Cat's Out of the Bag!

Well tonight the cat has been released. Cynthia's friend Paige (and kids) came over for dinner. Paige has been trying to get Cynthia to start a blog for months. I could not take the silence anymore and pulled the laptop to the table and brought up the blog. Cynthia now knows there is a blog out there that has her life on it. Well there are posts mainly about me and a few for the kids. I might have to be more family friendly from now on. I will now be pressured to add posts more often as Cynthia reads a few of the family blogs in the Ward and will want to keep up with the them. It has been a month since the last post so I was due anyway.

Bradley's Big Day

Here is the family right before Bradley's baptism. He was very nervous but ready to be done.

He wanted to aTrasnformers cake for his birthday. We got this one for the family after the baptism

This cake was for the party we had with his friends later in the day

Bradley blowing out the candle. I love this picture cause it shows how much effort he put into blowing out the candle. lol

Father and son right before baptism

Alyssa, Bradley and Isabella as we were leaving for the church

What do you think? Any Ideas?

Ok. I have been running more the last 4 or so months than i have in my life and I am enjoying it.
I would like it to mean even more. I am looking for help and support from friends and family.

Tim Cord, is a marine and works with me. He is only 24 but has been overseas three times to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has told us stories about his 'tours of duty', some funny, some not so funny.
Anyway, he and 4 other marines got together to form a band called The American Hitmen. They occassionally play at small locations as a fundraiser to buy certain items to send over to the troops he knows and does not know. There are other entities that send care packages but they send the same thing everytime. Seeing as he served he knows what our men and women would like instead of the same items over and over again. I have gone to a few of these performances and helped out when I can.
Here is where everyone else comes in. I was thinking i could have family and friends donate as well. How would this work you ask? Well for every mile i run, in an official race, a donation could be made. This could be based on either me finishing the race or an amount per mile. The races i have run so far have been 5k's or 3.1 miles. I am planning to run a half marathon (13.2 miles) in November. As you can see by this blog i have only run 2 races since July so it is not like i would be asking all the time. Plus, you would not have to donate to every race. it is purely up to you.

Example; 3 miles x $1 per mile = $3 Simple math right.

Let me know what you all think. I know times are tough and we are all stretching our dollars but after listening to Tim and his experiences and to hear it so passionate in his music i too have become passionate about this cause. Simple things like jerky and gum are appreciated more than we know.

Thanks for listening.

No Pressure

Cynthia and I were cruising along thinking we have 5 weeks until Bradley's baptism on Sat Nov 1st. Someone from the Primary Presidency dropped off the details and the date said Sat Oct 11th, which is actually Bradley's birthday. Because of General Conference the first week of Oct and Fast Sunday being the next week he will actually be baptised in just over 2 weeks. I found this out 10 minutes ago.
Ok, so now we have the baptism at 12:30pm, around the the same we were going to have a party for him and his friends. Looks like that will be pushed to later that day.
Right after cleaning up after the family leaves (as I am sure we will have food and cake after the baptism), we will have to get ready for the second party. What a lucky boy.
What a privilege to be baptised on his birthday. Not many 8 year olds can say that these days.
All I know is the next day will be truly a day of rest...well deserved and needed.

Isabella

I left work at 7:40 last night. As I pulled in the driveway Isabella came running up yelling something. As I got out I finally understand what she was saying. She was all excited cause she is able to ride her bike without the training wheels anymore. So of course she had to show me. I spent about 10 minutes outside watching her. She was so proud. The cool thing is it only took her 2 days. I was impressed.
It was fun to watch her zip down the street, until i realized she was going all the way down the street and it was getting dark. I had to call her to come back. She only knows one speed right now and that is fast. I walked beside her and tried to get her ride slowly. It lasted about 10 seconds. I think once she gets the hang of balancing she will be alot better.
To stop she would drive up onto our driveway and onto the grass and lay the bike down and she kind of fell / jumped off. Good thing our driveway is sloped. She will get the hang of braking.
It was just as impressive to hear the support from Alyssa and Bradley. They were so excited that she could ride. They all ride to the park with Cynthia so Bella can now feel free without the extra wheels. Normally she would either ride the scooter, bike with training wheels or ride on the back of Bradley's bike cause he has pegs.
Way to go Bella...although i am scared to think of what is next. lol

Oh you had to be there!

