My wife, too no know her is to love her!

Yesterday was my wifes birthday. Saturday is my twenty ninth wedding anniversary. And everyday, I am more and more in love with my wife.

The first thing that attracted me too her, beside her beautiful looks, was that we both had a rough childhood. She understood me and helped me past it.

Sharlene has many talents. She is great on the piano and very good at any craft that she tries. But if you ask her what her greatest accomplishment in her life is, it is her kids. Nothing else really matters to her. I have to admit, that I some times get jealous, but she always knows when I need her just to sit with me.


She has always been, and always will be, very beautiful. One year, I was doing some photography work for a friend. I took some of the photographs for the Misses Utah pageant. At a dinner function that me and Shar went too, one of the contestants was going from couple to couple, sizing up the competition. There was a look of relief on this lady's face, to find out that my wife was just with the photographer.




I love my wife and she is the reason I'm here today. I hope that all who read, know of the deep joy that I have, because of my wife. I also wish this kind of happiness, for all of you.

Love you all, Boyd

Just when you think your done, you remember something.

It seems that I forgot to explain the title of my last blog. The yellow, yellow, yellow, green refers to the light system that starts a drag race, shown here on the right. Commonly called a Christmas tree, the yellow starts at the top, and goes down, one light at a time, ending on the green. When you get the green, you go.

I also forgot to tell you, I won every race. Even when they made a mistake, and gave us a forth run.

I feel a little guilty, because I beat my daughter, Michelle. Maybe I would have felt better, if I had told here how to time the lights. There is always time to repent of this sin of omission.

Once again, thaks for reading-love Boyd

Yellow, yellow, yellow, green.

Most of my blogs, are about me. Sorry, this one is also about me. Next week, I promise I will write about my lovely wife, cause it's her birthday. Truth is, she is my favorite subject to write about. But this one is another one about me.

If you are going to be a novelist, you need to write about things that are interesting. And things that are heroic in nature. Things that are poetic. Things that are interesting to a large group. If you choose to write things that only interest yourself, you most likely will starve, unless you already are independently wealthy. I figure if I was to feed my family, by writing in my blog, I would start a new trendy diet. One look at me and you can tell, I'm not a novelist.

The bloggers diet. It doesn't taste as good as diet coke, but it is much more effective.

Warning, I'm about to go into whine mode. Life has been 95% disappointment for me, lately. I know that I shouldn't complain and I know that I should be loosing my life in the service of others. Very good advice and I would be lying, if I said that I didn't need work in that area.

Let me tell you a little about my life, lately, and why I have spent so much time, feeling sorry for my self. There is a happy ending, so you may just want to stick around to the end.

Here is a example of why I complain. Friday night, my grandson came over to visit, while my son and daughter in law went to a movie. Were was I? Working my second job. I haven't seen my grandson in over two weeks. Seven days with out Jackson, makes one weak.

Thursday, a trip to the oral surgeon, were I expected to hear "lets set your appointment for the implant for a month from now". I'm missing one of my front teeth and spend a lot of time, holding back on my smile, because I'm embarrassed. Instead, I hear "let's schedule ex-rays for a month from now, and then we can think about an implant.

Yesterday, was the trip to Lagoon (the local amusement park I talked about). You think that I could have a good time. Oh no, not me.

We had a great Chinese lunch before we went to the park. I couldn't eat most of it because of my teeth. The rice was good, but its just not fair to watch everyone else enjoy sesame chicken.

The very first ride we went on, we got soaking wet. Most hot summer days, that would have been welcome, but it was cool and cloudy.

Almost dry, we went on the log flume. Because we had so much weight in the log, we got soaked to the bone, again.

My company did buy the tickets and provided a dinner. After dinner, my ulcer started acting up, and my kids who came with me and Shar, Michelle and Matthew, really wanted to go on the rocket. I don't have to describe a ride, with the name, the rocket, too convince you that It was not a good idea to mix a bad stomach with 4.8 g"s. The food all stayed in, with the help of a diet coke. But now I have to lick my diet coke habit, all over again.

Matt and Michelle are ride crazy. For them it's the wilder, the better. They went on the new ride, wicked, twice and enjoyed being up front the best. The first time they road on it, Shar and I, stood around and waited to see them on the ride. Each time a car would go by, we would look for our kids. After about twenty cars, there was the one with my kids on it, grinning from ear to ear. That was definitely part of the 5%, good.

I'm leaving out most of the really bad experiences. I figure, you the reader, have endured enough. For me, the good stuff happened at the end of the night. Every time, that I have gone to Lagoon, since they opened up the drag racing attraction, I have wanted to race. I have also been too cheap to do it. It cost $12.00 to go down the track, three times. I know thats not a lot money, but I don't do much spending, on myself.

My loving bride, insisted that I do it. I think that she worries that, as I get older, I will stay grumpy, forever. I went, I rode, I conquered.

Not only was it the best twelve dollars I ever spent, but I also confirmed something about myself that has been bugging me for a while. I like what I like.

It took only fifteen minutes, in a fake race car to but a smile back on my face. I can't say how long it will last, but it feels like it will be a long time before I will need an infusion of Boydness.I hope that it will last till Janurary, when I will get to push Jackson around Disney Land and spend a week with my most favorite people in the whole world. My family. That includes you mom, so get feeling better.

Now that's my world. And I came up with a new word, "Boydness". Spell check may not like it, but I do.

Love ya all - Boyd
P.S., I forgot my camera, so I had too get my pictures off of lagoons web site. I'm a good photographer, but I could never take those shots, because of the time delay on my camera.

Going to take a sentimental jouney.

I have been over thinking things at work, too much. So I have decided to do a little couch potato therapy. A couple of nights ago, it was "The Glen Miller Story" on TCM.

