Wishes to Goals

They say that an unrecorded goal is only a wish. Well, I am now putting one of my major goals for the year down on record. In July, Leanne and I are going to stand on the top of the Grand Teton.

My other goal is to be 185 lbs when I do it. It is a shorter hike than that of Mt. Whitney from our 2011 hike, but I understand the terrain is much more taxing on your body.  The last bit of the trip consists of technical climbing with rope and protection, so in addition to getting my body in shape I have been sharpening my climbing and rope management skills. This picture shows the route we will take to the top. 

When you see me, ask me how my training is going. I need to stick with it if I want to be able to tick off this goal.

Self

Alma 32:14 
"And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be ^ahumble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?"


Is there anything more difficult than spotting our own failings? It is difficult to examine thoughts, opinions, and actions and say: "This here is what I need to fix; this is where I am wrong." It is probably easier when we are in a difficult circumstance, but nearly impossible when things are well. 
I read a scripture like the one above, like I did this morning and I think to myself: "How honest am I in self-appraisal?" I am probably biased in my own favor. And then I think: "Instead of spending a few minutes examining my life, I examined my ability to examine myself." Now I feel like I belong in Inception. We must go deeper! Stupid boy.
Maybe this everyday journal writing is a bad idea.

Journal Postings

I heard a Mormon Message a few days ago that quoted from President Eyring:

“I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.” In General Conference Address, October 2007

I have tried to do the same to some degree, but have never been successful in a daily effort of journal writing. I have kept personal journals on a frequent basis for the past 10-12 years, and though I have tried many times to become a daily writer, I have been largely unsucessful. Here we go. I will follow President Eyring's advice and see if I can become more consistent with these entries. I will include some things of a spiritual nature, but will mostly record those day-to-day things that wish to remember of my children. They mature so quickly, and I know that one day I will miss their daily presence. As President Monson likes to quote: "God gave His children memory, that in life's garden there might be June roses in December." G.A. Studdert-Kennedy
These things are written to my children and I as I write, I often picture you sitting together after rediscovering my old leather journals sometime after I am gone. I hope you laugh. I hope you fondly remember the time we were able to spend together.

Great day at Joshua Tree

We were lucky enough to be invited to stay with some friends up in their families home near Joshua Tree National Park. Set up and climbed for a good 6 hours with 18 kids. No injuries, no falls, and no snake bites. It was great day. Now I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Grant looking guilty for something we hadn't yet discovered

One of the little lizards that scurried up the wall

Garrett putting in a good effort on a tough section

Chloe easily sends the route "B-3"

Liam looks like he knows what to do...

...but this section was not kind to him

Garrett tries to escape, but not before the rock bites his legs off.

View from the top.

The most difficult route of the day. Some of us clawed our way up, Marci did it in style.

Does my butt look good when I stand like this?

Mom follows Marci up the route.

Charly does what Charly always does.

The group.

All Alone

Do you remember the movie "Christmas Vacation" where Clark goes up into the attic and the door locks behind him leaving him stuck for the entire day while his family parties without him? Well, this week I am home alone as the rest of my family party it up in Utah. And just like Clark Griswold, I entertained myself by finding some old family movies. I think I'll share:

Joshua Tree Campout for Father's Day

Does it seem like this is turning into a climbing blog more than a family blog?

J-Tree Rock Formations

We live directly in the middle of some of the best climbing areas in the United States, right here in Southern California. Jeremy lent me a copy of his climbing guide to Joshua Tree National Park a few weeks ago and I have spent many nights studying the thousands of routes listed in the nearly 500 page book. When Leanne asked me what I wanted for father's day, I requested a day of climbing out at the park. We quickly expanded it to a camping trip for the whole family, then invited Jeremy's family as well.
Joshua Tree gets its name from the unusually shaped trees that dot its desert landscape. I was interested to learn that the name "Joshua Tree" was coined by the Mormon pioneers as they traveled through the area on their way to San Diego and San Bernardino as part of the Mormon Battalion in the mid 1800s. The official park website states the limbs of the unusual trees reminded them of Joshua guiding them home to heaven with outstretched arms. Yeah, the trees were cool, but we were there for the rocks, and rocks they have a' plenty.

