Our night with Bronco

As many of you know, Jenny's brother, Justin, is going to play football for BYU next year. As part of him being a new recruit, Coach Bronco Mendenhall made a house visit to meet/talk with Justin in his house and to meet his family and we were there. Coach Tidwell also came along with him.

After our evening with those two coaches, I think I am a bigger BYU fan than ever and they are now some of the people I will add to my list of people I admire and look up to.

Both of them were extremely gracious and fun and interested in everyone. I don't recall a single awkward moment the entire night. They saw Josh's "Cougar Corner" in his room, and willingly went down to see Justin's "Grotto" (the clubhouse type thing he and his friends built--very impressive), ate Jessie's Key Lime Pie--surprising. (jokes! it was really good), we talked about BYU's football schedule, Bronco meeting his wife, his surfing camps, his family vacations, all of our love for Hawaii, the "do you know so-and-so game", seminary, how BYU has the colors they do, and all sorts of other topics. They just kind of hung out with the family for a couple of hours.

They talked about their vision for BYU and its players and then talked specifically with Justin about signing day next week when he will officially be signed on to play for BYU and get his scholarship.

At the end of the night, two things stuck with me. First, I felt I had to thank Bronco for all the hard work he is doing at BYU. He informed us that according to President Monson, BYU Football is the Number 3 missionary tool of the church. Second, these men are solid. They are very principle based and have no intentions on wavering from those principles. When I talked with him about it he told me, "Oh, winning is just an outward manifestation that living by principles works."

We had a fun night!

Congratulations on your graduation...

I miss him already. I know it is not news to anyone that President Hinckley passed away. I know I won't say anything that people have not already heard or felt. I know very few people will read this, so I am not writing it for any of those reasons. I think writing is one of my forms of release, and can be a good way for me to mourn. I am not a fan of mourning, and I think his passing is a great thing. I know the church is true and their is a divinely inspired way of the kingdom moving forward. I know I will love the next leader of our faith ( I already do.). I know I never met President Hinckley, but I feel like I have lost one of my friends. When President Hinckley came to Houston and spoke in the Astrodome, I had an experience there that I reflect on often (I have to...its my job). I should remember what he spoke on, but what I remember is his wave after the meeting had ended and he was leaving the field. I thought he was looking right at me. I waved, and he seemed to wave back. We were having this moment together--me and the prophet. I turned to my mom in excitement to see if she saw what was happening, only to see her waving too. My one-on-one with President Hinckley wasn't totally vanished until I turned around and saw thousands waving behind me. Although a little disappointed, this did not crush my childhood faith. I actually think back on it often, and at first usually laugh at how funny it will be to watch that scene again and see my face when we watch the big movie in the sky. But I also think about what a student of mine said so perfectly today:

"We believe that God is love. Well, I never met President Hinckley, but every time he spoke, I felt the love of God. I felt like he loved me and I loved him. That's one of the reasons I know he is a prophet."

My heart is torn between singing John Taylor's hymn after Joseph died, "O Bring Me Back my Prophet Dear," and rejoicing in the reunion he is having with his sweetheart and Joseph himself, no doubt.

So the stone rolls forward. I think in lieu of flowers I'll recommit to "being a little better." I think he'd like that.

We thank thee, O God, for our prophet.

what do you think?

(this post has nothing to do with LOST--see the previous post for that and why it is on the mind).

It does have to do with Koreans.

Yesterday I got a call from a lady who is placing foriegn exchange students into homes and asked Jenny and I if we would accept one from Korea. I think Jenny's aunt gave her our names and told her we were both return missioanries from Korea and live in the Timpview borders (They want the students to go to Timpview...what's wrong with Provo? :). Anyways...at first I immediately thought- oh there is no way. But I started asking questions and thinking about it a little and now it is on the mind. It is not likely...but I have not dismissed it completely.

