Let Santa Bring Christ Back Into Christmas

Several years ago I woke up on Christmas morning with a story dancing in my head. I ran to the computer and began to peck at the key board. At the time I could only do the two finger peck. When I was finished I called to my wife to read it. She did, and then somehow she deleted it. However, the story was stuck in my head so vividly, that I rewrote it, but a few more details were added. That was the beginning of The Gift That Santa Gives. Since that day I have shared the story in several different ways. Last year I finally created a blog so that I could share it with others and so that they could share it as well. I would like to invite you to read the story and share the gift that Santa gives. We have allowed Christmas to be high jacked. Let Santa bring Christ back into Christmas. I hope you enjoy.

http://thegiftthatsantagives.blogspot.com/

Mid Life Crisis: Doesn't Matter How Old You Are

What might have been is a fantasy that can never be. Often when we look back on life we are left wondering what might have been had I made this decision or that. What might have been, if dwelt upon can cause us to go into crisis mode. It doesn't matter whether you are 25, 35, 45 or 65 dwelling on these kinds of questions can often leave us feeling somewhat uneasy about our future and our past. Instead we must keep ourselves grounded in the present only looking back to see where we can improve our current decision making.
Do not mourn your past it is part of you and it is the foundation for the best of you. You are who you are because you have learned and grown past the bad decisions, and if you haven't then now is your chance to do what is right by making the decision to be your best self right where you are.
Sometimes we think we can go through life without difficulties and be a better person. I can tell you right now that is a lie. We must work hard to become the person we want to be. If we do not have to work hard then we have not set a high enough goal and we will not experience happiness.
A mid life crisis happens when we take for granted the difficulties we have been given. Often times they sneak up on us without warning, and we are faced with a very real perception that we might be able to change our future by abandoning our present for a fantasy of our past.
When we start to feel the panic of not being where we want to be it is easy to blame those around us for our circumstances. It is important to ground ourselves in the present, in our faith, in reason, and in what we know is morally correct. If we do not the chances of coming through the crises with a happy ending go down considerably.

Being in the "Eye of Faith" is when all hell breaks out all around us but we can still see how everything that is happening is going to benefit us in the long run. It is easy to enter this Eye of Faith when we believe God is a loving Heavenly Father and wants us to be happy. Once we have this conviction we will start looking for the pony when we are going through crap.

Please Don't Turn Thanksgiving Black

This year Thanksgiving was probably one of our most memorable. We, as a family joined with several others of our extended family including my mother, and the Bengtzen Family in runing/walking The Human Race, to benefit the Utah food bank. It was a blast, my sister Stacie, my brother Ryan, and I all ran the 10k while the rest ran/walked the 5k. It was neat to feel the spirit of fun that was there. DeeAnn and Matt ran from start to finish. It was DeeAnn's first start to finish running the whole way. The first of many to come, I would suspect. Spence and Matt haven't wanted to take their shirts off since the race. Obviously we had to put the kibosh on that one. My brother and I finished in a record time for us at just over 58 minutes. For years, we had talked about wanting to do more than just have the Thanksgiving feast and sit around and watch T.V. So this was a great change and will definitely be repeated.

Following the race we came home and got ready for the Thanksgiving feast. Once we got our food prepared and taken to my mother's home, DeeAnn and Lauree sat down with all the ads and started looking for the deals that they wanted to take advantage of on the morrow. While they were busy with the ads I visited and relaxed. It was one of the most memorable Thanksgivings I can remember. I really enjoyed it.
However, one thing that really bothered me was the creeping up of the Black Friday. Some stores decided that they would not wait until the day after Thanksgiving. They decided that they would open the evening of Thanksgiving. I understand the importance of Black Friday. The day when stores finally break even and begin to make a profit. I wonder if the Occupy Wall Street group realized that for 11 months many of these stores are praying for a final month to stay in business. They pay their employees 11 months without a guarantee of profits.  Anyways, so I get the whole importance of the day after Thanksgiving and getting a leg up on the competition, but I am not ready to give up my day of thanks for the madness that is Black Friday.
I decided that I would go with my wife on Black Friday shopping a couple of years ago. That was the last time for me. I can see the potential fun it could be, but the spirit of the season is not found in the stores and many forget to fill themselves up with the spirit before they leave their homes. It has become more about the things than it is about the feeling of gratitude and love that should be apart of the season.
For this reason I plead that we leave Black Friday for Friday. Let us get our fill of the Spirit of Gratitude before we enter those stores, maybe then the spirit of Christmas will find its way back into the Season. In any case it is our responsibility to spread the spirit of Gratitude and Love, whether anyone else does or not. So, keep smiling and wishing all a Merry Christmas and enjoy the Holiday Season. 

