Sixteen years ago today a little teen-age girl gave birth to a skinny little baby. I had only been back from active Army duty for three days. I too was skinny and young. Amy and I had just worked through the hardest 9 months or our lives. Finally, he was born and everything has been easy-street from there. It finally seems like a long time ago that Kyle was born. He has been here for Amy’s and my entire adult life. He has grown from my favorite little buddy to an exemplary young man. You always have grandiose wishes for your children and I wonder if reality always outperforms your dreams. Kyle is as fine a man as any I have ever met.
Today, Amy and I experience measureless joy as I ordained Kyle to the office of Priest and we were blessed to witness his patriarchal blessing. So many spiritual thoughts, memories, feelings, and promptings; all are too personal to share. But, I must say, this is one of the finest days for a father. I can’t imagine more happiness. I held Amy’s little hand as Kyle saw his existence laid out before him. A true fulfillment of the efforts and dreams since the day I held Amy’s little hand as she labored to bring him into the world sixteen years ago.

Happy Birthday Kyle!! Thank you for sharing it all with us. You are a fine example of what a young man should be.

I am grateful beyond words for the calling I have to serve as a father to my kids and a husband to my Amy. This morning was especially spiritually rich for me. On a day which could represent such dismay for the country I love, I was surrounded by tender mercies.

Our Priesthood leaders asked us to support Prop 102 and my family responded. They did all they were asked to do and more. My wife and kids displayed the faith required to accomplish anything. I can truly say these kids, Kyle, Kjirsten, Cicely, Alycia, and Tanner, as well as thier mother, are the types of disciples who would have pushed the hand-carts wherever their Prophet asked. The Lord does my work for me. All is well when you have a family like this.

I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

Guns & Mormons

Just using my first amendment right to express my other first amendment right and my second amendment right.

Ah, guns and Mormons, we mix like chocolate and milk.

Disclaimer

Since we are always begging friends and family to come visit the wild west of Tucson, we need to post a disclaimer. We will now be requiring signed liability waivers for any and all visitors. We cannot be held liable for injury or death related to, or arising from encounters with any of the following wild beasts—which are all common to the area:
Rattle snakes of any kind, Javelina, Scorpions, Foot-long Sonoran Centipedes, Coyotes, ROUSs, Tarantulas, Wolf spiders, Brown Recluses, Coral Snakes, Aliens ( not the green kind ), Janet Napolitano, or Liberals

Sweeeeeet

Alright, so first we’ll start out with the boring girly-girl stuff. Alycia, Cissy and I all went and got haircuts and highlights. That took like three and half hours and then we were starving so we went to the girls favorite restaurant and got some good ol’ Mexican cuisine. Then we went to get pedicures and we all had these little Vietnamese dudes doing them. They were totally talking about us in Vietnamese and it was really bothering me. They kept on asking Aly and Cissy questions but they would both just respond, “What?”, because the girls couldn’t understand a thing that they said. So I had to keep on translating and I finally just told them to nod and say okay and shake their heads and then look away because I didn’t feel like translating anymore. It sort-of worked except when the guy told Cissy to stay put for a minute while the polish dried and she dutifully nodded and shook her head and got out of the chair to put her shoes on. He about had an aneurysm and so I had to tell her to sit back down and wait a minute. We then went to blockbuster and rented some chick flicks (Penelope and Nim’s Island) and grabbed some goodies and headed home. Lots of fun and pampering was had by all. Until……….. they got word of the amazing experiences the other group had.




