Mowing the Lawn

I know the tradition began earlier, but I associate it with the Carmen Red Oldsmobile station wagon. There was also the Toyota van, but the Oldsmobile days were the magic ones. Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we would literally go. (Also through the valley, past the waterfalls, over the hill, and along the lake.) Neilan family Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The house where my mom was raised, where aunts, uncles, and cousins were just a few houses or blocks away. The two story house where on any ordinary day you entered directly into the kitchen, sat at the kitchen table, and just listened to my mom and her parents talk as an assortment of her brothers would inevitably call or stop by. But on Christmas Eve, the house was already packed to the brim with family, presents, food, and laughter. So much laughter. It was a wonderland as a child to be surrounded by people who loved you and were excited to see you. The house was warm and the large w...

I will wake up tomorrow morning, on Father’s Day, alone in Cheyenne without my family. I say this matter-of-factly. Designated days have only a light hold on me. An unexpected business trip that means being gone on Father’s Day? No problem. I'm not much for ceremony. More than once we have marked Father’s Day by splurging for a hotdog at Costco while filling up the minivan on a road trip. (Surely, Cheyenne has a Costco.) If I wake up emotional tomorrow morning, it's not because I'm alone on Father’s Day. It will be because of the cocktail of emotions I drank today. —— Driving across Wyoming was beautiful. Everything below the horizon looked groomed and green. The grass, the hills. the forests. A sea of green dusted with flecks of distant snowfields and antelope. (So many antelope.) Above the horizon, wild white and stormy black scratched across brilliant blue. The kind of sea and sky that softens your heart and tricks your mind.  I pulled off the highway at Little America f...

It was Thursday night, well past sunset. They had already partaken of the sacrament and sung a hymn when Jesus stepped out of the room and set his feet on the path that would lead first to the garden Gethsemane and before the sun set again to the cruel cross of Calvary. The garden spot was a place well known to the Savior. A place he was accustomed to visiting when in Jerusalem. I wonder if he knew the first time he visited that garden the role it would play in God’s grand design. Perhaps he did. Or perhaps he simply chose it that night because it would provide the peace and solitude he would need to bear the weighty burden that awaited him.  John, his apostle, was with him. But John wrote little about what was about to happen. Only that Jesus, with his disciples, crossed over a brook into the garden. What we do know from John is that in the hours leading up to this moment Christ’s thoughts were on us. He prayed that we would find joy in the world, that we would be with him once ou...

I have been thinking a lot about my father this week. On Monday I helped Braeden and Anna move all of their belongings out of Deleward and into a moving truck bound for Woodland, CA where Braeden starts graduate school at nearby UC Davis next month. As I walked from the truck parked on 400 East across the lawn and up the stairs, my mind flashed back to 24 years earlier when I was moving out of the same apartment building, walking across the same grass, and loading up my own moving truck with the help of my dad.  Braeden was just eight months old at the time. I can still see him sitting in the grass with my dad, Thelma, and cheap-enough-that-we-could-afford-it pizza and bread sticks from Sounds Easy. It meant everything to have my dad there with me. Looking back on it I realize that Thelma was the real star. I was working right up to the very end. As with all of our moves, she did the bulk of the packing and planning. I was just the muscle. I was nervous about moving from Provo, Uta...

Lately, I find myself reciting in my mind portions of The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles . I memorized it years ago when our family was studying it at Easter. It has been a constant source of strength and perspective in my life. For all the scripture and sermon that exists about Jesus Christ, I’m not sure there is a more succinct and beautiful treatment of who he is and why it matters. There is one passage that repeats D&C 76. Referring to Jesus Christ, the Prophet Joseph wrote, “We saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father— That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.” ( D&C 76: 23-24 ) I find in these truths evidence of Jesus Christ’s sweeping love and grace. Because of the universal atonement of Jesus Christ, he brings every inhabitant of every world he has ever created back into t...

For the past month or so my mind has been drawn to the words of a popular hymn. “So trusting my all to thy tender care, and knowing thou lovest me, I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere. I’ll be what you want me to be.” Even as I feel overwhelmed by the gap between what I am now and what he wants me to be, especially in my new calling, I also remember experiences that show me his tender care and give me a reservoir of lessons to draw upon. I’ve been thinking a lot about when I was 24 years old. Thelma and I had just moved across the country to Connecticut where I was starting graduate school. Within a few months I was called as an assistant stake clerk. I asked President Openshaw, who extended the calling, what my responsibilities would be and he said the stake presidency wasn’t sure yet. But he went on to explain the specific revelation they had received in calling me. That meant a lot to me then to know that God was mindful of me and that President Openshaw would take the time to...

