Christmas

The Cheat's a boy!

In case you didn't know... Laura is with child and we found out on Thursday that it will be a man-child. I can't explain how excited I am... I'm excited because living on the faith that it takes to bring children into this world is amazing. I'm excited because my dad now has a posterity to carry on the Graham name. I'm excited to move forward in the Plan.

The ultrasound was crazy. It's amazing that you can see all of that stuff. He's healthy and doing well. Kicking all the time. We have a bit to go before we get to meet him, which we expect to do in early February, but we hope and pray all will go well.

One of the most amazing things was to see the image of his eyes on the ultrasound. That was a profound experience for me. It was kind of like he was looking at me saying, 'Dad, get ready.' Me, a daddy? Wow. To ponder that the name preferred by the Great God of the universe is Father and that I have part in that? Head esplode. In a few months Laura and I will have a little one that will be completely dependent on us to lead him, guide him and walk beside him... That and burp him, feed him, and change his seemingly endless needed supply of diapers and onesies.

What a beautiful Plan the Father has for those who choose to follow. Indeed daunting, but I feel and have the faith that God will prepare a way for Laura and I to do all the things that He has asked.

I'd post a picture of the ultrasound but that just seems kind of weird posting pics of an unborn child. Maybe I'm weird. Maybe.

LOTOJA 2010

So. This whole summer I've been training to ride the LOTOJA, which is sort of an acronym for Logan to Jackson. It is a bike race that goes 206 miles from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I got into it this year through an invite from a friend who was forming a 5 person relay team to ride the race.

About 3 weeks ago my team finally met and it was discovered that one of our team members did not train over the summer. Because of certain feed zone cutoff times (meaning you're out of the race if you don't make it to a given feed zone by a given time) I volunteered to take one for the team and ride the first two legs. These two legs equalled about 80 miles, starting in Logan, riding through Preston, ID (go Napoleon) eventually going over Strawberry Canyon, and finishing in the small town of Montpelier, ID. Up to that time I hadn't actually ridden 80 miles but I figured I had it in my legs (or at least in my brains) to do it.

So. 7:40am my group rides out with a police escort to 1000 west in Logan... then it's on our own. Being that it was a little chilly out and me lacking any sort of knee warmers, my muscles start to get a little thick during the first part of the ride. Once the sun came up it was great riding and I was starting to feel good.

About 16 miles into the ride I pass a young rider who is struggling a bit so I decide to give him a hand and to get on my wheel for a while to pull him along. After all, I was making pretty good time and didn't feel the need to push myself. So, away we went. We came to mile 17 (halfway to Preston) and we came to a stop sign. LOTOJA rules state that you must stop at every stop sign. So I slow and check to see if there is traffic. My young rider, however, somehow missed the fact that I was slowing and plowed his front wheel into my back wheel successfully snapping 8 of my spokes.

I make it to the other side of the intersection and flip my bike over trying to pull out spokes to see if there was any way possible I could still keep going. Because, if I couldn't, the rest of my team was hosed... they wouldn't get a chance to race. So here I am, with a very apologetic young man, a broken wheel that had accidentally thrown a spoke through my right index finger while checking how jacked it was, and thinking the race was over.

Eventually, neutral support (God bless those people) shows up to bandage my bloody finger and wrap a blanket around me to help me to stop going into shock. A few minutes later another neutral support vehicle shows up. Miraculously, this neutral support vehicle happens to have the exact wheel I need to keep going in the race. I grabbed the wheel, count the gears on the cassette, pump it up, throw it on my bike, hand them my bashed wheel, and take off toward Preston.

And I'm am cranking. By the time I got to Preston I had 15 minutes before the cutoff time passed. Phew! My team was still in the race. Now all that stands between me and my next goal is about 45 miles of mountain climbing.

It was a challenging go. I probably cramped the worst I'd ever cramped on a bike in my history of riding. But there were so many miracles along the way. So many people along the road cheering me on. Kids standing in the road just to get a high five from me. It was inspiring, enduring, hard, and worth every bead of sweat, drop of blood, cramped leg, and tear.

A little more history on the miracle of the wheel... so the reason why the neutral support guy had the wheel I needed started at in Logan, where another person, forgot to bring his front wheel to the start line. Some other generous person lent his wheelset to this guy... who only took the front wheel... the back wheel ended up in the neutral support guy's trunk. Wow. Crazy. I think it was divine intervention through a series of unfortunate events... kinda crazy how it works like that somehow.

I had just passed a dude too so that was cool. I had never been so happy to see the Laura.

Making the turn... without cramping!

Hot hot pink.

I ate tots as a tribute to Napoleon Dynamite. I could barely chew in this picture I was so tired.

Oh yeah, then I worked a 16 hour day the next day. No big deal.

Bike ride

Sean and I went biking up both forks of Hobble Creek Canyon today. It felt good. I used my my tracks app on my phone to track our ride. Apparently it lost us at some point and it thought we were in New Mexico for a while. Let's just say we went just short of 1,000 miles and averaged about 319 miles an hour. Sweet. I think I'll be ready for the LOTOJA if I keep up that pace. This is a picture of Sean after he went "adventuring."

Take a chance.

I've noticed a trend in my life. This is that many of the things that have let me grow in my life have been the result of people taking a chance on me. People have trusted me but i've also taken a terrible chance on me. They were willing to let me fail in addition to the thing I was working on. These people include everyone from my wife to my mission president to my parents. I think it takes a great deal of faith to to this. However, it has been one of the greatest sources of emotional and spiritual growth in my life.

In a way, their faith helped develop my faith. Their belief in me has helped me believe. Their trust in me has helped me trust. Their love has helped me love. It is almost as if their faith has lit the path that I was about to walk. I knew I could do what they asked because they believed that I could.

