Dreams do come true.

As a father you want your child to succeed. I am proud of all my children but right now my heart is doing flip flops of joy. My boy loves, drum roll please, football! That's right folks at the tender age of ten months he has got talent. He has great hands and can already roll out of the pocket. He will eventually have several large colleges looking at him but I suggest bronco offer first. I am pretty sure with some work we can teach him to write his name in time to sign the letter of intent. Sure you are all saying, " there is old Jon smoking the wacky weed again." To this I say no, (but I did eat some brownies yesterday). I am not one of those parents. He will start school on time. And he will defy his genetic makeup and be 6'4" 240, all muscle. I am so proud. I suggest you pre order your season tickets now. And he will maybe he will mention you in his Heisman acceptance speech.

The Difference!

While thinking about the title for this blog I remembered something my cousin told me this weekend. While discussing my Grandmas health she told me, "You remember a different Grandma than I do." . Tonight I have been pondering that statement and have come to the conclusion, she is right. Let me tell you a little about my Grandma so you will see, even a little the Grandma I know. My Grandma is love, she loves completely, her love is strong, her love is warm, her love is kind. My Grandma always tried her best even under limited means. She might not have given you the biggest present but I have never been more excited about a ten cent Popsicle than when it came from my Grandma, (In the form of a homemade coupon to my Grandpas store.) She always had time for me. In a world with a million demands on her time and talents, I was her Jonny and I was important. She would just talk to me and tell me stories or listen to my great adventure from the day. And at Grandmas house with twelve cousins around my age adventure was easy to find.
Despite our religious differences she always focused on the similarities, she taught me about our saviors love. She taught me the song, "Give said the little stream." She showed me how to be Christlike, always, no matter what. She loved my Grandpa completely. She didn't just love him she was in love with him, she looked for Little things she could do to serve him. I always remember her being really happy when he was there for dinner. We used to go down to my Grandpas office downstairs and he would tell us how amazing our grandma was, and he was right.
Well, i could go on all night, but I will end with a top ten list. Top ten awesome things about my Grandma.
10. She could pick one side of a piano up by herself. Could your Grandma do that? Yeah, I didn't think so.
9. She baked her own bread twice a week. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Grandma Sycamore.
8. She has 84 grand kids, she knows and loves us all. Some more than others.(sorry Marie)
7. She can hold a sliced open leg together, with her bare hands, for a half an hour. My leg to be precise.
6. She loves to act like she does not care. Her favorite thing to say to my Aunt Alice is WHATEVER, just because it drives Alice crazy.
5. She still has the prettiest hair ever.
4. She is the slowest eater in the history of mankind. Word of advise, just say no to Chuck a Rama..
3. She makes the best Mac and Cheese.
2. She loves unconditionally.
1. I have the greatest Grandmas ever. I challenge anyone to a staring contest if they disagree.

Nine Years Later.

Nine years ago in July, I got really lucky and married my best friend. And yes I know your supposed to say, "Gee golly beave my wife is my best friend." Because as a Mormon male if you don't, things can start to look, lets say Telestial. But really, in my case I mean it, she is my best friend. We are older, rounder, slower, and that is just me. She still makes me laugh. Just the other day we were laying there in bed talking and I told her I had a romantic dream the night before. Well she informed me, that she had a dreamed people had raided our house and destroyed our house and separated us. Wow, what do you say to that. I told her that there was obviously a huge difference in our dreams. Her reply was this, "Yeah I know, the difference is my dream could come true." I married a comedian. Time spent with someone you truly love is never wasted. And I don't want to waste a second. I love her quirks, like the fact she needs a list for everything. Even if it is just one thing it goes on the list. Or the fact that she cannot physically force herself to go to bed before 11 P.M. and most nights that's early. She is beautiful and smart, a great mom and a better friend. And even on those days we want to kill each other and move to Canada, we can still lay down in bed next to each other and say honestly when the lamp clicks off, "I LOVE YOU."

P.S. Don't be overly concerned about Tinks dream she is required to have at least one of those dreams a month. She thinks about that stuff a lot. It is one of those quirks, but if anyone comes we will be prepared. Just as long as there are no wolves, she hates wolves.

Rise and Shout

Yes folks the season is upon us. I am so ready and I like to think that my wife and children are ready for it as well. I know Addy is this afternoon she sat on my lap looked up excitedly and said B! I just looked at her and she informed me that after she says B. I am required to say Y! We then finished this great cheer with a loud cheerful COUGARS!!! I am so proud of my children, spiritual pure of heart giants of men. I could not help but sing a verse from Saturdays Warrior with a tear of joy in my eye "Who are these children coming down." I am sure most of you would see and understand my pride. My little girl all grown up and learning the difference between a 3-4 and a 4-3 defense. She even knows that on third and one with a great running back and a huge line you don't throw you run. Or maybe she has heard me yell it every fall of her short life and now she just knows its like second nature.
All is right with the BYU season at this point we are undefeated. It is happiness all around. I even noticed a little crispness in the air. that cool breeze on a hot day that teases you into believing that fall is near.

