Chistmas Traditions

With the passing of Christmas I must reflect back and express my gratitude for the season and those traditions which we do to celebrate what I consider the most wonderful time of the year. This year was no different. On Christmas Eve, or as we say in spanish Noche Buena (The Good Night) we got together with my family and had a great time making tamales. That is something I look forward to with great anticipation since they taste soooo good and that is the only time of the year that we eat them. Buying them from vendors or at restaurants is not the same, because nobody can make them like my mom, I can come close but hers are the best.

I really enjoyed this year as I was able to make everyone's gifts. I told Monica that I should have placed a sign on our garage door that said "Santa's Workshop". I made my mom a lighthouse for her mantle, I made Gabriel a MLB Season Standings Board designed after a old style stadium scoreboard. I want one now. It was fun to make. The box that I made for Monica's mom was probably the nicest gift out of all the ones that I made this year, along with the words for her tree. I made some other items as well, but I really enjoyed it.
Christmas Eve we open our gifts and the kids were excited all day for the night. Joshua didn't really know what was going on, but as soon as he realized that there were toys and fun stuff in those packages he was excited as well, wanting to open everything.
Christmas day we opened up our gifts from Santa and had a wonderful breakfast. Monica made her most amazing cinnamon rolls, and we had eggs and bacon and orange juice (those items were provided by David). After breakfast we made the scary journey down to Utah County where we spent a few hours with Monica's family, and then made the trip back up to Salt Lake County to have dinner with my family. All in all we had a wonderful time and we spent the two days with those that we love.

I can't wait until next Christmas!

A New Year, A New Job

Well it finally happened. The last day of the year and I get hired on the spot for a decent job. I am pretty excited to get started, but I will need to wait until the second full week of the hew year to do so. I am still being considered for a position with Edward Jones Financial, but this company jumped all over me as soon as the State Manager saw me. He couldn't contain himself he was so excited. As I filled out some paperwork he was pacing the room and he said, "and I haven't even told you that I plan on promoting you to a district manager within 3 months." He just kept saying that he believed God sent me to him and he never just hired somebody on the spot like that, but there was something about me that just made him excited and he didn't want me to leave without saying that I would be a part of his team. So I said give me the contract and I will join the company and go from there.

I will be working with PMA USA, which is the marketing arm for Conseco Life and Health. I am very familiar with their product line since I use to be appointed with Conseco a few years back. I will be going into existing accounts and doing presentations, and will be given the chance to greatly increase my earnings by opening new groups. Once I am a D.M. my income will increase and he will start hiring agent/producers and building my sales team which I will override.

I have taken a great deal of time to learn everything about the insurance and financial services industry and it showed to this gentleman and he is ready to as he put it "spoil me". So I'll start this job and see where it takes me.

I am very grateful that I was able to finish the year with a good job doing something that I at least am excited about.

I would just like to thank everyone for your prayers on our behalf.

Some thoughts about the Lord and His goodness

As the events of our Christmas celebration draw near, my heart has been drawn closer to my Lord and Savior than at any other time in my life that I can remember as of late. As all of you know I've been struggling with finding adequate employment that would allow me to provide for my family. My greatest desire is to ensure that my family is taken care of and provided for. My inability to provide has been a cause of deep despair and depression for me. It has been augmented the last couple of months where I've been turned down for some jobs that I was more than perfect for, I've been lost in the pattern of feeling sorry for myself, wondering what it all was for. Wanting to quit all together I was torn between my faith and loss of hope.

That was until this past fast Sunday. I decided to fast to know that God still loved me and was aware of my desires. I wanted to know that He forgave me. As I sat in sacrament meeting during the sacrament portion I began to feel a feeling that I haven't felt in a long time. It was of pure love, and I could sense the voice of the Lord say that He loves me and always has. I share this not to make myself seem special, but to express my gratitude to my Savior for knowing me. The week for last I was feeling a little down so I fasted during the week and all day was a tough day, but I kept focused and pressed forward. I received further witness from the Lord of His love for me and His desire to bless me when He was ready and after I showed faith.

