So last week (Thursday and Friday), I got to direct my first music video for my brother Parker’s famous band, GOGO13. It’s for a new song called “Down in a Barrel” and it’s going to be a whole lot of fun. I’ll edit it over the next couple of days and I’ll post it as soon as I’m done. woo woo!

Huge thanks to my buddy Will for helping me out with so much stuff!

This was not my car. But it looks like it – if it was in good shape.

Today I finally did it. I sold my beetle that I’ve owned since 2001. I actually paid it off in 2005… But yeah that thing. It was my friend and my enemy. It served me well and held up to my many different jobs I’ve bounced around to, and I even shipped it to the east coast.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and flowers. I dropped about $5,000 on it in repairs two summers ago, then two weeks later, the engine light came on. I decided to call it on its bluff and refuse to take it in. It retaliated against me in little, annoying ways – headlight going out, griding brakes, dropping the stupid plastic undercarraige, upholstery dropping off, even the dashboard disintegrating. See, this was the kind of dysfunctional relationship we had. I got my revenge in a not-so passive-agressive way – I just stopped driving it altogether when we moved to PA. It sat on that street for three months just pouting and collecting cobwebs.

Happy Birthday Parker! It’s your special day!

Last night Parker and I picked up his girls and we went over to our friend Ben Soto’s place. It was awesome, and they have a beautiful house. We got to play Wii for a while, eat cupcakes and stay up late. Oh and he has two awesome chihuahuas that we played with (Banksy and Stella).

This morning, Parker, Christian and I drove up to our old ward building in Brea to attend the funeral for Kemy Pyper. She was an awesome lady who was our bishop’s wife when we were younger. She was SUPER nice and our Bishop (Dennis Pyper) was very influential on me and my family. it was a heavy emotional funeral, but like most Mormon funerals, it was overall happy, with our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and eternal families. We know she’s in a better place and is waiting for her family. Nevertheless, the sadness of seeing her family say goodbye to her, even if it is just for a time, was touching.

(can you find me in this picture?)

Last month, I had the privilege of going out to a small camp site in the woods somewhere in PA (Near Allentown I think?) to be a staff man on the New Warrior Training Adventure. If you recall, I did my my own weekend a year ago and it profoundly changed my life in many ways.

It rained pretty heavy for the first couple days, but by saturday and sunday, it cleared up nicely. That meant mud. But it was great. We also were blessed to have Rich Tosi, one of the Co-Founders of the Mankind Project on staff with us.

I was so stoked to be able to help support other men in their own work and to give them the opportunity to look within themselves and see what wasn’t working in their lives. I saw some amazing transformations that weekend in the eighteen initiates, and also for myself.

I learned a lot that weekend, and probably the biggest thing I took home with me was the knowledge that God will always provide. Things have a way of working out. I waste so much time worrying and fretting over things that aren’t in my control because I forget that my life is in The Lord’s hands and that things work out on His schedule. I just need to step back, give up some control to Him while doing what I can do to make things happen. That was a huge lesson for me at this time in my life and my state of unemployment. Things WILL work out. It’s my job to do all I can and then learn patience.

I had an amazing time staffing the New Warrior Training Adventure. Like most things with The Mankind Project, it was incredibly intense, physically and emotionally challenging, insightful and was a whole load of fun. I got to hang out with old friends and meet a lot of new ones. I’m anxiously looking forward to my next opportunity to staff. (But not until after I have a job! I promised Marylynn.)

So little Lily had her FIFTH birthday party on Saturday, which is totally crazy because it seems like just yesterday she had her Fourth Birthday Party and I was blogging about it. This time John and Jaime had the party at their neighborhood swimming hole and we all got wet and sunburnt (ok maybe just me) and had a blast. I got some pictures too! Check ‘em out:

I’m a Human Floation Device. Yeah, I spent a large part of the afternoon being climbed on. It was fun… for a while. Until kids I didn’t know started climbing on me. Then it got weird and I ran away. True story.

As promised, here’s the latest update. I’ve been putting this off for far too long. So after five months (and counting) of unemployment, we made the decision a few weeks ago to leave our home in New Jersey and move back in with John (Marylynn’s brother) and his family in Elizabethtown, PA. I didn’t want to say anything about it because I had been hanging onto the hope that I could find a job here in the area so we wouldn’t have to move. But with seven days left and no strong leads, I must face the inevitable.

The last time we moved out of desperation was almost three years ago (that’s almost a record!). We left California and moved in with John in PA. We were there for three months until I found a job in New Jersey at Virgin Mobile. We were super grateful for their kindness and patience with putting up with us. It’ll be interesting to go back now that the kids are a little older and we know the area a lot better. It’s a lot less scary knowing what to expect (not to mention their basement is finished, which is very very nice). My plan is to spend my days job hunting there, just like I have been here and and find a job quick and relocate ASAP. Fingers crossed.

Since we’ll only be 2 hours away, we plan on coming back to visit our dear friends here in Jersey often. So that’s a huge plus. We’ll be that much more ready to move where ever when that “perfect job” finally comes around. Not to mention the money we’ll be saving.

We’ve been slowly packing over the past few weeks, so we’re sitting on (and under) a lot of cardboard boxes and all the pictures are off the walls. We’ve been cleaning out our closets and getting rid of extra stuff. And hey, if by any stretch we end up staying, at least we’ll have a lot less crap in our lives. So that’s good.

So, yeah. We’re sad to leave New Jersey. We really love it here and have made some great friends here who we will miss, and we’re trying not to get nostalgic because that would only get us down. Instead we’re trying to look to the future and be open to whatever the Lord has in store for us. Who knows where we’ll be a year from now?

Cricket and Buster got new glasses yesterday. There was a sale at JC Penny’s and we needed a back-up pair for both of them. We liked these new ones so much more that they have become their primary glasses. See for yourself:

But the really big news around here today is that CRICKET LOST HER FIRST TOOTH!

This year, Cricket was adamant that she wanted a Bunny themed party. A rather odd request for December, but we couldn’t deny her, so bunnies it was. Her birthday isn’t until the 10th, but we couldn’t have the party any other time. She had such a hard time grasping that concept (and got a little upset at the idea of “pretending”), we finally just let her believe it was her real birthday after all. So the bunny party was on. Marylynn brainstormed 1001 ways to make it awesome, and she executed most of them. It wasn’t a grand affair, we just had her cousins and a couple close friends over and played games and ate cake, but it was a great time!

The night before, Marylynn made the cake, and detail cleaned everything. She’s a mad woman. I helped prep by painting a bunny on our patio door for “Pin the Tail on the Bunny”. I got an image of “Sonny the Bunny” from the John K blog to copy. I’m really proud of how it turned out.

Based on the children’s book by Art Seiden. It only took my 2.5 hours start to finish. (Acrylic on glass)

Last week was Cricket and Buster’s first day of Pre-School, and I’m finally getting around to posting about it!