Lessons learned from BYU 2008

Though I didn't attend BYU in 2008, I felt more attached to the school than I have for a long time. This is most likely due to the fact that the football team had such high expectations - both at BYU and in the media. Before the season started there were numerous people saying they could go undefeated and be in a BCS bowl. They had a great chance of doing it and it was exciting. Coach Mendenhall even came up with a new theme to the season: The Quest for Perfection.

Each year Coach Mendenhall has come up with slogans for his team. The prior year it was Band of Brothers. With this year's slogan he immediately received negative feedback from the media - and fans. Perfection? Surely he wasn't cocky enough to have a goal of a perfect season (even though most people DID expect them to go undefeated). Opposition said the goal was too lofty. It was unatainable. It was too much pressure on the team. Mendenhall was quick to point out (cover up?) that the Quest was not just referring to football. Indeed, the BYU coach has a list of priorities for his team, of which football falls 5th. But he was still mocked and challenged.

When BYU finally did lose to TCU, the comments came pouring in. There goes the Quest! And when they lost to Utah a few weeks later (who ironically went on to go undefeated and take BYU's expected spot as a BCS team) the mockery continued. Even true blue fans began to doubt Mendenhall's goal and slogan. Truly, it appeared his team had become too cocky - they felt entitled. They thought it would just fall into place and therefore did not work as hard as in years past. Even I thought how foolish. The coach (and team) set themselves up for failure. They set themselves up for disappointment.

But as I contemplated this over the last couple of weeks (and as I continually wished things had turned out so different) I realized that this was a great life lesson - for the team and for me. Like BYU's football team, we as believing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a lofty goal. We are told to be perfect. Indeed, it is the same quest that the BYU team had. And like the team, many people outside of the church mock its members at this goal. Even members themselves think, 'how can we possibly be perfect?" But it is still our quest. It is our goal. Indeed, to return to live with God requires it to happen - at some point. And to make a goal of 'attaining the terrestrial kingdom' seems quite silly. So even though BYU did not reach their goal, should that not be their goal every year? To win every game? And should not our goal be to become like God? Will we reach our goal? Perhaps not this year, perhaps not the year to come, but indeed it IS possible (only through the atonement of Jesus Christ!).

So if our goal is to return to live with God, can we truly have any other goal? I am a big supporter of President Hinckley's philosophy of getting better each year. So yes, we can have smaller goals. This year I will do THIS better. But each small goal is an eventual path to the ultimate goal.

So even though I feel for the BYU team and feel bad that they did not reach their goal, I now believe it was not a bad goal. It was an attainable and realistic goal. And they had the ability to do it. So why set a smaller goal? And we as humans have that same potential and ability, so why sell ourselves short? Thank goodness our goal in this life, at least for most of us, is longer than one football season. But I am glad Coach Mendenhall gave such a lofty goal to his team. Next year he may not have such a high goal (and to be honest, with the team he will have and schedule it might not be attainable), but this year they had the talent and ability. They fell short, like many of us will. Perhaps they fell due to their pride (as many of US will). But we can learn from it. We must expect more out of ourselves and then NOT slit our wrists when we fail to attain those goals. We must continue to work hard - and congratulate those we love (and hate) around us for achieving that which we could not.

Thank goodness getting into heaven isn't based on a BCS system, though!

x-files

full of blood, torture, pediphiles, hard to understand for a non-x file watcher, not worth my 2 hours, and now I have awful visions in my head. dad may have a different viewpoint. Kathy, I wouldn't watch it if I were you. I suppose my comments will make Bret and Jacob want to watch it more.....
:)

Ender in Exile

I just finished this book - and for some reason it had a real effect on me. I loved it. Ender's Game (and the sequel Speaker for the Dead) are two of my favorite books. Mr. Card wrote several other sequels (and in fact a whole other sequel series focused on Bean) that were good, but this book seemed to bring back the feeling I felt when I first read those first two books.

Here are a few reasons I loved this book.

1 - Ender's mother teaches a valuable lesson to Valentine (her daughter) when Valentine wants to travel with Ender and help him. After asking for advice, Valentine's mother tells her it is not her place as a sister to 'teach' Ender anything - or try to get him to do what is best for Ender. That is a parent's job. And only parent's can do it. I never had thought of it like that before. Indeed, that is a parent's job. And it is a very hard job. And none of us can replace parents.

2 - Ender reaches out to his parents after years of not 'talking' and finally gives in and tells them he loves them, though he doesn't understand the way they had treated him (by their lack of communication and apparently putting all of their energies in their oldest son, Peter). In the end of his letter he realizes that he really just wants two things from his parents. He wants his mother to say she has watched him in his life and "kept all these sayings in her heart" (a quote from the New Testament about Mary and her watching over Jesus). And from his father he just wants to hear "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Of course, this is another biblical quote. And isn't this what we all want? So simple. Ender is also quick to point out that he is not likening himself to Christ!

3 - In a letter from Ender, he discusses his brother (Peter) whom Ender had seen as a terrible brother in his early life. Peter eventually became the leader of the world (Hegemon) and was seen as a great person. Ender realized that Peter had learned an important part of human nature. When you pretend something for a long time, you eventually become that person. So in Peter's case, he had pretended to be nice and lovable and in the end truly was. The same is true in reverse, if we pretend to be someone we are not, we eventually become that someone we truly aren't. It is a deep concept and reminds me of Alma's discourse on faith: how we must test what we want to know.

It was a great book to finish the year off (and the beginning of 2009) with. Back to the library it goes. I'll do another post later on how this helped me make some changes in my life (or at least have the desire to). Resolutions...

Proud, Proud

As I sat in testimony meeting this morning, I was filled with the righteous kind of joy that you kids bring me. We knew at the start of 2008 that is was going to be a busy year. It brought us a new granddaughter, Jacob graduated, Kathy got married, and Tom went on a mission. All 4 of you now, and your spouses, have gone through the temple. None of you are starving, asking us for money, or having a hard time. All of you have turned out to be kind, thoughtful, virtuous people.
Thank you all for keeping the commandments, and staying on the path that brings you, your families, and your parents joy.
Not that I had much to do with all of your wonderful spirits, but, my work is done, and I could leave tomorrow and feel very fulfilled. Being a mother was my most important role in life, and I loved it. I loved baking cookies, rocking you, walking you, watching you sleep, buying you gifts, playing with you, shopping with you; I even loved cleaning the house. It went by so quickly, and I am sure it was harder than it sounds now.
Jacob said to me the other day that I was on permanent vacation. It sure feels like it. I am so lucky!
My goals this year are about the same as every year, and they keep me quite busy: genealogy, sew more, see my grandkids, exercise more, more temple work, write my life story, etc. I will try to work 2 days a week, to help save for fun vacations.
I feel guilty just ever telling people how awesome my life is. Even now, I feel like I am bragging. Sorry if I sound so. I just think you kids should know that I love my life!

2009

We had fun last year guessing what would happen to who in 2008. Some events took place, others didn't.
Dad wants to do it again for 2009, and have a family council on Skype tomorrow, if possible.
So start making your predictions!

2008 was a very busy year!

I already see some other changes on the horizon...

Christmas traditions

Tom told us they do not celebrate Santa or Saint Nick in any form in Paraguay.
Which led me to the question, does Jarek read your blog?
Which led me to this question, does he still believe?
Which reminded me to tell you to document this major belief event in your kids lives, as I cannot remember now who amongst you did what when and how concerning the jolly old red elf.
I think I remember Kathy, just trying so hard to keep on the tradition, despite some packaging proof, and common sense.
I don't remember any of the rest of you. You could jog my memory if you desire.
I am pretty sure Hazel still believes.

tetris party

Oh yeah, level 19!

Kathy's Favorite Christmas

My favorite Christmas has got to be the one when we got the Nintendo 64. Our entire family, even Bret was there I think and we played all day long. It was the coolest thing ever to play nintendo from a 3D perspective. I just loved being all together and enjoying something new and being all so excited. I remember that even Dad was impressed. I think it might have even been a white Christmas that year. It was perfect.

2008 at an end

What an interesting year 2008 has been. I think for me, it is amazing to me that I could have so many amazing opportunities - things I have wanted for years - and yet still end the year feeling a little down. Most of it has to do with my job. Of course, most of the great opportunities also had to do with my job. So it seems crazy to me that there can be so many 'ups' and still end the year on a down note. But I would guess that a lot of people right now are not very happy at their job. And in the end I should be grateful I have a job - and I am.

I was able to visit several countries and continents this year. Besides Hong Kong, I was able to visit China (mainland), which has always been a dream of mine. Though I didn't get to see the Great Wall or Beijing, Shanghai was a wonderful experience. I also got to visit London and spend some time there. Once again, this was a great opportunity and I loved the city.

