100 Things

Copy the list and highlight the ones (mine are in red) that are true about you!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band - all the way through 8th grade
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch--ya, thats why I suck.
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21.Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language--some ASL
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater--and have snuck in w/o paying
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating--a chicken
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life--not only that but their eternal life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous--Landon Donovan, L.Tom Perry, Steve Young, Valerie Bertaneli and more
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby--was there at the birth
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Talked your way out of a ticket--never and it pisses me off.

Family Reunion

I don't have a lot of time to write about the wedding, but let me say that it was great to see everyone. Who knows, now that all the children are getting older, we might have a few more of these weddings, but I don't know how much longer we'll be able to watch Troy do this:

News Post from the President

Attention All White People:
Please report to the cotton fields tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. for orientation.

Thank you,

Barack Obama

Halloween 2008

Up until a few years ago, I never cared much for Halloween and I never--ever--dressed up. I'm not sure what happened, but now I think Halloween rocks!

Of course, one that that has made it so much fun for me is a tradition that I implemented last year. Every Halloween, I get to walk Vanessa to class. As all of you parents know, nothing is more rewarding than embarrassing your child! This year, I even went to Ana's class and embarrassed her at UVU. Then I headed down to Kari's office to see if I could get hired on as a substitute music teacher (I still can't believe they don't let you guys dress up.)

Of course, the fact that we all have fun with it at work really helps. This year, we had a little pot luck lunch. I made a pot of chili, Shannon made some cheesy potato soup, Marlene(the nurse) brought some bread bowls, and Dave (Papa Smurf) asked his wife to make some of her delicious bread sticks. While we missed Hi-D (sick) and Brady (vacation), we still had a great time.

I don't even mind walking for miles trick-or-treating with the kids. This year was Abi's first real time trick-or-treating and she cashed in on it big time. They all started early, about 4:00 in the afternoon, this year and they didn't tire until 9:00 at night. Frisco veered off with his friends around 7:00 and ended up spending the night with a buddy, while we took the rest of the kids over to Dusty's neighborhood where they knocked doors until their knuckles swelled. And that isn't even the best part: Ana decided to buy a huge bag of candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters. The only problem is that we have never, and I literally mean never, had a trick-or-treater at our house. Even though she dumped about half the bag in a bowl and left it on the porch, we still didn't have any takers. So I came home and emptied that baby in my bag. But like I was saying, we headed over to Dusty's house with some chili, ate dinner, and played RockBand all night. It was pretty fun.

5 lbs. closer

I am now 5 lbs. closer to my goal! For those of you who don't know, about 2 months ago a bunch of us from work had just finished playing a round of golf and were sitting at a table in the local McDonalds. It was about 9:30 at night and, like most guys at night, our conversation turned to the stupid and stupid-er. We got on the subject of the UFC and Brady boldly stated that, if he were to lose some weight, he could beat GSP. I nearly spit a mouthful of Big Mac and fries in his eyes! The thing was--he was dead serious. Anyway, our conversation led to a bet between Brady, Mike, Ryan, and myself. We decided that each of us would put in $25 and the first to lose 10% of their body weight would win the pot. Now understand that all of us are very competitive and when money is involved, competition can turn ugly. No one trusted anyone, so after we finished our burgers, fries, colas, and shakes, we headed across the parking lot to WalMart to weigh ourselves.
Now that I have given you a little background, I weighed in at an obese 200 lbs. that night. Well, after about 6 weeks I was down to 180 and had won the money. But I didn't want to stop there. My ultimate goal is to reach 170. The last 10 lbs. have really been difficult. But yesterday I stepped on the scale and was at 175! That's only 5 lbs. (for those of you who have difficulty with math) from my goal! And while Ana is a little upset because, as she says, I have lost a little from my stomach and all of my a$$, I must say I look strickingly sexy. I am pretty proud of myself, though, and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel--not to mention my toes!

Old Lady Autumn

I love Autumn! By far, this is my favorite time of year. Autumn is like the old lady who sits at the end of the bar; she knows death is near so she wears her favorite dress, accompanied by her finest jewelry, in one last desperate attempt to demonstrate her beauty. We drove up the canyon today to visit old lady autumn and she did not disappoint. She indeed put on her finest dress made of greens, yellows, oranges, and reds and colored the rocky mountain cliffs. There was even a little bit of snow on the back of Timp, evidence that winter approaches. And since I have been looking at everyone's blog and admiring the family photos, we decided to take our camera. Please take a look at the slide show and enjoy. I apologize that it is formatted as a video, but I'm not as cool as many of you and don't know how to create a rockin' slideshow (hint, hint Kristi--a little bit of help over here please.) Please let me know if anyone would like any of the pictures and I will email you.

