Enjoying Anny

I'm working from home a lot lately. Anny and me enjoy this time. I enjoy that kid. I think the "terrible twos" should be called the terrific twos. She is really a good girl. She keeps us laughing. She's really smart too. She can figure stuff out. She has the camera on my phone all figured out. She turns it on then looks at it way too close and says "CHEESE". The only problem is she takes pictures of what's below the camera, since she's looking at the screen and the lens is on the back. She's starting a bit of the attitude that all of our kids have had. She reminds me of Marly in this sense. Anny has a major "stink eye". She's not afraid to use it either. She'll mumble under her breath too. Its really funny, but we have to fake anger or displeasure about it. It's hard.

"Let's go to QT Daddy!"

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone that I thought were funny or interesting.

Sent this to Lance Jimenez I thought he would like to know where he is!

How bad of a sin is coveting anyway? I mean is it still in the top 10...

Found out the best thing about High School Sports in AJ is that you 1) you don't pay and 2) can take your truck, dinner and chairs and watch from the front row. I wish we had this... (NOT).

Great News Today!

Since no one reads my blog and since he doesn't have one, I guess it's OK if I spill the beans!

Vance is a genius! He got a full ride Presidential Honors Scholarship to MCC. His Cross Country Athletic Scholarship goes into his pocket...

Daddy doesn't have to pay anything for college. Save that $$ for the mission.

Yeah boy! Thank you. Here are some photos in your honor...!

Vance and younger kids in 1999

Vance in 2001

Vance in 2003 (studly!)

Vance in 2005

Vance in 2009

That's Amar'e.

I love the suns. I am a long time fan. When I was a kid I only liked the Celtics because my Aunt and Uncle lived in Boston and Ainge, Bird, McHale, DJ, and Parrish were great. I think that I became a Suns fan because we moved to Phoenix and the Suns were on TV a lot. Chambers, KJ, Dan Majerle and others were great. My favorite Sun's player ever is probably Kevin Johnson. He was great. Could score anytime, good leader and could dunk when he wanted. When they drafted Amare I started really liking him. I like Nash, I like others but Amare is why I watch. He does something once a game that is worth the time of watching. I hate it when the Radio/Papers/TV start to say that we need to trade him. He's great. He really makes us better. I don't care who you get for him in a trade, he's better. I don't trust the Suns, so he'll probably be on another team in a year or two. But I'll enjoy him while I can...

Here's his dunk from last night. I think that it was good. But the one when he was younger against the Timber Wolves was better. The thing about this one is it stopped the kid that he dunked on from dominating the game (which he had been doing before). So enjoy Amare in Purple while you can... it won't be long until he's some where else because Steve Kerr is terrible (www.firestevekerr.com)

ch-ch-changes!

I love newness. Or change, or anything that refocuses. I think that change is always good at some level. Sometimes change is bad, in part, but it usually refocuses me to do different things, better things or sometimes scary things. Things like a new year, a new job, a new boss, or a new home. I think that it gives me a chance to evaluate. I'm great at new year's resolutions. I keep them for a while. I'm not perfect. I give up or I stop doing them. BUT I love them. I really like new jobs too. I used to be a consultant. I'd get a new job about every 6-8 weeks. It was great. At first it was intimidating but after a while I liked it. I was "on" at all times. Absolutely no comfort level with co-workers or managers, and I had to prove myself over and over again. I even try to change my appearance. I think that my wife gets annoyed with this one. I get very bored very easy. Wake up, shower, shave, comb hair, put on deodorant, brush teeth, go to work, come home, go to bead, wake up, shower, shave, comb hair... you get the idea. So I change it. Quit shaving or grow a goatee, grow hair long, shave head, comb hair differently... anything to entertain myself. I need to do these things because 40+ miles to work, doing basically the same job for 8+ years day in day out gets a guy like me extremely bored.

I like my current job because it is stable, I'm home every night, I don't worry about much. However sometimes it gets stale. So I think of new ways to make it interesting. I think about applying for other jobs but always realize this is the one I want and want to keep food on the table. So my idea is to do something different. I can't have changes really (with 8 kids, a good job, a good home and a nice neighborhood, why change?), so I'm going to change my outlook on change. Stability in somethings is a change. There are some things I don't want to change... my family, my wife, my church calling, my friends and my hobbies (GO HORNETS!). But somethings I do want to change... and work to do just that! Hey, if you aren't improving (i.e. changing) then you are getting worse!

Sky's gonna be famous

Skylar my 11 year old is a good kid with a huge imagination. I call him 'demo' because he can't tell a story without "showing" or acting it out. It's pretty cool, but slows him down on his story telling. We laugh at him about that all the time. Last year he did stand up comedy at the school talent show. He was good. Very unique personality. He told me for his middle school next year he is dropping PE for Drama. He is very excited to be getting older and can't wait to get in front of an audience. He is the host for this years talent show (following in Drew's footsteps) and I'm sure he'll get to do some of his stand-up in that too.

