14 Years

Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life……

Love gives us a fairy tale.

Happy Anniversary Sweets!

Sugar Daddy

The following conversation took place today:

Mom: “Tanner how was school today?”

Tanner: “It was good….except for all the gurls”

Mom: “Girls what do you mean? What did the girls do?”

Tanner: “Well, I took my wallet to school today…..and when I pulled it out all the gurls wanted to sit by me.”

Parent’s Teenager Problem:

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an Envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad.' 
With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter:

Dear Dad: 

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it' s not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant. Stacy said that we will be very happy.She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for 
ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. 
In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it. Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. 
Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love, 

Your Son John 

PS. 

Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a Report card That's in my center desk drawer. 

I love you. 
Call me when it's safe to come home. . . .

Like Water Under the Bridge…….

I love this shot! I love that Carver is jumping off the top of the car with a smile on his face. I love Chad’s expression, Taylor with the hula hoop………..Zachie soaking wet from just jumping in……….the “no trespassing” warning on the bridge….I love everything about this shot. This one below isn’t bad either.

Dust off your Shoes

Running shoes. Check
Headlamp. Check
Bread Crumbs (to lure a Bigfoot home). Check.

Just reminding everyone about the Bigfoot night run at Wolf Mtn. Sept. 3rd at 9 pm. You can register at the race to run in the steps of Sasquatch.
Be there. Be scared.
See you there!!!

The trail is going to be amazing.

4th.

There is something about home town parades that brings a community together. On the morning of the fourth an old time version of the Star Spangled banner was blaring from the outdated sound system at Huntsville park. The anthem’s melody mingled with voices greeting each other and squeals of excited children eagerly anticipating the day’s festivities.  Local men dressed in aprons cooked pancakes and sausage on large griddles. The breakfast smells mingled with smell of dewy grass and pine trees. The hum of the park coming alive kept tune with the distinct clip clop beat of horse hooves walking on asphalt. Young girls, with dreams of rodeo queens (wearing cowgirl hats a size too big), were guiding  horses toward the parade route. Followed quickly behind a young man riding barefoot on an undecorated lawn mower. Children, dressed in red, white and blue, were chasing each other across the park lawn in an impromptu game of tag while their families were scurrying to set up carnival games. Not far from me, Veterans in Uniform, were taking great care in discussing last minute details in preparation for the morning flag ceremony. It was a scene out of a movie and I had the feeling that all was right in the world.  There are some things that large scale and big money productions can’t manufacture…...the charm and reverie of a traditional small town fourth of July celebration. Here are some photos of my Favorite day of the year.

    

At Last.

Summer afternoon…….

 

summer afternoon;

 

To me…………

Those have always been…………

Two of the most…………

Beautiful Words…………

 

in the English language.

The bros with their cousins Middlefork, Utah. June 2011

20 years

Another day older another day wiser.

Surfer Boy had his 20 year high school reunion……..I forgot to take my camera so I pulled some pictures off Facebook. It was a fun evening of stories and friends and I couldn’t help but wonder who will show up for the WHS class‘96 in 5 years.  (I am going to start investing in Botox NOW….so I am ready……ha!ha!)

A little group photo outside of Timbermine

Chad, Lindsey and Dean. They don’t look a day over 38 don’t you think?

Chad, Kel and Brenda….(not sure what happened to my hair in this pic it looks like a throw back to the ‘80’s)

Don't Feed Da Bears

The following took place in Ogden Canyon today about 12:15 pm:

"Turn around Grandpa, I just saw a bear!" Taylor shouted.

"I bet it was just a dog."

"No, it was a bear....I swear......TURN AROUND!"

Grandpa Greg, being the loving grandpa that he is, spun around to let everyone in the car get a glimpse of this rare breed of dog.......

It was just across the road from The Alaskan Inn.

Screwed

 

These are the lovely knees I married.

Proud Parent moment #1232

Today during sacrament meeting my neighbor asked Tanner to draw a picture of him. Tanner jumped at the chance and proceed to draw a sweet picture of his face. I thought at the time, “what a great thing……this will keep Tanner occupied for a while.” Tanner gave him the master piece that he had created and my neighbor kindly complimented Tanner on his artistic abilities. Below is a a drawing similar to what Tanner created.

 Tanner, being reinforced by the kind words of everyone telling him he was amazing at drawing, continued to doodle on some available paper. I wasn’t paying much attention to him until I saw him hand my neighbor another drawing over the back of the church bench. After he had handed it off…. I got a glimpse of this…...

Tanner beaming and grinning from ear to ear over his talent whispered enthusiastically to me, “It's a picture of him peeing!”

***Heaven Help. I couldn’t look the Bishop in the eye the rest of the meeting knowing that my family was distributing explicit images while he held court from the stand.

3

They say that bad things come in groups of three. I am hoping that number is correct and not a miss calculation.

 

#1. Tanner vs. sea shell.

 

#2. Chad vs. the Mountain

#3. Snowboarder vs. Zach (really snowboarder plowing over him)

Here’s hoping that 3 is the real number.

Times are a changing

 

I went to the dentist office yesterday………and I started laughing because, you know your life has changed when you think, “sweet I get to put my feet up while they work in my mouth!” It felt so good to “put my feet up” that I didn’t even take notice of the little instruments that were prodding and probing my teeth and gums. At one point I believe I said, “Laying here reminds me of falling asleep by the side of a pool. You have all this background noise…….that just relaxes you.” Scary huh.

I found this picture and yesterday this is what my heaven looked like. That’s what happens when you work in a severe behavior unit. Your version of heaven gets a little twisted.  

SUPA FAN

One Vintage john stockton jersey: $35.00……………

One small pair of green shorts: $4.00…………….

One bottle of sunscreen for upper thigh area: $6.00……

 

The value of one super fan: Priceless.

 

There are some things money can’t buy.

Carver Booth, Late August 2010. Tour of Utah Cycling Race; Eden, Utah.

Free Falling

 

Carver and Taylor did “i fly” last week. Here are some great shots of the two bros getting ready to fly in the wind tunnel

I am loving the goggles. I have always had a thing for goggles.