Orchestra is amazing

Dear family,

Got to hit send and go to sleep. Love to all!

Dad

Wednesday, April 28, 2021
10:00 pm

During family prayer tonight, Spencer expressed appreciation for the fact that tomorrow is Friday. Sad for him, that is not the case. This week has gone really fast. Quick recap:

Monday – I met with another contractor we are considering for our Springville building. FHE ran late, as usual. Nathaniel went to sleep well.

Tuesday – Had a frustrating conversation with a vendor that isn't doing a very good job for us. I'm actively looking at changing providers. Most of the day at work felt frustrating. The boys joined the newly restarted Primary Activity program. I had several interviews and then bishopric meeting. It was uplifting.

Today – Better day at work. Joined the annual business meeting for the Utah Credit Union Association. Sam Crane, a friend and CEO in Grand County, is growing his hair for a part he has in the Book of Mormon videos.  Filming was delayed due to COVID, so he has been growing his hair and beard for over a year. He looks the part now! Met with the final contractor we are considering; I think I may have liked them the best. All three contractors are quality companies and would do a good job. The hard part is deciding which one to work with and which two to say "no" to.

Tonight Abbie had an orchestra concert at the art museum. They did a great job. The soloists were incredible. Amazing that they are high school students and that accomplished.

Nathaniel was challenging last night. He was up past midnight, shouting whenever I tried to put him down. Finally Julie brought him downstairs with her while she fed Hazel. He was awake again before 6:00 am and messed up my morning routine. He didn't want to go to sleep again tonight, but I think he was too exhausted to stay awake. But it still took until nearly 10:30 to get him down!

Snack, then bed.

More later…

From the archives because it makes me smile.

Serving with Christlike love

Dear family,

I sure love you all. Jessie, I try not to brag about you too much when people ask what you're doing now that your mission is over. It's not easy when people see the painting you gave me for Christmas. I go into full "proud dad" mode. And Mark, the same goes for you when people ask about your mission. Similarly with Abbie, Spencer, Neil, Isaac, Emma, Camilla, Nathaniel, Hazel, and my wonderful wife. You're all amazing and wonderful.

Enjoy a quick recap of the last 48 hours!

Love,

Dad

Sunday, April 25, 2021
10:19 pm

Yesterday was project day:

·        Change winter tires for regular on Bertha

·        Oil change for Bertha

·        Tried to fix leaky washer. Discovered that the problem is not what I thought. That took two hours to tear into and put back together. Fortunately the problem is a quick fix. Part is ordered, should be here Wednesday, and will only take about 15 minutes. (Assuming I can turn off the water at the inlet… that may be a problem.)

·        Mowed the lawn with Nathaniel on my back.

·        Scrubbed our shower.

·        Went on a date with Julie. That was a bummer. ☹

Today was a full Sunday. Church was nice. Meetings before Church were effective. Ward Youth Council this month was better than last, although we still had a fair amount of screen time on the part of some of the youth. My initial thought after the meeting was to ask them next time to put their phones away, but the Spirit prompted otherwise. Get to know them and let them get to know me. That's going to be much more effective than "nagging." We'll see.

Had a 2½ hour training meeting with the Stake Presidency. It was long, but I love spending time with those men. There is a brotherhood among Bishops that I had heard about but never understood. I try very hard to keep my mouth closed so I can learn from them and from the Holy Ghost.

Dinner tonight at Dad and Mom's was delicious. Typical Sunday dinner with berries and cream for dessert. I would have loved to eat more, but I was full! Read scriptures together after, then put the kids in bed. They went to sleep reasonably well. Spencer and I went on a drive, then journal and bed.

Ministering: I hope my service to our ward is effective and helps them draw closer to the Savior. I was asked to lead the discussion in YW today, and really enjoyed that. We discussed the following scriptures, with a very brief summary of what I learn:

·       Matthew 14:13–21 With Jesus' help, what we have is enough.

·       John 9:1–11 Sometimes hard things are just part of life. We can serve others without judging.

·       John 13:4–5, 12–17 No one is too good to serve another person.

·       3 Nephi 17:5–10  Jesus met people's needs one by one.

Thankful: I don't mean this to sound arrogant in any way, but I am thankful that I have been spared so much of the heartache that comes from sin. Discussing the needs of the members of our Stake, how to counsel with various problems, membership counsels, etc. made me remember how naïve I really am, and I am thankful for that.

Off to sleep. More later…

Some of my favorite people:

Uneventful

Dear family,

Not much to say about today. But I sure love you all!

Love,

Dad

Friday, April 23, 2021
8:53 pm

Today was slow at work, which was nice I guess because two employees had the day off. But that's not great for growth.

I met with one of the contractors we are considering for our Springville branch. It was a good meeting and I think I learned a few things.

I changed the snow tires on the Odyssey; tomorrow I do the same to Bertha. Tonight we had homemade pizza for dinner. I debated with kids about why we don't get to sleep together. Now it's time to give Nathaniel a bottle and rock him to sleep.

Wow, what an exciting day.

More later…

Caption contest! Send me your best caption.

Wanna Mac?

Dear family,

I'm going to get more than six hours of sleep tonight. But I have to hurry. Love you all!

Dad

Thursday, April 22, 2021
9:20 pm

I saw a scary headline recently. A study finds that middle-aged adults who get 6 hours or less of sleep per night have a 30% increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Great. That's just wonderful news. So in a demonstration of true maturity, I didn't read the article. 🤣

I had several meetings today and spent a lot of time working on marketing. I think I used my day pretty well, but feel like I need to get better at focusing more of my time developing my employees. I've got several new employees. Since hiring them I feel like I have been sequestered in my office doing important things, but not helping them learn and become better. I'm also getting ready to promote two other employees when they graduate from UVU next month. I need to spend time helping them develop.