Saturday night our Ward held a daddy / daughter activity (for achievement days) with a country and western theme. Of course there was dinner involved which was not bad. They then had the dads dancing with their daughters. Seeing as most of us (well it appeared that way) did not dance that often a few lessons were in order.
First they started a line dance. It was quite funny that a lady from South Africa was teaching us a country dance. Well it was funny to me.
Anyway, there were about 15 or so dads and their daughters (all aged between 8 and 11) in 3 rows. We took it slowly and finally got through the whole dance. The song we danced to was a popular oldie 'Boot Scootin' Boogie' by Brooks and Dunn. By the time we turned the third time my feet were kind of tangled. it was quite funny to watch all the dads with their girls. We were all huffing and puffing after only 20 minutes. We then formed a large circle and we were taught how to Waltz. Poor Alyssa. Only once did I step on her toes but I messed up at least 3 times but she was a trooper and kept on going. I apologized every time but either way it did not bother her. She was just concentrating on her steps. She found it a little difficult cause she was trying to do the opposite of what i was doing. She did a better job of going backwards than I did going forward.
Those who know me well know I suck at dancing. All in all it was a great night with Alyssa and we had alot of fun.

Spanish Fork 5k Race

This past Saturday I ran my second 5k race. The race started at 8am and it was quite cool. There were about 15 people from Caselle also running in the 5k and half marathon. We used it as part of our wellness program.
I was talking to one of the guys before the race and he happened to mention that he finishes the race fast. Josh usually runs a good race and puts up a good time. I felt that if I could stay with him I could also post a good time. I lined up with him and his wife and a few others at the start. We took off. There were some of the walkers lined up at the front. This was not good as we had to run around them and not knock anyone down. I kept sight of Josh and within the first few hundred yards we were in the clear of others. I stuck about 5 feet behind him. He started out at a good pace and I decide I could stick with him. I was feeling it. The race went out 1 1/2 miles and then you turn around and run back to the start/finish. About the half way point I was breathing pretty heavy but kept on going. Josh had got no more than 20 feet ahead and then i closed back in. With less than a mile to go I decided to make a move. My thinking was I knew I did not have closing speed and would stay consistent the rest of the race. Josh said he had great closing speed so i increased my speed and got a good lead on Josh. If he passed me near the end then I would still come in with a great time. The last few hundred yards I kept looking for Josh to pass me so I could cheer him on. I got to the finish and turned around to see Josh coming in behind. We finished about 15 seconds a part. I was excited not cause i beat him but because of my time. I completed the race in 24 minutes and 34 seconds. That was over a minute better than my first race. I asked Josh what happened and he said that when I took off he didn't have the legs to go with me and it deflated him a little. I apologized but he said I ran a great race. I thanked him for pacing me.
Do i sound conceded...No! I am just excited at how well I did and look forward to more races.
They had some great raffle prizes so I stayed around in case I won something. Well I have the White curse and did not win anything. Others from work had to leave so I had their bib's but still nothing. Oh well. It was a great morning.

Alyssa

You may notice that Alyssa is always wearing a headband lately. Well she is growing out her hair and will donate it in December. So when take Christmas pictures her hair will be quite a bit shorter. This is something she wants to do. She is excited about it and we are very proud of her.

Off to School

Three cute kids ready for school. This was actually Bella's first day. Alyssa and Bradley started the week before.

This is Bradley' backpack from last year and if you look at the size of the straps it still looks too big for him. He has grown too. Alyssa went with an over the shoulder bag this year instead of a backpack.

Bella was very excited to go to school. She walked into her classroom and didn't even look back.

Any Thoughts?

As a dad I am about to face a difficult stage. Alyssa is 10 and will be 11 in February. Sunday night Cynthia went for a walk with a friend from our ward at 7:30pm. She said she would be back at 8:30. At 8:43 Alyssa came running to me with tears in her eyes saying mum is not home yet. She was very upset. She asked if she could call Cynthia and I told her it was ok. Well she did not answer. That brought on the tears even more. I called a minute later and told her to get her butt home because of an hysterical child. Apparently Alyssa could have caled Cynthia at 8:30 if she was not home. We were playing the DS so it took Alyssa's mind away from the time and the fact that Cynthia was gone.
Alyssa has also mentioned that she is worried about Bradley when he is at school. She then said she will be worried when Isabella starts school. We have tried to talk with her (calmly) to find out what is going on but she is not sure herself. Alyssa even mentioned she wanted to see the counselor at school.
All I can do is reassure her nothing is going to happen. It appears as though she has a seperation issue.
So, if anyone has any advice or idea's for me, pass them along. I think the teenage years are going to be tough.