Tour of Utah

This past Sunday William, Mia, and I went downtown to watch the final stage of the Tour of Utah. It was a criterium race around two blocks. There were about 160 riders who averaged over 30 miles per hour for more than an hour and a half of racing. For those of you who don't ride, that is hauling butt! David Zabriskie, a Utah native, was one of the few big name guys in the race. Apparently, the race was very well supported this year and the organizers are thinking that this race could potentially draw some bigger names in the future.

Kingpin

My sister's family flew into town this past week from Virginia. Living on opposite sides of the country makes it so that we don't get to see each other as often as we would all like. We were all really excited to see Baby Colby, the newest addition to the family. He was born back in June and this was the first time that any of us had seen him (except for my mom and dad).

Last week I blogged about my intense miniature golfing experience. On Saturday I ended up being a last minute fill-in for the men's bowling team. Unfortunately, the same team that was so hard core on the mini golf course ended up as the first place winners, but we had a strong third place finish. That was pretty good considering my scores for the three games were 121, 117, and 123. Bryce Catten carried the team all morning long. I think this coming week we will move up in the overall team standings.

I know that this blog doesn't have a huge following, but if any of you have any recommendations for college loans consolidation, please post them in the comments. It's not that we are in a bad situation with what we have now, but Haize is planning on going back to school starting in January and I want to make sure that we know what all of our options are.

Haize and I saw this bumper sticker at the mall this past week and couldn't resist snapping a photo:

Hard Core Mini Golf

Last night I played in the mini golf event for the Salt Lake County Corporate Games. I guess I didn't really know what to expect going into it. I certainly did not anticipate playing with people who would treat it like we were playing in the U.S. Open!

Each four person team was split in half. Each two-some was assigned to play with a two-some from another team. We kept each other's scores to avoid anyone "stretching the truth." One of the guys we played with was over the top. He expected us to play full using full golf etiquette, right down to marking our balls and strictly adhering to who had honors based on scores from the last hole.

At the end of the round all four scores from each team/company were combined to provide an overall score. Long story short, we didn't do too well. We weren't sure how bad we did until while waiting for the presentation of the event medals, the event coordinator came up to me and very sweetly said, "If you are waiting around for the medals, it would probably be OK to go home if you want to." She then showed me the scores of the other teams. We finished 12 strokes worse than the next worst team! We got absolutely killed!

The nice thing about miniture golf is that no matter how bad you play, it is still fun, and yesterday was no exception. I would have liked to do a better job for the team as a whole, but we gave it our all and had a good time while doing it.

Baseball Cards

I have been an avid baseball card collector since I was about 12 years old. Luckily, my love of collecting is shared by my other love, Haize. I think she mostly enjoys the thrill of the chase - she loves opening packs of cards to see what valuable items might be inside. The hobby has really changed a lot over the years. I remember back when I could take a $1 bill down to 7-11 and buy two packs of 1987 Topps cards. These days packs can run anywhere from about $2.00 to $100.00! Instead of getting excited about pulling your favorite players, now the excitement comes from finding a memorabilia, autograph, or short-print card.

The purpose of me writing all this is to mention that this past week I found a helpful tool on www.beckett.com where I can enter in the cards we own and it will tell me what each one is worth and then what the entire collection is worth. I have been entering in cards since Thursday and have yet to even make a dent. One of the side benefits has been going back through the card boxes and finding things I had completely forgotten about. It is almost like being able to open the packs all over again! Even though I consider the value of my collection to be part of my net worth, I realize that it will never be something that I can use as part of my retirement plan. As a matter of fact, I probably have too much invested emotionally to ever be able to part with the majority of the collection. If I ever had to, I would probably end up with some kind of anxiety disorder!

Saturday was busy for the whole family. Haize, Mia, and Emma all took part in a two-family garage sale with the neighbors, the Hydes. They had good day and exceed their expectations in sales. To make things even better, as we were cleaning up, some people showed up and took away the last few big items that we had so we didn't even have to make a trip to Deseret Industries to drop it off!

I participated in the opening day of the Salt Lake County Corporate Games. Our 5k team (which I definitely wasn't a part of) finished 3rd in our division and got us off to a great start. Nicole Goeckeritz and I set up and manned the team showcase tent for about three hours before going to play softball. Traditionally, the company team hasn't been very good, but we played out of our freaking minds! We won both games we played and are now only two wins away from winning the softball portion of the tournament! I have to admit that it is a lot funner to play softball when you are winning!

