Christmas Good Will

If you are looking for something good to do for Christmas, you may want to consider sending a Christmas Card to men and women serving in the armed forces. You can mail your cards Until Dec 7th, so you can't procrastinate this one. Check out this link for more details... http://www.redcross.org/holidaymail

Charity Cut-A-Thon

I can’t believe that it is almost that time of year again. But I am going to run my annual special and all money I receive for doing hair till the end of the year will be going to charity. Most likely this will be the food bank, unless I come across another worthwhile charity that I like. If you just want to keep your money and donate it to your favorite charity that is fine as well. Suggested donation is $10 for haircuts. Contact me to set up an appointment.

Halloween 2009

For Halloween this year I decided to go as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I sort of decided last minute so I was very pleased when I found a hat, purse and gloves Halloween Eve. Many people asked me if I was Audrey Hepburn. I guess there are quite a few similarities between the two. There was another gal dresses up as Audry Hepburn and everyone was asking her if she was Jackie O. Here is a picture of us together.Here are my picks for best costume this year. In fifth place is the breakfast cereal gang, 4th is the Jolly Green Giant 3rd is Marie Antoinette 2nd goes to the bikers and 1st place hands down goes to Kanye and Taylor Swift. It was a good time. I hope you all had a great holiday. Here are some more great costumes...

Would you hate me if I bragged a little?

We ran our Temple to Temple half marathon from the Draper Temple to the Oquirrh Mt Temple last Saturday. There were 8 runners, 4 men and 4 women. I got first place. I think my half time was about 2:03 but it wasn’t officially timed and we ran a little more than a half marathon. I think it was my hardest route because the hills were pretty steep going up and down. At the end we had to run up to the finish at the Oquirrh Mt Temple. There was all this talk about how I was going to waste all the other runners and I started to get worried that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with all the talk but I just focused on doing my best. The thing is that I am the only one who really trained for it. Whit says he is going to beat me next year, but Brooke says she will believe it when she sees it. Maybe that is because he said that about this race and I beat him by 40 minutes I think it was. When I was leaving I said, “Thanks for planning this. It was fun.” One of the guys responded, “Yea and thanks for putting us all to shame.” Anyway the bottom line is that it was very fun and I need to do some recruiting so I can have some competition next year. I also don’t think I would have been able to do it without these adorable cheerleaders.

The Smile on Her Forehead

I wanted to tell all y’all about Jennifer Mosher’s new book. I just finished reading it. Jen is a good friend of mine from Minnesota and she just finished writing a memoir of her life since she was injured in a rollover car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. It was very helpful for me to understand things from her perspective and it did make me laugh out loud a few times. If you know anyone who suffers from TBI you need to read this book.

Who Wants to go Dancing?

I learned some new dance moves from my 18 month old nephew last week so I need to get out and show you what I have learned. Who is with me?

What Would You Do?

I have been running a new route lately that often takes me past a car with the above license plate. It really got me thinking. How did this happen? Did someone just go to get new plates and they were handed these plates and didn’t get a chance to object? Then I thought that it could have been an angry husband’s idea of a funny joke. I started to think about what I would do if I was given these plates.

Well my curiosity got the best of me and I was sure that you would all like to know the story as well, so I went and rang the doorbell of the house that the car was parked at. I was a little surprised that I recognized the woman who answered the door. She went to church where I went before my recent move. She told me that she works for the DMV and when the PMS plates all started to come in, her co-workers were all buzzing about the different combinations of ### PMS plates they wanted and she knew right away she was going to get her hands on these plates. Oh I should have asked her if she ever got pulled over with these plates before and if the cop showed her any mercy for having such unfortunate plates.

Temple to Temple Fall Half

Attention runners and supporters of runners! My dear friend Brooke is planning a half marathon that will go from the Draper Temple to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It is surprisingly about 13 miles. September 26th is the date for this event. We need some friends along the way to cheer us on, shuttle people back and forth and help with water. If you are interested in more information let me know and I will hook you up.

I Closed

It is official. I have closed on my place at long last. I signed the documents last night after work. It feels really good to have that done because the closing date had been pushed back over and over again. I now feel like I can really get settled in and start pounding nails in the walls and get some furniture. There is a house warming party in the works, which may be in as little as one week depending on how the settling in goes. I BIG thanks to all of you who have helped me in this process!

