Being Good and Doing Good: My Dad

When I was little I remember my dad's big hands. I remember trying to open his big hands during church. I am so grateful to have had a dad that made me feel secure and loved. We have had so many great memories together. I remember playing basketball with him and my brothers. Playing games on Sunday nights. But more importantly I remember him forgiving me when I broke the master key to the mobile homes while locking up, and him not getting mad when I ran out of gas while driving the family to Utah. I remember him teaching me to use elbow grease to clean an over from one of the mobile homes. (I couldn't have been 7 years old at the time.) I remember having waterfights in the back yard with him and my family. But one of the greatest things that he has given me is the gift of loving my mom. Knowing that my parents love each other gave me something I didn't even know I wanted or needed. I am thankful for the work and love he shows so many strangers by giving so much of himself to Charity Anywhere, but seeing him love someone he knows so well and deeply says even more. Dad thank you so much for being MY dad. I love you and hope you have a great birthday!!

(If you don't know my dad... read Three Cups of Tea, that pretty much describes his heart, and check out Charity Anywhere Foundation. An expedition with him would change your perspective on recession.)

Summie Awards

This week Cason and I attended the Summie awards. Cason's curriculum this year includs making a film about a supreme court case. His group worked on it for hours. I was able to be one of the volunteers to walk around the school with the kids while they filmed. I was actually in Cason's movie, as the driver of the truck. You can't see me, but I was the driver! Tuesday night they had the "Summie Awards". Kids and parents dressed up really fancy and Mrs. R. gave out awards and we watched a few trailers and movies the kids made. Cason did a lot of the work on his group's film. He stayed after school many nights to finish it up. I was happy he was given so many awards that night. His group got 6 awards: Best Soundtrack, Best voiceover, Best Slogan "Don't get caught", Best Trailer, Best Cutaway, and Cason got Best Boring Teacher in the acting awards. It was great to see his hard work pay off. What a fun night!! When he gets the DVD of the film I'll see if I can figure out how to put it on Utube so you can see it.

Aunt Nola

My Aunt Nola passed away 2 weeks ago. My parents and my cousin Gary came and stayed with us. It was fun to see all of the family there and see the fruits of Nola's life. She has a husband that truly loved her, kids that admired her and praised her name, and friends. The disease that she had had slowly taken over her body and she was blessed to die from a stroke. When we first moved to Oregon she invited me to come to her "daughters weekend". She paid for the whole thing. We went to Victoria Island and stayed at a B&B. We went touring and saw beautiful gardens and fun shops. We had a great time. I got to know all of these great women that had experienced so much more than I had, at the time. Every time my dad would come visit, we would go over and visit with Aunt Nola. I'm glad that I lived close enough to get to know her better.

What a wonderful Christmas

I had a great Christmas. With all of the snow we had, it really changed everything. The kids got out of school the whole week before Christmas break. Every morning there was a squeal of joy coming from our house. Everything was cancelled, Church was canceled for 2 weeks in a row, wrestling practice, dual, and meets, basketball practice, and tournaments, and running treats to friends. It was SO nice to not have all of those pressures. Jeff still had tithing settlement to finish up, because we had gone to Mads' baptism the week before, and Thanksgiving the week before that, he had 4 weeks worth of appointments to attend to. Jeff had a ball four wheeling around in the jeep with chains. He had such a blast in the jeep that he missed it when he roads cleared up. There also was the flip side of the snow, I saw Christmas barreling in on me without a chance to leave the house and do anything about it. But. I patiently waited it out at home and worked on the Court of Honor for Blake being held the Sunday after Christmas. It all worked out though, on Christmas Eve the roads were clear enough to feel safe and I found everything that I needed. The only hickup was that Jeff's presents didn't arrive on time, (but they were all white water rafting items).

The court of honor was a bit stressful for a second or two when LaFawn and I realized that we didn't have the actual awards on Christmas Eve. We weren't even sure we could get them (we didn't have the paperwork). I called on Friday and the Scout office and shop were closed. We then started to think about a back up plan, getting the awards from Boise and have my mom bring them, or use someone elses. But all ended well, the scout shop was open on Sat. The funniest part is that I didn't have to prove anything. I just went up and asked for 2 eagle kits and the girl pulled them out lickedy split, and I was happy as a clam. The Court of Honor went really well. We did miss Grandma and Grandpa Wight, and my dad. My dad had an expedition to Mexico with 80 people with Charity Anywhere and Bill and Judy were just snowed out. The roads were just to bad. But my mom was able to fly in. She was so helpful. I picked her up from the airport that afternoon and we both were busy the rest of the day. She just stepped right up and helped where I needed it. It is like cloning myself. I would turn around and the dishes would be done, the bows put up, the car is loaded. It was SOOOOO nice. Jeff was wonderful and put the pictures I had worked so long on, to music. The slide show turned out nice and the whole thing went off wonderfully. I have had so many wonderful people follow through and do such a great job. I had bought a book that took me step by step of what to do for it. The best $15 I spent all month. I just gave out assignments, and it all came together. I think the best part was watching those two (Blake and Mitch) while their scout leaders and coach talked about them. I hope they know how proud I am of both of them.

