And Back Again

This is the continuation of the epic saga of last week. Part 1: There (Grouse Creek) was published yesterday and the rest should be done before the week is over. Hope you enjoy. 

Road Trippin'

The drive back to civilization was more eventful than the drive out. At least it was for Meri and I. We listened to some Writing Excuses podcasts and some BYU Speeches and eventually our poor tuckered-out little princesses fell asleep.

Needless to say, Meri and I could not let this brilliant opportunity pass. Being the children we are, we devised a plan to feed the boys lunch by throwing popcorn at their open mouths. To be clear, Meri did the throwing and I focused on the driving (and laughing). When we arrived in Wendover to get gas and lunch, the boys awoke with a considerable amount of popcorn around and on them. Alas, none made it in their mouths but we teased them about already having had lunch anyway.

Antics Part Deux

More antics ensued at Taco Time. Everyone wanted to take "duck lips" pictures, or I wanted them to, and we had relative success until we got to Mason and Meri. They seemed incapable of making the face on demand and as I teased them about it they.... improvised.

It was one of our more fun and entertaining 3+ hour drives with the whole family. Don't ask what it was like on the way TO Grouse Creek...

To be continued... the week is far from over.

There (Grouse Creek)

What a crazy week last week! We spent time in Grouse Creek with the Mecham clan, celebrated a very small person's birthday, and more. I'm going to split this up into a few posts or it will be overwhelming.

Party #1

Our kids are famous for having their birthday celebrations spread out over long periods of time. This is in part because they always like to celebrate with family members who are inconveniently distributed geographically. Also because Meri and I are too worn out from partial celebrations to finish it all in one day.

Emma's first party was in Grouse Creek so that she could celebrate with the people she loves out there (and since we were already there).

YUMMY!

She blew out Lego-shaped candles and opened a couple of the presents we had given her. Then she had cake and icecream with the family and some of the Grouse Creek girls. All the girls went outside and played like crazy for a couple hours. Emma had a lot of fun and that was the goal. Mission accomplished.

The Nose Knows

Mason and Chris slept out on the trampoline at Grammy and Grampy's house for three nights while we were in Grouse Creek. On the third night they were out there jumping around having fun so I decided to sneak out and scare.... er... get some pictures. They were a little scared but not too much.

Yeah, it was pretty cold out there.

I made the suggestion that they should be careful running around and jumping in the dark and left to come back inside. A few minutes later they came inside to show us what Mason did to his nose:

The broken nose of consequence strikes again!

What better consequence than a natural one right? They both thought the whole thing was pretty humorous. Luckily he didn't really break it... at least not seriously. They promptly returned to the trampoline to finish the night out.

Up next the crazed antics of our return trip home. Stay tuned!

5K > Me... but not Christopher

Blast From The Past

I found this post lingering in the drafts folder. It amused me then and now so I thought I would spruce it up a bit and share. You know... for the kids.

The Summer Of 69... Er... 07

One Saturday in the summer of 2007, Chris and I ran in our very first (and last) 5K race as part of the events of Saratoga Splash. The Splash is an annual celebration that the city of Saratoga Springs Utah puts on during summer break. In 2007 they had all kinds of fun things to do including a parade, a free carnival, and an awesome squirt gun fight with the Guinness people on hand in case SS broke the world record for largest squirt gun fight. Also, half mile and quarter mile races for kids, and a 5K race for charity.

Regarding Running And The "Genius" Of Noobs

First, a quick thought: running your first 5K race at 7AM on the morning of a day when you are clearly going to be very, very busy and active... not the best idea. Particularly if you haven't run in at least 15 years outside a couple of short bouts with a treadmill. 

Unless you are a 9-year-old with ADHD. If you are a 9-year-old with ADHD, all bets are off.

The News (Hint: It's Not Good)

We arrived 20 minutes early to make sure we were registered and pick up our stylin' t-shirts aaaand stretch. Should have done more of the last.... 

The race organizer said a few words before we got started. Words like: "thank you for coming"... "funds raised go to charity"... "have a good time out there"... and then the bombshell (for me at least) "is everyone excited for all the hills in this neighborhood?" followed by cheers from the crowd. 

WHAT?! WHY ON EARTH ARE THEY CHEERING? This thought went through my mind so clearly I almost yelled it aloud.

I look at Chris to see if I misheard. The gleam in his eyes makes his comment all the more painful to me, "Hills, Dad!" He's as dense as the rest of them!

