Jeff Brummer

Go Philly

2009-01-11T11:54:00.002-07:00

I have been an Eagles fan since we moved to Langehorne, PA in 1986 so it is awesome to see them doing so well this year. I have seen them in the days of Buddy Ryan, Randall Cunningham, Reggie White, Keith Jackson and Chris Carter.

I went to my first game at Veterans stadium when I was 10 years old with my dad. I had a paper route and if I sold enough subscriptions I got some free preseason tickets. My dad helped me get them and we went to the game together.

We sat clear up in the nose bleed but I didn't care because I was at the game with my dad. We watched the Pittsburg steelers and Merrill Hoge play. Later we ended up living by the the Hoges.

I still have many of their football cards and a wooden craft that I made in shop class in 7th grade. Being in Arizona I get sucked into all the Cardinal hype and like their team but it isn't the same. Next week is a big game because they are playing here and everyone I know is going to be routing for the home team. I think the Eagles are going to win but the Cardinals looked pretty good this week but I think they played their best game of the year.

Fight Eagles Fight

Google Maps

2008-12-15T12:25:00.001-07:00

Google is pretty cool and I have been playing w/ Google Maps lately and I thought it would be cool to map all of may family and friends all over the world. Please go into my Google Maps and add your address and name so if I am ever in the neighborhood on business or vacation.

View Larger Map

Beauty of the Blog

2008-12-08T09:30:00.002-07:00

Andy Jorgensen has definitely helped me think outside of the box for many years and in doing so introduced me to great music such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and other 70's stuff. Andy told me a story a few years ago that I draw upon every now and again for inspiration. It is a funny story with a good moral that you need to live your life and make the best desicions for you and not fret over what others always think. Yes, you can take their advice and make your best desicion but can't always please everyone. I am not perfect and this blog is a bunch of opinions so please refer to this story if you dissagree with anything I say in the future:)

Once upon a time there was an old man and a little boy in the country who needed to go to the village. They set out the next morning with their donkey in order to bring home the things they needed from the village. All three of them were walking down the road when they passed another traveler, who stopped them.

"Why are you walking when you have a perfectly good donkey to ride?" He asked. So the man put the little boy on the donkey to ride and they continued.

A few miles later, another traveler saw them and was concerned: "Little boy, how disrespectful to your elders to ride when you're so young and have more energy. This man should be walking." And so the little boy got off and the old man got on the donkey and they continued.

A few miles later, another traveler objected: "Old man, can't you see this boy is too little to keep up with the donkey?" And so they both got on the donkey and rode, hoping they had finally solved the problem. But sure enough, they crossed paths with another objector. "Poor Donkey!" she said, "You two have legs as well, you know, and you don't need to exploit this animal."

And so they got off and lifted the donkey onto their backs.They went a mile or so like this and came to a narrow bridge. It was so narrow, and they were so exhausted from carrying the donkey, that they slipped and dropped the donkey, who fell to his death at the bottom of the canyon.

Moral of the story: If you try to please everyone, you can kiss your ass goodbye.

Finding Roots

2008-11-25T02:46:00.002-07:00

I have had a blessed life and owe alot to the people that molded me and helped me along the way. A huge debt I owe is to my parents Jay and Jan who spent their time and efforts bringing me up thru all my good and bad. They helped me in ways that I may never get to repay and I am grateful for.

This week I got to meet the person that put me in that great family in my life, my birth mom.

I can't possibly write in this blog all of the feelings I have but mainly at this time I am grateful for where I am and owe that partially to her decision. Because this is so personal to me I am not going to write alot on my blog but wrote more in my personal journal about her. I do understand more now how important it is for every child to be born and have a chance at life in the best circumstances. I can't even comprehend how hard of a decision that would be to give up a child but it is one of the most selfless decisions anyone can make for the benefit of someone that can't make a decision.

Kid nicknames

2008-11-10T06:07:00.002-07:00

We love our children and that is why we give them nicknames because they deserve more names than solely the one we gave them at birth. At fist we called Tyler Shaboygen after a popular Wisconsin city. That evolved into Boygy or Doygy or even Doygs as he is sometimes called now. Lindsay made it a little stronger one day and we started calling him Boygenator after the futuristic assasin played by the Govenator of California. Steve Leseuer also calls our son Tyler Mcgyler. I am unsure on the spelling but I think that is correct.

Cameron started off with the nickname Babynator but we didn't think that was to feminine so we call her Baby face or Miss Nator or Babes and sometimes CJ. I don't think these nicknames will last but they are fun.

Tyler at church

2008-11-10T05:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Tyler was awesome at church. He sat thru all of sacrament without scraming and we didn't have to take him out once. It was the first time Lindsay and I go to be together the whole hour in like 10 months.

Tyler also got to be in his Nursery class the whole time with out us. He is in a class with Michael Mckown as the teacher. We snuck him in a month early but Michael gave us the ok

Mom, Dad and Jamie come to AZ

2008-11-08T22:04:00.004-07:00

Mom, Dad and Jamie came to AZ to visit us for 3 days and see the new addition to the family and the old additions. We had fun and the first night was Halloween and that is always fun. Tyler and Cameron dressed up in their Yoda and Princess Leya (sp?) outfits and Jamie, Lindsay and I went and scrounged candy off the neighbors. Tyler had fun and was starting to understand the concept of going door to door and asking for things. Everyone liked his costume and also Cameron's. Tyler from behind actually looked like Yoda and for moments I thought I was Steven Spielberg. We had him on his little monkey leash and he ran around the neighborhood. Jamie and Tyler carved a pumpkin and Mom and Dad helped give away trick or treat candy.

The next morning we went to a cool ghost town in Apache Junction and got to experience a town from the 1890's that was preserved. It was pretty neat and we want to go back soon so Tyler can ride the train ride when he could appreciate it more.

We then went to the mall and Grandma and Grandpa and Jamie got to see Tyler run around the mall playground. He loves going up and down the slide now. That night we went to Ah-So a Tapanyaki restaurant, where they cook in front of you at the grill. My family had never been to one so it was cool to bring them there. It was fun and the chef somehow struck a nerve w/ Tyler and he scared him the rest of the night. Usually Tyler isn't bother by those guys but he must have looked at him the wrong way. After that we came back to our house and played a Trivia game called Buzz on the playstation.

The next day was Cameron's baby blessing and that was nerve racking for me but I think it went well. We had the Devereauxs, Perrys, Stanleys, Jackie, Stephans, Bishop Bean and my family there. Cameron looked beautiful in her dress and didn't cry any all day. Lindsay made some delicious tacos that night and then Tyler put on a show for us (see Lindsay's blog's video) in which me, Lindsay, Jamie, Mom and Dad laughed until we cried because he was doing a weird impersonation of a mix between Chuck Norris and Harry Potter. He had a street fighter like way of trying to cast spells... You will have to watch.

The next day we ate at Sweet Tomatoes before my family had to leave. We were at lunch when I got a call from the alarm company saying that our house was broken into. That was scary so we rushed home to find out the cops came and there was no sign of forced entry and it turns out one of our friends dropped off something for us and setoff the alarm even though they didn't know it. No big deal.. We were just glad we didn't have anything stolen. We spent the last little bit with the fam at our house and it was good to get some more time with them and the grandkids. We are glad they got to come and we had a fun weekend. I am going to try to put some pictures up soon also.

Cool Video about being thoughtful

2008-10-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyGEEamz7ZM

2008-09-08T21:10:00.001-07:00

Since the birth of Cameron we have been blessed by family and good friends. We haven't had to make a dinner in 10 days because Lindsay's mom and friends and members of our ward cooked for us. We also got some clothes from friends/family and a gift card from my parents to babys r us that will come in handy.

Cameron seems to be pretty low maintenance and easier than Tyler but I just think that is because we know more what we are doing and aren't so stressed out. She wakes up 3-5 times a night so it is harder to wake upcat my usual 6 am internal alarm. The days are getting less light so that also makes it tough. We can always count on Tyler's 11.5 hours sleep.

What is that?!!

2008-08-31T16:07:00.001-07:00

Banner gateway

2008-08-31T16:04:00.001-07:00

This is the birthplace of Cameron. It had only been open for under one year and was really nice. The food wasn't that great Lindsay said but everyone was real friendly and knwledgable. Lindsay did awesome and was fully mobile after 24 hours!!! I left with a healthy baby and wife so I could not complain.

