Well, after taking the month of January off, due to work busy-ness and side project busy-ness, and family and church busy-ness, I finally have a couple minutes to start writing again — so it’ll be a LONG catch-up entry.  So I’ll throw in some subheadings so if you want to skip past certain parts you can.

Lots of Time Off!

Christmas was awesome.  One big benefit of my job is a TON of time off.  Coming into December I still had 5 days of available PTO, PLUS it’s kind of tradition for the entire office to shut down completely the last couple weeks of the year.  It’s a VERY nice part of working here.  So on the 17th of December, we packed up the kiddos and hopped on a plane to San Antonio and didn’t come back until the 5th of January. 

Flight to Texas

We were very nervous about the flight down with 6 kids 8 and under.  Well, the nervousness only increased as we made it to our terminal and saw a huge line at the counter.  I knew something wasn’t right.  Well, we decided to fly on the night of the worst snow storm in Vegas in 25 years.  Anything in or out of Vegas had just been canceled, including our flight which had a layover there.  Our original flight had been scheduled to leave at 5:30pm and arrive in S.A. at almost 1am — 5 hours of flying with an hour-plus layover in Vegas.  So after worrying and wondering while we waited in line to talk to the good Southwest people, they told us there was a direct flight to San Antonio that was leaving shortly and we could get on that.  Wow.  It didn’t actually leave shortly.  Turns out they had decided to just put another flight in the queue to get people to San Antonio and so we had to wait for an hour or so for the pilot to show up.  But it was great.  There were only about 12 other people on the plane, so rather than our original packed flight we got to spread out, take up 3 rows, and the twins got to run around a bit and explore without bothering a bunch of people.  Plus, we ended up getting into San Antonio a little after 10pm, a LOT earlier than our original flight.  It was great and we were definitely blessed.  I don’t know why they got a separate flight just for 20 people, but I’m sure glad we were watched over.  While we were on board the plane waiting for the pilot to arrive, the stewardess brought some coloring books and crayons for the kids.  Soren busied himself coloring and after 20 minutes or so started gushing about how “this is the best flight ever.  I love this flight!”  And we hadn’t even left the ground yet.  But he was right.  I think it was about the best flight ever, especially for a family of 8.

PRE-Christmas Events

We had a lot of fun leading up to Christmas in Texas.  We went to a get-together with our old ward friends from growing up – actually I should say with JESSICA’s old ward friends because only one of the friends there was my age, but we were all a pretty close youth group anyway, so I was pretty good friends even with Jessica’s age group.  We also went to a Christmas concert that featured amazing performances by a bunch of different performers who just happened to include my mom singing and Jessica playing the piano.  Also we attended my Mom’s school Christmas concert – amazing what she pulls out of those little kids.  Probably the highlight of the pre-Christmas activities though was celebrating the twins’ birthday.  I made this video showing the party entertainment and I think it turned out pretty well.  Too fun.

Christmas Day

Well of course we were up nice and early Christmas morning.  The kids had a ton of fun discovering what Santa brought and then we sat down to open presents.  I had been secretly planning a surprise for Julie with the help of actually my whole family.  For Christmas (and our anniversary which is January 2nd) I gave her a cruise.  We would leave on the 27th of December and be gone for 5 nights as we sailed to Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico.  My mom helped out in the months leading up to Christmas by concocting a story about how we were going to go across the border into Mexico for a day or so and how Julie and I needed to bring our passports, but to not worry about getting the kids passports because Mexico has a “reciprocity agreement” with the U.S.where adults’ passports are required but their kids aren’t.  Fortunately Julie bought it all and wasn’t suspicious.  To give her her present, I wrapped a new swim suit and the tag said “Because you need the proper wardrobe for the ride to Mexico”.  Julie got a boatload (pun intended) of cash from my parents and got to go shopping the next day in preparation to leave.  I got the SWEET Olympus Stylus 1030SW shockproof, waterproof, dust-proof, freeze-proof camera that I had wanted to take on the cruise for good snorkeling and swimming photos.  So I was stoked.  But the best gift we got was that my parents and sisters had volunteered a couple months before to watch all 6 kids for a week so we could actually go on the cruise.  Without that, obviously, it would not have been possible.