I groaned inwardly. "Yeah, they're all over around here I guess. Fun, huh?" I faked as cheerfully as I could manage. My forced enthusiasm wouldn't last long.

Of Sadists And 5K Course Planners

"Runners to your marks!" commanded the organizer.

"Hey, Chris... be sure to pace yourself. You don't want to run out of gas after the first K." I advised (partly for my own benefit). "Sure Dad... if you say so."

"Get set!"

"You know the people who get out in front first, we'll just pass later when they are out of gas." "Ok Dad."

The starting gun fired.

We were off... and at first it was ok. The beginning of the course was a deceptively mild downhill grade. This lasted all of 100 meters. Then we rounded a corner to our first hill.

The Energy Of Youth

As we started up the hill, I quickly slowed to a fast walk. Lungs and legs burning. Fire in my veins. This isn't supposed to be so hard! I thought.

Chris is basically jogging in place about 10 paces ahead of me. "Coming Dad?" he asks mercilessly. Can't he see I'm dying?

He runs back to me and jogs a few circles around me as I labor back into a slow trot. "Are you ok Dad?" he's concerned and rightly so.

This may be the end. I see black spots in front of my vision.

I slow to a walk again.

"I'll be fine buddy," I wheeze. "You go on ahead."

"Are you sure??" He's still concerned. Such a nice boy. I want to strangle him.

"Yep. Now go. See how fast you can finish."

He takes off.

In The End

I won't bore you with the rest of the details of my stop/start journey to the finish line. 

There were hills. Many hills. 

Suffice it to say that I did eventually make it. I even beat some people. Well, at least one. Not the guy pushing the other guy in a wheelchair though. They were fast!

Chris finished with a decent time in the front 1/3 of the pack. He's got some energy, that one. Just a little.

From my time getting into running in 2012-2013, I can say with authority that I had no business running a 5K on that summer day in 2007. I'm going to do it again though. Oh yes. I am.

I don't have any pictures from this day unfortunately. Here are another from 2007.

Theatre, Theatre, Theater

As I write this blog post couch-side in Grouse Creek, I have to count my blessings. It's been a crazy and great week culminating in a trip here to this barely-known region of Northwestern Utah to spend time with family and enjoy LDS General Conference. If you've never watched conference, you can see previous sessions at lds.org. One session will pretty quickly give you an idea of what we Mormons are really all about. My soul is filled right now and I am extremely grateful for my family, friends, and God.

Now on to the happenings of the week.

Theatre (Puppet)

Kassie and Emma put on quite a show this week. They created their own puppet theatre by pinning blankets across Kassie's bedroom door. The show was all set up when I arrived home from work late one evening early this week. It was a great surprise and really made my day.

The audience was excited and despite this image, they were in no way inebriated... This is brought to you by the Google+ feature "auto awesome" which automatically animates pictures that were taken close together. I asked Kassie to take a pic of the audience and apparently she took a few!

Clearly it was getting a little late...

The show began and the girls performed masterfully. Kassie often supplied lines to Emma throughout and there was a definite plot-line. There was also a lot of giggling.

Puppets playing ball.

All in all it was a very fun and funny performance. A great way to end any day.

Theatre (In The Round)

On Wednesday, I had a long-planned surprise lined up for Meri and Kassie. About a month ago, I learned that The Hale Center Theatre would be playing Les Miserables (a little late as it was almost sold out). I knew that Meri had long desired to see a live presentation of the musical and we have been to this theatre before and enjoy their quality productions.

My dates for the show.

I secretly bought the tickets and asked Meri to set aside the evening and find a babysitter for Emma since the boys would be in scouts. Without much other information, she was a very good sport about it. I've never seen the play or the movie, but I was under the impression that it wouldn't be age-appropriate for Emma (who barely survives kid-centric movies). It was a little dodgy for Kassie as well, but we explained it to her in a way that made sense we think.

This was a really fun experience I hope we all remember for a long time. The girls have been listening and singing along to the Les Miserables soundtrack for several days since.

Theater (Movie)

HealthEquity has a really fun tradition of taking all the employees to an advanced screening of a fun movie in the spring. Last year it was Iron Man 3 and this year it was Captain America 2. The company founder Steve Neeleman dressed up as Cap too. We have a good time :)

The movie was really fun and afterward we took some photo opportunities:

Captain Chris doesn't stand a chance.

I decided to get in on the action...