We had many trips. Our trip to Mexico this year was fantastic as usual. I also went to Hawaii thanks to Kathy getting married there. I loved Hawaii. It was a great trip with wonderful food, great people, and beautiful scenery. I think I was destined to live in a place like Hawaii, but most likely will not as it is too far from family.

I spent more time on airplanes this year than probably the rest of my life combined except my trip and from Brazil for my mission. Though I did get spoiled by being able to travel business class on these long flights. And I eventually learned good routines for my for flights, which will be helpful. Also, now a flight to NY doesn't seem all that long!

The beginning of the year saw me probably at my least fit and heaviest weight in my life. The lack of playing basketball and sports in Hong Kong combined with being away from family and tempted by flavorful food was a terrible combination. Upon return to the USA, the introduction of Wii Fit and all the things that were lacking in HK found me at the lowest weight in the last 5 or 6 years. I look forward to 2009 to get into even better shape as I want to start working on muscle tone as I am entering my mid-30s.

2008 was also a special year in that two of my siblings entered the temple. Now all four of us have been to the temple and that is special to me. I am proud of them for being worthy and having the knowledge that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It makes me want to be an even better person so I can be worthy to be with them in the life to come.

So even as the year ends with me feeling I am in a rut career-wise, I can not help but realize that so much has happened this year to be grateful for. I think the hardest thing with my job has been the debate in my head on whether or not I am wanting too much (e.g. I want to be promoted, make more money, climb the ladder) and am therefore being too proud, or I want too little (e.g. I should be fine with what I have, I make plenty of money, etc.) and am not trying to really grow my talents or work too hard. It is a fine line. I don't want to just sit and be complacent as that seems as though I am wasting the talents I have. Or even being lazy. But I don't want to be at a point where I feel entitled to more and obsessed with such trivial things as money. A 'job' and where it fits into God's plan has certainly been the focus of a lot of thoughts and nights this year. We spend so much of our life 'working' yet there is so little in the scriptures about careers and working. It would seem that it really isn't all that important in God's plan. Yet we focus and stress so much on it in our lives.

At the end of it all, my love for my wife, my children, and my parents and siblings has grown more in 2008. When an opportunity arose where I could have possibly moved to Utah, I never imagined I would be so excited to live close to family there. I look forward to a day where we can spend more time closer together as a family - and I continue to work my long term goals to make that a reality. I look forward to 2009 for a more 'simple' and 'peaceful' year, where I'll see my beautiful wife much more and spend less time on planes.

New additction

I played Tetris shadow, the apple, from 11pm to 12:30 last night. Dad had gone to bed, and he had mistakenly given me diet coke, (with caffiene) at Jimmy's uncle's house. Now I see why you guys used to play for hours. "Just one more game" is my new motto.
Thanks Jake and Cari.
Dad is playing it now.
I never got 100%, but was ranging from 94-97 most of the time. Is that good?
I didn't save anything, because I wasn't sure how to.

This Christmas

We are having fun this year with Kathy, Jimmy, and Daisy here. The first voice I heard this morning was Tom, calling to confirm our 4:00 phone call. We've played a bunch of Blokus, opened gifts, talked on the phone, and now are going to eat here. Then we have the big 4:00 phone call, then we are going to Jimmy's uncle's. Kathy has a cold. It is sunny and warm. I am missing all the rest of you!

I can't get it to upload the video of Daisy opening gifts. It just says 'uploading' and goes on forever.

My favorite Christmas

My favorite Christmas without a doubt was the year we bought the IBM computer. I think it was a PS/1 33 mhz but I can't remember. I was so excited because dad let me see it in his room the night before and gave me the thick OS2 book that went with it. I read the book until I fell asleep and it was the only Christmas Eve I can remember that I actually fell asleep and slept through the night.

The next day I ignored pretty much all other gifts and instanly wanted to learn more about the machine. This computer was the start of my obssesion for computers and I supposed has shaped much of my career, entertainment and lifestyle. Not to mention it had one of the best old school golf games ever made! The very first Jack Nicholas golf which required other processes to be stored in High Memory to have enough ram for the game. The next Christmas Sound Blaster 16 and CD-Rom would follow on this computer along with crazy attempts to REM any silly tasks on startup to allow enough memory for 16 bit graphics! Although me and Dad(mostly dad) struggled to get it all working, it was worth it.

Cont...

I guess two videos on the same page caused problems... Here is my favorite!

Christmas 2008

This is a few shots of Hazel this morning..

Favorite Christmas *tevs*

I am a pain in the butt. I am a Christmas Grinch. But somewhere deep down in my heart that is two sizes too small, I have a favorite Christmas memory or two.

This was the Christmas after my brother Andrew died. My parents happened to have had an insurance policy on us kids and so they got a chunk of money after my brother died. (none of us knew this till later I believe) Anyhow, that Christmas morning we woke up and all of us got brand new bikes. Nobody got a hand me down, they were all brand new, still in the box. It was so much fun putting our bikes together that morning and then getting to ride them in the snow.

Another Christmas I remember well and was very fond of was the year I was in fourth grade. Hmmm this would actually be the Christmas right before my brother died. Strange. Anyhow, I remember we had this really sparse looking Christmas tree. We really wanted to spruce it up so my mom had us string popcorn chains and we made a bunch of homemade decorations with ribbon and other crafty things. I thought the tree looked beautiful when we were done with it. I also got a Care Bear that year from my best friend Maria Prust. (She had every Care Bear and was sad I didn't have one so her mom bought me one.) I still have it to this day and Malik used to love it so much when he was younger, that he would sleep with it every night and took it to preschool for show and tell.

Mostly I think I need to get a better attitude about Christmas so I don't pass down my Grinchy attitude to my children. I have been trying to do a better job this year. Bret, how have I done so far? :)

Bret's Favorite Christmas

OK, it is very hard for me to think of a favorite Christmas. I love all Christmases. Even ones where every one is sick like last year. But the one that seems to hold the most 'excitement' in my memory was not the Crayola Caddie year (I know that one gets a lot of hype from the parents, but I don't really remember being so excited). It would be a year we had Christmas in Detroit at Kathy and Fred's home. I remember the feeling in the air of excitement. I really wanted a Transformer and sure enough, Santa brought me a Transformer. I was so excited. It wasn't the one I wanted, but I was still so excited to get one. I remember spending hours transforming it. I'm not sure why that Christmas stands out so much in my mind, but it does. Maybe it was the wonderful spirit in the home: the home of a great family. Maybe they had more decorations than we usually did. Maybe it was just fun being with more people. I think I would have been around 7 or 8. A close second was the year I got a new bike. It was awesome - and then stolen a few weeks later. Santa didn't offer us any insurance on it. =(

In thinking back over the years, it would appear for being such a healthy person that I have had quite a few Christmases where either I have been sick or others in my family. How lame is that - to get sick once a year and it to be on Christmas. This year, unfortunately, looks to be on par with that tradition. When we asked Jarek what one of our family traditions was for Christmas, he said "get sick".

Favorite Christmas

Okay, so I know I have more time than all of you because our church was canceled due to snow.... :(
I thought it may bond us this year, since we are far away from each other, if we each blogged about a special, favorite, or fun Christmas gift or experience.
For those extremely busy people, just be brief, ie, the Christmas I got a rifle...
But it would be fun to hear a bit more explanation. I would love if you invited Jarek and Malik to tell us theirs also!
Dad said he would add to our contributions.
You all read one of mine already, but I will add another childhood one.

I was about 6 or 7, and my sister and I were up way too early. We always shared the same bedroom, and whenever one of us awoke, so did the other. It was usually Kathy, (for Webb's explanation, my Kathy is named after my sister, Kathy, who is 2 years younger than I and my best friend), who woke me, to sounds of monsters, ghosts, etc. She also was more curious than I, and more daring.
She talked me into going down to look to see if Santa had come.
We sneaked ever so quietly past my parents room, our eyes peeled for any noises from the living room, in case Santa was still there, and then we would run back before he saw us, so he didn't see us behaving badly. But- he had been there already, and although most presents were usually wrapped, ours that year wasn't. There were 2 big dolls standing under the tree! They were obviously too big to wrap, so they were just standing there, looking at us. We squealed with happiness and excitement, and ran back to our rooms. It was a long 2 hours before our parents got up, and during that time, we grew up just a bit... We both realized that now we would have to fake our joy at seeing the tree and gifts. By the time Christmas morning came, after laying there for what seemed forever, we were really sorry we had peaked.
We still loved our dolls, and had a nice morning, as far as I know, but I do remember wishing we hadn't been so sneaky.
But- that didn't stop us from showing each other what we got each other for Christmas the next few years. We would show it to each other, then wrap it. :)

And, who can forget, Crayola Caddy year?

Ladies! Blokus challenged?

