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Wed, 09 Jul 2008 It was Napa Family night, $1.00 tickets, at the Brent Brown Ballpark. Ben and Eli Wall accompanied T-y, Bre, the Owens, and me to the Orem Owlz baseball game tonight. It was great to hang out with Ben. Ben is a great guy. I haven't seen Eli since he was about 2. He is a fun kid. T-y hung out with him for a little bit with helped Eli from being bored. Its funny how fast kids grow up. It was a good game to watch. Roberto Lopez caught a fly ball in left field and threw out the guy on third trying to get home. The runner lowered his shoulder and both he and the catcher went flying. The catcher held onto the ball, probably cause he used two hands. Right T-y? I should have taken a picture of it, but I was to busy watching the play. T-y really enjoys the games. Bre watched the game for about 10 minutes and spent the rest of the time playing at the playground and rolling down the hills. It was Napa Family night again so the tickets were only $1.00. The next Napa Family night is August 13th.
Sat, 05 Jul 2008 I was working in the yard this morning when I heard some kids yelling. I couldn't see any kids around. I kept hearing them yell at me and they finally said look up, so I looked up. There were a couple of kids yelling at me as they flew over my house in a hot air balloon. Maybe I will have to look into taking my kids for a ride in a hot air balloon.
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 He was one of the five five New Jersey delegates that signed the Declaration of Independence. T-y was asking about who signed the Declaration of Independence and I remembered that my Mom had told me that we were related to someone that signed it. I gave her a call and she informed me that it was John Hart. T-y thought it was pretty cool to have a relative that signed it. Thank you John for looking out yesteryear for the freedom that I have today.
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 T-y picked up an Orem Owlz baseball schedule a couple of weeks ago. I was looking at the promotional games and noticed that today was NAPA Family Feast night at the ball field. This means that tickets to the game are $1.00 as well as $1 hotdogs, $1 drinks, and $1 popcorn. I asked T-y if he wanted to go and he excitedly answered yes. He wanted to bring his shadow, Reese, so we asked the Owens to go with us. (Shantell, Amanda, and Brielle aren't home this week. They are up in Idaho until Friday.) The game was a blast. T-y sat and watched every inning. He didn't even get up to go run around with Reese and Avery. During the game the announcer requested that the fans email song requests that they could play between innings. A pair of tickets would be given to the song requester if their requested song was played. Jonny was sending in a bunch of different requests so T-y told him to request "Thriller". None of Jonny's requests were played. However, they did play "Thriller". T-y was pretty excited that he won a pair of tickets. The Orem Owlz have a bunch of different $1.00 ticket game promos running this season. You can check out their different promotions on their website. The next $1.00 promo night is July 9th. T-y and I will definitely be at that game.
Sun, 29 Jun 2008 I love it that T-y has my name. I make him stand up in church whenever they announce the name "Brent Berrett". The asked for the ward's sustaining vote for my new calling. I was the only one that openly opposed it when they asked for those opposed. (Miller Time couldn't decide if she should oppose or not so she followed the rest of the ward and sustained me in my new calling.) There were some surprised looks on a few faces and one sister congratulated me on finally graduating from primary. Come check out classroom #12 if you want to know what calling I received. P.S. My contract negotiations failed miserably and there is no money in the budget for a signing bonus. DRATS!!!!! Wed, 25 Jun 2008
I put on some slacks and a dress shirt to go meet with the Bishop tonight. Here is the conversation that ensued with Bre Bre. Bre Bre: Dad, why are you wearing your Sunday clothes? In 2003, I received the best church job in the world thanks to Britney Wall. Ben and Britney decided to move out of the ward which opened up a job in the Primary. While I didn't apply for the job, I was temporarily hired to fill this vacant position. Little did I know that this temporary position would last for 5 years. That's right, I have been a Primary teacher for the last 5 years, primarily teaching the CTR 5 class. I wonder if that is a Church world record. I have served under 4 primary presidents and taught over 50 kids. In fact, I I have taught every child in the Christiansen family, the Kallas family, and the Molton family. Over the years I have had the pleasure of teaching some of the greatest and funniest kids ever. The most memorable moment was when Krazy Kade Kallas fell asleep hanging on a chair. The funny part about it was that Kade was laying on his stomach and his arms were dangling off one side and his legs were dangling off the other side. Neither his hands or feet were touching the ground, so it look like he was hanging off the chair. I went and got Matt to witness this hanging and we both had a good laugh.
When I got home, Bre Bre and I had the following conversation; Bre Bre: Did you get fired from your church job? Me: Yes. She then gave me a big hug and kiss and said that she was sorry that I got fired. I'm having mixed feelings about being fired. A big lump filled my throat when I received the news about being fired. I was hoping to be in the Primary until my first class were in the Valiant 11 class. That way I could have proudly said that I had taught 99% of the kids that are currently in the Primary. I was only two years away from this. I also was campaigning to be a counselor in the Primary Presidency, but that came to an abrupt end earlier this year. I want each of the parents of the kids in my class over the years to know how much I truly love your child(ren). While some of the kids tried my patience, I can honestly say I never dreaded having any of them in my class. I did receive an offer for a new church job. I would let you know what it is, but I am still negotiating the contract and my signing bonus. There are some aspects of the job that I don't really like so I am trying to make sure I get all the benefits and none of the hassles of the job. Stay tuned for further updates......... Sat, 31 May 2008 Johnny and I thought it would be fun to check out the homes in the Utah Valley Parade of Homes. We only got to a couple of them, but the ones that we did get to were pretty amazing. 
