Oh hey - I almost didn't see you there.

I'm perfectly aware that no one reads this blog anymore. Why would they? I haven't updated it in 3 years...

I logged in today to try to narrow down some dates from the past to help Sean figure out when we last saw the neuro-surgeon. While doing that I re-read a few of my old posts.

As I looked through I was struck by how those thoughts and feelings came rushing back and I found myself living those moments again: Would Sean be okay, and what would we do if he wasn't? Was my Jordan really on the road to marriage and what would it be like to blend our family with Jessica's? How would Carter and Anna do? Would they survive the crucible of such an early thrust into marriage and family? What would life be like in 1 year, in 2, in 5?

There have been many joys and pains along the way, and life has shifted and changed so much more than I could have predicted, but at the same time, the deep foundations are still strong and weathering things quite well.

I love my life, and I love you.

repectfully,
- jake

Write or Die, or in other words, Time to write

My first dive into Write or Die. Trying to see if this can be the motivator that I need in order to write as much as I really would like to. Back in September I committed to try and blog every day. I think I was able to complete a full two blog entries during the entire month. (I double checked, and I wrote 0 blog entries in September or October - 0... crap.)

In fairness, e.g. the excuse du jour, this was largely due to the fact that we had some interesting family things come up. Here we are two months later, and I have another daughter in law, and another grandchild on the way. Very exciting stuff - but to get ready for that involved changing our living areas to physically enclose an additional bedroom in our house.

This included building a wall, electrical work, hanging drywall, doing mud and tape - including learning how to mud and tape corners (both inside and outside - and who knew that corners can also mean where walls meet ceilings - not me that's who) and sanding, followed by painting with the associated taping, drop cloths, color selections and the like, together with all of the cleanup, and lastly the installation of all of the trim which required borrowing tools, ensuring proper cuts of the board and getting it all thrown together. This whole project running concurrently with getting everything else that we needed to get done for the wedding done. It was great fun, and we're all certainly glad that it's finally over. Phew.

Now we're looking Christmas time squarely in the face. More checklists and to - dos to get everything done and ready for that. Including getting things sent early enough to the missionary son in California that he can participate in some of the fun Christmas traditions that the Roseville mission has as part of it's history. Last night whilst keeping abreast of all of the trick or treaters that were visiting with great regularity, La Reine and I successfully selected a large number of family pictures, loaded them on a digital picture frame, wrapped it up in pretty Christmas paper, and got it ready to be shipped. We're going to be shipping that today with some hand written letters, and at the same time I'll be shipping a few other things that he's wanted, though they'll be going in a separate package so that he can get them sooner than Christmas.

I'm also doing this on Write or Die so that I can be challenged to actually write a set length entry in a ridiculously small amount of time - and lo and behold, I didn't make it. But I got close - 435 words in the 10 minutes I gave myself - but my goal was 500 words. Oh well.

Back to the interesting dialogue. I am excited about some of the other fun things we've got coming up in the next couple of months as we roll full steam into the holidays. Christmas music, family time, anniversary to plan, Christmas shopping and the like.

That's it for today I think - but I'm going to come back again tomorrow to see if I can get those 500 words in 10 minutes and we'll see what happens. Wish me luck.

Respectfully,

- jake

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist...

There's a James Taylor song that I love - well he has lots of songs that I love, but one in particular, "Shed A Little Light" is resonating with and for me today.

The particular lyric that's getting to me is:

"...that we are bound together
in our desire to see the world become
a place in which our children can grow free and strong
we are bound together
by the task that stands before us,
and the road that lies ahead
we are bound and we are bound..."

The last couple of days have been ones during which I've reflected a great deal on the road behind, and the repetitions that come when others choose to follow the same road.

As I look back at the road, I see that it is now reflected in the eyes of those I dearly love as they look ahead. I am overcome by emotions - both good and bad, but all poignant - so much so they are nearly painful.

The one thing that I know for certain is this: the Lord will indeed shed a little light so that we can see, and many years from now as we look back together on this road, we will smile, we may shed a tear or two, and we will share the joy of the journey with those whom we so dearly love.

respectfully,

-jake

A rededication

I recognize that I’m not a very committed blogger. A post once a year whether I need to or not, and then seemingly unable to commit to following through with more than that, regardless of professions to the contrary.

