Growing a Beard

I’ve always had a nagging desire to grow a beard. I think most men have a point in their life where they just want to see how they look with facial hair. I’ve never really had a good excuse to grow one though and, although I have gone a few days without shaving and had some thick stubble, I’ve never really let my facial hair grow for more than a few days.

This weekend was the Varsity Scout Territorial Rendezvous and I finally had a lame excuse to grow a beard. I made a quick decision to stop shaving two weeks ago and figured I’d only have two Sundays where I wasn’t clean shaved. I should have started a few days earlier but oh well. The first week very few people noticed or made any comments. The second week, after a full week of growth I got plenty of comments and compliments. I also got one or two glares of disapproval. My young men liked the hair and at one point one of them even asked if he could touch it! I got called Brigham, Jedediah, and rebel. I also got asked what calling I was trying to avoid.

The experience was fun. The best part was seeing people’s reactions. I don’t usually seek attention but every once in a while I like to do something out of the ordinary and keep people on their toes. Those who know me well know what I’m talking about. The beard wasn’t too itchy. Sarah did complain that it was “poky” but as it got longer she got a little more used to it. Most of the time I didn’t even know it was there unless I looked in the mirror or got a surprised look or comment from acquaintances. I thought I looked halfway decent with a beard but it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. There are several sections of my face where the hair is blond and, from a distance, you couln’t even tell there was hair. I would need to grow it long and shave the mustache and other blond sections so I could be as manly as Brigham Young.

I am glad to have my semi-smooth face back and so is Sarah. I couldn’t help but shave it off in sections to see how I would look with different beard styles.



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What we’ve been up to lately

Have you ever seen those quizzes where they show you a close up picture of something and then you have to guess what the object actually is? Well – can you guess what this is?

If you guessed play dough with lots of funny animal parts in it – you were exactly right!
We’ve been having a lot of fun lately at our house. Everything seems nice when the weather is nice! A few days ago Jackson was begging to play play dough, and of course I had none. So I decided to make some. I’ve done this before, I don’t ever buy play dough anymore, but this time I added food coloring which made Jackson especially excited! He immediately put all the colors together and told me he was making a birthday cake. He was looking for candles to put on the cake and the animal pieces are what he came up with. We sang Happy Birthday to him and then he blew out the candles…over and over and over! I think he’s getting excited for all the birthdays coming up in our family.
This is what else we’ve been up to… Lacey is getting into everything lately and this is one of her favorite places! We have a lot of t.p. in this cupboard and I pick it up about 7000 times a day! :o) Jackson thinks its pretty fun too and this is usually what they do if I’m getting my hair done or if they’re just bored.
This is not rain…it’s the sprinkler. Yes we are playing in the sprinkler already. This little boy is a water baby! He lives for water! So on this day it was probably about 65* for the high and he thought he needed the sprinkler on – he kept telling me it wasn’t cold.

This is Lacey’s usual post when Jackson is outside, unless she’s in the swing out there. She gets so mad when he is outside and she is not. So we let her come out and play too.
She decided to look at and smell the flowers

Taste some of that delicious dirt (I think that face explains the taste)

And then she decided to try out that sprinkler that Jackson made look so fun! I don’t think she thought it was as fun as it looked.

She is walking everywhere by the way. She still falls quite a bit but it doesn’t stop her from trying to walk just a little faster!

Micah has been growing a beard for the Mountain Man Rendezvous that is going on this weekend. He was really excited about all the fun stuff they are doing. His group of boys were making some really cool knives in preparation for the big event. Hopefully they’re having a great time and everything went well. I’m sure we’ll post a picture of the beard at some point. Side note: If you really want to see it, Micah was on Fox 10 news on Thursday. While he was out to lunch his building was closed down for a suspicious looking powder in a package. It ended up being nothing, but on his was back to work the parking lot was blocked off. So he stopped and asked the news crew on the corner if they knew what was going on and they filled him in on a few details and then asked if they could interview him.

Oh what fun we have at our house! We are definitely the fun bus over here!


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What a guy!

Jackson and I spent some much needed one on one time before Micah started working away from home again. I told him we were going to hang out, just me and him, and he said with excitement, “Go to pool store!?!” Wow – O.K. sure! So, I took him to the pool store to get our water tested, get an ice cream cone at McDonalds, and then headed over to the puppy store and outdoor kids play area that he loves at the mall. Well, he played and had a great time there, but then decided to wonder into a store, “The Children’s Place.” I followed him to see what he was up to, and he ended up picking out this great shirt and sun glasses. They were even on sale! He’s been needing some bigger shirts (he must have known), so I was glad that he picked out something that looked nice and that he liked! We had a great time, just the two of us!

Besides picking out his own clothes and sunglasses, we’ve been working on chores lately. He is an awesome helper! We made a chore chart with pictures of a few basic chores he can help with and one of them is making his bed. I’ve been teaching him to fold his blankets – Well, after several weeks, he decided he wanted to fold them totally by himself, and here’s what they looked like. Not too shabby, eh? He was very proud and so was I! Now when does the excitement for chores wear off?
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First Day Impressions

Everybody is sure to ask, “How do you like your new job?”. I’ll try and answer that here for those who care to know but may not have the opportunity to ask.

My new job is much much different then my previous job. I’m technically doing similar work but hardly.

The Commute
This is the first major difference. Before it took me 10 minutes max to get to work or 15 minutes if I rode my bike. Now it takes me no less than 30 minutes which is still way better most of the jobs I was applying for. It hasn’t been too bad yet. No bumper to bumper deadlocks the first two days.

Atmosphere
This probably the biggest difference. Cheyenne Mountain, being a video game developer, was obviously more laid back. I forgot how stale big corporation can be. YouTube and most popular websites are blocked and I can’t even listen to the radio online (music helps me make through the day and block out office conversations). Everyone I’ve met here has been very kind and I think it will be a good work environment but it will definitely take some getting used to.

Benefits
This is probably the biggest upside to the new job. I’m only a contract employee for the first 4-6 months but once I become a permanent employee I will be able to work on an MBA and I believe they will cover most or all of the cost. One other thing I might take advantage of is the gym downstairs. The gym is just part of the office complex and not tied to my company but it is only $25/month and they provide fitness plans and I could just take 30 minutes during my lunch to workout, shower and get back to work in the same building.

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To My Dearest Mother…

Happy Birthday! My dear mother celebrated her 19th birthday today! What a beautiful 19 year old! I owe a lot to her and so, even though I wasn’t able to see her today, I wanted her to know, that I love her so!
Hope you had a great birthday! Think happy thoughts when you see this!

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