It could be fun. It could be annoying. It could be a cool way to share the gospel. They could hate us. They could be bored. They could love it. It could be awkward. Anyways...what do you guys think?

obsessions require countdowns

7 days.

I looked up LOST on abc.com to get this picture for my post and realized how much I have forgotten over the past...7 months? (How long has it been since LOST left the air? Whatever the length, absence made the heart grow fonder.) My point--I watched a clip that began with Kate asking Jack why Locke killed some random girl...I vaguely remember that happening. I think I have forgotten quite a bit. With a 2 hour season premiere, and knowing LOST, they will probably spend the first half on a "previously on LOST" kick. This time I will be ok with it (as long as they don't recap the dang basement place--what was that called again? oh yeah, the hatch. that was real. wow.)

p.s. with previous blog posts as my witness, I have always stood by juliette as a good guy (girl). I know Suz and Christy are tempted to join my side.

No. 4

Happy MLK Day to everyone!

Luckily I had the day off from school and we had a big snow storm. This was equation for a fun day of sledding.

Jodi and Christian came out Sunday night to spend the night, and then The Sorensens and Kerrs came out too to sled at Rock Canyon Park. (That meant Christian's crepes for breakfast!)

Jack did not go down the hill even once. (Maybe when he's older?) Christian loved it except when he got snow sprayed up in his face.

The best ride down was putting all of us on 2 tubes. It was brilliant. (and it was cold)

16 more to go...

h a p p y b i r t h d a y d a v i d

hope you have a special day...

you deserve it for being so amazing...

so talented and fun...
a believer in dreams...
so smart...look at you in front of byuh...:)

so cute with your hawaiian tan, long hair, and boogie board...

still so cute as a dad... to two boys who absolutely adore you...


and a wife who couldn't imagine life with out you!

Jack went into Sunbeams for the first time today. (Maybe I should not admit this, but I had a lump in my throat when I dropped him off.)
Jackson usually assigns people "roles" when he plays with them.
(ex. Dad, you are Robin Hood, Mom, you are Zurg etc.)
Today he was playing with Christian after church and said, "Christian, you are the spirit of God."
He must be learning.

$473

Round trip ticket to Honolulu is $473 through March 7, 2008.
I just shoveled our driveway.
It has ice on it from the last snow fall.
Does this count for one of our winter embracing activities.
I would include a picture for Texans (and even those of you in Salt Lake who got nothin') but Jackson's new toy is the CF card from our digital camera and he is sleeping with it tonight. :)

$473 is a good price.

one day you'll be wishing...

Jessie made a comment on our last post about not posting yet about our adventures today. I was planning on it.

Jessie spent the night last night and we all went to stake conference together today. So it was me, Jenny, Jessie, Jackson, Kamaile, Christian and Emmy in the back of the chapel for two hours. Getting ready was crazy with Maile jumping, diving or falling from the top of the toilet into the filled tub 10 minutes before we had to leave (this is after a half hour of Jessie preventing Kamaile from being splashed on..."Don't get wet Kamaile!"). classic. That was the beginning, and you can imagine what the meeting was like. It wasn't bad--I think Jack only had one minor meltdown. Pretty good for two hours on the cold metal church chairs.

After the meeting (before we walked out in the blizzard), Jenny turned to this older woman sitting by herself next to us to apologize for the boys being so crazy. She smile back and said she thought the were adorable and wanted to hold Christian the whole time, but thought it would probably make him cry. Then she said something neat to Jenny: "Hold on to these years. One day you'll find yourself coming to church all by yourself, and one day you'll be wishing for these days all over again. I miss them." It was a neat moment to stop and reflect before we had to buckle our kids in their car seats while snow piled on top of us. :)

Do you guys remember this church commercial?

It has always been one of my favorites. Tonight, Jack came out of bed about 20 minutes after I put him down and asked if I could come in and read him a story. Immediately, I thought of this ad and so I tried it out and said, "Ask your Mom." Sure enough: "Mom, can Dad come in and read me a story?" Sure enough, I went in and read a story...

