Isn't he cute?

This is a profile shot of our baby's head. You can see his nose, forehead, and little lips. Isn't he cute? Oh, that brings us to the big news...we're having a BOY! We keep thinking about all the cute little boys we've met over the years, hoping that our little one will be as cute. The doctor checked everything (vital organs, brain, bones, etc.) and said little one looks very healthy. We are so grateful and blessed.

I'm Mister Green Christmas

Imagine a world where you don't have to worry about the big trucks sliding all over the place because they're driving 70 MPH on sheer ice. This is also a world where there aren't people driving 15 MPH on the same road. Imagine a world where you don't have to take your summer clothes with you to change into once you go inside because people think they need to turn the thermostat up to 80 degrees when it's 25 outside. Imagine a world where, if you get roller blades for Christmas, you can play with them OUTSIDE instead of in the kitchen or garage.
Okay, I admit I'm not the biggest fan of snow. "Well, move!" I can hear some of you saying, but the fact is, I have things to do here right now, and I don't feel like commuting that far every single day (and, to be quite honest, I'm not that bent out of shape about it; I just prefer warm weather). I used to like snow. I used to like to go play in it even when I didn't have snow pants and my jeans would freeze to my legs. But I have to tell you, I don't like it anymore. Skiing is more expensive than my willingness to pay, the roads get nasty, and I'm always either too hot or too cold depending on who's in charge of the thermostat. I don't want to offend anyone. You're certainly entitled to love snow, but I think the only Christmas song that gets it right about snow is the one that says "Since we've no place to go, let it snow!..." That's the only time I think it's acceptable, if I can stay inside with Michelle, cuddle up, and watch a movie.
As I drove through a blizzard on Saturday, I realized why we have Christmas in December. Since it's the most miserable time of the year, people needed the biggest holidays of the year just to feel happy. It's a raging success, because people have even become convinced that snow is a good thing. Just listen to most of the Christmas music out there.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Christmas. I think it's the greatest holiday. People are kinder to others and more generous. Even in a world that is increasingly bad, heroes emerge during this time of year (and I guess the snow and cold gives them more opportunities to serve). I love Christmas music, and I love being with family. I really feel that the spirit of Christmas is the Spirit of Christ, and that's why we love this time of year so much, despite the blizzards and such.
Having said all that, who's really the bad guy in this clip?

BYU Football and Freeway Driving

Before I get into my main post, Michelle had another funny anecdote from her little second graders that she wanted me to share. For a lot of activities she has the kids move over to sit on the floor so they aren't writing or playing with things at their desks. A lot of times while she's talking, she feels slight brushings against her shoes. When she looks down, there will be one of her second graders petting her shoes. When she asks them what they are doing, they simply reply, "Your shoes are so pretty." Michelle's shoes are not unusual or special. In fact, she only has about three different pairs that she wears to work. Second graders can be so silly sometimes.

Now, let me just say that I didn't watch the BYU-Utah football game (in fact, I haven't watched any games on TV this year because of the wonderful Mountain network). I have friends and family that with the proper cable services to see the game on TV, but I didn't want to watch. I can't handle it. If I watch, it's too important to me, and I turn into something I don't like. Most people love to watch close games, because it's so exciting. Well, I hate it! I would much rather watch a blowout (only by the team I'm rooting for) any day than those stinkin' intense battle games. I had already decided this year that BYU was going to lose (teams I like can never seem to play well in the second half of the game or season). For some reason, even when we're way better than Utah (and we have been the last couple of years) the game is always close. But, if Utah is better than BYU (like this year) they blow them out, and it drives me crazy.

I drive like a grandpa on the freeway except that I pay a lot more attention to people trying to get around me than they do. I used to pride myself on the fact that I made it to Provo from Brigham City in an hour and 15 minutes. While I still think that's cool, I can't handle driving fast. I'm not scared or anything. In fact, I love weaving in and out of traffic, accelerating to find just the right spot, etc. The problem is that when I drive fast, I turn into something I don't like.
Growing up I might have been more boisterous or loud, or however you want to describe me, but I prefer to be a little calmer now. I want to be like those people that make you feel good just to talk with them. Usually those people have great self-control, and are able to focus on you when they are talking with you. Anyway, yelling at Max Hall for being a pansy and running out of the pocket too quickly is not what I like to do. Screaming at the defense for just being dumb and letting the other team go by arouses feelings of anger that are not what I want to be a part of me. Sometimes I want to throw the remote at the TV (which would be very counterproductive and damaging to both remote and TV).
Along the same lines, yelling at "Idaho" (which is where 90% of the yelling is directed), or "Toyota" (or whatever the first word that comes to mind for the car) for cutting me off or driving 57 MPH in the fast lane is not the kind of behavior I want to have. Several years ago I made the decision to drive just under the speed limit in the far right lane. I've gone in and out of that goal, and every time I speed back up, I start yelling again. It's bad.
In conclusion, I want to be a person with better self control. They say the best way to overcome temptation is to avoid the temptation in the first place. Since I obviously lack the self control to be calm in these situations, I have decided to simply remove myself from those situations. Sometimes it's really hard, because I love to watch football and drive fast, but until I can learn to relax more, I'm just going to have to go without. By the way, I still felt some of those angry feelings when I saw that BYU just seemed to give up in the fourth quarter.
Aren't second graders cute? (Just thought I'd end the post on a positive note).

