Wander With Wayne

Yesterday I took a close look at the calendar and realized that our weekends have soccer games and other events for the next number of weeks. Because of that, I realized that I needed to get to Idaho soon and finalize our taxes. I discussed it with Noell and worried I'd be coming alone. Clark called and suggested we take the children skiing at Pebble Creek. With that, Myranda and Tanner were excited and ready to come with me. Today Selina invited Giulia (pronounced "Julia," another exchange student from Italy) to come with. Giulia loves to ski. We told her the hill is very small, but she has missed skiing so much that she was excited to be going. We arrived at Dad and Mom's at 9:10 pm, an early arrival for us. Dad was still up watching the Jazz basketball game with Grandma Veibell. We called Becky and let her know we'd arrived and she came out with Clara, Martha, Sarah, and Emma. Grandma came upstairs from the game before it had ended because the Jazz were w...

It wasn't really midnight, but it was very dark when we returned... Tonight, after dinner I wondered what we might do. I thought to myself, let's ride up the mountain again. Myranda and Tanner were interested, so we hurried. The sun was starting to go down, but I thought we'd have enough time and I felt that Myranda was capable of riding to the top of the mountain above the Payson P.

For family home evening last night, we decided to watch home videos. In the first video Kaneesha was about age 7 or 8 and Myranda was about age 3. The video was on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was so fun to watch how kind they were to each other and how much fun they had as they opened their gifts. The girls have always been so cute. Watching them when they were younger reminded me how much they've grown. One of the clips showed the day Myranda learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels. We saw some video clips where Noell was expecting Tanner's birth. We also saw somewhere Tanner was just a few months old, and we also watched some where Tanner was about three years old. I especially enjoyed seeing the clip at Christmas time Kaneesha held Tanner on her lap. While I enjoyed reminiscing, and seeing the children as they were younger, I have really enjoyed watching them grow. They are truly becoming great people.  At times I think I am a grown up a...

Saturday afternoon Myranda, Selina, and Tanner were anxious to go for a motorcycle ride. This was the first time that Selina had wanted to go for a ride. We all went for a ride up to the Payson P. As we were heading up the hill it began to rain. We climbed up on the P and took some photos. It was a quick drive and hike because the rain was beginning to come and the wind was blowing really heard and we were all getting very cold. When we got home, the rain had stopped and the wind wasn't as strong. Selina had such a great time that she wanted to learn to drive the motorcycle. The weather was improved, so we spent a while driving around the neighborhood teaching her. She learned quite quickly and to her great surprise, she got to where she could drive it herself. She actually is very good, for a beginner.

This morning Myranda drove the motorcycle up to the bottom of the Payson P. She had a great time. She then wanted to drive over to the track. Last week the trail was way too wet, and even had snow on it. This week has been so warm that the trail has dried up. We only passed a couple small puddles. She made it over to the track, which has a very rocky trail, without any problems. She also drove around the track three times. The track has a very steep hill for a beginner.

This year Noell felt it was time to do something special for the family. She decided that the solution was to buy a "Pass of All Passes." The pass allows a person into the ice skating rink, Trafalga, 7 Peaks swim park, and a bunch of other places. Tonight we went to Trafalga. We invited Kaneesha, but now that Tanner and Myranda are feeling better, Kaneesha is sick. They picked me up from the bus stop in Orem. I went to get my photo taken for the pass card. We then met Myranda and Selina who had been playing for a while. We golfed, watched some 4D movies, went for a frosty, then came home. Believe it or not, Noell and I tied for the best score in miniature golf. We all had a great time!

For those of you who like photos as much as I do, I apologize for only writing tonight... This year the 1st Presidency of the Church sent a letter to the wards in Utah to be read in sacrament meetings. In the letter they asked us to cancel church meetings on the nights of the political caucus meetings. We canceled our meetings and Noell and I attended tonight's Republican caucus meeting.  Neither of us had been to a caucus meeting prior. It was interesting as we observed the proceedings and voted on the candidates we felt would best represent our area. Most of the individuals were people that we knew. Some we didn't know. As the candidates shared their feelings, many impressed me as "humble servants and others seemed on an ego trip," (to quote Dan Lyle).  Throughout my married life, I have felt the desire to be more involved in local politics. It was nice to be involved. At some point, I hope to serve in city or county positions. When we lived in Ammon I had a f...

Tonight was Tanner's poetry night at school. Each student read one of their poems. Here's Tanner's cinquain poem:  Soccer  Fun, Cool  Goalies, Awesome, Score  I Want To Score  Sport  Every one of the students read one of their poems. The program was done in less than 15 minutes. He showed us some of the things in the room. He was so glad to be feeling well enough to attend. Myranda then showed us a drawing she had done. The drawing is half of a face.