This past week I've been tempted to let go of my core beliefs of ethics and honesty. I came out of training with this job that I just started and was told that I had to get a certain amount of sales every day to meet the company imposed quotas. Selling is not a problem for me when I believe in a product or service, but I will never push something upon someone or lie to make the sale. I know how many sales I have to get to make what I need to make, and I couldn't make the number. I was told that I could not give advice or counsel to those I was calling just make the sale. I was to give the scripted dialogue as given me and nothing else. Those who know me know that is impossible. The reason I don't make money isn't because I don't know what I am talking about, but because even if the person can't pay I feel a need to help with the knowledge given me by the Lord. Those around me making and exceeding the number of sales that I needed were lying and misrepresenting the service, basically telling the people what they wanted to hear to make the commission. I kept hearing the voice tell me you need the money just do it, there is no wrong in it if you don't directly lie, just omit all the facts. The nagging feeling to let go and do it was suffocating, but I wouldn't and couldn't. It is I that has to kneel before the Lord every night at the end of my day and give a reckoning of my day, not my manager and I would not give in. I believe that the Lord tested me and that I passed. Friday was amazing, as the Lord expressed His love for me and my family. The expression of His love extended into Saturday as He continued to tell me that He loved me, and still continued into today as He had our Sunday School teacher share a scripture that I feel was directed to me and Monica, and she broke into tears saying that the Spirit had told her to share that scripture because someone in the class needed to hear it. I heard it, and received it with gladness.

I am optimistic that the love of the Savior will continue to flow into our lives this coming week as we approach Christmas. I have my 5th and 6th interview with Edward Jones Financial Advisers, which will be a good job for me, and one of the counselors in our bishopric told me that his brother is hiring and wanted him to recommend a couple of people to him. He deals with fraud investigation, which is a job that I would enjoy as well.

All in all I feel extremely blessed. I am happy and I look forward for the new year. The blessings of the Almighty are pouring into our lives, and He loves me and my family. I love my family. Monica is wonderful, I couldn't have asked for a better companion in life. Her support and willingness to pass through these trials with me and stay faithful as my only true friend on earth has won her a crown in the heavens and she shall be rewarded a hundred fold for her sacrifices. I fall before the God of Heaven and declare my love. I declare to the world that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I turn my life over to him and submit myself willingly to His guidance and counsel. I declare that God lives as well as His Christ our Savior. I declare the gospel as it has been restored in the last days through the Prophet Joseph Smith is the only true and living Church of Jesus Christ to be found on the earth today. I declare that we have a Prophet on the earth today, even Thomas S. Monson, and that I love him and follow his counsel. I bare my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

It Lives!

Well for the past 5 months my truck has been sitting in an inanimate state at my parents house because I didn't know what to do to fix it, and my dad told me that it would probably be about $1700-$2500 to fix it. Every time I see my truck I want to drive it, but it hasn't been possible. Not too long ago my dad was talking to an uncle of mine who is a diesel mechanic and he my dad that he would bet his reputation that it was a fuel injector pump. I sat on that information until just recently. I decided to give it a try and see if I could get my truck purring again, well that truck doesn't really purr it more like roars like a hungry lion. But you get the picture. Anyway, anybody who knows me knows that I am anything but a mechanic. It is one of those things that God has not really blessed me with the ability to do. This truck is determined to change that though. Changing out the fuel injector pump according to the research I did before I started was only supposed to take me 2 hours at the most. Well, it took me 2.5 days and then a little bit yesterday.

Nothing can compare to the feeling of hearing that monster come alive, and boy did it. It came roaring out of its deep sleep and everybody in my parents neighborhood heard it. My truck is back in operation and it felt sooooo good to drive it again. It might not be a pretty thing but it is mine. All my life I wanted a Ford F350 crew cab truck and I have mine back.

