Happy Birthday Big D!

Dave turns 32 today. While it is very uncommon for me to remember my siblings' ages, I actually remember Dave's because he was a Bicentennial baby born in 1976. Amazing what actually sticks in this swiss-cheese brain of mine.

I have a lot of great memories of Dave over the years. I'm going to ramble for a while and just share some memories with you in no particular order.

-Dave sitting in the way back of the family suburban, hands clutching the back of the middle seat, bouncing vigorously up and down as we drove home up the Avenues, trying not to pee his pants
-Dave playing basketball with me in the back yard - I remember very well the one time he won when he was much smaller than I was...he launched a beautiful rainbow jumper from the side of the old backyard court, I watched it go through the hoop for the win, but he was already running for his life before it even went through, which was the appropriate reaction because I took off after him...
-playing couch football in the downstairs playroom with Dave
-riding bikes to Northcrest with Dave and Spencer
-Dave as captain and emotional leader of the West High basketball team
-Dave fasting the day he went through the temple, and then having him throw up in a certain part of the temple, after which I had to then occupy the same spot... yuck
-Dave leaving for his mission to North Carolina; seeing him off at the airport and he was sick and even skinnier than usual - he'd been sick for at least a week - MTC food ...
-Dave coming back from his mission a confident and mature man
-Dave's guitar playing and singing
-Dave's homecoming - every time I hear the hymn Nearer My God To Thee I think of him singing it over the pulpit and me feeling the spirit so strong I couldn't stop the tears.
-long rides in all kinds of weather with Dave (sometimes far behind Dave) as he got me into biking
-and many more....

I love Dave so much. I've always felt protective of him (except for the one time mentioned above when I tried to kill him), and that's not because he needed it, just because I care for him. He's a great brother and man.

Happy birthday Dave.

This week

Big week for our younger actresses of the family. The official Bullis Charter School production of The Sound of Music kicks off this Friday and Saturday with Kennan playing the part of Marta, one of the Von Trapp kids, and Morgan is in the chorus with the other kindergartners. Micah is not acting in this production because it's not for her grade, but she's helping backstage and thus gets to go to all the rehearsals. They have all been enjoying it as usual and I'll update you on how great it was when it's all over. They're really excited!

Brig continues to grow and progress, and he constantly cracks us up. He's to the point where we can't even isolate funny things he says and does, because at any given time he's saying something new and surprising - usually just little phrases. He's also getting bigger. I picked him up yesterday and there's starting to be a certain mass to his little body, which is exciting to see him grow. His hair is kind of long and really cute and curly - probably time for a haircut soon, but I'm debating with myself whether or not I can do it with my clippers...probably not (mortal fear of anything that buzzes, and hair a little too thin).

Angela's been running like a madwoman. She's constantly out pounding the pavement every morning, and she's got good running friends who are committed to training with her. As for me, I squeeze runs in when I can, but it's been a little hard lately. I still got 23 miles last week, but it's getting harder to find the time. Luckily we can leave Micah with the other kids in the mornings.

This weekend is also the College rugby final four, where BYU is yet again playing to see who gets to lose to Cal. I'm hoping to squeeze in their semifinal game before the Friday night play (or just miss that night and go to the Saturday night play instead of the final game). Looking forward to seeing some old friends who will come out for the event. Wish Spencer was coming...

Self-Powered Commuter

My goal is to see how long I can go between filling up my car with gas. I'm actually doing pretty well, but I've also realized that my car isn't the one we need to worry about. So I've become a self-powered computer. An SPC (Google talk) is one who gets to work either walking, riding, skating, sailing, swimming, or any other way that doesn't include other power sources. There are many benefits of getting to work this way:

1. I get to ride my bike to and from work and get some exercise (ok, a small amount, but better than none)
2. My car stays at home, so Angela can use my car instead of her big gas-guzzler for her daily errands that don't involve all the kids
3. My co-workers think I'm cool (sometimes)
4. Google makes a donation to a charity of my choice based on how many times I SPC each quarter ($5 per day)
5. Oh yeah, and there's that whole "environmental" thing or some crap like that
   

With my schedule it doesn't always work out, like on bishopric night, or when I need to pick up a kid from piano or something. But last week I rode to work 3 times, and I did today as well. Good job me.

