That's all folks...

Well, that's it.

My last day with Cummins passed with little fanfare. I got to say goodbye to everyone I worked with at the warehouse, and I was very happy to see that everyone was, for the most part, in a pretty positive mood. It was a little somber to say "Nice working with you. Glad I got to know you. Good luck." knowing most of them I would never see again. I didn't shed any tears until the drive home, and I think that was mostly just letting the stress out.

I guess on the plus side there is no more winter commute. Save gas too. Also, I may have a chance to sleep in for a while. That would be nice. And...no more meetings! Woohoo! Well, that's about all I can think of for the bright side kind of stuff, pretty lame huh?

I truly enjoyed my almost 2 years with Cummins and honestly do not hold any bitter feelings for them letting us go. It is just business after all. I just hope this round of cuts was enough and no one else will have to lose their jobs. That no one else will have to wonder what comes next far sooner than they should have to worry about that.

I have put out some feelers, and have been contacted by a couple of head-hunters, but nothing concrete has come along yet as far as jobs are concerned. I am hopeful about a possibility in Phoenix which is the best lead yet. I am sure I will hear more from them after the holiday, but you never know, right. All that stuff about counting your chickens applies here.

The one thing that will make this a harder transition is that if I am going to have a real chance at finding something quickly, then we will likely be moving again. Very few jobs in my field at my level in Utah, far more in other states. As long as I recognize that I can at least focus my search in the southern lattitudes. It will make it a little less painful on Glynna to at least move where it is warm.

Of course, the first and best plan is to stay put, let the kids finish out school here. This next move will be hardest on them. Glynna and I knew going into it that moving up in my career would likely mean moving, and we are adventurous enough that it is actually something we enjoy. But we have to think of the kids too. For them it will be harder. We have uprooted them enough. God willing, we will stay here.

I have checked most all job boards I can think of, and have even registered with a few pay sites, like The Ladders. (that link should take you to my resume....if you know anyone looking for a logistics manager, feel free to pass it along =) I am pretty confident something will come my way, hopefully before the severance package ends. If not, all we can do is put it in God's hands and trust that he has better things in store for us, whatever they may be.

So goodbye Cummins. I will miss everyone I worked with. It was the best job I have ever had...

...so far!

Merry Christmas 2008

I hope anyone who read my last post knows I was just kidding about the title, "Stop the World, I want to get off!" I know sometimes we all feel like that, but overall, I have a very good life. I have so much to be thankful for. I am married to my best friend. I love being with him. We have alot of fun together. He makes me laugh just about on a daily basis. I am so impressed with how intelligent and witty he is. I hope my children take more after him than me. I did well in school because I worked my butt off, but learning new things does not just come naturally for me. I have to work hard to get information to stick in my brain. That may have something to do with having four children too... (wink).

******

Anyway, I did not get a chance in my last blog to share any info about our Christmas holiday. We had a great Christmas day. Jordan had to go on a scavenger hunt to find his Santa gift and Duncan had to dig through a big box of shredded newspaper to find his. We like to keep things fun...or should I say, Santa likes to keep things fun.

I gave myself a fabulous Christmas present. I did not cook or clean or even get dressed the entire day. It was AWESOME! I went to breakfast at my sister-in-laws in my PJ's and even went to Dennys for Christmas dinner in my PJ's. Ok, I admit, I was a teensy bit embarrassed...but I did it anyway. Ya, I like to live on the wild side now and then. Emily, Duncan, and Annie joined me in my Christmas Pajama Day and they were pretty embarrassed at Dennys too. It was funny. I did feel a little guilty about making people work on Christmas Day.

Well, one of my daycare kids in napping here in the office and I don't want to wake her up so I am going to make this a short post, but later I will get back on and post about my weight loss efforts...they are sad...very, very sad...yurk.

Stop the world, I want to get off!

Long time, no blog. How many times can I use "busy" as my excuse for everything? In fact, December 2008 has just been a whirlwind for me. Thanksgiving was here only a moment ago and now the New Year is around the corner. Did Christmas even happen? Well, my photos are proof that it did. I warned all of the Todd family that I had four years of holiday photos to make up. They did bear it, but I can't guarantee they were grinning about it. ;P I will take this opportunity now to thank all of you for being gracious about my photo frenzy over the past several weeks and to thank those of you who found photos to share with me due to my very devastating loss.

I hope your holidays were happy. Considering the crazy past few weeks we have experienced, our holiday was nice. You have all heard the phrase, "when it rains it pours". Well, boy have I got a CRAZY example of that! It is so crazy I feel more like laughing about it than crying! First of all, at the beginning of the month I lost a family of three kids that I was prepaid for (meaning that I depended on a fairly large sum of money at the beginning of the month which I did not receive), then, Chad's car, which is not even two years old, broke down on our way to a business dinner in Salt Lake, (Chad's parents had to come from Ogden to pick us up that night and then go back the next morning to tow Chad's car back to the dealer for repairs), then Chad was abruptly informed that his facility was closing and all of the employees, including himself, were being let go at the end of the month, then our furnace quit working...HELLO! December...cold..., and then all of our favorite grandpa-and apparently, a favorite for many people-died.

The good ending to this story is that Grandpa and Grandma are reunited...and I got to have all of my siblings and my Mom and Dan, not to mention my cousins, Kyle and Brenda, all in my home at the same time. That part was fabulous...especially listening to Blaine and Bryn sing, smelling Theresa's amazing cooking, and watching Angie harvest crops and blood online...hee hee. (If you want details on the blood thing, you'll have to ask her...hee hee)

I'm not complaining. It has just been a crazy month. As always, my blogs are late at night and I have a lesson to teach tomorrow. Thank goodness next week our church meetings will be starting at one o'clock in the afternoon. Whoo hoo! I love afternoon church. What else can you do on Sunday? Hello! Sleep in! ha ha.

