Rock Stars

We spent Saturday evening at Harmon & Lindsey's home after eating dinner at Market Street Grill in Draper. Steve brought his guitar from their Wii game and Harmon had theirs so they fired up the system and we spent the night rockin' out. Steve and Harm really get into it and it's entertaining to watch them play the game. The adults love it as much as the children do and have become pretty accomplished. Lindsey and I had two different competitions, and much to her dismay, I beat her both times. Like the song says, "I may not be as good as I once was, but I am as good once as I ever was".

Everybody decided that we would make sure to bring the games and guitars to the Outer Banks house so that we can all enjoy these games. Mom and I think we will have to buy one if we hope not to be embarrassed by our lack of ability.

We will be driving home tomorrow morning and be back in San Clemente by New Years Eve. Have a happy and successful new years everyone.

Nancy has never been where she has had a "White Christmas". Even during the years that she went to the "Y" in Provo, Christmas was always spent in Phoenix. This year we decided to go to Utah to spend Christmas with Adam, Sunny and Lindsey and their families. We arrived early in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and, as if on cue, the snow began to fall. It snowed all during the night and we awoke to about six inches of fresh snow. It was absolutely beautiful! We even saw deer tracks in the snow. We looked for tracks of Santa's sleigh, but we didn't find them. Even so, he obviously visited and all of the families had a wonderful Christmas day. Quigley, Steve and Sunny's Bernese Mountain Dog, loves the snow and spends most of his day playing and rolling in it.

Christmas day at the Wright family home. Sunny and Steve provided a wonderful celebration of Christmas and we enjoyed crab legs on Christmas eve and a turkey dinner on Christmas day.

The Dickson girls got to open presents three times. Once at our house, once at Nana & Papa Cards, and once Christmas morning.

I took this family photo when we celebrated Christmas with J.R., Casey and the girls.

National Finals Rodeo

I have been advised that I need to put in something other than hunting pictures. If I had a housefull of adorable kids, I would be putting in pictures of them, but no such luck.

Mom and I traveled to Las Vegas for our annual NFR trip. The Hadleys couldn't join us this year, so we invited Rosemary and Gordon. Mao & Cathy joined us on Friday night. We had a great time! It was the first time that Rosemary ever saw team ropers that could actually rope both hind legs of a steer. She got to see it several times at this great rodeo.

We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel. It was okay, but not great. We also spent Friday morning at the Cowboy Christmas show at the convention center. Mom got a couple of new shirts and some levis. I got a couple of shirts, a knife and a hat from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. (I'm sure the last item will make everybody jealous)

We will open some Christmas presents with Mao and Cathy today because they will be in Colombia for Christmas. We'll then drive home; hopefully before the traffic gets too bad.

Mexico again.

Gary Hadley and I went to Mexico a little over a week ago. We were going to hunt Friday and Saturday, but it started raining on Friday and turned all of the roads to slime. In fact, Friday afternoon we were hunting pheasants and having a great time, even though it had started to rain pretty hard. The pheasants were holding tight in the alfalfa fields and we got some really nice points over the dogs. Bud had some exceptional points later in the day, producing nice roosters for easy shots and retrieves. It was great watching the dogs. After a while I decided we needed to call it a day because I feared the roads would become to muddy. Unfortunately, I was right, but about an hour late. As we started to leave the hunting area, our tires became caked with thick, sticky mud and we had absolutely no traction. Within less than a quarter of a mile, we slipped off of the road, down an embankment, and almost into a ditch. There was no getting out! Our guide had to walk about a mile in the dark and the rain to find a friend of his who brought a large tractor and a chain and pulled us out of the ditch. He ultimately towed us the mile out of the area to get us back on paved roads. Our tires and undercarriage were so caked with mud that we couldn't drive over 50 miles per hour without violent shaking. The next morning we had to stop at a car wash and jet spray about thirty pounds of mud off of the tires. When I got home I got out the power washer and removed about an equal amount of mud from underneath my truck.

The picture was taken Friday morning after our morning hunt. We ended up with about 11 pheasants for the day.