Camp

Garrett demonstrates proper marshmallow technique

We arrived Friday afternoon and setup our campsites. We started a campfire and the kids spent the next few hours swinging flaming marshmallows around the campsite. Then they smeared melted chocolate on their hands and faces. Garrett is especially gifted in the study of "dirty faced cuisine" and spent some time instructing his little brothers on chocolate mustaches and marshmallow mouth rings. A small field mouse came to the edge of the campsite to check out all the commotion and was spotted by the little boys. The little guy was unafraid of the man-cubs and allowed them to play with him until it was time for bed. I think the mouse was able to get more of the smores in its mouth than the boys.
Climbing the next day was as good as I had hoped. The rock a Joshua Tree is a really rough granite that provides excellent traction for climbing shoes. Jeremy and I headed up a 5.6 route named "The Dutchess" and set up a top rope for the kids to play on. I have learned that route ratings are very subjective as a 5.6 route at our normal climbing area would be relatively easy compared to this challenging climb. There were many more routes we wanted to try, but this time of year can be scorching hot in the California desert, so we had to abandon the fun when the rocks came free of the shadows and the sun hit us full force. We had a great time and will be returning as soon as time permits to prove our skills on other J-Tree climbing routes.

How does the saying go, "Dirty hands, warm heart" or something like that?

Liam draws a star with his glow-stick

More glow-stick action after sunset in the park

Chloe and Charly

Jeremy leading "The Dutchess"

Chloe trying out the small stuff

Me on "The Dutchess, Left"

Liam and Grant keep the gear organized and clean

Marci on the route's final, difficult moves

Liam is a good boy

Liam's birthday is near the end of November. In most states, he would not have made the cut off to start school, but in California, he made it by about 5 days (they are changing that next year). This makes him the youngest kid in the second grade, yet his size makes him the tallest in his class. Through a few different channels, we learned last week that Liam was suffering though some social difficulties at school, namely he has been on the receiving end of some cruel, and unkind treatment by the other kids in his grade. He was surprisingly unconcerned by the incidents and consistently maintained good grades and behavior in spite of these difficulties. However, learning of his situation brought some tears of sadness to his parent's eyes, and we thought and discussed much trying to find a way to help our little boy.
Leanne developed the opinion that having him repeat the second grade would be the solution to his problems as his church and neighborhood playmates were all 1st graders. My thoughts were that having him repeat a grade was akin to running away from our problems instead of working to fix them. We were at an impasse as both solutions had merit difficult to ignore. It was decided that we would involve Liam in the discussion and we sat down one evening to explain the situation and possible solutions to the little boy. It was decided that we should have him pray for some guidance. I explained to him how to interpret an answer given by the Spirit and prayed silently that he would be successful in obtaining the answer that had eluded his mother and I.
  Well, let us just say that he received his answer, apparent by the wide grin that spread across his face. I wont go into details here, but I will say how grateful we were to be able to witness the Lord's concern for the individual, even a young, struggling 7 year old.

Failure at Tahquitz Rock

This is Tahquitz Rock in Idyllwild, California, one of the birthplaces of rock climbing in the US. People travel from all over the world and test their skills on granite mammoth, and we are lucky enough to have it right in our backyard. Well, backyard in SoCal terms means about an hour drive from home, a relative hop, skip, and jump compared to the 2 hour daily commute many endure in our area.
Jeremy and I have been training and collecting gear for a few months in order to make our own attempt on the historic rock. Our day of proving came last Saturday, and if you were thorough enough to read the title of this entry you already know that we failed in our attempt to reach the top. A little more than 1/2 the way up, we were forced to retreat back the way we came and kick pine cones down the trail in frustration.
Question: Cyrus, why are you such a wuss?
Answer: Three reasons - 1. I was totally unprepared for the amount of exposure on this rock and it really made me doubt my ability to climb, heck, being that high in the air made me doubt my ability to move and breathe without falling 1200 feet into the valley below - 2. I have only done a small amount of crack climbing and this climb was all cracks - 3. This was my first time climbing on my own protection, meaning there were no pre-placed bolts on the routes so we had to place our own anchors in the rock. These anchors look really solid when your feet are on the ground, but when your hundreds of feet in the air...well...i was a little less...sure.

This is the view from the start of the route. I know it is hard to tell from the picture, but at the start of the climb, we are already hundreds of feet above the surrounding hills and mountains. Intimidating.
The last shot is looking down from the first of 4 rope lengths up the rock. We got stuck about 2/3 the way to the top. We plan to return soon in order to re-establish ourselves as real men. Updates to follow.

My New Obsession

It is difficult for me to turn my brain down from dealing with the daily stresses brought on by fatherhood, work, and priesthood responsibilities. I have never been able to “chill out” like many men can by watching sports all afternoon some Saturdays. In the past, I have found the motocross track to be an excellent method of relaxation as it requires a significant amount of physical effort and control coupled with total mental concentration and focus leaving no spare brain cycles for the day-to-day worries. Two traits of this activity made me finally put it away for a time:

Grant has no fear. Should I be worried?

