Our Abbreviated Testimonies

For an assignment at church, Mary and I were asked to write our testimonies in roughly 250 words about serving in the church. This is what we wrote:

Mary wrote:
I haven't met any extremely trying or overwhelming trials in my life; rather I find everyday life to be my real trial. With each new responsibility, child, venture, etc. I become more acutely aware of the areas and ways in which I fall short of who I know I can be. I have found that my greatest struggle is an inner struggle with myself. Consequently, my testimony too has changed from an external understanding and belief in doctrine and principles of the Gospel to a witness of how Heavenly Father truly has a plan for me full of hope and possibilities, because He has provided me with a Savior. I know that whereas I can accomplish very little on my own; all things are possible in Christ. And that helps me to keep trying even when I have failed many times before.

I am very grateful for the opportunities that my husband and I have had to serve in leadership callings that are somewhat “demanding,” because they have been times of expedited growth. I find that the things we have had to learn to incorporate into our lives to sustain a strong, connected marriage and family are principles and practices that we should have already been drawing upon, but we hadn’t because we had never learned how to or we never saw the need for them before. We are learning the importance and the incredible blessings that come of living a purpose driven life.


Jeff wrote:
Ever since my mission I have loved opportunities to serve in the Church and my life and family have been blessed for, and in, that service. Sometimes church responsibilities result in longer days and busier weekends then I would have scheduled for myself. However, I have always appreciated that upon the close of those days or weekends that there is a consistently accompanied assurance that I was doing what the Lord would have me or my family do. Certainly, there is an awareness or reminder of what you could have been doing or what still needs to get done, but it seems that the stuff that needs to get done (yard work, home repairs… honey-do stuff) gets done and that our efforts in doing those more menial, yet necessary tasks, are consecrated by the Lord for putting His kingdom first. At times, I have left my wife and children to serve the Lord with some reluctance in my heart and some sadness on their faces. Yet, I have found that, the Lord compensates me and my family during those times of sacrifice in His behalf, if not immediately in the way we want, certainly in the way we need.

While I cannot enumerate all the blessings that have come from my service in my Father’s Kingdom and to His children, I know that I am happy, I love my life, I love my wife, I love our children, and I love my God.

A Poem for Christmas: From Sarah to Daddy

I received the below poem from Sarah this Christmas. It was her gift to me. She told me many times leading up to Christmas: "Daddy, you're just going to love my present to you!" Mary obviously helped her write it and I'm sure Mary helped her come up with different rhyming words and put things together. But I LOVE IT! It is sitting on a bulletin board of mine at work in my office. It means a lot to me. She drew little pictures of some of the things in the side margins on the one that she gave me. I'm grateful for a daughter that is VERY thoughtful and finds written words and drawn pictures to be very meaningful in her relationships. One of her favorite things to do is to make or write cards for people - all kinds of cards to all kinds of people that she has met. She also loves to draw pictures for other people, something that those who are close to her have probably experienced or witnessed. She has a special, giving heart about her. For example, she has begun fasting with us the last two months on Fast Sunday (she skips one meal - last month she went from dinner Saturday until lunch Sunday... I was impressed!)and both times she has fasted for other people that she has been concerned about or worried about. She is so great. This poem to me represents so much of who I see her to be. I'm glad she's mine and that when she says "Daddy", she talking about me!



MY DADDY

My daddy is the best daddy I know,
He helps me learn as I grow.
He cares about people and animals too,
But sometimes he sneaks up on me and hollers “boo.”
He tickle wrestles me down to the ground.
He doesn’t agree with mommy that we should get a hound.
He wants a smaller dog that will still run around and play.
I bet we can find a perfect one; if we make him out of clay.
Daddy makes moose and dog shadows on the wall.
He hurt his knee playing basketball.
He taught us how to play baseball during the summer.
And he once hit himself in the head with a hammer.
I used to pretend to do it too.
It did make me look a little silly and cuckoo.
I just wanted to be like him,
But he asked me to never do it again.
My nose gets itchy and my eyes water
When I’m around cats, just like my father.
He reads me lots of good books like Nancy and Plum,
And sometimes I catch him chewing gum.
He fixes things up around the house
And he makes me pancakes that look like Mickey Mouse.
He wants a boat to water-ski,
And catch crabs that scare me.
He loves to take vacations in McCall,
And takes me to horse lessons with Brother Hall.
Sometimes he gives me a piggyback ride to bed.
He looks cool with hats on his head.
We like to ride bikes around the cul-de-sac,
And daddy’s really good at scratching my back.
He called mommy from work one day,
And said “hurry, quick, killer whales are coming your way.”
We enjoy taking walks before it gets dark.
We’ve seen a bald eagle and even a baby shark.
My daddy’s really fun, but what I like most about him,
Is that he helps me follow my Father in Heaven.
He teaches me to love and to give,
And he serves wherever we live.
Every Sunday he puts on a white shirt and a tie,
And whispers “be reverent” as the sacrament goes by.
He shares with us his testimony,
And shows us to have courage and honesty.
He takes mommy to the temple and he never forgets to pray.
I sure hope I can be like my daddy some day.

