December 24

ESPN - OTL: The Worst Year Ever -

A year that will live in infamy! Seattle sports scene made the front page of ESPN.com today…

ESPN - OTL: The Worst Year Ever - E-ticket

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December 23

New Miller Baller in the house!

Austin had his first basketball game on 12/13. He was a bit apprehensive going in as he hadnt played in an ‘official’ game prior to that. He is playing in Des Moines, WA. Parks and Rec league, where his team consists of 3rd and 4th graders. Austin is one of the two 3rd graders on the team. After his first practice, his coach came up to me and said; “Austin is a quick little guy. I like that!”
In his first game, he performed magnificently! He was dashing all over the court and picking pockets left and right. He ended up getting 10 steals during the course of the game. Add to that 8 points and 3 assists, and he filled the box score pretty well for a rookie. :) Looks like it is definitely in the genes!

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December 17

Snow chains

Despite just a light dusting of snow this morning at 5:50, my bus pulled into the park and ride with snow chains on. Yes, they are very precautious in Seattle when it snows. I moved toward the back of the bus as that seemed where most of the open seats were. I soon found out why. As we pulled onto the freeway, the noise from the chains on the back tires was quite deafening. People in the back started moving toward the front to get away from the noise. The freeways were clear for the most part, so there wasnt really a buffer of snow between the chains and the asphalt. I had worn ear-muffs, so I just kept those on and tried to ignore it. About 5 minutes outside of Seattle, the noise abruptly stopped. The chains had broken right off! It was such a relief to my poor ears.

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December 15

Christmas Rush 5K

A couple of months ago I talked with the family about running a 5K in December. They all seemed OK with it, and we started ‘training’ about once a week. When it was warmer, in October, we went down to Redondo beach and walked the boardwalk. Then in November, we started going down to the mall and taking a few laps there. It has been a fun, healthy activity and good to be together with the family. So, on December 13th, we ran (jogged, walked, etc.) our first 5K together. It was called the “Christmas Rush” and was held on the Green River trail. It was quite cold that morning, so we had all bundled up a bit. We got there at about 9:20 and there were people all over the place. We got our bib numbers for myself, LeAnn, Autumn, Austin and Jaylin. They gave us our t-shirts (Which the kids were quite excited about) and then after taking a few pictures and dropping some items back at the car, we headed to the starting line. When the buzzer went off, we tried to stay together, but it was pretty difficult with the crowds. About five minutes in, Austin got antsy and started running ahead of all of us. When Jaylin saw that, she wanted to catch up with him—so we were all bouncing around a bit. Then Jaylin got tired, so LeAnn slowed down with her for a little bit, while Autumn and I started trying to catch Austin. It ended up that his competitive drive took over and he just bolted ahead in the pack. He is pretty fit from playing soccer, so it was hard to hold him back.  Then about a mile in, LeAnn and Jaylin caught up to Autumn and I and we decided that LeAnn and Autumn would head on ahead and I would stick with Jaylin. Now it was pretty amazing to see the tenacity of this young six-year-old girl. She is so strong and determined. A few times, she would just take off running and I would have to hustle to keep up. We started doing intervals where I would tell her that we would walk up to a certain landmark, and as soon as we passed that, we would run to another landmark. I was so proud of her for pushing so hard to get through this. About 15 minutes in, we saw Austin running past us the other direction. He was cruising, so I just told him to wait at the finish line. Jaylin and I then made it around the halfway point and started chugging the other way. A bit further on, she saw LeAnn and Autumn up ahead of us. This gave her her second wind and she really wanted to catch up to them. We started getting closer, but then they started running again and we never quite caught up with them. When we finally saw the finish line in our sights, I kept coaching Jaylin to finish strong and that we should run through the finish line. It was fun to see her reaction as we got closer and many people were cheering her on. I was running behind her saying “Oh no! You are going to beat me to the finish line!” She picked it up a bit and we finished at about the 45 minute mark. Austin, LeAnn and Autumn were waiting for us and cheering us on as well. There were some volunteers there handing out teddy bears to the kids, so they  kids loved that.
It turned out great and it was LeAnn’s first 5K run as well. Such a great accomplishment for our family and so fun to do it together. I told Autumn, Austin and Jaylin how proud of them we were and told them how they can achieve anything they set their minds to.

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Flex Day

With my new position at Starbucks, I have the option of taking a ‘flex day’ on every other Friday. This worked out perfectly this past Friday as Austin’s class was scheduled to go see the Nutcracker for a field trip. (Sheesh, when I was in elementary school, we were lucky to see the ‘nutcracker’ only if someone brought one for ‘show and tell’!) LeAnn signed me up as a chaperone, and we all ended up going together. Austin looked very sharp as he had dressed up in his suit and tie. I had a great ride on the bus with Austin, even though my knees were jammed up against the seat in front of me. We had a great visit on the way.  Before the ballet, we stopped at the Sheraton to see the annual Gingerbread Village display. Very cool stuff. While there, I was made to feel quite Lilliputian as Sam Donaldson, a Sonics player from the 80’s strolled through the lobby. He is 7’2”, and a mass of humanity. After that, we got back on the bus and headed up to the Seattle Center. We went into the center where we ate our sack lunches. Up on the second floor, they have a large chess set with the two foot tall pieces you slide on a board on the floor. Austin challenged me to a match. We have been playing against each other for a few years as I have taught him some of the intricacies of the game. Im not the greatest player, but Im not too shabby either. I remember playing with my dad quite often growing up. I did not beat him for the first time until I was about 15. That was one of the highlights of my young life! That said, Austin beat my record by about 6 years. I dont know what happened, as I had no intention of ‘letting’ him win, but somehow he put me in check about 6 moves into the game, and I had to give up my queen to get my king out of check… it was all downhill from there. I was able to make it a bit closer at the end, but he ended up whipping me good. He was so excited, he was literally dancing around! Good for him.
Then we walked over to the Pacific Northwest Ballet theater and watched the show. I was quite excited for it as it has been a number of years since I saw it last. I am pleased to report that I only fell asleep two times during the ballet! ;)

