New House

We're movin on up, to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie. Lets see if any one knows where that came from.
Well we bought a house this week. Its in South Layton about a quarter mile from the Kaysville border. I had to stay close enough to Kaysville so I could keep my job on the fire department.
It's a five bedroom, two bathroom, multi-level home. It's about 1800sq feet and sits on about .15 acers.
Now we get to move. I didn't realize how much stuff we had until I tried boxing it all up. I keep having to go find more boxes. We are going to do some cleaning in it and then we will move in Friday and Saturday. So if any one is free and wants to come help we could use your help. Especially if you have a truck.
It'll be nice to be out of our cramped two bedroom apartment that we've been in for the last 5 and a half years. We're sure Lucy will love having a yard to play in.

Temple Square Lights

This last week we made the trek from Davis County down to Temple Square to see the lights. It's actually something I haven't done in about seven or eight years. I work down there every night but the problem is they turn the lights off between 10:00pm and 10:30pm, other wise people would never leave. So when I start my shift at 11:00pm it's lights out for the square. It was nice to finally see what it looks like all lit up. Of course Lucy being only 20 months old had never seen it.
My brother Tyler his wife Brooke and their son Britian were in town from Kansas and came with us. My other brother Greg and his wife Stacy were down from Logan and we talked them into coming with us. Since all of us were going to be there my parents and sister Alison decided to come as well.
It was actually a pretty warm night. Gotta love the global warming. The little kids were mildly impressed with the lights and very impressed with the fountains even though the fountains had nothing to do with Christmas. The rest of had a good time walking the square and plaza. Wasn't to crowded either so we all enjoyed ourselves. We stayed just long enough for the kids to get tired and cranky. Lucy fell asleep on the car ride home, I however was driving and didn't have that luxury and I was not that tired.
Lucy and Britian riding on their Daddies shoulders.


Alison, Mom and Dad.

Stacy and Greg

Brooke, Tyler and Britian.

Lucy, myself and Lariann.

Football Season

I've been pursuading my wife and daughter to support my teams. I belive that it is important to teach your children to make good choices that way they don't end up making bad choices like the raiders, cheifs or cougers. Our favorite teams are the Denver Broncos, Weber State University Wildcats and the University of Utah Runni'n Utes. I have some friends and family who are currently or have attended Utah State. We aren't necesarily Aggie fans but we do feel bad for them since they suck so much.

So far it has been a great football season at our house. The Utes are undefeted, beat byu and heading to their second BCS bowl game. Lariann and I went to a couple of games up at Rice Eccles Stadium. We were there to watch the Utes score 11 points in two minutes to beat Oregon State. We also went to the Colorado State game where Utah routed the Rams.

Weber State won the Big Sky Confrence and are heading to the playoffs for the first time since 1991. Why the Wildcats couldn't have this kind of succes while I was in the marching band for 5 years I don't know.

The Denver Broncos are leading the AFC West division which isn't really saying much since the division is pretty bad. They're only 6-5 so even if they make the play-offs I don't see them going to far.

No More Tumor

Lariann went to the Doctors this last week and had another MRI. They decided that the body of the tumor is gone and that Lariann is done with chemotherapy for now. They will now just keep an eye it she will still go in for an MRI every 3 or 4 months to make sure it doesn't come back.

This is the best news we could have hoped for. When this happened 2 years ago we were told that 50% of the people with her type of tumor lived 5 years the other 50% didn't. So we were really looking at a 5 year window. Now it appears that the sky is the limit.

I've gotta say that Lariann is the bravest person I know, in spite of the fact that she won't watch horror movies. She hasn't hardly complained at all during her treatments except for when she started to loose her hair. I've never heard her ask,"Why me?" she's just shouldered her load and pushed ahead.

We feel so blessed to have these results. We are blessed to live in a time when the Lord has provided us with doctors, hospitals, medications and treatments to fight this disease. We are very grateful for all the prayers that everyone has made in Larianns behalf I know that they really do help. Finally I am grateful the the Lord has blessed her and made her well so that Lucy and I can have her in our lives for years to come.

