Misc

Missionaries-  I was thoroughly entertained when Wendy came home from Ward Council yesterday and told several stories I had not heard.  My favorite-  JC called to invite the missionaries over for dinner. Missionary: "I'm not sure if we are available because we already have a dinner appointment, but I'm not sure. What is on the menu at your house?"

Wendy and I had a sleep over with the kids downstairs last night.  They were so excited. The two boys fell asleep while watching a movie. We let Lisa stay up and have dessert with us.   Lisa kept saying "It sure is quiet without the boys."  The "boys" just drive me crazy.  They "talk" non-stop.  And it's impossible to get them to be quiet.

Chickens-  Wendy and I both never really wanted pets. (except one day I want a golden lab or golden retriever)  I think the only people I know that do not have pets of any kind are Heather and Shannon. It's just the way we were raised. Well, we decided to get chickens a few months ago.  I can't hear them or smell them;  they don't get my house dirty; and we get eggs.  I like it!

Sunday School

We had a really great Sunday school lesson given by Isaacson today.  I regard Isaacson very highly and I'm lucky that I have known him and that I get to listen to his Sunday school lessons. 

What specific scripture is found in all four standard works?

D&C 2
Malachi 4:5-6
3 Nephi 25 5-6
JSH 1 38-39

It must be important.

During Stake Conference I babysit the kids so Wendy can attend conference by herself.  She was saying that last week at conference, one of the speakers, the Temple President's wife, was talking about the importance of the temple. Somehow she got on a tangent of how we hype up missionary work and going on missions, but it is only in temples we can find saving ordinances for exaltation.


Had snowball fight with Lisa and then buried her in the snow.

Lisa next to my favorite tree in back corner by chickens and garden. 

We all had yummy home made salsa after playing in the snow.  Even David loves this stuff.

Halloween 2012

We had a fun time tick-or-treating this year.  We stayed in the ward boundaries which is fun becasue everyone knows everyone.


Eric's Stash

Lisa's Stash

David could not wait to get into this chocolate pudding.

David had to work very hard to walk all the way up to the doors and then to ring the door bells.  It was fun watching him.

Dracula, Mummy, and Pooh

 Lisa, Eric, and David trick or treated with Ethan and Ollie.  Then David started to slow down and I went D the rest of the night.  We all worked our way back home and Lisa and Eric went with Mom and D and I answered the door.

David gaurding our pumpkins.

Bear Creek Trail

A friend of mine told me about "Bear Creek Trail" in Fruit Heights.  so we decieded to hike it this last weekend. We hiked for maybe two miles and then David started to get tired and the trail started to get difficult.  The trail leads to the Farmington  Radar Station.   It was a nice hike.

 

 Eric leading.

 

 

                                              Fall Leaves.  Very pretty.

Summer recap

BK (Before Kids) Wendy and I traveled around and camped a lot.   This summer we camped the most since we had Lisa 8 years ago.   And the kids loved it!

 

 

2011  Eric was working up a sweat harvesting these pumpkins!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2012

Lisa and I planted this pumpkin.  It is bigger than she is.  Rare moment- David wanted his picture taken next to his pumpkin.

 

 

 

Lisa showing off her new cowboy boots.

 

Trees we planted last week.

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa's skirt

Lisa picked out the fabric and made this skirt with Grandma Judy.

Various

What the kids want to "be when they grow up".

Lisa- School Teacher  - Maybe she can correct the bad grammar I see on all my posts.

Eric-Scientist

David-Criminal

Eric’s prayers are entertaining—it’s not necessarily what he says, but how he says them with such enthusiasm.

Eric’s prayer on the food yesterday:  Dear … We are thankful for this pizza… We are thankful for the pizza because we are so hungry…Please bless it, because we are starving…We are so starving and we are so thankful for the pizza. Amen

Eric’s evening prayer.  Dear … We are thankful we had so much fun today at the beach… We are thankful we were safe…We are thankful for boats…  We are thankful we could go boating at the beach and that we were all safe… Please bless us that we can go boating again.

It was funny last week we went up to Pineview with Shannon.  We were on the water coming in to the beach camp.  Sean was driving, Eric was "sitting" in the navigator’s seat.  Eric was yelling commands at all the strangers telling them they were too close to the boat and that Sean was going to run them all over.  It is awesome how much he has got into boating.  Actually, the whole family is into it pretty good.

