It’s been a while since I’ve written, but only because I have been too busy to write.

Last Friday I had to show up early for a wedding at GT, and stayed an hour and a half beyond when I normally would have gone home. We webcast the wedding and had an early sound-check before the first wedding. I made up for it on Saturday though by showing up 30 mins late and leaving right on track. The best part was I didn’t have to set too much up because there had already been an Arbor Terrace wedding that morning! I could get used to that….

I spent Saturday night actually trying to write my talk for Church. I had been reading all sorts of articles that in any way related to what I might want to speak on and found that I had way too much material. I ended up trying to focus on sowing seeds and reaping benefits and more specifically that we can reap the benefits from previous generations and sow seeds for future generations. I think it was received well.

At branch prayer, I spent some time talking with Nicole who I found out works at Target and knows Normey! This made me start thinking of new ways to torture Norma, but I haven’t put anything into action yet.

Monday went well at the office. I had dinner at Nathaniel’s house before heading to FHE. I figured since he is about to move out of the house it was a good time to actually step foot inside his house! I even won a game of pool, but only by default.

Tuesday went well too. I was pretty busy doing good stuff all day. I was so busy in fact that I didn’t get to do something I was hoping to get done and FedEx’d. As I was leaving the office, I called Larilyn as we had discussed doing dinner. We decided to do it then and there, but she was 45 minutes away and I had already left the office. I went to the Bicycle Warehouse and got a new pair of gloves, but that didn’t take enough time. I ended up going next door to Boot Barn and getting a new pair of boots and a hat.

I came across this article this morning about kicking the TV habit. It’s a bit on the older side, but I think it still applies today. I’m glad that I practically gave up TV a few years ago and that I don’t spend all my waking time watching TV – or even movies. There are so many better things we can be doing with our time and so much that we may be missing.

LDS.org – Ensign Article – How I Kicked the TV Habit

The article mentioned how much quieter the house got once she turned off the television. She could then hear her children singing and the noises of her baby. I would think the sound of my children singing and happily playing would be so much better than any noise from a TV set.

If you’ve found that you spend too much time sitting in front of the tube, I challenge you to turn it off for one night, or one week and do something you’ve been saying you were going to do, but haven’t done because you haven’t had the time. Read (book, magazine, scriptures, the ramblings of someone like me, whatever). Write (letters, journals). Play a game with your children or friends. Attend that Church activity you’ve thought about going to, but just couldn’t go to.

I witness unto you that it may be hard a first, but after you find other activities to fill your time, you won’t miss it and your life and that of those around you will be blessed.

Today went fairly well in the office. I was busy most of the day, but was able to get the sales tax return done and filed as well as sell some stuff. I even saw that we made it into the “Breaking News from FOH” email today! Now we just need to get our website looking a bit better so people think we actually have done something as opposed to some company that can’t even make a website.

After putting in a full day at the office, I decided to go house shopping for the first time in a while. I thought about calling Emily, but I guess I ran out of time. I looked at Beazer’s Gallery at Whispering Heights (or something along those lines). I liked two of the homes, although one was quite a bit out of my price range. It sounds like I could get the other for about $424, which is actually a bit less than the Veranda home I love. I even looked at one of the ready to move in to homes, which was built the way I would built it with all bedrooms! There were some pretty incredible views out of the house as it was elevated slightly from the others, and on a bit of a hill. The problem with the site though, is that it is outside of Murrieta and Temecula’s school districts and is in some weird zone which I guess belongs to the Menifee Elementary District and maybe Hemet HS. Either way the schools were a long ways off.

This of course further sparked my internal debate as to if now is the time to buy. Should I wait until I am a little more certain of my future? Should I wait until I get married? Should I just get the little condo that I need instead of this huge house that will need lots of air conditioning? Really I’m comfortable at home, but at the same time I am ready to fly the coup. But, do I really want to live by myself/alone? Would I want to deal with roommates? So many possibilities, I just don’t know what to do.

Other than go to sleep!

I really should be sleeping, but I feel that I need to take a few minutes to collect my thoughts first.

I was asked last weekend if I would present a talk this Sunday. I guess you could say I had been waiting for it to come. I’ve read through the material I’m supposed to be presenting and also listened to the conference talk on which I am to base my talk on, but now I need to get down to work!