Still Embracing Winter

Most of you who know us probably thought this winter embracing goal wouldn't work...well, here are 2 more activities. (I could stretch it into three if I need to at the end).

My uncle Kevin turned 50 (Well he does on the 8th) and my aunt Teri surprised him with a very fun weekend up here in Utah! One of the many events was a really fun dinner at a Norwegian Yurt at the Canyons Ski Resort (I know, it sounds fancy already). So without further ado...

Activity No. 2

a sleigh ride

we rode this huge snowcat sleigh up to the yurt. It was pretty steep at points (Jenny was afraid the chains were going to break even though I assured her the machine was built after the abesity epeidemic in America--please see our previous post on Disney Land for more information on Jenny's lack of trust in anything mechanical). I think the yurt was at 8,000 feet, so it was a snowy ride. The views were spectacular!

We thought this was a good picture of Suz and Jeff and the other one was a good picture of mom...

This was the way down...a bit different than the way up, but it was still really fun! While we were having dinner the wind started to blow really hard (hard enough a tree fell down right in front of the bathroom right before I had to pee!)

Activity No. 3

Cross Country Skiing

Part of the journey up was a short half mile trek on cross country skis or snow shoes. We chose the skis so it could count as a new activity :). It wasn't very long, but it was a fun part of the trip. We tried to do the tandem skiing (ski dating) but the clips were busted so we had to do it individually. We wished it was longer, but it was a blast. It was pitch dark, so we got to wear those cool on-your-head lights. ( that is the yurt in the background).

Jenny thinks we can count eating in the yurt as a separate acitivity...so if we run short at the end, keep this in mind.

we had a really fancy steak dinner in the yurt. all the courses were fancy and they were actually really good (even the goat cheese!). All the dishes were these thick pewter ones, and everything was presented fancy style. Jenny's steak was pretty rare (dad kept mooing at it), but they were delicious!! There was a program and everyone said really nice and funny things about Kevin. It was cool!

There was a fireplace inside so it made it burning hot! I ended up taking off my shoes I was so hot. Mom had to change out of her long sleeve sweater so dad provided a make-shift dressing room for her. It was pretty discreet until dad started dancing. (Do ya'll know what dance I'm talking about?)

look who's back

shocker...I know. Blogs are back. No, it is not one of my new year's resolutions to blog (that seems weird), but I think it should be a new year's resolution to keep a journal or record of my life...and if this counts, then here we go. Although sometimes I go back and forth on what I will say in this here blog because I know a lot of people will read it. Maybe it doesn't count for a personal record or journal because it is no everything I should be writing down.

Long intro. Short post. (maybe).

Ha'oli Makahiki Hou!

We rang in the new year watching Dick at Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen's house. They watched the grandkids while we went to see National Treasure 2 (which I really liked). Grandma Jill made us all a breakfast when we got back, and we got out the party hats and kazoos and kissin' lips to count down together (Jack included!). We had a fun time.

christian (not our baby) and I with these rad hats Jill has

jodi and kamaile and heidi's legs (last diaper change of 2007)

jen was mega excited for the new year

It was a dual party, because we were also saying goodbye to Aaron, who is leaving tomorrow to do training for his new job as a border patrol agent (is it an agent Aaron? it sounded fancy, so I said it.) He will train for a couple of months without Jessie and the girls, and then they will join him in Nacho, Arizona (Well, he will work in Nacho and they will live in Sierra Vista--that sounds fancy too--although I wish they were living in Nacho, that would be much more fun to address on next year's Christmas card). I am mega sad about him leaving. I really get along well with Aaron and I am really sad tonight with him gone. I am excited for their family though, and jealous for their new adventures.

this is where aaron will work--

this is where aaron and jessie would live...if they lived in nacho. (Are you sure you don't want to reconsider. Aaron, you could be closer to work!

Aaron, we will miss you...