a special note to Matt

Michelle and I have a request. In light of Brant's visit with his priests our eyes have been opened to the world of the "blue dart." Unfortunately for us, the priests here were rather weak in their abilities to produce the desired effect. This, however, we know is not the case for our dear Matthew Kyle. So our request is this: the next time we visit, we would like to see the master at work. Please.

More Corn in Egypt

Mom and I just visited with Grandpa about his surgery. The doctor removed the cancer and was pleased with the outcome. Grandpa is home and doing well with a great big patch over the side of his face.

They deadened the area and then cut around the spot. He said when he lifted the outer part off there lay the cancer. He got a hold of it and lifted it out as he cut the tentacles from around the nerves and muscles. He said it was clear in to the ligaments of the muscles. They checked it out and feel they got it all in one big bunch. Grandpa said he would have liked to see it but the doctor didn't show it to him.

Then they sewed a piece of pig skin over the hole, covered it with a cotton/gauze material and sewed that on too. The body will slowly reject the pig skin and as it does the pig skin will pull the normal skin tissue in to cover the hole. It shouldn't leave as deep a hole as with a normal skin graft.

The bandage comes off in about a week and then he goes back in one month and then in four months. So, we suggested he not fly to Denver with all this going on. He has to think about it but probably will not come to the wedding. We'll keep you posted.

He is very up-beat and relieved. He said the doctor was relieved too. The doctor had been worried about it since he saw it last week. He said in just four days it had grown noticeably.

That's it for this chapter of "As the Skin Grows".

Dad

Late Night Fun... Not Really

After getting home late from Moscow, I decided I wasn't through with my day. I didn't have anything better to do, so I decided to field strip my shotgun and give it a real thorough cleaning, since it has never been done. Why not??

I got it all taken apart and realized the grease put on the gun from the factory had started to gum up and turn into some sort of lacquer. It was definitely due for a cleaning. In breaking the gun down into all the smaller pieces, I did just that. I BROKE it. One of the slide arms that ties the forearm (pump) to the action broke off. So if anyone out there knows someone with a spot welder let me know. It was only held on by three little spot welds, so it should be an easy fix, "should be."

Travis, Have you ever cleaned your shotgun?? I highly recommend it. Just don't do it the way I did. With as many rounds as we've run through ours, they need a little love. I actually think my gun may have been broken for some time, but I just discovered it when I got it taken apart.

Our New Car

Here are some pics dad took on our latest trip to the motherland. I don't know when it became acceptable to drive on the grass, but I just did as I was told.

We made the mistake of buying a black car, so the first thing we did upon our arrival in Moscow was wash the road grime off, before showing it to the fam. Notice those sweet Kootenai County plates.

Life is good for us. I'm almost through with my training program (about 3 weeks). Kimbre is still haggling with the state office to get her license. They had a hard time figuring out the Meyers/Zirker switch.

Our big summer plans include buying a barbeque (we also own a patio) and going camping.

Sorry we're going to miss out on the show in Denver.

It even comes with a slide!

The boys were very excited to receive their new bunk beds. We got them from a lady in the ward whose teen-age boys had outgrown them. The first night we had to hold a safety meeting: no sliding too fast on the slide (or you'll plow through the drywall), no standing on the top bunk (or you'll get a fresh haircut from the ceiling fan), and no sleeping too close to the edge (or you'll have to sleep on the floor). So far, no mishaps.

This week we have been playing "Musical Furniture" to make room for the new beds, and the new baby. Out with the old and in with the new.

Like Brant, I am going out to Conference next weekend. But we're taking all of our youth. Did I forget to tell you, we don't have any tickets? That discouraged a few of the youth, but it's also a chance for us to teach them a little about faith. We had a good lesson today to prepare them for the trip.

Dad, what's the status of your shoulder? How about Grandpa? Erik said that some skin cancer is progressing aggressively on his face. Any update on his trip to Denver? Mom, any update on your summer classes? We'd love to have you out here in June; the free babysitting is a bonus too.

Travis, are you going up to Temple Square at any time. I'd love to see you and Kelly if you don't mind making the journey.

Guess Who???

So the other day, Aimee decided she wanted to make herself a costume. After much cutting, taping, and some help from Mom she made her costume. As it was built around her, she has been unable to remove it and went to church today looking like this. (Just kidding!)

