Lil C

2 months

2011-07-09T13:16:00.004-06:00

ago was my last post. haha. i've slacked on writing in my blog. and that will continue. i'll keep it short.

what goes around, comes back around :)

Hungry?

2011-05-24T16:57:00.003-06:00

Have you ever noticed a difference in going grocery shopping when you are stuffed versus being hungry?

Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because when I shop I don't have a list, I just show up and look and buy whatever.

I went to Winco a few weeks ago to pick up some groceries. I only needed a few things such as bread, lunch meat, and candy.

I left with that, and much much more. Why and how this happened I have no idea...

One huge tub of macaroni salad?! Really Kory?? I thought it looked so good and I would eat it all. Two weeks later and I have eaten out of it once and it still looked like it hadn't been opened. Gross.

Two bags of croutons. WHAT?! No salad, just two bags of croutons. While there they looked so good and I convinced myself I would eat them. Two weeks later the first bag is only half empty and I haven't even touched the second bag.

I'm not even gonna tell you the other ridiculous stuff I bought that day. Does this happen to anyone else or is it just me? I'm so confused and curious to know why I buy the most random nonsense stuff when I go grocery shopping while hungry.

To top that off, last week I went to the grocery store with a friend after we just got done playing for the night. I was super thirsty but already had 4 different drinks back at home, so I didn't need anything. Yet my thirst at the time once again took over my thoughts and while there I bought a root beer and a bottle of Martinelli Sparkling Juice.

I opened it that night, had a few drinks, and haven't touched it for the last 4 days.

Seriously what's wrong with me?

Falling Stars.

2011-05-18T15:21:00.020-06:00

random things on my mind recently that...

I like:

* golf

* guns

* cotton candy

* working out

* the show 'River Monsters'

I hate:

* bad haircuts (this is what my hair looks like after today)

* dentist office

* drawing blood samples

* gas prices

* rain (it's throwing off my golf game haha)

Change?

2011-05-18T15:15:00.003-06:00

This has nothing to do with whom or where I stand. Just found this image to be interesting is all.

New beginnings.

2011-04-25T12:05:00.008-06:00

Winter semester at BYU has come to a close.

The cold dreadful weather is slowly changing to the best time of the year-- SUMMER.

Things are changing in my life as well.

Said goodbye to my second job. Just too time consuming. Now I can focus more on my classes and my regular other job.

I'll be here in Provo for the summer taking more classes at BYU.

Got rid of the Maz. Say hello to the new ride--yes, it's a MINI Cooper S 2007. Got a great deal from a private auction through a buddy. Here's a few pics for my ma who wanted to see it. All I have left on it is to get some new rims. But the car is dope, great handling, way fast too.

Got my pass of all passes!! Unlimited visits to Seven Peaks and Trafalga!! Yes that is right, unlimited! Lots of waterpark visits, mini-golfing, laser tag, batting cages, etc. all summer long.

Also got a golf pass to Sleepy Ridge. Lots of golfing after my morning classes and before heading over to the waterpark daily.

Playing tons of sports--basketball, football, soccer, softball, etc.

A few trips planned already for this summer-- Zion. Vegas. Cali. Texas. Havasupai.

Hopefully more trips as well-- Lake Powell, Arizona, maybe Virginia.

I couldn't be more excited for this summer. Last summer was lots of fun for sure. But no way is it gonna compare to the 4 months that lie ahead...

The Maz.

2011-04-25T11:30:00.006-06:00

My 2000 Mazda 626.

She was amazing.

I didn't realize how hard it would be to let go of that car. The Maz, as we call it, just never died. It sounded like it wanted to, haha, but never failed me. It just kept going and going, close to 180k miles.

I've had that car since my junior year in 2004. 7 years worth of good times.

Seriously, that car has been everywhere imagined and served me so diligently.

But it's finally time to move on. I got a new car. I'll write up a post about that next. As for this blog post, it will serve as memory and dedication to the great Maz, ol' faithful.

Let's recap some of the fun and crazy times that car has been through as we take a look down memory lane:

Installing a CD player in it when I first got it with my buddy Ryan Guilick.
Driving up and down the East Coast.
Crazy parties my senior year with random people with myself in the back seat haha.
Had a terrible night, hit a deer with it, then stopped and reversed the Maz to run it over again.
Driving cross country with Kyle and Kailynn from Virginia to Utah, almost dying numerous times with the insane thunderstorms.
Lots of nights watching scary movies in the backseat on my laptop my freshman year with Amber.
Running over medians, slamming brakes, saving donuts from flying everywhere, great use of e-brake in snowstorms--all more freshman year memories.
Driving from Utah to Colorado in crazy snowstorm. Spent an entire night in backseat of my Maz by myself, curled up in a ball wearing 5 t-shirts and 4 shorts and all my socks to attempt to keep warm on side of highway in Wyoming.
Summer selling with the Maz in 2005. Getting 3 tickets that summer. Once for going 103MPH and had to get out of car and have it searched.
Then I left on my mission. 2 years without my Maz. Who knows what happened in that car and in the backseat with Kyle driving it around.
Lots more memories coming back home from the mission and driving my Maz again.
Lots of stuff stolen out of it--LOTS of money, ipod, radar detector, etc...
More great stories in the backseat that I won't divulge all the info on.
Lots more crazy trips to Vegas, Cali, and Arizona.
Let Kourtney use it for a summer. Not sure again what happened in the backseat and don't want to ask.
Never got the true story from her either as to why there is a huge dent on the roof!
And she made my cupholders so nasty gross with whatever she left in there that melted and is still there haha.

The memories continue on and on. What great times from the Mazda. All the way to my last memory of it...how fitting of this to happen as well. The night before turning it over to my buddy to sell it for me, I'm leaving a house down by BYU at about 3 in the morning, and proceed to hit my back tire in one of the dreadful gutters down there, ripping it and whatever else apart.

Seriously, hours before I'm turning it in. What bad luck! But I can't complain. Gotta just fix it and think back to all the good times the Mazda provided me with, and enjoy the fact that it never died on me.

To the Maz, hundreds, no, thousands of people thank you....

Finals.

2011-04-25T11:13:00.004-06:00

Have you ever gone into a test thinking you were going to do good, but turns out you completely bomb it?

I'm sure that has happened to everyone.

Let me give you a funny example of how I treat finals here at BYU. My freshman year I took Physical Science. I had an A in the class overall with just the final left to score. I went in without studying and just wanted to hurry and take the final so I could be done with school.

It was 100 multiple choice question test. I went through each question and answered each one that I knew I was right 100%. That only ended up being 9 question haha. So for the other 91 questions, what would you have done? I went with the old trick: "If in doubt, just mark 'C'."

Just so you know this is the only time I have ever done this. I'm not sure what I was thinking, well apparently I wasn't. I was just a stupid freshman. I put 'C' down for the remaining 91 questions and left the testing center in a matter of I think 14 minutes haha. Got a 33% on the final and finished with a C+ in the class. Still upset at the lack of answers that were not 'C'!Let's fast forward 6 years to now...

My classes this semester went great. I was focused on spending all my time working two jobs that I missed a lot of class and still managed A's and B's haha. How I did it I don't know, I'm just that awesome.

Even more awesome, was when finals came around the corner. Last week I finished my finals for the winter semester with quite a bang.

I didn't study too much for finals, which prolly was the main reason for a few of the low scores. In my Biology class, I had an A- overall before I went to take the final.

I studied a little bit, but not as much as I should have apparently. 50 multiple choice questions. I flew through the test, but difference was this time I thought I did pretty decent, maybe like an 80% is what I thought I was gonna get.

After finishing and turning it in I look at the screen. Paused. I had to look a second time. And a third time. Even a fourth time to make sure that was the correct posted score.

40%. 20 out of 50 questions correct. Wow. I continue to surprise myself everyday.

Nice slice of humble pie.

2011-04-25T10:52:00.002-06:00

Have you ever seen the movie 'Ali'? Great movie portraying the life of one of the greatest if not the greatest boxer of all time.

For about a month or so I kept having a few friends wanting me to box in a fight night. I was always ready and willing to fight but it just kept getting pushed back for whatever reasons.

But finally--it all lined up and we put together the fight night that we've all been waiting for a few weeks ago.

Let me give you some background on the guy I was gonna box. He weighs 70 more pounds than me and is about 4 inches taller than me. Yet he isn't the most athletically gifted guy. So I went in to the fight not scared at all and thinking I was gonna dominate him. In fact, I told him numerous times before the fight that even though we were friends, I was gonna knock him out in the first round.

There is something about trash talking that get me all pumped. I'm not sure what it is, but I guess maybe I have the little guy syndrome of always having to prove people wrong. I take great pride in my athletic ability for how small I am and I love going out there and working people over in whatever sport I'm playing.

Maybe that's why I love Muhammed Ali. What an amazing athlete. We differ obviously in the fact hat he was much more athletically gifted and bigger than myself, but he took great pride in himself and the work he put in to becoming the greatest.

Back to the fight night. I didn't think 70 lbs and 4 inches would make a difference considering I knew I was much faster and athletically gifted than him. So I went in thinking I was gonna knock him out real quick and go home for the night.

Here's where I was served my big slice of something I like to call humble pie.

I got worked. Not that bad, but bad enough to easily understand who won the fight from start to finish. Apparently I don't know how to use my speed or box whatsoever. He came at me nonstop with no technique, but just flailing punch after punch and I didn't do anything but take the hits. At least I didn't get knocked out.

Yet, I haven't been that embaressed in a long long time. I had to hear it from all my friends that night. And the next. And the next night. Oh well though, as tough as it is for me to say, you win some and lose some.

Luckily I was reminded of a few lessons that night.

The greatest thing about sports is that on any given night, any team or person can come away with the victory. It all depends on who wants it more.
Keep my mouth shut before playing a sport. Wait till after to run it haha.
I am not strong whatsoever, and suck at boxing. Never again will I try that stupid sport.

Glee.

2011-04-12T21:31:00.010-06:00

Just finished watching an episode of 'Glee'. I'll admit I watch that show. I like the cheesy shows that bring me back to my younger days.

The episode I saw was about "Alcohol Awareness". I've seen every other episode before that one and at times the show has done a pretty good job at tackling issues that our youth and even people my age face.

However, in saying that, I was highly disappointed and upset about this episode. I thought the writers did a terrible job at showing the covering the issue of underage and irresponsible drinking.

That's the thing I notice with advertising and marketing, they'll throw in their two seconds worth of reasons of how it could be bad, but yet spend the other 2 minutes worth of showing how fun it appears to be.

Watch the epiosde, maybe you have a different opinion. Maybe I view things from a perspective that only myself sees. In the episode I noticed they have 'one liners' thrown in here and there that they claim gets the point across as to how bad drinking can be and the need to be safe if participating, such as:

Have a designated driver
Take a taxi home if no designated driver
Let friends spend the night to be safe
How people die from alcohol poisoning
The effects of drunk dialing
Hangovers the next day

However, those one liners and ideas are thrown in there very subtly and with no drama surrounding them. On the flip side, here's what I got out of this episode as well as I'm sure what most kids got out of the episode:

Parties are lame unless there is alcohol
Drinking is inevitable when a kid, so just make good decisions
Drinking makes you fun and kool
You might have a hangover, but it'll eventually go away so no big deal
Break into your parents liquor cabinet and replace it later if necessary
Even adults get drunk and have fun doing so
Teacher drinking and not turning in all his students that were drunk

Do you really think a teen or kids my age, get the message of the bad effects alcohol can have? NO. Their brains, as well as mine haha, are not developed enough to pull out those subtle hints as to the bad effects of drinking. Instead, all the drama and action surrounding the fun of drinking is what will stick out to them. No unwanted pregnancies, no harm, no arrests, no deaths, no fights. Just a little hangover that went without blemish. This portrayal is a prime example of how complacent adults have now become towards this issue.

I've had friends putting beer and liquor literally in my face numerous times over the past year. I'm not tempted one bit to take even a sip. I don't know why, I'm just not, at all. But after watching this episode, why am I tempted to go get drunk?

Well, I actually think I know why. Maybe because if I drink I'll be at a party with that dumb blonde cheerleader Britney. Watching her dance and sing holy geez her body is ridiculous. Smoking. At the party while she was drinking and was in the pink polka dotted pink bra, yeah....she's got really nice....abs? Yes, yes, that's it.

Haha, so ridiculous. I don't know why I'm even ranting about some stupid show, I guess I was just disgusted at the way they portrayed drinking as though it's something that is okay if done with good decisions. Nonetheless, I'll stop. I'm prolly being hypocritical bc I thoroughly enjoyed watching the highly immodest Britney dance in her bra and her 'Kei-dollar sign-ha' performance was awesome.

All in all I have two things to say:

I've actually read this whole episode wrong and judged it incorrectly. Therefore forget all that was even posted above. The show is here to entertain us. It's not like the purpose of 'Glee' is to provide us all with highly uplifting morals to abide by.
Secondly, thank you for the Word of Wisdom and its promised blessings according to my obedience.

4/6- Conference Weekend.

2011-04-06T14:05:00.013-06:00

This past weekend was CONFERENCE! Only the greatest weekend of the year. Minus the weekend the March Madness tournament starts, haha, okay just kidding. Kinda. Maybe.

This conference all I heard over and over and over again in each session is how us single returned missionaries need to stop wasting time and get married. YES, I get the point.

President Monson in Priesthood even said these words, "Stop going on extravagant vacations, buying new cars and new toys, time to settle down and get married."

Yes President Monson, I did go on a vacation to Europe. Yes, I am in the process of buying a new car and yes I buy new toys all the time. BUT, I differ from those you and others are talking to. Why? I would love nothing more than to be married right now! I'm not hiding or running from it. If you want me to get married so badly then find my future wife. I thought I had before, but that only got thrown back in my face haha. Apparently I need assistance, so help a brotha out here.

Saturday I was blessed with the opportunity to go up to the afternoon session. Ashley had a ticket and invited me up. We sat so close, it was crazy. Dead center, only a few rows back from the pulpit!! Awesome. Here's a pic of the sweet ladies I got to sit next to who came out from Ghana.

The past week and this week have seriously been INSANE. We all know the saying--When it rains, it pours.

I feel like it's a hailstorm in my life right now. But that's okay, I'm just waiting and pushing for that one small breakthrough that turns the tides. Momentum must and needs to changed in my favor. ASAP.

Seriously though, can Kory just simply catch a break? Just one break. COME ON!

Maybe it has to do with the effect of my prayers. Does God not like sarcasm in prayers? Haha, probably not. I keep trying to thank Him for certain things but can't help but laugh as I do so.

Example: "Thank you for no success at work today, again God. I much appreciate it, maybe tomorrow will be different but I thank thee nonetheless."

From serious work troubles...to thousands of dollars owed to me that I'm still trying to collect...possibly getting kicked out of my home no thanks to Provo city regulations...more tickets...still haven't done my taxes...online classes expired without having finished them...to on and on and on and on and a never-ending on that has ME (the ultimate stress and care free person), on the edge of my seat, freaking out.

On a brighter note-- Happy Birthday to Jesus and the LDS Church today!! Without those two my life would be meaningless.

So with today being such a day for cause of great celebration--why do I feel like punching a baby?!

3/30- Confession.

2011-03-30T18:55:00.006-06:00

Service: Finally found those chocolates for my roommate in celebration of his late birthday haha. Gave a ride home to a friend. Bought some dinner for another one of my roommates to bring home to him.

What happens when Kory has a terrible week and the last straw breaks? Or when the stress level gets too high and the pressure builds, what does Kory do? Who does he call? Who does he go to hang out with?

Great questions that I know all of you are dying to know the answer to. There was one simple solution to all my problems last night after (in a nice way to put it)--my frustrations with current events in life 'HIT THE FAN'.
Hellooooooooooo WINGERS.

Yes waitress, I am here by myself. Don't judge. Just walk away and fulfill your duty by giving me my large order of wings, ASAP.

Now time to go home and further release my frustrations out by killing people on 'Call of Duty'. You may say that isn't the best solution since I suck and am always the one getting killed.

Either way, it's a risk I am willing to take.

3/27- Long, long ago...

2011-03-27T17:16:00.017-06:00

I used to write in a blog.

Then I became super busy. 2 jobs. Full time school. Along with online classes.

Add to that the greatest two weeks of the year.

That brings me to now- (this pic is the best example of what I've looked like lately!)

Service for the past 2-3 weeks: Here's a few stick out. Jumping the car of some random guy in Wendover. Sharing my knowledge of sports to help friends win money haha. Driving friends to numerous places. Helped drive to and pick out a scooter for another friend. Helped my buddy move all his stuff into my pad. Got to be an example and share my beliefs of the gospel to random strangers. Another funny one I forgot my roommates birthday while in Wendover for the weekend so I called his mom and asked her what his favorite candy was, then went to the store to get it only to realize they didn't have it and I haven't found it yet haha oops. Still working on that one...

The past 3 weeks have found me at 4 main locations. Work. School. Bed. In front of the TV watching all the March Madness drama!

I don't quite know if I can make the comparison but I feel like how maybe a drug addict feels for these past two weeks. No, I do not take drugs either so that's why I'm not sure how they really feel. Nevertheless, I've been relying on the NCAA basketball tournament to get me through my days. Then while watching the games my heart races so much, I feel the emotional and physical highs and lows like nothing before.

What a roller coaster ride it's been for the past couple weeks. Part of me is almost happy that it is coming to an end so I can recollect my thoughts and focus on things that might be of more importance. Key word: might.

The past three weeks have been super adventurous. I wish I had been keeping up with my blog during that time so all my crazy stories could have been shared. Alas, I won't bore the one or two of you that actually do read this.

So here are a couple things to take from the past few weeks of my life:

BYU losing brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't breathe at all while watching that game.
At one point a couple weeks ago I had almost $5000 in my front pocket haha wow.
Like my brother, I might get a pet rabbit! They seem like a sweet and chill pet.
I need to go to the doctor to relieve my blood pressure.
I correctly picked 0 (zero) of the Final Four teams this year--pathetic. I suck.
I have the biggest man crush on Gus Johnson. Teach me your ways...
My sweet Mazda...treated me so well since 2004. Farewell. (Yes, I am hinting towards a major change that might occur as soon as this week, fingers crossed.)
Lastly, I've also been humbled...a lot the past few weeks. I love the gospel. I suck at it, I really do. Hopefully I can improve and become a better person.

3/10- You might not have heard of it...

2011-03-10T20:01:00.005-07:00

Service: Took one of my close friends out for breakfast one morning this week. He's going through quite a tough breakup I can't even imagine.

Had a chat with a less active convert of mine for a while about the church. He seems to have gone so far awry I feel so bad. I know that we all have our agency to choose which direction we will take, but it still sucks.

Provided a couple of rides for people and spotted a couple people rent money since it was due.

Been an interesting week so far...Oh yeah, I also got a technical and kicked out of my intramural playoff basketball game last night. Refs were out of control ridiculous. So after not taking it anymore I went off and dropped some nice bombs in his face and promptly left the court and sat my butt in the stands. Only to come back on the court and say another couple things to his face and then left for good hahaha. Oops.

So this morning I had the most ridiculous phone call while at work. I seriously have had a hard time not busting out laughing all day long because of it. I'm gonna write the dialog for it briefly for your enjoyment.

Me: So Randy tell me why your looking to make some changes here by getting an online business set up?

Randy: (Proceeds to go on literally a 5 minute non-stop rant about his work and how much labor they make him do and how back-breaking it is for him, etc...)

Me: (Finally interrupting him since I couldn't take it anymore) Ok Randy I hear ya, so tell me where do you work right now thats causing all this trouble?

Randy: Well, you might not have heard of it...it's a place called Wendy's.

Me: (I was confused thinking by Wendy's he meant some construction company or something similar that I have never heard of) Hmm...Wendy's...?

Randy: (Interrupting me again) Yeah I didn't think you had heard of it. It's a fast food place, where they make old fashioned hamburgers.

Me: Ohhh, that Wendy's. Why yes, I actually have heard of it.

Randy: Oh ok. So yeah it's ridiculous the labor they put me through. (Another 5 minute rant on the labor and how his manager makes him pick up trash that's on the floor or sweep the tables and his back just can't take it anymore...)

Me: Well that's tough Randy I can't even imagine what you're going through. I didn't think Wendy's would be so hard on ya.

Randy: Yeah exactly. You see Kory, I've worked at numerous fast food places before, and I've never been put to work this hard, it's ridiculous. I want to go back to McDonalds because they don't make me work this hard.

Yeah...this conversation actually happened.

So what did I gain from that amazing conversation with Randy?

Eat at Wendy's. They care much more about the cleanliness of their facilities.

3/3-3/6- St. George/Vegas

2011-03-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

Went down to St. George this past weekend for the wedding.

Service:

Brought a couple mission buddies down for the weekend.
Let them use my car for the day while I was at the wedding.
Drove to Vegas to attend another reception of another mission buddy
Chopped some branches off a tree for decoration haha
Other little things here and there...

The wedding was awesome. I couldn't be more excited for my little sister Kourtney. She looked gorgeous and the wedding and luncheon and reception all were great. Plus the cookies at the reception were bomb. Although I still wish we had strawberry milk haha.

We stayed at a cabin at Zion's for a couple days before the wedding. Lots of Call of Duty playing. Some ping pong. Lounging around.

Golfed in St. George. The weather was so beautiful. My golf game was anything but. In fact, atrocious would be a nice way to put it.

Hung out in Vegas for the night following the reception. My time there was short lived. The vegas stung me quick so I wanted to get outta there fast. Eventually made it back Sunday. Great weekend of fun and relaxing from all the work/school I've been putting in. Now back to reality and the cold weather...

2/28- New Week.

2011-02-28T11:21:00.003-07:00

So I've been missing all week long. That could have something to do with the fact of getting up at being at work every morning including Saturday at 6 AM. Mix in full time school. As well as my other job. I'm finding myself finally getting home around 10 PM. So yeah, kinda long weekdays.

I think I'm gonna adjust my blog writing because I really am not finding much time at all to sit and write in it. Plus it doesn't really help that we don't have internet at my home, so I'm having to tether my phone to enable internet capabilities on my computer.

Nonetheless, I think I'm gonna just start writing a couple times a week. Maybe once mid-week and once at the end of the week. That way I can split it up to two segments of service combined for the week. We'll see how it goes. Sorry, just not finding enough time to get everything done and accomplished.

In fact I am writing this in class right now. I suppose I could be paying attention but its Family and Marriage Prep class here at BYU and I already know everything there is to need to know about families and marriage...right?

Speaking of such my little sister Kourtney gets married this weekend. I am so excited for her and can't wait. I will leave for St. George on Thursday and be gone through Sunday for another wedding in Vegas. Gonna be a sweet weekend and finally some time to relax and have fun.

I'll update about my services this week before I head out Thursday morning. Hopefully I can pay attention and get some good service in this week before heading down for the weekend.

To hold myself accountable for my goals...daily prayers for the most part have been awesome. Reading started off great until I started this past week leaving for work at 5:30, gotta figure out a different time bc morning is way too early haha. Definitely have not been reading in my church books each day either. Gotta fix that. Get a B or higher on all my exams? Hmm...Well took 3 exams last week. I managed to get one A, one B, and one C. As for generating $4000 in income...Well, let's just say that didn't quite happen. Rough past week at my new job. Nonetheless, I was close, which is still great, but definitely set me back on my goal to try and make close to 6 figures.

Tomorrow begins a new month! March. Have I ever mentioned March is my FAVORITE month of the year?? Well in case I didn't, now you know. This month is already gonna be jam packed. Trip to St. George. Couple trips planned already to Vegas. Possible trip to Denver or Tuscon depending where BYU goes for the tournament. March Madness. Bring it. New goals will be set and achieved. Basically, March will provide the most up and down emotions in my life since September haha. Can't wait!

My recommendation of the week: Go see the movie Just Go With It. I'm not one to pump up movies or laugh that much in theaters, maybe it was just a funny night or something. But I was dying in the movie, hilarious. Maybe it helps Brooklyn Decker is ridiculously smoking and Jennifer Aniston will always and forever be my crush.

2/21- Holiday? Not quite...

2011-02-22T22:40:00.003-07:00

I'm sure most of you enjoyed your day off of work and school. I just so happened to be lucky and worked all day today since there was no school. Glad we have a day off to celebrate our amazing president who is turning the world around for...better or worse haha. I salute you Barack Obama, only because you like sports so much.

Today I was complaining to a friend about my lack of service. In case you haven't noticed, there have not been acts of service being written about on a day to day basis, basically since I got this new job. I'm focusing way too much of my time on my jobs and school and totally forgetting about service until I get home for the day. I've been frustrated with it because I even pray for a chance to find someone to serve every morning and to remember to think about it, but eventually I just totally forget about it during the day.

Tonight I was humbled though and so excited at what happened. I was actually in the process of driving home from my second job, I think it was around 9 or something. I was actually in the process of sending a text to a friend about not serving and totally forgetting to look out for an opportunity. Oh first forgive me for texting and driving. Immediately as I sent the text though, I passed a car with its emergency lights flashing. I drove right by and had one of those moments that didn't hit me until a few seconds after. I realized crap there's my chance to serve, but I passed the car...but I couldn't pass the opportunity.

