Awkward and Awesome

Awesome: Going to a Brazilin BBQ place and getting to eat all you want of 14 different cuts and types of meat  .
Awkward:  Having my kids roll me to the car.

Awesome: Writing a post in jest about how to get the church calling you want.
Awkward:  Having ward members come up to you at church and sincerely ask for pointers on how to get a calling I did not mention in my post.

Awesome: Ice Cream
Awkward:  Still being to full from dinner to eat anything and trying to figure out the best way to consume ice cream anyway.  I might have a problem that could warrant and intervention.

Awesome: I figured out my ice cream dilemma
Awkward:  It involved a blender and me drinking from a turkey baster.  I really need to consider that intervention.

Awesome:  We have been getting the whole family up at 6:00 in the morning to read scriptures for the past 4 weeks.
Awkward:  One of my children wants to know if we have learned enough and when they will be able to start sleeping in again.

Awesome: People have sent me requests where to mail their cats.
Awkward:  To find out the humane society wont drop ship cats to in state or out of state locations.
Really Awkward:  Trying to explain how some cats should be sent by ground and to make sure to cover the air holes.

Surprising the things people want to read about

In my last post I discussed how a person was removed from sacrament meeting by the police.  It was a once in a lifetime experience I honestly do not wish to go through again.  In the first 24 hours after I posted that entry there were over 500 unique visitors to my blog.  I am just a small time blogger and on a really good day I might have 40-50 people review a post.  So having 10 times that was kind of cool and a bit shocking.  Who are these people and where did they come from?  How in the world did they find my blog?  I have had 15 followers with no additions for over a year.    I speak to a few people in my ward and get notes from family about certain posts. I sometimes call the Bishopric and let them know I am going to make their life easier by telling people how to get callings.

But with a single day of almost %1000 more hits I am now wondering if I should start to seek world domination via the Internet.  It should not take long to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.  The only problems I see with this plan is I don't have that many great stories to publish or know how to write software.  I am now going to try something different and probably more realistic.  I would like to double the number of followers I have on my blog.  This is where you come in and help.  You need to sign up as a follower on my blog.  You will get the following benefits:

1. By following my blog you will be able to have a photo of yourself at the bottom of my home page under the title "Stalkers."  This might be unnerving for a few of you but for most I have a feeling you will be right at home.
2. When I do write a post that will give me world domination of the Internet I will be kind to those who new me before I hit it big.  This could mean you will get actually  a signed Christmas Cards instead of the mass produced ones I will have my minions make for me.
3. I have changed the settings on my blog so you don't receive emails from me whenever I make a post.  I want followers but I don't want to spam them.  That seems kind of counter productive.
4. My sister has 34 follower and it is a point of contention that she has more.  She has admitted my blog is better in every way but still does not understand why more people don't follow it. 
5. I will give you candy.
6. If you don't want candy I have a van down by the river with puppies in it you could see.
7. My blog will tell you how to get super powers and use them for good or evil depending on your mood.  
8. You will be in the know when people talk about my blog around the drinking fountain at church.  You will be able to say "I was one of the first 30 people who followed his blog.  I cant tell you the many ways his writing has changed my life...some of them even for the better."
9. We have a special introductory offer if you sign up now you only have to pay 8% tithing for the rest of year!
10. We will mail a free kitten to the person of your choice with every new follower.  If you like the person we will overnight the box and cut air holes in it.  If you don't like them we will skip the air holes and send it by ground.  

You have benefits before you all you need to do is Click to become one of the cool kids.  Come on everyone is doing it.  

The rest of the story...how to get removed by the police from sacrement meeting

I have had several facebook requests explaining my last blog post.  So here it is.

About 6 years ago we were having a normal Fast Sunday with sacrament meeting getting ready to start.  I noticed a sister who was less than active and usually had some issue with somebody in the ward walk in.  She had not actually been in the church for about a year so this was a bit odd.  To be fair and without breaking confidences she and I had a really rough history. For example, she got arrested for beating her grandson (this is public record) and I visited her in jail and might have said she looked good in orange.  (Refer to yesterdays post item #10.) 

Back to Sacrament meeting. The first part of the service went as normal songs, prayers and passing of the sacrament.  I was conducting and right after I opened it up to testimonies and she rushed [more like power walked] to the front and was the first speaker.  She said something to the affect of I need to warn you about our bishopric; and then went on a 10 minute rampage of how we had done her wrong.  She covered everything from threatening us bodily harm to, being refused church welfare, me destroying her family and threatening to excommunicate her.   There was some obvious thought and premeditation in her actions and the timing was also not coincidental because she was moving to Portland later that week.  At some point of time she quit speaking to the congregation and started to speak to us by turning and looking at us but making sure to use the microphone.  She then closed in some fashion and power walked out of the chapel.  A couple of brothers followed her out.  (This is really the g-rated version of what happened.  Imagine the worst possible things you could say at this moment of time and you are pretty close to where she was.)

We all just sat there kind of dumb founded…this was not covered in any training the Stake had offered. There was no spirit in the room, people were crying, kids were asking parents what just happened…not a good place to be, at that specific moment in time.  I got up and said that we had just seen a great example of what we should never do sacrament meeting.  Some of the things she had said were true, however most of them were blatant falsehoods.  I then turned the time to my one counselor whom she did not attack personally.  He recommended that we start the meeting over with a new hymn and prayer, which we did. 

But, the fun did not stop there.  Once this sister was out in the foyer, she kept her tirade going.  One of the sisters with her children in the foyer was really upset and called the police.  During the 2nd opening prayer the RS President came and pulled me off of the stand and let me know what was going on.  I grabbed the brothers that followed her out and told them to keep tabs on this situation and asked them to help try to salvage as much of sacrament meeting as we could.  I was back on the stand when the police arrived.  This disruptive sister saw them pull up so she ran back into the chapel and tried to hide by sitting in the middle of the congregation.  The sheriff’s deputies very quietly came in and asked her to come with them.  The members in the foyer gave their report to an officer and he escorted her off of the property and said she could not come back without written permission. 

And now I have a story that tops every other Bishop when we get into the “you would not believe what happened in my ward last Sunday" mode of storytelling.  

Then to top things off, I mean the icing on the cake, she called me and wanted help moving later that week.  I personally did not go, but we did help her move out of the ward. 

Note to self:  Fast and testimony meeting is NOT open mic night...or is it?

Things I learned as Bishop

I posted this list on my blog several years ago and it came up in conversation recently.  I thought I would post it again several of these were reinforced in the past few months as scoutmaster.

