Joe and Brandi & Our 4 Little Friends

A Rebuttal

2012-02-03T07:15:00.000-08:00

So, this article has been flying around Facebook, and as a reader, I read it. But I have some points I'd like to make - not because the writer is wrong - but I'd like to offer a different perspective. The article - A Mormon Church in Need of Reform - was written by Carrie Sheffield and published in the Washington Post on January 29. Read the article, if you haven't already, but please come back and read my response.

First, you have to know that I am a devout Mormon. I also have a doctorate. I read widely. I have studied every major world religion in detail. I love reading philosophy - have several tomes on my shelves; I love reading literature that challenges thinking; I love reading in the sciences and do so often. I am fascinated by the human experience and our scientific, religious, and philosophical need to explain and justify and make sense of life as we know it on Earth. I love art - give me hours on end in an art museum, and I will call it a day well spent. I love sports. If I had 10 hours in New York, I'd spend 6 at the Met and then ride the Subway up to Yankee Stadium for a game. Actually, I've done that. I love backpacking. I love hunting. I love the symphony. I love the theater. I enjoy Jane Austen as much as I enjoy an issue of Popular Mechanics or the latest research journal from the American Educational Research Association. I love Weezer; I love Bach. I voted for Barack Obama, and would likely do so again if he faces Mitt Romney this fall. I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God; I believe Jesus was the Christ. I believe scientists and world leaders throughout history have been, at times, inspired by God to advance the human race. I have read Albert Einstein's biography - and loved it. I'm reading Steve Jobs' biography right now; I'm also reading the Book of Mormon. I find both equally fascinating. I am diverse in my opinions, my academic and social pursuits, and I am a Mormon. Having said that, let's get into Carrie Sheffield's article.

Carried stated that the Mormon church's "I'm a Mormon" media campaign was "a series of efforts to buy public affection." True. All media campaigns, for charities, sports teams, shaving cream, religion, AIDS awareness, or what have you, are "efforts to buy public affection." Can't deny that. The campaign, though, is meant to say, "We're not weirdos." You probably know us, and we're human, too. Most of my Mormon friends back home in California, from my time in Arizona, and from time living in Missouri, Kansas, Idaho, and Utah, are just normal people living diverse lives.

Carrie writes, "Yes, Mormons love families. But the family-values facade applies only if you stay in the fold. Former Mormons know the family estrangement and bigotry that often come with questioning or leaving the church." Yes and no. Because the Mormon faith is predicated on the belief that the church is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy that someday God would restore His church to the Earth (and we believe He did that through the prophet, Joseph Smith in the early 1800s), it stands to reason that when someone (like Carrie) rejects that faith, its tough on the believing parents and family. In some sad cases, it leads parents, siblings, or friends to reject that person who leaves the Mormon church. But from my experiences, I have several close family members who left the Church and I love those guys. My wife and I just had Sunday brunch to hang out with two good friends who left the Mormon faith years ago- they're awesome people! We love being around them. I feel bad for Carrie's personal experience with her family in this regard, and for all who have her shared experience. I hope no Mormon treats anyone that way. The reality, though, is most Mormons don't live in enclaves of "only-Mormon" communities. We live all over the world and have a diverse body of friends both within and without the Mormon faith. We're not some weird, secretive, petty society that shuns non-Mormon friendships. That's weird.

Carries writes, "The church I was raised in values unquestioning obedience over critical thinking. This caused trauma and cognitive dissonance when I questioned church doctrine and official history." I'm not sure where this comes from, but my experiences growing up in California, attending BYU in Utah, and my adult life in various other states has been very different. Mormons do believe in following a living prophet. His teachings are very public - they're all on www.lds.org. However, we also believe (and we hold to it with clenched fists) that each person is entitled to personal, constant, daily revelation and direction and inspiration from God. We are told to question, challenge, dissect, ponder, and pray over everything we are presented with doctrinally. As an adult, I do this often, and so do my friends and family. We seek inspiration for what is right for us. We are encouraged, asked, prodded, but in the end, all we do, even our membership, is by choice. I pay tithing by choice; I get up and go to church on Sunday by choice; I serve by choice; I pray by choice; I believe in God by choice. As to the doctrines, yes we espouse a belief in concrete doctrines such as the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and other prophetic teachings, but as Mormons we have a tremendous amount of scholarship on our own doctrines. The library in my own home is reflective of a never-ending stream of published literature from Mormons interpreting their own doctrines. Deseret Book has published thousands of doctrinal explorations of Mormon theology. We are a people enamored with intellectual thinking and inquiry. Do we teach our youth and members to embrace the teachings of the scriptures and a living prophet as doctrine from God? Sure. But we also teach, constantly, to think, ponder, and pray about what is right for you and your family and make a choice on the matter and to make personal choices in how to fit those teachings into your individual lives as appropriate to your circumstances.

Carrie writes, "I struggled after realizing Mormonism's claims about anthropology, history, and other subjects contradict reason and science." Yes, having studied all major world religions, we always come to a breaking point when trying to fit religion within science and science in religion. Did a God oversee this, or are we, as humans, products of an evolving natural world? That's the breaking point. True of all faiths. While attending the Mormon church's, Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho), our biology classes studied the Theory of Evolution. We discussed evolution in context with the Mormon belief in the creation epic of the Bible. However, we openly discussed (and I've had the same discussion in countless Mormon Sunday school classes and other venues) that an evolutionary process may very well have been a part of The Creation. We explored that, shared ideas, shared thoughts, and basically explored the topic as far as our intellectual curiosity would take us. We did things like this in almost every class I attended at Ricks and then at the main BYU campus in Provo as I earned a degree in History with a minor in English. Math, Science, History, Philosophy, Religion, you name it. We tore it apart and often explored it in conjunction with theology. Not every class did this, and not every professor was open to this type of thinking - some wouldn't let you jump too far out of "Sunday School lesson manual" type discussions, but many, if not most, were pushing us to intellectually explore our faith in light of science, and it's something I have not stopped doing my entire life - and most of my Mormon friends are this same way - we're fascinated by the advances and thinking in science and its possible relations to our faith. In pursing a master's at Northern Arizona University, and a doctorate at Utah State University, I have been equally engaged with this process, on a personal level, juxtaposing and analyzing the academia with my personal religious beliefs.

Carrie said, "While many faiths' irrational claims are obscured by centuries of myth and rubble, the LDS church lacks moderation and scholarship of its older peers. It also stifles efforts to openly question church pronouncements, labeling such behavior as satanic." I grew up in Los Angeles, and my grandfather, born in 1926 (and just died 4 years ago), had a doctorate from USC. Scholarship. My grandmother had a bachelors degree. The leaders of the Mormon church in Salt Lake City have advanced degrees in medicine, business, science, and so forth. There are doctors, lawyers, former CEOs, university professors, judges, and many other well-educated scholars at the highest levels of leadership in the Mormon faith. In fact, the higher you go through the Mormon church's leadership, the more education you find. It's not a faith led by ignorant people. It's not a faith led by men and women who have only degrees in theology. The Church's efforts to dissect its own history are almost unparalleled in the world of religion. It's publication history is deep and extends back almost two full centuries. Walk into the BYU library in Provo, Utah, and you will find thousands of books and hundreds of thousands of pages of Mormon scholarship. Mormon history has been documented and analyzed for almost 200 years. As for labeling the questioning of Church pronouncements as "satanic," I haven't heard that at anytime, and I challenge anyone to find such a statement or teaching. The Mormon church does believe in following a living prophet. We believe He speaks for God. But I also restate that we are constantly being told to think, ponder, and pray and find out for ourselves if things are true and how doctrine applies to our individual and family circumstances. With all of the pronouncements on keeping the Sabbath Day holy, ask 10 Mormons how they follow that injunction and you will get 10 different answers.

Carrie writes, "Critics of Mormonism include geneticists, Egyptologists and even the Smithsonian Institution, which stopped Mormon apologists from claiming the institute viewed the Book of Mormon as a factual document." Critics of any religion are found in these circles and many other circles. As a Mormon, I find genetics fascinating. I find Egyptology fascinating. And I loved my visits to the Smithsonian museums. I don't always agree with scientific pronouncements or theories, and they don't always agree with my religion. But that's part of the human experience. As to the Book of Mormon, even treating it as a work of fictional literature, as a scholar, I am impressed with its original detail, Old-World style literary structures, and metaphorical stories rich in symbolism. It harmonizes with my study of and love for the Bible, and it broadens my perspective in a religious, philosophical, and literary sense. I read widely in all forms of literature, and the Book of Mormon is fascinating to me both in a religious context and in an academic context.

Carrie writes, "While studying at Brigham Young University, I spiritually imploded after learning these things and other facts outside official church curriculum. Disturbed, I met with a high-ranking Mormon leader who told me to quit reading historical and scientific materials because they were 'worse than pornography.'" This is, perhaps, the strangest quote in the article. I attended BYU, which has a student enrollment of 30,000 or so students on average. BYU ranks in the Top 10 of universities that send undergrads on to earn PhDs (mostly at non-Mormon universities). The Mormon church not only publishes widely, but it has built 3 major universities (BYU-Provo, BYU-Idaho, and BYU-Hawaii), and operates the LDS Business College and BYU-Jerusalem. Studying historical and scientific materials is fundamental to our religion. We are taught explicitly to study deeply in all things academic. BYU's science departments are well-developed and carry out research projects throughout the world in all areas of scientific inquiry. I don't know who the unnamed church leader she spoke with is, but I have never heard such pronouncements in my 38 years in the church. Do we embrace many facets of our doctrine as teachings from God? Yes. Do we blindly ignore science, history, philosophy, and academia? Not at all.

Carries writes, "Salt Lake City's male gerontocracy told me to avoid books and marry, but I could not stomach all their teachings." As of 2010, 48% of the students at BYU-Provo were female (http://yfacts.byu.edu/viewarticle.aspx?id=135). This is a church-owned institution whose board of directors is made up of the highest levels of Mormon leadership. My grandmother had a bachelor's degree from California State University Los Angeles. My mother has a bachelor's degree. There are 8 boys in my family and 7 are married. Of the 7 women who married into our devout, typical Mormon family, 6 of them have bachelor's degrees, and 2 have master's degrees. My wife has a master's degree. Women getting college educations is a fundamental and encouraged part of the Mormon faith. Does the church encourage women to fill roles as mothers? Yes. Does the church stop them from working outside the home? My grandmother, mother, and wife all have held leadership positions in the church. Yet all of them worked outside the home while raising children. Many Mormon women are stay-at-home mom's and are applauded for this sacrifice. Many Mormon women work outside the home. It's normal.