I flipped the car around and came back around behind him. I was excited, got out of my car and went up to his window. Older hispanic guy, I asked him what happened and what I could help him with. Let me interject with a low blow to my manhood--I'm as retarded with cars as they come. I prolly know as much about car as the girl next door. He said it just won't turn on and asked me how to fix it. Hahaha, I started laughing and told him I have no idea. He said the battery worked fine but the car wouldn't start. I asked if he needed me to jump him bc that' all I could think of, but he repeated the battery was fine. So apparently no jump was needed ha. Strike one.

He then asked if i knew a mechanic he could get in touch with. Strike two. Mechanic? Sorry I know none out here. At this point I'm actually getting kinda mad bc I stopped to help this guy and can't seem to help him because I have no idea what to do. I asked if there was anything else I could do or if I could drive him somewhere. He asked if I could help him push his car up the street and then down into a parking lot. Finally! No strike three for me I was all over it!

I pushed that car while he steered us eventually into the parking lot. I pushed like a mad man. Not gonna lie I dominated pushing that car. I expected it to be a lot harder, maybe I've been working out more than I remember?! Haha jk. The car started to roll backwards after we got to the bottom of the hill right before the parking space haha. He definitely had to help me out. Still, good times.I was so excited. I just had this huge smile on my face and was so excited to finally help. All I can say is thank you for blessing me and helping me to recognize a great opportunity! Now how about next time the person I help out with car trouble will look like her......maybe?? please?? thank you again haha.

2/20- Weekend.

2011-02-22T11:19:00.002-07:00

This past weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday was spent working all morning long, of course. No worries though I made up for it as the rest of the afternoon was spent watching college basketball and going crazy over all the games on. That is most definitely how I prefer to spend my Saturday afternoons.

Afterwards I went out with a bunch of friends to go to the new recreation center down at the Riverwoods. The center is pretty kool, although a bit too pricey in my opinion. I didn't get a chance to check out the golf simulator so I'm not sure how nice that is. I loved the indoor surf wave though. I've never been on one before so it was pretty funny. Only bad thing is that seriously my neck is killing me from it. It didn't hurt at all while I was on it just apparently the day after. But it was pretty sweet fun even though I barely could last a couple seconds on it. Here's a pic of my buddy on it, I'll try and post my video of me just falling straight on my back.
Finished the night with some xbox kinect dance game! Haha, can't get enough of that dance game I love it.

Sunday was great as well, I finally got to check out my new ward. There weren't that many people there, maybe because of the holiday. But it seemed like a pretty chill ward so it should be nice.

I spent the afternoon trying to nap but failed. Went up to Curtis' family place for dinner and scripture study ha. They finally cooked meat for the first time hahaha. I gave them such a hard time because seriously I've never met a family more concerned about eating healthy than them. It's always a fun time going up there and eating and hanging out with them. This is what I love about the gospel. I was thinking about this tonight his parents aren't like my parents at all. There are so many differences I have noticed between them and my parents in hanging around them. Yet despite that, I still feel like we are the same, because of the beliefs we share.

Listening to their study of the scriptures and discussions on the gospel reminds me of my family, as well as numerous other families that I have gotten to know out here in Utah. I think it's crazy to see how different we all can be, yet at the same time we are so similar because of the beliefs we share and discuss on a day to day basis.

I guess my point is simple. Gospel is true. End of story.

Finished Sunday by watching the All-Star game with some friends. Great time.

2/19- Kindly Rebuked.

2011-02-19T01:39:00.002-07:00

Finally had a good service opportunity. Was asked to give a blessing. Only one problem, kinda bad timing. I need a week or so off from that. It was yet another nice little rebuke/reminder from the good guy upstairs to get it straight! Thanks, love the rebukes even though they can make me feel terrible and ashamed at the same time. WEAK!

I'm pretty exhausted and I have to be up early for work tomorrow morning, joy.

Took a couple of exams that I wasn't ready for at all. 84 and 72. I'll gladly take those scores.

Had a fat deal of $5000 go down in my new job, only after all the info was taken did the lady freak out and get cold feet and backed out...just my luck so far.

Talked to an old friend for just a few minutes tonight. It was interesting and I love catching up with old friends. She used to be my best friend in high school, and other than my ex the only other girl I've ever loved. She has two kids with a third on the way, crazy how time flies right by. I found it funny how she still knows my personality, and was able to give me some advice on some things.

Watched Salt tonight with some friends. Interesting plot, but I didn't care for the ending.

I know infomercials aren't exciting and are stupid, but I saw the best one ever tonight haha. Seriously, I was so close to calling the number to get it. Maybe it's just bc I am hungry right now but check it out. Seriously. You too will be convinced. S'mores and donuts!!

https://www.bigbossgrill.com/?mid=624845

2/17- Coasting.

2011-02-17T23:54:00.005-07:00

Do you ever feel like your days just mesh together? As though you don't even exist? That the life you are living doesn't have a specific direction or purpose?

I feel this past week has been like that. Like I have turned into a robot! Beep beep boop beep, haha.

But for reals, my days have all meshed together. I feel like my busy schedule has transformed me into a robot. I never was a fan of all the missionaries out there that turned into robots. Seriously, get a personality and go out there and use that to your advantage. I feel I succeeded so much on my mission because I am so outgoing and crazy and fun to be around.

I now feel the exact opposite. What happened this past week haha. Between full time school and 2 jobs and everything else crammed in the middle, I have no life. I feel like my personality disappeared to. All I want to do is come home at 10 and go to bed haha. I don't care to hang out or talk to anyone, just want to pass out. I've turned into my own worst fear haha.

On top of all of that I haven't served anyone these past few days. What the flip is going on with that?! Seriously I'm not too busy to find one act of service to do each day. I think my problem is I'm not focusing on it as much bc I'm letting my mind get caught up in my busy schedule.

Something needs to change. No, it's not my schedule. I can do full time school/2 jobs, that's not my worry. I just need to find a way to sustain my energy into the night into hanging out with people and having fun again.

I'm sorry if I've been lame this week. Back to my normal self. No more beep boop robot.

Any suggestions as to how to gain my energy and swag back.

Lots of Red Bull....?

2/15- Timeout.

2011-02-15T22:15:00.005-07:00

Why do teams call timeouts in sports? What purpose does it serve?

Wikipedia- In sports, a time-out is a halt in the play. This allows the coaches of either team to communicate with the team, e.g., to determine strategy or inspire morale
Tonight, I need a timeout. Momentum just swung the other way, I was ahead and lost that lead. Lost it and now am down a few points. Timeout is needed. Time to regroup. Figure out a new strategy! Raise my morale! Or as my dad would say, "time to rally the troops!"

My service was non-existent today. I was not on my A game today. No reading. No prayer. No nothing.

Do you ever feel like you are going to be punished for mistakes you make on a day to day basis?

For some, they may look to it as just bad karma.

For myself, sometimes I worry about even going about my day because I'm just waiting for it to fail for mistakes that I made maybe the previous day or week.

I know God doesn't work like this, but I feel as though after my past Sunday, that it's gonna be a long week of failures in work/school/everything else for me haha. No church, tons of stuffed being yelled, spending money on it, etc...tack on my own slew of mistakes from yesterday, and now no reading/prayers today either....ARG!

A quote I read in one of my books the other day- "The spiritual development of our hearts is controlled by the daily decisions we make. "

Well time to come back outta the timeout and dominate. Catch my breathe, regroup, or repent haha, and press on. Guess I will see how my new strategies will work and what my morale is made of.

Can I step up and handle the pressure? Psh- come on...let's be serious, easy answer, remember who is talking here.

On a totally separate but ending note, my new boss calls me Korihor....hahaha great.

2/13- Aren't Sunday's supposed to be good?

2011-02-13T20:37:00.003-07:00

2/13= The day from hell to cap off my week.

Wake up- body still can't move much. Shivering. Soreness. Still manage to crawl out of bed and throw on my church clothes. I walk outside, can't help but notice the amazing weather, at which point I thought today was gonna be great.

Wait a second......where's my car? Huh? No you didn't University Police. My bumper barely sticking in the red zone and you towed my car? Yup, you did, you sure did.
Next comes a sight y'all should be grateful you did not have to witness. Please don't judge either, or just don't read the rest of my post hahaha.

At which point, I walk back inside. Pound my feet down the stairs, and begin to use all sorts of colorful language while swinging my fists in the air and ripping at my perfectly combed over hair. F-bombs were dropping, BS was flying, anything you could imagine was being said out-loud as well as in my head.

All the while I'm ripping at my church clothes and throwing my shoes off...due to my body having shut down, I began coughing uncontrollably and gasping for breath. Next thing I know, I'm flat on my face, on my bed.

Must have just been the last straw of some sort for me. Why?

$180 tow charge.
I forgot to mention my speeding ticket I got this weekend. $150 probably.
I just paid-off a city parking ticket today that was late- $165.
Still have 2 BYU parking tickets to pay- $50.
Rent is due- $250 plus utilities.
Monthly lasik bill due tomorrow- $250.
Medical bill received in mail- $150.

Did this weekend seriously just cost me over $1200?!

Bring on tomorrow, a stupid worthless holiday haha, but the fresh start to a new week- classes all morning, 1.5 hours training, work two jobs rest of day and night, come home finally and...repeat.

2/10-2/12- Blah.

2011-02-12T21:25:00.003-07:00

Sorry I have not been back on to write.

Been dizzy, light-headed, exhausted, shivering, snotting, coughing, gasping, etc...

But no worries, I never get sick so I am A ok!

Been a LONG past few days bc of all of that.

I started a second job. Full time. Plus my part time job at night. Plus full time school.

Yes my days now start at 8 AM and end around midnight. Non-stop running, schooling, training, working, partying, and everything else crammed in between.

Yes I did pray every morning/night this week as well as read my scriptures everyday in the morning.

I think I read from my church books half of the days of this week.

I made around $1750 this week- so suck it! In your face you lame "sickness"

I had a bball game at BYU and put up 12 points, I should have scored more I know.

I camped out last night for the BYU game, coldest night ever. Didn't help my body out haha.

Game was ok, we should have won by more but nonetheless: UTES SUCKKKKKKK!!!!

To anyone who reads this that is a Ute fan- you are tools, douche-bags, or whores. Your team can't win shiz against us hahaha. And your cheerleaders are seriously annoying skanks except for that one blonde one who was looking...like a beautiful daughter of God.

To the rest of the world- All hail Jimmer.

Now back to attempting to study for my exams...or more like my body shutting down completely.

ps- Did you know it's been six months since I have listened to Owl City? I finally decided who cares and listened to them for the first time again...kinda weird but kool. Same with Micheal Buble. As well as John Mayer, I've only listened to him a couple times in the past 6 months, and he was one of my favs. So glad to have y'all back in my life...

pps- You won't believe this awesome news. My old computer from before my mission that never turned on so I lost all my pics--turned on!! Yes I have all my pics back from 2004-2006. Oh my goodness...Seriously, dying. There are some ridiculous pics, great memories....great freaking memories. I chose this pic from 5 years ago to post because I know there is one person who reads my blog all the time, and she will love me forever...or hate me for bringing back this awesome memory, haha!

2/9- Goals.

2011-02-10T21:00:00.004-07:00

Service for the day: Wow must be my luck or something. Today I spoke with another friend of mine for over an hour about church-related topics. They mentioned how they were struggling and weren't going and didn't want to bc of how judgmental people are. That sparked a lot of comments from me haha which lasted for over an hour. But it was a great convo. I never really like to talk churchy stuff with people, because I make so many mistakes I feel I'm being hypocritical. But it was great to provide my thoughts and share them with this person and I feel it really helped out. At least they said it did so we'll leave it at that.
So I've decided I needed to write down my goals for the remainder of the month. A written goal is much more likely to be achieved than just a goal said. So I wrote down a few goals tonight that I'm looking to achieve over the next three weeks before the end of February. Hopefully this will continue to motivate me and hold me accountable. Here's a few of them:

Pray every morning/night.
Read scriptures daily.
Read at least one chapter/day from at least one of my church books.
Get a B or higher on all my exams.
Income from work over the next 3 weeks- $4000.

Wish me luck.

ps--I feel like dying right now. Seriously, I haven't felt so physically/emotionally drained in forever. My body wants to shut down. I never get sick though, it's all in your mind. I control my mind and body so I force myself to never get sick haha. So even though my head is pounding, nose runny, throat sore, quads both strained, dizzy, wanting to puke from my workout, etc....I'm not sick. Just tired is all. I will wake up refreshed and ready for tomorrow! Again, it's all in your head...control your mind!

pps- That is a pic of the temple in Nigeria!! Sick, I wanna go to Nigeria so bad.

2/8- Jimmer Fever.

2011-02-10T20:41:00.002-07:00

Service for the day: Can't go into much detail. Chatted with a good buddy of mine today. He is someone I look up to, a lot. In fact, I always think he is perfect and that he never messes up. Sometimes it bothers me because I never wanna tell him about my problems because I don't want to look so lame to him. But I still joke around and he knows I mess up all the time haha. Turns out tonight he mentioned a few things he is going through right now that came out of nowhere to me. We all have problems, we all go through hard times. we all have our spirituality tested. No matter how strong you may think you are or someone else is, the devil is always trying to lead us astray. Now no it's not that big of a deal, but I was surprised at a few things. Not just him actually messing up, but why he came to me to talk about it. Why not someone else? I was humbled to say the least. I offered the little counsel I could and told him I am gonna be there for him everyday to help him out anyway possible. I now look up to him even more than before, how humble he is to seek help from another.

BYU has gone crazy with Jimmer Fever!! IN case you haven't heard all the stories, there is a lot floating around campus and the internet about comments regarding Jimmer and the gospel. Even ESPN did an article about it. A lady wrote in her feelings about how upset she was that anyone would make a remark inserting Jimmer's name into a church joke or comment. Hmm...yes, typical BYU student haha. Obviously I love the jokes and can't get enough of them. Jimmer is our hero!! Yes, man crush. Yes, I also found out Jimmer is supposedly in my new ward?!?!?! Ok, please let me meet him and get his autograph and home-teach him hahaha.

Here's the EPSN article: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/22753/jimmer-mania-gives-us-epic-facebook-thread
Baptism by Jimmersion.

Every member a Jimmerssionary.

Jimmer never said it'd be easy he only said it'd be worth it.

For God so loved the world, he gave us Jimmer.

Not even the honor code can stop Jimmer from scoring!

2/7- The Day After.

2011-02-08T09:39:00.003-07:00

Yes, I wore my packers shirt all day today. Yes, I walked around campus to all my classes with a big grin n my face. Yes, I smiled all day and wore my shirt with such great pride. Yes, I went to my training session with my shirt on to show off to everyone there. Yes, I went to work with my Packers shirt on, loud and proud chanting 'champ'! Yes, I went to sleep with my Packers shirt on.

Can I just wear the same shirt all day everyday for the next year? I think that shall be my new goal...

What a glorious day as I still have a celebratory hangover from last night haha. I have a feeling it will be there for months and months to come. I love it!

Service for the day: Went to the store and got Kyle some goodies since he has strep and is dying. Some 'Simply Orange' which is the best, Vitamin C pills, and a new flavor of skittles called Blenders!! Candy solves everything where I come from.

My training session today was awesome. My legs were so toast and I was so dang tired. But after the session they wanted to do some speed testing on the treadmills they have. First of all, these aren't your normal treadmills you run on at the gym. These are way more high-tech and crazier. The fastest speed that has been hit on it at this place is 24.0 by Luke Ashworth who plays WR for BYU right now. I already told the guys there my ultimate goal is to set new records and have my name up on their plaques for all the tests haha. Oh and here is a picture of the treadmills we use, they are actually called 'Super Treadmills'!But I was dead tired after the workout and my quads feel so shredded so I didn't want to do the speed test too much but I just wanted to get a feel for it so I can do another time when my legs aren't dead. Anyway, I eventually reached 20.0 on the treadmill! Haha, it was so crazy. I literally felt like my calves and quads were being torn off my legs, the speed was insane. But 20.0 isn't good enough for me, I'm gonna reach 24 and set the record! Got a long ways to go but I know I can do it. But still holy cow, what if I had slipped a tiny bit? Even though they had two guys right behind me to catch me in case something went wrong, it is still kinda scary haha.

As for right now, I'm not sure if there has ever been a time where my body feels so exhausted and sore, especially my legs. I feel like sleeping for days...

2/5-2/6- Best. Weekend. Ever.

2011-02-08T09:12:00.005-07:00

I'm back to my blogging. I just had to get out of the funk from Christmas vacation and then my trip to Europe. But let's get this rolling again with the daily blog.

Service for the weekend: From saving seats for friends at the BYU game overnight, to getting drinks for the superbowl party, to helping move things for someone, to that's prolly about it.

Friday night i camped outside the Mariott Center for the BYU game against UNLV on Saturday. I got NO sleep at all. It was weird bc I wasn't cold, and it wasn't that I was uncomfortable. I just could not sleep at all, so weird. Like seriously, I got at the most 30 minutes of sleep. Just could not fall asleep so I was playing Settlers of Catan on my phone all night haha. That morning at 8 I had a training session so I had to leave for a few hours to go to that.

That was the hardest session so far haha. Prolly bc I was running on no sleep at all and no breakfast, my body just felt so weak. Yes, for the first time I threw up as well during my session. I didn't tell anyone haha I just ran to the bathroom halfway through and started puking hahaha. Awesome. I don't mind puking at all bc once you puke then you feel fine afterwards. SO I got it out of my system and went back to finish my session.

After that I came back into line and finally got to go inside and get ready for the game. I love camping out and sitting close for the games, it was SICK! The game was great and of course I lost my voice. BYU's team this year is way sick, right now #8 in the country. I'm so pumped for the remaining games and then for the tournament. I'll be camping out again this upcoming weekend bc Utah is coming here to play! Haha, Utah...What a weak crappy school, we will dominate them...again.

Sunday was the best day ever haha. I'm sure you can all know why. First of all funny story. After the game on Saturday I came home around 5:30-6, chatted with my roommate Curtis for a bit and then took a nap bc I was so dead exhausted. Literally, next thing I know I wake up and Curtis is walking in the door. I asked him what time it was and he said 2:30 in the morning! Haha, wow, so weird! I can't believe I didn't wake up not once at all, I napped all night! I was so mad bc I had plans to go out Saturday night, and woke up to a bunch of missed calls and texts...oh well.

I hadn't gotten drinks for the game yet bc I was gonna get them Saturday night, but slept. So I didnt want to wait until the morning either since it was the Sabbath. So at 3 in the morning I went to the store and picked up some drinks. Oh and another service I picked Curtis up some cough drops. I know, technically it still was the Sabbath, but I still felt better that I got it at 3 in the morning instead of the middle of Sunday. Haha oh well.

Curtis and I searched all over for our new ward. We couldn't find it anywhere. Carlos went to a ward with his sister, and Mikey is still going to his family ward. Turns out, it was Stake Conference, hahaha. It's ok we went to a random one though so oh well. After that, it was time to go home and get ready for the big game!

Today was the Superbowl!!! It had been 13 years since my Packers were in it, 14 years since we won it....I was SOOOOOO pumped!!! Put on my packer gear and went over to Calvin's with Shanie to go watch it. There was a bunch of us over there, tons of food and drinks. My buddy Geoff and I are huge Packer fans so we went nuts. Such an exciting game, I predicted a 31-24 Packer win, they won 31-25, hahaha! Oh man, we were nervous but oh well...CHAMPS!!! I wanted to cry I was so happy...

It has been so long since a team of mine has won a championship, and who knows when the next one will even be. So for anyone who think I'm celebrating too much, you're wrong! I blasted 'We Are the Champions' all the way home in my car while honking my horn haha. I will keep wearing my packers shirts everyday hahaha. My Rockets haven't won since '95, and BYU never wins a national championship haha. Although Texas did win it in 2005 which was so awesome. But yes, time to celebrate for a whole year I'm so pumped. I feel like I'm a national champion haha, PACKERS!!!! ps- I have two man-crushes. Jimmer Fredette and the long locks of Clay Matthews. I love you both so much.

1/27-1/30- LONDON.

2011-02-01T10:47:00.006-07:00

We got to London Thursday afternoon and spent until Sunday morning there. London is an awesome city! Wow, there is again so much to do and so much to see while there. We caught the underground and made our way to our hostel. It was a sweet hostel, young crowd, kool people, hot girl up front haha. We checked in, threw our bags down, and then headed out in to the town for the night.

Service: We rode the underground a lot so I got up a lot out of my seat to let a lady or an older person take my seat. Eventually I just ended up never sitting down so I didn’t even have to get up later. Also gave money to numerous musicians down in the subway, they play awesome music!

Thursday night we went to the London Eye! Oh yeah, a item on my bucket list crossed off!! The London Eye is the tallest ferris wheel in the entire world. It was awesome to go on, took about 30 minutes. But it flew by. You could see all of London from up there, it was again some amazing sights to see. We hit up Picadilly Circus after that, walked around some shops and saw more places. Grabbed more fish and chips at a local pub and then hit the bed for the night.

Friday was a super busy day as well. We went and saw all the other main sights of London. St. Paul’s, Big Ben, Westminster, etc. St. Paul’s was so crazy. I could have spent all day in there. We got a guided tour and learned so much about the place. There is so much history there and so many famous people buried there. I won’t go into detail with any of it but I loved learning all about it. We got to walk the thousands of stairs up to the top of St. Paul’s to overlook London, now that was awesome.

After that we went to the museum dedicated to Winston Churchill. Ask me before I went who he was, I would have said some British leader during war-time. That was one of the best museums dedicated to a person I’ve ever been to. There was so much information and stuff to learn in there it was crazy. We spent hours in there and I learned so much about this guy. He is the man! Trafalga Square was next and we took more pics while visiting there.

To finish the night, was one of the best parts of the trip I must say. We went to the London Theatre and got tickets to go see live, The Phantom of the Opera. For those who know me, know I don’t care too much for musicals. Its just not my cup of tea. Although The Phantom of the Opera is one of the musicals I do like because I’ve seen the movie and grew up listening to the music from it thanks to my ma. During the musical, I was literally blown away. I can’t even begin to describe the emotions felt there haha. I know it sounds stupid or cheesy but wow. Their voices were so talented, I wish I could sing like that. Now that is an amazing God-given talent they have. The musical was so great, and so worth every penny spent. I would love to see it again and wanna try out a musical on Broadway as well.

Grabbed a burger after the show and headed down to Oxford Circus and did more walking around. Mike went and got a massage haha while he did that I went down to a café and ordered this super bomb dessert! For reals, it was amazing. I forget the name of it crap, but I think it was Italian. It was like a fluffy donut (but like a pastry), then in the middle they put ice cream! Then put it in this heater thing that encloses the ice cream in the donut. Then pull it out, drizzle chocolate and powdered sugar on top, and bam! One of the best desserts I’ve ever had.

Saturday morning we got up and headed down to do some last minute shopping. We walked around but eventually made our way to the airport. Our trip finally came to an end, so sad. We got on our plane, which by the way BOTH of us got to fly business class back to the states! Totally awesome!! But we had so much airplane problems throughout this trip it only made sense that we boarded. Sat there for 4 hours, then had them tell us they couldn’t fix the problem so our flight was canceled. They put us up in a hotel for the night and we had to wait to fly out till Sunday morning. So lame. At which point we finally flew out Sunday morning, but then the Chicago flight to SLC was full so we missed that one as well and spent 6 hours in O’Hare until we finally got back to Utah at like 1 in the morning Monday morning.

Things I learned while in London:

The guys there seem to treat women with quite a lot of disrespect. Maybe it was just certain conversations I heard, but man, they are pretty rude.
Everyone smokes, disgusting. Everyone drops the f-bomb like crazy over there.
It is WAY too expensive in London! Seriously, so overpriced.
It seemed like everyone goes to the Pub in the middle of the day for their lunch breaks to party and get drunk, and then go back to work.
Our bathroom in the hostel was co-ed. So funny story. I was doing my thing in the bathroom, you know, getting rid of dinner, and someone else was in there. They finished and were washing their hands and I finished and got out and it was this hot girl with a smile on her face. I couldn’t help but bust out laughing for what she had to hear while I was in there hahaha.

Europe was amazing. Yes I am broke now, but well worth it. The trip was indescribable. I can’t even explain how much fun it was and all that I learned. I can’t wait to go back there someday, hopefully soon! As for now, back in the cold and dreary state of Utah, haha.

1/26-1/27- MALTA.

2011-02-01T10:33:00.007-07:00

By Wednesday late afternoon, we landed on the island of Malta! This island was one of my favorite spots as well. Wow, so beautiful. The crap part was that we seriously only got to spend a half day here. We had to fly out due to time restrictions the following morning. So we barely even got to see any of Malta, but after a half day I fell in love with the island.

Service: On the plane ride down to Malta I sat next to this lady named Lindsey. She was teaching English over in Africa and was visting Malta for a conference. For the whole plane ride I basically taught the first lesson of the gospel to her haha. I loved it! It was crazy. She had so many questions and was curious about so much. It was awesome to be able to bear testimony of everything and teach her a lot about the church to clear up her concerns. Plus I gave her to mormon.org address and told her to go there to learn more. I love missionary moments! Oh, and best part, she is from Iowa, so we had matching licenses!

