Jane attacks Red Mtn

Jane and I took to the hills today northeast of Mesa. There is a nice spot to ride around Red Mountain and Salt River. Quite picturesque as well.


We took off during a lunch break in the 90* ++ heat, but had a great time. Jane tore it up, no wrecks and a good time.








I sported the new Jamis, thanks again Cory for the sweet hook-up, and really enjoyed both the climbs and descents on the new machine. (I had Jane take video of me tearing it up down the steep, but it didn't come out and I was just too tired to climb back up.)

We're going to enjoy the year-around biking.

Tag...not the body spray....

'cause I don't need cologne, I have natural essence. Besides this possible mis-perception, here are 7 idio(t)synchracies.....

1. Mullets...I kind a like 'em and think that the style will come back. My favorite photos are when I had my Mississippi mudflap. The style will probably come back when I'm pushin' 50 which will be perfect 'cause I'll be able to wear the mullet Hulk Hogan style, bald on top, long and stringy down the back. Sweet.
2. Low-riders.....I want one (as bad as the lady on Napoleon wanted the boat in the glass bottle). Not low-rider jeans that show your crack, "pull up your pants for Pete's-sake"; the cars that my Latino brethren sport down here in the valley of the sun. A few weeks ago, I was bumpin' along in my jeep and was stopped at a light when dude in a old Mazda truck pulls up next to me about eye level (you know my jeep sits pretty tall with the lift and tires). I didn't think much about it, but then he drops out of sight, like the earth swallowed him up. From sky rider to low rider. Cool.
3. Bad breath.....I admire it. It shows me 1) you could care less what I or anyone else thinks about you, 2) you are too busy to brush or floss so you are using your time really effectively or 3) you are fasting for either spiritual enlightenment and guidance or for a purge/cleanse. attaboy/girl.
4. Poet.....I think I am one. I can't really remember the form that the different types of poetry should follow that I learned in college (except Haiku's and that is because I know a lot of Haiku's....all of which are potty humor in nature), so I just write what I want and call everything "free verse". wink, wink....follow me?
5. TVs in every room.....I don't want it. We looked at a house the other day that had almost 20 TVs in it. Theater, kitchen, office, Master, bedrooms, deck, cabana, garage.....Seems like this particular family had the perception that sitting in a thoughtless, slobbering stupor in-front of the tube is a mark of success. (note to my family.....the TVs are going to the DI or Goodwill along with their evil cousins, the TIVO machines.) uhhh....huh.
6. Hair in ears.....I'm growing mine out. Soon I will be able to braid my ear hair with my mullet hair (neck/back) and my nose hair in a fine-twined auburn lasso. Giddy yup.
7. The Family History lady in your ward......I'm becoming her. Discovering what the church has done and is doing lately and all of the great tools that are available is really exciting. So my heart is turning and I'm anxious to 1) clean up our families existing records and ensure we don't do anymore duplicate temple work and then 2) start filling in all the blanks (I'm seeing this will be never ending, but that is OK).

I won't "tag" anyone else as this is a little too revealing. (blush, blush)

I would, however, like to hear what Chase thinks are his quirks.

Jane-ey Oakley, Rodeo Queen/Country Dancer Extraordiare

On our first date, 16 yrs ago, Jane and I went to my grandpa's to ride horses. I was living with my grandparents while attending BYU and even though I helped out around the ranch, I was a very novice horseman. I knew enough to saddle the horse, but during this first date, I made one big mistake.
The mistake I made was in horse selection. I wanted to put Jane on a very tame, and trusty steed. I selected the ever gentle Daisy for her to ride. But the horse I thought was Daisy turned out to actually be "Fire Kimmy". So I unknowingly saddled-up the wrong horse, helped Jane into the saddle and sent her off walking out to the pasture while our friend, Mike Hargraves and I saddled the other two horses.