Big shoes to fill

2008-08-31T15:52:00.001-07:00

Tyler likes to put on his mom and dads shoes now. I have big feet so you got a while til you fit into them (13)

Cameron is ready for the world

2008-08-29T14:20:00.001-07:00

Cameron 10 minutes old

2008-08-28T13:28:00.001-07:00

7 lbs 10 oz 20.25 inches long. Healthy beautiful girl. We couldn't ask for anything more. God has blessed us

IPhone 3G dissapointment

2008-08-13T11:22:00.007-07:00

OK... so I have had time to try out the new Iphone (2 weeks) and I don't think that it has lived up to the hype. I love the internet browsing and huge screen. There are things that aren't to impressive that are really bugging me. The biggest thing is battery life. I had a full charge going into yesterday and used my phone for 30 minutes talk time and 30 minutes email and internet and it was pretty much dead by 5pm. Poor.

I also have issues w/ the exchange server on it. It had poor email folder management and everytime you want to see if you have a new email within the folder you have to actually go into the folder and wait for it to pull from the server (annoying). OK you think I am picky but it isn't as good as my Blackberry Curve that I had 2 years ago.

I also drop more calls than I did w/ the ATT Tilt which is dissapointing and have slow response times on the phone that were not apparent w/ the earlier Iphone. I also cannot edit any of my Google Docs pages which I can on a Windows Mobile phone.

The following things are also missing from the Iphone that I am looking for: stereo bluetooth, VOIP (wifi) service, higher megapixel camera, COPY/PASTE and Voice Command for bluetooth.

True True

2008-08-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Boss,

I have enjoyed working here these past several years.
You have paid me very well, given me benefits beyond
belief.
I have 3-4 months off per year and a pension plan
that
will pay my salary till the day I die and a health
plan that
most people can only dream about.
Despite this I plan to take the next 12-18 months to
find a new position.
During this time I will show up for work when it is
convenient. In addition I fully expect to draw my full
salary and all the other perks associated with my
current
job.
Oh yeah, if my search for this new job proves
fruitless, I expect to be back with no loss in pay or
status.
Before you say anything, remember that you have no
choice
in the matter. I can and will do this.
Sincerely,

John McCain

Nose Surgery

2008-08-05T16:56:00.001-07:00

Today the pain isn't that bad because I have been taking percaset (sp?). But my head is in a fog and my nose is jammed w/ padding and keeps bleeding. Yesterday SUCKED!! it felt like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. (luckily I didn't have a bite on my ear). I woke up like every hour last night and my mouth was "parched". I don't anticipate much better sleep tonight and I have a Dr.'s appointment tomorrow to get my padding out and that is supposed to hurt like crazy. I think after all is said and done it will be worth it but for now it isn't fun. Lindsay went and got my iphone today today so that is easing some of the pain

Nasal flow

2008-08-03T20:54:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow is the big day that I have to get my nose cut open and hopefully everything goes well. I think I have been used to so long poor breathing that I don't even think about it but I am excited to be able to breath better. I think it will definitely be nice to be able to breath when I play sports. Next week is going to hurt, especially when they pull out the mass of packing that has to go in there.

This is why i don't like the Tilt

2008-08-01T12:16:00.001-07:00

APPLE STORES SUCK

2008-07-28T13:35:00.001-07:00

I came into the apple store w/ high hopes for a good experience. I waited in line for 1 hours to get the new 3G iphone. You would think that the line was only 6 people deep wouldn't take that long. I finally got my turn to buy my phone and the reps couldn't figure out how to get my iphone activated on my excisting ATT account. They took another 30 minutes and still no luck after calling the 800 number.

We finally determined that we could just create a brand new account w/ ATT and switch it over to my old cell number later. We left the store and I thought it would be easy to do that. We spent another hour on the phone w/ ATT only to have them determine that I couldn't switch that phone over to my old ATT account. They said that I had to go into an ATT local store to do that. So I went into an ATT store and there was nothing they could do to switch the iphone over to my old account and cancel the new one. So I had to go back to the Apple store and return the iphone only to try to retry to purchase it under my previous account and after 30 minutes... you guessed it no luck with activation.
So I had to go back to the ATT store and put a payment down on an iphone because they didn't have any in stock. I after having to deal w/ all that have to wait 2 weeks to get the phone. The service was terrible and the only reason I put up w/ it is because I have an excellent local ATT rep (Scott Bison) and I think the iphone is a great phone. The superior product has been met with very poor service from local Apple store. Why is Apple doing activations??

Expensive Ice

2008-07-24T14:16:00.002-07:00

Holy Cow. So I got my bill back from my hernia surgery and I was scared to open it. Being self employed I wonder what am I really getting for my buck anyway w/ my independent Health Insurance. So I open the bill and I don't understand that charges at all and am amazed at the prices of things at a hospital and how it could possibly cost as much as they say. The hour in the surgery room was $4500. Just to breath the clean air. One of the few things I recognized on the bill was a "Pack of Ice" for $20. $20 for a pack of ice. HOLY CRAPOLA. Let me know these things before I come in so I can go to Circle K before I come in for the surger and pick up a .99 cent bag. Now I am sure it has to be sterile but ok it probably doesn't cost them more than one dollar. That is a 2000% markup. I am in the wrong industy.

Buzz

2008-07-20T22:46:00.005-07:00

I for some reason am getting a headache for the last 5 Sundays when I wake up from a nap. I can't figure out why but I think it may have to do with me focusing with my contacts when I wake up. The reason I bring that up is that is actually the reason why I am able to type at this late hour. I took my magic pill - EXEDRIN. This is the drug of choice for me when I have a headache and 99% of the time works every time. It also gives me a buzz of caffeine and is the reason why I am still up at 10:45 when I am usually out by 10:15. I rarely drink caffeinated drinks so when I get alittle caffeine in me I am like a 2 year old on a sugar high.

Lindsay and I played Scrabble tonight and I surprisingly won. It is the first time that I think I have beat her. She tried to convince me that "arh" was a word and I didn't let that one by. If we were on a ship with flag flying with a picture of a skull and cross bones I might have given her the points. We had a fun time and I like playing board games more that staring at the TV.

Tyler is starting to run everywhere he goes now and he enjoys throwing the ball around the house. When we go to church at 8am he is pretty energetic for 2 hours and then gets tuckered out in the last hour and is pretty good during Elder's Quorum because he is usually worn out by running around the church 10 times. He is trying to learn how to play with other kids now. He wants to play with them so bad that he goes up to them and tries to tackle them or wack them in the face. He isn't going to have to many friends that way so we are teaching him to be gentle.

Another day w/ Microsoft

2008-07-17T10:26:00.002-07:00

I was on the phone for 1.5 hours with Zune "Tier 2" support. They said that I have a "device issue" and that the Zune is out of the one year warranty. I think it is a software issue because I did a hard restore (erasing all pictures and music) of the whole device and it worked fine.

I asked my tech if they recieve a Zune to play with since they are only $200 and he said that Microsoft doesn't give them one. You would think microsoft would provide them one to play with and get to know. I bet they go home at the end of the day and jam to their ipod.

Microsoft Support is TERRIBLE

2008-07-16T16:09:00.003-07:00

I have been on the phone for the last 3 hours w/ Microsoft Zune support and haven't got anywhere. I have 2100 songs that I want to get from my Zune back on my PC and they can't figure it out. I was talking to a girl in an "undisclosed" location and she couldn't help me after a million different avenues of downloading and installing the Zune software. Finally after 2 hours they are transfering me to a "Tier 2" rep in the USA. He is the "highest" Tier and I have been on the phone with him and it hasn't helped either. I asked him if there was someone over him and he said it is the software developers. I would love to talk to them and tell them how crappy their software is.

My advice to the 3 people that read my blog is : DO NOT BUY A MICROSOFT ZUNE... BUY AN IPOD

phone blog

2008-07-13T22:38:00.006-07:00

i am going to make my first attempt on blogging thru my cell phone. i just got the new browser for my phone opera mobile and it works aolt better than internet explorer. i may want to write up something online but wont be near a computer or to lazy to get to one so this will be easier to type my thoughts. i have a love hate relationship with my ATT tilt but Darcy Myers showed me some new things with it so i am starting to like it again.

on Friday Lindsay waited in line at ATT for three hours to get the new iphone 3g. we sold her old one for $325 and bought the new one for $325 which has 16 gigs, GPS, and faster internet.

Tigerrrrrr

2008-06-29T21:05:00.002-07:00

We went to San Diego for a week and got to see the US Open. I got to volunteer for three shifts at the corporate hospitality tent and then got a free pass the rest of the week. It was cool to see all the big players there. I got to see Tiger for 10 holes on Saturday. He birdied 5 of them and it was a zoo of people following him. It was one of the top sporting events I have seen live along with when I saw Jordan beat the Jazz in the 1997 Finals.

