Better than any SLR anyday of the W-E-A-K!!!

Okay, so compared to Sean, Rus, Norm, and now Blaine, my camera stinks! That's okay by me. I know that Olive was awesome at her dance concert last night. The part that I will remember the most, is all of the Home Depot bags we saved the past couple of months that they used during the dance. Way to go, Olive. You are awesome.

You've got a friend in me!

Olivia (and the rest of Renaissance Academy) had their big Dance Festival yesterday. I personally thought the 1st grade had the best performance. I can't think of anything better than watching young kids dance to music and loving every minute of it. Miraculously, the weather was decent and the festival was a big hit. Olivia wasn't even phased by the wind that kept blowing her cowboy hat off her head during the dance.

Happy Birthday Becca and Taylor

Cha Cha Cha and lots of wonderful birthday wishes. It's okay, Becca, you don't have to make a wish if you don't want to. A big party was had with lots of food, fun, and cold, rainy weather. Oh well, that's what you get living in Utah. Will it ever be summer?

Just remember them

Growing up, one of our traditions was going to a number of cemeteries on Memorial Day. We did this with all of my cousins, aunts and uncles. I still remember many of the years and when I was a teenager I decided that when I was older and had children of mine own, I would continue to visit the graves of my ancestors. There are many places we could visit but for now we go to 3 different cemeteries. At the Provo Cemetery. we first visit the graves of Jack and Phylis Pierce. These are my grandparents on my mother's side. Next to them is Arnold (Grandma's brother who was killed in WWI), and Richard (my mother's brother who was drowned in a ditch when he was 2). Next we head on over to the other side of the cemetery to where Grandpa Orvil Davis (my father's father). Beside him is Gregory (my father's younger brother who was hit by a car when he was 2).

Then we head over to the Orem City Cemetery to pay respects to my dear friend, John Savio. I miss him.

This year we added a new place, the Lindon City Cemetery. This is where Matthew Pritt is buried. He is the sweet 5 year boy that suddenly left us a couple of months ago.

I made my kids promise me to always come and pay their respects to me after I am gone. I think it is really important and carrying on these traditions is an important part of parenting.

100 Rolls and flying carpets

I don't spend too much time here in Denver but I come often enough. Here are a couple of places that I'm recommending to eat. The first is Ali Baba Grill. This is a Lebanese/Persian place that is very tasty. The second is so far my most favorite sushi place in the Denver area, Banzai Sushi. Go for the Dominick 2. Yummy yummy

Happy Mother's Day

Well, I really couldn't pass up this cute picture. We spent part of Mother's Day on Ida Lane. The ladies and small children watched the boys play basketball after eating a yummy pulled pork dinner. A good time was had by all. Thanks, Mom! We love you!

Boo! Ghost Town Century Ride

Conversation typically went like this - "Hey, there's a century ride next week" "And" "We should do it." "Okay". So Tri-Rich and I signed up. Actually, so did Sharla. She doesn't have a nickname yet but we'll give her one. TR and his wife were going to do the 50 mile section and I was going to do the full 104 miles. This ride was advertised as "a fun ride through some of Utah's historical Ghost Towns of Yesterear". Yeah, whatever. I never saw any ghost towns. Maybe I was just going too darn fast. Who knows. We got up early, had our oatmeal and headed over to Tooele (pronounced Too-ill-uh). After riding about 200 or 300 hundred feet together, I started off on my own. The ride was good but a bit windy. For supposedly a "mostly flat" ride I still clocked in over 5000 feet of climbing over the 104 miles. I stopped at Camp Floyd (the largest military installation in the United States) for lunch and continued on my way. Thanks to one of the numerous cattle guards, I lost my lid of my container holding my spare tire, tools, and MY PHONE! Yes, at some point I also lost my phone. Dang! But thanks to TR and Sharla as they went back and somehow FOUND the phone off to the side of the road next to one of the cattle guards. No way!

I'm not sure what was going on but around mile 85 or so my right knee and hip started to hurt. I mean REALLY hurt. I certainly wasn't going to stop out in the middle of nowhere. So I kept peddling. Riding by yourself is difficult. The funny part of the ride was shortly after that, this black Suburban rode up along side of me talking to me. I had my music cranked (yes, I was listening to my iPod) so I couldn't hear what they were saying. I simply smiled and nodded. The SUV continued to drive along side of me. What was their deal? Yes, I was going slow but dang git I was going to finish. Clearly, I was in a lot of pain and pretty much out of it because that SUV was TR and Shar. I had NO clue. Anyhow, I finished the last few miles and enjoyed a big plate of barbecue food. That makes 2 century rides this year. Way cool!