Right when we landed in Malta, of course, it started raining! So weak. The only rain we saw all trip haha, of course on the island. But it wasn’t too bad, just some light rain here and there. We hopped on the bus and got off where our hostel was. We were outside in the rain banging on the door and no one was answering! So pissed. We were getting soaked and pissed off and then finally realized we were banging on the back door, haha. Oh geez. So eventually we got in, settled, and headed out to the capital city for the night.

Vallerta is the capital city and when we got there we hit up some gardens which overviewed the island and the surrounding islands. Wow there was some beautiful sights. It was night time so it was hard to take some good pics which sucked but it was still awesome. We hit up the shops there and did some shopping for ourselves and for others. We walked all up and down the streets just checking out the scenery, just an awesome place.

We grabbed some dinner at this restraunt that a local told us to go to. First of all, our waitress, BOMB. Hello hot local Malta blonde lady. Wow. Please let me move to Malta haha. She brought us some bruchetta on the house, which was the best bruchetta I’ve ever had, even better than the ones I tried while in Rome. Then we ordered rabbit! I must say rabbit tastes pretty good. To me, it was like a gamey chicken taste. That’s the only way I can think to describe it.

After dinner the buses close down so we had to catch it in roder to head back to our hostel. We then walked around the streets for a few minutes. We met this dad and daughter who were jogging and went with them down a few streets just chatting.

Thursday morning we got up early and headed over to the Prehistoric Tarxien Temples. Just so you know, these temples are the oldest freestanding temples in the entire world! They were so crazy and amazing to look at. The site isn’t too big and to a random person it would prolly look like a bunch of random rocks on the ground haha. But it was crazy to see there was graffiti and artwork on them from back in 3500 BC! There was also one part which had doors and steps which maybe meant they had multiple floors? I dunno. But the ruins were awesome to look at nonetheless.

Sadly, we had to leave early and then make our way back to the airport. Time to leave to nice warm island and head to the nasty cold weather in London.

Things I learned while in Malta:

Quite a beautiful island.
Rabbit is a great meal.
The bus system is awesome, so dirt cheap.
The people there are so nice and friendly.
Even though it was warm, don’t leave your window open at night. Seriously, coldest night of the trip.

1/23-1/26- ROME.

2011-02-01T10:16:00.009-07:00

We landed in Rome Sunday the 23rd in the afternoon and spent our time there until the morning of Wednesday the 26th. These three days were SO jam packed it was crazy. It was non-stop running from museum to museum, sight to sight.

Service while in Rome: Mainly consisted of taking a lot of pictures for other people. There were tons of tourists at all the sights and Mike and I would just walk around and tell couples and families we would take their picture for them so all of them could be in the photo together. We thought about eventually charging people for the pics but hey, what kind of service would that be?!

When we first got there at the train station I ordered a pizza bc I was starving. Yes, their pizza is amazing. I still think it is better than here in the US. Flat, crunchy, square pieces. I don’t know how to explain it but to me the pizza tastes sweeter. I don’t know if it’s the crust or sauce or what, but it tastes sweeter, more sugary, and you know I love my sugar! Eventually we made it to our train stop where our hostel was. That took about an hour to find haha. We walked all around asking people but got nowhere. Eventually we found it, threw our bags down and headed out into the town. It was already night time so we just walked around the local plaza and saw a few churches as well. We sat down for a few minutes during a sermon but of course understood none of it. For dinner I had some local dish called, gnocchi. It was pretty good., kinda like a pasta dumpling. We were exhausted from no sleep in airport the previous night so we hit the bed early bc the next day was gonna be a lot of walking.

I got up late into the night so I could watch on the hostel computer my Packers beat the Bears!! YEAH!!!! Super Bowl bound!! It was so exciting and worth staying up for haha. Eventually we got up early and walked down to go see the Roman Colosseum. I’m not gonna bore you with all the details of each building and sight we saw. I will say this, after visiting Rome, I have been completely blown away with all of the amazing architecture and paintings and sights that we saw. These buildings and monuments have been around for thousands of years, and that just amazes me.

The Colosseum was so ridiculous. I learned so much while in there we spent hours in there and could have spent even more. The Romans were some crazy people. One plaque I remember seeing said something to the effect of how during the Roman games, for the lunch break they would take thieves and throw them out into the middle of the theatre with no weapons and send out bears and lions to eat them and rip them apart. WOW! Why can’t my lunch break be that exciting?! And that story is just scratching the surface on all that I learned while in there…

Afterwards we walked over to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum and did more hours of walking around. This is where it’s believed that Rome had its origins, possibly back to 1000 BC. Still amazed at all the intricate artwork and styles of buildings that existed back then. It was said that the Romans were able to make glass bottles at a rate as fast as we make glass bottles today! The Forum was the center of Roman life back then and there was so much to see while in there.

Needed a lunch break after all of that as we were exhausted. Grabbed some lasagne. Very good, loved it! So much cheese on it haha. More walking led us to other great sites, the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, Capitoline Hill, and the Pantheon, which is the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome and is one of the best preserved buildings in all of Rome. Eventually we made our way to Trevi Fountain. This I would have to say was one of my favorite sights in Rome. It was just so beautiful and peaceful to sit on the steps there and just watch and admire the craftsmanship and beauty of the fountain. You know I threw some coins in there over my shoulder for good luck!! I can’t tell you what I wished for, although it wouldn’t be hard to guess haha.

The night ended with a few more sights and a ton more walking around. We got way lost on our way home and took way too many wrong turns. Eventually grabbed a kabob and made our way back to the hostel, exhausted!

Tuesday was devoted to The Vatican! Again, no need to explain all the details but holy crap my mind was blown away. So much to see while there. So much history, artwork, craftsmanship, etc. It took all day looking at all the museums and stuff inside The Vatican and the over at St. Peters Basilica. Did you know that The Vatican is a whole different country?? Crazy huh? So we went to a different country on Tuesday haha. We spent the whole day in here. The Sistine Chapel was so amazing. You can’t take pictures while in there, kinda like our temples. But the artwork and designs in there were breath-taking. Artwork here in the Vatican and St. Peters at its best! Ate some spaghetti and pizza and saw a few sights on the way back to our hostel to conclude our day!

Wednesday morning we got up and got ready to head to the airport. Funny story. I guess Rome has strikes all the time? No idea. They are planned strikes. Meaning, the city warns you like two weeks ahead of time that a strike will occur. Of course we had no idea. So we left at the last second to hit the trains to get to airport. Oh hello train strike! We never would have made it on time so we had to pay over like $60 to taxi our way there! Good grief…

Things I learned while in Rome:

The food is amazing. Some of the best food I’ve ever had.
Don’t get water at your meals, they don’t give free water like here in the US! It costs like 3 bucks!
No one speaks English. Holy crap we couldn’t communicate with anyone.
Ice cream is so good.
They have way too many random little streets all intertwined within each other which makes it really confusing and easy to get lost, at least for me.
Tons of people from Bangladesh live there, trying to sell you stuff. The best part is that they are so easy to barter with. They are super persistent, but you can work them easily.
Never, ever, ever, ever, take pictures outside the colosseum with the local guys dressed up in gladiator suits. NEVER!! You will thank me as well as not lose all your money to those pricks haha.
They love their dirty artwork and clothing. Seriously, in every museum you have naked dudes showing off their schlongs. On top of that every store has statues you can buy with dudes grabbing each other, as well as clothes with just a huge penis on it. Oh man….ridiculous. Mike of course loved it hahaha.

1/21-1/22- SPAIN.

2011-02-01T07:33:00.005-07:00

I decided to split my blog entries up for my trip to Europe into different posts for each country I visited. I went to Europe for the past 10 days with my good buddy Mike. We decided to go out for a wedding and then to travel all around the countries out there and just explore and have an awesome time. Rather, a legendary time!

We left the US Thursday the 20th in the afternoon for our flight to London. We first flew to Chicago and from there it was a 7 hour flight to London. We flew into London bc it was cheaper to do that instead of flying directly to Madrid. Mind you the time difference between Utah and London was about 7 hours.

Service: There was one business class seat open for our flight to London. I didn't flip a coin or anything like that I just told Mike that he could sit up there and I would fly coach. I just felt like he could ride in style and I'll kick it back there. Wow, that sure was a long flight while he got to watch whatever and lay fully back in his seat haha.

No worries though we eventually made it to London. We were only here for half a day before our flight to Madrid, Spain. We first went and saw the mom of one of Mike's ex-girlfriends. I guess this lady is a little crazy haha. I'm only writing about her bc when she saw me she asked who I was and I was telling her. Then she asked how old I was and I told her to guess. At which point I've never felt so angry at a lady before, haha no, jk....but serious. Haha. She told me she thought I was 12! No joke. She was totally serious. I can understand 17-18 because that is what I usually get, but 12?! Holy hell what is wrong with you!

Great start to my journey over in Europe! After thinking about what she said, I decided that I was going to take full advantage of my "supposed" age throughout the entire trip. By that I mean, at every museum we went to I got a "child" ticket of admission, hahaha. Is that wrong? Eh, for once I decided it was my turn to take advantage of everyone making fun of how little I am. So thank you Europe for all of your child ticket admissions and for savings me tons of money...While Mike had to pay full price haha.

We hit up a few sights of London before leaving for our flight. We saw the Tower of London which was an amazing sight. Went into the museum (at child's price of course) and learned all about it. Then walked over and climbed to the top of the memorial dedicated to the fire of London and got to oversee all of London. Some magnificent sights. After more walking around we finally grabbed some grub. At each country I wanted to eat the traditional food there so I ate some fish and chips. It was really good, I loved it.

Eventually we caught our flight and made our way to Madrid, Spain! There we met up with our good friend Brian, he is the one who got married in Spain the following day. We didn't get there till around 11 at night, so he drove us over to our hostel, we checked in and went out into the streets to go find some food to eat. Mike and I ate some kabobs at some random street place and then walked around for another few minutes. But we were exhausted and finally went back to our hostel for bed.

Saturday the whole day was spent devoted to Brian's wedding. In Spain they first have a civil marriage, and then the temple marriage. So we got up and dressed and made our way down to city hall for the civil marriage. It was all in Spanish so of course I had no idea what was going on haha. I find it funny to imitate others, so what I did during the ceremony was I just looked at the faces of others and copied their emotions. They laughed, I would then laugh. They looked like they were gonna cry, I got teary-eyed. They noticed me copying them and gave me a angry face, I returned the favor, hahaha.
After the civil marriage two of their friends, Marina and Monica took Mike and I out for breakfast. We had a traditional Spanish breakfast, I think it was called something like hamon on toast?? I dunno. All I know is that it was not that good haha. It was thick toast with smashed up tomatoes spread on it, with a slice of hamon on top. Now hamon is not like ham. It basically tasted like raw bacon. But worse. But their hot chocolate they had was awesome!

These two girls were so awesome! I realized that I want to marry a girl from Spain! Or at least from Europe. One of the girls was speaking of how she went to school in Utah and didn't fit in to well with the local and other girls there. I asked her why without saying anything and she went on the explain a TYPICAL Utah girl! Holy crap she hit the explanation right on the ball. Stuck up, self righteous, too much makeup, act dumb, go to the gym to impress by dressing nice, put on fake image just to get married, etc...It was weird bc I see that all the time, and it was interesting that someone from Spain who came down there for school could notice it so easily as well. I loved it! I'm not saying all Utah girls are like this, there definitely are some that aren't. But so many fall into the categories above. I could tell that the girls here in Spain don't need to do all those things, and don't. They are who they are, all natural. Loved it...Now the trick is finding some girl from Spain down here in Provo hahaha.

After breakfast and chatting for a few hours we went to the temple. The temple was SO beautiful! They got married, took some pics, and then we went to another couple of friends place to spend the next few hours until the reception. They too were awesome to chat with and just so down to earth! Eventually the reception came and went as well. It was fun times. I met this Nigerian couple who were SO AWESOME! I forget all the advice he gave me bc there was so much and I wasn't taking notes. All I remember is that he told me how Eve was made from Adam's rib, so it is now my job to go find the woman with my rib hahaha! So where ya at?!?! Who took my rib? The quest begins...I just hope she is from Spain!

Eventually we got a ride to the airport. Now our flight to Rome wasn't until 7 in the morning! But we didn't want to spend money on another night in a hostel, nor for a taxi at 5 in the morning. So we got dropped off at the airport and spent the night there haha. Worst night of sleep on the trip for sure!

A few things I learned from Spain:

They LOVE to dance. I SUCK at dancing.
Everyone kisses each other on the cheeks all the time. That part, I loved. I would just walk up to random people and say 'hey nice to meet you' just to get a kiss from them haha.
Smashed tomatoes on toast with raw hamon for breakfast. Really?
People are so friendly and nice
Does the f-bomb not mean anything over here? During breakfast at one point one of the girls said, 'well f- her then!' At which point I spit out my drink and busted out laughing.

1/19- EUROPE.

2011-01-19T23:25:00.003-07:00

Sorry I have no time to post.

I have been running around like crazy with work and school.

Plus trying to figure out all this stuff for my trip.

I'll be gone for the next week and a half. I fly to Europe tomorrow morning.

London, Madrid, Malta, Rome.

I'll take lots of pics and be back in February with updates!

Biological Assignment

2011-01-19T22:35:00.013-07:00

Think about your family for a minute. How many siblings do you have? How about aunts and uncles? I come from a prototypical Latter-day Saint family, a dad, mom, and six children. Most of my friends also come from larger families with four, five, or even as high as thirteen children in their respective families.

Have you ever thought for a second, could the world ever be overpopulated? Will there come a time when there are just too many people on this earth to survive day to day? Most of us have never pondered that.

In a recent article by Robert Kunzig in National Geographic entitled Population 7 Billion, he presents those questions and asks himself and us as the readers if our planet can withstand the enormous increase of individuals that populate it.

Recent studies have shown that there is about to seven billion people who will populate this earth. Fast forward to the year 2045, the global population is projected to reach nine billion. Is this a problem?

In case you didn’t know, there are roughly one billion people who go hungry each and every day on this earth. If we continue at this pace, in a few decades we could see that number reach two billion.

After reading the above, let me pose this question, is the world really overpopulated? How can we know if it is overpopulated or not?

David Nicholson-Lord states in an article for New Statesman, “How do we know that the world is overpopulated? Common sense might argue there must be a casual link between the loading of an extra four billion people into the biosphere in the second half of the 20^th century and the contemporaneous appearance of severe ecological ills. But common sense also argues that there is lots of land left in the world- think Canada, Siberia.

A solution to this can be looked at from a different angle. Instead of worrying so much about overpopulation, we can better the way we live. Simply put, we live more humanely. We focus on solving the issues such as the lack of infrastructure. We can help people out of poverty, while reducing the impact each of us has on our planet. We teach our children of these issues and prepare them for the problems they will face as adults.

In 2007, 69 out of 195 countries had adopted policies to lower population growth. Nicholson-Lord further stated the benefits that came half a century after the first population and family planning programs began, “strong government support, often through explicit population policies; partnership with NGO’s; an emphasis on woman’s status, rights and education; education on sex and relationships; and, above all, the ready availability of contraceptives.”

We need to get the knowledge out there, and it begins with us bringing it forth to the government. We need to give every woman access to family planning services.

In a review done by H. Charles J. Godfray, he presents to us a threefold challenge that the world faces today. First, we need to find a way to match the rapidly changing demand for food from a larger population to its supply. Second, we need to do that in ways that are environmentally and socially sustainable. Third, make sure the world’s poorest people no longer go hungry.

Seems like a daunting task to accomplish. But these natural resources we have weren’t discovered in the first place all in one try, nor without a lot of hard work.

By 2050, the world will need 70-100% more food. As of now, 60% of the world’s population is malnourished. These are huge problems that we need to more fully address at this point in time. In attacking the problem of poverty and starvation, we need to change the way food in stored, processed, distributed, and accessed. Billions of people can’t afford the proper nutrients and calories on a day to day basis and they require assistance. If done correctly, we can instill programs within the country and government itself to help the local farmers and agriculture with a demand for their products.

Illustrated here is an example of this by the country Niger. Niger was strongly affected by droughts in the 1970's and 1980's. In the 1980's donors then made substantial investments in soil and water conservation. Through this project and treatments they were able to rehabilitate over 300,000 ha of land and stabilize crop growth.

The change of our diet will also vastly help in the problems of malnutrition and the use of our natural resources. As we reduce the consumption of meat and increase our portions of food derived from efficient sources, we can then provide ourselves with an opportunity to feed more people. Think about third world countries or other developing countries. If they continue to eat a lot of meat in their diet, they run the risk of becoming obese. With obesity, that will then lead to an increase in spending on health and medicare. Eliminate that and better our diet, and we have an increase of money that could be put to better use like alleviating poverty.

Speaking about the ever-decreasing natural resources on our earth takes overpopulation to a whole new level. If these billions of people continue deforestation and the extreme use of oil and coals, we will watch before our eyes the natural resources of this earth slowly vanish.

We as citizens need to be informed and take this to heart. Water tables are falling. Soil is eroding. Glaciers are melting away. Fish stocks are vanishing. Forests are being cleared. Our planets natural resources are getting exhausted.

In an article posted by Springer Science, they state that in about 100 years fossil fuels will run out and only a population of about two billion will be able to survive on natural resources. As mentioned before our resources are vastly diminishing. There is a shortage of productive crop land. Due to wind and water the current erosion rates of agriculture are greater than ever. There is a degradation of soil and loss of freshwater due to deforestation.

As the worldwide population continues to increase, our resources become more limited, and in return the human health suffers. In fact, there are numerous political conflicts over water that have caused tension among nations.

It’s important to emphasize to farmers and growers across the world that we start implementing the techniques that we already know. Techniques such as no-till, ridge-till, crop rotations, etc. Farmers will need to find a way to produce increasing amounts from what is available.

As we increase our use of fossil fuel energy, we can feed an increasing number of humans. On top of that it will improve the quality of life in many ways such as preventing diseases. To help prevent global warming, we can switch from fossil fuels to alternative energy.

The solutions to these many problems of overpopulation and the diminishing effect it has on our natural resources can be very simple. It boils down to us as individuals. How we consume resources matters most.

Will you be lucky enough to be one of the two billion that will be able to survive on natural resources? Or will we start to take action in improving our knowledge on the problems that can occur from the increase in population that we are already seeing.

Godfray, C. (2010). Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People. Retrieved January 18, 2011, from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5967/812.full

Kunzig, R. (2011). Population 7 Billion. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from National Geographic Web site: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/seven-billion/kunzig-text/1

Nicholson-Lord, D. (2009). Planet Overload. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2009/03/world-population-billion-human

Pimentel, D. (2010). Will Limited Land, Water, and Energy Control Human Population Numbers. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from http://www.populationmedia.org/2010/09/23/will-limited-land-water-and-energy-control-human-population-numbers/

1/16- Church and...more football

2011-01-16T23:25:00.001-07:00

Service for the day: I felt so great last night that in the middle of the night I decided to clean up our house. So I went around and cleaned the toilets. Washed the mirrors. Emptied all the trash cans and took them all out. Wiped down the counter tops. Did the dishes. Wiped down the couches. It was technically Sunday even though it was late at night/early in the morning haha.

Church today. This was my last Sunday in this ward. I'm actually gonna be moving out of Frank's here in the next couple of days. Man, I can't believe I'm moving out. I like this place. It been fun. Lots of fun for sure haha. So many great stories from here and my dungeon down in the basement!
I'll miss Paco. That crazy dog haha. Miss the good times every morning watching the Dan Patrick Show. Miss freezing every night in bed. I'll miss playing NBA Jam arcade in the middle of the day with Frank. Bumping my music so loud in the shower Frank could hear it two floors up. I'll miss all of Frank's sarcastic remarks to me anytime I bring a girl over. Maybe I'll miss all of Frank's sarcastic gay remarks anytime my buddies came over haha. Talking sports all day with him Frank and Rick. Playing Wii with RJ haha. I'll miss all the times I brought different girls down to my dungeon haha. Now those were some good times...

But no worries. I still work over there so I'll still be over at Frank's a lot haha. And I'll still be able to bring girls down to my new dungeon, bc Curtis and I have the basement portion of our new house to ourselves!

Here's to a new place...another new beginning.

1/15- Packers.

2011-01-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

Service for the day: Opened my place to numerous people to come watch the football games on my big screen. Also helped get some pizza and drinks for us all.

What a GREAT day!! I couldn't be happier. This is why I love sports. Wow. My emotions are literally being toyed with every which way every second of the game. What else can move your emotions back and forth so quick like that?
My Packers flat out dominated and won on the road again and are now one game away from going to the Superbowl for the first time since I was back in elementary.

I don't even need to explain my day today. This picture says it all. I love you Aaron Rodgers.

p.s.- I finally beat my buddy Geoff in Pizza Box Football. It really was an amazing day!

1/14- Candy.

2011-01-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

I couldn't think of a name for this post. But I am really craving candy right now (nothing new). But i only have a few pieces left. I'm trying to stretch it out. I need Jesus to be here, I could really use a miracle to feed the multitudes of my cravings haha. Is that sac-religious? I don't think so.

Service for the day: I cleared my bed and let me buddy Geoff come down and spend the night at my house for the game tomorrow.

I had some plans tonight but then some other things came up and it all got rearranged and so tonight I was everywhere. After work I went up to Ogden to hang out with my friend. We went bowling and watched a movie.

Not my night at all. I sucked at bowling. Then again we had the most retarded high school kids next to us jumping all in our lane and being so stupid. Sometimes I like to pretend and think that I never acted like that in high school.....haha. Movie was Charlie St. Cloud....haha. I'm not even gonna write about that. Any movie with Zac Effron in it is....well, whatever. Is the movie based on a true story? I think it was based on a book at least.

That was about it, came back and grabbed Geoff and am home now ready to crash for the night. Big day tomorrow.

1/13- Intramural Bball.

2011-01-13T19:52:00.004-07:00

Service for the day: Not the best service but I took my buddies down to BYU to sign them up on my intramural team so we could ball it up. It's just an all Nebraska Omaha Mission team. So we're just a bunch of scrappy people put together into a team haha. But it should be a lot of fun, considering our first game was tonight...Also my service was talking to the refs after the game and letting them know it was all okay. Also the score lady, during the game she was getting some mouth from the players and I told her she was doing great and made a few jokes with her and she said she really appreciated my comments haha.

First of all we have NO size at all. It's literally a bunch of guards running around out there haha. Our tallest guy, and the only one over like 6 foot is 6'2" haha. We started the game playing a zone, but couldn't get out on the wings quick enough so we switched to man.

The game was pretty physical and started getting a little chippy in the second half. We weren't that great on offense, kinda sloppy. And our size disabled us from a lot of rebounds. Although they kept going over the back on rebounds and I kept telling the ref to specifically watch out for that and moving screens. Anyway, halfway through my buddy Mike gets a technical outta nowhere haha. It was ridiculous and a terrible call. So i guess in BYU intramurals if you get a technical we have to play a man down for 2 minutes, so 4 on 5 haha. What is this hockey?!

So they had a 2 minute power play basically which was ridiculous. Anyway we kinda started falling apart and just getting mad at eachother and the refs. With about 3 minutes left we had prolly our best guy foul out and we were down 9. I only had 2 points at that point so I decided I needed to step up and make a comeback.

Well, in the next 3 minutes I went off. Three....layup...steal...three...three...layup...three...I scored 16 points in the last 3 minutes and tried leading us back. But the crappy part was I missed 2 FT, which I never miss FT. I was so pissed at myself. And then we stole it and I think had a chance to tie it at the buzzer, but I missed the shot. So lame...

I finished with 18 points, but 18 means nothing when you lose. I need to keep that intensity up the entire game which is definitely a fault of mine. I was just going through the motions basically the whole game and that was my fault we lost. The funny part was when we were down 9 with 3 minutes left, and I made my first three, I started talking mad trash haha.

Yeah not really the nice thing to do, but it motivates me. And it worked. I stared the first guy down that I drained my three over. Then I told their big guy to try harder to block me after I floated one over his arm. After my next three I yelled at their team that I was gonna keep making those. And then after my fourth three I told them there was no stopping me, hahaha. Oh man. I'm retarded when I run my mouth.

There was one plus for the game despite losing. After the game most of their team came up to me and said what a great shot I had and they were lucky to win that one. Then after that some old guy came up to me and asked if I played ball in high school. I told him no. I guess he was the dad of one of the other team players. Anyways, he said I had a terrific shot and to just keep shooting the ball.

Always a good boost to have some random person and others come up to you and compliment you. I was pretty upset we lost and definitely still feel like it was my fault. YEt at the same time it's a good confidence boost.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the night. It was just one lousy intramural game. To someone looking in, it means nothing. But to me, there's always lessons to be learned in everything we do each and every day... ps. I've got no pictures of me ballin haha. This is just a lousy pic of me from 2 years ago in Philly watching BYU ball it up in March Madness.

1/12- Another Year in the Books.

2011-01-13T14:39:00.002-07:00

A big shout out today to my brother Kyle, it's his birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHA! THE BIG 27!!!

