Hospital Detour

Well I told ya I would add something when something "interesting" happened so here it is....When I was in high school I ruptured a ligament in my ankle and torn another one. To fix this they took half of my tendon and drilled a hole in my bone and put part of my tendon through that hole to act like the ligament. Yesterday I was playing tennis and I was putting a ball away and I came down wrong and my foot went right under me and I kinda rolled.

When I got up at first I thought I was fine it just hurt a little bit. Well then blood seriously started gushing out of my ankle and there was a whole that you could see down to the bone. The medics took a little bit to get to me, but they did and thought I had broken my ankle. I got to ride in the ambulance. 

They took some x-rays of my ankle and hand...nothing is broken thankfully. But my old surgery had so much elastic power that when it snapped it went through my skin and other layers (at least I think that's what the doc said).

So now I am in a cast for three weeks and the next three weeks a walking cast. Plus I think I will be moving apartments to be on the first floor. Oh but the exciting part is I get a cool wheel chair :).

Clark Lake Ward AP Campout

The Clark Lake Ward Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration campout was held this past weekend. Michael Jenks wanted to ride his bicycle there and we got Derek Titus to agree to ride with us. The ride was a nice ride and uneventful. It will probably end up as part of a new route.

When we got there, Mike and and Connor were already there with the tent almost set up. Without even being asked, Connor unpacked everything that needed to go into the tent and loaded it up. He and Mike took a quick trip down to the beach while I started to prepare dinner. We had hot dogs, chili and Connor's special request: Corn on the Cob.








After we got done eating, we went to the beach; that was the place that Connor wanted to spend all weekend I think.




After the beach we had a great campfire. Pat Snow drilled us on Gospel Trivia and then we sang songs and had Bishop Bement talk to us about the commemoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. After that we made s'mores and hit the hay.





















































The next morning, I went on a 7.92 mile run (I thought it was longer but found it was shorter after I put it into google earth). We had a breakfast prepared by the Bishopric and Brother Smith made a mountain man breakfast which went fast!!!





























































After breakfast and breaking camp, we went back to the beach. Connor and I waded in almost to my waist and up to Connor's waist. Then we played ultimate frisbee. The weather was great and we had fun!

Ashley adds her 1.5 cents

So just to let everyone know Dad sent me four requests to add to this blog...but I hadn't added anything because I don't have much to say right now...still single, still in school, still working and still living in the ghetto in Provo. But good news is stats is over tomorrow when I take my final. Bad news is the picture explains what I was doing for the second half of my stats review...ugly news is I spent the next five hours in the library. So I guess you can say I'm still a nerd as well.

I promise to post when something exciting like happens, such as finding somewhere to live for the fall so I'm not homeless after August 25th. :)

wax museum

Today I had to do this project called the wax museum. our classrooom was hot! I was wearing a big wig and that did not help to keep me cool. I think that it was pretty dumb but I am ahppy that I didn't have to sit in my chair and do math. But still I didn't like the project. My friend Austin was Abner Doubleday And next to me Alfredo was Coronado. it was kinda fun.

Connor's Classroom Performance

Laurie and I were just dying to see how things went in class.


We helped Connor haul his stuff over and set up. Both of us forgot the camera, so, I had to run home and get it. Laurie had to head to Costco. All of the students were setting up when I got back.



The classroom was very warm and I immediately felt badly about making Connor wear a wig and the rest of his costume for that matter. I think he was agreeable to toughing it out.


I think the project turned out okay. Here is another clip of his presentation in the classroom. I tried to get pictures of all aspects of his display. Connor and Laurie put a lot into this.

Flying Wheels Century Ride

Saturday, in honor of Kelsey's Birthday :-), my friends, Bishop Bement and Rob Dempsey joined me on the Cascade Bicycle Club's sponsored Flying Wheels Century Ride. We actually had to add miles on after the ride to make it a full 100 miles which is my only criticism of the planned ride.

You can read all of the gory details of the ride in my cycling blog. For the most part, I enjoyed the ride. There were two very challenging climbs which I could have probably walked faster than I rode. However, Rob and Bishop were kind, the weather was great and the scenery was gorgeous.

The last climb came at about mile 75 or so. It was long, slow and what I considered to be "challenging". At one point, I think my speed was so slow, I swear I saw a toddler on a tricycle passing me.

