Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Nickolas turned 8

Nick is 8
 Nick and Mom
 Zach, 11
 Abbie, 4, outside on the Springfree trampoline
Brooke, 15, didn't want to smile, someone else made her laugh.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

School Year Nearing End

Zach and Nick after school at Kitty Ward.  Their last year in elementary school together.


Brooke before a youth conference dance. She didn't want to smile, but I got 1 with a smile.

Abbie receiving some face paint at ShadowRidge HS.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Tubing and Brian Head March 2013

Brian Head, UT 

 
Dad, 40,  at the end of the day.  Wed, March 13.
 
 Nick, 6, awaiting to be pulled up the hill
 
 Zach, 10
 
 Brooke, 14

Abbie, 3

Brooke, Mom, Nick, Zach, leaning left?

Video of a tubing run. Bad commentary, but you get the idea.  I filmed it while trying to hold onto the camera at the same time.
 

Monday, January 18, 2010

Two Unusual Dreams



The last two consecutive nights I've had unusual dreams. On the early morning of 1-17-10, at about 0200 or 0300 hours, I dreamt Zach and I were at the top of a high building. We were playing catch with a ball of some sort. It was a round ball that had some bounce. As Zach was going to get the ball it bounced and went over the edge with no guard rail on my right side, not in front directly. Zach saw it bounce but still chose to go after the ball and fell. Zach perished. I immediately awoke from my dream to check on Zach, he was warm and breathing which relieved me. I then checked on the rest of the children. All were sleeping.

On about 1-18-10, at 0400 I dreamt Nick and I were playing golf, but instead of hitting the ball we were throwing the ball. I guess in the dream I was the only one throwing, but he was invloved in watching me, kind of like a caddie without clubs. I remember throwing the ball down a slope and as this hole started to level out the ball went towards the side into some sort of lake. Nick was already there it seemed in the water attempting to get the ball out. The ball sloped down going deeper into the water, but Nick kept going after the ball until he was all the way under the water and he kept going and walking after it deeper and deeper. Nick finally reached the ball and bent over. He came back up the way he came in and handed me the ball. I asked him, "Why did you do that?". Nick said, "Look, I got your hat too!".



In both of these two separate dreams I was worried for my children as they were going after these balls.

After the second dream, I thought I would write these events down. I've thought of what it could mean, or lessons I could learn from it.

I'm sure they could mean many different things, or nothing at all.

Friday, June 26, 2009

When did the lowbrows take over the culture?

I know we all come from a diverse background of political beliefs and backgrounds. I really enjoyed the article below and thought I would paste it on here. He picks on both parties and I think it is an outstanding commentary (as he should there is stupidity in both parties). I consider myself and independent that generally but not always leans conservative.

"I've been trying to grasp for a truth that is so obvious that all of us know it. But it's not a polite truth, so we don't talk about it. Yet I think it's important to say it out loud, because it is a truth that haunts our national discourse.

As a nation we are under the thumb of idiots. Not just indoctrinated, or wrong-thinking, or power-hungry, or manipulative, or even malevolent people. No, I mean real lowbrows, people who constantly fall for really stupid ideas. Neanderthals. (Look at the Governor of California just running the state budget into the ground. See what I mean? That's not just incompetence. It takes special stupidity, almost a deliberate, willful absence of real thinking.)

The Federal EPA is about to officially declare carbon dioxide to be a pollutant. That's not just false and unscientific; it's not just an excuse for taxing everything in sight, including breathing. It's not merely wrong. It's idiotic. It marks a low point in our national conversation. Scientists or engineers with a grain of sense shouldn't be taking the EPA seriously for a second. Forget the "climate experts," with their grossly inadequate computer models. Normally intelligent people should boggle at the EPA. They are bizarre. Only the truly ignorant could fall for this level of ignorance. Or those who just can't think.

