FINALLY

For about the last....FOREVER, Lee has wanted a new SLR Camera. She has been debating for quite sometime which one she would want, and she finally found one that was "reasonably" priced, and would do everything she could possibly need from a camera for quite some time. So I finally got absolutely tired of talking about the different options, packages, and pricing of the camera that I've wanted to get since the beginning, but she couldn't decide WHICH ONE IT WAS. Well, she decided, and I bought it for her yesterday.

It's the Canon Rebel XTi. It's pretty sweet, and with the competitive pricing between Best Buy and Circuit City, I was able to get it at a good price.

So, Lee has her camera, and I have the satisfaction of having got it for her when she wasn't expecting it. That is always a bonus. And a great story. Yesterday, she had a Doctors appointment that I sent her off too. While she was gone, I told her that I would be buying a new collar for Sage (our older yellow lab) at Petsmart. while doing that, I would go next door to get the new camera. Well, she got the Idea that I was going to get it, and got all excited. When she came home, she had the stupidest grin on her face all excited for her new camera, and all I could give up was the Collar. I even managed to have the kids stick to the Petsmart story. After a while she broke my son. He gave up the story, but he kept saying that the camera was on the counter. The other night, a friend left her camera at the house. So I explained that she had said enough about the camera, that the kids knew that she wanted one and got confused. So we ate dinner, and put the kids to bed...all the while she's walking around looking in every corner of the house for a camera, and proclaiming that I was up to no good. What a silly chick! finally at bedtime when she had calmed down and accepted that she wasn't going to get the camera, I gave it to her. She was happy. I'm happy. That's my fun story. Lee, I love you!

Passage to Zarahemla

I'm a huge "Tennis Shoes Amound the Nephites" Fan.

For the first number of years after Chris Heimerdinger began writing them, I was quite the sceptic. I didn't even read one of the many books in the series, before classifying them as dumb, and without point.

Well on my mission, I had a companion that had one of the books on tape and we listened to it. That was the end of my days as a sceptic. They are absolutely amazing. And with that talent, Chris Heimerdinger has written another book, with the purpose of it becoming a movie. Passage to Zarahemla. It's a very different concept than the "Tennis Shoes Series", but its great. And here is the trailer.

You can learn more about the Movie: Passage to Zarahemla.

Over the weekend, we had the great opportunity to the kids to the monster trucks here. They had a great time, but here are a few quick clips to show what the kids loved so much!

MLK Day 2007

What a great holiday! MLK! this year my company started giving us the holiday. So I had the great blessing of spending an extra Monday at home with the family. We didn't really do all that much, yet got much done at the same time. It was great the hang out and get everything done. Despite have the day off, I had a little paperwork to get done in the morning. Then we took to Costco, and a million other grocery stores.
With that all done, we were ready for a little recreation. So I grabbed my brother-in-law Seth and we headed for the "mountain". It's actually just a great big hill, but it's called Candy Mountain in West Richland. At the top of the "MOUNTAIN" there is a geocache. The listed Log/Lat place you at the bottom of the hill along a service (4x4) trail to the top. Using a few numbers of landmarks and a puzzle, you can figure out where up there the cache is located. We tried taking the Impala up a little ways but quickly found that the road was to steep, and loose to take it all the way. So we parked "Vader"(my black Impala) and started hiking up to the top. Along the way we didn't get some of the landmark clues that left us without the complete code if find the cache. Needless to say, I wasn't going to go down and come back to find it. We did the best we could, and found it in about 7-10 minutes. It was a very chilly 26 degrees before we began, and must have dropped below 20 while we were headed up. but it was great hike and loads of fun! I'm going to start photo'ing some of the great places that caches take me so I can show off!

Christmas and more!

Christmas at my house was absolutely wonderful this year! Not only did I do the amazing and unpredictable, I bought my wife clothes....THAT SHE ACTUALLY LIKED AND KEPT! I have ABSOLUTELY no problem with her returning clothes that I buy if she doesn't like them...in fact, it's a rule. I save all my receipts so she can return anything that doesn't fit right or that I just did wrong on. BUT I actually got it right this year. So I'm very happy. The kids also loved the new toys and they even liked the clothes. Not bad for 3 and 5 year old kids.

Now that gun to the left is what my wonderful, beautiful, and kind wife bought me. Knowing that I have wanted one for quite some time, and thinking it would be a good thing to do with my friends in the Ward (since none of them fly fish). It's great, it is a Spyder Sonix Pro exactly like the picture except with red detailing. I love it. So....Super thanks to Lee!

With gun and hand, and CO2 Tanks full, I gathered with 24 other men today for my first battle in almost 10 years! It was frigid afternoon as we met in the open field full of sage brush and tall grass. With only a strip of duct tape on each arm to distinguish my friends from my foes, we separated to each side of field. The first two battles were "blood bath" rules, attack with the goal of having more guys from your team left at the end. I didn't make to long in this fight, I got aggressive and got picked off first in the battle. Alas, the taped team (my team) proved unable to dominate at this game... or was it that we were mismatched team 14-11. We balanced the team by taking one person and continued to Capture the flag. The next 4 matches were tight but we were able to dominate the field.

Being apart of the team as it completes the is amazing, but I really appreciated to time that I had to sit on the sideline after being shot out. It's really cool to see the team move through the field and work together to flush out stragglers and pick them off. It was true blast! Soooo... Once again, Thanks Lee for a great Christmas present!

Merry Ramahanakwanzmas

Apparently Christmas is right around the corner!!! For those who read this, MERRY Christmas (or Merry Ramahanakwanzmas, for those who enjoy a more politically correct holiday greeting). For the first time in my married life, I will not be shopping for Lee Ann on Christmas Eve. That’s right, I finished a few days ago, and they are safely hidden from the snooping bug. Yep, she’s a snooper! If I ever made the mistake of leaving Christmas gifts around the house, she would sniff them out and actually look at all of them. So much for the surprise of the day. I actually know where she has hidden my gifts, and I leave them alone. I have to hide them at my work storage unit to keep them safe. She doesn’t have access to it, so it’s safe to let her know where they are. I’ve been hiding gifts at work for 7 years now, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave them in the house. Snooper!
Anyway, I hope that everyone gets a chance to sit back and remember what it’s really all about. Leave the stores and gifts where they are, and play with kids. Enjoy your spouse or someone special. And say a special Happy Birthday to our savior. I’m am very grateful to a loving Father who would send such a special individual who would set the example for us to follow and then one day, suffer and die so I might return to Him. If I just believe and try my best. What a special blessing!

My boy is growing!

My little guy will turn 5 this week. He lost his first tooth this morning. and it must made me want to stop and take a moment to breathe. It's happening way to fast. I must say though, he's a lot more fun at 5 then he was at 2, 3, or even newly 4. He has a great new vocabulary that actually works. It's fun to hear him discribe things so correctly, and so wrong at the same time. He really one of the the funnest little people in the entire world. Which TOTALLY makes sense because so many tell me that he is just like me... and I am fun too. SERIOUSLY I AM!!!

This year he learned how to ride a two-wheeler, and I thought that was prety cool. It took three sessions of about 30 minutes of me running behind him pleading for him to peddle and stop leaning to the side, and then he took off. It was a really fun day! It's very fun to have a great little like him in my life!