Grandma's great love

Who loves her grandchildren?

0.729 Marathon man.

A month or two ago one of my friends and colleagues, Scot Weaver invited my son and myself to run in the Ogden Marathon. I had just completed the Half Ironman and thought it would be a fun run. To make it even MORE fun, I'd be running with my son, JJ. I had never run a marathon relay but I figured that running 6 or 7 miles would be a piece of cake. Shortly after we signed up, my partner in crime decided to run the entire 26.2 distance. ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! Well, I was pretty jealous but he and I continued to train. We were running greater and greater distances each week in preparation. But because of pain I was dealing with from the last century ride the training wasn't going too hot. Lately I've been taking these Nutriex Sport supplements. I'll have to see how it goes and I'll give my feedback some other time.

So JJ and I planned on driving up on Friday and we stayed with Scot and his family up Ogden Canyon. We had a good time together he and I away from homework, computers, cell phones, school and work. Just before we went to bed JJ exclaimed "Dude, where are my SHOES???" He had left them back at home. Good thing Tri-Rich was coming up in the morning. We met up with Rich and Sharla close to where my race was going to start. What a great day for a race.


Here is the start of the marathon race where JJ and Tri-Rich were dropped off. Holy poop, Batman! Is this Woodstock? Nope, just 2000 nervous runners.

Here is where I started. 7 miles down from the start of the race. After Tri-Rich signed up I decided that if I couldn't run the entire marathon, I could at least run my leg and then the rest of the distance with TR. Now, I'm nowhere near as good of a runner as he is but I could at least try. So I had decided to become 0.729 marathon wanna-be.

As I expected, JJ came smoking down the canyon. He was the 4th relay runner to reach our transition. He did awesome keeping a sub 7 minute pace. I know that he could do even better if he hadn't been hurt most of track season this Spring. I quick hug and the transfer of the timing chip and I was off. I would see JJ later on in the race.

I ran my 6.1 mile segment feeling just great. I had no negative splits (don't really know what the big deal is with that anyhow). I started off at just over 7 minute/mile pace but ended up at just under 8 min/mile pace for the entire segment. I was very pleased. I reached the midpoint and handed off the timing chip to a guy I had never met, I cannot remember his name, and I would never see again. Pretty funny. I got a drink, used one of those cool green potties, and waited for TR to show up. Shortly thereafter the two of us headed down the canyon. This race is actually quite pretty. There were plenty of volunteers, food, and support. Here we are crossing the Pineview Reservoir dam. Yes, I'm wearing my gay socks!

I had never ran anything close to 19 miles. I knew I could but I also knew that it was going to be tough. I was fine until about mile 24 marker. It was getting hard. I wanted to stop. I couldn't stop. If I did, my right knee/hip would pretty much seize up. Keep moving, keep moving forward. No stopping at the aid stations, gulp some Gatorade, throw some cold water on the back. By the time we reached Grant Street (the last stretch), I was just about in tears. My calves were completely cramping. Was I going to crawl across the finish line? I looked to the side of me to see TR and I thought if he can do it so could I. After all, he ran the ENTIRE 26.2 distance. I searched until I found a song that could bring me home. My choice" "Fooling Yourself" by Styx. It worked for me and TR and I crossed the finish line in just under 4 hours. Wow! I filled up on Jamba smoothies and Creamies. Again, the race staff were great!

Here we are 4/5s of our relay team, JJ, me, Scot, and his wife Lisa. Scot ran the 4th leg and then ran with Lisa on the last leg. We had a great time and I cannot wait to run this next year but for the entire race. Although I was a little stiff, I really felt pretty good for running 19.1 miles.

The Emperor's New Hair

Last Friday, Olivia's 1st grade class put on a play called "The Emperor's New Hair. They have been practicing for a few weeks and they did great! The performed the play first for the Kindergarten class and then again for the parents. Olivia was one of three narrators. She was awesome!