Sky started writing raps recently. Not short ones either. He has full blown verse and chorus. He does it very well. He started doing these and we wondered about them a lot. We thought he was just messing around, he was even accused by the other kids of plagiarism. So he kept writing. He has a few now that are really pretty good. He decided today that he wanted to publish them somehow. So he asked how he could put them on the web. He decided that a blog would work. So he put them on http://djfluffman.blogspot.com so check him out. I'm not sure he's posted anything yet... but videos are sure to come soon. Marly is his camera man and creative director... this should be good (I'm nervous)

Utah in 72 hours or less

This weekend my nephew Colton was baptized. We were invited to go so we went. Trying to save vacation days and since I've already taken some for Derek's birth this year, we decided to go up early Friday morning and come home on Sunday. This was a good plan for a quick trip. However it didn't exactly work. The Van needed some work and they didn't finish till Friday about mid-day. We took off and made good time and got into Highland, UT at about 11PM. We had a very full Saturday with the Baptism, Mt. Timp Temple (me, Mom and my Sister Candice), Stacy, Derek and Anny to the BYU library for some homework and Grandpa taking the other kids (Drew, Katy, Tawny and Colton) sledding. Afterwards we went to Eric (my brother) and Lindsay's house in Sandy to check it out. They recently bought this home. Then back to Highland for an adult dinner out. AFTER all that we still ran down to this grocery store called Macey's for some shopping before we left for home and for our traditional KONG CONE ice cream treat. If you don't know about KONG CONES trust me just go if you are ever in Utah. Drew ate one and had a stomach ache that he couldn't get over for a few hours. So yesterday (Sunday) we got up and ate and were on the road by 7 AM. It was snowing in southern UT and Flagstaff area so we went to Las Vegas. This was fine until it took an hour to get across the dam. It was funny because we all made a bunch of dam jokes. Like "this is a lot of dam traffic" and "look there's the dam cops" (Hoover Dam does have it's one police department called the "Hoover Dam PD"). So even though it was slow it was still only 1pm and we were in good spirits. The rest of the trip was fine with mixed in rain Stacy studying (how she can type and ride in the car at the same time? I don't know). About ten miles outside of Wikenburg it stopped raining. I turned off the windshield wipers, but they wouldn't turn off. Stacy said: "I think you can turn them off now" I just smiled and said real softly "They won't turn off" She giggled then laughed then eventually just really belly laughed because each kid had the same conversation with me. "Dad you can turn them off, it's not raining anymore". To each I smiled and said "It's broke they won't turn off" Stacy laughing the whole time. I think she had finally gone nuts. We made it to Phoenix only to be delayed another 90 minutes with a huge semi-truck crash on I-10. It was amazing there were parts of the truck everywhere! We finally got home about 10:30 pm and in all were gone just about 60 hours. Vance, Marly and Sky stayed home and all was well (and clean) when we got home.

We have wonderful vacations, and this overall wasn't wonderful in the Van, but in Utah it was amazing and any trip you make it home safe from is a good one. We're glad Colton made the choice to be baptized and we are glad everyone was OK. I for one am glad I got to go to the Mt. Timp Temple and look forward to going to the SLC temple in the summer when we return (for a longer stay then one day).

FHE - Give a day get a day...

Last night for family home evening we did some selfish service. We went to the store to buy stuff for teachers. School teachers these days have to either buy some stuff they need in the class room or they have to do without. Stuff that we take for granted like paper clips, pens, post-it-notes ect. So there is a group that is collecting "teacher boxes" that have this kind of stuff. We put together 10 of these boxes last night. We all went to the store split up and gathered what we needed. It was fun and pretty quick. Then we came home and put them in the 10 boxes and tonight we'll write thank you notes to each teacher then wrap it up like a present. We then deliver them to the group in Tempe and they will deliver to the needed places. I said it was selfish because four our trouble (and our $$) we get 10 tickets to Disneyland. Yeah. so we get to go in June. should be fun but I don't know what we'll do with Derek and Anny since they aren't going to get to go... (maybe Anny will). Anyway it was fun for the kids to do something for others. They knew exactly why we were doing it because they have the same problems at their schools. Marly took half a ream of printer paper today because her school is out. The funny part was Grandpa Whetten couldn't understand why we needed to do this. We had to explain to him a few times that teachers don't get these kind of things that they should because there is no money in the school district to pay for this stuff. He just couldn't get it... oh well he helped us a lot setting them up anyway. He said "Where are these going?" I said "there are some schools that need supplies for the teachers" he said "why" I said "I guess they don't have the money for the teachers to get this and the teachers shouldn't have to pay for stuff like this out of pocket" and he looked at me like all confused and said indignantly "like where?" I didn't know what to say so I said "I don't know... maybe poorer neighborhoods like South Phoenix"... That was probably not a good thing to say because I really have no idea where and we don't have to know the group we take them to has to know. I felt bad about naming an area but oh well. I've been there many times for football and it does look like they could use a little help, I'm just sayin'

randomness is bestest

So today I was looking around my cube (padded cage i work in when I go to work), and saw that there was nothing on the walls at all. so I added a couple of things just "beautify" it a bit. It's not beautiful, but it is less dull. So I'm going to add a few pictures to my blog that I've captured via my phone as I have lived lately just because I want to make it a little better.

Mr. Whiting getting an earful from an upset fan at a basketball game at Queen Creek. It's blurry because of the distance but I thought I'd better take this in case Jeff needed evidence in the court case... That guy seemed upset.

