ending

since i am getting so much slack for the things i write, i am taking a hiatus for about a month. bye

Chauffeur

Tonight was my baby's first date. I got to play the chauffeur. It was a lot of fun, not her dating but me playing the chauffeur. I am still not sure how I feel about my youngest dating. It is the beginning of the end of an era, one in which I no longer have little kids. Frankly, it sucks. There were two couples in all. They are all really good kids, it seemed but she is still dating. I was able to finish a book while waiting a the dance and at dinner. They wanted to go to temple square and see the lights but the lights were off at 11:00pm. There were no other plans so I drove them around for a while looking at Christmas lights and then I took everyone home. I was never able to play chauffeur for any of my other kids so tonight was a watershed moment and a first for me. It's not often the last kid gets a first, being the last and all, there just aren't that many "firsts" that a last child can experience with parents but this was a first for me so thank you princess. I am glad that my kids are who they are. I wouldn't change any of you for anyone else. I am grateful to be your father, I just wish I was a better father at times. Anyway, know that I love you and I loved tonight, being the chauffeur.

Ugh

I have 4 kids now in various stages of semester finals. UGH!!!! I remember doing that and I am so glad that I am NOT doing it anymore. I will leave that to you youngsters whose brains work much better than mine. I can, however, recognize that when I do have to study and pass a humongous test, I am still able to study, learn and regurgitate but only through lots of prayers, faith and fasting, as I did about 3 years ago when I took and passed my series 63 test. It was a pain but I did it just as you are. We had my work party tonight. It was wonderful. Quiet and peaceful and just good feelings and conversations all around. It was what a Christmas party should be and we had, thanks to our vendors, some fabulous prizes and everyone got at least something. Good time, good food and good people. Anyway, there is nothing I wouldn't rather be doing than finals, UGH!

Too Busy

I have been too busy lately. I was triple scheduled tonight: I had a floor demo up at a hospital which my equipment guy and a man rep covered, I had HPGL visits which my secretary and 1st assistant covered and my wife had Rotary which we attended and I think we have reached a decision: She is going to join me in our club here in Centerville. I don't know how I feel about that. I am excited that she wants to join me in our club but I will miss the relationships with the Hispano Latino club that we have developed. Mixed feelings but it will aid in my Thursdays being too busy.

Visits

Our Group Leadership went on visits tonight. As Nephi stated, we were led without knowing beforehand what we should do. One of the visits we had was an answer to prayers for that particular sister. My secretary has experience in the music industry and there was some expertise needed in that area. We were there about an hour and a half. It was wonderful. It was what they and we needed. We had another wonderful visit and it was great to be about Heavenly Father's business tonight. Reminded me of the mission when that was all I did. I think it would be wonderful to be able to do that again, to work for the Lord full-time. What a blessing it is for those who are called to so labor. Anyway, we have more visits tomorrow night. I am looking forward to that. Work is going well, my meetings with the owner went well. Things are humming right along. I like doing visits with my guys at work as well. Different feeling but enjoyable nonetheless. I like making visits.

Stress

We each handle stress differently. I have to remind myself of that and keep remembering that we are all unique and different. I get a bit cranky as everyone around me can tell you. I have a daughter at BYU and she is facing 5 finals plus a huge test to get into her major of journalism and she cries when she gets stressed. I am a typical guy/father and I tell her to toughen up and I don't listen to her. Sweetie, if and when you read this, I am sorry. I will try to do better. I just have a hard time when people cry because I don't know what to do when I am far away. I can hug and hold when they are close and sing by goofy song, "You Are My Sunshine" and I don't know if that makes them feel better but I think the hug does. I actually think stress can be good for us at times since it stretches us and takes us beyond our comfort zone and forces us to think outside the box at times and truly focus and concentrate. I wouldn't want a life full of stress but once in a while it is so exhilirating when it is over and we can look back on our accomplishments. I am a bit stressed over my upcoming presidency in Rotary. I just don't want to screw it up. It's like my calling in church. Anyway, we all have different and unique reactions to stress.

Snowy coldness

Winter is officially here, if unofficially not calendared yet. It was snowy and cold today. Not my favorite combination. I much prefer heat and sweat over chills that just go up and down your back and get into the bones. Yuck but it is pretty. There is a huge redeeming factor with the snow and that is the purity of the whiteness that is evidenced after a fresh snowfall. But it's the cold that I don't like. I understand it's necessary for the regeneration of our plant life here but cold is just cold and nasty. Had a good day at work. Another thing about snow is the ice that is put on the road to melt the snow and then the ickiness that is on the cars as a result. I can handle about another 3 - 4 weeks of this for Christmas and New Years. After that, I hope it warms up. By the way, where the heck is global warming anyway? It's colder here now and it is actually snowing while it is cold. It usually warms up to snow, sounds weird I know but that is what happens but it was snowing in the teens today. No bueno! Anyway, I love my house, toasty warm that it is, because it protects me from the snowy coldness.

