

Lenore and I sang with cousin Beth at the Orange III ward on Sunday 22 April. We sang Sally DeFord's arrangement of "Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire." It went very well, and it was good to see some of the old timers. Saw Paul Snow and Cindy Baron Cowdell.

I didn't forget to take my Beta Blockers and used them for the Wedding Ceremony (I was quite nervous) and the song.

We had to make it back home Monday night in time to watch Heroes since it was the first new episode in about a month.

We stopped in Orem for Krispy Kreme donuts because Ailsa has a 2 for 1 (dozen) card.

Yo Gabba Gabba

While we were at Disneyland, Christian was filming with Elijah Wood. Again, Ailsa and Jensen had to be restrained.

I suggested that at least once he should have told him, "I made a promise, Mr. Frodo!"

Flammis Acribus Addictis

We went to the newly refurbished Tabernacle Saturday evening at the invitation of ScaryEllen to see performances of the Mozart Requiem and the new Wilburg Requiem. It was very nice. Everyone needs to go to a live performance once in a while to remember how much better they are than recordings.

Now, I'm a pretty big fan of Mack Wilburg and he is very talented. But, I didn't love his Requiem. I did like the main orchestral theme and the haunting music of the "O Nata Lux." I might add that these were some of the things people I talked to liked the least. I didn't go for the one movement that was mainly Baritone solo. I think it was the 23rd Psalm movement. I found it very recitative sounding, without a musical line. If it was the 23rd Psalm movement, that is unfortunate because Mack Wilburg did a lovely arrangment of "My Savior Will Supply My Need" that is way better.

True to form the Utah audience had to give standing ovations at the drop of a hat and three curtain calls for Mack and Craig Jessop.

Harbor and Katella

We had been planning on visiting Disneyland (the Happiest Place on Earth) on Friday 20 April while we were in California for Elizabeth's wedding. As the day approached it was looking more and more like it would be a rainy day. Lenore was very pleased with the very nice weather in CA when we arrived Thursday afternoon, and justifiably disappointed when we awoke in the morning to rain.

Not to despair, We had been to the Magic place once before when it was drizzly and it was a great time because mainly only the die-hards go to the park when it is rainy. This time didn't disappoint either.



We had tried to find our stash of ponchos before leaving home. But, no such luck. Ed was able to turn up a couple of raincoats for me and Lenore. He was sure he had about 15-20 ponchos in his attic (probably emblazoned with the Steelers logo). But, he couldn't find them. We stopped at Target in FV and picked up a couple of $1.00 ponchos for the big kids and a nicer smaller (but still almost too big) poncho for Laney, and a couple of hats.

The park was only mildly populated and most lines were quite short. Seriously, we spent more time in line at a Churro cart than we did for the last two times on Pirates and the last time on Haunted Mansion, combined!!! They should have vendors like at baseball games throwing those things to grateful customers. There is a really big demand for them. That's one of the treats we look forward to when going to D-land.

There was one 20 minute or so period where it was really raining too hard. We went on the Jungle Cruise and Jensen was sitting right next to one of the poles supporting the tarp and water was just draining onto her head. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear most of the lame jokes the guide was saying. After that, still in the downpour, we went to Big Thunder Mountain.



Ever since the first time I rode on Pirates of the Caribbean, I've wanted to eat in the Blue Bayou restaurant. It has been a childhood dream of Lenore's too. A month ago Ailsa called and made a reservation. We had a great time with wonderful food. The kids went Cajun with Gumbo and Jambalaya. Lenore and I had the best short ribs ever. Laney was having difficulty eating because of a loose tooth. So, I pulled it out right there in the restaurant. Later I thought we should have made a wish and tossed it into the lagoon.

While waiting in line at the Matterhorn I overheard a DSA (Disneyland Service Announcement) that went something like: "Due to inclement weather the Electric parade has been cancelled. We invite you instead to enjoy Mickey's Rainy Day Cavalcade!!!!" I envisioned a techie placing a cd in a player somewhere in the bowels of the park and putting it on endless repeat.

Jensen finally got to go on the Indiana Jones ride. Every time in the past when she has tried to go, it was broken down. This ride is actually quite fun, and if you notice it seems like it takes up a huge area. We weren't sure that Laney could go on it. She didn't seem like she was quite tall enough. But we puffed up the hood of her poncho and no one seemed to care. She thought is was great. Later in the day we tried to go again. The lady at the beginning of the line checked her height and let her in line. Later, right before boarding the jeeps, another worker pulled her out of line and checked her height. She was about 1/4 inch too short and he wouldn't let her on. This made her cry. We called him a height Nazi. I made that last part up. I went with Ailsa and Jensen, and Laney recovered from the anxiety and embarrassment soon enough. We should have had her wear slightly taller shoes.



I had to leave the park for a little while in the evening for the wedding rehearsal. But, we connected up again and stayed there until about 10:30 when we were mostly beat.

The fireworks show was very fun and beautiful. Interesting shapes of explosions, like hearts and cubes.

A couple of notes. There is a racket of renting wheelchairs and motorized (little weasel) wheelchairs for those feigning handicaps and too delicate to be on their feet all day. And lo and behold there is an upside for such people. They get to go right to the head of the line without a fastpass . I did actually see two women who obviously needed wheelchairs. But, they were the kind you propel with your hands. I'd like to have the wheelchair concession at Disneyland.

Pirates has a couple of updates. They play some of the soundtrack music from the movie. They've added Captain Jack Sparrow in three places. The first mannequin is extremely lifelike. We had to restrain Ailsa and Jensen. Right before you enter the lagoon with the sea battle, they have added an oilcracker screen that you ride through and they project a video image of Davey Jones on the smoke. It is pretty cool.

Digory - New Kitty

Tommy is not so sure about him yet. But, just look at him, how cute! We think he doesn't look very cat-like, more like a cross between King Juilan and a Red Panda.

Fountain Valley

In California we stayed at Kim and Ed's new House. It was elegant. Darrell is somewhat disappointed that I didn't take video of it. It didn't even cross my mind. The house has a basement (very unusual for California) and then two 15 foot(?) levels with a very ample attic. Besides the normal sized garage for Kim's car there is a gargantuan two bay 30 foot high (on one side) garage for Ed's stuff.

The main floor has two suites for guests. The upper floor also has two suites (Katy's and Shaun's) and the master bedroom. Ailsa and Jensen slept in the sewing room. Ed has a large office and Hoke Depot storage upstairs as well.

I understand that Ed has had this parcel of land for a while. He and his partner developed it with five homes. They each kept one and sold the remaining three for somewhere over $4 million.

Ed has a "farm" in the back as well as a "ranch" and a sort of BBQ pit that also doubles as a nifty wading/relaxing pool, easily filled in about 45 minutes and then drained when not in use.

Many people who live in the area are from Viet Nam. A couple who was considering buying the house across the cul de sac from Ed and Kim had their Feng Shui master look at it first. He did not recommend it because their view is dominated by the imposing Hoke house. They left the home for someone else to purchase.

California is an amazing place. There is so much affluence and wealth and people. The entrepreneurial spirit thrives. The Hoke's next door neighbor has an ethnic grocery store. Their delivery van is plastered with advertising for breast augmentation surgery. Thankfully, the "graphics" are not too racy.

