School Break

The kids had this past Thurs. and Fri. off of school. We tryed to go to the zoo, but it was packed, I couldn't find a parking spot any where. So we went up Cottonwood Canyon instead. There was no crowds there. It was nice and peacful. The kids loved climbing the rocks at a picnic place we stopped at.

Ammon loved jumping off the rocks

Sam is quite the climber and got pretty high

Bella got into the climbing too.

Joshua loved throwing rocks in the water

We spotted a moose and the most exciting was a rabbit. It let us get pretty close before it hopped away.

It was a fun outing and beautiful with all the fall colors coming out.

A "Fair" Day

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go as a family and spend the entire day at the Utah State Fair. The kids were so excited for it all week. They wanted to be there right when it opened.
We bought our tickets last month so that we could get them at a discount especially the all day ride passes for the kids. They started riding on the rides as soon as they opened and rode all day until we left at 9:00 pm. It was fun watching them run from ride to ride and just enjoy themselves. Since we were there all day we had plenty of time to see everything.
The only problem is the food. It has been awhile since we've gone to the fair and purchased food there. It was expensive, luckily we had put aside enough money. If we go again next year we won't be eating at the fair, we will take our food.
I am grateful that we were blessed to be able to go this year. Monica has been wanting to do something fun as a family and we were blessed to be able to receive some bonus checks through my work that we were able to divert some of them to being able to have fun. I do believe everybody had a good time. Joshua was asleep before we even left the parking lot and as soon as we got home and had scripture and prayer the others were asleep before Monica and I went to bed. They were exhausted.

Happy Birthday Beautiful

I just want to wish Monica a happy birthday and let everyone know how much I love my wife. I am grateful for her. She is an amazing mom and wife, and she is my best friend. She puts up with a lot being married to me, but never really complains.
For her birthday we are going out to dinner as a family and then tomorrow we will go see the Scarlet Pimpernel at The Hale Centre Theatre. I think she's excited, if not she sure hides her disappointment well. Monica, I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Scouts

Sam and Ammon have been working this summer on their cub scouts. I am proud of both of them. Sam earned his religous knot, 1 gold arrow, and 3 silver arrows. Ammon earned his Bobcat, and 5 belt loops. Way to go boys!

Back to School

Sam and Ammon started back to school on the 19th, and Bella's first day of kindergarten was yesterday. This is a picture of them just before school (Bella has afternoon kindergarten so her hair wasn't done yet). She was so excited to go all day she kept asking, "Is it time yet?" I would say no, and she would say, "I just want to go to school". She did so well too. She just walked right in and didn't even look back at me. She could care less if I stayed or left. Joshua on the other hand cryed when we left without Bella. We had some nice one on one time at home though. When I went to pick the kids up from school, the first thing Bella told me was, "Mom, guess what?! I got homework!" all excited like. I heard Ammon telling her in the back seat of the car that he used to like homework, but now he doesn't anymore. Bella loved her first day. Today was good too because she got a Popsicle as a snack. Sam and Ammon are enjoying being back in school as well.

Coming full Circle

Things have come full circle for me today. I have been wearing this bracelet since March. It was given to everyone involved with the youth temple celebration. We got it at a youth fireside introducing the plans for the youth celebration. We were told to wear it everyday as a reminder to ourselves to go to the temple, or keep ourselves worthy to go. It is also a tool to let others know about the temple. It says, "Come Up To The Mountain".

So I have been faithfully wearing it, never taking it off, not even for showers for 5 months now. I was going to take it off after the youth celebration in May, but decided to keep it on till the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I have been wearing it with pride, as I went to the temple, volunteered at the temple open house, and now today as I went to the temple dedication. It is actually hard to take it off. Kind of like taking off the missionary tag. It has been a constant reminder of the peace, love, and joy I have felt has I have had the opportunity to serve, and be a part of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Now I can't wait to go and serve in this beautiful temple.

Here I am at work

Well here I am at work and I was looking at our family's blog and saw that there were some comments left on post I did about my job. So I decided to give an update.
I probably have the easiest job on the face of the planet. I sit here do a little work throughout the day, but mostly I sit and stare out the window from my desk. I have done what I can to make my office a reflection of me. When I got here it looked too feminine since the old manager was female. So I took all the frilly stuff down and put up my baseball stuff.
I guess I should go back a little and say starting this week I have the easiest job in the world. For the last few weeks I've been dealing with a situation which tried my patience and my willingness to stay at it. The old manager decided that taking the coffee maker when she left wasn't enough so she accessed the account with some checks that she took with her and drained the bank account of $20,000 by the time she was caught. Well every loan that I wrote and every check that I made out bounced because the bank closed the account as soon as the fraud was discovered. I had to deal with all the angry and confused people. It was good in that I showed the company what I am capable of, and I continued to write loans and get them funded during the whole ordeal even though it consisted of a lot more hoops to jump through for the client. I had several of the VP's of the company here working with me and the Chief Marketing officer here a couple of days and they were all very impressed with my abilities. I did tell them that if they were trying to get rid of me they were doing all the right things to do it. It is all taken care of now, I had to yell at the Senior Executive VP and the CFO of the company to resolve it, but now I am able to work smoothly without problems. At least for now. All in all there are not too many jobs where you can sit and do nothing for about 75% of the day (most days not all) and get paid for it.