Micah and I are both sick today. We both woke up this morning with some pretty gnarly stomach problems. I've worked a little from home, although I had a very serious sleep during the middle of the day, and I'm just starting to get my appetite back. In fact, I'm craving chips...

We had an awesome Sunday yesterday. As was probably the case with most of you, it was our Fast Sunday because of General Conference. It was my turn to conduct, so I also got to start the meeting with my testimony. I tried to relay a simple, unplanned testimony of the basics of the gospel, and I really felt the spirit as I was doing it. Then every single testimony after that was just amazing - there were no wandering travel-logs, no sob-story monologues, just great, spirit-filled testimonies the whole meeting. There were no awkward breaks, but it wasn't a stampede to the pulpit either, just good people feeling the need at different times to share their testimony. It was awesome.

Just want to say we continue to be grateful for really great friends. We have some friends who are facing different trials and hardships at the moment, and our hearts and prayers really go out to them. We think a lot about the Brady's and the Williams's in particular, but we are aware of others with important needs as well. If you're reading this, please know that you enrich our lives much more than we probably add to yours - so thanks for your examples, your goodness, and for your friendship.

Need blog topics...

I'm not sure if it's a sign of nothing interesting going on in our lives, or if I'm just in a mental cloud when it comes to deciding what to write. Either way, I obviously haven't been on top of the blog very much lately.

Maybe it's because I'm tired. Not tired of blogging, not tired because of lack of sleep, just tired. I guess that happens when you're training for a serious triathlon... So my exercise schedule looked something like this for the week:

Monday - swim 40 minutes

Tuesday - swim 40 minutes, bike 20 miles

Wednesday - swim 30 minutes, run 6 miles

Thursday - swim 40 minutes, bike 10 miles

Friday - run 10 miles

Saturday - I will ride 50 miles (with about 2000 ft of vertical climbing) and run 5 miles

So as I said, I'm tired. Can't wait for Sunday to REST!

Angela and I finally saw the movie Australia this week and we really liked it. It was fun for me to hear the Aussie slang, the accents, and see familiar landscapes (not that I'd seen them, but there's a distinctive look to Outback Australia).

It's been a very busy week. I've had multiple-hour church things two nights, Angela's had a couple of school meetings plus girls dinner & movie nights, and the kids have had the usual load of homework. We're really hoping our weekend can be calm.

Aggies = 6 year old

I flew Southwest to Vegas this weekend and I thought the stewards were pretty funny. They have a way of making everyone on the plane feel comfortable by mixing humor into their announcements. One of them, obviously from Texas, told a joke that I appreciated:

A Texas A&M Aggie and a Texas Red Raider were arguing about what was closer, the moon or Florida. The Aggie said, "well duh, you can SEE the moon, but you can't see Florida!"

I admit, that's not really even worth a laugh - maybe a small chuckle and appreciative smile, but not a real laugh. So I told the girls the joke at the dinner table last night and Morgan, with a sure look on her face, said, "yeah, that's right! Since you can see it, it's closer."

So that proves it, an Aggie is roughly equivalent to a pretty smart 6 year old.

Oh yeah, I have a blog...

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. If so, then you now like our blog more than you used to... It's been an awesome week and a half since I last checked in, so let me try to remember the highlights for a quick recap:

• -Went with the family to the amazing stake play - it was awesome but I was glad when it ended 2+ hours later
• -Rode 50 miles on my bike with a friend two Saturdays ago!
• -Sister-in-law Meredith had a birthday
• -We got invited to some new friends' for Sunday dinner (rare)
• -We had a fun FHE Skype call with Grandma and Grandpa, which the kids thought was really cool
• -I went on splits with the missionaries and had an incredible experience. There's a less-active man and his non-member wife that I've become friends with over the years as we've been here. We visited, I invited them to take the missionary discussions from the Elders and me, and they accepted. We start this coming Wednesday.
• -I filled out my March Madness brackets, which now have more red (aka wrong picks) than green on them
• -Kennan got braces (I think I wrote about this already, but just in case, it's worth mentioning again)
• -Morgan was Wilbur the pig in her 1st grade play, Charlotte's Web - she did GREAT!
• -I bought new golf clubs and the full set arrived in time for me to take them out for a trial run before my big golf weekend - love em!
• -And now, speaking of my big golf weekend ........

