Besaw Family Blog

First Steps

2010-05-10T13:00:00.007-06:00

Brian Turns One!

2010-05-10T12:34:00.009-06:00

I can't believe little Brian turned one this past weekend. I'm sorry that I've been so bad about posting pictures and videos. Brian is such a special little guy. He is one of the happiest little guys you will ever meet. He is also our youngest at taking his first steps and I'll try to post some on that as well.

Blogger isn't letting me re-arrange the pictures the way I wanted. Oh well, the first picture is from this morning when Marcus and Brian (sporting his new B-day Jammies) were trying out Brian's new phone he got for his birthday.

Here are a few photos of Brian enjoying his cake. Remembering Tyler's first birthday, we are always relieved when one of our babies enjoys his birthday cake.

Brian Reacting to all the singing of Happy Birthday.

Brian showing off his skills on the new push along fire engine.

Now that he has figured out his balance and can even take a few steps, none of the boys toys are safe anymore.

A Couple Quick Videos

2010-04-02T19:04:00.006-06:00

I think maybe it is time to teach Marcus the real alphabet song, what do you think?

And here we have the first footage of baby Brian crawling!

Random Summer pics and Videos

2009-08-05T21:37:00.011-06:00

I think these videos and pictures pretty well speak for themselves, and since it takes a while to load and I am trying to multi-task tonight...Enjoy!

Economy: Rinse and Repeat

2009-02-18T11:17:00.004-07:00

Those who know me know that I am a big fan of capitalism. One of the things that can be difficult about a free economy is the boom and bust cycle that takes place when markets must correct themselves. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on that. I did, however, what to point something out. I keep hearing about how bad the economy is and people wondering if we will ever get back to prosperity. In fact, here are just a few headlines from the past year in Time magazine (including a case for saving GM and a picture of Mr. Change Obama and his "New New Deal"):

The reason I post these is because they remind me of another time. When I was just starting to study journalism in high school in 1992 (a quick shout out to Ms. Beck from Hillcrest High) we were also going through a rough economic time. I remember reading article after article wondering if/when we would ever get out of the tailspin we were in. Interestingly enough, many economists would argue that the '90s were as prosperous a decade as we have ever had. See if any of these 1992 Time covers look at all familiar (including an article about GM and a "Mandate for Change")

I'm not predicting how or when the economy is going to turn around. In fact, given our governments response, I've never been more worried for the state of our nation. However, I do think that a little perspective on how history tends to repeat itself is worth at least a glance.

A Groundhog's Day Worth Repeating (02-02-02)

2009-02-02T21:54:00.001-07:00

I have a Groundhog’s day story that I have been meaning to write down for quite some time. This year, I finally made the time.

In January 2002, with the Olympic Games almost upon Salt Lake City, Jamie and my relationship was really humming along. I don’t have time to write the whole story of how we ended up dating (though I do intend to write my version of that story some time as well), suffice it to say that for as hard as it was for Jamie and I to begin dating, it was equally easy for us to become comfortable with one another and fall in love. On January 24, 2002 I was sitting at my parents’ computer working on a church assignment when my inbox flashed that I received an e-mail from Jamie. Always anxious to see what she had to say, I was rather taken aback when all the e-mail said was, “I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?”, I wondered. Did we have a date I had forgotten about? Did she hit send before she finished writing a longer message? Surely this wasn’t her letting me know she was ready to get engaged. Having dated for just three months, I assumed that we were headed to the eventuality of marriage, I just thought it would come several months down the road. Over the next few days I scrambled a little. I made a trip to the temple and prayed about our relationship. I had such a great feeling. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that I had gone to the temple with the intention of getting confirmation from Heavenly Father that this was the right person. However, it was the first time that the peaceful reassurance of the spirit told me I had found the right person.

This set in motion a series of planning. I knew that Jamie would be extremely busy once the Olympics started. She was slated to spend a lot of time at the speed skating Oval as an athletic trainer. I finalized the purchase of an engagement ring that Jamie’s sister Tracy helped me pick out, called and got permission from Jamie’s dad to ask for her hand in marriage and tried to figure out the how of asking Jamie to marry me.

February 2, 2002, or 02-02-02, fell on a Saturday. Figuring that it would make for a memorable engage-iversery date I ordered up a dozen long stem roses and called Jamie and scheduled a date.

It turned out that several of my friends from my single’s ward had planned to all go out to eat at the Garden Restaurant on Temple Square. Unlike in most years, in 2002 the lights around temple square were still up in February (something to do with the Olympics). Early in the day, I drove down to Temple Square with my friend Matt Reading and we picked out an exact spot where I would ask Jamie to marry me. We worked it out that Matt would pick up my roses, store them with someone at the Joseph Smith Building and place them in “the spot” for me as Jamie and I were leaving dinner. That way, Jamie would never see it coming, but I would have a dozen roses that I could magically whip out of thin air.

Later in the day, Jamie called and asked if I would be willing to go on our date a little early and go visit her grandma Fran at the Wasatch Rehabilitation Center. I agreed and we spent a little time with her grandma, who repeatedly told me I was extremely handsome, before heading downtown.

When we got downtown, Matt pulled me aside. None of the Joseph Smith Building employees were going to be on shift long enough to hold the roses for us so he had given the roses to the hostess at the Garden. All this meant, was that somehow Matt would need to get out in front of us without Jamie seeing him get the actual roses from the Hostess. As luck would have it, we were seated right near the front of the restaurant where I could see the roses throughout the whole meal.

The meal was fun. In fact, it was the only time I have ever made Jamie laugh so hard that water came out of her nose. I was totally nervous the whole dinner, but tried to remain relaxed and myself. Finally, after the bill came I decided that I would try to take Jamie out of the restaurant and stall for Matt to get the roses in place.

Seeing as how I am a terrible liar, I told Jamie that I needed to use the restroom, but that I really liked the restroom in the basement of the Joseph Smith Building. She must have known something was up…I still can’t believe I didn’t come up with a better excuse. Fortunately, it was a really busy day and Jamie said that a ton of men came in and out of that restroom. So, she actually started to wonder if it was a special room or something.

Once I was in the restroom, Matt called me to report that he was on his way with the roses and had a good lead. I walked up and told Jamie I thought it would be nice to walk around the Temple once. Jamie, as luck would have it, didn’t want to, “its too cold,” she complained. I literally had to drag her away from the door closest to where we parked and walk her around to the designated “spot.” Even as we walked, I was trying to make it romantic (despite her thinking I just spent like 10 minutes in some special restroom) and Jamie was doing her best to just hurry up and get to the car where we could get warm.

When we did finally reach the bench where the roses were, I pulled Jamie aside and told her I wanted to take her with me to the temple. I started getting down on one knee, but had placed myself too close to the granite bench and I bumped hard into it, so I sorta half-kneeled and half stood and asked her to marry me. (She still ribs me about my less than proper knee-job and in retrospect it certainly wasn’t very slick on my part.) Jamie said yes and I whipped out the roses as a few people around us applauded. We still have those roses, dried, on a shelf above our stairs in our home.

As we drove home, Jamie called her family and was really excited. It was certainly not the smoothest proposal ever, but it certainly was a Groundhog’s day worth repeating.

Now I tease Jamie's sisters that they need to get engaged on repeated dates. Here's looking to 09-09-09!

A Brief Pause

2008-12-15T15:34:00.003-07:00

I've been a bit of a slacker with this blog, but this is a really cute story and won't take me long to write so I decided to share.

A few weeks ago, our family received an early Christmas present from my parents, a Nintendo Wii. Of course, Tyler has loved playing it (especially the boxing and the fitness assessment that lets him "see how old he is"). Recently, I showed Tyler that if his mom calls him while playing he can pause the game. This is useful so that she doesn't get upset at his lack of response and he doesn't have to lose out on his game. Now that Tyler has figured out how to pause the games, he often pauses them for the smallest little scratch or just to tell me something. Clearly, this new found power to pause is something he really enjoys.

Last night, Tyler was saying his goodnight prayer by the side of his bed. He had said a couple of "thank thee's" and then I heard this, "Uh-oh Dad! Pause the prayer!" I looked up and he was rubbing/scratching an itch on his nose. Then, as soon as he was done, he went right back to his prayer. I had a hard time not busting a gut as he finished up. It was pretty funny, but I do think maybe he needs a little better grasp on when it is appropriate to use the "pause" button.

Marcus Turns Two!

2008-11-11T19:58:00.002-07:00

I've seen other blogs where parents have written up a tribute to their children on their birthdays. I think this is such a great idea. I wanted to try it this year on Marcus' birthday, but I am also worried because it is so difficult to express the emotions you feel for a child in writing.

Marcus was born while I was still finishing my MBA and just a little over a month after I had started my new business. Combine this with also having to help care for and play with Tyler and I felt so bad that for the first six months of his life I was not able to spend as much time with him as I had with Tyler. As a result, he was also much more of a Mama's boy. However, from the moment he came to our family Marcus has been such a joy. He has so much energy (for good and bad). He is quick to laugh and already at the age of two he has a well developed sense of humor.

Jamie reports that Marcus was a really easy newborn, but from about 3 months to 18 months he wasn't much of a sleeper and this resulted in his being a bit of a monster. I've always said that Marcus is like "Jack Jack" from the Incredibles. He is so cute and then BAM fireball!

One of the best/worst memories I have of Marcus is the time he spent at the hospital. I think seeing him in such a fragile state really tugged on my heartstrings. He was so sweet and loving those few days. In fact, I really think that his personality underwent a fundamental change that week. I never would have believed that a year and a half year old could learn a lesson of appreciation. However, as soon as Marcus came home he really did seem to have a greater appreciation of his mom and I. Since then his personality has developed at the speed of light.

Of late, Marcus is such a beacon of light. I've nearly cried on a couple of occassions when I get home and he and Tyler lead the charge to the door chanting my name. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful boys.

I love you Marcus and hope we are always able to have so much fun together.

Family Pics on a Budget

2008-11-02T15:05:00.008-07:00

First of all, try not to drop dead, but this is......yes, Jamie blogging for the first time ever. I'm surprised Kent's not doing backflips around the house(he's probably waiting to see how long it lasts). What can I say, I like to ease in slow to the IT world. I never used email until after my mission(I'll let you all guess when that was).

So, anyway, a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, my sister obliged us(thanks so much Tracy...we love you) and took some family shots of us over by the ever famous "stage" across from the Timpanogus Temple. As much as I would have loved to spring for a big fancy photographer, well you know...tough economic times means family pics on a budget. Every time we try to take pictures with our kids, I gain a greater level of respect for family/child photographers. You'd think that the main difficulty would be the youngest munchkin, but we seem to have just as much trouble with the 41/2 year old sabotaging our efforts. I thought I'd post some of the results to show everyone how our family has grown.

California: Where Swords Grow on Trees

2008-10-08T14:55:00.004-06:00

As a lot of you know, at the beginning of September Jamie and I braved the drive to California to attend the blessing of my brother's youngest daughter, Ashlyn. I also had a conference the next week in San Deigo so it ended up being a good, week-long adventure.

One of my favorite days on the trip was Labor Day. A lot of the family had already left to go back to Utah. With just the two families left, Carl's gang joined mine for a day at the park. The first park we went to took Jamie back to the mission days as it was an Asian Invasion. There were Chinese women doing their fun dance/exercise routine and men doing Taichi. Unfortunately, there were also no courts that were not being used up. So, after doing some relay races and generally exhausting ourselves, we went to another park where Carl and I were able to play a set of tennis.

I'd love to say that the reason I lost to Carl was because it had been five years since I played. Unfortunately, since he had also not played in about that long I guess I'll just say that I didn't want to beat him in front of his new born baby. Ya, that's it! (We did have a very close match that was a lot of fun though).
While we were playing Tennis, Adam, Annaka and Tyler discovered hanging pods from the trees at the park. They quickly became "swords" in the mind of Adam and Tyler. Once they had finished picking off the low hanging and already fallen pods, they turned to Carl and I to jump or climb for more. It was pretty fun to see how many hits your "sword" could dish out or take in before it would break apart.

At one point, Carl pointed out that California must be a pretty cool place if Swords can grow on trees. Tyler agreed wholeheartedly.

After we got back to Utah, I asked Tyler his favorite part of the trip to California. He told me that his favorite part was Adam. Then he added, "and Ashlyn and Annaka." It really was great getting to spend time with my brother and his family. They were great about dropping everything and letting us invade their lives for a few days. I'm so glad that Tyler has such great family influences.

Relay-A-Thon

2008-09-24T09:33:00.013-06:00

I apologize for the blogger's cramp over the past few weeks. I have plenty to blog, but am just now getting back into a post-vacation routine where I can put a few pictures up and tell a few stories. I also apologize for blogging out of order...I do want to blog about our California trip, but I am still arranging those pictures.

I know what some of you are thinking...another blog about a race. Well, this is more about Tyler than Jamie and I. It started out as a relay marathon that Jamie, Tracy, Tracy's friend Kyle, our neighbor Veralyn and I were going to run. We each were set to run a fifth of a marathon despite varying illness, injury and lack of training. (Our team was still 19th overall so I'm proud of our group!) I could blog about our team runs and that we all had fun and stuff. But you've heard about that from me before. I'll just leave it at we had a great time and everyone did a great job. (By the way, I tried to checkerboard these photos, it didn't work...oops! Maybe I'll figure it out next time).

When we got the race it was pretty cold and the kids were not exactly enjoying the playground because they were too busy being cold. However, once it started heating up they announced that they were having a kids race. Tyler decided that despite no training, wearing his Crocs and jeans and without having a clue how far the race was that he wanted to run the kid race. I was nervous thinking he would never be able to go the full distance (I think it was a 1k race which would be about .62 of a mile). Fortunately, his mother has more faith in him than I do because she signed him up and he did AWESOME!

He ran the whole way and at the end was so proud of his accomplishment. At one point in the race his best friend Lauren started to slow down and walk. Veralyn (who was running beside them at the time) reports that Tyler slowed to a walk for a few seconds and then said, "This isn't a walking race, this is a running race," and kept on chugging along.

Tyler has seen his mom and I race a fair amount in the past. I think this is one reason why he was so proud of himself that morning. They also gave him a really cool medal that he didn't stop wearing all weekend.

Last, but not least, Marcus has now started standing next to a wall or door and saying "GO" and then running (or quickly waddling as the case may be) across the room. Looks like we have yet another racer in the making.

Playing Superhero

2008-08-22T08:11:00.000-06:00

About a week or so ago Tyler had his first invitation to a non-family birthday party. His friend Luke invited him to a superheroes birthday bash. At the party, he even made a cape (that Marcus also really likes). Of course, given the fun he had at the birthday party he and Marcus did a lot of dressing up over the next few days.
Perhaps my favorite was the day that I received a package from Amazon. That night Tyler kept cutting the box up and trying to make things out of the pieces. Eventually he came to me for help and I was at a loss. Then, in a flash I remembered that he had been on his superhero kick so I took the strips he had cut up and convinced him they were superhero arm and leg bands. The results were one very funny "Cardboard Man." Watch out, he might just be the next big superhero.

Marcus' Good News

2008-08-07T09:07:00.002-06:00

Thanks to all those who prayed and fasted for Marcus over the past little while. We are very grateful for the faith of good friends and family. Yesterday, Marcus' tests were all normal and it appears as though the issues he was having this time last month were just a minor blip on his overall health radar.

We are so glad that he is doing well, in fact, he has gained most of his weight back already.

My Helmet Story: Tender Mercy or Coincidence

2008-07-30T09:29:00.005-06:00

I am now in my third year of posting on this blog and have posted a total of 5 or 6 "deeper" posts. Oddly enough, it seems that all of them have come recently. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Either way, here comes one more than is a little more personal.

My post begins with a story. Last Saturday Kirt Melling and his dad dropped me off at the Spudman triathlon transition area where Kirt would finish the swim and my bike would begin. They then headed off to the area where the swim would start. About a minute later, I realized in horror that I had left my helmet back at the Melling home. Race rules would prohibit me from racing without a helmet (not to mention it isn't a good idea for safety sake). I just about dropped an expletive when I made the discovery and, frankly, am pretty proud I held it in. Though I didn't drop to my knees in prayer, my mind was racing asking how it could work out for me to still race. I decided to walk out and see if I could hitch a ride with a local as the Mellings didn't live that far away. I had about 20 minutes before Kirt would begin to swim and figured it would take him another 20 minutes to complete the swim. I figured that worst of all, I could probably run to the Mellings and back in about 45 minutes, but I would be exhausted for the rest of the race and that would really stink.