2nd Grade Anecdotes

Snow makes kids go crazy. Obedient children somehow transform into snowball-throwing, fighting, punching, name-calling children. Ahhh! They are definitely a force to be reckoned with. In the last 2 weeks, I have given some 15-20 white slips. And yesterday, the recess duty came in with 6 boys who were pushing, shoving, and choking each other at recess. I was so angry with these boys that I couldn't decide what to do with them. White slips are obviously not working. So, I thought about it last night and decided that all 6 boys will lose the first 5 minutes of each recess for the next week. They have to do jumping jacks for a full 5minutes before they go to recess.

Today was their first day. And guess what?! They transformed back into my darling little boys again. (And it was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.) All six boys were giggling in between gasps of air. "Teacher, I can't breathe!" "I'm so TIRED!!!" No drinks, no stopping, 5 complete minutes of hard exercise. I did allow them to switch to jogging, hopping, or pretend jump-roping if they wanted. Who said a teacher can't exact some sweet revenge? :)

Second funny thing of the day...my class was walking past the teacher's lounge, and the door happened to be open. As one student looked in, his jaw dropped, eyes got wide, and he asked, "Is that where you eat lunch?" It's amazing what gets kids excited.

Well, here are my two funny stories of the day. Have a good one!

Pictures

In this picture our baby is looking and waving at the camera. You can see the little arm up next to the head.

This is the first picture they took of our baby. They were measuring to see how old it is. This was over a week ago, and you can see that it says 11 weeks 0 days. That means that this week Michelle is officially out of the first trimester. She went back to the doctor yesterday for some testing and they took some more pictures and moved her due date up to May 13th (originally May 15th).
Michelle is doing well, and we're excited about how things are going.

Addition

Brian and I are going to have an addition to our family! Right now, he or she is about 2 inches long, and has visible hands, feet, and eyes. He or she is almost 11 weeks old, and is already very active! He or she (it has already decided what it is) has developed all its organs and just needs to keep growing until May! Today we got to see our little one, who was looking at the ultrasound and waving. It seems strange that the little one is really inside me, but we are so excited. We will post pictures if we can figure out how to get them on the computer.

I have felt pretty good so far. I have been extra sleepy, and I get tired quickly when I exercise. I also have a hard time cooking. Eating has been an adventure, and I've definitely had some specific cravings and aversions. But, overall, I have been very well.

My favorite foods of the week are Arby's Regular Roast Beef Sandwich (which has 20 grams of protein), fruit snacks (full of vitamin C), and popcorn (high in fiber and a good source of protein).

Fruit candy has also been at the top of my list, but chocolate and ice cream are not my favorite things.

Anyway, we're super excited!

I figured it out!

Well, Brian and I have been trying to figure out how to apply all the cute backgrounds to our blog. The directions on the website didn't make sense because we didn't have the right buttons on our screen that the directions said we should have. Anyway, tonight, I saw that there were updated directions. Hooray! It worked!

So, I'm a little slow at noticing things, but Juli has tagged us. Where do all of these come from anyway? Does someone just sit around all day thinking of random things to require their friends to answer, and it somehow gets all over the world? The biggest thing, I think, is that the friends actually answer the questions and force others into the same dilemma: should I save myself ten minutes, or keep my friends? Anyway, here are our answers.

Five things I was doing ten years ago:

Brian:

1-I was getting my paperwork done for my mission papers. That was back in the old days when you used to have to fill everything out with a pen!

2-Working at Sophista Cabinets. I'm still not sure if I ever got my last paycheck from that place, by the way.

3-Driving a Camaro (and somehow thinking that made me cooler - like I could really get any cooler).

4-Getting ready to head over to the Lincoln Center for yet another fun-filled night of basketball, video games, knocking pool ball off the table (never on purpose), and movie watching.

5-Watching Rocket Man (I don't think Ian had introduced us to the Hudsucker Proxy quite yet, but if he had, then we were watching that movie).

Michelle

1-I was just starting my eighth grade year at a new middle school.

2-I played piano in the awesome school jazz band.

3-I decided that basketball and volleyball really weren't my sports, because I stopped growing when everyone else kept getting taller.

4-I learned I was getting a new sister.

5-I got my braces off. Hooray!

5 things on my to-do list today:

Well, today's almost over, but here's what I wanted to get done:

1-Finish the Laie, Hawaii Temple.

2-Have family home evening with my gorgeous wife.

3-Do some tedious accounting homework (bleh!).

4-Recover from too many bowls of taco soup (it was the best taco soup I ever had).

5-Take my book back to the libratory.

1-Get a flu shot.

2-Return my movies to the library.

3- Finish my never-ending pile of grading (which, incidentally, I didn't touch).

4-Clean up.

5-Exercise.

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1-Buy a house.

2-Save a measly $25,000 (pocket change) to finish paying off school (yes, I would still finish school...maybe).

3-Buy a Lexus for me and an Infinity for Michelle.

4-Pay off all of my family's debt.

5-Probably save some.

1-Build a brand new house.

2-Travel the world with Brian.

3-Set up a college scholarship fund for family.

4-Save some.

5-Donate the rest (I'll decide to whom when I am a millionaire.)

5 places I've lived:

1-Provo, Utah

2-San Jose, California

3-Brigham City, Utah

4-Uruguay (several different cities)

5-West Valley, Utah.

1-Provo, Utah (where I was born)

2-Escondido, California (many different parts of the city)

3-Valley Center, California

4-West Valley, Utah

5-Hopefully a house/condo we own.

5 jobs I've had:

1-Golden Corral

2-Burger King

3-Sophista Cabinets (it's a play on words making you think the product is sophisticated)

4-BYU Custodial (go Tanner Building!)