Okay, so I have heard through the grapevine that none of us can beat our husbands at Blokus. Is it true what Jacob says, that we just don't concentrate enough? I know we are smarter than them. Kathy and Millie, you are hereby challenged to help us out. Let us not give in, we can win someday! If we ever let them play it with us again!

Special Christmas story

Maybe you could read this story to the boys one night before Christmas.

Bret was 3. We were living in my tiny apartment in Brooklyn. Bret was extremely sick with pneumonia. Times were tough for me then, and I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to give Bret the kind of Christmas I remembered as a child. His fever was 102. I was nervous, and lonely.
The missionaries who lived across the hall came over and gave him a blessing. One of them sat and sang Christmas carols to Bret, ever so sweetly and peacefully. His name was Elder Wall.
There was a knock on the door. Who would be visiting me late in the dark and the cold on Christmas Eve?
As I carefully opened the door, I saw a few people running away. There by my door were 4 or 5 black plastic bags, full of food items and gifts! The last person I saw looked to be about thirteen, though he was dressed up in a long trench coat, a hat, and I think I even recall a beard. He said “Merry Christmas” as he ran down the hall.
I had no idea who did it, well, not for years and years. I later figured it had to be someone from our church. I vowed that night, that from then on, I would do something special for someone else each and every Christmas. I have kept that promise. 

Laie flooded

Kathy couldn't get to BYU the other day. That one highway was closed do to flooding from a terrible storm. The school was closed, and you can see some pics on the BYU Hawaii website.

The Attic & Our Future Entertainment Center

Over the past few weeks I have spent considerable time contemplating the future or our entertainment center – and how to best take advantage of our insanely large HDTV while at the same time avoiding paying any money to the cable and satellite monopolies that plague our country.

This led to me finally actually deciding to do something about our surround sound and move our speakers to the actual positions they should be in. I have avoided this for years due to the work of moving cords around and possibly having to go up into “the attic” – or crawlspace.

But after buying some new speaker wire and just having the wires go across the carpet we watched a couple of movies this weekend and were amazed at the increase of enjoyability of the movies. So last night I decided to take the plunge since it is not 100 degrees in the attic anymore. I had been up there once or twice briefly to stick old baby stuff up there, but never really crawled/walked around.

Together with Tevia’s help, we made some holes in the ceiling to thread the wires up. I went up into the spooky attic and realized there are like millions of wires up there. They were everywhere. Cable wires, telephone wires, and other who-knows-for-what wires. The first hurdle is to try and be able to find the holes and the wire Tevia was feeding up. The first one was fairly easy since I could see the flume for the fireplace and knew approximately where it would be coming up. And Tevia did a great job of getting the wire to emerge from the insulation that I ended up getting all over my clothes and lungs.

Next I had to have Tevia drill a hole for the wire to go back down into the living room and find that hole. This proved a little more difficult. Even banging on the ceiling wasn’t all that helpful, but we eventually got it. The third hole was the hardest as it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We spent quite a bit of time yelling/banging to try and find the hole. But in the end we were able to set up our whole surround sound. We celebrated by watching the Two Towers. My next step is to get an audio cable (either coax or optical) to connect the TV to the receiver. We have one for the DVD player, but never bought one for the TV.

Then the next steps will take place over the next month. The first will be cutting off cable. The plan is to get rid of cable and avoid giving them so much money each month. We will then buy a fairly inexpensive PC with enough memory, etc. and an HDMI (or DVI) connection to hook it up to our HDTV so that we can watch (via stream or download) videos from the computer. For example, we’ll be able to stream our netflix right to our computer. We can also use hulu or nick.com or scifi.com to watch shows. For our local TV we will get an antenna to get the HD quality for free – and actually in better quality than from cable. The last step will be to either get a blu-ray or just an upscaling dvd player to improve our DVD picture (which isn’t all that terrible anyway). With this we can save $50 per month or so, which is about what we pay for expanded cable.

And now I have conquered the attic, so setting up an antenna may not be all that bad if we have to stick it up there.

Jacob, Check your email and accept My invitation!

Now you can post to my blog. Sorry that I keep my comments censored. This is a whole other OCD issue I have. Maybe I'll blog about it someday, but probably not. 

Improvise and Sound Advice

So, I'm still banned from comment on Tevia's blog so I'll console their sickness in a new post over here instead!

Fact:
Stress helps cause colds.

Fact:
Games relieve some stress.

Solution:
Play more video games!

Really, sorry to here you guys are all sick. You need more sound proof rooms so you can't here your kids coughing... I here they make them like that up here ;-)

Caffeine

Wow!
I was reading the Ensign this morning, and got to the article called "the energy drink epidemic".
I haven't read the article yet, but I will, but, on page 50, it shows 2 spider webs: one web created by a regular spider, and one by a caffeinated spider.... Cool! That picture actually depicts well how I feel if I drink a whole can of Dr. Pepper! Bret, you should show it to your kids. It's a cool picture.

Wii fit question

I have been doing Wii fit for over 190 days, and I have become top in all the yoga fields, and am usually at the 3 or 4 star level. However, this last week, I have dropped. It keeps saying my left leg is not supporting well, and is shaking. I don't feel like I am doing anything different. How could my left leg all of a sudden be weaker? Could there be a problem with the Wii, or me?

Twilight Movie - Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we woke up early and drove up to Lakeside to spend the time with Tevia's family. It was a quick and easy drive (we have found it much easier to travel on Thursday morning than on Wednesday evening) and we even got to see some snow. In fact, upon arrival at grandmother's house we were able to have a little snowball fight.

Dinner was wonderful with some great turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, etc. Even the yams were great. Tevia's paternal grandparents also joined us along with Quentin and Yesenia. The boys and I spent much of the time finishing our Avatar series on DVD. We are down to the last DVD of the last season (which we actually watched when it aired on TV). This series has quickly grown to one of my favorite TV shows of all time. It is touching, fun, and exciting.

Friday we woke up early for Black Friday to go to Walmart at 5 AM. There was a Blue Ray DVD player for a good price, so we thought we'd go. We drove over and realized that it was probably going to be really crowded when we noticed so many cars on the road. And we were right. The parking lot was full and there was a line to get in. The three of us in the car decided it wasn't worth it and drove home to get some more sleep.

Friday night Tevia and I went on a date to go the movie Twilight. I loved the books, but was a little skeptical of the movie going in. The reviews were okay, and most people hated the actors chosen for the main roles. Probably due to this low expectation, I actually really enjoyed the film. I thought the acting was passable and I thought the director did a great job capturing some of the emotions that made the first book - and subsequent one or two - so appealing. Were the special fx great? No. But the book was not as much a fantasy book as a romance - and in the film they were able to capture that pretty good. It was fun to hear all the teenage girls sigh and swoon when Edward did anything romantic and several times I recalled the fun feelings of falling in love with Tevia and reading this book a year ago when Tevia convinced me I should read the books. One of the funny parts of the movie for us, though certainly not meant to be funny, was every time Carlisle was on screen we would laugh. I laughed because I couldn't remember the actor's name and he was so familiar and seemed so out of place. We stayed to the end to see the actor's name. It was Peter Facinelli who most people probably don't even know but I remember him from the short-lived show Fast Lane. One last comment on the movie - I absolutely loved the music. I know Stephenie Meyer was very involved in putting the soundtrack together (and she even convinced her most loved band Muse to contribute a song). I loved the music and the songs. It even ended with one of my fav Linkin Park songs from their last album ("Leave out all the rest"). I definitely would recommend the movie to anyone that liked the book. Tevia gave a thumbs up to the actor who portrayed her fav character Jacob Black - so that was good, too. Congrats to Ms. Meyer who put together a fun story and now has gotten filthy rich off of it.

Saturday we had a family get-together to celebrate Tevia's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. Last time I attended a get-together on this side of the family was for a Thanksgiving dinner - and by the time I was able to eat they were out of most of the food. This event was consistent with my last experience, but it was good to see others and celebrate a great achievement. Immediately afterwards we went to the movies to see Madagascar 2 with everyone. Due to family photos taking longer than expected, we were a little late and ended up with front row seats. The movie was fun, but sitting on the front row really sucks. It is hard to imagine that years ago as a kid it seemed so cool to sit on the front row.

We left today to come home and once again traffic was better than expected. It was a great trip. Earlier in the week we had Nephi and Naomi visit us from Japan. They left Thanksgiving day and we were sad they couldn't stay that extra day. it was good to see them as well this week and get to know Naomi.

We truly are blessed in our lives. It was nice to celebrate that truth and demonstrate our gratitude by eating as much as we possibly could.