This past weekend was also branch conference. We started off the day with our branch council meeting at 11:45 and then went into sacrament meeting and branch conference. It was interesting hearing from President Smith, our stake president. We ended up doing a Q&A session for the second half which was interesting. The most notable thing I took from the session was a pact that he made in a hotel room twenty something years ago. He was traveling alone and turned on the TV to find something I presume to be inappropriate. He then got down on his knees and covenanted to never watch tv in a hotel room alone again because that is a way for the adversary to get into his life. The bigger lesson that we seemed to touch on many times was to run from sin/temptations and not try to endure it.

After church I went to the Dowden’s as usual and then we went to President Smith’s house for a testimony meeting to close out branch conference. After almost everyone had gone, he looked for those that hadn’t and basically instructed us to go. I ended up going last, saying something to the effect of we have already established this is the true church and we agree on that, so I will make this short and sweet. I simply want to express my gratitude for the leadership of this branch and stake. I think it was good for me to be there to learn more about those I have been called to serve with and some of the history and other things that are going on. I truly love the bishopric and their wives.

For Susan’s birthday today, we went to The Cheesecake Factory. I didn’t even get a meal, but I still left absolutely stuffed.

There is so much more to say, but I really want to try and get to work on time tomorrow, so I’m going to try and get some sleep now that it is almost 11!

Well, we made it to and back from Tucson safely, and in usual Chester fashion, without spending an extra minute in Tucson. We actually even ended up leaving Fallbrook almost on time Tuesday morning. I was planning on riding with Ryan at 7, but I never got a response from him so I figured he got home late. Then around 7:30 he called and said he’d be ready in 10 minutes. I, of course, wasn’t ready, but dropped what I was doing (reading) and got ready quickly. He beat me to the top of the hill, so I didn’t even stop and that set the pace for the entire ride. We had discussed shortening the ride, with the mutual understanding that meant we weren’t going to do the “extended warm up.” However, when we got to the fork in the road, not only did I not let us stop for a break, but I decided that if we didn’t take any rest stops we could make it through the whole ride in time. Surprisingly, we did! We managed to do the ride in about half the time and actually felt like we got some exercise out of the deal because of it.

My dad wanted to stop in Julian to collect a plant on the way out as he figured it would only add a few minutes to the drive, but save him a three-hour drive. It sounded like a good plan, and allowed for a change of scenery as well. Shortly after passing the Pala Casino, we came across a CHP cruiser stopped on the opposite side of the road. I slowed down as soon as we saw him, but I’m not really sure what speed I was driving before I saw him. I don’t imagine it was too much over the non posted 55 mph limit. In any event, as soon as we passed him, he gunned it, leaving a good chuck of his tires behind and sending dirt in a big cloud behind him. This was of course to turn around behind me… It didn’t look good, so I continued to slow down. He quickly caught up, but didn’t turn on his lights. I thought about pulling out at the next turnout to at least let him pass, but I worried he might see that as admitting guilt and decide to light me up if we pulled over, so we kept going. Shortly after casino number two, a car from a cross-street decided to pull out in front of me, requiring me to step on the brakes. I still had the CHP cruiser in tow, and at this point he decided to hit the lights and make another U-turn. I don’t know the end of the story, but it sure felt good to actually see someone get pulled over for doing something stupid!

A bit farther up the road, I saw a sign that said “chocolate.” Underneath that sign, it said “fudge.” As I slowly read these and they processed in my mind, the car started slowing as I said “fudge… fudge… fuudddggggeeeee….” My dad was oblivious, but I decided it was time to stop at King Leo’s. I had honestly never thought of there being varieties of fudge before. I always thought of there being two kinds of fudge – chocolate fudge and chocolate fudge with nuts. Needless to say, I was amazed at the variety offered. I ended up getting 5 different kids: Vanilla, Cheesecake, Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter and 2x Dark Chocolate. They are all pretty good; I’m still finishing off the squares. We then got back on the road, found this plant for my dad and got on with our road trip.

