Childhood Imagination

When I was young one of my sisters and I would play a game. We didn't have a name for it but the game took up hours of our day. It was a story line with us performing the leading role. My sister was the more creative us the two of us so she took charge of the story line. I was more excited about spending time with her than than I was about the game, but I played my part dutifully.

The setting for our story line? We are brother and sister, wealthy because of an inheritance from our recently deceased parents.

Our story begins when we are shipwrecked on a desert island. Naturally we are the only survivors. We learn to survive bu building grass huts. My character became a hunter/fisherman providing for the family. I'm not sure what my sister did, probably something much more refined like cooking or something. We lived on this island for a number of years until our luck changed. We stumbled on a cave, the Cave of Wonders. Inside were riches beyond our wildest dreams, but most importantly, 2 lamps containing genie's. This provided the means for us to return to the civilized world.

Thus our adventure begins. Beginning with the wish for infinite wishes (its our game, we make the rules) We then stretch our imagination as big as it will go. We decided that 3 or 4 stories for a house was for sissy billionaires. For people like us, we needed a five goggle plex story house, each. For those unfamiliar with what 5 goggle plex is, it is a 5 with 100 zero's after it. In short its a huge number. Naturally, each floor had a theme. Top floor was space themed, convenient since it was well into outer space. We had the safari room, the sports room, weight rooms, every culture was represented in our house, etc...etc. Each time we played it involved us exploring/discovering another one of our rooms. My favorite was my bed room. It encompassed an entire floor. I didn't have a king sized bed, I had a water bed the size of an Olympic pool. Other than the water bed, my room had a castle theme. Grey stone walls with tapestries hanging. Artwork depicting the great football stars of our century; Jim Thorpe, Joe Montana, Steve Young...etc...etc.

I'm sure the outside world thought that at least 2 of the Ross children had issues, but it was a wonderful bonding moment with my sister, one that we still talk about on occasion. When you have 10 brothers and sisters, its not about what you do together, its about doing something.

Hero's

So ironically it took me leaving home and really being on my own to realize that my parents are my hero's. I might be their biggest fans. Its amazing how much I desire to talk to them. Its really easy to call home just to talk about anything. When I had my run ins with the cops who did I call? My parents. Why? I'm not sure what I expected them to do from 1000 miles away. Somehow they made it all better. When I'm having a bad day, I call mom. When I need to advice, I call mom. When I need to know how wonderful I am, I call Dad. When I need to laugh, I call Dad.

My parents might be the busiest people in the world but they have always made time for me. I called my Dad the other day at work. He was obviously busy but he sat and talked to me as long as I wanted. I'm sure that he could have been much more productive, but he decided that I was more important. I called my mom, just to talk, while she was trying to fill out a report for her church calling. She must have talked to me for 30 minutes.

My parents are amazing. I wish that I had realized this before I had left, it would have made my experience much more enjoyable. They are super hero's. They are my hero's.

I believe in Christ

I've decided that I love being in a choir. I actually think that my voice is made for this type of music. I don't have a solo voice, but my voice blends in very well with others.

This Sunday we had a Stake Easter fireside. It was wonderful. I particularly enjoyed our final song, "I Believe in Christ". It is a wonderful song anyway but on the final verse the congregation joined us. As the stake bore its testimony through music, the windows of heaven open up and the Spirit of God pored out upon me (I don't really know about the rest of the congregation). It renewed my testimony of the Atonement.

For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart, yea the song of the rightous is a prayer unto me and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads. D&C 25:12

My wonderful Nephew's

I realized one of the nicest things about being in Utah is being in close proximity to two of my nephews. Luckily Laurie and Michael are kind enough to let me come over and get them riled up right before bedtime.

It doesn't matter how rough my day has been. I can go over and play with them. With out fail, they make me feel like a million bucks.