Our trip to Cleveland

We really enjoyed our drive from NY to Cleveland. We left at 6:30 ish am, and there was hardly anyone on the road, especially no trucks, which made the drive easy. The weather was cold, and PA was white, but the roads were dry and we made it to my dad's in 7 hours! I think a record! Of course, Carol had the traditional meal with lots of side specialties. It was delicious. Mike & Marsha, Kathy & Fred, and dad & I chipped in for Wii for them for Christmas, so, we brought it with us to give them early and set up for them.
We had previously checked with Jacob as to the effort level of doing this, and I also had practiced at home to make sure we could handle this job. It was more difficult than we expected, due to their tv and set-up. Both dad and Carol grew frustrated, saying things like, "we are ruining their set-up, they won't even be able to watch tv anymore, etc." It was kind of funny. I personally stayed confident, and kept telling them we know what we are doing, don't worry. Dad talked to Jacob for a long time, and with his help, we got the job done.
We played a little Wii golf from the Wii sports game, and that was fun. We got dad to try it. He huffed and puffed just getting off the couch.
Our idea in getting this was to keep him active. He says he is working out at a gym with a personal trainer 3 times a week. Well, he must have been having a bad day, because he could barely do one hole of Wii golf.
We continued to play until they were comfortable with it, then we tried a Tiger Woods game. That was harder to explain to them, and it was getting late, and we still had wires all over, so we had to go, and dad and Michael went back the next night and rewired all of it up nicely and hooked it up so they could use it easily.
Come to find out, they were not ever using the DVD player that Michael and Marsha had boughten them, because they didn't know how. I had sent dad 4 movies for his birthday, and he never even opened them. So it was good that Mike and dad showed them how to do this all, and Carol wrote it all down, and now they can play Wii and watch DVDs.
I slept well at mom's, like always. We slept in late, and then just talked and looked at wedding pics. Mom likes it when we take her out, so we took them to see the new James Bond movie. They can't go by themselves because they are nervous to walk in the dark theater, she can't see well in the dark and can't feel the slant of the floors. They liked it a bit, it was wild and loud and crazy for them, but at least they got out.
Then we took them to a steak house for Milan's birthday, Longhorns. I had a steak salad that was delicious!
We just relaxed the rest of the evening as Mike and Don were at dad's doing their technical jobs.
Saturday morning we went with Michael to Brecksville to walk Honey, then headed home. We thought we'd hit some snowflakes or traffic, but, no snow at all. There was more traffic than on Thanksgiving day, but we still make it home in 7 1/2 hours!
We were relaxed, and it was wonderful seeing my parents and brother and Marsha! I love going home!
I missed you all.
Please try and send a card to your grandparents for Christmas, they ask about you all and love you. Mom loves the pictures of Hazel in her yellow towel! It is on her frig. She has pictures of the 3 boys all over the place.
Kathy- you wanted Carol's phone number for recipes.

Here are addresses and phone numbers:

John and Carol Pylick
1426 Spyglass Hill Dr
Brunswick, OH 44212
330-273-9761

Mrs. B. Uhvin and Milan Borota
7257 Chateau Dr
Parma, OH 44130
440-845-1349

I would love it and so would they if you guys were brave enough to call them sometime!

Happy Thanksgiving

We as a family have much to be thankful for.
I am thankful for all of you who read this blog! You mean a lot to me, and I send love and good wishes for a nice holiday tomorrow. Poor Cari, I hope you feel better. I will be driving 8 hours to Cleveland, but usually, my dad's wife, Carol's, cooking is worth it.
We are bringing Wii to give them for Christmas, (my brother and sister chipped in). I hope we can get it to work for them. We also bought them Tiger Woods golf.
We will spend all day Friday with mom. She wants to play cards, go out to dinner, and watch Get Smart. Then, Saturday morning, we will hop back in the car and drive across PA in what the weather channel is now calling 'snow showers'. Sunday is snow across the whole northeast, so Saturday is our best bet.
Good luck to Kathy and Jimmy on their first turkey. She is also going to try and make Bonnie's rolls. A challenging endeavor. Let us know how it all turns out.
Bret and Tev, have a good trip, be safe.
Jacob, take care of Hazel so Cari can rest.
I will miss you all!

Favorite Church Activity

Our subject in sacrament meeting was attendance at church activities. Suzanne, although not happy with her choice of topics, did a great job being creative and positive.
I was interested in knowing some of your favorite or most memorable ward or church activities.
I just wonder which ones had an affect on my kids, because as adults, we kind of start to think of some ward activities as a real sacrifice to go to, to support the ward, and not for any fun or uplifting reason.
I used to love when our ward did square dancing. And line dancing on the same night. I don't know why we stopped doing it, as it brought out all sorts of people and their friends.
I miss good old firesides. We hardly ever have them anymore.
I love our yearly December musical Christmas program. It really brings the spirit of Christmas in to my heart.
We had some really fun elder's quorem events in Utah.
No, I am not getting called to ward activities director. I am just curious.

Where have we been?

No posts in nearly two weeks? Where have we been? Well, hawaii. Last week we were in hawaii for my sister's wedding at the La'ie Temple. She is now Kathy Cox - and we welcomed Jimmy (Jim?) Cox into our family. I enjoyed the whole trip - though a few moments were stressful as driving to beaches looking for 'just the right waves' can be stressful. In the end I got to do everything I wanted to do except learn how to surf. That will have to wait for another day when I can learn from someone experienced and I have a healthier knee. But I was able to:

- Go to the Polynesian Cultural Center where I recalled my old polynesian friends
- Ate some great local Ono food and remembered my old polynesian friends and old fave restaurant in college (Bamboo Hut - and NO, not the same as the one in Provo now)
- Snorkeled - a lot!
- Body surfed on huge waves. And got smashed by a 20 foot wave!
- Spent good quality time with family

Hawaii was beautiful and relaxed. We avoided Waikiki and Honolulu and stuck to the north shore area. This was great. We went to the Hukilau Cafe twice for great breakfast (mmm, banana pancakes...). It says it is in 50 First Dates, but it sure don't look like the one in the movie, at least not that I recall. We also rented a Jeep Wrangler (4 Door) and loved it.

I'm glad my sister got married there as I don't think we would have ever gone to Hawaii had she not. Now I have been there, and to be honest, I would go back - especially to see the other islands and chill around the North Shore.

We're back in regular life now. Comments encouraged.

interesting economic prophesy

HI, after the RS and Priesthood lesson today, I came home and looked up "signs of the times" in Mormon Doctrine. I found this very interesting:
page 729. 1966
"Economic turmoil: Because of iniquity and greed in the hearts of men, there will be depressions, famines, and a frantic search for security- a security sought without turning to the Lord or obeying his precepts. We may expect to see the insatiable desire to get something for nothing result in further class legislation and more socialistic experiments by governments. Economic inequalities
will certainly give rise to further class warfare and bickering. "
Wow!

Fridays...

So, I am sitting here at work with a million things to do, but I can't move forward because the company PRO7 I need to work on can't get me access to their SVN until Monday. Add in the fact that last night I was flaked by the stake for my annual membership audit and I am getting annoyed at not getting done many of these high priority assignments. But, at least it is Friday. Although I do have to run an employment workshop tomorrow, it is only 3 hours and I am looking forward to resting tomorrow afternoon. This lifestyle sucks. 8 hours sleep, 1 hour in the morning to get to work. 8-10 hour day at work depending on the day. That leaves at most 6 hours at night and when you add in the church you average less than 3-4 hours a night to spend with your family and unwind with games etc. My Sundays have also largely been taken away form me.

Why am I ranting? Cari and I were given a new assignment by the Stake through the bishop to attend the temple once a week during the daytime hours as official patrons. While I am thrilled to go to the temple once a week, and I will request to be a temple worker(which at the Provo temple they almost always grant) it is 3 more hours gone, the need of a babysitter(during the day) and honestly I'm not sure if I will be able to stay afloat.

It is strange for me to think I will begin to struggle with my priorities of life when thus far I have been so diligent in doing things like a weekly date with my wife, Internet Safety Podcast community service and general computer service and help for all those in my complex. This company was such a cushy job in the beginning and I took it mostly because it would allow me to continue a fairly flexible life.

God surely must know how to lay the trials on the right order. There is no way I would have predicted such a lifestyle change in so little time. I had honestly wondered what trials lay in front of me a few months ago when even job hunting was unable to phase me mentally. The news at my company has continued to deteriorate to the point of 50% layoffs sometime soon.