Anniversary Cruise

The cruise can pretty much be summed up in 6 words: “best week of my adult life”.  It was AWESOME.  We’d never cruised before but we’re sold on it now as the most relaxing method of vacationing.  It’s so nice to be spoiled and taken care of.  Your luggage and hotel room “goes with you” basically, so you settle in on the first day and don’t worry about packing or hauling luggage around until the last day even though you’re going to different locations.  The crew waits on you hand and foot and there’s always something going on — or you can just sit and relax and watch the water go by.  And of course there’s the food.  Plenty of food.  At any time of day. 

Cozumel was our favorite stop.  The shore excursion we chose was “Amazing Cozumel Race”.  Julie and I have always loved the TV show.  A few years ago I had a business trip to Las Vegas.  I didn’t tell Julie about it at all, and she was surprised when I had a cousin of mine show up at our house to take the kids and give her her first “clue” leading her to the airport.  After a few more clues she finally found me at the Rio Hotel and we enjoyed a couple days vacation from real life.  But her race was nothing compared to this “Amazing Race”.  We ran all over Cozumel and there were many challenges we had to do like:

• Par 8 holes on a mini-golf course
• Answer a sheet of questions about exhibits in the Cozumel Museum and use those answers to get our next locale
• Get a Henna Tattoo and translate it in order to get the next stop.
• Take a boat ride and then snorkel out to a sunken ship to get it’s name (my personal favorite – the image of that sunken ship is permanently etched in my mind.  It was AWESOME!)
• Find the right shop in the farmer’s market
• and more!

Julie and I ended up doing really well.  We came in 2nd place.  Our undoing was our physical fitness.  The thing I like about Amazing Race is it’s not just about physical prowess, but there’s a good mix of mental gymnastics to even out the playing field.  Julie and I excelled at the mental part.  If we could get in a little better  shape we’d make a perfect Amazing Race team.  Even with our lacking though, we were only 2 minutes behind the first place team and 6 minutes off of the fastest time ever so we were pretty excited.  As a prize we got some “Amazing Cozumel Race” t-shirts.

After the race, we did some shopping, then headed to a pier the race organizers had told us about to do some snorkeling.  It wasn’t as good as the reefs that are in the area, but those require more time  than we had.  The snorkeling was still pretty nice.  At one point, I was swimming around and all of a sudden I was surrounded by “Sergeant Major” Fish swimming all around me.  They’re pretty aggressive and weren’t shy at all.  I got some great shots of them using my sweet new camera.

The next day we docked in Progreso.  Our excursion here was to some Mayan ruins called Dzibilchaltun.  Not as big as Chichen Itza, but a shorter drive and impressive nonetheless.  The best part of the ruins, though, was the Cenote, or sinkhole, where we were able to swim.  It’s a spring and the water is crystal clear and refreshingly cool.  The swimming was amazing.  I could have stayed in the water all day, but unfortunately we didn’t have a ton of time there.  After the ruins we went to a private beach house where we sat on the beach sipping Pina Coladas and enjoyed the water a little more.

New Years Eve was our last night on the ship and there were loads of activities planned.  After dinner we went to our room and found hats and noisemakers waiting for us on the bed.  After some karaoke, we went up on the pool deck for the party and counted down to midnight while the band played.  It was packed and pretty crazy.

Late the next morning we debarked in Galveston and drove the 4 hours back to San Antonio.  It was an awesome vacation and honestly I think about going back every day.  We are so grateful to my family for volunteering to take the 6 kids, who can be quite a handful.  Julie and I never really had a honeymoon.  We got married on January 2nd and school started 2 days later, so we got a weekend in Salt Lake for our honeymoon.  So finally, for our 10th anniversary, we got to get away from everything for an extended period, forget about life, and just enjoy each other’s company. 

If you’re really wanting more info on the cruise, I posted all the cruise photos here.