Sat, 10 May 2008
Mon, 05 May 2008
Objects in the Mirror are Closer Then They Appear
Officer "Apple" Williams pulled me over for violating subsection 4 of section 41-6a-305 of the Utah code this morning. I knew the moment that I turned the corner and saw him in the Parkside Pharmacy parking lot that he was going to be pulling me over for this infraction. I knew I had done wrong and asked for a warning ticket. I should have made some excuse, like I had diarrhea, why I didn't stop. Officer "Apple" Williams politely declined my request. Here is the conversation that followed: Apple: I saw you look both ways before making the right turn on the red light, but you failed to stop at the "white stop line" before proceeding into the intersection. The white stop line is there to protect pedestrians crossing the road. Failing to stop puts them in harms way. He probably has a quota to fill to help keep iProvo from going under. So citizens of Provo should be thanking me for helping keep iProvo from doom. :) And for those old time friends, yes I am still driving the '91 Acura that I bought back in May of 1994.
Wed, 16 Apr 2008
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions
About 7 weeks ago, I decided to take the kids backpacking in Bullet Canyon in Southeastern Utah. Shantell called these past 7 weeks as the countdown to Hell. I didn't really give Shantell an option, which is a decision that I am still paying for. You see, Shantell's idea of camping is staying at a 1 star hotel and not in a tent. :o) During the past 7 weeks I have been putting our gear in order, making some homemade gear, dehydrating various foods, and searching grocery store shelves for food that only required water to make them. I got the idea to go to Bullet Canyon from a hiking book, Utah's Incredible Backcountry Trails, that buddy Jonathan Owens had purchased. I liked the idea of hiking into this canyon so we could see the ruins of the prehistoric Anasazi Indians. Bullet Canyon houses two of the most popular ruins in the area. These ruins are called the "Jail House" and "Perfect Kiva".
We started the trip at 5:00am on the 13th. We arrived at the trail head around 12:00pm. We were planning on hiking to the intersection of Bullet Canyon and Grand Gulch, about 8 miles, the first day. It seemed like a lofty goal at the time, so only time would tell if we were going to be able to make it or not. The kids and Shantell's backpacks were pretty light weight. Amanda and Tyler were only carrying a change of clothes, their sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. Shantell was carrying the same, except she was carrying Brielle's stuff as well. I packed in my stuff as well as all the food, the tent, and the cooking equipment. My pack weighed in at 58 pounds. Heavy you say? I say it wasn't as heavy as it would seem. Amanda used my old external frame backpack. She liked it a lot better then the internal frame backpack that I bought her last year. 
The trail was pretty easy at the beginning. The trail pretty much followed the dry creek bed that ran down the middle of the canyon. 
Along the way we saw a watch tower that the Indians had built. It wasn't built by any ruins, so I have no clue as to what it was used to watch. The closed ruin was at least 4 miles away. 
There were several rest stops, and pack adjustments along the way. We also saw countless lizards out sunning themselves. 
The trail came to a staircase waterfall that was pretty cool. 
Since the trail mostly followed the river bed, we stuck to it. Unfortunately that was our downfall. The trail was not maintained is several locations and was only visible by poorly maintained trail markers. There was one point were we should have followed the trail markers, which would have taken us on a trail above the river bed, but instead followed the river bed. The river bed trail took us a lot of work and energy to get through. Fortunately we found the right trail on the way back, so we completely avoided this part of the trail on the way out. 
It was about this time that T-Y started to lag, so I added his pack to mine. Whats another 10-15 pounds when you are already carrying 58. After 40 minutes or so of hiking over and around the boulders in the river bed, the trail was flattened out. It was a good thing too, as everyone was pretty much exhausted. We found a decent spot that would allow us to pitch our tents close together and that was close to a water source. (I probably filtered nearly 5 gallons of water each day we were there.) So much for accomplishing the goal of hiking 8 miles in the first day. 
The kids immediately set out exploring the campsite. It seems that they all found a burst of energy immediately after we decided to set up camp. 
Shantell didn't sleep very well. It was partly because she wasn't able to move around in her sleeping bag because of the integration of the sleeping pad in the sleeping bag. It was also partly due to the fact that Bre-Bre had to get up and pee multiple times. It would have been nice if she had gotten up the first time she pee'd rather then after. She wet the bed. Good thing that I brought along an extra sleeping bag.
On Monday we set out on a day hike to see the Jailhouse and Perfect Kiva. Bre-Bre wasn't too happy about having to walk to them. She wanted to stay at camp or be carried. She soon changed her mind after we ignored her cries and left her in camp. She actually followed us out of camp, so she was never actually left alone at camp. We hiked for about 35 minutes and decided to break for lunch. 
I set off by myself to find the ruins. I was hoping to find the ruins rather quickly and then return to the group. I was hoping that the news that I found them would energize the group. By the time I got back to the group, they had nearly caught up to me. Much to my dismay, Shantell had taken Bre-Bre back to camp. It was disheartening to hear, mostly because we had eaten lunch 20 minutes from the ruins. Both ruins were located high in the cliffs, so it took a bit a scrambling and hiking to get to them. It was well worth the hike. Here are some pictures of the perfect kiva 
Pictures of the Jailhouse ruin. 
All in all it was a fantastic trip. I enjoyed every bit of it, even the complaining. Shantell put a good game face on, but I know that she really didn't have too much of a good time. I don't think that she will be up to backpacking ever again. She thinks that it is to much work. I on the other hand love to get into the back country. I think she would rather car camp in the future, or as my dad calls it "Comfort Camping". 
Drop me an email if anyone that has read this would like to go backpacking with me. |
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