Elizabeth's Wedding

We went down to California the long weekend of 19-23 April for my niece Elizabeth's wedding. We had a great time and did lots.

Elizabeth was married in a Civil ceremony at which I officiated at the Tustin Hills Racquet Club to David Gerns on 21 April. It was a very nice day. The ceremony was originally planned for the field outside. But, rains on Friday made the grass too soggy. So, it was performed on the patio just outside the reception hall.

Wade and the spouses wrote a talk for me to give that was very nice. You can read it here.
We had fun visiting with all of the Rozsa kids who were there. Danny Rozsa was not able to attend. I also visited with David Cluff. He insists that my present job is just a cover for my secret work for the Government.

It was fun to see Sean, and Aron came with Sheryl, who we met for the first time.

David and Kathy Cluff's oldest daughter sang a song for the couple's first dance and did a great job. She was dressed rather late 60's and Lenore mused if "Lulu" from "To Sir With Love" was performing for us.

MacArthur Maze Conspiracy

Truck Crash and fire collapses main freeway artery in Oakland.

I think the real news story here is the conspiracy. We all know that jet fuel, ...er gasoline can't burn hot enough to melt steel. There must be an insidious Bush/Rove/Cheney plot to increase their stranglehold on our rights and fatten their wallets with the contracts to rebuild Oakland. I hear that seismic records show an explosion at the time of the accident that couldn't have come from the tanker.

Overcoming PC Color Blinders

We went to the Temple last night along with several people from the ward. As I was walking through the lobby a very pretty black sister came out of the "women's" area and needed to communicate something to her husband who was in the "men's" area. So she asked me if I could try to find him. She described him as medium height with very closely cropped hair and his name was Mike. Now I could just march in there and start asking for "Mike." But, there was a very large 600 pound elephant in the room nobody was acknowledging. After a pregnant pause I asked her, "...and is he black?" She confirmed that he was. Now armed with this information I knew I would have no trouble at all identifying her husband in the midst of largley white-bread Mormon America.

Hello Dahly

We had dinner last Saturday at the Smiths because Rashid and Humera and kids were there visiting the Mughals. Now, I don't automatically go in for Pakistani food. But, it can at least be an adventure. I thought it might clear out my cold. No such luck.

Joan had some tasty brie and wasa-like flatbread to put it on as well as chips and guacamole.

Laney is usually too busy playing with the kids in the cul de sac to get serious about eating until shortly before we want to leave. Lenore was "helping" her with her dinner and gave her a piece of the flatbread. Laney chewed it awhile and then pronounced,"it tastes like I'm eating a decoration." I had no idea she was so well versed in the consumption of ornamental food.

Poltergeist Unveiled

Months ago we borrowed a "Shark Tale" DVD from Joan and Darrell. Lenore placed it in the machine and then got distracted and when she came back to play it for Laney. It was gone. She claimed Poltergeists. I said, "Yes, dear" and secretly arranged for psychiatric counselling. We never found the disc and never returned the empty box. We searched everywhere. Some movie critics might ask, "why?"

Yesterday, Laney watched another DVD borrowed from the Smith Library, Chicken Little. Again critics are asking, "why?" After the viewing, it remained in the machine in its perpetual loop. Finally, Lenore pushed the eject button and the drawer opened and "voila" no DVD.

So, armed with a phillips screwdriver a Haris Scalpel and some 3.0 silk I carefully opened the machine, thereby voiding the warranty on our 5+ year old, $35 DVD player. There is an awful lot of empty space inside those black boxes. Stacked neatly at the back of the device were the two lost DVDs. Laney rejoiced. I said, "why?"

Really Young Women's Conference

We went to the Young Women's Conference Last Saturday. Laney had to go with us because Ailsa was at work and we didn't have any other babysitter. She did pretty well. But near the end she was growing restless and asked Lenore how much more there was. Lenore told her, "after this speaker, President Hinckley will talk and he is the last speaker." Laney replied, "President Hinckley?...is he still alive!?"

Cyclist's Translation Guide

I ran into this on BikeJournal.com:

Cyclists are the biggest sandbaggers and secret trainers around. They'll say anything to soften you up for the kill. Don't let this happen to you. Study this handy rider's phrasebook to find out what they really mean when they say:

http://spokesandbeans.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/bike-lingo/

I'm Looking Over....

Actually, last Friday (16 March) I was looking over a Bluefield, WV City Directory from the 1940's and found pressed between the pages a four-leaf clover. It was amusing so I showed the other researchers. They thought it was amusing too. But, nobody seemed terribly interested in it so I threw it in the trash.

I didn't realize that Lenore was descended from Leprechauns and that I would incur the wrath and fury of seven year's bad luck by disrespecting this precious keepsake. I promised to try to rescue it from the dustbin if it was still there today. No such luck. Beware the Ides of March.

"Definitely the Coolest Guy in the Room"

Oh Brother!

Yes, we watched the Oscars. And for the most part we enjoyed it.

Ellen Degeneres got panned. But, we liked her.

Most of the dresses were very nice.

The only really political jab was quite funny, about the 2000 election.

The nominations for Best Movie were a little pathetic.

I wanted Peter O'Toole or Will Smith to win instead of Forest Whitaker. But, he did look good as Idi Amin.

But, the worst travesty was giving the Music award to An Inconvenient Pooch instead of Dreamgirls. They was robbed.

Professional movie people still don't know how to write or give a speech, or speak using a microphone.

Al Gore getting credit for the lame power point presentation and being allowed to give an acceptance speech for the Oscar is like Viggo Mortenson accepting the award for LOTR ROTK for Best Movie. He wasn't the Director or Producer. He was one of the players.

Helen Wheels

The drive home from Saint George was interesting and comical. We had to be home in time to watch "24", so we could catch up on all the new torture techniques we might need to employ if we ever encounter some unsuspecting Muslim neighbor.

We stopped at the outlet mall and bought an insufficient quantity of unneeded chocolates and goodies. After we got on the road the kids settled into their routines. Ailsa was clackity clacking away on some story. Laney and Jensen were watching Corpse Bride. And mom was browsing one of her favorite websites and mumbling about how difficult it is to the use the browser on my Treo.

The storm set in and soon we were tooling along at 30-40 mph behind a long line of cars in the passing lane not passing the occasional car in the "slow" lane. I had to keep turning the defroster on to clear the windows. But, then we would start roasting in the car. With the blue Explorer it's either all or nothing. Pretty soon the windshield wipers were so clogged with ice that they only serviced a very small swath of the windshield. I'm hunching down to try to see through the tiny patch of clear in front of me and still grumbling about the drivers in the passing lane apparently afraid to cross the 3/8ths inch of deadly snow separating the two lanes of traffic.

We dug into the goodies and quickly consumed all of the chocolate and the most thin and tenders bits of seanut brittle (see spongebob). Not wanting to bother Lenore, who is speckled with pieces of chocolate and carmel, I hold the steering wheel in my knees and try to break the remaining large, thick piece of candy. A fragment from the breaking seanut brittle springs into my eye. I imagine Stewie from Family Guy practicing for the Olympics with a huge shard of glass protruding from his forehead.