This past week was bittersweet in that Emma has made the decision to go back to Puerto Rico for a year. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to find a job teaching elementary school for this upcoming year. Her plan is to spend a year teaching again at the University of Puerto Rico while she completes everything necessary to receive a teaching licence. That should make getting a job here in Utah a lot easier next year. While we will undoubtedly miss her, it is nice to know that she is just a free jetBlue flight away. I think it was a lot tougher when we had no idea when we would be seeing each other again because we had to wait for cheap flights. Just another blessing from Haize's job...

Chillin' in Monterey

It has been two weeks since my last post. The primary reason is that we spent most of the past week in Monterey, California. I was on Navy orders at the Human Resources Center of Excellence (HRCOE) located at the Naval Postgraduate School from July 17th through July 23rd. The nice thing was that I was able to take Haize and Mia along this time. Although I spent the majority of the time working from 7:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. each day, we had a really good time together. The biggest surprise for us was how chilly it was. I don't think it got above 65 degrees the whole time we were there. A jacket or sweatshirt was pretty much mandatory in the morning and evening. It was a nice break from the 100+ degree temperatures of Utah, but it was tough for Mia to understand why the beach wasn't warm enough to play at.

On the trip Haize and I experienced acupuncture for the first time. My direct supervisor at the HRCOE, LCDR (Sel) Phoebe Kim's (congrats to her for recently being selected for promotion) husband is an acupuncturist. At lunch on our first day there, Haize mentioned that her wrist was bothering her. Phoebe offered to bring her husband to our room the next day for a treatment. She had one needle placed in her foot and two in her knee. Within a very short period of time, the pain had all but gone away! It was at that point that I mentioned my softball leg injury. He put a needle in my cheek and another in my knee. I was amazed at how much better if felt afterwards. I think there really might be something to oriental medicine. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to go back to him again.

On my one free afternoon, we were able to visit Point Lobos State Reserve. What an amazing place! We almost felt like we had been transported to a completely different world. The views were absolutely breathtaking.

Point Lobos - Mike and Haize at China Cove

Point Lobos - Mike and Mia at Hidden Beach

Point Lobos - Haize and Mia at Sand Hill Cove

I have more pictures from the trip that I will post on Facebook.

We have been so blessed by Haize's job at jetBlue during the past nine months. It has allowed us to do and see some awesome things as a family. We have created some unforgettable memories. I remember reading that, "Life is a rough biography. Memories smooth out the edges." And also that, "We do not remember days; we remember moments." I want to publicly thank my dear wife for her hard work and efforts to help make our family's memories.

Never a Dull Moment with Mia

Mia's Mimi (Grandma Emma) set up a pool in her back yard. During the past week, not a day has gone by that she hasn't spent some time in it. As long as she has her goggles on, she has become quite gutsy and daring. She will actually swim all the way across the pool underwater! Another one of her favorite pool activities is to play catch with the Velcro mitts and tennis ball. She always wants me to throw the ball "as high as the trees" so she can try to catch it.

You will notice that there is no one else in the water with her. This particular pool is only heated by the sun, so it is still WAY too cold for us wimpy folks! Luckily, her Tio William is a little tougher than the rest of us and will jump in and play with her on occasion.

Yes, in the above picture, Mia does have her head stuck in the sink! We probably should have taken the plates out first, but that is another story for a different day. Anyway, Mia was playing with some slimy goo that she got from the Hello Kitty store the other day. She had stretched it out and was swinging it around her head when, Pow! It got stuck in her hair! The only way to get the goop out was to run hot water over it. Crisis was avoided!

More of the Bees

This year we decided to hold the Cyprus summer party at the Salt Lake Bees game. Before the game we had dinner out at the Left Field Pavilion. They served us typical ball park food - hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, chili, and soda. It was all pretty good. After eating, we all headed over to our seats that were along the first base line. We sat next to the Smiths, Buddy (special thanks goes out to Buddy for entertaining Mia and Jacob for a good part of the game )and his wife Brittney, and Katie and her roommate (I can't remember her name right now). We all had a fun time hanging out and watching the game. Unfortunately, the Bees lost to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in ten innings, but the game was a good pitching battle.

After the game, the kids were able to go down onto the field and run the bases. Afterwards, Mia decided that she wanted to give a hug to Bumble, the mascot of the Bees. for those of you who know Mia, you will quickly recognize this as a HUGE accomplishment. In the past she has been scared to death of anything in a costume (she comes by this naturally because my parents tell me I was the same way as a kid). With a lot of encouragement from us and a few trips to Disney parks, she appears to be slowly overcoming her fears. We were so proud of her!