This being said, I think that faith in others, coupled with the everlasting gift of change and hope in in this life, can be a powerful force for good. Unbelief destroys any remote chance of change to happen. I remember on my mission how hard it was for a missionary who was labeled as disobedient to change.

So, my charge to myself is that no matter how bitter the world gets, no matter how jaded and passive popular opinion becomes,  I will not give up believing in people changing and becoming the best person they can.

Ramble,  ramble, ramble.

The Gila Valley Temple

Here is the temple. I was fortunate to be able to participate in the dedication services this last weekend.

The Day Laura Saved My Life

So I think that day was actually the day we met... but today Laura saved my life for reals. I was "being a man" and cutting out the small section for the hinge in a door I was about to hang when the knife slipped and stabbed my finger. Blood started spilling out of the centimeter wide wound and I instinctively put my finger in my mouth to keep it from making a mess (Bad idea).

I went over to the sink and started running it under water when I realized I was going into shock--which in some cases, unless treated quickly, the person could die. I told Laura that I was going into shock, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground in the kitchen, drenched in sweat, my heart pounding, with my sweet Laura wrapping a rag around my finger and lightly patting my face to get me to wake up again. She revived me by wiping the sweat off my face, kept talking to me, giving me some Gatorade to drink and a little food.

I asked her afterward if she was worried, and of course she was but the thing that amazed me the most was how beautifully her instincts kicked in. Something bypassed what I would think to be the natural response to freak out or something and she immediately and perfectly responded to my unconscious needs.

Thank you sweetheart for saving my life today and for beautifully looking beyond yourself to save someone else.

Valentimes

Giraffitude.

Laura just made that word up. Sweet. Action.

So for Family Home Evening tonight (yes we know it's Tuesdee) we thought it would be appropriate to make a list of what we're grateful for... or, as Laura puts it, what we have Giraffitude for. (She's basically been up for 36 hours).

BULLETS! WITH MULLETS!

(not in any particular order...)

• Socks
• God
• You (pick one)
• Plants
• H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide)
  
• Sunshine
• Music
• Temples
• Water
• Sacrament
• Christmas Lights
• CAPITALIZATION
• Memory foam pillows
• Internet
• Technology
• Blackberry (bolth real and electronical)
• Snowshoes
• Microwave
• Food
• Shelter
• Love
• Essentials kits!
• Laughter
• Covenants
• New beginnings
• Scriptures
• Real live prophets
• Dangly earrings (not Jason, he's grateful for his bling)
• Health
• Education
• Family
• Little kids
• Soup
• Jobs
  
• Toothpaste
• Kanye West mockeries (Jason is a horrible person)
• Indoor plumbing
• Batteries
• Braces
• Good advice
• Honest people
• Super great friends
• Senses... including the 6th one
• Springtime
• The ocean
• Puppies
• Muffins
• Doughnuts
• Good weather
• Boston
• Bad weather
• Red Sox
• You Tube & Hulu
• Christmas vacation
• Microphones
• Guitars
• Flip flops
• Jared Mooney
• Mom and Dad
• Photos
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Bikes
• Tennis
• Ninjas
• Contact lenses
• Global warming
• Asking for help
• General Conference
• Amy Grant's Christmas album (pretty sure it influenced most LDS pop music)
• Shoes (and lots of em)
• Photosynthesis
• Forgiveness
• Wholesome recreational activities
• Marshmallow Mateys
• Cracklin' Oat Bran
• Flowers
• Holding hands
• Crying
• Good books
• Pixar
• Hard times
• Hymns
• Journey... especially Steve Perry
• Camping

There's more, but FHE is OVER!

What's Been Shakin.

I really should post more often. The main problem... Google Reader. I am simply amazed by what my friends find and find it much more entertaining than my measly posts. Well, anyway.

Since the last post in August, we:

• Started school and got politically charged.
  
• Went camping in Moab over Labor day weekend. Fun!
• Went to Philly with work.
• Celebrated my Mom's birthday who got one more year more awesome.
• Listened to General Conference
• Encountered the aftermath of General Conference Editing for the CDs.
  
• Idaho for the taping of Elder Oak's Address
• Got sick.

Exciting. I'll post some more stuff that is probably more worth reading soon.

Activimorphisis

So Laura runs... and actually enjoys it. Here she is running. Lately her back has been hurting because of running (but she's implementing a hopeful solution to that). So she agreed to start biking.

So I bought her this. And built her a bike using leftover components. Cool carbon seat stays and fork!

And now she's a cycling champion! She climbed up City Creek Canyon her second time on the bike! She's even using clipless pedals!! Seriously, I married this girl? She's amazing!

Rent to Own Waves!!

Got this in my email today. Don't we do this anyway? Stupid Waves people and your dumb WUP program. I squish your head!

July of Fourth Fotage.

So it was a super busy month of June for both of us. Puerto Rico was great but it was hard hitting the pavement of our busyness when we got back. But we got a chance to go see Grandma Risenmay up in Idaho Falls for the 4th. We love Grandma. She rules! Here are a few pictures from our adventures up there.

Can You Believe it?

One year today I was made Eternally more perfect. I has become we. Being Laura's companion is beautiful. I reflect on the past year and marvel how it feels how its been long and short at the same time and ever more perfecting. Being united with a bond that extends beyond the grave and sustained by the power that created all things is truly wonderful. Two is more than one and yet two is become one. And really its Three becoming one.

Thank you Laura for walking with me, for choosing "us", and for your constant patience, love, affection, understanding, kindness, and faith.

Dad.

I love this man. I have so much respect and gratitude for him. He has laid a foundation of faith for me. He has walked the road ahead of me and leads me still. From him I have learned to trust my heart, rely on faith, seek the truth, and endure no matter what. I love you dad. Thank you for all you give and continue to give.