Clearly that wasn't happening.

I'm not quite as limber as Kass...

In Grouse Creek

We've been having fun here too. The boys are sleeping out on the trampoline for the second night. They tried to convince me to join them but I'm NOT falling for it. Waking up with my usual puddle of drool frozen to my lips and the metal edges of the tramp isn't on my to-do list.

Maybe I'll write another one of these soon. We'll see.

Family Weekend: Oops He Did It Again

Enough with the commentary on how often or not these posts will last. Enjoy them while they last. This is the last warning. It may not last. I already said that last week. Last warning.

Food And Games

Saturday Chris, Mason, and I went to run some errands and got lunch at HuHot http://www.huhot.com/index.aspx. I've eaten there a couple times and it was tasty as usual. If you like Mongolian BBQ or don't know what it is, give it a try. Don't let the name fool you though, you have to choose the spicy options. Mason (our resident hot-mouth) tried a scoop of their hottest sauce on his last dish and was pretty surprised. It's good stuff.

We also stopped by a game shop and picked up a couple of new board games. Axis & Allies for the boys to play and Wits and Wagers for the whole family. I warned the boys that Axis and Allies is a very long game but they were excited to try it. We started a game when we got home and made it through 1.5 turns! It felt like an accomplishment to make it that far because we were learning (or relearning) the rules at the same time. Hopefully we can pick it back up later this week. Here is the final state:

Axis & Allies is a really fun game if you have a little patience. It was only $29 at Hastur Games.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Today we all decided to walk to church. It was almost 50 degrees out and the building is pretty close to our home. This turned out to be a controversial choice later...

What was really awesome about today was that Meri and Kassie sang beautifully during the main church meeting. It was very moving and... there may have been tears. I can neither confirm or deny. I forgot to grab a picture after the meeting since cameras are not allowed during so I snapped this later at home.

Emma really wanted to be in it too and who could resist that face??

After church we looked outside and it was snow-hailing (which it continued to do for several hours). I sprinted up the hill to the house to get the car and drive the girls home. My lungs were burning for at least 30 minutes after. This geek needs to get back on the exercise train.

Not long after we got home, Meri and I received this gem on our family group-text. I'm still laughing!

Crock-pot taco soup (one of Meri's delicious specialties) was for late lunch/early dinner. Meri and I binge-watched a few episodes of Bones while the kids played. Meri is all caught up on the show but liked it so much she's watching it again with me. It's definitely good :)

All in all a great weekend!

Unrealistic Expectations: Achievement UNLOCKED

I'm About To Let You Down

Yep, two blog posts in a week. There is absolutely no way I will ever maintain this pace. It is likely that I won't write here again for at least 7 years. 

TONIGHT WAS FUN!

Tonight I had the pleasure of heading into Salt Lake City with Mason and Chris Munn of the clan Munn. The three of us went to Weller Book Works (a FANTASTIC book store in Trolley Square) for the Wells brothers' final stop on their book tour. We got there early and so had the opportunity to goof around, take selfies, and get the boys hooked on 2048.

Three Munn geeks in a bookstore. Your move, world.

"What is 2048?" you ask? It is a horribly addictive little game you can play on your phone or on a computer because it's just a simple website: http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/ Let me know when you surface for air after clicking that link. Grab a snack first... trust me.

The Men Of The Hour

Dan and Robison (Rob) didn't dissappoint. Dan wore his floppy hat. There was mention of near electrocution during childhood. Fingers were pointed... and turned around.

Dan and Rob quipped back and forth while providing brief backgrounds and discussing their latest books and projects. Anthologies, secret projects, and movies. Oh my!

The floppy hat was in full effect.

If you didn't know, Dan has published 2 trilogies: the more recent Partials Sequence (New York Times Bestselling) and the John Cleaver series. These are ostensibly "Young Adult" but from what I've read anyone from that age-group and up would enjoy them. Rob has written Variant and Feedback, a two-part series, and recently released Blackout with its sequel coming this fall.

Afterward we brought our books around to be signed and chatted with the authors for a minute. Chris and Mason had some great questions and generally got their fanboy on.

Personally, I get a big kick out of being a dad to a couple of young men who enjoy going to a book signing with their old man. I'm pretty dang lucky.

Feeding Of The Faces

After we closed down the bookstore, the boys and I retired to Five Guys Burgers And Fries. If you've never been, I recommend it. One of the best places for a burger in the state. Just don't order the VERY, VERY LARGE fries unless there are 2-3 of you to eat them.

