Weekly Update

Note

The pictures don't have anything to do with the updates. I just like to sprinkle pictures of my family among the posts.

1. So after the Mission President recognized me in Sacrament Meeting, both missionaries assigned to our ward were transfered out. No replacements are anticpated within the near future.

2. We were in the temple on last Saturday. Cameron Hunt and his family were there, along with Amber Burnham. Cameron and Amber will be married today in Snowflake temple. It was good to see Lecia's "brother" doing his thing.

3. After discussing my list of things with the Lord (while in the temple), I had a thought - "what would I talk about if a speaker does not show up?" The answer was there and I thought about it a little on the way home, but gave it no real serious thought. Then Sunday, the companion speaker for the High Councilor did not show up. I already had my thoughts organized (The Law of Justice,) so I finished off the time.

4. I asked Kayleen what she wanted for Mother's Day. She said that she was feeling antsey because we had no trips planned. So I did a little research, and got a gonga deal for our Anniversary. Since we were apart for our 30th, we will do something special for our 31st. Kayleen got to do something special - visiting Lecia and Kennedy - but I stayed home with the auditors.

5. I got a frantic call a few days ago from Kim Mohr. A year ago she had asked Tim Wilson to marry her, but did not give him a date at the time. Fast forward to two weeks ago - she finally called to verify, and he is gone this weekend. Her parents weren't happy, Kim just wanted to find someone who could officiate, and I was available. It turns out Tim would have needed permission anyway, since Kim's records were back in my ward. So I married Kim last night. It went pretty well, all in all, but the stress on my back did cause a little extra pain.

6. We are going to the game on Monday. It is memorial day, and the D-backs and Fox Sports are doing a salute to the troops. I let them know that my wife is the mother of a soldier in Iraq. I am sure they get a lot of such requests, so we will see what, if anything happens.

The world gets smaller

We were getting ready for Sacrament meeting to start today, and the Mission President walked in with his wife, and sat down on the back row. I went down and invited them to sit on the stand with us. He asked, "where are you from?" I replyed that I hailed from Springville, Utah, and he then remarked - " You are Clark Bishop's little brother. I remember you." Apparently he went to school with us. His brother was a good friend of Avery's, and his sister was my age.

I must confess, I could remember no one with his last name, but I checked out the year book. He was there, but obviously a little younger - 37 years worth.

His name --- President Wesley Walker. The Elders all love him and his wife.

The following pictures are just becuase I like putting pictures of my family on the blog.

Here, Ben is singing songs with us.

Here, Kennedy is just being cute, as only she can do.

Paradise Found

On Monday, we swam and snorkeled in the lagoon and in the pool.
We went for a walk down to the Marina. The ship behind us was coming in. If you look close, you can see the tug boat at the back of the ship.
The sunset was nice, the evening was very relaxing.


On Tuesday, we went to Shark's cove. It was low tide, so we were able to walk out into the shallow portion of the cove.


In the afternoon we swam in the pool again. Peter showed his swimming skills and Ben mostly laughed and lounged.


We went for another walk in the evening. It turns out that Ben likes to look at leaves. He is amazed at every single leaf he sees.


The sunset and evening, again were very relaxing.

On Wednesday, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Tim and Tiffany spent the day there. Peter and Ben took care of the grandparents. We did meet up for a couple of hours in the PCC. Tim took the two boys to get Tattoos from the island of Figi. Tiffany took a few more pictures than we did. I will let her post them. The picture below is of Tim and his boys showing off their "tats".


On Thursday, we tried something different. We found a "Beginner's Hike." After we found the right road (which took some time) we found the trail. This was no Piece of Cake, though the scenery was beautiful.

Peter found a leaf bigger than he was. No, we did not pick the leaf. Someone else did. We only enjoyed their discards.

After a 90 minute hike, we came to the waterfall. Hawaii has some much better falls.

As we were starting back, we heard a scream. A guy came back down the trail and asked if we had medical training. No, but we had phones. Tiffany ran up the trail (No easy feat) to the top of the ridge, where she could get a signal, and dialed 911. We all went to the top of the ridge. Tiffany had been asked to wait for the emergency response people. They came up in about 15 minutes, not even sweating. (Very Impressive!) This picture is Peter and Ben waiting for the helicopter.

It turns out that the guy slipped and skewered his knee on a piece of bamboo. Some guys helped him to the top of the ridge, where he took the easy way out.

We had to walk out. Man, were we tired. Every one of us complained about how tired and smelly we were. Ben really was smelly, but his was taken care of with a diaper change. The rest of us had to shower.

More to come.