5-Fondell Woodwork (pronounced fon-DELL)

I just realized I put five places I've worked instead of five jobs I've had, but you can pretty much tell what I did there.

1-Babysitter and respite care (I earned a lot of tax-free money throughout middle school and high school.)

2-Lifegaurd/swim instructor

3-BYU custodial (the 2nd floor of the library can only be vacuumed so many times before it's CLEAN!)

4-History TA
5-2nd grade teacher :)

We tag:

1-Charisse/Kory

2-Sarah

3-Heather/Brian

4-Stephanie

5-Michelle Williams

6-Mom

Okay, here is how it works. Anyone we have tagged, answer all the questions on your own blog in a post. Then when you are finished tag 5 more people.

Forever Strong

Brian's rating: Four enthusiastic thumbs up! (I know I don't have 4 thumbs, but this movie was just that good!)

Michelle's rating: Four shining Stars!

We thought we'd follow Andy's example and share a good movie we saw. We've seen so many movies that we were just disappointed in that we're a little wary of going to the theater any more (did I hear someone say Pirates sequels?). We recommend this movie to everyone, especially if you need a boost to get you to follow through with something you know you should do. This movie makes you proud of the values that many of us share and wish that everyone could just see how much better life is when you do what's right. It shows what happens when you try to blame everyone else for the problems you have as well as what a great influence for good you can be if you make good decisions. It shows that people are more important than programs. There was also some cool rugby action for all of you rugby fans out there. This is one that we will put in our collection when it comes out. We haven't bought a movie in years (unless you count Rocky that we got for the cost of postage to send in the Frosted Mini-Wheats tickets), but this one is worth breaking the drought. Anyway, we liked it, and we highly recommend it.

Off-track

I love year-round school! It is so nice to have a break every 9-10 weeks (for me and for the kids). I have one more week off, and I have really enjoyed my lazy mornings, listening to talk radio, exercising every day, reading books, and procrastinating my giant stack of papers to grade. I've been at school on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for our school Christmas choir and to work with three students. One of them is mine who just needs a few more weeks of speech interventions so I can refer her to speech therapy. She is a native Spanish speaker, but neither her English nor her Spanish is intelligible. Anyway, I am having a very enjoyable and relaxing off-track time.
As an update to my tag, my set of favorite snacks for this week include: most any fresh fruit (but not home-grown, as it has attracted multitudes of fruit flies-yuck!), refried beans with tortilla chips, and fruit snacks.

Tagged!

Now that we've been tagged, you get to find out 6 unimpressive, quirky things about both Brian and I. As for me:

1. I've never had a filling at the dentist's office.

2. I only like chocolate in its solid form. That means no chocolate syrup, chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, hot chocolate, or melted chocolate. Chocolate flavored things are also no good (like chocolate chapstick, chocolate graham crackers, or chocolate licorice.) Frosting is on the border, and brownie batter is a complete exception.

3. I really don't like scary movies, especially if they have vampires or orcs in them.

4. Currently, my three favorite snacks are ice cream, watermelon, and popcorn.

5. I don't like any kind of salad dressing.

6. I highly prefer to eat breakfast and brush my teeth before I take a shower.


Here are Brian's

1. I like to study grammar and etymology. It doesn't mean I use it correctly all the time, but I just think it's fascinating.

2. I hate it when people say bubye or m'bye on the phone.

3. I love electronics. Computers, phones, CD players, MP3 players, TVs, etc. Just setting them up is therapeutic.

4. I like to have power tools. I don't have to use them, but I like to have them. Someday, I'll have a huge garage with tons of tools in it.

5. I love fall. I always associated the feeling of fall with starting school. But then when I didn't go to school for a few years, I realized that it is fall that makes me feel this way.

6. My hands. I hate it when my hands are dirty. My whole life I've had problems petting animals because I feel like I need to go wash my hands. I'm not scared that I'll get sick or anything. I just don't like having stuff on my hands. It feels weird.


There you have it. Now you know more about us than you really want to know.

School and such

Well, I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into. I apologize for not posting very much, but this stinkin' school thing is keeping me really busy. I have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and Saturdays for the last few weeks, but those are done for now), and I meet with my PMBA team on Mondays, Wednesdays, and, if necessary, Fridays. Saturdays (when I don't have class from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM) are used for homework. In fact, I shouldn't even be posting right now, but I'm procrastinating my homework.
I have a different class on Tuesdays than I do on Thursdays. At the beginning of the semester my Tuesday teacher told the class that he couldn't talk for 4 hours (the classes are scheduled from 6 to 10 PM), so we would have a lecture for 2 hours and then he would stick around if we wanted to work on the homework and answer any questions. I've never had to continue his homework beyond Tuesday night. I thought that was great, and I had heard rumors that a lot of the program would be like that.
Thursday, we walked into the class room and saw the US government time projected on the screen, counting down until 6:00. The very second it turned to 6:00, the professor told us all to look at the wall clock and said, "I've been teaching in this classroom for four years, and that clock has always been 5 minutes fast (it said 6:05). So, when that clock says 10:00, I don't want anyone looking at me like I'm supposed to be done, because I still have 5 minutes left." So much for that rumor!
Anyway, it's really interesting stuff, but its just hard to focus on it for four hours at a time. Basically, I'm writing this as a present and future excuse for the lack of blogs you might see. Please try not to get too angry, and I'll try to post as much as I can. Who knows, maybe you'll see a lot more posts because of my mad skills in procrastination.

The Barrier is Broken!