Camp Out

This Easter picture shows the personality of these kids:

Lisa- Angel
Eric- "I wont fight you to take my picture because the sooner we are done the sooner I can play with my trains."
David- "I'm going to make you pay for taking this picture."

Eric when he arrived home from pirate birthday party.  Nice ear ring Eric.

I took Eric to our Fathers and Sons campout.  He was really excited to go.  When I got home from work on Friday he got in the truck and just waited in his car seat for about 1.5 hours until we left.  He really got into the camping. 

Eric set up the tent

Playing in the dirt

Everyone was excited that Star Wars on the big screen was part of the program.

 Eric liked the popcorn.

  I liked eating sunflower seeds during the movie not having to worry where I spit. 

 Brent Wride's peach cobbler. 

 Randall Hill's schloskies bratworst. 

 Eric sleeping in the next morning.  I must be the only one that does not sleep camping.

We set up out tent next to this river.

Lisa wanted to camp in the back yard when we got home.

David liked to take random tent poles and put them together. 

Funniest thing in the workd is when David sees me eating sunflower seeds he goes around spitting.

Court

I was pulled over a few weeks ago for passing someone in a no passing zone. We were proceeding east bound on Glovers Lane. The car in front of me signaled to pull into the driveway on the right, and I passed him. The cop pulled me over for crossing a double yellow line. The officer was a punk, and, I think it was a silly charge because I was driving safely the whole time. So, I decided to fight it in court. 10 days after the alleged infraction took place I met with the DA and he said I could jurisprudence in abeyance which they meant I could pay the ticket, plus pay another $20 for court costs. The ticket would not go on my record if I avoided trouble for the next 12 months. That's the best they could do when I did nothing wrong? So I rejected the offer and set up a court date with the judge.

3/20/2012 I arrived at the court. The officer was talking it up with his other officer buddies. The DA called me out of the court room to the conference room. He read me the charge. Then he said "Are you sure you want to go to court. What is your defense? I told him that "I have not had a traffic ticket in the last 20 years, and I am a safe driver, and I think you need to drop the charges." He just looked at me, leaned back in his chair and said " This is not about you being a safe driver but is about you crossing the double yellow lines" I was thinking yes, I know that, you want me to outline my defense for you before we even go in? I said I wanted to challenge the ticket.

So, we went into the court room. The DA was chatting it up with the officer that was going to testify against me, and really was not paying attention. But hey, this is only traffic court after all. The judge went through the procedure for my benefit. The DA then got up and read the charges against me. Then it was my turn. I repeated myself and told them what a safe driver I was. Then the officer took the stand. The DA started quickly and confidently asking questions to the officer like are you ___certified? how long have you been an officer? All the questions to establish credibility to the officer. So, then the officer drew a picture on the whiteboard on what happend. Surprising to me, the officer told the truth. I had a whole page of questions prepared and I was going to play the "gotcha" game. Since he was telling the truth I only asked him one question "Do you know the precise address of the driveway the car was pulling into?" "550 West" he said. "Thank you very much officer, that is all"

So then I went to present my side. I told the judge "My ticket states the alleged infraction took place on 500 West. The officer just testified with such confidence that it was on 550 West. I have proof that there are not double yellow lines anywhere near that address. I would like to present these pictures where the incident took place into evidence." This blindsided the DA and the police officer. All the sudden they had a worried look on their faces and were huddled together talking franticly.

So the DA objected to the evidence. Judge - " on what basis"