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December 08

The Miller Times – November 2008

This month began with the ending of Austin and Jaylin’s soccer seasons. Austin’s team, the Pirates, had a fabulous year and only lost one game. Austin was a superstar and the leading goal scorer by far on his team. This was the same team I coached in the Fall of ‘07, but was coached this season by their original coach from 2006. I had a few differences in coaching style as he would often put the kids who were used to playing fullback up front and put kids who hadnt played goalie before in the goal—often when the game was on the line. It almost drove me crazy! Overall, it was a great season though, and it is such fun to see Austin progress so well in the sport I loved so much growing up.
Jaylin’s team was so cute and fun to watch. With the four girls that are in our ward playing on the team, it was almost like having church on the sidelines with all of the other parents there every Saturday. Jaylin is so speedy, and would chase down the ball with intensity. Once she gets her aim down a bit more on her shots on goal, she will be a force to be reckoned with. (Or once the goals get a bit wider than 3 feet across!) Both Jaylin and Austin had their Pizza/Trophy parties on the same day, so we had lunch and dinner at Round Table on that particular Saturday. It was nice to have a brief respite from 2 soccer games on each Saturday upon the completion of their seasons.
On January 18th, LeAnn had her annual Jewelry Show. She did a fantastic job and sold many pieces of her jewelry. With some of the proceeds it looks like she will be taking a ‘business trip’ down to Utah to put on some shows at family members homes down there sometime this spring. She also is doing a show at a friends house up in Millcreek, WA on December 9th, so she is keeping very busy working to keep her inventory up at a good level. Everyone loves her works of art and many people have requested special orders from her. We are working on updating her website and should have a nice new layout and design ready hopefully before Christmas.
Autumn is getting close to starting in the Young Women’s program. She had camp kickoff in November and seemed very excited to learn about the fun activities they will be involved in at camp next summer. It is scary to think that Autumn will be 12 in a couple of months. She is maturing by leaps and bounds and now calls Austin and Jaylin “The Kids” when she refers to them. Autumn is also doing a fabulous job at her Tech Academy. She comes home often and teaches this computer nerd many new things that she has learned with the programs they are working on at school. She made an incredible PowerPoint presentation about North Africa that lets you click on the country name on the map out of three possible answers and then tells you if you are wrong or right.
We had a blast over the Thanksgiving holiday driving to Spokane and then on to C’ouer D'Alene, ID to stay at a condo there with the Thornes. Matt and Anna and family had recently moved to Spokane, so we hooked up C’ouer D'Alene for Thanksgiving. The drive was much nicer than I expected. The mountain passes were perfect, and the kids were surprisingly quiet most of the way over. I guess with all of the technology available these days, boredom is harder to come by. They have their Nintendo DS, personal DVD players, MP3 players, etc. When they got tired of that, they even had some good old fashioned books to keep them company. I didnt end up having to pay them too much at all for the ‘Animal Search game’ which is where I will pay them a penny for each cow they see, 5cents for a horse, one dollar for a deer and so on. They were so busy with their heads down in their electronics that it saved me a bunch of money!
Matt and Anna and Mom/Dad Thorne made up a fabulous dinner at the condo. I definitely love the tradition of kicking back with family, enjoying the sites and smells of the dinner, and then rounding it off with a bunch of great football games. (It was funny when Lisa called and bragged about their “Thanksgiving Buffet” at a restaurant that they went to. Matt went on about how it was "’Un-American” :)) It was so nice to be there on the beautiful lake and we took the kids on a few nature walks down on the lake. The day after Thanksgiving, LeAnn kidnapped me and we went out to brave the crazed crowds of Black Friday in Spokane. LeAnn had gotten online and prepared our route beforehand. We got to Kohl’s at about 4:20 and managed to get out of there without a scratch by 4:45. Then came the scariest place of all—Walmart. We got there about five minutes before it opened at 5:00 and saw the raging barbarians at the gate. There were literally thousands of people lined up. We decided to stand back and let the maniacs surge through before attempting to get in ourselves. It was not too hard to see how that tragedy played out in New York where a Walmart employee was trampled to death. We made it in OK and tried to keep our distance from the crazy people who were grabbing at stuff. We got the few things that we were after then moved on to Toys’R Us. This was the last time that I will go there on Black Friday. We found some good deals, but the line was awful by that time. We stood in it for a hour and a half before checking out. Next time, I will hire a line stander to go to Toys’R Us. We finished up at Target without injury and then headed back to the condo. Mom and Dad Thorne left around noon and then we gathered up the kids and went back into Spokane. We dropped LeAnn off at Ship Wreck Beads, a wholesale bead retailer, where she shopped for some more inventory. While she was there, I took the kids to see ‘Bolt’ at a nearby mall. It was a fun movie. When we came out, we saw that it was snowing pretty good. The kids were quite excited, but it made me more apprehensive for the ride back home that we were planning on Saturday. It turned out that it didnt stick on the roads though, which was nice. On the way back, we stopped in C’ouer D’Alene again and went to a Christmas parade downtown. We met Matt and Anna and Jack and Savannah there and had a a fun time watching the parade. After that, they had a fireworks show on the lake, but it was a bit hard to see the fireworks as it was overcast.
The next morning, we packed up and took a side trip to Leavenworth, WA. It was a bit out of the way and added a couple of hours to our return trip, but it is always fun to go to the Bavarian themed town. It was in full Christmas swing and we had a good time looking through all of the shops. It had been a few years since we had been there, and the town has grown quite a bit. It was totally packed and hard to move in a number of the shops. It was fun driving a different route back through the Cascades and seeing some different scenery along the way.
Todd accepted a full time position to work at Starbucks. After interviewing before Thanksgiving, they offered me the job as a ‘Quality Assurance Analyst Sr.’  I will continue working on automation and test development on a myriad of different Web Applications. It was exciting to get a full time position in these uncertain economic times. It will be nice to get back to having actual benefits after having been a consultant for the past 20 months. It has been a great place to work, and I really enjoy the people I work with and the atmosphere there.

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December 02

Look at that Turkey!

Here is a little gem from our Thanksgiving holiday which we spent over in Coeur d’Alene, ID. We were staying at a condo on the beautiful lake, and a little bit after our arrival, I looked up at the TV and saw a live turkey that was being shown on the news. A moment after I saw it, I got Austin’s attention by saying; “Hey Austin, Look at that turkey on TV!” As soon as we both looked back at the TV, the image that was showing was that of President Bush. Austin looked at me strangely with questioning eyes. He seemed quite surprised that his dad would call the President a ‘turkey’ (Although I know he has been called much worse) The timing of the comment was quite ironic though considering the state of our nation right now. It was quite humorous as I tried to explain to Austin how the images on the screen had changed at the just the perfect time.

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Seattle Sports Fans – Least to be thankful for

Of the mess that is the Seattle sports scene, the one thing I am looking forward to most is the upcoming expansion of MLS with the Seattle Sounders FC. I also have high hopes for the UW basketball team. Hopefully, these two teams can help wash out the bad taste of this past year. At least the writer from MSNBC below identifies some of the pain this city is going through.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/27911855/
Do you root for teams from the Emerald City? Then congratulations, you have the least to be thankful for this year.
Your baseball team had high hopes, but finished with the worst record in the American League, and in the process became the first club to spend $100 million and still lose 100 games.
Your NFL team, who had won the division for four consecutive years, is 2-9 and will be without its longtime coach heading into next season.
The two college teams from your state in the Football Bowl Subdivision are a laughing stock (combined record: 2-21, including the only winless team in the country), and needed double-overtime just to determine which one was less bad Saturday (it was Washington State, the team that has lost their games by an average of nearly 40 points).
Then the real dagger: The NBA team that you had supported for years, the only Seattle team to ever win a league title, was hijacked, and taken to Oklahoma City.
And — just to top it off — it's cloudy in Seattle an average of 226 days a year.
We’ll save the drumstick for you.

November 12

Reminiscence – West Yellowstone Laundromat

circa 1987
During the winter of this year, our ward in Holladay, UT., went on a youth outing to Yellowstone. We went to take a snowmobile tour of the park. We got there in the late afternoon and checked into a motel in West Yellowstone. Then, after dinner, I went out with Eric Rigby to tour around the town a bit. We walked by a Laundromat and Eric said we should go in and take one of the dryers for a ride. I wasnt too excited about that initially, so he said he would do it first. (I recall that he might have done this previously) He said he would jump in and then I needed to shut the door and then he would go around a few times and then bang it open from the inside. I thought he was crazy, of course. I still wasnt sure whether he was serious or not when he stuck a quarter in, and jumped in. I shut the door on him and watched incredulously as he thumped around in a circle about three times. Then he whacked the door from the inside and the dryer came to a stop. It was great to see this fine example and see that he came out alive. Based on that, I figured that I could pull it off too. I was worried as to whether I would fit very well in there or not since I was a bit bigger than Eric. I contorted myself in there and gave Eric the go-ahead to shut the door on me. I remember the first rotation and how it killed my back when I crashed down on the metal blade that tosses the laundry. After coming to my senses and making my second loop, I banged the door open. Definitely one of those things that you only need to do once in your lifetime.
The next day, we had a great ride through the park on the snowmobiles. I remember turning around one corner on the snowmobile and coming face-to-face ( or face-to-knee) with a humongous bison. It looked like there was fire coming out of its nostrils (It was just its cold breath) as it stared at me menacingly. I then slooooooooowly navigated around it and got out of there as quick as I could. Fun trip, but my back still hurts thinking about the laundromat.