Halloween at Branch 044

For those of you who don't know, we take Halloween pretty seriously at SOS Staffing. To prove my point, I thought I would post some pictures of last year. That's right--there's the crew: Brady as the cowboy, Me as the white AI, Hi-D as the renaissance princess, Marlene as the U of U cheerleader, and Dave as the nerdy, well, nerd (of course, it wasn't too much of a stretch for Brady and Dave as that is how both of them dressed in high school.)

So what is in store for this year? Well, as far as costumes go--we're all keeping it quiet. It's much more fun when no one knows what to expect. And while I can't let any of this year's costumes out of the bag, I will say that no one jacks 044's swagger and I promise that we will take Halloween to a whole new level.

Elder Ensign

I have to give a shout out to my little nephew on this very special day as he leaves the MTC to enter the mission field. He will arrive in Fort Worth, Tx. today to spread the gospel. I remember, nearly 20 years ago, leaving the safety and security of the MTC and arriving in Guayaquil, Ecuador to start what would become 22 of the most memorable months of my life and I'm sure that, 20 years from now, Reese will say the same thing about his time in the mission field. I am proud of him for the decision that he has made to serve the Lord and know that he will represent Him well.

Derek's Highlight Film

This is a wrestling highlight film that Dusty made of his son, Derek. Now that I have found out that more and more of you have blogs, I'm putting this on here to make it easier for everyone to see (I don't think Dust will mind--it's a pretty sweet video.) Now all of you need to email Dust and Tara to convince them to start a blog as well.

7 Things

Alright--I've been called out by Terra so I will play along:

7 things I want to do before I die:
1. Own a home
2. Take a four generation picture with all of my children
3. See all my children graduate from a university
4. Tour Europe--especially Italy and Greece
5. Be published
6. Go to the Guayaquil, Ecuador temple
7. Speak in General Conference

7 things I do now:
1. Work too much
2. Coach
3. Prepare to play indoor in January
4. Diet
5. Read
6. Write in secret
7. Teach Abi Spanish

7 things I can not do:
1. French braid
2. Eat meat with fat
3. Play guitar
4. Sing
5. Pull-ups
6. Coach without yelling
7. Decide on a presidential candidate

7 things that attract me to my wife:
1. Her walk (I still walk behind her at times just so I can stare)
2. How she dances
3. Her face--in particular her bone structure (weird but true)
4. This will embarrass her, but the fact that she has been hit on by a lesbian on two separate occasions while I have been standing right next to her (and each was a pretty hot lesbian, too--not the butch kind)
5. How she folds her tongue
6. She likes to travel
7. The challenge

7 things that I say most often:
1. Cool
2. Flaca (Skinny--Ana's and Vanessa's nickname)
3. Love you
4. I love my Abi
5. "Thank you for calling SOS Staffing. This is Shane. How may I help you?"
6. Freakin'
7. "Nessa--rub my neck"

7 celebrities who I admire (all for different reasons):
1. Gordan B. Hinckley
2. Landon Donovan
3. Will Smith
4. Katie Couric
5. Chayanne
6. Rev Run
7. Steve Young

7 favorite foods:
1. Chicken and rice
2. Ana's chicken estofado
3. BBQ steaks
4. Cherry turnovers
5. Seafood in general, but I love crab and salmon
6. Lucky Charms
7. Cheese

Vanessa's Scrimmage

This video is a little longer, but it shows a few scenes of Vanessa playing in her scrimmage today. She didn't put one in the net, but she did play a real physical game and had a couple of close chances. Her last game of the fall season is on Tuesday against a team from Logan and I will be sure to post some videos of that. After that game, I think I am going to have her totally rest for about a month. She, as well as a couple other players on the team, have really been getting banged up. I think she deserves the rest. In November I'll start having her run and do some light workouts and then I think they begin indoor in January. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy the video.

Kenny's Game

Well, here is a little clip of Kenny playing today. In the first few seconds, you see him making a run, controlling the ball, and drawing the foul. He was pretty mad that he didn't get the chance to take the penalty, but his teammate does a good job with it and almost puts it in. Next, Kenny wins the ball in midfield and puts a move on one defender only to get it stolen by another. Finally, you see Kenny making a run down the sideline and trying to bump a player off only to get put on his A, well, on his bum. Not everything ends up the way that you design it- haha. Anyway, after watching the film, he had a really good game and I am proud of him. We tried to keep his team young so they can all stay together next year. They took a beating in some games but came away with a semi-respectable 3- 7 record, not too bad for being so much younger than most of the other teams. This was his last game of the fall season but his team is set to play some indoor this winter so look for some more videos.