DA went on and on and on how I doctored the pictures (in a very nice way), and how the pictures don't really show anything. The judge denied his motion. So then the DA cross examined me about the pictures. Asked me several dumb questions such as " Were these pictures taken at the place the officer stopped you?" Of course not, they were taken at the place of the infraction. It was obvious this know-it-all was not prepared and was caught off gaurd. Then I was excused. The DA was given time to refute the evidence. He went on about how the pictures are bad. Then he stopped and then started a whole new line of defense by saying the police officer just got the address wrong. So he called the cop back up to the stand, and they re-did his testimony. The cop diagrammed a whole new picture about where the incident took place. This new testimony took about seven minutes. Then the judge asked me if i would like to cross examine the witness. I was getting worried. That the judge would allow them to do a "redo" on the testamony illistrates what an uphill battle the little guy has in court. I know It is common for this court to plea bargain down a charge but they never dismiss tickets. I was fighting an uphill battle. So I cross examined the officer but felt like I needed to get my point across becasue the DA is doing all of the talking. So I confrontationally said " 5 minutes after the police officer pulled me over he wrote the location of the infraction on the ticket. And today I asked him if he knew "precisely" where the address was and he said '550 West'. You can't change it now that I have proof that there are no double yellow lines." The judge sternly told me I out of line and asked if I had any questions for the officer. I said no. Then it was my turn and I said a couple of things and went back to my seat. The judge said he would take a 15 minute recess and then would give his decision. During the break the DA decided he was going to look this up on google so he left. I already had a google print out but elected not to give it to them because I thought it would be to my advantage (which it was-- The DA waisted five minutes expounding on how the pictures were bad, and crossed examined me with several questions about the pictures) The police officer was still there so I was talking to him about San Diego and Tampa. I wanted to make sure he knew I was a nice guy and was not out to get him. I don't want him camping out at my house waiting to bust Wendy or myself. I asked the police office if it was normal for a traffic ticket hearing to last 50 minutes and he said "no" I then asked him how long the judge usually takes for recess. The officer said "I don't know, I have never seen him take a recess over a traffic ticket"

Then the DA came in, consulted with the police officer, and basically said " you are right we are going to dismiss the charges" So he went to the chambers and told the judge they were not going to press charges. This ticked me off because now the DA can still say he has a perfect, or near perfect judgement record.

Oh well, we know who really won that one!

My Consultants taking a break.

Las Vegas

I attended a tactical handgun class with Garth and Jesse which lasted four days. The training was held at a place 45 minutes west of Las Vegas.
I had a lot of fun, but it was a lot of work. Three months prior Jesse was telling me all about
the class. He claimed graduates of the class will be better trained than military and law enforcement. I’m not sure if I bought that. I thought perhaps Jesse received minimal firearms training because the Army doesn’t care if their anesthesiologists can handle a gun.
But after taking the class, and after talking with law enforcement and
other officers in the military, I believe he was spot on. The training was awesome.


All of the instructors and even most of the students were very good with firearms. Most of the
students were military, law enforcement, or ex-military. The Lead instructor, “Chacci” was insanely competent at handling a gun. It was alot of fun. The first night before class
started we were at the hotel talking about going swimming, going running in the
mornings, and I brought a book in case I got bored at night. We ended up too tired to do any of that. We were up early and came home from class exhausted.

Routine:

Woke up at 5:00, showered, ate breakfast at hotelrestaurant, and drove to class. For two
days class was held in the morning for about an hour. We were then dismissed to the range. At the range, we had about 28 students. We were usually lectured for about a halfhour, and then shown how to do a drill, then went to the range and shot. This was repeated over and over. The class was broken up into two relays. So as the first relay shot, the second relay
coached, made suggestions how to shoot better, and made sure 1st relay was acting in a safe manner. Additionally, four to six instructors came around and coached. It really benefitted me because the people I was paired with knew more about handguns than I did. Day one I was paired with an Air force pilot, Day two an Arizona Highway Patrolman, day three and four a military contractor that had been in Iraq. All of these people were very good and I learned a ton from them. In addition to the firearm certifications, most of the instructors were accomplished in various forms of martial arts.


Chacci- Head Range Master at our Range (kind of looks like
Duane Johnson in Fast Five)



- “ I run a politically incorrect range”

- “GET RID OF THESE EMPTY CLIPS WITH DISDAIN!!!” “We
don’t place them gently on the ground so they don’t get dirt on them….” It was
funny to watch him throw the clips to the ground so hard they bounced off the
gravel.

- “Take a step to the left, physically, not
politically.”

- He made a Comment about how he heard other instructors don’t like to shoot in front of the class because instructors don’t want the students to see weakness. Then
calls those instructors a choice name, then proceeds with drill, and shoots
controlled pair to the thoracic cavity with the spread the size of a quarter.