As I dejectedly headed out to see what luck I might have "thumbing" a ride, I immediately spotted Jeff and Melanie Lambert from my ward. When I described my plight they didn't hesitate at all to drive me over to get my helmet (with some risk that they would be late for the race themselves).

I hate to admit it, but I sorta just shrugged this off to great luck and went on the race. However, as I biked and ran amongst so many competitors (over 1,750 competed) Elder Bednar's 2005 conference talk (found here) kept coming back to my mind.

He said, "Some may count this experience as simply a nice coincidence, but I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them."

I, too, testify that this was not a random occurence. I have a loving Heavenly Father who knew that although this wasn't important in the grand eternal scheme, to me on that morning it was a big deal. After the race, I spent a lot of time trying to find the Lamberts to thank them for their help. I never did spot them again amongst all the participants. Coincidence that I just happened to see them at exactly the right time earlier that morning?

As I said before, this could be easily chalked up to good luck. However, I am so grateful for this little experience as it reassured me of the many other ways, both big and small, that my Heavenly Father watches over me. I hope to work harder to be worthy of these tender mercies.

Spudman 2008 Recap

2008-07-28T15:27:00.006-06:00

As the sun rose in Burley, Idaho on Saturday, Jamie and I were preparing for the Spudman Triathlon. (It was a hectic morning and that story will be a post of its own that I'll put out here in the next day or two.) Some of you may remember that last year I did the swim and run for this race. This year, my intention had been to do the whole thing with Jamie. My April ear surgery rendered me unable to do the swim portion, but my neighbor Kirt (whose parents let us stay at their home) helped me out. Although Kirt's swim was a little slower than my swim from last year, the time was gained in the transition since I didn't have to dry off before getting on my bike. Therefore, I feel as though my time was an accurate reflection of my racing abilities.

Jamie, who has really been doing an awesome job of keeping up with her workouts completed the entire race in 2 hours and 38 minutes. She killed her goal of 2:45! My time was 2 hours and 36 minutes and was also ahead of my goal time which was to finish. Fortunately for me, since my heat started about a half hour before hers, I got to cool down and still watch her at the finish line. It was pretty awesome watching her as she finished really strong and with an incredible time. (In the picture of her finishing, I am on the far left in blue cheering my wife to the finish, while clinging to the fence post for support.) To see a breakdown of our times click here and here.There were over 2,000 people who signed up for the race, and over 1,750 that actually competed. This included Jamie's sister Tracy (who rocked the race with a time of 2:55) and several others we knew.

The great thing about the Spudman is that the mile swim is in the Snake River so you get a little help from the current. Jamie flew down the river beating my time from last year by almost 3 minutes. The 25 mile bike course is pretty flat, and that is a good thing. Jamie toasted me on the bike, and I learned the hard way as I watched packs of racers fly by me that I should have done more bike work (I never rode for more than about 8 miles before the race...oops!). The bike course took us around the farmland of Burley and if my legs hadn't been yelling at me, I think I would have enjoyed the scene. Jamie, meanwhile, didn't even notice that there was a strong headwind and managed a pace of 20 mph throughout her ride. No wonder her legs have been looking so good lately! The run was a 10K loop that followed some of the canals around the farm. I felt pretty good on the run, considering my legs were so achy from the biking. In fact, I never got passed on the run and did a fair amount of passing. Of course, considering the hundreds that passed me on the bike it should be no surprise there was no one left behind me to pass me up.

One funny thing, as I was running by a guy, trying to be encouraging I said, "Great stride man." His response floored me and I almost burst out laughing. He said, "Don't patronize me, I recognize those hairy legs and must have passed you an hour ago on the bike!" My legs are pretty one-of-a-kind. Though my run time wasn't great for just a 10-k, considering I'd just done 25 miles of biking I was proud to have kept my average mile well under 8 minutes. The run is also the only part of the race where I was better than Jamie who is seriously in amazing shape.

Of course, our boys were also very proud of us. According to my mom they were as good as gold while we were gone. Special thanks to my parents for watching the boys so that Jamie and I could do this together. Tyler was a little disappointed when I told him that I didn't win the race; but I told him that his mom and I are definately winners just for doing so good. Not sure he totally bought it, but I tried.
One very unfortunate story that did put a bit of a damper on the event was that a Provo man passed away during the swim. I don't know a lot of the details, most of what I do know came from this article here.

Pioneer Day 2008

2008-07-27T21:23:00.007-06:00

This year's Pioneer day was a total blast! I hope you are all willing to check out my sister's blog here because she has given a great recap of the evening at my parents' house. Rather than even try to match the sweet blog entry they have, I'll just refer to hers and add these few pics. Oh ya, I'll also add the clip of Tyler's song he made up for his favorite firework, The Sky Spider.

I do have more to add from that morning. Jamie wanted to get out and try an open water swim in preparation for our Spudman race on Saturday. So, we packed up the kids and went to Deer Creek where we met up with Jamie's sister, Tracy. They both swam and we had the kids out in little blow up rafts. Marcus loved throwing little rocks in the water and Tyler, of all things, enjoyed pulling me around the shoreline while I lounged in the boat. It was so great!

I was a little bit of a scrooge the night before. I didn't really want to get up early on a day off, pack everything up, etc. However, I'm glad we went as I had as good a time as anyone.

A Visit from my "Blood" Brother

2008-07-27T21:04:00.002-06:00

Seems crazy, but it was about 9 years ago that I was looking for a roommate for my junior year at BYU. I just happened to start talking to this wacked out West Virginian who was living in my complex, but surrounded by slobs. Well, that meeting literally turned the next two years of school on its head.

Dan Blood and I became roommates and did about everything together for the next two years. Of course, this stunk whenever we met new people. They would inevitably ask about our majors. Dan would say, "I'm studying Chemical Engineering." They would respond with "Wow, you must be smart." Then I would say I was studying Chinese and they would tilt their heads and say "what are you going to do with that?" I often felt like pulling out a stick and beating these people, but that would be impolite. So instead I would say, "Actually I'm the smart one, for all you know Dan here is failing out of Chemical Engineering."

Turns out they were right after all. Dan is a successful Nuclear Engineer working on the U.S. submarines (at least they better be our subs he is working on.) Meanwhile, the last time I spoke Chinese was just so Tyler wouldn't catch on that we were planning on putting him to bed a little early.

Dan and I really were a great pairing. We were even both born on April 8, "The Divine Day", and enjoyed nothing better than humor at our own expense. We were never the best looking duo in any of our wards. But on more than one occassion I was asked by a girl if I could get them a date with Dan because they heard our creative dates were a blast. Who knew dates that cost so little, like making boats to race downstream or marshmellow-gun wars at the park would be so fun.

Dan and I are both a little more grown up now. I still love hearing him tell stories of the crazies he taught in New York on his mission. I even think he still likes hearing me tell some of my "classic" missteps. This past week Dan and his beautiful wife and daughter were in town. It was so great seeing him again. You know you are really good friends when you can go a full six months without contact and pick right up where you left off without the need for apologies.

Dan is also still just as skinny as I am. Somehow the topic of the show "the Biggest Loser" came up and we both feel discriminated against. So, if anyone in TV show land is reading. You should seriously consider a show called, "The Great American Bulk Up." Dan and I would make great contestants.

Pool Party!

2008-07-23T09:23:00.005-06:00

Not a lot to say on this post, but had a couple cute pictures and a video I wanted to share. This summer on several occassions we have pulled out the big blow up pool and borrowed the neighbors slide. Our boys seem to love cooling off in the water. Marcus surprises me with how much he seems to enjoy the water despite being so young. Tyler is constantly putting his face under water because "it feels cool." Both of our boys inherited their Uncle Carl's love of water and water fights. I love that I can already have a water fight with Tyler without his complaining when I get him. (The same can't be said for all the kids in the neighborhood, including some quite a bit older)."

Me and My Boys

2008-07-20T18:26:00.001-06:00

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How My Parents Fell in Love

2008-07-20T18:04:00.001-06:00

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Tyler's Water Belly

2008-07-16T16:48:00.003-06:00

Last night was one of those parental moments that you could never see coming. Being the baseball junkie that I am I was watching the All-star game when Jamie and Tyler went for a little walk. When they came back Tyler drank a ton of water to cool down. We then sent him to get his PJs on. About two minutes later he came sprinting out of his room with a huge smile on his face and acting really excited. I thought maybe he had found a long lost toy or something. Instead he says, "dad wanna hear something so cool?" How do you say no to that. He then proceeds to do some little jig and asks, did you hear that? I was totally confused and he could tell so he did it again. His little belly made this very loud swishing sound and then he giggled over to his mom to show her.

He spent the rest of the bedtime routine (brushing teeth, scriptures, prayer, story etc) taking pauses to swish his belly around and each time he did it his face would light up and he would giggle for a solid minute. What a little nut!

I'm sure this is one of those experiences that you sorta had to be there to really appreciate, but I know Jamie and I definately appreciated our little Water Belly Boy.

Here is a little video we took, I don't think we caught the actual sound of the belly very well. However, Tyler's reactions are pretty great.(You can sorta make it out one of the times, but trust us, it was, indeed, pretty loud).

A Belated 4th of July Post

2008-07-14T13:20:00.008-06:00

Well, given Marcus' illness last week I didn't get time to post anything about July 4th. I'm sure that some of you have had more than your fill of July 4th postings so I promise to add a video that is a little unusual (even if it is at my expense).

The 4th this year was a little more relaxed than previous years because the Guth's were out of town and the Laurence's went to Stadium of Fire. So, Tyler and Marcus had their parents and grandparents all to themselves. In the morning we went to the park and in the afternoon cousin Morgan came and played in our blow up pool. (I'll make another post later about the fun our boys have had in our blow up pool this year).

Since Tyler has been asking about Fireworks for months now (I'm not kidding!) we got started a little early with parachuters, sky spiders and smoke bombs. Luckily, our neighbors the Mellings and Halls had us over to watch some of their fountains so that we didn't run out of fireworks before it got dark. Of course, only yours truly is a fine enough connoisseur of fireworks to know that Black Cat Fireworks far exceed TNT fireworks for variety in color and size. As such, our finale, in my less than humble opinion, was the best! If only I could use my pyro skills for good!

Tyler was so enamored with the fireworks that he even convinced me to let him attend the Laurence's firework party on Monday night (the last night fireworks were legal). For more on that show see the Laurence's post here.

A little story here before the video I promised. When I was in college we used to spruce up our firework shows by running through the fountains much like one runs through the sprinklers. However, once I started hosting firework parties with children in attendance this no longer seemed like such a good idea. As such, I was trying to find a way to spruce up a fireworks show, but still have the show on a budget (and legal, I have enough illegal fire stories). So, I discovered that if I made a goofy face or dance while lighting one of the strobe "flasher" fireworks the kids would all laugh. This trend grew to where the kids joined in the dance and now the flasher is the Besaw favorite as all the kids whip out their favorite dance moves. I especially like a few of Tyler's moves in this video. He is the kid on the far right.

This tradition evolved to the point where the first year in our Lehi home I broke out my ole stand by dance move, "the worm." Now, it is tradition that each year I have to do the worm at least once. Well, this year it was caught on tape so...here is a video of my making a fool of myself doing the worm (the Laurence post has a great video of my nephew Clayton's version of the worm).

The Memory Game Craze

2008-07-11T15:44:00.002-06:00

I've seen this on a bunch of blogs today and though you may be burning out of it, I think it sounds fun. So, I figured that I'd give it a shot as well. Please feel free to play along.

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

A Dose of Perspective

2008-07-09T20:59:00.003-06:00

I always worry a little when my blog postings aren't simply a record of an event or a quick story. I guess I fear that when I write the more serious things in my head it will either sound trivial, cheesy or something. However, this past week gave me such a reality check that I wanted to share a few of my reflections (and they say writing is good therapy).

In the Book of Mormon the cycle of pride is outlined multiple times. A rundown for those who haven't heard of it, the pride cycle goes something like this: a people (or person) is righteous, due to their righteousness they are blessed, owing to their blessings they becomes prideful, being prideful drives them away from righteousness, trials fall upon the wicked, overcoming the trials leads them back to righteousness. They key is to find a way to be humble without the trials being put in your path. If you can get on your knees and be penitent without trials then the chances go up that you won't face the trials aimed at humbling you. Of course, that isn't the reason for all trials, but it can be a reason for trials.

I think sometimes I fall victim to not only the pride cycle, but also the perspective cycle. I have all these blessings in my life. Seriously, I have SO much to be grateful for. However, when I begin to pursue or be consumed with those blessings (usually things) that I don't have is when something happens to alter one of my life's greatest blessings.

Are you with me so far? If you are baffled, its probably me and not you.

So to the heart of my point. Over the last little while it seems my focus has been on things I wish I had (like a killer vacation, a wii, the funds to finish my basement, etc) and am bugged by things less important (why do I still have acne at 31, why is it so hard to find time to exercise, why does my lawn have so many dry spots). To be fair, I'm generally a pretty optimistic and grateful guy (I think) but like a lot of us, I struggle at times.

Well, this past week I got a pretty sound Wack upside the head to remind me what really matters. Starting last Thursday little Marcus had flu like symptoms. Friday the 4th he did pretty well, but again Saturday he couldn't keep anything down and had a pretty serious case of the dry heaves. Sunday came and his condition continued to worsen. He was so lethargic that all he wanted to do was sleep or lay on your lap. After many calls back and forth to different clinical nurses and doctors we decided that we would let him sleep Sunday and take him in on Monday.

Monday came and we were sent to American Fork hospital where Marcus was hooked up to an IV and they ran tests on his urine and blood. When the results came back my world came to a stop. The doctor reported that Marcus' Pancreas levels were about 4 times the normal number and that this was VERY unusual in a child of his age. We were rushed down for a CT scan and those results were favorable for the pancreas but showed a good deal of abnormality in the Liver. The doctors that we saw were thorough and helpful, but didn't relieve our fears much.

Added to the problem was that owing to either nerves or the flu virus, Jamie began showing all the symptoms of the flu. Monday night I stayed with Marcus at the hospital and realized that no matter what happened, the only things that really mattered to me weren't things at all. I realized that my perspective was all wrong in dwelling on envy or my shortcomings and that I should be so grateful for my healthy and wonderful boys, my amazing wife, and the great network of friends and family that I enjoy.

The next morning poor Marcus had to get poked about 3 times in order to draw enough blood to run some (but not all) the tests the doctor's wanted. The poor little guy will likely have a fear of nurses until he is well past adolescence.

Of course, by this time I was feeling the flu symptoms as well. All day Tuesday both Jamie and I were struggling. But, Marcus was the worst off. Poor little guy. He did finally start feeling better once Tyler came to visit and his fluids came back. In fact, for a while we were optimistic that we might get to go home that day...alas, that was not the case. Despite his color coming back and his smiling and enjoying playing catch on his bed, the doctor was still quite worried about Marcus' liver test results. As such, we had to stay the night again and more blood had to be drawn this morning.

I spent Tuesday night tossing and turning hoping my fever would break. It did finally, and when I went back to the hospital this morning the doctor came in and was pretty encouraging. Marcus' levels had dropped down much closer to normal. Combined with his having not thrown up since Sunday night we were allowed to leave.

We came home and Marcus' face shined! He was running all around and so excited to be home. Of course, to keep us from being too comfortable, he did throw up his lunch. AHH! I really hope this passes soon. The good news is that I am pretty sure that the worst is behind us.

Perhaps the best thing to come from this...I think I'm back on the right side of the perspective cycle. I can honestly think of nothing that I want more right now than for my little boy to be healthy and for life to get back to normal.

Lehi Round Up Parade

2008-07-01T16:00:00.005-06:00

One thing that is awesome about being a dad is when you just know you are helping your children make memories that will last a lifetime. I was blown away this morning when Tyler came to my room talking about fireworks. He remembered that last year we had a parachute that we shot off at the Laurence house that went over the backyard fence. He remembered that Spencer had his football helmet with him last year and he remembered that we played a running game (we had played "kick the can"). His face was aglow the whole time he was telling me about these memories.