Michael is Huish through and though, personality wise. Physically, he looks like a really big Hilton baby. But he is very passive aggressive. Sober is a word that describes him. He has a very serious nature and likes to be in control. When we play games its by his rules; I can only chase him so far, I can only throw pillows at him when he permits...etc...etc. So as long as I play by his rules we're friends. Its really quite cute and endearing. The nice thing is that he decided that he likes me.

Hyrum is a Ross. He looks almost exactly like I did when I was a kid, just with red hair. He has the Ross personality. Like Samuel he likes to keep things stirred up, especially with his serious older brother. Hyrum will grab something of Michael's, wave it in front of his face and take off running down the hall screaming at the top of his lungs. Michael, like so many of Samuel's older siblings, will take the bate and chase him also screaming. Hyrum is a little lovable imp.

If I'm not married before I graduate I'm going to try to live next to all my siblings at some point so that I can develop this kind of relationship with all my nieces and nephews. It has truly been a wonderful experience.

Another Testiment of Jesus Christ

As I look at church history and the order that things were done I see something interesting. Before the priesthood, before temples and family history work, before all the "staples" of a Mormon's life there was the Book of Mormon. Why was this book so important that it was the first thing that God revealed to Joseph Smith after revealing himself to the boy prophet?

Jeffrey R. Holland said "The Book of Mormon was the first and is still the greatest of all the missionary tracts in this dispensation" What does teaching with the Book of Mormon do? I find that it does at least 3 things;

1. It brings the teacher and learner to a knowledge of God and his Sons atoning mission. Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." It serves as a keystone to a deep and real testimony of Jesus Christ. It gives us examples of how great men have received testimonies of Christ and gives us the steps for us to follow in like manner.

2.It invites the special spirit of the restoration. The knowledge of the Book of Mormon is to important for our Salvation for God to allow that to go unblessed. If we read and study with real intent then we are promised that He will make these things known unto us through the Spirit. "Reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon are critical for an enduring conversion. Those who begin reading the Book of Mormon for the first time take important steps towards coming to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and the the true church has been restored to the Earth."

3.It gives the Spirit the opportunity to bear witness of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The messianic message of the Book of Mormon brings the readers mind to Christ. This puts them in a state of being that is conducive to receiving revelation "And I did read them many things which were written...but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the [prophets]."

The Savior gives us a warning in the book of Mathew "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" As members of the Lords church, we are the elect. Joseph Smith spoke wisely when he called the Book of Mormon the "Keystone of our religion". As we read ponder, and pray over the message that it contains it will hold our testimony together just as a keystone holds an arch together. It becomes a keystone in our personal testimony of the atoning mission of the Savior.

The Book of Mormon was the first defense that God gave us in this dispensation. He knew the fight is our future. He saw the waves of filth washing over the world in the forms of violence and pornography. He has provided us a Dam to protect us from it. The Keystone of that Dam is the Book of Mormon. As we read ponder and pray from its pages we will be protected from the world.

The Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

My purpose is to convey how the Gospel of Jesus Christ unlocks the healing power of the Atonement. The Prophet Joseph Smith once said "All things pertaining to our religion are apendages to the Atonement." The Atonement is what makes our return to the Father possible. It is the act whereby fallen man is reconciled to a perfect, exalted Father. We access the atonement when we live the principles of the Gospel.