Sky on the way to Cody Rothlisberger's house ("But I'm not tired Dad!")

Derek When I baby sit... no matter what time (I'm good!)

A girls soccer team ripped off our football team. I'm not sure how I feel about this (Hmmm....)

Here's how I feel about Stacy's School (yucky)

Here's a picture of the Mesa Temple. I don't know why I took this I just felt like it when I went there the other day :)

I had more but most are inappropriate! ha ha just kidding. I don't roll like that... If you're bored (and you must be because you are on my blog) go to my friend Anjie's blog. She's coolio! http://anjiesantics.blogspot.com/

All good (or not so good) things come to an end

As you may have heard JD Hayworth is retuning to politics. He has left his job KFYI to run for senate. Most people wouldn't have to leave their job that puts food on the table but he did because we live in a FAIR society. Anyway JD is running against John "Lettuce" McCain. I think this is a good thing. I was hoping that John would "go away" after he lost to BO but he didn't. I was hoping that Jeff Flake would run for Senate once lettuce returned to where ever the H he came from. But he didn't consult me...oh well. JD is a good 2nd to Jeff Flake. I like lettuce A war hero, yes, a good man, yes, a family guy yes, but in the world of politics none of this matters much. I think that what we need is someone that stands for principles and votes accordingly. I think it's interesting that JD is running because he has always been a conservative yet he lost his way with the rest of the republicans in the early 2000s... However I don't really think that we can fault him for that. The Post 9/11 political environment was different, it made us choose differently, it made us a little scared not to watch our own. Lettuce on the other hand didn't really do much more then: threaten to leave the GOP, embarrass the GOP vs. BO and lied about Mitt many times in his campaign for the GOP nomination in 2008... not to mention doing nothing for Arizona. I mean how many of you can tell me one good thing he's done for AZ in the last two terms (12 years). He ran for president twice, passed a well known liberal policy to govern elections that was recently declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme court and generally supported illegal emigration, stem-cell research and spoke out big time against water boarding (being a POW himself its no wonder) but then in the moment of truth voted for it.

Now I like JD as a guy, he's an entertaining talk show host. But is he a senator? I don't know. He is not my first choice. That would be Jeff Flake, however I think Congress is where Brother Flake wants to be. So we have to look at who there is to vote for. I don't believe in voting against someone but for someone, I also don't believe in not voting, so I do. When I look at Lettuce vs. Hayworth I am leaning RIGHT, to JD. Emigration, the Mitt Romney things and time for a change is why.

Peace! What do the Red, White and True bloggers have to say I wonder?

BYU to the PAC 10

Well religious persecution will never end :) Just kidding (kind of)... most PAC 10 articles about the pending PAC 10 expansion have said that BYU is not an option... They say that it is because BYU isn't a "research" school. That's a big bunch of hoey! What they mean is BYU won't play on Sunday and the ever expanding Sunday basketball schedule is the problem. I think that a review of history will help us understand what is happening now. This is a lesson in what is reported and what is reality and how they are often different.

Roger Reid was a good basketball coach at BYU as an assistant and head coach for a long time. In fact he won a lot. He recruited well and was overall pretty good (not great). Then BYU took a hit on recruiting and Roger got frustrated about it. He was under pressure to beat Utah and others in conference. Also BYU started to lose . So some LDS recruits went to other places like Utah or Stanford, or someplace closer to their home. Along came a big recruit named Chris. He was a McDonalds All American he was LDS and good, very good. He was choosing between Utah and Duke with BYU as a thought. Roger made a mistake and asked Chris to commit. When Chris said no, he said "10 million Mormons would be disappointed". Chris then committed to Duke and ESPN and everyone else ran with the "Disappointed Mormons" quote. BYU went 1-25 the next season and Roger got fired. Roger made a big stink about it. The papers said that Roger was fired because of losing and low attendance and "time for a change". BUT that wasn't it! It was because he made the LDS church look bad. The only reason there is BYU sports is for the missionary efforts of the church. So if a coach, player or fan makes the church look bad then it should be shot down... (not my point). My point is what was reported wasn't reality.

They are now saying that BYU can't join the PAC10 because it's not a research institution. What a joke. ASU is? UA is? ok Cal-Berkley, Stanford and USC I will give you, but most of the state schools are equal or below BYU. Another thing I heard was that BYU didn't have a medical school... Neither does ASU sheesh! does USC? BYU doesn't need one because 50 miles awayat UTAH there is one of the best and could the community support both? BYU's Law school is the best in the whole MTN area. Why don't the just say it: "BYU won't play on Sunday and if they are good in basketball one year (like top 10 or something) we won't be able to case in on it!" Crazy.. well I finally found one guy who almost said it (link at bottom). At least he is saying that it should be BYU and UTAH and not COLORADO (1000 miles from LA -dumb). Here's the reaility if BYU had made a BSC bowl like Utah (big if I know) this wouldn't even be a discussion. BYU has won more games in the last 5 years, been higher average ranked in that last 5 years then any team in the entire west except USC... so UTAH made 2 BCS bowls in the last 6 years... but BYU has more wins and high average ranking at the end of the season... Utah should be taken, but both on the field and off of it BYU is better! In all 29 sports that the Mountain West awards conference champions in BYU won or shared 23 in the 2008-2009 school year. In non-revenue sports they lead at least 8 PAC10 teams in a lot of them (XC, Track (mens), Gymnastics, men's volleyball (2 national championships), and others. It's silly to think that it's because of academics BYU can't join. Just go apply to BYU and ASU/UA and see which one accepts you... Utah should be in... But history tells us that BYU should be in too, but are fighting against more then the normal parameters...