Often, making those types of memories for our children can be taxing. That was the case this past weekend when the boys, Jamie and I participated in our ward's float for the Lehi Parade. Following a hurried dinner on Friday, Jamie and I took the boys and our wagon over to join with the ward at Wine's Park in Lehi. Our float theme was "FootLoose" and the children were all wearing funny socks or mismatched shoes or the like. We won an award for "Most Unique" (is that a compliment?). The children had even learned a little line dance that went along with the chorus. Tyler went to the dance practice, but I think he was relieved nonetheless when he was able to ride on the float instead of dance.

Jamie pulled Marcus in the wagon and he seemed to really enjoy it. Of course, Tyler was in his element. His favorite part was when I would take the squirt bottle I was using to cool kids off with and spray it into his gaping mouth. I enjoyed being the unofficial squirter, but I'll tell you what, my sister Melissa really seemed to get into squirting the crowd. (If you look really close you can see a line of water going into Tyler's mouth)

When we were all done with the route on Friday night, Melissa asked if I might be willing to help out the next day. When I told Tyler he could ride on the float again he exclaimed, "I love Parades!"

Jamie and Marcus took day two off (and who could blame them) but I really had a special time with Tyler. I walked him around before the parade started so he could see all of the floats. He was so cute and excited. We had lunch together and played around while waiting for the parade to end.Perhaps one of the most special things was seeing how much Tyler enjoyed throwing candy to the crowds (even if most of it had to be picked up and thrown again by those walking near the float). I hope that he always prefers the giving to the receiving.

For those not able to witness the parade, you are in luck. Uncle Craig captured the following video that shows the troops as they pass by. Notice how much fun the kids (and adults) are having. You can also see a little of Jamie dancing, Tyler on the float, and my causing trouble with another adult (all pretty typical of the evening). My favorite part of the video is that the little Fuller girl is being pulled behind the float as a "princess." Check out how awesome her little wave is...great fun!

I was "Tagged"

2008-07-01T08:42:00.002-06:00

Apparently there is something going around where people tag readers of their blog and they have to respond to the questions. Well. my friend Jason Russell tagged me, so here are my answers (pretty boring I know):

Four places I visit over & over:
1. My office
2. My house
3. Costco (especially their gas pumps)
4. ESPN.com

Four People who e-mail-txt me regularly:
1. Ken Farr
2. Any of the guys from my fantasy baseball league
3. Word of the Day
4. My wife

Four favorite foods:
1. Most Seafood (too bad its so pricey here in UT)
2. Authentic Taiwan Breakfast (how I miss those mornings!)
3. Cafe Rio Pork Burrito (or salad)
4. My mom's meatloaf (which is also great when my wife makes it)

Four places I'd rather be:
1. Wrigley Field
2. Great Wall of China
3. Some sweet Beach somewhere
4. Goblin Valley (coolest adult playground anywhere)

Four movies I'd watch over & over (...or DO watch over & over):
1. Batman Begins
2. The Bourne Trilogy
3. Mission Impossible (I or III but not II)
4. What about Bob

Groups I love to listen to:
1. The Primary Kids in my Ward
2. They Might Be Giants (tee hee)
3. U2
4. The Ramones

Four People I am tagging (However, I won't mind if you don't respond, I'm picking you because I think you actually check my blog more than once a year):
1. Matt
2. Melissa
3. Miranda
4. Carl

A Final Ragnar Post

2008-06-27T09:28:00.005-06:00

Okay, I am sure that many of you are sick of my Ragnar posts; however, it really was the most amazing experience. Truly something I won't forget. Here are a few final pics.

This was our home away from home for the adventure

Special thanks to the Farr family for loaning us their land yacht.

Matt and I putting on our Breathe Right strips...took Matt a couple of tries but eventually he figured out that you take the paper off and use the sticky part!
Back Row Day 2, be glad that pictures don't capture smells.Running with my glove like vest, headlamp & Sunglasses. STYLIN!Running with my hand out ready for water.
One leg down, 2 to go!

My Wasatch Back Legs

2008-06-24T11:23:00.006-06:00

I've had a few people ask me about my specific legs of the race from Friday and Saturday. So, along with a few pictures from the event, here is a breakdown of my runs. I was going to wait until I had all the pictures together, but got too anxious today at lunch...so the only pictures are from the last day of the race.

Our team name was All Night Long and one theme song of ours was Rascal Flat's "Life is a Highway." Our team time was just over 29 hours which is a pace of about 9:37 miles. Not bad considering all that we endured.

I was our runner number 11 and had a pretty reasonable leg. My first leg was 3.8 miles up over old Snow Basin Road. If I had the time to look back I would have seen a beautiful view of Pineview Resorvoir. Over the first 2.9 miles I gained just over 900 feet and over the last mile I dropped about 500 feet. I was surprised that given it was my first leg I didn't seem to find a really good groove on this run. In the end I finished up in 31:35. According to my neighbors Garmin that I borrowed I had traveled 3.86 miles for a pace of about 8:15 minute miles. Not a great time, but no one passed me and I passed 7 runners. Something that kept me pushing when I felt frustrated that I hadn't hit my groove. I would just pick out a runner ahead and promise I could ease up once I passed them. This game got me up and over the hill I was running. I started the run just a little before 8pm and it was neat watching the sun begin to set. Because of the hour I had to wear a reflective vest (at least 5 sizes too big) and a headlamp, but since the sun was glaring in my eyes I also kept my sunglasses on. I bet I looked really great wearing my vest, a headlamp and sunglasses.

From there the group camped out near East Canyon Resorvoir or some such place. We tried to rest on concrete and I got zero sleep. When Van #2 tagged us off it was pretty cold and I was looking forward to a pitch dark run...but alas by the time I ran it was nearing sun-up. On my second leg I saw the sunrise (again while wearing a vest and headlamp, this time no sunglasses).

My second leg felt a lot better than my first and I really hit a great groove. I ran 4.6 miles of fairly flat terrain. I have no idea exactly where I was but I finished in the town of Wanship, and the next runner took us past Rockport Lake (and Kent Canyon Road). I finished my 4.6 miles in less time than it took me to run 3.8 the night before. I was very pleased with my time of 28:52. A pace of around 6:20 minute miles. Along the run I passed an additional 16 runners. Though one lady that I passed came up behind me and took a lead from me for a few minutes. It was all the motivation I needed to sprint to the finish of this leg passing her right before I tagged out.

From there our group went to South Summit High where the gym was littered with sleeping bodies. Here I got my first shower in what seemed like forever and tried to sleep. I don't think I got much actual sleep, but the rest felt good. Knowing that my next leg would be the heat of the day and downhill I spent a lot of the time stretching and hoping my legs would forgive me for making them scream down the hill.

The heat and dust of Guardsman's pass was tough. Watching our runners as they climed that peak I knew I was in for it coming down. I started my run at about 3pm and it was over 90 degrees. Ironic that I ran by snow at the start because I was up so high.

The altitude wasn't too terrible, the heat was awful. I started out going up hill about 3oo feet of elevation in just a few hundred yards. Then, it was the drop. I passed through Deer Valley Ski Resort all the while causing my legs to scream and plead for help. I've never felt my thighs so acutely. The run was supposed to be 6.9 miles, but the Garmin read a full 7 miles and I felt every yard. My van was great as they stopped about every half mile so I could rinse the cotton feeling out of my mouth and pour more water over my head. Ironically, the last song that played on my ipod as I came to the end was the Ramones' "I want to be Sedated." Boy did I ever!

When I finally crossed my finish line I was too excited to remember to push stop on my Garmin. However, I did stop it before long and know that I ran the leg in about 55 minutes. Somewhere around 8 minute miles. Although that isn't great timing for going downhill, it definately took everything I had to make it. As I dropped I passed 6 runners. One cute little gal said to me as I passed, "Are your feet burning too?" "Oh ya!" I replied. And I'm still feeling it today, three days later. I was pretty proud that through it all I was never passed by a runner that I didn't also pass, and I was able to put 30 runners behind me. I don't know why I keep track of stuff like that, I guess that is some of my dad's competitive juices seeping out of me.

We met up with the last runner for our team about a hundred yards from the finish line and we raced in as a group. Some of our team had to leave owing to a plane flight, exhaustion, family obligations etc. However, it was awesome finishing as a team.

I can't wait to do it again next year!

Waiting to start my final leg...I'm a little anxious.

The picture above is from my last leg.

In this pic I am pouring water over my head from heat, but running past a bank of snow!

This was the home stretch for me, one more runner to try to pass before I was done!

Here I tag off for the last time...I'm all done!

Finishing as a team!

WE DID IT!

Leaving it all on the Course

2008-06-23T15:15:00.006-06:00

Over the next few days (or weeks) I intend to blog a good deal about this past weekend's Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay Race. This was one of my most favorable memories I've had in a long time. For those who have never heard of it, the race comprises of 12 runners with varying legs in a race from Logan to Park City (about 180 miles). The race runs through the night and includes a stretch up, over and back down Guardsman's pass (STEEP!). Each runner ran 3 times over the course of the race (which our team completed in 29 hours). For more info go to Ragnarrelay.com and click on the Utah link. From there you can learn all about the race course etc.

Several of my teammates were taking pictures and I haven't been able to get them all yet. As soon as I do I will upload pictures and tell more about the race itself. I didn't take many pictures because they seemed to be doing such a good job of it. However, I actually wanted to share one thought that really struck me as I went through this draining (but so fun) experience.

Each leg of the race is very different. In fact, some of the legs are considerably harder than others. (The runners who had to go over Guardsman can attest to this). Each runner's legs had their own unique challenges. At the same time, each runner came to the race with a different level of preparedness. For some of the runners this was a first race. One runner had only known about the race for a few weeks and was an emergency fill-in. Other runners had been running for years. Each runner had their own style, and one runner on our team had to come all the way back to Salt Lake, attend a wedding reception, and meet up with us at the East Canyon Resavoir.

As I watched each runner there was no doubt that we all, at some point, were fighting an emotional battle willing our bodies to go on despite the feeling that it would be easier to just quit. It was so inspirational to see friends of mine gut through heat, dust, altitude, incline (or decline) and fatigue/exhaustion. I was moved, in particular, by the performances of our two power runners who faced Guardsman's Pass without folding to the pressure of quitting as they gritted out each grueling step.

Finally, after all was said and done we crossed the finished line...tired, hobbling, but with heads held high. As I looked over at my wife and two boys I honestly thought I was going to cry. As I look back, it really didn't matter how fast our team completed the course. It didn't matter who endured what legs...all that matter was that we all gave everything we had and left nothing on the course. I was so proud of each individual and therefore so proud of our team time.

As I reflect on life here on earth, this race seems so indicitive of what we faced on that mountain. No two people face the same challenges. Some legs in life are significantly harder than others and no two of us have the same skill set coming into life. However, in the end, it doesn't matter who the fastest runner was, it only matters that you leave nothing on the course. That you give your all despite the days it seems like it would be easier to just quit.

I truly hope that when my time on earth comes to an end, that I can feel like I did on Saturday. I may not have been the best runner there. I may not have had the hardest nor easiest leg. But through it all, I gave it my all. I hope that I look back on my life, like this race, knowing I gave it all that I had. I can honestly tell each member of my team that they got the best I had on that day. I hope I can tell my family the same as I pass from this life.

I hope that we can all be sure to leave nothing behind on the course.

All About Marcus

2008-06-09T15:00:00.007-06:00

Looking over the blog I realized that I hadn't devoted all that much time to our little Marcus. He is still at that stage hwere it is hard to capture in writing the fun things he does and even harder to catch him doing them on video or with a picture. Still, we do have some fun pictures and stories.First and foremost Marcus is clearly a Grandpa's boy. He really takes to both his Grandpa Rod and Grandpa John. Both of his grandmas wish he took to them as well. However, it is so adorable watching him snuggle up to his grandpas. When G-pa John was in town last Marcus was asked where his nose was, to which he replied by pushing his nose up against his grandpa's nose. It was totally cute and you can see the video below.

Marcus is also quite the rock star. Every Sunday when we drive to church he really loves to belt out the Sounds of Sunday. He cracks me up. He has a pretty natural rhythm too. Clearly he gets all of this from his mother because none of it comes from me.

Marcus is all boy! He absolutely loves to play with his brothers basketball hoop and loves any kind of ball. He has quite an arm for such a little guy and also enjoys wrestling with his brother (until he gets hurt). Marcus also has the ability to turn anything into a gun and make it go "Pow Pow!" If you catch him on the right day he will even pretend to play dead...and that is adorable.
In my last post I mentioned that Marcus is like Jack Jack. It is so true. He has never really fallen into a great sleep cycle and though he can be as sweet and loving as any child, when he isn't sleeping right, he does have a bit of a fiery side. Jamie reports that Beth (his hairdresser) almost couldn't stop laughing long enough to cut his hair last time because of his Grunting at her. When he gets mad it isn't just whining, he will literally growl and grit his face and throw a little 18 month year-old tantrum. It is actually pretty funny, that is when you aren't in the midst of dealing with it. Most of the time though he is all smiles and lights up any room with his glowing personality.

Recently, Marcus has started to piece together the whole talking thing. He says "Dog" and "Ball" and "Tyler" all very well. He also is starting to get better at mimicking certain other sounds. For example, we really can't do much any more without hearing an "uh-oh" coming from Marcus. Also recently he saw a picture of his uncle Carl on the family calendar and spit it out perfectly (at least to his parents' ears). He also says "Bah Bye" very well.

Last, but not least, Marcus loves and adores his big brother, Tyler. They both love water fights and they love to make each other laugh. Tyler is getting better and better at being gentle with his brother and Marcus is getting better and better about bouncing back when he takes a Tyler thumping.

So Much To Blog, So Little Time

2008-06-06T14:16:00.008-06:00

Sorry for the extreme neglect (all three of you faithful readers). It is always frustrating that when I have time to blog I don't have much to talk about and when I have tons to blog about I can't seem to find the time. Well, a few short memories to fill you in on with more to come soon (I hope).

First, another funny Tyler comment. We had our first fathers and sons campout a couple of weeks back. It was nice because it wasn't far from home but was out where the boys felt they were in the wilderness. In fact, Tyler even got worried about bears when one of his friends brought them up. However, the funny thing is that when we got back Tyler said his favorite part of the campout was..."the potty building." Yes, my son was impressed by the port-a-potty they brought in just for our campout. In fact, the first time he used it he said to me, "this sure is a nice building, I wish we had one like this for our potty." Later, he said "it sure was nice of the church and Jesus to let us use this nice potty for our camping trip." What a nut!

On the trip Tyler also became addicted to "ghost stories" and has been asking me non stop ever since to tell him a new ghost story. So, if any of you know a good, kid-friendly ghost story to share, please buzz me!

Next, a brief mention about what an athletic stud I married. Jamie competed again this year in the women of steel triathlon. She even beat her time from last year and had a lot of fun with both of her sisters. The second picture down from here was taken the evening of the race wearing their race shirts and necklaces. Congrats to all three of the Blackburn sisters.

Jamie really enjoys these tri races, and I love taking the boys to see her. This year grandma and grandpa Blackburn came along to cheer as well and grandpa helped make a cool sign. Even their Uncle Gary came out for the party. That night we were treated to some fine Elk Hash as grandpa John's brother Mike came over and spoiled us all with his cooking.

I know Jamie wishes she had more time to train and that it was easier to find times to workout; however, I remain in awe of how much she does get done. She is a strong woman and I think you will all agree she takes care of two of the cutest little boys ever.

Another fun happening of late was that Tyler officially graduated from his first year of pre-school. I really wasn't expecting much, boy was I wrong. They had the coolest little program complete with graduation gowns, etc. Tyler, unfortunately, was the class clown. I have no idea where he gets it! He was totally trying to make his mom and I laugh throughout the program. Fortunately, I hear that when we aren't around he is as good as gold. It was also fun being able to see Tyler's cousin Morgan graduate as well.

Next post I'll talk more about Marcus, but for now...don't worry he is still just a total cutie. Although, I do think he is a lot like Jack Jack from the show the Incredibles. One minute he is sweet as can be and the next minute you better watch out or he'll explode on you.

Playing Catch Up

2008-03-28T14:08:00.004-06:00

I finally had a few minutes at lunch today and decided to upload some pictures/videos from the last few months that are pretty fun. I feel that right now my little family is at such a fun stage. Tyler is really growing up and is becoming someone I can pal around with and he keeps up pretty well. Marcus is at the cutest of stages with his trepid walking and cute giggles. Both boys are super sweet in nature and both love to have fun.