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Jaylin Smack Talk

Last night I was in the office when Jaylin comes in and hands me a small picture frame and a note. I read the note. It is always funny to read Jaylin’s writing as she is picking up more and more and spelling better now that she is in first grade. It reads (in Jaylinese):
“This feLL DoWNe. nOW Wut Are you going TO DO abawD it!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I look at her questioningly and she starts laughing maniacally. I think my six year old was trying to pick a fight with me! I handed the note to LeAnn, and she joined Jaylin in the laughfest. My little girl is a comedian. :)

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November 07

Reminiscence – Krispy Kreme Fiasco

2002
One morning, before I went to work at Microsoft, I was scheduled to pick up about 100 boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts for our Wards Scout troop. (My van was filled to the brim with doughnuts!) They were working on a fundraiser, so I went early before work to pick up the goods. I had gotten there at about 6:00 a.m. and was listening to KJR AM sports radio. At that time, the announcer, Mitch in the Morning was ranting about Krispy Kreme. I guess he hadnt tried the doughnuts and was wondering what all the hype was about. After I made the pickup and got back in the car, he asked the radio audience if anyone was going to Krispy Kreme that morning. He wanted a guinea pig to tell him if anyone was in line for doughnuts at that crazy hour of the morning. He said that if someone would go and scout it out and tell him how crowded it was, that he would buy them a box of doughnuts. Although I had just left and was back on the freeway, I thought it would be fun to help with the experiment. I called in and talked to the program manager. I told him I was just there and could tell them how busy it was. He told me not to tell Mitch that I had already been there, but that if I turned around and went back, they would get me a box of doughnuts. Nothing like free food! – so I turned around and waited to be put on the air. A couple of minutes later, I was talking with Mitch on the Radio. He asked what I was doing out at that hour and why I was crazy enough to wait in line for doughnuts. At that time, he brought another caller on the line, and it turned out to be a manager of the Issaquah Krispy Kreme that I was going back to. Mitch asked him to explain the KK phenomena, to which the manager explained they were always busy because the doughnuts were ‘that good’. I then explained to him that I was (had been) there picking up doughnuts for the Boy Scout fundraiser. He asked how many doughnuts I had gotten for them. I told him that I had got 100 boxes. “ONE HUNDRED DOZEN!!!” He yelled, –“If you already got 100 DOZEN doughnuts, there is NO WAY I am buying you another box!!!”  Then he hung up on me. I was stunned. This was just about the time I was pulling back into the KK parking lot. I saw another guy pull in who was still talking on his cell phone. He had on a KK uniform. It turned out it was the manger who had called in. I talked to him after he hung up and asked him if he was talking to Mitch—He said, “Yep. Are you Todd?” (He knew I was driving there to get my ‘free doughnuts’) He said that Mitch was a big Jerky for hanging up on me, and asked me to come in with me and he would give me a free box. I went in and he also ended up giving me a free t-shirt as well. This is now my trophy for having put up with Mitch in the Morning on that particular day. Ahh. The best things in life are free…

October 30

 

Dear Mojo

When Austin was born in 1999, it was right during the time when ‘Austin Powers’ movies were quite the hit. At that time, my friends from Microsoft dubbed Austin ‘Mojo’ since that was something Austin Powers apparently had plenty of. The moniker has stuck, and I often call Austin by this nickname. Austin just turned 9 a couple of weeks ago, and I have rededicated myself to writing each of my children a ‘birthday letter’ (10/12/2008)
Dear Austin,
Congratulations on your ninth year! You are my favorite guy in the whole world. I love hanging out with you. We went on a few fishing trips this year, and I can see your excitement to be out in nature.  It is a blast playing soccer with you. We had a number of matches in the front yard, and you are already getting too fast for me to keep up with you. I love the passion and intensity that you play with. We all love watching you play so well in your games and scoring a few ‘hat tricks’ in the process. I am so glad sports are such a big part of your life. It is so important to have those types of activities in your life that will help keep you healthy and fit.
You started up in cub scouts this past year, and are doing a wonderful job. You cruised right through your Bobcat and received your Wolf badge last summer. You also did great in getting your gold arrow point along with 6 silver arrow points. I remember your den leader, Sister Angel being so amazed at how much work you did before the pack meeting we had down at dash point. You had a whole bag of awards all for yourself-- There were all of the arrow points, a conservation badge, and about 8 belt slides! To add onto all of that, you also took first place in the Pinewood Derby and in the Raingutter Regata. You already have more scouting trophies in one year than I received in my whole life! ;) It was so fun spending the time with you to make your pinewood derby car and your raingutter regatta boat and then seeing you perform so well in the events. I am surely looking forward to the scouting years to come and know that with your drive and dedication that you will surely achieve all of the honors scouting has in store for you.
You really excelled this past year in your schooling. I loved seeing you cruise through seventy-something AR tests (Accelerated Reader)during your 2nd grade of school. It is great that you are a voracious reader. Books will be there throughout your life to take you on many great adventures. This year, you have started up in a GATE class (Gifted and Talented Education). It seemed a bit rough at first as you were not accustomed to the workload and being on the young end of the multi-age class (3-5th grade), but you are picking up steam and doing well. I love to read the stories that you write—they are so creative. You have also been excited about learning the recorder. You have already passed off your first two belts in ‘recorder karate’ (not sure what color they are.)
You are still a gaming maniac. You love playing on the Wii, DS and Xbox 360, and have been playing “Line Rider’ on the PC a lot as well. I like our multiplayer battles on the consoles. You hold your own very well, and have gotten way farther than me on Guitar Hero (even though you play it on your lap). For your birthday, you got a LineRider game for the Wii and a Kirby game for your DS. You also got a cool RC car that actually drives on the wall! (mom doesnt seem quite so crazy about it though :)) It is called a ‘Zero Gravity’ car and uses a vacuum to stick to the wall, and even the ceiling if it is smooth enough. Fun stuff! For your birthday, you went with a bunch of friends down to play lazer tag. It was great to see you and and a couple of your friends gang up on the teenagers in the arena and give them a taste of their own medicine. :)
You are an incredible young man. You are kind to your sisters and work hard at jobs around the house. You even weeded the back hillside practically by yourself last summer. When you set your mind to something, you do not stop until you get it. You are so funny and crack me up all the time. I love to wrestle with you and put you in the ‘scissor lock’. Thank you for being such a fine son and bringing such happiness into our lives.
Love, Dad

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October 24

Kosuke

Gotta love Facebook. I received a friend request a few days ago from Kosuke Akagi, who was a missionary that I worked with in Japan. He was in my first area of Izumi, and a good friend. He spoke English very well since he had studied in America for a while. It was very helpful, as a Green Bean to have a native speaker there who could help me along. He now lives in Osaka and has a family of six. It was cool to chat with him for a bit through Facebook IM and see what he is up to now. (He seemed surprised that I still have a decent retention of Japanese ;)) Along with Kosuke, there are multiple other good friends from my past who have sprung up on Facebook. I have been able to catch up with Andy Bingham, who I knew from Brookwood and Albion Jr. High, Eric Rigby, from Holliday, who was in our ward and we were on the soccer team together, Erik Berge, from Willow Creek (elementary and Jr. High), and John Robbins, who I also knew from Albion Jr. High. Amazingly enough, John is now living in Seattle too and we will be getting together for lunch sometime soon. Along with this is the great chance to keep up with many relatives who I hardly have a chance to see anymore. With Facebook, it is like a mini twenty year reunion everyday! Good stuff!

