Back on Track

Wahooo... Wait, you are all, both of you, confused as to what I'm back on track for. Well let me tell you. I had previously mentioned that I wanted to read more and set a goal to finish a book a month. With how slow I read, that is a major thing for me. Well last month I was reading Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet by George Q. Cannon. It was very good and a book that gave me a greater respect for Joseph Smith and what he did in his life. It taught me some things about not only the Prophet but for those people that were around him. He had many loyal and great friends. He struggled through many trials and persecutions all because he had seen a vision and reorganized a church. I would give it an A and tell everyone that they should take the time to read it. It took me a while to read because I'm still a pretty slow reader and I wanted to make sure that I took this book in.

When I finished with that a couple weeks ago I was walking around our house looking for something to read and picked up The Lost World by Michael Crichton and started reading that. I got a few pages into that and figured I should read Jurassic Park first so I put it down and got on the library website to see if they had Jurassic Park checked in. It wasn't but his newest book, Pirate Latitudes, was available so I picked it up and started reading it. This book started out a little slow for me as he started to build his characters but a few chapters in and the adventure starts. Charles Hunter and his crew set out from Port Royal, Jamaica to get a ship that is supposedly full of treasure and is anchored in a very well protected Spanish port. Captain Hunter plans the attack and gets those in Port Royal that have specialties that will help in this quest. Capt. Hunter is very good at what he does and has to think quickly as they encounter a few bumps along the way. It was an easy read, which are my favorite kind but it kept me turning the pages. Good enough for me to finish it in a week since I checked it out on the 22nd. (Image used from Goodreads.com)

My next book is Storm Front, which is book one in the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I don't know what to think about it but Goodreads.com gives it a 3.9 rating and I've had to wait a week or so to get it. I'm hoping to pick that up tonight. If you've read it let me know how you like it. As far as this blog goes I do recommend both of the other books in this blog.

Way to Go Papa!!

As many of you know, Chels' parents sing with the Tabernacle Choir. Well there is a limit to the amount of time that one gets to spend in the choir, either 20 years or the age of 60. Well recently her dad reached one of the limits and it was time for him to retire from the choir. This last Sunday was his retirement meeting. He got to sit on a nice soft chair.

(This is our papa as a General Authority picture)

Then he had to stand up while Mack Wilberg said some nice things about him...

Then he got to shake hands with Mr. Mac and the Prophet and get a picture taken with them...

To get a really cool plaque...

and then be surrounded by a...can I say...crazy family...

All in all it was a great morning and a lot of fun.

Papa gets to sing a few more weeks with the choir in the broadcast and then he gets to record a men chorus CD with the choir. That has always been one of the things that he has wanted to do and was bummed to hear that he wouldn't get to sing on the CD since they were recording it after the retirement. But he was asked to stick around and sing on the CD, so he is happy.

We have a few more years with Grammy in the choir. Chels has some interest in singing with the choir as well, but we'll see how that goes. There is a lot of stuff that she'll need to do to get the opportunity to do it.

The End of a Blog

So I've been maintaining a couple blogs. Not really writing in either of them, but maintaining them. Which doesn't take much. Well there is the one you are reading, Whadda Blog, and the other one is Whadda Photos... Whadda Photos has been a place where I've been putting up pictures that I have taken. I have felt it is time to retire that blog. I've been thinking about starting a new photo blog as I decide if I'm going to actually do anything with photography. I'm pretty sure that I don't have time for family type photography but I might do some landscape photography. We shall see. If I start a new blog I will let you know.

Another Game Created

So in the last almost 13 years, since I've been married to my beautiful wife, my brother-in-laws and I have been creating new games. These games aren't anything special to anyone outside our family circle, but they have given us hours of enjoyment over the years. We've destroyed plastic lawn chairs, been professional basketball players, and just enjoyed the outdoors playing some awesome games. Well the creative juices were flowing yesterday as Erik, Sam, and I went over to the elementary school behind Papa and Grammy's house with the kids. We had a soccer ball and, apparently, a lot of imagination going on as we went over there. The school has, what I've found to be called, funnel ball stands. Here is a picture.

