Waiting!

Well, waiting for what? Roger Jr. is waiting for the birth of his Son, Little Roger! Alyssa was supposed to go in on Tuesday to be induced but they postponed it until Wednesday last week. Then after they arrived on Wednesday morning they were told that they had no "Beds at the Inn!" The hospital has so only so many beds for this kind of thing so now they are to go in tomorrow! Interestingly, he will be born on August 24th, I was born on June 24th! I'm getting all emotional already! Really! Whew! I can't wait to see that little boy! Sept 10th Gammy and I fly to Texas. Can't wait! Apparently neither can Maddie!

As for Heather and Nate! They are headed here for sure but they are WAITING for the details of the position, like how much will they will pay him etc! Hopefully next week they may hear something. It will be awesome to have them close to us. TJ and Lee are such fun little men! Mom and Dad are pretty cool too!

Grammy has to move to another Walmart store since with Martha as an AP person they finally figured out it could be a conflict of interest for both of them to be at the same store. So Grammy will transfer to another store, hopefully closer. Should know something soon! Yep - Waiting!

I still don't know if the San Diego job will happen or not. The HR system is so buggered up I can't tell if they ever received my application and all my supporting documents. I've talked to the HR Help desk but all they can tell me is "Yes, I believe we have all of your application", however the online dashboard I'm supposed to be able to see any progress is blank! I now have 4 work order #'s trying to get some resolution. Yes I'm waiting!

We are trying to sell one of the rentals, yep! Waiting! Not sure if congress will approve HB 2200 that effects my job in a direct way, did I say I'm waiting for that to happen? Oh they may even approve HB 1881 some day in the future as well. Okay, okay I won't say it!

All in all other than feeling sick for the last three days I'm fine! I am waiting to get over this cold, chest congestion or whatever you want to call it! Can I just say I am grateful I woke up this morning to see my beautiful wife asleep beside me! At least I'm not waiting for her!

I'm such a Lucky man!

Motorcycle Mama!

We were at Sam's club and saw a scooter and a custom motorcycle sitting on the way out. We looked and were amazed at how cheap the scooters were running. $750 to $1,700. Grammy has always talked about how she would like to have a scooter to run around on and save on Gas, etc! Well we left not thinking much else about it and on the way home we see this other scooter store and so we turned around and went in. They were selling a 250 for $2025 out the door and a 150 for $1250 out the door. Plus 1/2 off dealer prep if purchased by Monday. So Grammy says she would like to have it and she has saved enough money to buy one so I want her to be happy and say Yes! It gets 90 mpg and can get up to 50 - 55 mph tops. So no Interstate but around here driving back and forth to work and quick trips to the store for a couple of items it makes sense. Plus if we get the job in San Diego it would come in real handy! At first Grammy was worried about driving it home, so I drove it home. Now after getting her helmet on and driving around the neighborhood she loves it! It has a storage area under the seat and hold just 1 1/2 gallons of gas. There also is two small compartments under the console near where your knee's are. Now, why the impulse? She has always wanted one and if gas prices go back up over $4 a gallon as many experts say it will, this will come in handy. I know what about winter? Well there are many days where the weather is nice and there is no snow or ice. Anyway you should have seen the grin on her face as she came back in from riding it around the area. Wow! Happy Lady! She deserves it!

What can I say it fits her! I have added a back cargo trunk!

Slow Week

Not much is going on, except that Micah is here visiting from Wyoming. Him and Jon S. came up last night from Jon's house and took me to go see "G.I. JOE". It was okay with the CGI graphics and all. It seemed like they used some lines and scenes from Star Wars a bit, like "I'm breaking Up! Agghhhh! CRASH!", Did you know that you can put two Samuri Swords together end to end! Amazing! We got home at 1220 am. Grammy had come home from work so we visited for a few minutes. Well like I said Slow Week! But that's okay!

No more weekends like this!

So why am I cleaning the ceiling?

To find out keep reading below!