In my mind's eye I concoct a vision: I lose control of the car and we take flight over the edge of the embankment. None of the cars around us notices or stops because of the whiteout conditions. Weeks later Highway Patrolmen come upon the scene and find our lifeless bodies, well preserved because the defroster is still going at 180 degrees.

Bridge to Saint George

We just had a very nice weekend in Saint George with my parents. It reminded me of a phrase from Bruce Hafen's Conference talk from April of 2004, "This earth is not our home. We are away at school, trying to master the lessons of "the great plan of happiness" so we can return home and know what it means to be there."

It is so difficult with the kids schedule and mine to find a time to go to the temple together. We awoke Saturday morning and went the the Saint George temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was a very sweet experience. After we were finished they asked me to baptize a brother on behalf of a Toraru Tamamoto and we confirmed him directly afterward at the side of the font. I assumed he was proxy for his father in law, since it appeared his wife was oriental. This too, was a sweet experience.

I didn't take my bicycle with me. But, I took my pedals and helmet and rode my dad's bike, after substantially adjusting the seat height (up about 10cm). On Saturday I went south on River road to the state line and turned around. On Monday I went over Foremaster Hill twice and then came back down Riverside drive and then onto the bike trail and back around to the entrance to I-15 at Bluff road and then doubled back home.

Lenore and the kids and I went to see Bridge to Terabithia Saturday afternoon. We all enjoyed it thoroughly. I had read some unflattering comments about it from OSC and I see what he was getting at. So my somewhat lowered expectations may have helped in really enjoying it. AnnaSophia Robb was great as was Josh Hutcherson.

I sang Rob Gardner's "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" at my parents ward on Sunday. It went fine. I had forgotten to bring a beta blocker. So I called Stuart and he phoned in a prescription for one pill, twelve dollars. Lenore wasn't too thrilled about that since she firmly believes a placebo would do the same thing. But, she's not the one singing a solo then is she.

Laney's Macaw

The House of the Rising Sun

This is how attentive we are to things around the house. For several months in our bedroom there have been some post-it notes on the walls. These show some of Laney's first experiments with writing.

Last night we noticed some "new" ones. They have been there all along. We just hadn't really looked at them. On the north, east and south walls of the master bedroom there are talismans inscribed with very ancient baby runes that can be interpreted as witch and spirit, with Jensen's name on the north wall mommy on the east and Ailsa on the south.

I looked, but could not find any such amulet protecting against the wicked father of the home. I'm afraid to look under the marital bed for fear of finding a large pentagram.

Do You Ever Wonder?

Remember what it was like as a child falling asleep in your bed at night? All of the thoughts that went through your mind? The other evening we had put Laney to bed. Lenore was trying to fall asleep and I was watching television waiting for Laney to drop off. Out of the blue Laney asks, "Mommy, am I Catholic?"

Christmas 2006

The first grade has been a tough transition for Laney. Each day is soooooooo much longer than it was in Kindergarten. She is learning at a very tender age to savor those short Fridays and holidays. We told her she only has to attend school until she is 37 or can spell Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis... and cure it. She has been without her two front teeth for some time now and proudly sports her "kitty mouth." As with most kids her age, she is Professor of the Annoying Arts and practices her skill at the appropriate times. Chief among these skills is the inane repetition of some supposedly ominous phrase meant to evoke peals of laughter from her peers. But, the humor of this performance is lost on anyone over the age of six. After 15 minutes of enduring nonstop "kid alert! kid alert! kid alert!" (or some such klaxsonesque noise) we are willing to submit to waterboarding just to get her to stop. This is one of the interrogation methods used against some of our more hardened Al Qaeda terrorists.

Jensen is doing great at school. She is carrying a 3.75 GPA and really seems to enjoy herself. But, she often stays up way too late doing her homework. It is not uncommon for her to fall asleep on the floor or beside her bed. She's not supposed to start doing that until college. Jensen attempts to do everything and ends up making it look like Ailsa is only trying to get by with the bare minimum (only 15 pieces of flair.) Jensen has become my most consistent riding partner on the tandem bike and usually thanks me for making her go for a ride. She has finally gotten her driver's license. This is after Lenore has carefully logged and made sure that Jensen has fulfilled the requisite 1800 hours of parent supervised, daytime, nighttime, evening, dusk, dawn and blindfolded driving. She has done very well during this training despite the three other drivers in the family bickering in the car over who gets to yell at her for every little mistake.

Ailsa finished up at Salt Lake Community College and will be attending the University of Utah this coming semester as a Junior. Despite having a 3.68 GPA while carrying 20 credit hours at SLCC a year ago, she did not get accepted by the "Y." She is rather a homebody, and we love having her around. So, her die hard BYU fan father isn't too broken up about it. She earned her AA degree at the end of the summer and we allowed her this fall semester "off." So, it has been one giant lollapalooza. She's been lying around eating bon bons and listening to Davey Havok at earsplitting decibel levels. She purchased the car that her departing missionary friend left behind (no stalker here), a 1993 $500 Sentra with 200k miles. But, it is a "sweet ride." She is still working through re-writes with her publisher on her first book. And, she has a new project, a set of four novelettes, that we think we might self publish or shop to a different publisher. The first two parts are ready for print. She is in the middle of writing the third book and expects to be finished with the whole project this Spring.

I'm afraid I have spent a large part of my parenting energy filling my kids' heads with obscure cultural references and they have turned out just as strange as me. We spent a couple of weeks watching the three seasons of "Arrested Development" on DVD. The bigger kids loved it and now occasionally engage in contests to see who can say "Bob LaBlah's Law Blog" when they are not trying to teleport like Hiro Nakamura.

My personal highlights this year are a 60 mile time trial finishing under 3 hours and seeing some old good friends when we were visiting California in the Summer. A lowlight was overhearing a kid refer to me as an "old man" while we were at the Beach. But, generally I just go around muttering "keep it together" under my breath while speedailing my Mindhead mentor and wondering when is the last time I looked young in a photograph.

Lenore had lots of fun this Christmas making sure she got the absolute best deal on all of the most educational presents for the kids. They are upstairs now playing "Tuba Hero" on the X-box. She got to help out with the first and second grade production of the Nutcracker for Christmas. At first she had high expectations for the "flower" dance number. After a couple of rehearsals she was just glad none of the dancers broke down crying or ran off stage during the performances. During Ailsa's semester at home they have often walked Laney to and from school and enjoyed that time together.

New Years

For a short while on BikeJournal.com yesterday I was ranked at 31 in total mileage. I ended last year ranked around 1430 with a total of 3001 miles and some change. Yes, the screen capture says #32. But, some joker logged 5000 miles, which I'm pretty sure he didn't ride since the new year.

Some Movie

We went to see Charlotte's Web Monday night. It was Jay Greenan's treat. He did it mostly for Laney. But, the whole family tagged along as well. What a very nice movie. I only marginally remember the story being read to us years ago in grade school. The movie seemed to follow the story line very closely, just perhaps a couple of embellishments that added nicely to the plot. The CGI/live action mix is extremely seamless (except perhaps Templeton, for some reason he doesn't look right and move right.) The voices were great. The story had all the women blubbering.

U.S. not winning war in Iraq, Bush says

Somewhere along the line this argument was co-opted and altered. As far as I see it, there is no war in Iraq. We haven't been fighting for a long time. We're too shackled by the rules of engagement and flighty public opinion.

