Happy Father's Day

Great things to get for Father's Day
1) Clothing - ^ Got it

2) Cards - ^ Got it

3) Phone calls from kids - ^ Got it

4) Book - ?? Got it ??

An interesting yet mildly hilariously sad book

Girl's Camp

We love girl's camp.
What we really love is Julie going to girl's camp.
Ok, what we really, really love is having Eden & Dean (oh yes and Duncan) coming down for the better part of the week to party and play with Grandma in naperville while Julie goes to girl's camp.

They are delightful squirts.

The Vortex

Symbolic of the upcoming additions to naperville we enjoyed eating out on the deck tonight with Michael, Mari-Lynn, Robert & Laura and kids, Eden & Dean. Its great to stop in and share meals with family - last sunday Evan & Me with SJ and Dale at Brad & Mari-Lynn's; Brigham mid-week dinner with Brad in DC, and this upcoming sunday Mackey & Rindy dinner at Matt & Honor's. Its  a small world afterall

Belated Birthday

Mackey , Evan and I went to Minnesota for the weekend to wish my mom a belated happy birthday. It was great to see and visit with Mom. She had moments of great wit and I enjoyed sharing family prayer with her at night. Added treats were being able to attend Medicine Lake Ward and catch up with many a friend; and spending a couple of nights at Brad and Mari-Lynns.

Of things Illinois

As you can tell from the accompanying photo I have crossed a major bridge in my life. One part of me was living in denial of having moved and I fed that portion of the inner me by not getting a Illinois Driver's Licence. I am reconciled and moving forward now.

As a side I found it interesting the high degree of angst I suffered  in having to take the written test. With vivid memories of a new neighbor from New Jersey horribly failing the MN test when they moved to MN I studied and studied. My nervousness yielded a 100% but I was concerned.

As a side note if you cut me I still bleed maroon and gold not orange

SuperSize It

Evan lives large.
He is having a glorious summer in chicago
His last week's schedule is as foolows and is typical

Monday - Young Adult Family home evening group - home around midnight
Tuesday - Work at the bishop's storehouse
Wednesday - Work at the bishop's storehouse - then movie with the guys - home around one
Thursday - 6:20 am departure and work at the Temple - then Institute
Friday - chill laxing with the family work around the house - then a Ballywood Party at a frineds house home at 12:30
Saturday - chores - then with us to mackie's volleyball
Sunday - single's ward

He lives life big
He even grills big

Memorial day volleyball

Saturday it rained
Sunday it stormed
Today is beautiful

As such,we sit at the Renaissance Convention Center watching volleyball. Mackey is playing very well. That makes it fun. Club sports do consume a significant resource commitment and each of the kids has benefited in their own way. Focus, discipline, sense of team, physically engaged among other things add up.

It's a good day

Mormon Technology

Today at church we had a discussion about joining the dialogue on the internet regarding Mormons, religion, doctrine and personal beliefs. The Ward challenged us to put in action Elder Ballard's talk of 2007 where he stated: "Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints need to join the global conversation and use new technology to stand up for what they believe in. Perhaps now, more than ever, we have a major responsibility as Latter-day Saints to define ourselves, instead of letting others define us," said Elder Ballard, a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The top techology stories regarding the church for 2010 included how the Church used the Internet and new technology to reach a wider audience in 2010. They mentioned the following:

• The launch in January of a new website for LDS youth (youth.lds.org).
• Store.lds.org, a new church online shopping site, opened for business in September, replacing the old LDS Catalog.
• A new handbook for leaders was released and made accessible for members online. (If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to read the first few chapters that outline the purpose of the Church, the priesthood, and leadership, and their relationship to the family. You can find the handbook in the Serving in the Church section of LDS.org. Or click here.)
• Familysearch.org was improved.
• Church websites mormon.org and LDS.org were redesigned and launched.
• A new website called combatingpornography.org was created.
• Elder Quentin L. Cook became likely the first apostle to post a blog.
• Missionaries in Rochester, N.Y., started a pilot project online to do missionary work in cyberspace.

Have you read the profiles on www.mormon.org ?
Have you written one?
I plan on writing one before the year is over - thoughts?

BEFORE then AFTER

It was a whirlwind visit.

Brigham and Evan swept up the west coast after finishing school, visiting many a relative along the way before landing here in Naperville. Brigham's visit was short, for he made a quick run up to  Minnesota, dropping off Duncan ( Blair & Julie's dog) back off in Watertown after Duncan's brief visit. ( All true friends make a pilgrimage to Naperville and so did Duncan sans parents).

Brigham left BYU long enough to sport his fabulous red barbe,

which he also left in Naperville.














It was brief but it was a great visit here with Brigham. He can be found this summer in DC hanging out at the Pentagon.

Just how good is it to have an engineer for a friend

Great friends quickly equate with great times.
Ethan was first a good friend, and then a great assistant scout master while I was scout master; and then again a great friend. If I was to be stuck in the wilderness, or crossing the plains, or trying to survive - I would first chose Rindy then I'd chose to Ethan to work through the adventure of it all.
He and I share innumerable great adventures and memories of scouting together, and teaching our boys; philosophizing and solving the problems of the world.
He was in town for training and graciously fit in a visit at our home for dinner and a walk downtown.

It truly is a delight to live where friends come visiting.