Carrie writes, "Mainstream Mormons banned polygamy in 1890 to obtain Utah's statehood, but they continue to perform temple ceremonies that 'seal' one man to multiple women in the hereafter. My idea of heaven did not involve a husband whose love could be shared with many wives." And my wife would agree. No modern Mormon man is 'sealed' or married to more than one living woman. Carrie is referring to, if a Mormon man's wife dies and he remarries, the marriage or sealing done in the temple is for Time and All Eternity. Hence, when he gets to Heaven, two wives. I'm not sure how all of that will be worked out. I'm not sure how Abraham is doing up there with his multiple wives, but as believers in the Bible, Mormons have been taught that in various circumstances and at various times, God has asked or allowed certain men to be sealed to more than one woman. Honestly, I love my wife, and like many other Mormon men, it would be hard for me if I was ever told, "Hey, polygamy is back. Go get another wife." When I get to Heaven, I expect God will explain a lot of things to me that are a mystery to me in this life (including the Patriots losing to the Giants in 2008, dinosaurs, how Hitler convinced a developed nation to do what they did, how that whole Garden of Eden thing worked, the geologic processes involved in the Earth's creation, and many more things I don't fully understand).

Carrie writes (sadly), "My parents shut me out of their home for nearly five years because of religion, and some former friends shunned me." I can't imagine this. I feel bad for her and her family. No one should go through this. With several family members and friends leaving the Mormon faith, there were weird moments, but largely, we're very close friends. I love my friends and family no matter what beliefs they choose. We visit our friends and family who have left the church regularly, vacation together, chat on the phone, and are Facebook friends. I feel sad that Carrie experienced this in her family.

Carrie writes, "Those whose spouses leave the church are sometimes encouraged to get divorced and remarry a faithful Latter-day Saint." All marriages with spouses following different religious beliefs can sometimes be strained. I have never read of a Mormon leader telling members to divorce "non-believers." It's a tough situation. Because the Mormon faith is really a lifestyle, with one in and one out, it could get tough. But that would be left to the married couple to pray about and talk through together. There is something sacred in the Mormon church, that not even the church leaders step into very often - and that's the sacred bonds of marriage. We are counseled often, to consult with our spouse and to make decisions based on prayerful consultation and cooperation with this Heavenly partnership. Marriage is sacred. I hope no Mormon leader ever comes out and tells the members to divorce any non-Mormon spouses. I can't imagine they will.

Carrie writes, "Many gay Mormons have been driven to suicide, deeply conflicted about whether acting on their sexuality is, as the church teaches, a sin." As a devout Mormon who has had gay friends and family members, this is a tough one for me. And in talking to my many Mormon friends and family across the country, it's a tough one for all of us. Yes, we believe that homosexual actions are a sin. We also believe that these feelings and "being gay" are something a person is born with - some still cling to the belief that one chooses to be gay, but that idea is fading fast in the church. So, we're stuck in a weird situation. A church that embraces intellectual and scientific inquiry, that embraces America and its democratic ways as God-inspired, is struggling to cope with how to love and embrace its gay members. I will be the first to raise my hand that I don't think we're doing the best job. It's a tragedy when someone who is gay commits suicide. I don't have an answer for this other than I care about and love my friends and family who are gay.

Carrie writes, "With public interest in Mormonism so high, I hope the scrutiny will help break down the church's fundamentalist trappings: secrecy about its finances, anti-women doctrine and homophobia, to start. Perhaps someday the church will not excommunicate, fire and demote people who want honest, church-wide dialogue about Mormon history and doctrine." The church's financial details aren't really a secret. You have 14 or so million people paying 10% tithing and additional offerings for the poor and you have an annually published list of the thousands of church meeting houses and temples around the world. The church owns many farms, cattle ranches, canneries, and so forth to support its worldwide humanitarian effort. It runs an education system with universities and seminaries. And it conducts an annual independent audit of its finances. It's pretty straight-forward. Any economist looking in from the outside can estimate its income and project its outcome (which is tangible) and come to solid conclusions. I don't understand the anti-women statement here. I love the women in my family, as have my father and grandfathers. I have addressed the homophobia - we are all guilty there. The Mormon church and its doctrine is on full display. It's the most scrutinized and published-about American religion. If you begin reading about Mormon faith, you very quickly come to realize that there is almost too much information, too many books, too much literature on the subject. You can read your entire life and not get through the thousands of books on the subject. We are a transparent people in many ways.

Carrie writes, "the church isn't exactly welcoming of outsiders." On the outside of almost every Mormon church building is the statement, "Visitors Welcome." The church currently has almost 60,000 missionaries all over the world on their own dime inviting people to learn about the Mormon church. Having said that, the Mormon faith can be a little exclusive in the sense that it isn't just a church on the corner that you go to for an hour or two each week. It's a pretty intensive life-style change. No alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, drugs. Sundays are the Sabbath. One night a week is Youth Night with activities for the teenager kids. There are frequent congregational (congregations are called Wards - using an old word for sections of a city) activities for the young kids (called Primary) and the adults and sometimes the whole family. Most adults have "Callings" where you serve as a Sunday School teacher or Bishop or Primary Teacher or Activity Chairman or whatever. The Church is a lay leadership - we don't hire leaders; you're called to serve in your ward. So, because the Mormon church is so involved, it can sometimes feel to an outsider that it's kind of an exclusive club. To be honest, I think the church is trying really hard to make others feel welcome.

That was lengthy. I respect Carrie's views, but I also think they are an attempt to ridicule a church that she has rejected. That's fine. We are not a perfect people, and our beliefs, like so many others, can seem funny and strange. But some of what she stated has not been my experience and some points, I feel, were outright false. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I believe that God created this world for us to live in, to grow, to learn, and to develop. We do that by studying and reading and discussing and living. The human experience is a wonderful thing. I love life. I love my religion.

Canada Hunt 2011

2011-11-14T15:11:00.001-08:00

My brother-in-law, Boone, and I went to Ontario Canada again this fall to hunt whitetail deer. From Moab, it was a 28 hour drive each way with 7 days in camp. We stayed at Silver Birch Camp north of Lake of the Woods. The camp has a main lodge and cabins with electricity and running water. But cell phones and the internet are non-existent (nice and quiet). The boreal forest is mostly tundra and moss with thick pine forests living on top of granite (there is little to no top soil anywhere). Where there is not forest, it is either one of thousands of lakes or flat marsh with clump grass and willows. Beavers create ponds and fill marshes with streams everywhere. The deer use the ridges to move about and bed, but they cut through the marshes along the willow edges and to cross from ridge to ridge. Last year, I did not have any experiences calling in deer (other than the one I shot), but this year, I called in deer almost every day and sometimes more than once per day. Last year, we were still figuring things out, but this year, we felt like everything went perfect. I ended up shooting a small 8-point after getting impatient on Thursday (after 5 days of hunting hard). Boone, though, shot a really nice 11 point buck on Thursday night in the last minute of shooting light. We were pretty stoked.

We crossed Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, (slipped into Minnesota for Cabela's), crossed the border into Manitoba, and then entered Ontario. The entire trip, I kept telling Boone when I was too hot or too cold in the truck, and he named me Goldilocks.
The day I was leaving to meet Boone, I was double-checking everything, and somehow my passport was out of my suitcase. I looked for 2 hours, but couldn't figure out where it had gone. I had put it into an inside pocket and zipped it closed. I went and picked Matthew up from the baby sitter, showed him Brandi's passport, and said, "Did you take this?" He went into his room and came back out with it. "I just liked reading it," he said. He had opened my luggage and dug it out just to read. After that heart attack, the trip went smooth from there.
In Minnesota at the Cabela's for last-minute supplies. Boone had to help me put my hat on correctly after this photo because I struggle.
Boone is basically a Chinese grizzly bear.
Looking svelte. We have now taken 3 deer from this marsh over the past 2 years between us. Some days were warm - in the 30s, and other days were really cold (probably in the teens or single digits with wind chill). It snowed two days and rained one day.
A night shot of Boone's 11 point buck. He spotted him in the last 5 minutes of light crossing the marsh about 300 yards off. He had hung a tree stand about 25 feet up in this pine tree on the marsh edge. I was at the base calling for him. He shot several times and inexplicably missed (probably from shivering in the cold up in the tree). He pulled a bullet out of the gun stock sleeve and yelled at me to "Stop him!" I grunted on my call really loud and the deer stopped right at the forest edge. Boone put him down with the single shot just as he was about to enter the forest. We tracked him in the dark and were totally excited to find such a good deer.
Thursday morning, Boone tried to 4-wheeler out through the marsh to meet me about a mile out but he got stuck in the swamp. We lifted the entire back end up and out and swung the whole thing around 180 degrees.
Trying to jump onto a beaver dam to cross a creek through the middle of the marsh I shot my buck in. It didn't work with 60 lbs of meat on my back, and I got soaked. You can see all five forms of the landscape in this photo: water, marsh, willows, pine forest, and granite (the granite cliffs are snow covered in the background.
I hiked out about 1.5 miles and onto a ridge. From the top of a 100 granite cliff overlooking a vast marsh, I called in two bucks at 9:00 am after 5 days of hard hunting. They wouldn't come out into the open from the willows across the marsh, but kept looking for the "fight" my rattling horns were making. This buck came in second and ran the first buck off. Thinking he was the dominant buck, seeing he had antlers through the willows, and hoping he was a good buck, I foolishly took the shot through the willows from 200 yards and put him down. Two hours later, Boone had joined me and we had hiked in to the buck. I was thoroughly disappointed to find such a small buck. However, I was glad to have game on the ground after so many days of hunting. I took his hide to have it tanned. We loaded up the meat, and packed it out the mile or so to Boone's stuck 4-wheeler. That night, Boone shot his buck.
Everything grows on granite, so the ridges will often have blown over trees. This one formed a "cave" from the tundra growing around it's base that came up with it.
A snow storm blew in one day and covered everything (my pack and gun are in this picture) in white.
Trying to stay warm. The hunt was amazing this year. We had the time of our lives. We laughed constantly, enjoyed Church on Sunday morning in Kenora, loved our cabin, learned a lot more about hunting and calling whitetails, and saw huge bucks and deer almost everyday. I can't wait to go back again.

Book of Mormon

2011-10-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

Great article (here) today in the Deseret News about the factual nature of the Book of Mormon. The author linked an article defending the book from an intellectual view as well (here). If you haven't read Hugh Nibley's book, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, you need to; he defends the book from the position of its seat within the Ancient Middle-Eastern context from which it claims to have originated. Nibley's book is available online (here) or in book form (here).

