At the Woods Cross city Memorial Day Program

I know this is a little late, but it was also a lot of fun and worth sharing. Marie and I have really enjoyed participating in the Memorial Day celebration put on by our city. It involves a 5k, patriotic program, men’s choir, and breakfast in the park.

Marie and Bill ready for the start of the 5k

The original plan was for Marie and I to walk with her Mom and Dad since none of us had any idea as to how well we would do if we ran it. But then when the gun went off Rick and I both found ourselves running anyway. Now I must say I have never tried running just for the sake of running, my experience with running has been more like “see the ball? Go get it.” Of course that means I have never just run nonstop for a long period of time. My lungs were letting me know all about that fact before Rick and I got to the half way point of the 5k. Eventually I decided to just stop running and let Marie and Marilyn catch up with me. This also turned out to be a less intelligent choice as I did run long enough and fast enough to be well ahead of my wife (although she wants to insert that she ran the whole way as well, just slowly). So I just decided to walk with a gentlemen who is one of our new neighbors. Both Marie and I posted respectable times Marie at 42 min 18 sec and I got 41 min 29 sec.

At the program I sang with the men chorus and we all enjoyed some remarks from a drama teacher at a local high school. One of the reasons he spoke to us was that he had a small role in the BYU production, “A More Perfect Union”.

He was the gentlemen who restrains the second speaker.

After the program we enjoyed breakfast with friends and family. It was a very fun start for a Memorial Day morning.

I have been realizing a lot of those little chores that used to bother you when you were growing up can be very rewarding when you own your own home.  One of those things is weeding. What was once a pesky task my Mom wanted us to do has become an empowering quest for a great looking garden; same with watering, it is really cool keeping plants alive.

One of my favorite flowers are iris.  Shorty before we closed on the house Marilyn gave me a box of bulbs from a neighbors yard of heirloom iris bulbs.  I planted them in our yard but wasn’t very hopeful about getting them to bloom this year.  I however got a little lucky, one iris did bloom,

and I got even more lucky since the side yard was full of iris already.  Our yard also has come into bloom with daisies, roses, and peonies.

For my brother’s birthday we as a family went up to the alpine slide in Park City.  I actually really like Park City in the summer. I enjoy the alpine slide and it is easier to get seats at my favorite restaurant (at least top 5) Baja Cantina. Most of all it is just really fun to be together as a family.  Here are some pictures from the occasion.

Getting on the ski lift.

All of us together

An example of why my Dad maybe should not wear his baseball cap backwards

Happy Birthday Matthew — something best said with a big sombrero.

Taken last fall

As some of you know I work near the mouth of one of our beautiful local canyons.  With the undecided weather we have had for the last week or so I have seen wonderful 65 degree weather – perfect for hiking or a mountain picnic, the next day only to find snow on the ground and it would be freezing.

I, like many of you was feeling cheated that snow had returned. I was more ready for warm weather and sun than Mother Nature was.  I don’t really enjoy winter all that much.  I then remembered something I heard at a gathering over Christmas time.  The discussion was about how cold winters were and how much less active people felt.  One gentleman who had grown up in Minnesota made the comment that every season (all kinds of weather) can be fun if you know what to do in them.  Just like warm sunny weather is for golf, BBQ’s, swimming and all kinds of other fun activities; snow for him is for cross country skiing, and snow shoeing. I realized I didn’t like winter very much because I don’t ski, snowmobile, snow shoe, or even have a snowball fight.

Don’t get me wrong I am still hoping cold and snow are done.  I am ready for spring, and summer.  I guess I feel like there won’t be enough snow around long enough for me to learn a new activity or hobby this year, but I also hope to spend more time enjoying winter activities next year.  Maybe with luck I will find one I like and than maybe I can look forward to winter.

Just when you thought pinewood derbies were only for scouts, Marie’s parent’s ward’s Elders Quorum held one for adults.  Yep for Elders.  The plan was to enter two cars in the derby, Dad with James’ car and Lee using his 10+ year old car. Lee however was out of town and not able to compete, James therefore thought I should enter it in place of Lee.

Well we did, I was not very confident in the old car.  We did get to choose it’s number and I was able to get my lucky 21 number.  In the first heat the running was fast, my confidence in a good showing dwindled.  Which was just fine since I was more interested with the Root Beer floats being served anyway.