Or look at Obama's unbelievable spending spree. No sane and sensible taxpayer could possibly believe that spending trillions and trillions of dollars on blue-sky fantasies makes any sense at all; the only reason Americans aren't in open rebellion yet is that half of them can't believe it's happening, and the other half are idiots. We haven't seen the effect (yet) on our pocketbooks. There's food in the stores still, and housing has gotten cheaper. But let Obama's budget affect our wallets directly and just watch the voters explode with rage.

The Democrats in Congress are trying desperately to put the brakes on Obama's egomaniacal ambitions because they can see themselves going over the edge in 2010. In a self-respecting, intelligent culture, the Obama budget would be dead on arrival. It's an insult to our national intelligence. (His foreign policy is more of the same.)

Or look at the global warming farce, still hotly pursued by the political classes in Europe and this country, although the Australians seem to be coming to their senses. China now has more millionaires than the UK, because they use all their resources, like coal, to fire their industrial plants. They will never sacrifice a single luxury car to the cap and trade fraud. Neither will India. China and India have been under the thumb of egomaniacal socialists (in the case of India) and communists (in the case of China). They've been there, done that, seen the suffering.

No wonder those Chinese college students fell all over themselves with laughter when Timothy Geithner assured them that Obama would never spend the United States into debt. What an idiot! They laughed because Geithner's stupidity or mendacity was too obvious for words.

That's how we should all react to the miserable frauds who are now in national office. You have to dull your senses with drugs or endless propaganda to fall for it. I've sometimes wondered how many people must have killed off their critical thinking with alcohol and drugs. I know a walking few drug casualties myself, people who just burned out their brains. I'm sure they voted for Obama.


Or maybe there's such a thing as learned stupidity. How else can so many people be so idiotic? Our national IQ has dropped to about 75: Several standard deviations below normal.

Well, we have now voted in a President for the lowbrows. Yes, Obama himself is smart enough; even smart enough to say a few years ago that he didn't feel ready for the presidency. Well, now we can see why he said that. But legions of idiots voted for a man who was plainly unqualified, even by his own estimation, and surrounded by a bunch of malignant sociopaths like Wright and Ayers and all the rest. How could he possibly win? Well, Obama cynically appealed to the idiots -- the young, the stupid, the naive, the silly, the rock idol worshippers, and probably the drug-addled masses, all the lowbrows in the land.

That includes the idiot savants of academia. Academics have a very narrow band of intelligence, something that satirists since Aristophanes have noticed and poked fun at. The first philosopher in Western history was Thales of Elea; Thales featured in Greek folklore as a man who walked around at night gazing at the stars only to fall into a ditch. That's probably a folksy giggle at the absent-minded professor who is constantly bumping into walls. But there's a big element of truth in it. Academics can be incredibly ignorant and dumb outside of their small areas of expertise. Professors and media scribblers generally lack human smarts. They are sure suckers for all the con artists of the day.

Obama is a smooth-talking hustler who has specialized in charming academic liberals, like a smart graduate student who needs to impress his teachers with every word. They just dote on him, like a proud parent smiling on a favorite child. He's their dream, a black man who sounds so smart.

In his press conferences he hypnotizes all the ink-stained wretches of the media. It's a sight to behold. The man swats a fly and the suck-ups of the media go ga-ga with applause, and go back and write articles about it. That's not just a reflection on their (lack of) character and judgment. It's not just their childish immaturity. It's a reflection on their brains, or rather, on all that empty space between their ears. Our media stars are just not very bright. They're idiots. That single fact explains a lot. (And yes, they are also corrupt, easily seduced, haunted by deadlines, decadent in their values, and very prone to mob thinking. But if they had any brains it might be harder to manipulate them like this. The White House just pulls their strings and they dance.)

Obama's 22 White House czars. That's really stupid. As well as a violation of the Constitution. But it's a Chinese laugh line. It's so obviously wrong and power-mad that it's not worth debating.

Legalizing drugs. That's really stupid.