Indoor 2006

I got the video to work and now I am addicted. Here is just a little clip of me playing a couple years ago. This is pre-surgery so I am a little overweight and alot slow, but I show that I still have it by sending a sweet little pass through.

Video test run

Alright--so I am a moron. Our camera has been broken for a while now and I finally sat down and fixed it. I was all excited to tape Vanessa's game on Saturday. When I got to the field and sat down, I turned on the camera and I hadn't charged the battery! I was only able to tape a couple of minutes, but I wanted to post it here to see if I am smart enough to get it to work. If so, expect some more videos in the upcoming days as Kenny has his last game tomorrow and Vanessa has a scrimmage and her last game this week. Unfortunately, Frisco has finished the season but he does start karate on Wednesday--KAYA!

Kenny's 2008 Picture

Well, I finally found and downloaded Kenny's picture. I guess some girls had taken the pictures home and pinned them up on the wall. Unfortunately for them, their father entered their room to complain about the Jesse McCartney music being too loud and saw his daughters sitting on the bed, staring at the wall, and lusting over Kenny's picture. He immediately demanded that the pictures be removed and that the girls meet with their bishop. It was quite the ordeal, but Kenny is handling everything nicely.

Kenny's Picture

Kenny's picture is soon to come--I believe he is so in love with himself that he has taken the picture package and created an altar of self-worship. :)

Frisco's New Picture

Who is this? Well, this handsome, young ELIGIBLE bachelor enjoys long walks along soft, sandy beaches. He currently is enrolled in the PRE-pre-law course and is just waiting to be accepted to the Harvard School of Law. While he is not officially dating anyone, many beautiful ladies are lining up and taking a number.

Love you bud.

Another Soccer Update

Vanessa's Celtic Storm played a friendly against the Timpview High Soph/Freshman squad and came away with a 2-1 victory. I was really excited for this game--probably more so than for any other this season as it was an opportunity to see the girls matched up against some older and more experienced players. Storm really dominated play in the first half and maintained pressure in both the defensive and offensive thirds. Vanessa made some good runs, but didn't put one in the back of the net; however, she did pressure the defender, win the ball in the left corner of the 20, and passed back to Mariah who put a beautiful shot into the upper right corner. Mariah came back shortly later and scored another as she controled a lose ball in the middle of the field about 25 meters out and finished with another beautiful goal. But that wasn't all the scoring for her. Timpview got their only goal of the match when Mariah tried to clear a ball on the defensive end and accidentally scored an own-goal.
I was really impressed with the overall performance that Vanessa gave. She played a little more physical in the second half (I only got to watch 15 minutes of the second half but from what I saw she did well.) Since joining Storm, she has really improved and plays with a lot more agression and confidence. I can't wait until next year when she can tryout for the highschool squad.

Soccer Update

Vanessa had her 4th game of the fall season today and they came away with a 2-0 win. Ness started the game with a goal in the opening minutes of the game. She stole a ball in the attacking third, chipped a ball over the outstretched arms of the keeper and into the upper right corner. Later, she felt a player hit her ankle and flopped, drawing the PK. However, the attempt was unsuccessful as she hit the shot right at the goalie. Julia Eldridge, an ex-player of mine who also plays on the Storm, ended the scoring with a shot from more than 20 meters out. Up next is Heber Valley Storm on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The game will be played in Heber. For those interested in or able to attend the game, click on the Celtic Storm link, go to team pages, and then U14 Select. You will also be able to click on statistics to follow her throughout the year.

My 8th Grade Princess

Well, this might be a very biased opinion, but I will share it anyway--my little girl is blossoming into a gorgeous young woman. I will never understand how someone so precious came from my loins--haha! Alright, so I'm trying to embarrass her, but speaking sincerely, she is growing up fast and is growing up beautifully. I can't believe how old she looks!

Les Miserables

This past weekend we gathered up our bags, hopped in the car, and drove down to St. George to unite with nearly the entire Fisher clan and see a spectacular production of Les Miserables at the Tuachan Center for the Arts. I had looked forward to this for nearly 12 months and was not disappointed. First off, the soundtrack from this particular play is probably one of my favorite CDs--just ask Vanessa. She gets so sick of listening to it while I drive her to school! Anyway, not one of the performers gave less than a satisfactory performance while many, especially Javert, were just incredible. As I said, I have listened to the CD so many times that I have created a personal interpretation of the acts in my mind and, because of that, a couple of times I was forced to close my eyes because I enjoy my interpretation more than what was on stage, but other times I was won over by the actors' portrayal. One individual, the inn keeper, completely changed my feelings about one particular part of the play. It is a song that I forward past because I can't stand it, but seeing him and his wife as they sang and brought that scene to life completely repainted the picture in my mind and made it very memorable.
And as for the facility, I have only one word to describe it: beautiful. Seriously, seeing the Center was like Indiana Jones arriving at an ancient Aztec temple. If any of you ever has the opportunity to attend a theatrical performance at Tuachan, do not miss it. I know I will return.

