I found this nifty flash image slider today and thought I’d give it a try. Pretty slick, eh?

Over the weekend of the 17th Jack and I were scheduled to go camping with our wards annual fathers and sons outing. I had actually been looking forward to it and had done my best to get Jack excited, but as these things tend to go, he ended up sick with a high fever the night before we were planning to leave. The other kids had had the same thing and it seemed like it was only a 12 hour illness so I was still a bit hopeful and had packed the Jeep Thursday evening, but when I got home from work Friday afternoon, Jack was asleep on the couch after having spent a pretty miserable day being feverish.

I figured that was the end of it and I had resigned myself to stay home, but once Jack woke up, he was still excited to “do (think “go” with a D) tamping”. I could tell he was still feeling sick, but I had gotten him so excited to go camping and sleep in the tent that he didn’t care about his 101 degree temperature. I felt terrible and knew he should probably stay home, but I also felt bad that all that built up excitement would be for nothing. We gave it a couple hours and I just mulled around the house waiting to see how he was feeling, but his excitement would not be pushed aside and he continued to ask if we could “do tamping”.

After some internal debate I decided we could give it a try and if he felt too sick we could always come home (we were only going to be about an hour from home). So we packed up in the Jeep and decided to head out. It started out well enough as we headed for Parley’s canyon, but after 15 minutes of curvy canyon roads Jack wasn’t feeling too awesome. The Jeep had been smoking up the canyon thanks to a small transmission leak so I pulled off as we got into Park City just to check it out and as soon as I stopped the car Jack lost what little dinner he had eaten into his lap. I felt horrible. I could tell he felt like crap so I pulled out one of the camp chairs, stripped him out of his puked on clothes and we sat in the shade of the Jeep in an empty parking lot with a light breeze blowing and cooling us off. I asked him several times if he wanted to head back home, but he wasn’t having it. “I want to do tamping!” was the only response I got.

After sitting in the parking lot for about 30 minutes (and providing directions to a poor lost Asian couple from Alabama) we hopped back in the Jeep to finish the drive to Rockport. He did ok the rest of the way and actually dozed off by the time we got to the camp ground. Once we were there though, he was up and ready to go sit by the fire. He impatiently waited for me to put the tent up and get camp settled and then we walked over and joined the ward around the fire. After about 15 minutes of that we took a walk around the camp ground and even got out our Master Replicas Darth Vader light saber to show off (the kids had been playing Star Wars steal the flag and most had brought plastic light sabers). Jack was happy to be the center of attention with our “real” light saber. He quickly set to “killing” anyone who came in range.

After we put the light saber away, we sat by the fire a bit more and he fell asleep on my lap as we watched the flames and the stars. He was still a bit warm, but other than the single loss of lunch in the car, he seemed to be feeling a bit better.

The next morning he woke up ready to “wock and woll” so we had some breakfast and then set out to explore. We didn’t stick around long, but Jack was happy to be outside and free to wander around camp. We even took our shoes off and waded in the river for a bit, but that didn’t last long cause the water was too “told”. I still felt a little bad for dragging him out camping while he was sick, but I’m glad he’s a trooper and wouldn’t let it drop cause we had a lot of fun hanging out with just the guys.

Wow… I’ve been quite the blogging slacker lately. Unfortunately, with everything else that goes on, this seems to take a back seat most of the time, but I’ve got several backposts to crank out so hopefully it’ll get me back into the habit.

to start off, I’ve got some pictures from this last Saturday. Emily decided we celebrate Pioneer day by visiting the International Peace Gardens while the weather was still good so we all hopped in the car and went to see what there was to see. To be honest, I didn’t even know the gardens existed, but it was a nice Saturday afternoon stroll and the kids had fun (other than the fact that it was around 100 degrees).

We finished off the day with a BBQ at grandmas with all the cousins and we even had a nice little fireworks display in the street with lots of glowing jewelry to top it off. Overall it was a nice relaxing holiday.

To all the mothers who have influenced our lives for the good. To my Mom, Emily’s Mom, our grandmothers, our friends moms, and every other mother who has helped us to be who we are today. I shudder to think where we would have ended up without you. And most definitely to Emily. From the first time I met her I knew she would make a great mom which was a good portion of the reason I knew I wanted to marry her. And to this day, even though Hailey is almost 9, Emily still has trouble being away from them for too long. Her kids are her whole world and even though they may not appreciate everything she does now, they will someday. She’s the one they want when they’re hurt or sad. She’s the one they cry for when they wake up with bad dreams. She’s the glue that sticks us all together and keeps us all happy and on the right track. So once again I say…

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

During a moment of what might be referred to as “incredible stupidity”, I agreed to take part in the annual Wasatch Front leg of the Ragnar Relay, otherwise known as the Wasatch Back. Upon first glance this may seem like an excellent way to get in shape for the summer, but after further inspection you’ll find that it’s most likely a death sentence for a lazy slug like myself. Considering the fact that the last real endurance training I’ve done was about 15 years ago, I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me. And as if that wasn’t enough, I had to go and drag my wife into this mess as well. I suppose this way we can at least die together though.

For those who are unfamiliar (don’t worry, I had no idea what this thing was when I agreed to it), it’s basically a race that makes you pray there will be someone waiting at the finish line with a gun for you to shoot yourself with. The race begins in Logan and then winds 190 miles up the backside of the Wasatch to end somewhere round about Park City (Course Map). The race takes the better part of 2 days and we’ll be running straight through the night. Each of the 12 team members gets 3 legs of the race for a total of around 15-20 miles and spends all of their non-running time packed into a couple minivans which follow whomever the current runner happens to be. Basically it’ll be 2 days of tired, cramped, smelly hell. Fun, huh?

This is a happy pre-death picture

Anyway, the main point of this post is to solicit support from our dear beloved readers. Emily and I have joined up with several friends from my new job to be on one of two “Cancer Teams” that will be running the race. The main difference between a regular team and a “Cancer Team” is that all of our entry fees will be going to the American Cancer Society. The only downside to this is that the entry fees/donations for the Cancer Teams are much steeper than are those of the regular teams and this is where you, my dear readers, come into the picture. Emily and I are humbly asking for your monetary support in the way of donations to the American Cancer Society as we train for this brutal ordeal. Please feel free to donate as much or as little as you can and be assured that all donations will go to the ACS in the form of one lump sum donation that will be put together by the members of our team. Emily and I will need to come up with $700 for our part of the donation so every little bit helps. The only thing we can offer in thanks is the hard work we’ll put into trying to survive this thing as well as a promise to have someone post pictures of our limp and lifeless bodies located wherever we happen to collapse between Logan and Park City. Thanks in advance for your support and prayers for our survival. We’ll need em.

Donate for Mike

Donate for Emily

Bus to Beelzebub Team Donation

Or you can donate via PayPal below and we will include your portion with our team donation.