Elk Camp 2011

2011-10-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

I elk hunted this year with my Dad and brother Dave in the Utah mountains at 9,000 feet. We each had a spike elk (year and a half old bulls) tag. Finding elk is usually tough, but we're typically in or around a herd or multiple herds each day if we hunt hard. Finding a spike and getting a good shot, though, can be extremely difficult. Several years, I haven't had a shot at all on a spike. However, this year, everything went perfect. For the first time, I had a camper that we pulled up and used as base camp - hot showers, good beds, and warmth in the high snow-capped mountains was a huge bonus! Because of a big early season snow storm last weekend followed by warm temps, the old logging roads and 4-wheeler trails were total mud. We couldn't get the trucks anywhere. However, Dave bought a 4-wheeler this summer, so for the first time, we had a new hunting tool. It got us out the several miles of muddy roads to our hunting grounds where we could then hike the forests and mountain canyons. We arrived Tuesday evening and drove the upper roads exploring what areas we could access with all the snow. After a combination of too much Mtn Dew and excitement for the hunt, I didn't sleep at all Tuesday night - not a single minute. Longest night of my life. Wednesday morning, my Dad hiked out into the basin we like to hunt with the intention of meeting up with us that night somewhere along a 4-wheeler road we identified on the map. Dave and I roade his 4-wheeler out about 5 miles to a look-out point we like. Within minutes, we spotted elk about a half mile away and put together a plan. Dave drove me out a ways on a trail, and then he went back to the point to watch; I hiked up a 4-wheeler trail to where I thought the elk were below me and eased down through the pines and aspens cow calling. The patches of snow that still remained were frozen and pretty loud, so the going was slow picking my way through it. When I arrived at the clearing the elk had been in, Dave radioed me and said the herd had moved off to the south down the mountain into the forest. I moved down to the bottom of the clearing about 100 yards and continued cow calling. Dave radioed and said two elk were coming in to the calls. Eventually I found them and when one stepped out of the brush, seeing he was a spike elk, I made a standing freehand shot from about 60 yards through a small hole in the brush and trees. When I fired, the second elk ran off, but I saw that he was a spike, too. I sat down behind a dead log and cow called, trying to coax him back because he only trotted off rather than really busting out of there. After a few minutes, he came walking right back into the clearing and stood there looking for the cow elk he was hearing (me). Realizing the second elk was a spike as well, Dave made his way over to me, and following the sound of my calls, dropped down into the same clearing and shot the second spike. They fell no more than 20 yards away from each other! As we stood around laughing about our total luck, our Dad suddenly emerges from the forest. We said, "Where did you come from?!" He said he'd been tracking a herd after hiking several miles and it brought him to this meadow. A perfect finish to a crazy morning.

Several times we had all 3 of us on the 4-wheeler; total nerds.
Elk camp - the new camper and Tatonka.
Dave's 4-wheeler loaded with Dad's spike elk.

Dave and I shot our elk on Wednesday. Thursday morning, I drove Dad out about 5 miles on the 4-wheeler and dropped him off. He hiked through the forest a couple of miles just below the snowline moving in and out of small canyons and draws and over ridges. After several hours of tracking a herd, he found himself in the middle of elk. What at first appeared to be a herd of 8 or 10 that he kept bumping ahead of him, he dropped down a ridge and watched a small group of elk in an open aspen grove. After awhile, one of the elk stepped out and turned out to be a spike. A 50 foot shot finished him. When my Dad fired, the small herd of 10 turned into a huge herd of 40 elk that stormed through the grove and down the draw. Dave and I were sitting on a point above the basin Dad was hunting in, eating lunch and chatting when we heard the gunshot over a couple of small canyons. After some excited radio chatter and riding around on the 4-wheeler, we located Dad's ridge and hiked down to meet him and celebrate his awesome hunt. A few hours later, we had our third and final elk pulled out of the mountains. In less than 27 hours, we had hunted and harvested three spike elk!
Dave's spike about 20 yards away from my elk.
My spike elk. All three spikes were remarkably similar looking in appearance - no extra points and almost exactly even in antler length. It was a great hunt. We stayed until Friday morning before heading home. The 4-wheeler opened up a lot of country that wouldn't have been available otherwise due to the mud and snow. However, we still (especially Dad) hiked a lot and had to hike out our meat on frame packs through some tough forest up steep mountains. Everyone kept telling us they weren't seeing elk this year and other hunters were surprised about our finding spikes. However, most people we see up there only ride the 4-wheeler trails and don't get off the roads to hunt the forests. We usually aren't this lucky, but I'll take it. I love the family time and the high beautiful Utah mountains in elk country every year. All the meat will feed our family well for the next year. Good times!

New Camper

2011-06-01T19:28:00.001-07:00

2007 Mallard Sport

One Jimmer to Rule Them All

2011-03-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, good friend.

Lord of the Jimmer

2011-02-14T14:54:00.001-08:00

One Jimmer to rule them all;
One Jimmer to find them.
One Jimmer to score on them all;
And in the Marriott Center bind them.

JimmerMania!

2011-01-31T10:30:00.001-08:00

The Holidays

2011-01-09T17:17:00.001-08:00

Our holiday season was pretty dull this year with me breaking my leg. No travels or excursions, but the kids were good sports about it. Dave and Erin came for a cool visit, and we finally got some snow just before New Years.

James eating Matt's birthday cake.
Annie
The new cast.
Matthew celebrating four years opening presents.
James playing a video game for the first time Christmas morning.
Emmy and her toe socks Christmas present.
Brandi setting up the boys' car track.
Emmy and her gifts.

Broken Leg

2010-12-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

I went out duck hunting the first day of Winter Break (Thursday morning). Looking up at geese flying overhead, I was just about to shoot when I stepped into a hole filled with brush and fell face first. My right leg stayed on the trail as the rest of me fell, and it twisted back and to the right, fracturing my lateral malleolus (the bone at the end of the tibia). I'm going to see a orthopedic surgeon Monday or Tuesday. Right now I've just got a temporary cast. Lame!

The Spider

2010-12-17T08:49:00.001-08:00

Canada Whitetail Deer Hunt

2010-11-14T20:49:00.000-08:00

I will post a report and more pictures tomorrow, but here are a couple of pictures for now. We went to Kenora, Ontario, Canada. Awesome trip! It was warm the first few days, so the rut wasn't going like it normally would be. We didn't see many bucks, so I took the first buck I saw (on Wednesday evening 3 days into the hunt). He's not one of the big Canadian bucks you go there for, but he's big enough for me!

Vai Sikahema on Missions

2010-10-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read former BYU and Philadelphia Eagles football player, Vai Sikahema, and his recent series of posts on missionary service, you need to. Powerful and totally enjoyable in light of the sport he played. You have to read these....good stuff.

Missions and Football Part I

Missions and Football Part II

Missions and Football Part III

Missions and Football Part IV

Missions and Football Part V

Missions and Football Part VI

Elk Camp 2010

2010-10-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Dad, Dave, and I set up elk camp high atop the Manti-La Sal mountain range above Mayfield, Utah this year. We camped in Dave's trailer at 10,000 feet at Twelve Mile Flat and hunted along the logging roads and canyons in the high country for 5 days. It was awesome! We were in elk herds every day, and we had opportunities at spikes almost daily. We still-hunted pine and aspen forests, climbed high peaks, and walked ridgelines and mountain meadows, all while enjoying each other's company and working hard together to connect on a spike elk. On Friday morning, the fourth day, Dave finally connected for us as we moved in on a herd, and he had a spike elk run right at him - he shot it from 30 yards. W

e quartered the animal, de-boned the meat, and packed it out through a high meadow to a logging road. The weather was perfect, and we had a wonderful time being together as family in some of the most beautiful country on earth!

This is how you look for elk.

Dave, Joe, and Dad with the one elk we downed. Dave shot him from 30 yards after we closed in.

Dave, Dad, and Joe.
My weapon of choice - a Remington .30-06 Model 700 with Leupold scope.
Lying back on a peak looking for elk in the evening after hiking in on a ridgeline in the afternoon.
Dave and Dad toward the end of the day ready to head back to camp. We cooked our dinners over a campfire, grilling chicken and steak over pine logs.
One of the basins we hunted all week. The elk bed it the north facing pines and feed in the open meadows early and late in the day with some movement during the mid-day.
A ridgeline we hunted. The elk bedded in the north facing forest on the left. Heavy game trails run all through the forest.
Dave shot his elk in the meadows below.
Dad and his woolen hunting trowsers - "The perfect hunting pants," he says.
Good times!

Evening Hike in Arches

2010-09-20T18:47:00.001-07:00

We took the kids out for pizza and then into our backyard....Arches National Park for a little evening hike. Beautiful sunset tonight with storm clouds in the west over Canyonlands.

Dark Canyon Lake

2010-07-27T18:10:00.001-07:00

We took the kids camping up in the La Sal Mountains here in Moab. We went up to Dark Canyon Lake. It turned out to be the trip that was cursed, even though we had fun and it was beautiful. On the bumpy ride up over Geyser pass, the ice chest worked its way off the rope and dumped out of the truck onto the logging road crushing 11 out of 18 of our eggs and dumping food everywhere. We picked up the remnants, and Brandi cleaned and saved what we could while I set up camp. The first night went off great besides some rain that night, but we all stayed dry. We had breakfast and canoed the lake and fished the next morning. Then the hail storm from hell arrived.

Here is a picture of the camp when we arrived before the hail storm turned it into a muddy pond.

Here is a picture of the camp after the hail storm turned it into a pond. It took me an hour to get the truck out of the that pond. The sides were just steep enough and totally slick that I couldn't get out. After turning it into a mud pit and cutting and laying down a bunch of pine boughs, we got out. Everything was covered in mud.
We slipped into the back of the truck to wait out what we thought would be a routine rain storm. Here's a pic from the back looking out.
James laid out all of his toys to wait out the storm.
The hail slowly built until they were nearly marble size. There were piles of hail about 4 inches deep everywhere.
It rained so hard, that half our camp was submerged in 12 inches of water. The tent and tubs were floating in the water.
Matt grubbing his skillet fried pancake.
James and Matt drinking up their hot chocolate first thing in the morning.
Pretty girl relaxing while Joe cooks.
Joe cooking bacon and pancakes over the fire in the iron skillet.
Canoeing with the kids. The hail storm is rolling in over the mountains.
Using Bryan's supersized flapjacker to make pancakes.
Emmy was the only one to catch a fish. She pan fried it when we got home and ate it up with lemon juice.

Colorado River Canoeing

2010-07-24T22:05:00.001-07:00

I took my newly purchased canoe out on the Colorado River for the first time. I went with a friend, Chris, from here in town, and we put in down at the bridge about a mile from my house. We floated 4 hours downriver to Gold Bar. A thunderstorm kept threatening us, but cleared out after awhile. It was a cool trip. I scouted the river, so now I can take Brandi and the kiddos. I'll post pics of that adventure when it happens.

We were in some shallows on the narrow side of an island and Chris saw a bunch of carp boiling in the shallow water. He jumped out and caught one. Gollum the River Hippy.

We rock climbed these walls with the kids a couple of months ago.