Post-Cruise

The rest of the time in Texas was spent just lounging around and getting ready to come home.  Peyton and Soren had driven home with Katie and Tagg so they could be home in time for school to start.  They left San Antonio while we were on our way back from Galveston, so we didn’t get to see them until we got home from Texas 4 days later.  10 days is a long time for a 6 and 8 year old to be away from Mom and Dad but they did OK.  The flight home wasn’t quite as nice as the flight there.  We had to go through Denver and Maren was very riled up and didn’t settle down until the second flight.  And the flights were packed so we had to hold Maren and Roman on our laps which got pretty uncomfortable after a while.  But we made it and for the most part it was nice to be home after so long away.  But it was definitely a great time and worth any of the hassles there may have been.

It’s been a crazy last month or so and I haven’t blogged at all.  One of the crazy things going on was getting ready for our Christmas party this year.  We invited Jon Schmidt to come play for us.  He’s one of my favorites.  We’ve seen his big show at Thanksgiving Point before, but also had a chance to see him in a small concert where there were maybe a hundred of us and everyone had a great view.  His big show was fabulous, but it couldn’t compare to the smaller group show where he interacts with you, takes requests, and answers questions.

I heard last year that Jon does these in-home concerts for a nominal fee at Christmas time.  So this year I kept it in the back of my mind that I wanted to get him in our home for an evening.  It all came together and he came on Saturday.  Julie and I had spent a couple days making food and had a bunch of hors d’oeuvres and goodies.  We moved the piano into the family room next to the Christmas tree and moved the couches out of the family room into the guest room.  We lined the floor with chairs and I think everyone had a pretty good view.

We had about 45 family members and friends in our home.  Jon arrived about a half hour or so after we started.  He had some food and then we all sat down to enjoy the show.  We don’t have a grand piano so one of the funniest parts of the night was after a few songs when Jon decided he wanted to take the front sound board off the piano to get every last bit of sound he could from it.  I told him he could saw the piano in half if it would make it sound better.  It was an awesome show.  He played a bunch of Christmas songs and a lot of his other stuff too.  He played for a good hour and a half and answered questions and took requests.  One of the highlights was a jazz version of Rudolph upside down with his head under the keyboard.  He finished with one of his classics, Tribute, and then a beautiful version of Silent Night where we all joined in to sing.

Everything turned out about as perfect as it could be.  The “scenery” was perfect as we had all the lights off except the Christmas lights and the fire (at least until it got too hot) and of course there was the great view out our windows to add to the scenery.  After the show Jon got a standing ovation and then brought in CDs and piano books to sell.  He ended up staying until about 11:00pm and I think everyone had a great time.  We’re definitely planning it again for next year.  We may have to invite a different crowd though because we had so many people who wanted to come to this.  Here’s a couple photos.  I’ll post some video a bit later.

Jon Schmidt In-home Concert from Derek Williams on Vimeo.

I really should have done this a long time ago.  Julie and I have both written some funny things down in multiple places that the kids have said, but I need to find those lists and get them all consolidated in one place, here on this blog.   So this will serve as my collection place for funny sayings and I’ll just add to this post as new funny things are said.  So here are a few starter kid quotes.  If any of you have any funny things the kids have said to you, please add it here in a comment and I’ll merge it in with these sayings.

Eden, December 2008 – Logan was getting a little mouthy with Julie one day.  Eden ran up and said “You need to respect Mom, Logan.”  Except it sounded more like “You need to wespet Mom, Logan.”  He walked off and Eden looks up at Julie and says “Seriously, Mom, he needs to wespet you.”

Logan, November 2008 – Logan was having a talk with Grammy and Gramps who were visiting from Texas. Grammy said something Logan didn’t believe.  Grammy told him “Ask your dad”, to which Logan replied “OK I will – wait – he lies a LOT!” Hmm – he thinks he’s figured me out.  I don’t really LIE.  I just like to have fun with the answers.  I subscribe to the “Calvin’s Dad School of Question Answering”.  You can find some awesome examples here and here.