This week we had a fun night Tuesday. It was our combined night for mutual and the kids had planned an Iron Chef night. I arranged for several members to let us into their kitchens and we had several groups prepare a dinner item and the other groups prepare dessert items. I had a group making a dessert, so we got our ingredients and came back to my house. We ended up adding chocolate chips and graham crackers to a yellow cake mix. When it was done we topped it with honey, powdered sugar, upright graham crackers and the secret ingredient that all groups had to use- Goldfish Crackers! It was a lot of fun to see all the creations when we got back to the church. For the most part, they all actually tasted pretty good.

As Travis said, this week we are headed out to General Conference. Our stake president asked that we follow mission rules, so for 8 hours out and 8 hours back, no radio and no TV only spritual music. The boys clamped onto idea and it should be a good experience, one of the boys is actually going to bring his guitar. When you watch the Priesthood session, look for us, we will be the ones in white shirts and ties!

Brant

Not Much New This Week

Boy, we're going to have to get busy so we can top your stories. Travis, sweet ride.

Things are about the same here. I spent Friday night in Pendleton, Oregon so I could meet a carpet installer Saturday morning in Pilot Rock. We had some new carpet installed in the addition to the Pilot Rock building and there were some issues with it and then the contractor was cutting hot metal in the hallway and the hot pieces fell on the carpet and melted it. This guy and his crew cleaned all the liquid nails out of the carpet and replaced the section in the hall that had the melted spots. Then I came home and checked on the other installer who was putting all new carpet in our stake center here in Moscow. Mom and I went down last night about 11:00pm to check it and sign all the papers. They thought they would finish about 3:00am this morning and head back to Salt Lake. It was a white guy with a Texas accent and 5 Mexican guys. They didn't say much but they did the whole stake center in 6 days. It looks really nice.

I did two Eagle Scout boards of review last week and I have three more this week. Needless to say March has been a busy month.

Matt and Kimbre are coming down for a visit tomorrow. I will take a few pictures of their new car and post them for all to view.

Spring is here. It rains almost every day and the lawns are really turning green. It reminds me of trying to get 12 lawns mowed each day when it rained right at 4:00pm every afternoon. I really don't miss that kind of pressure. If it is going to rain, I say - Let it rain.

Have a good week.

Dad

New Ride

Well ever since Matt and Kimbre got a new car I've been feeling a little left out so I went out and got one for myself. What do you think?


I was actually clearing the trees off of a lot by Thanksgiving Point (right next to the old Bradshaw Landscaping building Kevin) and the guy wanted to car to go away so I volunteered to relieve him of it. It is now sitting in my back yard waiting for the new title to show up so that I can sell it for scrap metal (the current rate is $98/ton). Yesterday I had a Provo Police officer come over and run the VIN # to see if the car is stolen or missing anywhere. He said it came back as having no owner and he signed the forms I needed and now I just wait for a new title. Not much else new here. Brant is coming out for conference this weekend with his Priests so we need to clear a place for them to sleep.

Some more Moab pics

Yesterday cousin Michelle gave me all her Moab pics so I decided to post a few more. The mouse was our friend the night we camped out. We fed it our leftover bread...cookies...pineapple...and jerky. No matter what we left for him, he jammed it all in his cheeks and we watched as they got bigger and bigger and bigger. Hey, when you're camping in the boonies, you're much more easily amused.

Exciting news: my tulips are getting ready to bloom.

Just for Fun

I thought you might like to see a couple of pictures of Mom and I out for a Sunday bike ride. The first picture is of me practicing a wheelie and the second one is of Mom and me out for a leisurely ride (we're trying to keep up with Travis and Kelly).

Just an average day in our lives.

Keep smiling.

Dad

DVR's

Does anyone know anything about DVR's (also know as digital video recorders, or by the brand name TiVo). Can a guy just buy one and hook it up or do you have to go through your cable TV provider and pay a monthly fee. Brant, you have one don't you?

An ode to Costco tortillas

Has anyone ever had the raw tortillas that you buy at Costco and cook yourself? They are flour tortillas that come raw and you just cook them on a skillet. They are truly devine and will also make your smoke alarm go off if you sit down at the computer and forget that you have one on the griddle. Yum!

Just One More Picture

You can almost smell them!!!!!!!!