Link:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/09/SPTB1BUVCC.DTL

Family and Fun Weekend

Yesterday was Derek's blessing day. We have 8 am church and had planned to just go to Sacrament meeting and then leave to have a brunch/family gathering in the park. However Saturday night it rained all night and the park was flooded and muddy. Stacy was very stressed about this. But we got up early and She, the kids and I got the tables and chairs in the house and arranged it (with help from Uncle Matt Angel) so that we could seat 48 people at tables and chairs. It turned out good. We got to Sacrament meeting plenty early and enjoyed a good Fast and Testimony meeting. Derek is officially blessed and on the records as a church baby. We all all went home and enjoyed out breakfast and then people headed home. My parents and nephew Colton were here for the weekend and headed home to Utah around 10 or 11 am on Sunday. I'm glad they came. They were in town a little early because My Dad's Uncle Albert Christensen passed and his funeral was Friday in Mesa. We enjoyed their visit. We will be going to Utah on March 5th-7th for Colton's baptism. We spent the rest of Sunday with fast offering route (Drew and me), Choir practice (Vance and Me) and naps, football game (super bowl 44) and fun with Rocky and Jana Chapman's family. Stacy's parents and little sisters Brittney and Melissa and Brady Garret (Brit's husband to be) stayed all afternoon it was great. The laziness was nice and we also felt like it was a spiritual day. Testimony meeting was great. Vance and Marly bore their testimony about their Patriarchal blessings and the spirit was strong through out the meeting. I also appreciated my friend Jeff Whiting's testimony. Man the change in the brother since the day I met him is fantastic, he's a real hero to my kids and me.

PREACHY: So don't read if you don't want to be preached to (You've been warned)

Mormon Gossip is the funniest. I guess if you take any small slice of society you can find their curlture or their gossip to be humorous to another small segmant of society. Like if you look at mormons we don't really gossip about who's having affairs with other people (a la Desperate Houswives) or how much money people make we gossip about who's gonna be the next Bishop or who's pregnant with the 8th kid or who is moving or who is speaking in church on Sunday "and are they really a good choice?" I had to laugh becuase I wonder if you dropped a non-member (meaning a person not of the LDS faith) into a LDS gossipy conversation what would think:
Member 1: So did you hear that the Bishop is moving?
Member 2: No, he is?
Member 1: Yeah, like in a month
Member 2: Wow, I wonder who will be the next Bishop? (always first thought/question)
(not "where are they moving?", not "Why are the moving?")
Non-Member: What's a Bishop?

It's not bad. I'm not condemming it. Don't get me wrong I'm as guilty as anyone. I just got a different perspective lately and felt like commenting on it. In fact I'm pretty sure that everyone tries to guess who will be the next whatever in the church becuase it is a mystry to us. In reality it doesn't matter who we think should be or will be becuase The Lord chooses who he will and we are left to pray for a testimony about the truthfulness of their calling. I've been dead wrong on some of my "guesses" and right on on some of them in my life. But you know what? It didn't matter because its the person what who the Lord Called not who I guessed (or even secretly wanted).

Now there are some bad gossip in the church that we should stay away from. Like if somebody blesses the sacrament or something and you comment later about their worthiness. This is wrong. This can lead to some major hurt feelings. Also it is a sin. I'll tell you my opinion on this. If I bless the sacrament unworthily does it make the ordinance invalid? NO. It does bring condemnation to me, but not to those that partake of the sacrament on that particular day. So as we've been counciled many times ("let he who's without sin cast the first stone" "Remove the pillar from thine own eye..." and "Judge not lest you be judged by the same judgement...") What do you Care? I mean really are you trying to make yourself feel better by pointing out someone elses sins? Are you trying to condemn someone? Now ok maybe .01% of the time when WE do this (caps becuase I'm a guilty sinner too) we are really trying to help the person becuase we love them, but I don't think that is often the case.

Gossip is like when we have a good joke to tell. You are so excited to tell it. You practice it in your head, you may even tell one person just to kind of test drive the joke. Then when you tell it to a big group and they laugh really loud and long you feel so proud. Like everyone must really like "me" because of that great joke. When in reality it may be just a good joke and you are just the messenger. What if no one laughs (i know this all too well), and your joke bombs. Well you feel embarrassed and dumb and very disapointed. But really it has nothing to do with you, you are just a messenger and its that joke that is bad. Now you may have wished you hadn't told it, but it doesn't make you bad. Gossip is like that but where it does make you bad. Meaning that the story that you told really does reflect on you. The story may be true and it may be really good story but it's still gossip and its really going to reflect on your character.