Love,
Sarah

In the Grand Scheme of Things...

... this really is not that big of a deal at all. But it felt like it was, for some reason. Okay, well, it didn't really feel like a big deal, but it occupied my thoughts for a part of the day as I was anxious about the outcome while Mary was gone. While on our way to UT for Mary's bro's wedding and to visit friends and stuff about 6 weeks ago, I realized that we would pass 100,000 miles on our car while on the trip. I really wanted to actually notice this as it happened, it was something I calculated and payed some attention to while we were out and about. Anyway, Friday after the wedding came around and I realized that it would likely happen on our way back home the next day. But then I realized that Mary and her sister were going to go our for some girl time before Jenny had to go to the airport, when I realized this, I realized that it would be a close call if Mary made it back to the house before passing 100,000 miles on the car. While she was gone, this "concern" actually occupied some of my mental space. I periodically would look out the window to see if she was home and inwardly hoped that she wouldn't take any detours. When she got home, I went outside and checked the odometer. Here's the pic:

Now, seriously, could I have gotten any closer to actually seeing the odometer read 100,000! The last zero and the .9 are both tauntingly disappearing out of the picture in what can only be described as a staunch effort to mock me and my effort to make the car that has thanklessly served me for the past 4+ years do so again. I am suspicious that Mary did an extra turn around the block just before pulling in the driveway, but I can't confirm that. Anyway, I actually think the picture and the angst the situation caused me make for a much better story then if I had been driving through Bountiful and said, "Oh look, 100,000 miles exactly... cool; Mary take a picture... [digital sounding 'click']"

Christmas '08

So, this is obviously long overdue, but if timeliness was a requirement I would've had to stop blogging long ago. Anyway, the kids didn't get up earlier than normal, which was nice... in fact I think they didn't get up until after 7 am (we'll enjoy this while it lasts). The tradition in my family growing up was to take a picture of the kids just before they got to run down the hall and open the presents. We have continued this tradition so here is our little trio together for Christmas for the first time. It was a beautiful morning, having snowed much of the night and it continued to snow for much of the day.

Nathan's Christmas was all about Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. He got this little interactive book (pic below) from his Nanu and Bumpa (Mary's parents) as well as Thomas PJ's, another book and a bunch of the trains that you'll see below. He also got a Disney Characters "I Spy" book that he really enjoys as well. He got a Dinoco (CARS) helicopter from Uncle Kris and some art supply stuff from his Aunt Jenny's family. The kid was in heaven! Thanks for all the wonderful gifts everyone.

Could this reaction be any more excited! Sarah got some first readers books from her Oma and Opa (my parents) and has really enjoyed them (if only she'd read them instead of trying to memorize the story and then just quoting it almost word for word after a couple of reads!). She got some My Little Ponies from her Uncle Kris, some play food stuff from Nanu and Bumpa, and some art supply stuff from Aunt Jenny's family. She also received a hat and glove set from her cousin Ruby. Thanks again for everything.

My Mom made this adorable skirt for Sarah and a matching one for Jane that they both should be able to wear in a few months. Adorable... Sarah is really excited and both of her matching outfits with Jane have come from her Oma and Opa and they look so cute together.

