HSM3 - Opening Night

For the last few weeks, Sydney has been counting down the days until the release of High School Musical 3 (in theaters). And today was the day.

I bought tickets online about 2 weeks ago. Originally, this was going to be a Daddy/Daughter date, but after talking to Deni, we decided to do it as a family. I'm not a big "opening day" movie attender, but opening day happened to fall on a Friday and what better excuse to leave early than to take my daughter to a movie.

We got to the movie theater about 45 minutes early, however they had changed the time on our tickets, so we had just over an hour to wait. So we got in line.





Deni saw that another showing had been added and there were good seats still available, so we jumped out of line and went into the earlier showing. Saved us about 45 minutes.

HSM3 was a cute movie. Sydney sat next to me (and on my lap for part of it) but she loved the singing and dancing. She had a great time. I enjoyed seeing her so happy. I won't give the movie away, but I looked over during a kissing scene to see Ryan squinting his eyes closed. It was classic.

Kids pics

I took the kids up the canyon to take some pictures. I love the progress of these 3 pictures. It shows the real Sydney I know and love.

Hottest new game show

There's a new game that is taking America by storm called, How much can I lose in my 401k?

Seeing the Dow Jones Industrial Average go below 9,000 yesterday (and continue to fall today) to over a 5 year low made me look to see where I was in this hottest new game show.

I'm not sure if I'm winning or losing, but my Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 10/09/2008 is -39.2%.

One of my co-workers tells me to look on the bright side of things. I guess the bright side is I still have 60.8% of my 401k still left.

I'm not sure there is much I can do at this point but ride out the storm and hope it bottoms out soon.

High School Musical 3, here we come

Sydney loves High School Musical (HSM) and has been looking forward to HSM3 (Coming to theater near you on Friday, Oct 24, 2008.)

Originally I had planned on taking Sydney out for a Daddy/daughter date to see High School Musical 3 opening night, however we've decided to take the whole family instead. So tonight I bought movie tickets for opening day through Fandango. Sydney is going to be excited when she finds out we already have tickets.

No matter how bad a day is going (for Sydney) I can always ask her if she wants to watch HSM with me and she will immediately perk up. The movies are fun to watch...and YES - Sydney and I have fun singing along. We pick up the TV and DVD remotes and sing at the top of our lungs. I'm sure some will mock me for learning and singing songs from HSM, but mock away. Watching and singing the movies with Sydney makes her extremely happy, plus I'm spending time with my baby. What more could I ask for.

Priesthood Session

For at least the last 2 years, Ryan has always wanted to go with me to the Priesthood Session. Some think I'm mean for "making" him go, but the truth is, he wants to come with me. I've never made him come with me, he always expects to go.

We were running a little behind on Saturday and Deni suggested that maybe Ryan should just stay home this time and not go to Priesthood Session with me. You would have thought that Deni just broke Ryan's favorite toy. He was pretty upset.

It makes me pretty happy to see him get upset about not being able to go to the Priesthood session.

So we hurried things along and I waited for him to get ready to go. Truth be told, he is usually pretty good about taking notes and listening. Matter of fact, in the past, he has remembered stories better than I have.

Ryan is a good little man. I hope he continues making great decisions like wanting to go to the Priesthood Session of Conference.

No, I'm not done, what's his name again?

Sydney was saying her pray tonight and paused for a long time. I wasn't sure why she had paused, so after a long silence, I decided to prompt her by saying "In the name of....." to see if she would finish her prayer. She then said, "No, I'm not done, what's his name again?" Not knowing which name she was talking about, I asked her who she was talking about. She then said "I remember President Monson, and Elder Eyring, but what's the other guys name." She of course was referring to the Prophet (President Monson) and First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I told her it was "Elder Uchtdorf" and she promptly continued on with her prayer.

Happy 31st Birhday Deni

Today was Deni's 31st birthday. Very anticlimactic for her, I'm sure. Why, you ask?

1. Deni bought her own birthday present
2. Deni opened it a few weeks ago

See her early birthday post

Today was extremely busy today with church, meetings, etc however I did find time to make Deni dinner (even though it was only a spaghetti dinner).

After dinner, we went out on a walk as a family. Actually only Deni and I walked. Ryan was on his roller blades and Sydney on her scooter. As we walked, it gave us time to walk hand in hand without the kids being so close. I sure enjoy walking hand in hand with Deni.

Happy Birthday Deni. I love you.