Well folks, there you have it. I broke the 40 mpg barrier in my car! Up to this point, the best I've been able to get was 37.5. I was really shooting for 38 when last time I ended up with 32. I was so disappointed that I decided to really focus in on it. I normally go about 400 miles on a tank, but this time I went 440. I could have gone farther, but I wasn't going to have time to go to the gas station until well after I thought I would run out, so I had to cave and fill up. Here's how I did it, just in case you want to give it a shot. One of the key factors to my success is in the fact that I have books on tape to listen to in my car. It helps me be more patient, which you will see why that's necessary in a minute. Here are some more keys to my success:

• 90% of my driving is freeway driving. I realize that's just not realistic for most people, but we live just a few blocks from the freeway and my work is just a few blocks from the freeway too.


• I use cruise control as much as possible.


• I drive about 63-64 mph. This is where the books on tape come in handy. I just move over to the right lane like all slow people should, get involved in my book, and let everyone pass me. Don't worry though, I'm a great slow driver. I always move over to let people around me, and let people merge. This also helps me not to yell as much while I'm driving.


• I watch the tachometer (measures RPMs), and try not to ever go over 3000 RPMs. This is impossible sometimes if I have to speed up to enter the freeway (which you should always do at freeway speeds), or move over to pass people, but for the most part I follow this. Sometimes this even involves turning off the cruise control if I'm going up a hill (I commute around point of the mountain every day) and letting myself slow down a couple miles an hour. Once I start down the other side it's easy to get back up to speed without ever letting the car downshift.

These are the main points of my success. I recommend getting a library card and checking out books on tape (or CD if you please). It's not easy to change my driving habits, but I always felt like I was too angry in the car before I slowed down. It's good for me, but it may not be your cup of tea. Maybe just give a couple of points a try. You may not be able to get 40 mpg, but I bet you can get better.

Mount Timpanogos

We did it! Now we don't ever have to say that we lived in Utah for all this time and never made it to the top of Mount Timpanogos. We had two options for which trail to take: the Aspen Grove Trail from Provo Canyon and the Timpooneke Trail in American Fork Canyon (the same canyon that the trail to the cave is in). We decided to tak the Timpooneke trail because it was closer, not as steep, and we heard it was prettier even though it was a little longer. I had been working 12 hour days that week, so we slept in clear until 5:00 A.M. We got to the trailhead at about 7:00. It was a beautiful morning, and we were thoroughly enjoying our "little" hike. About an hour and a half into our hike, we passed a girl coming down (yeah, some people hike up in the middle of the night so they can see the sunrise, but we can see that from our house, so we decided to be more practical).
"How far away is the bottom?" she asked. "Please tell me it's like 3 minutes away."
We told her the truth and asked her how long it took her to get to the top. She said the trail goes forever and ever, and that we would never get there. We kept hiking anyway.

The trail had an interesting mix of almost jungle-like foliage in some places; forest trees in others; forlorn, rock wastelands; and slippery, get-ready-to-fall-and-die snow crossings.

The views, however, were very nice. This view is probably about half way up, and that peak is where we were headed. Off to the left of the peak is a glacier (probably not a real glacier, just a year-round snowfield, but everyone calls it a glacier) that we will tell you about in a minute.

Thankfully, after five and a half hours (including stopping times), we made it to the top. The top consists of a shack with a lightning rod (in case you're there at an extremely bad time, in which you should probably be crying long and hard), and about 70 to 100 square feet of standing room on either side of the shack. Not all of that area is a good place to be, but you could probably get away with it. On the side you see from the following picture there is a 15 foot drop-off to a 2 foot shelf, followed by another drop-off to which I dared not get close enough to take a visual measurement. The other side was much better (it's hard to inflect sarcasm into a narrative this short). It consisted of a 10 foot drop-off to the trail that we took to get up, followed by one of those forlorn, rock wastelands at about a 150 percent slope (for every 10 feet out it drops about 15-my guess). That's okay though, because there were plenty of boulders large enough to break your fall (and your body).

All sarcasm aside, it was absolutely gorgeous up there. It was pretty hazy, but we could see all of Utah County down to Nephi on the South. Up into Salt Lake County we could see the Jordan River Temple and could just make out the Great Salt Lake to the North. On the back side (which is the view in the picture above) we could clearly see Heber, and the lake you can see at the top left of the picture is Deer Creek Reservoir. It was really amazing and breathtaking (although the altitude helped with that breathtaking part).

We didn't follow the same trail down right away, but headed past the top to that "glacier" I pointed out in the earlier picture. After one adventure where our trail just ended at a cliff, we backtracked and found the right trail over. The couple we invited to go with us brought 4 plastic garbage bags, which we wore like diapers, to slide down the glacier. Nate had done it before, so he went first, followed by Christie, then Michelle, and me. It started out quite steep, but got a little better after the initial scare. This video is of Christie, but it went pretty much the same for all of us (except my screams were a little bit lower in pitch).

Guess what, there was a lake...and we found it! It's called Emerald Lake, and we were told the water was very near freezing. It was clear and pristine. The picture doesn't quite do it justice with all of the different colors involved.

On the way down we took the time to notice some more amazing areas and get some pictures. This one made us think of the fairies in Fablehaven. We figured it would be a good place for a shrine to the fairy queen, except we didn't turn to dandelion puffs as soon as we set foot near it. It was so cool with the sun coming through the trees and the cool water spilling over the rocks.

