Daddy Daughter Date

Emily, Grace, and I went for a bike ride this morning. We planned out our route of 1.1 miles. As we got out the girls kept wanting to go farther and farther, so we ended up riding clear to main street and around in a circle. When we got home, we figured out it was 2.1 miles. The girls hadn't complained a bit. Unfortunately I also got a flat somewhere along the way, so I need to go get a patch kit and an bike pump. But, since I do have some gift cards to Home Depot, I may buy a full fledged air compressor.

Family Bike Ride

We went for a family bike ride tonight. Well, most of us, Daddy, Gracie and Emily all rode bikes and Momma pushed the stroller with Landon an Becca in it. I was really surprised the girls didn't complain a bit. We figured it out when we got home, we rode/walked 1.1 miles.

Thursday Ride

The bike ride is 1.7 miles (according to google maps) so I ride a total of about 3.5 miles per day.

Josh rode his bike today too. Only 8.6 miles.... each way.... but, oh well, 3.5 is better then the 0.0 I am used to riding.

Battle of the Belly Pt. 2

Well the ride home IS uphill, no doubt about that. But I made it in 13:26, so only 2 minutes longer than downhill. I think I will chalk it up to my mad bike skills.

Battle of the Belly

12 Step Weight Loss Program..

1. Weigh self


2. Groan


3. Decide to lose weight


4. Goto line 1 - for several years.


5. Decide to change habits


6. Goto line 1 - for a couple months


7. REALLY decide to change habits.


8. Purchase a bike.


9. Groan at the cost of said bike.


10. Show kids new bike, wait for oohs and aahs.


11. Put bike in garage.


12. Ride bike to work for 1st time.

Starting weight: 288lbs. Ouch.

Goal: 200 lbs.

Timeline: As Fast As I possibly can.

Woke up at 6:30 am, left home at 7:01:00. Arrived at work at 7:12:05. Not bad, considering that it takes about 7 minutes in the car.

Bad news: Realized that GOING to work is downhill... which means riding home is NOT.

Sunday Talks

Our family spoke on Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. Emily first, then Gracie, then Diana, a rest hymn, and then I spoke. After the sacrament was 45 minutes, Emily and Gracie took 1 minute each, then Diana spoke for 7 minutes -- a rest hymn was 4-5 minutes, that left the rest of the time for me.... just like usual. I talked the whole time, so I guess it went well.

Emily did a great job. She had about 3 paragraphs of text that she read and only stumbled over property (prophecy) and association (administration).

Gracie also did well. Her talk was written like this:

My name is Gracie.


John the Baptist restored the priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on May 15th 1829 on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

It actually went more like this:

Grace: My name is Gracie, Joseph Smith…

Me: John the Baptist…

Grace: John the Baptist restored the…

Me: Priesthood…

Grace: Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver CowHerdry on July 16th…

Me: May 15th…

Grace: May July 15th 1829…

Me: On the…

Grace: On the banks of the suksqwanna river, nameofjesuschristamen.

I was really proud of her, for being almost 4, to speak at all in front of a full chapel was impressive.

Sprinklerman

Well, after 3 hours on my belly and knees, the sprinkler system that we "broke" is finally fixed. We had to cut a section of wire out of it because since it was installed, the tree root had grown around it. But of course, I didn't have any "proper" wire, since one was a 5 wire strand and the other was a 7 wire strand. But I did have a spool of CAT-5 cable which is 8 strand, so I used that to splice it, and put it inside a PVC pipe so it would be a little more out of the weather. Now, the only problem is one of the stations remains on the whole time, whereas the others move correctly. The previous owner said that the controller was damaged when a tree was cut down, so I suppose I will need to dig that up as soon as I can find it and replace it.

But, for now, at least we can manually turn on the stations and keep the lawn watered.

Ahh, the child's "whisper"

Yesterday at church, the primary sang songs for Mother's day. We sent Emily (age 5) and Gracie (3) up to sing with them. They sang I often go walking and another song. After they were done, Gracie came barreling down the aisle, whispering, "Dad! I don't know how to sing!!!"

Needless to say, there were a few chuckles from the congregation.