I only have one problem. Not only have I always wanted a F350, but my kryptonite when it comes to cars are classic Mustangs. I had a Mustang when I was in High School until my brother ruined the engine, and I have always told Monica that I would like a '60's Mustang. What does this have to do with my truck? Well my brother told me that he has a friend who wants to trade his 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby for an early '90's Ford truck. Aughhhh! What to do? Tempted to trade my dream truck for my dream car. Why couldn't that dilemma happen with a job?

Well any way for right now I am loving having my truck back parked in front of my home. We'll see how long it lasts.

Most Aerodynamic Pine Wood Derby Car

Today was Sammy's Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby. He has been waiting for this day for over a month now. He took the time to sit down and design his car and we worked on it together. I supervised as he cut out the shape and he put it all together and painted it.

As we entered the Church for the Derby expectations were high. He was hoping to to come in first. Unfortunately due to a small problem that we had with the front axle he came in second in all three heats. He made me proud because you cold tell that the cars that beat him were not built by the scouts that were racing them. He on the other hand built his car and he did amazingly well. He knows what needs to be done for next year and is already working on his new design that will win the derby next year for sure. He did get an award for the most aerodynamic car in the derby though.

Christmas is Coming!

Well, one thing I love more than October and the baseball playoffs is CHRISTMAS! I love Christmas, it is the best part of the year. I love listening to Christmas music and the excitement that is in the air. I can do without all the commercial aspect of the season, but I love going to the stores and seeing all the Christmas stuff up and I love seeing the kids getting excited. They've been going through the Toys R Us big toy book this past week and they are pointing out all the stuff they want. Bella is so cute. She goes through and if it's pink, purple or girly looking she says that she wants it. Yesterday I asked her what she wanted and she said everything, except for a nerf gun, and I asked her if she wanted a real gun and she said no, but then I added even if it was a pink one, and she right away said yes if it was pink she wanted it. She is all girl! I've been eyeing a rifle just like the one I bought Sammy last year that is pink, Monica said I have to wait for her to get older though. Oh well, I guess I can wait. I think I get more excited than the kids, because I love to buy gifts for my children. I never go into Christmas wanting anything, but Monica always manages to get me something special. I love to see the look on her face and kid's faces when they open their gifts. That is all the gift I ever need.

Another aspect that I love about this time of the year is the miracles which seem to surround our family during this time. Every year Monica and I brace ourselves for a tough season, and without fail our Father always steps in with His tender mercies and grants our children a wonderful Christmas. I feel that He gets as much joy out of seeing the joy of the children as I do. It's wonderful. I always feel His miraculous power and love. We get to celebrate the birth of the Son of God and glory in His love. He came to earth in the humblest of circumstances and brought with Him hope and light. He it is of whom the prophets of old testified should come into the world and it is Him whom the prophets have testified came into the world and died for our sins. He came, born in a stable, making his abode with lowly animals, He died Lord of the universe, hung upon a cross and raised up in public humiliation. It is He who on the third day was raised from the tomb, the immortal Savior of the world. I love my Savior, and I love celebrating His most humble of births. This is why I love Christmas!

Guns, Guns and More Guns!

Well, it is no surprise to anyone, but I like guns. We had the funnest Elders Quorum Activity EVER! We as a Presidency organized a turkey shoot (being in the presidency is great when you have input for an activity like this, surprisingly enough I didn't suggest the activity). Anyway, we shot 3 cases of trap and spent about 400 shotgun rounds and about 400 rounds of ancillary ammunition with my hand guns and other rifles we had up there. IT WAS GREAT!!! Everybody commented on how great it was and that we should do it again. I didn't win the turkey shoot though, I only hit 9 of my 10. I did get a nice 1 lb. roll of turkey sausage, yippe! While up there I tested myself to check my accuracy, and I shot a 3 inch cluster with the .45 shooting rapid fire, I hit bullzeye with the SKS at 200 ft., and was an inch off bullzeye with the .22 handgun at 150 ft. So all in all not a bad shooting day. I know that this doesn't interest anybody reading this except maybe my brothers and dad, but I had fun and wanted to write about it. I can't wait to go out again.