1. Young men consider throwing knives at each others feet and appropriate activity to pass the time.
2. Some members consider "Book of Mormon stories" a racist song.
3. You cant give sisters the priesthood even when they ask for it.
4. Letting people know they are getting a new calling or released usually goes better if they know before it is announced sacrement meeting.
5. It is always a good idea to have a plan B when the youth are in charge of cooking on a camp out.
6. Girls camp different than boys.  When an small animal is found they run screaming away from it.  Boys run screaming towards it with clubs and knives drawn.
7. When giving approval to the young men to build a fire, size, location and fuel all need to be specified.
8. The most memorable combined activities involve the police showing up with guns drawn.
9. Its better to confess your own transgressions than those of other ward members.
10. When people are in your office crying, laughter is not always the best medicine.
11. You know fast and testimony has gone horribly wrong when the police show up and remove people.

Why did they do that? Why did I do that?

I often sit back and watch people and wonder what were they thinking?  I also look at old photos of myself and say what was I thinking?  This applies to fashion, some of the people I dated, some of the things that I did...and lived through.  In the 13th section of the Doctrine and Covenants it says one of the blessings of the Aaronic Priesthood is the administering of angels.  The older I get the more I am convinced that these are guardian angels whose sole job is to keep teenage boys alive.  I do not know a single adult man that does not have a story where they should have been killed as a teenager.  I am not talking doing heroic types of things to save others.  Oh know I am talking doing really stupid things because in a teenage boys brain the laws of physics, good judgment and common sense simply don't exist.  There are entire websites and TV shows devoted to capturing these moments on film for posterity.  It is not my goal to encourage this behavior but I would like to give parents home that you are not alone.  All of the following examples are things that I was either a witness to, participated in or had a 2nd person verify they are true.

• This one is a favorite.  One of my cousins who went to a predominantly Hispanic populated school (over 80% Mexican) on career day dressed up as a border patrol officer.  I was told he got called to the principles office and sent home.  It might have been because his brother was also dressed up as an illegal alien.

• I was with a family member who was working in an apple orchard and this really low (a couple of hundred yards off the ground)  flying military transport plane flew over head on a training flight.  They had done this 6-7 times that morning and he got tired of it so he got out his 22 rifle and put 4-5 shots into the plane.  It immediately started to climb and it was not 20 minutes and there were police, military cars the works crawling all over that hill. 

• While was on a camp out as a boy one of the older scout wanted to show me how pine pitch (sap) burned really well and was a great fire starter.  So he walked over to a tree and lit some of it on fire.  Of course it was on the tree, it sent the whole tree up in flames.  2 hours later we got the fire under control.

• While on a scout outing as boy our Scoutmaster set up a zip line with a hand held pulley.  We climbed the hill side and spent hours sliding down this rope.  There was a small pine sapling that was in front of the large tree the rope was tide to at the bottom of the run.  We would hit this sapling every time we came down the rope.  One of the scouts got tired of it so he cut it down.  Our Scoutmaster said you should probably not do that.  The scout made some comment about killing a live tree and kept cutting.  He ran to the top of the zip line and came flying down and smacked hard into the tree the line was tied to.  Our scoutmaster chose that spot because the sapling acted like a brake.  As the scout laid on the ground hurt and bleeding the scoutmaster sat there drinking hot chocolate and said you probably should not have cut that tree down. 

• When I was in the 5th grade we had a Saturday afternoon BBQ.  The food was done and I wanted to cook marshmallows.  However the fire was not hot enough so I took a gallon of gas and dumped a bunch on the hot coals.  It started to smoke heavily so I tossed in a match.  The fumes exploded and I got burned really bad.  My face started to blister and my parents called the ambulance.  I woke up  in the hospital a few hours later.  I was in face and chest bandages for weeks.  I also got to miss the last 6 weeks of school that year.

• When I was a kid on my grandparents Dairy they had a bull that was so mean they bolted a metal plate to his horns to cover his eyes so he had to lift his head to see.  This prevented him from charging and made him safer to be around.  My uncle (with children) told us not to mess with the bull.  My uncle (with no children) showed us how to run up to the bull beat on the metal plate and run.  He was very clear that you don't run in a straight line you have to zigzag or all 2000 pounds of angry bull will tear you apart. 

These are just a few items that I am aware of there are many more that I will take to my grave and my children shall never hear of.  I don't want them trying to duplicate what I did.  I want them to come up with their own unique ways of doing stupid things.  It is really part of growing up. 

The best way to campaign for a new church calling

There are 2 schools of thought when it comes to getting a new calling.

1. I want released from my current calling because I don't like it.
2. I want a specific calling because I like it and it is really easy for me. 

When I served as Bishop there was a sister that came to me about every 3-4 months and let me know that her calling was not working out for her.  We discussed it and it always came down to the same conversation.  She wanted this other calling that she had held for years previously that was easy for her and would require much less effort than she was currently having to put forth.  We discussed it and as a general rule she left the office with her original calling and a little bit disappointed.  She would then spend the next few months coming up with new and varied reasons why she should have the other calling. The funny thing about this was if she would have put the same effort into her calling that she spent trying to get out of it she would have been amazing.

I have thought about a multi staged approach to get the calling that you want.  In most cases a direct approach to the Bishop and state that you want to be X does not work.  However in there are a few cases where this is exactly what you should do for instance nursery leader, scouting anything or ward mission leader.  I often refer to these as run for cover callings.  They take a very specific person to do well and in most cases that person knows who they are.  Then there are callings that people want because there is not a lot of return and report involved.  Ward magazine rep, bulletin boards, ride coordinator, assistant to the assistant of anything these are jobs that are given in special or limited ability circumstances.  So trying to get one is usually pretty tough. 

Now if you want to be a Sunday school teacher or primary teacher they are much easier to get.  For a couple of reasons.  The first being there are lots of positions to fill and 2nd there is a high level of turnover.  Understanding the organization chart is key.  You don't go to the Bishop or his counselors and straight up ask.  You go to the primary president or Sunday school president and volunteer to be a substitute.  Then the next week you go to their counselors and do the same.  Then you go to the teachers in these organization and find the one that is gone a lot and volunteer to substitute for them.  This process should take about a month. You will get to sub a few times and your face becomes familiar to them in this position.

The next step you need to get the Bishopric involved but not directly.  It is a little known secret that Bishopric does not have any friends.  This is because everyone is either mad at them or afraid to talk to them because you might become the next nursery leader.  So invite one of them over for dinner or Family Home Evening.  Make sure you teach the lesson so they can see your amazing teaching skills and talk about how much you loved serving as a primary or Sunday school teacher.  Make sure to include a couple of inspirational stories from previous experience.