Haha wow, he is getting old. But I look at the past year of his life, and I can only imagine how amazing it has been for him. He went from living at home back in Virginia, in a lot of debt, by himself, jobless, just had nothing going for him.

A year later. He lives in this small, but awesome little basement home. A place where I go a lot to use his bathroom, bahaha, sorry Leah! He has an awesome salary job that is gonna start booming. He has the sweetest wife. Sure he is still in debt haha, but working his way out. Graduated from BYU. Basically, he is living the dream. His dream.

I know he might not think much of it, but I would hope he doesn't take what he has for granted. Sure I make fun of his little place a lot, and I make fun of his wife's cooking, but he sure is living the dream. A dream one day I soon hope to be living myself.

Somewhere deep down inside, deep deep down haha, I would much rather be where he is than where I am right now. Having a family and home and salary job. Good for him. Keep at it.

As for me, maybe one day...........I'll be lucky enough to get that.

1/11- Big Ballin.

2011-01-13T14:19:00.002-07:00

Service for the day: I left work early to go pick up my sister Kourtney from the airport. She is finally getting back from Christmas Break in Virginia. It was great being in Virginia with her and the family. Her fiance Jake is the man. I can't wait for him to join the family, he fits right on in with us crazy guys. Plus he is a baller so that's a plus for sure. And he don't care if I make fun of his short arm, bc he makes up for it in everything else. Except he needs to improve his Call of Duty skills hahaha. I missed out on most of the BYU games when I went to pick her up. But I re-watched it to see Jimmer go off. Wow, 47 points in SLC, suck it Utah!! Sick...

Anyway, I tried to only have classes on M and W so no classes today. Just ran some errands and got some homework done. I love having these days off.

Tonight I went out with the guys and balled up at Gold's Gym. It was good times as usual. Now if only I could shoot and crossover like Jimmer.

1/10- Back At It.

2011-01-13T13:59:00.004-07:00

Sorry for the delay in writing in my blog. No excuses haha. But I am back at and ready to get back into the daily routine.

Just for an update on what is going on. I am back at BYU taking classes. Yes, I do feel like it is still a waste of time. Maybe I'll drop out again, maybe not haha. Nah, I'll finish. It's just boring is all.

Still working from home. It's going good as usual. Just work a few hours at night and make most excellent monies.

I'll be moving out of Frank's though soon. Going to move back closer to BYU in a townhome with some friends. Should be good times. Service for the day: I signed up to train with my buddy Mike down at a speed and velocity place. Here's an old ugly pic of Mike and I, he's in the blue sweater, I couldn't find any other pics. But the place is run by some former BYU football players. Mike is going to try and walk on to the BYU football team. He is the man, if he sets a goal, he achieves it no matter what. I've never met anyone so determined and legit like him.

So we went there for the first time and what they did is they wanted to see how athletic we are so they ran tests on us. Speed, vertical, agility, etc. We did about 8 tests, and it was good. I'm out of shape for sure. But in every single test we did, I beat Mike. Haha, all 8 or so tests I scored higher than him. But that's not the point. I'm glad to be here to support Mike, because I want Mike to beat me in all 8 of those tests.

Now will that happen? Prolly not, I'm a prideful person haha. I'm only gonna keep getting better and faster myself. But it's good for him to be chasing me and it will keep pushing him. Although once we got done with all those tests, they wanted to see how strong we were. Now I won't get into that bc we all know Mike destroyed me haha.

Anyway, the point is we will be going to the place M/W/F each week. Today was our first workout day and holy crap, I wanna die. The treadmill workout they did was ridiculous. And then lifting and core and holy crap someone shoot me haha. I have a feeling it's gonna be a long next couple of months with these workouts...

My friend Shanie came down here tonight, it was the BCS Championship game. I was hoping there would be more scoring but it was still a great game. Auburn ended up winning with a last second field goal haha, oh yeah Cam Newton!!

12/25-1/3- Ringing in With Style.

2011-01-12T00:07:00.008-07:00

The rest of Christmas Break was great!

Lots of games being played with the family.

Random acts of service were scattered throughout the days.

Non-stop eating of awesome food.

Took Kourtney through the Washington D.C. Temple.

My friend Shanie came down to visit.

All in all, this was better than last years' Christmas Break. There were more, and better people here to spend it with.

12/24- Christmas Eve.

2010-12-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

Service of the day: 16 people crowded around one table. Food everywhere. Glasses of juice being spilled. Loud conversations flying around in every which direction. The crowd departs the room, and moves its way slowly into another. Space on the floor being cleared. 5 old people playing Xbox Kinect. Bowling. Then dancing. Laughter, jokes, yelling, clapping, non-top action. Like a scene straight from a movie. No. Not a movie. Rather, the sight my eyes fell upon during the evening time of Christmas Eve at my house.

I can't explain the magnitude our Christmas Eve had upon the lives on several people within our ward boundaries. Once again, we invited several people from our ward who had no where to go and no one to spend Christmas with. Think about it for a second. As we are all with our families and laughing and having a good time, what about those who have no family around? Those whose family have long passed? Or those whose family don't accept or talk to them anymore? Have you ever thought about that?

I fall guilty to that. I assume that everyone has family to go to during Christmas time. But, assuming such a thing just makes a fool of myself. We had 5 people over at our house for dinner and games during Christmas Eve. Here's just a short description of them without using any names...

The first was an elderly lady. Divorced. Kids don't speak to her. Ever. They don't care to talk to her again. She has no family around here. She lives by herself with her 8 dogs to attempt to keep her company. So Christmas for her comes down to her and 8 animals. Wow.

The next elderly gentleman's wife passed away a few years ago. He got re-married and then divorced all within a close time frame a year ago. He also has had trouble with coming in and out of activity within the church. He too, spends Christmas by himself.

The other gentleman was a little bit younger but still alone. Not married. No family around here. Just living by himself and seeking to make new friends within our ward.

Lastly, an elderly couple who lives nearby us. My dad was doing his usual pondering the morning of today and felt the impression that he call this couple and invite them to dinner. So he called them at noon this morning, asked them to come to dinner at 5, and sure enough they came. As they left, to be brief, they said something along the lines of how grateful they were for inviting them and how we had no idea how much they wanted to be a part of something tonight and how they had prayed to not be alone. These 5 amazing people. Our home opened to them. It was a blast. We ate, joked, played games, danced. Watching these people dance to the game was hilarious! It was an amazing night. One that I will remember not for the pajamas I got to open...But rather for our home being opened to these people and being able to share the joy with them this holiday season.

12/20-12/23- Teached and Taught.

2010-12-23T21:00:00.004-07:00

Going to combine all these days together into one post. I haven't had much to write about as I'm on Christmas break right now with the family. All I am doing is playing video games with my brothers and hanging around watching football, haha.

Service for the days: I taught our family FHE lesson tonight. I taught about the importance of being worthy to enter into the temple. We are preparing to get Kourtney ready to get her endowments in a couple of weeks. That is so exciting for her and I can't wait to go up to the DC Temple. Helped out with a few things around the house as well.

Also on Wednesday morning I helped the missionaries out and went to teach an investigator with them. It was actually a lot of fun. I loved going out with them as it brought back memories of my own mission. It was great to be able to get back in the teaching mood and to make new friends. I worked with them from 10:30-12:30.

After finishing up I came home and Kyle and Leah has arrived! So we now have the ENTIRE family here in our house for Christmas. There are 11 of us under this one roof right now hahaha wow! By next Sunday evening there will be 13 people in our house, even crazier!

A lot more video games and playing once Kyle arrived. We have been busy playing a lot of Call of Duty Black Ops and FIFA. My thumbs are already sore and hurting haha.

Thursday I went and helped Chelsea do her Christmas shopping. We went out from the morning till around dinner time. We got all of her shopping done so it was awesome. I can't believe Christmas is already here. Time sure does fly. I don't like it because I know that soon I will back in Utah and on campus going to school.

As for now, I will just continue to just enjoy every little minute I get to be here...

12/19- Baby Ace.

2010-12-19T23:03:00.001-07:00

We've almost finally got everyone in the family back at home. Today Dallas, Kailynn, and baby Addison arrived from Texas. Great to see them again, and to see the baby for the first time.

Not sure how much any of us will be seeing the baby considering Mom just took control of having the baby in her arms at all times haha. On top of that I've got her taking a million pics of the baby just laying there. The baby is awesome and cute for sure. But come on now, why a million pictures and the obsessiveness over this thing? First of all, it makes two noises. Cry. Fart. Secondly, all she does is lay there. We need to fast forward two more years so the kid can be walking and running around and I can get it into some trouble haha.

Other than that your typical Sunday. At church, as usual in my family, from 8 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon! Good grief...then football and lounging around all afternoon. We played The Office version of Clue tonight, I won both times.

Service for the day: Great question. Let me ponder on that one some more haha...

12/18- Let's go...Bowling!

2010-12-18T21:10:00.003-07:00

What a great time of the year. Christmas time. Time to see family and friends. Just the best time of the year. On top of all the holiday cheer, it's the bowl season for football! I love it. Love watching the bowl games for the next 3 weeks, it's gonna be awesome.

The bowls started today, and BYU actually was the first bowl game of the year. So I got to watch BYU pound UTEP. We actually looked really good and Heaps has come a long way since the beginning of the year. The strides we've made over the season are at least a sign of hopefully some good things to come.

Service for the day: Taking the trash to the dump. Picking up chairs from the church and bringing them back home. Going into town to pick up 15 pizzas haha. Also took my little brother bowling tonight.
Since it is bowl season in football, what better way to go celebrate than to go bowling! I took Kameron to the bowling alley tonight and we played 3 games. We just need to find out a way to straighten his arm so he can start competing and challenging me. On a bright note--I set a new personal record tonight!! If you remember a week or so ago I went and missed tying my record by one lousy pin.

Tonight, I beat my old record of 171 by one pin: 172!!! The alley was pretty lame though and it kept messing up mine and Kameron's score everytime and the pins/balls would always get stuck after falling, just really ghetto basically. Nonetheless, my last personal record from Arizona is gone and now my record comes from good ol' Winchester, Virginia.

Finally, I also want to express my thanks for being alive on this amazing earth. I let Kameron drive the last 5-10 minutes home tonight haha. I thought he had his permit but he doesn't, oh well. I think he's only driven once or twice before. He said he didn't want to and was really nervou but I told him to get over it and it would be good practice, haha.

Of course he thanked me after. In response I was thanking God for not dying. Holy crap it's been a long while since I've been that scared. He kept going off to the side of the road and I kept grabbing the wheel haha. Good practice for him though driving in the dark, on back windy roads, with some old snow on the ground.

12/17- Just Dance.

2010-12-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Remember how I posted that video of myself doing the dance game? Well there's more. I'm sure there will plenty more to come as well. Except tonight was awesome.

Kourtney made us dinner since mom and dad were out and about. Korinne had her friend over visiting for dinner. Well, I guess Korinne is a visitor to our house now too haha considering she doesn't live here anymore. I invited Chelsea over too for dinner and games. We had a blast!

Stuffed our faces. Made a lot of jokes at the table since mom and dad weren't present. Then we set up the dance game and did work on it. Haha. It is great. I love games like these because they seriously are such great ways to bond as family and friends. No matter how much we may hate or be annoyed with each other, we all just forget about it and goof off together.

Korinne picked it up, as did her friend. Chelsea was totally awesome watching dance. Haha, struggled at first but then she was a pro. Kourtney was awesome as always. As for myself, well, no description necessary we already know how amazing I am.

The best part about the night: Mom and dad came home and we convinced her to do a round! No words to describe it, just watch the video.

After all this we played the game Wits and Wagers. Awesome game, involves trivia and betting, my two favorite things!! It was legit.

12/16- Let it Snow.

2010-12-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

I wake up early this morning and my little brother isn't at school. So I figured that means one thing: SNOW.

The ridiculous part about here in Virginia is that they cancel school for anything. There could be a foot of snow and I'm still digging holes through it, uphill, with no shoes or socks out at BYU. While here, school was canceled, and I look outside and there is NO snow. Nothing. Haha I was very confused. I guess the radio reported that there was going to be a couple inches of snow later on so they canceled school ahead of time.

Yes the snow finally came but not until the afternoon.

Service for the day: You guessed it, shoveling snow! Shoveling snow is NOT my favorite thing to do. In fact, it's one of my least. I'm fine with helping people and clearing driveways and being nice and all, but I have a terrible back. What happens when you shovel snow? You bend over and hunch your back down, over and over. I guess it doesn't help that both my thumb and writ are messed up as well. Oh well though. This was just the first shovel of the long winter ahead for me haha.

So here's to snow and the long winter ahead. If it snows and you need help, give me a ring anytime, because I sure do love shoveling snow.

12/15- Lesson Learned.

2010-12-16T02:11:00.000-07:00

Where would women be without us telling them what to do? Or where would they be without us telling them how to fix and assemble things?

To us men, reading instructions is, well, worthless. While to women it’s like a treasure hunt. They love going from place to place, wasting half a day, just to find the best deals obtainable. At which point they then feel so good about themselves through their fanatical efforts to one simple task.

On TV shows and movies we frequently see examples of men trying to things without reading instructions or following directions. I'm reminded of the classic show ‘Home Improvement’. Tim is always in a disarray that leads to great misfortune because of it having to be done his way.

Is there a certain stigmatism towards men about having to do things our way? Maybe so. At the same time that is also present with the female gender, just from a different view. Their problem is they can read the directions all they want, and still half the time they aren’t able to accomplish the task at hand. That could be because the problem isn’t even included in their instructions that they gratify themselves on using. Or better yet, that the task is already completed, but they have no idea and persist in their efforts to mend that which isn’t broken.

Whatever the case, I will stick to my way of accomplishing a task. I will be the first to say I am not too bright, and that there is the rare occasion I will read instructions. As for today, my stubbornness of being a manly man directed me in the building of a crib.

Service for the day: With my little sister at my side, I was able to teach her, as a woman, a valuable lesson. With one glance at the final look of the product on the box, I emptied all the bags and pieces on the floor and went to work. After a brief 20 minutes of jamming out to her rap music, we had assembled a baby’s play crib for our niece. No time wasted on reading instructions. No arguing in the process of building it. Just the building of a final product. The bonding of a brother and sister. The unification of man and woman.

12/14- Procrastination.

2010-12-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

Last year on January 5th, I bought 9 credits worth of classes from BYU. I have been taking classes through their Independent Study program for the past year. Yet I made a mistake. A big one.

I was still taking three other classes from them, and I should have waited to even buy the next set until I finished the first set. I scornfully thought to myself, "I will get them all done, and get them done fast and just chill the rest of my time."

Hmm...Have we all heard that one before? I eventually finished the first set of classes, right at the deadline of August. I got them in just in time, barely.

Ironically, I find it December 14th. Did I forget to mention I have not but barely just started the next set of classes? It seems as though the past 11 months of time have disappeared into the night. I'm now down to my final 3 weeks. It also turns out BYU will close it's Independent Study website from the 22nd-1st of January.

I think this means I now have the next full week to get these three classes finalized. I will then be back at BYU on the 3rd, and will have 2 days to take the midterms and then the finals for the classes.

So this brings me to my final question.....anyone bored and want to help?! Hahaha.

12/13- Home Sweet Home.

2010-12-13T22:03:00.001-07:00

Hello Virginia. So we got up early this morning and flew out of Salt Lake City. We had a layover in Denver. Then eventually we landed in DC around 4 in the afternoon and drove back to my house. It is good to be back home!

After dinner Kameron and I started playing this xbox kinect. It is actually pretty kool. It's like the Wii, but with no controller and for the xbox. We played some sports games and then we put in this dance game. Basically it is like DDR except on the xbox and no pad, you just dance on the floor.

Kourtney, Kameron, and I played this for a couple hours hahaha. We had a ton of fun. Yet, as you can see from this short video, I need a lot of practice. My dance moves are non-existent. Completely. Haha, but it was still a blast goofing around with the family.

Service for the day: Seeing my family that I haven't seen in forever?! I dunno if that counts haha. I should have done something in the airport or somewhere while traveling today. Hmm...

12/12- Last Day in Utah.

2010-12-13T01:58:00.000-07:00

Well, today was my last day in Utah for the rest of the year. Haha, crazy.

Service for the day: I had my appointment for tithing settlement at 2:15 today. He was backed up and it was my turn to finally go in around 2:40. Two girls who were after me needed to go then or reschedule because they had something to go to, so I just told them to go in front of me. So they were able to get it done and then eventually I was able to finally go.

Not too much else happened today. It was just another normal Sunday. Church. Football. Nap. Dinner at Grandmas. Home.

Now I'm packing for Virginia. I am way excited to go home early tomorrow morning. I leave for the airport actually in just a few hours haha. I can't wait to see how this Christmas turns out. Last Christmas break was alright. Had some fun. Had my girlfriend at the time come down. But I've got a great feeling about this Christmas. It's gonna beat all others easily. I just know...The people coming down and the time we will have will be the best. Ever.

So here's to this upcoming Christmas break which starts tomorrow for me.

12/10- 12/11- Weekend of Fun.

2010-12-12T03:29:00.000-07:00

Wow what a great weekend full of tons of fun and tons of laughs!

Service for the days: Went wedding dress shopping yet again with Kourtney. Haha, it turned out to be fun and we found some awesome dresses. Also gave a few of my friends some rides to different spots. Lastly, carpooled a couple friends down to and from a party this evening.

Friday was an interesting day. One of my greatest weaknesses is my pride. I joke around a lot about it but deep down inside I have a lot to fix with it haha. I am a very, very competative person. I HATE to lose.

It doesn't matter what I play or what I'm doing, I play to win. Whether it be a board game, cards, a race, jeopardy, whatever! Haha. I have to win. I have to dominate. Doesn't matter if I'm playing my buddy, my mom, a girl, first date, or whomever. I will still play to win haha.

Point is...Shanie and I played foosball at my house on Friday. She was talking mad game and the night before I had dominated Caleb in it, so I took up her challenge. We even put a pretty hefty bet down on the first to win two games. Needless to say, I lost. I lost bad. I kept playing after, and I kept losing. If I lose, I'll admit it. I don't have a problem admitting losing. But I will not lose again haha. I'll get back on track.

How do you guys take losing? Maybe it's just me, but WHY was I so pissed after losing? Literally, I was not happy at all! I didn't even want to talk to her. All over a game of foosball haha. Oh well, congrats to her, can't win them all. We did bowl later and I rocked the house, was two pins away from a new personal best too!

Saturday- Kyle/Leah, Jake/Kourtney, and I went up to SLC for the day to do one last time of wedding dress shopping. It was fun and Kyle and I ended up buying clothes ourselves of course.

Tonight we had a big Christmas party at Calvin's place. It was lots of fun. Lots of laughing. Lots of making fun of each other. Lots of food. Lots of rude jokes. Haha, the list goes on. I drove Ashley and Curtis down to the party. It was a white elephant party and my gift that I gave and received was...pretty ridiculous haha.

After the party we went over to an apartment complex at BYU and thanks to Ashley we decided to do this awesome trick. Here's what we did. We put some M&M's on the ground leading from a guys apartment to a random girls apartment. We knocked on his door and ran and hid up on the balcony at a friends' place. Then we watched these two goober guys follow the M&M's to the girls apartment. Then the awkward stuff happened as they asked who did it and the girls had no idea yet the guys still thought it was them and so on haha...One day I think someone is gonna get married from our fun, one day...

12/9- Tough Decisions.

2010-12-10T10:06:00.003-07:00

So apparently wedding dress shopping is a big deal and a hard decision to make. Also, they are ridiculously expensive! Holy crap I had no idea.

Who wants to spend a grand on a stupid dress that you wear once in your life?! I don't care how special the day is, a grand or more?

I understand how important it is and what not. But come on, you're already getting an expensive ring that you wear everyday for the rest of your life. So at least you get good use out of it. But a dress that you will wear for a couple of hours?! No way.

Service for the days: Going wedding dress shopping. How much more service can you get than that?! Going from store to store watching her get dressed up in different dresses over and over. It was never ending. But I didn't mind too much haha. I wanted to be there to help her out in preparation for her BIG day!

In case you couldn't figure out, I am not the one getting married. I was just kidding. But my little sister is! Here is the dress I liked the most. She is SO beautiful!!
One of the ladies kept saying how amazing of a brother I am to take off the day to go wedding dress shopping with her. Yup, I am pretty much amazing. But I already knew that, hahaha.

Anyways, after watching my brother Kyle and Leah get married during the worst weeks of my life; and now going through the process of watching my little sister prepare for marriage in March; I have to admit something. Deep down inside no matter how much I try to hide it right now, I want to be the one getting married.

I know I'm only 23, but I can't help but feel the desire to have my eternal partner by my side every singe day. I want that happiness. Not the fake happiness I feel like I put on playing all the 'single' life games with girls and so on.

Apparently I am not ready though. At least God doesn't feel that way. Let's be serious, He knows everything about me so if He says I'm not ready, then I am NOT ready. But come on then, get me ready!! Haha. Help a brotha out here...

12/8- Marry You.

2010-12-08T09:53:00.002-07:00

Did I forget to mention how in the past 3 months of my life I have found my future wife?

Oh, and that we are getting married?

Yeah crazy news. I didn't want to say much so it's been on the DL.

But I went wedding dress shopping with her.

The big day is already coming up in March.

I couldn't be happier.

12/7- Doctors.

2010-12-08T01:52:00.003-07:00

So I got all of my doctor visits out of the way this morning. Luckily no shots or any crap like that. But I got 3 hours of sleep last night and was up early for my 8 AM appointment down in Provo. Someone needs to figure out what the heck is wrong with my thumbs haha because it is getting quite annoying.

Service: This is kinda funny. After the doctors appointments I dropped by my security office to talk for a bit. While there Frank showed up and we decided to go to lunch. I still owed him half a lunch, yet he still owes me my $2000! Anyway, we went to Happy Sumo and I was going to buy him lunch and I was also going to bring lunch back to the office for Joanna, one of the office girls. Lunch ends, grab the check, give her my card. I totally spaced that not even ONE hour ago they closed my debit card due to an international charge that I was disputing. Hahaha. The waitress came back and said it was declined. Of course Frank gave me crap for it. Oops, I really did forget. It would have been fine but my credit card was in my car, which was back at the office since Frank drove to lunch. So...my service turned into a free lunch! If nothing else I let Rick borrow my car to run more errands.

Speaking of the power of Facebook in my last post, I found this crazy statistic but I can't remember where it was and I can't find the article. The point was that it mentioned how Facebook is now responsible for the main evidence in court in something like 65% of all divorces. It went on to mention how spouses are reconnecting with old friends and chatting through Facebook, and one things lead to another and then boom.
Infidelity.

Divorce.

The adversary is so cunning at taking something that can be used for so much good...and once again trying to turn it into a way to further his evil ploys.

On a final note, I revamped my whole blog template. Let me know what you think.

12/6- Inbox.

2010-12-06T23:35:00.002-07:00

Service for the day: The other day I received a letter in my inbox on Facebook from a girl I had taught in Council Bluffs while on my mission. It was a pretty lengthy letter, and it mainly just talked on views she had on the word of wisdom and other similar ideas. It was interesting to view her thoughts and I couldn't help but see the similarity between her thoughts and what we as members of the church believe in. I responded and was able to give more insight on our thoughts and views from not just my own personal opinion, but the church's as well. I love missionary opportunities.
Well, this is my last week here in Provo before I head back to the East Coast for my Christmas break. I have so much I still need to do here so it's going to be a busy week. Also going to be a busy week of work as I am trying to get as much in as possible before I head out.

12/5- Church...or lack thereof.

2010-12-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

Service for the day: Today was a VERY weak day of service for me. All I really did was the dishes at my brothers place after they made us dinner. I'm not sure I can even count that. It didn't seem like much and my mind was not focused on serving others today. Definitely need a rebuke and improvement.

It probably didn't help that my church attendance today was NOT good. SO first of all, I slept in through my wards sacrament meeting. So I got up and dressed real quick and we went down to another wards sacrament that follows my ward. We peeked inside and the room was filled up completely. Which was really weird considering my ward barely has like, 50 people! Haha.

Church was then spent...on the hallway couch. That is never a good combination for me. I already have hard times sitting in one place and focusing and listening. Put me in the hallway on a couch and people walking by all the time, and I am not paying attention to the speakers whatsoever.

Have you ever found yourself doing the hallway sacrament meeting? I don't get nearly as much out there. I even remember one time I sat in the hallway couch for Priesthood Session one year of general conference. Same story. I think I played on my phone the entire time and did not get much out of the session.

Good news though was eating dinner at Kyle and Leah's haha. She made spaghetti and meatballs. I always joke about how bad her cooking is. Yet is it a joke when it's the truth? Hahaha....ok totally kidding on that. Leah is a great cook. Although I will say I did not like the way she cooked the asparagus tonight, but just my opinion haha.

12/3- 12/4- Weekend Lights.

2010-12-04T00:04:00.000-07:00

Service for the days-- Letting rick use my car. Also drove my buddy mike up to SLC to the airport. On top of that, I helped push two people's cars out of the snow in my all white Nike's and my brand new pair of jeans on. Awesome.