While I am still pretty sure I will not be affected(at least initially) the moral is so low most teams are accomplishing absolutely nothing. Which in an ironic sense is funny since it is really allowing me to shine since my projects are going fairly well. I am so excited to get a break in Hawaii and I think we all need to think about the future and a way to escape slowly from this dumb pattern of life!

lyrics

I was handed a list of the following songs, and told to screen them for acceptable to use at our Super Saturdays:
T.I featuring Rihanna- Live Your Life
Blink 182- All The Small Things
Daft Punk- Harder, Better, Faster
We The Kings- Check Yes Juliet
Boys Like Girls- Thunder
Cupid- Cupid Shuffle
DJ Casper- Cha Cha Slide
Lil' Mama- G Slide
Secondhand Serenade- Fall For You
Corbin Bleu- Push It To The Limit
Rihanna- Disturbia
Danity Kane- Damaged
Chris Brown- Forever
Chris Brown- With You
Sum 41- In Too Deep
U2- Vertigo
Daft Punk- Technologic
Linkin Park- What I've Done
Linkin Park- In Th End
Paramore- Misery Business
David Archuletta- Crush
Fall Out Boy- I Don't Care
Now, I just started last night, and luckily, most of the sites I found let me listen to them and read the words. I just have to say, good grief! Some of the words, you can't even tell if they are trying to be sexual or not. At least I can't! Some I can tell better by the way they sing them. So I may need some help. Bret, let me know if Lil' Mama- G-slide is okay. and btw, you guys have to listen or see the words to the 2 Daft Punk songs. Hilarious. Jacob, it is techno music at its funniest!
If any of you already know that some of the songs are okay or not, let me know before I do much more checking.

Flash of Genius

Dad and I went to the cheap theater on Saturday night to see this movie. It looked like a feel-good movie from the previews. It is about a guy who invented intermitten windshield wipers, and supposedly, Ford stole his idea. It was actually quite sad. Yes, he wins his case in the end, but was it worth it? He made millions of dollars. No, greed was not his motive, but pride. Too bad that the media actually makes it look like this guy beat the system and won. Dad and I feel he won at too great a price, and really lost 12 years of his life.

Por quien was a votar?

Dad and I went early to vote. only one other person was there. I am glad I do have the privilege, even though our vote doesn't count for much in NY.
I hope you all get to exercise your freedom to vote!

Opportunity Lost

I haven't blogged much lately. But it has been an interesting few weeks. About three weeks ago we were planning on a trip to UT. The day before the trip I went to a Chinese restaurant with a good friend of mine and got a fortune. It said, "A new career opportunity will present itself." That night we headed off to UT to enjoy a great time with family and friends. The next day, while in UT, I received an email from an old colleague who mentioned a job opportunity it UT that he thought I might be interested in. I called them that weekend and that started a process which eventually led to an interview in UT last week.

The opportunity looked wonderful and fun. Though we haven't often thought about moving to Utah, the idea of living close to family there and friends seemed like a great change and fun. I put a lot of positive energy into it and did a lot of praying. The entire process seemed positive. The company was very interested and every conversation I had with them went well. This week I was supposed to hear from them and fully expected an offer. But the days went by and all I heard was silence. In the end, on Friday, I finally did hear from them. They called with bad news that due to the economy they were on a hiring freeze and this position was no longer being filled. Their company had laid off 50 people or more that week and therefore would not be hiring anybody for some time. This was disappointing as we had imagined a fun change in our lives. Maybe in a few months the economy will pick up and the opportunity will present itself again. It all happened so quickly that our emotions were pulled and pushed so often. I think I finally had conceded that we could leave Phoenix even though there is so much I love here. From a professional standpoint, I am ready to move on as there is not much for me at my current company any more. Their change in strategy and direction (not to mention their deterioration in market share and profitability) have limited the use of my global skills and experience. I am ready to move on and go to a company where I can make a difference. I will now be working with a headhunter, but given the market conditions and my lack of desire to move most places outside of Phoenix or Utah or the west, I believe we will most likely remain here in PHX for the next few months.

Maybe I'll get laid off and we can then move up to UT and get a house to share with Jake and Cari. So, unfortunately, we won't be moving close to the Jake's and our friends in UT anytime soon. SOMEBODY must not have been praying hard enough! =) Maybe in the near future. In reality, it probably would have been a bad time to move.

For now I am anxiously awaiting our trip to Hawaii!

Hazel Says "Happy Halloween!"

viva a vida

I love this new song by Coldplay. Bret was right, it is easy to download any song one at a time for .99 each.
I just don't understand the lyrics. Does anyone know what the song is about? I read the lyrics on 3 different website, and each site actually had it differently worded. That was strange.
It seems to me to have a religious theme going, maybe anti- king, or something.
Can anyone enlighten me on it?

Cloverfield

Okay, I did get a little bit of a headache, and felt like I do when I try to read in a car.
We didn't understand why everyone loved this movie so much.
One problem was we were babysitting Charly, and even though Jesse said we should be able to watch it with her here, after about 15 minutes in, I could tell it was upsetting her, just the music alone. So we turned it off and had to wait another hour. Then dad had to stop another time to check his blood and stuff.
Then we missed some dialog.
So there were parts I didn't understand. It even took us a long time to figure out that the couple under the Central Park bridge was the same couple in the beginning. Oh, even now I just figured out it was the same video camera. Duh.
Did all of you see it? It was quite depressing. And they never tell you what kind of monster it was, why all those little spider things are all over, and if they kill it.
We figure that is because there may be a sequel, since it's not dead, I guess.
I guess I don't like sad endings.
I did like his bravery and courage. Yep, I'm a sucker for bravery.
Oh yeah, and the girl in the high heel shoes wears them all over the city, up 59 flights of stairs, through tunnels, etc. Now that wasn't realistic to me.
I think if I was running from a monster, I would take off my high heels.
:)
I could see how it scared Kathy. It was filmed from a unique point of view. You find yourself asking, what would I do if I was at a party and a monster came?
Kathy couldnt' finish seeing it because she got sick.
I did hear that there have been some weird sightings in the city lately.
eeeeh ooooh aaaah oh no! Don, somebody! a8dfayeh vgnamdangoahjdkhhg helpakdnfagfihgakjbn,a,,a.f;;...........................

Church news article

I loved the article on the back of the newest issue of the Church news, entitled, "Slippery treasure".
It compares how Samual the Lamanite warned the people of their riches slipping away. How true that is for most people right now! President Hinckley warned us in 1998, 10 years ago, when he said, "the time has come to get our houses in order. So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings... I am troubled by the huge consumer installment debt which hangs over the people of the nation, including our own people...
let us buy a home we can afford." President Monson also adds a timely statement about debt.

In all things, we can follow the prophets, pay a full tith, ... and claim the blessings .We can start today to live within our means, formulating a budget...
Like the Nephites, we were warned in advance.

I find peace in knowing that dad has been careful in spending and saving, and we have only our house in debt. I know he would continue to advise you all to do the same. It brings great peace.

Also, there is an article about how the Hong Kong church meets during the week! Just like Bret said.

Elder Wall

Tom's P day is on Wednesday, so we have gotten a letter every Saturday now.
He asked me to pass along his letters, because he said he can't write everyone every week.
I will try to summarize:

• he loves it there
• he eats, studies, eats, studies, eats, sleeps
• he has played soccer and basketball
• he gets to go the temple every Wednesday
• He loves his district and his companion
• his comp is quiet, and he and Tom only speak Spanish to each other
• he got to have Richard G Scott speak last week, and he got to sing in the choir for that. He shook all their hands
• Everyone in his district is easy to get along with and quite funny, except for one elder who is kind of a wise guy type and a loner. He also said not everyone loves the MTC, which he learned from Jake and Andy
• He wishes he was already in the field. He feels this is kind of void time, like the world doesn't exit
• he misses us all
• tell Cari he loved her bread was awesome, at least I think it says bread :)
• his writing is tough, but fun to decipher

Thursday night tv

the office wasn't that funny, but SNL weekday edition was!

The Debate

Yes, I actually watched it. Obauma reminded me of a high school student running for president of his school, promising free soda with every lunch, and no homework! duh! Is America that stupid and lazy? Where do they think he will get the funds to pay for free health care and sending everyone to college? Do they ever ask how he will do these things? If one of my family finally worked hard enough to make over $250., I wouldn't think they should have to 'spread their wealth around' as directed by the government.
I am reading, Wild Swans, a book about China and communism. It just so happens that the chapter I read last night read: communism came in and wanted to reform China. They bought up all the businesses and farms, and then redispersed them to everyone so everyone had equal money.
Now, I don't mind living like this when Christ is here, but not now when government is so corrupt!
It all stinks. Grandpa Wall seems to think it will get worse. I know the scriptures say the church will continue to grow, and I will just stay calm and be good.

fhqwhgads

Make sure you pronounce it correctly! Anyways this blog will be scattered so the name fits perfectly. I am writing this on my new Mac Book Pro and I commonly miss keys on the keyboard so I apologize in advance if I miss some.

First and most important: Congrats Kathy and Jimmy! I am so excited for you two. I am trying to get more stoked for Hawaii but am busy enough it still scares me to take a week off of life.

Second: I had a change of heart about my calling this week. Doing quarterly numbers and seeing the shape of our ward nearly brought me to tears. I am excited to try and make a difference and have repented of my previous assumptions about useless Utah wards. I think what really brought it home was the fact that Hazel still doesn't exist on the records of the church... Major help is needed, and I am glad to have an opportunity to serve.