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October 22

8 Things Tag from Stacy

Per the instructions on the bottom of my cousin Stacy’s blog—since I replied to her post, I need to blog my responses:
8 TV shows I like to watch:
1. Prison Break
2. Heroes
3. The Office
4. My Name is Earl
5. The Amazing Race
6. Seinfeld (yep. still watching. gotta love syndication)
7. Man vs. Wild
8. Crusoe
8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Read ‘Queste’
2. Wrote Automation at work
3. Wore my earmuffs in the morning because it was sooo cold
4. Watched an episode of ‘The Flintstones’ on my Sansa on the way home
5. Ate yakisoba in the car while going to pick up Austin from his ‘Tech Start’ class.
6. Took Austin to soccer practice—watched his intensity in scrimmage.
7. Went on a visit for EQ to the Joak family. Met their tall, basketball playin’ boys
8. Listened to Jaylin read me a bedtime story.
8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. College basketball season starting – UW basketball should be WAY better than football this year—not hard to beat a 0% winning   percentage…
2. Getting books in the mail from Bookmooch.com
3. Training for a 5K with the family
4. Halloween. Taking the kids around, then mooching their best candy. (Thats my second ‘mooch’ in the top 4—you can see I like getting things for free! ;))
5. Getting the next movie from Netflix (You dont mess with the Zohan)
6. Soccer Games on Saturday
7. Sisters Kelly and Ashley coming down to watch said soccer games. Going out to lunch with them in between games.
8. Going out to lunch today with LeAnn. She has an errand in Seattle, and will come pick me up.
8 things on my wish list:
1. Go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant (With Niagara Falls thrown in as a bonus)
2. Go tour Italy with LeAnn
3. Eternal life with my family (swiped from Stacy… :))
4. Make it through that 5K without my knee swelling up like a grapefruit
5. For my family to be healthy and happy
6. To keep my extended family working on Family History
7. Plan a nice trip for LeAnn an my 15th anniversary next summer
8. Keep Japanese language retention through continual study

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October 20

In the dark

As I usually leave quite early to work in the morning. I try to be as quiet and have everything ready to go the night before. I put all of my clothes in the bathroom and have my wallet, phone, keys, etc. ready on my bedside table. This morning. I slept in a bit and ended up hitting the showers about the same time as Autumn was getting ready for school. After getting ready I will turn off the light in the bathroom and emerge into the bedroom where I make my way around the bed to say goodbye to LeAnn. This morning there was another voice I heard as I came out. It was Autumn sitting in bed with LeAnn. Then she started making fun of me because I couldnt see when coming out into the dark room! She says: “Look mom, he cant see” (their eyes were adjusted to the dark). “Wow, he looks like an old man!” and “Maybe we should get him a cane!” So, I shuffled my way over there and tried to grab her in the dark. She thought she was so funny… (Well, I guess maybe it was. :))

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October 17

People watching on the bus

Usually on the bus ride home from work I am pretty involved in reading books. I just completed reading Brisingr, which was great. That one kept me up late a few nights as I was absorbed into the plot of the book. I started a new one yesterday called ‘Queste’. It hasnt quite hooked me in yet so I did not read it on the way home. Instead, I watched a couple of cartoons on my Sansa. I watched a couple of Tom and Jerry clips for about 15 minutes or so. After finishing, I started to people watch. Usually, at that point of the ride, about 50 percent of the people have drifted off to sleep. There are about 30% who are reading, and the other 20 are just staring vacantly into space or out the window. I was sitting on a bench near the front which faces the opposite side of the bus instead of the normal rows. I watched as right across from me there was a  small guy who probably weighed about 120, was sitting there and then there was a space between him and another lady—so usually space for three people. At the last stop before leaving Seattle, about 5 more people got on. At this time, the bus was a bit crowded, but there were still at least 15 seats left. One of those five people was a very large lady that must have come in at 280 or so. I watched as she squished herself in between this guy and the other lady. As he was sitting next to an arm rest, it was like a wedge was being driven between him and the other lady. I saw his eyes get bigger, and by the time she finally parked it, he was smushed over and leaning to his right about 20 degrees because there was nowhere else for him to go. I thought he would get up and move to a row where the two seaters were open, but he stayed right there. That would have made me very uncomfortable being wedged in like that. (Actually, I am lucky to be a big guy on the bus because often times that leaves me more room as people that get on would rather find a seat next to a small man or woman where there is more room.) At any rate, that guy and the large lady were a couple of the ‘sleepers’. The close proximity to each other didnt seem to bother either of them—maybe it made it even more comfortable? Then about five minutes before getting home, I looked over at the guy again and saw that his mouth was wide open as he slept. The next second this HUGE string of drool came dripping out of his mouth! Ack! He felt it come out and wiped up after himself and looked around sheepishly. I feigned ignorance as he cleaned up after himself. It turned out to be one of those times where I wish I had been reading my book…

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October 13

Feed me

Yesterday in Gospel Doctrine, Cory Smith was commenting on how his children often come to him and ask him to make them something to eat. He talked about how they knew how to do this by themselves, but would still come to him anyway. I mentioned that I had the exact same thing happen to me with Jaylin that morning. Jaylin asked me a couple of times if I could make her something for lunch. As it was a fast Sunday, and I wasnt particularly interested in going into a tempting kitchen, I asked her to go make a sandwich for herself. She left, but never ended up doing it herself. (I ended up throwing some ramen in the microwave for her a bit later) Cory went on to explain that in a similar manner, we, as adults, often go to Father in Heaven asking for him to give us a “Spiritual Experience”.
It is something we should know how to do for ourselves, but we usually want it to be ‘given to us’ without putting in the required effort.  Even though we are older and more learned, we often act just like our children in many aspects of life.

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October 10

106 mpg 'air car' creates buzz, questions - CNN.com

I’ve got two years to start saving up for one of these bad boys…
106 mpg 'air car' creates buzz, questions - CNN.com

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Miller Times – September, 2008