Now the stage is set for phase 3 you need to start slacking off in your current calling.  Nobody wants to make a change if you are doing well.  So let your performance slide just enough to get the job done but not enough to exclude be considered for something else.  However if you are a scouting anything or nursery leader you pretty much have to lose a child before you will get released.  So plan a hike in an area where you know search and rescue are very active.

Stage 4 this is the kicker.  Find the ward clerk and executive secretary and let them know through casual conversation that you are experiencing burn out and would really like a change of pace.  They attend bishopric meeting and when your name gets submitted by the primary presidency for a teacher.  The Bishopric will talk about your amazing teaching abilities and your past experience.  Then the ward clerk and executive secretary will weigh in and let them know how you are looking for a change.  Boom you have a new calling.

Now the only kicker to this is that whole revelation thing.  The Bishop has it and Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.  You might get exactly what you want sort of.  You will get called to the Primary just like you want except it wont be in the nice 8-9 year old class it will be in the demon possessed 4 year old class with 15 kids and no assistant teacher.  You got what you asked for now you get to live with it.  So before you go down this path you might want to consider that new experiences and a calling you are currently in would be amazing if you forgot yourself and went to work. 

Is it wrong to hold someone accountable for their job?

I had an experience earlier this month that reminded me why people should really love what they do for work.  I have been blessed over the course of my lifetime to have some really cool jobs.  I make it a point to only take jobs with flexible schedules, a fair amount of travel and long term goals.  This gives you the opportunity to integrate your job into your lifestyle and be successful at both.  Having proper balance is something that I truly believe in.  I really enjoy what I do now as a high school recruiter for a tech college and love to see the positive change in kids lives when they get an education. 

The other day I was at my sons middle school getting some information to get my him started in track.  I was picking him up to take him to the doctor to get a physical.  I asked the person at the front desk for a copy of the physical forms.  She said "they are online."  I said "I am going to the doctor now could you please print them."  She said "this is not my computer.". I said "I can wait."  She said "I cant leave the front desk but you could go home and print them."  I said "I don't have time could you send one of your student aids to get the documents that this note from your office says I need to pick up at the front desk (I then showed her the note)."  She was visibly put off by this.  She said "the doctors offices have copies of the forms."  I said "are you 100% sure of that to the point if they don't you or the school would be willing to pay for a follow up appoint if they don't?"  She did not answer that question then she stood up walked 5 steps to a shelf and dug through a file and produced a copy of the documents I needed.  I was completely calm during this exchange and made it a point to make sure my body language and tone where clear this was her problem.  Mainly because her office sent home the note with the instructions on it.  If I did not have the note I would have backed down in the beginning.

I am not sure how to take this.  I have 3 lines of thought.  The first, I am a rude jerk and should have just gone home to print out the papers online and been late for the doctors  appointment.  Two the lady at the desk was really out of her element and did not know what to do and going to that file was a hail Mary that paid off.  Three she was used to dealing with middle school aged kids and is never called to task and able to deflect what should be done on a regular basis.  Whatever the case may be I got the paperwork, It has caused me to reflect and in the future I think I will call the school to verify the notes they send home are actually accurate.  Or maybe just be nice and go home and print the papers out there.  What do you think I should have done?

Have you ever done something that seemed like a good idea at the time?

Have you ever done something that seemed like a good idea at the time?  Then you get far enough into it that you realize, "Hey.  Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?"  Let me give you a few examples of what I am talking about:

• "Let's pull an all-nighter".  In what world is this fun?  I have stayed up all night with friends and it is a great time until about 2:00am then it tends to unravel.  That does not even take into consideration the total waste of the next day.  It never fails on family outings, scout camps, or any other youth gathering someone will recommend it and someone else will try to join in.  Ya good luck with that.

• Lets do a  25 day blog challenge.  It was fun for about 4 days after that it was like someone was scratching fingernails on the chalkboard of my soul.  Not a squeak with a piece of chalk but a long, slow scratch that never seemed to end.  The one we just completed was especially bad because it required a YouTube video everyday.  Not a lot of room to comment on something like that.

• You should go on a 50 mile hike.  I love scouting.  I love camping.   But the whole 50 mile hike thing I have never been able to wrap my head around.  Why would you walk 50 miles for the purpose of walking?  I have been a scout leader going on 12 years and have never done one of these.  I have gone 50 miles by canoe, raft, bike, car, and sailboat, but never on foot.  I will be doing my first this summer because someone in the troop wants to.  What exactly was I thinking when I agreed to this?

•  Let's put tile in the bathroom and we can do it ourselves.  Well lucky for me I no longer own that house.  Tile is a lot harder than it looks to lay down.  The bathroom looked good when we were done except for that one loose tile in the middle of the floor that everyone steps on.  I realized I was in over my head about the time I tore the vinyl floor out and was committed to put something new down.

• Lets make napalm.  What could go wrong there?  Without going into too many details it did actually work and it was completely awesome and I will never give out the recipe and I realize I used "and" 4 times in this sentence.  However, when we lit it off we didn't consider the size of the fireball, the black smoke, or the secondary fire.  All in all we are lucky no one died or was hurt.  But the incoming tide washed away all of the evidence by morning. 

• Posting online that you have made napalm.  Who will find out?  Not my kids because they never read my blog.  However some of their friend's parents do so I am sure someone will sell me out.  Just for the record I was 23 when I did it so it was safe and I was a responsible adult.

• Eating Balut.  Lets take a fertilized duck egg, incubate it for 13-19 days, boil it then eat it.  Who comes up with this stuff?  And who in the heck thought it was a good idea to eat it?  The first time I puked.  After that it got easier.  In fact I got to where I actually enjoyed them.  It has been a solid 20 years since I have tried and I don't see myself going back after all of these years.

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•  Blue eye shadow and big hair.  You know who you are and you know what you have done.  Don't make me breakout the 1980's yearbooks.  Luckily I have never fallen into this category.  

Everyone has regrets over doing some not-so-smart things in their life.  I would much prefer to have a regret of doing something that did not work out verses staying locked in my house with the shades drawn all the time living in fear of what could go wrong.    If you never go out and try the 50 mile hike you will never know what you have been missing (or haven't as the case may be).  I have eaten all the parts of the animal you are supposed to throw away.  After eating them it would be OK for you to take my word it is better to throw them away.  Not every part of a chicken tastes good.

