Weather Conspiracy

Our backyard has been in varying stages of incompletion ever since we built this home nearly 9 years ago. For a few of those years we had grass but after a trying to manage a half-grassed backyard, the ugliness of what was undone took over the grass and the whole thing went back to ugly. So we let the grass die and have started over again, and again and once more. Currently, our plan for the backyard is simple but it requires a large amount of dirt removal. The idea has been that I would work out there for my morning exercise between 5:30 and 6:00 and every other Saturday but it's been raining and cold for the last two weeks so I haven't been able to do anything since wet dirt removal is turbo crappy. So, we wait and watch as the backyard becomes more weed overtaken and we have longer to think and rethink what we want to do back there.

When we finish this thing, we're going to have a major party - with fireworks.

Last Day of School

Our whole household is excited to celebrate the last day of school this year for Ethan and Emily. They are excited to have some time off. Alicia is thrilled to not have to shuttle kids in the van until August. And I'm excited to not have to coerce, threaten, and plead with Ethan to get ready for school in the morning.

I think for the most part, summer has the appeal of an easier life with fewer responsibilities. But if we're not careful, that appeal will be offset by idleness, boredom and lots of blahs.

I think we should plan a vacation.

Kindergarten Graduation

I don't remember Kindergarten ever having graduation ceremonies when I was growing up. In fact, I think this is a new thing at the school because Emily didn't have one when she graduated either. But today, Ethan donned a cap (a dixie bowl glued to a piece of poster board and yarn) and sat with the other morning Kindergarten class to hear a short speech (3 minutes), walk up and get his certificate and then do a dance with his classmates to "You've Got a Friend In Me" from Toy Story.

That had to be the best graduation ceremony ever. Adults should have that experience too, 20 minutes maximum - complete with a class song and dance. I love it!

Ethan started kindergarten this year with what Alicia and I believed were deficiencies in numbers, letters, reading, and speech. He has emerged as a good reader. His numbers and letters are awesome and he's showing tremendous 6 year old potential in math. Perhaps these accomplishments were part of what made today's graduation so cool.

He's an awesome kid.

Unexpected Knowledge

A few months ago I was about to meet with someone in their office when I recognized a book on his desk. He saw my glance and asked me if I knew the book.

"That was one of my Mom's favorite books" I answered. "I've never read it but she read it loads of times."

"Why don't you take it?" David suggested. I accepted the offer and it sat in my bag for weeks as I travelled to and from work. I read a few chapters - mostly to be able to report that I had been reading it when David asked. But it's never really fit into my daily pattern to read the book.

As I returned to work from Ethan's graduation, I found my usual pattern disrupted as was on the train and had no Internet connection with which to study the online materials I usually read and memorize in the mornings. So, instead I took the book, Return from Tomorrow out of my bag and began reading.

The book tells the story of a young man who died and saw elements of the life after this one. I am sort of numb to life after death stories after my Mom talked about it all the time. I believe in life after death. I also believe that our spirits separate from our bodies at death and continue to live on this earth. But I wasn't interested in reading a book about it. But my Mom's death softened me a bit on this - she was such a fan of this book that I felt it was likely that what she read here was likely going through her mind when she passed. So I read it thinking of her.

It was a typical life after death story. Man dies, sees his body, travels the world in spirit form getting used to his new predicament, questions his death, comes to acceptance of it. All very interesting stuff but then the story went in a direction that I didn't anticipate. At a point when the man had come to acceptance and was sitting next to his hollow body, the room lightened and he found himself In the presence of Jesus Christ.

From this point on, I was no longer simply reading a book or consuming a story. In some ways, it didn't even feel like I was on the train anymore. It's difficult to write about the experience. I had heard, studied and believed in Christ, His love and power. I have even felt his love on one notable occassion as I served a mission for the LDS Church in Texas almost 15 years ago. Today I felt it again strongly. It was as if I too were experiencing what this man did as he saw the Savior and a felt his overpowering love for him. I felt like I had to pull out of the experience to try to compose myself since I was in public spaces. Had I been alone, I probably would. Have wept openly. I kept reading of how the Savior escorted the man through various places in the spirit world and then I decided it was probably time to get to work. I had already missed my stop and the train had reversed directions - going southbound again. I got off the train and began walking through downtown Salt Lake pondering on what I felt.

It felt like I had been given a gift. I knew better now of the reality of Jesus than I ever had before. After 36 years and various depths of hearing and studing His words, it felt like all fo that came together today with a feeling that it was all real. The very next thought was what that I should do something with this knowledge but I didn't know how. In the book the man found his purpose to be looking for and encouraging Christliake attributes in others. That might be me too.