Why did we need the Savior? Why is the Atonement so important to our Salvation? Perhaps an experience from my childhood will help explain. On our property we have a ditch that is bigger and more circular than the other ditches. When it rains it becomes a small pond and my friends and I treated it as such. We would have a wonderful time playing in it and getting muddy and nasty. On occasion we would get lucky and my sisters would wonder out of the house unprotected. On these occasions we would grab them and throw then in. This happened on this day and we were having a grand time. My mother decided to take advantage of the distraction and clean our perpetually dirty house. Eventually the ditch lost its appeal to us children so we set off towards the house to play inside the toy room. my mother saw us coming and met us at the door. In my young eyes my mother who is usually about 5'2" turned into a 10' giant with laser vision. She then lovingly directed us to the back of the water hose and hosed us down. Only then were we allowed to enter her house and go to the bathroom to finish the cleaning process with a much needed (though undesired) bath. In like manner, when we were born, we left the perfectly clean home of our Heavenly Father to wallow in a mud pit. It was necessary to our progression but, as a result "All mankind [became] fallen...which consigned them forever to be cut off...[We] were cut off from the presence of the Lord" Because "If [we] be filthy [we] cannot dwell in the kingdom of God; if so, the kingdom of God must be filthy also. But, the kingdom of God is not filthy" "Wherefore, save [there] should be an infinite atonement" we could not dwell in Gods home. The only way that we can be clean again is by "washing our garments in the Blood of the Lamb" The atonement is represented in this analogy by the water coming out of the water hose. The water that cleaned us off. But in order to access this water several things needed to occur before hand. First, the water bill had to be paid. Second, we had to turn the nozzle to release the water. We turn the nozzle when we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ paid the water bill, he paid the price for our Salvation. His payment began in the Garden of Gethsemane where his anguish over the wickedness and abominations of his people was so great that he sweat great gout's of blood. This was swiftly followed by the betrayal of Judas, the abandonment of his remaining Apostles. The Savior then experienced the irony of being a God convicted of blaspheme. The degradation of being beaten and mocked by the Rulers of the Jews and then by the Gentile Rulers. The inhumanity of being scourged with 40 stripes save one and then being forced to carry his own cross down to his own crucifixion. In less than 48 hours every mortal form of support had left him and then the unthinkable happened, our Savior felt the divine spirit of God withdraw. "My God My God! Why has thou forsaken me?!" what human mind can fathom the significance of that awe-full cry? In addition to the agony of crucifixion the agony of Gethsemane returned, intensified beyond human capacity to comprehend much less endure. In his bitterest hour, the dying Christ was completely alone. That the supreme sacrifice of the Son might be consumated in all its fullness, the Father withdrew the comfort of his immediate presence and the support of his divine spirit, leaving our Savior completely, utterly alone. In order to pay our water bill our Savior literally "Descended below it all" surely "He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows, [surely] he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity and with his stripes we are healed."

The water bill has been paid. Jesus Christ said "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The Savior invites us to "Come...everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price"

I testify that the water bill has been paid. I testify that as we turn the nozzle to access the cleansing water of the Atonement that we will be made clean. We will be allowed to return to the clean house our or Father.

The Nature of Man

In the church the phrase "the natural man" is generally associated with the carnal nature of man. This assumption is made with good reason, the Book of Mormon repetitively condons the carnal nature of man, and I agree, the carnal nature of man is evil. I think that the natural man also has inherited some of the qualities of its Creator. This morning while I was sitting on the bus I noticed a person that I would identify as a person who has given into the natural man totally. He had a nasty goatee, and ICP shirt, piercing in various body parts, and he appeared to, and his language frequented the use of profanities. As the bus came to a stop a man who was confined to a wheel chair rolled to the door, slipped from his wheel chair and started to slide down the door. With out question, the previously mentioned man, grabbed the wheelchair and carried it down the stairs. As far as I am aware they had had no previous interaction. This "natural man" instinctively acted to help his brother. I believe that the purpose of life is to refine the natural man. To purge the carnal part of our nature and refine and enhance the divine characteristics. I am grateful that God woke me up long enough to witness the goodness of man.

