I know I’m late updating our blog for Amy’s birthday. For the record, I didn’t forget, I just placed the blog lower on the priority list than all the other things I’ve done since the 15th.

So, Amy is now in her late 30s. She argued that 35 is mid-30s, but I always round up; cause I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. I wanted to go through all the ways Amy has changed since I met her in September 1990…here goes…

When I met Amy she was this foxy little spark plug who came into Biology late with a little attitude and fling of her long, perfect hair. Today, she is still a foxy little spark plug with a little attitude and perfect hair. In 1990 she looked a bit too good in a swimsuit. Today she looks even better in her beachwear. Amy was a Bills fan when I met her. Now, she wears Broncos PJs around the house and knows the names of every Broncos O lineman. In 1990, Amy didn’t really know how she felt about the desert; now she knows she hates it. In 1990, Amy would rather hang with loved ones and chat than travel to Europe. More than ever, she just wants to hang with the fam wherever they are. In 1990, the boys were all after Amy. Now, they just stare as we walk through the mall. Oh, she still hates shopping and the mall. Maybe it has to do with the staring dudes. Amy always wanted to be a mom and a doctor. She is the best mom in the world; so that’s one down and one to go. In 1990, Amy was in seminary and studying her scriptures on a regular basis. She had a firm testimony of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, Amy is a mature scriptorian, she’s a dedicated missionary, a kind friend, a tender mother, a loving teacher, and a pillar of strength for her kids against the winds of the world. In 1991 Amy became my best friend. Today, she is my best friend and the kind of wife every man wants but rarely gets. I am the luckiest man alive to have Amy at my side through this life and forever. I only hope my sons are blessed with such sweet daughters of God at their sides.

So, you can see, Amy has changed very little over the last 18 years. She has only improved over time. In fact, you can hardly say she's aged. I’m sure in 18 more years I’ll be saying the same thing.

Happy Birthday Sweetie, I love you, your kids love you, and you serve the Lord with all your might. Nothing else matters.

I’m sure everyone can tell that KJ is growing up fast now. I know it seems that she is now 14 going on …college; but a look at where she spends her time and effort helps to understand what she is really about. As she turns 14, the things that are most important to her are now her young women’s program, seminary, school, cheer, and her family. She spends 99% of her waking time on church, school, cheer, and family activities; and that is not an exaggeration. When she was 10, the things that were most important to her where school, family, church, cheer, violin, and playing with friends and fam. So, you can see that she has really not changed too much. She just stopped playing with friends and her violin. She really misses the violin and begs us to take lessons. But, we ask “when would you like to take lessons?” This brings up another change in KJ’s life. She is the busiest kid I know. Her big brother is very busy, but she has him beat. Her daily schedule is something like this:
4:50 – get ready for school
5:45 – go to seminary
6:45 – go to school
3:20 – school is out, go to cheer practice
6:30 – cheer practice ends, go to mutual or cheer for a game
9:00 – do homework, read scriptures
11:00 – go to bed

KJ is our sleeper. I’m not sure if it has to do with her lack of sleep during the week, but she can really sleep in. I have a little cold, so I took some medicine the other night and slept until 9 AM. I got up and joked that I had pulled a KJ. But, she was still asleep for another hour. So, in that small way, she is a true teenager.

KJ is not really infatuated with boys yet. I’m happy to report that yesterday I asked her to name her 5 favorite boys; she responded with Dad, Kyle, Tanner…she then paused. This is where I was waiting for the name of some boy at church or school. I was mistaken. She continued with the names of her male cousins; who are all 10 and under.

Kj is, however, very excited for the stake dances. She has her first dance this Wednesday. She’s lucky to be going with her big brother.

KJ has developed a special relationship with Kyle that will likely carry through to adulthood. While her attitudes and activities advance in maturity, she’s becoming a wonderful little lady. I’ve noticed that Amy and I are starting to treat her more like an adult as each day passes. I honestly don’t remember that last time we corrected KJ. She is a smart, focused, driven, sweet, tender, principled young woman who is guided more by her testimony of the Savior and the Restored Gospel than by any other thing.

The most telling thing I can say about KJ is that she has many pieces of knowledge to learn in this life, but she is wiser than nearly every adult I have ever known.

Happy Birthday Kjirsten.

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.”