Part of the problem is not having a direction – what do I want to write about? Who am I doing it for?

Secretly I want to write about whatever comes to mind, but I’m worried that when others read it they’ll judge the content or the author. An inner monologue akin to “wow – he thought that was worth writing about? Seriously?”. This is my fear. Will it be funny at the right time, poignant when required. Will people come back to read it because it’s compelling? Will they want to be my friends? Do I care?

I think you get the point here.

I suppose that what I need to do is come up with a focus and then go with it.

To that end, I'm going to attempt writing a blog entry every day in September. Wish me luck, and feel free to comment...

- jake

Someone saved some guys life last night

I was hanging out with Baby Girl last night. It was just us - we'd arrived home from her dance class - and were enjoying some quality time together. La Reine was out shopping for a homecoming dress with CK's date, SK was at Rugby practice, and CK and Q weren't home from football practice.

Basically just really nice. We were chatting about how dance had gone - "fabulous", and if she needed any help getting homework started and the like. She had opted to sit on my lap, which doesn't happen all that often anymore - heaven.

Then reality set in as CK and Q arrived home.

And then...

A phone call. It was a friend from a few blocks away calling to make sure that SK was alright. Apparently she'd seen him standing on the side of the road near an accident - overturned car - and wanted to be sure that everything had turned out okay since she'd been unable to stop.

She may not have been able to stop, but my heart did for a brief second as I wondered myself if he was alright since I'd had no phone call.

We chatted for just a minute and as CK and Q figured out what we were talking about they chimed in with more information.

Apparently SK had driven past the accident on his way to Rugby practice and had pulled over to see if he could help. He's a certified first responder and is required to do so. The young man who'd been driving the car was a friend of his and he checked out okay despite some minor lacerations on his face and a nasty bump. S determined that 911 had already been called, and that's when he realized there was a passenger who was out of the car on the other side but who was not responding.

The details are a little fuzzy at this point, but essentially S determined he wasn't breathing and started CPR which he continued for 10 minutes until the paramedics arrived. Then, after turning things over to them, he double checked with his buddy to be sure he was getting taken care of, and then continued on to rugby practice with no further fanfare.

CK and Q had heard about it because S had called his mentor Donny who is the trainer at the school and had thanked him for helping him get the skills that he's used to save that young man's life. Donny had shared the information with several of the players as they were leaving practice.

When SK got home, he was beat. I asked him how he was, if he'd been scared, had he struggled with remembering what to do. He replied - "I'm tired from doing CPR and then from practice. I was scared, but not really until I was well into it - it's one of those things where adrenalin kicks in and you just act. I'm really glad I was there and that I had some knowledge which helped." He also talked about how he wondered why it had taken so long for the paramedics to arrive since they came from the fire station that was literally less than a mile down the street - and how he'd thought about that a lot while doing the CPR.

And that was about it - he showered and headed to bed.

I've got to say that I'm impressed and pleased with all of my children. I'm continually amazed by the things they do, and even more by the incredible people they have and are becoming.

I really couldn't ask for more.

respectfully,

-jake

Once there was a way to get back home

It's been nearly a year since I last posted.

I'm not certain why I stopped, but it felt right to have a hiatus for a time. I don't believe that anyone was really reading this ramble anymore anyway, and certainly no one has complained or even remarked on the fact that I've not been posting, so that confirms that no one has really missed it.

There have been days when I've missed it, but there have been many days when I haven't. I've been feeling lately like it's time again so we'll see how that goes.

drop me a line or comment if you're still around.

respectfully,

- jake

Baby Girl's first Dance Solo

Last Tuesday BG had her first dance solo at the Covey Center.

You were fantastic little one! And thanks to T. Lougee for the great choreography.

What's something funny that I did?

Baby Girl is loving, loving, loving school. She couldn't wait to go back almost as soon as last school year was over. I love her so much, but I sometimes wonder where she gets these traits she has. But, since they're overwhelmingly good I don't worry so much that she didn't get them from me. Small favors no?

Last night as she was anxiously engaging in her homework (uh... again, not from me) she was filling out a get to know you type survey and it was a lot of fun to help her with that.

One of the questions - Name 3 things that you're afraid of. Her response? How my brothers smell when they get home from football practice, My Brothers armpits, and poisonous snakes.