Day 25: A song you could listen to all day without getting tired of

There is no such thing as a song you can listen to all day long and never get tired of it.  I do know what I am tired of is writing blog posts about songs.  Dang this 25 days seemed to drag on for ever.  Now I get to write about other items.  I have a list:

• How to behave badly in sacrament meeting and blame it on your children.
• The best way to campaign for a new calling.  I am going to make buttons and posters.
• Bucket list
• Is it a requirement to rearrange furniture every year or so?  I say no my wife says yes and I generally lose.. 
• he countless ways my blog is better than my sisters.  I am up to 4 and still counting
• Great quotes I hear camping with the scouts...I will give you a dollar if you eat that...
• Coming up with names for my power tools
• Yard work projects do we really need to mow the lawn
• Carpet stains, every stain is a story
• Fun things we find lost in our couch
• Rock Chucks and Whistle pigs hibernation ends soon the hunt will be on.
• The great tortilla wars corn vs flour

Oh and there is a song I could listen to all day.  But not the same version.  If there were just one song it would be Under Pressure.  Here are a couple of my favorite arrangements. 

Day 24: A song that you have danced to with your best friend

In high school we made it a point to go to every stake dance we possibly could.  My kids have carried that tradition and arrange their lives around going to dances.  In fact my daughter just drove 500 miles to go to a dance to see some boy named Bingo.  I am not sure what his real name is but that is what I call him.  Why do I call him Bingo, because Sparkey, Goofball, Lonestar, Loserboy and Rico have all been taken.  But I digress.  One of the most fun dances I ever went to was a new years dance in Seattle.  I had friends from Oregon come visit, I had friends from Washington there and it was just a great time.  One of the songs that stuck in my mind from that dance was Tainted Love my Soft Cell.  I danced with this girls named Corey that I thought I liked turns out I didn't but it was still a fun dance.  I would not call her my best friend but it was one of the best dances I ever went to.



I just watched this video for the first time ever.  It is probably a good thing I have never seen it before because video is lets call it an area of opportunity.  Lame would be another word.

Day 23: A song that you cannot stand listening to

This one is easy there are two.  Whenever they come on the radio I change the station.  Usually with my kids yelling at me the whole time.  Then I refer to the music rules of the car:

#1: The driver gets to determine the music.
#2 If the owner of the car is not the driver he can override the driver.  (IE: Dad tells the 16 year old he is changing the station)
#3: If you have any questions refer to rules 1 and 2

These have been handy over the years and like a good recipe or craftsman skill they have also been handed down from one generation to the next.  The true wisdom in these rules not being fully understood by the younger generation until they become the older generation.  These rules are also the reason as a general rule I dont like to be a passenger and prefer to drive my own car.

Owl City: Fireflies

Imagine Dragons: Radioactive

Day 22: A song that someone has sung to you

I get this one sung to me like clock work every March 31.

Day 21: Your favorite Song

I have mentally been done doing the blog challenge about 10 days ago however I made a commitment to finish.  I have noticed the quality of the posts have gone down hill significantly in that time.  By far the most popular post was the post how I dumped a girlfriend with a tape.  Oh and it turns out she does read my blog.  Oops my bad.  You can see that blast from the past here in case you missed it.

I currently don't have a favorite song.  I have had several over the course of my lifetime.  But one song that seemed to stay at the top of my favorite list for about 3 years (2 of that was on my mission while I was in pop culture outer darkness) was a classic (I hate using that word it makes me feel old) by the 80's hair metal band Def Leppard  the song was Pour Some Sugar on mMe.  Which at the time my mother hated because of the content.  I told her the music in her day had the same content.  Then we went down the path with that conversation every parent has with their kids about music in their generation verses the current generation. blah blah blah  Then I had a stroke of genius I found a song with the same content from her generation.  Yes in 1969 The Archies put out the song Sugar Sugar and behold 2 generations were now officially linked. I pointed this out to my Mom and she said they were totally different.  So I will let you decided here are both videos for your listening pleasure.

Day 20: The last song alphabetically on your iPod

This song came out my senior year in high school and had a really stupid video.  However the performance at the grammys was significantly better.  But I could not find that viedo so you are stuck with the original. The last song on my play list is by Billy Joel We didn't stat the fire.

Day 19: The first song on my Ipod

The first song on my play list is actually Amazing Grace by Il Dvo but I listed that in a post a couple of days ago.  The next song is by Pink off of her Playhouse Album Ave Mary A.

Day 18: A song that you love but rarely listen to

Most of the songs that I rarely listen to are songs that I loved when I was younger and have since learned the meaning to all the words.  Hence I dont listen to them anymore.  Ignorance really is bliss.  I try to shoot for bliss on a daily basis and frankly hit it more often than I would like to admit.

Other songs I really loved and then played them to death so I don't love them anymore.  I might even have negative feelings towards a few of them.  With iTunes if I have a song I like it is really easy to just add it to my phone and be able to play it whenever I want.  But I heard this song on a campout a few months ago when of the other leaders had it on his Ipod and I thought I needed to buy it, however I completely forgot about it until right now. The song is Iko Iko.

Day 17: A song that makes you want to dance

There is a lot of great music now but not much of it makes wants me to get up and shake my money maker.  However when I hear this song I do tend to move more than I normally would.  I think the founders of rock and roll figured out.

Chubby Checker The Twist




I think part of my feelings towards this song come from when I was little.  My mom taught us how to twist in the living room.  We could not quite get it so she gave us each a towel and told us to pretend we were polishing our behind and low and behold we learned the twist.  Good times...

Day 16: A song that made you cry

I am not what you would call and emotional person.  In fact on more than one occasion by more than one person I have been referred to as a robot when it comes to feelings.  When your kids fall they have a mother to take care of them.  More than once I have had injured children walk past me to find their mom .  Apparently rub some dirt on it and walk it off is not the cure to everything.  I did take Harmon to the grocery store once with a split lip so i could buy some superglue to close it up.  He has a sweet scare from that little adventure.  It is probably something I should work on however I am not sure I want to.  There are two pieces of music that do tend to make my eyes water a little bit.

One Day More from Les Mis

The other song is Amazing Grace performed by Il Divo

Day 15: A song you love singing along to

When we travel we do it to music. When I say we I mean me the wife and kids.  We turn the volume up louder than we probably should and start head banging.    We generally create a play list that works for everyone it is very close if not the same as the one we listen to when we clean the house.  We all know the songs and have no problem belting them out.  My daughter Payton has a super power of being able to listen and remember songs.  She can listen to them once or twice on the radio and have the lyrics down.  She can also understand what they are saying however thankfully on most times she does not understand the meaning of what they are saying.  It is tons of fun for me to see her in the rear view mirror rapping or belting out some song just because she likes it. 

