Ryan Cox! Thanks for the Ride

Ryan Cox at a Neighborhood Fourth of July Party

This morning I had to take the Jeep to Les Schwab. The night before, Sarah had expressed, more than once, how excited she was to sleep in this morning. When I left for Les Schwab, I did not wake her, but decided I would walk home and let her sleep in. It was a cold morning, but I really, really need the exercise and I was determined to get the exercise. I had barely began walking home when my neighbor, Ryan Cox, stopped to see if I needed a ride. I first told him I was getting exercise, but when he asked again, I accepted his offer for a ride. After all, I could always start walking tomorrow. He had his little daughter with him and she was still in her pajamas. They were going to get some donuts. I commented about how cool that was. One of my memories as a child was getting donuts with my Dad on Saturday or Sunday mornings. How cool that she will have those fond memories of her dad. We talked about business and vehicles for a few minutes in his truck while parked in my driveway. I was happy that he gave me a ride home. He is a great guy.

Katie, Zaya and Ryan Cox - Taken December 2007

Around 5pm tonight, Rob Casale, another friend and neighbor texted me looking for the Bishop's phone number. I immediately knew something was wrong. I texted the number, then tried calling him. Rob did not answer. I called Heidi, Rob's husband, because I had a feeling there was something wrong. She did not know anything. Rob called me a few minutes later and informed me that Ryan Cox was dead. My first thought was that Rob was pulling an early April Fool's joke and it made me mad. I did not think that was funny. Now, I wish it had been a joke. Rob and Ryan went to the sand dunes to ride motorcycles and Ryan went over the handlebars, hitting his chest as he flew over. By the time the paramedics arrived, he had passed on. This really sucks. Even hours later, I can't believe it. It really really sucks!

Ryan is a great guy. He is always happy and genuinely pleased to see you. I never heard him say anything bad about anyone. He always lived life to the fullest; motorcycling, off roading, boating, etc. He was the type of guy that was always loyal to who he was. He was not concerned with what people thought about him. He did his own thing and let others do their own things. He was a loving Father and a caring husband. He owned a successful roofing business at an early age and had so much more that he was certain to succeed at. He will be missed by all that knew him and those that didn't will miss out. He was a gem. Mine and Sarah's thoughts go to Katie and their three children.

Thanks for the example, Ryan. Thanks for the friendship. Finally and most recently, thanks for the ride. I am so happy to have those last few precious minutes.

At our neighborhood Christmas Party we locked a room from the inside. Of course,
Ryan was the first to come up with the idea to climb through the ceiling. Of course,
he volunteered to be the climber. Adventurous even at a Christmas party!

ROQ of the 80's

I was talking with my good friends Tim and Casey the other day when Tim referred me to the website of the radio station we used to listen to back home.  KROQ 106.7 ~ The Roq of the 80's.  You can listen to 80's music streaming live online.  They sometimes play some 80's music on the radio here in Utah, but it is not quite as good as KROQ.  Check it out.  http://www.roqofthe80s.com .  I have a ton of 80s music on my mp3 player, but it is convenient to just have this playing on the pc at work all day.  