Anyway, Chad has been giving me a photo posting lesson. I was going to post some Christmas photos as well, but we are having a few technical difficulties so Chad will figure out the problems and I will post Christmas photos next time. I will explain the four I did actually upload to the blog.

The first one is of Chad with his crew at the Cummins facility in Salt Lake. The second one is of Bodie being taught to leave no evidence of dessert...cake? What cake? The third is a photo of my mom, sisters, and me.

Love you all!

Hey, while we were all together, why didn't we take a sibling photo?! Poop! (Is that ok to say on the Internet?...HAHAHA), and, thank you, Jesse, for the lovely little goodbye gift on Theresa's rental. Those cute little snowmen did not last though. Shortly after your departure, Chad started using the poor little guys as snowballs. Aaaaah...

Other things to think about...a positive note and the start of my cancer story (so Cancer Part 1, I guess)

I was just thinking about things that are happening to us right now, and it got me reminiscing, which made me think of something I have not posted about yet: 2008 is the 10 year mark for my cancer diagnosis. 10 years is quite the milestone for cancer survivors. The 5-year mark is kind of the pinnacle of cancer survival, since at that point it basically means you have the same chance of a cancer recurrence as anyone else has of developing cancer. So 10 years is special as it means I have doubled that time. Not bad considering my doctor initially gave me less than a 15% chance of beating it to begin with.

10 years. Wow.

In October 1998 we received the news that I had osteosarcoma (bone cancer).

I had been having pain in my upper back, neck, and down my left arm for some time in late 1997 and early 1998, but I was nearing the end of my college coursework and was too caught up in graduating to get it checked out. I finally, just before graduation, went to my boss at work since I thought it might be work-related having been in production for several years. They sent me to a therapist who recommended and electromyogram. Here is the key point of this test:

The skin over the areas to be tested is cleaned with a special soap. A needle electrode that is attached by wires to a recording machine is inserted into a specific muscle.

So the point is they stick a needle into a muscle to find a nerve and then shock it so they can see on a machine hooked up to your hand if the nerve is blocked or not. Got that? Needle in muscle to shock the be-jeebers out of a nerve, ON PURPOSE!

Can you say "ouch"?

Actually it was more like "HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL STOP STICKING THAT PIN IN MY ARM YOU SADISTIC..." well you get the idea. =)

The doctor stuck that thing in my hand and arm about every 6 inches (back of my hand, just past my wrist, middle of forearm, at the elbow - that was fun, shocking the crap out of my funny-bone, hah hah hah, see me laughing - etc.). Then I find out the test told them nothing. Greeeaaat!

That prompted an MRI. They were pretty concerned so I actually got my MRI on July 4th if you can imagine that. That was also, incidentally, the day of my last paid haircut. I have not been to a barber of any kind since then.

I went in that afternoon for my MRI. They gave me a Valium to help me relax and then they strapped me into the MRI table. [note: the Valium basically did nothing...I would come to find after 8 years of various kinds of treatments and surgeries, and probably thousands of percocet, lortab, codeine, etc. that I have a VERY high tolerance for narcotics of all kinds.]

I had a cage bolted over my head holding my head in place and pressing on my chest so I would not move at all during the test. That ended up being a bad thing, since it only exacerbated the feeling of being trapped while I was, well, trapped in the machine. In the middle of the MRI they stopped. They told me they had to have someone come look at the images and that they needed to take another image. All this time I am in this tube that could barely hold me and my gut. I started begging them to let me out, but they said they did not want to mess up the orientation. It was a bad experience at the time and made it so I can now only do an MRI if sedated.

Anyway, I found out what made them do that. They wanted to be absolutely certain of what they had to report, to make sure they were really seeing what they thought they were. Unfortunately, it was exactly what they thought it was.

When they finally unstrapped me, they had me wait around to talk to my doctor. I kind of guessed at that point that it was not going to be to invite me over for punch and cookies. On the phone the neurologist who ordered the test told me they found a mass in my upper back and neck (technically the brachial plexus area). It was about the size of a large orange or my fist and was nestled under my shoulder-blade, up against the top of my rib cage and under my colar bone. Later we would find out it encroached on the spine as well. The sharp shooting pains I had been experiencing in my left arm and neck were a result of the tumor pressing on and pinching my ulnar nerve against my colar bone - in essence I had the feeling of having smacked my funny bone good and hard all the time.

My doctor actually did say "tumor" at the end of our discussion. "Mass" sounded better.

I then called Glynna and my mom and dad and told them they had found a tumor. I was sick and numb all at the same time. But I had no idea what was to come, and maybe that was a good thing.

I will say I have had more enjoyable Independence Days.

A fine Merry Christmas to me...more bad news

I hate to keep posting bad news, but this last week was a doozy. My boss and our HR rep came out last Monday from Kentucky, unannounced. I had a phone call scheduled with him on Monday, but had no clue he was coming here until he literally walked into my office. I figured that can't be a good thing...and unfortunately I was right.

They told me that Cummins was trying to be proactive about the current economic environment. We already had seen our daily shipping volume decrease by about 20%, which necessitated dropping 5 people from our work force. The decision now was that they need to consolidate operations within markets, meaning they only want one distribution center in North America. So they are shutting us down and we are all being laid off. Our last official working day is December 30th.

Some Merry Christmas, huh?