There are two songs that the whole group gets excited to sing to

I Gotta feeling by the Black Eyed Peas.  Today is the first day I ever saw this video and it is a strong reminder why we don't have TV at our house.  After I watched half of it I decided not to post it. 

The other song is Waka Waka by Shakira

Day 14: A song that reminds you of your wife

When Rhonda and I were dating we decided we needed a song.  I am not sure why or how but we selected one together it was off of a new album I had just purchased by Rod Stewart.  The album was "spanner in the works"  it was one if his less known and less popular productions however I truly loved it and still listen to it.  The song that we selected was track #5.  I am surprised I still remember that.  I went and checked to make sure, and I was correct.  I am not going crazy yet...but give sometime you never know what can happen.  The song is simply called "This" and it makes me happy to listen to.  I like her lots, you never know we may even decide to make this relationship thing permanent.

Day 13: A song that reminds you of a former friend

Enough said

Day 12: The last song you heard

When I saw this post topic I was not sure what to do.  Should I listen to a song on purpose so I can write about it, or should I do just listen to the radio or something else?  I chose something else.  I went to my iTunes library to where all the songs are listed hit random them play.  I then decided to write about the first song that came up.  We have over 32 gigs of music.  It would take about a month listening 24 hours a day to work your way through it.  So I figured it was a safe bet.  I was wrong.  Have you ever had a song that was a guilty pleasure at the time and saw the error of your ways but still don't have the nerve or desire to delete it.  That's where this song by Billy Ray Cyrus comes in.  But don't tell me about tell it to my achy breaky heart.

 

Day 11: A song on the soundtrack of your favorite movie

I am a slacker.  I forgot to do this last night so todays post is lame.  At one time Armageddon was my favorite movie, I watched it all the time.  It had a great sound track as well. 

Aerosmith, I don't want to miss a thing

Day 10: A song by your favorite band

This one is harder than I thought it would be.  I have different favorite bands or performers depending on what stage of my life I am thinking about.  In high school my albums of choice were Poison's "Look what the Cat dragged in", Van Halen's "5150" or Def Leopards "Hysteria".  Later after my mission I went through an Erasure phase and when I met my wife it started the country music portion of my life.  Since then I have moved through Rascal Flats, Matchbox 20 and right now my favorite artist by far is Pink.  But I think the song that best sums me up was a band that had amazing vocal abilities however they could not dance to save their lives.  They tried and tried but that was not their strength.  Their strength were amazing dance beats and an incredible new sound that won them a grammy for new artist of the year.  I loved them so much this was the very first CD I bought in December 1989.  After I bought the album it came out they actually did not really sing their own music.  So my favorite band in that period of my life could not sing or dance.  Yes you guessed it I am speaking about Milli Vanilli.

I am including two videos from this time in my life.  One of Milli Vanilli performing their #1 hit "Baby don't forget my number".  After I selected this song I watched the video and I was honestly shocked at how bad it was.  I am talking Junior High drama club with no practice bad.  It was embarrassing to watch and even more embarrassing to admit that I once liked it.  Even all those years ago I remember thinking this is really not that polished.  I have also included a comedy skit from the TV show "In living Color" mocking Milli Vanilli and their dance skills or lack there of.

Day 9: A song that makes you hopeful

I love the holiday season and all the joy it brings to our family and loved ones.  The holiday songs instill hope charity and love to all of Gods children.  They sing about peace on earth and goodwill to man.  It can't help but bring a tear to your eye.  Here is one song that gives me more hope than any of the others.

This post should make me the sure fire winner for the son-in-law of the year award.

Day 8: A song that reminds you of your first love

It was the 2nd grade in Mrs. Williams class at Meridian Primary School,  Jenny James and I would go to lunch and them play together at recess, she even kissed me on the merry go round...I was a player.  We were like two ships passing in the night.  Only we also went to church together and our families went to dinner together what seemed like every week.  We were less like ships passing in the night and more like trains on the same track being told where to go by our parents.

I would go over to her house and she had this big poster of Sean Cassidy in her bedroom.  There was an ongoing argument who was better Sean Cassidy or Elvis Presley.  I would say he is the King of Rock and the rebuttal would be Sean Cassidy is the Prince of Rock.  Well a king is higher than a prince therefor I win.  Elvis Presley is dead, Sean Cassidy is going to be way bigger than he ever was.  It has been 34 years I think Elvis might have won that particular contest.  I did not realize it until I started writing this post that Sean Cassidy actually sang disco so he was never the prince of anything except for maybe bell bottom pants and platform shoes. There was one song that she played over and over and it was not even his song he sampled it from the all girl group The Crystals.  Here it is in all its mirrored ball, satin pants and feathered hair glory.  Is it me or does this dude look a lot like Justin Bieber.

 

 

Gina's blog (aka puke fest per her husband)

 

Dedra's Blog 

Day 7: A song that reminds you of the past summer

I am going to go back a few years for this one.  When Rhonda and I were first married we lived in Silverdale WA and I commuted to work to Tacoma WA.  It was about a 40 mile drive.  We needed to save money to move to Georgia, so I had to take a 2nd job.  I ended up delivering pizzas for Pizza Hut in Tacoma.  It was one of the most fun jobs I have ever had.  I got to buzz around the hood in my little Honda CRX slinging pizzas at all the gang bangers.  I worked in the hilltop area and for those of you not familiar with Tacoma when you hear about a drive by shooting or violent crime it is most likely in hilltop.  I got off work at my day job about 6:00pm and worked until midnight at The Hut. We were not allowed to deliver to a big chunk of the area after dark as a precaution to prevent us from getting robbed.    In Puget Sound during the summer and the sun stays out until about 10:00.  It is also a really well kept secret the weather in Seattle in the summer is fabulous.  I would drive around dodging bullets, hiding from drug dealers trying not to get car jacked all in 30 minutes or less to insure your pizza was hot and fresh.

I remember one song in particular that the radio station seemed to play every 20 minutes. It just seemed to ooze summer time fun like stuffed crust oozes cheese.  I would drive down 6th avenue with my arm out the window trying not to make eye contact with anyone just jamming to the radio.