This clip is a great one of Tyler from this winter when we would go sledding in our backyard:

In other news, Marcus loves to climb the stool we have in the bathroom and wants nothing more than to be able to wash his hands like his big brother. Here are a couple of great pictures Jamie took that are typical of Marcus in our bathroom.

Perhaps the most rewarding thing I've seen of late is how well my two boys get along together. They are turning into really good buddies. It sure makes being a dad that much more special seeing them play and have fun together.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T20:48:00.005-06:00

I know I've been a slacker of late...probably not something that is going to change any time soon. However, I did want to get a few pics/video clips out from our fun Easter. These video clips might be a little long and a tad boring, but for those who don't get to see our boys often I think they will be appreciated.

Tyler and Marcus looked very cute in their new sweater vests and Tyler wore his camo sunglasses inside all day. He also told everyone at church that he got a new Scooby Doo video. He and Marcus were both very cute today and we are so blessed to have them.

Loves to you all!

A More Recent Video

2008-01-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Blogging Again

2008-01-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in getting any updates out. It has been busy at work and home. Of course, that also means that there has been a ton of great stuff we could have blogged about. However, let me sum it up this way. Christmas in Virginia was great!

So, here are a few fun pictures of Christmas, Tyler's "dress up" gifts and a little video clip of Tyler and Morgan singing their thanksgiving song.

Belated Birthday Post for Marcus

2007-11-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Its amazing how something as relatively easy as making a post on a blog can get so hard to do as life spirals out of control with busy-ness. I feel bad because I have a lot of good material to post from the last month. I will try to get to some of it over the next few weeks. Who knows, it may take until the Christmas break for me to really get caught up.

So a few weeks back on Marcus' birthday, the 11th of November, we had a little birthday bash for our one-year-old. Marcus enjoyed his first birthday cake much more than Tyler had enjoyed his (no tears for Marcus). His cake was a cool football that Jamie made. She does a great job of coming up with really cool cakes for our boys. They might still be a little young to really appreciate them, but they don't go unnoticed by the rest of us.

Marcus scored some great gifts. He got a couple of cute pairs of clothes (he is a boy therefore I refuse to call them "outfits"), a play cell phone, his first See and Say, a cool drum set, a tool box, some books, and I am sure I am forgetting something....sorry to those whose gift I didn't mention.

He is definately a cute and fun little boy. I just can't believe he is already one!

A Few Fall Moments

2007-11-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

I've always loved fall. The cooler temperatures allow for a lot of fun outdoor activities, the start of football season is exciting to me, and the color changes everywhere (especially up in the mountains) is breathtakingly beautiful. This year Tyler got a taste of fall fun when Jamie let him play in a big pile of leaves that she raked up in our backyard. He definately is a fun loving boy!

The other, probably more exciting, piece of fall news is that Marcus is finally crawling! We were worried about him there for a while. Rest assured; however, he is into everything and anything. He is such a little cutie!

Carving up Pumpkins

2007-11-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Monday night before Halloween Tyler invited his grandma and grandpa over to help us carve our pumpkins for family night. Tyler still isn't a huge fan of the gooey insides of the pumpkin, but he did help get the slime out. Mostly we let Jamie do the carving while we provided moral support.

Tyler did get pretty involved in painting a few smaller pumpkins using mom's craft paints. Grandpa Rod painted one mini-pumpkin with a smiley face on one side and a frowny face on the other. Perfect for the singing of the primary song about turning a frown upside down.

Marcus went to bed early, but we also carved up a nice pumpkin for him. Most of the night was spent with Tyler just enjoying time with his grandparents while Jamie carved away.

Tyler did have fun pretending to be "Mr. Pumpkinhead." Grandma and Grandpa helped him hold the pumpkin where his head would go and he thought that was pretty great. He also got a good laugh out of grandpa being a pumpkinhead.

I think Tyler was also impressed with how neat the jack o'lantern's looked when we put them on the tile with candles inside. The reflection off the dark tile is pretty eerie.

Halloween 2007

2007-11-02T08:15:00.000-06:00

As is becoming tradition I wanted to get a few pictures of my boys in their costumes out for all to see. This year Tyler was a Pirate and little Marcus a cute monkey. Jamie dressed up as well using the same pirate costume she wore two (or three) Halloweens ago.

Tyler was very polite at each door and never missed saying "thank you." Also, whenever he felt comfortable he did shout out a pirate line of "Arr..I'll make you walk the plank I will." The video at the end of the blog is a clip of Tyler getting ready and practicing his "walk the plank" line.

All in all it was a fun night. Tyler did most of his trick or treating with the Laurence cousins. They were all characters from Narnia. Clayton was a sharp Peter, the twins were Susan and Lucy (I've forgotten which twin was which...sorry you two) and Morgan was the evil Snow Queen. Although given how cute she looked it is hard to think she was evil. I kept meaning to get some pictures of the cousins but in the end I never did. Once again, sorry. We need to convince them to start their own blog so that we can see all the cute things they do.

I think Tyler actually ended up preferring answering the door with me over trick or treating. He got nervous at a few doors when people had costumes on or had dogs barking in the background. I also think he has yet to fully understand the concept that the more doors he visited the more candy he scored. However, he sure got extra excited every time the doorbell rang or someone knocked at our house. He thought he was something special getting to hand out the candy.

Marcus also enjoyed getting to answer the door, but he went down pretty early. Its a shame we didn't have more for him to do because he was the cutest monkey. He knocked a few doors and took a ride in the wagon. But he only wore his costume for a couple of hours before it was time for him to hit the hay.

I'm not really a big Halloween kind of guy...but overall this was a fun one.

Sick Kids

2007-10-26T08:15:00.000-06:00

For the past week now we have been dealing with Tyler being sick. It started last Wednesday (I think) when he had a stomach ache and threw up or dry heaved throughout the night. (Question: is there anything worse than a dry heave?) Thursday Tyler seemed fine, but then Friday night he had fitful sleep because of an extreme fever. Saturday he woke in the middle of the night with a horrific cough and chest weezing. Sunday he saw the doc and found out he had the Croup (Question: of all the names for illness isn't the Croup the coolest. Sounds like something that would rise from a swamp to torture young children). The rest of this week was spent getting him back up to speed. Finally, this Wednesday night he slept through the night without waking and is doing considerably better. (Not sure if you can tell in this picture, but this was taken when Tyler was looking very pale and sick. Still all too happy to smile for the camera. By the way, Jamie is only pretending to be asleep in the background.)

Cue Marcus. Marcus woke up shortly after going down last night with an awful wheezing in his chest. Clearly the dreaded Croup has invaded another victim. Poor Jamie had to rock him all night long. Marcus spurned all of my attempts to calm him or relieve Jamie. Finally around 5am Jamie couldn't take it anymore and I had to just let Marcus cry it out on my chest as I rocked him. It was heartbreaking. (Marcus isn't sick yet in this picture, but its the most recent one we have so I thought I would give you a visual of whom I was writing about).

My point today though is that I think my kids are the coolest sick kids ever. (I'm even going to provide some video evidence.) The night Tyler kept throwing up he had to have been the sweetest little puker ever. After each trip to the bathroom he would look up at me and say "thanks for taking care of me daddy." Then Thursday morning before I left for work I ran to the store to buy him some white bread and crackers. When I came back Tyler walked up to me and in the sweetest voice said, "Dad, I missed you when you were at the store," then just to make sure my heart really melted he added, "just like I always miss you when you go to work." I can't explain it well (one of those times when I wish I was a more skilled writer and could really help you experience just how sweet Tyler was being) but Tyler has been so sweet all week. (Of course he may be extra sweet because this week we let him watch a lot more TV and videos than we normally do). This video is of Tyler talking about being sick. I was trying to capture how funny his voice sounds now that it has been ravaged by the Croup (whenever I type or say "Croup" my mind automatically plays a vaudeville like villain's chord). The video doesn't really capture how cartoon like Tyler's voice has become, but it's kind of cute anyway so here it is:

This next video is of Marcus the morning after getting NO sleep. He was grumpy and groggy and all I could think to do to help him cheer up was give him the thing he is always after but that I never let him touch. My cellphone. I let it play a song for him and he totally started rocking out. Sorry its such a dark video it was too early for us to worry about things like lighting. This is proof that Marcus is also a cool sick kid.

Finally, I would be a total lame-o if I didn't mention what an amazing mom Jamie has been through all of this. She is definately dragging from the lack of sleep, but she has managed to fight through over a week of sleepless nights and continues to love and care for our little guys. She ROCKS!

Just For Today

2007-10-24T12:30:00.000-06:00

Venturing away from my usual style of posting I decided to share something I read the other day. The background I give may be a tad personal, but I suppose that's part of the reason people blog...to share their insights, etc. with others.

Regardless, as some of you know, I tend to be an overactive worrier. My wife claims I hide it well, though I'm not so sure whether she just says this to keep me from having something else that worries me. I think the biggest problem I have is that I continue to see all that I want to accomplish in life and feel as though I'm still light years away. It can seem silly, even to me, given how many blessings I have in my life. Nevertheless it is something that can be difficult for me.

So I'm reading a book by Dale Carnegie that focuses on tips for worrying less. (Now don't you go worrying about me; I'm mostly reading it because I've enjoyed other books by Mr. Carnegie). In the book he cites this verse and I think it is pretty powerful so I thought I would share it with you all. It rings true to me that if I only think (worry) about things a day at a time it seems so much more manageable.

Just For Today!

1. Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that "most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
2. Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
3. Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
4. Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
5. Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do as William James suggests, just for exercise.
6. Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
7. Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
8. Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecision.
9. Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. In this half hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
10. Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.

Who knows maybe someone else who reads this blog could use this advice (though maybe not all ten points apply to everyone) but I liked the perspective it gave me when I read it. Its sorta like they say...the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The only way to live a great life is one day at a time.

And never fear, when next I blog I will return to my usual style and format. Til then...

California Dreaming

2007-10-22T18:42:00.000-06:00

For those family members (and friends) who read the last entry and were feeling a little jealous about missing out on the family get togethers here in Utah I give you these pictures of the three inches of snow that welcomed us Sunday morning. I was definately wishing I was living in Southern Cal, Tucson, Virginia Beach or anywhere else warm. They say misery loves company...so all you living out of the state should move here to Utah and freeze with us!

The Big Family Home Evening

2007-10-18T09:55:00.001-06:00

I think I have mentioned this on the blog once before, but one of the main reasons I try to keep this up is to record a family history. (It is also why I sometimes bug people to make comments so that I can obtain their insights on our family activities).

Today's blog is not real exciting and the videos posted aren't well filmed, this is simply an attempt to document a glimpse of a Besaw family tradition.

It seems that about once a month we have some event (holiday, birthday, etc) where all the families that live in Utah (we really miss Carl's family) get together at my parent's house. It is always chaotic and at times the noise level is unbearable; however, I feel these get togethers will be something Tyler and Marcus will remember fondly throughout their lives.

Growing up I never had grandparents who lived nearby. I do have some good memories of times with my Besaw cousins who lived in Layton while I was growing up, but the distance and circumstances still kept us from being as close as we may have preferred. I remember while growing up some of my friends talking so fondly of spending time with cousins and grandparents. For me, spending time with cousins and grandparents was great, but it was not something to be enjoyed regularly.

One reason I chose to get my Master's degree from BYU rather than an out of state college was so that my children could remain close to family. Sometimes I wonder if I would have more financial success if I had followed a different path; but when we have these get togethers I am always glad that I stayed close.

A couple of weeks ago at our get together, Tyler found a crazy hat and vest in grandma Terry's dress up box and clowned around with Clayton and his other cousins. Morgan and London kept wanting to play night time and turning the lights off, much to the annoyance of the twins. Marcus' entertained with his almost crawl.

After a little bit we all ate dinner together...a big batch of grandma Terry's special home made chicken noodle soup. Then, grandpa Rod and grandma Terry gave a lesson on being kind. When grandma told the story about two little boys who put a silver dollar in a poor man's shoe you could have heard a pin drop. All the kids on the couch were definately listening close.

All in all, I am grateful for the lesson, grateful for the dinner, but more importantly grateful that my children are able to enjoy their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that live so close. (They are also lucky to have great visits from the family that doesn't live close!)

Here was a rather spirited opening song of Follow the Prophet:

Here is Tyler and London singing Book of Mormon Stories...and Kennedy wanted to make sure she got some face time as well.

And is there any way to lead a song more spirited than the way Clayton does here?

God's Kindness in Our Lives

2007-10-14T19:02:00.000-06:00

As most any of you who read this probably know, last week was the General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Although it was not easy for me to watch as closely as I would have liked, given our two boys, I did hear a few messages that really touched me. The one that left the greatest impact on me was a talk by President Henry B. Eyring (newly called member of the first presidency of the LDS Church).

His talk, which I encourage you to read for yourself by clicking on the title of this posting, was about remembering God's kindness in our lives. I am definately guilty of being the type of person that has so many blessings that I tend to focus more on the times when things don't perfectly fall into place, rather than focusing on how often I am blessed beyond my capacity to truly appreciate.

One of the things President Eyring mentioned was that for a period of time he kept a journal each day of ways that he say God's hand in his life. He found that as he tried to think of an entry each night he recognized even more ways in which he was blessed.

I'm not ambitious enough to try to write in a journal every night, but I do want to strive to recognize God's kindness more readily in my life. I will also try to continue to share some of the Lord's "tender mercies" with those who read this regularly. I do find that as I try to think of things to blog about, much like President Eyring thinking of ways he was blessed, I find that I recognize more often how many special moments with which my life is filled.

Today, I'd like to reflect on my 3 biggest blessings from my Heavenly Father. My family! I am truly grateful to have such a wonderful wife who loves her Saviour and tries hard to keep me on the right path.

I am also so grateful for two healthy boys. Tyler has such a glow about him and is turning into a loving and caring little person. I love watching him learn from his pre-school, music and church classes. His imagination is soaring and he has a great sense of adventure. He is also quite thoughtful and will often pause to tell Jamie or I how much he loves us. He watches Jamie and I so closely (too close at times) and is the king of funny faces (sometimes on purpose sometimes not). I often love just to watch him in peaceful slumber.

Marcus is really at a cute age. He can't quite crawl yet, but he moves around. The last month or so he has almost always been happy and smiley. He tries so hard to communicate and loves to talk on the phone (quite the opposite of his brother). His laugh lights up a room and he has to be the best eating baby ever (he will eat anything!). He also has really cool hair whenever he first wakes up.

Here are two video examples of my boys. The first one is Marcus pretending to talk to his Grandma Renae on the telephone. The other is of Tyler pumping iron. He has watched Jamie on several occassions work with dumbells in our basement so he was pretty excited when we bought him a couple of 2 lb dumbells of his own.

My 50th Posting: My Boys and Their Pumpkins

2007-10-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it, but this is the 50th post on this blog! Hopefully those that are reading it are enoying it.

On Saturday between general conference sessions our neighborhood planned a get together to pick pumpkins. It ended up being pretty tough weather as we had the first snow of the year so we ended up meeting in a garage. We put all the kids names in a hat and each kid picked a pumpkin when their name was called.

Tyler picked his pumpkin the old fashioned way...it was the first one he saw! Here is a slide show of a few pictures of the boys and their pumpkins. It is also another attempt at doing something new on the Blog...so we will see how it works out.

Jamie and Kent Celebrity Look Alikes

2007-10-08T15:03:00.000-06:00

I saw this on Marshall Smith's family blog and thought it was funny; plus its a good way to pay Jamie back for her "hot mama" comment on my last blog entry. Of course, Jamie looks like supermodels and I most look like a comedic bafoon.

Nothing I didn't already know!

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Tyler's Date with Mom

2007-10-05T12:32:00.000-06:00

One of the best things about being a dad is that whenever I am home Tyler is excited. I'm like the novelty act that doesn't get old because I'm just not around much. Poor Jamie on the other hand is the one that is around all the time. Also, since when I am home Jamie usually is as well, but when Jamie is home I'm usually not; Tyler has a harder time getting Jamie's undivided attention (after all someone has to take care of little Marcus).

Of course, this story isn't about how its great to be the dad and hard to be the mom. The story is that a few weeks ago Jamie and I noticed that Tyler needed some special mom time. So, Jamie and Tyler planned out his first date with mom. For several days ahead of time we built it up and the day before it was all Tyler could talk about. He was as excited as could be about his "Special Date".