Weekend was good. Throughout my life I believe I have probably owned 5 or less pairs of jeans total. Right now, I currently own two pairs. One I don't wear too much, I feel the legs on them are just too skinny. The other pair was the pair I would always wear. Only one slight problem- I wore them the week in Mexico, and they are now stained with grease and tar and other crap.

So I have basically no jeans. I figured I would treat myself and go up to Gateway and buy myself a pair of jeans. Not only have a rarely owned many jeans, I also don't see how people can spend so much money on them. $100 or more, seriously? I go for $35 or less haha.

Yet i caved, and thought I would splurge, well, splurge according to my own thoughts. I bought a pair of jeans from Buckle and a pair from Express. They were both around $65-70, which was super expensive to me. So these better last. Forever.

Shanie bought me a pair of jeans also out of nowhere! Thanks! Somehow it worked out perfect too. I bought a dark pair and a light pair of jeans. The jeans she got me were the color right in between the two I bought. So I now own more jeans than I have ever before in my entire life. Also this is the most I have ever spent on jeans, probably in my life combined haha.

Now comes the part where I have to make use of all three. I'm used to just wearing one pair, so I'm going to have to figure out this matching crap and switching between different pairs. Maybe someone can explain to me how you can have 5 or more pairs of jeans in your wardrobe? What is the point and how do you make use of them all?
Anyways, also went up to SLC on Saturday night to visit Temple Square. We hit up the lights and saw the sights around the city. I have never been to the Temple lights that occur during the Christmas Season. It was really pretty and fun to check out.

12/1-12/2-- Hello December.

2010-12-03T09:09:00.002-07:00

Another new month? Love it.

December is my FAVORITE month of the year! Christmas time is the best. No matter what I'm going through in my life, whether good or bad, Christmas time makes me forget it all. The season to be jolly!

This month is going to be epic. It already has been just after two days haha. Speaking of the past couple of days, I need to get back into my daily routine of writing so I don't get behind. I'm still trying to get back in the swing of it after my trip to Mexico.

Service for the days: Let Rick use my car to run errands and pick up his son RJ. His car is still in the shop so I let him use my car for the afternoon to get some errands done. He tried to give me a $20 but I wouldn't let him. I told him to just buy me some candy someday haha. Also played some Wii and some Street Fighter arcade with RJ to keep him company when he was over here. Not sure if that can count as service because I really enjoyed it. Not that you can't enjoy service, but RJ is a kool little kid and I enjoy playing games with him. Also let my buddy Curtis use my hard drive to give him a bunch of shows and movies that he wanted.

Wednesday night the Lakers played at my Rockets. The guys I live with and a lot of them around here are huge Lakers fans. Obviously the Rockets are my favorite team ever. But they are not having a good year so far. I told Frank the Rockets were going to win outright though. He said we should bet on it. He gave me 20-1 odds, and said a minimum of $100. So of course I jumped all over it, simply because those odds are ridiculous and I couldn't pass up the chance, the slim chance that the Rockets might win. I was driving my way up to Ogden that night during the second half of the game. The Rockets pulled a sick comeback and...WON. bahahaha. I was soooo excited. If the Rockets lost, I owed Frank $100. But if the Rockets own, he owed me $2000.

Let's just say Wednesday was awesome. I had fun and spent the night up in Ogden. And my bank account got a bit larger. That is once Frank pays me....haha.

As for yesterday (Thursday), I didn't get back to Provo until around noon. I missed my hand therapy appointment and had to reschedule.

Looked for houses to move into for next semester with Curtis. Worked. Didn't have too much success tonight...lame. Watched more football and basketball. My Texans lost. Looks like no playoffs for them...again.

Frank and I played some NBA Jam after to finish off the night. We always get way into our NBA Jam games and they usually consist of a lot of trash talk and nice language being exchanged haha. I think we each won 2. They were all pretty close games. Good times...

ps--My mom keeps hassling me about what I want for Christmas. I don't want or need anything. I always have a hard time coming up with a list, because anything I ever want I jut buy myself. Anyone have any ideas? I don't know what to ask for at all...

11/30- NBA JAM.

2010-12-01T09:44:00.004-07:00

Service for the day: Moving 2 arcade games from our office to house. Along with giving Frank a ride to pick up his car at the dealership.

Do any of y'all remember the classic arcade game NBA JAM?

That was one of my favorite games as a kid. Classic alley-oops, jams, blocks, long threes, etc.

That arcade game has been in my security office for quite some time. Today, Frank, Rick, and I took on the task of moving that along with Street Fighter over into our house.

Who would have thought it would have taken us from Noon-6 pm to complete the job?! Street Fighter was easy. But from 1-6 we spent trying to force NBA JAM into our home.

Took down so many doors, unscrewed hinges, took out windows, broke cement, puzzle-pieced our way through tiny openings, and eventually took a hack-saw to cut off a couple inches of hangover. Nonetheless, the game is finally in our home! I know it doesn't have much of a comparison, but as we struggled to get the game into our home i was reminded of trials in our own lives.

Do we sometimes try to accomplish something only to hit a roadblock and give up? Or three roadblocks and give up? Or do we fight and fight, continually coming up with new ideas, until that job is accomplished?

So here's to accomplishing this job...and to many games and bets to come with the classic NBA JAM arcade game!

11/19-11/27- Thanksgiving in Tijuana.

2010-11-29T08:14:00.020-07:00

I believe the easiest way to do this is going to be to give just a short recap on each day of the trip. I am finally back from Tijuana, Mexico. I went down there with the Allred family to help build a home for an LDS family for Builders Without Borders. There was probably around 50 or so of us in total. We split up into 3 groups, and built 3 separate homes. My group was awesome and we had a blast. This was easily the BEST Thanksgiving week of my entire life. I wish I could repeat it right now and I already can't wait till next Thanksgiving because I want to do it again. Everyone needs to experience this opportunity, it can be life changing.

Friday November 19

* Began the drive with the Allred family from Provo down to Las Vegas to spend the night.
* Had tons of fun in the car. Watched Lord of the Rings as well haha.
* Vegas.
* Watched Nico Vega and our buddy Dan with Imagine Dragons perform at 2 in the morning at the Beauty Bar. Great concert.
* Got back and to sleep round 4 only to wake up at 6 to begin driving again.

Saturday November 20

* More Lord of the Rings marathon watching.
* Sat in the car watching Curtis' dad drive to 5 different gas stations in one corner because he couldn't pick his mind on which one to use.
* Finally crossed the border into Tijuana.
* A lot of being lost and yelling at each other on where to go
* Stayed at an LDS church and set up sleeping bags in our room for the week
* Ate shrimp tacos met some new friends
* Came up with some random card game and made bets with Curtis and his brothers. In short, I lost once and I had to go around the cultural hall where I knew no one and play the guitar and sing to them. Craig had to dance around everyone while yelling, "I'm a little girl". Cameron had to ask out a couple girls. Kyle lost his dinner to me haha. I think Curtis ended up getting off scotch free lucky him. But he didn't play much anyway he was mainly reading while we were playing.

Sunday November 21

* Attended all 3 sacrament meetings that meet in the Tijuana Stake.
* Sang up on the stand in the meetings. We sang "I Love to See the Temple" in Spanish for the wards.
* Loooooong day with all that church.
* Helped out at night in the nursery. Played with all the primary kids.
* Played yahtzee with Curtis tonight. Funny side note-- we we're almost done and his dad was getting mad because he wanted to sleep. So we finished our game and we're going to bed. I won, and Curtis was mad so he said before bed he was going to roll one more time and get a yahtzee. Sure enough, he rolled a yahtzee!! So we both jumped up and started yelling and screaming yahtzee!! At which point, his dad jumped up and yelled at us and shut off the lights and told us to get in bed....bahahaha, awesome.

Monday November 22

* Got up around 5:45. First day on the job site!
* The home we're helping fix and build to put it blunt was a dump. It was for a single mom who works all day with her two sons, one of whom she already sent on a mission. They have a little outhouse as their bathroom. Never had a shower. No fridge. No kitchen. No couch. Two mattresses on the floor as beds. Leaking walls and roof. Cockroaches everywhere. I think you get the picture...
* We tore down a few walls to start. An enormous amount of cockroaches fell out from the walls holy crap it was gross.
* ROOF CREW! Worked a lot of the roof with the Roof Crew. It was mainly Curtis, Luis, Shane, Robyn, Trina, and I working together on the roofs. We had SO much fun!
* We tore apart the original roof. We replaced the plywood and laid tar paper and got some shingles in. We sang and danced the entire time. Also took a break to do some yoga moves on the roof which probably wasn't too safe, but fun nonetheless.
* Finished work and got back around 6. Ate some awesome authentic food from the sisters in the local wards.
* Played Skipbo with Robyn and Trina to finish off the night.

Tuesday November 23

* Back at the job site bright and early.
* Had an awesome breakfast with this sweet Magleby's syrup that someone made.
* Got some small jobs done, then hit up the roof again.
* Worked on my tan as I had my shirt off on the roof while working up there.
* Kept having to fix the roof as we messed up every now and then haha. Took out a window. Worked with the saw.
* Came back to the church eventually. More authentic food.
* Played with all the primary kids tonight! Curtis played the guitar, and I sang and danced around the room with instruments with all the little kids. SO much fun.
* We had to calm them down so I did story time with all the kids. I read them a bunch of different books in Spanish. I was a little too loud still and was getting excited after every page I turned haha. But the kids loved it. Except one little kid who was the devil child and kept yelling "aburrido" and throwing stuffed animals at my face as I was reading!! Hahaha. Aburrido means boring by the way.
* Curtis and I got massages from Robyn and Trina to finish the night off!

Wednesday November 24

* Up early again. Got no sleep the night before. Kyle rolled on top of me every hour during the night haha.
* A lot more work done at the house again.
* Went down to the local corner store and met the awesome owner of it. Got some drinks. Used the restroom. He was very kind to us. When we first got there there was a sign on the door that said, "Abierto"...i thought that meant "closed", so i yelled out, "Abierto, por queeeeee!!!!" But then he walked up and opened the door, abierto means open haha. I looked pretty stupid but it was so funny.
* Did a lot of insulation today. That was rough. Had to reach all these corners and do the roof with that crap falling down right back on me. Maybe I should have used a mask, oh well.
* More authentic food and night massages from Robyn and Trina.

Thursday November 25

* No sleep again. This time Cameron moved to sleep next to me. Of course the same thing ends up happening as I wake up to him literally kicking me with his feet and pushing me on top of Curtis haha. Ridiculous.
* Another long day of work. This time we did a lot of work with sheet rock. A lot of measuring, cutting, and nailing. Oh and a lot of messing up and redoing the wall haha.
* Finished up the insulation also today. We made a lot of progress and almost finished up their new place.
* Oh did I even mention today was Thanksgiving? That's because I had forgotten and didn't even remember. I'm glad it was that way. No football, no crazy amounts of food eating all day, no relaxing...just WORK. I loved every second of it!
* Of course awesome night massages again to finish the day!

Friday November 26

* One of the best days! We went from site to site for the 3 homes and dedicated each of the homes. Each of the families were there. It was one of the MOST touching experiences of my life. To hear the lady my group built the house for express her eternal gratitude for us and for God...amazing. I couldn't help but start crying. She kept asking the Lord to bless us so much. I felt so unworthy. I'm already blessed more than I deserve. She finally has a bathroom and a shower for once in her life and she's telling me to be blessed?! Wow. The humility and gratitude these people have is something I will NEVER forget.
* After each job site, we came back to ours to finish it up.
* Got all the little things done. Roof all done.
* Curtis, Trina, Robyn, and I all squeezed into the shower to grout it together haha. We had so much fun. I'm pretty sure Robyn started it, or maybe it was me haha, but eventually it turned into an all out war with cement. Haha. So we got pretty dirty and took a while to get cleaned up, but it was worth it.
* Built the beds for our family, and got the last of the furniture in.
* Got to say goodbye to our family and see how happy they were. Amazing.
* I didn't want to leave. I will never forget them nor my time spent here helping out.
* Came back and showered and got all cleaned and packed up.
* Began the drive back to Provo late into and through the night.
* Took us 2 plus hours in line to finally cross the border.

Saturday November 27

* I drove a portion of the trip and got us to Mesquite.
* Finished driving through the night and morning.
* My body is extremely SORE and TIRED.

I could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving. It was the BEST one of my entire life. Helping these people out and seeing their extreme humility and gratitude was life changing. I have SO much to be thankful for, and SO much I take for granted.

I hope I can do this again next Thanksgiving as well. It was so touching to me and I am so grateful for the opportunity to experience it this past week.

I realized the second day we were there that I had cell phone service from a tower in San Diego and could have texted/called/and checked all my sports scores. But what fun would that have been to be distracted while serving?

I didn't send out one text/call/or check one score. I had no idea what went on with my friends, the world, or my sports world for over a week. And I loved it! I didn't care one bit. None of that even mattered. The problems and issues at hand were of far greater importance than a football game or talking to a friend.
I hope everyone can one day experience the joy and happiness that can come into your life from an experience like this. You will not regret it...BEST THANKSGIVING WEEK EVER.

11/19- MEXICO!

2010-11-19T14:34:00.004-07:00

So I'm just writing really quick to inform any person who does view this blog that I will be out of town for the next week. I am heading down to Mexico in just a bit and I'll be gone through Nov. 27.

I am SO excited.

This could be the best Thanksgiving ever.

I am still growing my mustache, so I can fit in.

I'm going to Mexico to participate in Builders Without Borders to help build homes for people down there.

It's gonna be sick to learn more carpenting skills, or any at all considering I lack in them all haha.

I'll be writing my own journal while down there so hopefully when I get back I will be able to make a post to catch up on the past week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11/18- hooray.

2010-11-19T14:14:00.002-07:00

Didn't get much sleep last night. I went down to a hand specialist early this morning. Got my hands looked at haha. Nothing much came of it as usual with doctors and myself. I was referred over to a hand therapist to figure out what is going wrong with my thumbs and hands. Oh geez, another bunch of running around to different people accomplishing nothing now that my hand is still swollen and black and purple. Do doctors accomplish anything for you guys? Apparently I just seem to get nowhere with them.

As one example of numerous for me, I got a colonoscopy on my mission and was told nothing major was wrong. They prescribed me some medicine and told me I'd get better. Wow, thanks for wasting my time and money because I'm here today 3 years later with the same problems. Thanks doctors, you are so amazing.

Service: Caleb called me while at the doctors. After my appointment I went up to American Fork to help him replace his tire. A huge bolt slashed his tire and he needed a jack to help replace it.

Also tonight I went up to UVU to support my brother in a dance competition. There were a few sick crews, but overall I thought Kyle should have gotten 2nd place. There was these two guys who were pretty sick that won the competition overall. But the judges put this crappy couple ahead of them in 3rd which was lame.

As I sit here and watch 'The Office', I'll close with a quote I just heard--"In life some tasks are not worth doing."

11/17- power.

2010-11-18T14:27:00.004-07:00

BYU basketball is back! I'm so excited. I love going to the games and going crazy. It's always a fun time at the games whether we're doing good or bad. But at home we tend to always do really well. I always tend to be a bit surprised by the sports teams here at BYU. When most people think of BYU what first comes to mind?

Zoobies.
Marriage.
Babies.
Self righteous people.

When I watch sporting events, the fans of BYU and people that attend come out into the open. Maybe it's just because I'm not you're normal typical BYU student and I notice these things a lot more. I got to catch a few minutes of the game last night after work. I noticed in the warmups and introduction to the BYU team they had the song "Power" by Kayne West played in the background.

Heard it? If not, you should listen to it. I love it. But is that what BYU represents?

To me, the athletic department is held on a different level than us regular students. Take track and field for example. Their uniforms on the girls outdoor track team are...wow. I like them a lot haha. But would anyone on campus or in an intramural game here at BYU be allowed to wear that? No way.

At times I feel a double standard is held. I know you can't be perfect, and you can't have every rule possible to follow. Yet my complaint in all of this is why it seems the athletic department can get away with much more than the students themselves? We're just as much as part of the athletic program as they are. Without us to support, there is no revenue coming in. Basically my whole point is simple--let me have my facial hair and wear a tank top on campus and when I'm playing intramurals!

Work is work. Went 1-3 today. Finally got one haha. Only 4 more to go with one day of work left before I leave for Mexico, haha. Shoooooooot. No worries though. I ain't worried. Made some s'mores last night and hung out with friends. Had a most excellent night.

Service for the day: I went and did initiatories at the Provo Temple.

11/16- prick and stick.

2010-11-16T21:53:00.004-07:00

Getting up at 7:00 to go to the doctors is never good news. I didn't even get what I wanted by having to go. On top of that, they decided they wanted to take a whole load of blood work.

Oh in case you didn't know, I am terrified of needles. It sucked. They pricked and stuck me. It hurt. They took 3 different samples worth. I was not happy.

After that I then had the pleasure to go to a x-ray lab to get some x-rays for my hand. Nothing is broke of course, and i knew the x-ray wouldn't show anything. Yet they made me get it done anyways. I set up an appointment with a hand specialist so hopefully they can figure out what is wrong with my thumb/wrist. Here's a pic of it today and this is now two months after it happened.
Service: You know when you talk with someone and you are just really nice and it seems to cheer them up and make them feel good? That's how I felt today at the doctors when the nurse girl was sticking me. Although she was prolly servicing me because I was so scared so she was making me feel at ease haha. Nonetheless I put on a fake smile, pretended it didn't hurt, and chatted away. My other service was buying Kyle lunch today down at Sammy's.

Still trying to get my 5 installs this week with work. We'll see how it turns out. But as an update, well, nothing new to update haha. Could be in for a long week! But no worries, I'll keep grinding it out and I will get my goal guaranteed.

Tonight is my one and only night of the week as usual that I get to myself. So I've gotten to think and ponder some tonight. I need to get up early and go to the temple tomorrow. I'll finish with this awesome quote by Brigham Young I came across:

“All I have to do is keep my spirit, feelings and conscience like a sheet of blank paper, and let the Spirit and power of God write upon it what He pleases. When He writes, I will read; but if I read before He writes, I am very likely to be wrong."

11/15- what's the difference.

2010-11-15T23:54:00.003-07:00

so i decided on looking back at my blog that it's too hard to read at time. i have these long and drawn out paragraphs that prolly turn off my family in reading this. so i decided im gonna be much shorter and try to capture the attention much better.

service for the day: i ate kyle and leahs enchiladas. haha. no that wasnt my service. but after they left back to work i stayed and cleaned their sink and did their dishes. started a new load for them and then cleaned up their trash after.

this afternoon i was thinking about all the trips i have been planning lately. when i talk about them everyones response is always something like, "i wish i could live your life and just hang out and travel". in my head i then think, well, if you really wish that, then do it. what's holding you back?

finances. time. school. job. etc...

to me, that's all bs. those things arent holding you back. if you really wanna travel and go places then drop what you're doing and just do it. that's what ive done. we tend to psend our money on what we value. i havent bought a new car. havent wanted to pay for school. havent bought tons of clothes. etc. why? bc im spending my money on what i value, and at the moment that is traveling. so if you want to travel or go places? do just say it, if you mean it, then just do it.

sorry about the rant. the rest of the day went great. had a great day of work. im getting 5 installs this week, i already promised myself i would do it. so time to hold myself accountable.

went to a bachelor party tonight as well. excited for my buddy to get married on friday. came back home and played caleb real quick in sequence. dominated him as shown here in this pic i am the green haha. i got a double full line sequence!

11/13-11/14- dust in the wind.

2010-11-14T23:39:00.005-07:00

are we seriously halfway through the month already? this is getting a bit ridiculous. even though im keeping track of what im doing everyday and looking back on it i still feel like time is flying right by and the days just end up a big blur. what the lame. although i wouldnt have agreed with this a few months ago i wish time would slow down. geez. but then again maybe not because christmas is almost here so fly right by haha! this upcoming week is gonna be jam packed with a lot of work. i need to be doing a lot better at sales so i can actually have money in my bank account haha. been dipping into other funds so not good...

lets see though this past weekend was awesome. i did my daily service on saturday by driving a bunch of people around and picking them up to run errands and stuff. sometimes i think that my service is lame by doing that. but then i realize they dont have cars and need a ride to get groceries or something and so it actually does end up helping them out a lot. saturday i watched a lot of football. so of course it was awesome. saturday night my buddies and i got together for a little mission reunion thing. a group of us have been home for over 2 years now so we had a bbq and hung out and played some games. i brought my friend ashley over to hang out with my buddies. good times as always. although i was a little out of it. my thumb was on fire all day so i took a percaset and a few tylenol pm pills. so i was not as loud as usual and a little more low-key. maybe bc i was out of it haha but oh well. still fun times. came back. met up with my friend and we hung out at my place...

sundayyyyyyy. thats today. got up for church. body is always a bit sluggish getting up after taking some pills the night before. but frank and erin came with us to church this morning. came back watched a little bit of football. took a nap. saw my texans lose on a hail mary which was utterly ridiculous! stupid worthless team that always blows it at the end dang it! my service for today was another ride. airick needed to be picked up from work down in spanish fork. so after a short nap i went down and picked him up and brought him back to orem. i realized again today how much i enjoy giving service. some of my friends will call or text asking for help since they know im looking to do some service daily. and they may think its a bother to me but i thoroughly enjoy helping out anytime. im fine dropping whatever im doing to give a buddy a ride or help them with something. normally im not like that haha. normally id pretend i was still asleep and the text didnt wake me up from my nap haha. but i can look back on the past few months and see a pretty noticeable change in my attitude towards certain things. and im grateful for it. but im still not there yet! far from it....but im grateful im on my way at least. it's not a race thank goodness haha. not too much else went down today though. kinda one of those lazy sundays...i was looking through my brothers pictures and found this awesome pic of my dad and my two brothers and i. this was 5 years ago haha, wow crazy how time flies by.

11/12- FAMILY.

2010-11-13T00:13:00.003-07:00

i love my family. they are the greatest thing that has happened in my life. the greatest thing to me. having family there by your side. i woke up to a call at 6 this morning being told i was now an UNCLE!! holy cow. i didnt think it would mean anything bc its not even my kid. but i felt the weirdest feeling when i was told and couldnt go back to sleep. i felt just, amazed and excited. i felt so excited for this little girl that will come into this world and be raised in the gospel under such strong direction from kailynn and dallas. they are amazing people. they have the perfect balance between work and fun and gospel. it just amazes me bc i can only wish to one day be able to figure out how to balance it all. so as for now, ill just keep having my fun while trying to keep up on the gospel part! addison leilani cooper is her name, here is a pic!

the rest of my day was pretty family oriented as well. part of my service was helping kyle out this afternoon. he needed some pain pills so i had to bring part of my pharmacy over to him haha. i guess he totally jacked up his neck doing headspins last night so he needed some help getting through the day. hopefully his neck gets better cause thats kinda scary. after that my other service i took my buddy airick to work all the way down in spanish fork. his car is still mia haha so i took him down to work this afternoon.

this afternoon my friend shanie came down and we hung out some. played some sequence, i won of course lets be serious haha. played some mancala, won again haha. still wanna challenge her in golf which she thinks she will dominate at but kyle and i think we can take her down easy. tonight we had our playoff football game down at BYU. id rather not talk much about it bahaha. ashley and shanie came to watch in the frigid cold ha. i did ok but def not great. although i did have some ridiculous jukes. and i scored a sick TD where i juked across the field past these two kids and dove with my arms stretched out to the endzone! it was dope, i scored but one problem. when i landed, i landed right on top of the cone, right into my ribcage. it knocked the wind outta me and it still hurts haha. and my thumb is literally on fire. im going to see a specialist next week. anyway, we blew it and lost, so lame.

so today i was trying to go the entire day without swearing. i made it all the way till our football game! but then lost. when i landed on that cone i dropped a few words haha dang it! i was so mad at myself. and then i dropped more words later in the game. lame. and then tonight i accidentally swore in front of ashley and shanie and felt bad. i dunno what it is lately geez...anyway, after the game we hit up the end of the BYU home opener! im sooooo excited BYU bball is back!!!! gonna be sick!

so guess what other news i get tonight? yup more family stuff....KOURTNEY IS ENGAGED!!!!!!!!! holy crap. what is this world coming to?!?! im SO excited for her! so so so excited. shes getting married in march. holy crap i just cant believe it. shes already beat me haha. it's funny i look back to one year ago and where all three of us were. we all placed bets on who we thought would be getting married. i thought that eventually i would with karlie, and i thought that kyle and leah would. but i didnt really like josh so i didnt think him and kourtney would get married. luckily, kyle married leah and they are a match made in heaven. and kourtney and josh broke up which was good! and thankfully karlie and i ended which i finally now realize is one of the greatest blessings in my life that it didnt work out so thank you god. only one out of three worked out haha. but now kourtney is back on the saddle and getting married. good for her! shes getting married in march! wow, so soon it seems. but i cant wait already...

looks like well need to start placing bets to see if korinne can beat me to getting married bahaha. but thats ok. im fine. i still need to "become the one" before i "find the one". im a work in progress. and the lord expects great things from me, so i need to step up to the plate, and continue knocking it outta the park. and eventually she will literally be placed in my lap....oh yeah! hahaha....well it's about time for bed i think. im so exhausted from today. but im falling asleep in this awesome warm blanket that someone made and brought for me as a present today :) so comfy!