Yesterday started out like any other Saturday, except Heather TJ and Lee were here visiting. Everything went fairly well, I began my day getting up at 6am getting dress for working in the Stake Onion Farm. We need to weed the onions each week to keep it all under control. Our ward has 9 rows and the HP have 5 of those. Of course those 5 rows look pretty good. I can't say the Elders rows look the same. I'm not sure if they are raising onions or weeds, the weeds are taller. They may need help soon. I returned home to find Chance, TJ, Leo awake and playing. I ate some breakfast and had Chance get dressed for some yard work. Chance and I started at 9am, I trimmed some more hedges that needed it badly and Chance started mowing the front yard. I finished the hedges and ran in to take a shower. Apparently the girls were waiting (Grammy, Heather and Sara) for us to finish but then Heather and Sara decided to go on their own. Grammy and I stayed and I finished up the yard on the riding lawn mower. Finally the girls returned and Grammy and I left to go have lunch and do some commissary shopping.

So all in all, every thing is fine. We got back and Grammy and the girls left for more shopping, I stayed with Mr. Lee, Triniti and the boys. Later everyone got home, we cooked some chicken on the grill and had corn on the cob, etc. Good dinner. So why my statement "No more weekends like this!" well here's where we set up for an exciting evening. Grammy starts by boiling down the chicken water to get a good broth and the girls leave for a sister night away for a few hours. (Truth be told they go to Walmart! Do we need to get a life or what!) The grand kids are put to bed for the night. I go down stairs and Triniti joins me on the couch as we watch the World swimming championships. Soon Grammy joins us and Triniti falls asleep. The 10pm news just came on and we were watching when suddenly Grammy jumps up and says "Oh NO!" and runs up stairs. I'm used to this as she occasionally forgets something important and hurries off to get it done. No problem right! I go back to watching the news.

Then from the top of the stairs I hear one word "HONEY!" Of course being perceptive man that I am I knew this was not a Honey! Get the trash taken out! kind of call. It wasn't even a Honey! There's a spider in the kitchen kind of thing. Nope! I immediately knew this was a HONEY! (I need you NOW!) kind of call. So I quickly push Triniti off of me and start for the stairs. As I turn to the bottom step around the recliner I hear a "HONEY! FIRE! Well let's just say I flew up the stairs, faster than I normally go up. As I hit the middle of the stairs a distinct smell hits me right away! Something is burning! At the top of the stairs I see a lot and I mean a lot of smoke in the living room. I rush to the kitchen and I find Grammy standing about 4 feet from the stove where a four foot wall of flames is shooting out of the pot that was boiling down the chicken water to a broth. Grammy obviously has tried something and I quickly assess that getting the correct lid from the lower cabinet next to the stove would take too long I asked where's the fire extinguisher as I turn to the place I knew it to be. Grammy tells me here she has it and I grab it, Pull the pin and squeeze the trigger and put the flames out quickly. Now at this point I'm thinking I can't stand the smoke much longer so I say let's get the doors open and get outside. I tell her to go out the back door and I turn to head for the front door when I see Chance (I say I saw him but really I saw most of him, as the top half was shrouded in smoke) in the living room asking what is going on! I yell and say get back to the bedroom and stay there with the door closed. Triniti is starting to come up the stairs and I tell her to get back down stairs and close the door. I'm think of mitigating the smoke getting into other parts of the house. I get the front door open and start coughing the crap out of my lungs. My throat is burning and I'm trying to get clean air into my lungs. I think to myself I hope the neighbors didn't see any of this and try to call 911. Then I hear the garage door opening up I think why is Grammy still in the house. So I run back in and I find her now out back with the smoking pan and she is using the hose with a sprinkler head still attached as a way to stop the smoking. Unfortunately she put the pot on top of the one extension cord so it melts the cord. At about this time Martha calls me to ask what is going on? I figured Chance had called Sara (which he had) so I tell Martha "Do not come in the house as there is too much smoke!" and I hung up on her. Of course this puts them in a worry! Sorry girls! I wasn't thinking real clear at that moment. I thought the girls may have just pulled up out front. So I was thinking about Martha's Asthma and I didn't want her to be affected. I checked on the kids once more and they were okay. The little ones were still asleep and with the doors shut very little smoke would have gotten to them. (As a matter of fact Leo, TJ and Lee slept through the whole ordeal) Soon the girls pulled up, I was out front with Grammy and of course the mother instinct kicked in, "Where's the kids! Are they alright!" There was a little bit of smoke still clearing out and so after we assured them all was okay and what happened. Sara with no breathing issues checked on the kids, who were just fine! Heather or Sara checked the kitchen and we still forgot to turn the burner off! We spent the next several hours cleaning walls, ceilings, the kitchen of course to get most of the smell out of the house. At a little after midnight we called it quits and went to bed. Yes, we made it to church on time at 9am. Today, we cleaned the rest of the house, the carpets, couch, clothes etc and it smells a lot better!

