Summer Thus far

Summer has gone by fast, but maybe it is because I've been so lazy.  We did get to visit family this summer.

We went to Denver, Colorado for a wedding.  It was a beautiful outdoor wedding.  The reception was awesome with fun dancing and delicious food.

We also got to go to Bandimere raceway to watch jet fuel cars.

We did our booth at Spanish Fork Fiesta Days.

Chloe was in the Children's Parade.

My parents came for a weekend visit.  We spent Friday at Trafalga.  We rode some rides, to some Dippin' Dots, and played arcade games.  Zane won 1,000 tickets on one game.


We spent Saturday at Price International Days to see a car show, then we played board games all evening.

Lazy Summer

So far my summer has been fairly lazy.  I sleep in, read, watch tv, do a little bit of housework like dishes or laundry.

I need to get my butt in gear and complete the projects I had planned: clean house, fix house, sell house, buy new house, get a dog, lose weight, buy a new car, take music lessons (guitar, violin or flute), practice languages (ASL, German, maybe learn Spanish) and go on a spectacular vacation.

I have gotten a start, I tackled a pile.  I think if I just tackled a pile or task or room a day that I should be fine.  We got a great start on cleaning out the garage.  We can actually park a car in there now.  Now Cooper and Chloe want to clean out their room in hopes of having a yard sale and getting some money.  Money is a good motivator.

I have been exercising, I try to go to Curves 3 times a week, Zumba twice a week, and R.I.P.P.E.D. twice a week.  I just need to get my eating in check.  At least I've maintained and my endurance is better.  I've been on a blood pressure medication for over a month now and my pressure has come down.

How have your summer projects been coming?

Wood Badge, Fox Patrol

I attended a Wood Badge course in Park City at Snydermill Lodge.  This particular course is lovingly referred to as "Camp Cush" because of the nice facilities.

This was an unusual training because it is the first ASL integrated course.  (You can check out the Salt Lake Tribune article here).  There were 2 Deaf patrols.  There were 3 interpreters and many instructors who know some ASL.  It has been great for me because the ASL I learned at BYU started to come back to me.  I've been able to help interpret a bit between hearing and deaf scouters.  I've taught my patrol some signs and phrases, such as 'nice to meet you,'  'good morning', and of course most important, 'bathroom'.

My patrol is the Fox Patrol.  There are 6 guys (Dallin, Ryan, Daniel, Tony, RJ, and Jeremy), me, and our troop guide Jay.  There are a total of 8 patrols.

We had kitchen duty.  Here is proof that the guys do dishes.

We got to make a rocket and shoot it off.  It was very fun, though our rocket didn't fair so well.

Here we are balancing nails on one single nail.  Can you feel how excited we are at our accomplishment?

The guys doing their Captain Morgan stance.  From left to right is RJ, Daniel, Jeremy, Tony, Ryan and Dallin.

On the last day we did not get in our article for the Gilwell Gazette so the scribes wrote it for us.  They had put that people could get their picture with us for a reasonable price.  So here is a pic of Dave the Scribe and Daniel.

I had a great time at Wood Badge and had a great group of guys.  They were such gentlemen taking care of me: making sure I was OK while hiking, lending me a jacket when it was cold, escorting me to my tent late at night, and Daniel even killed a spider for me.

We got along great and really bonded, we are like a fraternity and will be lifelong friends.  We are planning to get together often in the future.

Overhaul

So today I went to the doctor to have some things checked out.  I needed a physical to attend Woodbadge for scouting and had some other issues I needed looked at. At the end, I felt like a car taken to the shop to get its engine overhauled.

The last four times I've tried to donate blood I've been turned away because my blood pressure was too high.  Sure enough, it was high at the doctor's too.  So he's put me on a hypertension medicine called Zestoretic.  I hope it helps.  Oh, they also did an EKG for a baseline.

I also had blood drawn and they will check it to see if I have diabetes or hypoglycemia.  They'll also check my thyroid.  I was also given a tetanus shot (since I couldn't remember when I last had one and they didn't have any record of giving me one).

Bottom line, I could remedy many of my issues if I lost weight, lots of weight.  Hopefully my blood pressure will come down, I can keep Type II Diabetes away, and my knee joints would be relieved of some pressure.

A day in Salt Lake City

So today is the first day of my Spring Break.  I tried to sleep in a bit, but was getting the kids off to school.

I hung around the house, caught up on some TV shows on the DVR.  Then went to run errands in Salt Lake City.  First I stopped by my sister's house to drop off a tool for her to take to my dad's house in Nevada.  Then I went to Simmons Media Group offices at Trolley Corner to pick up the T-shirt I won.

Then I took myself to lunch.  I had heard about a German deli called Siegfried's Delicatessen.  I had their special for the day, knackwurst and 2 sides.  I chose sauerkraut, and spaetzle with gravy.  I had Almdudler Limonade to drink, and a slice of chocolate hazelnut cake for dessert.

It was all very good.  I'd like to go again and try other things on their menu.  They had many things for sale: kinder chocolates, marzipan, noodles, cookies, pickles, beets, crackers, mixes, candies, mugs, t-shirts, deli meats and cheeses, and fish.  I bought a slice of black forest cake to take home to Kyle and some Hungarian style pickles.