Yesterday, during Tanner's school class, he vomited. I checked the thesaurus for a better word, one that is more polite, none of the words seemed to fit. Myranda said that most of them would require a dictionary, and even after referring to the dictionary nobody would know what the word actually means. Some of the synonyms were: bring up, eject, emit, expel, heave, hurl, puke, regurgitate, retch, ruminate, spew, or throw up. Hopefully you'll forgive me for not choosing a more polite adjective. Yesterday he came home from school early. When I returned from work today, this is how Tanner appeared. I asked if he was feeling better and he said, "Yes," but didn't move. I wasn't convinced. Myranda is feeling much better from her head cold, but Tanner is suffering from the stomach flu. Hopefully he won't be tied to the couch as long as Myranda was.

So, This is Myranda  typing. I am going to act as Wayne!                                                                       Yesterday our family had it with our IPod's being gone so we cleaned  the ENTIRE upstairs.   Tanner wanted to find "His" IPod (Technically Noell's He just played the games and claimed it as his.)  He had his IPod lost for the past 3 months!  And Myranda didn't want her IPod to break, It was lost for a week. Noell, Myranda, And Tanner cleaned, and cleaned.  And through their looking, they found Selina's old iPod.  She was like "You found My old IPod?!? Now I have three!" And was really worried! The whole upstairs had been cleaned and they didn't find Myranda's OR Tanner's.  So My FABULOUS daughter (Myranda...

Myranda's hair has grown quite long, but it has also begun to look a little unruly. Noell felt it was time to get it cut. There was salon advertising $6.99 haircuts. Typically on a Saturday when the salon has a sale, it is full of people. Perhaps, because it was the first very warm Saturday of the year (in the 60s) everybody was outside. When Noell and Myranda walked in, nobody else was there. We know Myranda looks great with either haircut, but here are the before and after shots.

Today we had the chance to enjoy some beautiful weather. Myranda, Tanner, and I drove the motorcycles to the P on the hill above Payson. This was the first time Myranda drove a motorcycle up the mountain by herself. She did excellent! She took it slowly and putted right up the hill. When we got to the base of the P, we parked the motorcycles and walked to the top of the P. There were some college girls from BYU hiking, so Tanner lead them to the top of the hill (he called it the Mountain). There was still snow on the trail to the top. After Myranda drove the motorcycle to the base of the P, the thing that scared her most was that she had to drive back down. I understand the feeling. I took Myranda for a little ride and gave her some tips for riding down the hill. When we drove down, she putted all the way down and didn't have any problems. I wish we had such a good motorcycle when Kaneesha was young. She always rode very well, but had a motorcycle that would die if she didn...

Ken joked, "What next, 'Dirty Harry - the Opera?'" After work I met Noell at her parents. It was nice to see her parents again and visit with them briefly. As a bishop, my time is taken up in so many things. Also, with Myranda's basketball season, and Noell's volleyball season, it has been a while since I've spent time with extended family. It was good. We then left for Costco, to meet Ken and Ada and do some shopping before the play. We visited as we shopped. We then visited more as we ate dinner together before the play. I have seen several different Zorro shows, but never a musical. Perhaps we were picturing a musical more like The Sound of Music than the Phantom of the Opera. The play had some very neat aspects to it. The message that stood out to me was how the two brothers fought within themselves to determine what they wanted their lives to be like. I've felt some of the same feelings inside of me. Do I try to push things so hard, (like ...

Here is a photo of Tanner next to Kenny Olesen's dump truck. He is wearing his safety glasses and is holding his truck driving log (also shown at left). Tonight the boy scouts in the ward worked on the Truck Transportation Merit Badge. Kenny Oleson brought a dump truck and a crude oil transport with an extension. Tanner was allowed to participate with the scouts. He was so excited to see all of the different parts of the truck. He even had the opportunity to go inside the Oleson home and watch a video about trucks. While Tanner enjoyed so many different parts of the truck tour, my favorite was when he was seated in the cab of the truck. Talyn showed Tanner where the air horn cord was so Tanner could pull it. Talyn and Jared Hill's son had been honking the air horn for a while. When Tanner pulled the cord and the horn blared, Tanner's eyes bulged, looked straight ahead, and a smile crossed his face.

This is where Myranda has been most of the time during the last few days. Myranda has been sick for four days now. She went to school yesterday, but didn't feel good by the end of the day. Beyond the head cold and sore throat that she's had the last few days, today she got a major headache.

Last night was Family Home Evening. For several months, on the night of Family Home Evening some of our family members negotiate the opportunity to trade assignments with someone else. Selina (our exchange student) has made treats for several weeks in a row, because she is so willing to trade. Last week, with the love that only a father can muster, I explained to the family that we will put our names on the assignment board in order of age, and we will not change the order again. Tanner gave the lesson. For those of you have not had the privlidge of participating in a lesson prepared by a 7 year-old boy, it is truly a sight to behold. At the point that Myranda felt the lesson was reaching a close, he then began the next part of the lesson. The lesson was exceptional for a young man and he even included a twist on one of our favorite activities, "Don't Eat Pete!" He changed it to a competition, using pictures in two groups: temples and prophets. After attempting his crea...