Dad

Just Thought You Might Be Interested

A year or so ago Latah Grain Growers sold all their assets to Primeland Distributer of Lewiston. They built on to the tanks south of town and added an office and retail space. A local developer bought the silos and was going to make apartments out of them. Finally they decided to just tear them down.

A contractor from Colfax is disassembling the wooden part and Germer Construction is using a crane with a wrecking ball to knock the concrete silos down.

We heard that the area across the street from the hospital will eventually be some sort of medical facility.

Do any of you recognize some familiar areas where you used to go "puddle jumping" with #5?

Have a good week.

Dad

Well... We Did It

We took a little drive out to the Mazda dealership this morning and left with a different car than we came in. We bought the Mazda 3, black outside, gray inside. Same as we test drove last week. They had some sale going on, so they made it seem like we actually saved money (still not to sure). We also traded in Kimbre's Toyota Camry. We now are an upwardly mobile couple, no longer landlocked by gas mileage and vehicle reliability. Look out.

If only we had a digital camera, we could upload some pics to the blog for all to see. 'Till then, you'll have to wait until our next rip to Moscow when Dad can photo it.

So each time I blog I sign in a different way

Dad, I'm still battling this "counter-intuitive" blog sign in, but I finally made it.

A short overview of Arizona: We made it home last night at 10:00. Our front room still has lots of bags in it. While we were in Arizona we rode a small scale train at a park, rode horses, worked in Papa's backyard, went to a baseball game, went to the zoo, and drove 2400 miles. I'll include some pictures of boys on the horses (Kanyon sat on an ass). I enjoyed this day the most.

A few comments about others. Erik, congrats! Lacey and Seth, congrats! Kelly, I say this with love: you have some quirks. You are my only sister-in-law, in fact, the only person I know, that cooks with saffron. You are also the only person I know personally that rides a Vespa. Although, on my mission, there was an Elder who had ridden one from somewhere out East all the way to Idaho. I think he got it up over 70 mph. I enjoy your blogs because I learn something new each time, like burning ear wax out with a paper tube. Yes, that is quirky!

Summertime

I don't know if the rest of you have all noticed, but it's summertime! This evening we had a potluck BBQ with our neighbors out on our porch. We grilled some chciken and made lemon bars and then ate everyone else's food. Yum. Oh and it was 75 degrees!

Other news-I finally used some of the saffron that I got for Christmas (for those of you who don't know, it's a spice-a VERY expensive spice). My old roommate Anna and I made a leg o' lamb and a pilaf dish that called for saffron. I discovered that it turns things a very very yellow color, even though it's a red spice, and it smells funny but tastes really good.

I can see the end of the semester and it makes me exceedingly happy. It looks like my thesis isn't going to be done until May or so. But I'll still graduate in August.

I'll post some pictures later. :)

What Did I Do Wrong?

I just typed this weeks blog and posted it and nothing happened. It still shows up as the Red Neck Sleddin that Brant posted last week. But when I hit the top "Archive" button it brings up todays entrys. Two from Brant and one from me. What did I do wrong? It usually brings them up as soon as everyone posts them?

I'll Go First

Here it is Sunday afternoon and no one has blogged yet. Thanks Brant, for the mid-week blog. We just got back from Grandpa's. We went over to visit and he wanted me to increase the size of the font on his e-mails. I figured out how to and then a pop-up came up and said his virus blocker, AVG, was out of date. They changed from 7.1 to 7.5 in late February and he was unaware of it. I had to download the latest version and then install it. While I was at it I ran a whole system scan for viruses. To my surprise there weren't any. He is now up to date again.

We got a call from Erik this afternoon asking if I would like to come to Denver in a week or so to set him apart as a High Priest. Today, he was called as 2nd counselor in his ward bishopric. They set him apart but said that if he wanted his father to ordain him he could wait a week or two. He just called back and said they really didn't want to wait until March 8th (Garrett's wedding) but they would check with the stake president. If they will wait, Mom and I will change grandpa's flight to match ours and come out with him. We would do the usual Friday morning thing and return Monday afternoon. Right now it all depends on what Erik's leaders say about it. Congratulations Erik and family. Grandpa was excited about it because then he could travel with us and not have to worry about how to get around in the Denver Airport.