On His Way to Eagle!

Well not really, but if he keeps up the pace he will be an Eagle by the time he is 15. That's Sam of course. He had his Cub Pack Meeting on Wednesday and received a bunch of awards. He got another arrow point and four academic belt loops and 3 academic pins.

He is well on his way to completing his Bear (and he just started this week) and he will be getting at least 2 more belt loops and another couple pins next month. He is on fire with Scouts. Like always I am very proud of him. Ammon is getting ready for June when he starts his Scouting career. He's wanted to do Tiger Cub Scouts, but the Church doesn't sponsor Tiger Cubs. He will probably hit the ground running come June though.

Halloween Preview

Well Everybody got together at Monica's mom's house for an early Halloween party and the kids all had a wonderful time playing and dancing and being with each other. The kids always love it when they can get together with their cousins. And it is always nice to get together with family and enjoy each others company.

If you couldn't tell, Ammon is a soldier, Bella is a spider witch, Samuel is Count Duku, and Joshua is Robin (he was so excited to put the costume on).

Sam's 9th Birthday Party

Well Samuel turned 9 years old on the 16th of this month. He was soooo excited to be turning 9. Monica made him a special breakfast on his birthday and I got up real early to decorate the dining area so when he came down for breakfast the house was all decorated for his day.

His party was on the 18th and everybody showed up for his Superman party. He didn't ask for Superman, but I got a good deal on the Superman decorations so that is what he got. He enjoyed it though so it wasn't bad.

I believe he pretty much got everything that he asked for and then some. I don't know what we are going to do with all the gifts that they get when they have a birthday.
The kids seemed to have a lot of fun. Grandma Ramirez went all out like she does for all our kids parties. We are so grateful for her willingness to host the parties and for everything she does to help.

My Sammy is growing up, he is quite the young man, I am always impressed with him and his understanding of complex things. I am proud to be his father and I love him very much, as I do all my children.

Father and Son Time

Today the boys didn't have school so we decided to do something fun. Ammon decided lastnight that he didn't want to go with us so Sammy and I went and had some fun in the west desert. Sammy as always did quite well and we had a ton of fun. I enjoy when we have the opportunity to go out and either go shooting or fishing.

I Love October!

I can't believe the baseball season is drawing to a close and we are entering into the post season. I know I am the only one who really cares about this, but this is what I live for. This year baseball has been pretty crazy. We've seen Tampa Bay of all teams come from nowhere and kick some serious butt on the field. They've all but finished up clinching their division (one game away from eliminating the Boston Bo Sux's). Although my A's were eliminated more than 20 games ago it brings me much pleasure to see Boston beat out by the TB's. I am sitting here listening to the songs on my blog getting pumped for some post season play.

It looks like th AL will be playing a series featuring TB vs. LAA and CWS vs. Bos. Both should be worth watching, but I would have to say the Angels will win their series and it will be a death match between the two Sux's teams. If Boston makes it they are hoping that the Angels win their series because they have been owned by TB most of the season.

Now for the NL, who knows what will happen there. I don't think the Cubbies have the depth to go all the way. Once you make it to this point coming back from behind gets more difficult. The Dodgers have pretty much clinched since Arizona is 3.5 behind and they will be eliminated with 2 more losses. The Phillies and the Mets have been battling it out all season. At one time the Phillies were running away with the division, but obviously remembered that they were the Phillies and that they needed to start playing traditional Phillie baseball. My money is on the Mets (no particular love for them, but if I were to chose one they would be it). So the wildcard will go to Millwakee. We will see a series featuring the Cubbies and the Mets and another featuring the Dodgers and Millwakee. The Dodgers will win theirs because Torre wants to rub it in the face of Steinbrener. Between the Mets and Cubbies it is hard to say. I'll go with the Cubbies because I like their skipper. He should provide good comic relief when it gets tense.

