Last Christmas we purchased a trampoline for the family.  The kids love to play on it, or sleep out on it, but I rarely use it myself.  One night, however, I was on it playing around with my kids.  Somehow there were pillows on the tramp, leftover, I think, from sleeping out the night before.  The kids started having a pillow fight, when suddenly I heard a ripping sound and saw some feathers floating around the trampoline.  The kids looked at me expectantly, wondering what my reaction would be.  I think ten years ago I probably would have become angry, but I guess I'm mellowing in my old age, because I reached down, took a handful of feathers, and threw them in Erin's face. 

Well, you can imagine what that started:



There are a lot of feathers in one pillow! Who knew?

If you are planning on doing this for family home evening, here are a few pointers to remember:

• You can't breathe once you suck in a mouthful of synthetic feathers
• Feathers adhere to EVERYTHING!
• It takes at least three washes to get feathers out of long, naturally-curly hair (Erin is still finding feathers next to her scalp).
• Neighbors don't appreciate the wet-dry vac going full blast at 10:30 pm.
• The laundromat is an excellent place to wash and dry a batch of feather covered clothes.

My wife didnt want to participate in this family function, so I just asked her to come take some pictures...(evil grin!).  As she was taking pictures, I tried to jump through the tramp screen opening, slipped on the feathers, bounced off the springs, hit the ground rolling, and came up and grabbed Jen as she was trying to get back to the house.  She was a good sport as everyone put feathers down her back.

Sorry, Erin-of-the-naturally-curly-hair!

Curly hair strikes again.



This is the part where he couldn't breathe!

This was a spontaneous, fun, family moment.  Everyone was a good sport and we had a lot of fun!

9/11

During the last week I have been very aware of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  I began to remember the thoughts and feelings that I had when it happened.  Like most of us who were around on that day, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard what was happening. I was attending Southern Utah University at the time, and working at a manufacturing plant out by the airport in Cedar City.  A co-worker ran into the room and said "Someone just flew an airplane into a skyscraper in New York!"  I had to stay in the room working, but he brought in regular updates.  All planes still in the air were required to land.  I could see the Cedar City airport just across the field from the back of the plant, and I remember large passenger jets landing and sitting on the runway all day long.

When the towers fell, and it became more apparent what had happened, I remember feeling as though time had stopped.  In retrospect, it was not so much that time had stopped as it was that my perspective had changed.  In an instant I had gone from being a husband, father, and student without a true care in the world to being the victim of a terrible, pre-meditated attack.  My entire world changed.  Suddenly America was not a safe place anymore.  Just google "9/11 innocence" to see how many people felt stripped of the their safety and their innocence.

I don't mean to place myself in the same category as those who were affected more directly by those events, including those who were killed, those family and friends who were left behind to mourn, the first responders, the soldiers who went overseas to protect us, and so many others who cannot be named.  Nevertheless, 9/11 was an attack against America and all of it's people, and I believe that all of us felt it to some degree or another.

And while it was an attack against our people, it was more an attack against the principles of freedom that permeate who we are as Americans.  So great is the light of freedom that shines from Americans, and by extension America, that we are instantly the target of all of those in the world who live by the principles of darkness, including selfishness, anger, fear, and hate.  I believe in good and evil.  I believe that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us.  I believe we also have an enemy, even Satan, who hates us, and the light of freedom for which we stand, and will do everything he can to destroy us.  Because of that, I believe that the best way to defeat him, the best way to let him know that his attack upon us failed, is to not let the negative feelings we experienced that day rule our lives.  We should not allow ourselves to feel fear for what terrorists can do, but should put our trust in the greater power of God.

I remember that President Hinckley spoke in general conference just three weeks after 9/11.  It is still touching to read his words, and he taught us what is really important from a gospel perspective.  Here is the link:

http://lds.org/general-conference/2001/10/the-times-in-which-we-live?lang=eng

May we all always remember 9/11, and take from it renewed hope and faith, both in the innate goodness of people, in the light and freedom of America, and in the power of our Heavenly Father to heal all wounds.

Erin's Homecoming Dance Drama

So my daughter Erin was asked to the pineview high school homecoming dance (she was worried that she wouldn't be asked).  She has been a trooper and is glad that she is going, but it's my first nothing has gone as planned/emergency/get daughter ready for the dance moment. 

I will explain.

