Sawyer Brown

Last week, I went out to lunch with my cousin. He mentioned that he goes to the Sandy Amphitheater for various things and mentioned that Sawyer Brown was coming in. I had seen that, but didn't think much of it. It was decided that he would get my wife and I some tickets. They did that. We got tickets on the lawn for only $20 each. The seats were $30. Steve got me the tickets today before I left work for home. He wouldn't be available for a dinner before it started.

I was wondering if my wife and I should go out to dinner, and ultimately decided that we would not. That was a mistake. My wife was looking forward to the dinner. I went out and grabbed some stuff for some sloppy joes along with the vegetables.

My wife and I left our home at about 6:40 to arrive at the amphitheater around 7:00. We thought that maybe we were a little bit too late as there were already a bunch of folding chairs in the general admission area. Lawn chairs are only allowed in the center section of the lawn, and blankets go on both sides of it. We did get a fairly good spot, but maybe we should've been just a tad earlier. We talked to a few of the people around us and waited for the concert to start.

At 8:00 Phil Stacey came out to start up the concert. He only had two guitarists along with him and while he was good, it wasn't a great performance (probably because there was no hype). He definitely showed that he had a good voice, but I guess he was only the side show. He sang for about a half hour to 45 minutes. Then there was intermission.

During intermission, we went to talk with Steve and Susan. Their seats are in the front and center of the amphitheater. When Sawyer Brown came out, we got back to our seats. It was electric. It reminded me of when my wife and I went to the Grand Ol' Opry earlier this year. This concert was just as good as that one was to me. The lead singer of Sawyer Brown (Mark Miller) looks to be about my age or older, and boy did he have energy. I was envious of his energy, and my wife informs me that this is how we should be. That guy didn't seem to wear out. Well, there was a place where they sang a song from Joe Walsh (Life's Been Good) and rather than Mark Miller singing, the keyboard player took over where Miller looked flabbergasted. It was quite funny. Then there was another song from the same era and one of the guitarists took over on that one. It was funny, and I'm sure was meant to give his voice some recuperation to continue the concert. The whole thing was good though and there were standing ovations in quite a few places. The concert lasted until around 10:15. It rained a little bit on us, but nothing that was terrible.

We met back up with Steve and Susan, and walked to our car. While we were talking outside of the car it started to give us one of those summer rains. It wasn't real hard, but certainly harder than we had during the concert. We gave Steve a ride to his truck and left there around 11:00. We got home late, and there were light shows all around the valley from the lightening.

It ended up being a quite enjoyable evening.

Family Vacation

My wife and I decided last week that we need a good family vacation, and a time to just be with the family without too much to do. Since my friends stake had a stake lagoon day (I still don't know why my stake doesn't do this) we decided to base it around that a bit. Along with that, I took off Thursday and Friday from work last week.

I left work a little early on Wednesday so I could get home and take care of a couple of items and be off. We got out of the house around 5:00 PM (rush hour traffic). We stopped into a gas station to fill up. I had just barely begun the process when I heard my wife and daughter telling me that some masked men had gone into the gas station. I was to cancel my transaction and get out of here. I was trying to find the cancellation and my wife was writing down the license plate of the "masked" men. As I was getting into the car they came out. Their faces were painted and some of them had capes. We then figured that they were getting ready to go sleep over night at one of the theaters in preparation for the new Batman movie. They were scary looking, but that can be expected as this is to be a dark movie. I finished filling up and then we headed out. It didn't take too long to get up to the cabin. After arriving, we talked with my wife's parents, and then headed down to get a burger. We also went to pick up a few supplies at the local Smiths. We really didn't do too much more that night, but played a few games and then went to bed. My wife used our new mattress topper and said that she slept better up at the cabin than she ever had.

Thursday came along and we got us some breakfast and then headed out to the Jordanelle State Park to do some kayaking. It was nice that we had the kayaks from Pam and Anne, and we had a few hours of paddling around in the kayaks. We finally left there at around 1:30 PM. It was a hot day. I think all four of us had a good time doing this. I know that my wife and I did. We shared a kayak with our son or our daughter (we never shared one with just us).