Pet Peeve

I have realized in the last couple of days that I have a pet peeve. It really frustrates me when a member of the church that I respect talks ill of any of their priesthood leaders or discredits them because they have made a mistake in the past. I think that this pet peeve dates back to when I was a young Aaronic Priesthood holder and my father was called to be the Stake President. I watched my dad struggle to do the best that he could to follow the will of the Lord even when it was difficult. I watched him and my mother get made fun of and ostracized because of their dedication to following the priesthood. Then I went on my mission and watched missionary after missionary criticize and murmur about my mission president. I have seen people apostatize from the church over a small disagreement with their bishop/stake president/mission president. I don't believe that church leaders are perfect. Believe me, I knew better than anybody else that my Dad was imperfect. But I believe that when the priesthood speaks in its stewardship, all discussion ends. the only discussion that should ensue is how to carry out their directive. Call this blind obedience if you want, but to me it is not blind. I know that God is my father, I know that Jesus is my Savior, and because I know this I know that the Keys of the Kingdom are in the Hands of Thomas S. Monson and the Quorum of the Twelve and the have delegated that authority to our local leaders. It is a very sensitive subject for me because of my history with my Dad being what he was in the church. I find myself getting angry when I hear some one discredit a source because they think that they are smart enough to recognize the error in the statement given by a General Authority. "O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the councles of God." I am grateful for the influence of my parents and the affect that it has had on me. Hold tight to the priesthood and you are holding tight to God.

Worst Luck Possible

So I officially have the worst luck in the world, at least in Utah. Do you know the scenes in the movies where the bad kids are trying to get the good guy to do something bad (such as knocking down mailboxes with a bat)? They sit there and do it for an eternity and finally the "good guy" succumbs and picks up the bat. Before he can even take a swing, the tell tell flashes of red, white, and blue flash on. The bad kids take off leaving their unfortunate victim holding the evidence. I feel like that has happened to me a couple of times. I was obviously doing something wrong, but I wasn't the first one to do it, I was just the first to get caught. One of my friends gave me a moped that he had had for several years. It was unregistered, uninsured, and it had a dangling tail light. he reassured me saying that cops don't care about mopeds in Provo and provided several stories as evidence. It took about a week for the cops to pull me over and slap a nasty ticket on me. I was now shouldered with the responsibility of getting the moped registered, insured, and fixed. Left with the bat in my hand. The 2nd example happened today. I ride the bus to school everyday and have done so for a month and a half without any problem. I use a bus pass that my friend gave me. Apparently the state of Utah frowns on this (why i do not know since the price of passage is paid already, but that's a topic for another day). On occasion the cops will get bored and decide to ride the bus around. They do this under the pretense of making sure that everybody has paid for their passage. So every week or so i would pull out my pass and show it to them and they would nod their heads and continue on. Well today must have been a particularly slow day so they decide to check my ID to make sure the names match. I explained to them the situation of my pass and they then informed me that what I was doing was illegal. I was then escorted off the train (not in hand cuffs, to bad really that would make a much more exciting story). the officer then sat me down and wrote me a pretty big fine and took my bus pass. No warning, no mercy. I guess that this is what I get for living in a state with one of the lowest crime rates in America, bored cops. I guess that it is a good thing, I mean, who would want a poor college student out on the streets on an unregistered moped, or taking advantage of a friends kindness. The streets need to be protected from the likes of me, for the safety of the children of America. It really is a good thing. I wish that I did not have to be the victim of these bouts of bad luck but it is teaching me about integrity and doing things the way that they are supposed to be done. Just wish that my teachers weren't so expensive.

The Vibrality of Youth

I love being young. It is a wonderful thing to realize that I can stay up to the wee hours of the morning and still function at a decent percentage of my max capacity. Its not just me, its every college student in existance. I am constantly amazed by how little sleep the average 18-27 year old gets. It creates an interesting culture surrounding college towns. Social Websites such as facebook enhance this. At any time I can get onto facebook and it is almost a guarantee that one of my college buddies will be on. Whether I talk to them or not is a different matter. Then you factor in the hours of homework that a student has to do on top of going to class and (on occasion) work. I know people who work till midnight and then come home and do the hours of homework, sleep for 4 hours, wake up and go to school. Its a rough life. Personally I don't have this schedule. I wake up in time to catch the bus to school, sleep on the way to school, attend school, get on the bus and do homework, get home and play. Its a rough life I know, but I do what I can to get by.