Finally, does anyone else find this strange?

NFL Draft results for Utah schools:

• Utah State - 2 players
• Weber State - 1 player
• BYU - 1 player
• Utah - 0 players

Hmmmm.

A day of great loss

OK, that title makes it sound like something really bad happened...I guess I'm into sensationalist journalism now.

On Thursday night we had two losses within the space of one minute. First, Morgan lost her first tooth! She was so excited when I pulled it out without it hurting, which is good because we discovered she has 4 or 5 other loose teeth already. Then, within a few seconds of that, Micah said "hey Dad, try mine" and I pulled one of hers out too. So if any of you have kids with loose teeth and you need an expert to extract them, I come pretty cheap and do good work.

And I've been feeling a little bad that Angela didn't get adequate representation in the pictures from our trip because she was often the one taking the pictures, so here's this little beauty... (I'm really gonna pay for this one!)

British Nonsense

I rarely do this, but I saw this on a blog yesterday and I thought it would be fun to share. It's pretty funny. The blog I found it on was Dick Harmon's BYU blog (not sure what this has to do with BYU), but he did not write this, and there are other versions available on the internet. I think the most online credit is given to comedian John Cleese for having written the original. Enjoy.

To: The citizens of the United States of America

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy). Your new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: You should look up ?revocation? in the Oxford English Dictionary.

1. Then look up aluminum, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter "U" will be reinstated in words such as "favour" and "neighbour." Likewise, you will learn to spell "doughnut" without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the -ise.

3. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.

4. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

5. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

6. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you?re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

7. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

8. All American cars are hereby banned. They are disgusting and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

9. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

10. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been wrongly calling gasoline) - roughly $9US gallon. Get used to it!

11. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with "ketchup", but with vinegar.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full Kevlar body armour like a bunch of girls). Don't try Rugby - the Southern hemisphere teams will thrash you, believe it or not, they sometimes beat us!

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans, Indians and Pakistanis. Look them up in the Atlas provided on Google Earth first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

16. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season. Dinner should be served after 6 in the evening. The midday meal is called lunch!
God save the Queen?

By Royal Proclamation
Governor designate for the North American Dependency (formerly known as the USA)

A note on Google

Last week while I was on vacation, Google announced its 2008 Q1 earnings results with astounding effect. Companies have to wait until after the markets close on a pre-set day, and then they release earnings reports to Wall Street and media, followed by the earnings call where the CEO and CFO talk about the past quarter, answer Wall Street questions, and in most cases (not Google) give guidance for what the future might look like. Because Google doesn't give guidance, analysts really have no idea what to expect from us when we announce, and a result of this is wild swings and volatility because they usually guess wrong.

This quarter there had been a lot of speculation that we would have a bad quarter, particularly because some outside "experts" had represented that our advertising clicks were down (not true) and that we were in trouble (also not true). In other words, people were expecting a not-so-nice announcement from the Big G.

I logged onto my computer in the late afternoon to do some work, and the first thing I did was check how the quarter announcement has gone. I knew we weren't going to miss the analysts pre-quarter expectations, which is always a good thing, but I didn't actually know the final results. When I opened up Google Finance, I was astounded to see our stock up $75 after hours, which means that people were placing so many "buy" orders for first thing in the morning when the markets reopened, that the price had already been driven up that much. So I guess you could say we had a great quarter.

The downside of our stock going crazy, which of course I'm prepared to deal with, is that I invariably get emails from my business school friends with the words "millionaire" and "loan" in them. Of course that's laughable, and I want to dispel that notion right now for anyone who might have thought that...not now, not ever. Anyway, it's very nice to work for a company that can do well even when the economy is struggling.

