Thought...

"Something I can give to you, but still keep- My Word."

and...

"You can't shake hands with a clenched fist"

Friday, July 18, 2008

"Doomsday seed Vault"

Have you ever heard of the "doomsday seed Vault?" Me neither. I didn't know it existed until I saw this clip. Just click the link below and you can watch it right now. It is some serious news footage. It's about 12 minutes long and immensely interesting.

http://video.aol.com/partner/cbs/saving-seeds-in-doomsday-vault/29dSbxdhw4IBYZpC2eVO_bPEjYZdvVep

How do scientists come up with this stuff? Doomsday, seeds, no rain....watch it.

Dan

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Colorado River Float

Have you ever heard of "the Daily"? It is a float trip on part of the Colorado River. It starts about half way to Moab from the turn off of I-70 at Cisco and ends near Moab, UT. It is called the daily because it takes around 5-8 hours to complete.
Last weekend we took our youth group on this float. It was awesome! (Besides the swarms of Tammy beetles, hehe) We had 6 YW and 5 YM, plus us leaders. Me, Bro. Barton, Bro. Buddeke (our guide), Sis's Roberts and Krebs. We camped out the night before on the shoreline. Friday night I gave a fireside on "Hero's". It went very well. Bro. Dillon arranged for all the kids to have letters written by their parents, for them, about how they love them and think they are the heroes. It was very nice. The YW leaders took care of all our meals and they did a great job.
Saturday morning bright and early we began our journey. The river was actually quite busy. We navigated away from the other rafts and groups and started right off with a nice cooling water fight. I had so much fun! We spent the day talking, laughing, splashing, rowing, floating and at one point picking each other out of the water. Yes, at one point we got flipped and it was quite intense for about 30 seconds. Bro. Barton was actually under water "churning" for most of that time. It was quite scary, but Heavenly Father was with us. Hehe, I lost my Oakleys and my beloved lake powell hat. So sad. But in the end, everyone was fine besides some bruised shins and egos. The river can be so calm and relaxing, but we can never underestimate the power of nature and it's water.

I think that life can be the same way. We are just drifting along, relaxing and then "splash" we are hit with some rough water. IE; hardtimes or trials. If we are not prepared we could get "flipped" or get caught in the "churning" water and that can be a horrible cycle. We hit that bad wave a little crooked with our little raft. We could have avoided flipping if our boat would have been straight. We had paddles in hand and our life jackets on tight, but the raft went in crooked. Our guide, (Bro. Buddeke) warned us about the rough water. Although somewhat prepared, we didn't heed all our guides warnings and we paid the consequences for it. This time, it just meant getting a little wet.

I pray that we can stay on the staight and narrow way, that we can listen to our prophets voice, and that we can be prepared if the rough water does come. Our faith will keep us aloat in rough water. The Church is true!
--Dan--

Monday, July 7, 2008

The 4th!!

The Fourth!

Well, we are home and well and I just wanted to take a second and write a lil. We had the most fantastic time in Hooper for the fourth! It was so fun and we actually had perty darn good weather.

The kids had SO much fun playing with all of their cousins and Aunts and Uncles.Sam, on the way home said that, "he would never forget Emma and Julia as long as he lives!" Sleeping in the tents went better then expected for us, minus Lizzie I guess. I enjoyed it and the kids actually slept great. BTW, Greg and Debi, I turned off the waterfall at 3am in the morning Friday night, because it started sounding like the creature from the black lagoon. I didn't know what else to do at 3am.

Playing softball was a blast, especially when I hit a triple. (This of course after popping out twice in a row to Kyle.) It was very competitive and fun. So was volleyball and swimming. Good times. I had a wonderful time playing golf also. I remember a few years ago when I said I would never go again, lol. With great instruction from Greg J this year and Kyle & JB last year, I have grown to really like golf. Including the nice company whilst playing. I wish I could golf with you guys all the time, I would love it then.

Thank you all for the stimulating conversation, family unity and genuine love. We love it when we all get together. My kids love all of you, kids and adults and that makes me feel so happy.

Thanks again Greg and Debi. See ya next year!

Dan and fam.

Crazy Weekend, (from early June)

No, our event-filled weekend

Well, Rins, I am borrowing your title for this one. Although my focus is a little diff tonight. We did have a very fun and event filled weekend to be sure.

We drove to Denver on Friday and spent a wonderful afternoon at the awesome Denver Zoo. (pics to follow) My fave animals-the bears, they have two kodiak bears there. Then we went to our hotel, which btw, my boss was paying for, bc we came to town to go to a work bbq at his home.

