Dog walk

I try to take Lucee out for a walk a few times a week. But today I was feeling adventurous and decided to walk to the harbor port and back. I was curious to see how far we went thinking it was probably a couple of miles. So I went to mapmyrun and was able to create this cool video of our walk. And I took a few pictures of things we saw while we were out.   (it takes a little bit to load)    

Magazine Article: X Moms

Dana @ Dew Tour

 It never surprised Dana, mother of skateboarder Jake Asdel, when her son  showed more interest in skateboards then anything else he was introduced to. Jake often rode on his fathers skateboard to preschool as his preferred mode of transportation. The family backyard had a half pipe consuming it for several years. Some kids have swing-sets… Jake had a half-pipe.

Dana spent many years organizing her days especially weekends around getting Jake to a skate park and then running errands while he skated in order to be available to pick him and his friends up when they were finished. The Asdel family was fortunate to have the local skate park, Skate Street less then 10 minutes from their home. While Skate Street was Jake’s daily hang out for hours on end, he also wanted to venture out to skate other parks. Dana and Eddie were always available to take him where he needed to go and then be there for the return trip home.

Jake enjoyed going to Woodward as a camper for 6 years. These were exciting times for the Asdel family getting Jake ready for camp but especially to pick him up and see the large ramps and street parks he had been skating at. Usually he would participate in a contest at the end of camp and the family loved to cheer him on. Jake’s older sister Morgan has often commented that she is her brother’s number one fan.

Jake @ contest

Jake has been able to do a lot traveling with his skateboard competitions. He has been able to skate several famous spots all over the country. Usually Jake’s father Eddie Asdel would accompany Jake to these contests, but Dana enjoys the memories of the Vancouver Dam Am that her and Jake went to together. “It was exciting to travel to Canada with Jake. I loved watching him learn to do his tricks in a new park. It was so great to have that one on one time with him. It was especially fun because we celebrated his 18^th birthday while in Vancouver and I tried so hard to make it special for him. I have great memories of our trip together.”

Another thing Dana recalls from Jake’s traveling experiences was he never went anywhere without his skateboard. “I can’t remember a time that we have boarded an airplane without a skateboard, usually attached to his backpack as carry on luggage. I loved watching Jake walk through the terminals with his backpack and skateboard. It did worry a little once he started riding his skateboard in the terminals but that's Jake's style."

Jake off the 126 hwy

Jake is currently serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Guatemala. His family is so proud of him and his decision to serve the Lord as a missionary. Although Jake is not able to skate every day as was his normal routine when living at home. He didn’t go to Guatemala with out his favorite traveling companion… his skateboard. Dana says she isn’t sure how often he will be able to skate in Guatemala but she has seen some spots in pictures that he has sent home that she imagines her son must be eying as a place to try. “I admire my son for his sacrifice to serve as a missionary in a foreign country and to learn a new language. And I know that when he returns so will the skating adventure, it’s just apart of him and apart of our family.”

phones

I signed up for google voice a LONG time ago, and never did anything about it. I've now decided that I'm going to get rid of my land line. I hate paying for our home phone because we never use it. Its basically an answering machine. And the only calls that come are solicitations from banks or schools or politicians. The actual phone I have doesn't even work anymore, so if I  ever answered it I would have to use the speaker phone. The nice things about the Google voice # is it will take calls and texts. It will send them to my inbox transcribed into an email or I can listen to the voicemail.  I can have calls forwarded to my cell phone. I can send texts for free and there is no charge for using Google voice. The only time I would have a charge is for international calls. And I don't call internationally. So why is it so hard to call at&t and cancel my land line? The new widget is my new google voice # you can try it out and say Hi.