Today was bring your kid to work day and there were about 4,000 kids running around the campus, especially at lunch time. Angela brought Brig up for a late lunch to miss the crowds, and it was nice to have him running around with his friend who came too.

Things I'm enjoying lately

It's been a bit busy getting back into normal life, but everything's good. Today's post is going to be made up of some things that are completely unrelated to each other, but that I've been enjoying lately (in no particular order).

Scriptures: On Sunday evening we had a Stake Priesthood Leadership meeting. One of my friends, who is a year younger than I am, is our stake Young Men's president, and he was asked to present to all the bishoprics and YM presidencies who were in attendance. I was so impressed with the depth of his gospel knowledge, and his understanding of tying scriptures together to make powerful doctrinal points. So I've resolved to enhance my own personal scripture study, and I have really enjoyed my late evening studies this week. It helps that I have a brand new set of beautiful scriptures (courtesy of Mom and Dad), and a neat new system of marking scriptures, but I look forward to this time each night. I feel already the difference in my testimony and in my desire to do good.

Playoffs: Jazz have looked really good in their two road wins against Houston so far. I expect them to close out this 1st round series in the next three games at most, possibly even the next two. Houston just doesn't have the players besides McGrady. And I'm sure none of you saw the San Jose Sharks Game 7 win last night against the Calgary Flames, but it was awesome! I seriously love hockey, especially the playoffs - makes me kinda wish I grew up in Canada ... no, not really.

Running & Exercise: Well, I finally got around to actually signing up for St. George yesterday, and I'm looking forward to it if I can get in. Angela and my running partner, Jason, are guaranteed entrance, so if I can get in that'll make a fun little group in addition to a few other friends who are sure to be running. I'm enjoying my running right now even though it's too early to start real training. I also started a weights regimen designed to round out my fitness without adding bulk. I should be sore for the next two weeks.

Family: At the end of our trip, mostly because we were all tired, hungry, etc. we had a bit of a blow up in which no one escaped unscathed. We were all sad about it afterwards, and we decided together that we would try to be better. Of course we are still working on it, but I have felt more peace in our home this week as we all try to be more helpful and more patient. We're all grateful for each other and we love each other very much - even with our faults and weaknesses.

Some Pics

The sign of a successful trip

At the Wild Animal Park

The kids with their cousins

Ang with her sisters, Christine and Caroline

Two buddies

Ang and the girls in front of the "Wicked" theater

Playing catch with Dad ... nice follow through

Shaved ice and cotton candy on the Balboa board walk

Twins, except that one's much cuter than the other

We're back...

We had a great week in Newport Beach, and we have mixed feelings about being back. Some highlights were: swimming in the Marriott Villas pool with the kids, running by the beach (just once, but still...), being able to resist the temptation to buy a timeshare, hanging with the Whatcotts, Wicked in L.A. for Ang and the girls, Newport Beach all day and walking around Balboa, renewing acquaintances with lots of family, the Wild Animal Park, and getting new running shoes for sitting through the timeshare presentation. We were mostly happy to be home, although not as excited as you would think we'd be to get back to school and work today ... ;-)

There was a lot of Richards family news that came out while we were gone. Congratulations to Nate & Jenny on kid #3 coming this fall, and congrats also to Dave who ran his first marathon this last Saturday. Bummer for Spencer & Molly's family, whose house purchase fell through, and also we're super grateful that Cort wasn't hurt worse when he got hit by a car on his bike. And today's Debby's birthday - happy b-day Debby.

Pretty stoked about the NBA playoffs just getting ramped up this past weekend. The Jazz took a big road win at Houston, and are looking pretty solid if they keep playing like they did on Saturday. They win again tonight and it's all over for sure.

I'll get some pictures up later of the trip and anything else that seems interesting.