1. Expense – not just the bikes, but of all the required accessories such as a truck, trailer, membership fees,  fuel, maintenance, gear, ect…

2. Solitude – it is largely a solitary activity, meaning it was difficult for my family to participate. Even when you have several bikes, it is difficult to have conversations with your family members through helmets and over noisy motors.

Over the past few months, I have begun to love a sport I thought was just for hippies and tree-huggers; rock climbing. I have found that I get the same benefit from climbing that i used to get from motocross.

Physically demanding – isn’t it great to wake up on Sunday morning and discover your muscles are so sore your wife has to help you put your shirt on.

Mental focus – Imagine this: your 100ft up the rock face clinging to a 1/4 inch lip and you feel your feet start to slip. You thinking about work? Yeah, me neither.

Expense – Our whole family was outfitted for a few hundred dollars, now you kids might get to go to college!

Voices – One person climbs at a time, but everyone is on the wall with them. We laugh, we cheer, we tease, we push, and we all hold our breath in unison during the tricky spots.

Craig the hippie giving me some pointers on anchor set up.

A game of stratego while waiting for a turn

Charly's job is to pull the rope down when we have finished

Headed home, the easy way.

Goldilocks takes it down a notch

There comes a time in every girls life when they begin to be concerned with how they look to others and start to take a more active role in the determination of their outward appearance and grooming. Today, at the age of three, Charly decided she would no longer have her hairstyle decided for her, but would trim her lovely golden locks more they way she thought would be best. She grabbed a pair of decorative edging scissors and before anyone was able to intervene, several large chunks of yellow hair lay on the kitchen floor.

I was working on a motorcycle in the garage when Garrett came to tell me the news. Why does it happen when Dad is supposed to be watching the children? It is hard enough convincing our wives we are responsible adults without this type of catastrophe.

Well, that is a lot of hair. After a decent spanking we surveyed the damage. See that significant portion of forehead that used to be covered up? Yeah, that is going to be a problem.

I put her in the tub and asked, “Why did you cut off all your pretty hair, Charly?” She said, “Its OK Dad, Mom and Marci will fix it.”

She was mostly correct, in that Leanne was able to make it look a lot better that I feared at first site, but I guess the Price family will have two unusual hair dos for a little while. (Leanne and I were talking about how my hair doesn’t lay the same after my horse incident.)

Trampoline is finished

Never, ever, ever let your spouse talk you into digging a hole for the trampoline in the backyard, especially in the rock-hard earth that is here in Menifee, California. One full sized backhoe, gas-powered auger, 60 pound jack hammer, pick, wheelbarrow, 3 shovels and 4 Saturdays later, the tramp sits in its new home 39 inches under ground. Now we have the problem of all the dirt that was left over from the hole.
I enjoy my job the majority of the time, however, I am often surprised at the entitlement that some people feel. I had a mother threaten to bad-mouth the company and me personally in the local news because her free, state-funded insurance is denying her son's coverage. I often give people time frames of when their items will be ready, they show up days early and become angry when I cannot give them their orders. I hope to soon be able to move away from daily patient care and more towards development. A company called Freedom Innovations has requested a resume, but I have decided not to pursue it until I am finished with school in 4 more weeks. We shall see.

The final stretch

Here it is, the last few classes of my MBA program at the University of Redlands. I have completed the first half of the first of four final classes. By my calculations, I am 1/8th the way done with my final class. Instructor is giving us a one and a half hour lunch break, so I am sitting in Panera Bread eating my chicken and bacon sandwich and oatmeal and raisin cookie. I am a lover of all cookies, but oatmeal raisin tops the list. The added benefit to having this particular cookie be my favorite is that Leanne harbors a healthy dislike of raisins and has passed this trait on to most of our children. So if one of these special cookies does make it into the house at some time during the day, chances are good it will still be there when I return home from work.
I am also indulging in a drink of soda. Why such a careless disregard for health and longevity? Because I earned it. Leanne and I ran our first "test" triathlon this morning in preparation for the real test in 5 weeks. Our 11 mile bike ride (completed in 42 minutes) was followed by a 2 mile run (19 minutes). Next Saturday we will go for the full distance by adding one mile to each event, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run.
Garrett is a very gifted child, who excels in academics, reading, gospel understanding and many other areas, but is somewhat hesitant to participate in sports because he recognizes it is something in which he trails his friends in natural ability. I am going to help John Ranes coach flag football this fall in an effort to help Garrett get a little more familiar with sports. Hopefully we will be able to help him become a little more proficient. We like to do the things at which we excel.