I am a little worried about finding a new job. We have a neighbor who has been out of work for 9 months. I hear about more people losing their jobs and not being able to find anything. It is somewhat scary. I am hopeful, however, and I think I have a good background to get into something else relatively soon. It will probably pay off that I have experience in many fields and have worn many hats in my career. I hope it will anyway.

I guess come January I will have some more time to blog. I do get a 3 month severance package, so that will help. I am also going to get certified in daycare so we can take on more kids in Glynna's daycare, Kiddlywinks. I guess that was pretty good forsight, huh? We can effectively double her income, and my mom is thinking about joining us instead of her current job, which will help even more. Of course we may be driven nuts with that many kids running around the house, but I hear that duct tape can work wonders! =)

I will use this space to keep everyone updated on my job hunt. I am also considering putting together a "resume blog" with the hope of luring in potential employers.

You can also check out my profile on LinkedIn.

I guess that is about it for now.

Sad News - and a Plea for Help

We recently learned a valuable lesson a very very hard way. The hard drive on our computer crashed, and we lost everything.

And I do mean everything.

We had all of our digital pictures from the past 4 years on there. We had all of our important documents, including but definitely not limited to taxact files, resumes, all the Kiddlywinks stuff, school docs, everything I have created in CorelDRAW for the past 4 years, all the songs we had downloaded, all the videos we had downloaded, that is enough, it is making me very sad.

So if you have any pictures with any of my family in them, please send them on to us. If you know us, you already probably have contact info. If not, then please leave a note (with no personal info like addresses or emails for security's sake) in the comments section and we will get ahold of you somehow.

I am more than willing to either arrange a FedEx pickup of anything you can burn to disk, or pay for shipping, replace disks you use to send us pictures, or if you are willing to send us print pictures I guarantee I will scan them and lovingly return them within a week, including a copy of the pictures on disk so you can have a digital copy as well.

As far as our lesson goes, here is a breakdown of our new computer (great timing, huh? guess what we got for Christmas. =(

* HP model d5100t, customized to include the following components
* Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550 2.83 GHz
* 6 gig of RAM
* 500 gig of a Raid 1 data security hard-disk configuration - this means there are 2 500 gig hard drives, one solely to back up the first, and connected in such a way that it is highly unlikely that BOTH will fail at the same time
* A 1 terabyte external hard-drive for serious backups (images of the full system and actual files of all important docs, pics, all of that listed above and more)
* Of course, graphics card, sound card, Lightscribe DVD/CD burner, and all that Jazz

We learned our lesson the hard way. Don't wait to learn yours the same way. You can get external hard drives for fairly cheap for good-sized models. Here are a few suggestions:

PC World review of top external hard drives for 2008 - a good place to start since they perform tests not just on size, but on performance and reliability, with prices ranging from $129 to $755, but you can find smaller drives for less money, like some of the following:

Amazon.com listing of hard drives...starting at $69.99

More external drives (just click on the different types for different configurations and prices.

Heck, Walmart carries them. You can just go there and browse.

You can even buy a DVD burner and periodically backup your pictures and vital docs every quarter or so. DVD burners can be had for about $50 (maybe less), and a single layer DVD holds up to 4 gig...a double layer up to 8. DVD disks are about $1 to $1.50 each (can be had for less - shop around), but that is a small price to pay to make sure you don't lose stuff in this digital age.

My plan is to once a month take an image of my primary drive and store it on my external drive, along with all pictures and important docs in their original format. Every 6 months to 1 year we will backup pictures on dual-layer DVD and store them in my safe-deposit box.

I went from nothing to overkill, but this was a very bad experience.

Don't let it happen to you.

Wat u can get me for Christmas YAY :)

If anyone is wondering wat to get me for christmas i want money. I prefer cash but i will take a check. And no i am not going to buy drugs just lots and lots of sugary carbinated caffine drinks called Monster. I neet at least enough to buy 20 to last me about a week. That will be all thank you. Oh and just in case you dont have a sence of humor i was just kidding. About the monsters not the cash. :)

NUAMES

Hi, I have not posted a blog in a long time so here is a quick review my school. This year for high school I am going to NUAMES (Northern Utah Academy for Math Engineering and Science) it is am early college school. Next year I will attend college level classes at Weber State and I plan on graduating with my associates degree. Just so you know how small my school is there are only 11 portables that make up NUAMES, there are only about 300-400 kids in the whole school, that includes 10th 11th and 12th grade. WOW that's tiny. Our mascot is a Nighthawk. We are the NUAMES Nighthawks. Everyone wanted to be the NUAMES Nerds but the administration said NO! It is the best school in the world because it is so small everyone knows everyone, that means no clicks. YAY. Well ill post more about NUAMES l8r bye.

Jose and the Golden Pin of Eternal Glory

One day when Jose was playing X-box he heard a noise coming from his closet. When he opened the door a magic chinchilla said, “Jose, you are the chosen one.”

Then Jose said, “What the freaking heck are you doing in my closet?!” Then the magic chinchilla told him all about how the evil penguin, Gladys, stole the Golden Pin of Eternal Glory from the museum of random valuable things, and how he kidnapped the presidents pet snail, speedy. The magic chinchilla also told Jose that he could fly while holding a bagel, freeze anything with his mind except for newspaper, eat anything no matter what it was, and talk to pencils. Then the magic chinchilla burst into flames and was gone forever.

Jose spent the next few weeks mastering his abilities. When he was sure he had them all down he filled a backpack with 3 packs of bagels, food, water, and a picture of the chinchilla that gave him his destiny. He flew into the air and when he was over the great country Arkansas he dropped the bagel and fell about 27 feet onto a cow. The cow turned out to be the one who was supposed to show him the way. When the cow got him safely to the Kinko’s factory the cow burst into flames and was gone forever.