As mentioned above, Nathan got a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. The pic above is of the stuff that he got from his Oma and Opa. Mary and I were so particularly excited for Nathan's Christmas because he's at the age where we know (sometimes) what he wants (and this year it was SO obvious) but he's not to the point where he's really asking for it. So we knew it would be (and it was) a totally, unexpected surprise of pure delight! It's so fun to be a parent at Christmas and seeing your kids get so excited over their presents. Anyway, so Nathan got this James and Rickety combo pictured above. As soon as he gets it he says "James" and takes them and runs into the toy room where his brio train tracks are (we've had a bunch of this for a while but we haven't really had any Thomas pieces to go with it) and starts playing. After a bit we go in and tell him that there are more presents to open. So he comes back in and opens the large set that we had gotten him with a bunch more Thomas characters and some more track. As soon as he opens this up he says "Huh! James!" and runs into the toy room to retrieve James where he had left it and bring them all together. The kid could not have been happier and it was so fun because, for the most part, he woke up that morning not expecting much of anything. So cute! Here he is below after his Dad totally loved using some of the new pieces to build a really cool train-track.
When we were younger (I don't even remember actually doing it) we all designed our own plates and then they were somehow laminated or something so we had them for a number of years. I know we did these at Christmas at some point because we always thought my Dad's plate was the coolest and it had some kind of a Santa on it, or something. Anyway, my parents got us this plate set for Sarah and Nathan and Jane to do some plates. Sarah was the only one that really did one on her own and it was pretty adorable as you can see above (it's a "kitty cat"). Nathan's was his hand traced, a little bird, and some clouds in the middle and then around the outside of the plate was some train track and then a bunch of the Thomas character's names as Nathan announced them. Jane's was cute too as it just had some stats about her being born and what she was currently doing (crawling, eating, nursing every three hours, getting bit by Nathan, talking, and some other stuff I can't remember). Anyway, we were really excited about these and the kids were excited to use them. However, unfortunately, it apparently wasn't a very good product as the dishwasher destroyed the finish on the plates the first time we ran them. We were really disappointed as we had carefully followed the directions :^( It was a really cute idea though!

The rest of our day was just spent with Mary and I playing some games and just enjoying relaxing. Last year we had these grand plans to cook this great dinner and then never got out of our jammies. So this year we changed course a bit and just did a whole bunch of appetizers. We made some really good stuffed mushrooms, had little smokies, cheese logs, wassail, and some other stuff. We just let the kids play all day and really enjoyed the day, though we terribly missed not being in W. WA with my family. However, we were grateful that we didn't plan on going because the weather certainly would've kept us at home. Anyway, we hope everyone had a wonderfully Merry Christmas! God Bless!

7th Anniversary!

Today is our 7th Anniversary. It's interesting how it seems that on one hand the time has just flown by. But on the other hand, that it seems like Mary's been in my life for so long... my life before Mary seems like it was sooooo long ago (and don't take that the wrong way). Here's a brief statistical summary of our seven years together:

-We've been married for 2,558 days and over 61,300 hours.

-We have three cute kids

-We've lived in 8 different locations and 5 different cities

-We've been in 9 different wards

-We've had four vehicles

-We've gone from having one nephew to four nieces and six nephews (w/ at least one more on the way - probably a boy!)

Alright, this is getting kind of boring and tedious to think about some of this somewhat unnecessary info.

Needless to say, we've had a great 7 years! We're planning on doing something fun in the Spring/Early Summer without the kids, but I'm taking the day off tomorrow to enjoy the day with just my wife (and Jane for most of the day).

We're fully aware of the 7 year itch and the stresses of kids on a marriage (we KNOW!), but we are still in love and enjoy spending time together. We pine for minutes, hours, and (gasp!) days where we can just get away and be together. We look forward to quiet moments in the evening after the kids are asleep where we get to just talk with each other about our days and just connect. We love doing our own things and then being together again. We enjoy being around each other in both large and small social settings. We love watching each other serve in the church as we develop some of our talents. I am frequently amazed at how she makes our income expand and go much farther than I could even hope it would. I'm amazed at how organized and driven she is when she sets her mind to something. Life is busy, crazy, fun, hectic, frustrating, enjoyable, silly, rewarding, tiring and everything in-between and more... and I'm so glad that I can spend this life, and particularly eternal life, with my Sweetheart. Happy Anniversary to Us!

Tags

So I'm not a big fan of tags generally unless they meet two criteria: 1) easy and/or 2) It sounds fun to me. So basically I don't like them, except when I do. The first time I was tagged, it met criteria two but definitely not criteria one, but I really liked it... so I did it. I have been tagged recently by newer blogging friends and my first tag responded to some of those. So here is a link that responds to that first (and since others) tag. In fact, this is one of my favorite posts that I've written because my sense of humor comes out and some of my quirkiness, which usually doesn't come out unless you've known me for a while... and spent a lot of time with me recently. Anyway, please feel free to read the above link, and leave a comment here or there and I'll feel like you know me a little better.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. I was tagged recently by my sis-in-law, Heather. And this one definitely meets criteria one... so of course it gets done. So here you go:

Oh, and I realized another thing about tags... I don't always follow the rules. So the tag is to pick the fourth folder in your pics section and the fourth picture.