Yesterday we went to Coeur d'Alene with Seth and Lacey. It was the end of spring break and everyone wanted to get out of town for a while. We met Matt and Kimbre at their house and went shopping. We ended up at CostCo where Mom and I bought lunch (hot dog and drink for $1.50). That's my kind of treat. Everyone bought a few things along the way and then at 2:00 Matt had to head for work. His is working the swing shift (4-10's from Wednesday to Saturday). He gets home at 1:00am in the morning. Mom and I hit a couple of furniture stores looking for a corner TV stand but came up empty handed. We got home about 6:30pm and relaxed for the evening.

This morning Seth and Lacey were both sick, Seth from a bug and Lacey from that 9 month flu (hint, hint) so they weren't at church.

The weather is beautiful and everyone is out in their yards working. Shane is trying to decide how to landscape the little space between their place and ours. He is also going to cut down one of the trees by his deck. It seems to be dying and he wants to get it out before it falls on his house or ours. I'll probably mow and fertilize our lawn tomorrow night. Still no word on the stump grinder. I'm going to check the nursery's in Lewiston for an Autumn Purple Ash.
Tomorrow morning the crew shows up from Salt Lake to re-carpet the stake center. The light blue carpet is looking more and more washed out and so we decided to re-carpet. It is supposed to last at least 15 years but at 80% of its life you can make a judgement call and change it. So we did. It has been in for 12 years.

We are waiting to hear back from Erik tonight and then we will decide what to do. If they can't wait then we probably won't come out. If they will wait we'll probably see you all at Garrett's wedding.
We love you all.
Mom and Dad

At the CO. Rail Road Museum

On Saturday we went to the CO. R.R. Museum.We saw a lot of trains. We saw a round table. ( see the round table to the left.) We got to go in a train and ring the bell. We got to stand by really big trains. We went into a car that had two bunk-beds. We also went into a caboose. It had a desk in it. You could lift the desk up and put stuff in it.

Tyler

Like Father, Like Son

So Yesterday, Tyler comes up to me and asks me to help him make a burglar alarm for his bedroom door. Sound familar???

He had received an electronics kit from VonForells a few Christmases ago, so I told him if he made the alarm, I would help him hook it up. He made the alarm and I changed the on/off switch to a couple of wires and some foil. Now we all get to listen to the alarm through the whole house every time he goes in his room. The nice thing is it shuts off as soon as the door closes.

I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!!!

Brant

Redneck Sledin'

Dad, here is a mid-week post just for you.

Janet (Les' mom) came down and spent the weekend with us. We grabbed her camera and downloaded some of her pictures that we did not have from Christmas time. Here is a picture of Tyler as we pulled him behind our Explorer. At first we started out slow, but by the end the kids were all yelling faster and faster. We had a few good wipe outs as I spun them around corners and then we had to slow it down again. It also started to get a little scary as the snow melted and there was less and less of a crash buffer.

Enjoy!

Brant

We're still alive

Not much is going on in our neck of the woods lately. It's Spring Break so Seth doesn't have to go to school and I don't have to help him with any tests... We're taking Thursday and Friday off and hopefully doing something fun (aka shopping.) We walked to Mom and Dad's on Saturday from our place. We took it nice and slow with a pit stop at Richards. By the time we got to the Parents it had been two hours since we left our place. I never knew Moscow was so big...
That's about it, we're kind of boring this week.
Peace out homies.

If you can't take the heat get out of Arizona

We enjoyed reading all of your blogs. Travis and Kelly, it sounds like you had a great trip. Tyler, congrats on your art project.

We drove to Albuquerque on Thursday evening and continued to Phoenix on Friday. On the way down Lisa and I had fun trying to turn words on the highway signs into interesting and appealing baby names. We want an original name. Have any of you heard of other kids named "Exit"? Friday afternoon we helped to decorate the gym for the reception. Christine, Lisa's sister, got married in the Mesa Temple, on Saturday. That afternoon we went to a luncheon, and then a reception that night. The Eleffsen's put on a good show. Roxann is the driving force behind it. We'll put some pictures on the blog once we find a computer where we can download them. This one at Brenda and Trevor's is a little slow.

Ty's Big Day!

