SuperSize It

Evan lives large.
He is having a glorious summer in chicago
His last week's schedule is as foolows and is typical

Monday - Young Adult Family home evening group - home around midnight
Tuesday - Work at the bishop's storehouse
Wednesday - Work at the bishop's storehouse - then movie with the guys - home around one
Thursday - 6:20 am departure and work at the Temple - then Institute
Friday - chill laxing with the family work around the house - then a Ballywood Party at a frineds house home at 12:30
Saturday - chores - then with us to mackie's volleyball
Sunday - single's ward

He lives life big
He even grills big

Memorial day volleyball

Saturday it rained
Sunday it stormed
Today is beautiful

As such,we sit at the Renaissance Convention Center watching volleyball. Mackey is playing very well. That makes it fun. Club sports do consume a significant resource commitment and each of the kids has benefited in their own way. Focus, discipline, sense of team, physically engaged among other things add up.

It's a good day

Mormon Technology

Today at church we had a discussion about joining the dialogue on the internet regarding Mormons, religion, doctrine and personal beliefs. The Ward challenged us to put in action Elder Ballard's talk of 2007 where he stated: "Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints need to join the global conversation and use new technology to stand up for what they believe in. Perhaps now, more than ever, we have a major responsibility as Latter-day Saints to define ourselves, instead of letting others define us," said Elder Ballard, a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The top techology stories regarding the church for 2010 included how the Church used the Internet and new technology to reach a wider audience in 2010. They mentioned the following:

• The launch in January of a new website for LDS youth (youth.lds.org).
• Store.lds.org, a new church online shopping site, opened for business in September, replacing the old LDS Catalog.
• A new handbook for leaders was released and made accessible for members online. (If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to read the first few chapters that outline the purpose of the Church, the priesthood, and leadership, and their relationship to the family. You can find the handbook in the Serving in the Church section of LDS.org. Or click here.)
• Familysearch.org was improved.
• Church websites mormon.org and LDS.org were redesigned and launched.
• A new website called combatingpornography.org was created.
• Elder Quentin L. Cook became likely the first apostle to post a blog.
• Missionaries in Rochester, N.Y., started a pilot project online to do missionary work in cyberspace.

Have you read the profiles on www.mormon.org ?
Have you written one?
I plan on writing one before the year is over - thoughts?

BEFORE then AFTER

It was a whirlwind visit.

Brigham and Evan swept up the west coast after finishing school, visiting many a relative along the way before landing here in Naperville. Brigham's visit was short, for he made a quick run up to  Minnesota, dropping off Duncan ( Blair & Julie's dog) back off in Watertown after Duncan's brief visit. ( All true friends make a pilgrimage to Naperville and so did Duncan sans parents).

Brigham left BYU long enough to sport his fabulous red barbe,

which he also left in Naperville.














It was brief but it was a great visit here with Brigham. He can be found this summer in DC hanging out at the Pentagon.

Just how good is it to have an engineer for a friend

Great friends quickly equate with great times.
Ethan was first a good friend, and then a great assistant scout master while I was scout master; and then again a great friend. If I was to be stuck in the wilderness, or crossing the plains, or trying to survive - I would first chose Rindy then I'd chose to Ethan to work through the adventure of it all.
He and I share innumerable great adventures and memories of scouting together, and teaching our boys; philosophizing and solving the problems of the world.
He was in town for training and graciously fit in a visit at our home for dinner and a walk downtown.

It truly is a delight to live where friends come visiting.

Grill On

One of the changes from Minnesota to Illinois is the shorter grilling season down here. We always had a direct gas line to our grill in MN and grilled no matter the weather. Here we use a propane tank and are more constrained by the weather.

Today we had Tyler and his relatives over for burgers on the grill. He ended up being the only one not to eat one - so much for sophisticated baby taste - they were great.

Also enjoyed playing a new game Dixit (2010 Spiel des Jahres Winner) - a nice creative thinking game in which I unfortunately did quite poorly this time round.

.

Crazy Good

Elizabeth has a great track record in track and has continued in stellar fashion at BYU. Yesterday was a key performance in the Mountain West Conference Championship where she took fourth in the grueling and highly competitive heptathlon (an athletic contest for women in which each athlete competes in seven different events: : 200-meter and 800-meter runs, 100-meter hurdles, shot put, javelin throw, high jump, and long jump.). Congrats on a truly awesome performance.


MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE

Outdoor Track and Field Championships  May 11-14, 2011 -- Fort Collins, Colorado

Women Heptathlon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 Allison Reaser San Diego St.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

2 Brianna LeRoy Utah
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Sophia Wagner Colorado St.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

4 Elizabeth Wilson 15.63 1.59m 11.61m 26.86 5.32m 35.63m 2:44.51

BYU w: 3.0 5-02.5 38-01.25 w: 3.4 w: 1.8 116-11

SO Team Points: 5 4597 (760) (724) (635) (724) 2843 (648) (584) (522)


An addition on Saturday - she also Triple Jumps a great length Taking fourth in it as well

Total meet points for the championship Cougars

20 Elizabeth Wilson                 SO BYU               10  

Cats

Really do not like them
Never really have
Few things would cause me to interact with one in a positive way
And as my father said "there is no reason to own a cat when you live on a lake".
Nonetheless, this at least causes me to pause and consider my position.



ok its too sappy even for me but . . .

Wonderful Weekend

we had a wonderful weekend together with many a highlight.
A true  high point was talking with Parker Sunday night. He sounded great and reported that all is well and sent his love to all.

Mother's Day

My Mom by the numbers

 (not her birthday today but my best photo of her from this past year)
1
- husband
  Paul

5 

 - children -
    Sally Jane, Paul, Jodean, Brad, Tim

4 

- kid-in-laws -
  Dale, Ann, Mari-Lynn, LaRinda
22
- grandchildren - Matt, Jared, Oliver, Sara, Eric; Paul, Laura, Jenny, Jane, Lisa, Mary; David, Jonathan, Lindsay, Lauren, Michael, Elizabeth; Blair, Brigham, Evan, Elder Parker, Mackenzie

14 

- grandkid spouses -
   Honor, Mary, Kristin, Todd, Jen; Sarah, Robert, Daryl, Randy; Eliza, Amanda, Josh, Marie; Julie,
44
- great grands -
  Andrew, Braden, Chase, Delainey; Grace, Caleb, Robert, Joshua, Rebekah, 1-on-the-way; Clara, Anna; Amy, Jacob, Isaac; Tera, Morgan, Alex, 1-on-the-way;;
  Brianna, Tristin; Annie, Peter, Kate, Tyler; Abigail; Will, Josh, 1-on-the-way;;
  Isaac,Lucy, Adam, Aaron; Savannah, Nathan, 1-on-the-way; Simone, Ella, Adele, 1-on-the-way; Joseph;;
  Eden, Dean, 1-on-the-way;

 and it all loops back to  
1 
rockin', fun, clever, witty, competitive, hostess with the mostest, service giving, chauffeuring,  sprightly, MiaMaid Advisor, family history center running, slightly ghetto, aging gracefully Junie Babe
Happy Mother's Day - MOM

Season Opener

Though the weather was a bit brisk the naperville croquet opener was held this evening after dinner. Blair barely won the first round while I dominated in the second and closed the course down for the night, seeing my victory breath in the chill evening air.

Favorite Aunt

Everyone usually has a favorite relative.
(for so many its me)

But for Tyler Wilson Jaynes - born Tuesday, tipping the scale at an adorable 10lbs
Clearly his favorite relative is the kindly Aunt Mary

Travellers

Having seen the western world and many a relative they finally board a train heading for home

30

Thirty wonderful years together

And aging just splendidly

 Eternity might not just be long enough!

30

30 is the sum of the first four squares, which makes it a square pyramidal number.
The number of tracks on The Beatles' eponymous album, usually known as The White Album
The designation of U.S. Route 30, a highway that runs from Oregon to New Jersey
The code for international direct dial phone calls to Greece
The minimum age for United States senators
The atomic number of zinc is 30
The number of uprights that formed the Sarsen Circle at Stonehenge,
In tennis, the number 30 represents the second point gained in a game.
30 films 30 filmmakers 30 years greatest series by espn
the time it takes to Cook up Rachael Ray's fast and easy Meals
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on Depositions
30 Hour famine - a world hunger relief program
Is the common term of a fixed mortgage
A song of praise in Psalms

The number of years since I married my best friend


-30-