First Year Anniversary

Nichole and I were married and sealed on March 11, 1995.  A year later we returned to one of the first places we went on a date which was Trafalga in Orem.  The original date was memorable because when we were dating and while at Trafalga, I hit one of the golf balls through a chain linked fence and out of the miniature golf course range.  Well, I thought I could casually retrieve that ball by hopping the fence.  Little did I know that that instance would be so detrimental to my manhood.  As I was hopping the fence, the backside of my shorts got caught on the fence and tore literally about a foot long.  My whole back end was showing but that was not the blunt of the joke, however.  As much as I tried to release my shorts from the fence, the more they seemed to snag and tear some more.  I started to jerk my leg in desperation and could not free myself.  So, the thought of this Virginia boy dangling from the top of a chain linked fence was pretty funny for this pretty little Mainard.  By this time, Nichole is about peeing her pants.  And the more that she is laughing, the more it is making me mad with her laughing at me.  She always seems to laugh when someone is either getting hurt or is in an embarrassing and humiliating pose.  Although not funny at the time to me, we still laugh about that to this day

As part of our 1st year anniversary, we were so poor that we literally gathered up all the coins we had in our piggy bank and that was all the money we had in the world.  It was enough money to take us to Trafalga and to Subway for a sandwich meal.  I'd like to say that a lot has changed for us over these 17 years, financially speaking, but it still seems we gather up our loose change.  I guess that's what credit is for!

Bobo Doll

Here's my girl!!

Scout Camp

I had to leave the family again and leave them without the family wagon (The Expedition).  I went to Camp Maple Dell with the deacons.  It was re-emphasized to me a philosophy or theology.  "It is not the obstacles themselves that define us.  We are defined by the way we deal with those obstacles."  So, we can either succumb to obstacles, whether they be problems, challenges, mental, physical, emotional or spiritual.  Or, we can rise to the occasion and let our light shine.  The youth's theme this year is "arise and let your light shine that thy light may be a standard for the nations and that others may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  And how is Father in Heaven "glorified?"  When His children are buoyed up and drawn nearer to Him.  He wants all His children to return to Him and we are here to try and make that a reality.

I felt I did pretty good with this philosophy with the exception of 1 time.  We have 1 young man who, by definition, is a little "slow."  His demeanor, mannerisms, and the way he conducts himself is just so different from the rest of the group.  The great thing is that the whole group sees this and understands him, they tolerate him and even try to include him.  Well, on Saturday morning he was being a real pill.  We were trying to clean up camp and get things packed up.  He was going super slow with everything he was doing, whether it was packing his personal gear or asking him to do a simple chore or task.  The fact of him moving super slow was bothering me but then he ticked me off when he started impeding the progress of the other boys.  He was not letting 1 boy wash out the water cooler that had punch in it during the week.  He kept kicking the cooler over.  Well, I got pissed and said in a really harsh voice, "what the heck are you doing James?  We're trying to clean up and get things packed and you're over here not doing anything and kicking the cooler over."  Well, he got super sad and kept saying the rest of the time until we got back and unloaded the trailer, "I'm surrounded by mormons, and I hate mormons.  I'm Christian."  This boy is not an LDS boy but rather is a member of another Christian denomination, the Baptist church.  No matter how much I tried to tell him I was sorry for getting upset with him, I am confident the only thing he'll remember is my instant reaction to his behavior, which I know he just thinks he was not doing anything bad and just having fun with the other kids, and not even at their expense.  It is not up at a pulpit when testimony is borne that has the most influence but rather in the everyday spontaneous moments when testimony is applied and speaks to the heart and soul. 