Image found at http://www.dixieplayground.com/climbers.htm

The funnel we played on is a little different, the bottom of the funnel had tubes that made it a little more interesting the way we were playing the game. We have a load of fun playing/inventing games with everyday normal items, like a soccer ball and a funnel ball stand. We've played horseshoes with rocks before. Jared and I have a game we play that is basically kicking a football to one another and not dropping it across a short field, like the in-laws front yard. That is a favorite of mine.

We will play this game for a long time to come. Jarik was there and got a taste of playing the newly invented game and I think that he'll have some fun with it too. 2nd generation on the fun of the games we invent. Thanks for the fun guys.

New Post on Whadda Photos...

Took some pictures with the point and shoot. Read more and see the pictures here.

Fun Afternoon

So yesterday my awesome boss let me take the afternoon off to spend some time with my family. We went to lunch at Training Table and had a great time.

 One of these days we'll get everyone to smile in a group picture.

The kids find ways to play silly games anywhere.

After filling our bellies at Training Table it was time to head downtown to walk around. Chels wanted to see the new Deseret Book store and we needed to get Jarik some new scriptures. So we parked and walked to the JSMB and hit the distribution center and then down to Deseret Book. We always like getting pictures taken around the SL Temple...

Such a cute family, after waiting for a train to pass we got this cool shot.

Once our time downtown was done, we headed to the dentist. Which is why the family was up around my work area anyway. Tiaree had some teeth that were bothering her pretty bad so we decided to get them taken care of. When we got to the dentist, he said that they were infected and that they needed to come out. So he gave Tiaree the gas and pulled those teeth out of her head. And me being camera happy recently grabbed my point and shoot and took this.

I had to ask the dentist to move his fingers so that I could get a good shot of this.This is the second tooth he's working on. And here are the teeth.

Tiaree did great. The dentist gave her the gas and she was a little nervous about that. After she had been on the gas for a bit, he numbed her with that huge needle thing that dentists use for Novocaine. On the way home I was telling Chels what he had done during the tooth pulling and mentioned that needle and Tiaree was shocked that he did. She didn't remember that at all. She did such an awesome job at the dentist and was so brave. I know I would have been freaking out myself. And that was our afternoon.

I Love Being Dad...

So I was watching a new show called Parenthood earlier today. More like glancing at it here and there and listening to it as I was working on an issue here at work. One of the characters on it is a dad to a five year old kid but didn't know it until recently. It has been fun to watch the interactions that have taken place as he has come to grips with being the dad of this 5 year old kid. The episode that I watched today he got the results of the paternity test and **spoiler alert** he is the father. He decides to tell his parents and then introduce him to their new grandchild. The writers and such on the show have done a great job in growing this character into a dad for this kid. They have shown the interactions well and at the end of this episode he pushes his son on a bike and watches him ride away on the bike with a huge smile on his face.

As I was watching this I thought of my own life and how my dad was in and out of my life. Some by his choice and sadly some by mine. My dad was a great example to me both for good and bad. He was a rock and I had the impression that nothing could hurt my dad. When he broke his ankle while climbing out of a jeep that he rolled and had a cast on, he would still take us to the pool and watch us splash around at his condo. I have fond memories, some of the few that I have for some reason, of me and my dad throwing the football around when I was in high school and was thinking for a split moment that I'd try and play football. My fondest and earliest memory of my dad after my parents divorced was one of hurt as he walked away from our house after being sent away by the a-hole of a step-dad I had at the time. My dad was always a lot of fun to be around and would only get better at pool the drunker he got which I hated. He was a great dad and I miss him.