But one thing is for certain. I know better today then I did yesterday that Jesus is real and his love for me is personal and profound. I need to remember this and find a way to share it with others.

Father and Sons Hotel Trip

Much like many of the local LDS church groups in this area, our local Church congregation goes on a Father and Son Campout every year. I remember attending such things with my Dad when I was a boy and young man. I remember going up into the mountains loaded up with doritoes and KFC for an overnight camping experience in our beat up camper. I loved those times. But I remember them being warmer than the ones we have in our current congregation.

For the past several years, we've camped in May when it's been just barely warm enough in the mountains to not have snow on the ground. A few years ago, Ethan and I were miserable there. Since then we've taken this weekend when the rest of the congregation went into the mountains and we went the opposite direction to an overnighter at a hotel. It's not exactly the most social thing to do but we have a good time.

Tonight we drove to Layton where we were able to get a great deal on a hotel stay. The boys and I got dinner, brought it back to the room, called Alicia, Emily and Claire over video phone and then stayed up late watching cartoons. The boys loved it.

Third Grade Business School

In her third grade class Emily has been working on a final project for the past several months. The project was to interview someone of a different generation and contrast that person's life with their own. The final product of this assignment was a PowerPoint presentation, which Emily shared with her class today.

I was able to attend as she stood in front of the class and presented a slideshow about her grandpa. She did a great job with her presentation - especially for a first timer. She even felt confident enough up there to throw in a little joke in the midst of her 6 slide show, which got a good response from the other kids.

I'm amazed at where Elementary education is going. My 9-year old daughter created a PowerPoint and presented at a SmartBoard (a whiteboard that receives a projection and acts like a touch-screen when you touch the surface). That seems so business-like. I love that she's learning this but I didn't really expect it to happen this early.

The Prodigal Organizer

I was reading in the Bible the other day the story of the prodigal son and I caught something I've never understood before.

The story tells of two sons who are given an inheritance. One wastes his inheritance and sinks to despair while the other takes good care of his inheritance. The wayward son returns to his father and the father rejoices in the returned son and celebrates in his return while the other son feels jealous because he took good care of the inheritance the whole time and didn't get this type of treatment.

So the part that I missed was when the prodigal son returned, he returned expecting no royal treatment at all - in fact he returned with this statement to his father: "I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants" (Luke 15:19). He knew he had made mistakes and he returned in an attitude of complete humility. Only then was the celebration fitting. Perhaps a lack of this same humility was the reason the brother didn't receive such royal treatment.

This was inspiring to me. The getting done of keeping commandments, serving, performing in a Church calling, donating to the save Japan fund, and whatever else may be needed is not as important as the doing of these things. In other words, if the heart isn't in it, doing all this other stuff is good but just a completed checklist in the end. I believe that what's really important is the state of our hearts, not how much stuff we got done.

So I went about my day trying to keep an attitude like the prodigal son - being a servant. As a result, I worked hard in the day trying to improve things at work, help people, and reflect on how I can really serve better. By days end, my checklist of very good things (like obtaining a list of volunteers to clean the Church this weekend, setting appointments to visit neighbors, helping organize project approvals, resolve conflict on the team, hiring new people, and completing a report to upper management) wasn't all checked off. But I knew I had served from dawn until dusk - trying hard to not think about my own interests as I went. I also believed that God would make up the difference in what I lacked. That felt really good - much better than the geeky thrill I sometimes get from having a checked off list.

Battle of the Potty Humor

Alicia accused me this evening of being juvenile and enjoying potty humor. Offended that I could be seen in such an unsavory light I disagreed.

"You like Spongebob," she rebutted.

"Yeah, but not the potty-humor parts."

"What about the parts where it cuts away to some close-up of a belly button or something with hair and lint coming out of it and there's some horn noise [she makes the horn noise]."

The hilarity of the recounting with the horn noise was too much for me and I started to laugh. "See?" she said. There was no point explaining and I was too busy laughing so I let her have her point. But now, the next morning as I'm writing about this, I remember her doing a little potty humoring herself. As I was getting on the bus yesterday I got this text from her:

"Is this day over yet!!!!"

I came to find out that Claire had taken her pull-up off, pooped in bed and had wiped it all over her sheets, blankets, bedframe, wall and (brace yourself) hair and face. Alicia had to throw away the bedding, pillow and had to wash Claire from head to toe twice to get it off. Not pleasant. Alicia characterized this as "the biggest poop disaster of all human history."  So that's potty humor too, right.