I think a good rule is to ask yourself these questions:
1. Would I tell this story in front of the person(s) it is about? (NO)
2. Wouldn't it be better if the person that this is about got to tell the story instead of me? (YES)
3. Can anyone have their feelings hurt by me telling this story? (YES)
4. Am I telling this story because I'm trying to make myself look better? (YES)
5. Does the person(s) I'm telling the story to need to know this information? (NO)

If the answer to the questions are what I put in the parentasis then you should stop. Really just stop. I know once I was telling a story about someone that I shouldn't have. About half way through I realized it and felt terrible. I stopped and "pretended" I couldn't rememeber it. I should have said "this is really gossip so I should stop" but I didn't. It's something that is a hard one to overcome. The key is really #4 question above. We really have to be honest with ourselves as to why we want to tell the story or the info. It's so hard to be honest about that one, because we don't want to admit to ourselves our own selfish desire to be liked or to feel important.

Remember I'm not judging, condemning or referring to anyone. I didn't have a experiance recently or have a particular issue in mind that inspired this blog entry. Just sometimes I want to preach (why? idk) and this is my outlet. So if you are offended or concerned about my preaching then accept my apology and delete my blog from your favorites (bookmarks, does anyone use that term anymore?) and surf away.

Johnson Family Blog dedicated to camping

We like to camp. We being Stacy and me. I know some of the kids like it too, or have liked it here and there in the past. But we like it. Last year I started a blog for camping or hiking for a specific trip that we took. I've now changed the blog and just will put "camping" or "hiking" related posts on it. Check it out at Johnson Family Camping Adventures!

Sorry Smurf Turf yous ain't the bomb

Boise State University won the fiesta bowl the other night... YEA! (I guess). But all the talk about the PAC10 expanding and taking Boise St. is nuts. Here's why: They suck! That's right I said it. they have a little tiny stadium (seats 32,000), it has blue turf, the have lower academic entry standards then ASU (if thats possible) and they haven't had a conf. championship in another sport besides football in forever...! They don't even have a baseball team, they don't have a womens sport to hang their hat on and they don't have a natural rival to travel with (this is very important to the PAC 10...). Now that's just whats wrong with the school. Here is why it won't happen even if all of the above reasons don't make sense: SMALL MARKET. Why would the PAC10 want to expand? Only for more $$$$ right? Well the biggest money maker is TV money. Do you think that Boise and Idaho really are going to drive change for $$? NOPE. The population of Boise is 205,000. doh! Phoenix has 3 or 4 suburbs bigger then that. The State of Idaho only has 1.2 million in the whole state! not like it's really a booming TV market. The school only has 18,000 students. ASU and 54,000+ students! There is no way that Boise St. will ever be in the PAC10. This talk is just non-sense. What they should do is join the MWC and increase the MWC's football since that is their one sport. But that wouldn't help the MWC in other sports at all. In fact in Basketball and women's sports it would hurt the MWC. I think that Boise is a fine football team. Chris Peterson is the man and is like Mark Few from Gonzaga Basketball. They are both in great situations winning is expected. But if they were to ever leave their current schools, so would the success of that school's program! Just like Brian Kelly and Cincy's football team, Calapari and UMASS and Rick Patino at Seton Hall (until recent years). If the PAC 10 ever does expand it should take BYU and Utah. Much better in all areas than Boise St and anyone! The repeated excellence in many sports, the natural rivalry, travel partner they bring, excellence in many women's sports and the size of Utah (more then double the size of Idaho) and the two schools (BYU 34,000+, Utah 28,000 + students) is a much better sell then Boise State.

A few posts ago I explained why it doesn't matter if PAC 10 expands or not. So all of this is moot. However some ignorant "fans" still think that only football matters, which sometimes is true, but not to screw up our PAC10.

New arrival

We've got a newby at our house. Derek William Johnson was born the day after Christmas. He's a great lookin' kid (what would you expect, you've seen me). So we are all very excited. If you want to see pictures cruise over to Stacy's Blog (link on the side bar). What I'd like to blog about today is how blessed I am to now have 8 kids (yep 8) and how ignorant and silly people are that give me crap about having 8 kids... Just for the record we now have 4 boys and 4 girls.

First let me tell you how it works. Your little jokes about "don't you know what causes that?" and "get cable" and "you know there is a way to avoid that" are really funny ha ha ha! I know where baby's come from, I do have cable (satellite actually), and I do know ho contraception works. Here's the thing. I wanted kids. I didn't predict 8 but I'm good with whatever Stacy and I decide. Let me list some things that you "childless" or 1 or 2 child families are missing out on.

(note: If you want kids but just can't have them for one reason or another I'm not speaking to you. So don't be offended when none is intended see this LINK for what I mean by that)

1) You don't get to hear jokes like "What are you going for a football team?" and "Don't you know what causes that"?

2) You don't get to sit at Denny's and have an old lady come up to your wife and say "Are these all yours?" with a half scared/disgusted look on her face.

but

3) When you go on a trip not everyone has someone to be buddies with (and it changes throughout)

4) When you go to church you don't get your own bench

5) When you get home at night from work, there isn't always someone there for you to see

6) When you go on a family picnic your possibilities are limited. Ours are limitless we can do any activity big or small because we have then numbers to do it.