- “Any gun will do if you will”. Chacci always talked crap about all guns are
inferior to the 1911.

- “Is it
just me or is there something sexy about a woman that knows how to handle a gun
properly.” All the guys were enthusiastically nodding and voicing opinion in agreement with him.

- How to take your gun belt off when using the
restroom.

- “In my neighborhood…”

- “Any questions? Not even from Garth?”

- “ I guess this is the wrong crowd to get my
rapper jokes”

- Moser putting bullets and rocks in my coat.

- Mrs. Walker (65 year old lady) giving me tips on
improving my aim. She knew what she was
doing.

- Guy from Indiana wearing hat that said “dumb
ass”. Reaction when Garth told him he played the Organ “No $#!x,” Funny to see his surprised reaction.

- Timing us to make sure we could consistently present out of concealment, and squeeze a controlled pair on target all under 1.5 seconds. Moving us back to 15 yards to make sure we were aiming.

- The competition was awesome at the end. Took hostage shot at about 15 yards, and two
bad guys at about 20 yards. The weather conditions were not good, it was windy and cold. This bad weather made it more like real circumstances. I was surprised what alittle stress did to everyone. I thought everyone was inconsistent. A marineknocked me out. The final winner was a
contractor.

It was fun hanging out with people that are dedicated toexcellence. We decided we are going to take our wives there nextyear. Wendy is already good at handling a gun and I think she would like the class.

David’s Nursery Rhyme

Once there was an accountant that suffered a type three malfunction

Trigger Pull
Side Step
Tip the muzzle
Lock the slide
Strip the mag
Rack Rack Rack
Load the clip
Tap hard
Rack the slide
Pull the trigger

Star Wars

Lisa and Eric's disturbing facial expression watching Star Wars on our 120 inch home theatre system.

Every day stuff

I can’t believe how fast time is going by and how fast the kids are growing. Below are some everyday interactions with the kids that may become easy to forget but might be fun to read later.

Lisa:

I was flexing in the mirror and Lisa saw me. I said “I bet you don’t know anyone as muscular as me” to which she responded very quickly, “Yes I do, my gym teacher Bruce”.

I took Lisa to a football game a few weeks ago. I had a lot of fun. Lisa wasn’t really interested in figuring it out. I had front row seats, but Lisa kept asking if we could go to the very top row to sit. So, finally I gave in. She kept looking over the edge as we climbed our way to the top. Once at the top she seemed satisfied. I think her favorite part of the whole experience was getting a $.99 corn dog at Dairy Queen before the game.

Eric:
I substituted Eric’s primary class the other day. He has trouble sitting still, but he is the first one to blurt out the answers to W. Inkley’s questions during sharing time. I also had fun watching him at the Christmas program for his preschool. He is very smart (doesn’t every parent think their kid is the smartest?), knows his lines, grasps what the teacher is teaching, and asks a lot of questions. He seems very happy and likes to interact with the other kids. He often has that smirk on his face when interacting with other kids and adults. Pretty funny to watch.


David:
When I acted out as a kid, my Dad would give me “the look” and I would immediately behave. I don’t have any pictures, but it is so funny when I give this look to David. As I give David the stern look, he stares me down while giving me his own look that says “You think you’re tough? I’ll pound you and everyone else to the ground if you don’t leave me alone!” And he means it.
The kids were opening presents on New Years and I guess the day before they all went to the zoo. David wanted to read the zoo pamphlet at the zoo but Eric and Lisa would not let him. Anyway, one of the gifts was a yearly zoo pass with maps and pamphlets along with it. He grabbed the literature and just took off out of the room. I’m not sure the kids were paying too much attention because they were just excited to open more presents. But we all thought it was funny he disappeared during all the fun and was finally able to read his maps. We later found out he was hiding in a corner in Eric’s room.

Wendy:

What do I say about Wendy—she is amazing. Wendy has been working a lot with contractors this year with our basement. She is able to communicate what we want to these contractors, knows how to tell them no, and understands this stuff well enough to offer alternative solutions that the contractors themselves have not offered. Sometimes I wonder if she knows more about this work than they do. With some of these people, I know she knows more than they do. I wish I was half as good with people as she is