The day date was supposed to begin at 7:30 am.  One of the girls in their group got their parents to take their boat out to Sand Hollow reservoir for a day on the lake.  So Erin is waiting for them at 7:20.  I was working and got home for lunch at 10:15, and Erin had just left.  She was rolling her eyes at that point.  When they got to the lake they started to pull people on tubes, etc.  On about the second trip out, they realized their boat was sinking because the pump didn't work, so they spent the rest of the time trying to fix it.  She says she had fun, but it was not what she expected.

The plan for the evening was for them to pick her up at 6:30 pm, so she started getting ready at 5:30.  Well, they pulled into the driveway at 5:40.  We sent them off to go pick up the other girl (who wasn't ready either).  Now, I can understand boys being excited to pick up my daughter, but that stressed her out.  So my wife says "come help curl her hair, dad!"  Curling hair is way out of my league.  I thought I could help by taking the boys out back and showing them the holes I had dug if they didn't get my daughter home at the appointed hour, but my wife needed help with curling irons, so I jumped in with both feet. 

We had two irons going while my daughter put on her makeup.

My wife wrapped her hair around one iron, and I would hold it (I told you I was no good at this sort of thing!), while she wrapped hair around the second iron.  Then we switched.

I kept looking out the window to see if they had come back, but they had decided they had better give the girls a few more minutes to get ready.  My wife and I kept working away.  My wife started touching up Erin's makeup.  I let Erin know that lipstick was meant to be a deterrent rather than an invitation.  I think she understood.  I hope. 

The final product

Well, she is beautiful.  Her hair and makeup turned out great thanks to her mom.  Now her dad just has to get through tonight (I'm still waiting for her to come home).  I know that this is all part of life blah, blah, growing up blah, blah, blah, but man, it isn't cool  to send your teenage daughter out to be with BOYS.   Is that the porch light coming on...?

Reprise Quartet

I found this on YouTube a few days ago, and thought they were awesome.  I love a cappella men's groups!  They do have one cd out, but that's all I have been able to find.  Anyway, enjoy!

Reprise Quartet, Music and the Spoken Word, 2003

Lake Powell

This is Lone Rock, with my son Jacob in the foreground

On September 9-11 my family went to Lake Powell with my wife's siblings and their families. We thought it would be a good way to celebrate her birthday, and we had a great time!

We went to Lone Rock, down towards Page, AZ. It was perfect weather for the lake: hot enough during the day to be comfortable in the water, but not too hot for sleeping at night. I guess everyone else thought the same thing because the beach was packed with people, but we had our own little niche and that made it ok. We also had three ski boats, and with about 50 people there, that was just right.

This was also the inaugural voyage of my wife's new digital camera. Yes, we finally went digital. One of my wife's cousins was upgrading, so I bought his old one, a 10 megapixel Canon Rebel EOS XTi, for her birthday. We had a great time taking pictures and learning how to use it. Taking pictures will never be the same.

Jennifer grew up in and on the water, and so our kids do the same. She has been teaching them to waterski every chance she gets. Here are a few pictures of my oldest daughter, Erin



So far, so good



The Beginning....

                  

The Ending



Ouch!



 I love the feature on the camera that takes two pictures in a row when you hold the button down. Allows me to get fun shots like this.

 
My sons also had a good time learning, but they started on the knee board:



Sometimes I'm glad when my children inherit my qualities, but sometimes, I'm not so glad. Joshua did NOT want to go on the knee board, but we made him do it, and he ended up having a great time. That quality he inherited? STUBBORNESS!

Jacob is my wild man.  He had no problem doing the kneeboard, and was good at it.  He is also a fishing fanatic, and got his grandpa & uncles to take us out fishing at 10 pm.  I had never fished for bass before, but Jacob had studied up on it and had the right line and the anchovies for bait.  I was only a little nervous that we were speeding across the lake at 30 m.p.h. without lights, but we made it up next to Lone Rock.

The way bass fishing works is that you hold a lantern over the water to draw the fish to where your bait is, and then wait for them to bite.  Well, it worked like a charm because we didn't have to wait for long.  We caught one fish in the first minute, and three fish in half an hour.  We had numerous bites as well.  Here is Jacob's first bass:



Jacob was very excited, and now we know how to bass fish.

It was an enjoyable time at Lake Powell with my family.  The lake was beautiful and it was a lot of fun.  We won't be waiting fifteen years to go back next time!