Well now I get to be dad to four kids that are both a pain and a joy to live with. The dress-up shoes on the hard floors drive me absolutely insane. My kids are growing up so fast. My oldest is 10 and thankfully not one of those that are going on to 18 types. She takes things as they come and wants to be older but doesn't at the same time. I just think she wants to be older so she can have a cell phone. My son just turned 8 and gets to do all the 8 year old stuff now, scouts, baptism, etc. He can be the most selfless person I know but can also be very selfish. He's my favorite son! My third is 6 and she can be a sweet princess. She have very selective listening but seems to hear dad more than mom. She is learning to read and is doing an awesome job. And my youngest, soon to be 4, is a pest, but a cute pest. She is the best hugger this world has to offer and her little dimple when she smiles is awesome!! The best part of these four is when I get home they all have to come say hi and give me a big hug. That is usually when the 4 year old sticks to me and is hardly 3 feet from me. That will end soon so I should enjoy it while it lasts. I wouldn't trade my 4 kids for anything.

My kids all have their little quirks but they all love me as dad. Last night was an awesome moment for me as we got done reading I had two of them on my lap, #3 and #4. They were both in between sleep and awake state and just were little lumps, rather than the fidgety kids they can be. Today I get to go spend the afternoon with them as they are off track and I am pretty excited. I can't think of anything better than an afternoon with the family hanging out downtown and having a great time. Like I said as the title of this post 'I Love Being Dad'

Tagged...ugh

So Sunday morning as I was driving home from attending the AM session of LDS General Conference, I noticed some tagging, graffiti, in the area. As I drove up my street I started to think how I have a nice long strip of white vinyl fence that is an open canvas to hoodlums in the area. The nice part about this is that I knew it wasn't a matter of if I would get tagged, but when. Well the answer came. Here's a shot at the artwork...

Not very creative and by saying that I'm asking for more creative graffiti, where's some wood I can knock on.

Here's the sad part of the story. We are part of West Jordan, but we pay everything to the county. So when this new Unified Police Department fee came out we had to pay it. Well when I called the UPD to report the vandalism, I got to talk to a guy who took my address. After giving it to him, he asked are you in West Jordan, I answered yes and before I could continue to let him know that I was in the county part of West Jordan, he transferred me to the West Jordan Police Department. I talked to the guy there who was very kind and pointed out that we were part of the UPD and I told him that I knew that because I had just paid my stupid fee to them. I got transferred back to UPD and was able to get the information to them. The officer woman that called me back later that day was very polite and told me that about a dozen places had been tagged that night.

I will wait a couple days to see if the UPD graffiti clean up crew will come and take care of it, if not, I will go get the spray that they have at the UPD sub-station near my house. That's my laziness, but I paid the fee and I feel I should take advantage of using the UPD.

Signs of Life

We have a couple of rose bushes in our front yard. I'm not very knowledgeable about what to do to winterize a rose bush, so I left it how it was. Of course the leaves all turned brown over the winter and I expected them to fall off, but they never did. This poor rose bush looks pretty pathetic and I was thinking of pulling it out and replanting it somewhere else, since it is getting really big not because it is "dead". Then the other night I noticed something I found to be pretty remarkable, the plant has decided to come to life again.

ISO 400 50mm f/4.5 1/8 sec.

You can see in the picture on the left side towards the bottom some of the leaves are starting to look green. There are some of the main stems that are turning green as well.

ISO 400 50mm f/1.8 1/20 sec.

I thought it was pretty cool to see these rose bushes showing signs of life again. It caused me to reflect a little on this coming Sunday, Easter, and what this holiday represents.

It represents the resurrection of our Savior, who atoned for the sins of this world. He lived His life teaching and loving those that He served. He lived a perfect life and was the perfect example to all of us. In Matthew he teaches us to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind" (Matt 22:37) and He continues that teaching and adds "Thou shalt love they neighbor as theyself" (Matt 22:39) as the two great commandments. There are many other things that He taught and I generally don't go all religious in this blog, but seeing this rose bush and knowing that Easter is this Sunday, I would like to add that I know He lives. He rose from that tomb and triumphed over death and that He did this for all mankind. He loves us and I love Him.

Brandon and Kara

My brother got married at the beginning of this month. Here is a shot of the cute couple...

 More pictures to come...