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Three weeks through January, first ‘weekly’ update… That’s the kind of month it’s been.

January always starts out fun, coming off of Christmas and right into our anniversary (11 years!) then Caleb’s and Alec’s birthdays. Trent feels picked on this time of year when he is left out of the celebrations.

Over Christmas break, I tried twice to take Caleb and Trent skiing, but my timing was bad both times - snowstorms made it impossible to get to the mountains. This last time I tried, we made it about 20 miles down the interstate. After about 1 hour and 10 cars off the road along the way, we decided to turn back. So eventually we’ll make it up there, just don’t know when that will be.

I’ve been very busy with clerk responsibilities in our ward. The bishopric is all new, the clerks are new, the stake clerks are pretty new… we’re all learning together, and making plenty of mistakes along the way. That always reaffirms my testimony that it is the Lord’s church, not ours — that in spite of the people serving in it, it keeps rolling along smoothly. Today was our ward conference, and as a bishopric we spent some time with the stake presidency. As much experience as they have serving in the church, there are still plenty of issues and questions that come of for which they don’t have a ready answer. But somehow it gets figured out and we move forward. For me it is a very interesting experience learning some of the mechanics of how the church functions.

There’s also plenty of work for me to do at my day job — good thing is that I generally enjoy it. This week I managed to get involved in a couple additional projects, all of which are interesting and good opportunities to impact the overall organization. I just need to figure out how to stop doing some of the other stuff I already have. I will be going to Israel for 2 weeks the end of March, which I am looking forward to. Kim’s not, but I appreciate her being positive.

We’re looking forward to blessing Mark in a couple of weeks, and the visits from family that will go along with that. It is great to feel your love and support, and we hope we are able to return it in some degree. At least enjoy some pictures, hopefully they bring a smile or two (argh… something’s messed up with my picture gallery…)

I agree with others that it is silly to create grandiose goals to start the new year — only to forget them within a week. I’m not planning to set any new goals, really, just write down some of the things I’m actively working towards, and elicit feedback and support from others to help me achieve them. So here goes…

Get under 175 and stay there - I’m generally active a reasonably healthy, but losing a couple pounds would be great. I don’t have the time and energy to commit to really shaping my body… this goal simply means that I need to be more disciplined, mainly cutting out the junk and exercising a bit more regularly. I expect to hit 175 by the end of March.

Go to bed by midnight at least 3 days a week - This is a major issue and a discipline I need to develop. Getting more sleep, and more consistently, will have many positive ripple effects in other areas.

Never use credit cards again - Mostly we keep credit cards for emergencies, and pay the balances quickly. But really it’s a crutch to keep from having to be more disciplined and plan better. I’ve been reading and listening to stuff from Dave Ramsey, and he’s helped me realize my dependence on them and that it has to stop. I strongly encourage you to follow his advice (which certainly isn’t anything new).

Establish a 6-month emergency fund - Another of Dave’s baby steps (also not unique to him). It’s tricky to balance all the competing needs for financial resources, but this is something that has to be done first. Our landscaping and other plans will just have to wait a while longer.

Earn revenue from my genealogy business - I’ve been working on some web-based genealogy service stuff with some partners for about a year now… mostly we’ve just been learning and prototyping, and not moving very fast at all. This year I plan to move that far enough along that it generates actual revenue - anything more than zero counts! I see the potential as being much greater than that (or else why would I do it?) but, realistically, everything else that takes my time and energy is not going to go away.

Get out of the house with my wife at least twice a month - Two days until our 11th anniversary, and I certainly have a lot more to learn about dating her. It doesn’t have to be anything lavish, but it does have to be just the two of us.

Ski and golf with my boys - I’m looking forward to lots of fun activities with my boys as they get older. It will be a while before we all are able to do these things together as a family, but I’ll do what I can for now. As Kim’s grandfather Brig says, “All I hope for this year is to make more money and play more golf.”

Use technology to benefit my extended family - uh, that doesn’t count as a goal, but I’ll let it slide - I’m kind of the nerd of the family, and that’s okay. I know a lot about the internet and such that can benefit my family. This past year I got my mother blogging. This year I need to finish up on the Lofgreen Newsletter project I started a couple years ago. Then there’s teaching about things like RSS, avoiding viruses, phishing and other attacks, filtering bad content, etc. There’s no way I can keep up on all of it myself, but I’m happy to consult and help any who ask.