So this is the fourth folder from the end of my pics and the fourth picture. This is a picture of some fruit (lemon, lime, and apple) and two special rocks that I have found over the years. The black one was found, I believe on the beach somewhere in Washington (I can't remember if it was at Banks/Roosevelt Lake in E. WA or on the coast/sound). But it was with my best friend Taylor. The other rock is from the 2nd year of the hike with my brothers and my dad up at Lake Dorothy. They are both very cylindrical, though more of an oval than a true sphere. Anyway, they're remarkable rocks and they served as an analogy for my Marriage and Family Therapy Final Paper/Project/Presentation. I related the rocks to [okay this tag is starting to no longer resemble criteria 1, but is starting to fulfill criteria 2, funny!] my experience in life and in my Master's program in terms of being shaped and molded by the situations that I had the opportunity to be in and the trials I had been through. I also, throughout the paper, had many of the verses to Hymn #85, "How Firm a Foundation" so these two things served as a template/analogy for my experience in my program. Anyway, it's a pic that Mary took of the rocks with the fruit for some contrast or something. So there you go.

Oh yeah, and I don't tag other people, but feel free to do the tag if you want to, it is kind of fun!

Blogging for One Year

Today marks the one year anniversary of me blogging.... which is something that I like WAY more then I would ever have imagined and more than most people know. I would love to be a professional blogger... it would be really cool, but the things I'm interested in blogging about would not interest the general public (except sports). Anyway, I've done well over 150 posts in that one year, which means I post, on average, about once every 2.25 days or so. I would like to do it more, but I don't have time to post about a lot of the quirky things that I learn about or read about... maybe in the future. For now, I'm content with my status as a "family" blogger and I love how it connects me to other people. I'm very grateful for my sister encouraging me to start a blog and being such a faithful supporter (read: commenter). A long time ago she commented that she loves blogs because she gets to know me in a way that she may not get to know me otherwise, and I totally agree. So here's to ONE YEAR of BLOGGING! Hooray... many more to come!

Sibling Hikes/Excursions

This is the fourth year that Mary and I have done our own hikes/excursions with our siblings (Mary with her siblings, me with my bro's and my dad). Mary's info is down below mine.
This year for our hike we went to the Alpine Wilderness Area in the Cascades, which is where we spent most of our time as Scouts. We had never done this hike before but Mary and her siblings did this hike their first year and we had planned to do it two years ago but they had fire in the area that year. This was the first year that Robb was able to go, and it was fun to have him. Jordan and my Dad and I have gone every year and we had Braden two years ago with us. Next year we hope to have everybody (including Chris). We camped at Hyas Lake and visited Little Hyas Lake as well as Tuck Lake. It is right near Deception Pass and Hyas Lake is just below Cathedral Rock. Mary and I and the kids drove over to Robb and Heather's on Wed evening and then Robb and I got up early and met my Dad and Jordan in Cle Elum, WA and headed up to the trailhead.

We had, as usual, a great time. This was the best weather we've ever had and that made it that much better (last year we had snow in September and two years ago it rained most of the time... and Braden had some explosive trots). We enjoyed playing "Greed" (a fun dice-game learned from Mary's family) and just chatting and being outdoors. One of our main criteria for selecting a site is that we want to be able to have a fire, which is a must and we enjoyed having one this year.

Some highlights:
-No one had the trots
-It didn't snow
-It didn't rain
-It wasn't cold
-Robb got bit by a mouse... in his tent (AWESOME - and it would only happen to Robb if you know our family! - I love you Robb!)
-Being far enough away from my Dad to not hear him snoring.
-Beautiful location
-The rotating "chair hierarchy" based upon your place (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th) in the last game of dice - that made the game a little more competitive.
-Trying to catch the chipmunk

Anyway, we had an absolute blast and look forward to doing it next year. Here are some pics:

Here we are at our camp before we headed out on our day trip up to Tuck Lake. It was a great day-trip!
I always wish that most of the pictures that are taken are more close-up. This picture is an exception... and I'm sure you'll agree. Jordan's the tan one, I'm the short one. We did actually go "swimming" (we didn't actually swim, but we did all fully submerge in water above our heads, even if it was very brief for Robb and I).
We had one chipmunk that was everywhere in the camp and into anything it could possibly get into... except our bucket. We had him on several occasions but the bucket would over tip and he would scamper out. We were disappointed that we never actually got him.
As the pic above of Robb, me and Jordan attests, this really was a brutal climb, more steep then any other hike that I've been on. I understood why everyone that we passed coming down had hiking poles as it seemed like almost a safety necessity that we were lacking while coming down.