I went to Costco after work to put gas in Bertha and get a couple things. While there I saw that they carry the Mac Book Air, and Jessie needs one to be able to do her graphic design work. So… I went to Costco to buy gas and a container of yogurt and walked away with a new computer. It seems like it is working great, which is wonderful. Jessie is working as an independent contractor and needs a computer that doesn't crash every time she tries to edit a graphic design file. I'm glad she was able to get a machine that will work for her.

Thankful: I feel so grateful that I have the resources to provide for my children's needs. When Jessie needs a new computer but doesn't have the cashflow to handle that expense immediately, I can help. That just makes me feel very grateful.

Ministering: Doug Huntsman is the CEO of Utah Federal Credit Union. We use the same computer system. He asked me the other day if I could help him build a query to extract some data he needed. This morning we spent about 45 minutes on a Zoom call and I showed him how to use the tools I am familiar with to accomplish what he needed. I suspect there are better ways to do what we did, but my way is effective. It felt good to spend some time helping someone else. Suzanne joined the call so she could learn it too.

More later…

Hard at work on Abbie's dress last week.

Two meetings successfully completed

Dear family,

I hope you all had a really nice day today! I'm happy with how my day went, and glad that our annual meeting met the minimum requirements. Hopefully next year will be back to normal.

Love everyone!

Dad

Wednesday, April 21, 2021
9:22 pm

Today was effective. We got initial bids for our Springville building, and they came in roughly where I expected – about $2 million. Gulp. Now I need to review our projections and make sure this will work.

I joined Paul Atkinson, Dale Phelps, and Steve Clayson for lunch today; they are the CEO's of Aline, Nebo, and Pacific Horizon Credit Unions. We talked business for a while then Church. Dale served as bishop of his ward and Paul is currently his ward's bishop.

I had Board meeting this afternoon, and it went very well. Then we had the CU annual meeting in the evening. We needed 15 people to form a quorum and had 18. Good enough. I hope next spring we an serve pancakes again.

Tonight for YM we learned about coding web pages. That is Bro. Zabriskie's career and he did a good job introducing some basic concepts to the kids. Spencer totally ate it up and was eager to keep working.

Ministering:  Hmmm. I'm not sure I can think of anyone I ministered to today. Does giving some of the youth a ride home after mutual count? I'm afraid that's the best I've got.

Thankful: I'm grateful that mom came over tonight to help Julie and the kids since I was only home for about 15 minutes between the CU annual meeting and YM tonight. It was a full day.

More later...

Dinner on Saturday. Delicious!

 

Going to bed on time!

Dear family,

Mark, both people I visited tonight asked about you. Sis. Tilley said she hopes you come work for BYU Broadcasting again after your mission. :)

Love to all,

Dad

 Tuesday, April 20, 2021

10:44 pm

Full days. Yesterday I spent a lot of time migrating our calendars at work from Google to Microsoft. Almost done. I think it will help our efficiency, especially once Springville is open. FHE was nice. Julie did a lesson on heroes from the scriptures, and how the things that we admire in our heroes are all Christlike attributes.

Today I was in my office with the door closed most of the day getting ready for Board meeting tomorrow afternoon and the annual meeting in the evening. I think everything is ready.

Tonight Reid and I visited the Mortimers and Alana Tilley. Nice visits both places.

More later…

I love Sundays

Dear family,

Sunday's are so full. I am home only for a few hours, and the challenges I help others deal with are so very real. But God in his mercy makes it possible and sustains those he calls. Thank you for sustaining me in my efforts to serve.

I got to make dinner today and enjoyed it. (Turned out delicious, too!) Mark, I thought of you and our Spanish-languge dinner prep. It was fun to remember.

Sleeping time. I hope you all remember how much I love you!

Love,

Dad

Sunday, April 18, 2021
11:03 pm

Bread is in the oven. Journal entry while it finishes. Today was full and good. Started early with a screaming Nathaniel who refused to be comforted. Or reasonable. Finally ended up in bed with us. Julie and kids made it to Church at noon with the 10^th ward. Bishop Reed said they were welcome, so we took him up on that.

I had several meaningful interviews today, including my monthly visit with Pres. Brinkerhoff. I sure love him and look forward to my interviews with him.

I was directed by the Spirit this week. While reading Elder Renlund's talk, I followed footnotes. Ended up in Hebrews 4:16 and Isaiah 41:10 speaking about the hope and confidence with which we can approach the throne of God when we need his grace. Those scriptures really impressed me and I tagged them to make them easy to find again. Today while visiting with someone I used them to encourage and reassure of God's love. The person with whom I was visiting commented that my counsel and these scriptures sounded very merciful. I teared up as I assured them that the Jesus I know is full of mercy and anxious to forgive. I think sometimes we forget that.

Tonight Reid Heiss (my 1^st counselor) joined us for dinner. He held Hazel, ate "scary vegetables," and interacted with each of the kids. I think they all enjoyed having him with us and asked if we can invite him back again. His wife passed away a couple years ago and he has only one daughter living close that he can visit with. I think we are going to issue a standing invitation (or expectation) for Sunday dinner each week that we aren't with dad and mom.

Thankful: I am so grateful for God's mercy, his forgiveness, and his grace. I am not worthy of it, but none of us is and yet he offers it. I desire more than anything to know and follow my Savior, and lead my family and others to him.

Ministering: Sunday's feel easy to minister. See above.

More later…

I took some photos today, but none have uploaded yet to my sharing site. So here is another from our trip to Thanksgiving Point last week.