Soren, November 2008 – We were playing Scattergories and the letter was P.  One item was Summer Activity.  As we’re all working on our list, he suddenly says “ahh man, I wish the letter was S.  Then for Summer Activity I could put Sacrificing Chickens.”  We were rolling and could barely finish.  When we finally finished and were reading our lists, when it came to Summer Activity, he proudly said “PERSECUTING chickens!” Don’t ask me. I have NO IDEA where he pulled that from.

Logan, October 2008 – Just sitting at the bar eating breakfast and matter of factly said “Hey Mom…I want you to change my birthday, OK?”

Eden, January 2008 – Upon seeing Julie in some pants she’d not been able to wear while pregnant with the twins.  “Wow!  New pants, Mom!”

Peyton, November 2004 – While we sat in an IHOP in Anaheim having breakfast waiting for Disneyland to open.  Our waiter was speaking to us in his thick Mexican accent.  Peyton, stared at him intently while he was talking to us, then suddenly said “Uhh, we speak English!”

Soren, more than once, random bathrooms, usually in a restaurant, when someone in a stall is having a “rough” time. “Dad, what’s that noise?  Is that a monster, dad?  Dad, I think there’s a monster in here.  Ooh, dad, what’s that smell?  It’s making my tummy sick dad.”

Often I wonder why we have bedrooms.  Like last night.  Julie and I went to sleep about 11:00.  We had been in our room for a while and when we went to turn off the light, there was Soren, laying on the floor right outside our room.  Then, about 2:00 am I wake up because I’m almost falling off our bed.  This is a king-sized bed mind you, and I’m sleeping on about 6 inches.  Turns out that Logan and Eden had come in at some point and wedged themselves down between Julie and I.  I think there might have been a small warehouse in there and some garden tools and a set of encyclopedias too.  I’m not sure, I just know there was NO ROOM.  Of course they didn’t bother to wake us up and let us know they planned to move in.  So I knew nothing until I was virtually falling off the bed.  This happens often and each time I go through the same mental discussion:

“Should I put them back into their beds?  I could do that, but then they’d probably be right back here in an hour and I would be falling off the bed again.  Plus I’d probably expend so much energy carrying them back to their rooms that my body might decide to just slip into morning mode, and I’d never fall back asleep anyway.”

One of the most important lessons you learn as a parent is to pick your battles.  So last night I decided it wasn’t worth the effort and went downstairs to the guest room to sleep.  But it made me think.  What’s the point of having bedrooms, let alone beds?  If they’re not in our bed, half the time in the mornings we’ll find one or more of the kids out in the family room on the LoveSac, fast asleep.  Or on the floor.  Even on the stairs.  A couple of times, I’ve found Soren outside the bathroom door in the morning, like he’d had enough energy to make it to the toilet when awakened in the middle of the night, but getting back to his room after he relieved himself was just too darn hard.

I think we could have saved ourselves a ton of money if, when we built our house, we had just built Julie’s and my room, just like it is, but the rest of the upstairs we’d left a huge room with LoveSacs lining the floor.  The kids would still come into our room though.  Plus we’ve got two more who are stuck in their cribs still, unable to get out.  Once they’re in a bed and able to get out on their own – look out.  So better yet, maybe an amusement park.  We could have a little roller coaster and jungle gym up there.  The kids would be happy as could be.  The amusement park would be a lot more expensive and the calliope music and constant cotton candy smell would get kind of annoying – but I’ll bet the kids would play themselves into sheer exhaustion every night, so they’d just crash right there under the tilt-a-whirl unable to move until morning.  Hmm, I wonder if KSL Classifieds has any Merry-Go-Rounds for sale…

This has been floating around a bit the last month or so, so you may have seen it.  But I think it’s the best, most concise explanation of the causes of the current financial crisis that I’ve seen.  And you can’t fix a problem, really, unless you know what caused it.  When will people ever learn that screwing with a free market is NOT wise.  The beauty of capitalism and a true free market is that it stabilizes itself.