The special Saturday came and both Tyler and mom got dressed in nicer clothes. Jamie took Tyler to Winger's, his favorite restaurant mostly because of the popcorn bowls you get right when seated, and told him he could order whatever he wanted (neither of us were surprised that he picked Mac & Cheese). Jamie even let Tyler talk her into ordering a Concrete Pie (I'm sure it didn't take too much convincing).

After the dinner, Jamie took Tyler to the video store for the first time (yes we have deprived him of this up until now with good reason). He was very excited when he found a Scooby Doo movie. He had never actually seen a Scooby Doo movie, I don't think, but he knew that Cousin Morgan was a big fan so he thought it was pretty cool that he got to rent a Scooby Doo show. Best of all, it was Scooby Doo and the Ghost Pirates to go along with the Pirate theme our house has had going of late.

Tyler and Mom snuggled up on the couch and watched the show. They were so cute together. I'm really glad that they were able to spend some quality one on one time. Tyler is very lucky to have such a great mom, and we are very lucky to have such a wonderful son. He continues to be a truly caring and sweet little toddler. Even if, at times, he can be a challenge for his mom.

A Quick Tyler Quote

2007-10-02T09:34:00.000-06:00

On Sunday Tyler said something that gave me a good chuckle. I decided it would make a good, brief blog. Two things to know as background. First, we are often teaching Tyler about the importance of being reverant at church because it is our Heavenly Father's and Jesus' house. Second, Tyler is ALWAYS asking Jamie and I where we get things (ie. dad, where did you get that shirt? or mom, where did you get this cereal?).

When I took Tyler to the bathroom and was waiting for him to finish up, he asked "Daddy, Where did Jesus get this nice toilet?"

Playin' Pirate with Captain Tyler

2007-09-30T16:42:00.001-06:00

For those of you who have had Tyler over to play at your house, you know how much he loves playing dress up with his friends. For those of you who haven't, you might recall that nearly all of Tyler's friends (and cousins his age) are girls. Much to his father's dismay Tyler is often caught being the pretty princess. So, it was with great relief (to me at least) that he returned from his last play group (at cousin Morgan's house) having played Pirate dress-ups which is considerably more manly. Although we don't have nearly as cool of Pirate gear as cousin Clayton with all his Jack Sparrow and Will Turner garb, we were able to put together a pirate outfit that satisfies for now.
All week Tyler would mention pirates and has threatened me with walking the plank if I am not careful. His "ARRRR Matey" is also pretty cute. On Saturday night when his mom was at a relief society conference Tyler insisted we play pirate. He also kept telling me we needed a pirate ship.

And now our story flashes back some 20 odd years ago. One of my most fond memories of spending time with my brother and sisters growing up was making "forts" in our basement and playing "Swiss Family Robinson" for hours on end. I'm not sure how my parents managed to get us to play together so well, but I do remember spending literally days together "living" in our jungle forts.

Back to Saturday night, I recalled my "Swiss Family Robinson" days of yore and built us a pirate ship "fort" with a card table Jamie had borrowed for the scrapbook night she had hosted on Wednesday. The top of the table became the lookout as Tyler and I sailed the seven seas (or at least our living room) looking for sea monsters and treasure. Down below were the barracks where we could rest and exchange pirate tales. Tyler got pretty good at singing "Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's life for me."

Oh ya, Marcus got in on the action as well and I dare you to find a cuter first mate!

Harvest Time

2007-09-25T12:15:00.000-06:00

I think I made a similar post last year about this time regarding our family garden as well as the neighborhood garden. So, if you want more information on what a rocking gardener my wife has become feel free to look back in the archives (listed on the right hand side of the blog). This year is much the same, only I think Jamie has canned even more this year.

I believe the count is something like 20+ Quarts of Salso, 40+ pints of Tomatoes, 30+ pints of Green Beans, Several Gallon bags of Corn, 14 Quarts of Peaches and today was scheduled to be a Pear canning day. Jamie is really great about keeping us eating healthy, fresh foods during the harvest season.

One unusual thing this year is Jamie's Marigolds. Each year she plants marigolds around the garden because the smell is supposed to ward off bugs (or something like that). This year she planted the marigolds from seed (last year I think she bought little starter plants). Well, those Marigolds have grown to be six feet tall!!! Its crazy, they didn't even start to bloom at all until they were over four feet tall. Quite the power flowers.

Oh yeah, for those who don't get to see our goofy Tyler very often, here is a quick video clip of Tyler with a gigantic Zucchini (sp?)

Marcus Being Marcus

2007-09-23T22:20:00.000-06:00

For those of you who aren't baseball fans there is a player for the Boston Red Sox, Manny Ramirez, whose antics have earned him quite a reputation. Now when he acts up people in Boston mostly shrug it off and say that it is just "Manny being Manny."

What does this have to do with our family? Besides our love of baseball, we also have a little troublemaker and these videos are of "Marcus being Marcus." Fortunately, his antics are absolutely adorable and we LOVE when he acts up the way he is in these videos.

By the way, the only digital videos we have come from our little camera so that is why the clips I post aren't all that high quality. I hope you enjoy them anyway. The first one is definately my favorite. The other two were a minute or two too late. He was being really funny for them, but the camera missed most of the action. However, the first one caught little Marcus in full head shake.

Best Friends & Brothers Too

2007-09-19T07:46:00.000-06:00

Last night Tyler woke up with a bad dream and was a little shaken. We sat together for a few minutes and I asked him "Who is your Best Friend?" I was thinking he would say I was, afterall I was the one asking. Instead he said "Little Marcus." How sweet is that!

Our two boys can definately be a handful at times, but they are developing a very special bond as well. I hope that they can have the closeness that I felt with my older brother when I was growing up. Added to that the fact they are so much closer in age and I get really excited for the adventures they will have together.

Here are a few pictures of our boys hanging out together.

Lunch in the Clouds and a Day Together in Chicago

2007-09-14T18:02:00.000-06:00

If any of you are planning a trip to Chicago in the near future, Jamie and I would recommend having lunch at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock center.

Thanks to my cousin Sarah we learned about this fantastic place to eat and get a great view of the city and lake Michigan. We saw the dinner menu and its very pricey so we recommend sticking with lunch (which is more reasonable).

Jamie and I really felt like high rollers eating at such a fancy establishment. I guess its good to get out of your comfort zone from time to time.

We followed up lunch with a walk over to the Navy Pier where we rented bikes and spent some time biking around and enjoying one of Lake Michigan's beaches. Jamie is definately in better biking shape than I am. We pedaled until I thought I would die and she hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

Once that had us good and worn out we went to the Blue Man Group concert. Quite possibly the strangest concert experience you can possibly imagine. It was very entertaining, but Jamie and I walked away wondering what exactly it was we had just experienced.

All in all Chicago was a great vacation for Jamie and I. I am so grateful to mom and dad for watching our boys so we could have this time together.

School's Over...Time to Get in Shape

2007-09-12T20:19:00.000-06:00

This blog entry could also be entitled "I'm #101".

With school behind me I knew I wanted to try harder to get back in shape. My friend in the program Marcus Skeem convinced me to sign up for a half marathon race he was planning on running. Well, given that I hadn't run a mile, much less 13.1, I was hesitant but in the end I did sign up. I even tried pretty hard to train.

I had just started to train when my neighbor Kirt Melling invited me to join him in Burley Idaho for the Spudman Triathlon to compete as his runner. So, thinking he would swim and bike I agreed. Turns out he wasn't planning on swimming either...so in the end I did the mile swim (thank goodness it was in a river with a current) and the 10k run for our Spudman team of two. Our goal was to beat 3 hours and we totally killed that with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. My times weren't great, but I felt I did just fine for a guy who doesn't swim and who hadn't tried running in over 3 years.

The Spudman was just the motivation I needed and my training went much better after that for my race (the hobblecreek half marathon). Of course, the morning of August 25th when my alarm went off at 5 am I really felt like bagging the whole idea. I didn't though and fought through the cold morning air.

The race was very crowded and was not a timing chip race. I was a little disappointed because it seemed to take forever just to get to the starting line. Once I got going I did pretty well (fortunately a lot of the race is downhill). I was feeling great until about mile marker 12 and then I could barely move at all. Fortunately, before long there was Jamie, Tyler and little Marcus cheering me on. What an adrenaline boost. I nearly cried, but also found new legs and was able to get to the finish on a good stride.

After I crossed the finish line I saw a young lady handing out medals to everyone. I was pretty excited because I realized that I must have made the top 100. They only give medals to the top 100. Of course, as I stepped up to her she just turned around and left. That night when the official results were posted sure enough I was Mr. 101. Jamie thinks that makes a great nickname.

It feels weird to blog about your own events. I'm much better blogging about Jamie or Tyler or Marcus. However, my time was one I was happy with: 1:36 almost even. It comes out to about a 7:20 pace per mile average.

Okay, the best part of all of this is that between Jamie's triathlon in May and my race in August, Tyler is always talking about wanting to be in a race. Then Jamie started the Family Fitness Challenge and he has seen us exercising more (well Jamie more, me at all) and has really become quite the little exercise fan. We love it. (See video which is mostly because Tyler was so jealous that Marcus had a "computer video" and Tyler didn't).

First Day of Pre-School

2007-09-11T18:20:00.000-06:00

I know what you are thinking...its boom or bust with this guy and his blog. Three months of nada then two in one day. I just felt bad having a blog that didn't include our children since they are far more fun in front of a camera than Jamie and I.

Besides today was a monumentous one as Tyler had his first day of preschool. He looked so grown up with his Spiderman backpack and Polo shirt. Unfortunately, the polo shirt soon met its demise because Tyler was given the opportunity to try using scissors for the first time in his life. Once the shirt was ruined, he was given instructions on the proper use of scissors.

Tyler is in a class that is predominatly girls, but that will suit him just fine. Cousin Morgan is in the class and 2 other little girls from our ward are as well. Maybe he will turn into the ladies man his dad never became.

In other news, turns out Marcus is the king of the clap. In another family blog pioneer moment I am attempting to blog my first video. Sorry its sideways, I haven't figured out how to flip it yet. That will be my next feat. For now, you can enjoy how cute little Marcus is with his new found clap. He's growing into one mighty fine Cubs fan.

A Dream Come True

2007-09-11T09:23:00.000-06:00

Seeing that Miranda and the California Besaws have caught the blog fever makes me wish I had been better about keeping my blog up. I have tons to blog about from the summer and just never took the time to finish up my Asia Trip blogs, or tell about the races I've done or graduation and the goings on of our children. So, the next series of posts may not necessarily be in any kind of chronological order, but I'll try to put out a few pictures and tell a few stories of the things we did this summer.

Most of you know that last week Jamie took me on a trip to Chicago to fulfill my childhood dream of catching a game at Wrigley. I have to admit I got a tad emotional when I walked into the stadium. I must be wired wrong, but it really meant a lot to me to see the Ivy on the walls, the scoreboard in straight away center and to sing "Take me out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch. Jamie surprised me by how much she got into the games and seemed to really support the CUBBIES!

They won the night game 8-2, but blew a lead in the ninth inning of the day game and lost 7-4. Both games were against the Dodgers and were a lot of fun. Jamie even treated me to a Derek Lee Jersey (which she loves to tell about because we couldn't find one in my size until we shopped in the kids section of the Sears across from our hotel). Overall I couldn't have asked for a better fulfillment of my dream to see the Cubs at Wrigley. Especially because I was there with my amazing wife who really is too good to me.

Asia Trip Day 9: Stay in School Kids

2007-06-15T23:25:00.000-06:00

June 4, 2007

Today we spent a LOT of time on a bus! Fairly early on we headed across the border of Hong Kong and back into China. On the way out we had to go through the entire customs process both for leaving Hong Kong and entering China. Apparently there is a middle ground of No-Man’s land in-between the two.

Once into China the views of the countryside from the bus were great. The landscape was very beautiful and we were able to see a lot of homes and farmlands. I really enjoyed it for the first while; however, given the amount of travel we have had the last little while, by the 2nd and 3rd hours of driving I was ready to get off the bus! I was able to get some reading done, but not a lot as if I read too much on those buses I tend to get a little car sick.

After our three hour journey finally ended we were treated to lunch at a pretty nice restaurant. We had what is called (in Cantonese I’m assuming) Dim Sum. It was basically a lot of different types of dumplings and ManTou’s (not sure how to describe those). I’ve always loved the Chinese breakfast foods and this was basically what we had for lunch. Although we also had a few really good seafood dishes as well. We literally ate until we could eat no more.

After lunch we visited PerfectTech Toy factory where they make toys for Japanese toy distributors. Today they were making Power Ranger toys that also transform. The toy factory employs over 2000 factory workers and another 250 office staff. The factory was very hot and very humid. However, all of the employees that we watched seemed pretty happy on the job. The young girls from the office staff that toured us around were also very nice and seemed to really enjoy having us visit. Granted the office staff all looked about 12, when I talked to them most of them had worked there for at least 3-4 years. In fact, the average employee (including line workers) had been working at PerfectTech for over 2 years.

The factory has 60 sets of injection machines and over 400 seats for paint spraying. The production line can make up to 15 types of toys. The thing I was most impressed with was the amount of quality control at every stop. Each worker had a clear picture right in front of them that showed how the toy was supposed to work after it was done with their station. I was surprised by how much of the process was manual labor and how little of the process was automated.

The factory workers make about 86 cents an hour. However, because housing is provided most of the workers are sending money home to their families out in the farmlands. I think the most astounding thing for me was seeing how satisfied the workers appeared. In the states it seems that a lot of our minimum wage workers don’t seem to be the type of person who would be so willing to work hard with a smile. I definitely think that with great wealth has come a certain sense of entitlement. I think that in America we could really take a lesson in gratitude from what we see here. I know that I have felt an increased need to be more grateful for all I have. I certainly feel fortunate for the educational opportunities I've been given.

In my undergrad I remember learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This trip has really shown me how accurate that hierarchy seems to be. In the United States most people are at least to the level where their physiological and safety needs are met and thus have moved up to the need for belonging or the esteem of others. It is actually really refreshing seeing people who are able to gain satisfaction just from meeting the needs of food, shelter and safety. On other legs of this trip its been interesting seeing other areas (like Beijing) where they are somewhere between today’s factory workers and the business people we visited in Japan. I’m not sure if this paragraph made any sense at all…but my point is just that it is interesting to study Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in this setting. (For those not too familiar I recommend using Wikipedia.org and typing in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for more information and a far better explanation of what I am trying to say here).

At PerfectTech (which by the way is in a town called ZhongShan near ShenZhen in GuangDong province) I think I lost at least a liter of sweat. It reminded me of the mission in Taiwan. Sometimes I am still amazed that I was able to work all day in the heat and humidity over there. That is one part of my mission I don’t miss very often.

As we were leaving the toy factory they gave each of us a Power Ranger toy to take home. Regan was great and let me have his (given that he has two girls) and I just know that Tyler and Marcus are gonna love them (at least Tyler will for now). In fact, I’m guessing that these will be a greater hit than anything else I could hope to pick up on the trip.

The ride back was similar to the ride in…it was LONG! Again, I enjoyed parts of it as I was able to see the farmlands etc. However, I was good and ready to get off when we finally got back to the Hotel.

This evening we once again followed Jason Bell and took the Subway to another part of Hong Kong where we had dinner, saw a night market and sort of just experienced what we could. I got a pretty good kick out of watching some of the locals play basketball and would have loved to join in if I wasn’t wearing sandals.

The evening didn’t bring about too much to talk about, but it was kind of fun just seeing more of Hong Kong.

Falling in Love with Hong Kong

2007-06-13T21:44:00.001-06:00

June 3, 2007

Today was a travel day, but for the only time on the trip, the travel day did not start at a ridiculously early time. In fact, we were able to have a short sacrament meeting before we had to head off to the airport. We were encouraged not to fast this week as we would be traveling and dealing with humidity and a few other factors. However, we did have a fast meeting.

I surprised myself, I’m not really one for bearing my testimony a lot in public; however, I have felt so strong a tie to the Chinese people for so long and have felt the need so great for the gospel to come to this country. Anyway, I ended up bearing my testimony of how grateful I am for the knowledge I have and expressed how much I think the gospel could transform so many of the problems that we saw here in Beijing. Other members of the group bore very spiritually nourishing testimonies. It was one of the better meetings I had been to in a while. Of course, it probably is easier to feel the spirit when you aren’t wrestling with kids.