Randomness

I was tagged last month by cousin Amy and have taken a little bit of heat for not posting about it yet. So hear goes.
This post is supposed to be about stuff that I do randomly. Like my cousin Amy I am not a very random person. I like to plan things out. But there are a few things that I do randomly.
1- I like to go places randomly. I will tell Lariann to get in the car we need to go some where and then head out to the store or a restaurant. I also do it while we are out running errands. It drives Lariann crazy when I don't tell her where we are going. Which is probably why I do it.
2- I clean randomly. Not like doing the dishes or picking up the house. I mean deep cleaning. It usually starts with some thing bothering me like a dirty TV screen and the next thing you know I'm dusting the whole entertainment center. Or I'll get some thing out of the fridge and notice some Tupperware container that has mold growing inside it; ten minutes later the fridge is empty and I'm wiping out the inside with Clorox wipes.
That's about all I can think of.
Now that that's out of the way I can ask Amy why she hasn't posted her "Desert Island Discs" I tagged her weeks ago. So Amy why haven't you posted that yet?

Halloween

This year for Halloween Lucy went as a ladybug. Lariann picked out the costume without consulting me. Other wise she would of gone as chewbacca or something like that.

We took her to do a little "trick-or-treating", we went over to the assisted living center where my Grandma Nelson lives and Lucy hit the jack-pot there. Lots of senior citizens ready and willing to give away candy. It's like visiting 20 houses at once. They all sat in the foyer and you just walk around and they give you candy.

Lariann and I really enjoy it, since we have eaten more of Lucy's candy then she has.

Desert Island Discs.

This is an idea I got from my friend Dave. The basic idea as he puts it is "what albums would you want if you were stranded on a desert island that just happens to have a stereo and electricity but still no way to contact anyone for help".

There are a few rules that he decided to make:

• Only one album from each artist (forcing you to make some tough choices).
• No greatest hits or compilations of any kind (that would be cheating).
• Limit the list to 10.
• Ignore the iPod factor since it essentially makes this list obsolete. It's not about the technology anyway, it's about the music! Plus "Desert Island Discs" sounds a lot snappier than "Desert Island Playlist."

I've tried to select a decent variety of albums, I mean who knows how long I'll be on this island I better be prepared for no matter what my mood is. And now the moment you've all been waiting for my albums in no particular order.




1-"Big Bad Voodoo Daddy", Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. It's old time swing with a modern twist. I've just got to have some jazz on my island.







2-"Thriller", Michael Jackson. This one goes back to before Michael became a crazy child lover. It was the 80's and he was on top of the world. There's a lot of good stuff on this one. To bad this is where his sanity and music peaked.











3-"Stunt", Barenaked Ladies. There are alot of songs by the Barenaked Ladies that I like, they seem to be spread out accross several albums though. This is the album that I remember being the first time I heard of these guys, and was a little disapointed to find out it was a group of fully clothed men.







4-"Rock of Ages", The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. 30 great hymns. You've got to have something to listen to on a Sunday. Even though you may not know for sure when Sunday is on a deserted island.










5-"Endless Summer", The Beach Boys. I grew listening to this album. We would take it on car trips and listen to it over and over when we were kids. Plus if your on a deserted island it seems like the perfect theme music.







6-"In Pieces", Garth Brooks. There were alot of albums I could of used here. Garth Brooks is to country what Elvis Presley is to rock and roll. This album would probably be my favorite.










7-"Falling Into You", Celine Dion. Once again there were alot of albums I could have used but since I had to pick one this album seems to have more songs that I like than the others. I really enjoy her powerful voice.








8-"Daydream", Mariah Carey. This was the first CD I ever owned. I really like Mariah Carey before she went all R&B and became a really big skank.









9-"The Music Man". I felt like a needed a musical in here and this one is my favorite.








10-"Come On Over", Shania Twain. This is probably my most listned to album ever. Every song on this album is great and it's not often you find an album that you like from start to finish.



There you have it. I think I have a pretty good variety here. Enough to stave off going insane all alone on island for at least a few days. What would you have on your island?
Feel free to make your own list but in the mean time I will tag some of my friends and family to help give them some motivation to do their own.
I tag:
Carrie
Lindsay
Amy
Liz

One Year Later

Well my blog has been up and running for a year now. So I've decided to take a look back at some of my favorite moments. I've also set up a poll to find out which picture from the last year was the best. Go ahead and vote and leave a comment if you would like telling us all why you think the picture you picked is best from the blogs first year.