Youth Conference



Top left to right: Chase Lindsey, Braden Summers,
Ethan, Mike Gray, Matt Hanna, Me
Bottom left to right: Devin Durrant, Taylor Roth, Chance Burnham,
 Josh Fenton, Hillary Craner, Amber Hanks, Mandy Haws
Not pictured: Corbin Clarke

This year we went on a stake sponsored youth conference to Snow College in Ephraim for 3 days and 2 nights.  Since we went to a college and this year's theme is "arise and shine forth (D&C 115:5)," they decided to call the conference A&S University.  A&S University's mission was to be a Christ-centered university that focuses on the teaching of the Lord's standards which will lead you to the Lord's temple where you will make and keep sacred covenants.  With the ward split, our numbers were significantly fewer than originally planned for.  Amber was the lone young woman to attend.  Mike Gray is the YM's President, Mandy is the YW's President and Hillary is the YW's 2nd Counselor.  There were about 260 youth in attendance with another 40 or so of adult leaders

In an effort to reduce cost, the stake contracted school busses instead of charter busses...wow.  But, it wasn't that bad.  Although, my thigh was killing me the whole day on Thursday because of the cramped position I sat in the way down.  Ethan's in about the 3rd row on the left with Chance and Matt to his side

Thursday night and Friday morning, as individual wards, we had "devotionals."  The first night, I had to talk to the youth about sexual purity.  We had a good discussion for about 20 minutes or so about what they're facing these days.  Friday morning, Hillary talked to them about "modesty."  The theme was, "modest is hottest."  It really hit home to these youth.  With all the evils facing them, it was good to reinforce the value of integrity.  Hillary and Mandy gave each a candy bar with this homemade wrapper.  I thought it was good.  Women are just so much more naturally creative than men.

Roxy, Dale and Anita's dog, stayed at our house at the same time as youth conference.  Charlie, Anita's stepfather, passed away on the Sunday previous to us going to youth conference.  Charlie and Anita's mom, Jan, live in Laverkin.  So, Dale and Anita took their family down for the funeral and to spend some time with Anita's mom.  Roxy is a beautiful lab.  It made me wish we had a dog again.




The youth participated in fun games like water games the first day and then all the team sports like basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, etc. on the second day.  Those were all fun, although I missed out on the water games because of spending some time with 1 young man who was struggling with depression.  It was the first time in my life I had someone confide in me their inner struggles of wanting to possibly commit suicide.  The spirit was with us for the next couple hours as we discussed what was going on in his life.  Sometimes, people just needs someone they can talk to, and I was glad I was able to be there and help this young man.  He did a lot better the remainder of the time.  I just hope he will be able to get better as he continues with normal life in a normal setting.

I was able to do swimming in the morning before everyone else got up and did some laps.  It was good but minimal in comparison to the Echo Lake Triathlon I missed out on which I had previously signed up for months ago.  I was sad to miss out on that but happy to spend some time with this group.

The conference was full of spiritual renewal activites as well.  Friendships and bonds were made, dance moves were learned, some indexing was accomplished during free time, and youth topic-related classes were provided.  At the conclusion, they had a testimony meeting.  63 bore their testimonies over the 2 hour long meeting.  One cute occurrence was with a young woman who has down syndrome.  She was extremely difficult to understand with her speech, but the spirit was pretty intense during her testimony.  She was loved and admired by all the youth.  It was great to see her give her mom a huge hug afterwards in which they embraced for nearly a minute...so cute! 

Another 17-year old young man talked about his father.  His father had attended every youth conference with him in previous years.  He then said, "It was hard for me to get up because I didn't want to.  This was the first year my dad has not come to youth conference with me since he was called to his heavenly home."  It was touching to witness the deep love and respect he had for his deceased father.

Timpanooke

Nate Younger and myself left to run up to the summit of Timpanooke Saturday morning.  It was a 14 mile round trip...7 miles up and 7 down.  It was a beautiful run.  We ran up in 2 hours 40 minutes.  It was about a 4500 foot incline over those 7 miles.  We probably spent 20 or 30 minutes of that time just enjoying the scenery.

This is looking down from the top of the summit to the west side.  You can see Utah Lake and the valley

This is looking to the south from the shack.  This shack is actually used as a surveying marker.

This was part of the trail on the east side of the summit.  Yep, there was still snow.  It's amazing how much more beautiful the east side of the mountains are in comparison the west side, or the valley.  It's just so much more serene and peaceful