Today

It's Joshua's 4th birthday! Happy Birthday you big boy! (I have a four-year-old child. Weird.)

Cyberspace's slacker home teacher (that'd be me) has finally posted his March visit. You may view it here.

And in case you are interested in February's visit (it took place on March 1st and was not in video format. I know... I'm a slacker, but... no excuses really). You may view it here.

That's all for now. Happy Sabbath!

Tough

Today I tackled a tough job.

I assembled a new filing cabinet.

Take a look at this beauty...

It replaces our old filing cabinet. I didn't take any pictures, but you can trust me that it needed replaced. Anyway, looks like a pretty simple assembly, right? On a toughness scale from 1 to 10, maybe a 4, right?

But what if there are a couple other factors involved (besides faulty instructions: curse you double-dowel-gluing-life-ruining-direction!!!) ?

Meet my assistants: Miniature Holdinators 1 and 2.

#1 was anxious to help, while #2 mostly occupied himself with running across the pieces with cam bolts sticking out of them, a rather nerve-wracking thing for Daddy. But we pressed forward...

Of course, what would furniture assembly be without an abundance of quickly destructing styrofoam and two sets of little hands glad to do the destructing?

Things were progressing slowly, but progressing nonetheless, until Mini-Holdinator #2 pushed a piece that had just been fastened to another so that the cam bolts and locks tore out of the offended piece and resulted in a necessary return to the store to exchange the whole package for a new one.

All in all, the toughness rated at least 15.

But I gained wisdom from the earlier experience. I didn't even take the new box-full of pieces and hardware out of the van until after I put both assistants to bed.

Then I was able to assemble it without incident, and having made the mistake of following the directions exactly earlier I was also able to avoid irritating backslides by using them just as much as I needed for reminding and no more. This time around the assembly had a toughness rating of merely 3.

And so the finished product in its new home! Note the pile of receipts in front of it... that's one reason we need a new filing cabinet.

Yeah, that's right. Who's the tough one now?

Niiiiice!

Huzzah! and Good Fortune!

Spring is here, at least for a few days. And this is my welcoming tribute!

It All Started At a Bookstore

I spent one semester as a student at UVSC.

Just one semester.

I developed an intense desire to transfer to BYU. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my classes at UVSC. Goodness knows it wasn't that.

But there were two things about BYU that really enticed me:
1. The Spirit of the campus
2. A certain young lady who attended school there

So that was my only semester at UVSC.

But it served as a wonderful pretense for a crucial day in my life.

March 20, 2002

She worked at a bookstore in the mall. It was not unusual for me to visit her at work and talk with her at length about things. But this day I wasn't there for just casual conversation.

I wanted her to read what I had in a folder.

Oh, it appeared to be another assignment for my English class. I had an introductory college English course that semester, and she had a creative writing class. We would read each other's stuff and comment on it. So she thought this was just another assignment...

But why would I want her to read it while she was at work? What was the rush?

This guy's a little weird.

But read it she did, and as she did her face flushed just a bit.

It was a letter addressed to her. It said, among other things, that I thought she was one of the most amazing people I knew, that she had taught me about charity and kindness in ways that I had never experienced before.

It was the catalyst for something great.

So, as has been the tradition for the past five years on this date, I have written to her each March 20th.

Here is the day again. I'm more in love with her now than ever before. She's the mother of our children, an amazing nurse with compassion unmatched, and as always the one who I can talk with about anything, and we understand each other.

Oh how we understand each other.

What a journey it's been to this place, and it only promises to get better.

What a lucky guy I am.

Another Basketball Post

Pardon this, but I think that Jazz fans (who attend the home games) could learn something from Philadelphia fans.

When Derek Fisher visits us with the Lakers again tonight, I hope he doesn't get a similar greeting as last time... that's all.

Who can argue with Chuck?

"I think that you have the most talented team, top to bottom, in the Utah Jazz."
-Charles Barkley

It's Worth the Trouble

Copy and paste this link into the address bar. I'll think you'll be glad you did.

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&vid=ca2e3763-8dad-48a8-b410-042ab59ddf06&playlist=videoByTag:tag:edi_life:ns:Gallery:mk:us:sf:ActiveStartDate:vs:1&from=MSNHP&tab=s7&GT1=28114

a Different Tag

please pardon the weird formatting--blogger, heh.

Two names you go by:
1. Bri

2. "BH" and "Oh no, not Holdaway!" both from my coworker Jack

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. A green sweater (it is St. Patti's day after all)

2. My wedding band--always

TWO OF your favorite things to do:
1. Have late night talks with Jess; I wish I didn't get so tired!
2. Assemble really heavy exercise equipment

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. A guest wanting to buy their self, their spouse, and each of their 12 children a Saturn
2. A Winchell's donut...