<---Mile 86 after the last major climb, ready to ride the last 14 miles!

Connor's Wax Museum Project - Monologue

Connor has a class project called the wax museum project. I hope that we can attend some. We'll see. He is doing Thomas Jefferson, one of my favorite founding fathers. We had a costume for him. When someone comes by and pushes a "button" Connor, who will be standing still and will deliver his monologue in the character of Thomas Jefferson. We recorded his monologue. I think he has done a pretty good job on this project. Here is the video of his monologue.

Thanks for a Great Father's Day

Father's Day, yesterday, was absolutely wonderful. All church meetings, except for Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, Priesthood, Relief Society and Primary had been canceled. Laurie and Connor prepared a great meal for me and showered me with gifts! Laurie and I called our Dads and wished them a happy Father's Day!!! We are blessed with great parents.

I got calls from all of the girls and Briana and Mike came over for Dinner. We had a great steak dinner!!! Then we played Boggle and even though I had an early lead, I came up with too many words that were similar to Laurie's and Mike's. Briana won---AGAIN!! Next time. Then we watched National Treasure to try and get Connor psyched up for his class project---Wax Museum. (See next blog).

Thanks for giving me such a wonderful Father's Day, Family!!!

Happy Birthday Kelsey!!!

Kelsey was still out of town for her birthday. We missed her, but, Laurie, Connor and I got to call her and sing her Happy Birthday. Because the day had started early, we had debated calling her before I left the house at around 6:00 a.m. and chose to wait until we were all home at about 7:00 p.m. It was good to hear her voice!!!

Rexburg, Idaho Air Show

Chris and I went to the Air Show today at the Rexburg Airport with Chris' family. We watched it from the park right across the street. It was pretty cool. Some of the planes flew really close to the ground, even over our heads. The weather was finally nice and it was fun to sit outside for awhile and relax. Here are a few videos that I took with my camera...

Hey it Worked!!!

Hey everyone! Now you can read things from me on TWO different blogs!!! lol It's finally sunny after about 3 weeks, and the rumor is that it's supposed to get to the high 70's, low 80's...so we'll see if that actually happens.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIANA!!!!

Briana and Mike went to Ocean Shores for her birthday, so, we had to wait until yesterday to celebrate it!!! It seems like just yesterday that the cute little bundle of joy came into our lives. Besides the dinner and the DQ Blizzard Cake that we all enjoyed, it seemed like Briana and Connor did all the celebrating by playing "Super Smash Brothers Brawl" on the Wii.

Connor's 2008 Pops Recital 7 June 2008

Saturday was also Connor's 2008 Pops recital. He had been assigned Jurassic Park, but, about 4 weeks prior to the rehearsal it was thought that it would not be ready, so he played another piece. As it turned out, Connor in fact could have played the Jurassic Park piece, but, lessons learned will help us next year.

Connor's End of the Year Band Concert June 5 2008

Connor's Band end of the year Band Concert was held on 5 June 2008. He is playing the Clarinet. He really took it seriously and seemed to have a good time. Here are the performance pieces.

The first piece.





The second piece.






The third piece.

2008 Meridian Elementary Mini Marathon 7 June 2008

Yesterday was the 2008 Meridian Elementary School Mini-marathon. This is an annual traditional run which is 2.5 miles. Connor and I have done this run since he was at least in the 1st grade. When Connor was in the third grade he took 1st place in his age group. Last year, in his 4th grade year, Connor and his friend, Nick Harris, decided to walk the route and posted a 33 minute time.

This year, Connor and Nick were together on the run again. However, they apparently decided to run, at least most of the way. Connor posted a 27 minute time and took second place in his age group. Nick took third place in their age group. While this time was not as good as Connor's 3rd grade time, he enjoyed it just as much.

I have been running the mini-marathon course almost weekly. (See my running cycling blog at http://RaymondVG.bimjournals.com). I was able to finish in my personal best time of 21 minutes 15 seconds.
Connor was a bit sore on Sunday but said that he would like to continue to run. He said that he really enjoyed the race (even though this is not the most enthusiastic picture I have seen of him). I hope that he continues to run. He has one more year of this race and I think it will be a good goal for him to see if he can improve upon this year's time.