Recent Sickness

About two weeks ago Christian was diagnosed with Walking Pneumonia after a chest X-ray and Cheri and I were diagnosed with Bronchitis. So we have been doing a lot of coughing lately. Initially I took 3 days off work to try and get better. The third day off I felt to bad to stay home and was feeling a little better so I went to work. My boss sent me home after finding out it was Bronchitis.

Christian took some antibiotic and stopped coughing within two or three days. Cheri and I are struggling through the post Bronchitis cough that can last anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks. The doctor claims that we are no longer contagious, though. That is the silver lining. That means we can go where we want. No more worries about coughing on people...

Update on Me

Elders Quorum First Councilor Again
In my last post (I know it has been two months, sorry) I mentioned that I was released from being the 1st councilor in the Elders Quorum Presidency when my president was called as Bishop. Well I have been called again to be the 1st councilor in the Elders Quorum Presidency. I guess I didn't get it right the first time. I know I have more to learn. The two Elders Quorum Presidencies are as different as they can be. I love both of them. I feel a sense of rededication as I restart on the same calling after a two month hiatus.

Toastmasters
I recently completed my 5th speech in Toastmasters. Toastmasters is an international organization dedicated to helping individuals improve their public speaking ability. In Toastmasters there are three ways to improve public speaking:

• By volunteering to be the timer, aw counter, evaluating other speeches or other assignment during the meeting.
• By volunteering to participate in the Table Topics which is an impromptu speech where you are given a random topic on the spot
• By volunteering to give prepared speeches

I have already seen an increase in my confidence and ability to speak in front of others which is very important for my effectiveness both at work and in church.

Password Protection
Recently Cheri became nervous about having a public blog. I know lots of people who have public blogs and family websites without any problems, but life is all about keeping your spouse happy. So until further notice, this blog is password protected. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Utah By the Numbers

From Utah Vacation (and Oregon) 2008

We had a great trip to Utah (and Oregan for Cheri and kids) and I thought we should share some things about the trip... "by the numbers":

17. The numbers of days between the day I left and the day I arrived back in Austin

9. The number of vacation days I took off work. I love vacation days.

28. The number of days between the day Cheri and kids left and the day they arrived back in Austin.

10. The number of very productive days that I was alone in Austin while Cheri was in Oregon with the kids having the time of their lives

3.5 The number of hours I sat on a hot plane at the Colorado Springs airport after being deverted to Colorado Springs waiting for the storm at the Denver airport to clear up. On the way home I flew through Denver by myself.

9. The number of different places we stayed while we were in Utah. It sounds bad, but we liked how it felt like a new vacation each time we "moved".

From Utah Vacation (and Oregon) 2008

101. The number of family and friends that we visited. By the way, we love them all, dearly.

From Utah Vacation (and Oregon) 2008

37. The number of times we played Rock Band between Lisa and Adam's house and Steve and Mindy's house. All together, the number may be more, but I am sticking with 37.

26. The number of unique things we did while we were on vacation including Sea Dooing, Four Wheeling, Horse Back Riding, being in a parade, going to the Dinosaur Natural History Museum at Thanksgiving Point, running through mazes and the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point, hiking Timpanogos Cave, eating at Heaps a Pizza (Brick Oven), eating Shaved Ice with cream on top and ice cream at the bottom, going to my parent's church, going to Holm's church, playing golf and tennis Wii style, playing pool at the Holms, playing ping pong at the Holms, swimming with everyone at the Holm neighborhood pool, watching fireworks, shooting off fireworks of our own, playing basketball with Adam, riding TRAX, seeing the water show at The Gateway mall, rock climbing, sliding down water falls, mountain biking, eating at Jeff restaurant, going to Hogle Zoo ... did I get to 26 yet?

Thanks to everyone for being so fun to visit!

This Close!

This is a picture of the final race of the double-elimination adult pinewood derby our Elder's Quorum organized last Saturday. The car on the left (not my car) won 1st place. The car on the right (my car) took second place. We each were beating other contenders by a car length or more. After 50 feet of track, he beat me by just two inches (give or take).

I had a lot of fun building my car. To be honest, at first I was just doing it because I was the 1st councilor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency (recently released) and I felt like I should since I had helped organize it.

We had two heats. The first one we called the "Limited" class where we followed the cub scout rules and the "Unlimited" class which had more relaxed rules such as a maximum of 2 pounds instead of 5 ounces, allowing larger car sizes, and so on.

In the picture above you can see my car on the left. I took a hack saw to an old dumbbell weight and made my car convertible from 5 ounces to just under 2 pounds. My car won the "Unlimited" class! Second place in the "Limited" class is fine with me. I won the "Unlimited" class!

The picture shows me on the left (I am trying to keep my 2 pound car from prematurely tripping the latch that unblocks the cars and starts the race. It had already tripped it twice). Next to me is Derrick Peterson (He used to be my Elder's Quorum President in the Elder's Quorum Presidency with me and is now the Bishop of our ward). Next to Derrick in the background is Jackie Brock (her facial expression was not uncommon among the wives who came that day to support their husbands). Next to her is Scot Nattrass (who does in fact have a propeller on his car).

Other noteworthy two pound cars include the following:

• A very large yellow bus full of lead with pictures of his family of six taped to the side
• A hollowed out block car with 2 pounds of wrenches hot glued to it

It was difficult to find a way to add 2 pounds to a pinewood derby car.

Christian's Boy School

Christian is in the neighborhood preschool. They meet twice a week. There are 6 families and Cheri teaches twice every 6 weeks. They named it Boy School because it just happened that they were all boys. Christian loves it. Cheri says, "6 boys full of energy! Just imagine how much fun they have!" Last month they picked strawberry at Sweet Berry Farms. Next month they are going on a field trip to the Fire Department.

Nicole's Swim Lessons

Nicole just completed 10 of 11 swim lessons and she made to level 9 (out of 10 levels in the pre-school classes). Check out this video of her swimming on her back, turning over to her front, kicking, and doing "big arms". It is really awesome to see how she has improved.

Texas Bluebonnets

Here is our classic Taxan-matching-white-shirts-and-blue-jeans family picture. If you would like to see more of our bluebonnet pictures check out my Picasa Web Album.