After the zoo we went to our hotel and went swimming and then woke up and swam again! What can I say the kids love to swim. And btw, I was showing the kids how you can hold your breath for a really long time and then they wanted to try it. So I showed them how you "O's" load as I call it, (quick deep breathing), then you plug your nose and relax and go under. Well needless to say after only a couple tries, Marlee being the competitor that she is, held her breath for a full 15 seconds with her head completely submerged. I was like, "WOW!" She did great. Later that afternoon, we showed the kids where they were born and the apartment we lived in, in Denver.

We then went to my work BBQ, which was very fun. I was very proud to show off my cute lil family and beautiful wife. I had the cutest kids and wife by far, not even a close second. After the bbq, we drove home, and yes it was very late but I didnt want to miss or shirk my bishopric duties. After getting home very late, unpacking, and me winding down a lil, it was like midnight and Marlee woke up like freaking out about her tummy hurting. (We had all been kinda tummy sick for a couple days) She began dry heaving like no ones business and would just not stop rolling around on the bed and floor and in my arms. She was miserable and was letting the whole world know it too. She just kept saying, "Daddy make my tummy better, it hurts so bad, plz make it stop, make it stop!" We didnt know what to do, She was dry heaving but nothing was there to come out, but she continued for quite some time. I was getting very nervous bc she was in so much pain, rolling and screaming, "make it stop daddy make it stop!" I felt helpless. We felt helpless. I told Katie to call Debi and that I didnt care if it woke up Joni and Jaren. (Sorry guys) Debi told her that we need to be very careful and might have to take her to ER. We thought it might be appendix, but had no idea. Well, I didnt know what to do to make her better but I wanted to desperetly. So I got my oil and put some on her head. I laid my hands on her head and started to annoint...she was rolling and crying and dry heaving...I couldnt think of the words, it took me several tries, it was very stressfull for me. I finally annointed her correctly and then sealed and gave a blessing. Within five minutes she was asleep in my arms and had stopped crying and throwing up. She slept in our bed with Katie and I slept with Sam. She slept all night long and I was very surprised to see katie and the kids all come walking in to church for Sacrament.

I know the Priesthood is the power of God. I am grateful I can use it to bless my family. I am thankful for a caring Father in Heaven who answers a helpless young father's prayers.

-Dan

Youth Trips are fun!!! (June 27th)

Youth temple trip

I just got back tonight (June 27th) from our Ward's Temple day and also the Youth's Baptisms for the dead trip. Our Temple is Monticello. It is 3 hrs away from our house in GJ.

I was put in charge of organizing the youth to be at the church next door to the temple to be able to babysit for the members attending the session starting at 9am. I don't care, btw, if that was a run on sentence. lol. So, the YM and I decided to go to one of the presidency's cabin in Monticello and stay the night before. So we did. Pretty simple. We hiked, played games, ate, told stories, and had a fantastic testimony mtg to end the night. It was really a great lil trip for us. Unity. We are few in number, but we are strong. Comparatively speaking.

So, Sat morn we woke up at the B*TT crack of dawn and got ready and went to the church next to the temple with all our lil snacks and games and shows to be ready to tend about 25 lil kids. Well, we tent, hahaha thas funny, (like lent you a dollar, but for tend kids.) from 9am to 12pm, whilst the parents all went thru the session. We had about 75 ppl from our ward in the session. Pretty dang good. Then us boys set up the food an tables and drinks for all of us and them to have lunch. We then ate very rapidly only to wait for an hour and a half for the temple to be ready to accommadate us for the baptisms which we had scheduled since 1998 or something. Really it was since January though. So then, finally when we get in, they tell us they dont have any men names to be confirmed for us. Odd. Wierd. I am not complaining, I am just telling the story, Okay! So, they tell us that right after we baptise the boys, they will sit on a chair at the top of the stairs, all soaking wet, and will be confirmed for those exact same names/ppl. I have never before seen or heard of that before, although that seems the right way to do it. Lol. So thats what we did. After I baptised the boys, I stood in the water whilst they were confirmed. Then we drove home after having had a good trip. Small temples, are um, well, unique.
--Dan

Dan's Fireside (June 29th)

Dan spoke this evening (june 29th) to the Stake youngmen and women. I surprised him and got a babysitter and went and listened. It was the kickoff Fireside to their Youth Conference. He was the main speaker. He spoke for 28 min's and did so good. I knew he would do good, but he surprised me how good he did. I was very proud. The whole chapel was full. He spoke on Christ. Good job Dan. I wanted to go and surprise him to show him how much I love him and want to support him.
-Katie-