Jungle Gym Mania

I don't often get holidays where we stay home. And I can't tell you when was the last time we stayed home and didn't have a "project". This past Thanksgiving vacation we painted. That in and of itself doesn't sound too bad. But, we did almost the whole main level and then the stairway down into the basement. In total it was something around 1700 square feet of wall space and required the rental of 3 sections of scaffolding (15 feet high). We all had fun on the first couple of days. We are almost done now. But, our interest is waning.

The kids loved climbing on the platform. Even Laney screwed up the courage to climb up. Lenore however, got the heebies jeebies once she got to the top, thereby exempting herself from the first part of the painting. I should have claimed severe Heebie Jeebie Syndrome on the lower part so as to prevent the continual need for my services.

I did manage to fit in 130 miles of cycling so far during the painting project. So I can't complain too much.

We've decided that the reason you don't see adult sized people playing on playground Jungle Gyms is that the equipment is too small. Playing on a Jungle Gym is actually quite fun and good exercise.

Easy Bake Thanksgiving

Just a couple of weeks ago for some reason, Laney became interested in the EasyBake oven. We weren't even sure we still had it. Lenore searched around and dug it out. Jensen helped Laney clean it up and it has seen vigorous use ever since. Laney has mostly just made sugar cookies from some refrigerator dough she was given as a gift some time ago. But, she also made a cake using a recipe in one of her story books. And the cake was quite good.

Once on my mission when we switched apartments in Cremona, it took awhile to get our gas stove hooked up. So, for a while we had to be a little creative with our cooking. We managed to roast hot dogs in the water heater and even baked a cake on an overturned iron.

And All My Nightly Dreams

I awoke Yesterday morning with a strange dream. During the course of the dream we had been in different places and we kept having to fight off menacing snakes. Finally, at the end of the dream, we got into a home (our home?) and barely locked the door in time. Then a huge snake (silly Anaconda movie huge) stuck his head in under the door somehow. I had a very large battle axe (too bad it wasn't a bowstaff) and kept chopping at its head. Only problem is the snake of course wouldn't let me get to the side of him to try to chop off his head.

When I mentioned it to Lenore she said that she had a dream very recently where she was fighting off large menacing snakes as well.

About two weeks ago I dreamed that the Rodriguezes brought me some meatloaf. I really like meatloaf. Last night they didn't just bring me one piece. They brought me a whole lot of pieces, and brought it to me at work!

Shaken, not Stirred

We went to see the new James Bond last Saturday night with Michelle and Steve Young.

We also ran into Ann and Ken Murdock at the theater.

Our impressions:

Lenore said it was violent. (She still liked it.) I wasn't too put off by the "violence." There was a lot of hand to hand fighting and rough fighting and the torture scene I guess was squeam inducing. But, it didn't really bother me much. Or, I didn't see it as excessive or very much so, or gratuitous. It didn't jolt me out of the fantasy like "Passion of the Christ."

So much for the violence. Otherwise, I think it is probably better than any other Bond movie. I like Daniel Craig a lot, especially as he is portrayed as a young, cocky, still with a few rough edges, newly trained and promoted "00." I found him very charming and attractive and his muscular physique made his strength and toughness very believable.

The first chase scene borrows a lot from "Russian Street Climbing" and is very engaging and entertaining. Lenore said it seemed like they were super heroes without the powers.

I enjoyed the updated use of technology and the ability of MI6 to communicate with and track Bond anywhere. This was especially apparent and useful to the story and its emotions during the medical emergency/defibrillator scene.

As I said, the torture scene was a little squeam inducing, especially for guys. But, Bond's reaction to Le Chiffre, helped to lessen that squeamishness and added a very interesting twist to it. I thought, "He's going to take it, defy him, mock him and die like a real man." This was a very good bit of acting by Daniel Craig and it made his new character. The new young Bond is unbreakable, undeterred, unbelievably strong and resilient and resourceful, yet believable. This portrayal and approach made him less of a caricature.

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!

Last Sunday one of the local TV stations was doing a "Heroes" marathon. We had seen previews for this show. But, missed the first episode. Later, I regretted missing it because Orson Scott Card gave it high marks. Ailsa and I got hooked watching it on Sunday and thanks to the wonder of "YouTube.com" we were able to find most of the episodes that we had missed. We now wait with bated breath for our next installment. We especially like Masi Oka as Hiro (get it?). But, I think that's the point.

Andwyrden

Ailsa is working on a four part story (4 novelettes) with a playing card motiff (probably won't be a big hit among the most conservative factions of LDS culture.) She is a little more than half way through. The first part is available here.

We think we may plan to self publish this work. I have done a lot of editing on the first one. She is wrapping up work on the second one for me to start on. It has been fun to do.

Let Them Eat Bread

Lenore and I have a sort of ongoing struggle about main dishes and desserts. She subscribes to the Hyacinth Bucket school of entertaining: lots of watercress sandwiches and dainty fruit desserts.

I would rather have meat (preferably beef or ham or pork ribs. If the lowly chicken is to be served it needs the KFC treatment, no low-fat skinless, boneless all white meat presentation.) and for dessert, chocolate needs to be front and center at least 90% of the time. The Smiths typically opt for a Blueberry Buckle or Apple Tart.

But, I will reveal a small problem with their tastes. Say you have a chocolate pie and a blueberry pie available for dessert. The masses will fight over the chocolate pie and the fruit pie will be neglected. Lenore cites this as reason not to buy chocolate. Go figure.

Sunrise, Sunset

I'm in the cycling season wind-down funk. The shortening daylight makes it ever harder to fit a ride in either in the morning or after work. At this time of year I actually do better in the evening. I rode last Saturday at the normal morning time because Grandma and Grandpa were in town. I felt like lead and only managed slightly under 19 MPH average. I've often wondered if the change in seasons and temperatures affects me more than it affects other people. I think it contributes to the fact that I'm faster in June, July, August and even into September, and then start slowing after that, even if I'm still riding fairly often.

I think there is a facet of Meteorology that I would find fascinating, that having to do with the shifting daylight patterns and seasons throughout the year. I started riding regularly on 19 April this year. On that day the sunrise was at 6:43am. The temperatures were still quite cool. The earliest sunrise was around 15 June. And, 21 August found the sun rising at about the same time in the morning as it was on 19 April. But, the early morning temperatures in August were lots nicer than April because of the lingering radiant heat from summer.

With the nicer conditions in the evening now, I could still be riding after work on some days. I may need to get a light though because it gets dark rather early.

Some totals so far from this year's riding:
From 28 June through 5 August in 16 solo rides, I averaged 20.08 MPH over 442.54 miles.
I climbed about 51,000 feet of altitude (which is really nothing because I avoid hills religiously.)
I burned about 133,000 calories riding. That's 886 Twinkies or 83 pounds worth.
Even with a very marked slow down in the colder months, I will probably easily finish the year having ridden every third day on average.

All I Want for Christmas......

Laney lost one of her front teeth some time ago. The other one has been bothering her the last couple of days. She has been nursing it and we had to break out the "Numzit" type cream that we bought in Italy. (I didn't remember buying this. I'm guessing it was in Cremona.) Last night when Lenore put her to bed it was really loose. In the morning it was gone. Thankfully, we found it in her bed. Not that it would be any big deal if she swallowed it in her sleep. It would probably freak her out though.