Third: Carolyn's MRI came back negative and although she hates me talking about it, I was really worried about her and am so grateful she is normal... well sort of:-) I'm afraid if you are out of the loop on this subject you will have to suck it up or pry information from Cari since I am not supposed to talk about it.

Forth: Along the same lines, I am praying Hazel's Biopsy comes back negative as well.

Fifth: I am doing well at my job, well at least I think so. I am already positioning myself as the lead Silver Light developer and since we are so buddy buddy with Microsoft this may end up being really important. What exactly do I do? Tough question, but in truth I really just implement really advanced multimedia plug ins and modules on websites. I enjoy my position and the freedom I am given as well as the perk of carpooling, working with my best friend Jared and working from home when I please.

Sixth: I constantly find myself wondering about Tom and his adventure. I admit I don't envy him since I hated the MTC, but I am very jealous of his upcoming mission.

Seventh: The economy scares me, I think that is healthy for all of us. Rethinking our ability to buy an amazing boat this spring has been a refreshing reminder of what is really important. Which is of course buying the biggest boat we can possibly afford! Haha, had you all going there for a sec didn't I? We are still set on a boat, burb, houseboat, and house:-) My answer to those that think these wants are too much need only read Malachi a few more times and then up their fast offering to 5%.

Eighth: The upcoming election had me really worried for a while. But then I realized both candidates are in fact terrorists in that they both cause terror in me when I hear them speak. Well, Barack may screw up a little bit of America, but he probably can't make it much worse than its current state(check this statement in 4 years!) and the only important issue right now is really the family. We just all need to hope Cheney shoots McCain on a hunting trip and somehow Palin manages to reverse the destruction of family mar ridge. Either way, theres really nohing I can do about it since the people's opinions of this country no longer matter. In conclusion, I am going to take a break from politics for a while and my only response to anyhting political will probbaly just be "Gotta Nuke Something."

My finger now sparkles

Jimmy finally officially proposed! It was amazing. It was a great weekend and at the very end of it... Sunday at sunset, he brought me to a big yellow school bus and lead me inside. There were flowers and candles everywhere and it was incredible. He then, after we sat down, pulled out his scriptures and read some things to me and then, bore his testimony. Then, he told me all of that lovey dovey mushy stuff, got down on one knee, and proposed with an absolutely gorgeous wedding ring. It's white gold and a 6 prong 1 carrot diamond. It couldn't be more beautiful. I can not stop looking at my hand! And afterwards we danced to our song and then, went and walked on the beach and made smores. It was SO nice!

Anyways for those of you who do not know this, Jimmy and I first met on a school bus when I was going over to Karen's house after school in the 10th grade. We met because as Jimmy tried to throw his gum out the window it landed in my hair. (He actually gave me a piece of gum as soon as I sat down last night!) After that incident, we started talking and became really good friends and our story began. I thought that the whole thing was perfect. It didn't cost money (well except for the ring) because the flowers were wild and the candles were from previous times and it was just so cute. I feel so blessed and loved and am so grateful for my life right now!

Also, we got a place!!!! We fell in love with a place that was pretty expensive but doable if we were really tight and we were actually told last night that it was ours but both of us were not as happy as we had thought we would be. We then, decided it was because it was too much money and we were not at a place where we could afford something that nice or do not even need to right now. So this other place that we looked at, (600 dollars cheaper!), we decided was the best offer. It was very humbling and although, I do not LOVE this place, I know it is the right choice and am excited to start my new life with Jimmy. So we called this other cheaper place last night after thought and prayer and got it! So we now have a place to live and you guys will just have to wait and see what it looks like!

Bye-bye phone!

Well, it's finally happened. We've joined the ranks of the cell phone users. I know, it took us long enough, but it was bound to happen and it finally has. The does mean that our regular phone will be disconnected sometime in the next couple of days. If you don't have our numbers yet, email me and I'll get them to you, but here's some important info:
We're on Verizon, which means if you're on Verizon, we can talk whenever for free, which is cool. For those of you who aren't on Verizon:
Jacob's phone you can call as much as you'd like. He's got almost twice as many minutes as I do (450 total) and some sort of texting plan, so he's fair game.
My phone, on the other hand, is through my employer, so I have a very limited number of minutes (200 to use for personal AND work) and absolutely NO TEXTS. If anyone texts me, I have to go tell my boss and pay them back, which is an embarrassment I'd rather avoid.

And since Jacob's been so busy that he hasn't officially posted the news, but the whole reason that he got a cell phone is that he got a job. He started at MoveNetworks.com last Monday. You can direct all questions about what he does to him - all I know is it involves webpages and possibly Silverlite and is over my head. I know that's probably common knowledge to everyone on this blog already, but now it's recorded for posterity. :-)

32 batteries

As I went through drawers, backpacks, and the closet, I made a box of 32 batteries in Tom and Jacob's room! Silly boys. I don't know if they are old or new, used or not. I will ask dad how to tell.
And, even after Tom gave away most of his clothes, he still has an entire drawer full of t-shirts and dry fit, a whole drawer of jeans, and about 20 shirts hanging in the closet.
I found a working hand-held tape player that has a speaker so it plays tapes, which I can use, since I still have a bunch of tapes to listen to from Bret and Jacob's mission, plus some old ones that are fun.
I also found $32. worth of change, 26 pens and pencils, and a partridge in a pear tree. Just seeing if anyone actually reads this....
:)
There is a weird plastic tube thingy that has round disks with basketball players on them. Whose is that? Is it worth keeping, selling, does anyone want it? etc.
Do you think I should ebay the at-at walker?
Do you think I am crazy?
Missing Tom as I go through and pack up all his baseball, tennis, and soccer shirts.

first letter from Tom

Tom says to send his regards to all of you. He says he loves it so far, and loves everyone. His comp is from Kansas City. He has 2 sisters and 10 elders going to Paraguay in his district, and 2 other elders going to Argentina. I didn't expect a letter so soon!

Clarify

Just to clarify:

That was a picture of jarek's belly button sent from the Wii. We were taking close ups of different things around the house the other day and that one made us laugh. If only my belly button were as cute and unscathed from stretch marks. Sorry if we gave you all a bit of undue excitement. That was not intentional.

more pics

some pics from my excellent adventure

What a great trip! I loved every minute of it.
Thank you all for the good food and fun!
I have the cutest grandkids in the world!

fall conference

It was absolutely amazing being in the conference center in person! I recommend you all try to do it at some point in your life if you haven't already. The Spirit was so very strong. There is much to see besides just looking at the speaker.
I had several talks I loved, my very favorite being the one about angels by Holland. They hardly ever speak about angels, and I also loved how we can be angels to help others.
The talk that made me do some deep thinking was the one by the guy with the funny name, Marcos Aidukaikus, Saturday morning session. He talked a bit about how much he honors his father and his mother, forever. I was thinking, I always feel like I do a good job at keeping the basic 10 commandments; however, do I honor my father? hmmm. I do love him, and I call him, and write him, and visit him. I have not really questioned what honoring our parents means in any deep sense before. I can do better. I do honor my mother. I find that easier to do. She gave me birth, sacrificed for me, and tried her best her whole life.
I loved Wirthlin's talk. What a sweet guy he is. How humble, how loving. I liked how he said when we approach adversity wisely, it can be our greatest strength, and how the Lord does not shield us from sadness. As parents, we can not prevent our kids to feel sad. And as a family this year, with all of our changes and challenges, we can have a good attitude as we approach these new times of our lives. He said learning to endure builds character. So true!
Elder Holland said, God never leaves us alone, even when the distress is our own fault!
Lorence Corbridge said, "the gospel isn't hard, life is hard." That is a good way to answer people that say being a Mormon is hard.
Jimmy, I got an inspiration during one talk, would your mom like to read the Book of Mormon more if it was in Spanish or Italian?
D. Todd Christofferson- "don't be materialistic, be content with what we have, it is sufficient for our needs.", and, "become not just good, but HOLY." cool.
and last but not least, Bednar says, "let your spouse hear an earnest prayer in your behalf."
I love conference!!!!

How many days?

How many days could you go without wearing the same shirt/top? I just finished going through my closet while listening to conference. With the addition of some of Tom's clothes I now have 73 unique shirts in the closet. Here are some of the specifics...

New (never warn) 6
poly (dry fit style) 17
Collar (casual) 10
Collar (dress) 6
Cotton all the rest

Keep in mind that those are all short sleeve only. Clearly I don't need any clothes anytime soon:-) I find it strange that I rarely spend money on clothes and yet have a selection far greater than is possible to wear. I probably have Mom to thank for much of it. Cari I am sure will enjoy Tom's additions because they are of a medium size and so they have a slight muscle look to them.