I have this quirky (dumb) thing I do in my journal.  I make lists.  All kinds of lists.  Here is the list of all the 80s bands I have on my mp3 player:  Adam Ant and the Antics, Alphaville, Animotion, Aswad, A-Ha, ABC, Arcadia, The Alarm, Art of Noise, The Bongos, The Burning Sensations, Bow Wow Wow, Billy Joel, Bonski Beat, Blanchmange, Bauhaus, Bugles, Better than Ezra, Bob Marley, The Boomtown Rats, Bananarama, B-52s, Big Audio Dynamite (BAD), The Bondage Nurse Killers, Berlin, Billy Idol, Brian Ferry and Roxy Music, Big Country, Bob Marley, Blondie, The Blowmonkeys, The Bangles, Boys Don't Cry, B Movie, Bollock Brothers, The Cult, The Cure, The Cars, The Circle Jerks, The Clash, Camouflage, Culture Club, Crowded House, Cyndi Lauper, The Dream Academy, Devo, Depeche Mode, Deftones, Duran Duran, Dead or Alive, Danny Elfman, Def Leppard, David Bowie, Danse Society, Dramarama, The Dead Kennedys, Escape Club, English Beat, Erasure, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Eurythmics, Elvis Costello, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Flock of Seagulls, Falco, Frank Zappa,Flesh for LuLu, Fine Young Cannibals, The Fixx, Freur, Fishbone, Faith No More, Gene Loves Jezebel, General Public, The GoGos, Generation X, Gary Numan, George Michaels, Greg Kinh Band, Grandmaster Flash, Heaven 17, Howard Jones, Haircut 100, The Human Leaugue, Hoodoo Gurus, The Information Society, Iggy Pop, Ian Drury and the Blockheads, INXS, Ice House, The Jam, J. Geils Band, Joe Jackson,  Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, John Astley, James, Kajagoogoo, Killing Joke, Kate Bush, King, The Kinks, Love and Rockets, The Lightning Seeds, Maxi Priest, Missing Persons, Men at Work, Madness, Men Without Hats, Murray Head, Midnight Oil, Milli Vanilli, Morrissey, Madness, Modern English, Magazine 60, Malcolm McLaren, New Order, Naked Eyes, Oingo Boingo, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD), Public Image Ltd. (PIL), Prince, Peter Shelly, The Pretenders, Pet Shop Boys, Peter Murphy, Peter Gabriel, Peter Schilling, Power Station, The Police, The Polecats, The Psychadelic Furs, Plastic Bertrand, Q-Feel, Rezillos, The Rolling Stones, Romeo Void, The Ramones, The Red Hot Chilipeppers, Ric Ocasik, REM, Real Life, Robert Palmer, The Romantics, Reflex, Run DMC, Squeeze, The Sparks, Scott Goddard, The Smiths, Spandau Ballet, Shriekback,The Surf Punks,  The Style Council, The Sex Pistols, Social Distortion, The Straycats, Simple Minds, Scritti Politti, Steven "TinTin" Duffy, Softcell, The Specials, The Suicidal Tendencies, Siouxie Sioux and the Banshees, The Smithereens, Stan Ridgeway, The Stranglers, Talk Talk, The The, Talking Heads, Trio, Toto, Toto Coelo, Time Zone, Thomas Dolby, Tears for Fears, The Toy Dolls, The Thompson Twins, The Untouchables, U2, UB40, The Vandals, Violent Femmes, The Waitresses, Wall of Voodoo, Wang Chung, When in Rome, Wham, X, XTC, and Yaz.  Many of these are one hit wonders, but they helped to make the 80s such a great decade for music.  When I look over this list, it brings memories and a smile to my face.  Did I miss any?

Journal Versus Blog

I have really come to like blogging. I enjoy writing blog entries as well as reading other's blog entries. This is not surprising as I have always been an avid journal writer. I have over a dozen journals that I am currently in the process of putting on my computer. Blogging is great to keep those closest to you to keep in touch and informed of your going ons. I am not inclined to include a daily or weekly account of how things are in my life as a whole. In other words, I am selective in what I choose to share. This is why a journal is so much more important. Unfortunately, I have not made one journal entry since beginning this blog. I really need to do a better job of balancing my blogging with my journal writing. Does anyone feel the same way? Are there any suggestions out there?

Have Positive Attitude Will Travel

I have always believed it is important that you always maintain a positive attitude. Don't get me wrong, I am not naive to the reality that sometime life sucks! I am very aware of that. Don't get me wrong again, I do not think my life sucks, but I also experience sucky things. I believe that I can control my attitude in the midst of those sucky things. For instance. We have not been blessed with a child as of yet. This really, really sucks!!! With that said, I have tried my best to remain positive while experiencing this trial. I do this for two reasons; 1) I love Sarah and want to be strong for her. I know it bothers her and I don't want my being bothered to add to her being bothered. Did that make sense? 2) I don't get anything out of feeling, acting or appearing miserable. It does get me down sometimes. Lately it has a lot, but I choose to put a smile on my face and control that which I can control.

We, Sarah and I, have always said we would travel as much as we could until we had children. I don't think either of us believed it would take this long! We have been true to our world and have visited many National Parks, states and countries. Our next couple months are planned and we are getting ready. I went tanning today and it hurts and itches! Our first trip is planned to California in April to take my nieces to Disneyland for their birthdays. We will also visit the rest of the famn damily while we are there. Madyson has a dance recital that weekend, so hopefully we can watch her groove too! In mid May we are heading to Puerto Rico to stay at a sweet golf resort right on the beach. We plan on eating, laying on the beach, swimming, golfing, hiking, site seeing, etc. We are going with my brothers, Jim and Scott and Jim's wife Samantha. We are excited to hang with them. A week after that, we go to San Fransisco for five days. We are staying in a beautiful hotel on Nob Hill and are anxious to see the sites. We also have Ward Trek in Wyoming in June, I have a Scout camp (h2o skiing) for a week at Bear Lake in Idaho, and we have a family reunion in August. In September we have USC vs. Ohio State at the Coliseum and then in October we are heading to Disneyland for four days with my nephews (their parents are coming too). We plan on hitting the USC vs. Oregon State game too. That takes us to the holidays!

