Dawning of a New Era

The World was Changed Forever

I have written before about the incredible sunrises and sunsets we experience in Tucson. The past 10 days or so have been awesome. One morning as we were arriving, one of the owners said that we had a "weird sky." I told him to take a second look. With the lighting, clouds and shadows, you could look at the mountains and get a feeling for just how big the earth is. People call Montana the "Big Sky" country, but we have been seeing that now for a while.


Today while driving into work, the sun was reflecting on the clouds both in the East and the West, giving the illusion of both a Sunrise and a Sunset. I was totally astonished. It made me think of how astonished the people must have been way back 2008 years ago. The prophets had told the people that they would know of the birth of the Messiah, because of the "day, a night, and a day" of daylight.

"And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.And there were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, who fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, for they knew that the great plan of destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the words of the prophets had been frustrated; for the sign which had been given was already at hand. And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.

(3 Ne 1:15 - 17 )"

It is fitting that the Light of the World was born after a night of light. At the rising of the sun after a night of no darkness, the world was changed forever. We have witnesses of his birth, of his life, of his death, and of His ressurection. Some of the witnesses lived when he lived. But we have modern prophets and apostles who testify of the Risen Lord.

"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father-- That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. (D&C 76:22-24).

And now we celebrate His birth. Some people, in the name of tolerance or political correctness, are trying to eliminate Him from the holiday. But He lives. Whether we follow Him or not, He lives. Whether we strive to keep His commandments, or not, He beckons to us. Whether we acknowledge Him or not, He suffered, bled and died for our sins. He truly is the Savior, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, and the Redeemer of all mankind.

Gratitude for our Abundance

Family is our most prized "Possession"

We spent a few days in Utah with our children and grandchildren. It was a very precious and joyful time. We first attended Peter's Birthday party. Peter was an amazing young man, showing gratitude and excitement for any present.

We played Apples to Apples with the group assembled. I didn't do well, but we had a great time. Ben wanted us to know that he was there too.

Thursday was thanksgiving. Thanks to Tim, we achieved an excellent "Pie to Person" ratio. I had been talking about my Ice Cream salad, but we turned it into a pie. Ben and Peter helped me make it. We put the "salad" into an Oreo pie crust and covered it with Heath Bar Shell topping.
We met Tara's parents (Rock and Carol) for lunch. on Friday. I don't have a picture of them, but I do of Mike and Tara.

We were downstairs with the young boys, and I noticed how much Ben watches and imitates his older brother. In the first picture, Peter is lying on his stomach reading a book. Ben is watching. Less than 30 Seconds later, I took the 2nd picture.

We went to the park to play three days in a row. Grandpa had to go to "Time Out" for a while for bad behavior, but Peter was merciful and let him out.

And then, of course, the older boys had to have a contest to see who was better at ...whatever ?

CPE - #2

Not all Fun and Games

Just so that everyone knows that this is not just a vacation, I taped a short bit of the class on federal taxes.



It can't be too exciting anyway, but when you have to listen to this stuff 6 hours a day for two days, an afternoon nap looks better and better. However, I did capture a picture of the resort where the conference is being held.

We did go to a Luau last night. It was pretty good.



When we went in, a great Hawaiian group was singing. One of the band members sat next to us in Laihana 1st ward. I would not have guessed that he was a musician.

And I have two words ----- Hula pie!

Continuing Education

I have a CPA license - actually two licenses, one in Idaho and one in Arizona. I am required to obtain 80 hours of continuing education every two years. So this year, I chose to attend a conference in ... Maui. We flew in Saturday Nov 8. I do NOT recommend US Airways. We booked the flight last February, so the cost was fixed, but they charge $15 for the first bag checkes and $25 for the second. They do not give complementary soda or water on the flight. Water or Soda is $2.00. Hawaii though is wonderful so far. We came back to the Kaanapali Beach Hotel where we have stayed 3 times before. I went snorkeling Saturday evening and the water was crystal clear and beautiful. Two turtles came out to play.

