Physical Fitness - Recognized

January 25, 2009 - Sunday

In our stake of the church, they have a program to help motivate people to go out and get exercise - to stay physically fit. It is not a big deal, and for a lot it is not very motivating. It was for me. I actually decided to do it and really keep track. Here is how it works. Your get 1 point for exercising. That can be a 1 1/2 mile walk or run. It can be working out. It can be biking for 1/2 hour. It can be swimming. It can be playing an aerobic sport. You have to keep track of your points. Then, if you get 200 points in a year, that is good for a bronze award, 300 gets you a silver award, and 400 for a gold medal and award. That means more than one point per day for gold - so running 3 miles is 2 points (and you can't get more than 3 points in one day.) I really kept track and it really did motivate me - and I made 427 points last year. Today they passed out the awards. There were five men who got gold - I was one of them.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Movie Critics Corner

Here are some of the movie Mar and I have seen and our ratings of them. We have seen these movies over the past two months.

Note that we are highly regarded as movie critics and our opinion is always sought by others as they plan on wastin' - I mean spending their hard earned cash. All ratings are on a 5 point scale - and I just interpreted what Mar said into the scale.

1 - Yeck - who made this.

2 - I wish I hadn't wasted my time.

3 - Okay. Not bad entertainment.

4 - Good movie. Gets a hearty recommendation.

5 - Only 10 movies ever made got a 10 - and I can't remember what they all are.

X-File: I Want to Believe

After all of the bad publicity this got, we still rented it. Was it great? No. Was it horrible? No It was just what X-Files should be. Conflicted Scully. Weird Mulder (who looks better with a beard than he does clean shaven and old.) And just enough weirdness to keep suspense.

Mar - 3 Lar - 3

Traitor

A real drama. The plot was a little hard to follow. The good guy was a bad guy, but maybe not. At least you didn't want him to be. A little bit slow at times. Well acted. Not for the young.

Mar - 2.5 Lar - 3

Narnia: Prince Caspian

Okay, Mar fell asleep. I didn't. I thought it was good. Mar fell asleep. This may be one of those movies that it is hard to follow and really get involved in if you haven't read the book. Now if you hadn't read the book or hadn't seen The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - just forget it. You won't have a clue what is going on. Good effects. A little romance.

Mar - 2.5 Lar 4

Eregon

A dragon movie. And a few years old. A lot of people didn't like it, particularly those who read the book. I only read the first chapter of the book, so I was not one of them. We both liked it. Mar liked it more than me. Unfortunately, there will probably not be any sequels.

Mar - 3.5 - Lar - 3

Get Smart

I didn't see it. Mar did. She said I shouldn't waste my time. Too bad, cause the trailers made it look fun.

Mar - 2

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Don't get too excited. But it was fun. Not a well made movie. Not at all believable. Not good effects. But it was fun. It is a hard one to rate. It's not great entertainment for adults. It's not great entertainment for kids. But it was exactly what it set out to be.

Mar - 3 Lar - 3

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon King

Boring with none of the life of the first two Mummy movies. It took us three nights to get through it.

Mar - 2 Lar - 2

The Riddle

We got this from Redbox cause there was nothing else there. It is British. Sometimes the British accent is hard to follow. It bounces all over the place. It's weird. All in all - it is a loser.

Mar - 1.5 Lar - 1.5

Australia

I made you wait till the end for the good one. We went to this one in the theatre. First of all - don't take small kids. It's too long and you'd have to explain too much. The cinematography is outstanding. The acting is good. The story is far-fetched, even for a story about Australia. However, it is put together so well you can pass it in spite of some flaws. It was good.

Mar - 4 Lar - 4

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Book Club

Margaret went to her book club tonight. There were only 5 ladies there but they still had a good time.

The book this month was Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. Margaret liked it very much. By the way, the protagonist is not the fairest, except in . . . wait, I shouldn't tell you that. Maybe you should read it yourself. Mar says you will enjoy it.

Grad Trip - Logan, Rexburg, Ogden

December 14, 2008

(This is the last in a series of posts about this trip. To read them all in order - just start a little lower. They all have the same title.)

At Convocation Friday night, Henry J. Eyring spoke. He said it amazed him how the Lord did things just for his good, such as causing a stock market crash to turn his life around. Of course he was being a little bit facetious.

Well, today, I had such an experience. I know the last three posts all said the weather was supposed to be real bad - and for the most part it wasn't. Well, every news service in the world was looking at this giant low pressure system that was going to pound southern Wyoming. Mat got stuck in it last night. Mar and I woke early, 5:15, and were on the road by 5:30 fully expecting 15 house of slow, scary driving to get home. In fact we were somewhat expecting Mat's experience - having the highway closed on us.