Whew! We try to stay busy. I have been paying for everything in advance hoping that Murphy's Law might jinx us and we will lose all that money because a child will come. Wouldn't that be great!? In the meantime, we will keep smiling and flying!

Ready to Spring Into Action!!!

After a long and freezing Winter, Spring is finally here. I am so excited to take the lid off the Jeep and start getting some sun. So excited that I went and lifted the Jeep and put on bigger tires and new wheels. I should have gone another inch higher, but I am a shorty and wanted to keep it reasonable. Let me know what you think.

Why My Mom Loves Me...Let Her Count the Ways!

I am sure my Mother is going to love that I posted this picture!

I was going through a pile of papers organizing for my 2007 taxes (puke!) when I came across a letter from my Mother. She sent me this letter for my 37th birthday and it catalogs the reasons why she loves me. 37 reasons to be exact...one for each year I had lived. I have pretty good parents, but they are clearly give me too much credit. If I was half as good a person as they believe I am, I would be quite the man. Thank you for loving Mom and Dad. Below are the reasons:

1. "What is bought with coin of pain is dearly kept." And we all know I went through 100 million hours of labor to have you.
2. Your gratitude. I've told so many people how you write daily about what you are grateful for.
3. Your attitude. You always have a positive attitude, and if it isn't, you adjust it.
4. You have such compassion.
5. Your generosity without expecting anything in return.
6. An awesome sense of humor.
7. You are a loyal friend. You remind me of your grandma, and a little of me, in that you keep in touch with old friends as well as new ones.
8. You are a loving husband. I love you two together...too wonderful to watch people in love.
9. You live a Christlike life. Emulating His love and example.
10. Appreciation - I know this sounds the same as gratitude, but in this case I mean how you always express it so well to those who gave.
11. Humility - Marque? You are humble about any successes you have and willingly share your successes with others.
12. Private. You let others know your boundaries and you respect theirs too.
13. Responsibility++++This must be an oldest child's syndrome. You take care of your family, your extended family and others too.
14. Success. We always knew you would be successful at whatever you put your mind to and you are!
15. You don't complain, and there are lots of things you could complain about. But you choose to fix the things you can, accept the things you can't or just ignore them.
16. You couldn't be a better uncle. I know Mady and Hailey think so, and I'm sure Elijah and Cole think so too.
17. Good gift giver. You always know the perfect gift for everyone. It's a gift and talent I wish I had.
18. Non Judgmental. You truly accept everyone as they are. You also help them find humor in themselves.
19. You are charismatic! Like your Grandpa...You can go into a room of strangers and in a matter of 30 minutes everyone feels like they know you.
20. You always know how to motivate people.
21. You have always lived a straight life.
22. Concerned for others needs. "Mom, are you and Dad okay? Need any money?"
23. You feel remorse about the small ways you have erred and you seek forgiveness.
24. You never felt displaced or were angry at us when we had to focus our attentions on one of your brother's needs.
25. You are self motivated and you never quit.
26. What a leader you are. People always look up to you.
27. Good organizer. Most of your church ball games were won because you got all the players there and your team never forfeited. Now you are the one to get the friends together.
28. No one would ever know you have health issues. You always just carry on.
29. Great fan! Especially for USC, but also for other teams and others!
30. You tolerate things you don't enjoy, but never let anyone know you are just tolerating.
31. You recognize the importance of family - yours, ours, Sarah's, the extended clans.
32. You have a great sense of humor. I love your April Fool's jokes and your pranks.
33. You have a strong testimony of the church and it has never waivered.
34. You serve.
35. Gathering and cherishing memories is important to you.
36. You are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
37. You are a terrific son who loves his Mom and Dad!!!

It is easy to love your parents when they are as great as my Mum and D.O.D. I pray for their happiness and peace daily. They deserve the best.

You Tube Fun!

This is a funny clip of Donny Osmond and Jimmy Kimmel on the Kimmel show. I guess he IS a little bit Rock and Roll! Go Donny!

Who is Marque?