Ahhh. Back to school. The parents have a big sigh of relief. The kids have a big groan of angst.  Autumn actually lucked out a bit, and her school started a week late. The TAF Academy (Technology Access Foundation Academy) is a newly implemented program in our area where the students have technology driven curriculum.  Each student gets their own laptop, and Autumn has already created a number of PowerPoint presentations and is tracking homework assignments online. She was very excited to start the program and has enjoyed it very much. Initially it was a hard decision for her not to go to regular middle school with the majority of her friends, but she is pleased with her choice now.
Austin started in GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) class for 3rd grade, and although his workload has increased significantly, he is excelling there as well. This is a multi-grade class which has about 10 students from 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. We just heard from his teacher that he is excelling there as well and just tested at a reading level of 7.4. Maybe we should have him skip a few grades? ;)
Jaylin started up in 1st grade and is also in a K-1-2 class. She is working hard and becoming quite a reader as well. I understand that oftentimes, she asks to complete the work that is given to the second graders as well as her own grade level work. Each of the kids is very tired after having to adjust their schedules and start waking up earlier.
Soccer started up again for Austin and Jaylin. Both are doing very well. Austin’s team is undefeated, and for the first time in three years Todd is not coaching. I feel a bit out of place on the sidelines now, but that doesnt keep me from yelling instructions out. :) Of course, their practices fall on the same days at the same time, so LeAnn and I go to separate practice sites on alternate days. I take Austin on Tuesday and Jaylin on Thursdays. Luckily, their game sites are only about 5 minutes apart, so if their games are close to the same time, we can get to both of them.
LeAnn had a busy month with canning salsa (which is some of the best I have ever tasted!) with her mom, joined a bookclub with some ladies from our ward, and then took a 5 day trip to Arizona to go to her cousins wedding. I survived as Mr. Mom during that time by getting plenty of help from our friends (ahh, just like the Beatles song—”I get by with a little help from my friends” ;) who picked up the kids after school and took care of them until I got back from work.  We definitely missed LeAnn. A LOT! One night, as I was talking with Austin about missing LeAnn, he said, “Dad, You’re doing good – So far, the house hasnt caught on fire!” The next morning, Jaylin came in around 6:45. I guess she is not up-to-speed on my Saturday morning rule—Dont come into our room, just go straight downstairs and watch TV.But she is pretty cute, so I let it slide. She had brought in her little pink purse which she has stuffed with various nick-knacks. I started to tease and tickle her. To that she backed away a few steps and held out her purse. Then in a funny, mock threatening voice she said, “Dad! I have a purse, and I’m not afraid to use it!” Our kids are whizzes with the one-liners.
LeAnn and Todd went on a couple of fun dates during September. We went to a Mariners game one afternoon and saw them break their 10 game losing streak (That was quite a treat!) and the weather was perfect for baseball in the open-air stadium. The following week I had gotten us tickets to the Beach Boys concert--Yes, they are still alive and kicking! A friend at work mentioned how he had gone to see them in concert in Seattle about 20 years ago. :) LeAnn drove up and picked me up from work at 5:30. We went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the International district called Koharu. The food was ‘amari oishikunai’ (not so tasty) this time and will likely be the last time I go there. I ordered the sukiyaki, which is usually one of my favorites, but the meat was pretty low quality. We finished there about 6:30 and then walked down to Safeco field (The Mariners baseball stadium) where the concert was to be held. We were on the 300 level, and stopped to watch the sunset go down over the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. It was a beautiful night. Of course, they made fun of their age a number of times. Once, after a couple of songs, Mike Love said “We are going to take and intermission now.” paused for a few seconds, then said “we need to go backstage to take a nap!” That brought a good chuckle from the crowd. Overall they sounded good, and had a few younger helpers sing some of their old classics. We heard ‘Surfin USA’, California Girls," "Kokomo, and many others that everyone knows well and would sing along to. It was a fun night to spend with LeAnn.

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October 09

Football

Yep, Im still bitter that American Football stole the term ‘Football’ from American ‘soccer’ players. I played soccer basically year round from the time I was 5 until graduating from High School. It never made sense to me that a sport where they use their feet about 2 percent of the time could get away with calling themselves football. There were plenty of my friends that played football that made fun of soccer players – not physical enough, etc. Then we would run circles around them in pickup football games… ;)
Speaking of Futbol, Austin had a great game last Saturday, the 4th of October. He was a bit sluggish at first, and the other team got off to a quick 1-0 lead. About ten minutes later, Jarun, who I like to call the Tornado, because he is fast and bounces around so quick, popped one in to tie the game. It was tied at half time. The other team was a bit bigger than us and had been knocking our guys around pretty good. Austin takes it pretty well to a point, then he starts to get MAD. I can see the switch turn in his eyes and he starts to get more aggressive. In the second half, their big fullback, who is 5 inches taller and probably 50 pounds bigger than any of the boys out there rammed through Austin pretty hard and it was quite flagrant. (He usually gets attacked harder because he can dribble around most players with ease). Austin was really upset after that hit and just limped off the field. He had the wind knocked out of him. LeAnn and I told him he couldnt just walk off the field like that—that he needed to tell his coach that he needs to come out. After that, the other coach took his hitman out of the game, and Austin ended up composing himself and going back in. It was amazing to see his intensity as they were down 2-1 at that point. A couple of minutes later, he took a cross and juked it past the goalie. He really knows how to play the angles well. Then five minutes later he dribbled through basically their whole team and nailed another one in to take the lead. It seems he can just flip a switch and score at will. It was a great performance and fun to see the come-from-behind win!

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The Professor

LeAnn’s older sister, Leslee, was up here last weekend to present a paper at the University of Washington. Leslee is a professor of Victorian Literature at BYU. We were excited that we would get a chance to see her and LeAnn and I worked it out so we could go and listen to her presentation at the UW. On Friday, the 3rd, LeAnn picked me up at 2:30 and we drove up to the campus. I had printed out a map so we knew exactly where we were going. I graduated from the UW in ‘96, but had few chances to go to the main campus as the classes I took were at a branch campus in Bothell. I had been there a few times for study groups and such though. The lecture was in the Husky Union Building (HUB) and we found it without too much trouble. We arrived a bit early and grabbed a bagel sandwich for LeAnn, who hadnt had lunch yet. It was kind of fun to be on campus with all of the hustle and bustle of academia all around you. We then went upstairs and found the room where Professor Thorne-Murphy was presenting. It was like meeting a celebrity! :) She introduced us to a couple of other people there and we took our seats. The first lecture was by a professor from the University of San Diego. He talked about an English Philosopher, John Stuart Mill. I hadnt heard of him before, but the professor handed out his paper to all of those in attendance, so I got a better feel for his philosophies after browsing through that. He spoke for 15 minutes and then it was Leslee’s turn. She talked initially talked about Victorian Bazaars in the mid 1800s. From there, she segued into a particular author, Harriet Martineau, who had written a book called Dawn Island, which she printed and sold at the bazaar. As Leslee was discussing this, I went to my smart phone and googled ‘Dawn Island’. It pulled up a result in Google Books, which I showed LeAnn as I knew she was curious to read the book in the future as well. Leslee did a great job and kept the participants interested in her presentation. She has a great tone of voice and style which is easy to listen to. After her, there was another professor who talked about religion during that era. (This one almost put me to sleep – just like in the old days.) Afterwards, we found a lounge nearby where we chatted for a bit. Leslee was staying there to listen to another presentation from one of her colleagues. LeAnn and I then left to go pick up her brother Alan, who lives nearby campus on Capitol Hill. The three siblings were planning to go out to dinner when Leslee finished. I was planning on getting back home to be with the kids, who Autumn had been watching since after school. After we got Alan, we drove toward where a bus stop was so I could catch a ride back home. As we got closer to the stop, we saw the bus I needed to get on coming toward us from the opposite direction. As soon as we saw it, Alan said to LeAnn, “Flip a U’ey, and follow it!” Great idea. We turned around and followed it for about 5 blocks before it stopped. I jumped out and was able to get on the bus and head back home. It all worked out quite well.