Olympic Experience

The Olympics have been awesome this year! I have always followed the Olympics, even when I was a small child, and I remember the U.S. beating Russia in Ice Hockey. I remember watching the Dream Team dominate. I remember watching the greatest athletes of all time--Edwin Moses, Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Flo Jo. But never--NEVER-- have I experienced the Olympics like I did the other night watching the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay. I'm not going to go into details because there is no way to describe what I saw. That victory was truly the most thrilling race of all time.

Lindon Days 5K

I've talked about doing it for a couple years and on Saturday I finally did it--I ran my first 5K. Dusty, who has been running pretty regularly for the past couple of years, told me about the Lindon Days 5K and convinced me to register. I didn't come away with a trophy, a medal, or even a ribbon, but I did beat my personal best by close to four minutes with a time of 27:24 and finished fourth in my age group (35-40). Everyone else did awesome as Dust finished second in the 30 - 34 group (somewhere around 19 minutes), Derek, Emi, and Hailey all finished first in their respective divisions, Frisco finished third in the Fun Run 1/2 Mile for boys 10-11, and Vanessa finished second overall in the Fun Run 1/2 Mile.
In retrospect, we had a great day and plan on doing these runs a little more often. We're even considering going down to Bryce Canyon with Dusty next summer and running the Bryce Canyon half marathon. I know that Lance has been running alot and hope that he can get the time off work to go, too. Let us know if anyone else is interested.

Weight Loss

The other day I was sitting with a few friends from work when we started to talk about the UFC. For those of you not familiar with the UFC, it is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a competition that involves a mixture of all the martial arts. During our conversation, my boss stated that if he were to lose 30 lbs. and get to his prime weight that he would be able to beat the middleweight champion, George St. Pierre. The discussion became a little heated as he was really serious about his statement. Ultimately, we concluded that we all were overweight and needed to stop talking about getting in shape and actually do it, so we all committed to lose 10 percent of our body weight. Of course, this all happened while we were sitting at McDonalds finishing our Big Macs, Double Cheeseburgers, large fries, and supersized soft drinks.
Now, we couldn't just do this for the heck of it; we needed to post something. We all decided to put in $25 dollars with the idea that the first to lose the weight would take the money. But we didn't want the rest to feel like failures and gain back anything that the may have lost, so we also decided that if all participants reached the goal of 10%, all of us would go to Vegas (Ana still doesn't know about that part.)
Before we could start, we needed to verify our weight. Since WalMart was right next to McDonalds, we all walked over, grabbed a scale off the aisle, and stepped up to see the gory details. While I won't mention the weight of the others, I will admit to being on the verge of obesity, tipping the scales at a plump 200 lbs. even. That meant that I would need to lose 20 lbs. in order to go to Vegas and do it faster than the others in order to win the money.
All of this happened 2 1/2 weeks ago and, needless to say, no one has achieved the goal yet but all of us have progressed. The first week, I dropped 5 lbs. to 195. A few days later I had lost another two pounds and was at 193. Since that last weigh in I stopped weighing myself--until today. Today I stepped on the scale and read 184.6. Thats an incredible weight loss of 15.4 lbs in 2 1/2 weeks and only 4.6 lbs. from my goal of 180.
Many of you might think that most of this is water loss or I am putting myself at risk; however, the great thing about being obese is that you carry horrible habits, such as: 200- 300 ounces of Coke a day (and that was probably cutting in half what I used to drink), extreme portions, and late night eating. I just needed to change my ways. Having overcome those habits, losing the weight has pretty much been downhill from there. Not to mention that I am now running about 15 - 20 miles a week. Who would have thought that a meaningless arguement could have lead to such an important change in my life.