There a bunch of other nice things. We are always busy, don't sit around and do nothing and enjoy sacrificing for each other. I understand people just like to mock things that they don't understand or don't agree with. I had a coworker once say "how can you bring kids into this awful world?" I thought that was very sad and just said that they needed to get help to try to see some positive things in their life. I've also had people praise us for having the "courage" to have so many kids. Courage to have some kids that's nuts! I think it's great. It gives us activities, it gives us love in our home and in our community. It helps us influence and serve others as we can teach our kids to be a positive influence in their lives. I can't imagine not having a house full of kids.

So if you have a large family and are sick of the teasing and mocking attitudes or the "real world" then take solace and know that I hear it too. I think it's silly and ignorant for people to give me a hard time. I hope that people see that and understand that it's our choice and I could give them crap about their choices too. "What do you hate kids?"...

Just kidding I wouldn't do that but I may want too.

BCS - BYU

Ok, So I'm a big BYU fan. So I am annoyed that a 2 loss BYU (10+ wins for 4 years in a row) will NEVER get into a good bowl game. But a 3 loss Notre Dame, or any other BcS team will get considered. I'm also annoyed by BCS putting Boise and TCU at the kiddie table in their BCS bowl because they are afriad that TCU and Boise would win a la Utah. I've often thought that BYU would or Should get invited to be in a BCS conference like the PAC 10 or the BIG 12. I don't think that will happen. Reason being is that the schools there are not going to share. What I think now should happen is the MWC (BYU's conference) should expand and drop non-qulifiers. a Non-Qualifier is a kid that didn't pass the standards test with a (SAT) 1250 and have a 2.0 GPA. Some schools (UNLV, New Mexico) allow that. Utah and Fresno State used to but have recently dropped that policy. So if the 9 schools in the current MWC stop excepting non-qulifiers and the MWC adds Boise State, Univ of Nevada and Fresno State they would almost force (along with the Washington DC pressure they are already getting) the BCS to include them. If the BCS doesn't like it they can add a 5th bowl + the national championship game they already have. I think the Cotton Bowl would be a good one to add with their long standing tradition and former first class status. So here's my plan with there being two parts 1) the NEW MWC allignment and 2) the NEW BCS affiliations to bowl games.

NEW MWC
So the new 12 member MWC would have to split into a NORTH and a SOUTH division, with natural traveling partners (like PAC 10) and a football championship game on 1st week in December (like the BIG 12, ACC and SEC) at Dever's Invesco Field at Mile High, Home of the Denver Broncos.

North Division:
BYU, Utah, Boise, Nevada, Colorado St, Wyoming
South Division
TCU, New Mexico, UNLV, Air Force, Fresno St, San Diego St.

The Schedule (football): Each team plays everyone in their division and rotate 2 others from the other division. Allows for 8 conference games, clear north /south champions and 4 non-conference games.

The Schedule (Basketball) : Play everyone home and home in your division (10 games), play everyone in the other division once rotate home team (6) and have a big east style conference tournament (everyone in higher seeds get buys).

Pluses: Keeps natural rivalries. Currently MWC had 9 teams, and play everyone twice so they have 16 conference games. This wouldn't change basketball. 4 non-conference football games could be scheduled for big payouts, wins (lesser teams), geographic rivalries or for intriguing matchups TCU/Oklahoma was a good one; or Utah/Utah State could be preserved. Football Conference Championship Game in NFL stadium would work well for the conference exposure since a BCS bowl would be on the line. Bigger basketball tournament on your own network would be great. New expanded conference would only help get The Mtn Network on more cable systems (Nor Cal, Nevada, Idaho). You'd own the the Mountain time zone. Then have your championship game on CBS (basketball game) your MTN partner.

BCS Changes Expantion:
Step One. Include the MWC so there are seven automatic qulifiers.
Step Two. Add another BCS Bowl. Currently there are 4 bowl games (Orange, Rose, Fiesta and Sugar) Plus the National Championship Game. Currently with the 6 auto qualifiers (PAC 10, BIG 12, BIG 10, ACC, SEC, BIG EAST) and 10 spots that makes for 4 "invitation" bids. With the additoin of MWC as an auto qulifier the invitation bids would go to 3 if you don't add another Bowl. If you add another BCS Bowl The spots would increase to 12 and thus even with the MWC there would be 5 "invitation" bids. I suguest the Cotton Bowl. When I was a kid it was one of the Big Bowls. The Old SWC champion went to it. It was/is Played in Dallas. What better place to have a good bowl game (National Championship game every 5 years) then the New Dallas Cowboys stadium. Could you Imagine Texas v. Alabama in Texas Stadium?
Step three: Keep Bowl Affiliations to conferences. Current Auto Qulifiers alignment: Big 12: Fiesta, Big 10/Pac 10 Rose, Big East/ACC - Orange, SEC - Sugar. So Easily add the MWC to the Cotton. So if the MWC team isn't in the NC game then they play an invited team in the Cotton bowl.

Let's use this year as an example: If they had my proposal above.