When Jose got inside he saw a suspicious group of penguins standing in the corner watching him carefully. Then one of them pulled out an M16 and tried to shoot him. He just barely escaped into the basement and locked the door when they busted down the door and ran in. As they came into the room Jose stepped on a trapdoor that led to the super cat’s hideout. Jose had heard about the super cat, but he thought he was only a story. The super cat said to Jose, “You are Jose and I am super cat, I made a teleporter that will take you strait to Gladys’ top secret headquarters in Wal-Mart.” Just as super cat pushed the teleport button he burst into flames and was gone forever.

When Jose got to Wal-Mart he went up to an employee and asked him where the evil penguin was. The man said, “Oh he’s on isle 7, but don’t touch his hair.” Jose said thank you and went immediately to isle 7.

When he got there, Gladys said, “How did you find out where my top secret headquarters were?!” Just as Jose was about to freeze the evil penguin he realized that Gladys had on a body suit made of newspaper. There was nothing Jose could do. Then the penguin ran away.

While Jose was searching for Gladys he ran into a pencil, he asked the pencil, “Have you seen this penguin?” While holding up a picture of a penguin with long shaggy hair.
The pencil simply replied, “I don’t have any eyes stupid.” Then out of the corner of his eye Jose saw the penguin run into the girls bathroom. Jose cornered Gladys in the bathroom and noticed that he had the Golden Pin of Eternal Glory and the president’s pet snail in a cage. All of a sudden the evil penguin had a seizure and the newspaper fell off. Jose grabbed the Golden Pin of Eternal Glory, Speedy, and flew out the window.

Jose returned the Golden Pin of Eternal Glory to the museum of random valuable things, returned Speedy to the president, won the Congressional Medal of Honor, and returned home still not knowing why there was a chinchilla in his closet.

Halloween

Woo Hoo!!!!! The time is upon us to get all that last minute Halloween costume and candy shopping done! You have exactly two days so ready . . . set ... ... ... GO!!!!!!!!! So who else is excited? I sure as heck know I am! But I can't decide if I'm gonna go to my awesomely insane cousin's birthday party or trick-or-treating. Probably the party, though. So, guess what I'm gonna be for Halloween? Go ahead, guess! Ahem, I said, GUESS! OK fine, I'll tell you, sheesh! I'm gonna be a devil! It's an insanely cute costume!

But enough about me, let's talk about you guys!

So what are you gonna be for Halloween? And I really wanna know so comment and tell me! Well, if you don't know, here are some great costume ideas:
Bought Costumes from Wal-Mart:
-Whoopee Cushion
-Adam/Eve
-Fairy
-Bratz Pirate
-Devil (ME!!!)
-Angel
-Greek God/Goddess
-Queen/King/Prince/Princess

Homemade costumes (YAY!!! Creativity!):
-Robot (boxes and tin foil)
-Ghost (white bedsheet-cut eyeholes) (for a funky ghost use colored sheets) ;)
-Hobo (old button up shirt, messy hair, brown make up so you look dirty, brown eyeliner to draw messy patches and scratches)
-Headless Business Man (big white church shirt-pull it over your head, church pants)
-Girl (for boys only. wear a dress and do a girly hair do or a wig)
-Boy (for girls only. wear a baggy boy t shirt and baggy jeans, wear a baseball cap backwards with your hair pulled up in it)

Hope these helped! Have an awesome Halloween and get lots of candy!

Chad's Weight Loss Update

I really did not want to push Glynna's wonderful post down further on our list, but it is time to provide an update on my weight loss because I hit a milestone this week.

As of 2 days ago, I broke the 240 lb barrier.

I now, according to the Weight Watchers scale at work, weigh 239.6 pounds. Since I started this journey right after our trip to Reno and the Grand Canyon, and since I did not take any "before" photos in an official way, I am using a picture of me from our trip that highlight where I was before and where I am now.

281 pounds

Here we are at Hoover Dam, June 18, 2008. This is me at my heaviest in the past 2 years (yes I did weigh more 3 years ago, and before I had cancer I hit my highest - 293).

239.6 pounds

Here I am today, September 28, 2008 - wearing the exact same shorts I was wearing at Hoover Dam in the picture above. That is exactly 71 days, or about 0.58 pounds per day.

Not bad, huh?

So, I am halfway to 200 pounds. See you in another 71 days!

Separation Anxiety...Mine, not theirs...

It has been a long time. My excuse is always the same. Life is busy. It really is. I know it is for all of you. But I guess I had something to say tonight, to "lighten my load" so-to-speak.

Tonight I got my first real experience of separation anxiety from my children. Does that make sense? I guess I have always known it would come. I guess I have sensed it coming on for the past several months...but tonight, when it really hit,...it also really hurt. I'm not trying to give this certain child (to whom I am referring) a guilt trip. He/she is only acting naturally. But I need to give myself a break too. I am a Mom of teenagers and crying over them is natural too, I'm sure. Ok, ok, I will stop being so cryptic and just tell my story...

I grew up in a situation where I had no one to talk to about personal teenager "stuff". Well, of course, I had my siblings. We were always very close. And I had Ruth Tuckett, Susan Haws, Karen Bloxam (sp?), Maggie Egbert, Sandy Leavitt, and many other wonderful "Moms" to turn to. (Thank you all, by the way! I will always love each of you and thank God for the woman you helped me become.) But, I did not have my own mom to turn to...and it isn't so easy for a teenage girl to turn to her dad...(even though he really did his best. He's a good dad.) Anyway...

Chad has wonderful parents. I love them deeply. But Chad never really felt comfortable as a teenager to talk to his parents either. I am finding out, no matter how painfully, that this is the rule, and not the exception.

