Jim-Bob the Builder

The Beatles, "When I'm 64"

Jim Bob!

Happy Birthday to My Best Friend and Husband! Today he is 64 and it is pretty hard to comprehend since the first time I laid eyes on him he was 16! There sure are a lot of things I could say about him after all these years. When I thought of this year I thought about who he has become and I have to say that one of the first things I thought of was Jim is a builder.

It is kind of funny but all his life he has been involved in academia and teaching and getting degrees and more degrees and building boys. Boys that haven't had the greatest starts in life or the best circumstances but, one by one, he has built many over his 39 of teaching. Many have been in trouble, serious trouble and with love and dedication and the principles of the Gospel he has helped them improve their lives and their chances.

He has built boys at work, at church, at Boy Scouts, on the trail, in the wilderness, in the mountains and many other places. At home he built our boy and our girls and even at our kids' homes he has helped build great grandsons and daughters. That kind of building he will never be done with but, now that he has more time he is also building other things. Here are some pictures of him building this past year.

He has been building a wonderful
retirement & future for us!

Last December Jim went to work at the Temple in the Engineering Department. He learned how to hang the thousands and thousands of Christmas lights, from a Gene boom lift, onto the palm trees and fronds. He was building memories of a beautiful Christmas for the many visitors that came to enjoy them on Temple Hill. This year he has done most of it himself.

Helping David build and paint a great workshop. I thing they just like dressing up in this stuff. Jim had plenty of paint on him when he got home even with the "protective" gear!

Yep, it is the outfit.
He is always building a better house for us.

Building endurance and a little craziness
in Park City, Utah on New Year's Eve.
He liked running from the hot tube to the outside where
the temperature was -8 degrees with Julia.

He built this shed for us to have an extra place to store things. It is super nice with electricity and even a little window. With his new tractor he had this whole thing graded and put together in less than a week. Yay, Bobcat and David thank you for all the help!

We went to St. Mary's college today and this reminded me he was a builder of teachers for five years at this amazing college as they took graduate classes from him in classroom management.

Building a better yard and garden even in the rain.

Building the community through Scouts
with this award for service &
Scouting for Food for the 15th year in a row.

Building the memories of the little kids
in our ward at Easter time.

Not sure who looks goofier here!

Organizing this big pantry at our family reunion house.
And building many wonderful meals this year.

Building perfect waffles with our new waffle maker that we love!

Building another generation of hikers
at our family reunion!

Building cousin memories for the grandkids
by letting them dress him up just for fun at the reunion.

Building camaraderie around the Barbie with our boys.

Building a happy family at our family birthday party!

Building a proper resting place for one of his ancestors
that didn't have a grave marker for over 100 years.

Helping to build brother-in-law relationships!
I should say brothers, as we do not have in-laws
in this family...just family.

Building a stronger knowledge of the Gospel
and his testimony of the Savior at Education Week

Building our boy into an incredible man!
Doing it one project and fun activity at a time.

Building a gourmet luncheon and
a bit of a spectacle at the Palace.

Building more picnics on the go.
More spectacles! More fun!

Building unity with his Mom
one Monday at at time and many other days too.

Day and night...Building a road to his new project and
his new workshop coming in the spring.

Building his road and relationship
with his best friend, David.

Building a barrier to keep me in the cottage with

40,000 pounds of gravel to block my exit.

Building Tasso Lane, his name for the new road.
It is the name of the village his ancestors are from in Italy.
And a place he has become much more familiar with.
He has grown to love his ancestors more
within the past year after our visit to Tasso in 2009/10.
Because of that trip, our calling in the genealogical library
and our cousin, Stephen's help,
he is building his pedigree and interest in his genealogy.

The muscles, strength and tenancy he has built
as he has completed the many, many
hours of work on this project are evident.

The section of Tasso Lane
behind his current workspace where he
built an elaborate drainage system
for the water run off down the hill.

Building and completing Tasso Lane just today!

Building a happy and productive life with me & our family!


Happy Birthday Honey!
We all love you, especially me!