The first time I saw "The Glen Miller Story" (you can add vibrato for special effects, when you say, "The Glen Miller Story") I was home, sick, from elementary school. Great Story, great acting and great music. You can't beat a Jimmy Steward movie and I have to admit, I did check lime wire for some Miller music.

But the best was yet to come. As I was thinking about the first time I saw "The Glen Miller Story" (too much?), I remembered a couple of things from my childhood. For most people my age, that is not a big deal. But I have spent, most of my live, believing that I had a childhood to forget. What a pleasant surprise.

Not only did I remember, in some detail, but they were happy thoughts. Who know it could happen to me.

I remembered my train set, that I got for my birthday, one year. I asked for a train set and I got one. It may not have been the one that I asked for, but looking back, I got better than what I had asked for. And the bonus? My father played with me, with the train set I got.

My father didn't buy new things. I guess it was from growing up in the depressions. And my train set might have been used, and not really the envy of the neighborhood, but I can say that it was one of the few times that my father, played with me. And that's good enough for a hand full of warm an fuzzy, memory's. And they feel pretty good.




Yah I know, I grew into my ears.

love you all, Boyd

Life's too short, to be a bachelor.

My family has gone to Bear Lake and left me home, to bring home the bacon. There coming home today, about the time I'm going to my second job.

I complain a lot about not having any guys to hang out with, because Matt works different hours than me and Justin has moved in with his inlaws. Justin spends all his time with his wife, anyway (as he should). When Shar gets together with Amy and Michelle, I kind of vanish into the family room, so as not to break up the girl talk.

As bad as that may sound, it's not half as bad as putting in a sixteen hours at two jobs, and coming home to a empty house. I must be a wimp, because I can't handle it.

Next week end is the company trip, to lagoon (the local amusement park) were you might think that I could get my "man" on. They got a new, scary ride/roller coaster that could test me. But then again, the wildest ride my wife likes is rattle snake rapids (the giant inner tube ride, were you ride down a man made river). I proved that I can go on rides, the year that I got out of high school and worked at lagoon, so there is no real reason to drag out my bravado.

The fun was before the park opened. When the old, wooden, roller coaster, was greased, the grease would slow down the coaster, until it was broke in. So on grease day, they would go through the park and look for volunteers who would be willing too, as the coaster slowed down around the corner/hill, get out and push . Great fun.

I know that you will all just be waiting, with bated breath, to hear how it goes. I will warn you that it will be anti climatic. That's all right with me. It's sure beats being a bachelor.

Love ya all, Boyd

Fathers and Sons

Fathers day, was over a month and a half ago, and I did promise that I would write more, about the good things that my father did, in his life time.

Many years ago, while bearing my testimony, in church, I discovered a problem or a weakness that I have. The things that mean the most to me, are the things that are hardest for me to communicate. At the time, I thought it was cute to call my testimony, my little octopus, that was afraid of the light. My little octopus, wraps eight tentacles around my heart and wont let go, so others can see him.

Turns out, that It is not just my testimony, that I tend to hide. I still get up every fast Sunday, and confess my love for my Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, and many other important things, in my life, that bring me joy. Yet, when I sit down, after bearing my testimony, I don't think that I have expressed any thing close to what is in my heart. Maybe it's a guy thing, or the way I grew up. Just the same, those same feeling, that are so important to express, about how I feel about my earthly father and my two sons, are still wrapped around my heart.

No other success can compensate for failure in the home. So what is success in the home? If it's making your home, better than the one you grew up in, my father succeeded.

Unlike the world we live in, our Father in Heaven doesn't require results, as much as he does, effort. That is to say, that, if you looked at my family, while I was growing up, you would not exactly have called us a success. But my father did have successes when it came to raising this family. Too point out his failures is pointless and has been done before. And, by the power of the atonement, all the efforts that my father made, can be the greatest and only important success.

That is why, God has said, Let me do the judgeing, I know how much, some one has put in to fighting this sin or that problem.

I look at my own children, and it is so easy to see were I have failed. That is one of the ways satin, gnaws at us. If the measure of success is making your home life better than what you grew up with, than maybe I have succeeded. Still, I feel the need to look at some of the things, that I feel, that I did not do so well. Maybe if I point out some of my short comings, other men, including my own sons, will learn from my mistakes, and not repeat them.

Here are three pieces of advice that I wish I had learned, many years ago.

1-Find ways to have common hobbies, with your sons. It can be a time to build character.
2-As fathers, it maybe your job, to feed your family, but please avoid jobs that take you away from home.
3-Teach your sons, that the hard things in life, should not always be avoided. Rewards are most often tied to effort.

Well if you haven't hit the button, to go to the next blog, by now, I wont give you more reasons to be tempted. Thanks for reading this far.

Love, Boyd

P.S. Next time, I might just talk more about my father, than myself.

HAPPY, HAPPY, BIRTHDAY.

It's my first son's birthday and I think, there is reason to celebrate.

Justin is our quite, giant, that is until he gets to know you. happily married, he became a father in June, making me a grandpa.

Being a grandfather is a great thing in more than one way. You get a little baby and you get to see your own child, grow as he or she shows love to there little one. When I was young I always heard about the payback that comes when you have a child of your own. No one said a word about the real reward.

Justin has done many other great things in his life. He served a mission in the mean streets of New York City. He came home and married is beautiful bride, Mallissa. He is the go too guy when our family has a computer problem. And no one can beat a video game , faster. He has many talents and work's hard, at work and school, to make something of himself.

The night, for me, is old, so I will not have enough time or energy, to say all the ways that Justin has made me proud.

So from your young dad, who will never get older than I am right now, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

P.S. ; in order for me not to get any older, you are going to have to stop having birthdays, soon.