FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

Every year as part of our family Christmas party we do the annual exchange of "dweebie" gifts, there really just white elephants but years ago when Tracey was a kid he dubbed them "dweebies" and they have been that ever since.
This was my contribution this year the "joker baby", I had a vision about it on the way to work one day, stopped at DI and got a doll for $1.00, add a little paint and presto, Dweebie. It kind of creeped Drake out a bit when he saw it (Michelle was the recipient).
Of course we had the return of the fruit cake that has been back every year for about 4 years now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I LOVE CHRISTMAS

I love the crazy way Americans have made the simple miracle of the birth of our Savior into the most commercial enterprise in the history of earth. But we all love to do it.
I love that the simple tradition of giving gifts that represent the gifts that the kings brought as they visited the child, has grown into a monster that cannot be stopped even by recession.
I love the music of Christmas, those wonderful songs that we are only allowed to listen to for one monthe out of the year. Well except that some of the radio stations start just a little earlier each year. I was reminded of this in the wee hours of the morning on November 1st when my clock radio woke me up to the "sounds of the season"
I love that on Halloween we go door to door collecting candy and then at Christmas we go door to door and give it back. But be careful that you don't re-gift to the same people that gave it to you, they might recognize it.
I love decorating for Christmas with all sorts of junk and lights and nic nacs. we even have one decoration that I made the first year we were married and it still hangs in our home every year. It is a little worse for wear but still looks half good if not a little tacky. But I do not like putting lights on the house. I only do that for Karen.
I love the opportunity of being with family and enjoying grandchildren. It is so true that as you get older you begin to enjoy Christmas through the eyes of the young. It fills you with great joy and is so rewarding to see the little ones and how excited they are at everything about Christmas.
I love the way everyone tries to be just a little more kind at Christmas time, as we perhaps try to be just a little more like He who's birthday we celebrate.
So as we enter this last week before the big day I hope we can all take a moment or two, or three, or as many as we can scrape together, to remember what it is all about.

MESA PROJECT

On top of trying to get tithing settlement going and busy Christmas schedule, I spent part of last week in the Mesa temple.
I went down with a couple of colleagues from work to get digital files of all the murals and original art that hangs in the temple. This is a project that my department has been working on for several years. We go into various temples during the time that they are closed for cleaning, set up our equipment and take high resolution shots for printing. Some of the murals, like the ones here have to be taken in pieces and then put together as one image using photoshop. These two murals were taken in 6 shots each with a Hassleblad camera (No real person could afford this camera)
While the boys are busy with the "big" camera I shot these with my phone. Very high tech quality I know.
It was a great experience and the spirit was there even if we were dodging plumbers that are redoing the sewer lines and jumping over carpet layers and painters. It is amazing the amount of work that can be done with the Lord's guidance , in a very short time. In this case the temple will be closed for two weeks, during which time they are completely replacing the sewer system, laying new carpet in all the main hallways and repainting and gold leafing many areas in the temple.

DRAKE'S TURN ON THE FRONTRUNNER

Saturday was Drake's day with Grandma and Gramps. So he got his turn to go on the "big train" or 'Frontrunner" as some know it. We rode the train to Ogden and went to the train museum in the old Union station. Drake had a blast and talked about it all the way back home. Or at least that's what I think he was talking about, when he gets excited he has a rapid fire half sentence method of communication that is not entirely English.

PICTURE DAY AT THE GSL

We had Tracey and Kristy's 5 kids for the weekend, what a riot (literally) but we had fun with all of them. On Saturday Jana wanted me to take some pictures of her family so they could use them for a Christmas card. So while Karen stayed home with Aaron and Matthew I took the older kids and met Jana at the Great Salt Lake. It is almost a garbage dump out there but it has some cool places to take pictures and they look better in pictures than the place does in reality. Here are a few examples of what we got.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

What does that mean? "corn maze for blondes" Well just for the blondes reading this, let me explain how a corn maze works. So you take a huge field of corn and cut pathways with lots of turns and twists and it creates a maze,
if you follow the maze and make all the correct turns you make it to the middle of the maze or corn field.
This "corn maze for blondes" has no paths all you have to do is look out into the field and walk to the lone corn stock.
Now I know that there are still a few true blondes out there that look at this picture and say.........
Ahhhhhh, I don't get it?

TRAIN RIDE FOR AARON

On Saturday it was Aaron's turn for a weekend with Gramps and Grandma. We got up early on Saturday and drove into Salt Lake, took the light rail to the train hub, were Aaron found some cool "Flintstone" luggage that was decorating the station plaza area. We then rode the Front Runner to Ogden. at the station in Ogden there is a Utah train museum that really made Aaron's day. Watching the trains run around the tracks and disapear into the wall gave him more than a few minutes of running time. Then it was back on the train for the one hour ride back to Salt Lake. We all had a good time and it was a long day.

THE 3 ?

After serving as bishop for three years, our ward has been split again.
Dar is now in the new ward awaiting a call to serve (short rest).
"Q" was also released from the bishopric because the Lord wants him somewhere else.
I have come to love these two men as brothers, maybe more, after all I am not that close to my real brothers. Quinton and Dar have really made being a bishop a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. I never needed to actually delegate anything, because these two just did what needed to be done and I did not have to worry.
With new counselors in place as well as a new ward clerk we are now reorganizing the ward. Much work to do, but the Lord's hand is in it and the work is easy to bare.
My new counselors are; Chad Jarvis (was the ward clerk) and Rob Tripp (demoted from the YM presidency).
So I look forward to a few more years as bishop of one of the greatest wards in the church. Thanks to everyone.

HOT DOGS

Do you ever get a craving for one of those crappy hot dogs from the wienerschnitzel? Even though Costco or Sam's Club has better dogs at a cheaper price. Sometimes there is nothing like a good hot dog to satisfy the carnivore in all of us.
This is the funniest commercial I have seen for a long time. But we will probably not be seeing it anytime soon on US Television.
This commercial alone makes me want to run down and get one of those wiener guys to put on the antennae of my car!!

COKE IS BACK

After living in our home for 4 years now, the basement is finally at a point that I could bring out some of my Coke collection and put it on display.
I have some stuff that I had forgotten all about. Some that went to the DI and some that went back in boxes.
The wooden boxes that are attached to the wall are made of oak and I picked them up at a surplus sale at work for next to nothing, well actually it was nothing. they even had Plexiglas covers so all I had to do was ad the shelves to each one and fasten them to the wall.