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Shattered

Last Saturday, October 4th, we had some crazy weather come whipping through the Puget Sound. I had gone out in the garage to get something and looked out into the front yard. It was literally raining sideways. A moment later, I heard a scream from LeAnn in the kitchen. I ran back in to see if she was OK and she exclaimed that the patio table on our back porch had just shattered. I went to look through the back window and saw a huge pile of shattered glass from the patio table top spread out all over the patio. The strong wind had picked up the still-opened table umbrella and literally ripped it through the glass table top which the post went through into the umbrella stand. The umbrella had then been blown back across the yard. LeAnn was quite upset as this was a nice patio set that I had given her for her birthday a few years ago. Now we have to figure out if we should try to replace the glass top, or if it will be more economical to just buy a new table next spring. I also mentioned that we could just nail down a nice piece of plywood on top…. :) (LeAnn didnt think that was too funny)

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Played

Just found out this morning that I got played by six year old Jaylin last night. LeAnn, Autumn and Austin were gone at the church for Young Women’s, Young Women’s camp prep and cub scouts. So I told Jaylin that we would go to the library as I needed to take a book back and pick another up that I had on hold. Before we left, Jaylin asked me if she could get her own library card. Without much thought, I figured that wouldnt be a bad idea, and reviewed with her the responsibilities she would have as a card owner—that she would need to take care of not losing her card and also making sure she got the books back on time, and that if she lost one, she would be responsible for paying for it. She nodded her head in excited agreement. She was SOOOO excited. We got there and filled out the form for her. She chose a mini purple card that attaches to a stretchy keyring that can go on your wrist. She was absolutely beaming. She found a Dr. Seuss book and checked it out all by herself. Everything was perfect….
THEN, this morning I got a call from LeAnn. Unbeknownst to me, she had had the Library Card discussion with Jaylin a number of times previously. Apparently, Jaylin has had a problem with not keeping good track of the books that she had checked out from the school library. A couple had been lost by her. She had told Jaylin that until she could prove that she was responsible for taking care of the books she checked out at school, that she would not be getting a public library card. So, Jaylin got busted this morning when she proudly announced to everyone that she got a library card with dad last night.
Parents, watch out for these young manipulators-- We are surrounded by them!

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October 03

Racing the Train

We just moved to a new office building that is south of downtown Seattle (SODO). I am now adjusting to a bit of a new bus schedule since I have to walk a bit farther and contend with busier cross-streets. Where it took me about five minutes to walk to my stop after work from Pioneer Square, now it will take me at least 10. Yesterday, as I was working my way over to the stop, the gates were down across the train tracks. I saw that the train was stopped further north on the tracks and wasnt moving. Stupid that it was just sitting there blocking traffic. I waited for about 3 minutes while it stayed put. I was already pushing missing the bus, and didnt know how much longer it would sit there in its stupor, so I mad a run for it. I crossed the first three sets of tracks, then right as I ran across the last set of tracks, the train blasted its whistle at me. I just about lost my beans. Freaked me out—it was SOOOO loud. I heard it start to move at that point, so I wasnt sure whether the whistle was meant specifically for me, or just a general “Get ready, here I come!!” whistle. Either way, I got quite a shot of adrenaline. Then, for good measure, it blasted its darn whistle about 5 more times, just to annoy everyone in the vicinity.

September 30

Mr Mom Survives!~

Trudged on through Friday. Got Autumn and Friends to school, came home, got breakfast and lunches for Austin and Jaylin, got them off to school at 8:40, got into work by 9:15. After a good six hours in Seattle, drove home (didnt take the bus because there werent any later ones after 8:30) and stopped by Gai’s bakery. Picked up a bunch of donuts to pass out to all of the families that had helped with watching the kids after school until I could get back from work. First stopped at the Burt’s, who are a family I home teach. Their kids seemed thrilled to get the donuts. Had a chat with Sis Burt to see how things were going, then headed down to pick up Jaylin and Austin at the Walkers. Passed them some donuts. (Kids thrilled again) Grabbed A & J and headed home. Autumn had a sleep-over planned with her friend, Abby Dial. She ended up riding the bus home with her to her house. Autumn did such a great job with calling me and telling me where she was at after getting done with school. She is very responsible for an 11 year old. Whipped up some grilled cheese for dinner and then we watched Free Willey 2. Which AK and J quite enjoyed. Austin of course wanted to pull out the air popper, so we got that going too. It was nice to have a night without cub scouts, soccer or a school meeting. It is so strange not having LeAnn around. I dont quite know what to do with myself. I know I am comforted just having her there as I had trouble going to sleep. One night, I was even up until 2:00. Unheard of for this old fart in his late 30’s. ;) As I was talking with AK about missing LeAnn, he said, “Dad, You’re doing good – So far, the house hasnt caught on fire!”
The next morning, while enjoying the greatness of a Saturday morning, Jaylin came in around 6:45. I guess she is not up-to-speed on my Saturday morning rule—Dont come into our room, just go straight downstairs and watch TV.But she is pretty cute, so I let it slide. She had brought in her little pink purse which she has stuffed with various nick-knacks. I started to tease and tickle her. To that she backed away a few steps and held out her purse. Then in a funny, mock threatening voice she said, “Dad! I have a purse, and I’m not afraid to use it!” My kids are whizzes with the one-liners.
Saturday was a big soccer game day. Jaylin had one at 2:30 and Austin had a tournament with games at 3:30 and 6:30. Luckily, my sister Ashley came down to help shuffle the kids around to the games. We all went together to Jaylins game. Jaylin is very quick and good at tracking down the ball. She just missed a couple of shots, but did a great job overall. I left with Austin and Autumn at 3:00 to get him to his game, where Ashley would come meet us later. Austins team played a team from Fife (first time they have played games against kids from other leagues), and got down 1 zip pretty quick. Then I could tell Austin’s ‘Eye of the Tiger’ was kicking in. He scored a quick goal and then another about 5 minutes later to go up 3-1. That was the final score. After that, we drove through Taco Bell/Pizza Hut and got some dinner. Then we drove down to the beach on Dash Point to eat. Jaylin loved playing around in the sand while Autumn and Austin ran around on the driftwood and played tag. We stayed there for about 45 minutes before heading back for his second game. This game they played a team from Puyallup and beat them pretty handily. Austin got a hat-trick this game and they won 6-1. Since we wouldnt be going to play in the Sunday game, Austin got his participation medal after that game. This is our third year with this team, so they know that Austin has decided not to play in the games on Sunday to honor our religion. Not all of the parents are too excited about that because Austin is our main offensive weapon. Then we had a cool experience where the father of one of the other boys came up to me after the game. His name is Tom and he said he wanted to thank us for setting a good example for them. He said because of our example, that he decided to not have his son play in the games on Sunday either. He told us that they were Catholic and were trying to be better at not being too active on Sundays. He said he couldnt remember what religion we were, but that we were a great example of keeping the Sabbath day holy. I told him that we were Mormons, and that is something we believe strongly in. (I wanted to start singing, “Me, Im a Mormon” primary song…. ;)) It was a great thing for Austin to see the positive impact he had on someone else through setting that good example.