Rose Bowl (no change) Oregon (PAC 10) vs. Ohio State (BIG 10)
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State (BIG 12 - at large) vs. Boise State (MWC - at large)
Cotton Bowl: TCU (MWC) vs. Virginia Tech (ACC - at large)
Sugar Bowl: (no change) Cincy (Big East) vs. Florida (SEC - at large)
Orange Bowl: (no change) Georgia Tech (ACC) vs. Iowa (BIG 10 - at large)
National Championship: (no change) Texas (BIG 12) vs. Alabama (SEC)

So the top 11 of the final BCS standings are taken, Every conference except Big East and PAC 10 have two teams in. The only team not in the top 12 of the BCS is Oklahoma State because the others in front of them are from conferences that already have two teams in. West Virgina from the Big East could be there instead of Oklahoma State but the Fiesta has a BIG 12 affiliation so they'd pick the Next Best BIG 12 Team (since BIG 12 Champion Texas is in the National Championship game).

Some Tweeks that might make more sense but would cause a lot of change. What if Colorado joined the NEW MWC and TCU took their spot in the BIG 12? This would really help both teams. TCU would have more natural rivalries with the 4 other Texas teams in the BIG 12 and Colorado would have an in state travel partner in Colorado State. This would change my North South alignment to an East West Alignment as such:
EAST:
Colorado, Colorado State, Wyoming, Boise St, Air Force, New Mexico
WEST:
BYU, Utah, UNLV, Nevada, San Diego State, Fresno State

Conclusion
I could see some great Games either way. A TCU / Boise State MWC Championship game would have been better then the "Kiddie Table" BCS Fiesta Bowl game that means nothing this year. The other conferences wouldn't be effected at all. In fact my system makes them more money. The ACC and Big 12 getting a 2nd team in the BCS (example above) is only more money then they'll get under the current plan. Now sure.. if you include the MWC in the BCS won't the WAC and Conf. USA and others would get all upset. Well if you include Boise in the MWC that takes all of the WAC's Fire power away since Boise is the only consistant BCS "buster" (Hawaii was a one time anomoly). UTAH (twice) and TCU have done it and BYU is always predicted to do it, the the MWC has more history anyway. Conference USA has never done it and haven't even sniffed it. The other conferences aren't likely to have much fire power until they start to show they are worthy like the MWC has 3 out of the last 4 years. If BYU beats Florida State this year (big "IF" I know) then they are in the TOP 12 BCS standings (#14 as is) and are in the discussion or debate this year. That's 3 teams that the new MWC would have in the BCS discussion. And Just wait; UTAH will be in the BCS discussion next year again (three times in 5 years???) that's better then most teams that are in BCS games this year (Iowa, Cincy, Georgia Tech).

Now do I think it will ever happen? well maybe. But I am more positive about it then BYU, Utah, TCU and Boise State ever getting invited to join an existing conference. It's really up to the MWC to expand an "bust the BCS" again and again until they kick the door down. I also think they should keep the pressure on the politicians to force the issue. If TCU or Boise State win convincinly and Alabama kills Texas (or vice versa) the outcry should be that they got it wrong and TCU(or BSU) should have been included.

40 - ain't nuttin' but a number

Well today i'm 40... old by standards of where I live and who I associate with. I think it's funny that I'm 40. I thought that I'd be about where I am. It's better in some ways than the dream but worse in others. I knew my Dad at 40. In fact I remember the day he turned 40. My cousins were in town because it was summer. My cousin Brett Johnson made my Dad a cake. It was a unique cake that was shaped like a mountain. I don't know how he did that kind of cake. But he did. Also he made it with green frosting that to me looked like a grassy mountain or hill. Then he put a flag on one side that said "40" and a toy hiker that was by the flag that was my Dad I guess making it over. So it was a unique Over the Hill cake. Anyway my Dad was a good sport ate the cake and moved on. I was 11 I think so about Skylar's age. Funny what you remember. I was thinking the other day, you know comparing my life now that I'm over the hill to my dads. It's pretty interesting because there are a lot of similarities. Here are a few. We used to tease my Dad that he was overweight. Well that was a mistake because I'm way heavier on my 40th birthday then he was. I'll blame that on me having an office job and him building homes and farming. He had 7 kids and so do I. Although his was a bit more of a round about way; step kids, adoption etc. than my path but still same (although I'll have my 8th soon enough). funny how it turns out...

Today I am working. But I plan on not doing much tonight. I will finally get to eat my cake. Mine is much cooler than my Dads... It captures what I like and I wonder if it isn't a bit kiddish. But I am a Dad of many kids so I guess that it is what I am. Thanks to my wonderful wife I had a party the other night that was fun. I couldn't cut that beautiful cake then so tonight I will. Here is a picture of it just in case you didn't see it. If you want to know where it came from I guess you'll have to ask Stacy. It is a lady in our ward that does these edible art cakes. She's amazing.

Saturday

I had a very tough day last Saturday. It was crazy. I was sick. I wanted to puke every minute. The boys and I went shooting with a friend of mine from work. It was really fun. I got to shoot my shot gun my dad gave me. it was cool. Its a little 410 so it doesn't do damage like we are used to and Drew thought it kicked too much. My friend Denny had a bunch of other guns that we enjoyed shooting including a 9mm and 357 hand guns. It was cool, but I wanted to lie down in the dirt and sleep. We also found a really old train station in a thicket that was cool. One of the little buildings was still standing. After that we went to Taco Bell, maybe not the best choice for me, then headed home to watch the UA/ASU and BYU/UU games. It was a fun afternoon. Problem was i really just sat there from 1:30 until 6:30 that night. Stacy wasn't 100% either and so she watched movies, washed, dried and folded laundry and slept (a little) all afternoon. I guess I didn't accomplish much but I did enjoy the outcomes from my day. UA & BYU are my two favorite teams and enjoyed their victories. I found this cartoon... Enjoy! By the way Happy Birthday to Skylar today!!! 11 is old man!