So lessons learned! Do not leave the kitchen with a pot on the stove! Don't forget the fire extinguisher and have it near the kitchen not in the kitchen! Check the smoke detectors (they didn't go off!), and perhaps the most important is to listen to the promptings from the spirit as we are convenced that thats what reminded Grammy of the pot on the stove and we caught it in the nick of time and nothing is majorly damaged! Just some smoke stained cabinets, ceiling, melted overhead light parts and alot of worried people! Metal appliances helped as the microwave is good as new. Amazing!

Check out the pictures below!

Days of 47' Parade

I felt it was important to go to the big Days of 47' Parade in SLC this year. It was to start at 9am and so we left at 6:50am to get there. Martha went ahead to get a spot as all the news talked about the crowds and how people camp out the night before to get a good spot. She found a spot at 500 South and 200 East. It was just wide enough for two chairs across. Of course we were facing east and at first there were overcast skies. But that all changes just before the parade started and so the picture above shows how we were coping. Next year we go or send some one earlier and we must face West not East. Hats or an umbrella would have been a smart thing to do as well. Maybe we will just do the Ogden parade next time.

American way of life - Our Blessings!

Interestingly since living in Europe I've always been thankful for America and how we live. The spaciousness of our country, the ability to move around state to state without having to get papers or approval to do so. Our ability to have relative peace in our lives, free from dictator style oppression with mass murders because we disagree with a leader whether elected or not. No worries of a coup from the military or a rouge general regardless what Hollywood would make us believe. Basically, we are free to live, travel, explore or not and worship or not as we see fit. Sure there are safe guards built into our government through federal and state laws that provide for order and general safety for all. So that one person(s) cannot take unfair advantage of another person(s) without some type of justice that satisfies the Rule of Law! Is America perfect no! Can we accept that change has and will take place yes!

So why the diatribe above? This past week I attended a conference that was put on by our state law enforcement folks on issues that may and do affect us here in the US. What struck me as significant was having these experts who have lived in these foreign countries explain the history of why these trouble spots are so volatile and why we need to be aware of these areas of the world. When they explain that for many who live in these areas violence and starvation, age old hatreds created by well meaning people or governments or some times created by self serving and in I believe in some cases "Evil" people will never go away. No matter what we do as a nation or as a people. Many for these people have had conflict all of their lives. They understand what it means to truly survive day to day.

So this morning I commented to Grammy how fortunate we are that we don't live in Russia with the corruption that according to Business weekly tells of the issues IKEA is having with local regulators. She said doesn't it make you wonder how out of all of God's spirit children we were chosen to live in America. Then during Gospel Doctrine we talked about the Priesthood in D&C 84 and why those who accept the Priesthood have certain obligations to use it righteously for the blessings from Heavenly Father to take hold. So how do we that have this blessing in our lives come to have it. It's because we have been selected or "of the elect" of Heavenly Father to be here at this time. What an awesome responsibility and trust! Makes me wonder when the time comes to meet him again what will he ask us of the trust and the "Talents" he gave us while we lived in America. What good did we do while we had the opportunity? Did we say kind words to others? Were we nice to others? Etc.

I wonder?

The way it's been lately!

