{last weeks} weekend get away

Well last week, since I couldn't use the computer, Nate and I decided to go on a little weekend adventure. This adventure led us to Palmyra, NY to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and then to Niagara Falls. We had a great time minus the lovely 7 hour car ride. We left Friday morning and got back home Sunday evening. We camped at, of all places, Cheerful Valley Campground. Needless to say, we weren't always cheerful. Isn't that false advertising?
The only mishaps were;

• Our 80 mile detour, which we just considered it to be taking the "scenic route" home
• Macie's exploding diarrhea on the car ride home not once, not twice, but 3 times
• Macie and Kaleb breaking out in hives on the ride home and no Benadryl
• Sitting in traffic for about an hour after being in the car for 5 hours with Macie's lovely diarrhea car seat and hives. That hour of bliss was accompanied with Macie's ear piercing scream/cry
• And to top it all off I came down with some sort of stomach flu during the whole duration of the ride home

All went pretty well if you consider that most of the bad things that happened were just on our car ride home.

It was a great trip and we made a lot of great memories with our little family.

A wild ride through God's word

So some of you might be wondering what I did during my computer free week and some of you are thinking that you really don't care. Well, this one is for the ones that care.

A friend of mine told me that her church was doing a bible camp for one whole week from 9:00-12:00 in the morning and it was FREE! My first response was, "FREE...really?" followed by, "where do I sign up!". This is another moment where I have to say yes, the church is still true but seriously...a 3 hour sanity break. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of that and what better way for the kids to spend their time learning about stories out of the bible....right?

So off to bible camp Abrie and Kaleb went. I gave the kids a kiss goodbye and I was on my was for a little bit of "me time". The time flew by fast, but I was anxious to hear how their first day of bible camp went. So I asked Abrie, "how was bible camp today?" and in a very loud and enthusiastic voice she yells while waving her hand above her head, "Jesus is REAL, WOOO, HOOO!" and I couldn't help myself, I (equally enthusiastically) yell, "....AMEN"

Each day I picked them up I got to hear something new that they had learned. I must say, I have never heard them talk and be so excited about the bible. Another particular day I picked the kids up a little early so I could watch the two kiddo's. I got there just in time for the prayer. As all the kids bowed their heads and held their hands together Abrie and Kaleb looked around slightly confused and then they folded their arms. Then it was time for the "amen" and the youth pastor that was leading the prayer, who was actually quite funny, said, " now I don't want to hear just any old amen. I want you to get down low and touch the ground and I want you to yell amen as loud as you possibly can!" Abrie and Kaleb quickly looked at each other with the most excited faces and then they touched down low and jumped up high yelling, "AAAMEN!". They were in heaven. The whole ride home was followed by their rehearsal of the "amen" that they had learned. All I could do was smile. It was great that they were so enthusiastic about it, I had to join in with them in their enthusiastic "amens".

All in all it was a great experience. It was something I probably never would have done living in Utah. That's whats great about living here, there is so much diversity and so much opportunity to reach outside myself and do things that I wouldn't normally do if I still lived in Utah. As for the kids... they have a new found excitement for Jesus and the bible......can I get an AAAMEN?!

How bad am I?

I got done about an hour ago feeding the kids lunch, no worries, all went well this time. After all, who could go wrong with grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberries? The only catch was in order to get the strawberries they had to eat all of the grilled cheese sandwich. Abrie and Macie finished with no problems, Kaleb on the other hand decided he didn't want to finish his sandwich so he threw it in the garbage. Well after an hour or so he decided he really wanted some strawberries. I kindly reminded him, "no strawberries until your sandwich is gone, remember?". So what did he do? He walked over to the garbage, pulled out his sandwich, brushed it off a bit and ate it all gone. And what did I do? Just sat there and watched debating which is worse, letting him eat out of the garbage or telling him no. Well lets just say it was a win, win situation. He got his plate of strawberries and I got him to eat his sandwich (even if was pulled out of the garbage).

Kaleb, his strawberries, and his super hero cape

Food fight

I'm not talking about your typical lunch room food fight (not that I've ever seen that happen in real life). I'm talking about the constant battle of parent vs child on trying to get the kids to actually eat. Why do I waste my time making a good dinner that the kids don't eat when I could pop some chicken nuggets into the microwave for 45 sec. and call it good.

So what was the struggle over tonight?....zucchini and potatoes. And how long did it take Kaleb to eat one bite of each?... 2 1/2 hours. About an hour into it I was ready to wave the white flag, but Nate on the other hand had his boxing gloves on and was ready to go. Nate's persistence paid off and Nate won that seemingly loosing battle.

But the question is, was all of that fighting really worth it? and what are all your tricks to get your kids to actually eat? I'm thinking the option of just not cooking any more sounds good to me.