It was pretty funny when we were in leaving the hotel I noticed a sign in the lobby that listed the “Days Activities.” There in bold letters was our “Church Service.” I guess I’m not really used to seeing Church Service listed on a marquee (but it was kind of cool).

From here we bid farewell to Beijing and went to the airport. Due to our flying an international flight, we were there plenty earlier. Regan, Dustin Olson, Todd Rhodes and I ended up playing a few more rounds of Rook. Been a long time since I have had so much time to just play games and the like. I think I could get used to this kind of lifestyle…too bad retirement is still 20 plus years away!!

On the flight to Hong Kong I had my own aisle so I was able to spread out and enjoy. I mostly read on the flight. I finished a book called “Blink” which I would recommend to anyone and began a book called “Mao’s Last Dancer.” I also tried to do a little journaling, but in the end took a brief nap instead.

When we began our decent on Hong Kong I knew immediately I would like this place. President Hinckley in his biography mentions a love for Hong Kong…I’m with him! Basically Hong Kong just springs out of the South China Sea. There are all these beautiful little mountain-like islands that just pop from the sea. If you have been to Hong Kong you know what I am referring to, if not I recommend you get a window seat if you ever fly there. I’m usually an aisle seat guy, but wow, I think it would be worth dealing with the trapped in feeling for the flight just to see the landing!

Leaving the airport it was fun to see blue sky again. Hong Kong seems to be very lush with vegetation, that is wherever there aren't megaskyscrapers. Once we got checked in at our hotel we were led by Jason Bell (a former Hong Kong missionary) for some authentic food. We had what was similar to PaiGu Fan in Taiwan. Basically it is some type of pork that is very tasty. We also had some Chinese veggies that are yummy too. The side streets definately have a feel that is very much like Taiwan. In fact, if the people were speaking Mandarin or Taiwanese instead of Cantonese I'd swear I was back in Taichung. On the way back I noticed a great sign on the side of our Hotel. In huge bright lights it read “Sorry We Are Open.” I hope I never feel the need to apologize for my business being open :-)

My love affair with Hong Kong continued after dinner. Any city that has a choreographed laser light show across their bay every night at 8pm…A-Okay in my book! It was pretty awesome seeing the city by the bay all lit up and then watching different color lasers being shot across the bay. I know that Adam, Clayton and Tyler would love this place.

As a large group we took a ferry across the bay and then took a tram to the top of Victoria Peak. The views were AMAZING! Very difficult to capture by camera, but take my word for it…AWESOME. If Jamie had been with me I would say it was totally romantic, but with Regan by my side…I’ll just say it was very serene.

Throughout the trip my digital camera has been taking some grief since it is about three times the size of most of the other students’ brand new digital cameras. Whenever I whip my camera out they all tease me about it being the first digital camera ever made and stuff. Well, tonight that large digi camera and I fought back. My camera seemed to do the best at capturing people and still not fading out the entire background of the city by the bay. As such, I was asked to take a lot of pictures for different people. Ah the sweet justice of Revenge. I doubt anyone else will make fun of my camera now! Of course, I’d like to believe the power was in the photographer and his expert use of the camera settings…but I could be wrong.

Back across the bay and to the hotel. I tried to make my call to Jamie fairly quick. I want to see if I can get in a deep sleep before the bulldozer (Regan) gets cranked up to high gear. I’m especially worried here because there is at most a centimeter of space between Regan and I’s beds in this hotel. Although the hotel is extremely nice, the room itself is a tad small and I fear if I am not careful I may get a full whiff of Regan breath in the morning…I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

PS. Regan if you want to fight back, talk about what sounds I make in my sleep, or just add any comments in general on things I may have missed or forgotten...please feel free to hit the comment button.

Asia Day 7: Wrapping up in Beijing

2007-06-12T21:42:00.000-06:00

June 2, 2007

Our final day in BeiJing. I’m sad that we will be leaving China so soon. As with most mornings on this trip, I am exhausted as we head out to our first visit. Seems I am still unable to sleep soundly. Last night Regan’s snoring was the worst yet. Poor Miranda, I hope that as she ages she is always able to be a deep sleeper.

Our first visit today is to a company called Terex. Terex builds dump trucks, cranes, and other building machinery. The contact at Terex is a guy named Heinz Dickens who is also in the regional presidency for the church in China. He gave us some good insights into both working/business in China and how the church is doing in China.

He started his remarks by quoting Woody Allen who has said, “I don’t trust air I can’t see.” What a great quote for this city. As you have probably seen from the pictures, it is very hazy and smoggy here all the time. Pretty great quote for someone who has been living in Beijing for over ten years.

Heinz seemed quite interested in hiring someone to come over and help manage some of their production facilities in China. As such, he highlighted a lot of career goals, what he looks for in an employee and keys to being an ex-pat in China.

I really liked the perspective he had on career path. He said, “Whatever is in front of you do well, give the best you can, and never do anything that will take away choices from your future.”

He talked a lot about hiring based far more on experience and the feel of individuals than on what school a person has attended. He states that working in Asia means a more demanding work week for him, but that his wife has a lot of perks. She has her own driver, her own maid and a cook (who also grocery shops) so that she is able to be more involved with their children and the international schools (which he says are very expensive but usually paid for by the businesses in China and he feels those schools offer a higher quality education than those offered in America). He talked about the challenge of hiring Chinese (local) workers because once they were trained they are hard to retain as the new skills opens up a lot of opportunities for them with many companies. He also discussed a little bit the issue of piracy and employees stealing ideas. His feeling was similar to that of the people at BeiJing Benz in that piracy is helpful in the sense that it forces innovation. He seemed frustrated that piracy took place, but saw the upside in constantly having the pressure to perform or else someone will come and take your clients from you.

Last, but far from least, we talked a little about the church in China. The church is able to proselyte to any foreigners but are still not able to preach to native Chinese. The church is growing though and the government does allow Chinese citizens who are baptized abroad to hold church meetings and baptize their immediate family (this is progress since the last time I was here). However, the Chinese and the foreigners are still not able to meet together and must have separate branches and activities.

After our visit to Terex we went as a group to lunch where we had a hearty lunch. At lunch we celebrated the birthday of our director’s wife and had a singing performance from Dave Anderson, a student on the trip. Taking a trip with Dave is like taking part in a musical, he seemed to have a song for everything. His performance of Beijing, Beijing (to the tune of New York, New York) was a riot!

After lunch we made a visit to Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city. I really enjoy Tiananmen Square (day or night). They are currently doing a lot of work around the square (probably in prep for the Olympics) and the Maosaleum for example was not open.

On our way to the square, Jamie Morningstar and Sean Naef were approached by the typical street vendor selling watches from a little briefcase like box. They were able to buy the entire box from the vendor and had many fake (bad fakes at that) Rolex and Gucci watches to sell. It made for great fun!

While at Tiananmen Square, Regan accomplished one of my goals for the trip. I wanted to get a picture of the split pants that the Chinese people use to potty train their children. It is always so hard to explain to people the split pants concept, so I was hoping to catch a good photo. Sure enough, Regan got a great one at Tiananmen and fortunately, I don't think any of the people there noticed him scoping out the children's bottoms.

There is also a good deal of renovation going on within the Forbidden City. The Forbidden city is basically courtyard after courtyard after courtyard of amazing Chinese architecture and was the home of the Emperors up through about 1926. Only the Emperor, his concubines & wives or eunuchs were allowed in the Forbidden City. It really is a remarkable place to see.

When we got through the last courtyard, a student had brought a copy of and read the Chinese dedicatory prayer that was given just inside the rear exit of the city. Both times now that I have seen the Forbidden City I’ve been with groups on time constraints and both times I’ve wished for more time at the final courtyard where it is more of a garden feel. The trees back there are just stunning. Maybe next time I come I will have the time to enjoy the gardens more.

Apparently, not all the students were sick of shopping yet and so we visited the Pearl market. I was pretty well sick of shopping (especially barter style) but couldn’t veto the trip down and so along with the group I went. I was envious when I learned that one student had not made the bus from the Forbidden City. I think I would have preferred more time there as well.

After the market I finished up some laundry and packed for our Hong Kong trip. Then we played a few rounds of Rook with Dustin Olson and Todd Rhodes. Those are two guys I didn’t have a lot of association with throughout the program, but who were a lot of fun to spend time with on this trip. I am glad that I was able to get to know them better.

Asia Trip Day Six: Ice Cream, Automobiles and TianAnMen

2007-06-06T09:56:00.000-06:00

June 1, 2007

Our business visits in china really started with a bang. I went to the place where my favorite Watermelon popsicles I used to eat on my mission are made. We went to Unilever’s ice cream division here in China called “Walls.” Not only did we get a ton of great ice cream to try out, but we also had a very informative presentation on marketing in China.

The head of marketing for Northeast Asia was a British man who went through the thinking behind a recent campaign introduced throughout China for their ice cream cone product called Cornetto. The campaign had a clearly Asian feel to it. Quite melodramatic and overtly cheesy. However, the point of the presentation did show the power of coordination among marketing programs and how they are really working to constantly enhance their image and keep the people wanting more of their ice cream cones. The campaigned involved their working with a couple of teen pop singers and using cell phones as a way to input codes for prizes etc.

I found it interesting that China is just now moving out of the necessity purchasing stages and are beginning to purchase on the basis of wanting to experience things. (Of course, this applies mostly to the big cities as Walls has literally no presence outside of the 4 biggest citadels in China.

Another interesting fact from the presentation was that currently over 80% of the retail business in China is unorganized. Meaning that over 80% of all purchases in China come from street vendors or little ma and pa shops. Grocery Stores and stores like Wal-mart are an extremely small part of the retail commerce in the country. As such, although Walls is a major player throughout the globe they are trying to adopt a strategy of thinking globally, but acting locally.

As we toured the production facility, I was very impressed with how many workers ran the machines. The production facility runs for 16 hours a day, which is two 8-hour shifts for the workers. The workers are brought in from neighboring provinces and given dormitories to stay at. They are also provided lunch everyday and given health insurance. However, the pay isn’t great. They make about the equivalent of $100 a month. The workers work for 7 days a week for 8 months and then the facility is closed for four months. The factory produces approximately 300 million pieces of ice cream in a year.

A few other key business insights: we discussed the fact that dealing with piracy really is just a part of doing business in China. They try to look at the fact that the competition will be allowed to mimick anything they do as incentive to always stay on the cutting edge of marketing (thus managing demand). Most retail business in China are seeing quarterly growth rates that are in excess of 15%. Crazy growth means that even poor campaigns can result in growth, but in order to stay ahead of the competition growth rates of over 20% would be necessary. Clearly remarkable the growth that is happening in China.

An anecdote regarding the freezer cabinets they use to sell ice cream out from. Walls used to give them away to their distribution channel. However, so many of them ended up getting stolen they have had to come up with a policy of requiring owners to buy the freezers and then reimbursing them over time. In 2006 Walls placed over 100,000 new freezer cabinets.

On the bus ride after the Unilever visit the professors asked that I stand at the front of the bus and talk about my experiences in China last time I was here. It felt quite awkward. Its funny how many of my previous experience has come back to the forefront of my memory though. Although I wasn’t a big fan of having to stand at the front of the bus, I hope that I gave some good information. Most of what I talked about were the other places I visited (like the terra cotta soldiers) that I really enjoyed.

For lunch we had the traditional Peking Duck. There was a lot of food and it was very good. Perhaps my favorite meal of the whole Asia excursion (to this point).

Following lunch we visited the Beijing Benz-Daimler-Chrysler plant that was opened just 9 months ago. It is a joint venture between the Beijing government, Mercedes and Chrysler. It was a far more sprawling factory (and less automated) than the Toyota factory. It also had a lot more of the work that got done in batches rather than straight line production. The factory here is expected to produce only 45,000 vehicles this year, but eventually grow to producing 120,000 vehicles a year which represents maximum capacity.

The Q & A section of this visit was very good. We spoke with an Italian from Mercedes who was the Finance guy and an American Chinese (who went to the University of Michigan). They talked a lot about being ex-pats in China. They both seemed to like it. They also discussed the importance to the Chinese workers that you don’t just work with them, but also spend time socializing with them after work.

Once again we discussed a great deal about the issue of piracy in China. Intellectual Property is seen as something that should be shared and common in China. The Italian made a great comment about the way the Chinese view piracy. Rather than viewing it as stealing I.P., they feel that if a company can find a cheaper way to provide the same goods that is seen as smart and inventive.

That night, I led a group of students over to see Tiananmen square all lit up at night. It really is a great place to see at night. We ran into a cute little family roller blading and we walked around a little bit. We talked a little bit about the monument to the people and the things (both good and horrible) that Mao did in his lifetime. I think the students who came were all glad that they had.

On the way back we took mo-ped taxis. The drivers tried to pull a dishonest trick at the end. They had told us they would give us a ride for 30 yuan; however, when they dropped us off they wanted $30 (A difference of over $25). Fortunately, we were able to settle up with them without any incident. We paid a little more than the original price they asked, but clearly they didn’t want to make an issue of this any more than we did and they had lost the leverage by changing the price after they had driven us back to our hotel.

That evening, before going to bed, a few of us played Rook for a while. That sure was fun! I wish I had more chances to play cards. Seems like it is always so hard to get a good group together to play with.

Asia Day Five: Singin' in the Rain

2007-06-04T11:28:00.000-06:00

May 31, 2007

So today was really great, but I must admit to being a little bummed too. We had a great day seeing some of the best sights in China. However, unfortunately the weather was not very good and rained most of the day.

Our first stop was the one that disappointed me the most. We went to the Great Wall of China and took a tram up the mountain to a key viewpoint. However, we were unable to see much because of the rain and the fog. In fact, the visibility was so bad we almost couldn’t see from one post to the next. As you can see, you couldn't even always see from my camera to me and I was always within a foot or two walking distance. (Good time to remind any readers that if you double click on any small photo posted here it will expand for easier viewing).

However, it did not keep my spirits down for long. I still enjoyed walking on the wall and talking with the Chinese people that I ran into. Dave Anderson and I even did a little dance number to “Singin in the Rain.” It would have been nice if the weather had cooperated for us, but overall it was still nice to be back at the great wall again. One day I’m going to bring Jamie here…I know that she would enjoy it.

On the way back to the bus I had a few great conversations with peddlers who set up their shops at the base of the wall. I really do enjoy the Chinese sense of humor. I wish there was a way for me to keep my current life but enjoy more contact with the Chinese people. And, of course, I can’t keep the words to the song “Because I have Been Given Much out of my head.”

After the wall we enjoyed a GREAT meal at a restaurant not far from the wall. It was the Chinese food that I fell in love with. Typical wok cooked dishes with lots of vegetables and several different varieties. It is a lot of fun seeing some of the other students’ first experiences with the food and culture. I have been able to make much better friends with some of the other students this trip. I have really been enjoying the fact that as we travel the walls come down and are left with no pretension.

After dinner we went to a government owned shop where they make a certain style of pottery that was developed in the Ming dynasty called Cloisonne. The pots are clay, then coated with copper and have copper wiring designs. It was fascinating watching the people hard at work, particularly bending the copper and painting the very fine patterns on the pottery.

Our next stop was the Summer Palace where the Empress Dowager, when she was in power, lived from April to October. The Empress Dowager was quite the egotistical woman. She literally killed off her own children in order to maintain control of the political affairs of China in the late 1800s. When she dined the amount of food brought in was enough to feed a village and that was just one meal for her. I studied quite a bit about her the last time I was here. If you are interested, ask me sometime and I’ll share a few more stories.

One quick anecdote…the Empress’ ego inspired her to want to create a magnificent Jade boat (the Chinese people really do love all things Jade). Of course, once the boat was completed it was way to heavy to float. So, it sits at the dock on a slab of concrete to show off what an overactive ego can do!

While looking at the boat, I met the cutest 75 year old Chinese woman who was selling (illegally I am sure) post cards. She was so animate as I spoke with her. She told me she was 75 and when I said “I’m not quite that old” she cracked up and started dancing up and down laughing. We talked about how many Americans come through here and she was just a riot. Several of the nearby students had a good laugh as well. In the end I bought a few postcards just because I wanted to help her out.

After the palace we went back to the hotel. A few students went to see the Beijing Acrobats. Having seen them before, I went with a group to a nearby market again. I go more to enjoy talking and using my Chinese than anything else. Of course, I do end up buying things which is the harm in spending so much time in the markets. The upside is that most things here don't cost very much.