Tonight's picture comes from the newest artist in the family. Ty was invited to show his creation at an art show they had for the local elementary schools at Red Rocks College. It is called a "mola" (I think that is how it is spelled.) It is made by forming paper mache in a plaster mold. It is some kind of South American Indian thing. I guess he gets his talent from his Uncle Kevin and Grandpa Z. because it doesn't come from his parents, unless you consider stick figures as art work.

This week's adventure included a quick camp out Friday night. There is one of my Priests who needs to get 4 nights of camping in before the end of April. (Turning 18 and trying to get his Eagle.) We left my house at 7:00pm Friday night and came home at 8:30 the next morning. I took Ty and Aimee with me and we all had fun. We made smores over the fire and played Clue around the latern. At 2:00 in the morning, Ty decided he was hungry and so we had a pop tart party in the tent while we listened to the coyotes.

We'll keep it short this week. Have a great one!

Brant

101.37 miles of off road heaven

I thought that I should add MY half of the adventure in Canyonlands. Cousin Michelle and I spent a large portion of the past 2 days driving along roads that probably never should have been driven on. The lovely picture to the left is just a small small portion of the exciting boulders and steep cliffs I got to maneuver around. And I can proudly say that there was only ONE time that Michelle and I feared our for our lives (pictures of that road will be posted at a later date). When we weren't driving, we were stopping to take pcitures, climb on the rocks, and occasionally go on a short hike. We even discovered that something besides just sage brush and crows live in the desert. See if you can spot the lizard to the right. The lovely view below was right before we entered Canyonlands. Pretty neat, eh?

Question of the Week

Mom gave me this question and I forgot to post it.

Book - keyword first chapter - "wittles"

Who can tell which book she is reading? The winner gets an all expenses paid trip to church next week.

2007 A Moscow Odyssey (check your dictionaries on that one)

Hey Travis and Kelly, nice pictures. I've always wanted to see more of that area. When I was at BYU, I went to Arches and Dead Horse Point and then on our family vacation we stayed at Dead Horse point but I never got to Canyon Lands and other points of interest. The other place I want to go is Chaco Canyon. It is about 40 miles west of 4-corners on a dirt road and I've never had the time nor guts to take our second-hand automobiles that far out in the wilderness with hopes of returning alive. There is supposed to be some fantastic Indian ruins there. Maybe someday we'll make it. Put more pictures up on the blog or regular e-mail so we can see where you went and what you did.

Right now Weston and I are banished to the basement (everyone else is asleep or working on it). We are the last two awake. There are all kinds of balls (basketball, baseball, nerf ball, etc) flying around the room. Yesterday Joe, Sandi, Scott Billy, Marci and "Joey" came over and visited. Joey is standing up around furniture and will be walking soon. He looks just like Scott.

Yes, the weather was nice enough to be outside. I hosed down the driveway, picked up trash, talked to Tom Sandell, and waved at the neighbors as they drove by. The big purchase of the day was a new 50' black, professional quality Wal-Mart hose. Right now the big controversy is the neighbors in Ossinger's house. They have a young Beagle dog that barks all day long. They have put an electric fence around their yard to keep him in and they also have an electrical collar on him that shocks him every time he barks. The dog has learned how to "work" the system but about once every 5 minutes the collar jolts him and he yelps in pain. Mom is rather upset with the neighbors for all the "electrical" hardware they have installed and then they just go away and leave the dog alone all day.

And yes, all the cats have returned this spring to continue where they left off last fall - using our yard as the local restroom. Can you say, "how far will a paint ball shoot". Have you ever seen a grey cat with bright orange spots on it? Sorry, Kimbre, I couldn't help myself.

This week is spring break. Mom, and Seth are looking forward to a week off. Mom may ride down to Oregon with me on Wednesday.

Here's a reminder. This blog works every day of the week, not just on Sundays. It would be nice to read something or see some pictures during the week.

Kevin, Lisa and family - how was Arizona? Did you enjoy the wedding, landscaping etc?

That's about it for now. If I think of anything else I'll blog you again.