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September 26

Mr Mom Day 2

Thursday, 9/25: Dont worry, LeAnn. The house doesnt look like the pic above…. YET.! ;)
One nice thing about this job is I was able to sleep in. I usually head out to work at 5:55, so not having to leave the house until 7:30 was nice. I got up at 6:45 and got ready. Autumn was up at about the same time. Then Jaylin and Austin woke up too, so I parked them in my bed to watch cartoons. When I got downstairs, Autumn had emptied the dishwasher and packed her lunch and was ready to go. She is such a thoughtful, helpful girl. At 7:30 I took Autumn and two girls from our neighborhood to their Middle School. (LeAnn drives the carpool on Thursdays and Fridays) That was pretty uneventful and I got back at about 7:45. Then it was back to get Austin and Jaylin ready. Austin had started some Eggos in the toaster, and even made some for Jaylin. What a nice brother he is. Then I helped them get their lunches ready as they ate. They had turned on the TV and were watching it from the kitchen counter. After about five minutes I asked them if mom allowed them to watch TV before school. “Nope.” they both replied sheepishly. So off it went. By the time I realized that another part of LeAnns daily routine for them was to read out of the BOM during breakfast, it was too late and we had to pack up to go. I got them off safely and on time for school at 8:45. Amazing.
I got into work at about 9:30 and prepared for a short day there. I needed to leave at 2:30 to go pick up Austin. (Jaylin was going home with MacKenzie Nichols and her mom would take them to soccer practice at 5:00. ) Originally, I was going to then take Austin to his practice, but it was canceled, so we headed back home. Autumn, Austin and I ended up playing the Xbox 360 game, Castle Crashers for a while before we needed to go and pick up Jaylin from practice. We made the pizza that sister Kastanis gave us yesterday for dinner. At 6:00 I also had a parents meeting at Autumn’s new school, which is right next to where Jaylin practices. When we got there, Kelly Nichols said she could take Jaylin back to her house and leave her there to play while we were at the Parents meeting. I took her up on that offer! It was neat to see Autumn’s new school – TAFA (Technology Access Foundation Association. Each student gets to use their own laptop and they have a cool electronic whiteboard. Im looking forward to the open house next month. When we finished, we went to pick up Jaylin and got home at about 7:30. Austin had stayed home by himself and was playing Guitar Hero (Guess he did that for the whole hour and a half that we were gone.) BTW- I was a stern parent and made both Autumn and Austin finish their homework before we played the xbox game after school. We gave LeAnn a call to say hello. It seems like she is having a nice time in Arizona. Everyone went to bed without too much trouble.

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September 25

Seattle Mariners == :(

Sad state of affairs for the Mariners today…

Mariners lose 100th game

With a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, the Seattle Mariners becomes the first $100 million payroll team to lose 100 game

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Mr. Mom is in the house!

Well, in the house more than usual. LeAnn left to Arizona yesterday to see her cousin get married. She flew down with her mom, and is meeting up with her sisters Leslee and Lisa. She tells me it is 106 degrees down there. Makes me happier with our 61 degrees here. :)
With that, my solo parent stint began after work yesterday. I left at 3:30 to go pick up Jaylin and Austin from the Kastanis’ house as Yvonne had taken them home. (LeAnn had set up a schedule with friends to help with the kids until I get back from work) I got there at 4:15 and Yvonne had kindly bought us a pizza for dinner. Nothing like a clueless man at home alone with the kids to invoke feelings of sympathy. :) From there, I was turned into the Young Women’s president. (LeAnns current calling) She had asked me to go down and pick up a bouquet of flowers for Brittany Nichols who was having a birthday. I had Jaylin pick them out. (She was quite excited about that) Then we drove to the Nichols where we dropped those off along with Jaylin’s soccer stuff for tomorrow since Kelly Nichols would be picking up Jaylin from school, taking her back home to play for a bit and then taking them to soccer practice.
After getting back, I found LeAnn had set the crock pot up and already had a nice chicken ‘n dumplings dinner going for us when we got home. Such a thoughtful wife! (Now we can save the pizza for later!) Autumn had ridden the bus home from school so she had already gotten back before us. After dinner, Austin had a pack meeting at the church. Autumn wasnt feeling too hot, so she ended up staying home. It was a combined pack meeting with the Boy Scouts, so it was cool to see them all together. Although it was quite rambunctious in the gym with that many boys and families. Austin received a cool “Leave no Trace” award to put on his uniform. We got back without any injuries and everyone went to bed without too much trouble.
We survived the first half-day. Stay tuned for Thursdays update.

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September 18

Beach Boys Concert

LeAnn and I got tickets for the Beach Boys concert in Seattle on 9/16. Yes, they are still alive and kicking! A friend at work mentioned how he had gone to see them in concert in Seattle about 20 years ago. :) LeAnn drove up and picked me up from work at 5:30. We went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the International district called Koharu. The food was ‘amari oishikunai’ (not so tasty) this time and will likely be the last time I go there. I ordered the sukiyaki, which is usually one of my favorites, but the meat was pretty low quality. We finished there about 6:30 and then walked down to Safeco field (The Mariners baseball stadium) where the concert was to be held. We were on the 300 level, and stopped to watch the sunset go down over the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. It was a beautiful night.
It turned out that the concert was hosted by Seattle Children’s Hospital, so there were a number of volunteers/employees that were giving speeches before the concert began. That was supposed to have finished at 7:30, but a number of them were a bit long-winded, so the concert didnt start until 7:50. There was a wide range of people there – from 5 –90 years old. The Beach Boys have appealed to many generations. Two of the main group that I am familiar with are still there- Mike Love and cousin Brian Wilson. They still have that swagger even though they are in their 60’s. It was great fun to hear their banter and see the crowd get into it. They had everyone waving their cell phones in time to the music just like people used to do with lighters. Of course, they made fun of their age a number of times. Once, after a couple of songs, Mike Love said “We are going to take and intermission now.” paused for a few seconds, then said “we need to go backstage to take a nap!” That brought a good chuckle from the crowd. Overall they sounded good, and had a few younger helpers sing some of their old classics. We heard ‘Surfin USA’, California Girls," "Kokomo, and many others that everyone knows well and would sing along to. It was a fun night to spend with LeAnn.

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September 16

Ward Camp Out

Last Friday, September 12, we went camping down near Olympia, WA at a church owned site called Nisqually as you head into the Cascade mountain range. As it is only about 30 miles from our house, we figured it would be a nice, quick trip down.  We were wrong. It took at least an hour to get there. We ended up taking two cars since Austin had an early soccer game the next morning. We also decided to bring Flash the dog with us. He seemed quite excited about the whole experience. However, right as we drove into the property, we saw a large sign that said "No Pets Allowed!" Well, there was no way we were driving back through that mess, so he got to stay. We drove around a bit and found a nice camping spot. We pulled out our gear for cooking dinner. For my birthday, the family got me a camp stove that has a grill and a burner on it. We set that up and started cooking some hamburgers. They tasted great. Later that night, the kids started running around with their friends and LeAnn had brought a bunch of colorful glow necklaces that she started passing out to all the kids as it started to get darker. We then went to the firebowl where people told jokes, stories and the bishop and Cory Smith pulled out their guitars and started singing some funny songs. Austin, Autumn and I did the following skit that Austin had learned from Cub camp. (Autumn was the doctor, Austin and I were campers) -- Austin and I walk around a bit and finally decide on a good place to sit down and camp. As soon as I sit down, I yelp in surprise-- "Something just bit me right in the bottom! Yikes it is a rattlesnake! Austin, go get help" (Im writhing and rolling on the ground in pain) Austin runs over to Autumn-- "Are you a doctor?!!" "Yes." She replies. "My dad just got bit by a rattlesnake! What should I do?" Autumn says: "You will have to suck the venom out!" Austin gets a look of disdain on his face, and then returns to where I am still writhing in pain. "What did the doctor say?" I gasp... Austin looks at me sadly, then down at where I am grabbing my bottom where I was bit. He responds, "The doctor says you are going to die."
Everyone got quite a kick out of it. We also were able to pass on "The Star Lake Guppy" (Star Lake is the name of our ward) which is one of those "Tommy Trout" singing fish. This is awarded each year to the best act during the firebowl. I won it last year after telling the story about my getting arrested and thrown in jail. This year, Lindsey Clark won it based on a rendition she did of Napoleon Dynamite's famous dance. Our kids were sad to see it go.
We slept reasonably well that night (likely because I had a new air mattress). Flash did just fine sleeping in the tent with us. The next morning, at about 7:00, I left with Austin and we went out fishing on the Nisqually river. We parked near about forty other cars and found the river to be packed with fishermen. It sounded like there were Chinook and Steelhead salmon running. I have never seen that many fishermen it one place. We had to walk for a ways before we found enough room to cast ourselves. Austin did well with his casting, but didnt get any bites. There was a guy across the river from us who had caught a HUGE salmon. It must have been at least 10 pounds. It reeled it in and his friend pulled out a big net. As they finally netted it, the fish flipped off the hook and landed in the bottom of the net. (still over the river though) It was so heavy that it just ripped a hole right through the net. I almost had to cover Austin's ears for the string of profanity that came flying out of the guys mouth. After that, we had to take off again and drove through Jack in the Box for a breakfast sandwich. Austin was thrilled to find a sandwich that had TWO patties of sausage in it!
We drove back toward home and got to his soccer game at about 9:20 a.m. He had a great game and scored another hat trick and got one assist. He made a beautiful shot with his left foot on a cross from the right corner flag. His skills are really increasing.
LeAnn and the girls got back around noon and then we went to Jaylin's game at 2:00. She did a great job as well and scored one goal. She is very tenacious as well and constantly is going after the ball. Such fun to watch these kids play and have a good time.