It is interesting to see the different styles used to negotiate and the different tastes that come out. I know that Regan and I are shopping for different things. It is definitely neat being able to have someone here that I know I will have a long term relationship with. We may be sick of each other by the time this trip is over, but I feel lucky that we are able to share this experience. I have a feeling we will be boring the family at gatherings with stories from our trip for years to come.

I ended my day with a few laps of swimming. It felt good to get some hard exercise and I gained a better appreciation for how hard Jamie worked to get in shape for her recent triathlon. I sure miss her and my boys. The fact that we keep busy doing stuff probably makes it easier than it is for those at home. However, at every turn I think…if only Jamie were here. I especially miss having here as the designated picture taker. I really hope to bring Jamie here in the future. I also really miss how great Tyler makes me feel and being there to see cute little Marcus.

If one day I somehow become a millionaire, I would love to lead a big group of our extended family over here to enjoy this magnificent culture. However, don’t hold your breath…I’m a long ways from millionaire status.

Asia Day Four: From Sunshine to Smog

2007-06-04T11:09:00.000-06:00

May 30, 2007

Today was mostly a travel day. We had to wake pretty early to get on the bus and head to the airport. At the airport we spent some time playing card games and chatting. One poor student accidentally left his passport and boarding pass at a store where he had purchased a drink or something. Fortunately for him, another student saw it and picked it up for him.

On the plane I sat next to a couple of older ladies that came to Tokyo from Beijing to visit Tokyo Disney. They were friendly and even ended up taking some video of me because I could speak Chinese. I am surprised at how just beginning to speak Chinese again brings back so much. I need to work a lot harder to keep my Chinese up, but I was relieved somewhat when I found that a fair amount of it started coming back as soon as I began interacting with these two older ladies.

On the flight I tried to take some time to write up my experiences from Japan. The previous blogging I have done to this point were mostly composed on the flight from Japan to Beijing. On the flight, I was able to sit on the upper deck. Although that was interesting as I had never flown upstairs before, it really wasn’t anything special.

When we got to China we were, of course, immediately greeted by the smog and humidity. As we bused from the airport to our hotel I couldn’t believe how much Beijing had changed just since I was last there in 2000. Not just in preparation for the Olympics, there are a LOT more skyscrapers than were here last time I was. Unfortunately, there are a lot more cars as well and traffic was slow and the air quality just awful.

Prior to hitting our hotel, we stopped at a silk market. The Chinese people have definitely developed a knack for bartering style markets. At this market I did pick up a set of Terra Cotta Soldiers that are just a little bigger than my last set. It was something I wanted. I also bought a bunch of ties for just over a buck. I was surprised that so many of the merchants were willing to take American dollars. I was glad that I had followed the advice and brought so many Ones from home. Thanks again to mom for getting the ones from the bank for me.

One thing for certain, our hotel here is the nicest place I have ever stayed. It is absolutely amazing. The lobby is breathtaking! Our room is very nice also, but especially impressive is the gym/swimming pool area. This is a high class joint for sure.

Shortly after arriving we went down for dinner in the hotel. A couple that lives here in Beijing and has raised their children abroad was there to discuss the pros and cons of business in China as well as raising an LDS family in Asia. They also brought their son who is currently doing an internship in Beijing and is a junior at BYU. One of the students in this group also had a brother stationed here in China who joined us for dinner. He is an economic analyst and seemed to be quite a whiz!
The dinner was okay, unfortunately, it was Szechuan style which is a little too spicy for my taste. It does seem that the more the Chinese people try to impress with the dishes they make, the less I enjoy them. Here’s hoping we can get down to the good food the rest of the trip.

It is so interesting how much emotion comes back being in China. I have feelings towards the Chinese people that I can’t explain or even fully understand myself. It is so moving to be here again. It is also so heartbreaking to see the poverty of some of the people. This is a land that needs the gospel. I know that the teachings of Christ would go a long way in changing the overall make-up of this land.

Oh by the way, I just heard that my friend Todd Rhodes has posted a few comments and pictures from this trip also. You should check out http://www.ficklematter.blogspot.com

Asia Trip Day 3: Banks, Boredom & Sushi

2007-06-01T17:14:00.000-06:00

May 29, 2007

Today we visited two banks in the morning. One was a consumer oriented/retail bank called Tokyo Star. Their business model has been to differentiate themselves from the typical Japanese bank by providing a unique banking experience centered around educating about Financial Freedom. The CEO, an LDS businessman named Todd Budge, presented some slides about the way they were able to take the bank from disaster to profitability. Mr. Budge is the first CEO of a Japanese bank and has really been making waves (in a good way) over here. In fact, he has written two books (in Japanese) that have sold well and one was on the importance of Work and Family Life balance. Apparantly it is very common for the Japanese to not only work really long hours, but when the work day is done to go out drinking until midnight or later.

A big part of what Tokyo Star has done is they remodeled the entire layout of their banks to emphasize learning over transactions. I would imagine that if any of you have more interest in the way they have designed their retail banks you could find them on the web. Another part of their philosophy is that Tokyo Star has allowed free ATM access to anyone using their ATM. They are the only bank in Tokyo to make this available.

Mr. Budge used a lot of what we have studied in class. For example, he is focusing on growing a company that is “Built to Last.” “Built to Last” is a book written by the same author as the book “Good to Great” which we studied in some detail. Mr. Budge also showed us how he applied what we call a Seven S model that we learned. His discussion was really great! The only problem was that the AC was not working and boy oh boy did that room get HOT!

The next visit was to the Deutsche bank. It was really cool to see the trading floor at the bank, but frankly most of the rest of it was more like a sales pitch for Deutsche bank than it was something I could try to apply to my career. Although, they had about a million charts and graphs encouraging investing in Japan.

Since I was having a hard time staying awake at Deutsche bank, I spent a lot of time looking out the window. We were up very high and had an excellent view of the city. It was quite a nice view and I guess in a way that made this visit worth doing. The contact at the bank seemed pretty excited about being an ex-patriot in Japan. He thinks the international schools here give even more opportunities for his children than the schools back home would. He seemed to especially like the fact that for sports and other competitions the kids will travel throughout Asia. He also talked a lot about how the church has a strong network, in fact there is an entire English speaking stake here in Tokyo. It sounded like the church was a huge help in his wife being able to handle living in Tokyo.

After the bank visits we had the day free to explore Tokyo. We took the subway around town and had a good time. I continue to be amazed at how clean everything is here. While we were travelling around one of our friends, Nate Dunn, just sorta went off on his own. No big deal as he was able to get back just fine. However, reflecting on the way he went out on his own reminded me of a story from this trip that I haven't told yet. When we were coming into Japan from the U.S. our bags had to be scanned. It turned out that Nate had been hunting last week and left several bullets in his bag. Of course, the ammunition was not caught by the SLC airport. In the end nothing came of the ammunition in the bag. In fact, the Japanese people are so kind they wrapped it up all nice and gave it back to him!!!

We also did some sightseeing and shopping around the “technology district.” It was pretty fun. My favorite was this super cool Massage Chair. Turns out though that there is one button that must say “extreme pain” in Japanese. Seriously I think it put me in some sort of death grip and was never going to let go. Its okay though…I made it out of the chair alive and learned a valuable lesson about not pushing buttons you don't understand.

For dinner we had Sushi, which isn’t really my thing, but it was kind of fun having Sushi in Japan.

I think my favorite part of the free time was riding up to the 45th floor of the government building across the street from our hotel. We did this at night so the lights were pretty outstanding. They had an observation tower that provided an amazing view of the city. It was an absolutely breathtaking view. The building is some sort of a government building and actually had two towers. I think Regan got a picture of the model of the building that was on display so that we can show you when we get home.

Tomorrow we move on to CHINA!!

The Guth's have updated the Blog

2007-05-31T23:07:00.000-06:00

I have finally put some updated photo's of the girls up on our blog www.theguthlife.blogspot.com if anyone is interested. Hopefully, I will be a little more consistent in the updates in the future.

Asia Trip Day Two: A Memorial Day to Remember

2007-05-31T15:29:00.000-06:00

May 28, 2007 Memorial Day.

Today was our first visit to a business on this trip. First we boarded a bullet train that took us to Toyota city. The bullet train got up as high as 169 mph and rides extremely smooth. We forty Americans took up the majority of one car on the train. I was sitting right at the front of the car where the entrance was. I got a great laugh when one Japanese businessman stepped through the door (all the doors on the train opened the way the doors do on Star Trek) and then seeing all these Americans stepped back out the door and doubled check that he had the right car. I think he was wondering if he had stepped through some kind of a space warp or something. Pretty funny!
The Toyota tour was just amazing. We have often discussed over the past two years the efficiencies of the Toyota Production System. Seeing it up close and in person was really something. They run a production line for 16 hours a day and yet they never have more than two hours of inventory on hand at one time. The true definition of Just In Time Inventory controls. The facility we toured manufactures approximately 600 vehicles a day and is equipped to produce 8 different models. The plant we toured was used for Japanese domestic cars only.

One thing that I really thought was amazing was the empowerment given the individual line workers. At any time, if a worker has a concern of any kind he can pull on a white cord that will stop the line until the problem is fixed. The important aspect is that if an employee goes to long without stopping the line it is seen as a greater concern than if the line gets stopped. They really want to ensure that each vehicle produced meets specifications. In fact, the vehicles undergo over a thousand different inspection tests prior to leaving the plant.

Along the line of employee empowerment…in order to continually improve, the workers are given incentives to make suggestions on improving the facility. Last year the workers at the facility came up with over 600,000 new ideas for improving the process. Makes me think about whether the companies I have worked for really value imput from the individual workers the way they should. Ever implemented idea also results in a bonus for the employee.

My favorite part was the welding section. The Robots were straight out of Star Wars! Very difficult to describe (and we were not allowed to take pictures in the factory) but the robots that did the welding were just awesome! They were long arm like mechanical beasts that would sit still as the welding sheet came to their section...then the whole line of welders would go crazy welding and shooting sparks into the air. Then they would switch to vacuum mode and vacuum all over the frames of the current sheet. At this point, the machines all along the line go back to sleep and the line shifts. The process then begins all over for the next phase. In all, each car has over 4,500 welding spots. What I hadn't realized before watching this process (besides the fact that apparantly the "Jetsons" was as much fact as fiction) was that the lines (both welding and production) were made up of different cars and that they were not made in batches. In other words, a worker or a welding machine goes from say a Corolla to a Minivan to a Camry to a Highlander etc. On the bottom of the cars is placed a data chip that tells the welding machine what spots to weld.

We then went to the Toyota exhibition hall and museum. Not being a major car lover myself, I was mostly intrigued by some of the goofy robotics they had on hand. One melodramatic performance introduced something called the i-Unit which is an individual motor vehicle that is pretty funny looking. I can’t imagine trying to explain it so I will have to rely on the photo. The most fun was watching the outer lighting change colors based on the color of the necklace of the driver. It really was top notch Asian melodrama at its finest showing off this futuristic mobile unit. The picture shows the i-unit upright but it can also become a four wheeler so you can take it out on the highways and really show everyone just how cool you are with your color coded robotic arm chair.

We had lunch and a Q & A at the Toyota Headquarters. The food was a little different than I personally would have ordered, but it was interesting hearing from the business executives at Toyota. I was surprised at how some of the questions from our group seemed to be rather confrontational in nature. I hope that along the way we don't offend any of these executives we have come to pay homage to.

After Toyota we took a bullet train from there up to Tokyo. Tokyo is absolutely amazing. It has the tall buildings of somewhere like New York but is also completely clean and has next to no crime. Tokyo was fairly well destroyed back at the end of the war and so everything is pretty new.

Right after checking into the hotel a few of us went looking for food. I felt extremely fortunate when I saw a sign for a Taiwan restaurant. I really enjoyed the food, having not eaten Taiwanese food for many years. The group I was with also really enjoyed the food and one of the other guys was also a returned missionary from Taiwan. He served in Taipei about the same time I did. We have already begun plotting the fun we will be able to have speaking Chinese to the people we run into in Beijing.

Regan and Kent in Asia: Day One

2007-05-30T14:44:00.000-06:00

March 27, 2007

We lost a full day in travel because of the international date line, so essentially I was dropped off at the SLC airport around 6:30am on Friday and crashed in Kyoto Japan at around 9pm on Saturday. We awoke for breakfast at the hotel and had a sacrament meeting as a group. It was neat to hear from a couple of the members of the group about the history of the church in Japan and Asia.

We then set off for a day of visiting the ancient sites. Our first stop was called Ni Jou Castle. We learned something pretty cool about the way the old Shogun castles were protected. The wooden floor joints were structured in such a way that when you walked on any board it would squeak. As we toured the castle (we were not allowed to take pictures inside, only outside) we made quite the ruckus. I guess the idea in the day was that this would be an effective alarm against intruders. I bet it made it hard for the teen age kids to sneak out for a night on the town as well.

As this was our first stop, I was struck by both the similarities and the differences between Japan (first time here) and China or Taiwan. The people here seem much more used to having an American in their presence. The city overall is much more clean that either China or Taiwan as well. One thing I am getting a kick out of is watching those students who have never been to Asia (Regan for example) and the way they are reacting to things. For example, Dustin Smith was taking pictures of the children in their school uniforms so he could show his children how cushy life in American’s schools can be. Bearing in mind that this is a Sunday it was interesting to see how many school groups were touring the castle.

Our next stop for the day, the Golden Pavilion. This is a 22kt gold plated Buddhist temple set in the middle of a small pond. The gold bird on the top of the temple is made of over 40 lbs of gold! It is amazing how glowing the temple looks without any direct lights aimed at it. This is perhaps the best example I’ve seen in my life as to why Gold has always carried such value. The place literally glows in the middle of the day.

It is at this stop that I first realize the “flag” our tour guide is using to hold up so we can try to find her in a crowd. It is basically a pink shower loofa on a stick. Of course, I couldn’t help but craft a verse of “Follow the Loofa” to the tune of “Follow the Prophet.” I think Tyler would have enjoyed marching with me as we sang: Loofa on a stick for everyone to see, if you lose your way be sure to look for me….follow the loofa, follow the loofa, follow the loofa it knows the way!”

Next up…a traditional Japanese style lunch. Several students hit their heads on the walls as they looked for their seats; fortunately, I didn’t have this problem. The food was fairly good; however, I was far from filled up. Combined with the lack of sufficient airline food and I thought my stomach was going to start rioting if it wasn’t filled soon. Most of the dishes at the restaurant were chicken dishes. Here’s hoping I don’t come down with the bird flu.

Following lunch our group drove to the HeiAn Shinto Shrine. The Shrine itself was a green and orange structure that was similar to other shrines I had seen in both Taiwan and China. While at the shrine were able to tour some very beautiful gardens. We also really enjoyed some rather creative translations on signs. My personal favorite read “It is closed to the public besides a point, the person concerned than this.” I think if I was trying to translate this sign I’d have stuck with the traditional “no unauthorized personal beyond this point.” But that isn’t nearly as creative is it.

At the gardens I have a chance to practice my Karate Kid Swan kick while we crossed a little pond on a stone path. We also were able to talk to a couple of locals. And by talk of course I mean make silly gestures to one another without a clue what the other person means.

I am struck with the natural beauty of Japan. Perhaps even more I am impressed with the city’s cleanliness. There seems to be little smog and no litter anywhere. The people are also EXTREMELY polite and service oriented. They do not seem to be as surprised to see an American as I remember the Chinese people in both Taiwan and China. However, when we gave them attention they did seem to enjoy it.

Our second to the last stop was the “SanJuSanGen Do” Buddhist Temple. The Japanese take on Buddhism is different from the Chinese. However, the temple’s over 1,000 statues and methods of worship loked the same to my untrained eye.

Our last stop was to a place called “KyoMidZa.” According to the our “Loofa Lady” this Buddhist temple came about when a monk had a dream that he should travel to the land of clear water and there build a temple. When the monk came upon this spot he found a beautiful spring geyser and then built the temple up and around the mountainside. I think this was my favorite stop of the day because of the beauty of the trees and mountainside around the temple.

Also, you should be aware that when I come home I may look much younger and even better looking than when I left. I had a taste of the elixir of youth from the fountain. According to the folklore I am now going to live longer and look better. Life for Jamie back home just keeps getting better huh?