Tribute to my Father

I was pondering deep thoughts about the universe today and I had a burst of realization. I realized that I did not cherish the time I had with my Dad before I left for college. I think back on the 3 interesting months that I was home and I am slightly embarrassed by what I did. I spent so much time complaining of being mis-treated that I overlooked the wonderful opportunity that I had to bond with my Dad man-man. I realized today that we are more alike than I thought. I think that we might even have some of the same insecurities/issues.

Issue #1 One of the issues that I thought of today is a memory from those 3 months. I remember sitting on my computer playing a game online when my Dad walked into the house with one of the seasons of Smallville. Generally when he rented one of the seasons all the boys would watch it with him. I remember that we kinda ignored him because we were to entranced into our game. "I got this so we could watch them together, but I guess that I'll just watch them by myself" he said as we ignored him. One of my main issues is that I'm a pretty loud guy. So people hear me and assume that I'm doing good and don't bother to check on me and talk to me. My father is also a loud person, and very social. So I as his son always assumed that he didn't really need me to "hang out" with him. I look back and realize that he was trying to get me to be with him. I am his son who he loves dearly. I think that he wanted our 3 months together to be a time were we bonded. And just as I get ignored because I'm loud and social, so does he. But just like I need to be recognized and loved, so does he.

Issue #2 Throughout my life I surrounded myself with some stellar friends. Alex Alvis, Brandon Packard, and Nate Jarrell. These 3 friends had everything it took. They were funny, nice, educated, sweet, sincere, worthy priesthood holders. I was all these things also but i got lost in the background because of the quality of my friends. It didn't diminish our friendship at all, in fact I loved being with them because it made me want to be better. My father married the most wonderful woman in the world. We tout her praises to everyone that we meet. My Dad is her biggest advocate. As a result, my Dads good qualities fall in the background because of the company he keeps. But my Dad has some amazing characteristics that have profoundly affected my life. I am so grateful for him. I am going to name off just a few of the characteristics that I have noticed.
#1 obedience- I learned obedience from my Dad(my mom to, but this blog is for dad, lol). I didn't just learn it through his words "obedience is the first law of heaven..." but through his actions. From driving through a ditch because a General Authority told him, waking us up at 5 a.m. to have Family Scripture study, putting up with his rambunctious kids at FHE, to something so simple as not yelling at his children. Dad, I learned unquestioning obedience to the priesthood from you.
#2 Choice- My Dad should not have been the dad that he was. He had a poor example of how a father should be. He chose to be the best dad that he could. He made time for us. He tried to do things with us(A/E working the garden). He balanced a hectic work/church schedule to make time to be home. Most importantly he decided that no matter what happened his children where going to know that he loved them. Cherished were the times on my mission when a member would get in contact with my parents and come to me with a confused expression on their face and tell me, "Your dad told me to pass this message on to you, "Guess What?""
#3 Pro-activity- I don't know how many times I went and asked my Dad to go somewhere and he would ask, "Is the yard mowed? Are your chores for Mom done?" If I could answer these questions affirmatively then the world was my oyster. If not, the answer was inevitable, "nope, come talk to me when the job is done" I learned to not even ask until I had finished the job. As a result I would do my work (usually) without being told.
#4 Priesthood- I learned how a priesthood holder should act, who they should be, and where they should be from my Dad. He was an example of the priesthood to me. He was constantly serving others and volunteering his sons to serve others. When he received revelation to do something, he did it, no matter how controversial or hard the decision was. He was an example of the the phase "When the priesthood speaks, you listen and obey"
#5 Missionary Work- I am constantly amazed by how good my Dad is at missionary work. When he came to pick me up from my mission, he was more gung-ho about inviting people to hear the message of the missionaries. While we were visiting a couple that I had baptized the wife's non-member mother and sister showed up. Before we had left the mother had committed to learn more about the Gospel. Just a couple of weeks ago he was in Austin to sit in with his sister as she began the lessons with the missionaries.