Looks like 2007 will be as busy as ever. Hopefully writing these down and sharing them publicly will help to yield positive results. I’m looking forward to it.

The past two weeks were made unexpectedly interesting by the big snowstorms that blew through here. The snow was very welcome, but it sure did mess with some of our plans. In spite of it all, we managed to enjoy a fun Christmas together as a family, with plenty of new toys around the house — mainly Nerf Tag dart guns and r/c cars for each boy.

Saturday before Christmas we enjoyed the annual tradition of making graham-cracker ‘houses’, delayed this year so Merrit and Colin could be there as well. That is one of the traditions that I enjoy most from my childhood… so far we’ve been around my parents most every year to continue it, and I hope to carry it on in the future. It’s hard to come up with something new each year — over the years I’ve done a tank, an ostrich, the US Capitol building, a Tongan hut… This year it was a teepee.

Because of the snow, I had to call off my ski trip with Caleb and Trent. I refuse to go on a Saturday (traffic is one of my least favorite things…), so it’s tricky to find a time when I can take them. Hopefully we’ll make it before school starts up again.

I spent the week after Christmas working (sort of) and playing at home. We added ‘Risk’ to our collection of board games, and Caleb really got into it. I’ll have to let him win one of these times so his enthusiasm doesn’t disappear. More snow came, but not as much as I’d hoped — I woke up the next morning and was disappointed to see that our street had already been plowed, so no excuse to stay home from work. We celebrated Kim’s birthday, and generally relaxed, as much as is possible with three boys running around and one more that is constantly starving.

All in all, 2006 was a good year for our family, and it ended pretty positively as well. We’re looking forward to making many more memories in the coming year, hopefully more with other extended family as well. In the mean time, here’s a bunch more pictures.

Most of this week is a blur, trying to keep most things functioning somewhat normally while Kim recovers and Mark figures out how to sleep more than two hours at a time. Grandma Mills was here most of the week, and she helped with chaufer duties and such, and I worked half-days most of the week. In the end we survived, Kim is close to being back on her feet , and I think Mark may have slept 3 hours once… I don’t remember, maybe that was me who only managed three hours of sleep.

Caleb received his Wolf badge at Pack Meeting this week. Trent lost his first two teeth — even though the permanent teeth had already grown in behind weeks ago — he looked like a shark with his extra rows of teeth. Alec graduated from the cardboard box ‘violin’ at lesson this week and gets to play the real thing now — even though he can’t hold it with a brace on his left hand.

Enjoy the pictures!

I took most of the week off of work this week, due to the birth of Mark Aaron Slade. It’s been a crazy week, and we’ve definitely been feeling like it seems exponentially harder to stay on top of things than it was just a week ago. But I’m sure we’ll get back to some sort of routine and manage through within a few weeks. I guess it just means more of the less important stuff will fall off the plate as we have to give more focus to what is important to us.

Last Sunday afternoon, Kim and I were getting ready to go into the hospital, thinking it may be time. Just a few minutes before the grandparents arrived to take the boys to church, Alec’s hand got smashed in a window that closed unexpectedly on him. We saw that he was hurt pretty badly, but in all the distraction, it wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon after Mark was born that we were able to take him to have it checked. Turns out he did have multiple fractures in his hand. The good news is everything looks in good shape to heal back up, but he will be in a splint or cast for several weeks - we’ll see what the orthopedic specialist says this week.

Oh, and this week should be a fun one, now with Kim needing to be seen for follow-up, Mark needing to go in, Caleb needing dental work, and Alec getting his hand checked. I hope to work only half days this week, and Grandma Mills will be here, too, so maybe it won’t be so bad. Hopefully Trent won’t feel left out and decide he needs to get in on the action

I was disappointed and frustrated by an experience at Sacrament Meeting today. I had heard of an investigator who was planning to come to church, but hadn’t met him yet. I happened to meet him in the foyer just before the meeting, standing alone looking a bit lost. I had to go collect my children (since Kim stayed home today), and I also had to leave him there, but invited him to join us in the pew. Another family got there first, and he and the missionaries ended up sitting back a row, all by themselves. It was frustrating to me because I wasn’t available to be more involved, but more so because there are those in the ward (ward missionaries) who have the direct responsibility to be welcoming and fellowshipping visitors and such. Why wasn’t someone assigned to meet him at the door? How did it end up that he sat alone with the sister missionaries? There’s nothing wrong with the sisters, but it’s the wards responsibility to fellowship and build those relationships.