One of the coolest holes on Saturday was when they played the par 3 8th hole. Tiger was playing with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott the first two days of the tournament. I stood by the green on 8 and watched the 180 shots come in. Tiger had honors and hit the ball within 8 feet and the crowd was pretty excited. Phil got up there and hit it within 4 feet and everyone went nuts and then Adam Scott hit. The ball two hopped and hit the pin and almost went in and scurried a few centimeters away. The crowd went ballistic and it was pretty neat to see.

I want to get in to volunteer in the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach. That is the next US Open on the west coast.

Tyler's 1st BDay

2008-06-29T20:53:00.003-07:00

I can't believe he is already one year old. Time does fly. We are trying to enjoy it now because it does go fast. He is starting to walk a few steps and it is fun watching him and seeing him get excited in his own way that he is doing it. We started a month ago with him wanting to get ahold of Lindsay's iphone. We had him on the odiman and put the iphone on the couch and pushed the odiman just far away so that he had to take some steps. He would take one and then two and today he is consistantly taking 10-15 steps... He love his technology and wants to walk to it.

Crazy Grass

2008-06-29T20:44:00.003-07:00

We had a pretty dead lawn when we moved into our house. We had to water a bunch to bring it back to life and before we left out of town for two weeks on vacation we didn't mow it. We came back and it was so tough to cut. In some spots it was 2.5 feet high!

This was in spirit of the US open Golf tournament to which we were at.

Lazy Sunday

2008-06-01T16:18:00.002-07:00

Today we had Stake Conference and listened to our new stake presidency. Tyler fell asleep (after some wrestling) on my shoulder. We came home today at 11:15 and just had time to relax. We took a two hour nap and woke up and just sat around. It has been a long time that I have had enough free time to watch more than 1 hour of tv. Lindsay is making cookies and we are going to give some to our neighbors because we flooded their lawn. We want to get off on the right foot.

Tyler took his first two steps last weekend and is due to take some more. He consistantly stands up by himself (unaided). He is a fun kid and a blessing to our home. He is getting really talkative and speaking Swahili I think.

ISU Sport News

2008-05-30T06:50:00.002-07:00

Jared Allen was just named the highest paid defensive man in NFL history.... A proud day in the day of ISU alumni

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=chadiha_jeffri&id=3416195&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos2

In a not so proud day for alumni ISU's golf team was ended as the school ran out of funding. I guess taking last place at all our tournaments finally caught up with us.

New House

2008-05-25T20:40:00.002-07:00

Yes... I would call it a house yet because it doesn't feel like home. We still have things in boxes and stuffed in the garage. The new place is just a little bigger to grow into and have room if I start working from home. We spent last week moving in and getting settled. We bought a foreclosure so there were some things that needed to be fixed and replaced.

The house had terrible landscaping and we have spent a week watering the front and back lawns hoping to resurrect the roots. I spent part of my Saturday yesterday finding and planting new trees for the front yard. The ones that were there died because they hadn't been watered for a year. It reminded me of when we first moved into our home into Pocatello on Satterfield Dr. We bought trees and I helped my Dad plant them. The trees were ready to go and a storm rolled in to Poky (no surprise) and my Dad was deturmined to plant those trees. So he and I went outside in the downpour to plant those trees. We didn't have grass at the time either so we were slipping and sliding all over the place in the mud. It was quite the site. We moved those trees around the slop and planted them and covered them with mud. Those trees grew fast and by the time we left 10 years later they were huge. Anyway so I planted two small trees out front called Sisso trees (not to be confused w/ the Finnish word Sisu which means toughness). We hope to be in this house atleast 5 years and see those trees grow tall.

Lindsay is doing an awesome job painting the house because most of the walls have the cheap house paint that the builders use. It dings really easy and is terrible for kids. She is saving us a couple thousand dollars by painting. She is an artist.

We have 4 bedrooms now so we should have plenty of room for another child and a guest room. This will be good because are parents are planning on coming to visit in the next 4-5 months. Compared to other Foreclosures this one was in great shape. The only other problem we had was that the dryer power outlet didn't work. We had KJ Balls come and fix it and he did a great job for a great price.

We seem to have a pretty quiet neighborhood w/ nice neighbors so we are exited for that. We are pumped not to have a huge dirt field in our back yard. It is so annoying that the developers in Agritopia didn't finish our neighborhood, so some of the people living there have to be by a huge lot that is just dirt. It makes it look like it is just another development that didn't get finished in the building bubble.

We went to church today and we had quite a few people introduce themselves to us. It seems like a fun ward and extremely active at 85% activity, accourding to the executive secretary. There are lots of activities and events they have planned. It is weird going from EQ president in our last ward to joe schmoe sitting in the back. Not alot to stress over or responsibilities come Sunday.

Tonight we went over to the Lesueur's home (they also moved into our neighborhood) and ate a birthday dinner for Steve. It is cool to have friends in a new neighborbood and ward. The Milnes are also a cool family that are in our ward that we know from our last ward.

Las Vegas ETA

2008-04-20T19:38:00.002-07:00

Last week Lindsay, Tyler and I went to Las Vegas for a little week getaway for my ETA conference. I originally left and was going to go by myself and then realized that I wanted to bring my family. So I got to Phoenix and turned around and brought Lindsay and little Tyler. We bought a new Dan Brown book on cd and we were off. Tyler was good the whole way and sleeps easily in the car. They are building a new bridge over the hoover dam so there was a slight delay.

We stayed at our Condo on Las Vegas Blvd. for $50. It was a good deal because it had full kitchen and two bed and washer dryer. The first night I had to go to a dinner at Aureole w/ Marc Gardner, Rita Feldman, Gordon Rimac and Gary Rutledge at North American Bancard. It was good to talk to them and get ideas for our our business. The food was just so so and the total bill was $16000 for 32 people (that's 3 zero's).

The next day I went to the ETA conference and Dave Holman let me in and I got to see the booths for a few hours. It was pretty educational and cool to see the companies that I usually just work w/ over the phone.

Allergies

2008-04-07T21:11:00.002-07:00

It is allergy season again and my allergies are back. I started taking Claritan this weekend because my eyes itched so bad I wanted to take them out with my fingernails. I also get stuffier than normal w/ my nose. I hope it passes soon so I don't sneeze anymore. Since I had my surgery it hurts to sneeze.

I love Lindsay

Famous Secret Recipe

2008-04-06T17:37:00.003-07:00

CHICKEN DIVAN

This recipe was perfected by generations of Brummers.

Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breast (3 or 4 pieces)
Mayo
Lemon Juice
Flour
Bread Crumbs (Plain)
Chopped Broccoli
Cream of Chicken Soup
Margarine
Mild Cheddar Cheese
Onions (if desired)

Boil Chicken at medium heat for atleast 1.5 hours. Watch closely when you heat it up or it will foam over. Add minced onion and salt if desired. Let chicken cool down and break into bite size pieces. Save Broth!!

Put Broccoli into saucepan, add water and heat up just until broccoli is thawed out. Remove from heat and strain.

Mix can of soup, 1/2 cup mayo, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and chicken broth (1/3 cup broth mixed with 3 tablespoons flour) together and stir until all lumps are one.

Grate about 1.5 cups of the cheese and save.

Take 9 inch square casserole dish and semi cooked broccoli on bottom layer, then bite sized chicken and onion for second layer. Pour sauce mix over these two first layers and make sure it is uniformly spread. Top off with the grated cheddar cheese.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Cover dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven at 325 F for 50 minutes.

While it is cooking take a coffee cup and add 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine, cover and heat for about 30 seconds in microwave or until melted. Add 3/4 cup of bread crumbs and mix up well so all breadcrumbs have contacted butter.

After casserole has heated for 50 minutes remove from oven and spread the breadcrumbs evenly over the casserole. Cover again and put back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, remove cover and let it set for 10 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit, Chicken Divan.

If you double recipe then don't double mayo.

Moving

2008-04-06T12:35:00.003-07:00

Lindsay and I have decided to move from our Mullberry home (above) in Agritopia next month. We want to get a bigger home for our bigger family on the way and I will be working out of the house more. Now is a good time to buy and it will be easier to move now than closer to September when our baby girl is due.

BABY GIRL

2008-04-06T12:11:00.002-07:00

Ok... I should have had this on here a few weeks ago but I have plenty of excuses. Most of which are lame. I am getting more and more excited to have a little girl. Yes it was a shocker but we are going to have another child. Totally a surprise but that is what life is about. Not everything can be planned. We were totally shocked when Lindsay bought the pregnancy tests and the blue positive sign was shown. We had her do it twice to double check and be 200% sure. I think I read the instructions on the box twice also and sure enough those things don't lie.