30 years

I woke up this morning very early and unable to fall back asleep. As I laid in my bed trying to get back to sleep I realized that today marks 30 years since my mother's passing. It struck me hard how long 30 years has been and how much I have missed her. I have so many thoughts and emotions about her today.
I was 11 years old when she was killed, she was 48. At the time she passed I had all the cookie cutter answers that I was taught in primary. That she had returned to our Heavenly Father, that her injuries from the accident no longer afflicted her. That someday I would be reunited with her, that our family was eternal and we would be together again. I still believe all those things and know that all of those cookie cutter answers are true. But some days, like today, I am reminded of how long it has been since she was apart of my daily world. And I ponder on how things might have been different for me had she been here longer. I can see a lot of similarities and personality traits that I have acquired from my Dad, but on occasion some sweet lady from church will whisper to me that I've done something that reminds them of my mother and how sweet and kind she was. These quick quiet compliments are such a boost to me, and help me feel a little closer to her. I found this quote and really liked it from Elder Ballard, “I surely know that there is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood. There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family."
I think that my mother faced the challenge of not being physically present in my everyday life. She left me a wonderful example of living a gospel centered life. I'm grateful for the example of womanhood she left for me, and I'm grateful she is my Mom.

Dad's 80th Birthday Party

Back in November my Dad turned 80 years old. I was very excited that all my sisters and my step sisters would be here for the celebration. This has not happened since my Dad and Jan married back in 1981. We almost accomplished this task back when my Dad turned 75 but it didn't happen. The party was held the weekend of Thanksgiving. We used the relief society room at the Stk Center. The day of the party was spent decorating and setting up. It was a lot of fun hanging out with so much family and catching up with one another.

I planned the party around our Scottish heritage. The centerpieces on the tables had the Hay tartan with pictures of my Dad growing up. We had a table showing some Scottish castles and books and a few artifacts such as knives, jewelry, pins and scarves. We also had a picture of my Dad wearing his kilt. I borrowed a mannequin and Morgan was able to transform it into a Scottish looking man. Not an easy task since the mannequin was originally a size 2 women. On one of the walls we had a family tree graphed out with my Dad at the head and each of his 9 daughters listed with their husbands and children and grandchildren. This was really fun to see and I think the guests enjoyed looking at it. We set tables out on the patio as well as inside. My brother in law Roger and his boys, Hunter and Estin and Hunter's fiance along with Julie did a great job of hanging the lights. It was really pretty and added a lot to our decorations.

I was very relieved to have the party catered. I decided on hors d'oeuvers and desserts (mainly several different types of pies) for the party. Stacey Tipton did an amazing job with the food it tasted wonderful and was displayed beautifully. For entertainment, Arianna sang a song and Elaine planned a skit using interesting facts about Dad. She had family members who were the age of Dad at that time share the events about Dad's life. It was really cute and fun.

We presented a book that Jessica and I managed to put together, to my Dad at the party. Each daughter was to submit pictures of her family and reasons why we love our Dad. These reasons were anything from serious to silly. This book was a huge project and Jessica did a great job. The book turned out beautiful and looked professional in quality. All 9 daughters were highlighted with their families. Grandchildren were able to write tributes and birthday wishes in the book as well.
Another project that I was able to do was a picture tribute of my Dad. I enjoyed putting this video together. The best part was the time I get to spend with my Dad talking about the pictures. I learned so many things about his childhood and young adult years. This was such a labor of love project for me. During the party I had the video playing continuously. I have since added music to it and mailed copies out to different family members.It was the never ending project... but so worth it!
Probably one of the more difficult tasks was prior to the party we took family pictures. The only place we were able to do this was in the cultural hall of the church due to space and lighting. We used the stage and worked with what we had, both with background and lighting as well as people.

With such a large group of people it was proving almost impossible to photograph everyone. Every daughter got a picture with her family and Dad. Every married grandchild and their individual family got pictures with Dad. We got the picture of all 9 girls and our parents. We got the great grandchildren that were in attendance with Dad and Jan. But two shots we didn't get were all the grand children that were in attendance at the party with Dad ( a few boys left before I realized it) And I was never able to get a full group shot of all family members in attendance. Oh well we did the best we could!

I was very pleased at the way things came together for the party. I was very impressed that such a large group of family members could make it to this event. All nine daughters were in attendance. Out of my (5) sisters 14 out of 20 grandchildren were in attendance. And 14 out of 16 great grandchildren were in attendance. My step sisters had 3 grandchildren out of 8 there at the party. And a note worthy mention 2 granddaughters were pregnant at the party. And the party continues... Another baby has been announced, we've had one wedding in January and another wedding coming in May. Two grandsons are now serving missions. Dad, you continue to be an amazing example to all of us.