Yesterday morning we were sitting in our Suburban with the 5 youngest kids watching the oldest, Peyton, play soccer in the rain.   We were also listening to the morning session of General Conference.  When President Monson announced that 5 new temples would be built, Julie and I both looked at each other and said hopefully, “maybe Rome?”  The stake was established in Rome a few years back and since then we’ve always been hopeful when a temple is announced that maybe it would be in Rome.  When President Monson finally said “Rome, Italy”, Julie and I both broke down in tears.  I admit it.  I’ve got a HUGE soft spot in my heart for the wonderful Italian saints.  And they have longed for a temple for a LONG time.

I think it’s extra close to my heart, too, because Julie and I were both there when the “official” temple talk started 13 years ago in late 1995.  I was a Zone Leader in the Trionfale zone which encompassed a ton of the historic Rome tourist sites and the Vatican as well.  The zone also included a little beach city called Ladispoli where Julie happened to be serving at the time.  My apartment was a short walk from St. Peter’s Basilica and we went there often.  Anyway, I was in a meeting with the other Zone Leaders and Assistants to the President where it was announced that we needed to have a stake in Rome.  It was an unusual request because usually a request for a stake comes from the local level up to the General Authorities.  But in this case, we were being requested by the General Authorities to get the number of active members and priesthood holders required to support a stake because President Hinckley really felt strongly that we needed a temple in Rome, and you can’t have a temple without a stake.  We hashed out all the “numbers” and made a goal that we felt was pretty realistic that we could establish a stake within about 3 years.  We got permission to purchase land for a temple and a site was found that would accommodate a temple and a stakehouse along with parking for both.

There’s another awesome story about what happened in the months following that meeting that plays into this temple story, but I won’t share it here.  If you want more info, ask me sometime.  What’s important here is that instead of 3 years to establish the stake, it took about 10.

So yesterday, 13 years after that meeting where the stake and temple talk began, the announcement was finally made that construction will soon begin on the temple.  I was overjoyed to say the least.  It’s felt like Christmas ever since then and I can’t wait to go over for the dedication in a couple years or so.  Julie was surprised when I said we were going, but there’s nothing, short of deathbed illness that could keep me away from that celebration.

I have to post a favorite quote from Lorenzo Snow, who dedicated the land of Italy for missionary work back in the 1850s.  Of Italy he said:

Here reposes the dust of millions that were mighty in ages gone by, and flooded the earth with the fame of their deeds. Here are the fields that have been crimsoned with the blood of royalty, and have become the grave of dynasties. Poets who sung the praise of nations, and princes that wielded the sceptre of power during many a crisis of the world’s history, are laid low beneath the dust of thy fields and vineyards!

But is there nought here save the tomb of the past? O, Italy! Hath an eternal winter followed the summer of thy fame, and frosted the flowers of thy genius, and clouded the sunbeams of thy glory? No: the future of thy story shall outshine the past, and thy children shall yet be more renowned than in the ages of old. Though the triple crown of earth’s proudest apostate shed a tinsel splendor over thy boundless superstition, Truth shall yet be victorious amid thy Babylonish regions. Where triumphant warriors were stained with gore, and princes reigned in the pomp of tyranny, the sure, though tardy working of the Gospel, now weaves a fairer wreath, and will wear a brighter crown.

I see around me many an eye which will one day glisten with delight at the tidings of eternal Truth, many a countenance which will adorn the assemblies of the living God. There is yet the blood of heaven’s nobility within the hearts of many amid thy sons and daughters; and sooner will that blood stain the scaffold of martyrdom than dishonor the manly spirits with which it is connected.

The Rome mission hymn states “L’italia fiorira’, come promesso fu” — “Italy will blossom, as was promised”.  I heard that the words of the hymn have been changed since we were there to say “L’italia sta fiorendo, come promesso fu” — “Italy is blossoming, as was promised”.  The temple announcement is a fulfillment of Lorenzo Snow’s promise.