The experience reminded me of some teaching I received in the mission field on the conversion process - I don’t know the original source, but Elder Scott covered the topic in a General Conference address in 1997. To have a full and lasting conversion, it has to happen on three levels:

• A spiritual conversion, in which one feels the witness of the Holy Ghost and develops a desire to come unto Jesus Christ
• A doctrinal conversion, learning the principles and commandments of the restored Gospel, and commiting to follow them
• A social conversion, which involves learning new patterns of life and developing a new social circle

Elder Scott says:

the social transition … is the most difficult to achieve. It is best accomplished with the love and support of members. Your worthy example and caring support can lead them through each step required to learn to live as a Latter-day Saint. This social transition requires careful nurturing and help to teach new patterns of life, to introduce new friends, and to assist the new converts to be obedient and begin to serve in the Church.

I believe it is hard for me to appreciate the magnitude of such changes for people coming into the church. There is so much more to it than just teaching them a few lessons and having them baptized, and that is why it is critical that the ward is involved early and often

The big news this week… no news.  Today started out interesting with two trips to the hospital, thinking that Kim’s body was kicking into gear and getting ready to have the baby.  But nothing so far.  It may be a long night and a long week, so I’m off to bed…

It’s been over a month since my last post… not doing so well there. So at least for posterity sake, I need to write something…Mostly we’re getting ready for baby #4 to come in a few weeks. Kim and I actually managed to come up with a few options for names, at least options to discuss further. That part doesn’t seem so urgent, but I am anxious to get the house in order. We’ve rearranged a number of rooms, to make space for the crib, etc. It’s all good, stuff that has needed to be done for a long time, but the whole house seems to have been torn apart in the meantime. Kim says I’m nesting.

Yesterday was the last week of soccer for the fall. It was a beautiful fall day, and we enjoyed being outside for much of it. Everyone worked together to clean out the tomato plants and such from the garden — Kim tried hard to keep up with the pruning and harvesting, but she was slowing down over the summer while the tomatoes kept coming. There’s always next year. Then it was off to Halloween parties, oh joy. Darn it, I had to stay home and try to get the house under control.

Last week, the Parkwood Ward got a new bishopric. The bishop is Gary Foster, with Gene Chantry and Brian Mosbrucker as counselors. It’s good to have these changes, because it helps us to appreciate that we are all just stewards in the Lord’s vineyard, called to tend a certain spot of ground for a time. In my current position as ward clerk, I’ve been able to work with the old and new bishoprics, and it’s been good to see how the work carries on, yet differently. I certainly feel the witness of the spirit that these men are needed now.

As an engineer I work with computers all day long, many times all night long, too. They can be frustrating, but it’s usually the people that cause the most problems. People just make things difficult. Seeing how the church rolls on despite of all the people involved, that is definitely a thing of wonder.

Speaking of computers: I’ve been working for several months on a project with a friend from work, something we hope to turn into a business in the not-too-distant future. We’re hoping to provide a internet service that will be a big improvement for sharing and researching geneaology online. Unfortunately there’s nothing to demo or preview quite yet, but we’re working hard to get it there. Hopefully I’ll be able to share more details here in the near future…

No time to put in individual pics, but here’s a few from the past few weeks. Enjoy.

Everyone started school this week — Kim will be able to enjoy a couple of months with everyone gone at least a couple of days a week. We took advantage of it this week to have brunch together, and we hope to continue that as a tradition while the opportunity lasts.

But first came Labor Day, on which all the male members of the family participated in the Colorado Run. The boys did the kids’ fun run, just around the oval at CSU. The weather was beatiful, and it was a great setting. I decided that since we were all there anyway, I may as well run the 5k. Didn’t quite make my target time, but overall I enjoyed it. I earned a few cheers at the finish line with a strong sprint, and another runner decided he didn’t want to get beat. We sprinted hard the last 100 yards, finishing neck and neck.

I promptly found a nice piece of grass to lie down. It happened to be right next to some paramedics there on hand, and they asked if I was doing okay. I said I was fine, but that I obviously had chosen a good spot to collapse in case I weren’t. We finished the day with a nice barbecue with grandma and grandpa Slade.