So, on that note, Chad and I have always tried our best to be completely open and honest with our children. We have tried to build a relationship of trust with them so they know they can turn to us about anything. I naively, and arrogantly, believed I was exempt from the rule that teenagers trust their friends and turn to their friends more than they do their parents. HA! What a fool am I! ha ha...Ya, now that I have stopped crying and have stepped back from the situation, I can laugh at myself and see how truly arrogant I have been.

This particular dear child of mine is going through a situation that he/she 'discusses' through many texts with 'certain' friends that she/he absolutely will not discuss whatsoever with me. I tried very delicately and cautiously to ask about it, only to get my head practically ripped from my body. Then, the silence and texting began again...which I was sure at the moment was about his/her lame parents since she/he asked me how to spell the word "interregate". He/she actually told this friend that her/his parents were interregating him/her!

Well, this dear child of mine has become more and more testy and short with Chad and I over the last several weeks. Sometimes I feel like I am walking on eggshells around this kid. I feel like Chad and I can do nothing right. (Please tell me this sounds familiar to some of you out there...) Well, my heart has been cracking bit by bit, but tonight for some particular reason, my dang heart just crumpled and broke. I exploded at this child. The child was completely oblivious as to why his/her mother was freaking out on him/her. He/she seriously had no clue that her/his behaviour was anything less than normal...(Well, now that I have calmed down and am releasing through this blog, I can see how silly I have been and I can see that his/her behaviour truly HAS been normal for this time in her/his life.)

Anyway, I got my feelings hurt...but I am a mom. My kids are growing up, whether I like it or not. I will get over it. (Won't I?! ;) ) The crazy thing is, most of the time I kind of enjoy that they are independant. I guess no matter what, I will always foolishly want to be #1 to them...and that just ain't gonna happen. And I know it. And I have just got to deal with it. I will always love them. I will always be here for them...if and whenever they want or need me. And that will do just fine...
Goodnight.

School-most kids cringe at the word.

Yup. It's that time again. The one all kids dread. The time that ends our summer. The time everyone anticipates and hates at the exact same time. The time that requires extra shopping, that includes, but is not limited to, new clothes, new shoes, school supplies, backpacks, etc. The time that, well I assume you know what i mean by now. But, just for you less fast people, I'll add one more. MY MOST HATED TIME OF YEAR!!! Well, I'll start off by saying, I'm going to a new school. Again. My third new school in TWO YEARS! Yeah, it's that bad. Well, surprizingly, this new school isn't new because I moved. This one is because my parents wanted to get my younger siblings out of their old school because of events too elaborate for me to get into right now. So because of my younger sibs elaborate events, I have to go to a charter school. Yeah, the kind where you have to wear UNIFORMS!!! They aren't that tacky, but they do tend to hide my recently acquired prep style. I guess to some they can be a good thing because no one can tease you or be mean because of what you're wearing cause you're wearing the same thing. But then again, everyone has their own style and the charter scool doesn't allow that style to be shown. One plus is that we get to go do extra curricular stuff at my old school, NDJ (North Davis Jr. High). So I will be doing the after school program, Program CARE. Of course the only class I'll be doing is Dinner Theater, which, (duh!) is acting and singing and dancing. So, in conclusion, break out the wallets and get your shopping over with cause you've got three days and counting till the dreaded day! (for kids anyway. I'm sure parents have a party while their kids are at school) Have a good last three days of summer!

GIRLS CAMP 4 YW!!! (for those of u less informed peeps, yw=young womens)

I'm sure most of you already know what this is about, but I will say it for those of you slower people. I am writing about young women's camp that I went to a couple weeks ago. I'll start off saying young women's is an organization by the LDS (Latter Day Saint/Mormon) church. It is for girls ages twelve to eighteen. Now I know what you're thinking. "its just some wimpy religious thing telling you not to sin or you'll go to H*#@!" That is SO not what its all about!!! It's fun! We do games, sports, parties. We go camping every summer! And the best part (well actually the best part for me is the camping, but you know what i mean) is you get to hang out with lots of other teenage girls and you get to BE GIRLS!!!

So anyways, I'm not here to be a preacher. I'm here to talk about the CAMP.
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So a couple weeks ago my young women's group went caming up in Aspen Ridge in Idaho. This year it was just my ward. We did lots of activities there! We went horseback riding, canoeing, swimming, skits, hiking, and there was this thing at the lake (which was so small we called it Pond Josephine) called Pirates of *Pond* Josephine. What we did was we got to make teams and every team went out in a canoe. Then we would rock each others boats until they sunk. Last boat floating won. My wards team won twice out of four times! Everyone else's teams won once or not at all so we were the CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!! Another thing we got to do was this class called the COPE course. What it was was a team building class. It was really really fun! First, we all stood on a log. Then we had to organize ourselves in order of birthdays. But, the tricky thing was, we couldn't fall off the log or talk at all! But, eventually we did it and we felt like we really accomplished something. Our next task was for every one of us to all have one foot on a milk crate and the other couldn't touch the ground. We had to hold that for ten seconds! It took us about a million tries-and about forty five minutes-of everyone trying to balance on it with one foot and the other in the air when we finally realized we could sit on the ground while doing it! We all felt pretty stupid that we couldn't realize that sooner! Our last task was at this huge pole. We had to form a human pyramid and try to get a tire over the pole and down it to the ground. I had to be one of the people on the bottom and so I was supporting the weight of about four girls!!! It was really fun though! The last activity I'll tell you about was this thing called the polar bear plunge. What we had to do was we sat in this bathtub that was in a river under a tube of FREEZING cold water. The water was coming straight down onto our heads! And the worst part was, we had to stay under for as long as it took to say the young womens theme! It was insane!!! But I liked it. I did it three times!!! We got to see them retire a flag, and when they did, there wasn't a dry eye in the house!!! Check back soon and I might get some pics in here! (suckish ones but, hey, nobody's perfect) I'm done now. So that means you can leave. What are you waiting for?!!?!!? GO!!! THAT MEANS YOU!!! GET OUTTA HERE!!!!! Oh just forget it! I quit! I'm leaving now!!!