Happy Father's Day!

Get the Kleenex ready!

Adorable!

Commitment is a Good Thing

After much searching and deliberation I have decided to commit. Good things can come from commitment. I remember being in a singles ward once and this guy got up to bear his testimony. His testimony was that every good thing in his life has happened since he began committing to good things. He talked about how grateful he was that he had decided to make the commitment to be baptized and serve a mission. He talked about the associated blessings that came from both. He also talked about the commitment he made to go to school and the good things that had come into his life after graduation. Finally He made reference to the need we have to make commitments in relationships. I think it is usually taboo to talk about the “M word” over the pulpit in a singles ward but he pulled it off quite nicely. It takes a strong man to do that.

Well I may not be anywhere close to that kind of commitment but I have committed to buying a townhome. I am excited to make this commitment. How often can you say that? Everything has just come together so perfectly in this whole process so far. I hope it will continue to. If all goes well I should be closing June 25th. I am looking for a good roommate, so let me know if you know of someone needing a place to live. Sorry fellas, I have had a few offers but ladies only!

Here are some pictures of the big commitment…

SL 2009 half

I ran the SL half again this year and just incase you didn't believe that I did it, I have a few pictures. A BIG Thanks to my dear friends Brooke and Whit who came to cheer me on, took some photos and brought me a treat at the finish line. Also to my brother Moe, DJ and Julian who came out to show support.

I had my mission reunion last week. It was a good experience although I was sad that I didn’t get to see some of the sisters like Jerelyn, Krisha, or Shelly. What were you gals up to? I did get to see Sister Clawson who I got to know in the MTC, and Sisters Turner and Andrus although we didn’t take a picture together. Hopefully I will get a copy of the group shot from someone. President Wondra and his wife spoke to us. They both had very interesting things to say. Sister Wondra mostly talked about the love of Christ and how if we read the Book of Mormon we need to gain a sense of the love of Christ through this book. She said that she is now teaching a Book of Mormon institute class, I assume in Vienna.

President Wondra talked a bit about how the saints in the areas that we labored need to realize that they need to stay in their native countries to build up the church there. He said that too many of the converts are leaving to come to the states and they are not returning. He said that he was once tempted to move to Salt Lake. He said that he was getting a tour of Salt Lake from the missionary who baptized him. He was showing him where a few of the apostles lived. There was a house for sale next to an apostle’s home. He said that he thought about how he could sell his two homes in Vienna and buy this house. He imagined that he would go out to get the paper in the driveway and see this apostle and then tell him that his wife had just finished making breakfast and that he would love to have him over. Then he realized that the church needed him where he was at.

He also spoke about the love of Christ. He said that as members of this church we need to feel this love, and we need to extend this to others.

There was a woman there from Bosnia and she asked if there were any plans for the gospel to be preached in Bosnia. President Wondra said that they had plans to open up Bosnia for teaching the gospel. When they were working to move the work forward, there were air strikes and the plans had to be postponed. He said that this isn't war against the Bosnian people it is war against the Priesthood of God. Last time we meet he talked about the challenges in Serbia. He said that right after the full translation of the Book of Mormon was complete, and the first shipment was delivered, there were air strikes and everyone had to be pulled out of Serbia. There is a strong force working to keep the gospel from these people.

I saw Elder Murdock who I haven’t seen in ages and he was up to his old antics. This is him with his wife when he was supposed to be taking a picture of me and Clawson.

Ever since my niece Luna was born, her mother likes to tell me that she looks more like me than her. It has been an ongoing joke in our family. Well the myth has been perpetuated. There was a luncheon after Cate and Tyler’s sealing and Cate had a friend take some photos. Somehow the photographer thought that I was Luna’s mother and she took some mother daughter pictures of us. What do you think? Does she really look that much like me? Here is the real mother daughter shot that I took.

Cate, Tyler and Ian

My sister Cate was sealed to her husband, Tyler and son, Ian this weekend. I was able to fly up last weekend to be with her. I might normally take time to complain about the 50 degree temperature difference, but it was all worth the experience. Cate put me to work once I got out there and I came back exhausted. The night before the sealing, I was up till 2:00 am cutting up fruit. I need a vacation for my vacation. When I looked at how much work she put into everything I told her that when I got married I was going to elope. She didn't like that idea so much and she said, "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO ELOPE! I am going to be there to help you." Is it just me, or was she sounding a little like my mother? ;) Ian is getting to be quite the little man. He has learned to walk and dance. When he dances he doesn't bounce like most kids, he taps his feet to the beat of the music. I love that kid to death. Congrats to you! Here is some proof of Ian's dancing.