Now here comes the lesson for us all. We live in turbulent times. The ozone layer is thinner than ever, and UV radiation is coming through in record proportions. For a person as incandescent as I am, SPF 50 is the minimum for a hike like this. We totally forgot about sunscreen, and this whole time I've thought I was so white that the sun couldn't have any effect. I thought, if anything, the sun would get a Brian burn from the reflection coming off my arms. It wasn't until later that night that I realized the folly of my ways. You can't see it here, but I actually peeled two layers off of my neck. My arms have been itching and peeling for the last week, and my legs are just starting to peel. The good news is that I now have a pretty good farmer tan underneath all that burn. Michelle has a darker complexion than I do, so she didn't get it near as bad.

Anyway, this hike is not for the faint hearted, or for little children. We had been on a couple of hikes to prepare, but it was still pretty hard for us. It wasn't as hard as I've heard people say, but it was definitely a rough hike. The views definitely make it worth it if your a hiking type of person. We definitely wouldn't go more than once in a summer, but we might consider going again at some future date. We'll just make sure we apply thick layers of the strongest sunscreen we can get our hands on.

Last Call

Well, it's planned. This Thursday for Pioneer day we are going to hike Timp. They decided here at work that we all have to make up for the holidays (which makes them seem less worth it), so we have worked two 50 hour weeks and now three 12 hour days. The good news is that I get Thursday and Friday off. Anywho, that means Thursday we will hike Timp, and Friday through Sunday we will recover. It's really a pretty good deal. We just want to make sure that everyone has a chance to take us up on the offer to hike up there. We're planning on leaving Salt Lake at about 6:00 AM, taking lots of food and lots of breaks. Anyway, feel free to call if you want to come and we'll let you in on all the details. Hopefully we'll have a monster post to follow the hike. I'm not going to make any promises about when that will be because then I'll have to apologize for not posting when I said I would, but do keep an eye out for it.

In God Is Our Trust

I’ve always thought it was a little bit odd to sing the national anthem in church. What do you do? Of course everyone stands up, but should you salute the flag? And, it’s such a long song.
Well, I’ve had a change of heart. We sang the national anthem as our choir number this month. Our bishop loves to have us sing on fast Sundays for reasons that could take up a whole post of its own to describe (yes, crazy people are involved). Since fast Sunday this month was so close to Independence Day, we sang the Star Spangled Banner, and I have a new love for the song. If any of you get the chance, open up your hymnal to # 340 and just take a gander at the lyrics. They are beautiful and inspired, especially because they were written even before Joseph Smith had his first vision. My only complaint about the song is that by the time you get to the best and most powerful part of the song, unless you’re really looking for it, you’ve already let your mind wander way off the topic.
This song has really made me think over the last few weeks about what it really means to be an American citizen. In Uruguay people are required by law to vote for the president, and then they aren’t allowed to complain about him very much. Here, most of us don’t take the time or trouble ourselves with driving all the way over to the local elementary school or rec center to say whom we want to lead us, and yet we always fell like we have the right to complain to high heaven about how terrible the government is. If we don’t like how our government is running, we should do something about it. You don’t have to run for office, but we should at least take the time to understand the issues and cast informed votes. Now, I’m afraid I’ve been just as guilty as anyone about not understanding whom or what I’m voting for, but I’ve made the decision to be better about it.
This is a great nation where we have the power to become what we want to be. Isn’t that a great feeling? If I want something, I just need to go get it. That doesn’t mean it will be easy all the time, and it shouldn’t mean everything will be easy, but at least we have the right to pursue our dreams.
I started reading Just and Holy Principles, in which I have been able to see an LDS perspective on the United States, and especially on the Constitution. If any of you attended BYU and were forced to take the “terror” of a class called American Heritage, you probably read at least a little from this book. Many of us have heard of Joseph Smith’s statement that the Constitution would one day hang by a thread (See p. xiii of the introduction to J&HP). This is what John Taylor had to say about it:

When the people shall have torn in shreds the Constitution of the United States the Elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of the earth and proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all men. (Journal of Discourses 21:8)

This statement should give us hope if we are righteous. There are many true principles in the Constitution. It may not be perfect, but it was definitely inspired by the Lord. All the prophets (including Joseph Smith during the persecutions of the early saints) have supported the principles of the Constitution. Even after everything men do goes wrong, we can stand behind the principles at the base of this country’s foundation. Let’s make sure we are righteous enough to be the ones to uphold these principles even when everyone else has decided to go another way. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because there weren’t even 10 righteous people there. We should share the gospel so there are that many more Elders of Israel to hold up the Constitution. We don’t have to be worried about what will happen to us if we are doing all that we can to serve the Lord and uphold righteous principles.

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Lastly I would like to thank everyone who makes my liberties secure. I have a great respect for the soldiers who are fighting abroad and their willingness to sacrifice all to preserve freedom. They are true heroes. Also, I think there are other groups of heroes in our society. One group that gets the short end of the stick is police officers. Someone tried to rob a jewelry store here in West Valley last week, and when he shot at the cops, they returned fire and killed him. Now people are complaining that Policemen are killing too many people. When we get a ticket for driving (usually way…) too fast, we are angry at the cop. I just want to say to police officers, and especially to Andy, that I have a very high respect for you and what you do. I’m proud to tell people that my brother is a hero. Thanks for putting yourself at risk to secure my freedoms and to protect me.
Let’s do more and be better. Let’s make our lives what we want them to be, and help others on their way to reaching their dreams. I can’t really think of a good way to end this post, so let’s just do all that is within our power to ensure that the truth contained in the founding of our nation continues on.