Graduations Galore

So, we flew into Utah on Wednesday. We went to dinner with Matt, Lecia, Jim, Becky and Kennedy. On Thursday, we went to dinner with Rock, Carol, Mike, Tara, and some of Tara's Family. On Friday, we got up early to attend Matt's Graduation. It was in the Ballroom. We saved seats for Jim, Becky, and Lecia. Grandpa held Kennedy most of the time.
Then we went to the Marriott Center for Michael's Graduation. We met up with Mike and Tara before hand. Mike borrowed Matt's blue Cap and Gown so that he would not be out of place.

Friday evening we had a birthday party for Ben. He turned two on April 26th, but he was going to be out of town that day, so we held the party on Friday.

Kennedy was there, being cuter than a girl has a right to.On Saturday we had the baby blessing for Kennedy. Matt and Lecia graciously arranged to have it on Saturday afternoon, since Ben and his dad, Tim could not be there on Sunday.

On Sunday, Tim and Tiffany met their two boys at the Airport, where they boarded a Boing 767 for Hawaii. it was cold and rainy on Sunday, and it snowed on Saturday afternoon. The plane ride was long. Kayleen was sick with the ucky stomach thing. Both Peter and Ben traveled very well. Ben took a few laps around the plane when the seat belt light was off. Peter colored, slept and did stickers. We landed at about 2:30 Hawaii time. By the time we rented the car and got to KoOlina, it was 4:00 PM and Kayleen was still quite sick, but was feeling a little better. We checked into room 705 and 707. This is a view from the balcony on Sunday evening.

The boys have been an absolute delight. More pictures to follow.

Is it the Stalker ?

I went to the Orthopedic place early today. I was supposed to have an RFA (Radio Frequency Ablation) on my left side. There was a delay because the nurse had to take my blood pressure about 7 times, in an effort to find a reading they could live with. The Doctor came in and we talked. He verified that the pain in my hip is back pain, and that it stems from the lower lumbar region. However, my blood pressure was too high to turn on the microwave. Dr. Gorman gave me some stuff to ease the pain and to relax me, but my blood pressure then went even higher.
At that point he told me that it was not safe to continue, and they sent me to the recovery room.

So why is my blood pressure too high?

• Is it my weight?
• Is it my personal genetic code? (Wally joked that we should sue Mom for the bad set of genes she gave us :) )
• Is the pressure from work or church getting to me ?
• Do I need to exercise more?
• Is it all the other stuff I have been taking for back pain?

These are all good questions. We have no answers yet, but I have an appointment with my PC Doctor, in which we will begin to explore these areas.
In the mean time, my wife tells me to "Don't stroke out."

Good advice, if you ask me.

Teachings for our time

One of the responsibilities that I have, is to choose 5 of the conference talks to be used in the Teachings for our Time. I also get to assign topics for Sacrament Meetings. I have a list, but would welcome any thoughts you may have.

I like to view Conference as a time to hear what is on the minds of the Prophet and the Apostles. That gives us a very good idea of what kinds of things we should be focusing on. Of general note, there were several talks that covered the protection that comes when living gospel covenants. We heard about the blessings of temples in our lives. We heard about service and the blessings that come from adversity.

I have not yet discussed these with the Ward Council, but here are my preliminary picks:
Teaching for our Times (4th Sunday Priesthood / Relief Society Lessons):
Dieter Uchdorf - "I am Doing a Great Work, and Cannot Come Down."
Dallin Oaks - Unselfish Service
Jose' Texieria - Freedom to Choose
Richard G. Scott / D Todd Christofferson - Faith and Protection from Temple Covenants
M Russell Ballard - Learing Lessons from the Past

Sacrament Meeting Topics:

David Bednar / Gary Stevenson - The Blessings from the Temple
Jeffrey Holland - Standing by the Savior, (or, You'll never have to walk alone.)
Henry B. Erying - The Blessings of Adversity
Robert D. Hales - Resisting Debt and Addiction
Dieter Uchtdorf - The Pathway to Discipleship

So - I welcome your thoughts, your comments, your suggestions.

Gerald Likes to .....

Tiffany did this to me. I had to look. Because of her blog, I put it my name in google, followed by "likes to " and punched the "search" button. I wasn't feelin too lucky (google joke)

Top 10 (usable) results .......

Gerald likes to rock out and dance!

Gerald likes PMA training

Gerald likes to give presentations to youth groups, and has many talents relating to the tribal history of music and dance, as well as arts and crafts.

Gerald likes to lie to me

Gerald likes football and fishing, but lives in a house full of girls

people just like to tickle Gerald

Gerald likes large colourful fish of good quality, but keeps them mostly for decoration and as pets, without getting too fanatical about their exact markings or Japanese names.

Gerald likes to welcome you and show you in

Gerald likes to ... play baseball

Did you know... Gerald likes ice cream?