Ginas BLog

Dedra's Blog

Day 6: A song that reminds you of your best friend

Just for the record my wife is my best friend.  There are a couple of blog post to come that will cover her and music.  So I am dedicating this song to my guy friends.  I have been blessed with many great friends in my life time.  But when I think of friends and it comes to music there are two songs that automatically come to mind.  I am not sure why these two or so deeply ingrained but here they are.

Ryan Brunson and I served our missions together in Philippines.  We lived in a house in Sa Pang Palay Bulacan.  It was a really big house that doubled as the chapel for the branch we had the privilege to open for the church.  It was an awesome experience.  The first Sunday there we had 8 members 4 of whom were missionaries.  Two months later we had close to 80 people attending every week.  The music was played by a member who brought his guitar.  He played along to the hymns while the members sang.  After the block Ryan picked up his guitar and started to play a rift that only I recognized.  I came out from the other side of the house and asked who was playing the music.  He said it was him, I didn't know he played the guitar until that moment in time and I asked him to play it again.  He did and that song will forever be ingrained in my mind as an almost church song...almost. 

You have to remember when we went our our missions Hair Metal was still really big and I really liked it.  There were some real signs of withdrawal I had to work through.

Robert Judd  performed a classic Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire" with his family at a ward talent show 4 years ago.  I recorded it for posterity and all of his co-workers. In all that time it has only received  176 views not exactly going viral but it is still fun to watch.

 

 

Gina's Blog

 

Dedra's Blog

Day 5: A song that is often stuck in your head

I have one song that I cannot stand to listen to because when it is over I cant shake it. When this little bugger gets its claws into me sit back and enjoy the ride because it is going to be there for days.  The simple fact that I have to write about it will probably cost me hours of peace and quiet in the days to come.  Have you ever seen a picture of those sucker fish that latch onto sharks as they go through the water.  That is what this song does to my soul it slowly sucks the life out of me.  When Barney the purple dinasour sings the song that never ends or his other "I love you, you love me..."  it is childs play compared to this song.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Gina's Blog

Dedra's Blog

Day 4: A song that calms you down

I read the title of this day and I thought "What song calms me down?".  Nothing came to me.  I asked my wife "What song calms me down?' she said "Your never calm. You use music to go the other way."  It is true when I want to slow things down around the house I turn the music off.  If the song is going to slow I advance to the next one.

I did make a commitment to do this blog challenge thing so I dug deeper into the recesses of my soul.  When I was younger I used to try to sleep with the radio on so when it would go off in the morning as an alarm clock I could sleep through it.  A brilliant plan I know. Even now when I travel on airplanes I get my seat put on my sunglasses and headphones turn on some music and fall asleep.  Growing up in a family with 8 kids the ability to sleep through noise has been a real blessing.  It is something that has served me my entire life.

I had a tape I went to sleep with it playing.  I would start it at the beginning of whatever side did not need rewinding.  Here are the first songs one if from side A the other is from side B.  Who does not love a little FYC and Men without Hats.


Side A

Side B

 

Dedra's Blog

Ginas Blog

Day 3: A song that reminds you of one or both of your parents

 There was always music playing in our home as I grew up.  When we moved to Dundee, Oregon the house had a stereo intercom system built-in and we could pipe music through the entire house...and we did.  We worked to music, studied to music, family members played and created their own.  Even now when it is time to work who ever is closest to the computer fires up iTunes and starts the "Housework" playlist.

My parents have very different tastes in music.  Dad was a little bit country and Mom was a little bit rock-n-roll.  My parents divorced when I was 2 years old.  They remarried each other a few years later.   Weird, I know.  During this time my Mom was in her 20's and still liked going out so she would practice dancing in the living room and we would get to dance with her.  I learned at a very young age I was not blessed with rhythm or a natural dancing ability.  She would play the same 45 record over and over and over.  The Bay City Rollers.  The hit "Saturday Night."  We would dance all day long to it.  As we got older it was still a treat to hear.  As I was writing this blog my oldest daughter just walked by and heard this song and randomly said "I hate that song.  It drives me crazy".  She is from the shallow end of the gene pool.

 

The song that reminds me of my Dad is one I don't hear very often.  During this same time in my life my Dad was a long haul truck driver and at times we got to ride in his truck.  He had these two briefcases full of cassette tapes he carried around with him.  I would ask to listen to the song about the alligator.  I didn't know the name of it, but I still loved it.  The song is actually performed by Jonny Horton and is called "The Battle of New Orleans".  At the time my Dad was very accommodating.  He would play the song then rewind it and play it again.  It had to get old for him but it was completely cool to a 3-4 year old.

Gina's Blog

Dedra's Blog

Day 2: A song that reminds you of your most recent ex-boyfriend/girlfriend

OK this is a tough one.  I am going on 18 years of marriage and I had to sit down and think about who my last ex-girlfriend was.  After I figured out who that was I realized we are still friends and I don't want to be a jerk so we are going to skip back a few years before her.  There are two very clear songs that remind me of girls.  One is kind of cute and sweet so I will tell that story.  One is horrible and completely mean so I will tell that story as well.  Just to keep things sort of nice I will leave names out.

There was one girl I dated before my mission I would have totally wanted to date after my mission, however she got married while I was gone.  Bummer for me at the time, but I totally scored big when I got home after my mission and met my wife.  Anyway back to the other girl, we went to some dance (prom or homecoming or something) my senior year and she wore a long red dress.  It looked amazing and I was totally in love.  The last song they played at the dance was by Chris Deburg his one hit "The Lady in Red".  It was a classic love song that he wrote for his wife.  It has been well over 20 years from that dance but whenever I hear that song it makes me smile.  It also makes be totally mad because when she got married on my mission she just sent me a wedding invite as a Dear John.  Ya that really sucked.

The next song is one of those moments I cannot apologize for enough.  I know the girl this is about does not read my blog so I'm going to take a gamble and tell this story.  We were dating and it was going along fine.  I was completely content going out to movies and dances and keeping nice and casual.  She wanted to go steady, or exclusive, or something like that and it did not work for me.  I said, "no let's just keep things how they are" and then she went a bit crazy-psycho-clingy.  So much for the casual let's just-have-fun thing.

I did not know what to do so I asked advice from my friends (never do that by the way).  I decided to end it with her.  Not in a nice or kind way say by text or email.  No, those wern't invented yet and I didn't have that much class.  Instead I sent her a note that contained a tape with one song on it.  The note said "Dear _______,  Take the hint.  Love Ryan".  I did not speak to this girl for almost 15 years after this happened.  It took her that long to get over the initial rage.  To say I deserved it would be an understatement.  Teenage boys are really insensitive jerks, and frankly I was their king.  The song is by Dead or Alive and is called "Brand New Lover".  I found a copy of the video that has the lyrics too.  You don't get the full effect of what I did until you listen to the words.  Yes I deserve every cruel comment and thought you think of me when you watch this video.  Boys are really jerks.

