Rocky Mountain High

This weekend we packed up Susie's suburban (thank you so much) and road tripped over to Denver (Littleton) Colorado. I bought Celeste and Cyd tickets to The Airborne Toxic Event with the Colorado Symphony. We left on Friday night, drove through Laramie on I-80 and got to my Aunt Rennei's and Uncle Bob's house around 2am. I love driving. It relaxes me a lot to be in the car, to have my babies sleeping and just having my thoughts in the middle of the night. When we got to the house, Abram had slept the entire way from Evanston to Littleton. He was a live wire. He was zooming around and chattering at full volume. It was pretty dang funny. I snuggled him tight and was able to help him fall back to sleep.
I woke up early because I was excited to talk with Bob and Rennei. Rennei is my Dad's half sister (same mother). From the first moment I woke up, I felt inspired by them. They are involved with their church, their family, their community, and their country club. They ARE GREAT PEOPLE! I loved talking with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, about inspirational things, family and so much more. Bob and Shawn are very involved with a school called "Valor". It is a private Christian school the Bob and Rennei are and were very involved with developing. One of the highlights is that the football team that Shawn helps coach has one the state championship two years in a row. The highlight for me in all the talks was a moment that Bob, Rennei and I shared. I mentioned to them that their home reminded me of Galatians 5:22-23. The Spirit of the Lord dwelt there. The Spirit was so strong as we discussed that. I don't think I could have been warmer in my heart. I was welling up, Rennei's eyes were filled with tears and we were all open with each other. When we got done with our discussion, and I felt like wisdom had truly been shared with me, I couldn't help but reflect on things. I couldn't help but know that my Dad was looking down with Joy in his heart. It was such a wonderful spiritual connection. I loved it.
One of the other great things was Abes. Bob and Rennei ate him up. He was so cute. My favorite was watching him in his brown striped warm up pants, and t-shirt. He would run behind this little cart with wheels. he would run his little legs and then when the cart would go to fast, he couldn't keep up and so he would drag his legs behind the cart until it stopped. He couldn't steer the cart, and he definitely didn't have reverse. So when it stopped, he was like, "yeah, no worries, I meant to do this. I'll just park her right here and play." It was funny. Bob commented on Abes. He called him the extrovert. My favorite was when Bob said that Abram should be a piece rate worker. "He would be a millionaire by the end of the day!".
Rennei has her own golf cart and is a member at the Columbine Country Club. She took Sawyer and I for a tour of the golf course. Wow, it looked like fun. It looked tough though. I definitly want to go back and play in the summer. That would be fun. Sawyer loved all the bridges and the geese.
We drove home on Sunday morning. We took the I70 back through Vale and Steamboat and some of the other resorts. It was a pretty drive. Once again the babies were great. We all enjoyed the drive and felt blessed to be protected. We drove home safely and had a great quick trip to look back on.

Virginia May Be For Lovers, But I Love St. George!

I was feelin' . . . so bad,
I asked my family doctor just what I had,
I said, "Doctor, . . .
(Doctor . . .)
Mr. M.D., . . .
(Doctor . . .)
Now can you tell me, tell me, tell me,
What's ailin' me?"
(Doctor . . .)

He said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Yes, indeed, all you really need . . .
St. George gimme that St. George golfin!

But, Seriously, I was depressed, anxious, not digging life and all those fun things. I headed down to St. George on Thursday night with some good guys, Scott and Brady. the man trip began at Bajio in Provo where Brady aka timeshare commenced to sign us up for the meals that he thought we should get. It was good! We drove down from there and got in around 11. Brady hooked up his Iomega movie hard drive thing and we watched the new Wall Street movie. We started our day on Friday with the VIB meal from Village Inn. You get to pick seven items off the menu. We shot over to the golf course after that. Scott, Brady, and I started on hole 13 which was the hardest hole on the golf course followed by the 4 other most difficult holes. I got up to the first tee box and might as well of had a light sabre in my hand. That would have felt less ackward. Well needless to say I had two great days of golf and really had great scores other than a couple of blow up holes. The were like Atomic bomb holes! But it was great. Well after the Friday round, we dropped by my favorite restaurant on the planet! Poncho and Lefty's. We sat at the bar and watched the Jazz game. I had De BigOne which basically includes three entrees with rice and beans. Scott and Brady both had burritos. The crazy part was that Scott and Brady ordered nachos after the burritos. They were going for it! After P and L's we cruised over to Village Inn to pick up what i call the snake oil wrist bands. They improve our balance or something like that! After the VI, we headed over to Nelsons Custard to by and overpriced yummy desert from a company that doesn't bother to give anything back to its customers ever! But that is a different story. After that it was back to the condo where we were headed to the hot tub. But, we never made it. We all fell asleep on the couch. The next day was ground hog day. Woke up, got the VIB from Village Inn. Headed to the golf course and played in the tournement which took 7 hours for the second day in a row. After the tourney, which Scott lit it up on Saturday with a four under 69. I was 10 over on the day. 9 over on two holes! Awesome! Those hour long waits don't do so well for a mental midget like me. After the tourney it was off the get massages from a spa owned by a russian mail order bride! Awesome! After the spa it was down to Mesquite for a buffett and some people watching for me. Corvette Carl was my personal favorite person. I think that his tight curl mullett/galactic cut/hair helmet has not moved since the early 70's. I love you Corvette Carl. Well, after mesquite, we headed back to St. George, slept and drove home at 7 in the morning back in time for church! It was a great dude trip. I felt so much better after some sun, some golf, some buddies, and some food! Yeah!