Caleb, Trent, and Alec especially were excited to start school. The second day was a little different - Alec only goes two days a week, and he was sad that he only got to stay home for ‘mom school’ on Wednesday. Trent had been used to 3 days a week last year, and he was bummed Wednesday morning that he didn’t get to stay home. But hopefully this week we’ve got the routine figured out and everyone is ready to roll.

I had a couple of interviews this week, and I think they went well. Nothing more specific yet, but hopefully soon. I’ve been keeping very busy with ward clerk duties, trying to get all the records up to date and figure what else needs to be done. Hopefully that will settle down once it all gets organized. I also had fun playing in the first week of a rec-league softball game with Steve Carnley. Caleb and Trent also started their soccer seasons, with victories of 16-0 and 12-1 (or so). So life is busy, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. But it’s generally fun.

Here’s a comic I enjoyed from the Sunday paper today (click for the full comic):

Monday Kim took the boys, along with Grandpa Slade, to the LDS stake farm to pick corn… I asked Alec how much corn he picked, and he told me he didn’t pick any, he just played in the mud. I think that was pretty accurate. At least they did help shucking the corn — ~100 ears.

They stayed excited about it because they were finding caterpillars, so it was a game to them. We managed to get it all cleaned up, cut off the cobb, and into the freezer by the end of the week. We don’t do that kind of thing because it’s economical or particularly fun, but to learn to provide for ourselves and understand where our food comes from. It means a lot more than just opening up a can of something form the grocery store.

Saturday we were planning to take a hike up to Horsetooth Rock, but it was pretty chilly — we got some much needed rain and cooler temperatures this week. Instead, we all went bowling and had a lot of fun. Alec just about won the second game (102), but Trent pulled it out (106) with a spare in the last frame.

I’ve been pretty busy the last couple of weeks with a new calling as ward clerk. Once I get on top of things it shouldn’t be too bad, but there’s a lot of cleaning up to do. I was actually thinking it was time for a new calling, and was hoping it would be something a little less administative (I was the membership clerk before that). But the record keeping is certainly important, and now I will have a chance to work with the bishopric more closely, which should be a good experience. Evidently I still have plenty more to learn about the mechanics of the Lord’s kingdom.

I’ve also been busy doing some job interviews, and more are on the schedule for this week. I’m happy with most aspects of my current job at Intel, and I have interesting projects to work on now and in the future. It’s just feeling like maybe it’s time for a change — not sure what kind of change, so I’m just looking around at some possibilities. If something does come of it, you’ll hear about it here.

The summer’s gone by very quickly, and all three boys start school this week. It was a privilege to be able to give them all priesthood blessings this evening. But first we have one more day of summer tomorrow, starting it off with a the Colorado Run in the morning. The boys are going to participate in the free kids’ race, and I figured that we’ll be there, so I might as well run the 5k. It’ll be my first one, and I haven’t particularly trained for it — and I don’t really care for running. Sounds like fun.

More bowling and other pictures here…

Two highlights this week: Trent was in the newspaper, pictured mowing the lawn. The lawnmower looks way too big for him, but believe me, he does a great job of it. Second was that Caleb and Trent ran in the Kids Triathlon on Saturday, and had a lot of fun. They are excited to do it again next year, and Alec will also be old enough to participate. He was bummed not to be able to this year. Trent finally got the medal he’s “been waiting for [his] whole life.” Visit the gallery for more pictures from the events.

Colin spoke in Sacrament Meeting today, on the topic of prayer. He gave an excellent talk on the blessings associated with prayer, starting first of all with Doctrine & Covenants 130:20-21:

20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

He related how during his time in Tonga, he learned to rely on prayer, and was blessed in many ways, but specifically with protection, knowledge, and comfort. Well done, Colin.

Today was also my dad’s birthday. We enjoyed dinner there with all the local Slades. I returned later in the evening for a game of Settlers, which I lost as usual. Darn robber.

It was also pleasure to meet one of my mom’s cousins and her husband, Gary and Valerie Stringham. He took voluntary severance from HP, and is now back working as a consultant for them — straight out of Dilbert. The conversation also turned to genealogy, and she related how at a family reunion, they talked about all the stuff the different people were doing. One of the family offered to gather it all up and put it on a website. The problem currently is that requires someone very technically savvy. I hope to be able to make that process very easy for any and all.

I had the privilege of participating in three blessings today. I did the annointing in all three, which was rather nice, actually. I still have lots to learn about priesthood service, especially in using my priesthood to bless my own family. I’m glad I have the opportunity.