Update

Hello family,

Congratulations to Evan for completing the Eagle project!  Way to organize a community effort and execute service.

My apologies for the traumatic experiences that have occurred over the last little bit.  The car wreck, the bird carcass.  Dad if you give me 30% of your damage award, I will represent you in your claim against the other driver's insurance company.  Apparently, he was a 19 year old with marijuana paraphernalia on his way to nowhere so he probably is uninsured.  As to the cat's menacing behavior...I have no words. 

Is there something in our genes that makes us incapable of coping with our phobias?  I always thought Dad's inability to look at bees on a tv screen was a joke.  Over the last couple of years I have developed the same inability with regard to rodents on a tv screen.  I haven't always been this way.  It's probably something I can overcome if I focus.  

Melanie and I are sad that we are not able to attend the Boyer Family Reunion.  The more time we spend in Denver where we have no family, the more we learn that we enjoy being around family and want to live near family.  We are trying to figure a way to visit the family this summer.

Despite feeling landlocked and having no family around, we enjoy living in Denver.  I like the amenities of a large city.  Our ward is young, diverse, and politically charged.  It is filled with ambitious professionals and young families.  A sampling of sacrament meeting talks over this last winter:  one member announced that the "constitution hanging by a thread" prophecy had been fulfilled with the prop8 protests against Mormons in California.  A few weeks after that, another member claimed from the pulpit that, in time, church members will be apologizing for the Church's involvement in prop8 much like some do for polygamy and 1978.  Despite these distractions, Melanie and I are able to enjoy the plain and precious sacrament ordinance in our ward and we have developed close friendships with a number of people in the ward.  

This winter I decided to add more to my plate and I joined the Graduate Tax Program because, upon trying a tax class last fall, I discovered I enjoyed learning about it.  I am doing quite a bit of tax stuff at my work.  I think I enjoy learning/doing tax stuff because I learn more about money and I feel empowered knowing it.  Hmm...money and power.

I hope everyone has a good time at the reunion next week.

Ryan