June 21st through July 3rd - 193 - 205 Days

The last few weeks have been Great.  I've decided that I need to serve more, and listen to the spirit more.  So, I decided that when I pray every day I would ask Heavenly Father who I can help.  On Thursday, I prayed in the morning and asked who I should help that day.  During the day, I really felt like I should visit an old friend.   Hunter and I made up some poppyseed bread and I took it by my friend's house.  At first, no one came to the door.  After a few minutes, the door opened and my friend invited me inside.  After we spoke for a few minutes he said, "Why did you come by tonight?"  I said, kind of sheepishly, "Do you really want to know?"  He said, "Yes, I do."  I told him that I had been praying for someone that needed my help and I felt I should visit.  He said, "That's really interesting, because I'm having a hard time right now, and as I was praying over my dinner I asked God to help me, and then when I finished my prayer, you knocked on my door."  We spoke and laughed for over 2 hours.  It was a fantastic night, and I was humbled and overwhelmed that the Lord would use me that way.

On the weekend, we had a bike ride from Jacobs Lake, Arizona to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which was a total of 88 miles round trip.  Kerry and I drove up Friday and went through the route.  I was a bit intimidated, as it was quite a bit of climbing and I'm not quite in the shape I'd like to be.  It also didn't help that the guys I was going to ride with were much better riders than I was.  There were about 20 of us that got up at 5:30 in the morning and began the ride.  The ride started on a hill, and the elevation was 7900 feet, so I was immediately sucking wind, and I thought, "I'm never going to make this."  Then I remembered a video that Jeff Jones had me watch earlier in the week, the video was from a photographer who said, "Like what you do, whatever you're doing."  I decided that I was going to like the ride.  I began to look around at the beautiful pine trees, the green meadows, the sunshine, the flowers, everything.  It was so beautiful!  Even though the wind started blowing at up to 25 miles per hour, and my legs felt like they were falling off, I completed the ride, and really enjoyed it.  In fact, it was one of the most enjoyable rides of my life up to this point.

This last week was just as good.  I closed a large sale at work, went on multiple bike rides, spent some time with my family, went swimming, read, had some great conversations with old friends, and truly had a remarkable and spiritual week.  I have a LONG way to go when it comes to treating others as kind as I would like, but I'm learning the process little-by-little.  My parents are visiting this week, and they are two of the kindest people I know.  It's fun to talk with them, and learn how to be better.

Things I learned the last few weeks:  1st:  If Mike Anderson says a bike ride is pretty hard, that means it's close to insane.  If he's bringing 10 or 12 of his buddies, fa-get-about-it!  2nd, My brother Kerry is older than me and weighs more, and he can still kick my can up the hills--what's that all about?!   3rd, Riding up hill when there are 25 mile an hour crosswinds is kind of like trying to blow bubblegum bubbles into a fan while running through peanut butter, it's just not very productive.  4th, Even though I'm getting older (45 this week!), I have great friends, a fantastic wife, a great family, and they love me, and I love them.  

June 14th through June 20th - 186 through 192 Days

This week was pretty relaxing.  It was my anniversary on Thursday so we planned some good stuff!  First, I went on a 30 mile bike ride, then I went to work until about 2:30.   I then went up to Cedar to watch my son's soccer game.  We then came home, went shopping at Costco, and then to Walmart.  For our anniversary present we bought a bird feeder.  Is that an exciting annivesary or what!   On Friday we went to another soccer game, on our way home, I was trying to find a ringtone for my wife and it said, "Free Ringtones", so I clicked, but didn't download any of the ringtones.  It then told me I had to pay $9.99 for 15 ringtones!  I thought, "What, I didn't download any ringtones."  I immediately cancelled, but the company texted me and wrote, "Your subscription is now cancelled, you will not be further charged."  Further charged!  I was not happy, but I was driving, so I told Nicole to call the company and make sure they didn't bill me.  When she got a live person, from India, of course, she asked them if they had actually billed my AT&T account.  When he said that he had, and that he wouldn't and couldn't reverse the charges, she told him that she needed to talk to his supervisor.  He said, "My supervisors are not here."  At this point, Nicole calmly told him to get the supervisors or she was going to chew him up like a piranha and spit him out like garbage.   The boys and I were laughing hysterically.  However, he still refused to cancel the charges, so what did I do?  I called AT & T and had them cancel the charges.    So right back at ya Motime ringtones!  I looked it up on the internet and Motime is known for fradulent charging people like that, so I wish somebody would put their owners in jail. 

On Saturday, we went through the temple with Nick Weaver and it was really nice.  That night we went to dinner for Mike Anderson's birthday at Red Robin resturant.  We had a great time. 