Here are a couple of articles regarding the temple:

LDS Church plans temples in Rome, 4 other locations

October 4th, 2008 @ 10:00pm
By Carole Mikita and AP

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints heard a big announcement in the opening session of general conference Saturday.

President Thomas S. Monson surprised tens of thousands of people in the Conference Center and millions more gathered around the world when he said, “This morning, I am pleased to announce five new temples.”

“Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Cordoba, Argentina; the greater Kansas City area; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Rome, Italy,” he said.

When Pres. Monson said one would be built in Rome, surprise shot through the crowd at the Conference Center. Conference-goers called it unexpected.

Linda Ann Taala, of Taylorsville, Utah, said, “That’s the headquarters of the Catholic Church, and it’s interesting to see we’re going to have representation there, too.”

Russell Ferry, of Corrine, Utah, said, “The Rome temple, I was really surprised that we had that much church membership there. That’s really neat that we have that.”

A viewer wrote on our KSL.com comment board that land for the temple in Rome is 10 acres within the “circle road” that surrounds the main city. Besides the increased membership, he said another thing needed to happen, and that “included official government recognition of the LDS Church as a ‘church,’ which happened last year.”

He also said, “As an emissary to Italy, I have been waiting for this day for six long years and am very happy it has finally come.”

From Google Earth you can see Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica. Others on our comment board say property being discussed for a temple is to the north and east.

The Rome temple will be the church’s first in Italy, first in the Mediterranean region, and the twelfth in Europe. It will serve church members from a variety of countries and greatly reduce travel time and expense to the Latter-day Saints living in the area. The church has had a presence in Italy since 1850, although its missionaries have not always been allowed to proselytize there, according to information on a church Web site.

First Temple Announced in Rome

SALT LAKE CITY 4 October 2008

In 1850, three years after the Mormon pioneers arrived in Utah, Jean Antoine Bosc became the first member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy. Since that time, Church members have waited for the day when they would have a Latter-day Saint temple on Italian soil. That dream came closer to reality when Church President Thomas S. Monson announced plans for a temple in Rome on 4 October 2008.

Latter-day Saints have a rich history in Italy. The first Latter-day Saint missionaries in Italy left their homes in the United States and arrived in Genova on 25 June 1850. Elders Lorenzo Snow, who later became the Church’s fifth president, Thomas B.H. Stenhouse and Joseph Toronto, a native of Sicily, began their missionary work in the mountainous Piedmont region near Torino. Religious freedom had just been granted in that area by the King of Sardinia a year earlier.

Over the next three years, between 1850 and 1854, a total of 221 people were baptized and organized into three branches of the Church in Angrogne, St. Germain and St. Bartholomew. During that time a missionary tract, The Voice of Joseph, and the Book of Mormon were both published in Italian.

Most proselytizing in Italy ceased in the early 1860’s because of local opposition and a request from Church leaders for Italian members to immigrate to Utah in the United States. The Italian mission was officially closed in 1862. An attempt was made in 1900 to re-open the mission, but legal permission was refused. It would be another 40 years before the Church would have a formal presence in Italy when foreign servicemen were stationed in the country.

The Church was established again among the people of Italy when Vincenzo di Francesca joined the Church in 1951. His conversion resulted from his chance finding of a burned copy of the Book of Mormon whose cover and title page were missing. During this period, Italians joined the Church in other countries, bringing their new faith back to Italy with them. They began attending Church services with LDS servicemen stationed in the country which resulted in the establishment of several new branches (An LDS branch is similar in size to a Catholic parish.) The first of these was in Naples, organized on 28 April 1963. In 1964 the Church republished the Book of Mormon in Italian and by year end Church records showed 229 Church members living in Italy.

That year Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who would later become the Church’s 13^th president, petitioned the Italian government for permission to resume missionary work in the country. Permission was granted and 20 Italian-speaking missionaries entered the country on 27 January 1965 to begin working in Turin, Milan, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Pordenone, Como and Varese.

Membership growth was slow but steady throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s with new missions created in Rome, Padova and Catania. By 1978, Church membership in Italy passed 7,000. By 1990 it was 14,000.