Here we are way up above Hyas Lake and that's Cathedral Rock right above us in the background. We are less than 1/4 mile from Tuck Lake at this point and are looking forward to lunch and an extended break. This provided a nice lookout.
Here we are at Tuck Lake for lunch on Friday. Although we were ambitious and wanted to go to the upper lake (Robin Lakes), our legs and stamina were telling us otherwise. After all, wisdom is the better part of valor, right!

I'm hoping that the pic above and the pic below can be merged to include all of us together (Rebecca?)... or at least we tried to set it up that way. We couldn't get the timer thing on the camera to work (Operator Error?).

Here we are next to the Roslyn Cafe, where we ate lunch on the way home. It's always nice to eat at a decent restaurant after a good couple of days in the wilderness. I'm sure the other customers don't always appreciate our ora, but we enjoy ourselves. My Dad always loved the show Northern Exposure which was filmed in Roslyn, so it was fun to drive through the town and to eat lunch there.


Every year for Mary's gathering either she or her sister has been pregnant and the other one that is not pregnant has had a nursing infant with them. And, believe it or not, this is the first year that they didn't go hiking! When one is carrying a baby and the other is pregnant, you can imagine that Mary's brothers have had to carry A LOT of the weight when they would hike... and that's certainly been the case. They're real troopers! This year they went to McCall over Labor Day weekend and enjoyed their time up there playing games and talking and enjoying the beauty of McCall. Here are some pics of their time up in McCall:

Mary with her younger brother Kris with Jane. Thanks for making the drive Kris!
Mary with her older brother Michael... thanks for making the flight, then the drive!
Kris working diligently on the fire they had in the firepit we built this summer. Why is he building a fire you might ask? For Foil-Dinners...yummi!
Here's Michael multi-tasking: talking on the phone to his "girlfriend" and putting together some foil-dinner goodness.
Here's Michael on the phone again - but hiding it. Mary & Kris gave him 5 minute time limits which he pretty much kept - except in the wee hours of night. This is one drawback of not being in the wilderness - technology.

------------------------------ 30 ---------------------------------

So I turned 30 recently. It's kind of weird for me to realize that I'm that old. Not that it's that old, it's just a lot older than I like to picture myself. I, like many others (I believe), still talk to teens as if "I was just in your shoes" and now I actually agree that they should respond with a lot of skepticism... I'm twice their age (more or less)... I'm twice as old as almost all new freshmen in High School. It's somewhat depressing. Anyway, it's not really that big of a deal, but I will honestly say that I am more aware that I am older now that I'm 30 then I was with any other preceeding birthday.... like when I think "I'm 30", the word "old" or at least "older" comes to mind more readily then before.

Some things that help this... It feels good when I stop to shoot hoops with a teen (at work or if I'm on a jog and stop to shoot with a kid's family I home teach down the street) and they're somewhat impressed with my ball skills. Recently when I went waterskiing with the youth in my church, they were surprised to see me getting on a wakeboard behind a boat. Not knowing me very well, I apparently "wowed" them when I cleared the wake after getting right up. I honestly felt pretty cool with that one. Something else that helps (though I don't know if it's good or not): I generally look older than I actually am. If you doubt this, check out this previuos post. So I think people think I'm an old guy that can do "younger guy" things, so it's nice when I get some props for stuff like that (is "getting props" an old or a young term?)

Some things that I thought were weirdly coincidental: When I had my birthday, I only had 10 clients at work and I shared the same birthday with TWO of them. That's weird right? And then I was sitting in a meeting with a family and it turns out I shared a birthday with one of my client's step-dad's. Weird.

Something else that is cool: I share a birthday with the new President of our Church: Thomas S. Monson! I'm 51 years younger than him! Cool.

Behind a Boat

There are few places I love being and few things I love doing more than being in or behind a boat. I LOVE IT! When I was in McCall I had a couple of opportunities to do some skiing and wakeboarding. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures.

