30 June 2009

JEREMIAH 16:16

Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.


On Monday the twenty-ninth, mom, dad, Tandy, Tandy's mom Pam, Lexi, Braeden, Ella, Gail, Caroline, Jonathan, grandma Liebhardt, and myself journeyed to Navajo lake for family home evening. The theme: Jeremiah 16:16. The activity: fishing! The little kids (sans Ella and Jonathan) and grandpa, aka dad, all participated. I'm not one for fishing. So I built a rock castle because sand was in short supply. Rather, in no supply.
The weather was a little brisk but beautiful! After dinner of fresh strawberries, avocados, pasta salad, and roll sandwiches, we had a nice lesson about missionary work and the gathering of Israel. Almost everyone participated- grandma Liebhardt was chilly so she was in Gail's Blazer along with Gail and Jonathan. And Ella was playing in the van with Pam.
Tandy, Braeden, Lexi, Caroline, dad, mom, and I faced the chilly weather to roast s'mores over some briquettes in the fire pit.

Here are some photos. I hope I'm not being redundant because mom posted some of these on her blog...


Cutie to the max! Ella picking dandelions.



Grandpa/dad getting the kids' fishing poles ready. Notice me in the back working on my rock castle.



Braeden fishing on a rock.



Ella, Tandy, and Pam on the shore.



Gail and Jonathan on his first outing to the mountain. I think. He could have gone some other time...



An aerial view of my rock castle. It was pretty awesome.



Another photo of my castle as the clock strikes twilight.



Brrr! Caroline and Gail bundle up to keep warm when the sun went behind the mountain.



Roasting mallows.

I can't help but chuckle to myself when I look at the picture above for several reasons: Tandy appears to have a hanger/marshmallow sticking in her eye, I'm not toasting anything and... ok, so maybe that's all.
Before this picture was taken I was standing up and mom was doing a very good job taking pictures randomly and without warning, and she caught me making a very weird face. Twice. I guess I make that face often? Below are my faces from the previous two pictures.





Ella was having lots of fun knocking on the window.



No, that's not mallow on Lexi's nose. It's paint. That is, however, mallow around her mouth.



Aahh, Navajo Lake. So peaceful and serene! Next time: frog catching!


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WHERE IN THE WORLD?

Hey family and friends and others that read my blog!
I have officially submitted my mission papers to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In our family, whenever we have a missionary go out, we put up a map and stick Post-its on it where people guess where the missionary is going to serve. The person that guesses the closest location wins a no-expense paid vacation to that place!

So leave your comments with your guesses! One state-side and one foreign!
Or you can do it on Facebook. Whatev.



The map. In our kitchen. With some guesses stuck on.


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28 June 2009

MANTI PAGEANT

I went to the Manti Pageant Saturday the twenty-seventh with two dear, dear, dear friends of mine: Isie and Venice Jardine.
We left Cedar in Isie's car around 12:40 pm and drove to Richfield and ate lunch at Wendy's. I took the wheel from there and I finished the next forty minute leg of the journey to Manti.
Here are some lovely photographs chronicling a small portion of our adventure in Manti.


Driving sure is exhausting!


Driving.


A really really really blue pond! This photo doesn't convey the blueness of it. And cows.


Can you see the temple?


We made it without any harm or accident.


Yeah it is!

When we pulled into town, we did not heed the signs and park in the designated parking area. We parked on Main Street next to the Manti City vistor's center. And there were lovely trees there that provided some well needed shade for that hot day.
AND
there was the greatest playground with the most fun spinny toy things ever. Seriously. I wish we would have photographed that little place. I had so much fun playing there and making myself ill.


Isie finding cool shade at the park.


Me and Venice sitting at a picnic table at the park.



Drinking the cool, refreshing water from the "trough" set up by the Pageant area. Please note a portion of the fourteen thousand plus chairs set up behind us.

After playing and resting for a bit, we walked up to Temple Hill and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, the beautiful Temple, and the lovely views of the Sanpete Valley.


Looking up Temple Hill over a flower bed.