All of the sudden, we hear a faint, "help" and look back to see Jane 3 feet over the saddle and Fire Kimmy kicking and bucking like a dange PRCA bull. In fact, it was bucking very similarly to the horse you see in the photo here. Jane was holding on like a rodeo queen for a few bucks, but then bailed-off and landed on her back. Unfortunately, this is not the end of Jane's pain, because Fire Kimmy then turns and proceeds to try to stomp the life out of Jane with her back feet....raring up, stomping, raring-up, stomping, etc. I sprinted over there thinking she was near death. Miraculously, but still very painfully, Fire Kimmy had only landed one direct blow to her thigh (can you say Charlie horse?).

We would've taken her to the hospital, but didn't for fear of Grandpa or just fear of admitting to the accident.

So instead of going to the hospital, we played a game of basketball, well h-o-r-s-e and planned our evening activity of country dancing.

We met up later at the Star Palace where we swung, spun, twirled, lifted, slid and boogied all the while Jane grimacing in pain but toughing it out nonetheless.


So here's to you Jane-ey Oakley, Rodeo Queen/Country Dancer Extraordinaire!

The girl of my dreams

16 yrs ago,

I saw the girl of my dreams.

Sporting boots and denim

Eating a Navajo taco with chili, rice and beans.

In the Cougar Eat,

She was helping me with biology,

But I couldn't concentrate due to her Physiology.

Mesmerized by her green eyes and curly brown mane,

And the wit that she used when guessing any passerbys name. (Monique....was it?)

She is amazing,

I thought in my mind.

But how will this girl ever like anyone of my kind?

Lucky for me.

The feeling was in-common

and we eat Navajo tacos each year

to commemorate our reunion.

Where or where....

did my Janie-cakes go? To NYC, with my Mom, Sisters and Sister-in-laws. They have Wicked plans, temple plans, food plans, shopping plans, other play plans, more food plans and more shopping plans.

I'm here with the kids having a grand time. Jane's sisters are helping during the day, but we sure miss Jane.

Ally made dinner the past two nights, very tasty. But she stayed up late (which keeps Brynn up and running around consequently keeping me awake), sent too many text messages, took a 25min shower this am and is now suffering the consequences. She has 2 b-day parties to attend this weekend, but has to trade something in order to attend. So she volunteered to go to bed at 9:15 every night until Thanksgiving. That's lights-out lady!

Heading to TJ (that's Tijuana) tomorrow for a day of revelry....well a day of work with Panasonic, a customer buying some storage stuff from HP. Hopefully, the border crossing goes smoothly.

Later Skaters!

Disclosures on Jake T.......

Andrea....there are a few things you should know about my brother Jake before you go any further.

1. Straps-on a superman cape and jumps from high places (bunk beds, landings, bleachers, etc), so try to hold his hand when he walks near the edge or climbs up on things.
2. Speaks in parables. Just go along with this as it's his version of deep thoughts. Ask him about the parable of the lawn mower and blades of grass from his mission farewell to hear a good example.
3. Fanatic about car cleanliness. He won't let your future kids ever eat in the car. Ever! This is not his fault. It was handed down through both family lines from the past few generations of car cleanliness budahs. Also, no feet on the seats!
4. Potty humor. Hereditary...but this comes mostly from his older brothers. Sorry.
5. Mama's boy. Be patient with him and expect lingering (yrs) separation anxiety on his part and his Mom's.
6. His hair must never be cut. He likes it long and luscious. There is a story behind this. Jake was born with straight hair, but my mom admired Michael Landon, you know...from little house on the prairie, the dad? So, when Jake was young, she sculpted his hair (along with Shea's and Zak's) to be Michael Landon-Esque. She perfected it with Jake's. (She went over-board with Shea's and didn't do quite enough on Zak's. At least if we are using Michael Landon as the barameter.)
7. Techno-geek (some call it savvy). He will speak in acronyms (TCE, J2EE, ATM--not the bank kind either, RFID, RFP, RFQ, RFI, SPD, TSG, OMS, TQC, RMA,...the list goes forever), will mis-use words (such as integration, architecture, solution, backbone and the ATM mentioned above) and may create words or phrases of his own epitomology. (just like I did with "epitomology"...not a word)
8. Can do like 50 pull-ups with a 45lb weight strapped to his xtra-wide leather weight belt.
   Scales rocks like a gecko. Goes with the freakish pull-up strength. (however, see point #1 and the associated precaution)
9. Vein on his forehead. Don't worry, it won't burst, he's not hemorrhaging, just laughing or straining. (remnant from the Shea-cloning process.)
10. He struts around like a "Rooster", but don't mistake his confidence for haughtiness. There is no haughtiness in there, just pure goodness, he is Jake-a-Roo.
11. Finally, he is a great brother. Absolutely terrific. Maybe overly caring, giving, concerned for others and considerate. He'll be a great dad and husband.