Dad and Mom

101.37

No the title to this entry is not a radio station. It is the exact number of miles that we rode in two days according to my bike computer. We (Me, Kelly, Michelle, RyRy and two other friends) went to Moab on Friday and rode the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park. The trail is an old road that was originally made in the 1950's when they were searching the area for Uranium. It goes around the section of the park called the Island in the Sky. For the most part, the road is pretty good but it includes many sections of sand, rock and more sand. There are even some exciting places where they have glued the road to the side of a huge cliff just for fun. I'm not sure which engineer even had the guts to suggest to his boss that they put the road in some of the places they did. Kelly drove RyRy's truck as a support vehicle for us and carried all of the tents, food, water, etc. She did a great job and pulled off some gutsier driving than any of the guys on our trip had ever done. The first day we road about 50 miles with a 20 mile detour and ended up riding into our camp with the help of the car headlights and a headlamp. The good part about the detour was that we got to ride through Dead Horse Point state park, down by the river. We could see the park overlook way up on the cliff abouve us. The second day was about 50 more miles but the riding was easier (did I mention I hate riding in sand) and we took in some great views. The first picture is us coming up the road as Kelly and Michelle wait at the finish line. You can't see us too well but I liked the scenery. The second one is typical of the scenery on the trail.
After we finished riding we put all four bikes on top of our camping gear in the truck and then Kelly and I and another friend rode on the running boards of the truck for 45 minutes in the cold wind to get back to the other car because there wasn't any room in the truck.

For another account of the trip click here to check out RyRy's blog.
We'll put up some better pics when we get them from everyone else.

I have not title for this entry, Part II

Dad, you'll be so proud of me. I worked on the car last night to change the oil and check the fluid, and brakes. Luckily I didn't have to change the brakes (because I wouldn't have known how to do it- at least not the back brakes). Lisa was proud of me too. I got a high-five out of it.

I did a tree job yesterday to pay for our upcoming Arizona trip. Wait, that money is needed to pay for the car tires we bought two weeks ago. Anyone have more tree jobs?

Matt, we've loved hearing your police tales. What do you get to certify on next, the K-9 dog? (Good joke, huh?)

Mom, thanks for the $100 (did everyone else get as much as us?), we forgot what else you sent. Lisa said she's had a brain fart and can't remember. I can smell something foul coming out my ears too. We'll have to ask Braxton tomorrow what it was. Lisa had to ask him today how old she was, "27, mom." (We even had to do the math again to write this email).

That's enough humor. Hopefully we can log in from Arizona next week.

Los Zirker's

Ride'em cowgirl!!!

Yipee yahoo, ride'em cowgirl!!! Last weekend we went to Casa Bonita. Lindsay (Les's sister) was in town and so we pulled out all the stops. We saw cliff divers, got our pants scared off in a dark tunnel and rode the little kid rides. The kids had fun taking whacks at the pinata.

This week has been a lot slower. We finally finished all the major projects and it is nice just to slow down a bit. Les used the free time to go with a couple of the ladies from the ward to see a local high school's production of Les Mes. She said they did a good job, but the subject matter of the musical was a little too mature for high school kids. Other than that she spent the rest of the week on a weight loss program called pregnacy, but is now feeling much better. (She'll kill me for posting that when she reads this.)

I spent the weekend invovled once again in radio stuff. It is turning from a hobby to a church calling it seems like. Saturday, all the newly licensed hams from the stake met at the stake center and made their first contacts on the air. I had arranged for several of the club members to be waiting on certain frequencies and so the new guys were guaranteed an easy first chat. We got all their new radios programmed and set up and then let them loose into the airwaves. Tonight was our Denver Regional Net from the Bishop's Storehouse in Aurora. It was fun to hear the new hams check in for their first time. They then jumped frequencies and checked into our weekly club net. I've done a pretty hard sell about joining a local radio club to keep learning. Mostly I just want some friends from church in there with me. The club has really gone out of their way to make the new guys feel welcome. (They smell new blood in the water.) Next Sunday we will offically start the Lakewood Stake Net with yours truly as the net controller (the guy who runs the group and takes the check ins). I'll run it for a few weeks and then we'll take turns running it. It is a chance to attend a church meeting from home in your PJ's, not too bad.

That's about it for this week.