A version of this talk was given in sacrament meeting on May 14, 2017.  It is based on Elder Holland’s remarks from the April 2017 General Conference titled “Songs Sung and Unsung.” Mormon, chapter 7, contains the last words Mormon wrote before he was killed.  As part of his testimony of Jesus Christ, he says this: “And [Jesus Christ] hath brought to pass the redemption of the world, whereby he that is found guiltless before him at the judgment day hath it given unto him to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above, unto the Father... in a state of happiness which hath no end.” (Mormon 7:7) That is how Mormon ends the Book of Mormon:  with a promise that we can join the choir in heaven if we are faithful.  It is also the same vision that begins the Book of Mormon.  In 1 Nephi, chapter 1, Lehi goes somewhere to pray for his people and as he does this a pillar of fire appears on a rock.  Nephi doesn’t t...

Is news really so hard to come by that people are talking about Mitt Romney using the word "zany" to describe Newt Gingrich?  You'd think Mitt Romney was caught on tape spouting an expletive while smoking a cigarette made by illegal immigrants. What's next? A flibbertigibbet? A will-o'-the-wisp? A clown? Apparently, the "z" word is strictly off limits in political discourse and worth devoted coverage when it breaks the lips of a politician.  The Los Angeles Times noted that Romney "lobbed some rhetorical grenades" by using the word.  "With lines like this, just think about what Mitt Romney has saved for Thursday night's debate." The Daily Mail called the comment Romney's "most personal assault yet on Newt Gingrich." ABC News characterized Romney's new word as "the latest in a string of attacks" and Ed Rogers, who writes as one of "The Insiders" for the Washington Post, reasons ...

A comment I hear every now and again is that no one responsible for the collapse of our economy or the mortgage crisis at its center has ever been held responsible.  I have a few problems with that statement. First, who deserves the blame?  I'm not informed enough to know precisely who is responsible.  I suspect blame can be shared far and wide from the bankers and investors who concocted shaky financial instruments to  ratings agencies to regulators to the parties taking out mortgages they couldn't afford.  Did I leave anyone out? Second, it isn't true that no one has been held responsible.  There have been at least three criminal cases and a handful of civil cases brought against various individuals and institutions.  Still, in an environment where so many people are out of work with little prospect of finding sustainable employment, it is hard to feel like justice has been done when you compare the relatively few fines to the billions of dollar...

Blue jeans Grey shirts Rosemary mint shampoo White file boxes White towels and Her Brown paper Pine or pale Morning mist Bright ideas Not new Just right

Thelma was gone this evening and had Emma with her, so it was the perfect opportunity to let the boys eat food that is normally quite low on Thelma's list of approved dining options. Before driving to the high school to pick up Braeden from play practice, I asked Mark, "Would you rather have Chinese food or stop at Little Caesar's to get pizza?" Then, inspiration struck me while he was agonizing over the choice. "What about both?" I asked.  His eyes lit up and I could see he knew where I was going with this. "How about we make a Chinese pizza?" Mark started to rattle off a list of ingredients. That kid knows how to build. Usually, it's Legos. Tonight it was pizza. The original idea for a Chinese pizza came during a recent in-the-van-driving-somewhere conversation. I challenged everyone to come up with a strange pizza combination. Between Braeden and I, we imagined a combination that included General Tso chicken in some form. Braed...

miscellanea |ˌmisəˈlānēə| plural noun miscellaneous items, esp. literary compositions, that have been collected together. ❖ ❖ ❖ I'm not sure which is better: the title of the book ( "Fiction Ruined My Family" ) or the title of the book review ("Mom’s a Drunk, Dad’s a Writer: A Recipe for Disaster and a Memoir"). Memoirists impress me.  (And I'm lucky to be married to one .) It seems like an impossible feat to pull off a memoir.  First, you have to have lived an interesting life.  Second, you have to be talented enough to write about it.  Here's an excerpt where the author describes the affects of living with a father who insisted on high standards for language: I was under the impression clichés could ruin you, ruin your life, your hopes and dreams, bring down your whole operation if you didn’t watch it. They were gateway language, leading straight to a business major, a golfy marriage, needlepoint pillows that said things about your golf ...