11/11- a sad sad day.

2010-11-11T23:30:00.002-07:00

today was rough. extremely rough. i had to do the unbearable. the unbearable happened to me. i was frustrated. hurt. cut deep. torn. i guess i dont now what other words to use to describe what happened to me today. point is.....

i had to shave my scraggly 3 week beard.

bahaha. i was so bummed! and felt all those other words above. i have a BYU football game tomorrow so i needed to shave it off tonight. how lame. but heres the awesome part, i kept the nasty stache! yup thats right. gonna keep the mustache going haha. you can have a mustache to play so im gonna keep it i figured why not haha. i wish i had take na pic but i didnt dang it!

since i dint get to bed till around 430 last night, i slept in today. a lot. haha. till around 11! i went to the gym and worked out with caleb. then went over to physical therapy. then worked. then watched some football and basketball. cracked my computer. found my passport. and now falling asleep while watching the royal tennanbaums. haha. i wanted the night to myself! it's been a while and i felt like just relaxing and not going out and hanging out with myself for the night. my service for the day: getting this movie (the royal tennanbaums) for ashley today. haha. shes been wanting to watch this movie, so i thought id get it for her! and now im watching it as well haha.

and speaking of service i got the best news ever today........it's official:

im going to MEXICO!!!! gonna help build a home for the entire week of thanksgiving! oh man, i cant wait. im so excited about it. ive been praying real hard the past day to make sure that theyd find that spot for me and yup! my buddy curtis called me today to say its all good to go. so im gonna pay $250, and drive down to mexico with the Allred family. and spend time with them bonding and helping build a home! we leve in a week. we'll be gone from November 19- November 27! wow. gonna be so much fun. forget thanksgiving here. even though i LOVE stuffing my face with turkey/ham/and all that awesome stuff...it'll be good to be down in mexico improving my carpenter skills. oh man speaking of all that food is making me crave a thanksgiving meal. well im gonna finish the movie and pass out bc i got a looooooong and busy day tomorrow.

11/10- i can only imagine.

2010-11-11T11:31:00.002-07:00

sorry i didnt post last night i didnt get home until around 2 or 3 in the morning. i cant even remember. i do remember i went to bed at 4:30 in the morning. its now 11 in the mornings. haha, got some good sleep last night i guess. anyways let me write about my day yesterday.

yesterday morning was awesome. i got up to go my my missionary companions wedding. i was invited to be in the sealing room at the draper temple to watch it. it was...amazing. i love weddings. going there, made me really excited for the day that i get married. their story is just unbelievable too. its one of those stories you just know it was made to be. dated before he left on his mission, and she waited, came back, still in love, and now married. so the sealing was so uplifting and spiritual. there were some things that stuck out a lot to me while listening to him. one of them was the fact that he was talking about the importance of communication. he said a prophet once told him that if they were ever to get into an argument, that they needed to grab two chairs, put them facing each other in the living room, and talk it out until they resolved the issue. i liked that idea, pretty crazy and a great way to work things out so you dont ever go to bed arguing. also he mentioned how spencer w kimball was talking about divorce and how it started with the letter S, as is "selfishness". interesting. ive got to work on that before i get married haha, im way too selfish. a great wedding though. i saw my mission president and his wife in the sealing room. i love them so much. they mean the world to me. they are two of some of the most important people in my life. i appreciate all they have done and continue to do for me. it's very uplifting and means a lot to me.

i got some work in tonight. then i drove caleb up to layton and i went to the wedding reception up there while he visited his sister. i guess you could say that was my service for the day giving him a ride up there and back. i saw some mission buddies at the reception, it was great. afterwards i went on a date up in syracuse, we lined up a double so caleb could come with us. it was pretty fun. we went down to walmart, got some chocolate and fruit. came back to her place and made some dip for the fruit. it was good except i had way too much chocolate, candy, and fruit haha. but it was a fun time. afterwards just watched a couple movies and hung out there until about 2 in the morning or so. and that's when i drove us back down to orem.

fun fact for the day: when i was in the sealing room in the draper temple, the sealer told us that room was the biggest sealing room in any temple in the entire world.

11/9- never say never.

2010-11-10T08:26:00.011-07:00

this afternoon i went down to BYU to eat some lunch with some buddies. while eating i was talking to my buddy curtis. i was telling him how i decided i was gonna go to spain and europe for ten days in the middle of january. i am so excited for the trip i cant wait. i love to travel and i think it will be so much fun. just get me out of this place and im fine. he mentioned that he was gonna go to mexico with his family for the week of thanksgiving to help build homes for families down there. i got really excited and told him that would be so awesome to do. he mentioned that one person backed out and that there might be an extra spot available if i was willing to pay $250. i jumped all over the offer. he is going to get back to me today to let me know if i can still go with them. oh man, i prayed really hard to let there still be that spot available. i want to go down to mexico soooo bad to help build homes. i think it would seriously be one of the best thanksgivings ever. so please.....please let there still be a spot available for me! oh and also while hanging out at byu. they were ragging on my nasty mustache and patchy beard hahah. this girl was there and she looked at it and said that she's seen worse. i wasnt sure how to take that, but ill take it as a compliment! hahaha. i dont care, this thing is nasty i know it, but its so fun growing it out.

today i had a good day of work, or at least a good day of sales. now the trick is getting them to go in. please....i need the money. haha. after i went over to a friends' house to go watch the new episode of glee. wow, what a ridiculous episode it was tonight! holy crap so many things about the episode pissed me off. especially all the attention the gay guy is getting on the show. im sick and tired of all this gay talk and attention that is being put on it. it's annoying. im not prejudice or anything against them, let them believe what they want. but the fact that they are going to such lengths on every show and all of the media to talk about it and make it acceptable is getting old. whatever.

my service for the day came in tonight. i took my friend ashley to the store since she doesnt have a car. she needed to buy some gloves and a jacket since the lame weather is getting colder. i even saw some snow flakes earlier today. how lame. anyways we had some fun. we got to swap our normal stories. and boy did i have a crazy story to explain line by line to her. life can be ridiculous sometimes. i think, well i dont think, i know my biggest flaw is my pride. and my pride is getting to me again. very much lately. i hate how i feel like i have to prove people wrong when they are wrong. it's like i hate seeing someone do something so terrible and no one knows and to everyone else they look like a star. maybe i should be lawyer or something. im good at nit-picking little situations and proving how someone is totally in the wrong. but thats not a good quality. and something i need to change. fast. and soon. or i have a feeling sometime here in the next week im gonna regret it. a lot. haha. anyway, that was about it for the night. oh i used skype for the first time tonight! i thought it was fun. technology nowadays is awesome. i wish i had used skype earlier to help out certain communication situations. but it was fun using it and being able to see someone live on camera instead of in person. crazy. heres a few random pics from the store with ashley haha...

lastly, i have a good mission buddy of mine named mike dunn. ive spoken of him in earlier blog posts before too. he is such a stud. he was one of the best example to me while i was on my mission. he knows how to work hard and have fun and find success in anything that he does. i love that guy and appreciate all he has taught me and continues to teach me in life. anyway today he was telling me he was proud of me. proud of what im doing with my life. and told me to keep it up bc im such an example to him. hearing that meant a lot to me. it made me take a step back and think how people are always watching us. i thought i was the one watching him and striving to become better like him, but i guess he is doing the same thing with me. it helps put a sense of accountability on myself on striving to become better. i have been feeling a bit down the past week because i have felt i havent been doing a good job at being an example and not been as righteous as i know i can be. but i know im not gonna be perfect, and every day is about improving upon the last. anyway, my point is simple. dont get discouraged when striving to become better. it's a life long process. hearing that from someone that i look up to, made my day, made my week. it touched me. and it inspired me to continue to become better so i dont let him or anyone else down. but most important, so i dont let the lord down.

11/8- losing my way.

2010-11-09T01:17:00.004-07:00

today i felt lazy. sue me. weird day. i got up late (9:30). didnt know what to do. stayed in bed till 11:00. sorry world for not getting up and about. anytime i do that i feel bad. i feel like i wasted some of the precious time that god has blessed me with. i need to make the most of my time in each and every day. sometimes i take it for granted. but maybe i make up for it bc im out and about till late in the morning? haha i dunno. just prolly me trying to justify things haha.

my service for the day consisted of taking a buddy of mine down to spanish for for his work. i guess his car is out of order right now so i drove down to spanish to take him to work. then i lent my car to another roommate of mine to run some errands bc his car was out too. got some work in. only got a little bit in. i had a weird night. i have not been doing good on my goal to improve my language. tonight, only ADDED to it! i feel very sad and embarressed to say that tonight, i dropped an enormous amount of f bombs. more than ive prolly said in my life, combined...they just kept coming out. nonstop. flowing out of my mouth. and now i look back on tonight and just feel dirty. i dont know how else to explain it. just stupid of me to even say them. im not gonna explain why i was saying them, haha, it dont matter. but they came out in bunches. continually. all night. thank goodness in now getting into bed and its 1:30 and i will stop saying them. i need tomorrow to come for a new day haha! just weak. just weak weak weak weak weak weak weak.

all im gonna say is how used i feel right now. i just feel worthless. i feel bad. i feel like my standing up for someone was for nothing. i wasted my time. my energy. my positive thoughts. my apologies. but it dont matter. who cares? no one. so neither should i. and so it was great. in a weird sense. tonight was awesome! just one of those moments you realize--wow. thank you god for all the events that have happened in my life. for putting me where i am today. and now for rebuking me and telling to get my stupid butt in gear to become "the one". "the one" for one of his special daughters that he has prepared and waiting for me. waiting for me to fix all the problems i have in my life. to become a better person. well, afer tonight ive got a lot more repenting and things to fix dang it!

after work caleb and airick came over. here's a picture of him and i and one of our converts we were blessed to baptize. i wanted to do FHE with them so i had them come over to my house late tonight. we played some games. some pizza box football! wow brought back some great memories. such an awesome board game haha. we had a blast. drank some hot chocolate while football was on the tv in the background. anyways i won once and lost once dang it. after playing i wanted to have a spiritual thought to make it an official FHE. plus i felt like i needed to do something after the enormous amount of f bombs and other words that came out of my nasty mouth tonight. i shared a scripture from what i read in personal study. and then they both proceeded to share their own scriptures from what they learned as well. it was great to hear their ideas and perspectives on the scriptures and applying it to their lives and mine as well. a short message, but it was uplifting. what would i do without the other great examples i have in my life? i dont even know...thank you god. you bless me more than i deserve. FAR more than i ever deserve. but i'll keep trying to become better. i'll keep trying...

11/5-11/7- the vegas.

2010-11-07T23:02:00.006-07:00

so yes i found myself once again in...the vegas. for the third time in the past month haha. kyle had a breakdance competition down there so i decided to come down with them and watch and have fun. we drove down there late friday night. we didnt get in to vegas till around midnight i think. got a room comp'd for us down at the planet hollywood. i havent ever stayed there before so it was sweet. they messed up our first room reservation and thus i had to sleep on the floor with just a pillow for the first night haha. but oh well i didnt mind i wasnt sleeping much anyway.

saturday was a pretty busy day. i went down to the sportsbook early and got to watch some football and make some plays. it was fun watching. i love the concept of how they have so many tvs up with all the games on. i was amazed at how many people there were down there. and that was only one small part of the people watching. plus theres so many bars and other hotels where there are even more people sitting and watching the games. i got to think for a bit while i sat there and watched some of the games. i can have fun coming to vegas every once in a while and maybe putting a few dollars down on some games. but these people come in here everyday religiously and are making plays. with some of the thoughts ive had lately i was wondering if deep down inside they were really "happy" with their lives. i dunno it was just some random thoughts that was going through my head while looking around at everyone there. sometimes there is more to life than just sports. but dont get me wrong, im still obsessed and love sports. but as i sat there for a bit i couldnt help but feel for some of these people. i felt like there was something missing in their lives.

later saturday we went over to kyles competition. my service for the day was being the camera man for them. so i had to squeeze up to the front when they performed to take some up close pics. i havent seen the pics yet but hopefully some of them turned out ok. its hard bc they are moving so fast so they might all be blurry. but hopefully some ok ones will show up. they did great. the competition had 64 teams. they made it to the final 16! and i still think they should have made it to the final 8, but lost by a vote. but it was fun to watch them. there was this little kid who was seriously the craziest thing ive seen. im guessing he was 7 or so? and just did the most amazing tricks and was seriously one of the best people there haha. some little kid! anyways, he was so good they had him come out after the battle and perform by himself. and they gave him $200! haha. i should have taken pics of him he was my favorite.

sunday not much happened. we slept in. checked out. and began our drive back to utah. overall the trip was awesome i thought. we had SO much fun and made TONS of jokes and memories that will last. it was good to get out of utah. but also good to now be back in utah. i could never live in vegas. im just not the biggest fan of vegas even though ive been there 3 times in the past month haha. but thats just bc friends have been going and i enjoy the company. vegas to me is just too dirty and too much nonsense going on that id rather stay away from. so in the past year, ive gone gambling at a casino a total of 3 times. if i want, i can not gamble. im not addicted to the point where i have to go to a casino or where i have to gamble if im in one. theres been a number of times where ive gone to a casino with friends but havent gambled anything. but the 3 times ive gambled in the past full year have all been within the past 2 months. and now im ready to take another long long year or more break from it. i dont gamble for the money. im more of a social gambler. i enjoy getting to know random people at a table, random dealers...it's just a lot of fun to make friends like that. i made lots of friends down in vegas this past weekend. got tons of life advice from random people that i wont listen to haha. maybe its bc im a social person and i like meeting and getting to know people, but i really enjoy being a table full of people i have no clue who they are and playing with them and getting to know them. its a lot of fun. anyways, point of this is that ive been rebuked again by the lord and no more gambling for me. my money is on lockup again. but it's ok, like i said i can easily stay away if i dedicate my mind to it.

lastly, i wanna touch on something that happened a few days ago. a phone call that i had from someone that i wrote about in my blog. i guess it has leaked out to other members in the family so hopefully it doesnt matter that i touch on it briefly in my blog. or if it does then i guess korinne will hate me haha. but a week ago she was the person who called me telling me things that i was trying to help her out with. turns out she is pregnant. 18 years old. senior in high school. my little sister has a lot of issues. but then again we all do. some are just of a different level. but i couldnt help but feel sad as she was telling me she was pregnant. granted at least she would be done with high school when/ IF she has the kid. i say if bc her attitude towards having it was not good at all haha. i wanted to fly her out here to utah so we could hang out for a week or so and talk about things. thats why i decided to go to vegas at the last second bc i wanted to win $400 to fly her out here. but....that didnt go as planned...at all haha. i hope that she'll realize the importance and the sacredness of what is going on. i had a weird dream last night and cant remember much other than she had the kid and i was at the hospital with her. the other day i thought about what if i was to rasie the kid. haha, i know, stupid idea. but i love kids. am i ready for a kid? prolly not hahaha. but still, i wouldnt mind moving in with korinne, or having her move out here and i would love to help raise and take care of the kid. but who knows whats even going on. i still told her to get another test done to double check. plus the guy i guess already told her to get rid of it or not talk to him ever again. the consequences of breaking the law of chastity are SO evident in the world today. i also felt a huge sense of responsibility that she would relay her thoughts and feelings to just me without sharing to anyone else. i love my little sister, and even though she gives our family hell, i would still do anything i could to help her out in her trials. ive had my fair share of problems and can only be thankful that im not in a situation like her. but at the same time im sorrowful...this pic of me and my little sister korinne is from 2 years ago haha sorry only one i could find. i guess we'll see how things turn out. life is crazy. life has twists and turns. sometimes i wonder is it fate that things happen to us? or is everything that happens to us bc of a choice that we made? i get confused sometimes on it all. haha thats bc when i try to think deep my mind just goes blank. im not smart enough for all the deep gospel doctrine talk. it just goes right over my head. so for now ill just keep sticking to the basics, the church is true haha!

11/4- american tacos.

2010-11-05T11:51:00.004-06:00

today was an awesome day! a busy and hectic one but awesome. my friend came down to visit and hang out for the day with me down here in provo. we went over to my brothers for a few minutes. then we went up to the mall. she is a shopping freak. haha. i dont care too much for the mall. but she wanted to pick some clothes out for me. i told her she wouldnt do a good job bc im so picky and particular with my clothes i dont like people buying them for me. and of course, i was right, haha. she picked out a few things that she thought i would like and i didnt care much for them ha. came back home. took a nap bc i was so tired. then i worked for a bit. got a couple of sales in.

then she wanted to cook me some dinner. of course im always down for that geez! she made me some american tacos. ive never had them, i was thinking we were gonna eat just some regular tacos. but you put fritos chips on the bottom and then put everything else on top of it. so i guess i have had it bc its more like a taco salad. anyways, way yum. and i definitely did all the cooking! haha, jk. but i did as much as i could to help out. and i made extras for caleb that was my service for the day, feeding that poor fool dinner haha. and taking his phone away so he wouldnt text a particular person haha!

afterwards i had a bunch of people come over to hang out and play some games tonight. first we watched some of the basketball and football games going on. then we went down to my basement and hung out. it was a lot of fun. played some sequence. laughed. good times. tuki came. what a surprise to see that brown man! wiscombe and his lady were there. and so was caleb...
that was about it though for the night. watched Elf after they left, gotta get in the christmas mood!

11/3- protection. use it.

2010-11-03T23:30:00.003-06:00

my day- went to the gym. worked out. ran with paco. met up with my buddy airick. gave my buddy mike a ride down to his physical therapy appointment. came back home and worked.

work was crazy. i was trying to make phone calls and focus on work. then at the same time i was texting like 3 people. my other buddy kept calling me with crazy girl drama thats going on with him. then i get a call that could change my life forever. well not really my life, but it definitely has an effect on mine. it was....interesting. i cant say anything about it, nor will i tell anyone. i promised not to say a word. sorry. but my service for the day along with the other small things i did was talking to this person and trying to figure some things out. so i was juggling through all of that while trying to work and let's just say it was hectic.

its 11:30 at night right now. an early night tonight! im so tired. i just got done reading my scriptures. which by the way something interesting stood out to me. there was a verse that was talking about the disciples that jesus called in the americas and how they prayed without ceasing. but also that they did not say the same thing because it was "given' unto them what to pray for. i liked that a lot. i have a problem with my prayers the more i think about it. i dont say the same thing everytime but yet i do feel like i go through the motions. i want my prayers to be led and guided by the spirit so that he is telling me what to pray for. i felt that a lot on my mission and loved it. it was like, not my own prayers, but felt so powerful. now i feel like my prayers are lame. im not spending enough time on them for sure...

if only my life could be as simple as this lobster...

11/2- option B.

2010-11-03T09:46:00.002-06:00

throughout our lives we are always presented with different opportunities and roads to take. the great thing is that we are each given our own agency to decide what we want the most. although at times one path may be blocked which thus forces us to take a different route. i think back to applying for college. i had my first option, and then my other options. i could not force BYU to accept me, i just had to sit and wait and see what happened. luckily i was accepted. (that may have only been bc i checked the asian and pacific islander ethnicity on my application haha, but that's beside the point...) what if i hadnt been accepted? i would have had to fallen back on my B option or maybe even my C option.

we are presented with these choices on a day to day basis. sure i'd like to each a steak everyday for dinner. but my finances and lack of cooking skills prevent that from happening. thus i get to fall back on roughly my E option, a sandwich haha.

for the past couple of weeks ive been hanging out with a buddy of mine and listening to his stories about this girl that he knows. over a year and a half ago he was in a relationship with this girl. i find it very interesting how love can make us do weird things. it makes us literally become not our normal selves. she treated him like dirt to be honest. i always told him this too. but it didnt matter to him. i watched him get in trouble, go in debt, lose his mind, etc...yet he kept going back. she knew how to play the game. that's what girls seem to do best. they know how to play these stupid games. she kept giving him hope that something would come of them. but then she'd go off with other guys. or ditch hanging out with him. when they broke up shed say she missed him, and wanna hang. and then lead him on and ditch hime again. i watched him struggle with that. i kept telling him to avoid her at all costs. but its def harder than it seems.

he did a good job of it for the past while even though every now and then she would text. ok that bring us all the way up to the past 3 or so weeks. they started talking again. she would write him. telling him shes changed. wanting to change. he gave her a chance. not a chance on a relationship, but just a chance at being friends again. he helped her out with some things in her life she was trying to correct. it was the christlike thing to do. he didnt tell me who she was until about 2 weeks ago. at which point i freaked out on him and told him to stay away and he was just going to get hurt all over again. but love makes us do weird things huh? he wasnt looking to get back with her or anything, but just wanted to help. so there wasnt anything i could do other than i kept telling him to not let his emotions get mixed in and to be very wary of her. well the past two weeks theyve been hanging out almost everyday, and of course feelings have come back...

the thing that frustrates me most about girls is the ability they have to make us their "B" option. so if it doesnt quite work out with who they want, they then think they can fall back onto us. like my buddy whose going through a divorce, apparently he isnt the A option anymore, and has fallen down the list. why do girls see fit to play these ridiculous games? that's the difference i see with guys. we are upfront about our feelings. we have no problem saying, hey, we like you, but we are not ready for a relationship. or hey, i dont like you that much so we're done. or whatever it is we say. we are blunt about it. we dont beat around the bush and play these weak games. it is what it is. by saying those things, if the girl gets hurt, it's her own fault. bc we let her know of the situation. but with girls, they cant ever be that upfront and honest. and they leave the option of there possibly being something in the future open...they talk about how we play these games, hahaha, no we dont. we are blunt and say it how it is. we dont care.

last night my buddy was supposed to hang out and go to dinner with this girl. long story short, she's still trying to work things out with her ex. and she went and hung out with him. and never called back my buddy. and even better she keeps telling him for the past couple weeks how hes exactly the type of guy that she needs. yet here we go again...and so all night last night i got to hear how pissed he was and how its like last summer on repeat again. i wanted to say, "i told you so" to him hahaha. but then he could have turned around and said the same exact thing for what happened to me the past few days...so darn i couldnt say that haha. he warned me as well and i warned him and now we're both in the same lame boat.

as i mentioned in an earlier post--"never make someone your priority that will only make you their option."

i feel bad for him. i wanted to think she has changed. and maybe she has. but big mistake by her last night haha. i hope things can work out for them, but we'll see. he just left my place. he wants to text her so bad hahaha. but i have to freaking take his phone from him and chew him out so he wont make that mistake. it's funny bc we both see these situations right in front of us, yet we both still fall into the trap because of our feelings haha. how stupid is that? it reminds me of when we sin in life. we know its bad, we know its wrong, we know we're gonna regret it....but yet we still do it! why??

im not sure the whole point of this blog post. just something that was on my mind last night. i find it comforting to know that even though we may have what we think is our "A" option, God knows of an A+ option for us. someone or something even better than what we were originally thinking. but that depends on our patience, faithfulness, and obedience. which brings us to the hard part of not messing up on things we know we shouldnt do haha. but that's what we're here for, to live and learn. my service for the day was going to the temple. it was a great start to the day going to the mt timpanogos temple in the morning. i was reminded of more things i need to continue to improve upon...

11/1- a. new. month.

2010-11-01T22:13:00.004-06:00

november already? really? i cant believe how fast time is flying by. how cliche of me to say. the past couple of days have been kinda strenuous on me. im glad only my family reads this blog so i can write my feelings and not be embaressed or anything haha. my mind has done way too much wandering as of late. i've had some ups and downs in my life as a late. yet things for the past month and a half have been fine. i feel like ive progressed and learned so much. yet at the same time, how do i keep that fire alive?

a few days ago i started getting those feelings i had for the first time a couple of months ago creeping back into my life. im always so happy. joyful. relaxed. care-free. and that's how ive always been in my life minus the first two weeks of september of this year...life has been so awesome! but out of nowhere came back the feelings of loneliness and sadness. yet it makes no sense to have that considering i have been hanging out with awesome people daily and keeping busy and having tons of fun. yet any alone time i have had i literally feel like the adversary has full grip on me and is tugging at me every which way trying to pull me down. maybe it's bc i missed a couple days last week on reading and praying. or maybe bc i only went to most of church this week but not all of it haha. im sure those have a bit to do with it. i know the main reason why i've been feeling like this but im not gonna type it up. no need to. i guess i find it difficult to leave the past in the past.

after i finished working tonight i got the watch the 2nd half of the monday night football game. my texans were playing and i was so excited. i sat there and watched it and flipped over to the world series as well. this is my life--sports. i have always loved it. i still remember one of my favorite stories at my very first youth dance. it was youth conference and it was right when one of my favorite players at the time was playing- allen iverson. the NBA Finals had just started, it was game 1, 76ers vs. lakers. at the same time as the dance. in the back room there was a tv and some adults were watching the game. i went back there to watch it also i was so excited. long story short- some older cute girl comes in and asks me to come out and dance with her. and i said no thanks i'd rather watch the game. and turned her down. haha, she couldnt believe it. i just kept staring at the screen and said maybe later, haha.

back to the football game tonight. i was reminded of that story as i was watching the game. i sat there alone on my couch. i should have been excited. loving watching the game. but i wasnt. i felt something was wrong. i felt an emptiness. i used to think sports could fill that void. sure it might be able to do that at times...but not all the time. i was reminded of the scripture where it states man is not meant to be alone. after the game i went and read my scriptures and got pretty emotional.

sometimes i hate how things cant work out the way i want them to. yet my mind is so narrow i dont see the full picture. god knows whats best for me. i have to put my full faith and trust in him. apparently, im not doing that. im finding it very difficult as of the past few days to do that. i just want what i want and no questions asked. since i still havent learned to do that i have a feeling i'll be going through some more awesome trials and hardships in the coming weeks. oh joy i cant wait haha. oh well, life is to be enjoyed and i will continue to do that despite the feelings and past that the adversary is trying to get me to dwell on.

im going to the temple tomorrow morning, i need to go. oh and i forgot to say what my service for the day was. i helped a friend move from her apartment to another up in draper. it brought back memories from my mission and how we would always help people move. but it was a very productive morning since i helped her move from about 10-1. it was my workout for the day haha.

good thing with the feelings i have had lately im watching cast away right now. i feel blessed to know at least im not stranded on an island by myself. i wonder what i would do in such a situation. or how crazy i would become. i wish i could grow a beard like tom does in that movie too haha. yeah forget all these things i want in my life. all i want is to grow a sick beard!