A few weeks ago we went together to the Dr. and they knew right away that it was a girl. I didn't really have a strong feeling either way but kind of thought it would be a boy. Now Tyler is going to get to have a sister close in age to guard over. I am excited and look forward to September. I am sure it will fly by so everyday we have to slowly get ready whether it be with finances, buying baby stuff, enjoying our one on one time w/ Tyler or tickling Lindsay's back. Every little thing helps.

Last week I had to get a hernia operation and have postponed it for quite some time. I was told last year that I should get it done because it only gets worse. I then found out two months ago that I can get with a cheaper Health Insurance company called Lifewise if I wanted to switch but couldn't get my Hernia operated on unless I had it done with my current company because it was a pre-existing condition. So last week I went in a 5:00 am to Mercy Gilbert Hospital and went under the knife. I wasn't to nervous until the night before when we went to Steve Lesueur's parents house and his Dad told me that we didn't do much for about a month and that it hurt pretty good for a week. Then I got nervous. Everything went fine and I woke up from my sedated state and didn't feel much because I was on percaset. The first two days I was pretty sore and couldn't move really anywhere. I stayed in bed most of the first day and watched a few movies. The next day I worked from home and felt a little better. Lindsay played nurse and took could care of me and treated me well. I didn't get my appetite back until about 3 days later.

The Dr. said I couldn't pick up anything over 10 lbs for about a week so Lindsay got stuck doing everything for Tyler. (She does most of the hard work now.) Tyler wanted his Dad to hold him real bad but I couldn't do it and I wanted to hold him. That was tough. I also can't do sports for another 2 weeks so that is tough. I am in the worst shape of my life because I am not supposed to get out and do anything athletic and 1 month before my surgery I didn't do much athletically. I got invited to a tournament in Vegas in two weeks but don't think I am going to be able to play. If the mesh they put into my abdomen doesn't heal properly then I will have to have another surgery. I anticipate this surgery will cost me after insurance $1500. Just to be in the hospital for 3 hours is going to cost $700 after insurance. I can't believe how much Hospitals charge.

Today however everything has healed nicely. I got lucky because one night Lindsay had a crazy dream and slammed her hand close to my stomach narrowly missing my incision.

I have seen a prophet

2008-02-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I taught a lesson remembering Gordon B Hinckley as prophet and all of the great things that he did including the Family Proclamation, more temples, Prepetual Education fund, positive media influence and uncountable other things that he has done. When I heard the news from Steve Lesueur that he had passed I was kind of shocked because I hadn't thought about him passing but being 97 years old he was definitely close. In one 10 minute span I had recieved 6 texts and 2 phone calls and I thought the world was coming to the end so I decided to answer the phone and found out what happened.

On Monday they announced that Thomas S Monson was going to be the next prophet of the church. He is definitely prepared because he has been in church leadership for over 40+ years. He is going to be a great leader. I can now say that I have seen a prophet because when I was in Hawaii getting married Brian and Dustin and I went to a stake conference and saw President Monson speak for a few minutes. It was pretty neat. The next day I was married to Lindsay.

Cologne - True story

2008-01-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

I rarely put on cologne (because I naturally smell nice) and I put some on the other day and Lindsay didn't think I was home yet and she thought someone broke in.

That is my one sentence funny story.

Hair Ratings

2008-01-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

With my job I try to get out and get my hair done at a different Salon every month. We sell credit card machines and POS equipment to them for our business. (POS stands for Point of Sale) I like to get a feel for the industry by going to different salons and seeing if there are any needs or things that we could improve on in our industry. I have had a few sales come out of it which has probably covered the price of alot of the haircuts I have received in the last few years.

It is always a different experience going from Salon to Salon wondering if you will get the new girl who just squeaked out of cosmo school. I have had good and bad experiences including bad hair doos, cut hair in my shirt as I leave the salon, overpriced quick cuts, aggressive painful haircuts, and cuts (with blood). Don't get me wrong I love the adventure and most of the time I have a good experience but sometimes Lindsay thinks she probably could have done a better job herself even though she has never done hair before.

I thought it would be fun to do a ranking of local salons based off of certain thing I find important in a good hair cut. The following are the categories I will assign and grade after each "experience"

Overall (The total grade of all below categories)
After Cut Look Me (How beautiful I think I look) - please don't comment on this section of the blog
After Cut Look Others (How others think I look) comment here - use discretion please
Shampoo/Massage (This is mainly how relaxed and good the head massage is but other factors including Shampoo smell and water temp. are factors)
Conversation (Haircuts are naturally relaxing but they shouldn't put you to sleep)
Hair on Clothes (My cut hair should stay in the salon) - This is usually correlated to how tight my smock is around my night... Really tight - bad, really loose is worse
Time (As long as you do a good job - the shorter time the better

1/24/08

www.whitelotussalon.com

Frances

Overall - B

After Cut Look Me - A

After Cut Look Others - B (I didn't get any bad comments but no good ones either)

Shampoo/Massage - C (It was just kind of so so)

Conversation - A (Teresa was very interesting and fun to talk to)

Hair on Clothes - A (I don't think i saw one loose hair after I left and good mock strength)

Time - C ( Seemed a little to long about 40 minutes)

Lesson

2008-01-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

Jerry Gissel taught our lesson today in Elder's Quorum about remembering the blessings that the Lord has given us. He is an excellent teacher and he taught from Henry B Eyring's talk in conference last year http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-775-24,00.html

He challenged us all to write in our Journals more and write down our experiences of life. I know I can do better and I have a bad memory so it helps me remember things when I write them down.

1/2 Marathon

2008-01-13T18:31:00.001-07:00

Lindsay had her 1/2 marathon today and she did really well. She woke up at 400 am pumped up on adrenaline and showed up in Tempe at 600 am for the race that started at 8:30. She ate some pasta last night to load up on the carbs and a bagel and lots of water this morning. Her mom and Tyler and I waited at the end of the race where she had 1/2 mile left and cheered her on. She didn't even look tired and I hardly saw any sweat on her. We took some pictures and then she took off towards the finish line. She finish the race in 2 hours and 39 minutes and that was with a bathroom brake at mile 8. Pretty awesome for someone that had a baby just 7 months ago. Their were 40000 people running today so you can imagine with all of their fans what a zoo it was. There were some pretty outrageous people that ran including guys dressed up like the Braveheart warriors (in kilts), dudes dressed in capes, a lady who ran with her child on her back, an 80 year old man, and plenty of people with crazy hair. When we went home there were so many people it took us an hour and a half to get home which usually takes us 20 minutes.

We are proud of Lindsay because she raised $2200 for the Lymphoma and Leukemia association with this run with generous donation from her mom, my parents, the Buttars, and Jim and Patty Reardon. Although we missed church today I think it was for a pretty justified awesome cause.

Finnish

2008-01-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am on fire today... Three blog posts. Last night I had a cool dream. As a missionary in Finland we always would get excited the first time we had a dream in Finnish because that meant we were getting the language and becoming fluent. The crazy language by then had dominated the sub conscious enough to be embedded in dreamland. Well last night I happened.

Like all dreams it seems so real that it was. I was convicted of something or other and sent to a really nice jail. I was however the very first person to show up at the jail so I got to pick my cell and where I wanted to stay. So I get in there and there started to be other "tenants" showing up. I started talking to them and one of them started speaking Finnish. I proceeded to ask her "Mista olet kotoisiin?" (Where are you from). We then carried on a full conversation in Finnish. I woke up and thought that was so awesome that I still had it, even if it was just in my subconscious. My accent was perfect though. I think my listening to Finnish every morning on www.lds.org is definitely helping. It keeps it fresh in my mind.

Brummer & Ebert

2008-01-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

We just watched "United 93" on DVD. Wow... What a powerful movie. We got it from www.cleanhits.net so we didn't have to hear the massive cussing in the movie and it was plenty of intense without it. I never realized how awesome it was that they stopped the terrorists from getting to their target. The overcame their fears and empowered themselves to act. It makes me wonder how you would act under that intense situation and how you would act.

Last night we watched "Friends with Money" and it was in the top 10 worst movies I have ever seen. Holy cow.. not funny, no plot, Jennifer Anniston, slow and depressing. All elements of a lame movie.

The Jazz

2008-01-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

I am staying true to the Jazz even though it is tought to follow them in Suns country. Tonight they play the Suns and if I did have a distant second for favorite teams it would be the Suns. The Jazz aren't playing that well on the road but they are doing well at home so they should win this game because the Suns don't have Stevie Nash. I only get to see a few games a year but I love watching Williams and Boozer play together. I think this is the most fun team the Jazz have ever had to watch.