We got up Sunday morning and went to church. The Laihana 1st ward is a great ward. They invited us to the ward potluck Wednesday evening. We may go, I really do love that ward.

We ate at Lailani's last night at dusk. I remember why I love that place and no, we passed on the hula pie. It sounded good but we are saving that for another time. The waiter did give us a coupon for a free piece of hula pie. The sunsets are beautiful. The morning walk was invigorating.

While on our walk, we saw a photo shoot of a hula dancer welcoming the morning.

Unfortunately, I do need to go to class. But it is from 7:30 to 1:00. We will find ways to spend the afternoons, enjoying the beauties of the island.

Thespis is in the House

A few years ago, I watched an episode of Sports Night (In my opinion, one of the best written sit-coms, EVER!) about a mischievous ghost that plagues performances. The glitches of this day brought to mind that Thespis apparently works to undermine the efforts of mortals to make a good show.

Today we had Stake Conference - the one where we get a broadcast out of Salt Lake. Five minutes before the opening song, we lost the feed. It had worked fine for General Conference, and worked okay for the test this morning. But the satellite dish lost its mind and couldn't find the source signal anymore. So we sang some songs. We had a huge congregation so when we sang "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning," it was amazing. We had people with tears because of being able to participate. About 30 minutes in, we got an audio feed over the internet. Kayleen had to leave because the sound was loud with poor quality, and the screeching was hurting her ears. It was a good conference, but other than Pres. Packer, I'm not sure who were the speakers. But they were pretty good.

Then tonight, Kayleen and I gathered to watch the CES fireside. Lo and Behold, I don't speak Spanish, and BYU channel was broadcasting in Spanish. So I put in the DVD and watched the Sports Night episode.

President Packer told us that that we should expect tribulation, that the prophecies are now being fulfilled, but I didn't expect paranormal interference from the Greek ghost Thespis. Anyway, instead of Bishop Burton, we watched Sports Night, just to get caught up on the role of Thespis.

Perfect Presentment

Sometimes a we are able to snap a picture that seems to be almost perfect. A sunset in Maui perfectly framed under a palm leaf.

Matt and Peter riding a couger or tiger or some kind of cat.

Grandpa DeCoursey's Little Red outhouse. It used to have a weather vane on top. Now it looks like a small church.

A Portrait of a couple in front of a perfect back drop.

My favorite person in the whole world on our 25th anniversary.

Focused Elsewhere

I have thinking lately about some how we sometimes focus on something in our relm of vision, but miss out on something bigger, or something more important. When in Kaui for our 25th anniversary, we went to the north part of the island. We were visiting a lighthouse, a beautiful landmark. I looked down into the water and saw a mother whale and her calf swim by. I watched the whale for a minute, and realized my camera was in its pouch. By the time I pulled out the camera, the opportunity to snap the picture was lost. (The little white splash to the left of the lighthouse is a whale splashing or blowing - I don't remember which.)


Then I was looking at some of the whales and spinner dolphins, and the crowd erupted. Apparently my camera was pointed to the right, and a whale did a full breach right in front of us.

This time my camera was out, but focused elsewhere.


The next time was just an hour later. We stopped the car, and I climbed down on some rocks to get a better picture of the water hitting the rocks and the way it would run off. When I got back up, Kayleen was not quite white, but at least shaken. She had realized that I had the car keys, the cell phone, the motel key, and the money with me. If I had fallen in.....

These are the rocks I was climbing down towards the water.


Still, we were blessed. The resulting views (and pictures) were amazing.

I'm just saying, that there are a lot of very important things going on in our families. It is easy to be focused elsewhere. Phillip is going on a cub scout camp out this weekend with his boys. Tiffany documents her time with the boys on her blog, so that we can all share. I'm glad my children seem to be focused on important things, instead of being focused elsewhere.

Thank you.

