Photo of the Day: Before and After

Last year I took a photo of myself in Photo Booth.  Since I had the same shirt on today I couldn't resist doing a "Before and After"shot.  Sorry, but my face still looks the same, only a bit smaller.

Rio Mesa

A few months ago I was sent to Moab for a weekend research project. It entailed camping out with friends, eating great food, and enjoying time in the red rock. Tough duty, I know. Last weekend I was asked down to Rio Mesa (they changed the name of the research facility) for another arduous weekend of "research".

The drive down had me a little nervous as I started out in rain. Drove through the wind. And eventually encountered snow. Nothing like Spring in Utah. I was concerned about weather on Friday, but the rest of the weekend turned out great. In fact, Friday was the only night it rained. I don't know about you but I like lying in a tent and listening to the rain.

Saturday was our big research expedition. Last year we explored the Scarff homestead. This year we looked at the Jones ranch. I'm not sure what kind of data we uncovered, but I can tell you where all the old tires are on the property. I guess this family headed out so quickly they left all their "junk" behind. Well, we documented all the "artifacts" over the weekend for the research site. I think the plan is to document, then clean up. I'm just glad I don't have to be on that project!

It was a great weekend. Fun to be outside again in the warm weather and even better when it's all in the name of "work."

Timber

For the past several years we've wanted to cut down the tree in the northeast corner of our front yard.  It's not that we're tree haters, we just hated this tree.  The tree was getting too large to maintain.  The needles caused us endless grief as they killed the grass and took hours to clear every year.  The roots have overtaken our lawn.  All that ended on Saturday.

A couple of "tree guys" were working the street and gave us a deal, so we jumped on it.  Some cutting, some pulling, and some gravity and the tree was down.  We still have some work to do on the stump, but we've certainly changed the landscape of our yard once again.

Photo of the Day

Tara and I absolutely love Dylan's chubby hands.  Don't you just want to nibble on those fat little fingers?

Testimony

On Sunday I decided it was time to share my testimony in Church.  I haven't done that since leaving the Bishopric last year, not because my faith is losing it's luster, but mostly due to the fact I now sit in the "war zone".  It felt good to stand and publicly share some of my thoughts and feelings.

After I sat down, Kennedy turned and said, "Dad, I think I want to bear my testimony."  I asked her what she would say and she replied she would talk about Jesus.   As we continued to talk, I thought Kennedy was losing her nerve, so I decided not to press the issue.

About ten minutes later Dede asked if I would take her to stand so she could use the microphone.  How could I say no to that?  So, up we went.  At first she was a little nervous when she looked out and saw everyone staring back at her.  She asked if I could help her get started, so I said, " What do you think about Primary?"  She told everyone she liked going to Primary and really liked her teachers.  After the ice was broken, she was off and running.  She talked about her family, Jesus, and and how she knew the church was true.  Short and sweet, awfully sweet.

Tara and I are so proud of our little girl.  I wasn't surprised that she could get in front of everyone and talk.  I was a bit surprised how much she wanted to share her love for Jesus.  Way to go Dede!

BTW - As we came back to our row after Dede was finished Alex said he wanted to share his testimony.  I asked him what he wanted to talk about and he replied, "Dragons."  Love that kid.