My Worst Nightmare

Well, it finally happened--I now have a teenager. Vanessa turned 13 on July 17th and I all ready feel the pressures and problems that accompany teenage-dom. You see, I had been thinking all week what present to give her. After downloading some songs to her i-pod, I listened to them on her crappy stock headphones and I decided to run over to Circuit City and get some Skull Candy headphones for her. So on her birthday she opened her present, was happy, and fell asleep that night listening to music. I thought that was it. I mean, isn't that how birthdays roll--buy present, open present, momentary joy, and sleep? Well, not for a teenager. Evidently, a teenager's birthday just keeps going and going and going. It's kind of teenage Hanukkah--the gifts just keep coming.
With the headphones not being enough, we went out Saturday to see a movie and have lunch. Of course, I should have know better than to take Ana to the Cinemark at the mall. As soon as the movie ended, we were in Dillards looking at clothes. One hour later, we walked out with 4 pairs of jeans and who knows how many blouses for our teenage debutant.
Now, any normal kid would be happy and Vanessa was no exception. She was smiling ear to ear. Since we spent so much money on clothes, I canceled our lunch reservation and we headed over to Costco for hotdogs, pizza, and smoothies. I love Costco--giant TVs, video games, cameras, computers, go-carts--Costco has everything. Whatever we buy at Costco is fine with me because somehow, someway, the product relates to me. But what was coming next was unexpected.
We went through the normal pattern keeping in stride with all the other robotic shoppers who make Costco the weekly routine. We hit the TVs, the camcorders, and then the computers. We were on our way to the video game section when we passed the cell-phone counter. All of a sudden, Ana and Vanessa stopped. I was thrown off. This was not the normal routine and I became confused. Well, that confusion must have taken control of me because before I knew it, Ana and Vanessa were walking out of the store with new cell phones and I was still trying to return to normalcy and make me way over to the free food samples.
So four days later, Vanessa now sits in her new clothes listening to hip-hop music on some killer headphones while dialing friends on her cell phone. Her 5 day birthday/Hanukkah is officially over, but for me the teenage nightmare just began.

4th of July

We had a great time on the 4th this year. Kari gave us a call and invited us boating in the morning. The day was perfect for it and the kids made the most of it. Vanessa and Ana both got up on the knee board and Kenny held on to the tube for dear life as Frisco nearly flopped out numerous times--smiling throughout it all. Abbi liked to sit on the swim deck and kick her feet in the water. She did get in the tube once, but didn't last very long. She is definitely more into looks than action.
We had planned to go to Dusty's afterwards but we stayed too long. In fact, we were an hour late getting over to Josh and Renyna's for dinner. Once we got there, however, we were not dissappointed. Josh and Reyna make a delicious carne asada! Throw in the rice, salads, and fruit and we had quite the meal. The kids love to go over there so they can play with Jaxon. I think Kenny likes it because he can be the bigger cousin for once. Abbi just walks around with Pixie, Reyna's little chiuaua (how do you spell chiuaua, anyways?), hugging and kissing it as she chokes it to death. Anything else would probably attack her, but that dog just sees her coming and its as if that puppy were struck with the fear of God. She starts to shake and I swear her lip starts to shiver and she just knows what is coming.
Because we missed Dusty's on the 4th, we headed over there on Saturday. Dust brought me into the house and showed me the Holy Grail of video games--Rockband. We played that thing for 5 hours straight (Dusty had to get to Metallica!) Luckily, Dusty is a legit "Guitar Hero" and Hay tore up the drums, while Tara, Ana, and I took turns singing and playing bass. Things got a little intense during Ballroom Blitz and some of the others. By the end of the night, it felt like we had thrown a huge rock concert--I was beat! Of course, we didn't get our fix and had to return the next day to finish up. We took some pictures and I'll have to post them later.
All in all, it was a fun holiday.

Baseball Update 06/25/08

2008 Nationals

(Kenny is in the bottom row, middle)

First off--way to go FSU! But as exciting as that game was, it couldn't hold a candle to Kenny's quarterfinal game today. The teams went back and forth for 5 innings, until Kenny's Nats finally pulled it out in the bottom of the 5th, scoring 2 runs to win 13-11. The game started off a little slow as the Nats pulled out to a slim 1-0 lead after the first and were losing 3-1 after the 2nd. That was when the ball got rolling. We thought we had the game in hand after we scored 5 runs in the 3rd and were up 6-3, but the opposition stepped up to the plate and blasted 4 runs in the top of the 4th to go up 7-6. Kenny helped his team go up 11-7 in the bottom of the fourth as he got a single, but they couldn't keep the lead and went into the bottom of the 5th and final inning tied 11-11. However, the team didn't choke. The first two batters of the inning got on base with singles setting up the league's most dominant hitter--first baseman Dylan. He crushed a double into centerfield, knocking in the winning run, and sending the Nats to the semifinals. The game will be played Saturday and I will keep you all updated. Kenny played shortstop most of the game, had one assist, one error (we won't focus on that one too much as it was a wicked bounce), and two hits--a double and a single.