Spring Break

Okay, so I know that it's been a while since we had Spring break but the photo montage is now there. The kids and I went to Hurricane for Spring break. We stayed at Grammy's. Of course she spoiled her grandchildren with big breakfasts each morning. It was pretty relaxing even though we were pretty busy. We played on the beautiful red rock just outside of St. George. We swam and relaxed in the jacuzzi, we had a great time.

Todays thougts

Grateful to all those around me and their thoughts, prayers, kind words, words of encouragement, and sometimes just a reminder of what it is all about.

"Just do your best. That's all you can do and everything will work out" - TriRich (non-blogger)

"Suddenly, race day is seeming less of a fear or proving ground and more of a declaration...of my health, my friendships, and my hope. I'll enjoy every second because I know how lucky I am to be there, to put a number on, and to have a race day." - TriSaraTops

Amen.

Spelling B-E-E-S!

Olivia took 2nd place this afternoon at her school's spelling bee. She was awesome. It was a bit nerve-racking for dad to watch each time she stood up to spell her word. My favorite word that she spelled? Of course - d-a-d-d-y!

Hey, everyone get out your green thumbs!

What started out as a simple idea of a couple of tomato plants and some cucumbers grew and grew and grew. Four different varieties of tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, cantaloupe, red potatoes, red-leaf lettuce, bush beans, snap peas, edamame, carrots, and chillies. The best part about it? We all planted it together.

Mr. Tannen where would you like your manure

We had a great time picking out lots of plants and seeds at our favorite nursery on Saturday. Boy, it was sure crowded!

I like WATERMELON

Even better with a melon baller to eat it with!

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Men

"Rather than feeling frustration, disappointed, hopeless, and stressed-out simply because there are jerks in our world, we can instead learn to look the other way, to ignore them." - Richard Carlson

Miss Rockband

Ladies and Gentlemen, let's give it up for the the star of our show, Miss Rockband!

Take the Pledge

"I do not accept Garbage in my life.

When I see Garbage Trucks,
I do not take them personally.
I just smile. I wave. I wish them well.
And I move on.

And I do not spread Garbage to others.
I am not a Garbage Truck!

I do not accept Garbage in my life."

www.bewareofgarbagetrucks.com

The Law of the Garbage Truck

Remember this each morning.

The Garbage Truck Theory . . . . .

I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a big black car
jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi
driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car
by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head
around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and
waved at the guy. And I mean… he was really friendly!!
So I asked, “Why did you just do that? The guy almost ruined
your vehicle and sent us to the hospital!”
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law
of the Garbage Truck.’
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run
around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and
full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a
place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t
take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move
on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at
work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage
trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the
morning with regrets, so... ‘ Love the people who treat you
right. Pray for the ones who don’t.’

Time for treats!

If I can remember I'll take pictures next time. I love making treats. Okay, I love making cookies and I think I make a pretty dang good cookie. But lately I've expanded a bit. So I thought I'd put a couple of my favorite recipes here. Try them, you'll like 'em.

Laura's Strawberry Pie

1 package of Strawberry Danish Desert

2 pie crusts (I use the Marie Calender's frozen pie crusts)

1 8oz package of cream cheese

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

2 lbs sliced strawberries

Cook danish desert according to package directions. Let cool. Add sliced strawberries. Soften the cream cheese. Add whipping cream and powdered sugar. Beat until fluffy (or fully blended). Put half of the cream cheese mixture in the bottom of each of the pie crusts. Add half of the strawberry mixture to each of the pie crusts. Refrigerate until danish desert is set. If your kids like whipping cream (like mine do), you can decorate the top of the pie. Enjoy!

Aunt Gwen's brownies

4 eggs

1 cup softened butter

1/3 cup cocoa

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons vanilla

350 for 30 minutes. Do not add nuts of any sort because nuts don't belong in brownies.

Yearning for warming weather

Yes, I'm still missing a write up from "spring" break a couple of weeks ago. I should be able to get to it this weekend. With the snow this morning, however, I needed to remind myself (and anywhere else it snowed this morning) that warmer days are coming. We will "I promise" yearn for a snow day or two in a short couple of months. Believe me.

"Dad, this is my favorite picture"

Olivia's 3 favorite activities - swimming, Rockband, and bowling.

Are you kidding me?

I washed my car on Tuesday. It needed it. Then yesterday it rained and it looked even worse. Words couldn't describe what I woke up today. Global warming? Yeah, right. Today's entry to my gratitude journal - "I'm thankful for snow."