When I Reach My Autumn

Live, Love, and Give until you have nothing left to give.

The Power Of The Marriage Covenant

The Covenant of Marriage is a three way covenant. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ this is very significant, not that it is not for others, but as a Latter Day Saint when we are married in the Temple it is for time and all eternity. Depending on your relationship this can bring comfort or it can be a little scary.

The nature of an Eternal marriage is that it is an agreement entered into by you, your spouse, and God. This is a binding covenant and so long as the covenant is not broken then your marriage is eternal and all that are born or adopted into that covenant belong to God. This covenant can not be broken without the Lords permission. We may not act within the covenant, but when that covenant is bound by the power of God, ultimately it is only by His power than that covenant can be dissolved.

From time to time in the course of our marriage feelings are hurt, and sometimes our relations are banged up. Trust is challenged and sometimes we may feel like jumping ship. There is a temptation for some to begin looking for the back door at the first sign of trouble. Sadly many bail out before they can realize the power of the atonement in that covenant.

Your part in this covenant is to do your best and learn to perfect your relationship through Christ. An imperfect relationship is not the same as a broken covenant and is not a reason to bail out. All covenants are imperfect unless the atonement is apart of the terms.

Still some will claim that their spouse has broken the covenant and therefore they feel justified in ending the marriage. God has declared that certain actions justify the end of a marriage, but he does not say that it must end a marriage. I believe short of abuse, and or endangerment, you should do everything in your power to maintain your covenant. Your spouse can not remove you from the covenant anymore than you have power to remove them from the covenant. So, it is better to learn to work within the covenant making your relationships within covenant your greatest priority. Those relationships must be balanced between your spouse and the Lord.

A personal experience that I had has taught me that many of the things that happen here in this mortal experience will not matter in the eternal scheme of things, and when we get to the other side of the veil we will have wished we had been quicker to forgive even the most serious of offenses against us.

Let no man tear apart that which the Lord has sealed together. Make it your priority.

The Truth Always Brings Hope

Truth is not always pretty. Truth is, sometimes the truth is quite ugly, but until we learn to embrace the truth we will have no hope for peace. Hope comes by embracing the truth and dealing with it. The ugly truth tells us that hard times are going to happen. The battle between Good and Evil will have many casualties. Many will die, many will be wounded physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We will see family members seduced by the darkness. There will be times when we feel alone in our battle.
I imagine a great mist of darkness, made up of the filth and vulgar images and sounds that will blind us and make the truth hard to hear. I imagine that many of us will face our own demons in the darkness and will be tempted to shrink away, but if we understand the truth we will not. The beauty of truth is that we know who wins.

In Star Wars Anakin was a gifted child who served as a Jedi knight, but his ambitions to be the best led him to hope for more power, which the Sith Lord used to seduce him. Anakin lost everything he sought power to save. And while he gained great power, he lost all hope when in his final act as a Jedi he killed a Jedi master. Luke, the son of Anakin, on the other hand, carried inside of him the power of hope, and in the end the power of hope defeated the hope for power.

Lord of the Rings plays out a similar story of hoping against all hope, fighting a power that seems unbeatable relying upon the most unlikely of creatures to deliver that final blow to the Evil which ruled over the land without mercy. And again in the end the light purged the land of all evil.

It is easy to see who was right and who was wrong in the movies, but in real life we have feelings that are easily manipulated by those who are masters of manipulation. It becomes our responsibility to trust no one. Put not your trust in the arm of flesh, but trust in God, and in the end the light will prevail...

Gratitude Is Essential To Happiness In Hard Times

One of the problems that I have noticed in my existence is that when I am ungrateful I tend to attract things that I should be ungrateful for. When I am ungrateful I tend to want more, not that wanting more is bad, but I tend to forget to be grateful for what I do have. I tend to see everything I don't have as a punishment that is being inflicted upon me by God. This goes against everything I know to be true, but sometimes it creeps into my thoughts.

I have also noticed that gratitude begets things that I can be grateful for. When I am grateful I tend to notice the many miracles that are happening all around me. I look back on my life and I see why things have happened the way they did. When I have gratitude in my heart I see that God is giving me all he can  give me according to my own faith. Funny thing is the more gratitude I have the greater my faith becomes. The greater my faith the less I see the hard times.

Be grateful for you you are. Be grateful for what you have. Be grateful for who God has brought into your life. Hard times are coming, let your gratitude guide you through.