Dedra's Blog

Gina's Blog

Day 1: A song from my childhood

This is the first of a 25 day blog challenge that 2 of my sisters and I are doing together.  We have agreed to post to our blogs at the same time and not discuss our blog post in advance.  We also agreed to make sure that their is a link to the song we are talking about so it does not become some sort of inside joke.

In 1985 one of the greatest movies of all time came out.  I was only 13 years old but even at that young age I new this was a classic to rival Citizen Kane (which was totally boring), The Wizard of Oz (completly scared me and I still refuse to watch it),  and Gone with the Wind (3 hour long temper tantrum of a really high strung chick).  The movie I am taking about is TOP GUN!  It has  been almost 30 years and it is as good now as it was when it first came out.  I had a VHS tape that I had a copy of Top Gun and Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure on.  I would get home from school and pop that thing into the VCR and watch it every day.  I would sit on the couch with it playing in the background as I did my home work.  The funny thing is my sister had her own VHS tape with the movie musical Grease on it.  If  I left the living room she would take out my movie and put hers in.  So I alway made sure to go to the bathroom first and bring snacks so I would not have to get off of the couch.

The title track to that movie is a song called Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins.  The first 6 notes on a keyboard synthesizer are so specific and recognizable anyone who has ever seen the movie or heard the song cant help but smile when they hear it.  So without further delay the song from the single greatest movie of 1985 (Hoosiers pulled a close 2nd).

This movie and song came form a time in my life that was pre digital and pre ipod.  I could only watch it or listen to it at home or at a friends house.  Whenever I hear this song or see the movie it always takes me back to that time in my life.

This is a nod to my sister Heather who had a life long dream of a bunch of cute sailers singing this song to her.  Ya this movie had a little something for everyone.

 

 

Dedras Blog

 

Ginas BLog

25 day Blog Challenge

My sisters and I were talking this week and we decided to do a blog challenge together.  Dedra found one that is the da best and we going to be starting it shortly.  Here is our plan:

We will post the same topic on our different blogs.  You can see mine here.  Dedra's at: http://cheneychattervolume2.blogspot.com/ and Gina's at: http://dreamawaysweetcharade.blogspot.com/

This should be fun.

Nice pet, please don't make me touch it.

We have a cat that came with our house.  The kids named her/him (we are not sure after 18 months) T.S. Elliot.  As she (we have come to refer to it as a her but again we are not totally sure) sits on our back porch or calls from the back door we will on occasion throw the odd scrap to her in order to keep her around.  She is a serious mouser.  She will bring whole or parts of a mouse to the back door for us.  The kids have taken videos of her eating mice and playing with her quarry.

I am not a pet person.  I have never owned a dog, or until now a cat, for more than a week or two.  I have had animals that serve a purpose like cows, chickens, goats, and turkeys.  I don't have that "man's best friend" thing going on.  In fact I go completely the other direction.  Looking at the cat sitting on the back porch it made me think "what kind of cool stuff could they do"?

For instance, can animals wink at you?  Close one eye on purpose to get your attention?  I somehow doubt it but it would be cool to see.  I have seen Stupid Pet Tricks on Late Night with David Letterman so I know they can dance, jump, skate, surf, roll over and play dead.  But what about fold the clothes, clean the bathroom, vacuum the house, wash the car, mow the lawn or something really useful to warrant having to pick up all the little gifts they leave in your yard?  Dogs like to dig.  Could they be taught to weed a garden?  I would pay for a dog like that. 

Whenever I ask these questions of dog owners they look at me like I am smoking something that belongs in Washington or Colorado.  It is then followed up by some comment like "are you kidding?! They are members of the family. I couldn't do that to them!"  I will tell you what as soon as they get a social security number and I can get a tax deduction for them I will consider them a member of the family, until then they are a simple non-contributor.  I had the chance to eat more than one dog on my mission in the Philippines (tasted like goat only greasier).  If I make any reference towards that as a purpose for a dog, I am the heartless one.  What's with that?

Something that I really don't understand are dog people who take their dogs with them everywhere.  To the store, get gas, on their lap while driving, out for a walk with the dog in a stroller, etc...  Then those non-dog loving types like myself are somehow the bad guy when I don't approve.  It has taken years but family knows the animal-friendly-zone ends at my driveway.  Don't bring your critters to leave in your car and don't even think about bringing them into my house.  It is really about boundaries. 

I just read this post and it comes across that I am a total animal hater.  I'm not.  I can appreciate their beauty and acknowledge they are a positive influence in some peoples' lives.  I just like the opportunity to say I don't want them in my life and please don't force them onto me.  If I want to look at, see, touch, or hear your critter, I will let you know.  But until then assume I am good just knowing you have one somewhere, where I am not.

First day in the new ward

Today is the first time we get to go to church after the ward split last week.  We lost over 240 members of our ward and are gaining 50 or so from another.  So our net change is going from well over 500 members to just over 300.  This means that people who have historically sat in the over flow in the Gym are now able to move into the Chapel. 

We get to church about 15-20 minutes before the meeting starts.  There are 2 reasons for this.  One to teach out kids the importants of being on time.  We all have a friend no matter what the event dinner, church, child birth or going to the movies they are going to be late.  We love these friends and we have learned how to manage them over the years.  You lie to them and tell them everything starts 30 minutes earlier than they really do.  Unfortunately, with church they will figure this out and start coming late after a few weeks.  I was in the the bishopric with a brother whose wife was late every week.  We would be on the stand getting ready to start the opening hymn and prayer and she was nowhere to be found. After several weeks of this we started to take bets, or "guesses" on when she would show up.  To his credit it took almost 3 months for him to join in.  Up until them he would always say "no.. I think she will be on time".  If money had been involved I could have totally paid for my kids' college education.

The 2nd reason is that we want a padded bench in the chapel.  One big enough to fit our family and the occational stray our kids pick up from someone else's family.  When I was released from the Bishopric my family had grown in the 6 years I did not sit with them.  We still had 5 kids, however their bodies got bigger and we could no longer all fit onto the same bench when I sat with them... cue fat joke.  My solution was to get to church early and take over the benches other families historically sat in.  A game of who could be displaced and watch the domino effect.  However the peacemaking wife said no.  Sometimes I wonder if she feels like she has 6 kids instead of only 5.  Well that is a conversation for another day.