Breaking Dawn (Twilight book 4) review!

OMGosh!!!!!!!!!! Best book in the whole series, by FAR!!! It wasn't as action packed as the others and not so intense either but I loved it with a love that even the biggest of Twilight fanatics would find odd!!! And for the record, I DID read it before you, Momma so HA!!! IN YOUR FACE!!!!!

ANYWAYS,

It starts with Bella telling you how she broke the news about her wedding to her dad and mom. Then it goes on to the night before when Edward is forced by Jasper and Emmet to go to the bachelor party. Their wedding is so amazing and romantic! I loved every minute of it! Then Edward takes her to the most AMAZING place for their honeymoon. I won't tell you where, that would spoil it now, wouldn't it? I also won't tell you what happened at the honeymoon that is so shocking you will soil your pants!!! Ah ah ah! No spoilers allowed! Looks like you'll have to read it for yourself. Well anyways, then it switches and Jacob begins telling the story. The part he tells is pretty intense. It's awesome! At the end it switches back to Bella but I'm not gonna tell any more than that. Sorry! Like I said, looks like you'll have to read it for yourself. Well, I'm gonna go! SO SHUT UP!

Vacation Pics: Vegas and the Stratosphere

OK. This is part 2 of our vacation pictures. Not sure how many parts there will be, but I hope it will end before you get bored. We start off this edition with a few more pics from the wedding (because I got some pics from my mom and dad and they had some good ones). We then have some from our trip to the top of the Stratosphere and a couple of the rides there.

This is why Chris and Kelly chose this resort for the wedding. Behind that mountain is Lake Tahoe. Beautiful.

Me and the prettiest girl at the whole wedding (sorry Chris and Kelly =).
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...and the kids.

Honey and Grampa were overdue for their afternoon nap.

Annie knows what is REALLY important.

I guess I had better include this one. This is me presenting the Best Man Toast (and me without a toaster...yeah yeah, bad joke but whatcha gonna do? =).

Now...on to VEGAS. Whoop whoop!!

Annie, Honey, and Grampa on the top of the Stratosphere.

View of Vegas from the observation deck of the Stratosphere.

Jordan and Zack...appearing suspiciously not up to something. I got my eye on you 2...

The spire of the Stratosphere...actually a rocket ride called Big Shot, at the top of which you are over 1,100 feet in the air. It is very cool because at the top of the ride, you can't even see the Stratosphere building below you. Wow. I almost peed myself (I think Emily did, but don't tell anyone...shhhh).

Aliens we encountered on the top of the Stratosphere. Gorgeous aliens, but aliens nonetheless.

A view of Vegas at night...1,000 feet in the air.

One of the thrill rides, Insanity.

The third ride, X-Scream.



Notice how overwhelmed they were with excitement...

Next post - video (bad, dark video, but video all the same) of one or two of the rides.

...we'll be right back.

It is taking us some time to get back on the blogging track after Glynna and the kids got back from their vacation/family reunion. Soon to be posted:

Vacation part 2 (and maybe 3 if needed)

Reunion stuff

Picture of finished gazebo

More from the weight watchers front (Chad is down almost 30 now...WOOHOO!!)

Jordans first flash animation (if I can figure out how to post flash animations)

Stay tuned...we'll be right back.

Vacation Part 1: The Wedding

In another post I said we would get some photos of our recent summer vacation on the web. Well, things got away from me and I never did post more photos, but now the wife and kids are out of town (HALLELUJ....cough cough...umm..I mean...gosh, I sure do miss them just to death - whew..nice save Chad..heh heh)

...ANYWAY

Here are the long awaited photos. I am sure that droves and droves of you, our loyal readers (all 3 of you) were checking back daily to find out what we did on our trip. Well, here ya go:

First off, Jordan and Emily went to work with me the day we left.

Here are Jordan and Emily pretending to be useful.

In all fairness, they actually did some work...here Jordan was working on a spreadsheet...Emily was working on her Nintendo DS...hard work to be sure!

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We went to Reno to start out because one of my best friends, Chris Palmrose (here in front) was getting married and asked me to be his Best Man (for whatever reason, I think he may have been drunk =).

(above, from left to right: Tim, Phil, Chad, Dennis I think...can't remember... I am just terrible, Kenny, and Chris)

The kids squinting.

Mom and dad.

Beauty and the beast.

Jordan just heard about the cake! Boy is he excited...

Excited? Not so much..

As you can see, Glynna was very excited to dance, especially since as Best Man I had no choice. You can also see that I am good at faking that I am enjoying it.



Quality father-son time.

Coming soon...part 2...

Size 10

I can put on my size 10 capris again! Oh, they are a little bit tight, but I am getting there!

Weight Watchers Success

Hi Everyone! It is my usual late night blog. During the day, forget it. Sitting at the computer just ain't happen'n. Nap time is my only quiet time, but the baby's crib is in the office and she is a light sleeper. That's ok. I don't mind these few minutes at night all to myself to unwind. The bad thing about this blogging thing is that blogging is replacing my journal writing...oops. But it is so FUN!