Here's me making a cut early Monday morning behind my Uncle Jim's boat. It had been about two years since I had slalom skied, and I was somewhat proud of myself that I got up the first time. I went twice and was pretty sore for a few days (not as proud of that!), but it was a blast.
I went wakeboarding at the end of the week with my cousin Jimmy and my brother Braden, that was also fun, but I didn't do as well as I would have liked. Again, though, it felt so great to be behind a boat.
Robb also came with us and he did good on the slalom ski as well.
Jordan went too! After several attempts at getting up (definitely the hardest and most exhausting part) he was worn out and threw in and opted for the towel.
Braden went wakeboarding with me too and I think he had a fun time. This was my best shot of him.

Oops!

So I think this was on 7/23 or sometime thereabouts, but we were preparing to go to McCall and have Sarah's b-day party and stuff and I wanted to install a security bar in our rear sliding door. This door was mis-installed backwards so you can't just put a stick in the slot because the slot is outside instead of inside... anyway, it's annoying. When installing a normal security bar for a sliding door you are typically installing this into the frame of the door. Not the case in our situation.... of course, even though I knew that, it didn't really click into my head until after the glass pane completely cracked while I was drilling a hole in the middle metal frame. Nice work Jeff! Why don't you just hit yourself in the head with a hammer.... darn it... I've done that one too (6 stitches in the forehead). Here are the results:

We heard little cracking throughout the night. We were already really busy prepping for the upcoming stuff, but we were up 'til almost 1 pm that night just trying cover the window with the tarp and stuff in case the broken glass actually fell out.

Here was our patch job, which held up until the next day that we needed to remove the glass to make our house both safe and presentable for a kid's b-day party.

Mary did the actual clean-up while I was doing various other things. It looks okay, but now we just have one pane for the time being.

I don't know how I got by as the "maintenance man" for 3.5 years while we managed apartments.

Three Jobs

So I'm ridiculously behind in blogging due to a week-long vacation in McCall (yes it was wonderful and yes I hope to blog about it soon!), but this is one I've been wanting to do for a while.

I've decided that I've had quite a diversity of jobs in my brief "career". Though, like most people, I have had a decent number of jobs, I will focus on three that underscore the range of my jobs.

1) My first job after my mission was at a place in Bellevue, WA called "Fox's Spy Outlet". Yeah, it was a spy shop, kind of a little hobby store and most of our traffic came from curious businessmen on their lunch break. Though we got a few sketchy characters in there occasionally. I was typically alone in the store and ran it by myself. And because business was SO SLOW typically, I did two things: read and watch re-runs of the Cosby show. Even though I had served a mission and enjoyed really reading the scriptures... I developed a LOVE for reading during my 6+ months I worked there. I started the "Work and Glory" series, and completed a good list of other books that I hadn't had time to read/study on my mission. Three highlights from doing the actual job: letting two guys experience being tased at their request and watching their knees buckle (that was pretty funny!), being able to shoot one of those launching wires tazer things at a poster and watching the shocks spread down the wires and then all over the wall (I felt real cool) and lastly: I sprayed some pepper spray in the front of the store just before closing (I was bored at times and tired of reading) and then went in the back of the store to do some closing paperwork. When I came out ten minutes later I was surprised when I started gagging and my eyes started running and my throat was on fire. I couldn't believe that the stuff was still in the air and that it was that potent still after ten minutes. I hope I (and you) never have to experience pepper spray again!

2. Just before I got married I took a job with David's Bridal and spent 2.5 years working for them in the bridal gown industry (primarily dresses). For most of my employment there I was the only male that worked there.... when people asked what I did my response (if I wasn't very comfortable in my manhood) was that I was a "shipping receiving manager at a local retail store". I did enjoy my job for the most part, though it was often really busy, especially during "Bridal Christmas" (Jan 1st - April... but it seemed to continue into the summer). I know all about A-line dresses, fancily-named-colors, and everything from bustles to boustiere's to bridesmaids gowns. The job allowed me to work full-time while completing most of my undergraduate studies. It also had great benefits. It was an interesting job, but it felt like I was undergoing estrogen therapy the whole time!

3) For the last year I have worked for Three Springs, Inc here in Idaho and serve male teens with Sexual Behavior Problems. Although in some ways it's a difficult population to work with, I really enjoy my job and the work that I do and the change that I get to see with juveniles and their families. It has allowed such a diversity of work, which I really enjoy (running groups, family sessions, individual sessions; coordinating treatment with education, behavioral, medical and psychiatric staff; and interfacing with state agencies).