To accommodate Church growth, stakes (similar in concept to a diocese) were organized in Milan (1981), Venice (1985), Puglia (1997), Rome (2005) and Alessandria (2007).Today Church membership in Italy exceeds 22,600 in 102 congregations, with many Church members being second and third generation Latter-day Saints.

For information on the construction and any news, photos, etc, I just found this site. Hopefully, it will contain a bunch of good info soon.
http://www.rometemple.info

The other day we had a nice department lunch for work at the Grand America hotel in Salt Lake City.  They have a real nice high-end buffet and a pasta bar.  As soon as I walked into the serving area I had to stifle a laugh.  The chef working the pasta bar looked JUST LIKE the evil chef from Ratatouille!  I had to snap a picture with my cell phone so I could compare side-to-side.  I think the resemblance is pretty remarkable.  Unfortunately it’s a cell-phone pic, so not the best quality, but I think you’ll agree with me.  I wonder Pixar Studios ventured up to SLC sometime for a lunch and modeled their chef off this guy?

It finally happened!  263 nights after the twins were born, both of them slept through the night for the first time, with Roman waking up at about 6:00 am this morning.  It was the first time Julie and I have been able to both have a full-night’s sleep in almost 9 months.  So nice!!!

Well, I’m kind of bummed today.  Yesterday we found out that VeriSign decided to pull the plug on the next version of the Liberty Fillmore, Cart Whisperer campaign, which was in fact a presidential campaign.  For a few months, we had been working on a new phase of the marketing campaign where Liberty was running for President.  VeriSign kept pushing back and saying they wanted to wait a bit, and kept going back and forth on what proposed new features they wanted and didn’t want, until finally they realized that they’d pushed back too much and it was now too late to launch.  So they’re just paying us for all the work done so far and the VeriSign team moves on to other projects.  This has been a great campaign to be a part of – it’s up for some national marketing awards and it’s just been a fun site to develop, but it’s over now.  It’s a shame, because a lot of really good work by a lot of great team members had been done on the site.  Since it won’t have a chance to be shown, I figure I can show it here for whoever happens to read this.  So here are a bunch of comps (that means mocked up images showing what the new site will look like, not actual live website pages) of the Liberty for President website that almost was. There’s some really choice funny lines on these if you want a good laugh.

Liberty and justice for Y’all!	Platform page 1	Get Poll-itical	Liberty Town Hall
Wreeeee the People!	The Green Bar Party	Encyclomedia – photos	Encyclomedia – photo detail
Encyclomedia – videos	Encyclomedia – video viewer	Encyclomedia – downloads

On Monday evening we went to the park across the street.  There’s a pathway that encircles the park that is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 mile.  There’s a marker we’ve seen before that says the distance but it was getting dark so we couldn’t find it.  Anyway, when we got there, Logan said he wanted to “wun fo a minute and exohcise”.   So he took off – and didn’t stop until 6 laps later!  Actually that’s not totally true.  He stopped long enough each time he passed to ask if he could go again.  Julie wanted him to stop after 3 laps – she thought he was going to pass out or something – but I wanted to see how long he could go.  He finally said he was ready to go after 6 laps but he didn’t even look that tired.  I think he could have gone more.  He looked so funny too — totally reminded me of Dash on The Incredibles with his little legs just a blur and his little hands clenched in these tight fists.  Actually his only complaint afterwards was that his hands hurt from making fists for that long.  HAHA!  He actually was pretty fast too.  I don’t know for sure how long, but it was definitely less than 20 minutes.  Peyton tried to run with him about halfway through but couldn’t for very long.  And Soren did 11 trips on his bike in that time.  A 4 year old running 1.5 – 2 miles in less than 20 minutes seems like it’s pretty good to me.    I wondered if this had something to do with watching the Olympics but I don’t think he had really seen much of the track events by then since everything we watched was mostly swimming, gymnastics, and volleyball.  But somehow, he got the running bug.  I said to Julie after, that we need to take him to the park every night and just let him run.