Leanne Kicked my Bee - you - tee - tee

As you may be aware, Leanne and I have been training for a sprint triathlon in October. I have learned that there are a few different classifications of triathlons, the sprint being the shortest, olympic in the middle, and ironman is reserved for the crazies. Ours will be held on the shores of Lake Perris a few miles from our home and the distances are: 800 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K run. Recently your mother and I have been competing in the 5K run. For a few weeks, she had been trying to run the distance in under 30 minutes, coming very close a few times. On Wednesday morning, I woke her up to show her my time of 29:03. I could tell she was just a little disappointed that I had broken the 30min mark before she did.
This morning I received a phone call from my wife informing me that she had run her morning route in just over 28 minutes! She beat me by over 60 seconds and beat her old time by more than two minutes. Tomorrow morning we are attempting our first real test, bike 12 miles and then run 2. We shall see who comes out on top.

Halo Reach is comming!

Kids, remember Halo Reach? Wasn't that a fun game to play?
I speak to you in the future, as one from the past, having not yet purchased or played the new Halo game on the Xbox 360. It is September 8, 2010 and the newest quest to save the world from alien invaders can not begin until September 14, when the game goes on sale to the public. John Ranes is sure he has a hook-up that can get us the game a few days early...we shall see. It has been all the little boys (when I say little boys, I refer to Liam and Grant, however if their growth patterns continue at their current pace, they will be the giant boys. Both are tall for their age and solidly built) any way, the little boys have been peeing their pants in anticipation for the new game, literally. I have made them a deal, if they wake up dry every day between now and the release date, I will purchase the game for them, and they will own it.
"It will be ours?!" Liam asked.
"Yes." I said.
"And we can say who gets to play it?!" Grant questioned.
"No, everyone who wants to play it can play it, you have to share." I said.
"But, it will be ours?" Liam repeated.
"Yes." I said.
Then in unison, they both pumped their fists and said: "Awesome!"
Then Grant said: "I'm going to go potty right now!"
Now + 6 days - $60 at gamestop + rootbeer floats + late bedtime = The Best Day Ever!

I also have a deal with Marci, Garrett, and Chloe: If they have straight "A"s in November, I will take them to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie and they can skip school the next day (a Friday). I hope they make it. I think that would be a lot of fun for the family.

Charly's Birthday

Here is a video I put together of Charly's third birthday. Funny baby was sure she was turning 6 years old today.


Charly's 1095th day from Leanne Price on Vimeo.

My favorite use of electricity

Hey kids, do you remember the iPhone? Do you remember how happy your dad was to get the new iPhone 4? It all seems so long ago and archaic to you now, like your father remembering his days playing video games on the Intellevision, then the TI-99, to the Commodore 64 then Commodore128 with color!

Missel command, Hard Hat Mac, Burger Time, and Mission Impossible were the newest in technology and graphics.

Now, my cellular phone has many many times more processing power than the computers that ran the NASA space programs when I was a kid. It seems funny that we will sit around someday in the future, each child with their own little ones, and laugh about how primitive our devices will then seem. It a strange way, it is a little sad to know that my prized piece of the cutting edge will be remembered as an technological dinosaur. But, right now, it is awesome, and you little monkeys beg for a turn with it every 15 minutes. Remember, your dad was cool!

School and more school

For a little while, I owned an 85mm 1.2L lens. It was easily the nicest, sharpest lens I have ever used. Here is my favorite shot I took with this awesome chunk of glass:

Leanne with the 85mm

How nice is that blur! And how sharp are the lashes on Leanne’s right eye! But, it was too expensive to justify keeping and I sold it a week ago. Someday, after I have finally finished school and make millions of dollars per week, I will most definitely purchase it again.

            Speaking of school, I am nearly finished with my MBA program at University of Redlands. I am sitting in my second-to-last class right now. This will be completed next week, and then I will be required to attend 4 Saturday sessions, each of them 8 hours in length. That will be all. Finished. Completed. Done. (I hope). The problem with all of this talk of finishing is that I have no idea if this is the real end. There is a phrase in my patriarchal blessing that states: “…Finish your education and the Lord will prepare you for important things in your life.” (That is paraphrased; I don’t have my written blessing in front of me).  I knew completing High School was no enough to satisfy the requirement. I forced myself through the last year of getting by bachelors at the University of Utah thinking it would certainly be enough. Shortly after graduation, I knew I had not completed my education but I stubbornly pushed the idea to the back of my mind. Finally, on a trip to Idaho, I gave in and promised my wife we would return to school. I remember the exact spot in the road I gave up my attitude of resistance and accepted my new future between the cities of Preston and Inkom, closer to the latter. Prosthetic school and residency was followed by Orthotics school and a complete change of scenery in Southern California. Two years later, driving the same road, near the same spot of my previous epiphany, I again gave in to knowledge that I had not yet completed my full education. Now my MBA is nearly complete. Leanne asks if this is all. I am not sure how to answer that question. I’ll tell you on the next drive to Idaho.