Two Pets that you have or have had
1. Wingfold/Gladwynn (they're the birds)
2. That thing that gets white hair all over the couches and chews on the blinds (especially if they're brand new)

Two people who will fill this out:
1. Anybody bored? Not been tagged?

2. How about you, then?

Two things you did last night:
1. Watched the Bee Movie
2. Made a big mess in three different rooms in the house

Two things you ate today
1. The nachos I shared with Jess last night, was that after midnight?
2. If so, then salsa and sour cream

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Working out while playing FAT BLOCKER!!
2. Probably read some blogs

Longest trips taken: by car
1. Kansas (from Utah)
2. transfer day when I was an assistant (mission)

Your favorite holidays:
1. The President's Day that we drove to Vegas for In'n'Out Burger (and Winchell's donuts)
2. Wedding Anniversary

Two favorite beverages:
1. Hot cocoa
2. Ice cold water

Bless You!!

A week ago today I drove down to St. George with a coworker to pick up a car from the Saturn dealership down there. On the way he was surprised to hear about my punk rock past. We enjoyed listening to Rancid and Goldfinger as we became more and more acquainted during the drive. As we pulled off the freeway and made our way toward Jack in the Box for lunch (MMMMMM!!!) I took the CD out of the CD player and the radio station was playing a little country tune. When we got back in the car after lunch there was a man speaking about sneezing--ALL ABOUT SNEEZING.

Everything you could possibly ever wonder about sneezing was addressed in this broadcast... it was amazing.

Perhaps this is the reason that the other day, after I sneezed a really satisfying sneeze, I stopped and thought about the sound I make when I sneeze.

I sneeze like this:

HEEEYYY-CHOOO!! (this is accomplished with a constant raising pitch)

So, it's not quite the stereotypical onomatopoeia of a sneeze, but pretty close.

Comment time! I'm curious, what do your sneezes sound like? Is a sneeze like a finger print, everyone has a distinct one? Discuss.

A Unique Claim

As evidenced by this photo, I was in the unusual position of attending a high school dance in Provo, Utah while simultaneously serving as a missionary in Lansing, Michigan.

I'm the one without legs.

Joshy-ism

Joshua told me he was thirsty, and I asked what he'd like to drink. His response:

"Orange juice, for all I care."

Lunch

I took the boys to Arctic Circle for lunch. That place was hoppin'. Kids everywhere eating, running, playing, and otherwise being kids.

Joshua is as social as a little guy could be, and he introduces himself to every child he meets, "Hi! I'm Joshua Huntington Holdaway!" And then he usually tells the child who he is pretending to be that day, "I'm Buzz Lightyear!" or "I'm a power ranger!"

For the life of him, he could not convince one little girl that he was a power ranger. "No, you're not!" she'd exclaim. She got so flustered that she struck a pose that was priceless. My meager descriptive ability won't do it justice, but I'll try anyway. She put her hands on her hips, and thrust those hips to the right with her shoulders bent in the opposite direction and a look of complete ATTITUDE on her face. I would have given anything to have had a camera. Joshua was not phased, though.

It wasn't much longer before Joshua found someone willing to play along with his power ranger persona. A girl, probably about 5 years old, who was just as sociable as Josh, responded to his assertion that he was a power ranger with, "My birthday is on Wednesday!" They played together for over an hour, mostly chasing each other around the jungle gym. She had the same color eyes as Joshua, which is most unusual. That stormy grayish, greenish, brownish color depending on the light. (If you click on this image and view it up close you can really see the dynamics of his eye color.) Morgan had a pretty great time too. He was fascinated when the people who replenish the gum ball machine came and sanitized and refilled it. He watched with utter amazement every movement they made.

Inspiration

My sister, Laurie, who inspired me to start my own blog, posted her 100th post.

Thanks Laurie. My life has not been the same since I entered the blogosphere (in a good way).

I'll Take the Credit

A little known fact:
Brian is a 64% rolled-up sock shooter.
Is it any wonder, then, that Lone Peak High School and Provo High School, the two senior high schools where Brian taught Seminary for a semester each, both won State Basketball Championships for the second year in a row this past weekend?

Aaaawwww!

Yesterday I was vacuuming the living room and listening to my iPod. "Upside-down" by Jack Johnson came on, and I started singing along to it.

This particular song is one in my medly of songs that I sing to Morgan at night while he goes to sleep. When he heard me singing along to my iPod, he came over to me with a big smile and threw his arms around my neck.

I really like being a daddy.