The Mission Call and Jazz Game

When something seems just way to awesome for me, I call it magical! Last night was a magical evening. I got to be with my family, my girls, and my little guy. We went to the Parry's last night so that we could support them in Evan getting his mission call. The amount of people there as well as the love that was there were a testimony to their family. It was also a testimony on how the Lord unites people, friends, and families through His Gospel. Evan showed up later than the others. We all crowded into the living room. It was less than standing room only. As he opened the call, it seemed like those early LDS stories where people thought the building was on fire. The house was on fire with the Spirit of the Lord. Evan read it, paused, and then said let's play 20 questions! Ha Ha! He then said that he will be taking his "talents" to Nagoya, Japan. The "talents" was a reference to Lebron James. When he read part about Japan, there was a hush followed by a buzz. The Spirit was overwhelming. Craig, Evan's Dad went to Japan on his mission. Craig, Becky, and Evan lived their in Evan's first year of life. It was a wonderful experience. I felt honored to be there!

I had a great time at the Jazz Knick's game after the mission call party. I went with Mason Jacobs, Zach Jacobs, and Brock Andersen. They are all great guys. We enjoyed telling stories, watching the game, and enjoying one another's company. It was great!!!

The Answered Prayer

This Tuesday I was going through the motions as usual. It was another day at work and I had a lunch set up for 12:30 at Asian Star. I have been a person with two forces pulling at me lately. It has weighed heavy on me to either find a career that is low key. I have thought about mowing lawns at the golf course or something like that. So I have that pulling me. I also have the part of me that wants to be a go getter, get after it, and be successful. I expressed my feeling to my good friends Justin Udy, Ben Lemon, and Marcel Giles. I felt as though I was the only one that battled with this. Mind you, these are really successful guys that I am opening up to. They encouraged me by saying that they all have similar feelings from time to time. They understood why I was feeling overwhelmed in setting goals for 2011. They inspired me to get moving again and get out of the basement. It is funny how we pray for help, and then the help is sent. That's what happened! God is good! He knows me, and wants to help me through others. I knocked out the rest of the day with some zeal. I felt revived and encouraged. I have been so depressed and anxious. It seems like that was a big piece of the puzzle in getting me back on track. Credit to my Father, and for my guys that He sent!!!

National Championship and Basketball

I invited my family and I to Parry's tonight for the National Championship game. It was Auburn vs. Oregon. I don't know who won because I left at halftime to play some rec basketball. I have had a bit of a basketball resurgence lately. I have gotten my legs under me a little better and am really enjoying it. I played with Jake Kilgore, Brett Hewlett, Andrew Cottle, Sam Page, Brian Richardson. We lost. Other than losing, it was fun...If losing is ever fun?
So, time for a confession....Most likely followed by trouble...I don't know who won the national championship, but I am watching the Bachelor! Part of that is that Cyd, and Celeste like it and don't like football. The other part is that I kind of really like The Bachelor as well!

Las Vegas

Veeeevaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Los Vaeges! The words of Elvis are ringing in my ears as I just came home from Las Vegas last night. I was extremely introspective as we spent two nights and two days down in the city of sin. I couldn't help but think about going to Tron Legacy with Steven on Wednesday night. See the side bar for Steven's notes on the movie. The reason I bring this up is because of the intense religious symbolism of the movie. How does this apply to Las Vegas you ask? Well, the movie speaks of a character who has rebelled against the creator. The character's name was "Clue". Like I said, Clue rebelled and began to create an army. He rebelled because he was commanded to create a perfect system or grid. He was going to trim the fat, make sure everyone was perfect and then report back to the creator. Only problem was that the Creator knew this wouldn't work. Not this way. So the application to this thought is that Satan lead away a third of the host of heaven. It was a war in the pre-existence that we fought. We are now more than ever, fighting it again. I went to the strip twice this weekend and fealt like I was in the heart of that battle that I must have fought in years ago. Las Vegas is all things temporal. It appeared that these three things were at the top of the list and everywhere: food, money, and sex, with alcohol being included with food. This weekend was the Consumer Electronics Show, as well as the Pornography convention. I got done in Las Vegas on what was an amazing trip to focus on Celeste and Abram, and was reminded that we are in a WAR against "Clue" or the adversary.

I need Mormon in my life!!!

I look at other posts and think of how crappy I am at keeping up on this stuff. I need Mormon to keep track of my life, abridge it and give me back a sweet journal. I put up a fun picture from San Diego Sea World here for no paticular reason.