She's not full-on walking, crawling is still her choice of transportation, but we can trick her into walking every once in a while. She's doing so good and we're getting so excited for her.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Fathers day
I recently started reading David McCullough's book, "John Adams". Alene bought me the HBO min-series and I really liked it. I'm only on the 2nd chapter of the book, but one thing stuck out to me, probably by chance because it's fathers day. It was the section where it starts to describe his up-bringing and his parents. He starts off by talking about how much he loved his mother and respected her and when it got to his father, this is what he had to say:
There were scarcely words to express the depth of his gratitude for the kindness his father had shown him, the admiration he felt for his father's integrity. His father was "the honestest man" John Adams ever knew. "In wisdom, piety, benevolence, and charity in proportion to his education and sphere of life, I have never know his superior, " Adams would write long afterward, by which time he had come to know the most prominent men of the age on two sides of the Atlantic. His father was his idol. It was his father's honesty, his father's independent spirit and love of country, Adams said, that were his lifelong inspiration. (as written by David McCullough)
Now, I don't know if it's ego, or what, but there is something inside me that so badly wants my children (and my wife) to think of me in this manner. I don't think it's ego though. I think if they think of you in this manner, that you have done a good job as a father and that is what you want. Often times I feel like I've failed so much and I get down on myself. I won't say I give up, but it just seems like I can and never will be someone admired by my children or my wife due to my many faults. I'm often late to things, I don't follow up on punishments at times (or often), I don't fulfill all my obligations as a priesthood holder in the home (i.e. we don't study scriptures as a family or hold family home evening hardly at all). I just feel so inadequate and I wish I wasn't.
With that said, I cannot be more proud of my children and being a father has brought more joy in my life than anything else. Seeing my children happy and laughing and loving is something I live to see.
I often wonder if Caiden knows how dumb I really am. I remember growing up thinking that my dad was the smartest man alive. I'm not sure when that realization changed (no offense dad, neither of us will ever top Einstein), but I still have all the respect for my dad that I could ever have, and I especially respect him for his knowledge and wisdom. He's always been a good example to me that working hard and doing your best, even when nobody is looking, is important. He's taught me to have a sense of humor and try to make others laugh. He's taught me to love oldies music, especially the Beach Boys. Most important, he has taught me to have an un-conditional love for my family and to sacrifice anything he could for us.
I still have a fond memory of being about 10 years old, maybe 11, and being pretty aware that we did not have much money. I rode my bike down to my dad's car lot and asked him for $.50 for a candy bar at the store. I remember he just paused and looked me right in the eye and said, he wanted to give me so much more, but for now he would give me all the change in his pocket. He scooped in and pulled out WAY more than the $.50 I wanted and gave me a big hug. That really meant a lot to me and in some ways, made me feel really secure that my dad would never leave me wanting.
Here are some misc. pictures of my dad or me spending time with my dad.
The fisherman with his mustache
Helping me develop my love for swimming
Giving me a haircut, even if it appears I'm going to fall asleep
Pulling us on a sled - I can actually still remember this happening and not wanting it to end.
Taking us to car shows and putting a HUGE belt buckle on me
A little bit Country....
....and a little bit rock n roll
"Should I stay or should I go"
Going to more car shows
The knees are still holding up
The poser
A couple of pictures I love of mom and dad
(Their friends Gary and Sandy gave this one to me)
Dad's kids
There were scarcely words to express the depth of his gratitude for the kindness his father had shown him, the admiration he felt for his father's integrity. His father was "the honestest man" John Adams ever knew. "In wisdom, piety, benevolence, and charity in proportion to his education and sphere of life, I have never know his superior, " Adams would write long afterward, by which time he had come to know the most prominent men of the age on two sides of the Atlantic. His father was his idol. It was his father's honesty, his father's independent spirit and love of country, Adams said, that were his lifelong inspiration. (as written by David McCullough)
Now, I don't know if it's ego, or what, but there is something inside me that so badly wants my children (and my wife) to think of me in this manner. I don't think it's ego though. I think if they think of you in this manner, that you have done a good job as a father and that is what you want. Often times I feel like I've failed so much and I get down on myself. I won't say I give up, but it just seems like I can and never will be someone admired by my children or my wife due to my many faults. I'm often late to things, I don't follow up on punishments at times (or often), I don't fulfill all my obligations as a priesthood holder in the home (i.e. we don't study scriptures as a family or hold family home evening hardly at all). I just feel so inadequate and I wish I wasn't.
With that said, I cannot be more proud of my children and being a father has brought more joy in my life than anything else. Seeing my children happy and laughing and loving is something I live to see.
I often wonder if Caiden knows how dumb I really am. I remember growing up thinking that my dad was the smartest man alive. I'm not sure when that realization changed (no offense dad, neither of us will ever top Einstein), but I still have all the respect for my dad that I could ever have, and I especially respect him for his knowledge and wisdom. He's always been a good example to me that working hard and doing your best, even when nobody is looking, is important. He's taught me to have a sense of humor and try to make others laugh. He's taught me to love oldies music, especially the Beach Boys. Most important, he has taught me to have an un-conditional love for my family and to sacrifice anything he could for us.