Electric Lake

2010-07-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

Brandi had to work this weekend, so I took the kids up to my folks' house for our summer "camping" reunion with all my bros. However, we just hung out at my parents, so I took the kiddos up to Electric Lake and camped on our way to my parents. We canoed, fished, and cooked all of our food over the fire.

James and Matthew stomping around the campsite. We set up right on the lake shore.

Emmy loved fishing. She fished at least 5 or 6 hours the second day. She said she was going to get up early, and true to her word, at about 5 or 6 am, I heard her get out of her tent. I looked out and saw her standing on the lake shore in the pre-dawn mists fishing away. She said she wants to go fishing for her birthday this month instead of having a party.
Matt and James had fun tromping around with the girls through the shallows finding dead fish, chasing minnows, and getting muddy.
These little prairie dog type things were all over the sage hills, and we saw this one swimming across the lake. It was exhausted when it made it to shore, and the kids picked him up and carried him around.
Moon setting behind the mountain. We enjoyed the campfire watching all the stars come out.
I bought a canoe awhile back for $150 from some lady in Moab. We used it to fish around the lake. I caught a 14 inch cutthroat, but everyone else got skunked.

Canoeing the lake with the little people.
We canoed several miles down the lake in the morning trolling three lines out of the boat. It was tiring.
These two rascals showed up just in time for a breakfast cooked in my iron skillet over the coals: bacon, sausage, eggs, and hot chocolate.
Cooking the bacon and warming water for hot chocolate.
The brood.
Looking south from the campsite.

Wyoming Golf and Fishing

2010-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

We're up in Star Valley, Wyoming hanging out with Brandi's family. Boone, Mark, and I took Jacob, Ashley, and James golfing at Aspen Hills.

James hopped in the cart, didn't know it was on, stomped on the gas pedal and rammed into my truck.
Ben Hogan-like swing. Sandals by Teva, shorts by Wrangler, shirt by Redsand, and hat by Nike.
James' favorite part was riding in the cart....and putting on the greens.
Teeing off with the mountains looming.

Boone's power swing.
Joe's sweet stroke.
Mark teaching Ashley the art of putting.
Boone and Jacob.
James loved putting, but he didn't understand how to place his feet.
Riding the cart. My favorite part, too.
Group photo. Mark and Boone are Brandi's brothers.

Boone, Brandi's dad Eric, and I took Tyler and Emmy fishing up the Little Grey's River.
Boone, Tyler, and Grandpa fishing upstream from me and Emmy.
Father and son.
My "keeper" golden cutthroat trout. We could only keep 1 over 12 inches. Fishing in Chacos!
Emmy's first cutthroat trout! She thought her line was caught in a pool behind a rock, and it was....on a fat trout!
Father and daughter.

Colorado River with the Kids

2010-07-03T16:13:00.001-07:00

We went out on the Colorado River here in Moab today. Several families from the ward went thanks to the Hazletts. This was our kids first time on the river. Some fun rapids, but nothing too scary for the little ones. Good times.

Mill Creek

2010-06-29T16:58:00.001-07:00

Went swimming in Mill Creek with Jake, Emily, Joseph, and Eddie when they visited. Beautiful Moab.

Huntington Beach

2010-06-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip down to Huntington Beach before the Heywood family reunion back home in Cali. We met mom and dad there Thursday night and had a little BBQ on the beach. Then we stayed with Eric and Kacie at a hotel and spent Friday in the waves. Morning was cool and overcast, but it burned off around noon.

Daddy-Daughter Week

2010-06-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

I took the girls up to BYU soccer camp this past week. The Top 25 BYU women's coach runs it, and the men's coach assists. BYU men's and women's soccer players coach the camp. They had a blast. Camp was 9-12 each morning, and I ran errands and did whatever til 11. I then showed up and watched the last hour of scrimmages. Every day we went out to lunch (3 times we went to In-n-Out!). We also went to Brick Oven Pizza, Panda Express, and El Azteca. We stayed the week at Dave and Erin's house. On Wednesday, we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. On Thursday we went to Seven Peaks Water Park (thanks to free tickets from our friends the Wakefields) and spent 5 hours getting sunburned and having a blast riding all of the water slides. The best one was Boomerang. A giant hydro half-pipe that you drop into on an inner tube and rocket down in and back up the other side; it feels like you are going to launch right up out of the 3-5 story far side of the pipe. Total adrenaline rush and the coolest water ride I've ever been on, including Raging Waters back home in Cali. Thursday night, we drove up with Dave to my bro John's house and hung out there for the Lakers game. Shot some hoop, then watched the game on John and Sunni's 5X9 foot HD projector tv. Waaaayyyyyy cool. We squeezed in a couple of days at shooting ranges in Orem and Nephi to get the girls ready for Hunter's Safety class on Saturday. Dave and Erin hosted a BBQ with a bunch of the fam coming in on Friday night. Saturday, we spent the day in SLC completing the girls' Hunter's Safety class. They rocked the 50 question written test after a morning of class, and then they completed the rifle portion where they have to get 15 out of 30 shots into the kill zone from 50 feet with a .22 rifle. All in all, it was a really, really fun week.

Emmy dominating the goal. Nobody scored. She was overly concerned that they were playing 7 year olds that game, and asked her team if they could let them score after Emmy's team went up 5-0. Her team freaked out and said no way. Emmy was really concerned that the other team's kids were feeling bad.
Annie in the red at center.
Annie playing defense. She likes defense best.
Annie at center. The goalie on her team was amazing. He's the short kid in the light blue shorts to the right.
Emmy at center in red coming out from goal to stop the ball.

Taiko Chicks

2010-05-29T22:39:00.001-07:00

Annie and Emmy have been studying Taiko drumming for the past two years. It's a Japanese drumming style on a variety of large drums. There is a local Taiko Dan (group), and one of them is a teacher at the charter school. The girls have been going up to the middle school to practice and perform with the older kids. Today, we had a huge Arts Festival in Moab, and the girls performed. Here's the pics....

Annie and Emmy (above) with their drums on stage in front of a pretty large crowd at Swanney Park.
Emmy playing alone (some songs require the drummers to begin a line or processional as the group joins into the song one by one and the drummers use multiple drums, moving from drum to drum as everyone joins in gradually leaving just one drummer again).
Annie drumming. Some of the traditional Japanese songs have the performers wearing animal "masks" mostly for fun, but also out of symbolism to a particular song's message, origin, or purpose.
Annie rocking.
Emmy rocking - green masked.
Emmy crouched down smiling. During some songs, as participants move into and out of the drum line, they will duck down behind the drummer or drummers waiting their turn to jump in.
The middle school group with a few younger kids - Annie 3rd from the left in an orange mask. Emmy is second from the right in a green mask.
The two hosers.

2010 Ogden Marathon

2010-05-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Click here for Joe's Results Click here for Joe's Photos

Click here for Brandi's Results Click here for Brandi's Photos

Click here for Dave's Results Click here for Dave's Photos

Saturday, May 15, Brandi, and my brother Dave, and I ran the Ogden Marathon. After 3 prior attempts at Ogden (4:03, 4:12, 4:25), I finally broke four hours with a 3:57 averaging 8:58 per mile. Dave and I ran together through about Mile 14, and Dave finished in 4:11 on his first marathon attempt. Brandi ran 10 minute miles the whole way and only walked while drinking at the aid stations. She finished in 5:02 after stopping 9 times for the bathroom! Dave and I both ran the entire route as well, only stopping for a few seconds to drink at the aid stations (I tried running while drinking Powerade once and I think it is still up my nose). This was my first marathon where I felt really strong all the way through. I kind of hit the "wall" at Mile 24 and slowed to a 9:20 pace, but I was still running well. In past years, I have just crashed around Mile 19 or 20 and walked a lot. I bought a Garmin Forerunner 110 GPS watch, and this helped considerably because it tells you a real-time pace, so Dave and I just held our pace between 8:40 and 8:59 the entire route. The weather was perfect. I never once felt hot as I have in past years, unless you count my short shorts, which are hot. It was loads of fun having a bunch of family with me this time. Running the race alone is cool, but this was better. Thanks to Dave's wife, Erin, who had to baby us all day Saturday after the race buying ice, food, and driving. And thanks to mom and dad for taking care of the kids and being at the finish line!

Outside the runners' area after the race. We look happy, but just after the picture we all hobbled, limped away to the car. Erin kept laughing at us.
The racing bibs. This year they put the timing chips on the bib (back). It was supposed to click at mile 23 and send a text to my dad's cell phone that I was approaching, but it didn't work.
The massage party in the Marriott the night before. We were smart and got a room in the Marriott two blocks from the bus loading downtown, and right at the finish line. It was perfect.
Brandi getting ready - lubing and bandaging and dressing. We got up at 4:15 and were out the door at 4:45 am. Buses load in the dark from 4:45 - 5:00 and drive the 26.2 miles up into the mountains.
Dave getting ready the night before - putting our bibs on, our race gear together, and getting race bags ready to take to the start. You can peel off layers at the start, place them in your bag, and then throw them in a truck. They are waiting for you at the finish.
Dressed for the cold mountain air. Yes, my shirt says, "Bong," (Billabong), but that had nothing to do with the massage party the night before.
Dave at the start line just after the bus dropped us off. The line of lights are the buses lined up dropping off the 2,500+ runners.
Waiting in the cow pasture. We run down the canyon behind Brandi for about 5 miles before breaking out into a high mountain valley, circling a reservoir, running through Huntsville, and then dropping down Ogden Canyon at Mile 18.
Chilly but not too cold. As Brandi came out of the porta potty, she grabbed the inside handle to open the door and there was blue liquid all over it. The only blue liquid in that porta potty was in the toilet. She thinks someone dropped something in, fished it out, then grabbed the door handle. Nasty! Dave also realized at the finish that he had spent the entire 26.2 miles wiping his face and eating with the same hand he lubed himself up with at the start.
The pasture has these drums full of firewood cranking heat for all the runners. We all smell like smoke, but we're warm, and the smoke smell is soon replaced by sweat.
Dave lotioning up for the sun a few minutes before the start.
Joe approaching the finish in downtown Ogden coming over to give a High Five to the kids, Erin, and Mom and Dad.
Brandi coming down the home stretch looking pretty as always (no blue hand anymore either).
Annie and Emmy running with Brandi to the finish and James smiling.
Dave looking strong at the finish. He said he got all teary-eyed when he saw the fam and when I met him in the runners' area for a hug. My first three marathons I was this way, too. It's just a really emotional experience to run that far, be that drained, and then see family supporting.

Brandi's New Job

2010-05-08T22:19:00.001-07:00

Brandi has a new job. She works the front desk at Allen Memorial Hospital here in Moab. She will be working the night shift 7-7 basically Thurs-Sunday. Our weekends will suck, but she can stay home with Matthew.