Just as Amy was taking Cicely and Alycia to the hair salon, Tanner and I checked KJ and Kyle out of school and drove to Phoenix for the game. We drove straight to the Marriott adjacent to the stadium and checked in. The room was great and overlooked the stadium. We then had some light dinner and went to the game. I told the kids we had seats in the nose-bleed section, so they were surprised as we entered the lower level and kept descending the stairs until we reached the first row, 45 yard-line just behind the Bronco bench. The kids were extremely excited about our seats and the whole experience. The stadium roof was closed and AC was blaring. As the Broncos jogged to the sideline, we started to call out their names and get some waves and thumbs-up. We had a great time cheering and talking to our favorite players. Most waved at us or gave us some kind of sign. As we cheered the players, the Cardinals fans next to us would sometimes give our guys crap and it was fun to see them react or not. Brandon Marshall kept making fun of the bald guy next to me and did some funny loser signs to them. I asked how many sacks Jarvis Moss would get this year and he shrugged; he then went on the field and sacked Leinart. He came right back, took off his helmet and said he’d get about one sack this year. I was very impressed with the Broncos players. They didn’t listen much to the Cardinal fans yelling but responded all the time to us, their fans. We had little conversations with many of the Broncos and really enjoyed some of Marshall’s and Stokley’s antics. Champ Bailey gave us the nod quite a few times, which made Tanner’s year. Many of you know, Tanner is a huge Bailey fan. He has Champ’s poster on his wall and wears his jersey as often as we’ll let him. KJ is a huge Domonique Foxworth fan and Foxy gave us one thumbs-up right before the game, but got very serious; since he was actually playing all game. We were having the time of our lives and wanted a 6 quarter game. By the time the game ended, I had lost my voice, the Broncos spanked the Cards, we had interacted with our favorite team and we were on cloud nine. The game ended and players jogged to mid-field and we figured that was it. Until, Champ Bailey cooly strolled towards us and we were all a little shocked. He walked right up to Tanner, took off his hat and handed it to Tanner. I was too shocked to remember the camera in my hand. I had just snapped one of Bailey walking towards us and just remembered to take another as he walked away giving Tanner the thumbs-up. As the crowd pressed closer and we made sure Tanner wouldn’t have his prized souvenir stolen, Domonique Foxworth jumped the bench and walked straight to KJ, took off his gloves and handed them to KJ. Dozens of fans were reaching and tearing at KJ to get her souvenir, but her big stud brother was holding off one side and I was holding off the other. By the time we turned around, Kyle barely got a shot of Foxy walking away. We yelled our support of the two DBs and Tanner and KJ were shaking with glee. I was then able to see that Champ had signed the hat he gave to Tanner. It'll be tough to ever top this experience for the kids or for me. When we returned to the hotel room, Tanner said “I got Champs hat, Kjirsten got gloves, and Kyle got to give money to a hobo.”

Quick update

Not much time; Amy is taking Cicy and Aly to get their hair done in about 10 minutes. I'm taking Kyle, KJ, and Tanner to the Broncos game in Phoenix. The kids don't realize that I got 1st row 50 yard-line tix right behind the Bronco's bench. I'm just hoping to get a wave from Champ or whomever. I'm wearing my custom-made Spencer Larsen jersey, Kyle's wearing Brandon Marshall, Tanner's wearing Champ Bailey, and KJ's wearing her favorite Domonique Foxworth. I had to get KJ a custom jersey as well since they don't make Foxworth jerseys in ladies sizes. I'll post pics of the new hair and the game when we return. We're staying in Phoenix overnight since the game will be so late. So, mom and the girls are going to have a sleep-over in my room and watch chick stuff; like the recorded Palin speech from earlier today. Palin for Pres!!! Check out the sweet new pics of Cicy and KJ.

I think I can.......

It's time for a start-of-school update. Let's go youngest to oldest.

Tanner is being home schooled by Amy and is enjoying all the time
spent with his foxy teacher. He's taking all the normal classes for a
4th grader. He's also taking French; as are all the kids. He works
in the library on his own PC and desk.

Aly is also being taught by Amy. She's using the K12 system, which
you can read up on at k12.com. She is learning a lot and starting to
become more self-motivated. This is a necessity since Amy spends most
of the school day with Tanner. Aly uses the home PC, with a 26"
screen (spoiled), and her own desk area also. I'm happy to report
that my girls still get all dolled up like they were going to school each
day.

Cissy has really taken an academic and maturity leap this year. She
works through her curriculum with very little help or teacher
motivation. She works with the other kids in the library on a table
with Amy's laptop. We have another PC, but Cissy likes the pink
laptop.

KJ is attending Cienega HS. She's on the JV cheer team and working on
her student counsel run; more news on this when I get some. She is
taking all Honors classes except English, which the school filled
before KJ re-enrolled. We'll get her in the Honors class, but we need
to fight a little more and a little harder. We just got KJ's cheer
pics and they're way too cute,crap. KJ has lots of homework, but she gets
it done in near perfect state each day (night). She is still a great beehive president and really enjoys Cissy being in her class with her.

Kyle is now a sophomore at Cienega. He plays WR and C for the JV
team. He also has a crazy schedule with football, school, mission
work, teacher quorum president duties, eagle scout work, etc. He has all
Honors classes as well as AP Biology, and AP European History. Of
course, he's doing well with school and juggling his duties. He
drives to Seminary each morning and is becoming a decent driver. I'm
really not scared to have him drive on his own later this year.

Also, my kids' foxy teacher will probably be a grandma in 6ish
years……….think about it.