#40- My 40th blog post of the day

I'm glad I don't look like this all the time. Those front rolls made me dizzy and hot. I wanted to do something cool for my 40th birthday so I wouldn't think about how depressed I should be. How did I get to be 40? At first I only had a few ideas centered around 40, and when I got above 20 ideas I knew I could come up with 40 ideas.

I was going to do 40 jumps on my mountain bike but I was rained out when the thunderstorm hit. Maybe God didn't want me to do 40 jumps. So I substituted the jumps with 40 jumps on a trampoline. I had a few things that I really wanted to do, like the 40 mile bike ride, kill 40 zombies, shoot my .40 S&W, eat 40 peanut M&Ms, 40 movie quotes, my 40 best life experiences, and 40 Chuck Norris facts, which I thought was pretty clever.

Special thanks to my oldest daughter for taking all the pictures, my second daughter for recording each activity, The Gibsons for lending their trampoline, Nate McArthur for lending his jump rope, and David Hoffman for his ideas on activities and time stamping each activity with a blog entry. This took four hours longer than I anticipated, but it was a cool thing to do. I'm glad I was able to do this.

#39- 40 front rolls

#38- 40 Wheelies

#37- Shoot my Glock 23 .40 S&W

Ten shots with my Glock 23 .40 S&W.

#36- 40 movie quotes

My oldest daughter read me this list of movies and I gave two quotes for each one:

So I Married An Axe Murderer
Fletch
Fletch Lives
Matrix
Office Space
Better Off Dead
Raising Arizona
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dumb And Dumber
Big Trouble In Little China
Real Genius
Godfather
Ferris Beuller’s Day Off
Wedding Singer
Napoleon Dynamite
Ocean’s Eleven
The Last Dragon
Tommy Boy
Armageddon
Say Anything

#35- Open a butterfly knife 40 times

#34- 40 bounces on the trampoline

#33- 40 Tornado kicks

#32- 40 best experiences

Yosemite
Fathers & Sons outings with Dad
Snake River raft/canoe trip
Catalina Island Scout Camp
Eagle Scout
Playing piano at high school graduation
Temple endowment
Mission
First dream in Italian
SF 49ers game vs. Denver Broncos
Graduate from BYU
Marrying DeLana
Shawn's bachelor party
Raven born
Dream about Sidnee being blond
Sidnee born
Canada hunting trip- 2002
Mason born
Jaxon born
Name & bless children
UFC 61 in Las Vegas
First 100 mile bike ride
Black belt in Bushi Ban Karate
Fathers & Sons outings with Mason and Jaxon
Buy my first house
Washington, DC trip
Live session in SLC Temple
Baptize Raven
Met Jeffrey R. Holland
Baptize Sidnee
Baptize Mason
2nd Dan in Bushi Ban Karate
Night hikes with Mason and Jaxon
This Is The Place monument with Sidnee
Temple trips with Raven
Girls Camp with Raven
105 mile bike ride in 2011
Fruita bike trip- April 2011
Lake Powell
20 years of daily journal entries

#31- 40 punches

#30 - 40 roundhouse kicks

#29- Eat 40 M&Ms

My kids asked me why I only have blue and green peanut M&Ms. It's my birthday and I don't want to eat ugly colors.

#28- 40 Sudoku squares

#27- 40 awesome things

In no particular order, except for the first one:

Chuck Norris
Color
Casio G-Shock watches
Mint chocolate chip ice cream
Martial arts
Glock handguns
Vacations
Italian
Cufflinks
National Parks
Bicycles
Leatherman multi-tools
Camelbak hydration packs
Gatorade
UFC
Cheesecake
BBQ chips
Bacon
Journals
Knives
Crepes
Fireworks
Fountain pens
Olympics
Motorcycles
Loofa
Gun shows
Magnets
Ice
Flashlights
Duct tape
Camping
Thunderstorms
Peanut M&M's
Excel
Fruit salad
Laughter
Toilet paper
College football
Gravity

#26- Hold breath underwater for 40 seconds

#25- 40 times on a swing

#24- 40 meters on a long board

#23- 40 yard dash

40 yard dash uphill in 6.5 seconds. Did I mention I don't like to run?

#22- Kill 40 zombies on Stupid Zombies

I killed 40 zombies on Stupid Zombies in 2:39.

#21- 40 knuckle push ups

40 knuckle push ups in 24.68 seconds.

#20- Hit speed bag for 40 seconds

I hit the speed bag 122 times in 40 seconds.

#19- Tie figure eight knot 40 times

2:19 to tie 40 figure eight knots

#18- Run up 40 stairs

16.5 seconds

#17- 40 favorite movies

So I Married An Axe Murderer
Fletch
Fletch Lives
Matrix
Matrix: Reloaded
Matrix: Revolution
Point Break
Die Hard
Office Space
Shaun of the Dead
Raising Arizona
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Rock
Rocky 3
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Casino Royale
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Bourne Ultimatum
Ferris Beuller’s Day Off
Wedding Singer
Shooter
Lethal Weapon
Dumb And Dumber
Karate Kid
Big Trouble In Little China
Real Genius
Godfather
Napoleon Dynamite
A-Team
Tourist
Ocean’s Eleven
The Last Dragon
Expendables
Tommy Boy
In The Line of Fire
RED
SWAT
Better Off Dead

#16- Throw a frisbee 40 times

#15- Type 40 WPM

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

Forty words per minute.