Anyway... these are some pretty diverse workplaces in the last 7 years! Oh yeah, and Mary and I were Landlord's for 3.5 years!

I would love to hear about your three craziest, strangest jobs.

80 Month Anniversary!

Mary and I have been married for 80 Months today! I try to remember this monthly and I remembered it today while I was typing up a case note at work. So I quickly did the calculations and remembered that it was 80 months today! So I called Mary and wished her "Happy 80 Month Anniversary". She usually just chuckles and thanks me for remembering. Sometimes she remembers before me and extends to me the congrats. It's a fun thing to remember.

Camping at Baumgartner

This weekend we (Sarah, Nathan and I) went camping (Fri afternoon to Sat afternoon) with a group of people from church. We traveled up in the mountains north of Pine and Featherville (crazy that we have members that live in Featherville, 1.5 hours away, and they are still in our congregation's boundaries... and they actually come!). There were about 8 families or so that came and it was a lot of fun. This was my first experience camping since we moved here (over a year ago now, time flies!) and it was beautiful. We had a nice, FREE!, secluded spot right next to the S. Fork of the Boise River. We were one of the first ones there so we got a nice spot right next to the river to provide some natural white noise for the kiddos.

After we got the tent all set-up, we sat down and had some pizza that Mary had cooked for us before we left. The kids enjoyed the food and while they did so I got a picture of them in front of our tent with the river in the background.

The Idaho lifestyle is a decent house with lot's of recreational equipment (campers/RV's, ATV's and/or snowmobiles), so many people have motorcycles and stuff. Anyway, some friends from church brought their four-wheelers and let me take Sarah and Nathan for a ride on some of the trails. The kids loved it and Sarah was just belting out songs at the top of her lungs as we cruised along, it was cute. We got it up to about 35 mph in some spots and Sarah and Nathan kept asking me to go faster. Don't worry, I was safe, even if I had to hold Nathan with one hand and steer with the other.
Nathan played at the river all evening. When it got dark I finally had to put the hammer down and drag him away (kicking and screaming).
This glow-stick has a story. Sarah got two of them over a year ago and used one of them when we slept out in the backyard last summer and just LOVED it. I had no clue that we still had the other unused one. As soon as I mentioned that we were going camping about a week ago, she instantly ran into her room and brought it out and had it out all week, talking about how she was going to use it and asking me how and why it glows. She was pretty excited about it. She had it all evening and at night and all day on Saturday.
Here's the kiddos in bed. I didn't realize Sarah had so much pizza sauce on her cheeks! It actually got pretty cold at night (I could see my breath at times and I was wishing I had more warmth with a sweater on and a windbreaker) but I think that the kids stayed warm enough. Nathan was toast by the time bedtime rolled around at 10:30 (typical bed-time is before 8), but then once I got them in bed and read stories, the kid got a second wind and thought it was the funniest thing to get out of the sleeping bag only to have me wrestle him back in there. I finally just got him in there, told him to stay and left for adult time, knowing that he would get out. When I came to bed later, he was laying on top of his pillow with his bear and blanket next to him. He stayed asleep while I got him in his sleeping bag with his bear and blanket.
Sarah enjoyed roasted marshmallows on the trip and yes, she is in her jammies so, yes, this is in the morning... but it is after breakfast.
Just a cute picture of Nathan drinking his water in the morning.
Nathan was right back at the water in the morning, throwing rocks and loving it. I tried to keep him away as long as possible as it was pretty cold in the morning but I had to relent once the sun started warming the camp up.
There was a hot-springs that had a pool (drained each night and re-filled each morning) near our campground. So it was a perfect end to our trip as it allowed the kids to get all that dust off before we hopped in the car. It was the perfect depth (at Nathans shoulders) to allow both kids to play in it. I didn't think they'd get in when I felt the temp, but I think the desire to get in the water outweighed the hotness of the water and their bodies quickly adjusted and they were jumping off the sides to me in no time. It was a great time and I hope that we can do this some more this summer.

GROSS!