Eventually the World Series will feature the Angels vs. Cubbies and the goat will live on. We'll see though. That is the beauty of fall ball, nobody knows what will happen. I am soooooo excited. LET'S PLAY BALL!!!!!!

My Scouting Champion

Tonight Sam received the fruits of many hours of hard work. During his Cub Scout Pack Meeting he received his Wolf Rank, 6 belt loops and one gold star and two silver stars.

He has been working so hard to get his Wolf and I am so proud of him. He is one determined young man when he wants to be and tonight he proved his ability to do something great.

A Little Bit of Family Fun

Yesterday we had a fun afternoon as a family. I noticed Monica was looking a little stressed so I suggested that we go pick up a pizza for dinner and eat it at the park. The weather was perfect for a picnic. We ate and let the kids play at the big playground located at the Veteran's Memorial Park (aka West Jordan Park). Joshua was in high heaven. He always wants to go out to play, but doesn't get too many opportunities. He had access to the entire playground and we just followed him around. They played for about 1 hour until Ammon got hurt and we had to leave. Joshua had the biggest fit because he wasn't ready to leave. We went home and watched a couple of movies. I love watching movies at home with the big screen and surround sound it is like watching them in the theater. The best part is that we don't miss anything because of the kids. Anyway Joshua spent most of the evening trying to get outside. Finally I let him see that it was dark outside so that maybe he would give up trying to get out. That didn't work he walked outside and wanted to play. I thought that I would scare him into wanting to come inside so I acted like I was shutting the door and he took off. He was determined to play outside. We really had an enjoyable time and I think Monica was feeling better by bedtime.

It is always great when we have the opportunity to spend time together. I am always grateful for those tender mercies granted by our Heavenly Father which allow us those moments.

Pears, pears, and more pears

Thanks to Marnie and her friend I now have 14 bottles of pears. I went to Adriann's house today with Marnie to learn how to can pears. Someone in my ward gave me a box of pears yesterday. I was grateful for them, but had no clue on what to do with them. I found that it wasn't really that hard to can pears, but time consuming. Marnie also let me borrow her dehydrator. So for family night tonight my family peeled, cut and dehydrated pears. Bella thought it was such a fun night. Who knew. The boys also had fun. Maybe we'll have to make this a family tradition.

Time Out For Women

I recently had an awesome opportunity to go to Time Out for Women. It's like a retreat for women. Someone in my ward bought tickets and then wasn't able to go. She asked if I wanted to go, and of course I said yes. It was in Logan, so I carpooled with 3 other women in my ward, and we stayed at a hotel there. We left Friday afternoon, and came home Saturday afternoon. It was a fun getaway for me and opportunity to get to know some of the women in my ward better. I didn't really know any of them very well.

The talks were all inspirational. My favorite was by Mary Ellen Edmunds. She is so funny. She talked about being a peace maker. She got the point across, but I was laughing so hard I was crying. There were a lot of other good talks about finding joy in life. We also enjoyed a concert by Kenneth Cope and also Jenny Oaks Baker (an accomplished violinist). It was amazing! I felt so blessed to have this opportunity.

I Fixed It

Ok, you requested it and I listened. You can now comment on our family blog.

A Family Affair

I just got back from spending a few hours downtown at the Family History Library going through over 2,000 names to see if what work needed to be done within the Temple. I was able to narrow the names list to a little over 100 of Monica's ancestors who are in need of their work to be done. I was thinking, here I have thousands of my personal family ancestors who need their work done and I am preparing the names of Monica's family. Then I thought everyone needs their work done regardless of whose family they belong to and Monica is my family therefore her family is my family. Now it will be quite some time before we go to the Temple and do Temple file names. Too much work to be done in our families. The work will roll on and I will continue to do my family history work and preparing names for Temple work.

