If you die, can I have your monitor

I didn't sleep well last night as I couldn't stop coughing. I think I fell asleep about 2am, last night. Deni called first thing this morning and got me a doctor appointment at 10:30am. I stayed home and worked from home until my Dr appointment.

I got to the Dr at 10:30am and sat there until 11:30am before they called me back. They checked me for Strep and ended up getting a couple of prescriptions.

For the last few days at work, I've tried to keep my door shut as I can't stop coughing. A co-worker has mentioned a few times that he was concerned about my cough, as it didn't sound good.

Anyway, the same co-worker stopped by my office today as he was leaving and said "That cough still doesn't sound good." I assured him that I had been to the Doctor today and that I had a prescription to help with the cough. He then said, "Well, If you die, can I have your (computer) monitor..... not that I want you to die, but if you do, can I have it?" I again assured him I would survive, but told him he could have it.

Driving back from AZ

We drove back from Arizona today. We didn't leave too early, as it had snowed all night and was still snowing when we left at about 9:30am. The roads in Heber, AZ hadn't even been plowed when we left. We got stuck behind a snowplow about 15 miles from the main highway, which means we were stuck driving 30mph for those 15 miles.

Sydney wasn't feeling well today. It was hard to see her not feeling well, especially having to be in a car seat for 11 hrs. We didn't rush today, stopped when we needed to.

We made it home safe and sound about 11-12 hrs after we left.

Deni and Prayer

When we first got the Arizona, Keith, my father-in-law, asked if I wanted to speak in church on Sunday. I immediately said, No, but Deni said she would speak. Deni was given the topic of prayer.

There are three wards in Heber, AZ. Deni was speaking at 11am. We got a call shortly before 11am stating that the 1pm ward had been canceled and that the 11am ward was only having Sacrament meeting.

Deni had a great talk and did well.

The rest of day we spent time with family playing games. We had a great time.

Jessica and Nic's sealing

We woke up to a couple of inches of snow. The snow was heavy and wet. Ryan and I went out and made a little 4ft snowman. It was fun to play out in the snow with Ryan.

Aunt Kati took Ryan, Sydney and Lori's kids out sledding. They were gone for a while so I was starting to get a little nervous. Within a few minutes, they were home and all the kids were happy and appeared to have a lot of fun.

At 2:30pm Deni and I left for Snowflake, AZ for Jessica and Nic DeSpain's Temple sealing. Jessica and Nic DeSpain are my brother and sister in-law. The Sealing was good. Their daughter was also sealed to them, which was fun to watch.

Afterwards, we had a little dinner reception and then came home.

A day at Grandma and Grandpa Bigler's house

The kids loved waking up at Grandma and Grandpa Bigler's house. The kids especially loved waking up to two cats and one dog.

It started snowing today about 3pm and it started to stick.

We had a game night at the Biglers tonight. Nic and Jessica (Deni's sister), Lori (Deni's sister)and Jared, Donna and Keith, Kati (Deni's sister), Grandma Bowers, as well as some of Nic's family were all at the house. It was fun to play games with them.

After dinner and the games, Grandma Bowers was ready to go home and since it was still snowing, Deni drove Grandma Bowers home in her car while I drove Keith's truck over to bring Deni home. There is probably 2 to 3 inches of snow already.

Brainshare 2007 and Driving to AZ

Each year in March, the company I work for, Novell, has a huge technical conference (Brainshare) where thousands of our customers pay roughly $1,500 to come and learn for a week. For that $1,500, the attendees get a breakfast, lunch and dinner and all the technical trainings they can handle. On top of the $1,500 the attendees have to pay for airfare to SLC, UT and hotel for a week.

Anyway, last year was the first year that I helped teach a session or technical training at Brainshare. It was a little nerve racking, but after doing it, it was fun. So why am I writing about last March now. Well I'm going to be teaching another session this year and was up till 12:30am last night working on my presentation. I worked on my presentation a little bit this morning as the first draft is due early next week.

The rest of the morning I spent packing and getting ready to leave for Arizona. This Arizona trip has been an expensive one and we haven't even left yet. We got the oil changed, which lead to getting the front brakes fixed and tires rotated. (I think I went into the wrong profession).

