Allergies

Does anyone have a good cure for allergies??? I am dying this year! Zyrtec and Claritin don't work. I used to take Seldane before it was taken off the market years ago. It used to be that I went and got a Kenalog shot, and my ills were cured. Apparently, they quit giving Kenalog shots because "the mortality rate was too high". Just give me the Kenalog shot...I will take my chances! Maybe I can go to Mexico and get a Kenalog shot.

Restored Blessings of Salvation

Today was a great day! Tonight my good friend, Paul Ahoto'e'iloa, received the Melchizidek Priesthood and was ordained an Elder. I first met Paul a few months ago. He was a less-active member of our ward who had recently been visited by our Bishop. The Ward mission was asked to start visiting his home on a regular basis. We made several visits and then taught Paul and his girlfriend (Natalie) the discussions from Preach My Gospel. It was a sweet experience as we watched Paul and Natalie progress. After a couple months, he advanced in the Aaronic Priesthood, faithfully attended to his priesthood duties, and attended the temple for the first time in over 13 years. Tonight he received the higher priesthood, and next week he will receive his Patriarchal Blessing. Sometime in the early fall, Paul and Natalie will be sealed in the SL Temple. What an awesome couple! I feel truly blessed for the chance I've had to get to know them, and my testimony has grown as I have watched the change in their lives. Tonight I am grateful for Joseph Smith, and all those who paved the way for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be restored in it's fullness. I am blessed with an incredible wife and 3 daughters who make life wonderful for me!

The Best Father's Day Gift Ever!

Father's Day started off like this:





We then had a wonderful tea party, complete with cookies and water! A great breakfast!





Michelle took the girls to get pictures taken this week for Father's Day...my favorite gift ever!!!
















Here is photo of Justine's dance recital earlier this week...

YouTube - Big Game has arrived!

If you are considering purchasing data storage for your network, please ignore my comments on this video...I have recovered from the error of my ways. If you buy storage, buy COMPELLENT!

My spot is at the end of this video.

DisneyWorld Vacation

We spent May 5-12 in Orlando for our family vacation. We had a GREAT time! We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club and spent several days at the various Disney parks. We even took a day and drove to Daytona Beach for a day at the ocean.

A typical day consisted of going to a park, coming home, 2-hour nap, and then a few hours at the pool. Repeat. 6 times. We couldn't have picked a better week to go; we walked up to literally every ride. The first 2 weeks in May falls between Spring Breaks and the end of school. 90 degrees and sunny every day. We had to split up the family on the flights as we had frequent flier miles on Delta and Southwest had the best fares, so mom and Emilie took Delta and the rest of us flew Southwest. Fortunately I was able to book the flights so we arrived close together time-wise.

Enjoy the pictures! Click on picture for larger size photo...

Eating breakfast on the hotel balcony; 75 degrees and beautiful!


Family @ Magic Kingdom...did I mention there were NO lines?


Emilie @ airport...she is excited!

Emilie in hotel pool...she would live in the pool if she could!

Did I mention that they love water? This is 5 minutes after check-in.

Maddie jumping to Dad.

Maddie in pool.

More pool.

Not sure when this was...the pool must have been closed.

Day 1...boat ride to Magic Kingdom!

Splash Mountain 2008. Dad gets really excited on this ride.

Splash Mountain 2004. Excited again!

Splash Mountain 2001. Our friend Steph Bullock asked who the special needs
guy was in the back...

Dino Ride. I didn't want to buy the photo, so I took this picture as our
photo came up on the monitor. Poor Em was scared on this one!

Mom and Emilie

This is us waiting for the tram at like 11:30PM.
Emilie is baked and not happy!

Family

Girls

Girls


Horse show

Justine jumping rope on Main Street

Justine

Emilie & Madelyn

Maddie driving the car. This is the ride that has the rail that you drive
down. She banged the car back & forth all the way around. My
head was pounding after this ride!

Mom & Maddie

Splash Mountain

Ride

THE BEACH

Dad

This wave must be 10-12 feet high. Brave.

Em & Mads

Emilie on boogeyboard

Emilie waiting for the big wave set to come in...

Justine & Mads playing in surf

Justine boogeyboarding

Big Wave!