Ana in New York

I have to admit--I'm not the best when it comes to giving gifts. As many of you know, if I draw your name for Christmas, you usually don't see a present until Easter! But this year I decided to go out of the way for Ana and, for Mother's Day, I bought her a ticket to New York. With her Mom now living there along with her best friends and cousins, I thought she would have a great time. Well she's been there a week and apparently I finally got it right. While she has missed me and the kids, I believe she has had a great time visiting with everyone. She has gone to all the major stores including those on 5th Ave., the giant toy store where they filmed the movie Big, Macys (which she says is two full-city blocks), and Victoria Secrets (no complaints here.) Since some of her friends live in New Jersey, she also went there. She comes home on Thursday and hopefully will bring some pictures back with her that I can post on here.

Celtic Storm

Vanessa made Celtic Storm! Most of you are not familiar with the Storm, so let me give you a little background. Celtic is the top-ranked female soccer club in the state of Utah and one of the most highly respected clubs in the nation. During the last 4 years, the Storm has sent an average of 20 players a year on to Div. 1 college programs and have one former player, Katie Larkin, who currently starts for the U.S. National U-23 Women's Team. Vanessa was extremely excited when she heard the news. This was the first time she had tried out for the team and she was nervous, so when she received the phone call from Coach Blake she immediately called me at work and hasn't stopped talking about it. Good job, Ness!

End of School

Allright, so a lot of time has passed since my last entry and a lot of things have happened during that time. Probably the one thing that makes the kids the happiest is the end of another school year. But I have to say that I was very proud of the kids' academic achievements this past year--starting with Frisco. Throughout the entire year he had all A's with three A-'s. He was also awarded the "Greatest Kid" award for his class. Not too far behind was Kenny. Their school does not start to give letter grades until the third grade so I can't really say what his grades were, but he was awarded the Top Academic Achiever for his class--and he didn't get suspended even once all year! Vanessa also did a great job--especially with her busy schedule. She maintained a 3.5 GPA for the year, played soccer, ran track, and served as the Beehive president. She was also voted the "shortest girl in 7th grade."
Now I probably took this to an extreme and am bragging a little bit, but I want my kids to know how much I love them and how proud I am of them. Love you guys!

The Latest Update

Another week has passed and with it, the passing of another year. That's right--this week I celebrated my 37th B-day. Of course, when you are this old the celebrations aren't like they used to be. We did spend a nice night eating some perfectly seared steaks off the grill and throwing the ball around in the backyard.

Speaking of which, Kenny is currently on a two game hitting streak and is 6-6 in those last two games. However, his team did lose last game and the opposition was led by, as Kenny swears, "an eight year old who shaves every day!" Here are some more pictures:

Baseball Update

Kenny played in his second game of the year today and while he didn't do quite as well as last week (he struck at three times), he played well in the field and the team ended up winning 20 - 6. His team is now 2-0 and looking good. I finally took some pictures and have included them in this post. Hope you enjoy.

Kenny on deck

Waiting for the pitch

Taking a cut

Kenny playing second

Kenny stopping a grounder

Kenny's Baptism

As many of you know, Kenny recently turned eight years old and yesterday was his baptism. He was pretty excited most of the day and the nerves hit right before we started the meeting. But once we sat down and listened to Mom's and Dusty's talks, we both calmed down a little. He was smiling (which isn't rare for Kenny) as we walked down into the font. Of course, I couldn't remember the prayer and even forgot to say his name, but once I said it correctly he went down in one try. The confirmation was great and Barton, Dusty, Jack, and Randy were all there to stand in, along with the entire bishopric. Lots of the family came: Barton and Mom, Randy and Kari and family, Dusty and Tara and family, Jack and Nan (we invited Stacey and Will who couldn't be there but Jack and Nan did come with with two of Stacey's kids--Dream and Zion--so that was good), and Josh and Reyna's family. Frisco's best friend came with his mom and sisters as well. I must say that we have a great ward as two representatives from the primary, all the bishopric, the wife of the second counselor in the Elders Quorum, and my home teaching companion and his family were all there--even though we didn't invite them (something I am very embarrassed about). Afterwards, we came home and had a barbeque while everyone sat around at talked. It's always great to have everyone all together and see all the cousins with eachother, but this time it was special because it rarely happens at our house. Ana did a great job preparing for everyone and we are thankful for everyone's help with food and clean-up. Overall, the day was fantastic!

Kenny's First Baseball Game

Well, as much as I complained about it before, you would never guess that I had a great time at Kenny's first baseball game. Because I am such a bad parent, I didn't have the camera with me so I can't include any pictures. I will download some this week and show them to you. Anyway, Kenny got a hit in his first at bat and ended up getting an assist from center field when he threw out a player stretching a double. In his second at bat he went up with loaded bases. Before he walked to the bat I told him to just try to power it, so he went up swingin' hard. Unfortunately, he didn't make contact but he had some good swings. His team, the Nationals, ended up winning 9-2. Kenny loved it and we are looking forward to a fun season.