Obama's power-grab over the medical sector of the economy? It's profoundly stupid. We can insure all the uninsured people in the country for a tiny fraction of all that money. We just need to fix the tire on our national car, and this guy tries to sell us a brand-new O-mobile, it can practically fly off the lot, all on credit, long-term payments, no money down. It's gonna be free! So what if you have to mortgage your wife and children? Even if we already have two national lemons in our garage, Medicare and Medicaid, which nobody likes. Now Obee is trying to sell us on a really, really expensive dream mobile that will fix our problems forever, plus it'll be cheaper than what we have now!

Can you believe it?

That sales pitch only works for idiots.

The rise to power and fame of the real lowbrows explains a lot. It even points to an answer of sorts. Because we've all been intimidated by the Cult of Nice not to contradict anybody who comes out with a really stupid, destructive idea. We can no longer call a really stupid idea what it is. I know that I censor myself all the time. We have been taught to keep our mouths shut when a word in time might make a real difference. We have allowed the national conversation to be dumbed down.

Here's my resolution for July Fourth: From now on I'm going to call idiocy idiotic. Not nastily, but as clearly as I can. It is high time for normal, intelligent common sense to become acceptable again. I'm happy to have a respectful argument with anyone who disagrees with me. But I'm going to start saying the magic words:

That's really dumb! That's really ignorant! You haven't thought about that much, have you? Have you ever considered another side of that batty idea?

I promise to be nice.

But honest.

Pass the word.

If we all start doing it we can change the world."

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Orange County Vacation Highlights

We had a great time. We arrived Monday night at a nice hotel at a great price thanks to William Shatner, aka priceline. Upon checkin we got freshly baked cookies. Nice spacious room, lobby, and pool. Monday night was swimming, Tuesday beach and Angels game (me and Brooke). Wednesday and Thursday Disneyland relatively low lines because it was not spring break, holiday or a weekend. Friday mid-day return to Vegas and just beat the traffic coming into town.









Baby #4 En Route

Our fourth child will be here sometime in November, and our last. We are happy and looking forward to the addition to our family. We are assuming it will be a girl, but will be happy with a healthy baby or whatever the Lord blesses us with. We anticipate the due date to be in November, but haven't received an official word yet. Jeanette is about 3 months into the pregnancy. All the kids are excited about it, but Nick (3) doesn't fully comprehend it yet.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Running Around to Games





It's fun to have children involved in activities like activity days, scouts, Piano, dancing, soccer, and baseball. However, sometimes it is difficult and can be a daily grind. Looking back, I'm sure it will be good memories. We try and contain it so not too much is going on at one time so that they can balance their lives with school, family, friends, and activity. Also, so that mom and dad can have some balance and time to rest. Brooke just had a soccer tournament. She plays for the crime dogs. The coach is Bob Chinn. They played two games in about a 4 hour span. Brooke plays mostly wing on offence but some mid field. Meanwhile, Zach had a game just before that. His first game with a real baseball and real bat. His first at bat he hit an rbi single. Very well done. He also played Center Field, Left Field, 3rd base and pitcher all in the same game.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Jason Baran My Friend

Pictures of Jason on our trip to Cleveland in late 2008.




My friend Jason. You are a funny, loyal, and helpful friend to me for all of your days. There is a hole in my heart knowing that I cannot regularly talk and communicate with you for some time like we have done for over a decade. I think of all the great times we had. You are loved and will be missed until we meet again.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

New Years Resolutions

I've never really thought of it too much before. I'm thinking of doing something. Why not try to better ourselves and improve ourselves?

I have too much soda. Almost one a day (usually about 12-32 ounces). To some this may not be enough, you may have more soda, some much less or none at all. If I cut this out or to a bare minimum, I would estimate losing about 7 pounds, which is about the amount I would like to lose around the midsection.