Latest Mexico Trip

I went to Mexico Friday and decided to just take the new pup. It allowed me to work with her individually and see how she did. She didn't disappoint me. She found several pheasants and retrieved some doves and quail. She even made a retrieve out of a canal. I wasn't even sure if she would go into water, but she didn't mind it at all. At the end of the day, John Anderson knocked down a big rooster, but it was still alive and fell into thick alfalfa hay. Billie spent about five minutes hunting for it, and eventually went on point. As I stepped toward it it took off again and she chased it down, caught it and retrieved it to me. I think I'll keep her.

Veterans Day

This past weekend I spent my Saturday catching up on some neglected chores around the house. It was the first weekend we have had for quite some time where we haven't been out of town or been involved with a lot of family activities. I found myself at the hardware store purchasing a new hose and a high pressure nozzle for the back yard. As I left the store I noticed a veteran sitting at a little table selling the artificial poppies in memory of our military veterans. He didn't notice me coming out of the store, so when I dropped a five dollar bill on his table he was a little surprised, but he quickly made sure that I had a poppy to take with me.

As I climbed into my truck, I took a look at the poppy with it's little "in memorium" banner and said out loud, "That's for you Buck", speaking of my dad. I suddenly found myself tearing up, and for the first time since Dad's funeral, I cried. I sat in my truck for the next five minutes thinking of the good things that my dad had done in his life, and allowing myself to feel gratitude for them. It was a good experience and I think a little healing took place.

Charity is defined as "the pure love of Christ" and if we feel charity towards others, the pure love of Christ enables us to look beyond their shortcomings or circumstances and to see them in the light of their relationship to you and to our Father in Heaven. By dwelling on my dad's alcoholism and it's effect on our relationship I have put myself in a position of judging him and thinking negatively of him. I hope that I can get beyond that and start to think of him in more positive ways. I am reminded of the very last verse in the 9th chapter of Luke where it tells us that "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God". From that, I know that if I consider myself to be one of God's servants, it is up to me to forgive the things of the past in order for me to progress to what I should be. We all need to remember this in our relationships with each other.

At the county office buildings in Morgan, Utah, there is a little square outside where they have erected monuments to the men from the area that served in the various wars since World War I. If you ever find yourself there, take a minute to stop and read these names. Burke Dickson's name is displayed there. He willingly served his country and fellow men by enlisting in the Army Air Corps. He placed his life in jeapardy as a pilot of a B-24 bomber and was decorated twice for his efforts. He returned home, married, and raised four sons, providing for their care and education. He was faithful to his wife and was ultimately sealed to her in the Ogden Utah temple. For all of this, I am grateful.

The next time you find yourself at a rodeo, or a Nascar event, or a ball game, and they play the National Anthem, I hope that each of you will remove your hat, cover your heart with your hand and think about the words that are being sung. We live in a wonderful land, and we enjoy freedoms that others can only dream about, and we owe much of this to the men and women who have fought and died for us. Please, don't ever forget that.

Heinz's Farm Hunt, Second Day

There are 64 roosters in this picture. Our hunt was over in about 45 minutes.

South Dakota Trip

This is a picture of the birds we got the first hour of opening day. As I counted the number of birds in this picture it represents about the same number I personally shot during my three day hunt. I was lucky to be where the birds were flying and I did quite well compared to most of the other hunters. We had a great time and enjoyed good weather for all of the hunt. It was a long drive. We spent four days driving and three days hunting, but it was worth it.

Evel Kowalski

We had quite a scare on our last ride on Saturday morning. Nancy was riding up a narrow trail and took her eyes of the trail for a second and drifted to the left and hit a boulder about the size of a bushel basket. It tipped her almost over and the quad righted itself, but she still had her thumb on the accelerator, causing her to veer to the left up the side of the trail. That caused the quad to tip over and launched her off on the down side of the trail. The quad rolled over on it's back and then tried to roll over onto her, but the little trees prevented it from going any further. She ended up with a bruised knee, ankle, and wrist and thumb. No cuts or torn clothing. I ended up with a myocardial infarction watching all of this happen right in front of me. She was very lucky not to have been seriously hurt. Gary, Bryan and I tipped it upright, and other than a couple of scratches, the quad was in great shape. The whole thing could have been a whole lot worse. Needless to say, Nancy drove a lot more tentatively the rest of the trip.

Fall Colors in Utah

After our trip to New Hampshire to see the fall colors, I wasn't sure if I would see anything as pretty, but the scenery on our quad trip to Utah was spectacular. This picture was taken at Copley Campground on the Fillmore Loop of the Paiute Trail. It was just starting to rain. We had a wet ride back to the trailers.