We started from Ogden just as it started to snow. Lightly as we pulled away, but steadily more until when we started up the canyon it was snowing in earnest and beginning to stick heavily on the cold roadbed. I was sick to death. It truly was going to be a long, long, long trip if this continued. I just silent prayed, "Heavenly Father, we can't drive all the way to Colorado in this. Please help us." Instantly in my mind I heard, "This is just lake-effect snow. Keep going." Fifteen minutes later, the snow stopped. We went up to the speed limit and took off. An hour and a half later, the sun came up. We were driving under blue skies. We had the blue skies all of the way. The roads were a little but snowy after Rawlins and then just ice packed at about 20 miles from Laramie - the scene of Mathew's overnight closure. There we had to slow down. But in the end, we made the trip in a little over eight hours.

Now, I am not saying that Heavenly Father moved a storm so I could get home safely. But - he told me when to leave so I could hit the break in that storm. We are so grateful for that blessing.

Grad Trip - Logan, Rexburg, Ogden

December 13, 2008

All of the predictions for cold, nasty, snowy weather came true during the night. Rexburg, Idaho lived up to its reputation. Only about three inches of snow, but so windy and cold.

We had stayed at a motel in Rexburg. We got up and went over and loaded our van to the brim with their stuff. Next week they are moving back to Colorado. It was amazing how much stuff we packed into that van. Mat also took Ben's bike on his bike rack. Mat and Andi were also taking home Andi's brother and sister.

As soon as we were loaded, we hugged and kissed goodby and started on the trip home. Oh how we were not looking forward to that trip in the snow. It was pretty bad from Rexburg to Idaho Falls. Thirty miles of partially snow packed highway. From Idaho Falls to Pocatello it was only bad - not pretty bad. From Pocatello to Downey, Idaho it was perfect. The roads were dry and clear. From Downey to Logan was pretty good, except for 10 miles where we drove through a blizzard. That blizzard caught up with us in Logan and just iced over the roads real bad. Then it moved on and the skies cleared. We dropped Mar's mother off, said goodby to all of the family there and then drove on south to Ogden, again braving bad roads that didn't turn out to be bad. We stayed the evening with my mother and my sister, Melanie.

(Mat drove on home. Southern Wyoming was not for the weak of heart. Roads were sometimes icy and slick, particularly as they got to Laramie where they closed the road. Mat and Andi got to have an unplanned vacation stay at the Laramie Ramada.)

Grad Trip - Logan, Rxburg, Ogden

December 12, 2008

We woke up at Mar's mother's house in Logan, Utah and then continued our trip up to Rexburg, Idaho. Again, it was supposed to snow and be nasty for the trip, but it wasn't. Mar's mother came with us. Mat and Andi also came, but they drove all of the way last night in their own car. Ben's parents, Ron and Nedra, and his sister, Rachel, were also there - they also drove up from Colorado.

We took the whole crowd to lunch/dinner and then we all went to Commencement and Convocation.

Commencement was very well done. It was at The Hart, and it wasn't too long. There were 1163 graduates - 46% were married and 42 couples were graduating together - including our Brea and Ben.

President Uchtdorf from the First Presidency of the Church was the principle speaker. It is quite refreshing to have a graduation that is based on religious principles and with a very uplifting theme - even the student talks at Convocation were polite and joyous.

Convocation, where they got their diplomas, followed. Brea and Ben both sang in a small graduate choir as part of the program. Brea and Ben were supposed to get their diplomas at different Convocations (Business for Ben and Biology and Health Sciences for Brea), but they arranged to have them presented together - in fact, they called their name as a couple.

Yes, we are proud parents. It was worth the drive it was worth the worry. They are wonderful.

Grad Trip - Logan, Rexburg, Ogden

December 11, 2008

It is a proud time for parents. Our youngest daughter is graduating from college. Also, It is a time when we realize that it is our youngest daughter that is graduating. The years have slipped passed, or rushed pased and in some cases crawled passed. Still, she is graduating and we are proud.

Today we drove from home to Mar's mother's house in Logan, Cache, Utah. It was supposed to be a little bit stormy, but it was a beautiful drive. Tomorrow we will proceed on to Rexburg for the ceremonies.

Mat told us that as we drove down Logan Canyon, we should just enjoy how beautiful it was. You know, after all of the trips I have taken through that canyon, I knew it was beautiful, but this time I looked at it different - and saw things I have never seen before.