One other interesting note about the game was that the Famous San Diego Chicken was there performing. He was as funny and clever as ever. The same guy, Ted Giannoulas has been performing as the Chicken for more than 35 years - I remember seeing him when we used to go the Salt Lake Trappers (rookie league) games back when I was a kid. Apparently, he is considering retirement, so I was really glad that Mia got to see him at least once in person.

On Saturday afternoon there was a rare sighting at the Walters home - Mike doing yard work! Working outside in the yard isn't my favorite thing in the world. It's not that I don't like having a yard that looks nice, I just don't particularly like doing it myself! However, I actually ended up getting the lawn mowed and the front yard sprinklers fixed. This next week I plan on attacking the back yard sprinklers and the front porch balcony. I need to strip the flaking paint off the balcony and then repaint it. Sounds like fun!

She's Growing Up So Fast!

This past week Mia graduated from kindergarten. It it had to believe that ten months ago Haize and I were watching her walk into the school for the first time. I am so proud of all her accomplishments. She has learned so much much and has made so much progress. I am still amazed on a daily basis when she randomly reads a sign, the cover of a book or magazine, or something on the TV. During her ceremony on Thursday, Mia received a certificate for completing the Kindergarten Challenge and also received the award for Best Manners. Mrs. Krogue said that she has never had a student like Mia who, without fail, always used please, thank you, and excuse me.

I am going to take this opportunity to steal an idea from my sister, Tami's, blog ( http://pugmirefam.blogspot.com/) and list what I love about Mia:

1. Mia always wants to be with her daddy and mommy. She loves spending time with us and we love spending time with her.
2. Although it takes a little prodding sometimes, Mia likes to try new things (especially if she can try it with Jacob, Abigail, Mom, or Dad).
3. Mia is one of the smartest and most intelligent little kids I have ever been around. It amazes me how she can put concepts and ideas together to understand things that are way beyond her years.
4. Mia doesn't like to see other people sad. Whenever she sees someone who is crying, she makes every effort that she can to comfort them through her words and actions.
5. Mia LOVES to travel! I don't know where she got that from, but she loves to go new places and see new things. Everything is an adventure. She is a rock star buddy to sit next to on the airplane!
6. Mia is ours! Is there anything more special in this world than two people who are madly in love being able to share life with someone who is part of both of them?! Mia is our miracle child (verified recently by Haize's doctor) and I will forever thank God for sending her to us.

Saturday was the 4th of July. We have a longstanding tradition of always going to the West Jordan parade, and this year was no different. It never really changes that much, but there is something about being part of an annual town event like that. This year I was even able to help Mia rule out at least one future career choice - Parade Pooper Scooper. Actually, she said she would be fine driving the little utility vehicle if her cousin, Analisa, who is visiting us again from Florida, would do the actual scooping duties.

Later that evening we went over to the Smith's. Brian and Sandra had graciously invited us to their block party. They had a ton of great food and then we finished off the night with three HUGE boxes of fireworks. At times, they were lighting 3-5 fountains concurrently just so we could get through them all. I did end up spending a portion of the evening on a laptop working on a project for a friend of mine. He's a pretty good guy, so I didn't mind.

Sunday we did something that we VERY RARELY do. We went to a Salt Lake Bee's game! The Bee's are the triple A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. We had a fun time. The Bee's won the game and we got to see a fireworks show afterwards. In my other blog (http://restofstorymike.blogspot.com/) I wrote about how "Proud To Be An American" has got to be the best fireworks song of all time.

Is It the Shoes?

Please let me take you back for a moment to the summer of 1988. I was preparing to enter eighth grade. As everyone remembers, that is a really tough and ackward time for young teenagers. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly who we were and where we fit in. It just so happens that at that particular time Nike had quite recently come out with the Air Jordan line of shoes. Anyone who was anyone had a pair. It was an amazing phenominom. All you had to do was show up to school on the first day with a pair of "Jordans" on your feet and you were immediately respected and looked at as one of the cool kids - or so it seemed to me at least.

Anyway, I was absolutely convinced that I NEEDED a pair of those shoes. I vividly remember going to Foot Locker at Fashion Place Mall to pick out that year's school shoes. My mom had no idea what she was in for. I passed over every pair and immediately set my sights on the Jordans, the holy grail of shoes. My mom took one quick look at the price tag and emphatically took her stance. $130 was just way too much to spend on a pair of shoes (or so she thought). As you probably can imagine, 45 minutes later (after a lot of complaining, wheeling, dealing, and begging) I lost the battle and had to settle for a pair of British Knights. It was either wear those or go barefoot.