History Repeats Itself In Ignorance

As I grew up I remember learning the history of our country. I was taught about George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. I was taught about the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. I was taught about the Pilgrims and the struggles that we had as we grew as a nation. There were things that did not seem good, but over all I could see that we as a nation were continuously correcting our course. That was part of what made America great. The goodness of America encouraged us to become better. You see, when your basic nature is good you may not be perfect, but when you know something is wrong you try to change it.
That was what I learned, but something has changed...
A couple of years ago I took a class at the local community college. In the class I met a woman who came from a country that had been occupied by the Soviet Union when she was very young. She told us how her father had to listen to freedom radio in the basement for fear that anyone would find out he was listening. She told of a couple of times where she was kicked out of school because she had no interest in joining the Communist party.
About this same time my daughter was taking a history class in High School. She shared her opinion on an issue that was being debated by the then presidential candidates. Her teacher then encouraged her classmates to mock her for her beliefs. This I find disturbing. I see little difference in what happened to my daughter as compared to my classmate who lived under a communist regime.
How did we get to this point? We used to know what communism and socialism were. We saw what these systems of government did. But the history is being changed little by little by those who are further and further away from the actuality of the events and who seem hell bent on repeating history. Our historians gather evidence and make accusations against those who have no ability to defend their own good name.
It kind of reminds me of a children's book I once saw where archaeologists from the future looked back to our day and interpreted items they found. The comical interpretations were entertaining but more importantly showed how easily history can be manipulated or misunderstood when all the facts are no longer available.

It seems to me that our education system is systematically unteaching our children in the name of education. The potential of a good system in the wrong hands is outright evil. This leaves us as parents with a greater responsibility to see that our own children recognize both the truth and the lies.
We can not change history without very dire consequences.
We believed in a good heritage an America that was founded on principles of liberty and justice for all.  Our history has not all been roses, but we have learned from our mistakes. We can not change what has happened, but we can learn from what has happened and we can change..
When we teach only the bad things we miss out on the fact that America is basically good. Compare our history to any other history through out the world and I think we might find that while not all was good, it is far better than any other. America was known as a blessed land. People envied what we had. And maybe in part some came here thinking that they could bring with them the things they liked about their country, not realizing that the things they liked came with the unintended consequences. Which reminds me of another childhood story I once heard. I believe it was called Stone Soup, but I am not sure. It was about a family who loved their mothers stone soup, but each child wished that she wouldn't but in one ingredient or another. Well their wish was their mothers command and when they sat down at the table to eat they found a pot of hot water with only the stone in it. That is what I see has happened in America we have said, "I like this thing that America offers, but could you leave out..." or "could you add..."
I do believe that history repeats itself because we either become ungrateful, or ignorant, and then become arrogant. It cycles through tyrants and dictators because of their arrogance and because of our ignorance. What isn't taught in history doesn't just hurt us it often kills. When they say the devil is in the details, it is true. He is trying to hide them from us so that he can rewrite them. When the history of our past is changed that is the beginning of the end of progress.

A New Perspective From The Sideline...

Last week a new season made itself known here in Utah. The cold weather season has begun. As a result I began the process of layering while running. I can tell I need to start looking for jogging pants. Although for my shorter runs my thermals are definitely warm, but I bought them about 60lbs ago, so it wont be long before they will be hard to keep up.
One of the challenges that I am facing is my asthma. My asthma is definitely affected by the colder air, it is harder to get started, it doesn't seem to take any longer, but the first mile seems to be harder, but it feels much better once I finish, so I am not ready to scrap my out door running at this time. The thought of doing exercise routines does not sound appealing to me at this point, but I think I can do anything for 10 minutes ;)

Now this past weekend gave me a new perspective when it comes to races. After participating in my first run this year I was sold on the idea that competitions are good for you. The excitement of the experience is indescribable. What I didn't realize was how much fun it is to cheer others on.
This past weekend the annual Love Your Body 6k and 10k runs were held at Thanksgiving Point in Utah County. DeeAnn, my sister Stacie, Amy, her sister Jamie, and Jamie's daughter Jessie entered the 6k competition. The skies were cloudy and heavy looking all morning and we thought that we might see some heavy rain. I was excited to be there despite the fact that it was an all girls run. I was feeling a little jealous, but I was happy to allow the boys to run around while we waited for the girls to enter the park where the finish line was.

It was just over 20 minutes before the first one entered the park. It was fun cheering as they started showing up one at a time for the first 5 or so runners then they began to trickle in with a few more at a time. Amy came in 27th over all and 5th in her age group. Very impressive! Shortly after that Stacie came in finishing only 1 min and 10 seconds behind Amy and was 41st over all and 3rd in her age group. She did awesome! Jessie finished 235 over all and 22nd in her age group, you could tell she was having tons of fun. Jamie walked the course and came in 342 over all and 20th in her age group. Then came DeeAnn, she mixed it up between running and walking and finished strong as she crossed the line in just under an hour finishing 420 over all and 32nd in her age category. I can't tell you the emotions I experienced as I saw my wife finishing strong running hard at the end of the race. It was almost as fun watching as it was for my first competition.
Everyone had fun, and is looking forward to next years run and that is what it is all about. Moving more for fun and fitness.   