0 for 2

So, our internet is the slowest thing on the face of the planet. We could print out some newsletters and strap them to some turtles and you would probably get them before we were able to post anything on our blog. Add to that the fact that our internet just randomly disconnects while we're trying to do something, and you might understand why it's been so long since we've posted. We're currently considering what options we have to improve our virtual connection to all of you. I'm using my lunch break at work to throw in this update so we can stop feeling so bad about ourselves and our lack of communication with you over the last month.

Our preparations for hiking timp are going pretty well. We went on a second hike a couple of weeks ago. We were supposed to find a lake up Little Cottonwood Canyon, but again, we were unsuccessful. That makes two times that we've started a hike in search of a lake and found nothing. We started out with a goal destination of Red Pine Lake. When we got to the spot where the trail splits to the right for Red Pine Lake and to the left for White Pine Lake, we tried to go right. The only problem was that a raging river of death was careening over the trail. Our only option was to go the other way and try to make it to White Pine Lake.

As we got going, we ran into a couple of areas with fairly large snow drifts. Now these drifts were not anything like wind driven drifts in the middle of the winter. These were dense piles of heavy snow that were at least six feet tall in some cases. We thought it was cool to be walking in the snow and still feel so warm...at first. We soon found that the trail became completely snow covered. We had no idea if we were even on the right trail, but there were a lot of footprints, so we followed them. Everything was going well until our footprint trail started getting harder and harder to see. Pretty soon we had no idea where any kind of a trail was. We were at least several feet above any real tree that there might have been. We finally came to a point where any misstep could send us sliding quickly down the mountain, so we stopped to re-evaluate. One of our friends that was with us hurried ahead around the next bend to see if he could see anything, and I hiked up to the top of the mountain we were on to see what I could see. And what do you think I saw? That's right: I saw another mountain, but no trail. When I turned to head back and report my findings, I realized that it was going to be quite difficult hiking down the steep, slick snow. I decided to try something different, so I crouched down in a skiing position and started sliding down the mountain. It was actually quite fun, and I was a little sad that it was such a short distance. So, disappointed, we turned and started back down the way we had come and returned home.

We're failures at finding lakes. Who knows, maybe we were walking right over the top of the lake at some point, but we couldn't see anything. We're actually a little concerned about making it to the top of timp, because there is supposed to be a lake that you pass when you're getting close to the top. Maybe since the lake isn't our goal, we'll be able to make it.

Anyway, sorry about the lack of posts. I'll try to remember to bring some pictures to work so you can see how cool our hike really was, and we'll let you know if our internet situation is corrected.

Preparation in the Snow

Sorry this update is a couple of days late. I tried to sneak in and delete the part that said we would post again on Monday, but apparently there are a couple of people who are a little quicker than I am on the comments. In our defense, Monday didn't quite turn out as we planned.

So we have a goal for this summer. I've lived in Utah for uqwenv years (that means I'm not in the mood to figure it out), and I've never hiked to the top of Timp. Michelle has been here for a few years herself and hasn't ever made the trek either. On July 19th, 2008 we will be making the 14-16ish mile round trip up to the top of Mount Timpanogos (you are all invited in case you want to add it to your list of accomplishments as well). We don't want to just wake up one morning and say, "You know what, I'm in the mood for a long hike. Sure, I haven't been hiking in over a year, but I'm sure I'll be alright," so we've planned several smaller hikes around the beautiful Utah mountains to help us prepare (you are all invited on those ones too, if you're interested, let us know and we'd be glad to let you know when we're going).

Our first hike of the season was planned for Memorial Day, which, a week before the hike looked like it would be beautiful, but eventually became a day for scattered showers. Not to be discouraged, we decided we could handle a few wimpy scattered (which I interpreted as scared) showers. We invited Charisse and Kory, and were extremely pumped up for our hike to a beautiful lake up Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Memorial day arrived, and we discovered that our wimpy scattered showers were actually all combined into a steady downpour (Why would you lie to me, Mark Eubank? Why do you love it when it's more than 10 degrees colder than average, Dan Pope? Our relationship is now permanently damaged and streaked with distrust and pain!). Anyway, we called Charisse and put the whole hike on hold until the weather cleared up.

11:00 AM rolled around, and our "scared" showers were still courageously and constantly beating our hopes and dreams into the saturated turf. We called Charisse back and cancelled the whole hike, planning to meet up for dinner and some games, and sat defeated on the couch wondering what in the world we could do with ourselves. We had our hopes so set on a refreshing hike in the verdant mountains that everything else seemed stuffy and second rate.

Fast forward an hour and a half to 12:30: it stopped raining! The decision was made that we would rush to the mountains and hike as far as we could while the showers had finally scattered. The weather was perfect for hiking in pants and long sleeves, and even though our camera battery was mostly dead, we were able to trick it into taking a few pictures of our hike. For some reason it refused to take a picture of the coolest looking spot we found with a nice little (very little) waterfall in the background, but here are some pictures.

We never made it to Lake Blanche. As we hiked higher and higher, we started facing some weaker rains. It was OK, because it was actually quite refreshing. A little higher we found small patches of snow on the trail, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle, so we kept going. It was actually fun to try to figure out which one was actually the trail, and which one was just the water runoff path (sometimes they were combined).

We got quite a way up the mountain, and the solitary feeling began to press on us. Maybe we’re a couple of major wimps, but we both (independently, we hadn’t mentioned anything to each other) started thinking about bears and mountain lions. I was going over scenarios in my mind about whether it was possible to kill a bear with my bare hands or not (what else could I do, offer it a granola bar and a drink from my water backpack?). We eventually talked a little about it and decided to try just a bit further to see what we could see (like the bear in the song).