Sunday was Father's Day and my family made me an omelet and sang "Happy Father's Day" to me.  Nicole got me a bluetooth headset, and the kids bought me some Obsession cologne, so now I can smell good and look cool talking on my new bluetooth!   Then, I didn't have meetings so I came home and slept for 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon!  When does that happen?  Never!  Well, I guess on Christmas and Father's Day.  At church, Bishop brought in about 25 pies, cakes, cheese cakes, etc, and we all feasted.  It was quite tasty, to say the least. 

On Monday I rode a very hard ride with my brother and we set a new record for our 21 miles course!  21 miles in under an hour, and a total average speed of 21.2!   Hint:  Make sure to shower at you race for 21 miles.  Even Obsession cologne does not cover up 21 miles of sweat!

June 1st through June 13th, 2011 - 172-185 Days

The blog is not forgotten!  I just have led a really boring life lately, and I didn't want to put anyone to sleep.  June's been nice, but uneventful.   Nicole got sick a week before the Trek, and we didn't get to be parents.   She went into the doctor and he told her she had bronchitis, so the Blakes had to go in our stead.  I was a little bummed, as it sounded like fun.  My boys went, and had a blast.  The first thing Hunter said when I asked him  if he had fun was, "Yeah!  Brinley Bracken was in my group and the food was good"  So, I guess Brinley is cute, so Hunter was pleased with his family.  Logan's response was similiar.  So, I guess all it takes for the boys to enjoy the Trek is to be in a group with cute girls and have good food.  It didn't matter that they had to sleep on rocky ground, and they had to travel 11 miles the first day.   I was proud of them, however, because I heard they did great. 

On another note, I think I've been able to be nice to people, but I'm really trying to not have my first thoughts be negative when I hear someone complaining about something I know they have probably brought on themselves.  This is a bit hard.  My first reaction is always, "Buck up, and quit blaming everyone else."  The other day someone wrote on Facebook, complaining about our church ward, etc,  and my first reaction was, "WHAT!"  Then I realized that if they are feeling that way, I'm not one to judge, and that I should give them room to express their feelings.  Kind of difficult., however.

This last weekend Kaylee was in the Miss Washington County Pagent.  She did really well, in fact, I was confident she'd win.  However, she didn't, she got 2nd Attendant, which was kind of hard, because she was 1st attendant last year, and the girl who was 2nd Attendant last year was 1st this year.   Kaylee was kind of devastated, but I really couldn't have been more proud of her.  The girl that won wore a dress with a slit clear up to her crotch.    Last year, she lost a close race when the girl who won wore a VERY tiny bikini.  I'm not sure if that is what helped them to win, but I told Kaylee I was proud of her for not compromising her standards.   I'm  pretty sure she's never going to enter another beauty pagent, however.

Oh, the other night I had a funny dream!  Not sure what it's saying about me, but I found myself belonging to a "Degenerate" club.   The leader of the club said, "You're all here because none of you has ever accomplished anything in life".  I said, "Wait, I've accomplished a lot in my life."   He said, "Shut up, you're a degenerate."   After we were in the club a while, they gave out awards and at the awards ceremony the leader said, "The award for most inspirational goes to Ben...etc"  At the end of the ceremony, he had a packet of gatorade bottles for an award and he points to me and says, "This award goes to What's his name".   I said, "I'm in a degenerate club and you don't even know my name!"   Anyway, I woke up kind of mad, but quickly got over it.   Not sure what a dream like that means, maybe I'm having an inferiority complex or I'm having an issue with my mother.   Ha.  Anyway, life is good. 

May 23rd through May 30th, 2011 - 164 to 171 Days

What a great week this has been.  I wasn't able to write because we took a trip up to Portland to see my sister's daughter, Crystal, married.  Logan, Hunter, Nicole, and myself got in the car Wednesday night, and we traveled up to Nicole's parents house in Lehi.  We spent the night there, and then awoke early and headed to Portland.  Nicole had prepared a "Happy Box" to entertain us.  Every 100 to 150 miles, we opened up an envelope that had us play a game.  The games were simple, like trying to find 20 license plates from different states; or trying to find the numbers 1-20 consecutively on street signs.  Once we accomplished the game, we got to open the happy box.  The box was stuffed with Oreos, swedish fish, Milk Duds (which were melted), and various other goodies.  It helped the 13 hours on Thursday pass by.   When we were in Idaho, we saw a man walking down the freeway in a suit, and a mini van parked on the side of the road, about 1/4 mile back.  We stopped and gave him a ride into his town, and then we stopped at the store, and there was a homeless man.  We rolled our windown down and asked him if he was hungry (he was holding a sign that said, "Will work for food").  He said, "Yeah, I guess."  So, we gave him a $5 Subway card.  It felt good to help, but I was a little confused why he wasn't sure if he was hungry, when he was holding a sign asking to work for food! 