Respect Is A Powerful Inhibitor Of Temptation ...

Respect is a powerful influence in doing what is right. While admiration may lead you to temptation, respect inspires your best behavior. When we respect one another we acknowledge the fact that they are a son or daughter of God and we treat each other as such whether they acknowledge that or not. Understanding who we are and the expectations that come from our divine parentage leads us not only to doing good to others but to respect their property as well.
When we respect God we also respect his creations. The temptation to litter, misuse resources, or otherwise truly damage the environment is inhibited when we respect God's creations. Vandalism, theft, and violence is not a temptation when we respect our neighbors. Morality comes naturally when we respect each other.  When we respect God his commandments are easy to keep. When we respect each other laws are not needed. Maybe this is what Christ meant when he said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."
Respect brings us a greater appreciation for the good in all people. 

If I Can Walk It I Can Run It

The Saturday before last, my family decided that we would have some fun up at the University of Utah 5k. The event was to kick off Health Week at the University and bring awareness to Atrial fibrillation.
So, bright and early we headed out for the 5k. Matt was his usual grumpy self not wanting to go anywhere, but once we got him out of the van he was excited to be there. As we wandered over to the starting line Matt paused and reminded us that we need to stretch. He then started doing a runners stretch and then touched his toes and then as we were finishing our stretches he started shaking his legs loosening them up, and said, "We got get ready to run."
As the race got underway we kind of held back so that the registered runners could run ahead of us. As we continued through the campus we made the first mile with little problem. We stopped at the water station and continued on. Matt kept running so, while we intended to run or walk together, Spence decided to fall back so DeeAnn stayed with him. Matt just kept running so I kept running with him. As we were running Matt just kept talking and talking about all kinds of stuff, but he made one statement that revealed where he was getting his energy to run. He said, "I told myself, if I can walk it, I can run it."...and he did. He ran the whole way.
We have the ability to draw upon that same power if we just believe. Let this motto rise from within, "If I can walk it I can run it." Let that seed grow in your heart until you can sit no longer... Then Start Walking!

We Mourn With Those That Mourn

It doesn't matter how strong our faith, when the generation ahead of us takes their final sigh and gives their final good bye there is a certain amount of uncertainty that weighs upon us as we are asked to take the lead. And though we may feel alone for a time if we listen closely their voice is ever present guiding us through those obstacles they could not while they were with us. So, we mourn with those that mourn and we rejoice with those that rejoice that by lightening their burden our own burdens are made bearable.

10 Years Ago...9-11

Ten years ago today I remember waking up hearing something about a plane that had flown into one of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City. At the time they were not sure what size of plane nor if it was on purpose. I jumped out of bed and turned on the T.V. it wasn't more than a couple of minutes when the second plane flew into Tower number two... I remember feeling sick to my stomach wondering what just happened, but deep down knowing that something terrible was going on, this was no accident.
My eyes were peeled to the television as I got ready for work and then at work I watched as the evil fires of hatred brought down tower number one and then tower number two. That day is burned in my memory forever.
I remember the feeling of uncertainty, the over all feeling of uneasiness, some fear, some anger. That day we became a new country. That day we were the United States of America. We were all New Yorkers. We were all Americans. We set aside the petty political bickering and we prayed... We sang God bless America, and we meant it.
That day more than 3,000 people lost their lives at the hands of evil. 3,000 lives is hard to imagine when you are watching the metal and debris, but you don't see any bodies. It seems unreal...like a number is just a number. Your mind goes numb to the concept that in one fateful event so many innocent lives could be lost.

Oh, how our memories are so short. How easy it is to forget who the enemy really is.

Today we commemorated the 10th Anniversary of that fateful day.We as a family decided we should go to the Healing Fields in Sandy. There we began to understand what 3,000 lives really means. It was an emotional, spiritual experience. Flags were placed about 6 feet apart 28 wide and 110 deep, it was a quarter of a mile to walk from front to back. Each flag had a tag with a name and a brief story about the individuals who the flag represented. Many had tears in their eyes, including myself, as we read about those who lost their lives.

The world Changed 10 years ago. It will never be the same, but it is yet to be determined whether the world will be a better place or not...That is up to us.

I personally am grateful to know how the story ends... There is hope!

Our Favorite Salsa Recipe Just Leveled Up

As the summer begins to wind down we begin to look forward to the blessings of our hard work. The tomatoes that seemed to take forever to begin to ripen are now beginning to trickle through our door with more regularity. The onions have been waiting, and the peppers...well, my peppers this year seem to be playing catch up. Now it is time to bring all these vegetables together for a party of flavors that hopefully will last through the winter season.

