Day One

We went with the 14 - 18 year old young men in the ward on a weekend adventure; a great group of guys.



And as so many times in the past the adventure was found in Wisconsin. We started in the Kettle Moraine ( near Whitewater) on the John Muir Trail. In candor what I have done before could not be described as Mountain biking compared to this jarring, twisting, up and down, through mud and sand, tree dodging on hairpin curve trail. Enough said it was great the boys loved it as did I. I went a slightly slower pace and only did 6.5 of the 10 loop but glad I went. The trail wasn't conducive to photo taking.

afterward we drove over to Devil's Lake park to swim, play lake football and camp for the night.

The Bath

If I had forgotten how entertaining kids are to eat with it, It had truly slipped my experiential mind how hilarious bath time is. After becoming perfectly a mess it was time for a bath. Since no one else was around I could not get photos of the splish & splash, giggle & laugh, drench everyone and everything during the process that bath time was. It was a riot. Afterwards, try as I might to comb her hair she was insistent on brushing it herself. And did a fine job. Bath time is fun!

The Fork

So we had our favorite visitor come and stay for the greater part of the week while Julie was at girl's camp. We had our own adventure with Eden. What a delightful little girl. She has a sweet disposition, loves Rindy to death and enjoys the rest of us. I particularly revelled in watching her eat, having forgotten how everything is the age of discovey for children. With her regular-sized fork she quickly devoured her Sea bass, sauteed zucchini and tomatoes, blue berries, strawberries and lettuce. Clearly not a picky eater but great dinner entertainment. (though truth be told part of the process does make one miss the function of vacuum cleaning dogs)

Dance More Laugh More

I truly am committed to dancing more and laughing more; and so it is with delight that I share this new YouTube highlight that I so enjoy.

a few other photos

Game time outside


Beware of quick melting cones - even on cool days



Exercise queen.

Saturday with Eden

 Living close enough to Blair and Julie to run up for the afternoon is wonderful. We all dropped by on our way from Whitewater. 

Frank & Julie had enough time for a quick chat and a pho;to, Rindy and Parker for little more; while the rest of us had time to pull a few weeds, play a few games, get a couple of haircuts and grill some hotdogs. 

We'd all prefer to linger longer but we relish the time we get.

Whitewater Lake

Wisconsin is a beautiful state with many an enjoyable outdoor activity. I love to hike, ski, camp, boat, bike, swim, and have general national geographic moments in Wisconsin. It is even more enjoyable with friends. And so this weekend finds us in Whitewater in the southeast quadrant not far from Chicago and not far from Watertown with Frank, Julie, Jacob, and Emily.






The weather was more like mid-May but the company was grand.

Of Dear Friends

One of the great enjoyments of naperville has been the number of friends who have dropped to visit, play games, share a meal, and better yet stay a night or two. How Lynn got away without a photo is just crazy and wrong. But solid memories are there. Emblematic of a strong friendship the conversation picked up without having lost a beat and my or my did she and Rindy converse.

Thanks to Lynn for the visit and the friendship.

Lars, Nibley and Compassion

Brigham as the over seer of our netflixs list of movies has more than once led us done a pathway that we have found strange or unique but never inappropriate. So it was with doubt as we started Lars and the Real Girls that the movie would be either as odd or as potentially inappropriate as it first seemed. In fact, mid-movie, we called him in search of an explanation and were told no more than hang on, and hang on we did. I did not catch the vision of the film until approximately two-thirds of the way in, at which point I did for me; others may not but if you are looking for a slightly quirky, thoughtful film this is it.

Craig Gillespie's LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a sweet love story and a film which deals with mental illness in surprisingly subtle ways. With a formula that could easily have manipulated for cheap laughs, the film achieves quirky humor in parts but mostly touching observations about the nature of delusions themselves. The film's characters gathers around Lars, a sensitive character who the film respects brings fully to life with all the subtleties of mental illness. More pointedly, the film means to be about the generous spirit of everyday folks who, when their 27-year-old neighborhood loner with a funny grin begins lugging around a plastic doll as his girl friend, open their hearts and minds to them both — it ends up being a story of compassion and kindness and a community opening up and helping one of their own deal with his unique issues. The NYTimes supplied some of the preceding words in their 2007 review but with their cynics edge found the film trite, formulaic and contrived.

It brought me to Nibley's essay in Approaching Zion wherein he discusses the real sin of Sodom and Gomorrah as covering of the fruit of the trees with nets to deny the birds their free lunch and the lack of compassion and kindness of the people. It brought me to all the incredibly kind people who have crossed our path and eased our way, particularly in regard to Evan. It brought me to the inherently kind people I know and observe who seem instilled with kindness reflexively. It brought me to the many forms of mental illness that surround us, how common it is, how misunderstood and how judging people can be. It brought me to the need to chose to be kind, to chose to be discerning but not judgemental. It brought me to the great need of compassion which can bring hope.

So is Lars and the Real Girl a great movie - no, does it open some windows of thought - yes; should we all find a way, today, to show greater kindness and compassion - yes.

Historical sites thinking of Dad

Family Photos

Things As They Really Are.

Below is a link to a talk that Elder Bednar recently gave at a CES Fireside at BYU Idaho (5/3/09) -

Things As They Really Are.

It’s a powerful, extremely well-written talk about a very timely and important topic – how the adversary uses technology and the cyber world to “minimize” the importance of our physical bodies. It’s worth reading and discussing with your extended family. It has already started to be re-circulated in our email circles and is well worth reading and rereading. Another example of how modern day revelation is essential and relevant and guiding for our day.

Evian Roller Babies

Ok, you have to admit this is fun to watch.
And in case the video doesn't play go to this Youtube link

Our Favorite view in Independence

Pentagon's Robotic Hummingbird

Coincidence maybe.

Last night I read a brief article about the successful testing and effectiveness of bats as incendiary devices during WWI. Timing their hibernation, their awakening, and flight patterns loaded with detonators. How they eventually lost funding to large scale atomic weaponry.

This morning I read of Hummingbird robots:Darpa, the Pentagon's advanced-research unit--AKA, the place where they develop Men In Black technology--is working on a flapping robo-sentinel. The first-ever hovering air vehicle to use flapping wings while carrying its own power source. The hope is that the hummingbird will be useful for indoor and outdoor surveillance, as well as dropping off listening devices and other super-spy cargo. Click here for the video.

This is clearly a project Matt should be working on.

Arthur Bryant

So what do you do after visits to Far West, Adam-omdi-ahman, Richmond, and Kingston cemeteries - well you top it off with the best rib place in the Midwest - Arthur Bryant's. Large portions, great slow cook meats, spicy sauce and tons of ambiance. A great day.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

After all the travel Tuesday most everyone slept in for a morning's rest. The dawn shined brightly on a beautiful day; high 80's, slight breeze, few high clouds, and a ball game to watch. We haven't all been to a ball game in years and the Twins were in town playing the Royals, we are on vacation - we had to go.

We bought tickets on the second deck third base side in their wonderful outdoor stadium. Baseball was created to be played outdoors not in domes. We rotated where we sat, keeping ourselves in the shade for the entire game; which perpetually gave us a new perspective, kept us cool and the game moving. The frosting on the event was a Twins victory 5 - 1.




New scoreboards are spectacular, high definition images at crazy dimensions, great detail, every stat imaginable and ever engaging. The Royals is one such scoreboard.