It is so easy to forget how much we have in life, I am constantly impressed with how well off we really are. I am going to go through and rag or give to MS many of the cotton shirts I have no chance of wearing(unless they are Tom's). Anyways, the point of this blog is to determine how many days you could go without wearing the same top. I didn't do an exact count of my longsleve shirts yet, but I am gussing I have about 2 dozen. If you include my dress shirts I think it puts me just over 100 days! Yikes, maybe I should try a little harder to use my entire selection.

Tom enters the MTC

It was a beautful Utah October morning.  Jacob had planned on treating Tom to some special huge breakfast somewhere, but Tom still didn't feel well, and was just not hungry.   He had a cold and sore throat for several days.

He looked good, tall and thin... I had tried to fatten him up before his mission, but due to his cold, he hasn't eaten much in a week.

He had his new black suit, Moroni tie, and new black shoes.

He didn't look that nervous to me, yet seemed calm and reserved.  

One of the MTC presidency set him apart, and it was a wonderful blessing.   Dad said to try and write some of it down. It was sweet, yet the regular stuff, like that he would learn the language well, and be able to communicate both spiritually and verbally to the people, that he would learn to love the people, that he would learn more about the Atonement, that he would be safe from harm, and that he would serve faithfully.  Our entire family was also blessed, and he told Tom to not worry about any of us, that we would be fine, and let peace come to his mind about his family.  

This was added as almost a post-script, and maybe Tom really needed to hear that.  He saw more arguing this summer than he would like to see.  He is a peacemaker. 

I think he really missed dad being there.  Unfortunately, the way several people asked us if it was just 'us 3?' made me feel like they were asking, "where is the father?"  I am only guessing he felt the same way.  I did finally ask him if he wished dad had come, and he just shrugged his shoulders.

We had to wait awhile, so they showed a bunch of LDS commercials. 

The talk by the MTC President and his wife was short and to the point.  

The movie was the very same as when Jacob went in.

And that was it, it went by too quickly, and in a blink, he was walking away.  He hugged me tightly, smiled, and looked brave and strong.  He hugged Jake, and I didn't see any tears.

I had just a few, as Jacob was quick to wisk me away.

I wanted to cry more, but I didn't.

I miss him already.

Thomas Wall

Years ago when I was just about to go on my mission, I remember one of the hardest things for me to leave behind was my little brother, Tommy. He was only about 4 years old, just a little older than Enok is now. He was a fun little brother and liked to hang around me. The morning I left I hugged him in his bed and felt tears come to my eyes. I would miss him and knew that when I came home he would be much older. I knew he wouldn't remember me nearly as well. And I knew that I wouldn't get to see him grow up nearly as much as I wanted to (with college and marriage on the horizon after the mission).

It was great to see Tom this last week. He is a man now. He is mature, strong, fun, and ready to serve his Lord. He is at that exact point I was at those few years ago - but he doesn't have a little brother to leave. He does have two older brothers, a sister, and parents - and many friends he will miss I am sure. I was amazed this year at his maturity and kindness. He truly is ready to go to Paraguay and bare his testimony to that people and find those seeking the gospel that he knows. I am confident that he will be a hardworking missionary and that all the little things that can get most missionaries down won't affect him nearly as much. He is confident and loving and the people will see that and together with the Spirit they will not be able to deny his testimony.

He will return in 2 years a wiser man. Though Tom probably doesn't see it as much, he is an example to my children and they will see him serve his mission honorably. They will hear his letters and hear his stories. So as he leaves for his mission, though he doesn't have a little brother looking up to him, he does have three little nephews who will remember his mission.

Tom has always been strong in his convictions and in his testimony. I am proud of his decision to serve God. He is an example to me much more than I could ever have been to him. I am grateful to be his brother and friend. I will miss him a second time - for another two years we will be separated. And once again after those two years he will have changed dramatically. But I know it will be for the better. Like Joseph of old, I believe being youngest has provided him many blessings which he has learned from and will therefore be an even greater missionary than his brothers before him.

Tom - be the best missionary you can. Work hard and love the people. You are a great man. I will miss you just as much as that day years ago when I hugged you goodbye to leave on my mission. I love you. You will be a savior to many.

I'm Normal!!!!

As most of you know, I've been running and exercising for the last several months to get into better shape and lose the rest of my baby weight and I've been using WiiFit to track my progress. I just wanted to announce that for the first time since I started using WiiFit, I'm normal!!

Joy of children

Being in the temple last night reminded me how keeping the commandment of multiplying and replenishing the earth brings us joy. I have been able to see the joy Bret and Tevia feel when watching their children, and the same here, when Cari and Jacob just have such love in their eyes when they look at adorable Hazel. I love waking up in the same room with her, and hearing her coo and gaga. I loved seeing the boys wake up and smile at me. This has been a great opportunity for me to get to know my grandchildren more.
And, the joy I feel knowing and being able to be will all of you is incredible. Now I think you guys get a glimpse of the happiness of being parents, and how much love we have for each of our children.
Thanks for making so many right choices, choices that bring me, dad, yourselves, and your children joy!

Mom and Tom in AZ

• felt so loved
• warmer than I expected
• great food
• great talks
• great fun
• time went by too quickly
• good temple trip
• loved the little fish and scallop place
• Jarek and Malik getting so old
• Enok - adorable!
• missed my Wii, gained 3 lbs
• glad Jacob came
• good spiritual discussion
• love your pool
• felt guilty making people watch "The Mission"
• wish dad could have been there
• loved the walks to school
• glad Jarek is doing so well in piano
• yummy cookies!
• I think Tom enjoyed his week!
  

Thanks for everything, Bret and Tevia! You are generous hosts.

Some of My Favorite Things

Exercise and WiiFit:
I've been working on losing my last bit of baby weight. Considering that I gained 60 pounds when I was pregnant with Hazel (yes, 60 - yikes), I think I'm doing pretty good at it. I've been running for about two months now and according to this picture of my weight (tracked on WiiFit), I'm doing pretty good:















I've only got 7 more pounds to go to my realistic goal and about 12 more to my ideal goal. So we'll see how I do. For my exercise I've been running with Nike+, which works with an iPod and tracks your distance and pace and plays music to listen to while you run. I did run 5k yesterday (distance tracked by Nike+) in 28.5 minutes, which is impressive for me, who has never been athletic in her life.

Jacob's New Clothes:
Jacob had a BIG job interview yesterday and things are looking good for him to get an offer next week (YEAH). We decided that his old clothes weren't cool enough for this interview, so he got two new suits (it was a buy one, get one free deal) and some new shirts, etc. Here's a picture of his ultimate hotness:




















And of course, one my most favorite things is my baby. We've started having her try cereal on occasion, so here's a picture of the first attempt:















I don't think she likes to too much. :) She did better today and ate a pretty good portion of the cereal before she decided it was too much work.

And here's Hazel playing in her saucer-toy-thing that my friend Amanda is loaning us:















I think she's a fan.

Hazel 101

I thought you might like these 2 funny pics and a movie of hazel.

These are not doctored! She really is that strong and stubborn!



The next picture was a result of her wanting to lay across the chair so she could look at the fish. After 30 minutes of her crying every time we took her off the chair or sat her up on the back of the chair we gave up and compromised. Obviously, just the boys were home during this picture and were sacked later because apparently it wasn't appropriate.(we still feel it was an excellent solution!)



The last one is a silly movie which is poor quality but shows Hazels teething in action as she literally tries to stuff everything into her mouth. The voice talking is my friend Jared.

My new favorite fruit!

Okay, Cari went to the farmers market the other day which usually means waisted money since we are both bad at finishing off the produce we buy. However, one of the fruits she brought back is so amazing I felt it deserved an entire blog post. So as I sit here waiting two hours for the oven cleaner to take effect(yes, you get a lot of chores when you refuse to get a job) I decided to take a picture and tell you a little more about this rather remarkable fruit. You get the sweetness and taste of the apricot, without the limited shelf life and messiness.



Pluot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A pluot (plü-ot) is a tradename for a fruit developed in the late 20th century by Floyd Zaiger.[1] In the United States, the fruit is known by most regulatory agencies as an interspecific plum.[2] It is a complex cross hybrid of plum and apricot, being ¾ plum and ¼ apricot in percentage. The pluot, like the aprium, is derived from the half-plum–half-apricot hybrid called the plumcot.

The fruit's exterior with smooth skin closely resembles a plum's. Pluots are noted for their sweetness (due to a very high sugar content), their intense flavor, and very juicy pulp. Pluots are also rich in vitamin A.

Because of their speckled skin, they are sometimes known as dinosaur eggs or called Dinosaur plums.

