...Cold, Wet, Saturday Afternoon Weber State Games.

Ok, so here is how it went. It was about 2 months ago that I told Kim I would really like to have season tickets to Weber State football and basketball. Why Weber State? It's a 20 minute drive and I figured tickets would be cheap. The kids don't know the difference between Weber State football and BYU football. Heck, they don't really know the difference between Weber's Wildcats and the Washington's Redskins. So, one fine Saturday morning while out shopping for a new king mattress, we stopped by the Weber State ticket office. Turns out I was right, as usual. Weber tickets were cheap......dirt cheap. Football Season tickets for all five home games were just $85. $85 doesn't sound too bad right? Until you figure we are a family of six. But thats ok, cause at Weber State, you don't pay $85 for one season ticket, you pay $85 for 8! I did the math, its about $2 per ticket. Basketball is even a better deal, $150 for 15 home games with 6 tickets per game. Sure they aren't the best seats in the house. To be precise, they are the worst seats in the house. But still, $1.50 per tickets for college basketball? Go Wildcats, go!!! The St. Clairs are now officially Purple and Black wearing wildcats fans. And why not, they need more fans, we need cheap entertainment. A match made in heaven. Season tickets to basketball and football for the whole family, for less than what it would cost to take all six of us to one Jazz game.

Home game number two was yesterday, Saturday the 6th against the perennial powerhouse Sacramento State Hornets. It was a beautiful day. 40 degrees with heavy rain, turning to snow. Did we wimp out and stay home? NO way, we are the St. Clairs.....we are like the Mormon equivalent to the Griswalds. So we bundled up, grabbed our tarp and blankets, and of course, contraband concessions, and headed to Ogden. Weber State took control early, and was ahead 13 to nothing early in the second quarter, when one of our children decided that it was just too dang cold. Meltdown number one. About 5 minutes further into the 2nd quarter came meltdown number two. Well, we were all cold, and wet, and although it was a great game, we decided to pack it in at half time. By the time we got the soaking wet 400lb acrylic blanket I bought in Tiajuana down off the hill, it was definitely time to go home. We all survived quite nicely even though two kids were sure they were going to freeze to death. Truth is, we all had fun...at least for the first quarter or so.

Conference was great, what we saw of it. We tivo'd the 2nd session, so we will be knee deep in conference catch up today. For those of you who don't yet have HDTV, I never thought I would say this but, Conference in HD is better. More like actually being at the conference center in person. Now you husbands have a valid excuse to go out and buy that new flat screen HDTV set youv'e been wanting. It's no longer just about football and movies, it's about seeing every detail on the prophet's face when he speaks. So wives, please don't stand in the way of your husbands spirituality. Let him have his giant screen TV. It will make him a better person.

Well folks, it is way past time for bed. In my next edition, you will meet our new neighbors, sort of. The mystery of how many kids, what age and what sex they are, has been answered. Until then......

Jared

....Halo 3!!!

I know, I know, I'm 35 years old and I shouldn't be playing video games. I'm a business owner, wait I'm a double business owner. I have four kids and a new wife. I just got a new......I mean another calling in church. So what the heck do I need with a video game habit? Alright, I'll be honest with you. I have been a Halo addict in the past. Not lately, once I realized that I couldn't function in the morning after an all night LAN party (thats tech talk for hooking up multiple Xboxes and playing all night), I decided I had better give up the habit. But that was Halo 2. Halo 3 comes in High Definition a perfect fit for my HD TV. Halo 3 has very improved graphics and all kinds of new weapons to shoot at other players. Halo 3 has four wheelers and cool sand racers. Halo 3 broke all entertainment industry records by selling $170 million worth of games in the first 24 hours. I contributed $60 U.S. to that figure.

So, I get the guys together, ask nicely for my beautiful wife's permission and host a Halo 3 LAN party. Little did I know that one of the young men I invited over was a junkie and had already played the brand new game for about 10 hours that day. Needless to say, this old man got WORKED OVER HARD!!!! It was ugly. So, maybe thats what I get for trying to hold onto a juvenile habit as a 35 year old father of four.

Oh well, I bet I can beat Kimberlee at Halo 3! So here I am writing my second blog and filling it with useless meandering thoughts of video games and old age. If you care to read on I will tell you something potentially more interesting.

I sold Gordon Giracek, from the Utah Jazz, $290 worth of supplements today.

I also mentioned earlier my new er.....should I say, our new calling. Apparently, either the Bishop doesn't trust me to do a calling on my own or he really wants me to create a bond with my new wife. We are already team teachers in primary. Either way, Kim and I are the proud new ZONE LEADERS in the ward mission. Yes, you heard right. I haven't been a ZL since January of 1993. And I wasn't sleeping with my companion then. Thank Goodness, he wasn't all that good looking. Our stake is the pilot stake for a new program under the direction of Elder L. Tom Perry. We are the Zone Leaders over one block in our ward. We have the responsibility of welcoming in new members of the ward and then either converting them or re-activating them. If they fail to take either of these steps within 6 months, we are responsible for making their lives a living Hell. Once this is accomplished and they move out, we start the cycle all over again. In our case we have about 4 non member families, one part member family and a couple of less actives. Our next door neighbors who seemed happy and content until Kim moved in, have chosen to move out this weekend. Go figure, you would of thought if they put up with me for 4 years they could make it through this. So we have fresh neighbors of an unknown religious persuasion moving in. The gossip mill is running full speed ahead. So far we have gathered from a variety of sources that they have 5 and 9 year old daughters. Oh wait, 7 and 9 year old daughters. Nope, maybe it is one 8 year old daughter. Depends on who we ask. Anyway, the father is from New Zealand, or so we hear. They might be active Mormons or not. So we may or may not have our work cut out for us. I figure the guy must be into Halo, so I will start by inviting him to my next LAN party. Talk about fellowshipping.

