AULD LANG SYNE (at least I think that's how you spell it)

Well it's 3:45am and I'm staying awake so that the dog will let Syl sleep preparatory to her work day. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone ! I am sure that I, like all of you are now looking back and re counting the memories of 2008. There were a lot of them, weren't their. The windstorm and blackout, the economic turmoil, the presidential election result, the Bengals, and other hardships and disasters plagued our lives this year, but I'm sure that the choice good times far out-weighed them. I wish to share a couple of my personal favorites.

This was the year that my darling sister in law, Debra, took my even darlinger wife and the rest of the Gardner girls on the adventure of a lifetime. I will always be very grateful to Deb for this generous gift. To see Sylvia's eyes and smile light up when she shares memories of her cruise is a true delight to me. In my book, eventhough I wasn't invited, as were any of the men in the family, this truly made it a gift for me too. Thanks again Deb.



This was also the year that on a VERY rainy early spring morning I got the pleasure of seeing two beautiful women accomplish a very lofty goal when they took to the rain soaked streets of Cincinnati and completed the 2008 Flying Pig 5k, and in doing so creating something that will not only be about my favorite memory of 2008, but a very cherished memory of mine for years to come if not the rest of my life. It was the birth of Pink Princess Racing. When this happened I got to watch an amazing thing. I got to see our lives improve and change as we turn towards more healthy goal oriented living as Sylvia and I set our sights on being more physically conscious. The team eventually grew to include Maura's daughter Mikayla, Sam Hoffart, my adorable niece Courtney King, and in 2009 we are all very anxious to be joined by none other than Toni McElwain. My team participated in three other events during 2008 and we are all looking forward to a great 2009 season, when even I, P2R's crewchief and photographer plan on getting off the sideline, and out on the road with my team. I can't, however post a tribute to the Pink Princesses without a special shout-out to the woman whose influance, friendship, and personality made P2R a reality, Our dear friend and sister, Maura. From the bottom of my heart Maura, thank you for all the smiles, love, and laughter you've given Sylvia and I through the year, and I'm looking forward to a whole bunch more in the year to come. This leads into another fond memory of 2008. I feel that this was the year that our friendship with the Prince family really began to flourish and grow. This friendship has truly made me feel "ten feet tall and bulletproof," as a country song I once liked said.

WE REALLY love you guys.

Happy New Year everybody. Two days ago I heard a blurb on the news that refered to 2008 as "dismal." I disagree. I think anyone can find more happy and joyeous memories if they look for them, and it is my hope that anyone reading this posting will be able to find great happiness in the year to come.

once again from the MOSL:

HAVE A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS
NEW YEAR

Quote of the month

" Christmas is Jesus' birthday, and WE get the presents." -Savanna Prince

FOR SALE BY GOVE er oh OWNER, yeah thats it OWNER

For Sale, one genuine, U.S.Senate seat representing the state of confusion, uh I mean Illinois. Previous owner moving out of state for the next four years. (at least I hope it's just for the next 4 years,) so must sell. Seat hardly used and in like new condition. No experience necessary to purchase. If you are Democra, uh I mean, INTERESTED, call The Illinois State House at, 1 (800) CRO OKED, ask for Rod

She Tagged Me

OK, so I was blog surfing the other day when much to my pleasant surprise I discovered that my sweet sister from another mother Maura (http://pamperedprincessmaura.blogspot.com/) had tagged me. Never having been one to turn down a challenge, here it goes.




The rules, as I understand them are simple;
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2.Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell 6 un-spectacular quirks about yourself
4.Tag 6 other unsuspecting bloggers by linking with them
5.Leave a comment on each of their blogs informing them that they too have been tagged


So Buckle your seat belts everyone, here we go




QUIRKS, (as if)

1. Like Maura I too once had an interest in learning a new language. But i didn't pursue this interest because I decided there was really no practical need for a knowledge of social Klingon. I have however over the years learned enough Spanish to order a meal at Taco Bell or any other Spanish fast food establishment. I can however after my mission to North Carolina speak fluent southern,

2.Being the life long car-guy that I am, I have had a dream of owning a classic muscle car and having it pictured in Hot Rod Magazine. I remember browsing the pages of Hot Rod as a kid and seeing all the pictures of the beautiful vehicles in there and thinking how absolutely cool it would be to have a car that I owned and created pictured in such a great magazine. I realize now that my beloved and dearly missed old yellow Chevy might be the closest I will ever come to accomplishing this dream due to today's economy, I did get a taste of this dream however when I got pictures of three of my model cars featured in the Nascar models page of Modelers Corner at http://www.slixx.com/.

3.My late father fostered a deep love for world war 2 era aircraft in me. One of my very fondest memories of my childhood with him were the times that he and I would go and park at the airport and watch the planes and sometimes much to my pleasure the helicopters come and go. My father was a vetran of the Army Air Corps and a non-combat pilot in WW2 so he had a love for the aircraft of that day which he passed a long to me rather easily. I think that today, I love the P-51D Mustang as much as the Ford Mustang. One day after returning to work following my dads funeral I was outside in the yard at Western Building Supply on a beautiful cloudless day. I heard an unmistakable sound overhead. It was the sound of an AT-6 Texan trainer airplane passing by. This airplane's wings and fuselage were polished chrome, and in the brilliant sunlight on that day this beautiful old warplane was shining so blindingly bright that it almost looked celestial. I stood and watched it, crying

To this day I think it was my dad checking on me.