#14- 40 body weight squats

#13- Knee a soccer ball 40 times

#12- Dribble a basketball 40 times

#11- The 40 oz. protein fruit smoothie I made after #2

#10- Jump rope 40 times

15.98 seconds

#9- 40 best Chuck Norris facts

Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

Chuck Norris can walk on water and swim through land.

Chuck Norris can believe it’s not butter.

Chuck Norris and Superman had a bet. The loser has to wear his underwear on the outside of his pants.

Chuck Norris can speak Spanish in three different languages.

Chuck Norris sleeps with a pillow under his gun.

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.

You may be asking yourself why I didn't post 40 Chuck Norris facts. I did. Each Chuck Norris fact is worth four of every other type of fact.

#8- 40 crunches

#7- balance on one foot for 40 seconds

#6- 40 Jumping Jacks

29 Seconds

#5- 40 pull ups

It took me three minutes to do 40 pull ups. I guess that isn't too bad when you consider I haven't done pull ups in over three years.

#4- Count to 40 on my Vibram toe shoes

#3- Count to 40 in Italian

#2- 40 mile bike ride

I just finished a 40 mile bike ride on my Specialized Roubaix. My time was 2:21:39. My 20 mile mark was 1:12:00, so I was almost two and a half minutes faster on the second half.

#1- 40 verses from each of the Standard Works

Genesis 1:1-20

Matthew 5:1-20

2 Nephi 4:1-35, 5:1-5

Doctrine & Covenants 45:1-40

Moses 1:1-40

The best rider ever?

Camp Helaman

I spent the last three days at Camp Helaman with our Teachers and Priests. We started out at our Stake Center on Thursday, then spent the night at the CLAS Ropes Course in Provo. Friday morning we spent four hours on the ropes course. I tried to upload the video of me doing 10 backflips on the swing, but it wouldn't load to Blogger. Friday night we went to the Blackhawk campground in Payson canyon. We did a Tree of Life experience followed by a testimony meeting. It was cool to see how Camp Helaman touched most of the boys. Saturday involved several tug-of-war contests, and many egos were bruised. I was part of the medical crew, and thankfully we didn't have any major issues. I was able to put a boy's shoulder back in place after it slipped the joint. I showed him by putting my own shoulder back in. It was a great experience and I got closer to several of the leaders. Hopefully the boys were able to feel the Spirit and make changes in their lives.

Independence Day

We went to Provo for the hot air balloons. The weather was bad so they didn't launch, but we got to see this balloon fill with hot air. It reminded me of Washington, DC.

I shot BB guns with my kids to declare our independence, then watched Airwolf on Netflix. The baddest helicopter ever. Our neighbor killed a rattlesnake, so my second daughter wanted to keep a section and skin it. She was the only one who would touch the dead snake. I used my wicked awesome ESEE 4 knife to skin it, then we salted the skin to dry it out.

We had a neighborhood BBQ and fireworks display, showcasing the newly legalized aerial fireworks. Utah County looked like it was under attack. God bless America!

Scratches

This has been an interesting week. I grew up in northern California and we moved to a new house when I was a teenager. My dad hired some guys to clear the overgrowth from the side of the house. They borrowed my sharpening stone for their shovel, and they left a huge gouge in the stone. I am pretty meticulous with my things, and that bothered me. This week seems to have marked a shift in my thinking. The picture above is my new ESEE 4 knife after a few days of camping. The powder coating is scratched from using the knife for its intended purpose. This normally would have bothered me, but several things over the last few weeks have made me see things differently. There is no reason to have something that you are afraid to use. Everything has a purpose, and everything wears out. We wear out. We all have scratches like my knife, or dents like Mater, and they make us who we are. Some scratches are self-inflicted and need to be remove through the Atonement, but some are the result of our experiences in mortality, and they help shape who we are. We can't be afraid to die anymore than we should be afraid to live. We need to experience the things that only mortality could teach us. There is opposition in all things, and that will make us stronger if we let it. I am more focused on fulfilling my intended purpose, scratches and all.

Theron's obituary

Theron Nestripke 1975 ~ 2011 Theron Paul Nestripke, 35, passed away June 27, 2011 in West Jordan, Utah. He was born Sept. 16, 1975 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Denny and Barbara Nestripke. Married Christy Browne on Aug. 27, 1997. He was employed at E-Trade Financial as a corporate trainer, and held numerous securities licenses. He was a member of the LDS Church, and was a loving son, husband, father, and friend. Survived by his wife, Christy; children, Madison, Rachel, and Vincent; parents, Denny and Barbara; grandmother, Margaret; and brothers, Bryan and Travis. Funeral services will be held Saturday, July 2, at 11 a.m. at the Jordan Oaks Stake Center, 8117 So. Leslie Dr. (3839 West), West Jordan. There will be a viewing Friday 6-8 p.m. at Goff Mortuary, 8090 So. State, Midvale, and again Sat. 9:45-10:45 a.m. at the church. Interment, West Jordan City Cemetery.

Published in Deseret News on June 29, 2011