Holiday Candies (Buckeyes)

These are the candies that never made it anywhere. Buckeyes are probably Deb's favorite all time Holiday treat. They are the equivelant of home-made peanut butter cups with a very high temptation value.

The first batch of 26 yielded 7 to give away. The second batch at least stood for pictures and out of around 36, more than half made it to worthy recipients. It is a refridgerated treat, so it doesn't ship well (too bad for out of towners). It also doesn't seem to keep real well either (it all gets eaten too quickly).

Turkey Day 2008

Minneapolis, MN was the location of our Thanksgiving revelry. I had business on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Minneapolis, so I decided to take my lovely bride and visit Farrah and her Fiance, Bo.

Farrah was so excited to show off her place and her cooking talent. It was good. Bo and Farrah shared full responsibility for the Turkey and basted it every 20 minutes (just like Bo's mother does). It came out perfect. They asked me to do the honors of cutting the Turkey. It was an amazing display of cooking talent and it was nice to see the newly emerging family in the Scott clan. Thank you Bo and Farrah for a great weekend.

This is Farrah, Bo and the dog wishing us well on our trip back to Kansas on Saturday afternoon. See you at Christmas.

Live in this Moment

Yesterday was a singular day. On 3 of 4 Saturday mornings, in soccer season (Spring and Fall), I usually referee the first 3 games of the morning. Yesterday was no exception.

It was a tournament day, with teams from all over the country. I had teams from South Carolina and Iowa that I noticed. The teams were good, precise, well trained and careful. But the weather was amazing.

On the way to the fields, I decided to drive my motocycle. It was 7 am and the temperature was about 50 degrees and VERY foggy. I could see droplets in front of my headlight. The moisture clung to my windshield, my pants, my gloves and my jacket. At the end of my 25 minute drive, my jacket and jogging pants were soaked (thankfully, not all the way through). Visiblility was so short that I found myself losing cars that we more than 1/2 block away. Signal lights were obscured from across the street.

At the fields, you couldn't see the parking lots from the soccer field or any nets from soccer fields one field next to you. And it stayed that way throught the first 2 games. Then, in the middle of the second game, one of the referees mentioned 'I love days like this'. Later I thought on how insightful this comment was.

We only have one day to live. I'm thankful for each one. On that day, I saw how important it was to focus on the moment (you couldn't see anything else anyway). I realize that I really am thankful to wake to each new day. Each day is an adventure. This moment is your moment. Live for this moment - make the most of it. It's all you get. It's all you really need.

A Temple in KC

In October conference, in the first session, in the first talk by President Monson, it was announced that a Temple would be built in the 'greater Kansas City area'. Speculation immediately took hold - where? It will be in Clay county at the Shoal Creek exit of I-435, short of Liberty in Kansas City, MO (5 minutes from Carrie and John Shaw's house - my niece). That was the revelation that I was waiting for last conference, I guess.

I'm sorry that I haven't shared more of my thoughts on this blog with you. I guess that the last entry about conference and it's meaning to me left me with a need to answer that challenge of seeing there revelation, or an incredible experience. There was revelation there, to be sure. But like most revelation, it was spoken for me - t0 my soul. Much of it could be shared, but normally not in a public way. That which is a personal sacred experience can be trivialized and sullied in public declarations. I don't want to seek after public acclaim, but I do want to live in such a way that in the day I see my Saviour face to face, I will feel comfortable.

The Big Change

There are changes here in the Scott house. Jim is moving his buisness back into our basement. We've had a lot going on with all the cleaning, packing, stocking, and throwing some things away. Pete our son-in-law did the electrical work and sheet rock and it looks great! It would be nice to have some upper windows besides one window well. Oh well, It's a basement for Heaven's sake!

LDS Conference Weekend

This is one of the highlights of my year. For many people in the church, the semi annual conference is the one opportunity to be able to escape, take a trip, go somewhere. After all they don’t have the responsibility of one (or more) Sunday callings (ie: a teacher, pianist, nursery leader, etc.). But for me, I enjoy the opportunity of sitting at the feet of prophets, seers and revelators who have prayed the I might understand the messages they give.

My wonder at their insights is akin to the wonder I believe propelled the 5,000 to sit at the feet of Jesus and his apostles all the day long until the Saviour felt moved to find them bread to eat and miraculously provided for them all. It wasn’t just the teachings of the Master that kept them there, but also the spirit they felt as they saw and heard from his lips. He fed them a spiritual feast before he fed them the loaves and fishes.

I’m looking forward to this weekend’s spiritual feast.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Since November 17th, I have embarqed on an exacting diet to get rid of excess weight that has accumulated over an extended period of time. My target is to get to the weight that I had when I graduated from college. I enrolled in the torture program associated with 'Slim4Life' (tm).

Here are pictures to show the progress

Pic 1 is April 2007

Pic 2 is May 2007

Pic 3 is Aug 2007

Pic 4 is Christmas 2007

Pic 5 is Jan 22, 2008

Pic 6 is March 22, 2008

Tell me what you think (no, I did not get contacts)