We arrived in Portland on Thursday night and went to dinner with the family at Chevy's Mexican resturant.  Then, we went up to our room and hung out with my brother, Keith and his family for a while and then went hot tubbing.  It was really enjoyable to hang with the family.  On Friday we went to the Portland Temple to see my niece, Crystal, get sealed to Brandt Gibbons.  There was a sweet spirit there, and it took me back to the time I was sealed to Nicole in the Jordan River temple.   After the sealing, we took pictures in the rain, then we drove 3 1/2 hours to Keith's house where we stayed the night.  On the way, we stopped at a waterfall in Portland and took pictures.  I've included a picture of the family.  It was raining the entire time, but wow was it beautiful!  Saturday we helped my sister Kory with the wedding reception, and then Saturday night we went to the reception.  It was beautifully decorated and quite nice. 

On Sunday we woke up and went to my Keith's ward.  He's the bishop, so it was fun to see him conducting.  Then, we got in the car and drove 11 more hours to Nicole's parents house.   Monday morning we woke up and visited Nicole's brother's grave.  We then traveled for another 4 hours back home where the Weaver's had invited us to swim and have dinner and ice cream.  All-in-all, it was a long 5 days, but it was worth it.    Family is important, and I really felt that it was important to support my sister.

So, that was my week, lot's a driving.  The boys didn't fight at all, and so it was actually a very pleasant trip.

Multinomah Falls in Oregon

May 10th through May 22nd, 2011 - 151-163 days

OK, so it's been two weeks since I've written, and yes, I had another day where I got upset at someone.  Who was it this time?  Yes, it was another customer service rep.  I'm not sure how the customer service reps get under my skin so easily, but here's what happened. I just got my really cool Android phone, and Alltel switched over to AT & T on May 12th.  So, I start downloading some cool apps and there's this one that says, "Download 6 Ringtones Now"  I click on it, thinking if they're charging for the ringtones, I'll be warned first--like EVERY other app in the world!  Well, I click on it, and it says, "Thank you for purchasing your 6 ringtones for $9.99!  The phone has 486,000 free ringtones, so I assure you, I didn't want to purchase 6 of them for $9.99.  I immediately cancelled, and it said I had to call a 1-800 number, which I did.  The lady said, "We're sorry sir, we can't cancel the ringtone now, we'll have to just send you a refund check.  I said, "No, you signed me up under false pretenses, just cancel my ringtones, I don't want the refund."  "We can't do that sir".  Anyway, this went on for about 10 minutes at which time I was so frustrated that I thought my head was going to literally blow off my head, so I just got off the phone.  I sware, sometimes I think Satan himself runs some of the customer service call centers, just to try and get my temperature to rise.

On a happier note, Mitch and Amber are now in Kansas, and they love being married.  Mitch is not selling as much as he'd like, but we're praying for them, and I'm sure they'll do fine.  He's quite the worker, and I actually have no worries about him providing for that little family.  Amber is surrounded by pregnant women, however, and so I don't how long they'll hold out until they have a little bambino.  Mitch already wants kids bad, and Amber is not far off.  Oh well, if I have to be a grandpa, I'm ready!  But, that being said, I do hope they at least wait a little while for their sakes.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  The weather has been all over the place, and yesterday was the day set aside by one of the ministers as the "End of the World".   It was supposed to happen at 4PM our time.  Well, I'm writing this on Sunday, and no, I'm not writing from heaven.  So, as you can guess, the end of the world never came.  Kaylee tried to convince me on Friday that I should pull all of the money out of KSS and distribute it amongst the employees, since the end of the world was coming the next day.  Luckily, I didn't fall for that Jedi mind trick.

Corey took 3rd in state in the 2 mile with a time of 9.31.  We were pretty excited.  He graduates on Wed, and we leave to go up to Crystal's wedding.  We are actually renting a car and driving up to Portland, Oregon, because it's cheaper than driving the mini-van, which only gets about 22 miles to the gallon.

Well, life is good, and we're all glad the rapture didn't happen quite yet.  I still have a lot to do!

