Quick survey.....

So I need some help, really just wondering. Which one do you like better?

First family trip to Zions

Gratefully this weekend gets to be a long weekend for me. This is something I am learning to appreciate and enjoy. I planned a family trip down to Zions Canyon. I had only been there once, and the rest of my family not at all. That was something that needed to be fixed. The idea of living this close to such beautiful places and not going, well just about kills me.

A small sampling

I had put a small sampling together of some newer photos. I thought I could actually make a real post of some of those photos. So here you go, hope you enjoy, because I sure did.

The Game

I make it readily known that I enjoy sports. By that I mean, I enjoy watching sports. My physical abilities would not lend to me the opportunity to be an active participant in those sports that I love to the extent that I would have liked. unfortunately for me, I was born, short, stocky(with extra put on by myself) and very white. Not the ideal makeup of an athlete (Bowling does not count in this case). Thanks to my father however, I grew to enjoy watching sports. Especially Football. I have found memories of Sunday afternoons, sunflower seeds in one hand, and a glass of ice cold Diet Pepsi in the other. My dad and I would watch football on Sunday afternoons in this particular position often during my teen years. He inevitable would fall asleep in his big chair, while I continued to watch and rest. An enjoyable side note was witnessing my mother sneak a peek at the game that was on. She would never admit to my father that she too enjoyed those games. I believe she enjoyed the term, "tight end". For her, Jerry rice was known as "the guy with sticky hands". While Jordan was know as "that guy who can fly". Somehow I always knew what she meant. Those were moments that I enjoyed. I always considered myself an appreciator of the game, not so much a fan, and especially not a fanatic. In fact there is so much to sports that I sometimes just don't get, and frankly don't want to get. In fact my wife is and probably always will be much more competitive than I am. For me, it was enjoyable, sitting there watching and being impressed at some of the amazing things those athletes would do, thank you Barry Sanders. So why do I share this tid bit of information? The other day I was watching just a bit of a game. Since being married, and having kids, the thought of being able to watch an entire game is long since been tossed out the window. Yet there I sat trying to enjoy just a bit, when all the sudden I realized that there was something definitely missing from our modern football experience. Something that I truly miss about the game. the memories that I have include tough, burly, manly men, with dirt, and stains, and pieces of grass and turf hanging off of their helmets. Memories of mud on field and guys sliding all over the place to make a tackle, or trying to throw the ball with a hand full of sloppy mud. Memories of the fields that were shared by both baseball and football with the middle of the field being the diamond. That part in a good storm would be an absolute mess. I can still remember some of the players shown with stuff all over them, and you could hardly tell if it was grass stains, or blood, or a good combination of the two. As I sat watching the other day I realized, NONE of the players had the least bit of a stain on there uniforms. They were all pristine and clean, and neat an tidy. It just looked wrong. There were all packaged up for a good viewing, just like a neat commercial. It just seemed fake. I don't know how many stadiums are fake now, I am sure I could look it up. It just seems like all the games that I see, are done in a dome, or on the new style of turf. I know it is amazing stuff, and looks and feels like grass, But it Ain't. The sad part is, I know high school are now playing on the same stuff. FAKE GRASS. A sad truth. Long gone are those days of muddy, bloody football players. Now we have clean, neat, and tidy, entertainers and guys whining if they don't get all the millions they think they deserve. Well I miss it. I miss that part of the game.

My need to repent....no, not what you think.

I am going to take a moment to acknowledge that I had to learn a valuable, but somewhat dumb lesson. It is on of those things that I "knew", but had not realized. I went for a drive with my boys "up the mountain" the other day to see the colors. It was beautiful. The colors were great, the drive was great. We stopped at a small lake for just a few minutes. I took some pictures and the kids played. After just a short while, I told the boys it was time to go. They whined and complained, and did not want to leave. But it was time to go. I wanted to keep driving to find some other places that we had not been to yet. I loaded them up, and kept driving. After the drive, I thought a lot about what had happened. Ah hah, I realized that what I want is not what they want. They just wanted to play, and throw rocks, and quack like ducks, and be boys. I wanted to drive, and look and take pictures. I thought back about all of our trips. We would drive up the mountain, but with only the amount of time that it would take to get there, and then have to leave and come back. I never make time for us to stop, and play, and enjoy. So my new goal, and this one I will make happen, is to make time to enjoy. I want to give my kids the chance to play, and just be kids. Without having their dad load them back up, and keep on driving.

A healthy dialog

I must admit, I like the responses that I have gotten. That is exactly what I wanted. My intention really was, this time, not to just stand on a soap box and spew out ideas. That was a real question that I was asking. I know only what I feel, and what I think. There is still inside of me, that person who just wants to keep learning. I am willing to listen to any side of an argument, and hope that I can ask real questions, and truly listen. That is my hope, and my declaring of my own weakness. You see, it was my opinion as I asked that question about permits and building a shed, that the rights of the individual are being depleted. My dear friend gave a great example of cutting into a pipe and almost killing ourselves. My question is, is it "governments" job to save me from my own stupidity? Do we have too many laws, too many ordinances? Are we over regulated? I openly admit my naive attitude towards political and social issues. I live in a small town, in a small community, with much less social problems that can be found in big cities. The only thing is, I like it that way. I like my small community. I like the feeling of living in the place that I do. I want to build a shed in my backyard, if that is what I want to do. If it falls down, and hurts me because I did not do a good job, or get a bonded contractor to do it, well isn't that my own dang fault. Mostly I just want to thank those that read what I wrote, and those that posted comments. I want a chance to talk, and to listen. Thank you.

Loss of Freedom or not?

