This past week I had one of those great parental moments. Jonathan graduated from BYU with his degree in Linguistics. We went down early in the morning to help Jon and Abby move. By the time we got there they were pretty well down with loading the U-haul. They have had some great friends who came and helped. After we finished cleaning the apartment we went out to lunch at Los Hermanos and enjoyed a great lunch. We then traveled to the Marriot center. The campus at BYU has changed but I commented to Deanna that if felt like we were just there ourselves going to school. It brought back great memories. Deanna and I both graduated together in 1986. It was 25 years ago that we made that eventful walk across the podium in the DeJong Concert hall to receive our diplomas. I was seated on the stand because I gave the invocation. In the audience were our parents, and family. Brian was 2 1/2 years old and Jonathan was about 6 weeks old. It was a major accomplishment to graduate with 2 small children, especially only a few weeks after giving birth. She is an amazing woman and that pioneer can-do strength continues to permeate every activity and task that she sets her mind to.

Jonathan and Abby have that same strength. They soon will be off to their next great adventure. Law school at Gonzaga University awaits them for the next step. For the next couple of months they will be staying with Abby's parents before they head out. We are going to miss them greatly, especially since Abby is expecting our first grandchild in September. But this is all part of the great plan of progression. I am so proud of my family.

Wood Badge

I just completed Wood Badge. This time I was on staff as a troop guide. This meant that I got to spend a lot of time preparing to give several presentations on communication, managing conflict and the aims of scouting. I served as a mentor for 5 other adult leaders who were going through Wood Badge for the first time. If you have never been to Wood Badge it really is impossible to explain what happens there. It is a week long, intense training on how to be an effective and dedicated leader. Although it is presented in a scouting format, the lessons and principles really apply to every aspect of life. One of the most common comments from participants is that the course is "life-altering". I really believe that is the case.

Part of Wood Badge is that you set goals, at least 5, that will make you stretch and grow as a leader. These goals can be related to scouting but they can also be things that will make you a better person and thus a better scout leader. It is amazing because many of the participants are in their 60s and 70s. They come away saying things like, " I have been in scouting all of my life and I have learned that there are many things that I should have known and now will do differently." It just goes to show you that you are never to old to quit learning. As soon as you quit learning and growing you wither up and die.

One of the things that is truly amazing about Wood Badge is the Spirit that is there. Scouting is truly an inspired program and I truly believe that the Lord wants his scout leaders to be spiritually minded and lead the young men to develop stronger testimonies of Christ. We develop a close bond with each other because of the spiritual atmosphere that is there. You become very introspective as you try and think of ways that you can grow and learn. Many tears are shed as we say good-bye to best friends who only a week ago were total strangers. The spiritual atmosphere is not there by accident. As a staff we spent a lot of time preparing. The people that are chosen to be on staff are prayerfully selected. The staff development sessions that we have are started and concluded with a kneeling prayer. We also prayerfully select which participants will be in which patrol. There is great wisdom in this.

While at Wood Badge, even though it is not required, I decided to write up goals for myself. One of those goals was to post a blog entry at least once a week. This is my journal and my life story. I want to be able to share this with my family as time goes on.

I know that as I write I will be reminded of many ways that the Lord has blessed my life and the lives of my wife and children. I hope that through this I will be a better husband and father.

Ragnar Las Vegas Style

Well, I am venturing into the world of bloggers. No better way than to start with our recent family adventure into the realm of Ragnar. For those of you who may not know, Ragnar is a relay race consisting of 12 runners traveling some 190+ miles in a continuous race. Brian was the real impetus in getting us involved in this crazy ordeal. Brian and I participated in the Wasatch Back Ragnar in June of 2009 and really wanted to do this as a family. We originally were going to do this in June of 2010 but Jake and Christie decided to get married at the same time. (It was a good choice!) So we signed up to run the Ragnar in Las Vegas. We recruited and coerced 12 people to run. Myself, Deanna (she fell victim to peer pressure), Brian, Jonathan, Abby, Jacob, Eric, Julie (my sister-in-law), Caleb (my nephew), Jim, (my brother-in-law) , Tim (my brother), and David Tribe (Jonathan's friend). Some of us have run more than others and some haven't really run at all (Eric).

We drove to Mesquite on Thursday Oct 21st and stayed the night at the Virgin River Hotel and casino. After getting some sleep we drove about 90 minutes to the start at Valley of Fire State Park the next morning. Our group was split into 2 cars. We started at 9:45 a.m. and Deanna was our first runner. She ran over 5 miles over with some pretty big hills. She was awesome. Everyone took their turn until the afternoon when our car was finished and we handed off to the second van. It was great to see Jake and Jim who were in the other van. They drove up from Phoenix that morning and began running. After those 6 in the other van finished their run we traded off and we all ran again. We finished our second legs around midnight and drove to a motel about 30 minutes away for a couple of hours of sleep. We then transitioned again early in the morning. Deanna's third leg was a killer. It was straight up hill.

We all cheered and encouraged everyone along the way. However, by the time we were running our third legs everyone was beat. It was hard to get up the energy to do more than offer a weak "good job". Finally around 5:00 p.m. we all gathered at the Red Rock Casino where Brian made his triumphal entry. We all gathered together and crossed the finish line together. It was an emotional experience. We had enough time to quickly grab our medals, say a quick good-bye to Jake and Jim before we headed home again. We arrived home in Ogden about 3:00 a.m. and got a couple of hours of sleep before church.

In order to run the Ragnar Relay you have to learn a new lingo. Words such as "leg", "kill", "van", "ultra" etc. have a new and different meaning. You have to run the Ragnar in order to learn the meaning of these words. Maybe we will do it again, maybe not. It is definitely one of those things that you need to check off of the "bucket list".