The Big Year

I wish I had time to write an in-depth review, full of witty, insightful comments, but with the crush of papers to grade and power outages to recover from, it'll have to suffice that The Big Year is one of the sweetest, most enjoyable movies I've seen in a long, long while. It's worth every penny I overpaid to the crappy theater here (no sidebar note about that for now-- saving that rant for another day, I guess).

Take your favorite person and just watch this movie. There will only be about 6 of you in the theater, so don't be embarrassed to bust out laughing all by yourself a couple of times. You won't cry or anything, but you might just feel like the universe isn't all about mortgage bubbles and occupying enemy territory.

Nice work, Steve, Jack, Owen, et al.

Oct 2011 General Conference for Kindle

As promised, here are the October 2011 General Conference addresses formatted for Kindle (all talks in one AZW file). Download this file and transfer to your Kindle's "documents" folder via USB.

For help transferring documents to your Kindle via USB.

I'm not a nook user, so I have no idea whether this file will work, but I converted the AZW file to EPUB (which I believe is the nook's native format). Some nook user (Thom?) try this and let me know (via comments on this page) if it works, please. Happy reading.

I am not an employee nor a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I created this file for my own use and for the use of a few friends who visit this blog. Nothing official is stated nor implied by my posting of this file. Concerned parties, including the Church, are invited to comment on this posting for a swift reply. Happy conference reading. 

Conference for Kindle - Oct 2011

The 181st Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concluded yesterday. The text of the conference is usually available on the Thursday afterwards. I'm planning to format the texts for Kindle again this conference, so watch this space for a note (and a link).

Speaking of conference, it was a thrilling one in a couple of respects. The announcement that the Provo Tabernacle will be restored as a temple was great news. The other temples to be built gave me a thrill as well-- particularly the ones in Africa (the second temple in South Africa, and the CONGO!!), and the one in Star Valley.

My parents both grew up in Star Valley and I've spent many happy summers and holidays there. I know many of the saints in the valley, and I have many family members who live there. I can imagine how thrilling it was for them to hear the news that their little piece of heaven will have a temple. My aunt posted a telling note on facebook. She wrote, "So amazed and humbled that Star Valley will have a temple. I can't stop crying." I've felt the same way. I still get emotional as I think about it now. 

First Day of Kindergarten

Here is our handsome youngest child. He's headed to Kindergarten for the first time today. He's excited and just a little nervous. Can you tell?

He's going to do wonderfully.

The adventure of a lifetime

What kind of blog post can possibly live up to the title I've given this one? And yet it's true. The week I spent with my son on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River was one of the pinnacle experiences of my life. There are many kinds of pinnacle experiences--- some personal, some spiritual, some physical, and some having to do with relationships. Floating the Middle Fork was a peak physical experience.

Each of the five days we spent on the river was full of thrilling moments, contemplative time, and amazing vistas. I wish I could post pictures of the amazing things we saw and did. Sadly, my best camera is not exactly waterproof. Heck, it's not even water-resistant. I took my little waterproof (to 10 ft) point and shoot, but the pictures don't begin to do justice to the ride.

Still and all, you can see, for example, in this picture, that in one spot we got to sit to some hot springs with a breathtaking view of the river below. I don't image that there are many hot-tubs on the planet with a view like this one.

After getting drenched a few times by the fairly frigid river water, you can imagine how delightful it was to "shower" in this warm water. Wow!

The food was surprisingly good (and we didn't have to cook-- the river guides did all the cooking). The company was excellent (friends and acquaintances from church). The outdoor air was literally delicious.

By the end of the week I was looking forward to showering with soap (no soap in the river!!) and definitely ready to see my wife, but I was also a little sad to be leaving that amazing place.  What a week!

River trip here we come

Headed for 5 days on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. 


Don't forget to go to Rocket Express Car Wash in Twin Falls on July 11th or 12th! Half the proceeds go to benefit the Snake River Council of the BSA!

The Sweetwater

Sweetwater River, near Martin's Cove, Wyoming

As many of you will have seen from others of my postings here or elsewhere, our LDS stake took more than 250 youth to the high plains of Wyoming for a reenactment of part of the Mormon migration.

This is the Sweetwater River, which some of the Mormon pioneers had to cross in frigid, numbing conditions. It was a difficult crossing, to say the least, and was, in fact, too much for some of them.

The conditions under which we visited the place (Martin's Cove) were much more favorable, of course, but the stunning beauty of that wild landscape was still something to behold. I was touched deeply in more ways than one.