Throughout the trip we have been divided into teams for quick counting of all the group. I am the team captain for ten of us. We have nicknamed ourselves the badgers. We are having a great time. We have even decided that whenever someone does something really cool, we give them a one yen piece. This coin (worth less than a penny) will literally float on water. We have thereby named this coin the “badger buck.” When at the fountain of youth I was playing around with some of the children and making them laugh I earned a “badger buck.”

The evening was pretty uneventful. A large group of us went out to eat but found that no restaurant was prepared to accept so many people at once. In the end, we split into a group of about 4. Only problem was we had no Japanese speaker among us and we got a little turned around. I felt pretty cool when I was able to make just enough out of a few characters and get just enough information out of a local to get us back to the hotel. Are you swooning over my hero status yet?

Nothing Fancy, Just a Few Pictures

2007-05-20T20:53:00.000-06:00

If you were directed to this site to see the pictures of the triathlon...don't worry they are in the post just below this one. However, feeling bad that it has been so long since I posted any other pictures of our family, I wanted to make a quick post with just a few pictures, none of my annoying commentary ;-)

As you can see both Marcus and Tyler are getting much bigger and are still both ever so cute!

In this one, look close at Marcus' eyes. He has already mastered the eye roll!

Here is Tyler looking ready to head off to school...too bad he is only 3!

Look what we found in our laundry one morning! He was very hard to fold.

A Tribute to Our Birthday Woman of Steel

2007-05-19T21:00:00.000-06:00

SHE DID IT!

We are so proud of our Jamie! On this her 31st birthday she totally rocked the Utah Women of Steel sprint triathlon. She competed with her sisters Dana and Tracy and a couple of neighbors. The race consisted of a 300-meter swim, a 10-mile bike and 3-mile run. Jamie did all of them at a great pace and was smiling when it was all through. The times have not been posted yet, but Jamie felt good about her effort and that is the most important thing. Both sisters also felt very good about the way they raced.

One thing for sure, Jamie looked GOOD in her tri-suit. I obviously need to get out and buy Jamie some new clothes. I didn't realize just how skinny she is looking until I saw her out there without her regular baggy clothes. Jamie says this is as healthy as she has ever felt. Admit it, when you look at these pictures you too are impressed at just how great Jamie is looking.

Tyler loved the event too. I think his favorite part was watching the swim because he could watch his mom the whole time. During the bike and run there were long periods where Jamie was out of sight and that made Tyler just want to play on the nearby park playground. When he did see mom, he proudly held up his sign that said Happy Birthday Mom! You Rock!! Jamie #4516.

Before the race Jamie was mostly worried about the swim. After the race, she was most disappointed in the swim, but for a different reason. Jamie wound up swimming very well and kept getting kicked in the face by the gal who should have allowed Jamie to lap her. The race started swimmers about every ten seconds or so and it only took a lap or two for Jamie to be right up against the swimmer in front of her. Unfortunately, that swimmer did not allow Jamie to pass for several laps and it looked to Tyler in the stands as though "mommy was eating that woman's feet."

As for the bike, unfortunately Jamie forgot to double check her seat and I had ridden the bike easlier in the week. Fortunately, I don't ride with the seat too much shorter than her. However, it was not her ideal riding conditions.

Last but not least, the run! No excuses and no problems as Jamie ran quite well. Tyler was very excited when he saw her coming down the home stretch. He was a great cheerleader. In fact, he now keeps talking about "his race." Apparantly, in his world there is an upcoming race including cousins and neighbors. Pretty fun!

With my graduation coming up soon, I've been talking about the need to start working on getting in better shape. SO...I think I am going to sign-up for the Hobblecreek Half Marathon that is in late August. I'm sure that I am crazy, but I can't let these three tough ladies show me up.

As an aside, sorry for not posting. It does take some effort to keep this up. If you are reading this and its worth my time to keep posting let me know. I may try to blog a time or two while I'm in Asia (I leave a week from yesterday!!!!!)

Would love to hear from you all!

TOUGH LADIES HUH?

Marcus' First Photo Shoots

2007-01-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last "Blogged." I think that Christmas and the New Year just wiped me out. That and trying to juggle a new job, new baby, Tyler and school starting back up has had me hopping.

As a way of update, Marcus is growing and doing great. At his two month check-up he was up to 12 lbs 6 oz and doing great. He is, for the most part, a very mellow baby. Tyler meanwhile seems to love his little brother and is generally very good to him.

This past week Marcus had his first two photo shoots. One at JC Penney with his brother and the other at home with his mommy. We think that several of the photos turned out fairly well. Jamie was a little disappointed with the trip to JC Penney because the lady who helped her really seemed rushed and disinterested. It is a shame when you have two little ones cooperating so well and the grown-up doesn't. Oh well, a couple of good ones came out of it.

One quick story. Tyler has really been discovering his imagination lately. It is entertaining watching the ways his mind is developing. The past few weeks he has decided that he has sufficiently mastered the English language and is ready to develop his own. SO...he has started randomly inserting words like "Cha Kah" and "Kee Yow" into sentences. This week Jamie tried to call him on one. She asked what "Cha Kah" meant. He calmly replied, "to go to work." Sure enough that night when I came home and asked him what new word he taught mommy he said, "Cha Kah means to go to work." We have decided that he must be speaking "Ty-wanese."

Tyler is also really enjoying the box of his dad's toys that he discovered in the basement. It is really a shame that when I was ten I didn't have an unfinished basement of my own. I can see so clearly how my Sky Commander, Mask, Transformer and G.I. Joe toys would be so great down there if I still had my ten year old imagination. Tyler meanwhile loves to discover the new toys we have kept from him these past two years. I often chuckle to myself when I pick up a toy and see that it was manufactured in 1980 or 1984. Pretty cool that he is getting such a kick out of toys that are twenty years older than him.

In other news, Jamie has joined with several women in the ward for a Biggest Loser contest. (Not as weight focused as it sounds, it is much more concerned with healthy living than just weight loss). I have been very proud of the way that she has made up a little fridge chart to monitor her goals and has been trying to get to the gym in the early hours of the morning. Of course, it has resulted in her often turning in for the night before nine o'clock and leaving me lonely. I won't be far behind her though if Tyler's current sleeping patterns continue. He has decided that 1) he finds the early morning a great time to be spunky and 2) that spunkiness should start promptly at 5:30 am. Now, I confess I've never been much of a morning person anyways, but 5:30 is TOO EARLY for that kind of spunk!!! It might not be so bad except that with school I am often doing homework or winding down until midnight or later. That makes for some long, groggy days!

Hope this brief update was fun. I hope all is well with all of our friends and loved ones.

Ginger Bread Houses 2006

2006-12-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight we held our 5th annual Besaw family Ginger Bread House decorating get together. It was a smashing success! We held it at Melissa's house this year and we had some of the most creative ideas ever!

Unfortunately, I was left to help Tyler with his house. Fortunately, in the end, Jamie came in and rescued the house. When she tagged in I had effectively destroyed all four walls. Granted, I had a great variety of yummy treats, my lack of engineering prowess showed through when the base couldn't support the ten pounds of candy I had frosted on.

Clayton teamed up with Grandma Terry to bring us a Necco Clock with numbers and hands drawn on. They also had penguins and goldfish in their pond. Meanwhile, Morgan and Craig came up with an idea to have a Smarties "cobblestone" yard. It gave their cottage a most "European" feel to it.

London's house didn't exactly exude a ton of creativity, but I'll tell you what, she more than figured out how to add lollipop/gumdrop lamps to her house. Also, if I am not mistaken many of the gumdrop bases had to pass a stringent taste test to make the cut.

Miranda helped Kennedy, who, as always, was all smiles.

The twins each came up with some exciting new designs as well. Madison had quite the Licorice Gateway that lead to her cottage's porch. She also had a pretty fancy Tootsie Roll fence. Meanwhile, Mackenzie's Santa sled was led by a red-nosed kissdeer. She also had a rather fancy candy rock path that led the way to her door (complete with knob).

Melissa spent the night helping to frost key additions for everyone and finding key candies and edible treats for anyone's ideas. Regan and I (after I destroyed Tyler's house) chased kids and tried to help keep peace. Grandpa Rod held little Marcus and Marcus seemed to love his touch because he was zonked most of the evening.

All in all, one of the best (and messiest) family home evenings of the year. Below I have posted a blog with some photos of the homes with their builders. However, I thought it important for this blog that I show off how great this year's homes looked. (Bear in mind that none of these photos were the finished product and yes, we did add roofs).

Ginger Bread House Pictures

2006-12-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Madison takes a quick break
Tyler cheeses up for the camera
Mackenzie is all Business with her house
London loved the Lollipop look

Morgan and Craig, what a team!
Clayton planning with Grandma
Kennedy was all Smiles
Marcus just watched

The Christmas Tree & Other Ramblings

2006-12-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

Tis the season! Jamie, Tyler and I (with lots of help from Grandma Renae) put up our Christmas tree this past week. Tyler is very proud of it and likes to show it off to anyone who comes visiting. He really enjoyed putting the candy canes on the tree and loved to climb up the little step ladder and pretend it was a "spaceship." He is a comical little guy and we are proud of the work he put into making our "Crimpas" tree look nice.

Meanwhile, Renae had to head back to Virginia this week and we will miss having our maid around. Jamie is doing pretty well with things, but is finding that with a baby in the house we do have to say No to Tyler a lot more and that can be a drag. Unfortunately, Tyler wants to smother the baby with his love. Could be worse, he could want to smother him in a jealous rage. However, the result is the same and we find that Marcus would be loved into an ealry demise if we don't keep a close eye on Tyler. As you can see in these pictures, Tyler loves to touch baby brother's head (about the only part of Marcus' body we let him touch without getting in trouble).

This week Tyler also sat on Santa's lap for the first time. Last year he was too scared. This year he saw Santa at Tracy's work Christmas party that was held at Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum. He seemed to have a great time and is lucky to have such a loving aunt willing to let him come along.

Not much else is going on here. I am very anxious for the end of this week. I will then be off school until the new year. I enjoy school and have been learning a lot. However, it does make life a little more hectic that I would like. Is anything new going on with anyone else? Is anyone even reading this?

Loves,
Kent

A Few Words of Thanks

2006-11-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and I definately feel as though I have an over abundance of things for which to be thankful. After all, BYU beat the Utes in football for the first time in what has seemed forever, the Utah Jazz are off to the best start in franchise history, and the Chicago Cubs hired a new manager and landed a top free agent. What more could there be to be thankful for? Well, I guess I could think of a few things I am even more grateful for than that the sports world seems to be moving in the right direction.

I am always thankful for the limited times each year that I get to see my brother Carl and his family. Seemed like this Thanksgiving trip went even faster than the last couple, but I was thankful for the few moments we were able to share. While they were here we caught a Jazz game, they came and saw my new office, we ate Thanksgiving dinner together and even survived the family pictures together. The only trouble with their visits is that it leaves me sad that we are unable to be a bigger part of one another's lives. Which is at least one reason I try to keep this blog going.

I am EXTREMELY grateful for what a wonderful baby we have in Marcus. He is so mild tempered. Jamie and I are really worried that having had two easy babies the odds are definately not in our favor to have mellow babies in the future. I am thankful that despite some rough moments Tyler is a great big brother. He is a loving boy and seems to get more fun with each passing day. Mostly, I am grateful for Jamie. She has carried a large burden since I chose to go back to school. I am thankful for how well she is recovering from birth number two and for the stability she brings to our family.

Here are a few other things I am thankful for: I am thankful for having a mother-in-law in town who planned a turkey dinner for 1:30pm and thankful for my own mother's turkey dinner planned for 5:00pm. For those of you who have yet to try out the two-turkey-dinners-in-one-day method of celebrating Thanksgiving, I highly recommend it. It was perfect because at each table I could just take my very most favorite dishes. When asked why I didn't have more pistachio salad all I had to say was "I'm leaving room so I'm not too full at my other Thanksgiving dinner"and if I passed on brussel sprouts I could say "well, I did eat a Thanksgiving dinner just 4 hours ago." Seriously, thanks to both of the great cooks for my two terrific turkey dinners.

I am thankful for 96 homemade rolls! Yup, mother-in-law Renae made 96 rolls for me to share at my two thanksgiving dinners. That way I had my very most favorite part of a meal at both dinners. I have also been eating rolls for breakfast lunch and dinner ever since. Ahh...the sweet joy of homemade rolls! Kennedy really liked her roll too.

I am thankful that I have so many wonderfully cute and fun nieces and nephews. I am even more grateful that all ten are not my own. After turkey dinner the older nieces and nephews put on a great little Thanksgiving play around a centerpiece the nieces had designed (who knew you could do so much with a toilet paper roll...and when did they think about all these uses of toilet paper rolls?) It was a ton of fun, but definately a little hard to control the younger ones who wanted to be a part of the fun but didn't know how. All in all it was great, I'm just glad that I only have to keep track of my own on a full-time basis.

I am thankful for the gift of giving. After dinner we exchanged gifts among the cousins since Annaka and Adam won't be here for Christmas. I still don't know what Tamagatchi means but they were a huge hit among the pre-teen girls. (My guess on the meaning of Tamagatchi is "genius marketing of useless technology") For those of you not in the "know," Tamagatchi is the name brand of a little electronic pet that is all the rage. For the younger children, Tyler loves his Word Whammer fridge alphabet and he also is quite fond of the "That's not my Dinosaur" book Marcus received. Clayton and Adam got super fun DVDs to watch, Morgan got a water-doodle and the pretty Guth princess scored a megablock castle and two wooden dress up magna-dolls (don't expect a guy with two sons to know how to describe those dolls any better than that).

I am thankful for bribery! I am quite certain we would have never made it through the Besaw family portrait on Friday without some serious bribery. I know I bribed Tyler with everything I could think of and I am pretty sure some of the other parents had to employ similar tactics. I think Craig's bribe was that if his children didn't behave they would wind up with Bunny Ears in the final portrait. I have no idea if we ever got a picture where all the children were actually looking and smiling, but that just makes me grateful for digital cameras and the magical world of photo editing, should we need it.

I am thankful for so many things that any list is incomplete. I am grateful to live in the country I do that affords so many freedoms, I am grateful for good health, good employment and good friends to go with such a great family. I am grateful for the church and all the blessings that come with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I send my love and gratitude to each of you and thank you for all you do and have done for me.

Kent

First Bath and Meeting the Cali Cousins

2006-11-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last night Tyler helped us give baby Marcus his first bath. We found that the saying "too many cooks in the kitchen" also applies to "too many scrubbers around a bathtub." Tyler was so excited and Marcus was awfully cute. It was a treat for me because it was the most awake I had seen Marcus since the first few hours after he was born. He sure has a very precious look and we think he is as cute as can possibly be.

As a sidetrack, Jamie wanted me to be fair and tell another story about the delivery room. While she was busy offending those trying to help; I had a moment of my own that she feels I should share with those who read this blog. For some reason, I have never had a problem with seeing blood or the actual birth of the baby. However, I DO NOT like needles. As Jamie was struggling with pain the nurse tried to se t up an IV for Jamie. I made the mistake of looking as the needle blew a vein in Jamie's hand. Unfortunately, having had zero sleep that night and being a little stressed what with the baby coming...Well, lets just say I turned a little white, got a little weak in the knees and almost needed medical attention of my own. Fortunately, within a few minutes I was fine and really enjoyed witnessing the birth of our number two boy. However, at that moment I don't think Jamie was particularly comforted by my pale-colored self.

Back to the current happenings. Tonight, Carl's family stopped in for a quick visit and saw their newest nephew/cousin. Tyler was very excited because Adam played trucks with him and he was able to show off some of his favorite Star Wars toys. We sure are lucky to have so many wonderful cousins, but we definitely wish that we could see more of the California Cousins. I can't believe how much both Adam and Annaka seem to grow up in between each time that we see their family. We are really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with them and Tyler especially hopes to get lots of play time in with the Cali Cousins.

As for Marcus, he continues to sleep nearly all the time, but I did hear him give a significant cry for the first time last night. It was short lived, but good to know that at least he does have it in him to give a good cry. Funny, I remember with Tyler always wishing he could go longer periods without crying and with this one I'm looking forward to him crying to prove he has it in him. Hopefully I haven't totally jinxed this baby forevermore. I don't think Jamie will forgive me if he now becomes a major screamer just because I went and blogged that he is so quiet.

Jamie is still recovering and had a little harder day today; however, all in all she is making good progress. We are truly blessed with great health and are so grateful for it.