Explanation

Let me try and explain why my blog has been neglected. Back in August of last year I committed myself to be in charge of throwing my Dad an 80th birthday celebration. I organized and mapped out the how the celebration would be done. The party was in November on Thanksgiving weekend. I spent most of October and November working out the details of the party. At this same time in October our office manager at our dental office was having difficulty and I took on a very long and complicated process of auditing our practice to make sure the "books" were correct and up to date to help him. Then throw in the Holidays and my church calling and all I can say is, life was too busy.
Our office manager almost got himself fired the week of Christmas because of all his personal drama. The project I was working on with him kept expanding and I felt like we were never going to catch up. Eddie was getting more and more frustrated with our project's progress. I am able to log into the office computer from home now and work on auditing the electronic charts after I get home from work and on the weekends. Unfortunately, two weeks ago our office manager abandoned his job. Now, this didn't surprise me entirely because he got caught in several lies, and I couldn't believe anything he told us. He was late everyday and full of excuses. It seemed like for months we were unable to get a full work week out of him. He should have been let go a long time ago, but I really wanted him to finish this auditing project with me. Well, he stopped coming to work, I even had to track him down one day and call his wife's work to find out where he was.
At this point I feel that I can handle this project on my own and still have a lot of work to do. We have been 2 weeks without him at our office entirely. We just hired a new employee, who will be starting after she gives notice to her current office. So I probably have another 2 weeks of chaos and part time help up front. I have learned a TON about the front office in the last two weeks. I discovered another project that I will have to start after I finish my auditing project. So that's it... I have lost my free time for the time being, but feel confident that this dark tunnel I have found myself in must have a way out!

Vegas Style Birthday

Morgan's birthday was back in October on the 3rd, and we celebrated by going to Las Vegas. You only turn 21 once and when your LDS its not the typical 21st birthday celebration, so we thought it would be fun to get a couple of rooms and hang out poolside and check out the sights of Las Vegas.
Morgan drove down from Provo with 3 girlfriends and Eddie, Jake and myself flew into Vegas to meet them. We met up at our hotel, the MGM Grand. We got the girls their own room and we stayed across the hall. First thing we did after checking in was check out the pool. The MGM has a great pool, in fact several pools. It also has a lazy river that you can float along in and a few waterfalls just to make sure you get wet. The weather was great and we hung out at the pool for the afternoon. Another cool thing about the MGM was that they have a lion habitat. We had a lot of fun looking at the lions and seeing the baby cubs. Later that night we strolled up the strip to check out some clubs and grab a bite to eat.
Saturday was Morgan's birthday and all she wanted was an iphone so off to the apple store we went and purchased her birthday gift. Of course it wasn't quite that easy... They guy screwed up and Jake's # was now ringing on Morgan's phone. Hours later we had it all straightened out and 2 iphones later we were out of there. The 1st iphone they gave her the button was broken.
Anyway, Saturday night we went and saw Criss Angel Cirque de Soleil show "I believe" over at the Lexus. It was an entertaining show, kind of dark and warped in some parts but over all I think we all enjoyed it. Late nights were spent in clubs and dancing till the wee hours of the morning.
Ashley Simpson shares the same birthday as Morgan. She was celebrating her birthday with an appearance at the pool of our hotel. Morgan and her friends got pictures of Ashley and Jessica Simpson and were excited to be celebrating birthdays together.
Our friend Dave came up for the later part of the weekend and showed Morgan how to play black jack and craps. The nice thing about that was he gave her some playing money. Morgan informed me that while playing black jack her dad decided he was bad joojoo for Morgan because she would lose when he was around. I think they liked playing craps the most. I don't know anything about card games or dice games, so I went and hung out at the pool while Morgan lost Dave's money. She said it was fun but that she felt like she dropped her money and walked away from it. I don't think I have to worry about her becoming a big time gambler.
Walking around Vegas was like walking towards an illusion. We would head out toward some shopping mall or casino and it wouldn't seem that far... but once you started walking it seemed like you were never going to reach your destination. I was so tired from walking around it was incredible. My hips actually were bothering me by the end of the weekend. Maybe I should have worn better shoes then just flip flops.
It was a really fun weekend with Morgan in Vegas. Something I know she will remember as a good celebration for 21 years of life!
Birthdays are important and I'm so glad that I have been able to do special things for my kids to celebrate their birthdays and enjoy being together and creating fun memories with them.