New Picture

I thought I would post this picture. The awards dinner scheduled for Jan 23, at which I was to receive the Silver Beaver, has been cancelled because no one can get out of their driveways right now for all the snow. They say it will be held later, in a month we can count on NOT to have snow (July?).

You Never Can Tell...

THE GINGHAM DRESS
A TRUE STORY By Malcolm Forbes

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard & probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. "We'd like to see the president," the man said softly.

"He will be busy all day," the secretary snapped.

"We will wait," the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away.

They didn't, and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted.

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him.

He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, and he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president wasn't interested. "Madam," he said gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent.

The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now.

The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.

Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling back to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them.

I hope to keep this in mind whenever I start to judge.

When Dreams of a White Christmas Come True...

Lydia prepares a snowball to throw at Grandpa


Joshua loved "helping" with the dishes


Adam and Joshua ride the toboggan down the hill


The Crider kids playing in the snow at Edler Lake


Adam, Lydia and Joshua on the toboggan. The little ones couldn't get enough!


Adam takes the disc down the hill

Our Family Christmas Party 2009

Friday, December 18 was the night of the family Christmas party. We ordered a 6' sub from Ned's, and met at 5:00 at the northeast corner of the Phoenix Zoo parking lot. We easily located a picnic pavillion (the park was empty) and set up for dinner. Everyone was there except Emily's family who had to spend Christmas in Utah this year. After we had all eaten, we walked over to the Zoo Lights show. It was beautiful, and the kids really loved it, especially the talking giraffe. Almost all the children rode the carousel before we left the zoo, then we went to Cynthia's. We had Owen and Adam in the back seat of our car on the way back to Mesa. Owen said, excitedly, "Adam! Wasn't that fun? The zoo was so cool! But now we're going to the funnest part - eating donuts!" Owen told a story about two little boys named Owen and Adam who were best buddies who played together and had sword fights.

We all gathered together at Chris and Cynthia's place for hot chocolate and donuts. We passed out the Christmas presents and visited. It was a low-key evening; no schedule to adhere to, no sky-high expectations, just being around the people I love the best in the world. What more could I want for Christmas?

How's that again?

I recently was a judge in the annual VFW Patriot's Pen essay contest for grades 6-8. This year the topic was "Honoring our Heroes." Here are some sentences that I really got a kick out of.

"If stuff was mandatory everyone would do it so that's another way we can but its not all about fun stuff because I am sure that the war wasn't fun for our courage's men that fought there I think that everyone should have a flag in the yard."

"I don't know about this holiday (July 4th) but every time it comes around I feel really happy."

"One of them is the days that we have parades for the 4th of July. It gives thanks for the winning of the Civil War."

"Guns and mustaches do not make up a hero."

"When they come home is the best time to honor them would be when they come home."

"They (veterans) are the freedom fighters and fight for us. They are the bravest in the whole world, the whole universe, the whole galaxy. They will keep on fighting until death, until the end of the human race."

And my favorite:
"There sacrifice not to be in vane. Supporting our troop, the sacrifice not to be chosen. It's a duty and they gladly serve are country. They are ones who leave a reality stable and good society, to go to the farthest outreached of the world."

Come again? Last year one of the kids wrote that his grandfather had been "a tailgater on an air plan."

But I WANT it!

I have been thinking a lot recently about a story told by Elder D. Todd Christofferson at October conference.

An incredulous female friend asked a young adult woman, committed to living the law of chastity, how it was possible that she had never “slept with anybody.” “Don’t you want to?” the friend asked. The young woman thought: “The question intrigued me, because it was so utterly beside the point. . . . Mere wanting is hardly a proper guide for moral conduct.”

As we look around at the world today, how many troubles do we see that are the result of people expecting to get what they want? The recent news reports of the world's greatest golfer are a good example of people not knowing how to deny themselves of what they want. In my work, I deal every day with people who demand that the Town buy something we cannot afford, simply because those people want it. But wanting something does not mean you should get it.

I believe that one of the worst things parents can do for their children's moral development is to give them whatever they want. Those children will grow up believing that they are entitled to have whatever they want, simply because they want it. At the same time, they do not value what they receive, because they did not have to earn it. They never learn to tell themselves, "No. I can't have it. I can't afford it." As parents, we want to give our children what we didn't have when we were growing up, but we need to be careful to give them what we did have, too.

Our whole society is groaning under the weight of people who think they should have whatever they want, and they think other people owe it to them. Look at all the people who bought way more home than they could afford, because they wanted a spacious home - because everyone else had one. Living beyond your means is a sign of moral failure.

I am sure this posting will raise some eyebrows, but that is ok. Raising eyebrows lets more light in when we are examining ourselves.

On My Honor...

I received some very exciting news this week. I am being awarded the Silver Beaver by the Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts of America. This is the highest award a Council can give, and I can hardly believe I was nominated, much less chosen! I will actually be presented the award in January, but they let me know now. When I think of the Silver Beavers I know, including my father-in-law, I am humbled to think I have been admitted to this club.

I love the Boy Scouts of America. It has been an honor for me to work with them in shaping the lives of young men. This is the last remaining organization I can think of, outside the church, that stresses personal character and integrity, and that teaches young men to make moral decisions.

I wasn't much of a Scout when I was a Scout. I was scrawny and didn't really have the vision of the whole thing. I never made Eagle (I had to settle for eternal Life!), but I have been a dedicated Scouter ever since catching the vision at Woodbadge in 1998. That experience, along with all the other Scouting experiences I have had as an adult (Woodbadge staff, Philmont, Order of the Arrow), changed my life for the better, and hopefully for good. It is easy to be of service to a cause you really believe in. Thank you, Boy Scouts of America, for what you have done for America's youth for the last 100 years, and for this old man in the last 12!