Then in heat 3 came my turn to run.  So with James cheering our car on it ran to a 1st place finish.  The car ran three more times for two more 1st place finishes and one 2nd.  After all the other cars had ran they calculated the time and announced our car would run in the final heat with the top four cars.  In that heat we cheered it on to a 2nd place finish overall.  Not bad for a car we had little hope for.

2010 Elders Quorum Pinewood Derby Trophy of Awesomeness

The times of the championship heat

It’s pretty near my mom.  For more details on location give me a call.  And it’s close enough that I should be able to keep all my violin and viola students, which was a must.  It’s so much bigger than we thought we could afford, and it has a yard (yay, not a condo!) It has a great garden plot in the back yard which JP is really looking forward to.  And I’m really looking forward to bringing my bunnies home.

Hopefully we’ll close the beginning part of May.  And I’ve already started collecting stuff.  I bought a new table and chairs at an estate sale last weekend for 50 bucks.  I’m such a good shopper.  They just need to be refinished since they’re an interesting green color.  But they’re not half bad.

The worst part is how much I’m going to miss our current ward.  Each time we’ve moved (once a year since we were married) I’ve missed my ward friends so much, but I’ve made new ones, so hopefully that will happen here too.  Crazy thing, we’ll be in my brother’s girlfriend’s family’s ward.  (at least that didn’t didn’t include our dog’s vet…)

Adams Canyon Hike

One of the activities Marie and I have often loved doing is hiking.  I guess we like the exercise and the time in nature and all that stuff.  We have seen waterfalls and great overlooks, enjoyed wildflowers and walked along nice streams.  I want to share with you a story from our recent hike in Zions.  We were on the Emerald pools trail.

It was a wonderful hike with minimal snow and lots of things to take pictures of.  We had enjoyed hiking up to all three pools, were on our way back down and were on a not crowded part of the trail when we heard something in the brush to the right.  I was following Marie.  She looked and then jumped, it really startled her.  We had come upon a family of deer feeding on some leaves.  They let us sit and watch them for quite a while and even posed for pictures, it was a great nature experience.

As I thought about our run-in with the deer, I was amazed at how beautiful life is and how wonderful the world we live in is.  I think we all need a little time in nature to remind us how blessed we are and to feed the soul.  Here are  some pictures from some favorite hikes.

Emerald Pools – Zion National Park

“R” Mountain – Rexburg, Id

Fairy Falls – Yellowstone National Parl

Petrified Sand Dunes – Snow Canyon State Park

By the next Sunday I was feeling quite a bit better.  We had the broadcast Sunday morning, and a rehearsal afterward, since we couldn’t rehearse on Christmas eve.  I got home just in time to grab some lunch, and my violin andviola and head off to church.  It was the Sunday of the Christmas program, and I was playing background to two speaking parts on my viola, and obligatos to two pieces on my violin; so I definitely “needed” both instruments. 

We were rehearsing during Sunday School since we couldn’t rehearse before church because me, and our guest organist, Clay Christiansen, who is in our ward both had to be at the broadcast that morning and JP was teaching the whole ward Sunday School class since the other teacher’s weren’t there, or were in the choir.  At the beginning of this rehearsal I was feeling really tired, and probably being annoying to everyone around me because I just couldn’t remember where I was supposed to be, or which things I was playing on and which ones I was singing on.  I found a small table to put my instruments on, and set both cases, open, with the instruments on/in them.  As I was about to go up to play I thought “I don’t want my viola to fall” so I pushed the case a little further on to the table, and as I did the violin fell off the other side.  I caught the violin case, but the violin flipped out of it and landed on it’s bridge.  I am also blaming this on exhaustion.

I was able to play the program, and didn’t notice the tiny crack.  Then as I was teaching the next Tuesday, I saw the huge crack just above the bridge, and the soundpost pushing through.  Lest anyone think this more tragic than it needs be, this is the violin I bought on KSL for only $200, and it really is not worth fixing. 

So the long and short of it is, now I am violin shopping.  And I’ll hopefully end up with something I like even more than the one I just busted.  Looking for the positive.  I hope to have the shopping done by next week when I begin teaching again. (I’m taking this week off for new years, and because the students are out of school anyway.)