Ready for Summer!

In our neighborhood we are so ready for Spring and Summer that the snow women are being dressed in bikinis.

Show Choir!

Caleb had another competition this last weekend. It was in Van Horn, Iowa which is in the middle of nowhere. It's about an hour or so northwest of Iowa City off Highway 30. There are more hogs than people there. Anyway, the Benton Community High School puts on this huge competition every year. They invite 20 choirs from around the Midwest (there were some from IL, MO, NE, IA, and KS). It was a great competition with some amazing singers. Below are some pictures of Caleb singing "I've Never Met a Girl Like You".

Caleb really wanted to win but they ended up getting third. I am very impressed that they got third against some of the great choirs that were there.

Vote for your favorite border

The ugly Golfing border that has been living in my house for at least 3 years and decided to be a
"Buy house get border free"

Or this more modern looking border that was handpicked out by ME!

Another Snow Day

Woke up this morning to a bunch of snow on the ground. It was enough to keep the snow plows busy all night, enough that they forgot our street. At 4:45a.m. I didn't get far down the road when I decided it was much too dangerous to travel in these conditions and I would be happier in my bed and not stressing over driving. So I didn't teach my early morning Sculpt class. Instead I came home to sleep.

Around an hour later the phone rang to tell us school was cancelled. I decided to try and get more pictures of the children,this is definately getting harder the older they get, but with a little bribbing them of being able to play in the snow I got some pictures and here they are:


First some Normal pictures

Then some silly pictures

Random Pictures

Just a bunch of random pictures
Caleb Age 16

Scott Age 7

Jared age 13 and Daniel age 14

Scott, Brenden, Jared and Daniel

Show Choir Pictures with Caleb

A current picture of me, taken last night

Alyssa's first attempt at decorating a cake, she did this in Activity Days at church

Age

Getting older is a double edged sword. As I age I get smarter. I have had a lot of experiences in my life that have taught me many valuble lessons that I probably wouldn't have learned just by listening to someone talk about their own experiences. I guess we call that gaining wisdom. Not that it isn't possible to be wise when we are younger - Alma tells us that we should learn wisdom in our youth. When we talk about that scripture at home, I tell my boys that wisdom is knowing what we don't need to experience in order to learn a lesson (i.e. knowing cocaine is bad without having to use it first). However, there are some aspects of wisdom that can only come through experience for most of us. In the last 10 years, I have had the opportunity to learn how to forgive on a grand scale. It is easy to forgive someone who offends you without meaning to but it is a whole different story when the act is deliberate and painful. As much as I wish those experiences hadn't happened, I am thankful for the personal development I have undergone. The Lord will continue to allow me to have experiences that require me to freely forgive all until I have mastered that principle.

One of the other valuble lessons I have learned with age is that you are never too old to try something new. For example, in the past five years, I have learned to roller blade, snowboard (kind of), competed in two triathlons, and have gotten four different certifications in the fitness field. Although I am not a pro in any of the above mentioned things (although I'd like to think I am a pretty darn good fitness instructor), I have proven to myself that I can master new things and make new habits that are beneficial to my life.


The downside of aging is that it's already halfway over and there is still so much to do. Also, I can't play as hard as I used to because I just don't heal as quickly as I used to. I watched the Minnesota wrestle Wisconsin last night (much to Michelle's dismay) and remembered the pain I experienced during wrestling season in high school. I can't imagine how I would feel after being on the mat for 6 minutes today. I still have a sore tail bone and sore ribs from snowboarding last Thursday. I am sure being on the mat with one of those wrestlers I watched last night would land me in a world of hurt.

As the cliche goes, youth is wasted on the young.