More from the Paiute Trail

The Paiute Trail

Nancy and I loaded our trailer Wednesday evening and traveled with Gary, Sue and Bryan Hadley to Fillmore, Utah. We checked in at the KOA and spent the night, then today rode about 47 miles up over the Fillmore Loop on our quads. It was a beautiful trip with lots of stream crossings, great fall colors and some glimpses of the local wildlife, including several deer, an eagle, a bobcat and some hawks. We had a lunch on the trail and enjoyed great company and a wonderful experience. We will take another ride tomorrow morning and then load up and head home so that Nancy and I can take care of our church responsibilities.

Adventures on the East Coast

We have had the most wonderful trip to Boston this weekend. Mom and I left Wednesday evening and took the red eye flight to Boston and arrived about 5:00 am. Todd picked us up and we went to their home and caught about three hours of sleep before we started our day. The boys are so cute and it is so nice to spend some time with Ashley and Todd. Ashley had a bunch of stuff planned for us including a trip to New Hampshire and Maine for some "leaf peeping". The leaves had started to turn but they will be better in a couple of weeks. It was so beautiful. On Friday we visited New Hampshire, spending the night there, and then went to Maine on Saturday. There we went to Freeport, Maine, which is the home of L. L. Bean. We did some shopping, had a great lunch, then headed back to Boston before the boys were so tired that we would have to feed them to the bears. We went to a great park in Boston by the pier on Sunday afternoon after watching conference, then returned home for dinner. Today it rained so we went to a mall up near Wellesley and then went apple picking at this wonderful farm. The boys played at the petting zoo and had a great time, although Ben got his fingers nipped by an Emu that he was trying to feed. He probably won't be doing that again soon. We ended the day with our third evening of hearts. We finally ended up seeing Todd as the loser after being the champion for the first two nights. He wasn't getting worse, we just got a little better. We won't be seeing this family until February or March, so we are really going to miss being around them, but we are so glad we came.

Memorable Weekend

Nancy & I had a nice weekend. Friday evening we went to Dove Canyon Country Club to celebrate Blaine & Joy Lindahl's 60th wedding anniversary. Many of our old friends, including the Gladwell's, Hoggan's, Fausetts, Parks, Steinert's and Schoney's were there. It was a great reunion. Blaine and Joy have been such great friends to us from the time we moved to Lake Forest. He was a wonderful Bishop, and really helped us develop in the church. They have been a great example on how to have a successful family and marriage. Their service in the ward and the stake and the temple has benefited the lives of so many people. I hope that each of my children will have the same type of success and longevity in their marriages.

Saturday was a rainy day, but in between showers, I was able to clean my trailer in preparation for a weekend in Richfield, Utah in a couple of weeks. We are going to go with the Hadley's and spend the second weekend in October riding the Paiute Trail on our four wheelers. I bought another four wheeler from Gary this month so that Nancy and I will each have our own to ride. It will be a busy month for me. I will be in Mexico this weekend, Boston next weekend and Utah the following weekend. The weekend after that I will be in South Dakota for the Pheasant Hunt. Poor old me!

We had dinner yesterday with J.R, Casey and the girls. The missionaries also joined us for dinner. While I was grilling a tri-tip roast, the girls took the opportunity to dangle their toes in the pool. I've attached a couple of photos.

Sunday Swimming

Cooling her dogs

Kids say the funniest things

Yesterday we had the pleasure of a short visit by Casey and 2 1/2 year old Kayla at our office. I, of course had to immediately treat Kayla to an unending supply of M&M's and was rewarded with hugs, kisses, and a very polite thank you. As she sat in my office chair eating candy off of my desk top, she started to observe the stuffed owl, quail, pheasant, etc., in my office. As her eyes were attracted to the massive European Wild Boar's head, she said "funny piggy, broken piggy". We couldn't figure out why she was calling it a broken piggy until we concluded that she was seeing only the front half of a pig, therefore it was broken. What interesting insight.

Nancy and I love those little visits and we miss having Lindsey and her kids dropping by for a short visit. It was always a highlight of the day. We love the family blogs and the treat of seeing current pictures of our beautiful grandchildren. Lindsey and Sunny need to drop by Jennifers house and show her how to set one up so that we will have everybody represented.