Newport Beach

I'm sitting in the beautiful Marriott Village of Newport Beach, full to sickness from a much-too-large Cheesecake Factory double BBQ bacon cheeseburger, and enjoying the first night of our week vacation. We had a good drive down - it took much less time that I anticipated because in previous trips to the area we had hit horrible L.A. traffic. This time it was pretty smooth sailing, and we made it from our house in 6 hours - not bad!

On the agenda for the week: beach, swimming pool, tennis, scooters, Balboa Island, San Diego's Wild Animal Park, some time with local family, and who knows what else. After the dinner tonight, I'm hoping we don't eat for the rest of the week, but knowing myself, I'll probably be in the kitchen looking through the fridge in about an hour...

It's likely I won't be posting much during this week, but I will try to fire off an update if anything really cool happens. Have a great week.

Anniversary

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of my first blog post on this blog. I didn't know how long this would survive, whether I'd have the interest in keeping it up, or if people would even look at it, but here we are, 182 posts later and still going pretty strong. It's been really fun for me to do, and hopefully some of you get enjoyment out of it at least part of the time.

A few interesting stats of what the blog has acheived: 4,774 total visits, 13 visits a day on average, 288 pictures or images posted, and relatively few offenses given. Hopefully we can keep that up...

Thought you might be interested in the most recent picture of our Provo house, which is actually nearly finished and getting prepared for the Utah Valley Parade of Homes next month. This picture was taken on March 19th. We're hoping that even with soft market conditions, we will get enough of the right kind of traffic through the house in the Parade that we will find a buyer. It'll be nice to get this one done and sold so we can move on to the next project with CW Construction. They do a great job building these home and we would highly recommend them to anyone.


Have a great weekend.

Feeling better

I took a little extra time at home this morning to get myself right, and I'm feeling much better. It helps that it's warm and sunny, and we've got a weekend in the 80's to look forward to. Oh, and the entire next week after that on vacation in Newport Beach doesn't hurt either.

Just got back from lunch and this is one of the days Dan is going to grow to love this summer. They put on a Caribbean BBQ out on the big patio with a band playing and lots of good food. Great way to recharge for the rest of the work day. I had a pork rib, jerk chicken, grilled shrimp, tropical fruit, a virgin banana colada, and a good salad. I smell like I've been to a barbecue.

So here's a primer for the Richards family: That project that Dan's been talking about and asking for input on ... it's going to be awesome! I've been giving him just a tiny bit of help, and I'm seriously impressed. I believe the grand opening is coming pretty soon, so definitely stay tuned.

Big Warriors-Nuggets game tonight...it pretty much all comes down to tonight to see who makes the playoffs between those two teams. Also, NHL playoffs started (yeah, who knew?) this week and the Sharks dropped their first game to Calgary, which is not good.

Not feeling very bloggish today because I'm not feeling very well in general. There are colds and such going around the office and I seem to have become the generous beneficiary of someone sharing theirs.

I did get to see a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 11th inning last night to see the Giants beat the Padres, and some pretty darn good pitching from the Giants' starter and a couple of the relievers. Had a great time at the ballpark with some good friends. But the fact that it was cold and windy probably didn't help how I'm feeling today...

China

I'm sure many of you have read about and seen images of the protests surrounding the Olympic torch relay. The 2008 Summer Olympics, scheduled to take place this summer in Beijing, are causing immense controversy because of China's deplorable human rights record, and because of recent hostilities in occupied Tibet. It's to the point now that every torch event is disrupted as protesters attempt to extinguish the flame, stop the progress, and fight with police and pro-Chinese supporters.

I bring this up for two reasons. First and foremost, I want to share my thoughts on China. It's not the occupation of Tibet that bothers me, because that's been going on for centuries in many countries. What does bother me is their record of oppression of their own people. They do not offer their people many of the rights that are most basic to us (many of which are admittedly abused badly). When the people try to take some of those rights, they are ruthlessly stamped out and set back even further than before they tried to exercise a small piece of freedom. What is even worse to me is the controlling of families by mandating restrictions on number of children parents can have. This drives people to do horrible things that can in no way be right. Also, the Chinese government encourages, and even subsidizes, the stealing of copyrighted and patented materials and designs from other countries, and restricts trade and expansion of international companies within its borders. I guess that's it - it just seemed like a good time to talk about that.