Back at the cabin, we played some games and watched two movies ("Water horse" and "Yours, Mine, and Ours"). Overall, it was another great day. We went to bed pretty late.

Friday was lagoon day. We finally got out of the cabin around noon. There was some drama that was happening at the cabin, of which I was the cause of some of it. It was good to get out of there, but it started out on a bit of a sour note. It didn't help that I forgot to take a lot of the food that we had planned for the day. We went back to Smiths to purchase our needs there. We ate lunch as soon as we got to the Lagoon, and then split up with our kids and went on some rides. My wife and I started out on the ride "Wicked". That is one of the funnest roller coasters I have ever been on. It shoots you out at around 55 mph at which point you go straight up and then straight down. It then twists and turns you all over the place. It was a rush. My wife and I would go on a few rides and then rest and then do a few more. We went at our own pace. Of course, our kids went on a fast and furious pace.

A bit later, Pam and Anne showed up. We got with our kids and had some dinner and then went on some rides with them. They really didn't want to do that, but Anne called them and got them to do it. When we went to watch a show, our son didn't want to go in there and grabbed our daughter to hit more rides. We met up with them a bit later and went on a few more rides with them. One of those rides was the Log flume, which we decided to put the fat guy (me) in the front. That was a mistake as it got us soaked and we really didn't want to get wet.

It was a fun day at the Lagoon, but we were happy to get out. We left at around 11:15 PM. We had a detour on the way back to the cabin because part of I-80 was shut down. We got back and just headed straight to bed.

Saturday morning was a do nothing morning. We just were a bit lazy around the cabin. Pam, Anne and Zach came up in the early afternoon. We had some lunch and then Zach was taken to the Homestead because we were all too noisy for him to be able to study for some Finals at school. My son and I went with Rod to some hardware stores to get some paint for the railings outside of the cabin and to pick up a few items at Smiths. It seems that no place in Heber had any one step varnish and stain for the cabin in smaller than a gallon. I had even asked for an exterior paint at one place and they sole me interior stuff. We had to go back, and that was a fiasco. While we had been gone, they had all decided to watch "The Great Debaters" and it was finishing when we got home. We then put in Wild Hogs and then some left so they could start painting the porch railings. My son and daughter helped and I felt a bit guilty for not helping out as well. I wish I'd have known they were going to do that and I could've brought up some clothes to do it in. The rails did look good though.

Pam went with our son and daughter to get a few more items and ended up bringing a lasagna back to the cabin. When it was realized that it would take two hours to cook, we had to do a backup plan and eat something else. They came up with a good dinner with Turkey Breast, vegetables and a salad. It was good. We would eat the lasagna the next day. Pam, Anne and Zach left after thinking about staying for a night. There was the problem of their three dogs and not having anything to change into later.

Today was just a lazy day. We woke up, had pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast and then just lounged around the cabin. I packed our bedding onto the top of the car and then we played a few games in the cabin. We had some lunch (that lasagna) and then got ready to leave. We got home at around 5:00 tonight. There wasn't much more that went on.

I do want to add the only really negative thing about the cabin this last time. The water heater had gone out so there were a few cold showers unless we heated up some water for a quick bath. Other than that, the vacation was really quite nice.

My Wife's Tears

Last Friday during the night, our dog moaned out in some pain. Her name is Kisha. She is a Cocker Spaniel, and is around fifteen years old. She has had tumors showing up on her body, she seems to be mostly blind, and she is somewhat deaf. About a month ago, there was some blood that was coming out of her mouth. It was an abscess, that my wife was able to get the vet to cut out. It was questioned at that time whether or not we should put her to sleep (that's just a nice word for killing her). We decided against it at the time, but now, she seems to just be in pain.

On Saturday, I told my wife she should call the vet. She didn't really want too and was sure he wasn't in anyway. She finally decided to do it, and called at 3:45. He had closed at 3:00. Now, it was looking like we would have to wait until Sunday. It was also suggested that we could try the Humane Society. We let it go.