Justine in waves

"Is that Dad saving that beautiful girl from that shark?"

Indiana Vacation: Day 4 - Friday

After our time in Nauvoo, we headed for Indiana to meet my sisters, Laurie and Kath, as well as my brother Mike. We arrived in Lowell at around 9PM. We hit some snowy weather the last couple hours so it took us a little bit longer than planned. It was great to see everybody and we spent a couple hours visiting and catching up. Our last visit was back in 2004. Mom is looking better than I expected. The cancer is flaring up, and has spread to her lungs. She is back in chemotherapy and we are hoping for the best. She was very sick last week with the flu, and we were all very concerned. Her spirits lifted, however, when she heard that we were all coming out to see her.

Today my sisters and I (along with Michelle and the girls) spent the day re-visiting our childhood homes as well as various other places in our hometowns. It was quite a surreal experience as many memories came flooding back to me. We grew up in a rural Indiana town called Schererville, which has a population of around 6,000. We spent some time in cemeteries where we visited the graves of families, friends, and classmates. I was able to visit, for the 1st time, the gravesites of my maternal grandparents, Adolph and Erma Graper. They passed away in 1992 and 1993, respectively. I loved my grandfather and have many fond memories of him as a young boy. I used to love going over to Grandma and Grandpa Graper's house when I was little. I was able to visit the graves of several other relatives as well, both direct and distant. Again, I felt the Spirit strongly and had a strong impression to do the temple work for my ancestors. This work has not been done, and I have spent the last few months putting together my ancestry files so that I can take the names to the temple and perform these saving ordinances for my family. It was a testimony to me as I was inspired about certain individuals as we visited their resting places.

This used to be the drug store
where I would go to buy candy.
I would get .25 allowance each
week and I would go down
and buy 25 pieces of
penny candy. Life was
simple then!

This used to be the barber shop where
I would walk to get my haircut. I
remember my mom giving me some
change to go down and get my
haircut. There was a wait for
the barber, so I ended up
spending the change on soda
pop from the pop machine
inside the barber shop.
Needless to say, I came home
without a haircut!
I got a sore behind from that one!

The house where I was born.

This is a sepulcher in a Catholic cemetery not
far from our house. We used to play
in this. There is a statue of Jesus
praying inside...it is a depiction
of the Garden of Gethsemane.

Statue in sepulcher

After visiting the cemeteries, we headed out to Winfield Township where both sets of my grandparents were from. We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Graper's house (long since bought by my Aunt Carol after their passing) and walked through the house again. It was very emotional for us siblings to be there again after over 35 years since our last visit.

Grandma and Grandpa Graper

We then headed up the road a couple of miles and dropped in on my fraternal grandmother, Mickey Riley (my last name used to be Riley; I was adopted by my stepfather when I was 12). I had not seen my Grandma Riley for close to 37 years. We stopped at the farm where we thought she lived (it had been over 36 years!), and my sister Laurie and I walked up to door and knocked. A very old woman answered the door, and it was my Grandma Riley. We introduced ourselves and she invited us in. The rest of the family soon followed and we had a wonderful visit. The house was just as I remembered it from when I was 5 years old. Grandma Riley was very sweet and was very happy to see her grandson after so many years, and was happy to meet her great-grandchildren, too. After a while her daughter, my aunt Carol Sue, and my Uncle Jim came over to check on her (there were strange cars in the driveway, so they came by to see what was going on!) and we were able to get re-acquainted with my aunt and uncle as well. Emilie took to Aunt Carol Sue very quickly as you can see in the photo below. I was a little nervous to go out there, but I am grateful we did! The barn is in a big pile of timber, as my dad Jim and his brothers had come over a few days earlier and pulled it down with trucks as it was unstable. One of my earliest memories of this place is when I was attacked by a German Shepherd at the age of 4; I had a large gash in my head for weeks. They were unable to sew it up for fear of rabies, and had to quarantine the dog as well.

Meeting Grandma Riley after 37 years


Grandma Riley and Family


Great Grandpa Riley (blacksmith)

Aunt Carol Sue and new best friend Emilie


Grandma Riley and Riley sons. My dad is
on back row, far left (Jim Riley)