Grieg

I am glad that both Ailsa and Jensen took piano lessons and have stuck with it. It is very nice to hear them play and I think they enjoy it a lot as well. Lately, Ailsa has been learning some of Edvard Grieg's pieces. Sunday she was running through Anitra's Dance from Peer Gynt. She hasn't spent much time with it. I was watching her and she got to a point where she was struggling and muttered soflty under her breath, "Well, now he's just showing off."

Mrs. Alex Knaphus (the other Britty)

Brittany Wilhelm was married last Tuesday. It was a very nice occasion. We were afraid we might encounter rain at the outdoor venue (Log Haven in Mill Creek). But, it was a wonderful day. The bride was beautiful and the flower girl (Laney) was stellar. At one point while taking family pictures Brittany claimed she was being stung on her bum by a bee under her dress. We surmised that it could be a bobby pin or something. She was quite insistent, lifted up the ample train and canopy, made her way north and eventually released a hornet that was trapped under her dress. The reception was at a private residence in the East Mill Creek area of Salt Lake. This home has a spectacular back yard with the creek running through it, a bridge over the creek.

Really Cute Picture I found over at Bless' House

Three of the cutest kids and a really sweet dog.

Brave New Laney

As you can see from the video below, Laney has grown somewhat more plucky as of late. Lenore has gotten her much more used to the idea of swimming over at Aunt Les' pool. Now she just needs to stop freaking out whenever a wave splashes in her face. I spent A LOT of time carrying her around in the very shallow part of the waves. When we first arrived at San Clemente they were just finishing with some biggish waves. Perhaps for this reason the bottom was a little messed up. There was a "ditch" about 20 feet out that went down at least a foot. But, when you are only three and a half feet tall, one foot makes a big difference. Plus, a lot of the kids don't like it because it gives the impression that the bottom could fall out at any minute.

Laney on the Booogie Board

CompLaney

Ever since our return trip from the River in July when Laney was ill, she has been VERY compLaney every time we have had to drive any distance at all in the car. This happened again when we drove to the Taylor's Cabin a couple of weeks ago and she was very difficult on the way down to San Clemente. When we returned home Laney became ill again in Barstow just as we pulled into a filling station. We were well equipped with a plastic bag, so no permanent mess in the car.
We decided we needed to try motion sickness medicine. She hasn't seemed to need this before. Maybe she's grown into a phase. We got her some generic Dramamine and Lenore gave her 1 pill. The dosage said to use one-half to one. Laney fell asleep and only awakened shortly before we arrived in Saint George. As Ailsa and Jensen will attest, we had the most pleasant drive while she was asleep. We will keep some on hand in the car from now on.
Funny thing though, When we drove down to Provo recently to pick up Ailsa at Steve Trumbo's house, we didn't give her any medicine and she didn't complain much.

Quick! Call the Rental Company we Left Mom at San Clemente!

In the evenings after dinner it is very common for me to slink back over to our own apartment and change channels on the TV. Lenore usually stays visiting with her family. Friday night we were staring to get ready to vacate in the morning. Lenore left with a load of laundry to put in the washing machine in the garage. She didn't come back right away so I assumed she had gone over to the other apartment. About an hour later she came back and asked, "didn't you wonder where I was?" The garage door opener switch is a little old and difficult to manage. There is a key switch (with obviously tricky connections) for opening and closing on the outside and a button that evidentally only closes on the inside. She went inside and when she was at the back of the garage the door closed on its own (because of the tricky switch with the key still in it. She was stuck inside for a long time. The button wouldn't work, she pounded on the door and yelled. But, nobody heard her. Eventually she was able to figure out how to release the heavy door and lift it up high enough to sheepishly crawl out.:(

Aging

Speaking of aging, one day at San Clemente I went down to watch the girls in the water and I lay down on the sand at the high tide line. After awhile I closed my eyes and starting dozing off. Suddenly, a ball hit me right on the chest. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see a youngish 10-12 year old boy with a very sheepish look on his face. He chased down the errant ball and went back to his playing. His friend asked him what happened and I heard him reply, "the ball hit that old man over there." :(

Old Good Friends

Since we had missed the first Sunday at San Clemente, we didn't give any input where and when to go to Church. Last year we went to the newly built fancy Chapel, partly because that's where the ward we always met with has their meetings now. The Sunday we weren't ther Darrell and Fielding instead went to the old chapel that they have gone to for years. That was fine with us for the second Sunday too. The ward we attended was the Capistrano second Ward. That is Debbie (Sedgwick) Stapley's ward. It was interesting to see her and her family. She looked good, maybe taller or thinner than I remember.

Sunday night we went to dinner at Stuart Campbell's house. Toni Trumbo also came and brought two of her daughters. It was a very lovely dinner and we talked a lot. Could have talked hours longer.

Toni came down to San Clemente early Monday morning and we rode the tandem together. She did pretty well. We almost broke my solo record getting down to the turn around point. We took it easier coming back.

I gave Stuart a copy of the photo of our Scout Troop at Lost Valley. He passed it on to Chris Money and Chris emailed me wanting to get together. He came down to San Clemente early Friday morning 18 August and we went Surfing together for about an hour or so. Toni had brought a 10 foot surfboard for us to use and I liked it alot. I did okay, was finally able to mostly paddle around without wimping out too much, caught a couple of waves. But, also biffed it a lot.

Chris then took the family out to breakfast (sans Laney) at Pedros. I have heard of this place for several years. But, I have not ever gone. Sadly, we have gone to very few local places while at the beach. We enjoyed Pedros immensely and had a fun time chatting with Chris.

Doug and Stacey Tate and kids Spencer and Mikayla also came down and spent the most part of a day with us. Joan informed me that I was supposed to entertain the Tates in the afternoon. I'm afraid I didn't do much entertaining.

Snakes on a Bike

I did a lot of riding in San Clemente. Maybe not any more miles than ever. But, I only rode 8 days. So, a higher average mileage. I found near the end of the first week that I was not recovering overnight and eventually had no more place to go to "dig deeper." After about 170 miles in three days the last week this became even more pronounced and Jensen and I limped home the last 13 miles barely turning the pedals over.

On 10 August Jensen and I did almost 40 miles on the tandem. We (really only I) saw a snake on the bike path just barely onto the Marine Base. This was no wimpy garter snake. But, a hefty awe/fear inspiring Adder or recently sated someother kind of snake. It was about 3 feet long and quite plump. That's why I thought something like Adder. I wasn't eager to spend too much time in its presence. It surprised me and by the time I was completely aware what it was, there wasn't anything I could do to avoid it other than ride closer to the bushes. As it was, we had to pass within about 4 feet of it.

Later, on the 16th I think, I saw this same snake again. This time after I passed him I turned back and looped around a couple of times to get a closer (but safe) look. It definitely was a Diamondback. As I got closer to him he started making his way into the bushes.

One idea I have about the recovery problem, since I noticed this more this year than in the past, and of course it's not that I'm getting older: One reason my speed has been better this year (I think) is I have concentrated a lot on using the whole leg and the whole pedal motion. This is easier to do when I use higher gears and pedal more slowly. The upshot is I go faster and my heart rate doesn't go so high. But, I think when you've exhausted those reserves, there's nothing left.

