Nintendo DS.

This is what Cam has looked like ever since Christmas. Messy hair and his face buried in his Nintendo DS. I have not heard what the DS stands for but I propose that it might be distant sibling.

Camden and Cooper were nearly inseparable before the DS came around. Now Cooper has to find things to do on his own. Below he is playing in the snow all by his self. He plays with cars, plays house and follows mommy everywhere. You will notice that he still has a smile on his face.

I hope the stage ends soon as it is always so fun to see these two figure out how to get in trouble.

President Gordon B. Hinckley.

I had the opportunity yesterday in ward conference to sustain President Hinckley. Later in the day I would learn that he had passed away. I love this man very much. I have seen him at general conference and when serving in the bishopric, he dedicated our meetinghouse.

I remember very well a time on my mission when I was teaching a very affluent investigator. I showed him a picture of President Hinckley as I testified of divine guidance in our days. The investigator looked at the picture and was impressed that there was a prophet on earth today and that President Hinckley was that prophet.

I had an impression last night that Joseph Smith was one of the first greeters on the north side of the veil to excitedley congratulate President Hinckley for taking this work to the next level.

When President and Sister Hinckley visited us in Eagle Mountain, he stood at the pulpit and looked out at the vast congregation, made up of mostly children, and said "I look at all these little ones and I am inclined to think, what a gold mine for a Pediatrician."

I am truly grateful for this man!

Some Possitive Bulldog Thoughts...

Remember Your ABC'S

Avoid negative sources, people, places, things and habits

Believe in yourself

Consider things from every angle

Don't give up and don't give in

Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come

Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches

Give more than you planned to

Hang on to your dreams

Ignore those who try to discourage you

Just do it

Keep trying to no matter how hard it seems, it will get easier

Love yourself first and most

Make it happen

Never lie, cheat or steal, always strike a fair deal

Open your eyes and see things as they really are

Practice makes perfect

Quitters never win and winners never quit

Read, study and learn about everything important in your life

Stop talking and start doing

Take control of your own destiny

Understand yourself in order to better understand others

Visualize your dream

Want it more than anything

Xcellerate your efforts

You are unique, nothing can replace you

Zero in on your target and go for it!

January's always bitter...

I have decided that I will not be skiing much more this year. Therefore I am dying to have some spring, summer and fall weather. I do okay in November and December but January and February get long and boring.

I have the itch to go fishing and hiking and biking.(In good weather) The good news is that daylight savings comes in the beginning of March this year. That means that when I get off work at 4:00, at the mouth of the canyon, I can be hiking in 5 minutes. Just talking about it is making me excited.

Brian bought me some awesome hunting/hiking shoes that he found on sale at Cabela's. I have worn them to work the last couple of days. I might start bringing my trekking poles and packing a backpack.

I guess in the end it is always good to have something to look forward to.

Do I look like Elder Holland?

Sarah and I spoke in Sacrament meeting today. It went well. Sarah did an excellent job as usual and she even cried. Which is great because Sarah never cries.

After the meeting a kind brother came up to me and said that he thought I looked like Elder Jefferey R. Holland. I have never heard that one before. I usually get Kevin James from "The King of Queens."

Let me know what you think.

Whoa we're half way there...

Today's run marked the half way mark toward the big marathon. 13.1 miles! I felt great the whole time. The one question that I came up with was "do they make cortisone shots for the brain?" Sometimes the mental part of it is harder then the leg's part. Sarah was awesome and brought me out some water along the way.

I think a lot when I run, some of those thoughts are pretty random. I thought that I would pass along the top 10.

10- I wonder how many 31 year old, white, Mormon, father of three have 2 JoJo songs on their iPod.
9- If I can make it to the stop sign, I can make it the rest of the way...who moved the stop sign?!?!
8- What color scheme should I go with on marathon day?
7-I think that is Derron Williams house. I'll have to take the kids trick or treating there.
6-Top 5 robots of all time. ( No doubt that Vicki from Small Wonder is #1)
5-Allison Kraus should write a song for me and sing it in a duet with James Taylor.
4- Tried to remember all of my address's and phone numbers.
3-What do dogs do in heaven?
2-If Taylor Swift or Hannah Montana ever go off the deep end how will I explain that to Riley?
1-If Bob and Carla and Richard and Farah had a tag team wrestling match, who would win?

This is American Idol...

My kids are obedient again. We had a brief layoff between Santa Claus and American Idol. I am sure you've heard it before. " You guys go to sleep right now or I will tell Santa not to come" or in our house " if your homework is not done, teeth brushed and jammies on, NO AMERICAN IDOL!"

For some reason this show is aces in our house. Riley,Camden and Cooper are Blake lovers so they are a little concerned that he will not be on from week to week. I enjoy watching because it is something that we all look forward to doing together. I get a kick out of Paula being an idiot and Simon figuring out new insults. Camden said that he will only like Simon "if he be's nice to the people."

So here's to another season of AI.

12 Miles!!!

I didn't feel like flexing for a picture today. I ran 12 miles while my brain and legs had a debate that would embarrass Mitt and Hillary. I made it though. I ain't fast but I ain't no quitta.