Trees

We got our Christmas tree yesterday and I had to bring it in the house almost by myself. My sweet youngest daugther tried to help but this was her first year helping and she didn't quite know how to help me. The tree was heavy but it looks pretty good right now. I picked out the tree, I strung our "famous" blue lights up the center and colored lights around the outside and my wife and daugther did the rest. It looks fabulous. There is nothing I like more than sitting in the dark, with the tree lit and the little village my wife has put together by the fireplace and just watch the tree and listen to holiday music in the background. It is so calming and peaceful. I like driving around and looking at other people's trees as well. I guess I like to compare. This may come as a shock to most of you reading this blog, but I tend to be a skosh competitive. A stunning revelation, I know. Anyway, I like to see how our trees, the one in the home teacher room and our family tree, shape up. I think our public tree always looks great. This year, with new ornaments and decoration, our family tree looks just as spectacular. Side note: I was driving around and saw a house with 5, that's right 5, Christmas trees. That was unbelievable. Anyway, I like our house now that it is decorated and I really like out trees.l

I Still Hate Christmas

Well the commercialization of it. I love the get-togethers, the pleasant, generally, attitude now, the music, what is symbolizes but I still hate the shopping. I like getting the right thing for the right person but I HATE shopping. My wife and I spent most of the evening shopping for new ornatments for the family tree that we will be decorating on Sunday. Our "blue" tree got given away and we had to get a new one (decorations, that is) and we spent the night (at least I did) frustrated and hating Christmas. I loved being with my wife but I hate shopping. Here has been my greeting for the past few years and I can envision its' continuance for the foreseeable future: Merry Freakin' Christmas! That about sums it up. I just wish I could slow down a bit and enjoy. I will try but I still hate shopping ergo I still hate Christmas...

Reviews

I have been conducting reviews with my sales guys the past couple of days and I hope to finish up tomorrow. It has been a wonderful year for our company. We are ahead of last year, in a down market and they are good guys. I like working with them. I like reviews. It gives one the opportunity to reflect, "review" the past year and set goals for the coming year. It should be a great year next year as well as my guys continue to do what they do best which is to sell and care for their customers. We have a great team at work. Everyone does a great job. I feel blessed to be a part of the team. I really do enjoy my work there. I had my review about a month ago, maybe 3 weeks or so but it's closing in on the month. I had a chance to reflect upon my past year there, my successes and shortcomings. I felt pleased at the contribution that I was able to make at work. I am doing that in my general life right now. I am reviewing the past year, our successes, our fun, my growth, my calling, etc. I think it is essential to reflect, contemplate and plan for the future. I know that I have had many shortcomings on which I have to work much more diligently but I wouldn't really know where I stood if I didn't do reviews.

Decorating

My wife has spent most of the past 2 days decorating our house. My youngest son and I had hung some lights on the "public" tree on Saturday and my wife and I finally got around to decorating it tonight with the ornaments and other things. The star on top is caddy-wompus, like Sancho Pancho tilting at windmills (how's that for an arcane, literary reference (5 bucks to the first child who texts me with the correct tome's name)) but it looks great. My wife is so talented. She does things I can't even dream about. We also have the "village" under the tree, our nativity scenes about done (when I say "we" I mean "she"), the fireplace with stockings all hung with care (another reference with the same prize pending but this MUST be accompanied by the author as well). All we need now is our real tree with new decorations this year and we will be getting that on Saturday and decorating on Sunday for FHE. I have yet to get my stuff done outside but it will be done by the end of the week. Not sure still about outside lights. I want to spend that money on kids/grandkids/wife. Life is good. Work is good. I like to do decorating.

Christmas Parties

We had an adult Christmas party at church tonight. My wife decorated a table with some of our traditions. It looked fabulous. She is so talented with things that I could never do. I am not built that way or wired that way but I can pick out purses and colors and clothes so I do get on my "G" every once in a while, just not a total "G". The party was nice, relaxing and focused on traditions and family. It was a nice, relaxing evening spent with friends. I enjoyed it. I have 3 next week and then we are done with the formal ones. We might have one here at the home or something with local neighbors. Not sure yet. Have to discuss with the boss. Cough is still aggravating. That's no bueno. I love this time of the season just because people try to be civil, friendly and have get-togethers that we normally don't do during the rest of the year. Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. I like Christmas parties.