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.

July 5, 2009

I have missed a few days, but I surely was not going to miss making a record of our July 4, 2009 (They kept asking me if I knew the date, “July the 4^th” I said. “You think I would forget the date a horse kicked me in the head?”)

Grant’s first ride on a horse named “Paleface”, a birthday gift from Don to grandpa Lynn, a handsome and apparently good-natured animal as he toted Grant around the yard on his first equine experience. A few moments after snapping this picture, Paleface reared up and struck me on the left side of the head with a shoed front hoof. There were many witnesses, but none could offer any explanation for the attack. I was not moving or gesturing toward the animal and my camera was down at my side. It was quick, and for a moment I was unsure where I had been hit. Very soon thereafter, the streams of blood running down my forehead and off the end of my nose made the location of my injury apparent. I pressed on the top of my head in an attempt to slow the high volume of blood exiting the wound, but was unable. Someone came with rags and I knelt so they could put sufficient pressure to stop the bleeding, and when I removed my hands from my head to allow them to help, I noticed a large section of hair with scalp still attached was stuck to the blood on my left hand. Grant was thrown 10-12 feet away and upon landing on his feet in the grass, immediately popped up exclaiming, “I’m OK, I’m OK!”

I looked in his direction and realized that I had dropped the camera I was holding. My new 1Ds! I was about to ask someone to grab it for me when I became dizzy from the loss of blood. When I was stable enough to stand, I was loaded into the car and we headed off towards the emergency room. As we drove, Stephanie received a call informing us that Liam had just driven the motorcycle into the canal. There were no witnesses to the incident and he was required to drag himself out of the water and return to the house where he made himself a plate and began to eat his lunch. The accident was only discovered when one of his cousins asked why his clothes were wet.

I arrived at the local urgent care office in an attempt to avoid the hospital emergency room. The wound was deep enough to expose the skull and required about 40 stitches and staples to fully close. Graphic pictures were taken, but in the interest of keeping my PG rating, they will not be included here. Grandpa Mickelsen and Elder Richard G. Scott arrived to drive me home while Leanne and Stephanie went to fill my prescription for pain medication. Upon returning (the cleaning and closing of the wound took about 90 minutes) Elder Scott insisted that I receive a blessing. All my children were present (Leanne had not yet returned) and listened closely as Grandpa anointed and Elder Scott sealed and blessed. By the Apostolic power, he blessed me that though I had been cared for by medical professionals, the Lord would be the one to heal me and I would know it was performed by His power.

Now, children you were present and heard the promise as it was made, and I want you to remember it was fulfilled. From that moment forward I was completely unaffected by the accident. I required no pain medication, and suffered no discomfort. I experienced no pain and was completely normal, save the irresistible desire to run my fingers along the long line of metal staples. Remember how the Priesthood healed your father.

Don't bring me down, Bruce!

June 28, 2009

Speaking of Liam and his attraction toward the arts, today he wandered downstairs wearing a blue, golf shirt and walked into the kitchen for breakfast. I could not see him but I could hear Leanne making a weak attempt of scolding the boy. As she was about to burst in to laughter, she said as sternly as she could, “Go show your father what you have done.” He slowly walked over to where I sat, hiding the back of his shirt as well as he could. “Turn around and show Dad,” she said. He slowly and deliberately turned his back towards me. There in large, sharpie marker letters he had written:

“Don’t bring me down.”

I was a little puzzled a first, not understanding where a 5 year old would have picked up such an archaic phrase. As I pondered it for a moment, I realized that Liam was in agony, convinced he was about to receive the spanking of his lifetime for his blatant act of rebellion. The humor of the situation sprang upon me and I had to turn away to conceal my laughter. That was all Leanne needed to push her over the edge and everyone heard her snort with laughter from the kitchen. Do you know how hard it is to punish a little boy in this situation without showing your amusement? After all, he ruined a good shirt, right? Well, I was able to get control and mete out the punishment. He is to perform 5-6 extra jobs until he is able to earn the $3 he will be required to spend on a new shirt to replace the old one.

My kids are good students. Tomorrow, Marci will receive the presidential award for being a member of the honor roll every trimester she was eligible. Garrett has set a new school record for the amount of AR (advanced reading) points a student has earned. Marci ended up 3rd in AR points in the school and Chloe really earned a great deal of points in the last two sections. I told them that I would pay $50 for a 1st place in AR and $25 for a second place. Garrett earned his fifty, and Marci only came up a few shy of second place. We also made a goal with Chloe (I forget how many) and she reached her's pretty quickly. These kids are costing me a lot of money. I need to find a drawing book for the kids as they seem to have an interest in art. Marci has worked on a pretty good picture of a black widow, and Liam draws on every scrap of paper he can find, often it is not scrap paper at all, but important items of his mother's. He doesn't let the business of adults get in the way of his creativity.