This recipe is one that my sister came across a couple of years ago, and we have loved it. It has been our favorite recipe ever since we were introduced to it. However, we just can't leave a good thing alone. Sometimes it works for us, sometimes it works against us. This time we added chipotle to the recipe and it definitely worked for us. That is the flavor that sent my tongue into a happy dance with the first batch of salsa this year. So, I hope you enjoy!

Our Favorite Salsa

8 Cups tomatoes cored, seeded, and diced. (dicing the tomatoes rather than blending helps keep it thick)
2 1/2 Cups         Onions
1 1/2 Cups         Bell Peppers
6                        Jalapenos (adjust as desired)
6 Cloves            Garlic (I always sneak more in ;) )
1-2 tsp               Cummin
2 Tbls                Salt
1/3 Cup             Vinegar
1/3 Cup             Sugar
15oz                  Tomato sauce
12oz                  Tomato paste
4 Tbls                Chipotle peppers blended from a can (I will add more when my wife is not looking ;) ) 


Combine ingredients in a stock pot and simmer for 10 minutes bottle and process for 10 more minutes.    Let the happy dance begin!

The Top Of Utah Half Marathon

Several months ago now I was challenged to a half marathon. Ten weeks ago I started training for that challenge. Saturday I finished that challenge at the Top of Utah Half Marathon.
It has been years since I have felt as much adrenaline as I felt this past week. It is amazing I had any adrenaline left for Saturday. Friday morning I woke up with race day on my mind. I at one point had planned on working all day, but earlier in the week I realized that I would probably be better off only working half a day. It was a good decision, because traffic was not fun and my nerves would have been very raw had I waited until later to leave Salt Lake. So, all in all leaving early probably saved my family from my nervous rants about Utah drivers.
First thing we did in Logan, after taking a scenic byway, i.e a shortcut that probably wasn't so short, we stopped in at the park in Providence where Saturdays adventure would begin and end. I was extremely impressed with the ease of picking up our packet. I did not have to wait in line for more than 5 minutes. The organization was extremely impressive. It was obvious I was not at the DMV.
Once I had my packet in hand we made a brief stop in at the local Subway to meet up with Amy and Joe before heading over to the Super 8 to check in for the evening. All the butterflies that had been flying around in my stomach all day had made me a little bit drowsy, so it didn't take me too long to get settled in and ready for bed. With the alarm set for 4:15 I was out like a light.
Sleep came quickly and left just about as quickly. I woke up at just past midnight, and then again at 1:57 at that point the best I could do is try and relax with my eyes closed. My mind was so wired I couldn't shut it down, not to mention the fear that I might not hear my alarm, which bytheway was set to only go off on weekdays, so that only confirmed my fears for the next time I set my alarm, ugh....
Anyways Race day was hear and I was up and ready and boarded the shuttle which took us to the park to where I met up with Amy and Joe and boarded the shuttle that would take us 13.1 miles away to drop us off at the starting line. The ride up you could feel the energy of all the runners. Each one had their own story. Several that I talked to this was their first half, others had run marathons. I was amazed at the many assorted body shapes that where there, some of which I was thinking, if I weighed what they weighed there is no way I could have walked that distance yet alone run.

Once we got to Hyrum Park where the starting line was there were people standing around talking and a lot of nervous energy which my body kept interpreting as the need to stretch. I was extremely concerned about my hip flexers, which have been giving me a problem ever since that 12 miler. So I stretched a little here and there as we waited for our opportunity to start the race.

We started toward the back of the line as they had it organized according to your own predicted finish time. We actually started further back than our goal time, my goal happened to be 2 hours 15 minutes. Our strategy proved to probably be such a good move because the first part of the race we ended up running side ways a lot passing people who would finish well behind us. But Amy and I wanted to stick with Joe as long as we could. Joe was having some problems with his Achilles tendon so we knew at some point he was going to fall behind. The real question was whether my hip flexers would give me problems. I hoped that the cool down week might be enough to allow them to heal enough to not give me fits. At the beginning of the race I was not so sure. They still seemed a bit tight. So, I did my best to stretch them while waiting for the starting gun to go off.
First shot must have been a call to attention because it seemed no one had moved. about a minute later a second shot went off and the race had begun. The fastest runners lead off then the sea of humanity that was the rest of us followed. The first 3 miles went pretty slow due to the crowd and weaving in and out of traffic. I had been warned before hand not to give it everything up front which I had no intention of doing anyways. It was interesting to see how many walkers we already had past. I was already beginning to regret how much I had drunk before the race and I thought I might have to stop at the portable johns at the 3 mile marker, but as we passed them there was a line and I decided I would sweat it out, which I literally did. I sweated profusely. As we passed the 3 miles we re-hydrated and were off.
Between miles 4 and 6 there were a lot of people slowing down and spreading out. This section also had some of the longer more down hill portions of the race. It was a lot of fun passing people who by looking at them I would have thought they were more fit than myself. It was fun listening in on the conversations, well I should say most of the conversations that were going on. By the end of the 6 miles I was in my rhythm for the most part, but I knew that we were about to go through the toughest portion of the race for myself anyways.
Miles 7-9 was through a winding section of a beautiful country neighborhood. It was pretty flat, but when we had run through this area a couple of weeks ago I struggled. I kept thinking we would be done just around the corner, but every corner had another corner we had to pass. It was miserable. During the race I mentally prepared myself for this section. It was extremely helpful to have people cheering us on as we left the canyon and continued down the winding neighborhood. A couple of families along the way cheered us on and I borrowed their energy giving them high fives along the way. At about mile 8 Amy asked if I was having a hard time keeping a pace. I guess she noticed. It was my mental battle at that point. once I passed the 9 mile mark I was back on pace and felt good.