Sunday came and went. Kisha layed around the house like she always does. She is an old dog after all. She goes from vent to vent in the house making sure she can get the coolest location in the house. My wife went home from Sacrament meeting to make sure that she was OK. She did come back, but it is that concerning to us. Our son took Kisha out for a walk on Sunday evening. She hadn't pooped all day, but finally some came out during the walk.

Then comes today. I had to go into work and my wife was going to call the vet. It is a different vet than the one we went too when we had the abscess taken off of in her mouth. She is told that the doctor would like to see her first and look into some options. We have already come to the conclusion that it is not fair to be keeping her alive. She tried to explain this, but got no sympathy from the vets assistant, although she thought the assistant was nice. They do all of their euthanasia in the evening when work is done, and by the time we got the vets bill it would be around $200, and we would probably have to go back in tomorrow evening. The appointment today was already pushing our limit since we had a family get together tonight. My wife called me not knowing what to do, and she was choking back some tears it seemed. I told her I would try to call the Humane Society.

I looked up the Humane Society's website, and found their time of operation. It was after the time that they got there, so I tried to call them. The phone rang off the hook. This happened for a good 45 minutes. I called my wife and told her that I would drop around to their address and make sure they could receive the dog and call her from there. They were indeed open and I called my wife. Yes, they could take our dog in. Soon after we checked her in they would give her the "blue juice" and then she would die peacefully and pain free. My wife was in tears as I said this to her.

I headed home and found my wife cleaning. She had already taken some of the blankets of Kisha and started the wash. There was still her small home (it is a simple tent like thing that we have for her) and Kisha was in it. My wife met me in the garage. She was anxious. She was surprised that I was home so quick. The tears were in her eyes. Such a sad look.

I went in and got the leash of our dog. She didn't come out of her house immediately. I did finally get her out of there and she was ready for a walk. You could see some youth coming to her as I attached the leash. I hugged my wife, told her I was sorry for her loss and then took Kisha to the car. She didn't jump right in as I expected. I had to pick her up and put her in on the passenger side on the floor. It was kind of sad and pathetic. She just lay there.

I usually enjoy driving a car. This was an exception to the rule. The dog is my wife's dog. I don't care one way or the other, but I certainly do not hate animals. I also don't like to be the one who is killing them. I have a few mixed emotions on this. We don't do this to humans, although in some cases I really believe that we should. I wonder about what is right and what is wrong. Of course, I think that Kisha is not living a good quality of life, and I have to believe that for what I am about to do.

We get to the Humane Society. I go around to let the dog out. She doesn't hop right out. I have to coax her out. We start our walk. There is a curb, and she doesn't quite see it. Her face kind of bumps into it (not hard). I feel terrible. As I walk up the sidewalk, Kisha is sniffing around and is behind me (she usually likes to walk in front). She is trying to turn and go the other way. I have to drag her in. She has very little fight, but puts in a little bit to try to get me to turn around.

Inside, I am told that since no other dogs or people are around, I can release her. She wanders around a bit curious about what the surroundings are. I hand over my identification and give the girl at the computer some of my information and the dogs name. She asks how to spell it, and I tell her that we really never came up with a spelling. Is that pathetic or what? I look down at Kisha who has come up to me. She is shaking all over. I wonder if she knows what's going on. I hate this. I ask how long it will be. I am told that the paperwork had already been handed back and just as soon as they go through the door the whole process will start. It will be a very short time.

The girl at the computer comes around the desk. I take off the collar of Kisha and she pets her a little bit. She realizes that the dog is blind. She says, that's what happens to these ol' ladies. Kisha is picked up. She looks at me. She goes through the door and is gone. She is out of sight, but not out of mind. I go out to my car, and call my wife. I tell her it is done, but she really didn't want to hear it. I can hear the choking up of my wife. I absolutely hate this. It is a necessity, but I certainly do not like it. Kisha, be happy in dog heaven. You have been a good dog, and will be missed. I go back to work.