I still have a fond memory of being about 10 years old, maybe 11, and being pretty aware that we did not have much money. I rode my bike down to my dad's car lot and asked him for $.50 for a candy bar at the store. I remember he just paused and looked me right in the eye and said, he wanted to give me so much more, but for now he would give me all the change in his pocket. He scooped in and pulled out WAY more than the $.50 I wanted and gave me a big hug. That really meant a lot to me and in some ways, made me feel really secure that my dad would never leave me wanting.
Here are some misc. pictures of my dad or me spending time with my dad.
The fisherman with his mustache
Helping me develop my love for swimming
Giving me a haircut, even if it appears I'm going to fall asleep
Pulling us on a sled - I can actually still remember this happening and not wanting it to end.
Taking us to car shows and putting a HUGE belt buckle on me
A little bit Country....
....and a little bit rock n roll
"Should I stay or should I go"
Going to more car shows
The knees are still holding up
The poser
A couple of pictures I love of mom and dad
(Their friends Gary and Sandy gave this one to me)
Dad's kids
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Partly Cloudy
My friend Tim shared this video on his blog, but I thought it was so great that I wanted to share it on mine. Hope you enjoy.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
And he gets beaned again
As I mentioned in my previous post, Caiden get's beaned a lot. Today he was 2 for 2......getting beaned, not with hits.
# 1
# 2 - This one I guess counted as an RBI?? I don't know how they work those stats in baseball, but the bases were loaded and he got beaned.
It's cool that he can take one for the team, but the kid has to develop some reflexes.
# 1
# 2 - This one I guess counted as an RBI?? I don't know how they work those stats in baseball, but the bases were loaded and he got beaned.
It's cool that he can take one for the team, but the kid has to develop some reflexes.
Caiden and baseball
This is Caiden's first year with the Kearns baseball program and somewhat his first year of fast pitch baseball. Two years ago he played in a league with 6-8 year olds that was fast pitch and he was of the younger kids, so he did not hit too well. They changed their rules the following year to do machine-pitch only and he had close to a .700 batting average. A lot of the kids in this league still struck out at the machine, but caiden could hit anything over the plate.
This year he's back to fast pitch and besides being walked, he has only gotten on base with a hit once or twice, but he's learning.
He also gets beaned a lot. This one had him beaned on his right elbow, BEHIND him.
Here is the marks left from the baseball on his elbow
Here is a video of him scoring a run off his teammates grand slam
Monday, June 01, 2009
Fence addition to the side of our house
It had been a while since I had done a decent project at our house and knowing me, you know I have to have a project to do. I decided I was tired of all the weeds growing through our chain-linked fence on the side of the house and having to cut them down with my weed eater was becoming a pain. I started off my saturday with removing an old chain linked fence that ran right up against my neighbor's wood fence. Leaves were collecting in between the two and I like wood anyway, so I removed the old chain-linked fence. Someday I plan on adding cedar fence posts to this fence line, but that will be a while.
Once my neighbor's wood fence ended, there was a chain-linked fence that continued to the front of our houses. My plan was to remove this chain-linked fence and utilized the existing posts to hang my fence rails.
Here is a picture of where the old chain link fence ran against my neighbors wood fence (I had already removed the chain linked fence before taking the picture). Someday this will all be 6" cedar slats.
Here is a before picture of the rest of the fence, which is chain-linked and where I'm going to put in the cedar fence.
Here is a picture of my gate on the right side of my house. I am going to turn this into a cedar gate as well with a proper lock.
Here it is after building the gate. I used the old gate frame and bolted wood rails to it in order to screw my cedar slats to it. It worked perfect.
This is how I hung the rails. I just used 2x4 holders and some self-tapping hex-head screws to screw them into the posts, then mounted the 2x4's to the holders. Worked perfect.
The slats went up pretty quickly. I could have done it much quicker, but if you notice the old Camero in the background, it was actually hanging over onto my fence line so we had to dig the tires out and push it back about 6". Now I don't have to look at an old Camero either :-).
Before
After
Glad it was all done. I can't wait to finish off the rest of the yard. Most people love Vinyl fences and I can understand why (because they last long), but I love a more natural look and I don't mind having to stain the fence every 2-3 years.
Once my neighbor's wood fence ended, there was a chain-linked fence that continued to the front of our houses. My plan was to remove this chain-linked fence and utilized the existing posts to hang my fence rails.
Here is a picture of where the old chain link fence ran against my neighbors wood fence (I had already removed the chain linked fence before taking the picture). Someday this will all be 6" cedar slats.
Here is a before picture of the rest of the fence, which is chain-linked and where I'm going to put in the cedar fence.
Here is a picture of my gate on the right side of my house. I am going to turn this into a cedar gate as well with a proper lock.
Here it is after building the gate. I used the old gate frame and bolted wood rails to it in order to screw my cedar slats to it. It worked perfect.
This is how I hung the rails. I just used 2x4 holders and some self-tapping hex-head screws to screw them into the posts, then mounted the 2x4's to the holders. Worked perfect.
The slats went up pretty quickly. I could have done it much quicker, but if you notice the old Camero in the background, it was actually hanging over onto my fence line so we had to dig the tires out and push it back about 6". Now I don't have to look at an old Camero either :-).
Before
After
Glad it was all done. I can't wait to finish off the rest of the yard. Most people love Vinyl fences and I can understand why (because they last long), but I love a more natural look and I don't mind having to stain the fence every 2-3 years.
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