SAD SANTA Her visit to Santa was not a happy one. She must not of known that this man was going to bring her toys.
BIRTHDAY Lucy wasn't sure what all the fuss was about this day and her face here is classic.
BREAK DANCING Lucy and her cousin Britan really know how to party at a wedding.
OLYMPIC WEDDGIES How can they not notice this and why would anyone take this picture.
FIRE TRUCK LUCY It was pretty hard to get Lucy to stick her head of the window long enough to take this picture.
THE HAGGIS Lariann and I enjoying a Scotish dish.
PILLOW FIGHT Isn't the internet great.
SALT LAKE SEARCH Brad and I used to drive all over the city taking pictures; hard to belive we ever got any work done.
BAD HAIR DAY Beauty hurts I guess.
RETARDS We really do all know one.
ICEE MACHINE Cole Brock and I drinking out of the icee machine at lagoon while dressed as devils for frightmares.

Firehouse

We had our fire open house this last week. It's an activity we do every year during national fire prevention week. We pull out all the engines and trucks, life flight lands one of their helicopters, the highway patrol brings their car crash simulator and we give out all kinds of pamphlets, stickers and magnets about fire safety.
My brother in law Jared came up from Lehi with 3 of his kids and I think they had a great time.
Here's Lucy and her cousins Tyler and Carter with the life flight helicopter.


Lucy and her cousins climbed inside and out side of Truck 61.



Tyler and Lucy inside of Engine 61.

Myself, Lucy & Lariann on the bumper of Engine 61.

Here's Jared with his kids Carter, Tyler & Ali also on Engine 61.

Here's Firefighter Harwood and Asst. Cheif Lee, our biggest and smallest members, going head to head in the car crash simulator.

Our department doesn't actually have a dalmatian but one our firefighter has one and brought her along. Lucy loved the dog. Our clown though was not as well received by Lucy. She didn't cry but she wasn't very enthusiastic about seeing him.


They also had an awards ceremony this week at city council meeting for those of us who were involved in the tanker fire incident back in February of 2005. Basically everyone on the department at the time was there so just about every body got an award. I don't think we really deserved one I mean it is our job to go out and do this so basically being paid is enough award for me. Most everybody on the department feels the same but we all went anyway. My award was a heroism award for "Knowingly placing my life in danger to save anothers". As far as I am concerned I was just doing my job.

New Job

This last Friday I worked my last day for Southwest Ambualnce. And staring Monday I will be working for LDS Church Security.
I decided to make the change for several reasons. Better benifits and better pay were a big part of that. Also there wasn't any where to go at the ambulance. Our operation in Salt Lake is small. There's only 3 supervisor postions and two upper managment spots. Not alot of room for advancement. There's no pension, unlike the fire and police departments where you can retire in 20 years. I couldn't see my self trying to lift patients on the gurney until I was 65. All I really had to look forward to at Southwest was a 30 cent pay raise every year. There just wasn't a long term future at that company.
Don't get me wrong I loved doing ambulance work. Well most of the time. I won't miss getting up at 2am every morning, taking drunks to the hospital who are to intoxicated to go to jail or having to step foot in the homeless shelter.
I will miss the excitment. Doing CPR, going on major auto wrecks and taking major traumas.
I'll still get the chance to do some of that just not as much. I'm going to keep working part-time for Kaysville Fire. I just won't have the stabbing and shootins like I did in Salt Lake but I also won't have the drunks and homeless either.
There's going to be some adjustment to. I won't be able to play video games, watch TV, surf the internet, watch movies, go shopping and sleep like I did on the ambulance. I've got to work while I'm at work. I also won't have 4 days off in a row any more of course I also won't have to go to work for 24 hours or more I'll only be 8.
This isn't exactly where I wanted to be but it should be a good job and I am excited to be working here. There are alot of opportunities to move up and do some different things. Plus I get to be around all the church stuff all the time. I'll probably get to go to every session of confrence though it'll be to provide security not to watch confrence. But I'll still be there.
I have a month of training and then they send me out. Usually new guys start out at Temple square so that's probably where I'll be. I think I'll look something like this.