After getting through Yuma, we were stopped by the US Border Patrol. After it seemed we were not going to be waved through, I rolled down my window and was asked “Are you United States Citizens?” I paused for a second and thought to myself: two generations of white guys, in an almost brand new Toyota Camry Hybrid with California plates that say Think Different…. Nope, we stole the car after entering the country illegally from Germany, filled it up with illegals from Mexico and are transporting them to Tucson. Hmm… maybe I shouldn’t tell this guy that. I decided just to answer with a simple “yes” and tried not to smile as much as possible.

Do people really answer that question? We need to pull some more of the border patrols funding so that they can find better ways to occupy their agents instead of bringing interstate traffic to a halt!

We got into Tucson around six and looked at other houses currently on the market – the competition. It was good because it let us see where we needed to price the house and gave us ideas on the best way to show it. We ended up listing it that night, with the MLS going in once we got the house actually ready. We debated back and forth on having it painted. My dad and I, along with Jennifer, the lady doing the cleaning, thought it needed to be painted, but Mauricio, the real estate agent didn’t agree. I ended up suggesting that we give a painting allowance as part of the purchase price, allowing us to get the house listed asap and giving the buyers the option to have the interior whatever color they may want instead of Arizona white. We ended up not finishing with the paperwork until about ten, so we missed almost all opportunities for dinner. I thought about going to TGI and then staying at the Courtyard across the street, but opted for the cheaper and closer Holiday Inn Express and to forgo dinner. I later decided this was a bad idea.

We got right to work on Wednesday, just de-cluttering the house, moving stuff to the garage to get it out of sight for the time being. We ended up signing up for an estate sale – which will be held on August 11th. The Girls are going to come in on Aug 6 and get everything ready to be sold that weekend, which means that we need to have grandma out of the house by then along with whatever items she or anyone else is going to take. The great thing is that they will basically clean out the house of all items one way or another. I see why people would suggest doing this before putting the house on the market as it eliminates having to do a lot of the prep work. However, then you end up showing an empty house, which I don’t think is the best option.

We will end up with the house on the market for 2-3 weeks staged. If it doesn’t sell in that time, it will be cleaned out with the estate sale and will then be shown empty. We’ll probably then have it painted, so we will end up showing it in about all the possible configurations unless we are lucky enough to be able to find a buyer before we get too far along. It should be going in the MLS tomorrow.

We got out of Tucson after 5 and stopped in Arizona City for some $2.659 gasoline before hitting the road to Yuma where we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. My car got sand blasted again going through the dunes, and we were way late for sunset. We got home shortly before 1 a.m. and I slept till almost 10 the next morning. (I barely slept in Tucson for some reason.)

I finally made it to the office around two after unloading the car and taking care of what needed to be done before I could leave. For once, Nathaniel was in the office waiting for me to bring lunch and starving! I actually managed to catch up on most things before leaving the office Thursday evening to get an oil change. I came home and was looking forward to watching a movie, but I again got wrapped up in stuff and ran out of time.

Today went fairly well. I was actually in Temecula at 8:15 and stopped at Chaparral HS to see what kind of gear they have in the performing arts center. It really makes one appreciate what Fallbrook ended up with when you look at what so many other schools of similar size have. Things were quiet enough in the office today to let me finish getting caught up, but not so quiet that I was extremely bored. The store orders have been pouring in lately, which is great. We made it on the EV website with the zoo gig, which was cool. I stopped at got a new bicycle helmet on my way home because my current one seems to be starting to fall apart. I still made it home at a decent time and was able to watch “The Man” this evening. I also realized that I rented Cars, but I have already seen it! Oh well…

I heard this song over the ceiling speakers at a gas station in Yuma on my way to Tucson on Tuesday. I heard the first line of the chorus and just stopped to listen to it. I think this is an awesome song. My applause to Dusty Drake and whoever wrote the lyrics!