After work, I head home. My wife has been working on a salad for the barbecue tonight at my brothers house. It has been a horrible day for my wife and she is tired. She messed up on the salad where she read 8 ounces instead of three. She had to go back and pick up some more items at the grocery store and makes a double batch. She has a migrane. She won't be going to the barbecue.

We get the kids packed into the car, and go to my brothers house. While in transit, my wife calls. I get a call on the call waiting, but ignore it. After I am done talking with my wife, I look at the number and don't recognize it. A message was left. It was for our son for a job interview at Chic-fil-a. I have him call back and set up an appointment for tomorrow at 4:30.

We have the barbecue and then there is swimming in the pool. We do a volleyball game in there and that is quite enjoyable. We allow for four hits per side and almost not carries. Then a one second rule is applied if the ball is in the water under that for one time. This just adds to the fun.

Around 9:30 I change back to my regular clothes. Another call comes in from Chic-fil-a. I need to get the phone to my son, but have to put on some clothes first. His appointment got changed. It is still tomorrow though.

We do some limbo, and I do better than I thought I could. We help clean up and then go home. My wife calls us because she is worried about how late we are. We had a great time, people missed my wife, and the dish she made was excellent. I am glad to get back home to her. I love her, and hate for her to have the lonliness of missing her dog. I don't know what to do, so I do nothing.

Fourth of July

It was an interesting weekend that I had this weekend, so I thought I had better write a little bit about it. The fourth of July weekend started for me on July the third, despite my earlier attempt of writing about the second of July.

I, of course, worked on the third of July. I did leave work a little bit early so we could work on getting our kids up to my parents cabin. My kids are the only ones in the family who have never slept over at the cabin, and that is our fault. Of course, there isn't plumbing in the cabin, so its a little porta-pottie that must be used, and there aren't any showers or modern conveniences (other than electricity which was added in the '80s).

Anyway, we had the kids eat a meal before going up and they had packed for this event. We then headed up the canyons after taking care of a few minor things at home. It's a beautiful drive up to the cabin, and we really did enjoy the drive. The roads weren't as packed as we thought they would be (probably because of gas prices which is just over $4.00 a gallon), and it was pleasant.

When we arrived at the cabin, we found that Tyler and Shannon were there, as well as Austin and Andrea (with their little baby - I think his name is Chase). Ryan was also there. Austin and Andrea was a surprise to us because we weren't aware that they were coming in from out of town. We stayed around for a little while and watched the kids play some card games. We only were staying for a little while so when my Sharons family and Glens family showed up, we pretty much left. Scott and Anita would be bringing up my mother. Over all, there were about 25 people to sleep in a little A-Frame cabin. It would be crowded.

On the way down, my wife and I turned off the radio so we could enjoy the scenery. We went up over Guardsman Pass, and then down through Big Cottonwood canyon. It was breathtaking beauty. We did decide that we would go through Draper to look in on my wifes friends old home which had had the fire. There were people out by it so we couldn't just sit there and gawk, and besides, it was the home across the street from them that had had the problem (which we didn't know at the time). I knew that Ann lived somewhere around her old house, so I told my wife that she should call her and see if we couldn't just drop in. My wife was a bit scared to call, and besides we didn't know the number. I told her I would get it and called 1-800-free411 (which will give you phone numbers free of charge after listening to a couple of advertisements). There, we now had the phone number. She was still a little nervous calling her.

I sat there (on the side of the road) and waited for her to call. She finally did. Ann told my wife that her house was messy, but we could come on over. She gave us the address, and we were on our way. It wasn't very far away from where we were either. We got a noisy greeting by her three shelty dogs. They took awhile to calm down too. We went in and sat down on the couch. I was a bit nervous that some asthma may take me over and was pleasantly surprised to find that I only had a slight problem with my breathing (I didn't even need to use my inhaler). My wife and Ann visited from around 6:00 in the evening until around midnight. I was mostly an observer, though I did say a few things while we were there.

Ann has had a bit of a difficult life for the past (around) 15 years. Her husband has had an auto-immune disease all of this time. When we had visited in the past, he has always been in bed, and this evening was no exception to the rule. We talked about his problems, and how they related with some of the symptoms of my wife with her fibromyalgia. We also talked to her about my oldest brothers scleroderma in relation to her husbands illness. We all kind of concluded that they all must be related somewhere though we don't know where that would be.