Another question - Tell about something funny that you did. Her response - Drew some pickles on a piece of paper and used the paper to save my place on the couch. Well let me tell you - we all fell about laughing at that one. Wait - don't tell me you're not laughing? Really? Could it be that you don't have the backstory? Well, in the mode of Dr. D:

A couple of years ago, I took my boys to see the latest Bourne movie on premier day. We got to the theater kind of late and had some trouble finding a spot where we could all sit together. We finally found a spot on the 2nd row and moved over to the center. Q said - "Dad, there's something in this chair." I looked, and sure enough someone had left a half eaten pickle - one of those huge deli variety pickles that they sell at the movie theaters... tucked inside a napkin and wedged into the cup holder of the arm rest.

Never one to be afraid of pickles, I gingerly grasped the napkin and chucked the pickle under the seats for those lucky theater workers to clean later. Just as I was letting go of the happy bundle, I hear a rather loud, angry voice yelling something on the order of "What do you think you're doing?". And this twentysomething young man is getting in my face about why I threw his pickle on the ground. He was really heated about the whole thing and I apologized to him and told him I was sorry, and that I had assumed that someone from a previous showing had left it there and it hadn't been cleaned up.

Well - not good enough for him - he was really mad and was getting more angry. So I quip "Well in my experience it's not customary for a pickle to save someone's seat", and then people around us started to chime in saying things like "Dude, you need to calm down.", "Get over it - it was a pickle" and the like. Well - he went from angry to embarrassed in about 2 seconds. And that's when I started to feel bad for the kid. He mumbled something about how that pickle was the only thing he could afford and that he was sorry for losing his temper etc. I offered to buy him a new pickle, or anything else he wanted from the snack bar, but he'd moved from embarrassed to mortified and didn't want to talk to me anymore - the problem was that there were so few open seats in the theater now, that he had to sit just 3 seats down from us.

I tried a couple more times to get him to allow me to buy him something to replace the pickle, but he pulled his hat down over his face a bit and said he was fine, and asked me just to drop it. So I decided it was best just to honor his wish, and let it go.

Just then, one of the guys in the group behind us said "Hey, I'm going to run get a drink, save my place." to his buddy - to which the buddy replied, "Sure, I'll just put a pickle here on your seat."

Everyone around us laughed - except me and this poor young kid.

He got up and left, and I'm assuming found somewhere else to sit in the theater.

Today the story is oft told in our family, and we generally laugh about it - but I confess I still feel badly for that young man, and wish I could go back and make things better.

That said - I laughed right along with the rest of them when BG decided to choose the pickle drawings place saver as her funny thing. Because it truly was funny my friends - it truly was.

Respectfully,

- jake

Testing

I've had a new phone for a few months now, and I've not remembered to configure it to work with blog posts, until today.

Seems to work well, which is nice.

Enjoy a snapshot of dinner - we call it our triple bypass mac & cheese. This time I sautéed up some ham until it was nice and crispy and sprinkled it on top, but I left some without ham for Baby Girl who rarely eats "Wilbur" related foods - Thanks Charlotte's Web.

Wait - I have a blog?

I'd sort of forgotten. Okay - I'm not going to lie. I remembered the blog, and have received many gentle reminders that it's been a while since I've updated. I'm sorry. A lot has gone on over the past couple of months, and I don't know that I'll have time to go back and write about all of the things that have gone on since I last update - especially considering that my previous updates were sporadic at best - oh well.

That said, things are going well - and we're excited about the new school year, and the new football season.

Three boys at PHS this year, and all of them playing football. SK and CK will be playing varsity, and Q will be playing with the sophomore team.

Blogging interupt - La Reine just asked what I was doing. I looked over
and told her I was blogging. She smiled and mumbled something like it's about
time - restart blogging...

It turns out that free education is only so free btw - though we did manage to keep it under $2000.00 this year - so I'm glad of that. I can only imagine what it would have been like if instead of Q, Baby Girl had been our 3rd at PHS this year, we'd have added several hundred more for dance and cheer - at least most likely we would have. So I'm choosing to be grateful about the amount of our fees thank you very much.

I'll keep this one short - but it's good to be back. I know I likely have very few readers left - if any, but once upon a time I said that I do this for myself - so I'll continue to labor under that statement.

respectfully,

-jake

BG's Concert

Baby Girl's recital piece:

Prom 2009 - First Part

I really need to download all the pics from the camera onto a computer and go on a posting rampage - there are so many great things to share...

