One Busy and Exciting Week

It seems like when anything exciting happens it all happens at once. I'm a few days behind in the stories I want to tell. The first one was that Sarah qualified for leagues in her 300 meter hurdles. This is good because we missed what would have been her last race when we went to pick up Alex in Utah. This gave us a chance to see her race one more time this season. The best part is that the race was on Tuesday so I was able to go and watch her. Since it was leagues it was very competitive and she didn't place all that well (but not last place). As always, she may not have been the fastest runner out there but she was definitely the prettiest. Wednesday was another great day because Brandon and his family arrived. Brandon finally finished his finals and he is taking his family up to Utah where he will be interning this summer. Unfortunately Serene had to leave first thing Friday morning for Texas. Her best friend growing up was getting married and she had to be there for it. So Serene flew out Friday with Hayley and Brandon left for Utah Saturday morning. I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of Serene but I did manage to grab a couple of Brandon and Sydney before they left.

During Sarah's spring break her and Lisa went to the Science Museum and while there they saw the Omni max movie about the Hubble telescope. They thought it would be a show I would like to see. Lisa suggested that we take everyone to see it on Friday night. She's right, it is definitely a movie I wanted to see. It was fascinating. Some of the things they have seen with that telescope are out of this world (pun intended).

It was kind of sad when Alex said goodbye. The next time he see's Sydney she will be a five year old. Pretty crazy eh? Hayley will be older than Sydney is now. Brandon hit the road in the mid morning and had a very eventful trip. I'm not sure I can do his story justice but let me try. For the first time on Thursday they had noticed problems with their battery charging. They had plenty of power when the car was running so I assumed the alternator was fine and I just happened to have an old battery in my garage that I have used often for camping. It was a perfect fit so I put the battery in his car and it started perfectly.

Somewhere between Prim and Vegas he was getting quite drowsy so he pulled onto the side of the road and took a nap. After his nap he went to start his car and his battery was dead. With his car full of all his worldly possessions and a two year old that was pretty scary. He called me and let me know of his situation and then he decided to flag down a car to help boost his motor. He was about to give up when a huge, old, rusty, dented Cadillac full of Mexicans pulled over. When four very large men got out wearing "wife beaters" and lots of tattoo's Brandon began to worry just a little bit. One of them asked what was the matter and Brandon explained. When the guy began to translate for the other guys Brandon switched to Spanish and began talking to them. They were all instantly friends. They were very friendly and jovial and got Brandon's car started and on the way. At this point I began worrying that even though the alternator was powering the car it wasn't charging the battery. If the worst case scenario was true he would be stranded on the side of the road shortly after he turned on his lights. In the hopes that the alternator was working but just not charging I warned him not to turn off the car when he gassed up. He made it to Mesquite when the worst happened. Sydney had to go pee. He couldn't very well leave the car running so he parked it in a way that it would be easily boosted and Sydney did her thing. Sure enough the car wouldn't start but even boosting it wouldn't get it going. A local fellow was very helpful and told him where the only mechanic in town was and luckily he hadn't gone home yet.

It would be $50 to tow the car so Brandon pushed his car (with his worldly possession and two year old daughter) three blocks to the garage. Six hours and $500 later Brandon was back on the road. It's hard to know if we should be grateful that he wasn't stranded in the middle of nowhere or upset that his car broke down. For myself (and I think Brandon agree's) we're just glad there was a mechanic there on a Saturday night who was able to help. Saturday night was also Prom for Mt Carmel High School. Sarah was asked to go by Zach Sessions. She looked beautiful for the occasion and as always I took way too many pictures. Zach took her to Ruth Chris for dinner. I made sure she knew just how lucky she was to be able to go there. She had a lot of fun. After I kissed Sarah goodbye Alex and I went to watch the new Robin Hood movie. It was an excellent movie but not at all what I was expecting. They took quite a few liberties with the conventional "Robin Hood" plot line but I loved it just the same. The odd thing is that the movie ended right where the normal Robin Hood story begins. It was fun. Also Friday night I got a phone call from Bill Casper asking me to sub for the adult Sunday School class again. I've taught the class enough now that I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable doing it. I still prepare much harder than I normally do to teach a class but I'm starting to relax a little. I think my lesson went OK.

Tonight I went to a training meeting at the temple. I always love to go to the temple. They gave us all a Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD as a thank you for being there. I wasn't expecting that.

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When men are in a small group that includes a very beautiful woman their stress levels as measure by their cortisol levels is equivalent to the stress felt when jumping out of an airplane.

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