Holiday time again - I can tell by my TV not the weather.

I love this time of year. I think people that say "I hate Christmas" are lying (hey its my blog, I can say what I want). I love it. I love the commercialism I love the constant TV ads I love the greedy kids I love it all. I love the Christmas music on the triple 9 before Thanksgiving. I think its all awesome. I love it because it reminds me of where I live, what we (claim to) stand for in this country and what is still (?) possible for each of us. You see each of these ads, each of these "things" that ruin Christmas for some is making it great for others. It seems to me that folks are driven by jealousy more then anything. If you had invented some product like the charge pad you'd be like "show it more" on TV! But you didn't so you can whine that it's on too much already.

A Little History.

I didn't always think this way... In fact I hated Christmas as a kid or at least the season until December 10th each year. Really. See my birthday is December 9th. So I wouldn't let me mom put up the tree until after my birthday. She probably hated it because it was a change from what she was used to. But still to this day she doesn't do it until then. I would whine about Christmas music, I'd whine about Christmas commercials etc. Everything bah humbug! But then I made a mistake. As a kid when we got ready to leave to Oregon to be with family (knowing we'd have to pack all the presents in the car) Mom already had the presents wrapped and under the tree before we left. One night before we left I found I was home alone. So I carefully unwrapped all of my presents and saw them then re-wrapped them. It totally ruined my Christmas experience. See I thought it would be cool to see everything or short cut the experience overall. But it didn't. It made me see that part of the fun of the Christmas season in America is the season it's self.

Arizona

People say, "it's hard to get excited about Christmas in Arizona" My folks used to say that when they lived here. I understand. They grew up where it was snowing and freezing this time of year. However I've had more Christmas' here than anywhere so I like the AZ experience. While our weather may be 80 degrees on Christmas (I have swam before on Christmas day) but it still feels like Christmas to me.

Original Premise

See when you hear Christmas music on the radio in November be thankful. A lot of songs are about your Savior and about giving to others. Be happy that there is at least some people that believe those are good things. When you see the same Christmas commercial on TV for the 50th time, be happy that you live in a country where free enterprise still (in some form) exists. When you have your kids beg you for some stupid thing that you can't understand why anyone would ever want it, just smile and be happy that your kid wants (not needs) for most things. When you hear about bad traffic, long lines and annoying people at stores, just smile and think about how it could be when a piece of hard candy was all there was for Christmas...

Conclusion

I love this season. I'm listing to KEZ all the time. I love that they play the stupidest songs (who really wants a hippo for Christmas...). I think that people are happier and more gracious this time of year. I think I am a nicer fellow to be around too. It is funny how situations or environment or others help push us along to be better. Now good luck. We are all going to be frustrated or disappointed or rude or angry or something negative this season. It'll happen. Just remember Thanksgiving is before Christmas so we can be thankful throughout the holiday season.

Another concept - PORN!

I put that in the title so you'd read it ha ha gotcha! Yesterday we had our friend Anjie and her boys Alex, Dylan and William at church with us. Gospel Doctrine was about the whole armor of God and really focused on the law of Castity. But really it was about Sex. So i though I'd post on a part of that law that has been on my mind ;)... well sort of.

So anyway it is about porn.

So what's porn? Does it have to be nudity? Does it have to be titillating? Who knows?. I heard a good definition. "It's not what you look at, it's what you see" So to me that's pretty broad, also it's tough to be honest with yourself on what your looking at. I think topless men could be porn, although its very socially acceptable (in other countries topless women are too). Right because it's not what you look at its what you see... do you see "sex" when you see a topless guy? Or do you see a kid with good muscles. I don't know each person's different. There is classic art that is nudity but we don't see it as porn right? The David is a good example, naked yes, sexy... no. But what about movies...hmmm. Ok I like certain actresses I do. But I'm not sure I'd like them naked. I like the way they look and enjoy them but I prefer them dressed. But is it Porn? I'm looking at them dressed and enjoying their appearance, shape whatever. so since I notice certain, shall I say "features" does it mean that I'm seeing porn? maybe I guess. It's a fine line that has more gray then black and white (to me). Like I said it's a concept that is different for everyone. The hardest part is being honest about what you are looking at and what you are seeing. It's amazing how two people can look at one thing and see two different things. I notice things my wife doesn't. But sometimes she'll notice things that I am not even paying attention to. So we are looking at the same thing, but seeing different things. I guess we see it and act on it or "dwell" on it is the danger. I know that we are to avoid all evils. I know that there is no way in the world to day to be perfect. I guess we should do our best to be in the right and stay out of the gray area all the time. I just think that sometimes we are thinking we are doing whats right or OK when we could be doing better. (I'm speaking to myself as if I'm writing to my self, it's just your fault for or privilege to read what I'm saying).