4.I may possibly be the only 46 year old male in captivity to love Spongebob Squarepants

5. I love C.G.I. laid en movies. If the special effects are off the hook, the more I enjoy it. That is a big reason why I loved the movies "Iron Man," "Independence Day," "Transformers,""Pearl Harbor," and "Poseidon" as much as I did.

6.My bucket list is simple, I want to attend races in Daytona, ( its awesome that my wife now would love to travel back to Florida, but I fear that doing it on the second week of February will be a tough sell.) I also want to attend races in Talledega and Bristol as well as own a new Dodge Charger


I now Tag:

Our dear and relocated friend Leslie (http://www.throughrose-coloredglasses.blogspot.com/)

My Friend Scott (http://www.low-techworld.blogspot.com/)

Good Friend and leader Shaylene (http://www.luntfamily.blogspot.com/)

Friend and fun lover Luanne (http://www.louonblog.blogspot.com/)

A true friend and inspiration Patti (http://www.betchadidntknow.blogspot.com/)

Another Great friend, Our Mama, Michelle (http://www.mamadehotel.blogspot.com/)

I truely hope you have enjoyed this look inside the MOSL

Pausing to remember

October 30th will be a day etched in my memory forever.This day, ten years ago was the day of my amputation, which cements it as a day that changed my life forever. As I pause to reflect on where my life has gone since that fateful day in 1998, I can say that the only things that I lost with my right foot are the ability to drive a standard transmissioned car, and to bowl, and I am certain that I could re-train myself to bowl if I ever wanted to. I can also say with full conviction that God loves me. I have been given so many blessings over the last ten years that I can't count them all, but I do want to give recognition to a few of them. Now you should be able to guess what the greatest blessing in my life has been. I think that if you were to look in the dictionary for the words "True Love'" you would undoubtedly see my darling wife's picture next to the definition. She truly is what love , and support are all about. In the last ten years I've given her more reasons to give up on me than I can count, and I'm not even counting last months car wreck after running a red light. She is still, however standing steadfast next to me showing me more love than sometimes I feel I deserve. I have also been blessed with the love and support of a great family, and good friends whom I love with all my heart and give thanks for daily. I have been given the support of wonderful in-laws. Dad and Bobbye have never been more than just a phone call away and they have always had our backs. Their support of us over the last ten years has been truly Heaven-sent. I can't however speak about being Heaven -sent without mentioning our dear friends the Prince family. My sister from another mother Maura has dad such a profound impact on us over the last year by instilling in us a desire to improve ourselves that I will be always be grateful to her and love her like the sister I never had.
I guess to sum this all up some people feel sorry for people who have lost a limb. I hope no one does for me. Heavenly Father has really taken good care of me.

Quote of the week:

"Somedays you just can't get rid of a bomb." -Batman

My Heroes have always been racers

As you may know I am a very profound "Car Guy." Race cars have been part of my life as far back as I can remember. In fact, I'm pretty sure my teething ring was a steering wheel. Some of the most cherished memories of my childhood were going to the old quarter mile oval at the Utah State Fairgrounds on Saturday nights with my dad. The local racing talent quickly became heroes to me. men such as Joel Terry, "Wild"Bill Madsen, and Danny Caputo. This went on until my teenage years when after the closure of the Fairgrounds Speedway I started going to the old Bonneville drag strip also in Salt Lake. There, with my friends of those years I got my first taste of big time auto racing being able to see some of the men who are now the biggest names in the sport of Drag Racing compete. This went on till my darling wife and I moved to Ohio and I was introduced to Nascar. And the rest, shall we say, is history.

I can now however say that I have new racing heroes. They are only loud when they are laughing together. They don't compete in beautiful, brightly colored race cars. They don't beat very many physical opponents, but they are fiercely aggressive against their personal ones. They aren't even particularly very fast. (except for Mikayla.) But I have seen more beauty, excitement, and life changing inspiration at their events than at most car races I've attended and I thank God daily for my association with them. Of course my new heroes I'm speaking of if you haven't guessed already are the girls of Pink Princess Racing

Yesterday, "my team" participated in the fifth annual Run with the Nuns at Winton Woods. There, all four members broke their previous personal best marks, with Mikayla taking an impressive fourth place for her age group. YOU GO GIRL!

But the "hero" I really want to brag up is my darling Sylvia. During her race she came across a young girl whose young companions were overwhelmed by the difficulty of the task at hand and decided to give up, leaving this sweet little girl all by herself and doubting her own resolve to finish the race, Syl spoke to her and encouraged her to continue the race. The two of them walked along as Syl heard delightful stories of the things and activities commonly important to a child until they could see the finish line and Syl pointed that the award was in sight and encouraged her to go for it and finish the race. As it turned out, Sylvia, my best friend and darling eternal companion freely sacrificed what would have been the exciting accomplishment of a benchmark goal, to see a young girl whom she didn't know prior to this race, accomplish hers. Incidentaly Sylvia still beat her previous best time by almost four minutes.

General conference was still several hours away, but I had already learned a profound lesson about living Christ-like on this beautiful Autumn morning.

Now don't get me wrong, I still love motor sports as much as I ever have, but my being the "crew chief" of Pink Princess Racing has taught me their is something much bigger to life.

So in conclusion I just want to say to the members of P2R, particularly the team captains My darling wife Sylvia. and my sweet sister from another mother Maura. Thanks for letting me tag a long. I can't wait till Thanksgiving.

Love you guys.