Miles 10-11 were a mixed bag of slightly down hill to about a mile plus some of uphill. I handled the uphill pretty good, but somewhere after the 11 mile mark I lost Amy. It was somewhere at about the 12 mile mark that reached the top and headed down toward the finish line that my mind started playing games with me. I started thinking, "what the heck am I doing this for." I temporarily slowed to a walk for about 5 paces then started jogging again. I did this a couple of times before I realized I could have done the whole race without walking at all. The final mile I started to pick my pace back up and as I saw the finish line coming I saw DeeAnn, Matthew, Spencer, and Shandi my niece all cheering me on. Spence saw that I was bleeding I had not noticed it but apparently my body glide had not been applied thick enough on one side of my chest and the chaffing had caused me to bleed pretty good. For the final 25-30 yards I sprinted through the finish line it read something of 2:18:41. However, for my personal time which means the time my reader crossed the starting line to the time my reader crossed the finish line was 2:15:59.8. Amy followed me across probably less than 1 minute behind.

After drinking what seemed like a gallon of Gatorade and water we headed back up the course away to cheer Joe on to the finish line. What an incredible feeling it was to be able to cheer others on after our race was done.  This experience I have to say is a do-over. It is an experience I will remember for a long time.  And I intend to make this just one more adventure in Moving More.....

You Have to Experience The Truth To Know It

The other day my family went to the park to play catch with a football. My wife  payed attention as I  taught the boys how to throw the ball. After throwing the ball perfectly a couple of times she said, "You know, it feels good when you throw it right." And that is exactly the way it feels when we act in the truth, it feels right and it will show.

The only way we can truly know the truth is by experiencing the truth. Until we know the truth it will simply just be one more theory that may or may not be true. Christ said to prove his words, do what he says and we can know if it came from the Father.
Education is important. However, learning how to think is much more important than learning what to think. The challenge faced by those trying to get an education nowadays is that many professors have become arrogant and prideful and are not interested in teaching their students how to think, but are more interested in teaching them what to think. The theories they teach are taught as fact, yet in 10 years those truths will be replaced by "new truths." Not that we can not benefit from those theories, but if we are not careful we can be sucked in to the idea that education comes by feeding the ego of our professors, rather than using our professors knowledge to surpass them.
I believe that it is our responsibility to question God. If we should question God then we should definitely question those who think they know more than God. The most important principle in education today seems to be to question everything including your beliefs. But I say the most important principle in education is to learn how to listen for the answers to your questions. 

Don't Give Up On Yourself

Sometimes we have to realize we are, and we are not alike. Each of us are individuals and we have to come to the conclusion that just because someone else can, does not mean that we can...yet. There is no reason to give up on ourselves if someone else is faster than us, better than us, or more graceful than us. When we start something we have never done before we have to assume that we are going to run into problems we have never dealt with before. Life is just that way. We rarely are graceful when we start doing exercise, but the more we do the better we get at it. I can't tell you how many times I have done different move mores where I felt like the ugly duckling bowing before swans. I wish I would have recorded my first attempts... Well, maybe not, but it probably would have given encouragement to many. I will just say that coordination is still not one of my strengths, but I just keep moving more and enjoying it.