Congratulations! May all your wildest dreams come true.

Do you see the similarities?

Going through our family history, I see that Pocahontus is my gr..........grand-mother! Too bad I didn't apply for those Native American scholarships at BYU.

Priesthood Session with Chase....

It was great to go to the priesthood session with Chase yesterday. We drove up to go with Grandpa Beeson at the stake center in Glendale. All the boys went as well. Jake brought man-cheerios (whoppers, starbursts, etc) and we really enjoyed the messages from conference. Chase looked sharp in his new suit and listened very attentively. He enjoyed the talks and probably felt Elder Perry was speaking directly to him about raising the bar to reach his full potential as he prepares to be a great missionary. I felt like President Hinckley was talking directly to me about anger mgmt :>)

After the meeting, we went to Pulanos for pizza and wings. We thought about Papa, Cory, Shea, Judd and Zak and maybe Phil going to JCW's and then meeting up with Grandpa, Jim, Gary and others at the stake center in Am. Fork.

Brigham (jr.) felt a little left out and ended up going shopping with the girls, grandma and Lizzie. I'm looking forward to going with my boys for years to come. Good stuff.

Brigham tears it up

Brigham is almost 8 and is a kid that tears it up. No matter what "it" is, he is banzai. He just signed up for the rippers skate boarding club where he has classes a few times a week. Chase is also checking it out, but may opt out and distance himself from the long-hair baggies.

Mo's in AZ

After dinner, Chase, Brig and I cruised the Jeep to the Mall, the Arizona Mills Mall, ('cause they got a Nike Outlet.) We find and buy our merchandise (bball for Brigs, new nike+ sensor for my shoes, ......this is cause I don't like the Nike+ shoes, but I do like the ipod integration tool so I athletic, not duct-tape the sensor to the bottom of my Saucony's. I can't figure out why it only works for a few runs?).

Anyway, on the way out of the mall, Brigham comments...
"There aren't a lot of Mormon's in AZ."
(Todd and Chase) Why do you say that Brigs?
(Brigs) 'Cause they have lots of tattoos and earrings.
This is as we pass 3 gangsters loaded with chains, rings, tats, saggys and probably .45's.

Then Brigs says, really loud, as we pass the FUBU/ROCA Wear outlet.
"There aren't very many Black Mormons." Huh Dad?

We stop to see the fish at RainForest, then head back. On the way to the parking lot, we notice 4 or 5 cop-ers with their lights on a few stalls down from the jeep.
(Brigs) What are they doing Dad?
(Todd) Not sure buddy.
(Brigs) I bet someone stole somethin'.
(Todd) Yep.
(Brigs) Good thing it wasn't our jeep.
(Todd) Yep.

Not OJ, Not J. Lo, ....it's J.O. Check out his site and new CD...

The guy who built our house in Utah and was also our neighbor is a great guy. (He did, however, bring cheese whiz and crackers to my Elder's Quorum lesson on fast Sunday one month and sat right in-front of me offering a bite here or there during the lesson. Very funny.) But , besides being a human vacuum and holding the record for the most sushi consumed in a single sitting, he is one of those guys with a knack for complimenting others and making them feel like a million dollars. He is also extremely sensitive to needs around him and doesn't hesitate to jump in and help someone out at a moments notice. He is also very musically inclined and just released a new CD. He produced it himself in his basement studio and did it just to uplift and inspire others (he makes ton's of $$ with his rental property empire so he's not financially motivated by this). The best part of the CD, for me, is the "Beyond the Music" section where he tells about the inspiration behind the song. Great stuff, especially if you know the guy and the sincerity in what he says.
Here's the link: http://jaredosmond.com/
Keep up the good work J.O..