This is day 53 of dieting and I finally fell off the wagon. I was doing so well up until this point.  There have been frustrating times.  Times when it would have been easy to bury my stress beneath a mound of flap jacks or in a giant bowl of chow mein.  Times when I could have given into the siren song of humus or the cold indulgence of ice cream.  I've stared awkwardly at fruit.  I've dreamt of chocolate lava cakes. But I had persevered until this evening.  And I have—or used to have, rather—twenty seven pounds to show for it. Cumulative Weight Loss: No one's perfect. I get that. It's just how I fell off the wagon that bothers me. I was pushed off by this guy: "Little Caesar!?  Really?  The creepy little purveyor of bad pizza?" I know.  What can I say?  He got me.  I didn't intend for it to happen. I can't believe it myself.  I've had so many opportunities to cheat.  So many better alternatives than ...

Did you happen to see this picture of the southern rock band Jeff the Brotherhood? That's Jamin on the left.  He's sporting a $1500 shirt and $1300 pants.  The cheapskate on the right is Jake whose $1400 shirt needs to be a little longer so I don't have to see his $830 pants.  Personally, if I had that kind of money to spend (and already had a wave runner), I'd get me some of Jake's hairdo. ❖ ❖ ❖ Did you happen to read the Sherlock Holmes mystery " The Adventure of the Speckled Band "?  If so, did you happen to laugh as I did when you came across this passage: "I should  be very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your pocket....  That and a tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need." I've been trying to come up with a way to slip those sentences into casual conversation. ❖ ❖ ❖ Did you happen to read or hear about the book " Lost in Transition " in which Notre Dame professor Christian Smith sh...

In my last post, I said I'm craving "riding a wave runner until my body aches." I was speaking figuratively, but Braeden didn't get the message. As we were riding on Lake Chelan this weekend, he jumped a wave at about 30 MPH and then skipped into another one sideways. I flew off the back of the wave runner. The ensuing moments are still a bit blurry, but a few highlights stand out. After my third skip across the water I thought, "Wow. Braeden's a long way away already." After my second summersault, I was hoping that I'd tied my shorts. After four seconds or so underwater waiting for my life vest to bring me back to the surface, I realized that every part of me that could hurt did—and still does. At least it is a happy hurt.  

A list of things I'm craving: Something interesting to design A veggie sandwich on great bread that's too big to eat Chocolate chip cookies Riding a wave runner until my body aches Pizza, any shape, any quality Basketball season A solution to my landscaping dilemmas Another month of summer A way to easily hang bicycles from a 16-foot ceiling A compelling reason to use Google+

I just returned this evening from three nights of camping with Braeden and the 14-15 year old boys from our ward.  Officially, it was a high adventure.  The cliffs and trees and bridges off of which they jumped were high.  Mt. Constitution was high.  But it was probably the most laid back high adventure I've been part of.  Sun and swimming with a smattering of hiking and biking thrown in for good measure. Thankfully, the food was not a high adventure.  The boys have been well tutored in the art of camp site cooking by a series of culinary campers from Eric "Fajitas" Jorgensen to Keven "Steak and Broccoli" Jackson; and now on to Brother Jensen.  (Kudos to Brother Jensen for bringing the full compliment of condiments from for some seriously good burgers.) I've posted the pictures from the week here .  For parents who are interested, my web albums also have photos from Scout Camp 2010 and Scout Camp 2009 . I've also posted a few videos on You...

You have to check out what is going on over at The Shepherd's Watch .  I mentioned it in my last post , but it's better when you can see it in action.  Different members of the elders quorum in my ward are taking turns sharing their personal scripture study with the rest of the quorum.  What's interesting is that the idea of scripture study is extending beyond the traditional definition of scripture—the standard works of the Church—to include the words of living prophets and apostles.  It may not be the conventional definition, but it is a doctrinally sound one. I'm looking forward to the next few entries and then getting together on Sunday to discuss the exercise as a quorum.  Here are some highlights from what has been posted so far. Bill Bailey  shows how much there is to gain from reading even a few verses a night with young children who may not be able to handle much more.  Whenever I read 1 Nephi 11:31 from now on, I'll think of Bill identifyi...

I'm writing this post in response to an assignment from President Williams, the Elders's Quorum president in my ward.  He asked our quorum for a different volunteer each day this week to share insights from their personal scripture study.  I accepted the challenge for today.  My experience will be posted on our quorum blog, The Shepherd's Watch , along with experiences from other quorum members throughout the week. I wasn't sure what to study.  Usually when I study the scriptures I either read slightly ahead of where my family happens to be studying The Book of Mormon or I study something I've been asked to read by a priesthood leader.  This afternoon I decided to go with the first approach and read 2 Nephi 16 which is roughly the same as Isaiah 6. I was struck by one verse in particular which has perplexed me in the past.   2 Nephi 16:10 : Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes—lest they see with their eyes, ...