Now that I am older and wiser (or at least I pretend to be) I can clearly understand why my mom did what she did and I don't think I suffered too much emotional anguish. However, when I recently came across a company that was selling the Nike Air Jordan IV, I had to make the purchase, if for nothing else than to exorcise the deamons of the past. I got such a good deal (they had a very limited supply and luckily had some in my size) that I got myself two pairs! Now honestly, do I really need two new pairs of basketball shoes? Absolutely not. But it sure makes me want to put them on and take a stroll down the halls of that middle school again. Respect me!

My First Attempt At slide.com

Hurricane Ramirez II (She Calls It Creativity)

OK, I decided to do another post because I want everyone to know that Hurricane Ramirez II has recently been sighted in West Jordan, Utah. Mia is definitely following in her mother's footsteps. She has an amazing talent for making very unique messes. Luckily, destruction does not usually accompany the disasters.

In her most recent act, Hurricane Ramirez II placed a sticky-back Rhine stone on every single piano key and then made a very creative design on the sheet music holder. You've got to love her creativity but not necessarily the clean up!

Lots of Logan

Yesterday we may have squeezed more into a Saturday than is actually humanly possible. Seriously, it is possible that we accidentally fell into some type of weird time continuum. It actually all started on Friday afternoon when we went up to Logan for the 2009 MS Harmon's Best Dam Bike Ride. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I wasn't able to ride this year because I am STILL recovering from my softball leg injury (it actually is beginning to feel a little better and the swelling is finally not quite so bad). We stayed at the Econo Lodge (about as good as Logan has to offer) in one of their "suites." All that really means is that the room had a kitchenette, a sofa bed, a pullman bed, and a king size bed. Here is a picture:



My Saturday morning started at 6:05 a.m. when we left for the fairgrounds, the site of the start and finish of the MS ride. We did team photos, passed out all of the jerseys, and got everyone on the road. It was really hard for me to see all of the teammates mount up and ride off, but I will definitely be back and ready for next year.




And here is my message of the week for EVERYONE:

After the ride was over for the day I went to pick up the family and we went to eat at The Bluebird on Main Street in Logan. I learned that the Bluebird opened in 1914 as a candy shop and soda fountain, and then branched out to include a full menu in the 1920's. They still make homemade sodas at the fountain. We all tried the "Ironport" which is their version of a Coke. It was a little to sweet and syrupy for me, but I think everyone else liked it. When we were done with lunch we took a few minutes to take a quick tour through the Logan Tabernacle. It is a beautiful building and it is absolutely amazing that it was built in 1865.

We still weren't done there. After making the drive back from Logan, we decided to have dinner at Moochies in Salt Lake City. Todd Johnson from work had recommended it to me last week as a "can't miss." He was absolutely right! It is an extremely small restaurant on 232 East and 800 South (not a part of town I normally spend a lot of time in). They specialize in Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches and meatball subs. We tried both and were absolutely amazed! I'm now selfish and don't want to make the place more crowded than it already is, but if you are reading this, you have got to try it!

We finished up the day by making an effort to go to the Utah Arts Festival. I say an attempt because when we got to the front gates and realized that we had to pay $10 per person to get in with only a couple of hours left until closing time, we decided it wasn't worth it. We opted to take a nice walk around the City and County Building and Salt Lake City Library. It was a beautiful Utah evening.

On a completely different note, this week we realized what kind of influence William is on Mia:

I am obviously kidding about the whole influence thing. William is an incredible uncle to Mia. He cares about her so much and takes great care of her.

Hospital and Hairbows

Like I mentioned last week, Haize has had family in town for the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute held at Juan Diego High School in Draper. Haize and Emma decided to sell their hairbows and headbands at one of the vendor tables. They had a good amount of inventory left over from the jetBlue craft sale, so they thought they were ready...Their merchandise ended up being a huge hit! They were up until midnight or later every night making more to sell the next day. They ended up grossing almost $800 in three and a half days of selling. One of the highlights for them was meeting and getting to know Jenny Oaks Baker, the daughter of Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Haize mentioned to me that while she was so happy with how things went, she doesn't want to touch a hot glue gun or pick up a piece of ribbon for a few days!

