Kallie, Mark and Family

My Own Polar Express

2010-12-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

When I was younger I remember waking up one Christmas and I found an electric train around our tree. My dad came over and started operating the train and started showing me how it worked. I was amazed at how he was able to know so much about the train, then he told me that when he was younger the train belonged to him and that now he was giving it to me. One of my best gifts ever!

This year I finally took it home. I need to make something for it so it can go around our tree but I took it out any way and started to play.

I like how the photo make the train appear as if it is going at some sort of super speed. After I set this up the kids took turns controlling the train. I think the sad part is they did not have as much fun as I did.

Notice we are in the door way so after a bit I had to break it down and put it away.

Thanks for the train dad!

A side note. Cade has his own blog site now. If some one would put it on their blog as a link I think he would really appreciate it.

Cool Little People and Lego Guys

2010-03-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Check out one of my old mission companion's blog for some pretty cool little people and lego guys.

John Carter

2009-08-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

After one year I still miss my friend John Carter very much. Sometimes even with faith in our Heavenly Father the understanding is sometimes very hard. Trusting and understanding is sometimes still hard. Knowing that John's kids may never even have a memory of such a wonderful person and father is hard. The only thing that would make it harder is if I had no faith that they will see him someday. That is one reunion in heaven I would really love to see.

I posted this link in an older post but here it is again.

http://www.focusservices.com/FocusLoss/johncarter.aspx

Random Pictures

2009-08-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pictures from the summer. Kallie and I are not very good at taking pictures, but here are some. Cade at his baseball game. Cade was a really good catcher this year. He even got voted to the all star team. Watching kid pitch is really a lot more entertaining than machine pitch. The parents sometimes are more competitive also.

Vacation

2009-08-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

It has been a long long time since my last post. I decided to post a few pictures from Glacier National Park. That was my first time there and I was very impressed on how beautiful it was there. We hiked about 15 miles during the trip. It was great!

Family is Great

2008-10-18T05:28:00.000-07:00

Kallie and I are not very good about taking pictures. We are even worse about getting our pictures developed or printed. I am looking at some of the old pictures that I have on the computer and I wanted to share one.

I am so lucky to have such a close extended family. I love that most of my close friends are cousins. I love that if we miss a week going to a Grandparents house my kids feel picked on. Thank you family you guys are the best.

Coming to an End

2008-10-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming to an end and since I have not posted all summer I thought I would post some random pictures of the summer.

One of my favorite pictures of Grandma Grace.

Grace got bit and her eye almost swelled all the way shut.

We had a great time in Oregon, crabbing, family, the ocean and waterfalls.

Sorry I meant to turn the picture but lets be honest I'm lucky just to be putting anything on the blog site... maybe next time I will make it corrrect. This is Jacobs summer birthday.

Cade got to ride on a float in the 24th parade with his cousins.

We also went to Cub Camp with Cade.

I Will Miss My Friend

2008-09-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

I have had a heavy heart the last few weeks. My good friend John Carter was killed in a plane crash in Guatemala. We worked very closely at Focus and we got to do many things together in and outside of work. He made going to work fun.

I have been very impressed by the stregnth of his family. His wife Lisa, and his children Ethan, Ashton, and Averie are constantly in my prayers.

I cannot say enough good things about him. I am a better peson for knowing him. He is a true friend that I will miss.

If you would like here is a link to his page at Focus, for his application to go to Guatemala.

Been A While

2008-09-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I posted anything on the blog. I have had some requests that I update mine. I am just not a good blogger.

One thing of note... I have been using UTA as of lately and I am enjoying that more than I thought I would. It is saving on gas and what little traffic there is between Ogden and Roy I don't have to worry about. It gives me time to read and unwind before I get home.

I just wish that UTA had their catchy song still.

"Go go go, go UTA
People going places go UTA today.

You know it's not a fuss,
when you come and ride the bus

no more hassle no delays, you know it really pays
when you ride the UTA."

About Time

2008-01-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

After a long time of not posting anything I finally have found time to do it. Kallie and I had a pretty busy December. Just like everyone else trying to balance work, school, kids and their activities is becoming more and more of a challenge.

Circuit City is over... yeah! I am looking into another short part time job hopefully it will pay a little more.