Can you tell I am in a good mood today? Monday is my weigh in day at Weight Watchers. I am not quite back down to my goal weight, but I am very close. I lost another pound and a half this week. With as many choco chip cookies as I ate, I am thrilled about a pound and a half. I am only 12 pounds from my realistic goal: 145 pounds. ( My unrealistic goal is 135 lbs, but I just don't know if that is something I can do with my heighth and age...Oh well, it is worth shooting for. I would rather shoot for 135 and make it to 140 than not try at all and end up 225 pounds again.)

Jordan and Duncan are camping out in the neighbors back yard so I am going to go up and spend some quality girl time with my daughters before bed. They are watching a movie up in our bonus room above the garage. Chad has already gone to bed. He rarely gets even up to five hours a sleep a night. Ok, there I go babbling again. Good night all!

Movie Review: The Dark Knight (warning long post)

Duncan, Jordan and I had a guys’ night out and went to see "The Dark Knight".

This is, of course, the sequel to "Batman Begins" which is a re-inventing of the Batman movie series. The movie stars Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Heath Ledger (rest in peace) as the Joker, Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox (the man responsible for Batmans outrageous technical equipment), Michael Cane as the lovable Alfred, and was written and directed by Christopher Nolan (who also wrote and directed "Batman Begins").

[editorial note: I am very jealous of Mr. Nolan, as I am exactly one month older than he, so by rights I should have been the writer of this film...and the guy earning millions of dollars...with the ferrari and yacht and such...oh how the fates conspire against us (through no fault of our own, I might add)!]

The very first thing I have to say is that I am very happy someone decided to roll the dice and remake these movies. The first round of Batman movies, with the ever-changing leading actor, the over-the-top-cartoonishness of the stupid villains (and I do mean stupid...if brains were dynamite they could not blow their collective noses), and the overall feel of a "hey, we got you to spend 8 bucks on this piece of crap..nanner nanner nah" bad joke being played on us all. So kudos to Nolan and the gang. They got this one right.

The biggest disappointment, and what is most often a movie-ruiner for me, is that they replaced the actress playing Bruces long-time friend and love interest, Rachel. For me, this is a big deal...not because I necessarily have fallen in love with the actresses (and/or actors...except of course for Kate Winslet in Titanic...but who didn't =), but rather for continuity's sake - in fact the original actress who played Rachel earned herself a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. At least in this one, is a very unusual twist near the ending (the first ending, not the real ending), they do something so unexpected that I was able to forgive them for replacing Rachel. I am not telling what they did, just that it worked well for me. Go see it and you will see what I mean

In Batman Begins Rachel was played by Katie Holmes, now of TomKat fame after marrying Tom Cruise who turned out to be the psycho that jumps all over furniture on daytime TV.

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[editorial note: It is unknown (at least to this reviewer...me...who is too lazy to look much further than wikipedia for any meaningful information - hence the links in this review =) why Katie did not return. I heard somewhere that Katie had put her career on hold to carry, deliver, and nurture the offspring of herself and Mr. Cuise, which would amount to an armageddon-level combination of cuteness and psychotic sofa-bouncing, so she had to skip out on "The Dark Knight" to, in reality, save the world. Thanks Katie...we love you (and fear your husband) even more!]

Instead of Katie, Rachel was played by the far over-rated, almost cute-almost ugly, Maggie Gyllenhaal...or she-of-the-so-sultry-eyes-that-they-appear-to-be-melting-out-of-her-face.

I swear, Maggie and Kirsten Dunst are in a contest to see who can close their eyes the most, all the time, and still see enough to keep from tripping on their toy chihuahuas with the $25,000 diamond-and-actual-egyptian mummy gold-encrusted-collars. I think Kirsten is winning, and at least she is very cute. I think Maggie kind of resembles an alien at times.

Sorry, back to the review.

The movie is VERY LONG, 2 1/2 hours to be exact, but actually, in the end, you are happy it is long - I actually wished it had gone on a little longer. It reaches a point where most movies would cut out...you know the "aha, so that is why this all happened" scene after which the director says "AND THAT IS ALL YOU WILL KNOW...NO MORE MOVIE FOR YOU" and you leave saying "Jeez that was a stinker, what a stupid ending"...but then, it does not end. They actually give you a little aha moment - enough of a faux ending that Jordan chose that time to go to the bathroom...more on that later - then the movie continues to a REAL ending that is, of course, setting up the next movie in the series, but at least leaves you feeling like they really ended this movie. It is satisfying.

Now, more on Jordans bathroom break. You better plan on either 1) Taking a catheter or bottle of some kind into the movie with you, or 2) Asking someone to memorize what you may miss, or 3) Just not drinking the 3 gallons of soda you get for 5 bucks in order to avoid missing out on the movie. Usually (as in the Lord of the Ring movies) I do not mind getting up in the middle of a long movie to stretch the legs and empty the...well you understand...but in this one, I did not want to miss a second.

OK...enough technical details.

I thought about giving you a running play-by-play of the film, but I have already bored you long enough. Instead, I will just tell you why I liked the film. On a scale of 1 to 65,000, I would have to rate it about a 58,517 (I guess that would be 4 1/2 stars out of 5, or something inane like that).
I think they captured the true essence of Batman as they had never done before. Batman is supposed to be a tortured soul, a regular guy like you and me, who endures something very tragic, yet finds it in himself to transcend that experience and turn his anger and agony into a force for good. He is the one superhero without modified genes, or who hails from some foreign planet, or who inherited his powers. He is the one hero who decides to be a hero. To me, that makes him one of the best heroes we have in modern literature (Iron Man is up there too...I still need to review that one too).

