The 1st Edition

This has been a pretty uneventful week by most standards, which is why we entitled the blog "Our Simple Lives". As we move along you will see that "simple" does not mean easy or uncomplicated, nor does it mean boring and uneventful. It is intended to be more of a summary of events that on the surface seem almost common.

For instance, I had the opportunity this week to take Hunter shoe shopping. Not real high excitement, but walking through the mall talking with my 10 year old was a very special experience. As we walked from store to store looking at shoes that were the wrong color, the wrong size, the wrong price point we talked about a variety of topics. School, profession, college, we even talked girls! The interesting point for me was that he never complained about not finding something he liked. He truly has grown up. He even had a "John" moment. We were in a store and they offered about 20 different styles. One of which was a very sharp looking Adidas. It was black with yellow stripes and shoe laces. I picked it up and said, "What do you think of these"? He looked at me and instantly replied, "Pittsburgh Steelers" I put the shoe back and we left. We ended up going to a few more stores where he found some shoes that would work. We had a great time spending the morning together.

For Christmas Linda got a vinyl cutter from Santa. It is a pretty good size one that will take vinyl rolls up to 24 inches wide. She has shown a lot of interest in it, but at times I feel like I have taken it over. This week I designed and created one that I was quite pleased with. While in Utah this summer we stopped at the Salt Lake Temple and took several pictures. I was able to take one picture of Moroni and by using some features able to turn it into a cuttable object. I cut it out on copper metallic vinyl and then over-layed it with beige writing that says "I Love to See the Temple" on a 12 inch by 12 inch tile. If anyone has some fun, cool or memorable quotes or ideas, let me know! I mean let Linda know!!!

I was invited by my good friend and Stake Employment Specialist to do an employment workshop for a combined stake meeting. It was fun to get in front of people and talk about the interview process. I would not consider myself an expert, but I have enough stories and examples to get people thinking about the process.

Finally, yesterday was a beautiful day here in San Antonio. Sunny and 65. We told the kids that they had to play outside and the inside of the house was off limits. The boys asked me to play catch with them. Its a fun game where the boys each have a football and I alternate throwing each of them their own ball as they jump on the trampoline. The idea of throwing it over the net and having them dive and jump for the ball is very fun for them. It is amazing how high the boys can jump. Gets to be pretty challenging to throw the ball in spot that Hunter can't get to. He is turning into a good little receiver (just like his Daddy). Nathan does fine on his own as well. Yesterday was even more enjoyable in that Linda came out to throw to the boys as well. There were balls flying all over the yard and the boys never got to rest.

Have a great week.

Next week we will talk about our anniversary!!!!