There, so we're both guilty.

Misaligned Feedback

I expect that every marriage has seasons of misunderstanding. This is especially true when a couple is trying to learn how to provide meaningful feedback to each other as Alicia and I did tonight. I had done some things that were not helpful to Alicia and she gave me feedback which I responded poorly to. For a good portion of our hour-long discussion, it felt like we were on opposite sides of understanding and even willingness to change. And then we started talking openly about how we both felt we should offer and receive feedback and correction from the other. The tone of the conversation turned at that point as we identified ways we could improve and committed to each other that we would try again. The whole conversation ended very positively with greater understanding of each other and commitment to try again.

The No Train Date

I've been thinking more about what Alicia liked best about her Mother's Day and I've been realizing that these spontaneous moments where family members are focused on each other are really important. I don't want to miss these. So in this attitude I went on a date with Jace tonight and we had a wonderful time.

Because of his love for trains, we drove down to a nearby train track and hoped for one to come by. Pretty lame activity I suppose but what we really did was talk. I sat in the backseat with him and we talked about the train and would gasp every time we thought we heard one coming. In between gasps, we opened the sunroof on the van and stood up, straining to catch a better view into the horizon of the tracks. We also played a little train game on my phone and talked. Jace was really excited and happy tonight. It was an awesome evening of just focusing on him.

When we were done, we ran to the store to pick up a few groceries. He sat on my shoulders part of the time, and the rest of the time helped push the cart at a pace slightly unnerving for anyone in front of the cart (like me). Jace is usually reserved with strangers but when we were all done, he interrupted the usual check-out small talk to tell the cashier that he was on a date with his Dad. She smiled and told him to make sure he has a good time.

I think he did.

Mother's Day

I asked Alicia at the end of the day what of the various things we did for her today she enjoyed the most. We made a special breakfast, tried to keep her off her feet, watched the kids so she could have a Sunday afternoon nap, gave her an iTunes card and a new frame with pictures and drawings from the kids, gave her notes and told her the things we love about her. She made it clear that she appreciated all of these things but the things she loved the most were not these. She loved it when we spontaneously sang Happy Mother's Day (to the tune of Happy Birthday) and when the kids put on a show for her downstairs where each child took the "stage" for a moment to tell her of their love.

It's interesting that something so simple and unplanned can have that much value.

A Humbled Leader

In the context of the concern from my boss and an ensuing directive that came to take our celebrate success mobile down for the upper leadership visit, I stopped to think about how I was leading my team. I've felt very positive about this team and how things are going. There's a good atmosphere here and I love some of the quirkiness of it. With the help of a few similarly minded people, I've created an environment that I would like to work in. So when others came along to question it, it was really tempting to take it personally. But I listened and thought about their feedback. I also asked around the team and found out some on the team really didn't care about some of the things I was doing. Additionally, I realized that I was doing some things not because it was the right thing to do, but because I thought it would be cool to do it.

As I realized these errors and weighed that against the magnitude of my responsibility to lead these 39 people, I became very embarrassed that I had lead them in the wrong direction. After a few more days of reflection, I sent out a survey to the team to see what tactics/systems/meetings we have as a team that are helpful to them in working better and producing more inspired products. 90% of the team responded and the response data is very helpful. Some of it supports things that I enjoy, some of it does not.

The lesson I've learned here is that it's easy for a leader to plug along thinking that everything is one way. But it takes listening and a good measure of putting your own agenda aside to be able to lead in the right way. I'm sure there's more to learn here but this was a good starter.

Old Man Christensen

Our (mostly) happy family at Dad's Birthday party

My Dad turned 75 today. Yep, 75. I looked on as a picture was taken of he, Jen and Dave (partners in the birthday celebration we were having) and Dad is still full of life but he's 75 and you can see that - especially when you contrast it to the faces of Dave (no spring chicken himself at 46) and Jen (39 I think). I sort of think of my father at an eternal 40. The pictures of him at this stage of his life are the ones I remember the most. At this time, he had dark hair, overly bushy eyebrows, a bit of a belly and a tendency to be captured in pictures where he was playing with the kids. His hair is now much whiter, he's lost most of that belly and he still is often pictured with kids - just his grandkids now.

Dad mentioned today that he plans to live to 100. In fact, he said that if he doesn't life to be 100, it'll kill him. What a cool Dad. I love that he loves life but he's also not afraid of death. I can see Dad dying happy - which is a great statement on the quality of life he's led. Awesome man.