In this movie, Batman is put into situations that test his resolve to be the hero. He struggles to find his place, to do what he has to do, in the face of uncertainties and impossible choices. He also faces the best villain ever put on screen: The Joker.

The Joker is played by Heath Ledger, who has put the fine touches on what amounts to the greatest villain ever to grace the screen. I think Heath played the Joker to perfection. He appears to always be carefully balancing on the edge of insanity, and brutal purpose. Heath has, sadly, passed on, so we will not get to see his wonderful acting in any more films, and this does not bode well for this Batman franchise as he is truly the guts of this movie. I cannot fathom anyone doing what Heath did in this movie. He embodied evil in a way few actors have ever been able to pull off, with such flair and reality that at times you find yourself simultaneously laughing, and wondering why you are laughing. There are times you feel you can almost relate to the Joker, and times when you hate him more than the jerky kid in third grade that kicked your dog.

The Joker enters as a small-time hoodlum, with a flair for the dramatic, at a time when Gothams gangs are being hounded by this new crime-fighter...Batman. As what will prove to be the most intelligent of the bad guys, the Joker quickly takes over crime in the city, and sends Gotham into total chaos. Batman is made to feel responsible for many deaths of citizens of Gotham because of his inability to stop the Joker. Indeed the Joker is always at least 2 steps ahead. Even at the penultimate moment, when the Joker seems to have been outdone, he has one more trick up his sleeve. Batman is befuddled, conflicted, and nearly hounded into quitting as Gothams only hope for release from the terrors brought about by the Joker.

I was amazed at the writing combined with Heath Ledgers performance. There is one point in the movie when you actually feel for the Joker, when you can sympathize with him. You actually feel some pity, instead of just raw hatred, of the character until he turns it all on its side later and you realize he has played YOU the same way he has been playing everyone else in Gotham. Brilliant.

Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Cane all give very good performances. I think Christian Bale is the best actor they have found for Batman. I do get somewhat irritated by his gravelly voice being overdone when he is in Batman mode, but otherwise he is the best at covering both the slick, suave billionaire and the rogue-ish, dangerous, conflicted Batman. Morgan Freeman is just good in anything he does, as is Michael Cane. Despite their excellent portrayals of their characters, Heath Ledger truly steals the show.

Oh yeah, Maggie Gyllenhaal is passable. I do not care for her as an actress to begin with, yet she manages to hold her own in most scenes. I have a hard time finding her credible. I am sure many will disagree, but I thought that for the role she was asked to play, she did fine.

The Dark Knight is decidedly dark. It is meant to reflect the conflicted soul of Bruce Wayne, who at once knows he is fighting on the side of justice, but at the same time cannot come to terms with his inability to protect everyone from harm. In short, people die, and he can't stop it, and the Joker continually rubs his face in it. You can feel his pain as he obviously remembers back to being the young boy, watching his parents be killed, helpless to do anything to stop them. This depth of feeling is invoked in this movie to great effect.

The special effects are fantastic. It is not that they are Jurassic Park/Armageddon/Lord of the Rings over the top. Most of the effects are smaller of scale, although there are a fair share of explosions and chase scenes and fights and cool pieces of equipment and technology. But the best effects are at the personal level. Heath Ledgers facial expressions, under the hideous makeup job. Little details that point to conclusions you are not expecting, and even are surprised when they happen, even though you were given a clue.

The best effect was when Batman goes weaving in and out of the wheels off a semi being driven by the Joker with a cable attached to the front of the truck. Batman also weaves in and out of some light posts, then releases the cable. When the cable pulls tight, it pulls the fron of the truck down and the entire trucks flips into the air, back-end first, and flips completely over, end of even, crashing down upside-down in the street. It was done in silence except for the sound the truck was making as it flipped and then landed. Just awesome.

The interpersonal is what really makes this movie a success. You are given characters you can relate to, that you care about (even the Joker briefly), and you are truly affected when they are hurt. At one point a key character is killed (not telling which one) and you are given a scene of friends breaking the news to his family. In spite of the potential for gooey heart-wrenching fake sobbing and such - as we see all too often in film nowadays, crying and sobbing that take the place of actual emotion - we hurt right along with the wife and son, as we are also just at that moment brought to terms with the loss.

We are also given transcendent moments of triumph, and bitter moments of loss, betrayal...in short, they do a fantastic job of recreating in us what is happening on the screen. The suspension of disbelief, which is always necessary for film to work, is almost complete. As is the palpable sense of foreboding when the film comes to its somewhat expected yet completely ominous end.

The movie is not without its flaws, but they are hard to recall because so much of it just works so well. One thing I hope they find a way to revive is the appearance of another classic Batman nemesis: Two-face. They did a very good job of building up the character, and explaining better than other films how he became the villain he is. But his screen time was almost as if they were just squeezing him in to make sure they accounted for Batmans villains, instead of taking the time to flesh out a character that truly has so much depth. I do hope to see him in the future, but I kind of doubt it.

If you enjoy super-hero movies and/or liked "Batman Begins", then I highly recommend "The Dark Knight". Heck, even if you don't care for superhero movies and did not see "Batman Begins", I still recommend this movie. It is a true reflection of what can happen when good men do nothing, to turn a phrase, and when evil goes unchecked for too long.

It is also worth the 8 bucks for Heath Ledgers final performance. The absolute best portrayal of a bad guy in film. The intelligence with which he imbues this character puts all other movie badguys to shame. Regardless of it being a bad guy, and a comic-book bad guy to boot, it just may be the best performance in a movie this year.

So go see it, just don' t take the kids. It is a bit much and, even though Duncan liked it ok, his (11 years old) would probably be the lower end of ages that could understand and deal with the thematic elements in the film in any way.