So, we have come full circle. Halo 3 and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Somehow I don't think anything Bill Gates has an affiliation with can be related to our Savior. Regardless, I have blogged too long and my newlywed wife needs....................attention.

Catch ya later.


Jared

....My First Blog

Hey all who care. This is a very exclusive blog for a few reasons, not the least of which is that those who care are a very select group. I owe Joanie Koplin for the inspiration to do this. I have now read, and enjoyed several of her blogs. I will warn you in advance that I am not nearly as gifted a writer as she is. My grammar is fantastic compared to the average eight year old. I tend to use a lot of words to get my point across, and I find my life fascinating weather you do or not.

Now, depending on who you are, a lot has happened since we last talked. For instance, I used to have one wife and two kids. Now I have one ex-wife, one wife, and four kids. I used to be my best friend's boss at Vitality Nutrition, and now he is my boss at RidgeCrest Herbals. That sounds like I have been demoted, but in actuality, I am the one who got him the job interview. One of the best things that has happened to me over the last year has been working with Will again. We only get to work together on Wednesdays but in the spirit of conservation and conversation, we car pool three days a week. I guess this is where I will start. WORK. I love work. I love working for myself at Vitality, and I love working at RidgeCrest Herbals. For those who are unclear on what I do there, I am the Product Developer. This basically consists of finding a need in the nutritional supplement marketplace and creating a product to fill that need. My first formula for RidgeCrest, Hair Revive for Women was an interesting choice for me. Unless you haven't seen me since my mission, you are well aware that I AM BALD. I am proudly bald, I am ridiculously attractive without hair, so I never have been bothered by it. That being said, it is a bit strange for a bald guy to stake his product development reputation on a product for balding women. No worries, it is the second highest producing formula for RidgeCrest after only two years on the market.

Hair Revive did so well that the powers that be at RidgeCrest have been convinced to produce more new formulas to the tune of about 4 per year for the foreseeable future. I currently have three under development. Adrenal Fatigue, Anxiety Relief and a formula for UTI's that will be used for prevention, and to knock those buggers out. The Anxiety relief will be most helpful now that I have an ex-wife and four kids. Thankfully I have no need for the UTI formula at this time.

One thing about me is that I don't seem to ever have less than 15 irons in the fire at one time. So besides being a newlywed, inheriting two beautiful children, and developing three new formulas for RidgeCrest, I also have a 1000 foot expansion underway at Vitality. It seems that people really like Earth Shoes. So, a risky move a couple of years ago to sell shoes in my health food store has paid off. Problem is, now I am going to become demolition man for the next few weeks while we tear down walls. When it is all done though, it will give us some much needed space, and a true "shoe store" feel in the back of the shop.

Enough about work. For those of you who lasted this long......here is the best part. My family. For a year or so I had a simple little family of three. Lily and Bridger were, and still are, angels for me. They helped me so much with getting through our rough patch. I hope I was as helpful to them, as they were to me, after their mom left. One thing I learned from being single was that I really didn't like it much. I actually played the field quite a bit for a single dad. I am an opportunist, and a bit of a risk taker. Basically, when I see what I want, I go and get it. Luckily for me I found what I wanted very quickly, and she is amazing. She obviously has developed exquisite taste in men over the last three years. My wife, Kimberlee, is truly my match. We have just enough in common when it comes to likes and dislikes. For instance, I love Heavy Rock Music, she loves Broadway. I love football, and she loves playing the piano. I love sitting down, and relaxing to almost anything the History channel is showing, she loves working hard at accomplishing something at all times. I love really good food.......and so does she. And isnt that all that really matters?

Really, she is everything I need, and she says the same thing about me. Whiles she could learn to relax a little, I could learn to make better use of my time. While she is extremely organized, I am......wow, I am.....mmmmmm let's just say less that way. We have almost identical feeling on raising children, and mine love her, and hers love me. In fact, I think I get more hugs from Felicity than I do from Lily. Life as a newly wed with new kids has been challenging but actually easier than ever expected. Malachi and Bridger are like long lost twins in so many ways. Felicity and Lily are certainly opposites in many ways, but they are getting a long very well now. We hear less and less complaining about this brother or that sister, and more and more sharing and playing together without problems. Life is good. We have been exceptionally blessed in our new life together.

Who knew that one wife, one ex wife, and four beautiful kids could be this good? Stay tuned for more super exciting adventures in the life of Jared. Future blogs will include seemingly crazy business ideas, small talk about fantasy football and possibly a small glimpse into my bedroom. (Where we plan to get a new HDTV) Till then......

Peace, Love and Football!