I want to make this a rather quick post. There is something that has been on my mind over the last week or so. I recently had a conversation with an old acquaintance of mine. This old friend had some objections to my voicing my political opinions online as much as I do. I feel that is the reason I even use online sites, to network with friends, and to give my voice a forum. For me, it is fun. My hope is that it is not too overwhelmingly annoying. Then again, part of me does not care. Maybe just a little. I sincerely wanted to understand his objections which led us to a pretty interesting political conversation. In which he questions my intelligence, and education, which I found to be humorous to say the least. In the end, however, I left him with one final question as we discussed the issue of freedom. You see my opinion is that we have over time lost so much of our personal freedom due to our desires to be taken care of by our government. We have as a nation allowed those freedoms to be taken away, in the name of comfort and laziness. There are rules and laws, that we think are needed and necessary to "Protect us" from everything. We have lost the ability to govern ourselves in any way, and expect others to govern every aspect of our lives. To me this came down to one, simple, silly question. I ask that of you here in this forum at this time. Really just think about this one for just a minute. I would even ask that if you have the ability look it up, and let me know the answer.
SO here goes, my question is......
In you city, or you town, or your county, how many permits, and how hard is it to build or have built a shed in your back yard? Really, I know this sounds silly, but how many permits do you have to acquire to build anything on your own property? Is it one, two, with inspections? Can anyone tell me why? If it is my property, why would I have to have "governments permission to build"? Go ahead and let me know what you think, pass it on if you have to. I really want to know. Do you think this is freedom, or the lack of freedom?

Accountability

I am not a lawyer. I have never studied law. Maybe someday, just not yet. Yet there is one thing that keeps bugging me. I see it almost everyday on TV. Okay, maybe two things that bug me. The First one is the word allegedly. I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty. I get it. But by golly, when they find the girl that has been missing for 18 years in your backyard, and you and your wife match the description of the witnesses... So much for allegedly. Why in the world wold it take years to figure that one out. My main thought however is not about that, rather about accountability. Like I said I am not a lawyer, so I don't exactly understand (please teach me if you do). My question is why does the legal system the way it seems to be, favor those who plead "Not Guilty". Now first I must admit that I get my limited knowledge from the new, and watching TV, cause well I have never been to court, or in front of a judge. It seems To me from what I have learned that almost everybody, even the guilty plead "Not guilty". It is as if it is just part of the game. Plead not guilty, get the lawyer, go to court, drag it out, and lie, lie, lie. Maybe I just don't get it. Perhaps this comes from the fact that I spend so much of my time everyday, trying to teach young kids the meaning of accountability. I try so hard to teach them that it is better to be honest first and own up to what you have done. Then all they see is people pleading "Not guilty", and getting away with what they have done. Like I said, I don't know the law, but it just seems to me, that those who plead not guilty usually get a smaller punishment, plea deal, and advantages then those who plead guilty. I know it is not similar, but I remember getting pulled over, and the cop says "do you know what you were doing"? What is so wrong with saying, yeah, I was speeding officer, I am sorry. Perhaps if there were more accountability, then maybe, just maybe there would be more shame in doing. Just maybe all that I do means nothing, and all of us are better off never admitting the wrongs that we have done. But I choose to believe, that we can still live in a world where our personal honesty means something. I want to live in that place, that time, where we can be accountable. Maybe I am just more of an optimist, then a realist.

My weakness is her strength

In marriage, there are things that you both have the opportunity to learn early on in that getting to know each other better phase. You see for me, I thought I knew myself pretty well, and then after meeting and dating My wife for two years, I thought I knew her pretty well also. Well sometimes, once in a while something comes to light, that you were not quite expecting. I knew that my wife was much better then I was at reading instructions. In fact when anything is bought that needs to be assembled it required both of us to put it together. Me, well I do the manual work, and she is there simple to read the instructions to me. This is truly where my main "ADD" symptom comes out. I cannot for the life of me read instructions. It just does not work. My instinct is to start putting whatever it is together and hope that it all works out. That needless to say drives her up the wall crazy. So shortly after our marriage this was something that had to be discovered. I never knew to what extent this little dynamic of our relationship played a part. Well, not until tonight. My wife bested me at something that wives are not supposed to best their husbands at. But she did, and my pride was a bit hurt.


Zack Received a Lego set for his birthday as was very excited to get into it. His mother with great patience helped him build this great truck. She actually sat there and read the instructions, one at a time, helping him put it together, not doing it for him out of frustration, but actually helping, as HE put it together. Bit by bit, instruction by instruction they got it done, and it looked great. I could have never, in this life got that done. I would have ended up with something completely different, only sharing the same parts and colors. That is what I learned today, that my weakness in this case is by far her strength, and I love her for it.

More and more Housework

As it should be, it is one thing, then another. This is, what I asked for. My wife reminds me daily. She says, "you are the one who wanted to do this stuff". She's right, I am. The only hard part are those days, when all of the work to be done seems so overwhelming. I made a list, and have checked a few off. The items left far outnumber the ones that are done. I moved some rocks, and pulled some weeds, and felt like that story of the man who threw the starfishes back, you know that story with the millions of starfish lining the beach, dying. So that is how I feel most every day, except one huge exception. In the story, his actions made a difference to each individual starfish. In my story, there is no entity in which to make a difference. I guarantee the weeds don't care. Our home is coming along though. Every day is one more project down. As of right now, I have a half finished painted bathroom, and a few fixtures left to be put back up. Like I said, we are getting there.
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Today has been one of those days. Things actually went well at work.
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The realization of missing certain friends at work did hit with a bang. Somehow it is just not the same.
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Read some interesting articles in the news today. Getting really tired of the Utah "Mormon" bashing. It gets kind of old.
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More to come. I have just one little problem. Every day I think of something that I want to write, I need to write, but the frustration overcomes me, and I struggle to want to let that voice out. I miss taking pictures. soon, very soon.