We’ve only known each other since the moment we met
But it seems like forever to me
I haven’t figured out the perfect way to say it yet
But I suppose at times like these
A man should get down on his knees

How’d ya like to be in my wedding
And how’d ya like to walk down the aisle
You could be the center of attention
Everyone would look at you and smile
We could send our friends invitations
You could wear a long white dress
If you’d like to be in my wedding, darlin’
All ya have to do is say, “Yes”

Your folks could be seated in the very front row
And cry when we all turn to look at you
We could cut the cake
And we could strike a pose
Like the little bitty plastic bride and groom
And then begin our life-long honeymoon

How’d ya like to be in my wedding
How’d ya like to walk down the aisle
You could be the center of attention
Everyone would look at you and smile
We could send our friends invitations
You could wear a long white dress
If you’d like to be in my wedding, darlin’
All ya have to do is say, “Yes”

Say, “Yes”
Say, “Yes”
(How’d ya like to be in my wedding)
Please say, “Yes”
(How’d ya like to be in my wedding)
Say, “Yes”
(How’d ya like to be in my wedding)
(How’d ya like to be in my wedding)
(How’d ya like to be in my wedding)

DUSTY DRAKE SAY YES LYRICS

Today went fairly well. It was pretty quiet, and I don’t think I sold anything, but I had enough to keep me busy all day. We had a board meeting tonight which also went well. Things are looking good and we are going to hire on someone to manage the office and watch for the little things that we let slip through the cracks. I fell confident that she (I’m assuming…) will be more than able to pay for herself with productivity improvements and better customer service.

My dad and I are off to Tucson tomorrow morning. We were hoping to get the house on the market, but it sounds like we probably are not actually going to get that far. We will however be making progress toward that end goal. We are going to look at the competition and see what needs to be done to make sure ours will be the best house on the market. I guess there is still some cleaning that needs to be done – and the hardest thing will be figuring out what to bring back with me and what to leave, sell or donate.

The more that I think about it, the more I think about just leaving almost everything because I don’t what to deal with moving and storing it until I have a use and home for it. There are a few things that I could see bringing back and storing, but when I think about the cost involved in bringing a truckload of stuff back and storing it, I have to wonder if it is truly worth it. I guess I will be able to make a better assessment tomorrow as to what to do. Throughout this whole process I keep thinking, don’t store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust can destroy (Matt 6:19).

This would be so much easier if the house was closer and I could just go there at will and spend a few hours a week. The last trip was really hard on me spending so much time in a day just going through items and trying to decide what to do with them. I don’t know how much more of this I can honestly take. I am anxious to see the house tomorrow after it has been professionally cleaned – or at least halfway cleaned. Well, I guess I’m off to sleep so I can be rested for the long drive ahead tomorrow.

Today was good. I had actually been looking forward to it for a few days now. Actually I think I had been all week, which is quite a change from a few months ago. This branch is just amazing. We had good talks presented today on free agency and the difference between darkness and being in the light. We started a teacher improvement class, which I attended and enjoyed. I learned a lot, and am hoping to be able to apply it in the future. Kevin presented a good lesson on false idols in Elders Quorum as well.

In our teacher development class, we talked about D&C 11:21. Bro. Kowallis shared verse 27 with me this evening, and later all of us at branch prayer: “Behold, I speak unto all who have good desires, and have thrust in their sickle to reap.”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about buying a house. I feel like I’m ready, and the time is right, but I just can’t decide the size or where I should be. So much of me says go big, rent out rooms and be ready for expansion for when I finally start a family. Another part of me says though that my wife may not like the house I buy today and we will end up moving. Or, we will decide to move to another area and have to sell the house. I just don’t know what to do, other than sleep!

I watched “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio” this evening. I enjoyed it and was amazed at how much patience the mother had. Dad would keep coming home drunk and loosing control and she would think of jingles that she could use later to win a prize. He even at one point tells her she’s too happy – something I must admit that I’m guilty of – and she, along with the rest of the family, just laughs. The strength she had in the face of adversity – continual adversity – is inspiring. Even the local cops and priest wouldn’t do anything to help her and blamed her for the troubles caused by her alcoholic husband.

I felt so bad for her when he was signing the mortgage and she was basically brushed to the side even when it was she that had come up with the down payment. I did feel for the dad as well at times though as it seemed that he was struggling to try to bring home money and do good, but that his triumphs were downplayed because she had won another contest.