I could go on and on about the good qualities that my Dad personifies; testimony, service, love, humility, passion, determination, diligence... But I want to keep this blog shorter than 10 pages. Needless to say, my Dad is a wonderful man/father. The cool thing is that as lucky as my Dad is to have my Mom, she is just as lucky to have my Dad. This puts me in the truly blessed category to have both of them as my parents. Dad, guess what...I love you.

Happy Valintines Day

Why do we have Valentines Day? I think that its so that everyone who is married or is in some other type of companionship can show off their successful lives. While all us single folk are stuck with wondering what could have been. I had an interesting weekend myself. It started on Friday afternoon when I had the chance to meet one of the officers of the Provo Police department. He decided that I had way to much money for my own good(as was shown by my 1985 moped scooter bike) and slapped a nasty ticket on me($1400). It then turned pretty fun. I went to a Pool party that my summer employer puts on every Friday. There I met a really cool girl. We hit it off and later as we watched "The Dark Knight" in my employers theater room we ended up snuggling a little bit and holding hands. Naturally I was pretty excited so I get her phone number and we decide to get together soon. I kinda had a plan that if we started to hit it off even more I was gonna ask her if she wanted to come eat diner at my sisters house for Valentines Day(which was amazing BTW Laurie). But we were not able to get in touch with each other until I was headed over to Laurie's house. Bummer. But I just found out from one of her friends that she didn't hold my hand because she liked me but because she didn't want to hurt my feelings. I've noticed that that always works. I'm going to do something that I know represents a certain type of emotion when I know that I don't have that emotion and try to say that I didn't want to hurt the person. I was the victim of a Mormon version of a One-night-stand.

Insomnia Stinks

This week I have been hit with a bout of Insomnia. To put it simply, it stinks. I know that I've had insomnia wince I was around the age of 14, roughly around the time I started High School. But I think that I might have had it before then, and its probably self induced. Some of my earliest memories of my childhood are me staying up till the wee hours of the morning reading/finishing my latest fantasy novel. That continued on for a while then when I reached high school I was truly introduced into the world of video games. This didn't replace my reading, it just pushed it back to the later hours of the night. So through out high school i got used to the schedule of going to bed around 1:00 a.m. and being woken up by my dad at 5 a.m. during the school week. The weekends usually consisted in going over to my friend Nate's house on Friday night and playing video games till 5 a.m. sleeping till 7 a.m. then going home at 8 a.m. to do chores. Wash, rinse, repeat for Saturday night.
As a teenager this worked for me perfectly. I barely even realized that I had a harder time falling asleep than all my friends because I was so caught up in the material world that I lived in. It was rough on my mission. Going to bed at 10:30 p.m. was torture. Sometimes I would lay in bed staring at the ceiling till 3 a.m. Eventually my sleep pattern stabilized and I was able to go to sleep by mid-night. When I got home from my mission I got back into a similar routine as I had had prior to the mission. I'd usually go to bed around 2 a.m. and get up at 6 a.m. to go to work. Now I 'm in college, and this last week was the worst I've had since I left for my mission 2 1/2 years ago. On some nights I didn't fall asleep till 6 a.m. On average I went to bed around 3 a.m. I disguised it to my room-mates and friends by watching movies and playing games with them until they went to bed, but after that I would take a shower and attempt to sleep. Eventually after and hour or so of attempting, I would succeed.
This problem makes school work very difficult. I'm lucky that all my classes do not require my attendance to learn the material. In fact I actually learn the material better when I study it alone. This gives me the opportunity to catch up on sleep when needed. But it is something that I cant take advantage of to often. Plus if I'm sleeping during the afternoon, I'm not doing school work.