Funny story: While by the temple, Isie offered to take a picture of a young [engaged?] couple. Venice and I were in the shot and Isie said, "Eric, Venice, you're in the picture!" And the guy gave us a weird look and asked us what our names were. Turns out their names are Eric and Venessa. From Brazil. It was funny. Trust me.


Isie and Venice



Awkward engagement photo? No. Just two great friends!



The Manti Utah Temple beautifully back lit by the sun.


The gates to get into the seating area opened at 6:00 and we got in at approximately 6:15 and were able to find superb seats. We placed our blankets on our seats and then had dinner from Miller's Drive-In and ate in the park. I even saw a bunch of kids that I went to school with from Cedar! Small world. While eating at the park, I managed to spill a little plastic cup full of fry sauce all over my pants! It was awful! Luckily, Venice grabbed a bunch of napkins and I was able to clean up the mess.
After dinner, we went back to our seats and basically eavesdropped on conversations around us for entertainment.
There was a young couple that asked Isie to take their picture with the temple in the background. The three of us were playing the game "find the cutest couple". They were the cutest and Isie continued to take pictures of them, trying to photograph them kissing. What can I say. We're just a bunch of hopeless romantics.


The cute cuddling couple.



The sun is setting, the stage is set, and my spirit is singing.



Great friends. Great times!

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16 June 2009

BAD BUSINESS or WOES OF WORK

If you haven't heard yet, I have a job.
Hooray! Right?
Wrong.

I do "landscaping" for Fred*. And by landscaping, I mean yard maintenance. I began working for Fred last week because Nick started doing cabinets again for Cozzens so I took Nick's place at Fred's as a temp. Or so I thought.
Apparently, I signed on for the long haul. And that's okay because I need a source of income. But that's the thing. I don't know if I'm ever going to get paid.
You see, Fred is a very bad businessman with a very bad business plan. The only bank that would support his business is down in St. George so that's the place he has to go to cash/deposit his checks. No problem, right? But, to get to St George, one has to have gas.
And to purchase gas, one has to have money.
And to have money, one must have access to a bank.
But how is one supposed to access their bank when it lies 50 miles away and all of the vehicles on has access to are out of gas?
They can't. So they don't have money to pay for gas, or their employees.
PLUS his truck broke down. And he has no savings funds to get a new one. Or good enough credit to take out a loan. But he has good folks and got a loan through them.
But I still don't know if I'm ever going to get paid from Fred. He checked is business account to find out how much dough he has: -$20.00 Hmmmmm.
If I don't get paid, this will be the rockinest service project ever.
Anyone have a place for me to find employment with steady pay and less financial risk?
_______________________________________________
*Name has been changed

My sprained ankle has kept me from earning any [possible] income because I've been pretty gimpy for the past two days. But I should be able to do stuff tomorrow.

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13 June 2009

LUCKY DAY

A couple of years ago, my friends and I established a bunch of holidays. The one I founded falls on June thirteenth and I dubbed it: Lucky Day.

Lucky Day is a fake pagan holiday where one celebrates luck. To celebrate, one decorates a pole with white [Christmas] lights on their front lawn and hangs a horseshoe on the top opening up like a 'U'. This will catch all the luck that rains down from the great Lucky Dog (no, not god. That's sacrilegious). The lights on the pole must be turned on at dusk or the luck will never find it's way down to earth. Make sure the lights get turned off at 11:11 pm and at this time, make a wish for a lucky year! Should Lucky Day fall on a Friday (Friday the thirteenth!), it is important to place 7 lucky pennies (head-side up) around town. Doing this boosts karma level and your kindness to others pleases the Dog. Friends may gather at poles and enjoy such awesome activities as roasting Starbursts over open flame, modern interpretive dancing, and searching for four-leafed clovers.
There's still time to set up a pole!

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On another note, I sprained my ankle playing volleyball at a friend's house last night :( I wish I could say that it happened when I came down from an awesome spike or something, but that was not the case. I am just a klutz and tripped. Ouch. It still hurts really bad and is quite throbby.

I hope you enjoy the blog. I'll post photos and all sorts of fun stuff for you all to enjoy!