I think we can continue focusing on having patient diligence by looking at this based on a true story movie. Evelyn was so diligent in her duties to her family, and really pulling it together in all sorts of times of struggle. And she had the patience to endure to the end. It sounds like it ended up working out in the end, with all the kids surviving, most prospering, and her even having money that the father had stashed away once he died. There was something else I was thinking about during the movie, but I can’t think now of what it was. I was thinking back to my definition of love… love is patient, love is kind…. and how Evelyn really did a good job following that.

Ryan and I went for a ride this morning while it was still 61 outside. It had barely warmed up to 64 when we got home, and the sun had still yet to break through the morning fog. I got through a lot of mail and such that had piled up, and enjoyed watching the history of cookies this morning. I learned that the chocolate chip cookie was born from an accident when a woman was trying to make chocolate cookies, but the Hershey’s chocolate bar she chopped up and used didn’t melt. I was really craving some cookies – and was thinking that a trip to BJ’s for a pizookie was in order. To bad I didn’t actually go – and maybe could have gone out to see a movie then too!

My wedding today went well. I got lots of reading done while I was waiting for it to start, but I’ve come to enjoy my quiet time sitting there waiting for things to happen. I can’t think of much else to report, so I guess I’ll get to sleep early tonight!

I went to the GT this morning to make sure the new coordinators computer account was working properly as I knew she wasn’t going to need any other little headaches today. Fortunately, that went fairly well. I came home and worked on some misc stuff, trying to get through emails and support tickets. I didn’t get very far before pausing for lunch and honestly didn’t get much done after lunch. I did stop at Union Bank on my way back to GT to get a signature guarantee so that I could transfer an IRA from them to Vanguard and actually earn something on it.

I’m assuming that no news is good news with the dogs. I probably should call tomorrow to see how they are doing and make sure all is well. Sounds like we still have no plan with grandma though.

Alison and I went out to dinner tonight. We first went to Pat & Oscar’s (for old time sake) and had to make a creative parking spot before finding the place packed. I called Macaroni Grill to find out what the wait was like and after confirming there was no wait, we decided to go there for dinner instead. It was good, as usual. I came out completely stuffed – and with no doggie bag! I guess I was hungry. After dinner we somehow or other ended up driving all over Temecula, Murrieta and Wildomar just for the fun of it. It started with seeing the General Kearny Meetinghouse, trying to get lost in suburbia behind there, continued with driving to the Murrieta Stake Center and then just got wild with seeing if we actually could get lost. I decided when we hit Clinton Keith from Washington that it was time to just head home.

Well, Promack and I have a date at 7 tomorrow morning, so I better get some sleep.

Today was pretty busy. I think my only downtime in the office was when I decided to pause for lunch. There was lots of little things to be done of which I was able to get through most, but not all of them. I still have too many messages in my email that need to be dealt with, some of which are starting to get old. It didn’t help that I had to leave early to do a wedding this afternoon, but I did. The wedding went well as it was pretty easy. It wasn’t even all that uncomfortably hot, although I still could have gone for it being ten degrees cooler.

I stopped by WaMu on my way to the office this morning to make some deposits and get signature guarantees for Fidelity and TIAA-CREF. I was told that they couldn’t do a signature guarantee without knowing the dollar amount of the distribution. I explained my situation and what a horrible company fidelity is and after some debate they finally decided that they would make an exception for me because I didn’t know anything and was trying to find something out. I got some interesting information from a Fidelity agent on Tuesday though. He said that possibly the reason they are requesting information about me being a valid beneficiary is because they don’t have any information on file – as in they have lost the original paperwork for the account! I’ve got a new packet together with all sorts of information for them since they can’t seem to figure out how to do anything. It’s got a new seven page form (with signature guarantee for unknown dollar mount), death certificate, account application and beneficiary information, the most recent statement I could find, a letter from me requesting in writing that they tell me the value of the account and a copy of my birth certificate just for fun!

I watched The Island tonight and thought it was pretty good. I don’t know that it was very thought provoking, but it was good entertainment.

I had some other thoughts, but I can’t think of them now. I guess I’ll go to sleep so maybe I’ll have a chance of getting going at a reasonable time tomorrow morning.

I went for a ride this morning, alone, even though I thought it was going to be hot. Actually, I thought it was hot, but it was still below 80 when I got home, so I guess it really wasn’t all that bad. I’m feeling like maybe we can start working on some real rides here instead of doing the same few miles every time we go.