The new spiritually edified me

Not really, but it sounds good in theory. So I am back from my week long "blogging break" and let me tell you...it was pretty tough. Here are some things I discovered about myself during my own personal sacrifice;

• I'm addicted to blogging
• I lack tremendously in the area of self control
• I can't live with out the computer, therefore I am pathetic
• It was super hard to try to replace the computer with something spiritual (that doesn't sound quite right, but it's the truth)
• I will never give up the computer again

Now let's just hope my girls I teach had a better experience then I did. It's like I always say, "do as I say, not as I do"

Other matters of business to discuss:

OK who were the 3 people that want me to live in Vernal Utah...not funny! That was there as a joke, not as a real option. What if that poll was to really determine where we would live...wouldn't you've felt bad seeing that you had a hand in our fate moving to vernal. All I know about vernal is that they have some way cheesy old dinosaur statues on the side of the road. Do they have a Target and a Walmart with in 50 miles...I don't think so. (to those of you who are reading this and live in Vernal I just want you to know I think Vernal rocks!)

One more thing I must say in regards to a comment that was left on Nate's "two cents",

"sarcasm is scar-casm...at least that's what my mamma always says" (...you know what I'm talking about Kristin)

...my two cents.

Well, Hello... fellow friends. It is two great acts of selfless sacrifice that brings me to this blog. The first is my wife’s. I whole heartedly support her in her endevours of doing uplifting activities and second, I could be utilizing my time much more effectively by taking a nap of course. Yes... this is what I look like with my eyes open.

It is this subject that I would like to address today... sleep. I have to say that my wife totally wears me out! No... just kidding! (okay maybe in just a micro way...) Anyway, I'm sure you all can attest to her energy and liveliness. That being said, I would like to share a couple thoughts on sleep that each of us may consider. I could probably share some priceless pearls of wisdom on sleep but, I have discovered some perfect little nuggets (by others, more well spoken than I) that in every way describe this subject and back up every picture posted previously.

So about sleep...

William Shakespeare said in Macbeth:

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.

(Balm? Chief Nourisher? Labour's bath? Absolutely!)

JoJo Jensen in "Dirt Farmer Wisdom" said:

Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds.

Author Unknown:

Consciousness= that annoying time between naps.

Wilson Mizener:

The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more.

(I'm not sure how accurate this one is though. I support the principle, but I think 10-15 more minutes might be more appropriate.)


The truth behind the Zzzzzzzzz's is much better explained by the Famous football coach named "Coach of the Century" by ESPN. This coach, as we all know, is Vince Lombardi. He said:


"Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile."


"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious."


This is the true meaning behind those "incriminating" photos. School, professors over my shoulder, crazy patients, then three kids and wife after school, all contribute to the Lead Lids, but I’d like to view it another way.
You have all seen pics of the fam. I have to admit, that is one good looking family if I do say so myself.

Now... I see our lives as a work in progress toward success and by the looks of my beautiful hard working wife a handsome kids; I see those incriminating photos as me after "working my heart out in a good cause and lying exhausted on the field of battle-victorious." I am the luckiest Dad and Husband alive. I am so blessed with a great wife and kids I can hardly "stay awake" over it. And that is what I have to say about that. Until next time...

Blogging break

I teach the young women in church and today we had a lesson on the law of sacrifice. I gave the Young Women a challenge to sacrifice something in their lives for one week. Since I was the one offering the challenge I couldn't very well not take it myself. So after much thought I have decided to give up the computer for one week...ONE WEEK!... I'm not sure I will know what to do with my newly found time and odds are if you're reading this your probably somewhat of a computer junky as well (I know far too well how blogging can be addicting). The goal is to {hopefully} replace the computer with something that will uplift me spiritually. So I must bid adieu to the blogging world for one whole week. I know the 3 fans I have out there will miss me dearly, but be strong.....for both of us.

This is out of the norm for me, but here is my spiritual thought of the day since it is the Sabbath and all;

"When we overcome our own selfish desires and put God first in our lives and
covenant to serve Him regardless of the cost, we are then living the law of
sacrifice."

Elder Russell M. Ballard

P.S. Nate thinks he will be taking over the blog for me during my "computer free week". This should be interesting

My husband.... the narcoleptic

As promised, here are some pictures of my hubby and his uncontrollable desire to sleep...all the time.

This is the most recent picture taken today.

Don't ask me how he managed to fall asleep like this...

or this.

I'm not sure who was putting who to bed...?

This one should be framed and put on the wall.

It's a classic I tell ya!

And last but not least, sleeping like a baby in the fetal position.

Dear, I love you despite the fact you've slept through most of our marriage.

Headboard with mirror...up for grabs!

As part of my daily Internet routine I check craigslist to see if there are any free goodies being given away. Upon checking it, I recently found this steal of a deal "free headboard with mirror". The only draw back is, is it has a broken leg......hhmmmm, I wonder how that could have happened. Any way, being the kind, thoughtful person that I am, I thought I would give you the opportunity to purchase this beauty of a piece. I think it would especially come in handy for those of you who want to add a little spice to your love life.... On second thought, don't be surprised if my next blog is titled, "I got a super cool new head board from craislist!" (mom & dad, if you are reading this, I just want you to know that I love you very much and you did the best you could to raise me and it's not your fault that I have such a "creative mind", it's one of those things that just comes natural to me...kind of like sarcasm.)

What's this...no more Livin' on Love?

No worries, we are still livin' on love (and not much else unfortunately) but I have decided that "Beautiful Mess" was a little bit more fitting. Writing this blog spawned my "beautiful mess" idea because my life is NOT perfect by any means, in fact a lot of times it feels like a mess... but at least it's a beautiful mess.