Ann holds a very dear part in my wifes life and because of what she did, also in mine. Ann is the one who reactivated my wife in the church. She got my wife to graduate from Seminary (they met when my wife was in the twelfth grade) and had a lot of family vacations with my wife attending. For this, my wife will forever be grateful.

They also talked about current family problems, as well as some of the problems with various types of relationships. They came to the conclusion that there are times when we have to simply ignore the problems in these relationships and continue to move forward. Anyway, as I suggested, it was a late night. They did talk about keeping in touch with each other, and hopefully, this time they will. Ann did say that she thought about calling my wife on her birthday, but though she had the phone in her hands, didn't do so.

Well, since we had been up so late the night before, we woke up quite late on the fourth of July. We still had to go to the store and pick up a few items to head up to the cabin for lunch, so we did that. We arrived at my parents cabin (for the second time) at around noon. Traveling to the cabin twice in two days is kind of crazy at the prices of gas. It probably amounts to around $30 for our vehicle just to do that (the price we'll pay to have our kids sleep over, huh?).

By getting up to the cabin late, we missed the painting of the two porches on the front of the cabin. All of the boys were helping to do this, and a couple of the older girls. There were also the wives of some of the men. They teased us about our timing and were told that this was the reason we had kids, and of course they told us that our son had been a big help in painting the cabin (he always is).

Well, we ate lunch and then they decided to go for a hike over the rocks. That is one of my favorite hikes. It's fun to go over these boulders (they are huge) up to the various lakes (there is kind of a pond that is closer) and we have enjoyed some wild raspberries in the past while on this hike. My wife decided to go, but soon into it decided that she had probably made a mistake. It was hard on her. She made it all the way though, and we took the dirt trail (if you can call it a trail) back down from there. She was completely worn out from this and is still recouperating. We left soon after that to come back down from there. Our kids had a good time but our son wasn't so sure that it is great sleeping over with all of them there. There was Glen who snored, Zoe and Ryans feet kept on getting into his face all night long, one of the little girls had a nightmare and screamed, and then some of them were afraid to go outside to take a potty break. I wonder if he will ask to go up again next year. Wall to wall people doesn't excite me.

After coming down and showering, we headed over to the in-laws for some more fourth of July partying. Pam and Anne came a little bit later. We threw together the things that people had to eat and then chowed down. We then spent awhile watching some of the fireworks that we had bought for this occasion. It was a good night.

Our son and daughter went home with Pam and Anne, and we headed home ourselves.

On Satuday, we were able to sleep in again, and then we got up to do a couple of things around the house. We headed out to Pam and Annes house around 4:00 so we could pick up our kids and have some shish-ka-bobs while we were there. We had a good visit and then came on home.

I thought I was supposed to teach the Deacons quorum lesson on Sunday because when we got home early on the morning of the 4th, I had a message telling me I had one. I was told just before class, that my lesson would be next week and here is what it is on (which isn't what I had prepared the first time). Oh well, there goes the time I spent in preparing that lesson. I also had to get up a little earlier for another meeting with the Young Men presidency.

About five minutes before Sacrament meeting started four of the men in our ward got up and sang A-Cappella "The Star Spangled Banner", so we all stood and enjoyed this wonderful rendition. I don't think I have ever seen that done in a ward, and it was refreshing. Other than that, everything that happened today was about the same as every other Fast Sunday.

July 2nd - A Great Day in History

Today is the day that I was born. This alone should make this day a great day in history, but there is more to it than that. Here is a little history lesson.

Nations have come together in many ways over the years. The United States of America also had it's own way of coming into being. But, one of the unique things about the United States of America is the Declaration of Independence. So, how did this document come into being?