73 (Best Wishes in radio lingo)

Brant, KCØVTU

Not Much Happening

It has been a rather slow week. Just the usual stuff and the same old dreary weather. It snows about half an inch at night and then melts during the day. Today there was a patch of warm weather that tried to sneak through and it almost made it.
My shoulder seems to be getting better. I am exercising it and taking the anti-inflammatory medication and it seems to be helping. Not in big leaps and bounds but little by little.
Mom and I watched a couple of movies this weekend. "The Lake House" and "Flyboys", they were both pretty good but the Flyboys didn't have a very happy ending and I don't like that. I like it when they live happily-ever-after.
We talked to Brant, Leslie and family tonight on the web-cam and had a good time. It is sort of like watching a zoo. They probably felt the same way as they watched us. Seth had gone to do PPI's but Mom, Lacey, Weston and I posed for the camera.
This week is a busy one. Mom has her 5-10 page paper due and I have 3 Eagle Scout Boards of Review. I think Tuesday is open, what ever shall we do.
Today was the first Sunday with my new bishopric. There were five of us in the clerk's office and we had a cleaning/shredding party. We almost filled one of those large plastic garbage bags. I joked that we would probably realize next Sunday that we had shredded important documents. My old 2nd councilor showed up without a suit coat on and as I bore my testimony I said that it was sad to see how fast Kelly had fallen into transgression. It got a chuckle.
I got a neat phone call from Kurt Schwendiman Friday. He had been asked by the Stake President to call anyone he had offended to ask for their forgiveness as a last assignment before he is re-baptised. We had a nice visit and it looks like he could be baptised within a couple of weeks. It has been a long hard road but he has stuck with it.
The stump grinder has not shown up yet but I have the area painted in white so we will see what he has to say.
Mom and I were given another home teaching person. It is a lady in the Alzheimer's wing at Good Sam. She is a cousin of Rod Appaloni. We just had a quick visit because she was eating dinner. As we left, the activities organizer said she was glad to see us because this woman has never had a visitor. This will be an interesting assignment.
That's about it for this week. I'll spare you all having to look at one of my old pictures. Have a good week.
Dad and Mom

Why I love Mexicans

Well I don't have anything new to post, so I'll pull a grandpa and use a picture from the archives ("I had to change the color a little bit cause nobody knows how to take a decent picture these days...") Anyway. I had my first massage last week (trav won me a free hour). It was very nice. I highly recommend it.

School is a drag and I'll be glad when the semester is over! I've been working on getting people to do my thesis experiment, which can be a bit of a task because they have to meet with me for 45 minutes and take it on my laptop (the website link that I posted so many weeks ago is only half of the study). But I've been getting a surprising number of volunteers, considering the fact that none of them have ever met me, nor do they know anything about my study. I found them by searching hometowns on Route Y. And that is why I love Mexicans. They'll help me out for a measly candy bar.

More Taser Fun

For anyone wanting to know what it looks like when you get tasered click

here

It's a video of police recruits doing taser training. Sorry it's sideways but you can still get the idea.

Kelly thinks some of these guys might have taken it better than Matt did ;)

Our Little Girl

Raya has taken to prove herself as a toddler this week, as shown by the crawling up on the chair, standing up in her high chair, opening dresser drawers pulling everything out and then crawling inside. Today she actually stood up by herself. It probably won't be too much longer before she is "toddling" around. It's crazy how fast time flies.

We're getting ready for our trip to AZ next week, for my sister Christine's wedding. The beautiful weather is beckoning to me and the boys! (Kevin gets to work in the yard with dad--moving dirt!)

What I Did Today

All this week has been in-service training for the Sheriff's Dept. Today was a Taser recertification for everyone who was already certified. I was under the impression that it did not apply to me until they asked for volunteers to get Tased and said it would count for certification. Peer pressure is awful. The first guy only took a 3 sec. ride and it just about killed him. A full ride is 5 sec. and on my turn I asked for the full ride. The Sergeant doing the training aimed at my rear end and pulled the trigger. One of the two probes hit me in the right cheek and the other hit my shirt but didn't stick. It didn't seem too bad because it wasn't a complete circuit. The probe just bounced off my back and shocked me each time it hit. Well the Sgt. didn't think that was enough so he ran up to me at about 2-3 sec. and jammed the Taser into my left calf for a contact shot. Then my world got lit up. The circuit was completed and one big flow went from my right cheek to my left calf muscle. I kicked and squirmed and it just kept hurting. It hits you 19 times per sec with 50,000 volts. It's the worst pain ever and it just won't go away. I have a nice burn mark on my calf from the Taser, several little red marks on my back where the probe bounced off, and a red bump on my rear. My first training officer has it on video so I'll see if I can get a copy of it.
After all was said and done, I became officially Taser certified.