Encounter a Shark

Last weekend Jimmy surprised me and took me on the dolphin excursion that we did last summer again. And it was AWESOME. First, you go off on this boat and find a school of dolphins and then, they let you off and you can swim with them and watch them live in their natural habitat. Then, after (my favorite part) they take you to a beautiful place to snorkel. However, this time we could not find the dolphins as quickly as they wanted so we did the snorkeling first which of course was incredible. We got out into the water and I immediately took off and found a huge sea turtle that was inches close to me! Except I didn't get a great picture like Jimmy! Anyways, it was so pretty and seemed so nice like in finding nemo =) After it got air though, it went back down towards the bottom of the ocean, leaving me to find other beautiful creatures of the sea. My eyes were lost in all the colors of some of the most gorgeous fish and I didn't even realized how far off I was getting from the boat. Well, it got a little more hazy and just before I was about to get back I saw something move out of a cave. At first I thought it was another giant sea turtle but soon realized it wasn't as it was long and just kept coming out. I then, realized it was a shark!
Unfortunately, I have to tell you that I freaked out and started swimming as fast as I could to the boat, where Jimmy found me and questioned why I was going to fast and I told him there was a shark. Well, he of course was a little scared himself and we swam back to the boat together. But before we got there, we passed the camera guy and told him that there was a shark over there. Instead of panicking though, he swam over where we pointed so fast! So, after a couple minutes I followed him and thought, "Okay if hes not worried then I shouldn't be" So I I got to him and showed him where I saw it and he told me that it was probably just a reef shark and it wouldn't do anything. Well sure enough it came out again and we took pictures and it was just a reef shark. It was so cool! And you guys definitely have to do something like this when you come out! It was so beautiful, just even being on the boat and seeing the island!

What is a Nerd?

Driving home today after meeting Bret for dinner I was talking to Jarek about school and his classes. He goes to project potential, which is a class for advanced students in math and reading. I asked him if any of his homeroom class mates think he is a nerd because he goes to the smart class.

He said, "no mom".

So I asked him what he thought a nerd was.

He said, "A nerd is someone who has freckles, wears glasses, reads lots of books and is really smart."

So then I say, "Well then you must be half nerd since you read lots of books and you are really smart."

Then he says "Oh ya, and they have high, squeaky voices that sound like your are plugging your nose."

I laughed and then he and Malik made "nerdy" voices the rest of the way home. Good thing he doesn't have freckles or wear glasses or I would have a true nerd on my hands!

Tokio Hotel Wins

You may recall that a nearly a year ago (see post here) I blogged about a band I really came to like in Hong Kong - a band I had never heard of in the US - and haven't heard of since returning to the USA. But in watching the many commercials for the MTV Video Music Awards I had noticed they were promoting that the band would be there. And though I did not see it, I was shocked today to hear that they won "Best new band."

Though I was thrilled, I honestly have to ask has anyone in the USA heard of these guys? I mean, I love them, but outside of Asia I have never heard of them. Congratulations to the (confirmed) boys and maybe I'll start to hear more from them on the radio/TV now. Their songs are still some of my favs to listen to while doing yardwork.

The Mystery of the Crab

The crab is not dead. Yeah, seriously.

We were hanging out late last night with Nicole and Alex after a successful birthday fishing trip. It was almost midnight and I was making a lasagna (long story). I looked over at the fish tank.....and there was a crab sitting on top the rock. I seriously thought I was seeing a ghost. I had Nicole walk over and she confirmed that I was not quite insane.

Though we have several working theories for our fishy miracle, here's the most plausible of them all: when the first crab "died" and left behind a large claw (which was all we found of him back in the day - we assumed the rest of him dissolved in the filter or was eaten), that was a claw he molted and he was, in fact, still hiding out somewhere in the tank until at a later time, he finally decided it wasn't worth it, made his way to the hole at the top of the tank and took a long drop. So Crab I was the one we actually found three night ago behind the tank. So Crab II was hiding (maybe in the same place?) when we looked for him two nights ago and found the corpse and pronounced Crab II dead. So, Crab II is actually fine and dandy and just has a really good hiding place, which Crab I, though deceased, did not become so until after we had previously assumed. Ah, the drama.

P.S. Since none of the above theory can be proved at all, we're still taking other theories for the miracle of the disappearing-reappearing crab. They'll be judged on creativity and amount of lol-ness. :)

The Death of a Crab

Jacob and I got a new crab at Walmart yesterday to replace the one the crawled into the tank filter and died several weeks ago. We were showing off our other new fish to some friends tonight (a new algae eater and this really cool new bicher eel) and we noticed that we couldn't find the crab anywhere. Not anywhere....

Yeah, he crawled up the air tube and out the tiny hole on the top back of the tank and then decided that life wasn't worth living anymore. He was all dried out and his poor claw had already broken off by the time we found him. So that's two dead crabs now. We're getting another one tomorrow, but we'll tape up the hole in the back of the tank first. :)

New Enfatuations

A few days ago Google came out with their own browser called Chrome. This was a little surprising since they had poured a lot of money into Firefox. I have been using it since. I am a big fan of Firefox. I love a lot of its features, especially the greasemonkey scripts. So when I started using Chrome I thought, "how simple - so behind the times." But the simplicity of it is what has won me over. It is simple in use, intuition, appearance, and performance. I will miss a few of the add-ons of Mozilla (I can always use Firefox if I really want them - like I love the Gmail redone interface), but they will most likely show up eventually. I haven't tested out how much memory this thing sucks, but I would guess less than both IE and FF. But that is just a guess.

Last week when McCain announced Sarah Palin would be his running mate, I was quite disappointed. It seemed very gimmicky and silly. And indeed so did most people - or at least the media. Last night I watched her speech. I have changed my mind. I was impressed with her speech, her ability to connect with the middle class (the true strength of our country), and her humor. I was moved by some of her speech (BTW - Mitt gave a good speech, too). I truly felt that she is someone who can represent the average American. Not a practiced politician. And that indeed is a change. She has the whole Laura Roslin thing going for her (from Battlestar Galactica - is McCain a fan?). And can you imagine a better president than Laura Roslin? And yes, McCain does have a little Tigh side to him. And when I had heard that her daughter is pregnant I too was quick to judge and think what a terrible example. But I have repented and actually now see that as a strength. She has family issues like us all. We can't be afraid to hide our mistakes - or the mistakes of our children. Repentance is possible - and happiness.

Should I judge her by one small speech? No. But I certainly am more open to her. I have become a small Sarah fan - and if I have, I imagine millions of others have, too. I think she actually might give McCain a chance. I'm still not big on McCain. I will try to watch his speech tonight. But I can say for the first time since this whole election process started, I am more enthusiastic about the future possibilities. I still think it nigh impossible to beat Obama. And I'm not so against him like many others. But I also am realistic that there are a lot of old, racist people that may still be living in the past. And honestly, I fear for his life if he wins. Let the race begin. So my two new enfatuations are Chrome and Sarah. =)

Some fun:
http://www.tighroslin.com/
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/ctrl-v/2008/08/does-a-mccainpalin-ticket-tighroslin-battlestar-ti.html

Cardiologist Appt.

Jarek had an appointment today for his heart. The last appointment was 6 months ago, after we got back from Hong Kong. Today we had an echo and the technician was very nice and impressed with Jarek's knowledge of what was going on with his heart. She said that things looked good and then we waited for the doctor.

I really, really love this doctor. He is so amazing, wonderful and kind. I don't know how we lucked out with such a good cardiologist for Jarek. He is so warm and friendly and insists on giving hugs to all of us. He always asks about Bret and says he wishes Bret could make an appointment once in a while. He answers any questions we have and specifically asks Jarek if he understands what is going on with his heart and if Jarek has any questions for him. He is just so wonderful!

So, this appointment revealed that things were good. Everything is stable with his heart. He said that nothing has changed since May of 2006 (which is when he found the first minuscule traces of leakage) so he said we don't need to go back for a year!!!! I am so pleased and grateful the Jarek has been doing so well. It has been a great blessing and relief for us. Hopefully all will continue like this for many more years!

Patriarchal blessings

I decided to read Kathy's before she left. Then yesterday, Tom wanted to retype his so he could fit it into his scriptures, and bring it with him on his mission. So I read his, several times, as we helped him proof his typing. This morning, as I was putting his away into our metal box, I decided to take the time to read mine, Bret's, and Jacob's. I think I have told you before, mine is pretty short, basic, and uninteresting. BUT- all of yours are incredible! You have many blessings, gifts, warnings, and insights. Tom has a gift that I don't even know what it means, see D&C 46, (differences of administration). Bret has the gift of discernment listed several times over. Jacob is told to actively participate in family activities, and keep our family together, which he does, and did letting Kathy and Jacob Webb and and Tom live there and come over often. Bret also fulfills many of his suggestions to help and support family. Kathy, I think you got your romance part already! It is rewarding for me to see the blessings you guys have. I am a very blessed woman!