Something on My Mind

I still have oodles of photos and things I want to share with you, but I friend shared this with me (from Linked In) and I thought I would share it with you, along with some brief thoughts from me.  Ray Dalio:

Worth Admiration

This is something you have probably already seen, but I saw it today and thought I'd share it (since I never seem to get around to sharing photos and updates at home):

I don't know about you, but I sometimes feel like I don't "have it together" like some of the general authorities of the Church or other famous people. In some ways, I don't.

But, I know that I admire those who have successfully made it through trials, not those with the absence of them.

I thought the video was a timely reminder. Love y'all!

Latter-day Saints Saints

A while ago I sent out some football factoids "For BYU Fans Only". This next little tidbit might be for New Orleans Saints fans only. It is not important, and probably not even fascinating to anyone but me.

I am now a New Orleans Saints fan. I like the way they play. I like Drew Brees as a quarterback, and was especially impressed as I listened to him talk about his family and how he teaches his sons to be good people. And, of course, I loved watching Taysom Hill play last year.

This year, the Saints picked up free-agent Corbin Kaufusi from BYU and returned-missionary Chase Hansen out of Utah. I hope both can find a spot with the team. They also signed a contract with Porter Gustin out of Salem Hills High School. I don't know if he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ or not, but it is cool that he is from Utah. (In college he played for USC.)

I didn't realize that Taysom's older brother, Josh, has played Tight End for the Saints since 2013, so this will be his 7th season with the team. He played his college ball at Idaho State. Very cool.

Ended Up or Up Ending

Not that it matters, but my monthly allotment of data for May ended a bit ago, and here is where I am at:

I used about about 1.4 terabytes of data in April. Xfinity informs me that 1 terabyte of data is enough to:

April and May Gifts

The weather brought the gift of precipitation in April and May. We had other gifts as well.

Starting April Fool's Day, Esther decided that most of the rooms in the house needed a name. Here is what she came up with:

The Cool Mistake Cabin? I don't get it, but I love it!

For Mom's birthday, we had almost everybody home. It was a treat to have both of the boys' fiances with us, too. The gift of these wonderful ladies added to our family are joyous:

How to (Almost) Replace the Draft Inducer Motor on a Coleman Furnace

Just a few minutes ago, Miriam was throwing one of her signature fits about a school writing assignment because she said she could understand what the request was. ("If you understand it, then YOU write it!", she screamed at Susan.)

And I thought, "I am excellent at writing about things I know nothing about!" I will now do that.

Just after midnight the other night, Susan and I were awakened by a very loud noise in the furnace. It sounded like a rat was shooting something in the basement with a mini Gatling gun. Yikes.

I thought it was the blower motor, but the next morning I could the problem was in a motor  that rests in the little compartment above the blower motor and where some of the furnace parts are and where many of the components are accessible.

Guess Who's Back?

Our psychotic bird friend from Hades!

Straining At Digital Gnats. Or Swallowing Digital Camels.

There's an appropriate analogy in there somewhere.

I just realized I haven't sent any pictures or updates of Lucy in the musical, or Easter fun, or the Passover feast we did this year, etc.

It all started when Regan asked me to find pictures of Gideon, and I wanted a couple of small video clips. Which led me back to wanting a way to find this info, much of which is on my old NAS box in the furnace room. Which has been dying and having a hard time working, and is really slow. So, my video needs to be saved to Dropbox or some other storage. So I need to collate and correlate all my repositories. Which means I also need to be able to share them. Which leads me to the fact that I don't have enough space on my laptop. So I need to save them to another computer--or another NAS box: (NAS stands for "Network Attached Storage", FYI, BIULA, which I just made up, "Because I Use a Lot of Acronyms"). Which leads to our two home computers that are disastrously slow for some reason.

Andrew Sings at General Conference

On April 6th, Andrew had the privilege to sing during the priesthood session of General Conference, as a member of a choir from the Layton area. It was a good experience for him, and I enjoyed seeing him and others from our ward and stake.

Because of his location, Andrew (and fellow ward member and friend Luke McCune) ended up on camera quite a bit. With the exception of the last two photos, which were taken with my camera, all the photos here are screen shots from the broadcast. Once the singing started, by phone started buzzing with texts from friends and family, recognizing Andrew!

Andrew was near the organ, and there is a cameraman there who alternately records the organists and nearby choir members. I suspect that is why Andrew ended up with so much screen time. I was on the lower level, off to the right, near the wall and on almost the last row. I barely made it, after heading to Central Davis Junior High to help with some last minute work on the set.

Luck O' the Enoch

For St. Patrick's Day, Enoch wrote down four things that make him lucky on a four-leaf clover. Here they, with some spelling errors fixed:

1. I am strong.
2. I have two pianos.
3. I can play the piano.
4. I can move on my back without using hands.

Proof:

Sneak Peek of General Conference. Sort Of.

The video is very shaky. I found David Ellis and some other young men from our stake, but I can't find Andrew in this video. He is in there somewhere, though, with new black suit.

 20190331_200234.mp4

He will be singing during the priesthood session of conference. Watch for him.

2011: Almost There

I hadn't seen this family photo for a while and it made me smile big time. We were all just waiting for Esther to join us.

Sorry. No Bouncing on the Chram-aaling Today

I woke up to this:

Come Bounce

A napkin named Lucy and her pleased parents cordially invite you to watch her sing and dance. Lucy performs on April 11, 13 and 19.

An E-Flat Walks into a Bar ...

... and the bartender says "we don't serve minors in here."

Ba-da, bum.

Saturday was another remarkably busy day, as Joshua had a friend beg him to join a three-on-three tournament, I had set building, Andrew and Miriam had rehearsal, Andrew had work, and I think Jill's husband's viewing was that day, too. I did some home repairs and then Susie and I drove all around trying to get some "tree fingerprints" for her parents 50th wedding anniversary. 

Joshua's team got slaughtered four times. Most three-on-three teams are comprised of the "Comp Team" kids who pay $3000+ to play competitively all year. I only watched one game, but it wasn't pretty. However, one of the parents said he was really proud of Joshua, especially during the last game. He even scored a few points on these mini-pros!

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary!

To celebrate Grandma & Grandpa Nielson's 50th wedding anniversary, the Benge Family made this super sober video. (At the time of this sending, the video was only 5% loaded. But I trust it will be there tomorrow.)

Today

Today:

• Miriam and Andrew had their first rehearsal for Les Miserable this morning. I was surprised they even had one, as the owner of Jaks Youth Theatre Company and the show director's husband died of a heart attack Friday.
• Lucy went to Draper to attend a percussion festival. She played timpani, and saw some great performances.

The Arts

Tonight was Lucy's band concert. Here she is getting ready (one day you'd think Susie or I would remember our camera so we could get a decent picture):

Esther's Art

A panda bear. Miriam drew the bamboo stalk.

Sam and Isaac Sitting in a Tree ...

Yesterday:

Ew!