Back from Wood Badge

I had a great opportunity to attend Wood Badge at Camp Maple Dell this last week. Even better, Deni was able to attend with me. Although we didn't see much of each other, here is a picture that was taken towards the end of the week.



I've been functioning as the Boy Scouts of America Varsity Coach for the boys that are 14 and 15 in my ward for the last couple of years and Deni was recently called as the Primary President in our Ward, which means she has the responsibility over the 11 year old Boy Scouts. We've both had leader specific training in our own areas, however a co-worker of mine had been "bugging" me to sign up for Wood Badge for sometime and I finally broke down and signed up for it and shortly thereafter, Deni signed up for the same training.

Camp Maple Dell is a Boy Scout Camp up Payson Canyon and it was beautiful this time of year. Here is a picture of the lake at Camp Maple Dell.



Wood Badge is an Adult Scout leadership training. The training aims to make better leaders by teaching advanced leadership skills and by creating a bond and commitment to the Scout movement. The Training was a combination of classroom and practical outdoors-based trainings.

Going to Wood Badge was a huge sacrifice for us. Not only was it 5 days off of work + all day Saturday, but it was also the cost of the training ($160.00 per person) plus getting a full uniform (including belt, socks, activity shirts, etc. - And that ain't cheap.) Deni and I already had Shirts, however we didn't have a full uniform. We do now.

As for the training itself, they asked us to not talk much about the actual materials/lessons so that those that go will get the full experience. Wood Badge was a unique training that helped me learn new skills that I am applying to Scouting, work, and home life. We were divided into patrols where we played, lived and worked together. Deni and I were in different patrols, so we didn't see each other much, matter of fact I had to steal a kiss from her about 5 days into the training when our paths briefly crossed.

Deni getting an award during lunch.




We were also able to experience the fun and adventure of Scouting first hand (it was pretty amazing to see Bishops and Stake Leaders acting like 14 yr old boys and having fun in competitions). Throughout the whole experience, the staff set a perfect example of how a perfect pack, troop, team and crew should be run.

All in all, it was a great week and well worth the time spent.

Here are some pictures of my Patrol

Salsa day

The tomato plants. Actually these tall tomato plants aren't the actual tomatoes we used. The Roma tomato is a much smaller plant (barely in the picture to the left) with a longer beefier tomato. These tall plants are Beefmaster and Early Girls.



Deni and Sydney blanching the tomatoes to get the skin off.



Cooking the peppers on the grill



Cooking the Salsa. You boil the salsa for about 30 minutes.



Finished Product - Today we bottled 14 quarts of fresh Salsa.

Ryan's Baptism

I can't believe that I have a child that is old enough to be baptized. Ryan turned 8 earlier this month, however we had to wait until Stake baptism today to actually baptize him. Ryan has been very excited since his birthday.

We had a great showing from our families. Both my sisters and families were in attendance, as were my parents. Deni's parents flew in to participate in Ryan's baptism as well. We also had a few cousins (on either side) and good friends (Ben & Emily Williams & family).

As always things were very hectic this morning. Deni not only had the stress of her own son's baptism, but as the Primary President, also had to conduct part of the meeting and welcome Ryan and the little girl that was baptized with him into the Church and Primary.

Ryan and I changed into our white clothes and Dad took a few pictures of us.



I then went to help Deni finish up the photocopying of the program.

Ryan, Deni and I all sat in the front of the chapel. I felt the spirit very strong in the chapel. As it was Ryan's turn to be baptized, Ryan and I walked hand in hand down the hallway to the Baptismal font. Garrin Ellis and Keith Bigler were the witnesses of the baptism. The water was warm as we entered the font. I took Ryan by the right hand and as I raised my hand to the square, I was overcome with the spirit. I paused for a few seconds to gain my composure and then said the baptismal prayer. Ryan went completely under the water and came back up. After looking to the two witnesses to confirm I had said the prayer correctly and that Ryan had gone completely under the water, we exited the font.

Ryan and I quickly changed back into our Sunday clothes and we went back to the chapel. We heard a talk on the Holy Ghost from Grandpa Keith Bigler and then Grandpa Terry Berger confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and gave him the Holy Ghost.



Here's a picture with Grandpa Berger



After the special events, we invited all our friends and family back to our house for a luncheon where we had Navajo Tacos (or as my family calls them - Scones). We had a great rest of the day visiting with family.