Spring Things

It has been quite more than a month since my last blog post. But I’ve had a good excuse.
This Spring Bean has been playing tee-ball again. She was placed on the Phillies. I guess if you’re going to be placed in the National League, the Phillies are a good team to be on. At least it wasn’t the Mets.

One of the players on Bean’s team did something that reminded me of my brother Chas. She stood in the infield with her baseball glove on her head, and her hat in her hand. Awesome.
Starting in August Bean will be playing soccer. Speaking of soccer, Samantha has been playing AYSO again. Her last game of the season was yesterday, and her team, the ‘Bears’ went undefeated. She has become quite an aggressive player, and has decided that she wants to continue in the fall.

Samantha also had a dance competition yesterday, and one the previous Saturday. I didn’t get footage this time, but Kate did get some pictures. All four kids are taking dance, and will have a show coming up pretty soon. Whitney is the only dancer in her class, so it might be a solo. Patrick’s class has been practicing a dance that I am pretty excited about. I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s going to be a thrilling performance. I will have video of it for sure.

Patrick has had an exciting Spring. On May first, his dog, Yankee turned one year old. On that same day Patrick turned 8. Also on that day I was able to take Patrick down into the water and baptize him. I was grateful for the opportunity. It was a great day. My dad gave him his own set of scriptures. Kate and I also got him a Red Ryder BB gun. Not sure if that was such a good idea; the jury is still out.

In addition to being baptized, Patrick started Cub Scouts. At his first meeting they made and flew kites. Fortunately the snow (it is May in Utah, afterall) held off until after the activity. Next week is the raingutter regatta. He and I are working together to come up with a really good boat. I can't wait for the pinewood derby.

Spring has also been very busy for me. The project I am working on at the University is in full swing, and we are putting in a lot of hours. On top of that I had this crazy idea that I would run the Salt Lake City Marathon. With all of the things that have been going on, I thought that I should maybe back out. But I told too many people that I was going to run, so pride forced me to participate. Plus, I actually trained this year, so I went for it. I did really well on the first half, in just a hair under 2 hours. But at mile 17 I ran into some problems that slowed me down, and my time was a dismal 4:30. Oh, well. As Jazz fans are used to saying: Maybe next year it will be better.

Despite the disappointment of the marathon I do have something to hang my hat on. On May 7th I walked with my cohorts, graduating with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. Not only did I graduate, but I did so as a member of Pi Alpha Alpha, the honors society of Public Administration. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Most of the people in my program take seven semesters to finish, which means two classes per semester. I finished in five, having taken three classes in the Spring and Fall last year, and four in the summer. While it was a heavy load, I am glad I was able to finish early. It took its toll, and I am glad to have that burden off my back.
At commencement, former Utah governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr. spoke. He gave a great speech, although it wasn’t quite as good as the speech given when I receive my undergrad. That was given by some guy named Thomas S. Monson.

I don’t mean to ignore Whitney in all my ramblings. She has been doing well. She is working on a major project for school that is about Chile. I will post an update once it is complete.

Schoool's out for summer! Schoools out forever!