Secondly, the torch relay comes through San Francisco tomorrow for its only US stop. Sure there are many Chinese people in and around SF, but you can bet there will also be massive crowds of protesters from this liberal and protest-happy city. I'll actually be in the city tonight at a Giants game (I should probably say at a Padres batting practice), and I'm wondering if I'll see any signs of the coming storm? It'll be interesting to watch the news tomorrow and see the hatred flow.

Brig's Birthday and Conference

Yesterday was Brig's 2nd birthday. First of all it seems like we've had him for longer than that as so much has happened since the morning of his birth, but secondly, it's also gone very fast. Here's a short tribute to our little guy:

I remember that day very well: Late night awakening...hurry to hospital...no epidural...lots of pain...25 minutes later our first boy...family is complete. Little did we know how great this small new member of the family would make our lives. He is a true joy for each of us in our own way, and for our family as a whole. We each seem to have developed over time our own "thing" with him, and it works for all of us to be an important part of his life. We love him so much and are so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving him to our family.

We celebrated with a mint chocolate football cake and a couple of fun friend families, but it was even better just being with each other for the whole weekend and talking about the "happy birthday boy". Ang took Brig to the zoo on Friday to start off his birthday celebrations, each of the kids helped wrap some presents and give them to him, and we had fun making cards and getting things ready. Of course he opened the biggest gift first, which was the football helmet from the complete Texas uniform we got him. And since he opened that first, all the rest of our birthday pictures show him proudly wearing the helmet - we should've known...

We were really happy to get Micah home yesterday from her Disneyland dance team trip. She of course had a great time, and had many fun stories to tell and small gifts to give her sisters and Brig. We were relieved it all went well - we totally trust her, but when they're far away and completely outside our control you just hope everything's ok.

We also enjoyed General Conference. I particularly loved the Priesthood session. It is usually my favorite part, but this time for some reason it was extra good for me. I really felt the spirit strongly, and it was nice to have a reminder to shape up certain areas of my life and start worrying less about things that matter less (work, promotions, etc.), and more about things that are most important (family, testimony, calling, BYU football...just kidding). Mom was released from the Young Women's general board, so within the last month she and Dad have both finished up their callings and are now wondering what to do with themselves. It was fun to talk to them both last night - they're great.

A few more pictures:

A Tremendous Friday To You...

Great day today already. It's Friday, which is never a bad thing (except maybe for Matt, who works so much I'm not sure weekends are relevant to him). I was able to get out this morning with a great buddy and play a round of golf - and guess what, I actually played pretty well!

We'll miss Micah this weekend. She left yesterday afternoon with her school dance team to perform at Disneyland either today or tomorrow. Of course she's completely over the moon about the opportunity, and we're glad she gets to do it. The girls are already missing her, which happens in our very small home when someone is missing at a time when they're usually there (like nights). But we eased their pain by having them all up to Google last night for a fun dinner and dessert, (which went pretty well except that Kennan dropped her tray of food, and Brig was all over the place).

Speaking of Brig, I think seriously within a one-week span, he's hit the terrible twos. I guess it's right on time, since this Sunday is his birthday, but still, he went from a sweet fun little boy to a sweet fun little boy who now throws tantrums and gets crazy at the worst possible times. Of course we still love him, and I'm sure my mom would submit an appropriate comment here about what I was like when I was a kid, but still... So we're really pumped for his birthday. He loves opening presents anyway, as in he has to open other people's presents on their birthdays, so he'll be loving his own present day. I can't wait for him to open his full University of Texas football uniform complete with helmet, jersey, shoulder pads, and pants. I think that's going to replace his current favorite outfit of shorts and his cowboy boots. He's a funny kid.