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September 15

Big Read Top 100

Swiping this topic from cousin Stacy Hellewell...
Here is the drill:
The National Endowment for the Arts has an initiative you may have heard of called the Big Read. According to the Web site, its purpose is to "restore reading to the center of American culture." They estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. For fun, let's see how many of the top 100 books we've actually read.
How well did you do?
Have you read more than 6?

Here's what you do:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) [Bracket] the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list on your own blog.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nine-Teen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Phillip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ?
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milner
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meany
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth?
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple, Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine de St. Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

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September 09

Reminiscence - Long Distance Running

1981-1988
After about six years of playing soccer as a youth, I found that I had quite a propensity for long distance running. My stamina was good, and I was able to push myself through the tough spots without too much trouble. In fifth grade, on our sports day, we had a 'Mile Run' competition. It was four laps around Brookwood elementary. I remember Richie Schrier was the fastest kid in the school and always won the sprint races, but on this day I passed him a couple of laps in. I ended up winning the award for "Fastest Boy in the Mile Run". I was quite pleased with that accomplishment. I never really trained for anything like that as the majority of my 'running' training came from running around on the soccer fields.
In Junior High, when I attended Eastmont Middle School, I would always perform well in the laps that we took around the play fields and come in in the top five. We had a school wide 5K run (This was in 7th grade), and I was running with a couple of my friends, not taking it too seriously. About halfway through, they started dragging, so I decided to pick it up and see how high I could place. I ended up passing a bunch of people and taking 7th place in the whole school. I wonder what would have happened if I had really tried! Based on that performance, the gym teacher asked me to join the track and field team. I trained for the 5K with them for a while and then we went to a track meet against the other Junior Highs in the region. I remember the event was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. Competing against athletes that have trained specifically for those events was a bit more challenging than running against random people at my school. I did well enough the first three miles, but then bonked with about a 1/2 mile left. I was really gasping as I closed in on the finish line. There was a guy from my ward, Bryan Barnheisel, who was up just ahead of me and was slowing down. I tried to speed up to pass him, but he turned it on and beat me to the finish line by a second or two. I think I came in in the top 10 for 7th grade.
In High School, when I was a senior, our Stake had a Stake Olympics. I decided to compete in the 5K there as well. I remember going at a pretty good pace, and being in the front of the pack for most of the way. There was one kid who was a junior, who was on the Olympus High Track team and was a ways in front of everyone. I wasnt sure that I would be able to catch him, but started running stronger as we came into the High School track to complete the race. Just as I came into that area, I saw that he was maybe a half track length in front of me! I started to pick it up a bit as it seemed that he was just jogging toward the finish line. I started to make up some ground when he noticed me coming and then sped up to the finish line. Once again, I realized that I was closer to the front than I initially thought, and wished that I had pushed hard through the whole race. Again, coming in second in the whole Stake was not too shabby for not having had any formal long distance training.

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September 05

Boku no Tanjoubi

("My Birthday" in Japanese) August 30th marked my thirty-eighth year. LeAnn made breakfast in bed for me-- a great tasting omelette.  It was a Saturday, so I got to kick back and relax for a bit. At 10:00 we had scheduled to go to Wild Waves theme park down in Federal Way. It is about 10 minutes from our house. Its not quite as fun as Lagoon in Utah, but has a good variety of rides, plus the water park. We told the kids we wouldnt be swimming that day as the temperature was in the low 60's. They were all still thrilled enough to just go on the rides. We started off on the Wild Thing Roller Coaster that does a loop and a corkscrew. The roller coasters are my favorite, as for some of the other spinning rides, those have made me more and more nauseous as I grow older, so I stay away from those. We are finding that Austin is just as much of a daredevil as his mom. There is no ride that he is scared of. Autumn even got up the gumption to go on a number of rides that she hasnt wanted to go on in the past. Only Jaylin, who measures in at 45" was a couple of inches too short to go on all of the rides yet. So LeAnn and I would split up occasionally to take her on some other rides that she could go on. The only ride that made me sick on this day was one of the new ones that I figured I would give a shot. It is called the "Disko Flashback" and they just put it in this year. Autumn totally loved this one, and rode it at least three times. I hated it, and would have totally puked if I could have. Here's a vid of the ride in action:

 

The highlight of the day was when LeAnn and Austin went on the "I-5 Dive". They put them in harnesses and then tow them up on a rope 125 feet in the air. Once there, LeAnn pulled the rip-cord and it dropped them in a freefall and then they go flying through the air a few times. Here is yet another video. Very terrifying. Sorry for the shakiness of the camera man-- I couldnt decide whether I should keep trying to watch through the camera viewfinder, or just point the camera in their general direction. There were a couple of girls that went up and then decided to come back down since they were too freaked out.

 

It was a fantastic day. The kids got a bit worried about me because they thought I wasnt having as much fun as them on my birthday. (I had stopped going on as many rides after that Disko ride made me a bit sick.) I told them not to worry as the greatest joy that I could have on that day was that of seeing them smiling and enjoying themselves on the rides. Their happiness brings me happiness. Just like the fruit of the Tree of Life!

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September 04

Big date with JamJam

Miss Jaylin (6 years old) and I had a date last night. She has been saving up her money for quite a while, and finally had enough to buy a Nintendo DS Lite. We have a deal with our kids that when they work toward saving for something that is a bit expensive, that we will pay for half of it. After a good long while Jaylin had saved up $50. She was determined to join the ranks of her older brother and sister and get her own DS so she wouldn't have to keep asking them to borrow theirs. I looked on Craigslist and found one listed for $85 that was in great condition. The only drawback was that it was blue, but she didnt seem too deterred by that. We left home at 7:00 and drove to the South Hill mall in Puyallup, which was near to where we would be picking up the DS. We then went into the mall and found a Gamestop where Jaylin picked out her first game; Chihuahua Nintendogs. We stopped by Claires, where she then got some stick-on earrings and by a candy shop, where she picked out some gummy worms. After that, it was a quick pit-stop to the bathrooms and a pretzel from the food court. We then drove a few minutes to meet the guy with the DS. I inspected it, and it looked to be in good working order, though it did have a few scratches on the outside, the screens were nice and clear. He also had a Hannah Montana game that he brought and sold me for $10. Not a bad deal. Jaylin was quite ecstatic to have her own DS. She was giddy with excitement the whole ride home as she played her Nintendogs game. It was a fun date and great to see her rewarded with something that she had worked so hard for.