Tagged

Tagged:

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: My brother, Dust.
C-Cake or Pie: Chocolate cake w/ white frosting.
D- Day of Choice: Thursday--it brings hope of the weekend.
E-Essential Items- golf clubs and a local Del Taco.
F-Favorite Color: varies with the object.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms
H- Hometown: Orem, Ut.--no better place to live anywhere.
I- Indulgence(s): Golf, Soccer, and Coke.
K-Kids: Well, way back in college I needed money so I made a charitable donation and it's possible I have thousands running around!--Just kidding, I have four.
L-Life is incomplete without: The Gospel--it pretty much envelopes everything.
M- Marriage Date: February 25th 0r 26th--I always forget (luckily it's doubtful Ana will read this)
N- Number of Siblings: 4 sisters, 1 brother.
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges--I hate apples.
P- Phobias or Fears: Closets--call me weird.
Q- Quote(s): Don't know any good quotes off the top of my head. I keep most of them at work where I can see them.
R- Reason To Smile: Family
S- Season: I like a nice, comfortable spring with an occasional rain--but nothing like the spring we have had this year in Utah.
T- Tag: Sorry to say--I will not be tagging anyone today.
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I am way too open to have many secrets.
V- Veggies or Fruit: Fruits--but strangely enough I eat many more veggies.
W- Worst Habit: This one is sick, but I have to go with peeling off my finger and toe nails.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: X-Rays--I hate that gel they use for ultrasounds. They never wipe it off good enough and it gets all crusty.
Y- Your Favorite Food: Too hard--I don't have a favorite food, I just have favorite dishes at my favorite restaurants so the list is too long to mention.
Z: Zodiac: El Toro

Baseball

I don't know if you all remember one of those little questionnaires that was recently sent out to all of us. You know--the one that asked what we like, etc. Anyway, one of the questions asked was what is your least favorite season. For those of you who don't remember, I answered baseball season. I can't stand the game--probably because I suck at it--and have been so happy that my kids have not wanted to play. Well, this week my worst nightmare came true. Kenny, my own flesh and blood, came up to me and said that he wanted to sign up for baseball. Tears streamed down my cheek as I got online and registered him. I kept asking him if he wanted to do anything else--cheerleading, gymnastics, ANYTHING--but it was baseball.
As much as I don't like the game, I think we will actually have a lot of fun. He really is excited about it. We took off to Sports Authority today and looked at some gloves and we even had a little batting practice session. We don't find out about registration until Tuesday, so I'll try to post a schedule for everyone then. As is always the case, anyone who wants to come and watch is invited.

Jazz Game

Our V.P. called up the other night and said that he could not go to the Jazz game and wanted to know if we wanted the company tickets for the night. I jumped on the chance, took off from work, and Frisco and I were in the car headed up to the Energy Solutions Arena. The tickets were on the 6th row--so close that I could sense the smell of marijuana coming off of Chris Bosh's dreads (the Jazz played Toronto.) Frisco and I grabbed some popcorn and had a great time. D Will had a sensational game and so did Boozer. The Jazz ended up winning and we're looking forward to a bigtime run through the playoffs.

Happy Easter!

Because I am the king of procrastination, our Sunday was a little busier than it should have been. We woke up early and Ana started to fill the 140 eggs that we were taking over to Dusty's for the Easter egg hunt that afternoon. Once she finished those, she decided that we needed to dye eggs as well, so we did another dozen. That made over 150 eggs! Add all the eggs that Dusty had plus those of his neighbor and we probably had around 350 eggs. There were eggs everywhere! The kids had a great time and it was the first year that Abbi understood what was going on.

Visit with President Gonzalez

We had stake conference the other week and the presiding officer was my first mission president (for those who don't know, my mission was split into North and South after my first year) who now serves in the Presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy, Walter Gonzalez. It was great to see him and Hma. Gonzalez again and I could not believe that nearly 20 years has passed. We were able to speak with him a while and grab this picture. Of course, in his speech he emphasized communication and, what else, missionary work (we were the top baptizing mission in the world.) Also, in three weeks I have the reunion with the guys from the North Mission and President Johnson, who also serves in the Quorum of the Seventy. He's also the one who crashed into a cow because he was in a hurry to meet with me after I may an unauthorized trip to the coast (oops!) I'm sure he is just as anxious to see me now and hopefully no cows stand in his way. I can't wait to see all the guys again!