Jensen Surfing

Oh The Joys of San Clemente

What is it about the surf that makes kids scream? We have successfully participated in the Mass Sand Crab Forced Relocation Program (MSCFRP).

Two Weddings and a Funeral - Again

As we wind down and wind up for our San Clemente trip, this last week and weekend were as busy as usual. Wedding reception Friday night for Michelle Davies at her parents' house. They are long time residents and old guard movers and shakers. As we rounded the corner to their house we could see a line of well wishers stretching about 100 feet. I wanted to turn around. But, it was a good opportunity to visit with people.

Saturday morning I got up at 5am to get Barry and drive up to ride the Morgan loop. We went out 1 hour and then turned around and came back. I didn't feel particularly fast and kept telling Barry so. Of course we were faster on the way back because it is slightly downhill.

After the bike ride Lenore and I went to Norick Long's funeral. In the picture above he is fourth from the right on the front row and I am second from the right (of the boys) on the back row. The funeral was very nice. It was good to see his family again after so long. His brother, Jared, spoke and gave some very nice heartfelt comments. Jesse and James Clissold sang and did a very good job. Sibling blend was very nice. James went up a couple notches in my estimation because he looked scared to death and also looked close to breaking because of emotion. But, he hung in and did admirably. I couldn't help but notice how much his mannerisms seemed like Fielding when he was singing.

Kay spoke (admirable of her) and their son Stuart spoke and did well. At first It seemed he might not be serious enough. But, he quickly turned to the scriptures and the Gospel and it was a very good and appropriate talk. There was no effort to conceal Norick's struggle with prescription pain killers which was brought on by persistent back trouble. But, it also was not the center of attention. One of his friends spoke and told about meeting with Norick in the recent past where Norick expressed the fear of losing his family. I took that both literally and figuratively. Both Lenore and I were struck that it may have been a tender mercy that he was taken now prior to reaching the point of "losing" his family.

Norick was such a perfectionist in his own work and was exacting in his personality, it was probably a very difficult thing for him to admit openly that he had a weakness. The timing of his death I think made it so that he could be remembered more for his good qualities than for his weaknesses.

I realized during the service that I had been somewhat guilty of judging him in his addiction. I remembered during the service that in our Scouting days when we were gearing up for our 50 mile hike he injured his back (already starting to give him trouble at that age) and he had to rig up a very large waist pack (a fanny pack ahead of its time) to be able to do the 50 miler.

The situation at the cemetery was a little unusual because Destiny Norton's funeral was just wrapping up while we were there. The gang of BACA biker enthusiasts left with their mufflers roaring and thundering right as Kay Long was trying to say the dedicatory prayer. I know they are bikers and all, I mean that's what they do. But, it might have been a nice touch even of respect for destiny if they had solemnly pushed their motorcycles to the gate of the cemetery. Maybe I'm being stupid.

Saturday evening we went downtown to the Wells Fargo Center for Ashley Wiscombe's wedding reception. The guy seems real nice. It is too bad the marriage of Ashley's parents broke up. Jeff was there with his new wife and kids. Peggy looked very good. But, very worldly. She had to make Jeff hold some champagne while toasts were made. We saw the Parkinsons and spent a lot of time speaking to them. Their six-year old, Ian, chummed with Laney. However, when we suggested they dance Laney turned very anti social. I don't think she liked the pressure. She warmed up again when Ian started talking about the movie "Aquamarine."



Here's Laney at the Wiscombe Reception

End Times

I want to make a sort of a prophecy. But, don't start banking on it or start your own cult based on it.

Some of these may be no brainers.

Before long the Tax exempt status of Churches will be challenged and probably overthrown unless the Churches toe the line on the humanist, politically correct doctrines of the day: recognizing and allowing (and even being forced to perform) "homosexual marriages." This would include temple marriages. Churches will also come under fire for excommunicating members for infractions of its doctrine and not allowing anyone to hold the priesthood or marry. I expect the LDS Church, of course, will hold its line and will start paying taxes.

Churches will be barred from ever ever ever ever espousing anything that approaches a political idea even after losing their tax exempt status.

Public education will continue to worsen and liberalize. It may get to the point where "home schooling" or private schooling are outlawed. Against parents wishes, children will be required to submit to the presentation (indoctrination) of one-sided liberal points of view presented as fact without rebuttal or opposition. Oh wait, that's happening already.

The role of the Government as protector and provider of the Common Defense will wane and its assumed role as regulator and provider of everything else will continue to grow.

We know from the scriptures that Israel will stand alone. That even the U.S. will not come to its aid. It's kinda easy to see this happening already. But, I expect there will always be, possibly even very close to a majority (but maybe a powerless majority) a sector of Americans who will support Israel.

It will probably become nearly impossible to execute anyone for any crime. Life in prison will become most tolerable. The cost of warehousing and supporting prisoners will be a growing burden.

Regarding the prophecy of Joseph Smith about the Elders of the Church saving the Constitution:

"Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground; and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean; and they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction. " [spelling and punctuation modernized] (Dean C. Jessee, "The Historian's Corner" BYU Studies Vol. 19, No. 3, Spring 1979, p. 392)

I've always thought that meant that the Nation would be brought back from the verge of division and destruction by re-embracing the tenets of the Constitution and that the members of the Church would lead the charge. I now think it is more likely that secession and possibly civil war will take place. When I first considered this idea I figured that right thinking people would feel the need to split from the rest of the country. I now think it is possible that the wrong thinking people may be inclined to secede or try to.

Lenore pointed out to me the other day that God brought the flood in Noah's day and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed when society reached a point where there was almost no possibility for the rising generation to choose good, because they would only be exposed to bad. I might add an additional condition: when we can no longer protect our children. The recent abduction and death of Destiny Norton highlights a growing frustration with this problem.

It's hard to say how close we are. We are definitely spiraling. I don't really want things to get much worse. But, I suppose I may have to witness it.

The total tonnage of what you don't know is enough to shatter...

Right after work Yesterday we drove down to see John and Natalie at John's parent's cabin near Sundance. I thought I should put my considerable intellectual ability to good use and decided that rather than drive all the way into Orem on I-15 going south in rush hour traffic, we should exit at the Thanksgiving Point exit and go the other way around through the alpine loop. I had driven out the northern way from Sundance back when I was in school. I figured we would save time.

Well, I was greatly mistaken. Time blurs our memories with unequalled savagery. This was indeed a very long and winding road. It didn't help that I took the right fork in road (right and correct) and then thought I was wrong and backtracked a couple of miles before finding someone who could tell me that in fact we had been on the right (and correct) road in the first place. More backtracking. We probably wasted 20-30 minutes with that move.

In defense of the route, Lenore was nice and said that it was very lovely and scenic. We saw deer and elk and we were treated to the sound of Laney wretching into a plastic bag. When she last vomited in the car on the way back from Big River we made a mental note to always be equipped with a couple of plastic shopping bags in the glove box. Fortunately, just before this drive we chose to act on that suggestion.