Any American child can tell you that Independence Day is July 4th. I am here to dispute that a little bit. Certainly, the year was 1776. In June of that year (actually on the 7th), the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) read the following Resolution: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

This all stems from grievances that had been given to King George III who had not answered any of those grievances. One of the main grievances was because the colonists felt that they were being taxed without having representation in parliament. This is why most (if not all) of the colonies had many of the same thoughts as to this declaration. The American colonies were already in rebellion, and indeed, this was proclaimed with a Royal proclamation in August of 1775. Mercenaries had been hired from Germany to fight against the people in the Americas, and a few other things had happened which made those in the Americas realize that the mother country saw the colonies as foreigners. Independence was on the horizon.

All of this was what was going on when the above resolution was read. There were those who still wanted to resolve the disputes with Great Britain, and the resolution was postponed with a vote of the 13 colonies, seven to five, with New York refusing to vote. This happened on June 11th and a recess was called. While this recess was on, Thomas Jefferson and four others were asked to come up with a case to present to the world for independence. The other four men were John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Livingstone. A rough draft was done by Jefferson, who had Franklin and Adams make some corrections to it.

Anyway, on July 1st congress reconvened. The resolution I have quoted above was voted on on July 2nd. The decision needed to be unanimous and 12 of the 13 voted in favor of it. New York abstained from this vote as well. Hence, the date of Independence for America is actually the 2nd of July (hence the great day in history). However, they still needed to look over the Declaration of Independence. This was done through July 3rd and the morning of the 4th. Finally, on the 4th of July, church bells rung out as the Declaration of Independence (which had a few more modifications though it was still mostly what Thomas Jefferson had written) was officially ratified. On July 9th, New York officially approved of the document.

An interesting side note is that this declaration was not signed on July 4th, as is commonly believed, but it was signed on August 2nd. In all, 56 delegates signed this document. These were brave men who were willing to sign this document. There was a fear of reprisals against these men for signing this document, and yet these men were willing to put their safety and the safety of their families for this declaration.

Anyway, on this day (my birthday) I want to say how grateful I am for the bravery of these men (along with their families) in creating this independent nation partially through this declaration. I am grateful for all the men and women who have fought for and preserved the freedoms that I have. Never before America has a democracy survived. Democracy certainly wasn't born with America. The Greeks had it and spread it around a little, but in the long run it was destroyed. America has put forth a workable democracy to the whole world, and it is working. May God continue to protect our democracy is my hope and my desire.

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Now, just a little bit about my day today. I came to work this morning, and a little bit into it, one of my bosses asked if it was my birthday. I had forgotten about it (although my wife says that she said happy birthday to me this morning - that I didn't hear) and had to think a little bit about it and told her yes. Of course, they say your memory is the first thing to go. Nothing extraordinary happened at work.

I left work a little bit early and got home. I got a few gifts from my family and then we went to Johannah's kitchen for dinner. I had a great omelet, my kids split a roast beef dinner, and my wife ordered Chicken Mushroom and Cheese, and then they came back to her and asked if she still wanted that since they didn't have any mushrooms. She changed her order to Broiled Halibut. We thought it was a bit expensive for what was brought out, but we got a $5 discount since they weren't able to give her her original dinner. Overall, the dinner was quite satisfying.

After dinner, we went to Mulligans for some miniature golf. We had quite a bit of fun with that, and then headed home. On the way, we decided to buy some fireworks for my birthday tonight. At home, we had some birthday cake and ice cream and then I had to get online to take care of setting up a free account to check my credit rates because of the University Hospitals which lost some tapes with some of my families information on them. Thankfully, they now have those tapes back, but we don't know who all may have been able to get information off of them. At least we have some protection.

When we were watching the News tonight, my wife saw a house that looked like one of her friends homes, and they gave an address that fit the place of the house (although it was off by one number) that had burned and had about $200,000 worth of damage. They had taken out a 50 year old woman from the home and showed paramedics doing CPR on her while they were driving. My wifes friend was 49, so she was really scared about it all. She called a few peoples homes and nobody was answering. Finally, she got hold of one of her sisters and was told that she had moved from that home three weeks ago. It certainly put some dread into my wife though.

Well, we decided we hadn't had enough of fires so we went out and lit up those fireworks for the final part of celebrating my birthday.