Jacob had his friend’s party the other day. It was a lot of fun. Probably Jacob's favorite part was when his cousin James was able to make it. We told him that we did not think that James would be able to make it because he was going home. When we told him James was coming he was really excited. Jacob loved the pirate theme, we did not do anything to big but I think everyone had fun. It was fun to hear all the little kids talk in a pirate voice and play the games Kallie had arranged.

Here is a bunch of pirates and princesses playing with cannon balls.

And this is one of the whole group playing dead... notice how the three girls had to stick close together to survive the rest of the boys.

I'm On A Play Date

2007-12-01T06:14:00.000-08:00

Well I have finally made time to post something.

Thanksgiving was alot of fun. John asked me, Cade, and Layne to go shoot at clay pigeons. I actually hit a few. I took Cade and he shot a bb gun. For some reason I kept getting the image of Ralphy shooting at the Black Bart target, from a Christmas Story, run through my head as I was teaching him how to shoot.

More good news I got some turkey this year!!! It was a lot of fun. The older I get the more I prefer Thanksgiving over Christmas.

This year was also my first year with "Black Friday". There are some die hard shoppers out there. For the last few years my wife has been one of them. This year I had to work so Kallie was unable to go. The people who got there early they were really nice. The people that bugged me the most were the ones coming in between 10 and 12 asking why we did not have any of the door buster items left.

The other day I took the day off from Weber and spent it with Jacob. Cade and I have done a lot of things one on one but because I am a slacker dad I can not remember the last time I did anything with Jacob.

The first thing Jacob did was pick out the clothes I was supposed to wear. Blue Jeans, a red Angels shirt and a red Angels hat. This was also the exact same thing that he had on. While Kallie reported for jury duty we built a blanket fort around the entertainment center. We watched a half hour of the Polar Express and then we started reading books. Kallie came home early from jury duty and then Jacob and I went to lunch at Artic Circle and then to a movie. I felt a little silly walking around in the same "out fit" (guys don't wear out fits) as Jacob but he was happy so I guess that is what counts.

After the movie we hung around the mall for a while playing on the little toys they have there. just a side note while we were playing on the toys I noticed a lady herding a bunch of kids to only play on one side of the toys, there were a bunch of kids very close in age so I knew they weren't all hers. Later I saw another lady coming to join her, with her was her 6 year old (I am guessing the age) daughter with no pants. The mother was putting the daughters coat around her waist to cover her underwear while the daughter was crying. I finally started putting two and two together and started looking more carefully at the ground and on the toys and in the middle of the carpeted area I saw a dark brown wet spot. I quickly got Jacob's shoes back on him and we were out of there.

Any way Jacob and I had a great time.

Halloween

2007-11-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

I am not very good at updating this blog. We had a good Halloween. On Oct. 30 out ward had the trunk or treat and then on Halloween we went around to the neighborhood and Cade and Jacob filled whatever room they had left in their bags full of candy. The highlight of this Halloween for me was when I came home and at Cade's request Kallie carved the Angel logo into one of the pumpkins. I hope Kallie remembers how she did this because that will be a request of mine for every Halloween from here on out.

Cade was a guy in an accident (He just wanted some costume with fake blood), Jacob was a pirate and Grace was a duck. Of course I better post pictures with it.

A Few Pictures

2007-10-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures, Kallie and I are not the best at taking pictures. For us it takes effort to remember the camera and half the time when we have the camera we don't remember to use it.

One of the pictures is Cade the first time in his Cub Scout Uniform. In working with the young men the last little while it was fun for Kallie and I, (Probably just me) to go to the first Pack meeting. When the boys are teenagers getting them to do or be excited about anything is like pulling teeth. For me it was great to see the Cub master ask who wants to play a game and see 12 Cub scout hands shoot up. On the other hand Kallie came home and asked if that was a normal Pack meeting.

Setting it up

2007-10-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well I guess I am finally starting a blog. I never really saw the need but in viewing different blogs I have noticed that it has been really nice to see what other family members and friends are up to. I don't normally leave any comments on blog but I have been looking any trying to keep up. So bear with with me as I slowly start updating the blog spot. I was going to title this one "Getting it up" but after reviewing that title I decided against that and substituted Getting with Setting.