I am up in Tyler's room watching the game on the mini screen and trying to cheer and not wake him up. I don't mind having the volume low so I don't have to hear the Suns announcers.

Common Sense

2008-01-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who > has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was > since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. > He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as > knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the > worm, life isn't always fair , and maybe it was my fault.> >

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies ( don't spend > more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not > children are in charge).> >

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but > overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old > boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens > suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher > fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.> >

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the > job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly > children. It declined even further when schools were required to get > parental consent to> administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a Band-Aid to a student, but could not> infor m the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have > an abortion.> >

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became > contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better > treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you > couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the > burglar can sue you for assault.> > Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed > to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a > little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.> >

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; > his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, > Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, > Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.> >

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If > you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and > do nothing.> > Author unknown

Elder's Quorum Higley Ward Year End Report

2007-12-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

The first 2 months of the year the Elder's Quorum (hereafter referred as EQ) Presdency consisted of Tylor More (President), Anthony Burgi(1st Councilor), Thad Jones (2nd Councilor) and Tanner Milne (Secretary). Anthony Burgi moved out of the ward and Steve Lesueur was made 2nd Councilor and then Tanner Milne moved out of the ward and Jeff Brummer became the Secretary. In September the EQ Presidency was reorganized and the following were called - Jeff Brummer (President), Brian Stephens (First Councilor), Steve Lesueur (2nd Councilor) and Jon Graff (Secretary).

We had a great year as a Quorum and enjoyed the blessings of the gospel and comrodary of the Brethren. Early in the year we had an Ice Cream Social at the Gissels home and had 20 show up to enjoy some frozen dairy delights with toppings. In November we had a EQ BBQ in which the Elders (and wives) made chili and we had a competition to see who had the best chili (Rachael Earl), hottest chili (Ryan Moats), most unique chili and best desert. We had 40-50 people show up including some non members and lesser actives. The Elders have enjoyed also playing basketball all year long on Tuesday nights. To date we have had no fights or major injuries so it has been a successful year.

We have had many great teachers instruct us in the hour we meet together as a Quorum including Brian Lawrence, Tylor More, Steve Lesueur, Thad Jones, Matt Tidwell, Jeff Brummer, Tanner Milne, Darren Peterson, Ryan Moats, Steven Powell, Brian Stephens and others. We also enjoyed seeing Levi Germaine receive the Melchizedek priesthood. Some new Elders that moved into the ward this year were Keith Hardy, Matt Sloan, Art Sherwood, Ed Clark, Joseph Hardwick, Bobby Pitts, Eric VanAusdal, Andrew Watts.

Rain Rain

2007-12-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

Once again it is easy to talk about the weather and begin there. It has run quite a bit lately for Arizona and this is good news for our new beautiful lawn. Yes. After a year and a half of putting it on the back burner we have officially got the sprinklers to work. Dean actually was the mastermind and came over to help me finally do the electrical work and flush out the valves. He is pretty handy and we got it done in a couple of hours. We paid about $70 for parts and valves and another $100 for the sod. It is probably about due to be mowed, but it is so small it isn't worth buying a mower so I think Brian Stephens or Nick Perry is going to hook me up with their mower.

Nick Perry and I played ping pong yesterday in the garage of his place. It was so fun because we are pretty close skill wise and the garage was big enough to play and move around and the weather was perfect pong weather - 60 degrees. We played for an hour neck and neck and he ended up coming on top and winning the overall match.

Last night we went to the ward Christmas Party and it was pretty neat. We had ancient Mediterranean dishes like chicken and pitas and cucumber salad. We then got to see a version of the Nativity and the birth of Christ. I am not sure why but I haven't see a Nativity production in a few years. It was very peaceful and Cloe Nielson sang beautifully. Some of the kids from our Sunday school class that Lindsay and I taught were also in it and were Shepard - TJ Goodman, Dallin Johnson and Mitch Allred.

Lindsay and I also went to the Rockets last Saturday with Thad and Patsy Jones and Honey Milius and her daughter Corbin. It was pretty fun. We went to a Tapanyaki restaurant called Ichi Ban first and watch our chef from Brazil. It was really delicious. Lindsay looked beautiful. We had a blast. We went to Gammage theatre and by the time we got there 10 minutes before it started we realized that we were at the wrong theatre. We sped across town to the correct theater and showed up just on time for the big show. It was pretty awesome. I didn't have huge expectations for the show but I thought it was well done. The Rocketts did like four or five musical skits and then they did a pretty cool Nativity scene. I though this was the best part of the show because of how well it was done. There were even real camels that the wise men brought. Can you image that? In the middle of downtown Phoenix there were these huge camels. It was pretty neat to see. Anyway that wasn't the only thing I thought was cool. I was caught up in the Nativity and imagining how cool it would have been to see the Savior after he was born.

Funny story (if you weren't there): Friday night Lindsay woke me up and said that there was an alarm going off. In my half la la land state I realized that she was right. Not realizing that it was important I tried to go back asleep. Now unfortunately I was awake and couldn't go back asleep because of this high pitched alarm so I got up. Now keep in mind it was 2 in the morning and I was out of it. So I got out of bed and determined on the two brain cells that were functioning that it was coming from the hall outside our bedroom. So I had to get a chair from the office to get up to it. The chair was not very sturdy and I wasn't very stable in my sleepy state. I started trying to figure out one of the alarms and why it was beeping at an unusually loud tone. Now keep in mind that I have no home improvement skills and I wasn't sure what the heck I was doing. I worked on this one alarm for about 20 minutes and realized the beeping wasn't coming from that one but one further down the hall. By then I realized that I was going to lose sleep over this beeping and was beginning to get frustrated but I couldn't really blame the problem on anyone but myself because the next alarm I read that you are supposed to change those alarms batteries every year. By now it had been 2 years so they were due and probably going to die. So after another 20 minutes I just unplugged the alarm off the wall and picked up were I left off the next day after we went to sleep.

Update

2007-11-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

I am totally a moody writer with most of the time the mood being laziness because I don't write. I am in the mood now to write alot but that will probably only amount to like 3 paragraphs. I am living the bachelor life this week as Lindsay and Tyler are in California visiting her parents and her cousin Sara. The seemed to have a fun week and Lindsay showed Sara the finer parts of Placerville. The went to the salon for some makeovers and such. Pretty cool. Lindsay and Linda showed her how to make some awesome food as well.

I got lonely but tried to keep busy to pass the time with work, church stuff, golf and probably more TV time than normal. TV is the ultimate time killer and it is sad that I have to resort to that but there are some times in life when you just want to be a human vegtable and relax. Most of the time after I do that though I never feel as though I accomplished much of anything (including writing in my blog). I miss my little family.

Earlier last week I ran with Lindsay around our whole ward boundaries. I always wanted to do that and I just started "runnin" and couldn't stop. Usually I get bored and want to turn back but I knew Lindsay wanted to run more so I told her if she ran around to Higley I would run with her. So I think we ended up running like 4 miles. That ties the farthest I have ever run.

Lindsay and I are excited to go visit SLC this week and my family in Syracuse. Mom is coming to pick us up at the airport tomorrow and we are staying for a week there. We are going up to Idaho for 2 days also to visit our family and friends up there. It should be fun.

Blogerific

2007-11-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

I need to start writing in this more otherwise my great great grandkids are going to think that I was boring and that I was a workaholic or something. Lindsay and Tyler are sick this weekend and they have needed some extra TLC so I am trying to help out where I can. Lindsay doesn't get sick very often so that is good. I think it has to do with her healthly lifestyle of eating and excersising. She has rarely in her life eaten fast food. I think that is pretty awesome and so she has helped me ween off of the "Super Size" me lifestyle.

I remember the days when I worked at Mickey dees and I would eat like 4-5 of their hamburger patties on my break with a big Hi-C and a ton of fries. I would follow that up with 2 apple pies. I definitely ate to much fast food that summer that I worked there and I am sure that it messed with my athletic performance. I had such a incredible metabolism that I didn't gain any weight however. I was like 160 lbs from ages 16 - 25. After 25 my metabolism has slowed and I have to eat better and make time for me to exercise.

I usually play soccer once a week and we have our soccer season wrapping up. I also try to play basketball with the ward once a week. Our stake just got a new building and the gym is full size. It is an awesome building and the church spared no expense. It is so cool that the day they open the doors to the building it is paid off. This is why our church has virtually no debt. Back to the health topic. I sure do skip around. Lindsay has also helped me to run 2-3 times a week around our house. The weather is nicest in the morning and I try to run 2-3 miles. I get pretty bored and run with my Zune to keep entertained.