May 5th through May 9th, 2011 - 146th through 150th Days

Cinco de Mayo!  On Thursday the family traveled to Laredo, Texas because we had an open house in Austin, Texas on Saturday for Amber and Mitch.  Now, you may ask, why would you travel to Laredo, which is 350 miles away from Austin?  The reason, money!  I saved $750 flying into Laredo and driving to Austin!  Hey, if it's only $100 savings, that's one thing, but $750!   We traveled to San Antonio on Thursday night and got there about 11:00 at night.  The person at the front desk was very nice, and I was nice to her (I wasn't sure if it was a her or a him, but she had earrings and Nicole assured me it was a she).    We woke up early Friday and went to the River Walk.  The River Walk is way cool!  There are shops, resturants, and beautiful plants all next to the river and the walkway is right next to the river and snakes through the town.    Then we went to a shop and took an old fashioned western picture.  I was dressed as a gentleman gunslinger and the boys were outlaws.  The two ladies (Nicole and Kaylee) were southern belles.  We then goofed off around the city and then went to the Alamo and got our history leason for the day.  Then we went shopping and went to the movie "Thor".  It was awesome!  After that we ate more (I think we did more eating then anything else on this trip), and then went back to the hotel and crashed for the night.  The day felt like it went on for about 48 hours.

On Saturday we woke up early and drove 2 1/2 hours to Austin, Texas.  We hung out at the Huntsmans and helped them prepare for the reception/open house and we also went shopping for the mom's for Mother's day.   I think the people in Austin are quite possible some of the nicest people in the world.  Usually, it's not fun to stand at a reception where you don't know a soul, but we had fun because everyone was so happy to see us (or at least they acted happy to see us).   I even had fun playing practical jokes on some of them.  One of the ladies came through and said, "My name is Susan, and my husband is Scott, our married daughter, Ashley and her husband Jason are back in the line a ways."  She then pointed them out.  When Ashley and Jason got to us about 15 minutes later I shook Ashley's hand and said, enthusiastically, "You must be Ashley, and this must be your husband Jason!"  Her jaw literally dropped open and she said, "Yes, yes, you're right, that's me.  How did you...?"  I then gave it all away when I laughed and said that I had already met her mom.  She said, "I was impressed, I just thought you had memorized the entire Huntsman family tree" (she was from the Huntsman line).    After the beautiful reception we went home and watched Amber and Mitch open presents, then we went to bed late and got up early for church on Sunday.  Sunday was Mother's Day so it was nice.  After church we got in the car and drove for 4 1/2 hours to Laredo, where we got on a plane for another 2 1/2 hour plane ride to Las Vegas.  We arrived in Las Vegas at 10:00 and had to travel home to St. George.  Talk about a long day.  This day even felt like it was 48 hours.

On Monday I woke up to rain, but it was a great day.  We took dinner to a good friend of ours who had just had surgery, and then we had Family Home Evening and went to bed.  It was a great week!

April 29th through May 4th, 2011 - 140th through 145th Days

I haven't written here for a week because nothing exciting has happened!  Friday night was a soccer game and it was so cold we had to bring our heater, and the day before it was 80 degrees and I was working in the yard at 9:00!  Go figure that.  Saturday we got up and all the youth in the ward cleaned the church.   It was amazing to see how much you could get done with 40 kids.  I think that every month we should have all the youth in the ward go to one of the homes in the ward and do a "super clean".   Imagine how clean you could get your house in one hour.  I know of some ladies that would love that --huh Nicole?  

Sunday and Monday were nice, but uneventful.  We did go to the movie, "I am Number Four" on Monday for FHE with Kerry's family.   I was plesantly surprised.  You know when you have no expectations whatsoever for a movie, and it ends up being enjoyable and you're not sure if it's because it's a good movie, or if it's just that your expectations were low.  Either way, I really enjoyed it. 

On Tuesday we went to the soccer game and, surprise, we lost!  Yes, we are now 4-11, and it gets more painful every time to watch.  I wasn't as nice to the ref as I should have been.  He made some horrendous calls and our boys were getting knocked to the ground and I said, "Come on ref, that's a foul and you know it.   Start calling those!"  Then,  he looked up in the stands, pointed at me and gave me the shush sign!  I actually got the shush sign from a ref!  Oh well, I was better behaved after that.  I still think that I should be given a little leeway in the niceness department when it comes to anyone in yellow and black!   Hunter's team won, however.  Sometimes I think they should just let the JV play on the Varsity and we'd probably win more. 

Wednesday was a good day.  I came home, cooked some nice tomato basil soup and sandwiches for my family, replaced the sprinkler in the yard, trimmed and yard, and went over with my son to mow and trim the Thomas's yard.   It was a great day.  Tomorrow we travel to Texas for Amber and Mitch's reception.  Should be fun!