But - until I do, here are some pics of Sean and his date Eliza from my phone...

P.S. It's a good thing I didn't really have a bet going with Cari on who would post first...

Excuse me. I believe I ordered the large nasal gas delivery system...

Baby Girl lost a filling. We've found the Nitros to be a very helpful addition to our dental excursions. No more screaming, crying, throwings fits, grabbing the Doctor's hands and jumping out of the chair.

- jake

Disney videos of my youth

I loved these when I was a kid. I was talking with my kids about them the other day, specifically about Lambert the sheepish lion, and I found them on youtube - of course. Here they are for my kids, and for you all too. Enjoy.

Peter and the Wolf part 1


Peter and the Wolf part 2


and to complete the wolf theme, Lambert the Sheepish Lion


BTW - I was terrified of these wolves when I was little. For literally years after I first saw them, I was certain that the wolf lived in my laundry room and when it was dark in the house, I'd run like crazy for my bed, and if I couldn't get to sleep, I'd see the wolf's nose edging around the corner of my bedroom door. Chilling! I'll confess that I still get a frisson of remembered fear when those wolves snap those jaws, even today.

- jake

Big dance trophies are cool!

What you can't see here is that the trophy is sitting on the floor (yep - it stands nearly as tall as does BG)

-jake

Books

At the end of our team meeting at work today, after we'd wrapped with business and were just chatting, we started talking about books. Someone asked me if I was a member of goodreads (yes) and suggested that we should be goodreads friends. We went on for 20 minutes asking around about which books we'd read, what each of us like reading, made recommendations and so on.

It was great.

Then I realized that I still haven't really made the effort to keep goodreads up to date, or even to make the smallest effort to actually add books I've read in the past. So at lunch today, I logged into my account and started updating. I've made a small dent, but the process has made me feel kind of weird - almost melancholy. I don't know why - sometimes I get that way in the middle of a Barnes & Noble too. Not sad really, more contemplative. I can't really explain it.

Why is it that my association with books tends to put me in that mood? Books definitely have the ability to cause me to swing out amongst the entire gamut of my feelings. As a kid I spent a lot of time reading. Though I had good friends, I never had lots of friends, so when Bob or Jeff or Brooks couldn't play - I'd read a book. Whatever the case or reason, I still read all the time, at least an hour a day, not counting scripture study. Crazy? Selfish? Perhaps, but fulfilling to be sure.

Ah well. As with all things, I'll try to do better about getting goodreads up to date, so if you're interested in being friends - just ping me with a comment. If not, that's fine too.

-jake

Why Mormons build Temples

Why do Mormons build Temples anyway?

I guess we could thank HBO and Big Love for raising awareness about the Temples built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Temples are built by the Mormon church in obedience to commandments from a loving Heavenly Father. They are built to allow for the conducting and performance of sacred ordinances that enable our Heavenly Fathers children, both living now, and those who have lived in all ages of the world, to receive a fulness of the blessings that our Father desires for each of us.

Why can't anyone go in? Why all the secrecy? It's important to make a distinction between secrecy and the sacred. A careful review of scripture shows us that the Lord hasn't told all things to all people. Certain prerequisites must be met in order to receive sacred information. All members of the church who are worthy and in good standing are encouraged to participate in Temple ordinances, and to do so with regular frequency.

Embedded here is a new video which shares information from leaders of the LDS Church on the Temples. I encourage you to watch it. (P.S. After the video plays, you can scroll through other Mormon Message videos - I also encourage you to do that.)

And you may check out this page for more information and to see pictures of all the Temples arround the world.

Respectfully,

-jake

Cari did it first - but this was cool

Snoozin'

Life is hard when your name is Titan

Welcome to the Prado

Last month, the Prado became the first museum to open its collection to Google’s mapping technology, allowing you to take a virtual trip to Madrid and see super-mega-resolution views of 14 masterpieces.

The paintings include Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, Rubens’s Three Graces, Fra Angelico’s Annunciation, and El Greco’s Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest, and you can zoom in so closely, it’s like putting your nose right up to the canvas (without angering security guards). Other museums, take note: It’s time to Google yourselves.

Check it out here