Dad's Lad

2007-10-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Tyler is definitely getting bigger and taller and more of a personality. He gets more and more fun each day. He now smiles quite a bit and has his two bottom teeth coming in so that causes him to be grouchy at times. I can't complain however because he sleeps well through the night and has seen month 2. We started using cloth diapers 3 weeks ago and so we do more laundry now also. At first I was a little reluctant because of the upfront cost and effort that would have to be put into it, but it will be cheaper in the long run. Lindsay is also pretty good about washing them so I don't have to do the dirty work.

Tyler is starting to giggle more and he gets his talky streaks in the morning around 9am. He is a morning person like his Dad and is always in a good mood from 7 am to 11 am. He also learned how to push himself up into the pushup position when he is on his stomach.

We went to Santa Barbara last weekend for our anniversary trip and had a fun time. It was the first time that we have been on vacation in a while and we took Tyler along for the trip. He must have known it was our anniversary trip because he didn't fuss much the whole time so that was nice. We went to Universal Studios in LA and spent 5 hours there. We had fun and I have never been there so it was cool to see how films were made and some movie history. We got Tom Cruises autograph also. Ok no we didn't but we saw were some of his movies were filmed and we cruised on a Trolly that took us around the park.

We spent the night in a Worldmark timeshare in Solvang and it was pretty nice. We arrived in the condo and they left a crib in there for Tyler and we couldn't figure out how to put the crib together. After an hour of trying to asseble this plastic/metal crib we called the front desk and they couldn't figure it out either. So we read the directions for the third time and realized that we just didn't do one step correctly so we felt dumb. So part of me wanted to complain to management that it wasn't setup correctly and the other part of me would feel dumb that it took me an hour and a half to figure it out.

We spent the night there in Solvang and went to Church the next morning. It was a cool little Danish founded city and had lots of shops with things from Scandanavia so I was a big fan.

Million Stars

2007-08-19T16:33:00.001-07:00

I recently had an unanimous blog comment request Andy's "Million Stars" article. Now since I think only Chez and Craig were there this has to be for them.

http://media.www.isubengal.com/media/storage/paper275/news/2002/09/04/Opinion/Humor.All.The.Inexhaustible.Treasures.Of.The.Heart-266416.shtml

College dances

2007-08-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

Here is another article Andrew wrote about our dances in college. This is another good one.

http://media.www.isubengal.com/media/storage/paper275/news/2002/09/18/Opinion/Humor.Advance.The.Chance.Of.Romance.At.The.Stake.Dance-276148-page2.shtml

Mom and Dad come to Visit

2007-08-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

I am not sure how to post these pictures but I can figure that out later.

My parents came to town this weekend from Friday until Tuesday. We had an awesome time.

They stayed in Scottsdale at the Marriot because my Mom worked her majic and found a screaming deal there. We went there once and went swimming and Tyler got his swimming trunks on.

On Saturday we made sandwiches and they came and visited us at our house. Dad helped me be a better Mr. Fix It but unclogging our sink. We then and ate at Cheesecake factory and hung out the mall.

On Sunday we had Tyler's blessing and my Dad, Bishop Allred, Brent Stanley, Jason Davenport and John Parise. I was kind of nervious but I think it went well. We then had my mom and dad, Dustin and Luelaa Portman, Dan and Teresa Payne, Brian Madsen, Jason Davenport and the Stanleys over to the house. Tyler was good the whole time during church so that was nice. I was nervious he was going to cry during it. Lindsay made her world famous chicken wings and drumsticks for dinner with mom and dad. We hung out at our house after that and played 90's trivial pursuit and Dad and Lindsay beat Mom and I. We had a good time and I think we should play board games more often.

On Monday my Dad and I played golf at Lone Tree and we both stunk. We ended with both of us shooting 85. The first 5 holes the mesquitoes were out of control. I must have been bitten 50 times and called the pro shop and chewed them out for not warning us because I wanted to buy some bug spray. The guy acted like it was the first time they ever had that problem and said they didn't have any spray.

On Tuesday we were ready for the bugs and we got bug spray but there wasn't any bugs. I thought I could blame my bad play on Monday on the bugs but on Tuesday I shot 84 and so did Dad so mesquitoes where not the problem. We all went to lunch on Tuesday at the Red Lobster and my parents flew out after that. I am grateful that they could come and love them alot. We are excited to come and see their new house in Syracuse at Thanksgiving.

2007-07-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is an awesome article that Andy wrote in the ISU bengal about our Bachelor pad. Funny stuff

http://media.www.isubengal.com/media/storage/paper275/news/2003/01/29/Opinion/Humor.A.Guide.To.Bachelor.Pad.Living-354704.shtml

Bengal articles

2007-07-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

I found some of Andy Jorgensens funny articles from when he wrote the humor column in the bengal. This one is of Valentines issue that I get setup on a blind date with a girl on the basketball team. Andy did well and it was all paid for http://media.www.isubengal.com/media/storage/paper275/news/2003/02/12/Life/Bengal.Tags.Along.On.Blind.Date-367170.shtml

Rainy Season

2007-07-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

Monsoon season has started and we recieved our first few rain storms. It is a nice changeup to the heat of 110 degrees everyday. I think you appreciate the sun more if you don't have it all the time. I know I appreciated it in Finland when it was the dead of winter and I didn't see the sun for 2 months. There I also saw 22 hours of sunlight in the summer and 23 hours of darkness for a few days in the winter. I am definitely glad I live somewhere that is light for most of the year however I would like to have some seasons also. I miss the crisp cold air of winter and the first few snowstorms and I think fall is a beautiful time of year with the trees changing color. In Arizona the cactus don't turn different shades as it drops from 110 degrees to 70 degrees in the fall. I think it would be nice to be a snow bird someday and have the best of both worlds.

Writer's Block

2007-07-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Ok. I would love to write in this blog every week but I haven't been to disciplined yet. Maybe some magical day. Life has definitely changed even more since last time I wrote. We are starting to get Tyler in a sleeping routine and he has a couple naps a day and goes to bed around 10pm usually and wakes up twice a night and gets up at 5:30 ish. Lindsay does an awesome job of waking up with him at night and feeding him and I get up with him at 5:30 and entertain him until he is hungry. We are trying to avoid the pacifier as much as possible because we don't want him to get hooked on it but sometimes when he is fussy in the morning he uses my pinky as a pacifier.

Everyone tells us that he is mild mannered and that he is mellow but I am not convinced because he is really the first baby I have been around for a lot of time. I think he has been pretty easy to take care of but Lindsay does all the hard work. We still haven't succeeded in teaching him how to not pee when his diaper comes off. We are also waiting for his first smile and catch ourselves making weird faces at him. He also is a big fan of the car. He rarely stays awake in the car and loves the ride of his car seat.

We finally had an offer on our home in Boise and it is supposed to close in 2 weeks. We are excited because that will free up a lot of our cash flow and stress. We lost some money on the house but it was bad luck because the market dropped soon after we bought the place. Our realtor Diane McDonald has been great and a go getter to sell the place.

Our business has been going well. We didn't land the Roadys' account because of a bid from a brother of a guy within the company. We had better price and service but didn't get the deal simply because he had a brother that worked at Roadys that was part of the decision maker. If he messes up however we have the next in with these Truck Stops. I guess I can't totally blame them because I am sure that I have picked my friends and family before without it being the best business decision because they are friends and family. Sometimes it works out but alot of times it doesn't because friends and family feel that they don't have to work as hard.

Church was good today and we learned about Family Home Evening in sacrament. Lindsay and I were re-motivated to start having FHE on Monday nights. I think it is a great thing that we can set aside for our family to be together. We then had a great lesson in Sunday school about the resurrection of the Savior and how everyone will be resurrected someday. Matt. 28, Alma 11:42+. We had an awesome lesson in Elder's Quorum on forgiveness and how we should forgive everyone because we aren't perfect. Some Elders gave some emotional stories of how they had to forgive someone to overcome bitterness they had. I can't remember if I had mentioned but I am the new EQ secretary and we are no longer the 12-13 year old teachers. I am going to miss those kids.

Quietness

2007-06-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

I am more excited than ever to have a baby. For some reason lately I have been having alot of fun with some of our friends kids. I have never really been prone to take interest in other peoples kids that are real young because I didn't know how to act around them but lately that hasn't been the case. I guess I am slowly converting in to the father figure. Weird. I think it is cool.