Chris held this pose for about 45 seconds while I was trying to get this pic.
The other version has Mason looking at him somewhat disgustedly.

As Per Usual, It's Been Awhile

Explanation (aka the part where Will makes excuses)

Social networks have taken the place of blogging, journaling, and other personal long form writing in recent years. In my opinion this isn't necessarily a good thing. I blog about my professional life from time to time  over at Munn & Done http://blog.dubmun.com but this personal blog has suffered. Meri has kept it alive with posts on MunnKEY Moments sometimes and I should as well.

What's New Happening (aka the overview, overview, overview part)

We moved back to Utah (only over a year ago) and are now living in Draper on the south end of the Salt Lake valley. Meri and I actually miss Texas desperately and really enjoyed living there. We are adjusting nicely to being back in the beehive state though. We've been blessed to move into a really awesome neighborhood that sits just above 6000 feet. The people here are amazing and so are the views. We also have the privilege of enjoying significantly cleaner air during the nasty inversion months of December, January, and February. Those of us with sickly lungs are very appreciative of that!

 Will & Meri (aka the boring part)

I'm enjoying working at my new company which is also in Draper and this means super short commutes by Utah standards. Enough of my life has been spent driving to and from work already so this was one of our criteria for selecting a place to live. Work is going pretty amazingly, the company is doing very well because because a) it's an awesome company and b) we are in the health savings account business which is booming. I work with a team of very talented people who believe in making a difference with the software we write and in improving the state of healthcare in the U.S. I've also been speaking and teaching occasionally at work and at local user groups and conferences. This is my small way of giving back to the community that has been so good to me.

A session I recently taught at Utah Code Camp.

Meri has been homeschooling a couple of the kids and I'll let her talk more about that. She is, of course, an awesome mom and goes to a lot of effort to make sure all the kids have everything they need and spends considerable time shuttling them around to all of their commitments. I'm sure she can't wait until the boys are driving. Just to clarify here: I CAN wait. Did I mention she's amazing? Of course I should also mention that she's amazing. AM-A-ZING! :)

Meri and I at a Jazz game in the VIP booth that my work sent us to.

Chris, Mason, Kassie, & Emma (aka the interesting part)

I've been involved in Chris's schooling some and have been teaching him about programming and websites. This has been good for both of us I think. He's also taller than me now (but not meaner). Chris has been doing odd jobs around our neighborhood to earn money for a nice mountain bike and has been doing very well. He has also started back in Tae Kwon Do and has relearned all of his black belt knowledge in a VERY short time. The master of the Dojang has just invited Chris to be one of the instructors!

Chris with "the Captain" after the concert we went to with the boys.

Mason is busily creating a language to use in the novel he is writing (ala Tolkien) and has made a lot of new friends here. He's basically a social butterfly?! He is also spending time teaching himself the Italian language and hopes to expand to other romance languages once he is fluent in this one. Finally, we were able to have Clint's old guitar fixed up and gave it so Mason as part of his birthday this year along with Rocksmith (an awesome guitar-teaching game). He has been practicing regularly and can already play a couple of songs pretty well!

Mason and I at a book signing with his favorite author, Brandon Sanderson.

Kassie is a really good big sister. She and Emma are together a lot and Kassie is very kind, patient, and helpful. She's a smart girl and has read several chapter books. One of her amazing talents is singing, she must have inherited some of Grandpa Loren's genes because she has a natural ear for music and sings out quite loud. She sings around the house a lot and whenever she is singing with the kids at church you can always hear her distinctive little voice above the crowd. Kassie is also taking Tae Kwon Do now and had the only perfect score of the group during her last test.

Kassie receiving her Yellow-Stripe belt after her perfect test.

Finally we get to Emma. She is such a little smarty. She's reading quite well and learns very quickly. She's a kind and thoughtful girl and loves her family. Emma has been involved in acting in a couple of plays. She had roles in Annie last year and now is rehearsing for a performance of The Wizard of Oz (which Kassie is also in). Emma keeps us all on our toes and often is good at reminding everyone else in the house what "the rules" are. She is also a pretty singer and loves to snuggle her mom.

Emma in "Annie" (on the far left).

The End (aka the finished part)

That's all I have for now. I'm sure I've left out about 2130287309 things because it's been so long. I'll try to do better in the future. Oh yeah... and the Seahawks won the Superbowl ;)

W