So while I was helping Sarah tonight for her bedtime routine, she informed me that the soap dispenser in the bathroom was out of soap. So I got her a little soap squeezed out of the dispenser and proceeded to fill it up with soap. Just as I finished that Sarah needed help getting toothpaste on her toothbrush, which I proceeded to also do. I then noticed I got some on my finger and licked it off. At about the same moment my touch touched the substance on my finger I realized in my head that it was soap not kids toothepaste (which is pretty yummy). My tastebuds registered the distaste shortly thereafter and Sarah was real curious why I was spitting in the sink. She was even more curious after my explanation, stating "Daddy, why did you eat the soap, that's icky?" Thanks for the support kiddo!

I think I had forgotten (repressed, maybe?) that I may have had my mouth washed out with soap at one point in my childhood. I'll have to consult my mom or dad to confirm that though. Anyway, it was gross, but fortunately it wasn't very much (this time I mean), so the tast left quickly.

Yes, I Do Totally LOVE Casserolish Foods!

As has been mentioned in a recent comment somewhere on someone's blog (Leah's I think) from my sister, I am a total casserole person, through and through. Give me a meal and I will likely eat it. Leave several random items in the fridge as leftovers and I will figure out how to combine them. I mix foods and I always think they taste better together (just like the Jack Johnson song, Better Together, or something like that). Case in point: some leftover salmon from dinner two nights before and some leftover Quinoa from breakfast 2-3 days before. Put the two together, add two over-easy fried eggs, some salt, Coconut Oil, Braggs Amino Acids and viola, a breakfast made in my heaven. Here's a pic below if you don't believe me. I just woke up, peeked in the fridge and everything fell in place like it was meant to be. It was delish, and I may never have it again in the future, but hopefully I will. It was a serendipitous moment!

Snake in the Office

So the other day I walked into my office and was going about my own business doing some paperwork and such on the computer. After finishing up some stuff I went and got one of my clients for a session. After I pulled him out of his school class and went back into my office, I was shutting my door and right in the corner of my office behind the door on the floor was a small snake (probably about 16 inches long). This of course freaked me out, though I didn't let out any kind of a scream. Not being very familiar with the types of snakes we have in this area I wasn't going to touch the thing. So I called our maintenance guy and he came over and took it outside for me. I was a little more on-edge in that session and was more antsy that day and in the days that followed whenever I was sitting on a chair leaving my ankles exposed.

I'm not quite sure how the snake got in my office. I imagine it came through one of the outside doors and then crawled under my door and into my office. Or, it could have come through the heating/Air Conditioner ducts in the floor. Needless to say, no one expects to find a snake in their office!

Trip to Sand Dunes II

While some more family was in town for the weekend for Jane's baby blessing we made a trip out to the Sand Dunes in Bruneau again last Saturday (sorry if this is very repetitive, but there's not that much to do out here and the dunes are really fun!). It was a little more fun this time since there were more kids than just Sarah and Nathan which allowed for more fun moments and Sarah and Nathan were a little more excited about it and confident on the hills then they were last time. The weather was great... not much sun and just a few brief sprinkles. Also, Mary came along with Jane this time which also made it fun to be out there as a family. Those that came up for the weekend and made the trip out to the Dunes with our family were my parents; my brother (Robb) and his two girls: Hailey and Emma; and Mary's cool bro Kristopher. Kris made the trek up to the top of the really high dunes behind the lake and we just enjoyed snacks and then enjoyed one of the kid-sized dunes. Here are a bunch of pics, not in any particular order:

Here is a good fun pic of our little family of five at the base of the dunes the kids enjoyed playing on.
Here is my brother, Robb, and his two girls, Hailey and Emma.
Here is a close-up of little Jane fast asleep against Daddy's chest... what a sweetie!
Kris giving Nathan a ride up the dunes, it's so great to have bachelor uncles!
Here is a pic of Jane and I up on the top of the dune... and yes, Jane is comfortable!

Sarah took a fall while playing near the lake and skinned her knee which was the cause of much anguish and need of assistance and pity. Fortunately, she recovered and had a blast with her cousins on the dunes... much more active and confident then she was last time, which was great for everyone!
My wonderful mother... it was so great to have her here and enjoy some more time with her! Thanks so much for coming Mom!
My hip Dad! It was great to have him with us as well and I'm so glad that he made the trip also! Thanks so much for coming Dad!
Nathan with Uncle Kris in the background
Emma on her Daddy's lap for a free trip to the top!

A cute close-up of Sarah with Emma in the background at the bottom
Me and Jane (How do you like the beard? I shaved it the next morning so this is as good and scraggly as it gets!)

Opa giving Nathan a lift
Nathan down by the lake... Nice pic Mary!