Back to work after the Fourth! It was a strange day. I couldn't get in the groove yet I pushed through as always. Last week Mamaw flew home with her new cell phone and she is enjoying having it. It should make it easier for the family to stay in touch with her. I drove to Casper in my truck with Sara and the kids in her car. The trip was to bring back the last of her furniture etc, the sale of the house fell through so she is in a hard way. I wish we could help her out but we are doing all we can to hold on as well. I stayed Thursday night and had dinner with Micah and we then went to see Transformers 2. Good movie, loved the military aircraft scenes especially the B-1 dropping ordinance, felt that in my back side. Micah like the Megan Fox scenes, I don't blame him. It just isn't right for someone to look that good and not be married to Micah. Yep, I'm pulling for a hottie for Micah. Gotta find a way to get that son of mine to SLC. I stayed the night and was gone at the crack of dawn. Grammy and I unloaded the trailer and paddle boats all by ourselves. Not bad for folks in our "later" years. Saturday Grammy had to work until midnight so Martha and I drove to the base and found a spot that must be fairly popular with the base folks as we were able to see the entire valley and fireworks from the base to SLC. Pretty cool. Sunday was different as it was just Grammy and I. No kids to watch after. We were able to hear every testimony.

Now on to something I promised Micah I would do. For the past few months Micah has been telling Grammy that he is learning that the commercial side of the economic downturn will be the next thing to hit. Then a month or so ago a short article from the Business Week magazine we get said the very same things. I can only hope that things will turn around but I will leave that discussion to Micah. I spent Thursday night with him showing me YouTube videos and talking about the economy. Yes, he educated his ol' man a bit. I'm grateful he is interested and wants to learn and track this stuff. I hope he can put it to use some day soon. Anyway I wanted to give Micah a chance to tell us all some of what he is learning. So here you go Micah explain away - educate us! Please respond to what he says if you are interested.

A day at the Beach

It's Saturday and before Grammy had to go to work this afternoon we took a drive south to Saltair. It used to be a famous place for folks to swim in its hey day. Apparently it has been rebuilt and after less than better years it is a seldom used place. We took Mamaw out so she could say she put her feet in the lake. It's the first time we have done this and it was a small walk out to the waters edge from the shore but we all made it. Mamaw had to stop a few times but she said it was worth it. Apparently it is quite shallow for a long ways (just above the ankle) out into the lake. Later we drove into SLC and got lunch and as we were driving around on State St. we saw a Greek restaurant and Grammy said "That looks good!", Chance answers and says "I don't eat Greek food, but I am a Greek God!" We all laughed pretty hard over that one.

What's next?

Well this has been an interesting week. I turned another year older and it was a nice week all in all. My family didn't forget me which was great! For fathers day I got a new radio for my office. I keep hearing about HD Radio and so I wanted one. Grammy and I found one at the BX and so we bought it (since it was the last one) then Grammy gave it to me on Fathers Day! I really like it. It's fairly small (12x6) and the sound is great. I can put my headphones in and my MP3 player if I want to. The cool thing is HD Radio works like this: normally there are radio channels out there and you only hear the those broadcasting i.e. 96.1 or 107.3 or whatever. HD Radio lets the broadcaster split the same band into two channels. The one you normally hear and another one that you can't hear unless you have an HD Radio. It looks like this: 96.1 1 and 96.1 2 or 107.3 1 and 107.3 2. It seems so far they are offering less commercials and more radio from what I hear. Nice thing is there is no subscription fee, you just have to buy the HD Radio. Mine cost less than $100. As for my birthday the family got me a Lowes gift card. That allowed me to buy a variable speed bench grinder that I've wanted for some time now. You should see me try to sharpen the mover blades with a drill and a grinding stone. I start by trying to hold down the blade with one foot while balancing with the other and grinding with both hands. Uncomfortable at best, slow and not very efficient either. Now for the what next part. Sara had a buyer for her house, but there were issues with the appraiser for the FHA loan. One apprasier said no problem with the floor the other said it had to be fixed. In the end the buyer backed out. We will still go and get everything moved but I'm nit sure what she can continue to do finacially. I think we will still go next week to get her stuff but I know she is really bummed out. I wish I could sell our other houses.

Webelos Camp

This was Chance's Webelos overnight campout. We went to Camp Kiesel which is in the mountains east of Eden UT. We had fun.

Entrance to Camp Kiesel

Chance and his camp buddy - Corbin Asay

Heading out - Dry!

Heading back in - Wet!

Check out that form!

Ol' Dead-eye

View from the top above camp. Who is that old man with all of those young guys!

View of hill we climbed on Saturday after the hike!

Actually, I'm grateful I made it to the top and back. I turn 53 next week and they had a part of the hike called Cardiac Hill! Well all I can say is it lived up to it's name.