10/30-10/31- spooky spooks.

2010-11-01T14:34:00.005-06:00

so i had a bunch to write about last night. but my computer died and i had no internet service where i was at so i couldnt send it off. and i dont feel like retyping all of it. im just lazy i guess. well the weekend was way fun. lots of good funny stories but sorry im not gonna type them all out haha, but ill just post some random pics i took.

saturday started by doing my act of service. i went and supported an old friend of mine in his rugby game. i havent seen him in a while and i just went down to UVU and watched him play. he was the man! he dominated out there and it was actually a lot of fun watching him play. he's one of the main guys on the UVU rugby team and they are actually nationally ranked.

then i watched some football. got changed. went over to a afternoon house party here in provo. then came home and watched more football. after that i went up to north ogden with some friends out to wingers to watch some football. dropped by a party up there after as well. then went down to south ogden to hang out with a friend of mine. watched a scary movie. oh and got my haircut also! came back down to provo...that was about it for the night. i hate halloween anyway. haha sorry just not my fav holiday...

sunday was an alright day. prolly wasnt the best bc i wasnt the best. i was in a bad mood all day for some odd reason. i left church a little bit early to finish watching the rest of my packers football game. which we won by the way! watched more nad more football. my service for the day was helping frank fill out some paperwork that needed to be updated. i did that for hours while sitting on the couch watching football haha. my hand was killing me by the end.

after that i went over to my grandparents. i was there for a few hours. it was fun. the family was all over there and we had a big dinner. caught up, laughed, shared stories...i shared the story of my colonoscopy i got a while back haha it was funny. there's a couple pics with our cousins' daughter. and leah let's be serious i am their favorite haha! then came home. went over to my buddies place and spent the night there so i could help him with some service in the morning...

10/29- read my mind.

2010-10-30T00:36:00.002-06:00

fate--something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune.

do i believe in fate? eh... sure we have agency to make all our choices in life. sometimes things just seem to line up in the weirdest ways. tiny little events happen in our lives that one would deem of no value or significance. but when taking a look from a broader perspective, that little event could very well have changed ones life. today was a day of looking back. at those little events. tiny events. a sentence i said. i thought i shared. help i didnt give in time of need. putting something before someone. at the time, no thought was given to these events. they just happened and life went on. then it's not till days, months, or years down the road that you can see the enormous impact that tiny little thing had upon the outcome of things in your life.

i guess you could relate it to sports. look at the chicago cubs of 2003. if you dont know the story, look it up. historical. fate was present. one fan, catching a simple foul ball. turned the momentum. continued the drought for the cubs. yet, is fate just in our heads? or is it real? do we play on to it too much and cause it to become something it isnt? our mind is a tricky place. a place i have yet to even come close to figuring out. so the fan catches the ball. well what if the cubs just got the next out? or the next? or won the following game with their top notch pitcher? who says it is a curse or fate that caused them to inexplicably fall apart?

"The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen." Frank Loyd Wright

the events that happen in my life, happen for a reason. these aren't just mere coincidences that all magically line up for a greater cause. ive been thinking a lot about fate today. i looked back on the past few months of my life and thought...wow, what if i had done this little thing different, or that, or said that, or visited that person at a specific time...i can look back all i want. but it doesnt change the past. but in doing so, it has allowed me to realize...wow. maybe i didnt do that, and bc i didnt, i am where i am now. and i can thank god daily for that. if things hadnt ended up the way they did, i could be much worse off. stuck in a situation that only added even greater pain than i already felt.

i was talking to an old friend today--mentioning how "timing is everything". it's not necessarily that it isnt right, but maybe it just isnt the right time. gods time- is not our time. i was mentioning to this person how the past two months of my life have been two of the best months ever in my life. i feel that way not because of some huge event that shook the earth. but rather as some would say, fate. or as i would say, part of gods great plan. im not one who receives answers in visions and visitations. although i wish bc thatd be tight! mine come in extremely small ways. like a blessing i received a few months ago. a blessing that helped me to change my perspective. to turn to god. to learn to serve others. what if i hadnt gotten that blessing? or what if my brother hadnt said what he said in it? what if he wasnt worthy to give it? what if he didnt listen to the spirit in giving it and said what he wanted to say? or what if his wife wasnt there to add encouragement? it's not a mere coincidence that what was said...was said...for a purpose...a greater purpose.

a tiny little event. changing a life. it goes back to my conversion story. a story that i hold dear to my heart. that only a few people know about. my dear bishop whom i still keep in contact with from my 2005, my freshman year at byu. a tooth ache. who could forsee a tooth ache being one of those tiny events that led me back to church. then to a mission. then to help teach and save other souls. and so on...

im not sure where im going with this post. just kinda rambling on a tangent. ive just been very impressed lately with the thoughts of little events that happened that helped alter the course of my life. it isnt just a mere coincidence. maybe months or years down the road this so-called fate will lead me back to things from my past. or maybe it will take me in a whole new direction. either way, as ive now realized and felt today, it doesnt matter. im happy. as long as i do what im supposed to do, in the end...im gonna be the one reaping the blessings and rewards.

10/26-10/28- boise.

2010-10-28T23:49:00.006-06:00

wow so sorry it's been 3 days since i last wrote. not that i have any excuse but i was out of town for the past few days. but anyways, ill do a quick recap of what went down.

tuesday morning i had kyle drive me up to the airport. i flew up to boise, idaho to go hang out with a friend and to watch the boise st football game. my flight up there was awesome. i sat next to the cutest old couple on the flight. it was open seating on the plane ride and i picked my seat to be next to them. we started talking from once i sat down and throughout the entire flight. they were soooo cute. turns out they were also from houston! so crazy. and they were flying up to visit their son whose wife was about to pass away, so sad. during our conversation they asked me about my relationships and if i was married and what not. haha. i just laughed at them. i asked them how long they'd been married and they said in a few months it would be their 50th anny! wow, i couldnt believe it. that is unreal to me sometimes...i asked them for their best piece of advice, and it was something i hadnt ever heard before. and it really stuck out. they said the best advice they would give anyone would be "respect". loved it. great advice. anyways, that was my service for the day. chatting with them for over an hour. they loved me and wanted me info to keep track of me haha. they were excited to one day look on tv and see me as a sports broadcaster haha. they said it would be easy to recognize me since i have a baby face haha oh geez...good times...
anyways. got up to boise and met up with my friend shanie. we went straight over to the football game. the weather was coldddddd. nasty. windy. rainy. lame...but it was a blast still. i hate boise st football. but seeing their blue field was pretty sweet. it was a good game and we had a lot of fun. afterwards just went back to her place and chilled and spent the night.
wednesday she had to work so i just chilled around their house. haha it was funny she told me to eat whatever i wanted so i went down to their pantry and raided it. i ate breakfast at like 11 and had 3 bowls of apple jacks, a banana, fig newtons, and a fruit roll up...haha. good healthy food. went up to the mall and got all of her stuff packed up. my service for the day was helping her drive all her stuff back to ogden bc she was moving back home. so we packed it all up and started the long drive back. after an hour or two we dropped into twin falls and ate some applebees with her brother and wife. i drove the rest of the way back down to provo since my car was still down there. im pretty sure i made record time. we werent supposed to get home until about 1 but i got us there at like 11:15. awesome.

thursday (today) was a good day. it kinda just flew by. im way exhausted still from the past couple of days so ill keep it short. went out to lunch to this awesome thai place....seriously, way good thai food. definitely recommend it to all. its off 1600 n close to my house. went down to kyle and leahs. watched the previous nights' episode of modern family. it was a halloween episode. so funny...went to therapy after. my hand and thumbs are still all jacked up. heres a stupid pic of my gimp body haha. lame. came back and showered. worked. got a few sales. watched some basketball and football. went over to a friends place tonight. and now im back home. it's midnight. some friends came over. we're drinking some hot chocolate and watching a movie. im ready for bed...

10/25- big ballin.

2010-10-26T01:22:00.002-06:00

1:30 in the morning right now. gonna go to sleep soon. watching the tv show 'rules of engagement' while i type this. kinda funny. my service for the day was downloading smallville for a friend of mine and putting it onto his hard drive. ive never really gotten into that show. but i told him i'd download a couple seasons for him...

got up early this morning and drove up to the mt timp temple to do some work. only to find out it was closed. haha. i felt retarded. i guess they are closed on mondays. so mad. so i came back home, changed, and went down to provo to run some errands. went over to kyles. ate their food. haha thanks guys. then went to the doctor. he told me both thumbs on my hands were sprained haha. lame. they still hurt. i feel retarded.

came back home. worked. got some sales in tonight. went down to golds at like 11 to go play some basketball with some buddies. i know it didnt work out too well with my thumbs. although i wrapped them but they were still giving me trouble gripping and shooting the ball. oh well. it was fun while it lasted. back home, showered, and packed. im flying up to boise tomorrow!! i cant wait. get me outta provo again haha. and as it turns out i "just so happen" to have a 2 hour layover in vegas...hahaha. oops. guess ill have to find something to do during that time period. anyways, gotta get my sleep on i fly out around noon tomorrow!

10/23-10/24-- silent night.

2010-10-24T23:09:00.002-06:00

gotta recap my weekend and gonna do it briefly. saturday was such a rainy nasty day! what the heck. actually this whole weekend has been gloomy. sat morning i had the last football game of the season before the tournament. ankle definitely getting better. well, its super sore after, but on the field felt great. i was cutting all over again. give me the rock! haha jk. right after i had a intramural soccer game as well. so then i was pooped. byu played wyoming. watched the game. it was alright. byu is so sloppy this year it's ridiculous. went over to calvins and had some pizza and relaxed over there for a bit. good times as always. let see what else happened? after that i went back home. sat my butt on the couch with the boys and watched football! i was so tired from the games earlier. got washed up. went back out with some friends to play some games. my service for the day- picking up my friend ashley and taking her out to my friends'. her plans fell through and she was chilling at home and she needed to get outta the house! so i picked her up and brought her over to calvins. funny thing she knew a couple of hte girls there, provo is such a small town. anyways, we had lots of fun. i one scattagories! oh and i won the other card game we played too. haha, awesome...that was it for the night, came back watched v for vendetta with some people at the house. left halfway through i was super tired...

sunday (today) was awesome! got up early for church. it was great. a couple of things really stuck out to me at church today. first of all during one of the talks a girl was talking about forgiveness and how we need to forgive others. it really stuck out to me and impressed a lot on my mind. and then later on during priesthood our lesson was on repentance. and it talked about the importance of making restitution. that can be so hard i was thinking about maybe some times that ive said stuff about someone and if i really repented of it i would have told that person and made restitution with them....wow...i havent done that. i have a crap load of repenting to do good grief. also the talk really stuck out to me bc i was thinking about the importance of forgiving others. i have a hard time doing that. im so prideful. i have a hard time leaving things in the past and moving on. but it's something im working on. i never hate people im always just an easy going nice guy i think. but lately i have definitely felt hatred towards a few people in my life. i gotta figure out how to get rid of that. i think the easiest way is whenever those feelings come up i think of the savior and god and think of how they love that person just as much as me. humbling thought. i've got a lot to work on in my life dang it. it's never ending. also, after feeling inspired in the temple about my foul mouth--i think i swore twice as much this week as in weeks past. it was literally outrageous...freakkkkkkk.

10/22- Mark Twain.

2010-10-23T00:49:00.004-06:00

this dude is a genius. a mastermind. his words should be scripture, haha. ok maybe not that far. anyway, just got home, got ready for bed, and wanted to type real quick my day. also just got off the phone with mikey. talked about girls of course haha. was reminded of a quote by twain that has really stuck out to me lately.

"Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option."

love it. great application. couldnt have been said any better.

been in a weird mood the past couple of days. dunno what's going on with me. just some weird funk is all i guess. not in the mood to tell and write my funny stories of the day. got up at 6:30 this morning, went fishing with caleb. love fishing with him. bc we get into these deep convos about life. well mainly about girls haha. but it brought back a lot of memories that i dont care for anymore. we used to go fishing a lot over the summer. but we havent been since both of us got out of our relationships. anyways i didnt take any pics this morning of us fishing but here is an old one from the summer of catching a baby catfish. went to therapy. i brought kyle and leah lunch and we watched last nights episodes of 30 rock and the office together. stayed at their place and downloaded more stuff for us. passed out. woke up. dropped by my office. then came home and went to work. got a few sales. let's hope they actually go through. watched some football with frank and rick. went out with some buddies to some parties. nothing too life changing haha. it's 1 in the morning right now and i got a football game to play tomorrow at 8. falling asleep to christmas music tonight. yup, i start that awesome music early...

10/21- family ties.

2010-10-21T22:44:00.002-06:00

so this morning i got kourtney up early so she couldnt sleep in haha. she came with me with grandma and grandpa to go help out at the bishops storehouse. fun times as always with those old people. after that we came back home to nap at 10 in the morning hahaha. but couldnt fall back asleep even though i was way tired. we watched toy story 3. good movie. then i took her out for sushi. we met up with caleb and downed some sushi rolls. then we had to run a bunch of errands. did some shopping. it was funny the past couple days hanging out with kourtney and going out with her to random places everytime everyone thinks we are dating. haha. kinda awkward. cant a brother and sister go and hang out without people thinking we are together?! haha good times...

went down to byu as more service to help my buddy mike train on some speed drills. then i came back and put in some work for the night. got a few sales. been struggling a lot the past couple weeks with work. really lame and weird. bc im getting sales but the installs just arent coming through so it's been pissing me off. but things will pick up and come around, all about staying positive. my buddy caleb came over tonight. watched some football and chilled. he's spending the night tonight and we're getting up early tomorrow to go fishing.

sorry for the lame and boring post tonight! i just realized it's very boring and short. im tired though. and cant think of any super funny story right now of something that happened today. maybe something kinda funny my buddy caleb took my phone tonight for a few minutes. i had been texting this girl and she had written back to something. and without me knowing he started texting her and told her i loved her so much...yeah ok now that i wrote that story it isnt that funny. guess you had to be there haha. it was funny when i found out. anyways...im done.

10/20- poopsies, footsies, newsies.

2010-10-20T23:01:00.005-06:00

only 11 at night right now. gonna write my blog up before heading to bed. definitely a solid day in the books. got up this morning and went down to my grandparents to do some service for them. i was gonna mow their lawn but they said it didnt need to be done just yet. so my grandpa was cracking nuts and opening them and separating them. they had a TON of nuts. holy crap. nuts everywhere. it was ridiculous. so i went out to their garage, put on some jams, a one nut by one nut i cracked them open with the nut cracker. haha. prolly didnt help that my hand right is all jacked up and bruised from football and i gotta go to the doctor for it. but oh well it was still a lot of fun. fixed another computer problem for grandma and they fed me some awesome lunch.

kourtney was here in provo for a doctors appt and she is staying the night at my place tonight and tomorrow. so we went over to kyles after to drop some stuff off. anyways after that we ran a bunch of errands for her. then came back and i worked for a few hours. we went out to a chinese buffet place with kyle and leah. it was way yummy. then i had to take kourtney around for some more errands. we had to go to walmart bc she needed to buy a whole crap load of beer. haha, i guess she had to buy it for the ranch bar or whatever. anwyays it was really funny pushing this huge cart full of beer around walmart haha.

we finally got back home and we brought kyles camera back to my place. we bought these sick footsie pjs earlier from target! haha. wow we are retarded. but not gonna lie it was a lot of fun messing around and taking pics. and im still wearing mine right now haha. im gonna sleep in it to see how it feels. its actually pretty dang warm. maybe a little too warm. anyways we took a bunch of random pics wearing them and put a few of them up on facebook. good times with the little sis today! we're watching newsies right now before bed haha, classic! gotta get up early tomorrow so im out.

10/18-10/19-- dirty mouth.

2010-10-19T23:25:00.002-06:00

ok so the internet was being way weird and it would let me go anywhere other than this blog site for the past day. i know it sounds very untrue but it really did happen and was making me so mad. but it's finally working right now so i can type up the past couple days. i now realize why i right everything the night of or morning after bc my memory sucks so i have a hard time remembering what exactly happened...

im trying to remember what i did form y service on monday. i know it was something good but seriously for the life of me i cant think of it right now. maybe as i keep typing ill remember it. oh thats right. i went over to kyles place and started downloading a whole bunch of movies. we havent been downloading anything lately and so i spent the afternoon over there downloading for us. got a bunch of movies/tv shows done so it was awesome. and then i was able to put it on his and mikeys hard drives. did the usual monday also. gym. worked. leah cooked us chili and corn bread. her first time cooking both of those...hmm...i could tell it was her first time! hahaha totally jk. the chili and cornbread was in all honesty legit. i stuffed that junk down. good stuff. we had our FHE together. then mikey and i went to target and did some shopping before heading home. speaking of mikey, gosh his wife is a total b--! seriously. but oh well. i guess i should say his ex-wife. he's gonna be single again. haha we can be in the game together.

today (tuesday) was another great day. i started the day off awesome by getting up early and going to the temple. i love the temple. i didnt go last week and felt like crap. so i went this morning. that was my service for the day. and while i was in the temple there was something that stuck out to me the most. obviously i cant divulge too much on what was inspiring to me, but it kinda goes along with the scripture of how we need to LET NO GUILE COME OUT OF OUR MOUTHS. i just kept thinking that in my head over and over. now for those of you who know me and are close to me, know i have a FOUL mouth. foul. especially when watching or playing sports. and when im by myself. i need some orbit to clean my dirty mouth up haha.

but seriously. foul mouth. the funny thing is i know i can control it. i just chose not too. for example when i dated my ex-girlfriend for a year and a half if you ask her to count the number of times she heard me swear, it wouldnt even be one hand! not even 5 times. i guarantee that! it wasnt that i kept it a secret from her, she knew i had a bad mouth. but i respected her so much that i refused to use bad language around her. even though she sometimes said stuff and didnt care if i did, i just wouldnt do it. yet when im around other people or by myself or whatever, im like a sailor haha. why is that? im not sure...but it's something im gonna try and work really hard on.

i am better than that. i can do much better. basically it was another rebuking telling me of another thing i have to fix in my life haha. but it was good. so we'll see how i do! haha. anyways, the rest of the day was normal again. therapy. gym. work. downloaded more things for us...tonight i decided to stay in for the night. i cant remember the last night i didnt do anything. ive been running all around and so busy and hanging out every night non-stop. so i needed a night to myself! im gonna go watch a movie and pass out by myself! oh and kourtney is driving up here tonight to spend tomorrow and thursday here with me....YAY!!!

10/16-10/17-- here's to the night.

2010-10-18T09:54:00.004-06:00

didnt post sat or sunday night. been a long weekend. but im gonna recap it real quick. saturday was a busy busy day. after typing that blog post and not finishing till 430 in the morning i got up at 7. haha. not much sleep again. i went to go watch some buddies play in a football game. i got there and calvin's dad bought me a hot chocolate and a breakfast sandwich! i love the russell family, they treat me right...haha. they lost by a point though. after that i went over to my grandparents. part of my service was helping kyle move a tv from their place to his new place. after that i went back over to my grandparents and helped my grandma print something and fix her email. she was complaining about all the cialis and viagra spam emails she was getting in her inbox...hahaha. oh man. good times. anyways got all of that fixed and taken care of. then i went back to kyles and helped him paint a bookshelf. but only for a few minutes haha. the rest of the day was awesome. sat on my couch with some buddies and watched a lot of football! haha. is there anything better? maybe...but at the moment it was great.

tonight i went out with a bunch of friends. american fork had this Fork Festival going on. so we went down to it. it was pretty tight. basically a big arts festival type deal. a bunch of bands were playing. our buddy Dan from Imagine Dragons played so we went and watched him rock the house as usual. they're way legit and getting big fast. after watching some bands and hanging out went over to applebees. they have half off appetizers after 10 on the weekends haha. soooo legit. came back home and passed out...heres a random pic from the fork festival sunday was another great day. there isnt much to type. just a typical sunday. got up early. went to church. had a great time as usual. came home. watched my packers lose yet again. too many injuries it sucks. my texans won in a crazy game though so that was sweet. i went home teaching this evening. they were pretty kool people again. so far all 5 people on my list are way tight. and ive still got 5 more people to visit, ive got a way huge list haha. that was part of my service for the day. after that i went over to my little cousins byu apartment her and her roommates cooked me some dinner! awesome. the food was so good. fun times. brought my buddy airick to come chill with me. we did their dishes and cleaned their kitchen as more service after they fed us. after that we went over to sarah's apt bc they had a pizza night/desert there. so more food stuffed down me. spent an hour or so over there. thank you dan for making me laugh nonstop the entire time while i was there. me and him kept laughing literally nonstop for an hour about nothing but thats why it was so funny. ok typing that out makes no sense so nevermind it's just an inside thing i guess. or one of those moments where you had to be there to understand haha. dropped airick off, came back home. watched the last part of the night football game. mikey was over just chilling at the house. and that was about it. nothing too crazy. went to bed at about 1 which leads me to today...

10/15- deja vu.

2010-10-16T04:07:00.003-06:00

so its 4 in the morning and i just got home so i gotta make this quick. my service for the day was getting some light bulbs and replacing all the lights down here in the call center. i never noticed how many light bulbs there are down here to replace and now the lights are all super bright so its awesome! so not too much went down today. ran a few errands. had an eye appointment. watched the previous nights episodes of the office/community which were way funny.

tonight i had a serious case of DEJA VU. but of course it made sense. for the past year and a half i would drive over an hour up to syracuse. and tonight...i went up there for the first time in a month. same exact exit and everything. haha. only difference was i went up there to see a completely different person. at first i thought it was gonna be really weird and bring back memories. but it was the exact opposite. first of all the entire time i was driving up there i was laughing so much in my head. i dont know why i thought it was so funny to drive up there but it just was. then i thought what if i bumped into someone that i knew from up there? all these random thoughts crossed my mind and i couldnt help but just laugh about it. but anyways once i got up there i forgot all that crap and had a blast. it was a great night. grabbed a bite to eat, got to work on my basketball skills, hot tub, watched a couple of movies,and now im back at home. and gotta be up soon for a football game. so im out. oh and random pic from zion last week.

10/14- that's life.

2010-10-15T09:43:00.004-06:00

didnt write last night bc i was way too tired so im gonna write real quick about my day yesterday. my service for the day was helping a buddy of mine train on his speed and quickness. he called me up while i was working around 830 and asked if i could help him out with some speed drills. so i finished up work and by 10 i had driven down to BYU to help him out. we went to some random field by the temple and started doing some drills. i wrote about him in an earlier post his name is mike dunn. the drills were going great and then something ridiculous happened. but let me give you a little background on this guy. this kid has the worst luck of anyone i know of in my life. the worst luck. im talking the most random things will happen to him out of nowhere that is just ridiculous. like one day he parks his car to go to school and comes back to find out it rolled down the hill and totaled his and another car. or he got a job in idaho and then the business went down so he never got payed for all the work he did. or on the mission one day he bought a brand new suit and was sitting on the table and got up and was snagged on the table and ripped his pants open. or all the times his scripture case ripped open. or one time he was at a members house and he started to shake the orange juice to mix it and had no idea the bottle was open until he had shaken all of it onto their floor! or when he got home from his mission he started dating this girl seriously, and was thinking marriage until out of nowhere she just up and left him. after she even would say she loved him but was confused and next thing we know she's engaged just days later to some random dude and then married him...well i can at least relate to that one haha! mike is the one on the far left in the awesome blue sweater haha. and i was trying to grow a nasty mullet hahaha. anyways those are just random stories of this guys' luck, there are hundreds more...my point is we were working out and had just one set left. im holding some bands around his waist and he was running while i was pulling back on the bands. we were about to start the last set when out of nowhere the sprinklers pop up and spray us right in the face! so we take off running away and there are other sprinklers spraying us too. after a minute of laughing we realize one of his shoes that we were using as markers happens to be right up against the sprinkler!! im talking it was up against it and water was just shooting straight into it. so he had to run through the water grab it and then turns it upside down and water just pours out. oh man i died at that point. im on the grass just laughing so hard. what are the odds of that?! i love being around him bc i always know something so random and ridiculous is gonna happen to him hahaha.

good times. oh and it gets even better bc after that i went over to a buddies house and chilled for a bit. then i get home around midnight and my other buddy texts me asking if mike's phone is in my car. so i go out and look and sure enough mike had left his phone in my car! i told him i would drive it down to him but he came up here to pick it up. so after all that craziness he then had to drive 15 min up to my place after midnight to pick up his phone and then go back down to provo....hahaha. wow. that kid...despite all of that he takes it all in stride and is one of the greatest guys i know. he is the man! not much else for today. had physical therapy this morning. watched last nights episode of modern family which was amazing. worked. got some sales. and after all that i went to shower last night and somehow all my lights in my bathroom burnt out. so i showered in the pitch black which was kinda interesting...