Rock Climbing

2010-05-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

We recently took the kids climbing with a park ranger couple in our ward. This is up Potash Road along the Colorado River just a few miles from our house. All the kids climbed and did great!
James getting started.

James climbed up pretty well. I thought he would freak out, but he did great. He even tried a "move" he watched Annie and Emmy do earlier without us telling him to where he posted his legs on one crack and his arms against another to move up.

Brandi climbing.

Brandi resting.

Emmy the spider. The wall was not exactly vertical but close. If you let go, you would hang there but rest against the cliff. It doesn't look as vertical in the photos. It was a good beginner wall.

Emmy climbing - she's about 25 or so feet up here I'm guessing.
Matthew during his brave phase.
Matthew in his scared phase.

21 Miles

2010-04-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

So, I did my last long run building up to the Ogden Marathon May 15. I get to taper down for the next 3 weeks. I had the bright idea to trail run the Bar M Loop twice, and then run down the old highway to the Colorado River. The loop is rolling, rocky, hilly trail, and it beat me up pretty good going through it twice. So, when I finally dropped down the old highway at Mile 16.5, I was butt tired. Nice 60 degree weather, though. The e-Gels seem to be working pretty good, and getting my electrolytes from those instead of sugary Gatorade seems to be working out well. I don't run a lot of miles each week (some marathoners run 50-100 miles a week in training), but I added up recent months of running, and I've run over 300 miles in training. Cool. Legs feel strong. Abs good. And I've fallen in love with ice buckets.

19 Mile Run with Dave

2010-04-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

My brother Dave and I did a 19 mile run this past Saturday. We ran the Bar M Loop and then down the old highway past arches and down into Moab. We were beat! Last week it was about 45-50 degrees for my 17 miler. This week it was about 75-80 degrees in town. We've been using e-Gels for about 2 weeks now. They are an electrolyte gel with about 50 more calories per pack than a Gu. The plus side is I can just drink water instead of sugary Gatorade. I broke out the new shorts on this run. My first "track short" with high split sides. I LOVED them! I'm never looking back.

Led Astray

2010-04-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

Brandi and I parked at Bar M and ran down the dirt track 1.5 miles. There were a few runners on the road and we passed a little aid station and mile markers. The runners had racing number bibs. It turns out there is a "Moab Marathon" and it was this last Saturday. Only 50 runners, and hardly anyone knows about it. We reached the fork where you turn east to continue the 8 mile Bar M Loop or continue south on the old highway trail down past Arches and back into Moab. Well, we turned east to run the loop, and there were some runners about a quarter mile behind us. I kept my eye on them as we ran because I was afraid they would follow us. They did. I had to run back and tell them to go back and take the other road. Easily led astray.

Dave and Erin are coming down this weekend. Dave and I are doing a 19 mile run if anyone wants to join us.

Running

2010-04-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

So, I talked Brandi into running with me last fall. She did the Moab Winter Sun 10K in December, and then we ran the Canyonlands Half Marathon with my old high school buddy Jared Rogers and local friend Gery Wakefield in March. Brandi ran a 2:17, and I ran a 2:08. Slow and steady. We're training for the Ogden Marathon May 15. My bro Dave is going to join us. This will be my 4th consecutive Ogden Marathon.

Since the Half in March, my longest run has been 15 miles. Brandi dropped me off at Bar-M, and I ran the Bar-M Loop (8 miles) and then down the old highway, past Arches, and across the footbridge over the Colorado (another 7 miles). Last weekend I ran 10 miles in the farmland outside Moroni, Utah while my dad rode his bike along with me. Saturday, I've got a 17 miler planned. I love the weekly long runs. I usually do them on Saturday, and while they're tiring, it feels good to get home and eat a chocolate recovery shake and take a hot shower. I'm always tired the rest of the day, but a good feeling kind of tired. Like after hauling an elk out of the mountains or a long day hiking in the Grand Canyon.

I started doing ab work this week. Probably should have started sooner. To start, two sets of 50 sit ups for 100 total each night. Did 3 nights this week, and will probably add a fourth Saturday after the long run....maybe. After reading the book Born to Run recently, I got the itch to run an ultramarathon. The cool thing about these itches is, once I get it, I do it. It's also the bad thing. So, after reading up and talking around, I've circled the Pocatello 50 Mile Trail Run for May 2011 on my calendar. Registration opens January 1, 2011 if anyone wants to join me. I emailed the race director and asked him to include me on their reminder email list. Tonight was my first day of training for that race. I began a small whole-body workout and included step-ups because the Pocatello 50 has crazy mountains you run up and down. There are a million trails within a mile or two of our house here in Moab, so I'm going to start running out to those and hitting the trails for training over the next year. My goal is to, sometime this summer, do a 20 mile run up the La Sal Loop Road and up to the top of Geyser Pass.

So, it's cool having Brandi training with me. She doesn't like to run with me anymore, but it's been fun having someone working toward the same goal.

Update

2010-02-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture for the bros to be jealous of...

Holidays 2009

2010-01-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

We took the kiddos to the local BMX track and sledded the hillage.
Christmas tree cut down out of the mountains with the kiddos. Annie is always reading. Last August, at age 10, she read the entire Work and the Glory series. I handed her Lund's Kingdom and the Crown series on the Savior last week and she's halfway done.
We squeezed in a trip to Logan for my knighting. I now lie on my bed every morning reading the newspaper naked. Brandi gets pissed.
BMX track sledding. Emmertime and Annie.
Brandi and Matt Matt. He closes his eyes to avoid snow carnage.

Annie making Grandma's cinnamon rolls.
Annie made this hideous tree angel with a goatee about 7 years ago. Tradition.

Elk Down Part IV

2009-12-30T12:29:00.001-08:00

I filled my late season cow elk tag this morning after 5 days of hunting! I thought it would be easy, but I missed a couple of opportunities earlier in the week bumping elk into thick timber while walking ridgelines and not being ready. The snow has been flying off and on for a couple of weeks bringing record snow to Moab. I've been hunting the western base of the La Sal Mountains between 6,000 and 7,000 feet. The snow has been getting deeper and deeper each day, and as I drove up into a snow storm this morning, I wasn't sure I was going to make it up. I spotted 3 cows at around 8am about a mile away, two canyons over, and in the middle of a roadless series of ridges with cedars, pines, and mixed openings on the south facing slopes. I studied the area through my binoculars and decided that because they were at the top of a draw, they might bed in the timber there. I remembered an old national forest boundary fence running through that area in the forest, and I remembered that the other day I happened upon it and found that someone had driven through the deep snow along the fence making walking much easier if the tracks weren't filled in by now. So, I drove about 3 miles using forest roads and parked what I estimated to be about a half mile from the elk. I found the fenceline and the ruts, and walked through about 4 inches of fresh snow in the ruts down the fenceline. After about a half mile, I turned into the forest thinking I was somewhere in the vicinity of where those elk might have bedded down. After about 5 minutes of walking, I popped out on a little ridge with a few trees on top and looked down into a southwest facing draw that I though the elk were in. Suddenly, a spike elk stepped out about 30 yards below me on the opposite face and looked at me. I took 3 quick steps to get into a clearing and as I did this, the spike began running up the opposite slope which was pretty open even though there were a lot of trees. Suddenly, a herd of about 10-15 cows, several bulls, and the spike busted out of the trees where they were bedded and ran across the slope, stopping to keep looking back. I shot a cow that was clear of the rest of the herd so as not to wound anything else. I shot the elk at about 9:15 am, and as I worked to quarter the elk up, the snow began falling heavier and heavier until visibility was down to just a few hundred meters. I was getting worried and worked quickly. At 10:20, I loaded the backstraps into my day pack, slung on my rifle, and used my rope to drag a hind quarter and front quarter behind me. I had GPS'ed the truck, and it told me I was .38 miles from the truck down the ridge. I took a bearing, and headed up the slope to the top of the ridge and then due north. The snow was deep (probably about 18 inches or more) and my load was heavy, so I could only go about 20 feet at a time, and then had to stop for a brief rest. I arrived at the truck at 11am (only 40 minutes hike). I dropped my gear and load in the truck and grabbed my frame pack. It took me about 15 minutes to hike back down to the elk. I loaded the remaining hind and front quarter on my pack, and headed back to the truck at 11:30. Back to the truck at noon with my last load. The snow was coming down pretty good, and had more than half-filled my tracks coming in. I barely made it out, getting stuck a couple of times. What a great 5 days of hunting! Most of it was getting to know this new area. But each day I saw elk, and was within 30 yards of several big bulls multiple times. Beautiful country.

I took this picture standing next to the elk. I shot from the top of the ridge at the top of the frame. I estimate it was about 70 yards or so. It wasn't far. I took a standing shot and put the elk down with my customary neck shot.

Venison

2009-10-22T11:36:00.001-07:00

I drove up into the La Sal Mountains this morning, arriving at dawn. I hiked about 2 miles stillhunting up through the scrub oak and aspens. I jumped a bunch of does but wasn't seeing any bucks. I passed through a big alpine meadow and worked my way up the edge of a shallow draw. I saw a flash of something to my left going up the draw parallel with me through the trees. There was a clearing ahead, so I ran up to it and waited about 5 seconds for the deer to step into the 10 foot wide clearing. He stopped to look at me in the clearing. We were about 60 yards from each other. I could see he was a pretty nice buck, so I took him with one shot at about 9:30am. An hour to field dress him and bone out the meat, and then I loaded the entire animal and daypack on my packframe. Took me an hour to hike back to the truck. Conveniently, a 4-wheeler track was only 200 yards away, so I used that to get almost all the way back to my truck.

Elk Down Part III

2009-10-16T12:11:00.001-07:00

My Dad connected on his elk yesterday - the last day of the hunt! He and my bro Dave were out together, spotted the herd bedding down around 9 am, and then spent several hours working Dad into position. He actually shot from the top of the ridge Dave's elk was on last Saturday. Dad sat on top of the ridge glassing down into the aspens for over an hour before getting a clear shot at around 2:30 pm. It was about 400 yards across a draw. The herd of cows took off and came up to within 10 yards of Dave who had been working his way up the ridge the elk were on. They were finally done field dressing around 7pm, and had a 4 hour hike out in the dark - kind of getting lost in the dark but working through crazy timber back to the road. Me, bro Daniel, and Dad hiked back in on an easy horse trail we discovered today to get the last bag of meat. Dave and Dad hiked out with about 80-90 lb. packs last night - crazy! Three tags filled this year!Dad pointing at the ridge he shot from. We're standing next to the elk.