Haize and I also spent our fair share of time at Alta View Hospital again this week. I had an appointment with one of the orthopedic surgeons there to get my leg checked out again. He diagnosed it as a "crush injury" that has caused some severe damage to the skin, muscles, tendons, bone, and nerves. He told me to take it easy again this weekend and then start wearing a compression sock (like old people with circulation problems use), massaging the leg at night, and start doing some VERY light repetitive exercise (like cycling). It also looks like I won't be able to ride in the MS 150 next weekend.

About a month ago Haize was diagnosed with anterior pituitary insufficiency. The thought is that it probably started about six years ago when she was overtreated for hypothyroidism. Basically what this means is that her body has not been creating the necessary hormones that control all kinds of different functions. The doctor has put her on a variety of new medications and hormone replacement therapies. She will never be completely healed, but within a few months she will begin to feel completely reborn and full of life. In the meantime, she is having to struggle through all of the changes that her body is undergoing. On Thursday night we spent a few hours in the ER just making sure that some pain she was feeling was "normal." Thank goodness, everything checked out OK.

The rain is still falling like crazy. I seriously cannot ever remember a June like this here in Utah. This week more than an inch of rain has fallen. I looked it up online and the average rainfall for the entire month of June in West Jordan is normally only 1.27 inches! I have considered starting to build an arc in the back yard!

Let It Rain

Two weeks in a row! This is probably a new record for me. This past week we have all been wondering whether or not we moved to Seattle and didn't know it. We have had some hardcore thunderstorms come through the Salt Lake valley just about every day. On Saturday it rained so hard that the street filled up with water to the point where it was coming over the curbs onto the grass. The only time I can remember seeing another strom like it was when I went through Hurricane Hortense in Puerto Rico.

The biggest news of the week is Haize's makeover. She finally found a stylist she could trust and then let her go to work on her hair. She ended up cutting off eight inches, completely changing the style, and putting in some great highlights. She is still trying to decide if she totally loves it, but I think she looks tremendous!

The last few days Haize and I have gotten hooked on doing genealogical indexing for FamilySearch.org. They provide us with online scanned copies of census data which we then enter into spreadsheets. We have been working on 1920's data from Pennsylvania and the Yucatan, Mexico. Ultimately it will make it easier for people who or working on their own family histories because the records will be electronic and completely searchable. Although it may seem boring to others, we feel like it is a great way to perform a valuable form of volunteer service for a really good cause.

Haize's aunt Wilma and her kids, Sean and Analisa, arrived on Friday for a ten day visit. They are here for a music camp at Juan Diego High School. They are staying at Emma's house. Mia is in heaven having her cousins here to play with.

Updating the leg injury that I talked about last week, I ended up going the Instacare on Monday and the hospital on Friday night. It is so swollen, painfull, bruised, and black and blue, that I didn't fully trust the doctor's opinion from the instacare. They are still claiming that it is just a deep and severe bruise. I have spent the weekend keeping it elevated, hoping that it will start to feel better.

Here We Go!

Wow!  I am pretty sure that I am the last person on earth to actually create a blog, but here it is.  My intention is to do at least a weekly update on what is going on with our family.  I have started probably somewhere close to 20 "journals" at some point in my life, but nothing has ever really stuck.  I hope that this time is different.  I can't guarantee that I will always have something interesting to post, but at least I will be keeping a record of what's going on with the family.

There are a couple of things that I have been trying to do more of the past few weeks: play softball and put miles on my bike.  I have been spending as much time as possible in the saddle to get ready for the Utah MS Society Harmon's Best Dam Bike Ride that takes place in a few weeks.  The plan is to ride somewhere between 150-200 miles in one weekend.

Nicole from work invited me to play with her family softball team on Friday night.  I had such a fun time and had a great game.  I made some decent plays at short and got on base all three at bats.  My third time up I hit one to the left field fence and stretched it into a triple.  The pitcher was covering the base and didn't like how hard I came in sliding.  He stomped on my shin and scraped me from knee to ankle.  My entire lower leg is bruised and swollen.  I look like I have a donut around my ankle.

On Monday we found out that Mia finished the Westvale kindergarten fun run in 6th place (the run had been held the previous Friday).  I ran it with her.  Even though she wasn't ecstatic about running the entire mile on the day of the race, she admitted that it was worth it when she got the ribbon.

Mia has also recently become obsessed with monkey bars.  The next door neighbors have a swingset that she always wants to be playing on.  Her little hands are constantly blistered and are getting some pretty good callouses.

Haize took a few days off from work this week and seems to have enjoyed being able to rest and relax a little bit.