UVU Kicks the Puck Out of BYU

All right, so maybe the pun in the title is a little vulgar, but no one ever reads this thing anyway. Ana went to her first hockey game with me the other night and watched Utah Valley take it to BYU. Start time for the game was 8:30 so we only got to watch the first 2 periods, but by that time UVU was up 6-2 and the game was way out of reach. The arena was packed with fellow Wolverines, so much so that the Fire Marshall threatened to shut it down a couple times and the game was delayed. For one night it was great to wear my UVU hoodie and belittle all the little BYU zoobies.

Kenny Wrestling

After a couple of years, Kenny and I were finally able to convince Ana (or hide it from Ana) to let Kenny return to wrestling. He had been working out once a week with Derek for a couple of weeks, so we registered him for a little tournament. While he didn't win his one and only match (the tournament ran behind schedule and he got bored) he wrestled better than I thought he would. Here you see him trying to put in a whizzer (even though I don't think he knows what one is--but saying it makes him sound like he does) when the kid shot a single and in the other picture he is standing up and trying to get an escape after being taken down. I think he enjoyed the tournament and, hopefully, will do a few more next year.

Vanessa's First Year of Beehive Ball

Vanessa official entered the world of Young Women this week when she played her first two basketball games. It was just how I always remembered it--girls sliding across the floor, double-dribbles, and little 12 year-olds trying to live up to the demands of the 17 year-old Laurels. Of course, these were the first two games of any type of organzied basketball Vanessa has ever played but, and maybe this is the voice of a proud father, she has played pretty well. Her first game was Thursday and she didn't do too much, but before her game today I pulled her aside and went over some of the basics. She dribbled more, had some steals, and even had a good drive (she missed the layup, however.) I have been designated as coach and after losing the first game on Thursday pretty soundly, we came back today and won by about 5. For some of those girls, I think it was the first time that they have ever won anything--they were thrilled. With it all said and done, Ness had a great time and is looking forward to playing some more.

Despite All Contrary Reports--I'm Alive!

All right--let me just clear the air by saying that I have had a difficult week but, despite the challenges, I have come out alive! I know that some of you received messages from Mom that may have led you to believe that I was on my death bed and, although we understand Mom's tendency to exaggerate, I have to admit that this time even I had my doubts for a second.
About four days after the surgery, the therapy was going fine other than the fact that I had a pain in my upper quad. Thinking that I was just cramping because I was working so hard, I paid little attention to it, but a couple of days later I couldn't stand it anymore and Mom took me in to the doctor. We tried to explain to him what I felt, but he didn't really want to listen. Finally, Mom suggested that we do an ultrasound to see if I had a clot. The doctor kind of brushed it off but finally agreed and we headed down to the clinic. After a thorough look, the ultrasound tech concluded that I did not; however she only checked the hamstring and calf sections of my leg. I informed her where the pain was so she checked the quad and found it. She called in the radiologist to have him look at it as well, and the two told me that was the first time they had ever discovered a blood clot in that location. So, after finding that, I was hooked up with some blood thinner medication and told to go home.
Later that night, I started to feel ill and in the morning had a fever of over 101. It was a Saturday and my normal doctors were not available, but I called the online doctor who told me that I should go to the hospital. I held out for a couple hours but Ana and I finally decided that we should be sure and we headed to the hospital. Well, after a couple scans of my chest they concluded that the clot probably had not moved to my chest. They had no reason for the fever, told me to take Tylenol and sent me out the door.
Today, Monday, I woke up feeling horrible. My fever was over 102, I couldn't breathe, and I had a deep cough. We went to my family physician who tested me and told me that I have Influenza B and, with no better way of describing it, diagnosed me as slightly asthmatic. He gave me some medicine, told me to rest for the week, and sent me home. Needless to say that the medicine has worked fantastic and I feel so much better. I can't believe the difference that the enhaler makes! I used to think that I had difficulty breathing after walking up the stairs because I am fat and out of shape, but now I know that is only 75% of the problem!
Anyways, thanks to everyone who has helped us during this past week--especially Kari who watched our kids and Mom who watched me and the kids--but also to everyone who has called, written, and visited.

ACL Surgery

Well, after five years I finally went and had my knee repaired. I wasn't able to speak with the doctor too much afterwards to find out exactly what was done, but what I found out from Ana and Mom is that the ACL was completely torn and the meniscus was pretty much destroyed. But everything is great now and I should be up and running after three months and could play within six months. Mom has been nice enough to come down for a week or two and help take care of me. With Ana in school it would be kind of hard without her. Anyways, the pictures are just to the right. Maybe Terra and Josh could describe the procedure a little better.

Anyways, love you all and hope everyone is great.