The Logan Run

Last Saturday we drove to Logan to run the first 9 miles of the 1/2 marathon. Amy, Joe, Joe's Dad Norm, and myself were driven up to the top of the course by DeeAnn and my family. We planned it out that DeeAnn would meet us along the way, as we have become accustom to the past few weeks.
I felt really good starting off, but this week after visiting the Chiropractors instead of my hip hurting in the back of the joint, it was the front of my hip that seemed a bit tight. I kept a pretty good pace through the canyon, it really helped to have my family cheering us on. Matt would hand me my water then say, "Go, go, go, daddy. Hurry up. You are doing Great!" That kept me going through mile 6, but as we hit the winding country road we leveled off and my hip started causing me problems. The problem with my hip doesn't seem to be the pain directly, I think I could push through the pain, but it seems to just wear on my nerves and weaken the ability of my muscles to respond to my demands. The fatigue factor just kills me. I made it 9 miles which was our scheduled run, but I came up short about 200 yards from the location we had chosen to meet. I walked about 50 yards and sprinted the last 70 yards or so.
The competitor in me finds it mentally challenging when my body does not allow my mind the opportunity to finish. I have to remind myself that I new that I would be testing my limits from the get go so I have found my limits when I am not at 100%. Hopefully by the time of the race my body will have had enough time to heal and I can see if I can reach a new limit.
One more adventure in Moving More. 

Humility Brings Peace of Mind

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to teach someone how to avoid the consequences that you have already learned about from sad experience. Then to have them say, "I know, I know..." then proceed to do exactly, exactly what you did until you humbled yourself.

Humility, can save us heartache and pain if we allow it to work within us. We were not sent into mortality to figure everything out on our own. God gave us parents to show us an example of how or how not to do things. If you see your parents are not happy then you should investigate exactly what it might be that makes them not happy. I can guarantee that humility will not be on the list of things that do not make them happy.

When I say humility, I do not subscribe to the woeful countenance, self depreciating, and depressing brand of humility. I subscribe to the willingness to admit what you do not know, willingness to admit what you do know, and understanding who you are as a child of God brand of humility. You do not have to denigrate yourself in order to appear humble. When we are more concerned about looking humble we often lose true humility. The desire to appear is born of a fear and of vanity, and vanity is born of pride. Pride is the opposite of humility.

When you lack humility it is a sign of insecurity. Insecurity leads to fear and fear leads to the dark side... When you get rid of those insecurities you do not have to fear what you do not know, but you find peace in learning what you do not know.  

You Would Think I Might Learn...And I Do..

This past week was our biggest week for preparing for the half marathon. It culminated in our 12 mile run. Our Saturday runs are becoming quite the adventure and each week seems to be a learning experience in and of itself. I was told once that insanity is doing the same dumb thing over and over again. Well, no one can accuse me of that, because I am really good and doing dumb thing after another. Okay, so dumb may be a little harsh, but given the task to choose a route to run I felt a little dumb after choosing 2 routes that about killed me. Amy and Reyna certainly out ran me on this run that is for sure. In my defense I was running sick, I didn't realize it at the time, but once I came home the little bug made itself clear...

After last weeks fun run Amy decided she did not want to think about the 12 mile rout so she gave me the opportunity to create it. I found 2 that seemed acceptable. Presented with the options we chose the more adventurous of the two. According to my calculations and my ability to read maps the total loss in elevation would be somewhere in the neighborhood of  700 plus feet. which would be pretty close to the 1/2 marathon so I was excited. This could be a good preview of what we would see for the 1/2.

Well, that morning we got up early. DeeAnn and I drove over to Amy's house where we picked up Amy and Reyna and headed toward Dimple Dell. It seemed like the longest drive up to the top, but we made it. The past couple of days my lower back was feeling a little tight but I thought I could stretch it out and where it hadn't gone down into my hip I felt I would be okay for this run. Right up front we dropped significantly but it mellowed out shortly and everything seemed like it would be good. Our first 3 miles went good we finished it in good time and DeeAnn had liquid refreshments waiting for us. Did I mention how incredible my wife is? Well, she is pretty incredible.
Then came miles 4-6 what I thought would be a small rise then fall turned into an almost 800 foot climb. We actually did this without much trouble at all. Good thing it was not at the end of the run. However, my back was still nagging at me just a little. We reached the 6 mile mark and DeeAnn once again sent us off with a refill of liquids.
Miles 7-9 I began to feel the pain in my back move to my hip, but I did not think it was too bad I was able to keep up, but it was not super comfortable. As we left DeeAnn for the final leg of the run I felt my hip start to wear on me. I made it to mile 11 when I had little left in me and when we hit the final hill on the last 1/2 mile of the run my hip said no more. I had to walk for about 25 yards before I could muster up a limping jog under the gentle encouragement of Amy. I finally made it to the top of the hill and was able to grin and bare it to the finish.

The lessons I learned this week were, even though the over all course was down hill we still had ups and downs along the way some of which were more significant than others. Such is life. Second, I learned that if you give it your all it doesn't matter how ugly the finish it just matters that you finish. Life is not always about beating your competitors, sometimes it is, but most of the time life is about beating yourself. I also learned that you can never underestimate the significance of an encouraging word when you feel you have nothing left inside. DeeAnn gave it to us along the way, and Amy and Reyna did that for me at the end of the run.