Peace like a river.

This is nor one of my ever exciting stories this is a blog so deal with my rant please. I was thinking what it would and will feel like to rap up in the arms of Christ. I can only imagine the excitement of the moment but everytime I think of the moment I can only think of one feeling Peace. Peace from the world. Peace from worry and peace from daily strife. No loss no grief no pain no war in the heart. Just warm loving peace. I hope he thinks of me as his friend. I hope he lets his atonement wash my sins away. I hope he stands as my advocate. With him I know I will find that peace. I remember when I knew he loved me. Not just me as in I am me one of a trillion chidren of our Heavenly Father. But me as what I can be. He knows me personally. He knows my likes he knows I like fishing and hunting. He knows I like football and sports. He knows my loves and my hates. And what is more amazing to me is he cares about that stuff. His love is the river that runs through our hearts and brings the peace to our soul. I pray I will always strive to have that peace in my heart ALWAYS.

Story @ Real men skin skunks. Yeah real stupid men

Yes as you might have guessed already my second story has all the elements of a great story. Adventure, Boldness, and a tragic hero in the end. Let me say to start is generally I am a rather intelligent fellow but when me and my brother in law get together we sometimes are twelve years old again and those twelve year old brains do things that as a adult would say are STUPID. A few summers ago we were in Nephi and my brother in law Jon came running into the house with the exciting news that he had hit the mother load of practical jokes, a skunk skin. Only problem was it was still attached to the very much alive and ticked off skunk. The skunk had been in the live trap all day and was not thrilled. Upon further investigation we turned are adult brains off and began to think like boys. We made the game plan all we needed was a checklist
1. Big old piece of carpet. Check
2. Cage with big old skunk in it. Check
3. two stupid brothers. Check
4. Truck to load skunk in. Check
5. Creek to drowned skunk in. Check
Yes folks we do not go into things willy nilly we think things out. So here's how it went. We approached the skunk carpet up and prepared for spray. Now let me tell you from experience from a distance skunks stink but once you have experienced a full spray up close and personal it does not just stink it is all encompassing. It makes every part of you want to barf then die. So the skunk sprayed the carpet and we had our skunk loaded in the truck for the ride to the creek and doom. At the creek things continued to go swimmingly. Jon did not want to ruin his new boots so I had to get in to drown the evil creature from heck. All the while Jon laughed as I stood on the carpet on the cage in the middle of the creek.
Next came the skinning. Now I have skinned many animals and never have gotten sick or grossed out until this moment. Heavenly father never intended skunks to be skinned it was not part of the plan and those who go against his plan are punished. And we were I have never felt more smote than while I was skinning that skunk. It was indescribably awful. Yucky yuck yuck. Icky poo poo. and several other bad things.
Well it all worked out Jon got his skunk skin tanned and it turned out great I feel like I should have gotten visitation rights or something. Next time i think we will just go buy a realistic looking stuffed animal skunk. Now every time I drive down the road and smell a skunk it gags me to the point of chunks. Next time someone says they hit the mother load of practical jokes run real fast and don't stop

three truths and one lie story 1. Merry Christmas.

Yes my wife has convinced me to give this story format a go so here goes four exciting story's from my life.

Last Christmas we went to Trinas family Christmas party at one of her Uncles house. We were all having a great time the house was crowded and full of fun christmas spirit. We had a fun delicious dinner and were just starting into dessert when the incident happened we were all crowded in the living room and I decided to be extra friendly to trinas cousin who I was trying to be extra friendly too. So I walked over to her sat down and said hi there blank (names have been changed to protect all parties involved.) I then grabbed her leg not hard but just in the friendly knee squeeze. Well from blanks reaction you would have thought I had squoze her leg off. She lost it and started hitting me in a failed attempt to beat the living crap out of me. After a good solid minute of this futile beating she wore her self out so I asked if she had hurt herself by hitting me so hard so many times. I said this to prevent myself from getting upset and throwing blank through the window into the cold. Well I went back to eating my piece of pie while the rest of the family just stared at me in shock wondering what the heck that one was all about. And frankly I was trying to figure it out myself. So there I sat calm and mad but completly under control. A minute later blank returned with a glass of cold water that she felt the need to throw on me. So she did. And there i sat wet, eating undercooked apple pie not really feeling the christmas spirit anymore and trying not to lose my cool. Because I love my wife and her family I chose to stay reasonable and not spill any blood at the family christmas party. At the time this was a huge insult and i was madder than heck. But now looking back it was such a absurd incident that I can't help but laugh. And I completly avoid blank because windows are expensive and not easily replaced.