Other than that, I would like to spend my time more constructively. Tune it up so to speak.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

My Favorite Christmas Carols

I'm probably missing one, but just off the top of my head.

O' Holy Night (my clear #1 favorite)
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
O Come All Ye Faithful
Away In A Manger
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Joy To The World
Silent Night
Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
Deck The Halls
The First Noel
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Jingle Bell Rock
Jingle Bells
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen (the words not neccessarily the tune)
Frosty The Snowman

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanksgiving thoughts

I know, a few days late. I was just thinking of some things I'm thankful and grateful for.

We all know the economy is not great. I'm grateful for a good job, that is secure that takes care of my families needs. I'm grateful for our American History and those who have risked their lives for liberty and freedom. Not everyone has a decent job, or has the freedoms that we do. Part of freedom is to keep it protected. We've probably seen the slogan, freedom isn't free.

Just a brief note on some thoughts I've been having.

Monday, November 10, 2008

UNLV First Look/ Kids Pictures

A couple of weeks ago I attended UNLV Men's Basketball First Look. UNLV is a top 25 team this year and it should be an exciting year. UNLV has the third highest winning percentage of all-time behind Kentucky and No. Carolina. We watched some pre practice speeches and watched them scrimmage.









The school was charging nearly $40 for picture packages. Times that by two. So we decided to take our own. Here are some of them we took and then developed ourselves.



Proposition 8 Passes

The people of California passed Proposition 8 on November 4, 2008, therefore protecting traditional marriage in california. Traditional marriage has been around since the beginning of civilization. The people, freedom, and democracy have spoken.

Barack Obama won convincingly in California, so many who voted for Obama also voted to protect marriage as between a man and woman.

These gay rights activists only protest and whine when their side loses. Protesting at Catholic and Mormon Churches is outrageous.

I saw a tv news headline that called the passing of proposition 8 "controversial". Is it controversial when the majority of Californians vote yes on 8?

I think its important for all to have constitutional rights, but not special rights that degrade society. Marriage should remain sacred between a man and woman. Just my opinion and freedom of speech on the matter.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Protecting Traditional Marriage in California

From my understanding, the People of California voted to ban gay marriage in the state. The California Supreme Court some time after that rejected the people and ruled gay marriage is legal.

With that in mind, this is our opportunity to remind the California Supreme Court that the constitution still begins with “We The People…..”

"Marriage is sacred, ordained of God from before the foundation of the world."

"Only a man and a woman together have the natural biological capacity to conceive children. This power of procreation – to create life and bring God’s spirit children into the world – is sacred and precious. Misuse of this power undermines the institution of the family and thereby weakens the social fabric. The United Nations stated in 1948, "Strong families serve as the fundamental institution for transmitting to future generations the moral strengths, traditions, and values that sustain civilization. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms, “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society.”

If the proposition fails, children in public schools will be taught that same sex marriage is just as good as traditional marriage. The California Education code (51890) already requires that children be taught about marriage.

Churches may be sued over their tax exempt status if they refuse to allow same sex marriage ceremonies in their religious buildings open to the public.

Church Leaders or Ministers who preach against same-sex marriage may be sued for hate speech and risk government fines.

These are not far fetched possibilities. We need to stand together and help to protect same-sex marriage. It is the right thing to do.

http://www.protectmarriage.com

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institution-of-marriage

Friday, September 19, 2008

C-Town Trip





My friend Jason (from SLC) and I made a trip to Cleveland, Ohio this past weekend (Sept 13-15). The primary purpose of the trip was to watch the Pittsburg Steelers battle the Cleveland Browns.

While we were there we saw the Royals play the Indians. We drove around in downtown Cleveland and witnessed the sites, which included the inner city, Great Lakes Science Center, and Lake Erie.



We saw the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.




Jason and OJ.



And of course, we witnessed in person the NBC Night Football game. It was windy with some rain.







The Southwest flight to Las Vegas was actually early almost 30 minutes!