This last weekend was amazing. I went with Spencer and a bunch of our buddies (including Dave!!!) to St George where we have fallen into this every-other-year reunion with the same group of guys. It started off great as I went to San Francisco airport to catch my Southwest flight to Las Vegas. They were oversold and asked for someone to give up their seat for a seat on the next flight, which was only 1 1/2 hours later. I would've had to wait in Vegas for my shuttle anyway, so I volunteered, and got a $293 Southwest voucher for my troubles. It helped me anyway because I had some work stuff flare up and was able to get things organized within my team to basically take care of the problem while I was out playing (love that whole management concept...). So anyway, I got to Vegas, worked in the airport for another hour to finalize the work stuff, got my clubs without incident, found the shuttle in perfect time, and was on the road to St

George - very smooth! Friday morning we hit the golf course at

beautiful Sand Hollow out in Hurricane, UT. Amazing, gorgeous, difficult course. I didn't score very well that day, but I sure hit some great shots...those "sand" traps in the middle of the fairway caused me some serious grief. That afternoon was basketball and about 4 hours of sand volleyball, leaving us crawling into the cold pool and then the hot tub to try to recuperate. We finished off the day with a fast-forward version of the day's tournament basketball games, and crashed hard that night. Saturday started much the same way with another fabulous golf outing, this time at The Ledges golf course, which was a little less picturesque, but just as fun. I continued to hit the ball pretty well, and actually put together some nice holes including an eagle on a par five. Very fun day, and like I said, I LOVE my new clubs. It was back to the sand volleyball courts for another multi-hour play fest,

which was really great. Another dip in the pool/hot tub revived us, and Cafe Rio that evening filled our bellies as we watched another day's full of games in a few TiVo'd hours. What a great weekend - I was very happy to get on the plane early Sunday, and get home to my great family and our Sunday routine. I was so thankful to Angela for not only letting me go, but encouraging me to go, and actually being glad that I had such a great time - she's the best!

And now, it's back to reality, but feeling great from the good times.

Brig got a haircut yesterday.  His hair was pretty long, so we were in agreement it was about time. Unfortunately, it appears that the phrase "please cut it to a medium length" apprently means something different in some southeast Asian countries than it does here... So Brig's sporting a very short haircut, which doesn't necessarily look terrible, just MUCH different than we're used to.  I mean, I could've just done that with my clippers...

Morgan had a little accident the other day - she was riding in the shopping cart, which apparently tipped over as they were going to the car, and dumped her onto the ground.  She is now sporting a nice bruise on one cheek - no, not that cheek, the "lower" check - and has been having a hard time sitting down.  She was concerned before leaving for school that the field trip bus today would have hard leather seats rather than soft cloth seats to sit on.  I'm sure she'll be fine.

Angela did something funny this morning.  She was so tired when getting up for her 6am run that she accidentally put on two different shoes and didn't notice until she got home.  It's always nice to start the day off with a laugh...

Ang took the girls to our stake's YM/YW play last night and they came home just raving about it. They couldn't stop talking about how good it was, and how funny and talented all the kids were. It's nice to have good leaders who support that, and from what I hear it's a great missionary tool for the kids and their friends.  I'm sure we'll all be back at the play at least one more time this weekend.

I got a new set of golf clubs - I'm really excited.  I have been playing with my old clubs since the summer before I graduated from college - the first time - when we got them as an early graduation present.  So for 11+ years I've been playing with the same, knock-off, cheap clubs. You think the technology might have changed just a little bit during that time?  Yep, it has.  So I did a lot of research, weighing price and performance, and I feel pretty darn happy with my new TaylorMade Burner driver & 3 wood, and my TaylorMade Tour Burner irons.  What was even better, when we went to Golfsmith, we were able to get an additional 15% off the entire order, which was already discounted because they're last year's models.  Sweet!  I might even get out this afternoon to try them out...

Triathlon Pics

Beautifl day as you can see.  Fortunately no pics of me in my wetsuit and swim cap - looking like a beached whale with a red head.  Pretty stoked I did it...

Sweet Moment

I got home from my run this morning and was able to hang out with Brig for a little while just as he was waking up.  We played around for a bit, and then he watched me shave.  He thought it was funny how I put the shaving cream all over, and he watched carefully that I didn't get any in my mouth or my nostrils.  Then as I started shaving, he grabbed my left hand and just held it as I shaved.  As I was about finished he said, "Great job Dad."  It's funny how good that made me feel - I love that kid!