A Lovely Reminder

Don’t leave valuables in your car! Over the weekend someone got into my car and probably took everything out of my car that didn’t have much value. I don’t really understand what the thieves were thinking but in my mind the things that I thought they would go for remained intact. It was almost like they were trying to do me a favor and clean all the junk out of my car. Things like my stereo, new car vacuum, new air compressor and rollerblades. They seemed to browse my CDs and probably take one or two of them. They took some reusable Harmon’s grocery bags, sunglasses, sunglasses holder, some pamphlets and my sun shade. They seemed to be searching for cash because they took out my ash tray and cup holder and didn’t quite put them back right. Then they left the $2 in quarters that I had in a compartment that they must not have checked.

I should probably feel really violated but after it all I am just grateful that I don’t have to replace anything that is going to cost much to replace. Everything I need to replace is probably going to cost me $45 or so. Not bad considering the last time my car was broken into it was $300 to get the car fixed, $200 for a new stereo, and $100 in CDs. In comparison this is quite pleasant really. Tonight I will be removing those things from my car that I deem valuable.

The Good the Bad & the Funny

Should we start with the bad news? The bad news is that the cruise to the Mediterranean has been cancelled. It looks like it is going to be a while before I get back to Croatia. I had a cabin reserved with my roommate Heather and she had to cancel because she had a work conflict. Someday I am going to make it back. Hopefully before I have forgotten everything I learned over there.
The good news, or maybe I should say the GREAT news is that Cate and Tyler are going to get sealed in the St. Paul Temple at the end of this month. I am flying out there for that.
Now for the funny, for Brooke’s birthday we went cross country skiing at Wasatch Park in Heber. We decided to try and jump 180s with our skis on. I never quite made it 180 degrees, but maybe 150. You should try it sometime. Here are some pictures of Brooke and me giving it a try.
Brooke is just great at getting really goofy pictures, like shake faces.

Are you happy?

“We tend to believe that if we were somewhere else – on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance – somehow we would be happier and more content. We wouldn’t! The truth is, if you have destructive mental habits – If you get annoyed and bothered easily, if you feel angry and frustrated a great deal of the time, or if you are constantly wishing things were different, these identical tendencies will follow you, wherever you go.”

Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Corneal Refractive Therapy

I know that I just told everyone where they could go to get a pair of glasses for $8, but I found something else that I really like now. I went to see about getting Lasik at the end of last year and I wasn’t the best candidate. My corneas were below average thickness. Not to mention the fact that I really didn’t want to pay $3,800 for the procedure. There was also the whole not wearing contacts a month before and no make-up and no eye rubbing. I just didn’t sound like such a great option for me. I looked into CRT lenses. That is corneal refractive therapy. They are contacts that you sleep with them in at night and then you take them out in the morning and you can see. It is pretty slick. They are hard, gas permeable lenses that are between the size of hard and soft lenses. The whole thing was about $950 which is 25% of the cost of Lasik. You might want to check it out if you are tired of wearing glasses.

Draper Temple Open House

Last night I went to see the new Temple in Draper. It was gorgeous. If you are endowed you could wait until it is dedicated to go but last night I realized that if you have any non-member friends or unendowed little ones you NEED to take them to see it. The church does a fabulous job making these events very professional. You start out at a nearby chapel where you watch a short video about temples around the world and it talks specifically about the Draper Temple. Then you are bused to the temple site where they have a heated walkway to the temple. Then you walk through the temple. WOW! There is a short message in the sealing room about how families are eternal. Then afterwards you go to the stake center across the way where they have missionaries to answer your questions, water and cookies. The gymnasium is hardly recognizable as it is very nicely decorated. I hope you all get a chance to see it soon! You are supposed to have a ticket to go but they aren’t checking anyone’s tickets. I do have a reservation for 4 on Saturday march 14th at 10:00. They will go to the first person who requests them.

LOVE HIM!

This is my adorable nephew.