It wasn’t too much farther when we came to a point in the trail where snow dominated it. It was instantaneous: no snow, no snow… BAM! 6 inches of snow. About that time, the sprinkling rain was starting to come down as snow as well. Mentally deciding that my chances of killing a bear with my hands would be severely limited if my hands were numb, and blaming the snow and the fact that we had a date with Charisse and Kory to get back to, we decided to turn around. This picture is not too far before we turned around. If you look closely between the two middle pine trees you can see a waterfall.

Well, the bears must have realized they had no chance, because we made it down safe and sound in time for the real adventure to start. For those of you who don’t use it very often, I-215 has some major drainage issues. The rain was coming down as hard as I’ve ever seen it, and there were a couple of harried moments when I thought Elphaba (the name of my car) was going to hydroplane.

Somehow we made it through the ordeal and were able to go to Charisse and Kory’s apartment for pizza and games. It was a great time! Just as Kory planned, everyone got a chance to win at Uno, and I had my first bout of good luck playing Yahtzee and pulled out a victory. It’s just fun to be with family that you love and also that are your great friends. We should definitely hang out more (that applies to all of you as well as Charisse and Kory). It’s been far too long since we hung out. Hopefully everyone can go to Meg’s party. I say we also have a barbecue at Andy’s and see if his midnight madness really was worth it. Not to volunteer you, Andy, I’m just throwing it out there.

9 Days and Counting

Announcement! I only have 9 days of school left before summer vacation! It seems that with the onset of warmer weather (even if just slightly warmer), my students turn into little monsters. There is a lot more complaining and dinosaur whining. Remember the raptors in Jurassic Park? Well, I'm pretty sure several of my students could rival the sound effects quite well. Usually, they don't like it when I tell them they sound like dinosaurs, but sometimes it makes them laugh. Anyway, it's a little unbelievable that this year really is coming to an end, and I am excited to send them to third grade.

Announcement! I have 8 days of school left before my prerequisites are done. So far the math class has been quite easy. In the first week of June, I start a statistics class. 8~(
That one will probably be a little harder. We're excited to be getting on with school.

Surprise!

For those of you who don't know yet (and to remind those of you who do) I've been accepted to the Professional MBA program at U of U!!! If you can't tell, we're excited. The reason it's a surprise is because we weren't expecting an answer until the middle of this month, but we actually found out at the end of April. Now we can stay where we are (we're getting sick of moving) and keep jobs and insurance and all the good stuff we need. We feel blessed. Everything has worked out so well for us. People at work keep telling me I now have to buy a U of U flag to hang in my office. Just to put everyone at ease, just because I'm going to the U, it doesn't mean I have to start wearing red everywhere. You don't replace a lifetime of loyalty with one acceptance letter.

Guess what! That trip you all remember as the "Disneyland trip" two years ago was actually a wedding. A couple of people you may have met got married back then. It's okay, we're not offended that your kids remember Disneyland more than crying for pictures at the temple. We're so excited about our anniversary. It hardly seems like we've been married for two years. Last year our wymount ward threw us a party (disguised as a Cinco de Mayo fiesta), and this year the Young Women had a fund raiser fiesta (also supposed to be for Cinco de Mayo). It's so kind of all of these people to throw us parties every year.

In celebration for all of you we decided to copy Charisse and Kory and fill out the Quiz.

1. What is his/her name? Michelle Lynn Marchant. Brian Dale Marchant.

2. How long did you date? About 10 months including engagement. June 17th 2005 until Dec 17th 2005 when we got engaged. Then until May 5th, 2006. So, about 10-1/2 months from first date to wedding.

3. How old is he/she? 23. 28.

4. How old are you? 27 or 8, something like that. 23.

5. Who eats more sweets? It depends on where they're hiding. I think Brian talks about wanting them more, but I probably actually eat more.

6. Who said 'I love you' first? I can't remember for sure, maybe me. He did.

7. Who is taller? It's close, but I am. Brian.

8. Who can sing better? Definitely the beautiful Michelle. Brian, definitely.

9. Who is smarter? Probably Michelle. Depends on what we're talking about.

10. Who does the laundry? We usually do it together, but sometimes I sneak it in before she gets home from work. Both of us, but Brian has been lately.

11. Who does the dishes? Usually Michelle. Me.

12. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Is that looking at it from the head or the foot of the bed? If you're lying the right direction on your back, Michelle does, but if you're on your stomach, I do. If you're standing at the foot of the bed looking at it, Brian does. If you're in bed, I do.

13. Who mows the lawn? I honestly can't wait to say that I do. Brian will...

14. Who cooks dinner? Usually Michelle, and, might I add, it is excellent. Me.

15. Who is more stubborn? I guess it depends on the subject. Probably me.

16.Who kissed who first? I kissed her. He kissed me :)

17. Who asked who out first? I guess technically an unknown person did because we went on a date box date from our singles ward, but of the two of us, I asked her first. Brian asked me.

18. Who proposed? I did. Brian did.

19. Who has more siblings? I do (4 to 3). Brian.

20. Who wears the pants? Well I definitely don't wear skirts! Depends. Both of us.

21. What is your favorite thing about her? Where do I start? She loves me. That's pretty important. Her hair smells good. She has a beautiful smile. She has a cute giggle. Her eyes are beautiful (sometimes they have that mischievous twinkle). I think you get the point. I love how Brian can always, even on my grumpiest of grumpy days, make me happy again. He is gentle and patient and fun.