Elk Down Part II

2009-10-10T17:56:00.001-07:00

My brother Dave got his first elk this morning. Dave, brother Eric, and I hiked out at 5:45 this morning about two miles. We spotted some elk early, and after getting Dave into position, he shot him at 9:00 am from 373 yards across a deep canyon. It was a great shot considering I was nervously shouting directions at him the whole time like an idiot. He ignored me and connected. He shot him in the nastiest possible location - across a deep ravine on a steep slope covered in oak brush. It was a chore for us to take care of the animal, and we finally finished our work at 1pm. Eric had to leave us from our hilltop right after the shot and go back a mile to pick up all three daypacks that we had left behind. Eric loaded all the daypacks and the rifle on his back, and Dave and I loaded the entire elk on our frame packs. We were all loaded down pretty good. It took us 4 hours to hike the 4 or so miles out. We topped out at 5pm. It was a great day!

Joe, Dave, and Eric.
A picture from the kill site. Dave shot from the top of the hill to the left - 373 yards.
Hiking down through the bottom of the ravine between the shot and the elk.
Dave and Joe loaded up with elk - I had a hindquarter and the backstraps and tenderloin, and Dave had a hindquarter and the two front quarters. We bone out the meat to reduce weight.
Taking a rest on the hike up and out - we had to climb about 1500-2000 feet.
Eric at the end of the hike. A little dehydrated.
Dave resting.

Elk Down

2009-10-08T20:44:00.001-07:00

I drove up to hunt with Dad and Dave. We went to a new place today (new for me) up Mayfield Canyon. It was a crazy hunt because Dad had to work this morning, and we didn't get up into the mountains until about 10:30am. We poked around a little, and then headed for an area someone recommended to Dad. We drove back about 4 miles on some rough 4-wheeler/Jeep road way back up in the the high mountains (over 9,000 feet) in an area of high peaks, open meadows, and stands of pine and aspen. We parked at about 12 noon about 200 feet below the top of a ridge. I walked north on the ridge and picked up fresh tracks and sign. I worked to the north end of the ridge and it dropped off into a heavy stand of timber. At the edge of the timber, I could smell elk on the breeze coming up through the trees. So I began working down into the timber on game trails, carefully walking along very slowly looking for elk. I had just exited the timber about halfway down the ridgeline and reentered about halfway down on a game trail. About 15 feet in, I spotted the hind end of an elk and looked through my binoculars. I saw that it was a spike, and then he spooked down the ridgeline to the creek bottom below me. When he popped out below, I saw there were two spikes (we have spike elk tags). I knelt down, and propped my elbow on my knee and waited for them to stop. They crossed the creek 100 yards below me down a steep slope. They came to a stop in a thin stand of aspens and as luck would have it, they stopped in a perfect opening. I put the crosshairs right below the front elk's head and shot him in the neck. He dropped in his tracks. I finally got Dad and Dave on the radio and we got the animal quartered up. The cool thing was, we discovered a 4-wheeler trail that took us down off the ridge, around a small lake near the elk and right to a meadow. We pulled into the meadow and drove within 50 feet of the elk and parked. Easy loading! Great hunt, beautiful country, and good to be with fam!

Turkey Bowl

2009-09-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

So, Brandi and I are going up to Mom and Pops for Thanksgiving. Dave and I were saying we need to play football. We haven't played for two years (December 2007). I suggest...

Friday 11:00 am.

Who's in?

Ogden Marathon 2010

2009-09-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

Registration opens October 1st. They're selling out earlier and earlier every year. This is a challenge for some of my wimp bros to sign up!

http://www.ogdenmarathon.com/

I emailed those of you whose email I have, a training sheet in Excel that began yesterday.

Bats

2009-08-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

Lying on the trampoline with Matt this evening, we were watching all the bats that come out in the evening. I kept saying, "See the bats." And he would say, "No." Finally, he got up and walked the edge of the tramp, pointed to a wiffle ball bat on the ground and said, "That's a bat. Dose are birds."

James came out later and after lying there awhile said, "Dad, get your gun and shoot those bats. I want to eat one."

First Day of Schoolio

2009-08-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

The fam

2009-08-13T22:07:00.001-07:00

Daniel took the photo of the fam this summer since all the bros were in town. Dad picked the cow pasture. There were cows, but no gun play. John left the Glock at home. If you click on the photo and enlarge, you notice that both John and Dad have the same smile. I also didn't realize that Billy Idol is so short (far left). He sang to us during the photo shoot.

Big Country

2009-08-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

We stopped off in San Antone while in Tejas this summer and took a family photo. Matthew shot the photographer shortly after the photo and gutted him from crotch to eyeball. Then stole his watch.

King's Peak - High Uintahs Wilderness

2009-08-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Just got back from 4 days in the Henry's Fork basin on the North Slope of the High Uintahs Wilderness in Utah. Took 3 of the venture scouts from our ward. We hiked 7 miles up to Bear Lake and fished and relaxed. I went with one of the scouts on a 21 mile dayhike the third day, leaving at 4:45 AM, and climbing 3,000 feet to King's Peak at 13,528 feet. At the trailhead the first day, I went to put on my boots and realized my inserts were back home drying out from the last hike I went on. My feet are now hamburger. Here's the biggest blister and me atop King's Peak. Awesome 4 days. Rained on us all the way out. And no, that blister is not my unborn twin. Although, it did have teeth.

The Old and the New

2009-07-31T17:18:00.001-07:00

We finished remodeling the kitchen. We're now done with the entire house, except for some little things here and there. Here's some sample shots of before and after rooms.

The OLD kitchen. Notice the little doorway and stackable laundry room to the right which we tore out completely.
The GUTTED kitchen. With a new big open doorway to the living room.

The NEW kitchen!

The OLD bathroom. We tore out the window and gutted the whole thing.

The NEW bathroom.

The OLD living room before we move in.

The NEW living room with bamboo floors and blue paint and new carpet.

The OLD front of the house (with our green grass that died when we went to Texas this summer).

The NEW front of the house.

Kitchen Progress

2009-07-21T21:15:00.001-07:00

See the first pics of the remodel below. Here is our progress 6 days into the job. Cabinets by IKEA. Fine craftsmanship by Joe.

Emmy Baptism

2009-07-19T19:50:00.001-07:00

Saturday, August 8 around noon here. All fam is invited. Feel free to stay the weekend, and we plan to have lunch/dinner for everyone. Probably a BBQ here at our house.

Chillater

Kitchen Remodel

2009-07-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

Instead of the Heywood Family Reunion in So Cal we stayed home this weekend so Brandi could take two final exams and we could put in a new kitchen. I'll post pics as we go. The first pic is just after I ripped out the old 1950s era kitchen: cupboards, counters, sinks, all electrical switches and outlets, lights, a wall, base board, furnace doors, and the ceramic tile floor. The second pic is Brandi slapping on the first coat of paint. I spent all day today patching drywall and texturing. She's painting now while I post this. We have IKEA cabinets to install after the paint and bamboo flooring as well.

Deer Creek

2009-07-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a cool family vacation to Texas (I'll post pics from that laters), and then we joined all the bros at ma and pas for some fun this past weekend. We went 16 days between sleeping in our own bed. I'm tired. Here's some pics from a trip to the lake thanks to Dave and Erin. I'm going to post stuff more often and get back into the blog swing again.
James freaking out on the tube with me. We crashed pretty hard the first time and I landed on top of him over the front of the tube. Surprisingly, he got back in for a second run.

Some wakeboardage.

Marathon Down

2009-05-17T18:33:00.001-07:00

Well, I completed my third consecutive Ogden Marathon. Mom and Dad took the kids, so Brandi and I had Friday to chill. We ate a dinner/lunch at Macaroni Grill (the Seafood Linguini is to die for!). Then we picked up my race packet at the Union Station in downtown Ogden. The guy speaking was Dane Rauschenberg - a guy who ran 50 marathons in 50 days and wrote a book about it. The only thing I heard him say as I was picking up my packet was, "Don't take longer strides on the downhills or it will trash your legs. Take normal strides or even shorter, quicker strides." I took his advice.

We hung out with John and Sunni for a bit, and then Brandi took me to see Star Trek. Coolest movie I've seen in ten years. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. I finally fell asleep around 11pm, and then I got up at 3:45. Showered, shaved, clothed, grabbed all of our stuff, and headed for downtown Ogden. I boarded the bus at 4:45 on Washington Ave. The energy on the street is pretty cool with loudspeakers and thousands of runners boarding buses.

Brandi didn't want to get up early and drop me off, so she slept in, and then walked the 2 miles to downtown Ogden to meet Mom and Dad and the kids at the finish line. She said the walk wasn't bad, but I had left my memory foam pillow behind, so she had to carry it the two miles and stand around with it at the finish. I told her I would have just left it at the hotel. So sweet.

I sat next to a high school kid on the way up, and he seemed a little nervous. It was really cold up at the starting area 26.1 miles up in the mountains. They dropped us off in the cow pasture with a million port-a-potties and a bunch of 50 gallon barrels full of firewood and warmth. All 2,500 or so runners huddle together and listen to the music and chat. Some guy had a remote controlled helicopter with a video camera attached, and he would fly it around taking video. I dressed really warm this time and was quite comfortable the whole time. Around 6:50, I ditched all the warm clothes into my race bag with my number on it, threw it in the back of the truck and.....as I'm typing this, I just realized I forgot to pick the bag up at the finish line. Crap.

Stretched some, then took my place right around the 8:30-9:00 minute markers. The cannon went off promptly at 7am, and we were off. I took it easy this time, trying to average 9 minute miles the entire race. I felt strong, and I took my first brief walk break at Mile 9 while I sipped Powerade at an aid station. I cruised through the Halfway point with the live band and crowd in the small town of Eden at 1:54. At Mile 18, I began feeling nauseated and had to stop for a minute to keep from vomiting. At Mile 19, I was still on 9 minute per mile pace, and I thought I would finish in 3:54 or so, breaking my personal best by about ten minutes.

However, right around Mile 19, I was nauseated again, and I almost stopped running. I would run until I was about to puke (I puked into my mouth at one point), and then I would stop and walk until the feeling went away. I couldn't eat anything and had a hard time drinking the last 7 miles. I was really looking forward to the cold watermelon at Mile 25, but after eating one piece and almost vomiting, I had to throw away the other two pieces I grabbed. The ultimate disappointment - running 25 miles for some watermelon and then not getting to eat it!

It took me almost 45 minutes to go the last 3 miles. I was really frustrated. I entered the final quater mile and spotted Brandi and the girls (didn't hear my parents on the other side yelling). Annie and Emmy came out and ran the home stretch with me. They hung the medal on me, I walked through the misting station, and then into the runners' area for some Jamba Juice and oranges. The fam met up with me, and we made our way to the cars. My parents took the kids to meet us at John and Sunni's, and Brandi made me drive. I had to stop about 2 blocks away and I finally vomited. As soon as I got to John and Sunni's and was showering, I vomited more. Looking back, I'm convinced it was physical fatigue. It happened once in high school after wrestling practice. I went so hard, I puked as soon as practice was over.

We wolfed down pizza at John and Sunni's once I stopped puking. It was a relaxing afternoon before our drive home to Moab.