I got some paperwork done and then it was time to head to the Mattson’s. Things went well there, I only took 1195 pictures before deciding it was time to put the camera down for a while. I went down the line and swam around for a bit to cool off. Then I sat around for a bit and decided to unload my cards of pictures and take a quick look at them. Melissa talked me into taking a few more, so our total count for the day ended up at 1229. It looks like there is at least a handful of good pictures.

I got a voicemail from Don asking if there was a way to get a feed to the pyro guys in order to synchronize the fireworks at GT for this evening. I was able to swing by there and get a UHF-R rack configured to make things happen, but it involved needing a generator to power the receive rack up on the hill. It certainly wasn’t what I was planning on doing this evening, but I guess that’s the fun of it, right?

Things were pretty quiet after I got done there. I came home, ate some homemade ice cream, took a shower and spent some time quickly looking through the pictures from the day. I was going to watch a movie, but by the time I got ready to start, it was time for the fireworks at GT and after that I decided there wasn’t going to be enough time to watch a 136 minute movie and make it to sleep at a decent time. It was probably all for the better anyway though, I ended up reading.

For those that don’t know, they are realigning the southern end of Alta Vista where it meets Via Monserate. They have been planning this for as long as we’ve lived in Fallbrook which is close to a decade. They started a few weeks ago, and are slowly making some progress.

It looks like someone got tired of the detour though. I’ve heard it is about 8 minutes to get to the other side of the detour for the people that live right there. For me who rarely travels south, it really isn’t that big of a deal, but does add a few minutes the times that I do go that way.

Granted, I don’t know that I would blame them. It is only dirt and I don’t think it is impacting the work of the construction crew. Heck, if I still had my truck, I may have done it myself!

Having the road closed is nice for riding on the street though as it dramatically lessens the number of cars one has to deal with. Here is a picture of the high quality sign instructing that the road is closed:

We may have found a home for the dogs! They are currently spending a few days with a prospective new mommy. So far it sounds like things are going well, and I hope they continue to. Please pray that everyone will get along and adjust to the new living conditions and praise that we finally have a prospect! It sounds like this woman will be a perfect match for the dogs. She works from home so will be around to give them constant attention and should be able to give them a bit more exercise than they have been getting.

In other news, things were pretty busy at the office today, but I don’t think there was anything too crazy to report. The air conditioner in the office, which I’ve always thought to be quite powerful, ran almost all day. It was 83 inside when I got in this morning, but it was able to quickly cool the place off. However, after lunch when it got back up to eighty-ish, it kept going all afternoon and was never able to get it below 77 to turn off and take a break. It got worse when the sun started shining in the windows and the temperature started rising. We did some serious research on window coverings this evening. I’ve ordered some material samples so we can decide on the right material and color and get something ordered before my chocolate melts for good!

I had a meeting with President Mattson this evening. It went very well. I love spending time just talking with him. There were three things that I wanted to discuss and he managed to address all of them without me even needing to bring them up.

I survived the wedding today, but I am not looking forward to it getting any hotter. I managed to use every channel in the snake and every channel on the console for quite possibly the first time, or at least the first time in a while. The sad part is I could have used more mics if I had a good way of mixing them. The wedding itself was pretty crazy with a handful of CDs that had to keep getting changed out, people reading, choir singing and we had no clue what was going on most of the time. I finally just said I give up and left almost all the channels live and brought up the level as I figured out what was going on. It was kind of nice though to do something different for a change. It would have been nicer to do it at AT, or at least with the console from AT.

I came home and took another shower before heading to Murrieta for FHE. I stopped by Costco to get gas and a few items before heading to pick up ice cream. Sabrina taught on the importance of testimonies tonight. Brother Rigby challenged us to share our testimony with someone this week. After FHE we enjoyed the ice cream and somehow Tyler and Bro. Rigby ended up getting in a food fight. It started with someone throwing around a piece of a chocolate bar, then a scoop of ice cream and eventually the whipped cream and chocolate sauce got involved. I didn’t have a camera on me to take pictures, but Melissa should have some. The best part was actually the cleanup, when Bro. Rigby decided to mop the chocolate off Tyler. That will most likely be the best picture of the night.