Jazz, Braves and Steelers in the Same Year.

I am putting up this post to fill in for the six month gap that I had in 07'. For those of you who know me, you know that I love sports and even more than that I love my teams. In 2007 I was able to see all 3 of my favorite teams play.

Shane Denny, one of the best friends a guy could have, turned 40 this year. His wife called me and proposed that we go catch a baseball game together. It was much cheaper to drive then to fly so Shane and I road tripped it to Phoenix to see the D-Backs vs. the Braves. Fate was smiling upon me as the Braves were in town the weekend we were to go. Even more the Braves won the game 14-0. This was a great trip.

Could a guy be anymore content?!?!

Then my dear sweet Bronco loving, Denver living, season ticket holding brother in law. Invited me up to see my Steelers take on his Broncos. I was so impressed with the amount of Steelers fans that were at the game. Vince was able to score Sarah a ticket and so we went together and cheered our ways to a last second loss on a Jason Elam fieldgoal. It was bitter. The trip was amazing. I am really blessed to have in laws that I love to be with. Even if I wanted to rip that Bronco tattoo off his chest. ( I am joking, about wanting to rip it off, not about him having it.)

The third team was our beloved Utah Jazz who I frequent usually with our beloved brother Brian. It was an amazing year for me as a fan.

Through the sight of an archer.

The above picture is through the sight of Greg Robbins bow. The arrow that is currently attached to the bow will soon be dead center in the target.

Greg had his best year of hunting so far in 07 killing a nice bull and a very nice buck. Check out his harvest's and one cool story at www.hoyttoughbows.com

The best part of Greg's season was an idea he had. Details coming soon.

The 2008 SpudMan Triathlon

After doing my first triathlon last year I decided that I was hooked. I love the push to the limit feeling that a tri gives you. I had talked to several people that said to try and get into the SpudMan in Burley, Idaho. This is a popular triathlon because the swim portion is down the Snake River and thus you can get good swim times.

Well at noon on Monday when registration opened, I hopped on and signed up. It is a good thing that I signed up at noon because the event sold out in 26 minutes. I am very excited to compete in this event. It is on July 26th and features a 1.5K swim a 40K bike finished up with a 10K run. The best part is that four of my good friends also got in.


Here is a picture of me in last years Yuba Man Tri.

My Gladiator Review

All in all AG's was okay. It had the same events with some twist's. The trash talk seemed scripted. In the end how can you not like two humans fighting in a world of foam obstacles?!?! Sarah and I decided to spice it up.

She is going to fight Crush, seen above, for my honor.

And I am going to fight Wolf, seen below, for hers.

State Capital Tour

Tonight for FHE we went to the newly refurbished Utah State Capital. I thought with it being 2008, an election year, we could teach the kids a good lesson on government.

They did a great job restoring this historic building. It is very pretty and the updates will help our elected officials be more efficient. The kids and myself wore out pretty quick. We all kept our cool but I could tell that it was not going to be as exciting as I thought. Don't get me wrong we had a great time but a dad always thinks things up in his mind to be much greater than they usually are.

The last room we visited was the Capital Board Room. I would like to call the picture below "The Capital 'Bored' Room."

American Gladiators.

I am really excited to see NBC's update of one of my favorite TV shows. Above is the 1989 version of AG's. Brian and I used to sit and watch hours of this show and then act it out in the family room. On the night I graduated from High School my friends and I went to the Sports Mall and played all sorts of games. My favorite game from that night was throwing tennis and racquet balls at each other, we called this game American Graduators. I hope NBC doesn't let me down.

10 Miles!!!!

Here I am arms raised in accomplishment. Today in snow, slush and staring snowplows in their grills, I ran 10 miles! I started at home (5600 South 1700 East ish) and ran up to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon and wound my way back home.

I felt very strong the entire run. The conditions were less then desirable. I was slipping and sliding as several cars sprayed me with slush. I tackled a very big hill up 6200 South to Wasatch Blvd. I had two snow plows, who were team working on the shoulder, almost run me over. I am not kidding, why these guys would not honk or slow down has me baffled. In the end I did it.

I love running! I love the iPod in my ears and my brain on all the problems of the world. I love thinking about all of you. I love my sweet prison long john's that everyone makes fun of me for wearing. I love being less fat.

If I can do it, you can too.

It's 2008 Get Used To It.

My family seen above, would like to wish you a Happy New Year. As for the title of this post, it goes back ten years to when I was a missionary.

On December 1997 my companion and I retired at 10:00 P.M. on December 31st as per mission rules. I was fast asleep when I heard fireworks, pots and pans and all manner of yelling taking place. I looked over at my companion and said "Happy New Year". All of the sudden the most white trash person I have ever seen yells in our apartment window "it's 1998 get used to it!!!" I started laughing really hard.

The next day we told one of the members about it and he laughed equally as hard. That member named Ozz Daynes or his brother Rob has called me every year since and told me to get used to the new year. It may be one of those "you had to be there" things but I still laugh.