I'm still alive and kickin'

I'm still here...just ridiculously busy! I'm taking two classes (one of which I did not realize is a doctoral level course until my first day). I'm working part time at my full time job because I'm on reduced schedule FMLA since Samantha's birth. That only lasts 1 1/2 more weeks then I'll be working full time there and part time on top of that running character groups for junior high school kids. Add the new one and trying to get a minute here and there to spend with family, and you could say I'm fairly booked. Those of you who missed it, yes, we have 4 little uns now, Samantha Rose was born 09/13/2008 at 12:12 am weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches. If you are interested check out her pics here at my sister's website. Click on Enter Full Screen, then on Clients, enter Samantha at the bottom as the password. Mary did an AWESOME job! (She's in Utah for those of you out there looking for a great photographer...mention my name...I'm sure she'll treat ya a little better then ;-)

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Hey guys! I'm trying to keep my fun little gadgets on the right side of my blog to a minimum, but I keep finding really cool things... My latest add is an email subscription where you will be sent any updates I make to my blog...so you won't have to keep checking my blog every couple of hours like I know you do with baited breath...you will get an email with the whole new post...see how much I'm trying to make all your lives so easy...plus...if you don't mind it...it lets me know who has subscribed....which is cool too...cuz I'm starting to wonder if anyone reads this since I never get any comments on here (except you Mary...which I am so very thankful!!) So check it out and please, please subscribe! Also, you can leave a comment on my comment box without having to sign in or anything...feel free!

Had our 20 week Ultrasound! WE'RE HAVING A...

BABY! Nope we don't know if it's a girl or boy, because Bethany wants to wait to find out, which I'm cool with, so most likely we will know sometime in September what we're having (Although if our poll is in anyway accurate, we'll have a girl, as more than 1/2 of you thought we'll have a girl, not to mention that is what Bethany wants). I have ultrasound pictures, but haven't been able to make any scans of them yet. School is finally done. I took 2 classes for no particular reason. A graduate level Higher Education class: The law of higher education, and a general development through the lifespan class. I think I ended up doing pretty well....especially considering what has happened at the school this semester, in our personal lives and with our families.
This summer I will be taking the GRE and will hopefully have my application to the MFT (Marriage and Family Therapy) program here on campus done by no later than mid fall. It also looks like I will have a really cool opportunity to work with a local Jr High school in facilitating activity/therapy groups for at risk kids! I will be working for a great employer and it will be amazing experience and should help my resume too!
I will post new pictures and ultrasound shots soon! until then...

While My Guitar Gently Weeps on Ukulele!

How can you beat The Beatles when coupled with the sounds of the islands...Presenting Jake Shimabukuro performing "While my Guitar Gently Weeps"

From my trip to Samoa

Hey there, thought I would post this short clip of the Aana School District song they sang for me while I was visiting in the summer of 2006. They were practicing for an event in Apia that was going to be held the next week.

Romantic Anniversary Date

It was a special night after all, it was our 8 year anniversary, so we decided to take a night to celebrate! My wife was beautiful as always, and I opened the door to the restaurant. She entered followed closely by our 3 yr olds, while the 14 mo old smiled at the image of Chuck E Cheese on the window. Nothing like a romantic night out with your wife...at Chuck E Cheese....with your todlers. It was my fault, I was supposed to try to get a baby sitter on Monday. But in my defense, I had been up since 9pm on Sunday when Beth and I discussed that at noon on Monday. Actually it was quite a fun evening for us, especially since we have not really spent much time together as a family lately, either Beth or I are gone almost 24/7. When we are together we are either in logistical planning mode, sleeping or otherwise engaged in some level of preparation or maintainance (I know we are the only family that endures such a lifestyle!). It sometimes amazes me how much we have to do to take care of our family. It is so hard to make sure we're not letting life control us, instead of us contoling life. I think often on this subject as I have found it one of the hardest things to ensure. There are alot of thoughts on this topic out there, including inspired teachings of old and modern day prophets. Goals, planning, progression, but balancing that and ensuring those goals etc meet and are in line with spiritual and familiar goals and expectations. In alot of ways, I have thought of my current situation and the direction my family is headed as "spiritual free falling" if you will. I am scared to death of making the wrong decisions with and for my family, but I feel (although maybe not to the degree I Should be) inspired that the current decisions we are making are right for our family. The "free falling" comes in when I consider I may need to leave my current employment to go to grad school, having another child (although that was is kinda already decided for us ;-) ). Anywho, alot on my mind these days.



Pictures of our fun romantic anniversary!

On another note, when you don't have any extra diapers, you can always try other, nonconventional means to dry your child's wet bum! (PS I freak out when Beth lets them get in there (Which is rarely and always under close supervision)!)

At least in their sleep they love each other ;-) Tyler fell asleep and the next thing I knew Cera had cuddled up to him and this was the result. Not only very cute, but a rarity that they BOTH are asleep at the same time.

What can I say...he's a cute kid, but then again, look at his parents, what else would one expect?!

The Last Lecture

I came across this video while looking up courage on wikipedia. Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" I found it to be VERY inspiring, and recommend to anyone interested to check it out! He is battling Pancreatic cancer. If you want to watch it, make some time, it is 76 minutes long, but I felt it was well worth it!

Check http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/ for more information.