The Taylor's cabin is very nice and quaint/comfortable. A river almost runs through it. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and then chatted until about 10:15. I was anxious to get home at a civilized hour. We exited the Provo Canyon Road way. But, saw Dan standing on the side of the road at the entrance to the ski resort. He, Fielding, Les and Jay (in Jay's car) had a flat tire and pulled into the parking lot at Sundance. The spare was also low on air so they were quite stuck. It was a tender mercy that we saw him and didn't just drive by.

We took Jay and the spare to the Texaco station at the entrance to the canyon to put air in that tire. On the way down the mountain we almost ran into a ?weasel? (That's what Lenore says it was.) On the way up the mountain we almost ran into a dog. Now let me say something here about poor stray animals crossing major highways. When you see something to be avoided up ahead in the roadway and want to inform the driver of this hazard, it is best not to shriek and yell "LOOK OUT!" It is probably best to give the driver some instruction as to what to do.

In each case I couldn't see what Lenore was screaming about until we were right on top of the potential victim. It would have been best to say, "move into the right lane!" I almost hit the dog because I automatically changed lanes when Lenore went into her fit. Both times, in trying to avoid something I couldn't even see, I got the car a little sideways with the tires squealing. This is not a circumstance in which the Ford Explorer is known to excel. Fortunately, we got rid of our Wilderness AT Firestone tires some time ago.

So if your pet weasel sauntered in late last night a little shaken but not stirred, be grateful he didn't end up as roadkill.

Designated Coach

Jensen is in driver training. She does just fine. In fact, it is less stressful driving with her than it is (or at least, was) with Ailsa. While at the Colorado River at the beginning of the month, I tried again to teach Ailsa how to drive a manual transmission. We were off road and I put the car into 4wheel drive low. It's almost impossible to stall the engine in those low gears. Still, it was very frustrating and after about 5 minutes I gave up. I think Ailsa's husband will have more patience than I do. Or, maybe he will just be smarter and not try to teach her this unique and almost obsolete skill.

Anyway, back to Jensen. We should make it a family rule that we never all go with her when she is driving. We try to have just one person telling her what to do and keep from killing us all. I usually hold that designation. However, we Lillywhites are such know-it-alls that it is impossible for us (meaning Ailsa and Lenore) to allow me (the Father, the most skilled in all things mechanical and involving dexterity, hand/eye coordination and the only one capable of the computation of advanced trigonomical formulations in mere nano-seconds) the latitude to instruct and guide our poor fledgling driver, Jensen, safely and happily into the leagues of functioning drivers.

Invariably, we will all pipe in at the same time with some toughtful comment or evaluation of an obstacle/passage/ episode/family near death experience from which we just barely escaped while benefiting from Jensen's superior chauffeuring skills. We often end up shushing eachother and evaluating eachother's driver training prowess. The noise level will escalate until we drive Laney crazy. Next time we will bring duct tape to cover our mouths and let Laney be the driver trainer.

It's not unlike the depiction of the Judean People's Front and all its splinter groups in the Monty Python movie Life of Brian. "We mustn't fight each other! Surely we should be united against the common enemy!"

Actually, at this point Jensen's driving skill isn't any different than 95% of the drivers on Utah roads. Unfortunately, that isn't saying an awful lot.

More Laney at the River

Laney Swimming from the Dock into the Cove at The Hoke's River House

Happy 4th

While at the River this last weekend we attended the Parker Ward on Sunday. Parker is not a thriving metropolis. I'm not sure what the local economy is outside of some occasional tourists. The ward is a little pathetic. But, I mean that in the nicest way. We truly enjoyed ourselves. Proof once again that you don't have to have a mainstream ward to feel the Spirit. Our little party of visitors nearly doubled their attendance. They were very grateful that most of us stayed for all three meetings. I was especially touched by the testimony of a young, tall, slender, extremely dark, latino boy who was most humble in the Spirit.

This is stark, rugged country. It takes a hearty person to live here, both physically and spiritually. The highest temperatures ever recorded in Arizona in the months of April, July, and August were in Parker. The highest for June was in Lake Havasu City which is about 25 miles away. The only place in the country worse for heat is just across the border into San Bernardino County.

I woke up Sunday morning with a Bass voice. I enjoyed singing in church and the members there seemed to enjoy having a large contingent of visitors with good strong singing voices. Unfortunately, in a stupor of thought I had taken our Sunday clothes into the Puggas house in Saint George and we left them there. So Lenore, Laney and I had to scramble for appropriate Church clothes. Aaron Hoke has several shirts and pants and ties that he left at the River house. I was able to make one of these outfits work without too much trouble. However, after I returned home from Church I found that the pants were kinda split in the back. There were four young boys visiting the ward from BYU. One of them was in a t-shirt and swim trunks. I'm guessing he was in the same predicament as us. Lenore scared up a very respectable outfit. But, Laney got stuck wearing a night gown that looked like a Mu-Mu.

I think the ward must be used to people showing up without Church clothes. They must also be used to people ditching after the Sacrament meeting because they thanked us profusely and the Bishop blessed our waverunners to run well for the rest of the week because of our faithfulness in staying for the whole three hours. He should have blessed Ed's boat too because it broke down Tuesday night.

This is how I had fun on the waverunners: I only let Ailsa and Jensen take the slowest one (about 37mph) while I took the fastest one (55mph) then I would chase them down and pass in front of them and then turn and spray them with my wake. I had much fun cackling. They didn't mind too much. But, several times I saw the look of shock on their faces when they got hit with the cold water. Tuesday night when I went with Clay Starnes looking for Ed's boat it was very windy and at times very dusty. I got more than my fair share of gunk in my eyes. It is fun going fast on the water.

I persuaded grandpa to bring his firearms (except for the .32.) I took the two older girls Wednesday morning to kill some rocks. We found an old LDS meetinghouse folding chair (7th and 8th Wards) and used it for a target as well as a discarded water heater and a couple of bottles and cans. We might have to get our own guns and ammo for next time.

Watch Out for these Outlaws

Yes, Jensen does have her finger on the trigger. And, no, at this point the guns were not loaded.

Big Ride

We had a lovely 4th of July vacation at Kim and Ed's river house. I have been planning for some time to try for a sort of time trial personal best on the bike during this vacation. It was almost thwarted because I forgot to bring my heart rate monitor chest strap. For most of the Sunday before I was expecting that the cyclocomputer wouldn't work unless I was wearing the chest strap. As I drove out to my starting point I even went by the only bike shop listed in lowly Parker, AZ to see if they looked serious enough to have a chest strap I could buy. They didn't look very serious. There was a sign in the window that stated they were closed for the Summer.

When I was setting up for the ride I could tell that the cyclocomputer does work without the chest strap. I started at about 5:30am so as to avoid as much hot weather as possible. Wade drove up and said goodbye as I was getting ready. It seems to me this happened once before, or he has passed me once or twice before on the Ehrenberg road.

My goal was to go 60 miles at a minimum 20mph pace. I was pretty sure that I should avoid going out hard, maybe take it a little easy for the first 30-40 minutes. But, as it was I didn't feel like I was pushing. and I still went at a pretty good clip from early on. It was fairly easy for me to maintain 22-23 mph for long stretches. I took my camel back with about 2/3rds of it frozen and then the rest filled up with water before the ride. I also had two bottles of Cytomax and two Clif bars. I started eating one of the Clif bars 30 minutes into the ride. But, I don't think I am going to buy things like that anymore. In between hard breathing, it took me 40 minutes to eat the silly thing. I could just see someone aspirating a big chunk of the stuff and being found in a putrifying heap on the side of the road two weeks later.