All in all, it was a cool race. I only trained up to 15 miles and I was able to run my fastest 19 miles in the three marathons by far. This year, I'm going to train properly and do it for a full year. I'm positive I can sustain my pace and finish under 4 hours.

I wore sun glasses for the first time and it made a world of difference. I wasn't squinting the whole time and it made the 75 degree weather seem ten degrees cooler. I'm always going to do long runs with sun glasses.
Good times.

Tom Selleck Dream Cake

2009-05-07T12:34:00.001-07:00

And more...

2009-04-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

More weirdness from that school catalog....tetherballs, soccerballs, basketball hoops...and, what the?!

Check it

2009-04-29T09:08:00.001-07:00

My secretary and I found this in a school catalog today.

Grand Canyon Trip

2009-03-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

So, we're taking the 4 tikes on a 5 day, 4 night, 25 mile backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon starting Saturday. Should be epic. Pics to come!

Morning Exchange

2009-03-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

The following exchange took place today...

Emmy: James, you have school today.
James: Yep. (He goes to head start Tues/Thurs)
Emmy: Well, you better change your clothes; you don't want to look stupid.
James: I willn't.

Just finished...

2009-03-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

...reading Edmund Morris' 780 page biography, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. This is actually the second time I've read it. It's Volume 1 of a planned trilogy. I'm just beginning Volume 2, which I started and never finished years ago.

If any of you like biography, and especially biographies of great historical figures, you must read this book. Theodore Roosevelt is the most interesting man I have ever read about, hands down. Other than, possibly, Brigham Young and Joseph Smith.

A few facts about Theodore...

He was a fast and voracious reader with a keen memory: he read well over 20,000 books by the age of 42 and possibly doubled that over the next 18 years.
He founded the Boone & Crockett club - the oldest (and now one of the largest) hunting and conservation clubs in America.
He authored over 15 books.
Even though he was born into wealth and privilege in New York City, he entered politics young (becoming a New York state assemblyman at age 23), and against the will of his distinguished family, spent the next 30 years fighting for the rights of the working class citizens and making America a world power.
He was one of the first Americans to climb the Matterhorn (and did it on a whim while on his honeymoon).
Without any military training, he volunteered for the Spanish-American war in Cuba, became a Colonel in 3 months' time, and led the decisive charge up San Juan Hill with men dying all around him. He came home a hero and within 3 years was President of the United States.
He owned a cattle ranch in North Dakota and lost more than half of his inherited fortune in a devastating winter that killed thousands of head of cattle.
He spoke German, French, and some Spanish and Italian.
At age 42, he was the youngest U.S. President up to that time in history.
He once jumped off his horse into a pack of hounds, pushed them aside, and knifed a cougar to death.
He shot a charging grizzly bear just feet away.
He spent a week on the river tracking 3 bandits who had stolen his wooden boat from his Dakota ranchhouse. When he caught them. He walked them over 40 miles overland to the nearest town over two days time without sleep.

The stories go on and on. He was a larger than life figure whose life is well-documented; he almost seems unreal.

Interesting BYU comments

2009-02-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

President Eyring says religion, learning don't have to conflict

By Sharon Haddock

Deseret News

Published: February 27, 2009

PROVO — President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has told his wife that when he is gone, she should get a cottage near the Brigham Young University campus "so she can see what God's up to."

"He had a soft hand on this university," President Eyring told the audience gathered Friday at the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni Institute for an Inquiry Conference on Scholarship, Learning and Teaching.

President Eyring said this life on earth is like a university experience. "He gives you a lot of freedom until we take the freedom from others," he said. "He is involved and he cares."

President Eyring said the university will get better and better and will still be here when the savior comes. He acknowledged the secular element that exists in the academic world but said there doesn't have to be conflict between religion and learning.

Running Old

2009-02-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

So, I did a 5 mile run this morning and as I ran past the high school on the Parkway Trail, an old lady was coming up the steps of the high school and she said as I approached her and ran by, "Now that's ridiculous." Assuming she was joking about me out running in the cold morning air, I said, "I agree." She then said as I passed her, "I mean if you were young, that would be fine, but someone as old as I am out running?!"

She had to have been at least 70.

In-N-Out

2009-02-20T18:45:00.001-08:00

Coming to Draper, American Fork, and other local locations.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705286427,00.html

Corona Arch 2: Electric Boogaloo

2009-02-14T17:31:00.001-08:00

Chronic Compartment Syndrome

2009-02-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

So, I went to see the doc for a second time up in Provo this morning, and he stuck huge needles in my lower leg, made me run for a mile on a treadmill, and then stuck more huge needles in my lower leg. He said I tested for chronic compartment syndrome. The kicker, though, is it's in my lower left leg between the shin and the ankle (just above). The docs in the clinic have never seen it there before, so they're consulting a specialist to see if I need surgery. It requires going in and cutting the fascia to release the pressure, then stitching it all back up. I Googled pictures of this procedure and fainted.

In the meantime, he said if I'm up to the pain, I can keep running for my marathon. So, the training goes on. In fact, I think even if he does tell me to do the surgery, I'll run the Marathon in May and then go under the knife. Who needs summer vacation anyway.

Corona Arch

2009-02-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

We drove up Kane Creek Canyon on the north side of the Colorado River and hiked the Corona Arch Trail today. It's about 15 minutes from our house. The trail is 2.4 miles roundtrip. It's our new favorite hike (so far). The weather was an awesome 60 degrees - first hike of the year we were sweating.

The trail ends in the bowl with Bowtie Arch on the left and Corona Arch on the right in this picture. The trail wraps around the bowl just below Bowtie and ends at Corona.

Bowtie Arch.

Corona Arch. You can see Brandi standing underneath it to give you perspective.

Standing right under the arch looking up. This is my favorite picture of the day.

Matthew showing you what we had for an end-of-trail snack: apples, pretzels, and Powerbar. James got to the arch and announced to all present (including another couple there) that he had to poop, and he wanted to do it right under the arch. The people promptly packed up and left.

Corona Arch under the sun.

This is Moab from north of the river. We live just across the river at the north end of town. The snow covered La Sal Mountains stand over Moab on the east.

Delicate Arch

2009-01-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

Grand Canyon Calling

2009-01-27T20:22:00.001-08:00

For those that don't know, Brandi and I obtained a permit to hike the Bright Angel this April. And we're taking the kids! We'll spend the first night at Indian Gardens, then two nights down on the river at Bright Angel, and then the fourth night back up at Indian Gardens. We're hiking the canyons and trails around Moab to get ready. Should be about 25 miles of hiking fun! Or absolutely insane. Hopefully the former.

Our trip got me thinking, and I remembered I had two trip reports published on one of the big Grand Canyon sites. You can read our Royal Arch adventure here. Or you can read about our South Bass/Copper Canyon trip here. If you go to the main page at http://www.grandcanyontreks.org/ you can scroll down the right side and see our reports listed there. Good times!

Dave and I are talking about hiking the Little Colorado River Gorge. Years ago, Brett, Daniel, and I hiked the first 13 miles from Cameron before succombing to the heat and ditching all of our food and climbing out an obscure slot canyon and hitchhiking back to the East Entrance of the park. And then a couple of years later, Brett, Eric, and I hiked the lower 40 miles of the LCR and then out the 20 miles on the Beamer/Tanner trail (the famous - Joe got giardia so bad he prayed for death trip). It's a crazy, crazy adventure only a relative few people have accomplished. We're probably shooting for early June. Who's in?

Here's a picture I took two years ago of a Chinese tourist going muley in the Grand Canyon. If he can do it, you can do it. (No wind is gonna blow that hat away. Chin strap? Check. Skidoosh.)

Mmmmm, boy.

2009-01-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Check out this vid.

Interesting....

2009-01-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

I sat down to write in my journal last night, and I thought I would write a detailed entry of how my day went - just to provide a glimpse of a typical "Joe" day this year. Then I thought, it might be interesting to post it on the blog. I don't know why, but here goes....

Woke up at 6:50 am to my alarm and Brandi coughing. I got up and showered (the usual long shower), shaved, and dressed in a blue, long-sleeved dress shirt and kakhi pants with black dress shoes. At 7:25, I went into the kitchen and made myself a wheat bagle with light butter (which I ate in the truck on my way to work). I drank a glass of skim milk and made myself my standard lunch (peanut butter sandwich, two oranges, a yogurt, and a bottle of water). Around 7:35, we knelt in family prayer as we do each morning, and I kissed Brandi and the boys goodbye (she reminded me to call the life insurance company today as I left). I put on my winter coat and hat, scraped the windshield on the truck (we've had morning frost for 2 months and I'm ready for it to stop). Annie and Emmy climbed in and we drove the 1.7 miles to the school. Arriving around 7:40am, I opened the office and began checking emails and reading news headlines. After emails I spent the morning doing a variety of things: I called the state office of education about a Title I funding issue; I called DCFS (the child abuse agency) to arrange training for our teachers; I met with a prospective new student and his family in my office explaining the charter school concept and then took them on a tour of the school; I met with a young man in town about to go on a mission who wants to sub; I created 90-day review forms for our non-certified staff, and then I conducted two reviews for our paraeducators - filling out forms and then meeting with the paras for evaluation; I met with a homeless man who dropped off his broken bike last month for our Bike Barn after school program to repair; I met with a student who was sent to my office for repeated bad behavior - I then met with his teacher; I met with the accountant briefly about an issue and signed a couple of checks; I reviewed the report I had my secretary create about the breakfast costs in our federal school lunch program and went over the findings with our Food Services Coordinator; I put the legs on a table we purchased from another charter school in Salt Lake City; I spent some time opening, reading, and responding to our mail. At this point, my day was cut short because I had a chiropractor appointment at 2:00.
I have been having serious problems with my lower legs since beginning my marathon training, so I scheduled a one-hour session with the massage therapist at the chiropractor's office. From 2:15-3:15 I had a "deep tissue" leg massage that felt both painful and liberating (for the first time in a month, I walked out of the house without lower leg pain this morning). After the massage, I had my back adjusted (my back is in a constant state of pain and when it feels like knives are piercing my spine instead of just a dull ache, then I go to the chiro - no exaggeration). Around 4pm, I returned home. Brandi and the kids walked in just after I arrived. I was instructed by the therapist to "not run tonight" and to ice my legs. I sat on the couch from 4-5pm icing my legs and reading Edmund Morris' biography, The Rise of Theordore Roosevelt (I read it 6 years ago, but after just finishing David McCullough's biography of TR called Mornings on Horseback, I decided to read Morris' again - I feel a close connection to TR). At 5pm, Brandi had dinner ready - a hot sub sandwich, apple sauce, and chips. From 5-6 I read some more and iced my legs. Brandi read and the kids played. Around 6pm, we had a psuedo-family home evening. At 6:30pm, I worked on my dissertation for an hour while Brandi and the kids drew pictures at the dining room table. At 7:30, I came out and Brandi was watching American Idol. I made the kids hot vanilla steamers in our new cocoa-latte machine. At 7:45pm we read scriptures as a family (Alma 26) as we do each night. Family prayers, and then the kids went to bed at 8pm, as they do each night. Brandi and I watched 2 episodes of King of Queens on our DVR, and then spent the rest of the night reading. Sometime during the evening, I ate a bowl of graham crackers with milk (I love this snack). At 11pm, I said prayers and turned out the lights.