This is a quickie

Just a quick note to let y'all know what's been happening here in West Valley. By that I mean not the stuff you hear on the news about someone being killed. For those of you who are familiar with my TV house (thanks, dad, for the name, the weight of it really makes that the most appropriate title), it has now become a tv stand. I spent an hour or so on our balcony (which is not much larger that the tv house) with a power saw on Saturday and made the tv house into a much more manageable tv stand. For those of you wondering why on earth I have a power saw, I will offer the simple explanation...I like power saws. A more detailed description for those of you who don't know why I ended up with a worm-drive Makita circular saw can be provided if enough people request it. Anyway, here's a picture. I'm planning on using the sides of the top section to make doors for the former bottom section (now it's the only section). We think it will help baby-proof the whole thing (for those of you thinking I'm alluding to anything here, please understand that I own several Disney movies that I have only watched maybe once simply because I want my kids to have something to enjoy...I'm a planner, but I feel I must explain myself so that nobody jumps to any major conclusions. We wouldn't blog about having a baby before we had actually told you either in person or over the phone). Anyway, we're super excited about how open our apartment feels now (even though it's still kind of small). You should all come over and see it sometime.

We had a pretty fun ward party this last weekend. We were told that we could show up at 6:00 to mingle before dinner, but that dinner would be served promptly at 6:30. Well, at 6:45 when the only people there were the elders' quorum president's extended family and us, I said to myself, "Self, if they have extended family here, why shouldn't I invite my sister who lives so close and I never do anything with? Hmm, maybe I will." It was good to see you, Charisse and Kory (by the way, we should hang out more).

Anyway, I said this would be a short one, so let's not make a liar of me. Here's to power saws and lasagna (ooh, and garlic bread too).

It's all grand, and it's all green

Where should we start? How about Easter? We went to California, and we enjoyed warm weather, sunshine, and the works (we’re not sure what the “works” are, but we enjoyed them). We got to see the Broadway musical, Wicked. We thoroughly enjoyed it. For those of you who haven’t seen it, we highly recommend it. For those of you who have never heard of it, we recommend you get the CD and spend a year or so trying to figure out the story line by listening to that. It makes it so exciting to finally see how things fit together. We also had Easter dinner with Michelle’s family. It was a good trip, and fun to visit with those of you we saw.

Michelle has become quite the gardener. She planted seeds, and they grew! Granted, we haven’t seen any fruit yet, but it has only been a few weeks since they were planted. So far they’ve grown really, really big. Some of them have been transplanted twice into bigger containers. We’re hoping for a plentiful harvest of lettuce, sweet peas, and cucumbers (mmmmm). Brian bought Michelle dirt for her birthday (well, technically it’s soil), and she was so excited to get it. She wanted some planter boxes for the balcony, so it was a good birthday.

Brian is excited to share the news of a new addition to the family. Yes, you guessed it, we finally replaced the Taurus! We now have a 2002 green Honda Civic. It had just under 80,000 miles on it, which qualified it for a 4 year, 48,000 mile warranty. 200 miles later and it would have only qualified for a 2 year warranty. It’s so nice to have a car he’s sure will get him to work and back every day. Brian had a birthday too. He got The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull. He hasn’t read it all yet (in fact he just started), but when he finishes, he’ll let you know how good it is.

Still no word on school, but around this time next month we’ll know if Brian has been accepted to U of U. Keep praying for us so we can go to the right place.

My wife makes these turn out better

So basically I'm really new to all this blog business, but with all the hubbub (sp) I think it might just be time to move on from the antiquated world of the e-mail and allow you to view carefully edited and embellished moments from our life at your leisure (pronounced British style like "measure" with an "L"). Michelle is still at school/work right now because she has SEP's this Wednesday and Thursday (for those who don't know, SEP's are today's politically correct way of saying Parent Teacher Conferences and SEP stands for Student Educational Plan or something similar). Having said that, I shall not endeavor to write too much, which, in keeping with the opinions of many of the literati of the age, will only serve as yet another dismal reminder of how people of our day have failed to improve or even maintain a healthy level of imaginative focus (hee hee, that was fun, but too many sentences like that one and nobody will ever want to read our blog. I'm not even sure I understand what that's supposed to mean, so go ahead and ignore it). Basically I need help to write a lot.

I can tell you that things are going pretty well for us. Only one more graduate application remains, but we won't know until about the middle of May where we will probably go. It's a little frustrating at this point, but there's not much we can do to speed up the process.

I've just been given new responsibilities at work. Using a method of breaking jobs down into individual steps and analyzing every step to see what's necessary and find the most efficient way of doing things, I was able to cut the amount of time it takes to do my job in half. Instead of letting me have that time to myself and still paying me the same amount (yeah right) the powers that be at my company have decided to have me break down every job in the shop systematically until every process we know how to do is thoroughly documented. This will hopefully help improve efficiencies and provide training materials for new hires. Looks like I have to keep working all day like most people do. Bummer.

I got one of my favorite compliments yesterday from the new sales manager at work. He was up in my office to get some information from me so he could sell some more work when he noticed the picture on my desk of Michelle and me at the beach. He asked if she was my wife and I (very proudly) said yes. He then looked at me and smiled, saying, "You should have gone into sales." Anyone who would like to compliment the beauty of my wife, I will gladly accept the compliment. Michelle will probably be mad at me for putting this in, but she really is pretty.

Anyway, since I've already written too long, and I have an appointment to go to, I'll end. I'll upload the picture I mentioned a little later so you can all agree with the sales manager from my work. Thank you, and good night.