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.

Spring

Relatively cool temperatures aside, it's a beautiful spring here in CA. It's been chilly the last few days, but that's probably just a function of our being spoiled already this year with nice warmth early on. Lots of blossoms, lots of greenage, and lots of blue sky - not too bad.

Spring also seems to inspire in me the need to plan stuff. So here's our plan for the next few months:

Upcoming family events:
April 4: Micah to Disneyland with school dance team
April 6: Brig's turns 2 years old
April 14-19: Family trip to Newport Beach
April 16: Ang and girls to 'Wicked' in L.A.
May 2-3: Kennan and Morgan's school play, 'The Sound of Music'
May 5-6: John work trip to Columbus, Ohio
May 7: Morgan turns 6 years old
May 16-18: Angela and Kennan to Utah for Camille Whatcott's baptism
May 23-24: Micah school play, 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'
May 30-June 14: our Provo house in the Utah Valley Parade of Homes
June 6: Angela's birthday
June 7: Angela and John 14th anniversary
June 11: Kids get out of school
June 14-21: John to Zion's camp with ward young men
June 23-28: Move to new house
July 7: Micah turns 11 years old

We're looking forward to some great events and good times. Hope your spring is going well too...

Failed attempt to invoke controversy...

A common theme among Texas football and basketball fans is "loud and proud". In honor of that tradition, and in support of my Longhorns against local darlings Stanford in today's NCAA tourney game, I am wearing my best burnt orange shirt in the office today. And let me tell you, I have gotten some serious animosity from the engineers ("tell me when there's a World of Warcraft tournament and then I'll care"), Indian employees ("yeah but are they good at cricket?"), and Chinese employees ("how are their academics?")... OK, just kidding about the animosity - try the opposite. I expected more of a response, but I forgot one important thing - this is the Bay Area. They're no good at cheering for their teams, they're only good at complaining about what their teams do wrong. Since Stanford is actually playing well, and could even win this game, they just don't know how to handle it. They're terrible at trash talk, they don't recognize a blatant "in-your-face" challenge like somebody wearing a Texas shirt on game day, and only the original Warriors fans (before the rich people got interested again and drove ticket prices out of the range of the real fans) really know how to cheer for a team. Oh well.

So the weekend looks like this for me: go to the bike store and buy the bike stuff I talked about yesterday, fix a plugged sink drain and maybe a few other honey-do's, help Morgan with her bike handling (and braking) skills some more, bike ride with the kids, a run tomorrow (my 5th of this week!), have long naps with Brig Sat and Sun, watch a little basketball (depending on today's game mostly), a few church meetings, and maybe even a late-night movie with the boys. Not bad.

Have a great weekend.

I've been slacking

Dan pointed out in a comment to my last post that I've digressed to posting about once a week. This is true. I'll try to be better for my millions of adoring fans out there. And Dan, don't you have a test to study for or a meaningless group project or something?!

Ang and I have started trying to change our eating habits a little bit. We're not dieting by any stretch, but we're following some principles about what types of food you combine with each other, and when you eat them. It seems a little hokey, but what the heck. I had a really good first day, but then by the end of the second day I was so hungry that I sent Ang off to her presidency meeting and raided the kids' Easter baskets. Needless to say, Ang is better with the self-discipline thing than I am.

We're buying another mountain bike and a hitch bike rack to complete our family bike capabilities. We like to take rides as a family, and we'll definitely want our bikes when we go fun places like Newport Beach, Utah, and Yellowstone. Four bikes on the hitch, one or two on the roof, throw on the rocketbox ... we're going to make quite a sight driving down the road. Reminds me of the Suburban going on vacation with 8 bikes on top.

Brig has started throwing tantrums with Angela when he doesn't like where they're going or what they're doing. He doesn't do this with me, but I hear second hand from Angela about them all. His current favorite book is his football book, or "bootball" book. He also knows many of the Wicked and Peter Pan songs from being in the car with the girls as they listen - he can finish off most of the lines to certain songs, and he loves to sing.

Micah's going to Disneyland next week with her school's dance team, where they will perform there. She's obviously very excited and we're happy that she gets to go. Kennan had a blow-up with a couple of her friends yesterday and is sad that they act like they don't like her any more. I guess that happens when all the girls in the group want to be in charge. Morgan's school teacher has recently been very complimentary to us about how advanced Morgan is and how well she's doing. They're all doing really well.

Easter Festivities

We had a really great Easter weekend.

The good weekend vibe started Friday for me when I left work a little early and rode my bike up a killer hill I like to test myself on. I proved to myself that while I'm not in great biking shape, I'm still pretty fit and was able to get up without hurling. That evening Ang had a fun dinner night out for a girl friend's birthday, so I just hung out with the kids and then myself.

Saturday I helped clean the church (which meant I couldn't go for a run...oh well) and then we all went to a fun Easter brunch and egg hunt at a park by our friends' house. It was nice to hang out with four or five other families, and the kids had a great time gathering eggs. In the afternoon, Morgan and I had our daddy-daughter date to see Horton Hears and Who and we really liked it. It's a fun movie and great for kids. That evening, while Ang ran some errands, the kids and I spent a couple of hours out in our "backyard" (aka, parking lot) riding bikes and scooters. Morgan's overcoming her fear of falling (she has many times), running into parked trucks at full speed because she forgets how to brake (she has a few times), running over Brig on his scooter because she forgets how to brake (Brig still talks about getting crashed by Morgan) to become much more comfortable riding her bike with me running alongside (and working up a nice sweat). It's very fun to see them all playing and having fun together. We had scooter/bike races, and I'm happy to say I'm the reigning champion!

Sunday was nice except for the rather nasty little cold I had developed. The morning Easter bunny treasures were just right; it was particularly funny watching Brig with an empty basket on his arm and both hands loaded with stuff...and him trying to figure out how to pick up more candy. Church was nice, and then, even though I was not at my healthiest, we drove two hours up through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through wine country, to Santa Rosa with our great friends the Hursts for a family Easter dinner. We met some of their family members and had a great time playing and eating. We would have liked to be with our own families, but that was a really nice replacement day as the next best thing.

Bracket update

After the first day of NCAA tournament games, I am currently ranked 909,341st on the ESPN $10,000 bracketology contest. "...so you're telling me there's a chance!"

Too bad to see the Cougs bow out in the first round, although sadly it's hardly surprising. I was wondering why they can't ever just come out and completely blow somebody away? Why can't they show up with some passion like a Belmont team that almost upset Duke? Oh well.

Morgan and I are going on a daddy-daughter date tomorrow to see Horton Hears a Who. When I originally told her we are going to see that movie, she said she didn't want to go. The other kids, in their shock that there was a movie that Morgan didn't want to see, went directly to YouTube, pulled up the movie trailers, and then Morgan saw what it was and changed her mind. The interesting thing about that to me was that the kids got to YouTube and used it so easily. Honestly, I'm not sure Angela could have done that.

And speaking of YouTube, I was messing around on there this morning watching old Dumb and Dumber clips (hence the reference up above) and laughing out loud. Man, what a classic! That inspires me to present my top 10 funniest movies ever...maybe next time.