That's a typical day for me....

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

“It is always an honor for the Church to be represented at the inauguration of a new president,” said President Monson. “We send our best wishes to President-elect Obama and pray for the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven to be upon him and his administration.”

Twilight Spoof

2009-01-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

If you've read Twilight, you have to watch this spoof....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOGLRC9rQM8&feature=related

Te amo.

Funny, Funny, and Funny

2009-01-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

So, I recently saw two movies and read one book (for which there is a movie I'm told) that were high comedy!

(1) Eagle Eye
Okay, so the acting was great - a little melodramatic but well-done. And the plot was interesting, though it has several holes. So, why was it funny? This movie was comic genius! You watch the entire movie thinking there's this elaborate and complicated plot going on with cyber-terrorists taking over America and plotting to kill the president and his entire cabinet and the terrorists are using some loser to do their bidding and just when everything is building toward the climactic crescendo.....the joke is on you. You find out that the 2 hours of mayhem you just watched is just some government computer trying to coordinate the arrival of a trumpet, a necklace, and the president and his cabinet in the same room at the same time. Whenever the computer wanted someone dead up to this point, she (the computer's name is Aria) simply flicked a red light to a green light and caused a traffic accident, or overloaded a major power line in a cornfield causing it to snap and Kentucky fry an unsuspecting Armenian. I laughed and laughed. 2 hours of insanity to get a trumpet and a necklace together.

(2) The Dark Knight
So, this was my second time seeing this movie, so this time I was able to focus in on Christian Bale's amazing "Batman Voice" the entire movie. This is acting at it's finest. I liked Brandi's suggestion best when she said, "If he couldn't come up with a voice on his own, why didn't they just dub in somebody else's voice in those scenes?" Apparently, Christian Bale's acting talents do not include "Other Voices." (Go here to see a hiliarious spoof of this voice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyzlElF96zY). I liked the Joker, although, this movie should be renamed, "How the Joker Can Escape from Any Situation. Ever." A room full of the cities crime lords and their henchmen? Line your jacket with hand grenades. A jail cell? Insult a cop until he comes over to beat you up and then disarm him and take him hostage. In case that fails, before you get arrested, cut open a guys belly who you are sure is going to get arrested and sent to the same jail you are, and put a bomb in his belly. Sew him up and trigger the bomb with your one "phone call." Bruce Wayne's apartment where a party full of the richest people in the world are wining and dining? Knock Wayne's friend off the roof so he has to dress up like Batman and dive off the roof to save her. Don't worry about building security or cops. Apparently, they're not concerned about this building or the party. And apparently, even though Batman has all of the highest tech gadgets, his security system for the building he lives in isn't good enought to stop the Joker. This movie is full of big time laughs. Unlike Eagle Eye, they thread the laughs through the entire movie. My favorite scene, though, is when the Joker is intimidating the room full of crime lords and he actually scares the crime lord from Hong Kong who is actually conducting the meeting via teleconference. He gets so scared, he hurriedly shuts off his camera. My second favorite scene is when the Batman punches the Joker's hand during the interrogation and the Joker doesn't even flinch (see it here on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohU16OiduUs).

(3) Twilight (the book)
I really, really, really want to see the movie for one reason: Vampire Family Baseball in the Woods. This book is soooooo funny! Though Vampire Family Baseball in the Woods During the Thunderstorm is probably my favorite part of the book, the Meadow Scene Where Edward Runs in Circles Really, Really, Really Fast and then Unbuttons His Shirt and Lies in the Grass and Then Sparkles Like Diamonds in the Sunlight just to impress Bella is awesome! He also breaks a very large branch off of a tree with one hand and throws it across the meadow. Combine that with a 16 year old girl (Bella) falling in love with a 110 year old man (Edward), and you have teenage America chained to you for at least a 4 and maybe a 5 book series. With movies to follow. The most consistent humor, though, is in the 974 references to Edward's beauty. Edward is mesmerizing. He doesn't just dazzle you with his baseball skills, diamond-sparkles skin, mind-reading, and his awesome ability to drive really, really, really fast and not get tickets (never had one in his life), he is the most beautiful creature to walk the earth. And apparently his smell is intoxicating, too. Bella cannot resist him! You HAVE TO read this book! Honestly, it is the funniest thing I've EVER read. I'm going to give you a taste of the writing - this is a direct quote from the Vampire Family Baseball Game in the Woods chapter (by the way, this chapter comes to a dramatic close when 3 rogue vampires show up to the game and decide they want to eat Bella).

Emmet hit the ball a mile (literally).
"Homerun," Bella murmured in amazement.
"Just wait, " Vampire Mom said, almost in a whisper.
Edward disappeared into the woods and ran back out with the ball in his hand!
"What the?" blustered Bella, eyes wide in amazement.
"Out!" Yelled Vampire Mom.

Freaking awesome.

I'm told the future books have Indians that turn into Werewolves and you learn that giving birth to human babies is child's play compared to giving birth to...... a Vampire Baby!!

The Before Picture

2009-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

My friend, Allan Smith, posted a before and after picture with him only in his underwear last year during our marathon training to show the dramatic change in his body by going through the training. He suggested I do the same this year, so here is my before picture.

Marathon Training has entered the second week. I'm running 3-4 days a week with short runs during the M-F, and a long run on Saturday. I always build up toward the May showdown with the Ogden mountains. Here's the schedule of long runs....

Jan 3 - 4 miles

Jan 10 - 4 miles

Jan 17 - 4 miles

Jan 24 - 5 miles

Jan 30 - 6 miles

Feb 7 - 7 miles

Feb 14 - 8 miles

Feb 21 - 9 miles

Feb 28 - 10 miles

Mar 7 - 11 miles

Mar 14 - 12 miles

Mar 21 Moab Half Marathon! 13.1 miles along the Colorado River.

Mar 28 - 10 miles (step back)

Apr 4 - 14 miles

Apr 11 - 16 miles

Apr 18 - 10 miles (step back)

Apr 25 - 18 miles to celebrate 36 years of life of earth!

May 2 - 13 miles (beginning the 2 week taper)

May 9 - 8 miles

May 16 Ogden Marathon! 26.2 miles of pleasure.

In between shorter weekday runs, I cross train with abs, weights, steps, etc. Last night it was 12 degrees outside as I ran my 3 miles. I also had a severe pain in my lower left leg. But it sure felt good to step into a hot shower afterward!

Christmas Sledding

2008-12-31T19:18:00.000-08:00

Me, Daniel, Karleigh, and Eric took the kiddos (Annie, Emmy, James, Matthew, and Jadon) sledding up in the hills above Moroni. We found a great hill that someone had already packed a nice ramp down. It was pretty fast. My favorite part was sliding down with no sled with Matthew on my back. At the bottom, he just had this dry look on his face, like "Well, that was pretty lame." I recorded these on my little Canon Coolpix, so the video isn't very good and there is no sound.

The Christmas Pig

2008-12-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

I took the kids around to some families in the ward to drop off plates of goodies. I told the kids to wear coats and warm hats (we've got 2 inches of snow on the ground). When we went up to the first house, the mother said, "Oh, James, how cute. Are you the Christmas Pig?" He got pretty pissed off.

Ogden Marathon - May 16

2008-12-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

I registered for the Ogden Marathon today. This will be my 3rd marathon. If any of you slackers want to man-up and join me, I'd love to have a dad or bro (or 2) to run with.

http://www.ogdenmarathon.com/

Arizona Elk Hunt

2008-12-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

I went on an Arizona elk hunt this past weekend. I had a cow tag for Unit 9, which is the National Forest along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We hunted the "wintering grounds" along Forest Road 307 just west of Highway 64 near the Desert View - East Entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. I met my friend Andy Jones, who worked at Window Rock High with me last year. The unit is a mix of Juniper, Pinon, and Ponderosa pine with huge open meadows threaded throughout. Unfortunately, the elk had moved out of the area to find water due to a dry winter and no snow fall yet. However, it was beautiful country and we hiked and drove miles and miles of 2-wheel tracks and forest for 3 days. The only elk we saw were the first night. We had put all our gear away and 2 elk ran through the fringe of our headlights as we cruised along FR 307 back to our camp. The sun had just set and it was tough to see. I jumped out and the elk stopped about 100 yards away. I could see them clearly through my scope, so I took a rushed standing shot. They just stood there. I tried to get a rest for the second shot but they started running away. I stood and fired twice more. We searched for blood that night and the next day but couldn't find any. I had my 15 second window and rushed it. I should have knelt down and rested my elbow on my knee that first shot. It was a perfect situation and the only chance we got in 3 days. There was fresh sign and tracks everywhere, but it was like an elk ghost town. Beautiful, beautiful country, though. We were mountain men for 3 days with no cell phones, no showers, and doing all of our cooking over a campfire each day. Good times! Me, Andy, and Tatonka.

We camped at the base of the Coconino Rim and hunted all the country north of it.

This area was a huge cattle ranch back in the day with several homesteads. There are 2-wheel tracks and old cattle corrals scattered throughout.

The Coconino Rim in the background and Tatonka resting from his morning hunt.

Sage and trees and grass. We found antelope herds and a lot of mule deer, but only 2 elk.

The hunter's truck with essentials: Gun and a Mountain Dew.

Elk Camp, just after we broke it down. Andy slept in his tent in an Afghanistanny head wrap, and I slept in the back of my truck on a rock (I took my memory foam pillow which, I found out, turns into stone when the temperature drops below freezing.) The days were in the 50s and the nights were in the 20s or below. We would get back to camp each night around 6pm, get a roaring fire going and sit around eating and chatting until about 10pm under a sky thick with stars. The coyotes would howl around us for about 20 minutes each night. The second night, one was only 100 yards or so away and I began howling back at him. We exchanged howls for a while.

The last morning, I was watching the meadows at sunrise, and I was facing west. I looked over at my mirror and caught the sunrise behind me.

Andy, with his Afghanistanny head wrap pulled down around his neck. His woolen trousers are out of the picture, which is a good thing, because his fly was often open.

An Arizona sunrise over the Coconino Rim.

Tatonka on the last afternoon. Andy went home at noon, and I spent the next 6 hours cruising and hiking. Just as the sun set on this last evening, the clouds covered the skies, and snow began to fall.