I love this work, I get a kick out of it. There is something exhilarating about searching for a name of an ancestor and just when you are about to give up, BAM! there it is the information that you've looking for. And not only do you have the information that you were looking for but enough information to open the door for even more work. It's great, I highly recommend family history work for everyone. It seems to improve your outlook on life as you loose yourself in service to those who have passed on before.

The Toilet From HELL!!!

At the end of June I finished a remodel on a house which I was very excited about, at least I thought I'd finished it. When I went to put the toilet in place, it wouldn't fit. I measured the space and discovered that when I went off of the original wall the imbeciles that built the house didn't put the drain for the tiolet in the correct place. I had a wonderful idea, so I thought and I purchased a special order toilet online for about $470. I wasn't going to break up that floor and retile and the works. The toilet came and there was no flush valve, so I got online and ordered one, another $200. Well a month later it comes and I am ready to install, so I think. I go to the house and cut into the wall and redirect the drain to the back of the toilet and do some additional plumbing to install the flush valve. Well wouldn't you know it, the house didn't have sufficient water pressure to operate the valve. So guess what, I had to break the tiles and cut into the ground and fix the holes that I made to install the other toilet. But the journey is complete and I am done. The toilet from hell is installed and it works and I never want to see that house again. The moral of the story, always, always, always, check the work of others, if not you will find yourself doing a simple job over and over again. Additionally if anybody has a toilet to install, don't call me I've had it with toilets (just kidding if you would like help I will be more than happy to help, I'll just bring my tape measure).

Well I guess we will join the crowd

Well, I never thought that I would end up putting a blog for my family on the internet. But here I am doing it. I really don't know what I will use it for, but whatever it is hopefully it will give people an idea of what is happening in our lives. I hope to get Monica involved in posting what is going on in our lives. Most people will get bored of hearing about us and will go away. We don't live exciting lives or really do anything. We normally sit around our home and wish we had the means to do something different.

Those who know me know that I am a dreamer, and I don't dream small. I am very politically minded and I let myself be heard. At one time I would surf the internet looking for articles about The Constitution and respond to them and to comments being made on them. I would get into some serious discussions with small minded people who had no idea what they were talking about and were revealing their ignorance at every turn. I really enjoyed that. I don't have as much free time as I then had, so I post articles about America on my other blog. I love my family, my God and my Country. I'd do anything for Monica and the kids.

Monica is the rock in the family. She wakes every morning and starts the day with exercise and then dives right in to motherhood. I am amazed at watching her do everything that she does for this family. She is my hero when it comes to maintaining a household. I tried it for a few days when she left for camp back in July and then again when she went to Trek. Believe me it was difficult and she does it day in and day out. She serves in her callings at church with such strength and dignity, she volunteers at the boy's school, she is going to start teaching as a part of a rotation for Bella's pre-school that her and a group of sisters from church are starting for the kids, she cooks, she cleans, she does laundry, does her visiting teaching, and everything else that I, the kids or the church asks her to do. She is AMAZING!!! She puts me to shame on a daily basis.

Our children are pretty amazing as well. I love to watch them grow and develop their talents. Samuel shares a lot of the same interests as I do. We love to go fishing together and shooting and play baseball and he likes to help me when I am working on a project in the garage. Ammon is his own person. He is very creative which I believe he gets from me. He can write stories and do art projects all day and just be in high heaven. Bella is quite the little princess, but always wants to go fishing when we go, although it doesn't last very long once she starts. She loves to play house and always wants her mom to play with her. Joshua is my mini-me. He likes to try and copy the things that I do and he loves baseball, or I should say loves to throw and hit the ball, any ball that he sees. He has quite the arm and can catch pretty good as well. He is into everything and he can drive his mom batty. All my children are so amazing to me. I watch their little spirits as they grow and develop their own understanding of things and I see so much light and knowledge in them that sometimes I sit in awe and wonder, wondering how I deserved them as my children.

Well we shall see how this blog progresses or doesn't. Like I said nothing much happens in our little household.