We checked Ryan out of school at 12:13pm. The lady at the front desk asked where we were going. We told her Arizona and she said, at least you are going somewhere warm. So I explained to her that where we are going to in Arizona, it is just as cold as Spanish Fork.

We got on I-15 about 12:30pm on our way to Heber, AZ.  About 30 minutes into the drive Sydney started asking if "we are there yet."

We got to Heber, AZ at about 10:30pm and it was 15 degrees. Sydney was asleep, so we took the kids inside and in bed.

Cold nights, warm blankets

I think we are on to something. Since putting new pillows, flannel sheets and a down comforter on the kids beds, both of them have slept through the night for the last 2 nights. Money well spent.

I don't ever remember a winter ever being so cold. The news said that Roosevelt, a city in eastern Utah, was -31 degrees F overnight.

Tonight was Mutual. We took all the YM to a Spanish Fork City Council meeting. We got there right at 6pm, which is when it was supposed to start. There were no seats as there were a lot of people there. I doubt the kids got anything out of the meeting. After the meeting, we went back to the church and talked about it for a few minutes. It was interesting to hear the kids say that they didn't really care about what was being said at the City Council meeting. They can't see past a year or two in the future.

Pinkeye x 2

Sydney got pinkeye last week. Deni promptly took her to the Dr and got her medicine. After a day or so on medicine, her eyes were back to normal. We had to hold her down to put the eye drops in her eyes and then force her eyes open, as she didn't want eye drops in her eyes. Mean parents, I know.

We were very careful handling the medicine and cleaning up after giving her the medicine. Deni even wiped the house down with clorox wipes. And of course we also constantly washed our hands, but it didn't work, I got Pinkeye!

Yesterday when I went to work, my eyes were killing me. They were very red, but I thought that it was because I didn't get a good nights sleep. However this morning, there was no mistaking it. I couldn't open one eye, as it was stuck shut with goop.

I took Sydney's eye drops and started treating myself for pinkeye this morning. Oh what fun! I re-wiped down all the door handles, light switches, etc at home this morning. I also did it at work too.

At work, instead of going to my meetings in person, I called in. They all gave me a hard time about not walking over to the meeting, until I told them I had pinkeye and then everyone was glad I stayed away.

Martin Luther King Jr holiday

Today was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a company holiday, but as usual, I worked so that I would get paid an extra 8 hrs worth of pay (on top of my holiday pay, so it's like getting paid double time, but all I get extra is 8 hrs of pay.)

I've worked the last 3 holidays (or more) attempting to pay for my bike I bought last year. I bought my bike on a 1 yr same as cash deal, and since I never pay interest on things, I'm working on getting it paid off before July 2007. I'll make it.

Holidays are typically slow, which is was today. It allowed me to catch up on a backlog of to-do's I've been trying to get to for some time.

I got some ties from my mother-in-law for Christmas. I recently returned them, so I had some money burning a hole in my pocket that I wanted to spend (on ties). It being a holiday today and there being sales today, I figured today was just as good as any to spend that money.

I do have to say that I was in desperate need of ties, so I'm thankful I got them for Christmas, but unfortunately they didn't fit my tastes, so I returned them and got the money back, to buy something that fit me better.

After work, I went shopping for ties. I found one that I liked. I ended up getting some new dress pants as well. Still need to get a few more.

This last week the weather has been bitterly cold. Matter of fact, when I left for work this morning, it was -6 F. The kids have been coming up stairs during the night and we think it has been because they have been getting cold. So while I was shopping, I ran across some nice down comforters and flannel sheets which I purchased for both kids.

Finally, we invited my parents over for dinner tonight. We ate dinner and then played games. It has been a while since Mom and Dad had come over just to hang out. We had a lot of fun.

Burley Idaho, here we come

It appears that doing just "a sprint" distance triathlon isn't good enough in 2007. My wife has set a New Year's Resolution for me to compete in an Olympic Distance (which is twice the distances in a sprint)

1.5km swim
40k mile bike ride
10k mile run

After some debate, we both signed up for the Burley, Idaho Spudman today. This is a much bigger race than the others we have been in. There are 1600 participants.

It's a good thing we signed up today as:

The 2007 Spudman is FULL.
(1600 bib numbers)
(300 more than last year)

Registration closed at 7:50pm on January 1st, 2007, 19 hours and 50 minutes after registration opened.