There were four houses with dogs on the loose that I had to make sure I stayed ahead of. I tried to make a mental note of where they were and on the way back I crossed over to the opposite side of the road to avoid them. They must have been inside with the growing heat of the day. Whenever a car or truck passed me, I tried to catch as much of their windstream as possible. It sometimes helped a lot. But, many of the cars would swing clear over into the opposing lanes to avoid scaring me, I guess.

At the halfway point I was about 6 minutes ahead of pace. I stopped my bike to make a nature call. When I got back on I was hurting real badly. I had a very sore spot of cramping/pulled muscle/bruising high on my left hamstring where it connects to the pelvis. Unfortunately, this spot also bears a lot of bodyweight on the saddle. I had to take it real easy for a couple of minutes and move around until I got comfortable and I must have worked some of the tightness out because I was able to continue without it bothering me. But, I was sore for the next two days, weird.

By now there was only a little ice in my camel back. I wanted to douse myself good with water but wasn't able to. There were a couple of good long spells where my speed was down in the 17-19 mph range. But, I kept gauging and computing and it seemed like I was going to make my goal. After a while, it is really just a mental thing. If I had needed to ride farther I would have needed more nutrition and more water/drink. As it was I barely had enough. But, I don't think I suffered for lacking. The road doglegs from due north to NE for the last 5 miles. I was fighting a bit of a headwind from about mile 45-55 and was so hoping that would ease when I turned NE. It did, and I made it back to my car with almost 4 minutes to spare.

I'm not sure I'm going to do this again. Perhaps the next big goal (besides going 22 miles solo in 1 hour) will be more team time trial type rides. (Fast 100 miles or fast 1 hour)

Hold to the Rod

The Youth in our Stake just completed their Youth Conference experience for this summer. The leaders wanted to do something similar to the Trek experience from two years ago. But, they polled the youth and the sentiment was pretty strong against doing any hiking or strenuous physical exertion. The leaders felt it would be good to reenact episodes from the Book of Mormon. It wouldn't be a stretch at all then to have the kids leave Jerusalem and trek into the Wilderness like Lehi and his family. But, the kids put the kybosh on any hiking.

As it was there were plenty of more important BOM stories to reenact without having to do Lehi. We did follow a similar theme of Trek by grouping into families headed by Lehi and Sariah adult leaders from each ward. We asked Kyle and Brenda Christensen and Taylor and Elizabeth Jessop to do this. They were great and enjoyed themselves immensely and had great spiritual experiences as did the kids.

Jensen was grouped in a family with Dirk and Leslie Woodmansee as the parents. Either someone in the Stake knows Jensen well or it was a tender mercy, she also had Erin Clark in her family (probably her best strong in the Gospel friend.) Ailsa was in the family of Randy and Laurie Carlson. Ailsa woke up Thursday morning in a snit saying she didn't want to go. This was the first resistance she had put up. She was just feeling stressed. She was able to get off the work she needed. But, Saturday right after we returned from the camp she was scheduled to work from 5pm to 3am. The youth were to have a special meeting Sunday morning at 7am. So she didn't like that prospect. She also received a tender mercy in that she only ended up working until 10:30pm Saturday night. So she wasn't too worn out on Sunday.

We camped out on some more Sorenson family property just barely into the Weber Canyon from Oakley. Brent Gardner, Tyler Jessop/Brad Lever and I set up our three tents as close to the river as possible. There really weren't any shady spots left. We figured the sound of the river would be nice and soothing. Jodi Brewer and Claire Winstead sort of chased us away from their side of the meadow.

Unlike Trek, there was an awful lot of nothing that the Bishops had to do. I was supposed to lead a half hour discussion on Captain Moroni. But, other than that I just helped out where it appeared I was needed and chatted with people, checking in every once in a while on Ailsa and Jensen and on the kids from our ward.

When the sun went behind the hills the temperature dropped quickly and I was freezing until I got in my sleeping bag. The second night I made sure I put on my flannel jammies under my pants and wore all of my shirts. This made it bearable to be outside the sleeping bag in the middle of the night.

Beth Johnson worked with a good group of kids in the Stake to put on presentations of several of the main BOM stories. While there wasn't an extremely high level of professionalism among the players, most of them did a very good job of bringing the spirit. Honorable mention goes to Josh Sponbeck, Sean Carter, David Rosen, Weston Daw, Robbie Bagley and I'm sure there are others I'm leaving out. It was especially touching to have Pres. Weston Daw there as King Benjamin, since he is a type and a shadow of him anyway.

The kids really seemed to enjoy the "Iron Rod" experience on Friday morning. They also had lots of fun carrying out the final battle several times with foam noodle swords. Friday morning Mark Rosen (Dr. RosenRosen) set up a zip line across the river that landed almost right in our tents. Mostly, what I did that morning was help with that activity. We had lots of fun doing it.

The plan was that Saturday morning at 4am we would wake up to the appearance of Jesus Christ to the Nephites. So, I went to bed as early as possible. The kids were not aware that this presentation was planned. It was supposed to be a surprise for them. But, as I was falling asleep I was thinking, "What is the one major (perhaps most important) story in the BOM that we haven't covered yet?"

At midnight they started broadcasting the terrible noise of destruction that took place at the death of Christ. I awoke and thought to myself that it was a pretty silly thing to be rehearsing. I realize that many of the people involved are very tightly wound type A's. I could hear people carrying out tasks outside my tent and I thought, "All those people seem to have lots to do.... Why don't I have anything to do?" Within a couple of minutes Brent and Tyler and Brad let me know that it was time to get up.

It seems after I was asleep all of the adults, minus me, had a meeting and decided to do the appearance of Christ at midnight. As it turned out this was probably a better time to do it. However, it took me a little while to get my attitude behind it. I think I was also partly ashamed/feeling left out that I hadn't been awakened for the meeting and seemed to be so far out of the loop.

I enjoyed this production a lot and especially when Christ called his apostles by name out of the crowd. The Christ figure first appeared when spotlights were turned on the top of a 40 foot scissor lift that he was standing on. These were not high tech special effects. But, even people with a dull imagination could suspend belief to strengthen their faith.

Saturday morning I was able to get about 15 pieces of Bacon at breakfast before striking camp and heading home.

Ailsa in the Trek Video from Jun 2004

Jensen Doing the Zip Line at Youth Conference 23 Jun 2006

Road Hog!

I've got some new software on my palm that allows the watching of several TV channels. (I won't be doing this in Church or anything like that.) Mostly it's news and sports and Discovery Channel with some other things thrown in. Laney likes to watch the Toon World cartoon channel. Remarkably, it seems to show only older cartoons: Roger Ramjet, Mr. Magoo, Dick Tracy, Baby Huey are some of the names that come to mind. I wish it had Mighty Mouse too. But, I don't think so. Laney really likes Mr. Magoo. It figures. Jim Backus (who voices Mr. Magoo) is perhaps best remembered among the younger set as the Professor on Gilligan's Island. But, his best effort was probably spent with Mr. Magoo.

I Do Believe in Fairies, I Do, I Do.