Back to my original thought of where to sit today.  All the families we normally sit by have been moved to other wards.  I am sure it will take a few weeks for the new territories to be established.  We will likely sit where we always have if for no other reason I can see my deacons and insure they are not messing around before the sacrament. 

The ward splitting aftermath

Well the wards got split and there was more than one surprise.  Two new wards were created and now that I think about it, it was poinient that it fell on Superbowl Sunday.  The one game a year most people watch and everyone has an opinion on what should have happened.  It was a lot like church on Sunday, everyone had an opinion on what should have happened and their opinion in most cases would have directly affected themselves.  Let me give you a few examples of border line comical comments that were heard:

• "I better get my old calling back in my new ward or I am going to be really mad".  OK lets think about this.  Callings are meant to help you grow and learn.  They are given to us from inspired leaders.  Exactly who will you be mad and why?   The Bishop of course because he gets the revelation thing right for everyone except you.  He should really ask you what is the best way to run the ward too.  If he is wrong on your calling I wonder what other things he is missing?

• What does a Seattle fan do when the Superbowl is over?  Stick around and watch the 2nd half of course.

• "What they should have done is put the boundary on the other side of my street so I would  be in the same ward as the ________ family.  That would have worked better for everyone."  Did it ever cross your mind that maybe the boundary was put where it was so that you would not be in the other ward.  Its way better for everyone over there especially the _______ family.

• Someone should let Denver know the Superbowl was Sunday we don't want them to forget to show up...oh wait.

• "I am surprised the Brother_______ was not made a Bishop.  He would have been a much better choice".  The funny thing about leadership is that there are only so many spots.  It is a mathematical impossibility for every able person to be the Bishop or Relief Society President.  We can be disappointed by this or breath a sigh of relief.  The same thing holds true to nursery leader, scout master or ward mission leader.  Those are some duck and cover callings that you run when you see coming.  However they all prepare us for something different.  And frankly anybody who aspires to a stake or "high" ward calling it is my prayer they get it.  The fun should end right after the first high council or ward council meeting. 

• Did you hear they had a football game at the Bruno Mars concert last week?

• "Well I will just go to my old ward instead.  I know all the people and it is much better for me".  WOW this one is my favorite.  Lets think this through.  Our Stake presidency spent over a year on these changes, sent them to be approved by the first presidency (I heard one or two of them are prophets or something like that) then spent countless hours after that calling and planning new leaders.  During which time many of the stake members probably came up at least once or twice by name.  Not to mention your old Bishop was doing the happy dance when he saw what side of the line your house fell on.  So after all of that your going to go back?  Then claim (this part comes in a few weeks) that your changing back to your old ward is inspired.  OK because none of that went on until now I guess.

• "If they try and release me I won't let them".  OK let me know how that works out.  OH wait the Stake president did it already.  Coolest thing ever.  He stood at the pulpit and said if your ward boundary has changed you are released.  Not a lot of room to ask questions in that particular interview.  I was smiling inside when he said it because it made me think of the person who said the earlier comment.  My wife would not let me go to them and ask a follow up about how keeping their calling was going.

These may come across as cynical or a bit callous and to be honest they probably should.  Change is a huge part of life.  I still hear people talking about the old 2nd ward split that happened 8 years ago like there is something that should be done now.  Well something has been done.  The church is growing and new units have been created.  Has anyone looked at a map or a calendar and figured out if we keep growing like this in 3-5 years there is a strong possibility of 2 Middleton Stakes?  Now that will twist a lot of knickers. Nothing but good times for those of us who like change and enjoy watching others get spun up about things they have absolutely no control over.  I will just pop a batch of popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show.

Amazing things my children say

Kids say the craziest things.  Sometimes its funny and other times it wise beyond their years.  Here are a few of the nuggets of wisdom that have fallen out of my kids mouths recently:

Parent: You need to get the laundry done
Child:  Why do I have to do it?
Parent: Its all your clothes
Child: That's not fair, Harmon already did all his he should have to do my too.


Dad you need to do something about your car it smells like fart.


Parent:  Its 10:30 and you have school tomorrow
Child: But you said I could play video games for 15 minutes
Parent: You are grounded from video games
Child: You should have thought about that before you said I could play

                                  Later that night different kid  11:00

Parent: Why are you still up?
Child: I can't sleep
Parent: Have you been to bed yet?
Child: No
Parent: Do you think that might be part of the reason you cant sleep?
Child: I don't know I hadn't thought about it
Parent: GO TO BED NOW!

                               later that night different kid  11:20

Parent: Why are you still up?
Child: Mom and Dad I forgot to do my homework.
Parent: Why are you only telling us that now?
Child: I forgot, it will only take 10 minutes.


Dad if you only trimmed one eye brow people would think you are always winking at them.

If we can train the goats to not eat the good plants could they weed the garden instead of us?

Ice fishing...this is fun?

The first of the month I took 3 of my kids to a youth ice fishing event at Horse Thief  Reservoir.  The weather was windy and raining hard.  Water pooled on top of the ice so we were standing in puddles.  We had chairs so when the rain hit our water proof coats it rolled down our jackets and pooled into our chairs.  We are on the ice for about 90 minutes and caught no fish.  It is really my fault I have an anti-fish catching gene.  It has been passed on to my children and they are relegated to suffer from it all of the days of their life.  Bummer for them.  However I continue to try and catch fish.  I have caught crab, shrimp and clams.  I have even caught a few small fish in the mountains last fall.  However when I go on back packing trips and the expectation is we will eat fish for part of our food.  I either bring a highly experienced fisherman or additional food.  This plan has always seemed to work for me.   Here are a few photos from our ice fishing trip (take note no one is hold up a fish)

I always like to take a picture at the beginning of events like ice fishing, yard work, backpacking, or surgery while people are still happy and really not 100% aware of what is coming.

His bait came off of the hook and floated to the hole at this point of time he asked if we were having fun yet and if we could go home.  Approximately 30 minutes after we arrived and that is on top of the 2 hour drive.

She is having fun and actually got a strike but failed to land it.  I blame her fishing genes.  They obviously came from the shallow end of the gene pool.

Reganns chair is full of water and she was wearing a cotton shelled work jacket.  Very warm until it gets wet.  After we did get into the car she was down to a t-shirt, tights and bare feet for the ride home.

Selfy with me and the oldest kid on the ice.  Some day I hope to be there when someone shows my children how to catch a fish.