Today after church Lindsay took a nap and I was by myself and kind of felt alone. this was a weird feeling and then I thought that I soon would not be having this muck alone and quiet time. That is OK with me most of the time because I am more of a social person. However, I do enjoy some time everyday for quiet time.

Last week was pretty eventful. Dean and I went to Kingman to install our first two Gas Stations. This was definitely a learning experience that we weren't flawless in installing. We spent 4 hours at one location and another 3 at another. We were converting one from a Mobile station and from Satellite to IP connection. We had some problems with the Datawire boxes and need some phone time on with our techs to work out kinks. There is alot of stress on us when things aren't working well because them more time that a gas station is down the $100's and $1000's of dollars that a gas station loses. We worked out the kinks and took notes of the best techs to talk to over the phone because it is all about who you talk to in life and business to get you the most accurate information.

Next week I am headed to Boise for a business trip. I hope that Lindsay doesn't go into labor because I will be gone for a day. Her mom will be taking good care of her and I told her to hold off until I get back. She will be full term in 5 days and is due in another 3 weeks.

Yesterday we became CPR certified. We went to church and their was a lady that Brother Harston works with that taught us basic CPR and 1st Aid. I learned alot about the 30-2 compressions to breath ratio. I am glad that we went so I feel more comfortable if I ever have the chance to help someone I will not feel helpless.

Broken Cabinet

2007-05-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend I tried to improve my skills in being a handyman. In calling these actions skills that would be the wrong word. I was building a cabinet for our new baby bathroom and thought that I built it correctly. After I had placed the plugs in the wall I was pretty confident I would be done sone. As I was putting this masterpiece on the wall it broke in my hands. I was pretty bummed out because I spent a few hours building it and I couldn't fix it.

Lindsay will probably be building stuff from now on. I think I want to take some classes on how to become a better Mr. Fix it.
CONFIDENTIAL

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2007-05-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

Some of my longtime friends may remember that I had a "Quote of the Day" on my voicemail for a long time. I took if off for lack of material but I think I want to start to do it online. I hear these cool quotes and want to pass them on. Plus it helps me remember them. Today's quote is:

. Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?"

Please send me some cool quotes that I can add to my blog

Church Today

2007-05-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

I am going to try to write every Sunday so I can remember what I learned in Church. I have a terrible memory and anyone that knows me could probably tell you that so by writing I can remember things easier.

We spent time last night with Kolter and Lindsey Eager. We didn't get to prepare for our 12-13 year old lesson until this morning. We had a big class today and it went well. When we first started teaching the class a year ago we had a hard time keeping everyone quiet. It was a battle to get thru class and felt like no one wanted to listen. After a while throughout the year they became better listeners and participators. This was due to Lindsay's stern enforcement of the law. Thank goodness because I think I am a pushover.

We had a good class today and taught about Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of the church, and his background. I used to not always look forward to class because of the difficulty in teaching but now I get excited to teach and it is fun teaching with Lindsay. She is a good teacher and shows me things that she has learned at school about teaching.

In Sacrament meeting we had a great meeting about Mothers. Myself along with the Elder's Quorum sang the Mother's song "Love is Spoken Here". It is pretty cool to see 40 men singing a song about their Moms. The Sunday school children also sang a Mother's day song. It was cool.

We also had a great lesson about Forgiveness. I think that I always can improve on this and forgive everyone because I definitely want to be forgiven for all of the dumb things that I do.

We came home and watched one of Lindsay's favorite movies.... Dead Poets Society. This inspired me to write today. Oh yeah. I also got Lindsay some chocolate, a necklace, teddy bear and The Dead Poets Society for her birthday.

GO JAZZ

Work Update

2007-05-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

Things have been going well at work and we are having some major success. May is going to be a great month (because it is Lindsay's Birthday month. We have been starting to work with some people in the Petroleum industry and are having success there. We just last week signed up some Gas Stations to do there processing. It will be a fun niche to get into because they are loyal clients and will stay with us a long time. Dean and I have taken allot of trips to Kingman and back servicing these clients and getting a crash course in the industry.

We have been blessed with some great things happening in our business. We have done over 35 accounts the last 3 months and are due to hit around 50 this month. We are also in the process of looking for an office manager. We have been so busy that we don't have time to call back all of our clients so we need to hire someone to help us with our paperwork. For now Lindsay is going to help us out because she has just finished with school.

We have also gotten adjusted in our new office in Gilbert. We are almost in downtown Gilbert about 5 miles from our house. I like the area and the rent is relatively cheap. The place has never had tenants and just remodeled so the carpet and everything is new. It also gives us allot of room to grow because it is pretty big.

Stake Conference

2007-04-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Today and yesterday we had conference with Elder Coleman of the Seventy. He gave some good talks about the Family. He stressed that the Family is the core of society and that we need to strengthen our families and guide them. The world is becoming more and more lax when it comes to family values and if people had an eternal perspective about Heavenly Father's plan more people would strive for stronger family ties. I am grateful that Lindsay and I can start a family together and have this great direction in our lives.

Elder Coleman also talked about how Jesus Christ taught by many different ways when he was on Earth. He knew that many people learned different ways so you have to teach different. One example of this was the way he healed the blind. For one man he took spittle and placed it on his eyes. For another he told to go and see and for another he touched his eyes. This is a great lesson that there is no cookie cutter way to do things. Sometimes you have to pray to find the best way to help people unique to their situation.

Today ours Stake President Pugmire gave a good lesson on his testimony of the gospel. He said that he was glad that the Gospel embraces all truth no matter where it is and that is all that is important in life that we seek after truth and embrace it.

April Fools

2007-04-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

I think God gives each of us certain talents and gifts for us to bless our lives and the lives of others. I know one gift that he may not have given me was the mind to build things. I am not gifted when it comes to building the simplest things. I think it comes from me not spending enough time with the Lincoln logs as a small child.

I have had struggles with home projects in the past. In having a new home and having to add amenities I have tested my limited knowledge of home repair. I spent 3 hours trying to build a TV stand that should have taken like an hour only to finish and realize that the doors didn't shut flush. I stripped a few bolts in the process so I had to go back to IKEA to get some knew ones.

My most recent project was a wall cabinet for our Baby's bathroom. This is only a 2.5 foot by 2.5 foot cabinet and should have only taken about 2 hours to build. I spent 3 hours and still have tomorrow to finish it. The doors on it are not closing correctly so I am not sure what to do.
I am not sure where to learn these home handy-man things. I think I am going to start watching Bob Vila shows if he is even on the air anymore.

Year of the Golden Pig

2007-04-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

I went to Vegas last week and went to the Electronic Transaction Association Conference for two days. I was going to drive there because I was trying to talk Lindsay or Dean into coming with me but that didn't work out. So, literally, at the last moment I decided to fly. Tickets are not always the cheapest at the last minute for some reason so I had to pay $250 for a round trip to Vegas. I stayed in our Timeshare off of Las Vegas Blvd.

In the morning I played in a golf tournament with Gary Rutledge, the COO of North American Bancard. Two years ago Gary and I won this 4 man scramble in Las Vegas so we wanted to give it a whirl again. It was a beautiful day and we teed off at 8 am. We only had 3 players because our fourth guy dislocated his shoulder the day before when he was water skiing. This was unfortunate because he was a scratch golfer. We still had a good team, and a great chance at winning. I was hitting my driver well all day but the rest of my game was less than desirable. Because the course was short we only had the 50-100 yard shots to the greens. Unfortunately, none of use could get those too close, so we had a lot of long birdie putts. Gary made some long putts for us, and I had a couple of great par-3 shots that actually won me closest to the pin on one hole. We finished at 11 under and in third place. Not bad for playing mediocre and we had a fun day.

The conference was very educational; I am glad that I went. In this business and in my world it is fun to rub shoulders with people that do the same thing you do because day in and day out I usually don't deal with people that know more than me about the industry. This is because I am always dealing with potential merchants that don't know much about the card processing industry.

Towards the end of the trip, I met a cool Korean couple that are sales reps for North American Bancard and they were fun to talk with. We chit-chatted with Rita Feldman and went to lunch together before I flew out of Vegas. They said that our baby is going to be very special because in the Oriental culture this is the "Year of the Golden Pig". Now you may ask yourself - Why is this special? Who wants there child to be born in the year named after a animal that is killed for bacon? Well, let me tell you... The Year of the Golden Pig only happens every 600 years. According to Chinese Folklore, this is an event that occurs once in every 600 years and will insure that a baby born on this year will experience a prosperous and wealthy life.

This legend is so popular, that Korea is expected to have a 10% increase in birth rate this year, which is apparently much needed as its birth rate is extremely low.