Just one more adventure in moving more. :)

Honey Wheat Oat Bread

Sometimes I get the hankering to create my own recipes. I usually go for a search on the internet and browse sites gleaning the principles of the recipes that I find interesting, then I start with a basic recipe and adjust different ingredients until it works. I like a simple base to work off such as this recipe. I will then experiment with things like adding basil or maybe even cheese. I might add cinnamon or whatever, but now that I have my base to work off of I can have fun. I hope you enjoy. I know that we certainly have.

2 Cups Warm Water
2 TBS Yeast
3/4 TBS Salt
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Oil.
3 Cups Wheat Flour
1 Cup White Flour
1 1/2 Cups Oat Flour
2 TBS of dough enhancer

Sprinkle Yeast on top of Warm Water and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. If the yeast has fallen to the bottom of the water and seems not to be growing I like sprinkling a small pinch of brown sugar around. It is kinda fun watching the yeast start to fizz and rise to the top of the water.
After the yeast is activated I add the oil, honey, and salt. I like to put the oil and honey in the same container, oil first then honey, it make the honey come out easier. After that the dough enhancer and flours. I knead the dough in the machine for 10 minutes then divide it in two and form them into loaves and put them in greased loaf pans and let them rise til the double in size. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while you are waiting for the dough to rise. Then bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until the bread is browned and sounds hollow. If you like your crust soft, like I do, then I spread butter over the top.

Note: Oat flour= uncooked oatmeal run through the blender.

Sometimes It Pays To Be The Fool

Sometimes it pays to be foolish. You see it is often the fool, those who don't know that they can't, that make things happen. This week I played the fool.

In the process of training for this 1/2 marathon Amy and I realized that the course would be a downhill course. We needed to prepare for down hill, because to this point we had only trained on level to slightly uphill courses. So, I had this brilliant idea that we should run down Millcreek Canyon. The course was set from the top of Millcreek Canyon to 2300 East and 3900 South in Salt Lake City, UT. This we thought would give us an idea of what we were facing come the half marathon. So, DeeAnn drove Amy and I up to the top of Millcreek Canyon Saturday morning. I tried not to pay too much attention to how steep it was on the way up and figured that if Amy was willing to do this I most certainly was not going to let her show me up. So, when DeeAnn left the parking lot to meet us half way down the canyon we finished stretching and started down the canyon road. Immediately, I started feeling a slight cramp under my ribs, probably the effects of my diet while camping all week. This is not new though, I always seem to have to fight those thoughts as I run. We hit a couple of fairly steep stretches and I began to think that this course was much steeper than I thought it was going to be. It only took us a little less than 30 minutes to reach DeeAnn at the 4.8 mile mark. By that time I was feeling my calves really getting tight, but after a quick drink of water, we kept going. We had only passed one other person who was running up the canyon, but we had not seen anyone running down it. For all the bikes we saw I thought maybe we would see others running down, but no, we didn't. Eventually we saw a few walking up and a couple jogging up, but never anyone running down.

Once we got to the bottom of the canyon we still had about 3-4 miles to go. my calves were on fire and I noticed that my feet were feeling hot as well. I kept thinking that Amy might stop and give me an excuse to stop and make sure she was okay ;), but she just kept moving, and I certainly wasn't going to stop. As we rounded our final turn to head down 3900 South to 2300 South I felt like I was having a hard time picking my legs up, but I was determined to keep up. I was really hoping it was the first light I saw, but I prepared mentally for the second. And it was a good thing I did because it was the second light, but as we approached that second light I found out it was just past that light. Thank goodness we did not have to wait, because mentally I was now completely spent. I mustered up enough to finish with an attempt at a sprint for the last 20 yards or so. It felt good to do what we had done, but I knew I was going to pay a price.

That afternoon, I found out that we had run 11.9 miles and dropped 3406 feet in elevation almost 4 times as big a drop as we will be dropping during the 1/2 marathon.

It was foolish to think we could run that course with our experience, but not knowing that we shouldn't gave us the opportunity to say we did it. And now we know that we can do more than we thought we could, because we did not know what we were doing before we did it. Set your site on a task and forget about the obstacles, everything will turn out fine. You may pay a price, but once the price is paid you may look back and say, "I did that. Now lets not do that again." Or you may just think next time.... and smile a little bigger.

Yes sir, it is often the fool that pushes the envelope and creates new boundaries for themselves and others....Try it sometime you just might like it...after you pay the price. ;)

A new adventure in Moving More. Don't tell me you can't until you have tried. Until then you can only say you won't.