Blake @ Glencoe

Blake is 5-2 so far this wrestling season at 160# and looking really good. He won his match last night in a dual against Forest Grove, and he went 2-1 and won third place at the Glencoe tournament today. He did well in the match he lost, but he was leg riding and got caught in a bad position and was pinned.

Blake is the one in the green/yellow singlet. He wears the mask to keep from getting bloody noses.

Weekend with Mads

Rachael and I traveled to Salt Lake this weekend for the baptism of our niece, Madalynn. Mads is the oldest daughter of my brother Gary, the closet rock-star. Gary is a trial attorney by day, closet rock-star by night. I call him a closet rock-star because he actually records music in his closet. You can download his album here (seriously, give it a try, you'll be amazed at what one guy can accomplish with a computer, a drum set, a very good-natured wife, and a closet with good accoustics).

We started the weekend with a trip to Famous Dave's, where my brother who professes to not enjoy meat that much consumed an ultimate burger (A juicy ground beef patty beneath a pile of Georgia chopped pork, two strips of jalapeño bacon, melted Cheddar cheese, and Dave's signature Beam & Cola sauce). I definitely fall on the carnivore side of the line, but I wasn't man enough for the ultimate burger and opted for bbq pork. We won't discuss what Rachael ordered in a place famous for its bbq because that of course would lead to a fiery debate in the comments section, so please, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT ASKING.


I only took one picture of Gary's wife, Amanda, on this trip. This excellent shot of her eyebrow is all I could manage, along with a big hint for those still wondering what to get their husbands for Christmas.

After we returned from Famous Dave's, Gary (the one who doesn't really like meat) and I set about solving this problem:


In case you can't tell, that is 15 pounds of brisket that is supposed to cook in a 4 quart crock pot. We went over to Gary's friend's place to borrow theirs, and they produced what may actually be the smallest crock pot I have ever seen. It would have been perfect if we wanted to spend 18 hours slow cooking a single mug of hot chocolate. We passed it over and found another 4 quart version. By the way, the cutey in the background is my Mother. The other cutey in the background is my niece, Brooke. Can you see why I like to visit my brother the closet rock-star?

After we found and borrowed enough crock pots to cook the brisket, we played guitar hero. What else do you do when visiting closet rock-stars? Mads and Brooke thrashed grandpa and I on guitar hero. Here is a shot of Brooke showing off her winning form:


You can see how much effort she had to put into thrashing grandpa and I.

We spent the next morning with Rach's parents. We went over to temple square and saw the movie about Joseph Smith. I've seen it twice now and it is fantastic. If you are in SLC you should definitely make a hole in your schedule so you can go see this movie. We made another trip to temple square at night to see the lights and it was wonderful.

We wandered around SLC for a bit, then headed to Layton for the baptism. Everything went very well at the baptismal service. I don't have any pictures of Mads, Rachael will have to fill in the gaps. I guess I was overwhelmed by the brisket and used all of my phone memory taking pictures of a piece of beef.

We retired to Gary's house for a party, and of course, the brisket. It was a good thing we had 15 pounds of brisket because I think Gary and I ate 7 pounds all by ourselves.

We went to church the next day with Rachael's folks. We visited a ward in Kaysville that had just gone on an excursion to Tijuana with the service organization that Rachael's dad runs, Charity Anywhere. It was great to hear the testimonies from the kids and adults that had the chance to go give service. We really enjoyed spending some time with Rachael's parents and appreciate them feeding us, touring us around Salt Lake, giving us a place to stay, and letting us use their car.

TAGGED

I have been tagged by my sister Melinda to reveal 6 quirks about myself.

1: I shave my legs every day. I think it goes back to my childhood.

2: I hate gum as well (my sister hates gum). I use to love to chew it as a kid, but always hated seeing a chewed piece of gum. Gross!

3: I hate teeth, esp loose teeth. My sister has pulled more of my kids teeth than I have. That said, I have performed my fairy duties and have a baggy full of envelopes with kids teeth in my closet. What am I to do with all of these????

4: I love containers.

5: I love labeling things.

6: My dogs love my feet and often lick them, (and I like it.)

I tag Jeff