I am, in the words of Lindsay, "stoked" to be a Dad.

What I miss about Finland

2007-04-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

I found a paper of with some things written about Finnish people that I miss.

1) The way Finns can talk by breathing in and talking at the same time. This rare phenomenon is only possible by Finnish blood. If you don't believe me try it. The older Grandmas are excellent at this.

2)Sauna and Makara. Sauna is such a culture in Finland that they get mad if you interfere with their Sauna night they get really upset. There are few things in life that are better than going in the Sauna and jumping into a cool Finnish lake. After doing this a few times your body is totally relaxed and cleaned.

3) Quiet Buses. Finns are pretty quiet on their own and when they are in public transportation. They don't communicate with others unless they have to. BUT on the bus if they do get a cell phone call they are pretty loud and not afraid to speak about every detail that happened Friday night while they were on a date.

4) Quietness - You have never known the peace nature has to offer you until you go to Finland. Even in the cities the Finnish people have a great respect for the peace of the beautiful forest that surrounds them.

Golf Stats

2007-04-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

Josh Crockett introduced me to the coolest Golf website www.freegolfinfo.com
This site tracks all of the scores and courses that you have ever played for free. I had a ton of score cards that I entered in here and now I don't have to pack the cards around.

10 Year Highland High School Reunion Life Update

2007-04-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this because I wrote it for my 10 year year-book.
1) High School activities - I played 3 years on the Highland Golf team - I was just an average player and didn't play well my senior year at the State Championship at our home course. I had a few honors classes but didn't ever get college credit for them. I wish I would have spent a little more time studying and a little less time watching TV. I also played soccer and loved the competitiveness of High School soccer. Randy Bosh was a great coach.

2) Since High School I went to a year at ISU and then left to serve a two-year Church mission for the LDS church. I went to Finland and spoke Finnish for two years. It was more of a blessing to my life than I could write in pages of material so I won't try, but I never regret my decision to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

After that, I went to ISU and graduated in Marketing. I walked on to the ISU Golf team and played for 3 years. Out of ISU, I started working for myself as a card processor. I am the guy that you talk to if you want to take cards from clients, both online and in a store. Currently I am getting into a system where you can pay via your cell phone with an encrypted card in your phone.

3) I think my Greatest Accomplishment since High School has been getting married. It took me a while but I did it almost 2 years ago. I met Lindsay in Mesa, Arizona at a Monday night church activity playing soccer. At first I thought that she was a girl that I met the night before and got her phone number. After being followed by multiple guys I convinced her to go to Applebees w/ me and my friends. The cliche "the rest is history" fits. We dated for 3 months and got married in Hawaii on the beach.

4) Something you may not know about me is that I love technology. I am always interested in the latest piece of tech and I want to be a computer nerd someday.

5) My favorite memory of High School was skipping class and going bowling with Corey Sherman and Brand Novosel. Just Kidding... That wasn't my favorite memory. I don't know if there was one event that I think of as my favorite, but I thought our school always had excellent sports programs and it was fun watching football and basketball win championships.

Wedding on the Beach

2007-04-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a neat article about getting married on the beach. Ok... I am biased
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070404/lf_nm/weddings_travel_dc

2007-04-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

Funny Home Remedies
1. If you are choking on an ice cube simply pour a cup of >boiling water> >down your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove >itself.> >> >
2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting someone >else to> >hold while you chop.>
3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat >by using> >the sink
4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and >bleed for> >a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember >to use a> >timer
5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will >prevent you> >from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze >button.>
6. If you have a ba d cough, take a large dose of laxatives, >then you> >will be afraid to cough.> 7. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it >doesn't> >move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use >the duct> >tape
8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.> >> > Daily Thought: SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD >FOR> >ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE >STAIRS

I love Finland

2007-04-09T22:49:00.001-07:00

This is a pretty awesome video that aired between conferences last weekend. It shows the history of the members of the church of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia and Finland. The video shows that culture and faith of the people of these countries. It also shows of the blessings of the temple in Finland. This temple was announced the end of my mission in 2000 but was not "Finnished" until last October because of diffuculty getting government approval.
I really wish I could have gone back and seen the dedication and some of my friends from Finland during this time. It would have been awesome. One of my goals is to take Lindsay and my future family to see the temple and the rest of Finland. This video is about 45 minutes but well worth it.... OK .. I am biased because I love Finland. So turn off the TV and check this out

http://www.ldsn.org/fma/page.php?pg_id=15

My Grandpa Jack

2007-04-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa Jack passed away two weeks ago and it was a sad day for all. I am so glad that I got to make it to Idaho 3 weeks ago and see him for the last time. We were talking technology as he explained to me his latest gadget that he had gotten. A PDA that had many functions such as a voice recorder, planner, internet browser and navigator. It seemed to be something good to talk about to keep his mind off of the trouble he had breathing and problems with his heart. In my mind I knew that he didn't have much time on this earth so I was glad that I was in town. I wish that we would have discussed a bit more about life and the times that I enjoyed growing up and coming to visit grandpa's house.

As I departed and said my goodbyes I told him that I loved him and wanted him to get better. I wish that I would have told him more of the things that I appreciated him for. One of the things that I learned from Grandpa Jack was hard work. If working until you are, I don't remember how old, 120 maybe says something. This says that he was never one to sit stagnant. I was surprised that he sold the Jewelry store even though I shouldn't have been because he was like 120 years old.

I also learned from my Grandpa how to wheel and deal. Grandpa Jack was a great business man and always got what he wanted. He never seemed to be dishonest but always worked hard in negotiations. I hope I picked up a little of this up on my own. I think that I picked this up from my mom mainly who can get her money back on a non-refundable airline ticket.

I am also thankful that my Grandpa was supportive in all that I did. He was a big advicate of my mission and wrote me often while I was in Finland. That meant alot to me and I saved all of his letters.

I am going to miss the emails he would always send to me. In the last 2 years since I have been in Arizona I have kept in touch with Grandpa via email. He would always send me 2-3 mass emails a day to let me know he was still ok.. Some were funny, some spiritual, some cheezy and some weird but it was just kind of his thing of passing along what he enjoyed. I know that some of them always made me prove my Christianity because if I didn't forward his email to 10 people within 2 hours I wouldn't be called a Christian. Or If I didn't forward a certain email to 10 people in 5 minutes my great grandson would catch a nasty flu on his 12th birthday.. or something goofy like that.

I am also thankful that my Grandpa taught me to be conserving and not wasteful. He would try to fix things before he threw them out. This is the opposite of the mentality of today's society of if it is broke just throw it away and buy another one. I ended up reprogramming his credit card terminal 2 years ago with my company and he was really concerned that the reciepts printed longer and that more paper was used in the process. He approached me with this concern and I didn't know what to say. I had encountered previous clients with concerns of slow service time, bad pricing, slow terminals, long contracts or slow deposits into their bank accounts but never a reciept that printed a inch to long. So I called my technical support specialists and they were baffled. There was no way to fix it accourding to them so I had to break Grandpa the bad news. I hope that I can have that quality of not being wasteful pass on to me.

I will miss you Grandpa and hope to see you down the road.

Boy on the Way!

2007-04-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

I am excited to write more in my Journal. I started writing in my Journal on my mission to Finland in 1998 and was pretty faithful writing for two years. After I got home I have been touch and go and haven't written as much as I wanted to. This may help me a little more because it is easier for me to type. I think it is easier to people to read my handwriting in a Blog journal than in my handwriting. Although it may lose a little personal appeal that comes with handwriting.

My life now gets more and more exciting as it goes on and I am excited to have my first kid here in a few months. The due date of June 28 is coming up fast and I think I am as ready as I can be. I have definitely gained more respect for Lindsay and women in general for the hard time that pregnancy can be..>> Guys have it easy... Just trips to the store is the extent of our tough times in Pregnancy. Pregnancy can be fun because I get to gain sympathy pounds and eat more things that I may not. I have also had allot of cravings for Ice Cream for the last few months.

The first birth I ever saw was my sister giving birth to her first child Jaden and that was an adventure. I arrived towards the end of her labor and found myself peaking inside the door of her room close to the birth. As my sister screamed loud and was "pushing" towards the finish I began to get nauseous and light headed. So I had to leave and head down the hall towards the bathroom because I thought I was going to hurl. With that as a preface I think I will do better this time as Lindsay goes into labor because I know what to expect and will be more prepared.. Hopefully.

I am excited to be a dad and know that it will be the most important responsibility I will ever have. It is a humbling experience taking responsibility for another life but I have had a great examples of a father that I know I will have to follow.