I took a personality test that I found on a friend's (Brad's) myspace site. Evidently, this is who I am:

trait snapshot:
clean, organized, regular, self reliant, tough, positive, high self control, very good at saving money, dislikes chaos, resolute, realist, trusting, hard working, dislikes unpredictability, prefers a technical specialized career, not worrying, respects authority, enjoys leadership, finisher, normal, optimistic, controlling, prudent, modest, adventurous, does not like to be alone, intellectual, likes the unknown, very practical, high self esteem, assertive, perfectionist, busy, altruistic

Country Club Plaza ~ Kansas City, Missouri

Anytime we go on vacation I immerse myself in the local history and culture. Half of all of our pictures are of architecture that reflects the region we visited. We just returned from Kansas City, Missouri and it is a city filled with history linking the American West with the American East. While you will easily find ties to the Frontier west, jazz, bar-b-que, Civil War, sports and the Mormon migration, you will not find many ties, if any at all to Spain. A visionary designed the Plaza to be the first shopping center to accommodate automobiles. For some reason he chose to model the area after Seville, Spain. It is beautiful. There are mosaics, statues and fountains galore. The most fascinating and admirable traits of the Plaza is the towers. Of course, Seville, Spain is heavily influenced by the Muslim Moores and you can see this in the towers of the Plaza, full of spires and color. Here are a couple photos I took of the colorful towers.

This is the view down 47th street or "Honorary Seville". You can kind of get the idea that there is a tower on every corner.

This tower was directly across the street from the Intercontinental Hotel where we stayed.

Beautiful colors, molding, sculpting, etc. These few pictures don't do it justice.

This isn't a tower, this is stunning Sarah on a camel. They currently have a bunch of these animals out for Easter(?). You can notice one of many fountains in the background. Kansas City has more fountains than any other city in the world with the exception of Rome.

If you get the opportunity, visit Kansas City. It is beautiful in the Spring and Fall. Too hot for me in the summer and gloomy in the winter. Be prepared to eat a lot. And if you do that eating at the Plaza...be prepared to pay a lot as well!

Missouri Enjoys Company!

The person that started the company I work for is named Steve. Steve just turned 40. Steve's wife, Kim, threw him a 40th birthday party in Kansas City, Missouri this weekend. She did a phenomenal job. Sarah has already warned me that I should not expect the same caliber party as Kim organized. I doubt Steve will ever see this blog, so I can not be accused of brown nosing. Steve is a dynamic individual. As was apparent at his party, he is very much loved and admired. Kim flew Sarah and I and many others to KC, MO for the big bash. Thank you Kim. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with and for so many fantastic people; primarily Steve, Phil and Len. There were a handful of very special people in attendance that made the weekend even more fun for me in addition to Steve and Kim, Phil and Shaney, Len and Laurie. There were Boyd and Cheryl, Jay and Shannon, Gordon and Beverly and Darin; just a small sampling of the many people I am fortunate to work with. Thank you Kim for inviting us. Thank you Steve for being a great example of a balanced and successful individual. Thank you Boyd and Cheryl for always welcoming me. Thank you Phil and Len for being such great bosses. Thank you Darin, Jay, Shannon, Gordon and Beverly for hanging with us this weekend and creating many good memories. Let's do Nauvoo soon!

Kim and Steve (the birthday boy)

Us at the Historic Liberty Jail Visitor's Center

We had the opportunity to visit the Historic Liberty Jail while in the KC, MO area. I have been before, but Sarah has not. The jail has been re-fabricated using the original basement floor and some of the original limestone blocks, bars, etc. It is amazing to me that so much great revelation came from such awful circumstances.

Looking down into the dungeon of the Liberty Jail

I love Doctrine & Covenants 121-123. Amazing Scripture. Doctrine & Covenants 122:7-9 ~ And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit , or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever. amen

Beverly and Gordon at the Historic Liberty Jail

Our good friend, Boyd hosted us out to Far West, MO. This was the site of a town of 5000 Mormon refugees at one time. The locals of course destroyed the town when they chased the saints out in 1838. Joseph Smith had already received a revelation before being chased out that a temple would stand in Far West and that the Twelve Apostles would be sent out into the world from Far West to spread the gospel. This was such an important revelation, that the prophet and the twelve returned in secret to Far West to dedicate the temple site and at that time, the twelve were then sent all over the world to serve the Lord. Doctrine & Covenants 118.

Jay and Shannon at Far West, MO

The four cornerstones have been laid in representation of the Lesser Priesthood, the Higher Priesthood, the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles.

One of the four cornerstones of the Far West temple covered for protection?

We had a fun time....Next trip....NAUVOO!