Back to Epcot-Thursday

Sorry for the delay in getting the post for the last two days at Disney World. The events of the past week have put a small damper on showing how much fun we had with Phillip and his family. On Thursday, we went back to Epcot center.

We went on the ride where they show the research for food and acriculture. Here is a picture of gowing a Mickey-shaped pumpkin. That sees appropriate since everything was decorated for Halloween.

We went into the Chinese exhibit. They had some miniture statues of tomb soldiers, statues that would be buried with the kings and stuff and guard the tombs from robbers.

The boys went into a mickey house where they got to meet some of the characters. Gabriel liked Mickey, but would have nothing to do with Chip and Dale.

We got back to the hotel after another long day. I took a picture of the dusk accross the water. It was a gorgeous evening. We sat outside on the patio and ate our dinner. We were tired, but very content to be with family.

Day Five - Sea World

Sea World - Orlando Style

On Wednesday, we went to Seaworld. The day was bright, beautiful, and no rain. We wnt to seen the dolphin show. This picture is actually of the back pool, of a dolphin not in the current show. It swam around a bit, and then hopped out onto this ledge, where it "rested" for a few minutes before ppping back into the water.

Of course, the dolphins like to jump out of water and show off.



They also like to show the boss how good they really are.



We visited the penguin exhibit

Here is a video of them swimming

There are a couple of rides-the boys were not quite tall enough to ride on "Kracken". But Andrew got to sit in one of the seats

There was a beuatiful backdrop, where a professional was taking pictures. I took this one of Phillip and Kelly
And of course, the world of Shamu is amazing---Here the whale is dancing with the trainer



Here the whale is taking the trainer for a ride



And of course, the whales like to splash the audiance



Another excellant day. We were tired at the end of the day - again

Day Four-Animal Kingdom

A Different Kind of Disney

The day was cloudy, but it didn't really rain. The clouds did spit on us a time or two, but no real harm. First real ride was the African Safari. We saw a bunch of different animals, including a momma elephant and its baby,

Some Giraffes

American alligators (or crocodiles, I never know the difference)Some Rhinos

And some lions.

We saw the Hippos, but they were under water.

And some Gorillas. The male gorilla kinda acted like a giraffe, for those of you that went to the Hogle Zoo with us in April. (Big Smile)

Kelly and Gabriel had their faces painted.

Everyone except me rode down a ride that gets you wet. This is Gabriel's face After he rode that ride.

There was a parade, but it was kinda lame, as far as Disney parades go.

Overall, we had an excellant day!

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the delay in additional posts about the vacation. I downloaded the Service Pack 1 patch for Windows Vista, and after that, the computer could not recognize the Air Card. I will get the other days caught up, now that we are home. And then I will UN-INSTALL Windows Vista, and never install any updates ever again !!!!

Day Three - Rained out at the Magic Kingdom

The day started out great. The Magic Kingdom (Like DisneyLand in California) was decorated for Halloween already, with orange and black streamers and Micky - Mouse Pumpkins all over the place

We went on the Jungle Cruise. I had forgotten how corny the script is, as we travel through the various rivers and see the fake animals.

We then went on Splash Mountain. We were afraid that it might be too much for Andrew and Gabriel, but they did great. Gabe even has his hands up in the picture of us going down the 50 ft drop. The convinced the adults to do it again. This is the picture of Andrew and Gabriel after the 2nd time through.

Andrew wanted to say Hi to Goofy

We went on the flying Dumbos, and the flying carpets, and (Tuesday) went on the flying Dino's. They are all about the same, but the boys loved the rides.

When we were in Toon Town with the youngsters, Phillip, Kelly and Mike went over to Space Mountain. It was closed. We met up about the time the rains decended - about 4:30 or so. We got absolutely drenched. So we went back to the hotel. Phillip and Kelly and dinner resevations for an anniversary dinner, and we had dinner with Andrew and Gabriel. It was a good day, but the rain seemed to dampen things for a while.