By the way, congratulations to Adam regarding his new job within the Garff auto group. He was recently recommended by his corporation for a position as finance manager of the Mitsubishi, Hyundai dealership in Salt Lake. He met with the GM there and was immediately offered the position, which he accepted. He will likely have to stay at his present situation for two weeks while they find a replacement for him, but he will be moving there soon. This new dealership sells about eight times as many cars per month as his current dealership, so he will have a much more lucrative situation.

Mexicali Trip, Sept. 14,15

I was able to go to Mexico this weekend, but I had to go alone. John Anderson had a family deal he couldn't get out of, but I have a key to the house in Carranza. I drove down Thursday evening. I went out with our guide, Riggoberto Guererro and hunted Friday morning and afternoon, and then again on Saturday morning. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed the solitude for a brief time. It was a little cooler this weekend and the temperatures on got to about 98 at the hottest part of the day. I hope to have it cool down a little more so that I can take the dogs down without the risk of them having heat stroke.

39 Years and Still Counting

This picture was taken 39 years ago at our wedding reception. Nancy's dad asked a friend in their ward to take our wedding pictures. He brought one roll of film and took 36 pictures so we were lucky to have any that turned out. Nancy made her beautiful wedding dress. How may girls can say that today?

You'll notice that my hairstyle is exactly the same today, although I have a little less to comb and there are a few gray hairs in the mix. I also weigh exactly the same today as I weighed then. Who would have thought that I would be able to say that? The weight may be the same but the body proportions are a lot different.

Nancy is more beautiful today than she was then. She is the love of my life and I am so grateful that she has stood by me all these years. I'm sure that we won't have 39 more years together in this earthly life, but we are hoping for another 25. What we are really striving for is an eternity together.

You want a piece of me?

Nancy captured this altercation taking place on the trampoline. Even though the little boy was larger and older than Riley, the look on her face made him think twice about duking it out. Instead they just spit at each other.

Pool Party

Sunny and Steve had about seven different families as well as our families come to their house for a Labor Day pool party. It was a lot of fun and they have such great friends.

Riley, Sam & Jessie

Sunny has a lot of help from the other children. The twins rarely cry for more than a second or two when somebody volunteers to pick them up.

Can you tell which team lost?

Tristan's team played the best team in the league for their season opener, and they showed us why they are considered the best. They'll do better next week.

The Newest Additions

We went to Tristan's first football game this Labor Day weekend. Sam, Kate and Charlie shaded up under a beach umbrella. Could anything be cuter?

Quality Time

I love the theme of this painting. As summer ends and the kids start back to school and our lives return to a more "normal" pattern, I hope you take a breath and reflect on what you are doing to make memories with your children. As I look back on raising our kids a major regret is that we didn't take the time for the little vacations. By that I mean the day trips to the beach or a weekend camping that we could have sneaked into our busy schedules, but we didn't.

Time slips by so quickly, and soon the opportunities to build those precious memories are lost. Just ask Adam. With Jade going off to college this year, his time with her is dramatically changed. I'm sure he would like to hold onto her a bit longer, but our lives march forward and there isn't a lot we can do about it.

I am always pleased to see the photos you guys take that capture those special times. The day at the beach, the picnic at the park, the soccer and softball games are all opportunities to build memories of good times together as a family. These will be the anchors that your children will cling to during troubled times. Most of these kinds of activities don't involve spending a lot of money, they just require an investment of time and a realization of what our important priorities should be. Do all that you can do so that they can be all that they should be.

One of my favorite photos

We got a lot of great photos with the kids on the horses at Grand Camp this year, but this picture of Toby, Ashley and Ben on the Merry Go Round is one of the best I have taken. I hope we all take advantage of the opportunities to build memories with our families.

Freak Quail/Truck Accident

In November of 2006, my Buddy, John Anderson and I traveled to the Valley of Trinidad in Baja, Mexico. In about 1 1/2 hours we harvested over 60 quail. John insisted on stacking them on my windshield for this picture. As if my truck doesn't get dirty enough down there!

Me and Bud

When my wife saw this picture, she said it made me look old. I said I've earned it. This was taken at a training session at Prado Dam in Riverside, CA.