10/13- field of dreams.

2010-10-13T22:39:00.002-06:00

short post coming up right this second haha. im getting into bed and totally exhuasted from the day. i need to sleep. and i gotta get up early for fishing tomorrow morning. anyways i slept in a bit today. if 9 is sleeping in? ive normally been waking up around 7 and not being able to fall asleep again so i think 9 is sleeping in. even though i wanted to keep sleeping in forever. so funny this morning i was watching last nights episode of glee, and chad came into my room with like 2 pairs of pants and shirts and a sweatshirt on saying he froze to death last night! haha i told him i have all these blankets and stuff he could use but he said he'd be fine....
ran a bunch of errands today. worked early. had a football game tonight. we lost which sucked. but i felt really good out there on the field. finally i felt like im starting to get some speed and agility back. it's not like i did that great bc at one point i dropped a pass that was intercepted and felt like an idiot and was pissed. but i did score so no worries. but everytime i got the ball i was throwing down some nasty jukes! straight up breaking ankles on the field and running all over the other team. it was good to get some confidence back in my ankle. numerous times a lot of their players made comments like, man he just broke my ankle. another guy said he needed to take agility lessons to keep up with me. and another guy said i was just too fast and quick for them to keep up....so it was just good to know since ive been physically retarded for the past 4 months hahaha.

my service for the day was definitely lacking! i didnt pray about it this morning and i could tell now that im here at the end of the day wondering what my service was. totally my fault. if anything it was talking to my buddy on the phone and he came over tonight as well. just good for me to be all ears and for him to get things off his chest and what not. i dont mind being a listening ear to him especially considering he is now going to be going through a divorce. just sickens me...makes me feel so helpless and hurtful for him. so im definitely willing to be of service and listen to him anytime he wants.

and that's what frustrates me most about IMMATURE girls--no matter how much of a tie or how close they are with someone, they are easily swayed and can change their minds on a dime thinking something or someone else will be better without truly realizing what they have right in front of them...that's called an emotional thinker...or better yet just flat out immaturity.

10/12- Vegas.

2010-10-13T00:03:00.004-06:00

just got into provo. finally. or more like dang it. provo sucks. haha. what a past 4 days its been. so much jam packed into such little time. been a blast and i couldnt have asked for a better getaway. vegas and the drive to provo with chad was legit. sorry this blog is gonna be short. ive gotten no sleep in over 96 hours hahaha. this morning we decided to get up at 7 in the morning to go eat at a breakfast buffet. chad got it hooked up for us, or so we thought...ill get to that later.

stuffed down food and then hit up the floor on the MGM haha. just checked out the sights and people and what not- you know, nothing too crazy. after meeting some interesting people and having lots of fun we went back to the room. grabbed our suits and hit up the pool. the lazy river was closed i was so pissed. but we caught some rays down by the pool, checked out the babes there haha. tons of foreigners out and about at this time of year i guess. after the pool we grabbed some lunch and got our stuff ready to check out. when we checked out they wouldnt comp us for our free buffets so we ended up having to pay for them haha. oh well, it was a nice try anyways.

then we started the LONG drive back to provo. we made a few stops here and there. jammed out. listened to more motivational talks by joe montana haha. stopped into mesquite for a few minutes. stung the town and got ourselves outta there! it was a classic drop by that went awesome. then kept on driving all the way back. finally got back to provo. i just showered and washed all my vegas sins away so im good to go. haha. sac-religious? maybe...

my service was flying down to cali to drive back with chad. he wanted to make the trip up to utah to visit some family and friends. but he didnt wanna drive by himself and his wife was busy with work. so i told him id buy a ticket, fly down there, and drive on back with him. and i couldnt have asked for a better roadtrip...so many classic stories that sadly i cant write about...but some great memories nonetheless!

10/11- california here we come.

2010-10-12T03:44:00.005-06:00

wow the fun just doesnt stop. its almost 3 in the morning right now and i got up at 4 this past morning. i havent slept at all so ive just about been up for 24 straight hours. tack on the little sleep ive already been getting lately and my body is trying to shut itself down. but i wont let it! no rest for the wicked haha jk. well i got up at 4 bc i had to go up to SLC to catch my flight down to california! im glad i bought myself a plane ticket and decided to come down here because this past down was full of crazy adventures.

i got into california around 6 in the morning. chad came and picked me up. i came down here to spend a few days with him and to see his wife as well. so he picked me up and we took a scenic route back to his house. he's got a sweet pad close to the beach so it was awesome. saw whitney but then she had to work while chad and i got to go play. we made up our plans for the next couple of days and then went at it. we took bikes and decided to ride them down to the beach. it was a nice ride, mainly downhill, so we coasted on down. checked out all the babes as we cruised around on our bikes haha. mainly just older ladies, but hey, they need some loving too. the houses down there are ridiculous. their all stacked right up next to each other, but since they are right on the beach they sell for millions of dollars. that is outrageous to me. if i spend millions on a home i want some huge gigantic house, not a smaller cookie-cutter one just bc its right on the beach. but we rode our bikes out to the pier and all around the beach.

eventually chad went out into the water. and since im a baby i only got most of the way in haha. but it was so freezing cold. we chilled on the beach and caught some rays before we headed out to lunch. lunch was sick. it was fajita mondays at the place where we got fajitas for just $5. was dope. and very good fajitas also. whitney works right by the beach so she just came on down and ate lunch with us. we said bye to whitney for the next couple of days nad then rode our bikes back home to get ready to head out. that sucked as we went uphill a lot haha but it was good exercise nonetheless.

got back to the pad, showered and changed and headed out towards the great state of nevada. it was a long drive but we listened to some interesting motivational talks on the way down. i cant even believe the magical stories that i heard haha. but it was a sweet ride. we just talked about the good ol days and some of the crazy memories we had in the past. a lot of fun times down there in tyler, texas with chad. eventually we made it to the state line. there is some shopping outlets there and we went into some main casino place there. i bought myself the worlds best hot dog, spent $!00 for it! and i couldnt have been happier...

after leaving there we drove down to vegas. we pulled out the strings and got ourselves a free room with complimentary buffets at the MGM!! oh yeah!! thats just how we roll...so im sitting here in my MGM room typing this blog post up real quick before we pass out for a few hours. the rest of the night went awesome. we got into vegas, threw our stuff in our room, and hit the strip. we walked all up and down it entering a lot of the hotels and seeing a lot of the sights. it's always a crazy time down here in vegas. we were out until about 2:30 in the morning. met a lot of kool people, and had a lot of ups and downs haha. my service for the day was giving ceasars palace $20 haha. im trying to stay away from the gambling but i wanted to throw $20 on some roulette. built up a few bones but then threw it all away pretty quick. but still fun times...anyways its 3 in the morning and we're getting up at 7 to go get our breakfast buffet so its time for me to catch some sleep. another crazy day ahead of me tomorrow and i cant wait!

10/9-10/10- ZION!

2010-10-11T10:09:00.003-06:00

this past weekend was pretty amazing. im sitting here on a plane right now flying myself to los angeles. the flight is only an hour but thats plenty of time to write all about this past weekend. the funny thing is I keep looking over to the guy next to me as he watches me type this. maybe he will keep staring at me as I type. maybe not. either way oh well I don’t care. I just find it funny that he is reading this right now as I type. we’ll see if he keeps staring at my computer screen. back to this past weekend…
friday night brandon threw this charity dance event. it was for kids in Africa and it was a good time and also nice to be able to donate to help them out. they had a breakdance competition at the party as well as a hip hop dance afterwards. most of the time I sat at the door collecting money with a couple of the girls from my office. that was still way fun though as we had a blast. after the dance I went back home and showered and got packed for zion. we were supposed to be heading down there sometime around 1, but turns out we didn’t even really get to leave until around 3:30 in the morning. first we had to wait for Brandon to finish up the dance, then we had to wait for mikey to finish packing. we finally left around 3 and went to get gas to start the trip. turns out kyle put his gas lid on wrong the last time he used it haha and it was completely jammed. everyone tried twisting it off it was still stuck so we were gonna switch to brandons car but then I grabbed it and pulled it…and it snapped off. not the lid. I broke the thing in half. hahaha. we were dying it was so funny. so the twist part was broke off and the lid was still jammed. but I took the gas pump and smacked it a couple times on the lid and it eventually broke free. so we finally filled up and left for zion!
kourtney is one of the managers down at the zion ponderosa ranch. it was awesome because she was able to get us to do whatever we wanted for free. and thanks to jake’s mom we were able to stay in their cabin for free as well. so it was a free weekend down at the ranch. we finally got down there around 7:30 in the morning I think. pulled into the cabin and we all took a nap until around 10-ish. brandon made us breakfast and had a little too much fun making designs with the batter. the first activity we did was mini-golfing. kourtney helped build the mini-golf course down there so we hit that up. funny side note- josh and his brothers were down at the ranch for the weekend. josh is kourtney’s ex that she almost married. I was hoping for some awesome drama and awkwardness but there wasn’t much. prolly bc josh isn’t married and doesn’t even have a girlfriend. and kourtney is in love again so she doesn’t seem to care. kourtney is much better off anyways. but still it’s always fun to run into ex’s! the mini-golf was sick and ended with mikey hitting a hole in one on the last hole to win it, ridiculous.
after that we went to the ATV and hit up the trails. this is only the second time in my life that I have ridden an ATV but I can tell you one thing, I love riding! it was so much fun. we went all over the mountains and hit up some sweet trails. at one point we were riding and next thing you know I see leah go to the side of the trail and then fly off her ATV! it was crazy. ok, not gonna lie, sorry leah but I was laughing. but then worried. but once I found out you were ok, I was laughing again. it was a sweet fall! she landed on her head and then on her back/side. pretty crazy but she was legit and got back up and kept on riding. the ride was awesome going up mountains, rocks, jumps, and through a lot of mud and water puddles! after seeing some crazy scenery and riding we came back down to the ranch.
after the ATV we went shotgun shooting. sadly I have no idea how to shoot a gun. and everyone else found that out very quickly haha. kourtney was throwing the clay pigeons and kyle, mikey, and brandon all actually did pretty good and were hitting some of them. im not sure if leah hit one but I don’t think so. and as for me I grazed the first one she threw. and then on out I don’t think I even came close to hitting any of the pigeons. although I came close to hitting some people! haha. im gonna have to practice my shotgun shooting bc quite frankly I suck. maybe ill just get my concealed license and a gun and practice in real life haha.
came back to the cabin and grabbed some lunch. then back down to the rec center. we did the zip line which was sweet as always. then we played some tennis. leah and I didn’t fare too well against brandon and kyle haha. but next time we got them for sure. she was still hurt from the ride. and me, well I don’t have any excuse other than im ready for a rematch! after playing around some down at the rec center we came back to the cabin and got our stuff to go into the woods and make a fire/dinner. leah made us all foil dinners…you can never go wrong with foil dinners, they are so legit. so we get to the fire pit and mikey is the one starting the fire. he gets it started and just to light up some of the bigger pieces of wood he decides to pour a little gasoline over it. he lights it up. I thought that was plenty of fire because it was definitely gonna spread. but then he wanted to add some more gasoline to the other side. and this is where the craziness of this trip kept on rolling. he poured more gasoline on the other side and the whole pit flamed up, and then next thing you know the can of gasoline that he had in his hands lit on fire…now the rest of what happened was basically slow motion. I saw the can light on fire so I jumped up to dive over the ledge. so did Brandon. mikey hand is about to blow up so he throws the lit gasoline can into the fire and boom! next thing I know mikey is on fire. haha no joke. he literally was on fire. both his pant legs caught fire and he jumped over the ledge screaming and fell to the ground and was rolling around. now it depends on who you ask but everyone has a different interpretation of what happened when mikey was on fire. Brandon said he took off his jacket to put the fire out on mikey with his jacket. but we all think he took it off bc he was hot from the big fire. and when I went to jump over the ledge mikey pushed me out of the way as he was on fire. I went over there to kick his legs to help put out the fire. but according to everyone else I was doing a fire dance around him while laughing haha. maybe they are right…bc im not gonna lie it was hilarious. thanks mikey for the great memory. oh and FYI if you ever want durable flame-proof pants, buy some dickies! his legs suffered 2nd degree burns…while his pants had no holes and no singes at all! crazy…after that whole debacle, the foil dinners took forever, they wouldn’t cook. so after 2 hours and no food and no patience and a burn victim, we came back to the cabin and put the dinner in the oven to finish them up. thanks leah they were definitely delicious.
that was about it for the night. what a day full of crazy memories. brandon and I went out into the night to hit up the hot tub. had to jump the fence and pull the tarp off since it was locked up. came back after an hour and passed out...
sunday we continued the awesome trip. we got up around 9:30 and ate some breakfast and got ready for the day. kourteny ended up sleeping in so we had to wait for her. we went down to the rec center and played some ping pong. I got some revenge as I beat both kyle and brandon multiple times on the table. kourtney finally arrived and we went and hit up the ATV again. this time leah didn’t come. but it was crazy bc im not sure if she would have survived the trails we went on. seriously way crazy. up mountains, down steep cliffs, huge rocks everywhere, squeezing in between trees while flying around turns, mud filled holes, etc…it was crazy. we were filthy dirty again. kourteny flipped her ATV right on front of me. this time I didn’t laugh at first bc i had to get off and flip the four-wheeler back onto its wheels. I thought her leg got crushed but she was fine so then I got to start laughing at her. also there were a couple straight paths where I was able to fly right behind kourtney she said she was impressed how I was keeping up while everyone else lagged behind hahaha. losers. haha. she said we hit 60 mph at one point, im not sure if that’s fast for an ATV or not but I was gunning it as much as it would go and it was way sick. anyways, love riding. love it.
after that we came back, grabbed some lunch, and had to pack up to get ready to leave. mikey, brandon, and I went down and played some basketball. brandon as always was trying to show us his mad skills, and as always they didn’t show up. on the way out we drove through zion and got out to take some pics and see some sights. at one point we dropped by this water pool that the guys jumped into, got some sweet pics it was awesome. then we went up and saw weeping rock which was tight. and eventually we got back in the car and made our way back to provo.
well my plane is beginning its decent. so ill finish this up. there were many little small services I was able to provide this weekend. I think one overall was how all of us were able to be there for our good friend mikey as he goes through this huge trial in his life. luckily despite the numerous times he talked about jumping off the mountain, that never occurred. and it was good for him to get out and for all of us to have some crazy fun together. this past weekend was epic. one of the best weekends for sure. so many crazy memories. from riding sick trails, to leah flying off and on her head, mikey’s hole in one to win, all the crazy dirty jokes the girls had to put up with, mikey on fire, me hitting brandon in the face with my bread that he was unappreciative of, ping pong tournaments, tennis, zip line, climbing, kourtney falling off her ATV, the mountains and sights we saw, cabin, bunking with brandon haha, hot tub, awesome lunch food provided by me, jamming out to glee on the ride home with kourtney, and the list goes on and on…oh and ps- all the pics are on my bro's camera so they'll be on facebook soon!

10/8- Secret Crowds.

2010-10-09T01:23:00.002-06:00

its 1 in the morning and i am getting ready to head on out to Zions. i can't wait. this weekend and the next week are going to be...epic. this post isnt going to be long and sorry no pictures but im using my bros computer right now before we head out. took my english final today. got a 66. haha. oops. could have and should have done much better. but i wasnt in the mood. i just wanted to get it done and out of the way. finished the class with an 87 though, so a B. i'll take it...

my main service for the day was another opportunity that came outta nowhere. and the funny thing is that i cant use any names or say much about it because its supposed to be a secret. but nonetheless an old friend called me up and asked if i could drive another old friend to the airport. so i picked her up and drove her up to SLC. it was fun though bc it had been so long since i had seen her so we had a lot of catching up to do. plus she was kinda nervous about the random flight and getting out of utah so i just told her to relax and have fun and all would be well!

i played 9 holes of golf with trevor and nate today which was a blast. but then it got dark and we couldnt see our balls on the last hole at all. umm one other service i did was go down to BYU to pick up my buddy jake and brought him up to the charity dance party tonight. and i was able to donate to the charity as well. the party was pretty sweet, even though i sat at the door collecting money. but it was way fun because i chatted with a couple of the office girls the entire time at the door. all in all the party was sweet so good job to brandon for hosting it and for the charity that was involved. well thats it for tonight we're getting ready to head out finally for zions. ill be gone the next couple days at zions...and then flying to cali...and then vegas. so hopefully ill get a chance to update...

10/7- The Best is Yet to Come.

2010-10-08T10:04:00.008-06:00

ok sorry i waited till this morning to write about my day yesterday but our internet was jacked up. and i just spent an hour on the phone and ground with routers and modems everywhere trying to fix that crap. but finally fixed. although im sure it will break down again soon bc our internet blows. but nonetheless my day yesterday was....interesting! and totally awesome.

i got up at 730 and went with my grandparents to the bishops storehouse to volunteer. it was a great act of service to start the day. it was fun just like the first time i did it a few weeks back. i did a lot of work in the cooler. this time i didnt mix up the grapefruit with the oranges haha. re-stocked some fruits and veggies. then we put loads of onions in bags and sealed them up for delivery. we went through the work load pretty quick. it was awesome though. i took a pic of my grandparents after we all finished.
after that i came home and got dressed and went to the temple. and then i realized i didnt have my temple recommend on me. i was so ticked. and i couldnt find it anywhere. i prayed to figure out where it was and then thought i left if with my buddy when i went last week. so i called him up and sure enough he had it. haha, so no temple. he was in school all day so i couldnt get it from him. i was so mad. so i just studied for a final for the next hour. grabbed lunch, and then went to work out. after that i met up with my buddy mike. the other day he woke up and decided he was gonna train and wants to play football for BYU. haha totally awesome. so he called me up and im gonna be working him out everyday and keeping him on top of his stuff. im stoked for him. gonna be awesome to see the transformation. plus he hasnt ever played real football before. he's a state champion wrestler though. so we'll see it's gonna be fun to track his progress...

tonight was crazy. i had work and busted my butt all night, got a couple sales. my buddies caleb and landon came over and they were watching the nebraska football game while i worked in my room all night. i thought that was pretty good of me to be able to work while they were watching football! although i did have the game up on my computer...but still haha. so crazy thing happened. after work i was gonna go to a friends bday party. but then a neighbor across the street came over and asked if we could help her move her refrigerator bc her husband was out of town. so i was stoked for some random service! of course caleb and landon couldnt help considering they both are in slings with separated shoulders haha. so i went over there with frank. im not gonna lie doing all this service makes me feel like a missionary again. i immediately got in missionary mode when i walked inside their home. i started making jokes and laughing with them immediately. basically i was telling them it's a good thing ive been working out at the gym everyday so i can lift their fridge for them. hahaha. of course i was the smallest person there though so thats why i was making jokes like that. but they were kool. we lifted the fridge up and over the stairs for them. it was fun!

came back. then my buddy needed some of us to meet up with him at a restraunt to help take care of some business. haha. im not gonna say any names or anything of what happened. so i had to miss the bday party and i went over there to help him out with something. this pic is after i washed all the blood that was dripping from my hand so it's hard to even see anything. im only gonna say one thing--try not to cut your hand/wrist when cracking a beer bottle over someone's head like i did... well it was crazy. after that i went out to applebees and grabbed some food at like 11 haha. wings and a quesedilla. then came back home and caleb and landon spent the night. good times as always...what a crazy day.

10/6- is there still magic in the midnight sun.

2010-10-07T00:12:00.009-06:00

i think all this no sleep i've been getting might be catching up. or maybe im just really tired tonight. gonna keep this post short so i can go to bed. great day. cant complain one bit. just the usual for the morning. got up at 8, ran some errands. cleaned up. worked out. went over to kyle and leahs to pick something up. ate some of their pizza, thanks guys!
after that i went over to grandma and grandpas place to give my service for the day. so retarded picture i know but i was by myself so i didnt have anyone to take a pic of me mowing their lawn. anyways, it was about to rain so i hurried and mowed the front and back for them real quick. they had specific instructions for the front yard and wanted it done in a specific pattern haha. hopefully i did a decent job for them. or maybe they just wont ever let me mow their lawn again.
so they gave me some apples and bell peppers for helping them out haha. gotta love all the fruits and veggies i can get from them. after mowing i came back home. canceled some work accounts. watched a little bit of the baseball playoffs. worked. watched some jersey shore. yup i said it, dont judge me. terrible show. haha, but i still find myself watching that crap. tonight was busy. had a meeting with the stake president tonight. went down with some buddies to brawl. didnt quite happen. postponed till tomorrow night. cant wait, haha. after that went down to uvu with some people and carved some pumpkins! i havent done that in a while. i suck at carving and am very terrible at any artistic stuff whatsoever. so i made my pumpkin very basic...yet still legit.

10/5- Sleep is Overrated.

2010-10-06T10:53:00.003-06:00

so i didnt get much sleep the previous day as i wrote in my blog. and the same thing last night haha. i didnt go to bed till 4 in the morning and i was up at 8. but ill explain why. had physical therapy this morning. they helped my quad out which was nice. i need to start going to massage therapy thats the best. the rest of the day kinda just mashed together and im having a hard time remembering what happened during the day. i know after therapy i went and ran some errands. caleb came over to my place and i made us some lunch- nuggets and pizza rolls haha. watched some billy madison. did some homework. fell asleep for an hour. then worked. worked a lot. had some good success. my service other than making caleb lunch was i had some friends over at my place tonight. made us all some s'mores. still got plenty of leftover s'more stuff from the reception haha. so i made some s'mores without a fire, delicious. microwave works interesting on a marshmallow. after that we watched a movie, talked, hung out...next thing i know it's 4 in the morning and im still wide awake haha. oops. went to bed finally and woke up at 8 this morning. i have a feeling i might be taking a nap today, but we'll see...

10/4- Playing with Fire.

2010-10-05T00:58:00.003-06:00

woke up at 6 this morning after going to bed at 2 haha. my service for the day was fasting for a close friend of mine. the trial he is going through in his life is literally heart-breaking to me. i thought i went through a hard time, but it doesnt even compare. love is something i just cant quite wrap my hands around. nor do i understand some people. sure i dont know the whole situation. bc i dont know everything i cant jump to conclusions. but ive heard of stories like this before but never actually seen it happen in my life. my close friend who has been married for just over a month, and then his wife says it was all a lie and she never loved him and wants a divorce...that is...not believable to me. and breaks my heart even thinking about so im not gonna type much more about it. all im gonna say is if it was a lie, why would you even go through with it?! its not like anyone is forcing you and the pressure wasnt there. the adversary is so strong. so deceiving. such a piece of....yeah fill in the blank with whatever you want. hearing someones voice so hopeless and broken down is something i never want to hear again. as hard as it is to sometimes believe this, there is always comfort in knowing that God wont give us trials that we cant overcome. or in other words, 'He never said it would be easy, only that it would be worth it". sorry not gonna type much bc i feel sick to my stomach when i think of what he is going through. it scares me to ever be married. and just when i thought i was ready haha! good day today though. it rained which was a nice change. ran some errands. worked out. stuffed my face full of food later. worked. got some sales. watched some MNF. went out with some friends to watch 'Social Network'. interesting movie. thought it was good and crazy bc it's all true and it all just happened and is going on right now...facebook is crazy hahaha.

10/3- General Conference.

2010-10-04T09:44:00.003-06:00

after that awesome saturday we got up right before the first session of conference. they made us smoothies and omelets. it was the craziest way to make an omelet. i cracked three eggs into a plastic ziplock bag, put in some pieces of ham, onions, peppers, sauces, and then sealed it up. mixed up everything in the bag and put it into a big pot boiling pot. then after eating a cinnamon rolls and drinking my smoothie right before conference started my omelet was done it was crazy! just like that. plus it was super good. i love conference. there isnt much else to say other than it is amazing.

i drove back to provo with curtis. he had to get back for work. came back and got all cleaned up and got dressed in my church clothes. i went up to my uncles for dinner with the cousins. i was only able to stay for like 10 minutes so i had to stuff the food down my throat really quick. then i met up and went home-teaching. that was my service for the day. although is that really service when it's commandment? im not sure. maybe?? oh well. the girls we home-taught were awesome, totally kool girls.

after that came back and watched the late-night football game. landon and caleb came over and spent the night haha. we watched the new robin hood and then chilled and laughed it up till like 2 in the morning haha. good times...great day. great night. an epic weekend full of the spirit, laughter, being scared to death, lost for hours, games, yet overall--ridiculously fun times...