We're looking forward to General Conference this weekend for a number of reasons. We of course enjoy the spiritual upliftment that comes from watching and paying attention, and it'll be extra neat this time to see first hand the impact of the new prophet and first presidency. I admit to also being very happy to not have a day full of bishopric meetings, and it'll be nice to spend a lot of time with the kids. We'll probably split up the sessions with some fun parking-lot bike rides (Morgan's not really ready for roads/trails yet), a park trip or two, and maybe even some family friend time. Should be a nice relaxing weekend.

I played basketball ("2-1-MONEY!" to Brig) last night for the first time since Christmas, and actually had a great time. Fortunately I was able to go over to the ward gym earlier this week to remind myself how to shoot and dribble, so last night went well. I'm happy to say I represented the Richards brothers well. I'm looking forward to getting Dan out to some of these games this summer.

Looks like the Warriors aren't going to make the playoffs...Boo Hoo... ;-)

Pretty funny

Check out the commercials below. Older brother Matt sent these around ... I know, an attorney with a sense of humor? ... anyway, Dan complained about having to try and "quiet laugh" while watching them in the no-laugh hallowed halls of Wharton's business school. Enjoy:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gC8s6qFrW8Y

An Invitation ... No ... a CHALLENGE!

We all need something in our lives to challenge us: a cause greater than ourselves, something on the razor's edge between doable and crazy, something to kick us unceremoniously out of our comfort zone, something that proclaims - even yells - to the world: "take me seriously!" I'm so sure we all need something like that, that I have just the thing for you:

Yesterday marked the official opening of registration for the 2008 St. George Marathon. Sure it's long, yes it will be hard, your nipples might even bleed (can I say that on this blog?). But I promise you right here and now - if you train and run this sucker, you will experience a thrill of accomplishment that you have never before experienced for a single undertaking!

We have a bunch of runners among our family and friends: Matt, Molly, Spencer, Hailey, Dave, Nate...oh wait, and others. But the great thing is, you don't have to be a "runner" to do this. I would even venture to predict that due to Mom's pending release from her calling, that we may be able to entice Mom and Dad down to watch their first STG - that would be big!

So I issue a CHALLENGE, I throw down the GAUNTLET, I draw the LINE in the sand with my sword: Who's with me?! Who's going to man up, or I guess woman up (that doesn't sound quite the same), and sign your name in blood on the dotted line?

I have training plans galore that I can help you tailor for your specific needs and level. Angela and I have a bit of resident knowledge (14 St. George marathons between us) that we can share with you to quell your anxiety. I'm telling you, you need to give yourself this gift - it's amazing!

Convinced? ... http://stgeorgemarathon.com/

Politics, Religion, Movies

We watched a good movie last night, "Next" with Nicholas Cage and Jessica Biel (Rrrrr). We didn't have many expectations going in because it was one of those movies you put in your queue and forget about, not even really remembering why you put it there in the first place, and we were pleasantly surprised. Good show, I recommend it.

I've almost completely forgotten there's a presidential race going on. I have, however, enjoyed watching from afar as Hillary and Obama duke it out in a big way. As I've seen that take place, and watch the Democratic party fracture, I'm impressed with how astute it was for Romney to bow out early for the sake of the party. I still don't like McCain, but as I think about it more and more, I'm just much more comfortable with the Republican party and what they stand for, then I am with the Democrats. I don't think any of these candidates will become a powerful president, and thus it may fall back to the party lines as to what decisions get made.

Mom sent me a brand new set of scriptures yesterday as a surprise gift. I've been using my old missionary scriptures and trying to keep them together just a little while longer, so it's a perfectly timed gift, and very thoughtful. I can't wait to start marking them up.

Brig was running around the house in his diaper and his cowboy boots this morning trying to scare everyone by popping around a corner and saying "boo!" He's such a cute kid and seriously lights up our whole house.