My Great Failure When it comes to School

I want to start this blog off by saying that I DON'T think that I am a super-genius, cause I'm not. But I do recognize that I am an intelligent person. My greatest problem when it comes to school is that I get really really bored during class. It generally starts when the professor goes off on a tangent about things that I deem are irrelevant. So at that point my mind selects from an ample selection of distractions that has been provided by the Fantasy books that I've been reading since I was around the age of 5. I begin to philosophize and ponder on the subject and before I know it, not only is the tangent over but so is the class. It entertains me, but also makes going to class almost completely pointless. I think that I would do better with a tutor and an on-line course. I also think that I might have a strange combination of ADD and OCD. I'm easily distracted from things that are important by things that are enjoyable, but at the same time, if i have parameters put around me(A/E you cant go anywhere this weekend until the yard is mowed) I'm very good at getting the job done, and doing it well. And yes, I did write this post in the midst of a tangent during my finance 101 class that is about to end(30 minutes later, I know that its a tangent because it started with the phrase "I digress from my topic but...")

Life as a Chaos Nexus

This last Saturday evening I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that I'm a Chaos Nexus. Just about anything that can go wrong will go wrong. I found this out on a date unfortunatly. It started off well. It was a nice night so I took her to my sisters house to make cookies and play the card game rummy. This part of the date went really well and we had a ton of fun. After that we got on my scooter to go to a park to swing on the swings. The park that we found didn't have swings in it(a park without swings what is up with that?!) So we improvised and decided to play the version of tag where you cant touch the ground. In the process of climbing over a wall I hear a big rip. I look down and realize that I have a new addition to the crotch of my pants, a window. So I decide that I need to stop by the Apartment real quick so I can get some new pants. As we are driving there my scooter runs out of gas, so I get to push it about 1/2 a mile to the gas station. As we're pushing my scooter it starts to snow! So we fill it up with gas and decide to watch a movie instead. Ya for these kind of dates that make my life interesting.

My Favorite Genre

As I've become mellowed out by age my taste in music has changed. I've become much more concerned with the music making me feel the spirit than I am with the quality of the music. Naturally, this has caused my taste to change. I begun to enjoy songs teach true doctrine, that has the spirit testifying of the truth of the doctrine contained in the songs. As I've tried out almost every style of music, one style keeps becoming more prevalent in my mind. Anybody that has listened to music with me since I've come home from my mission knows what Genre I'm writing about. Country. Right now I'm listening to a song titled "I saw God Today" by George Strait. Other Titles also include, but are not limited to; "Don't take the Girl", "Unanswered Prayers", "I'll Go on Loving You", "Are You Washed in the Blood?", "Waiting on a Woman", "Little Moments", "When I get Where I'm Going", "Walk a Little Straighter Daddy","She's my Kinda Rain", "Live Like You Were Dying", "My Next Thirty Years", and my personal favorite "Love without End, Amen" by George Strait. Feel free to listen to any of these songs and you'll realize what I mean. I've personally felt the Spirit during each of these songs. I think that country has motivated me more towards goodness than any other genre outside of the Hymns.

Busy Sundays

Its amazing how busy Sundays are. I can barley breathe half of the time. they generally start off kinda slow(church doesn't start till 11:30) but immediately after church I usually have dinner with Laurie and Micheal. Yesterday it didn't start till 4:30. That's probably my favorite post-church event. It was actually really sweet. MD is finally starting to warm up to me. He even gave me a hug when I left, Then Nick was having a mini mission reunion. I arrived at the tail end of that just in time to have my smoothy party. That was a ton of fun. We probably had about 15 people there at one point, and about 8 of those were female, and not just any females, they were hecka cool females. I had so much fun. Then its off to ward prayer, love-notes, and game night. When I finally get back to my apartment at 12, I get on Facebook and see that Elder Earl is on, so we start chatting it up and lo and behold he lives right across the street from me. So he comes over for an hour, then I go over to his place to meet his wife. I finally get home around 2 am, take a shower and get to bed around 3ish. I forgot to change my alarm from my Sunday settings and wake up around 8, to late to take the bus. So I call a friend and get a ride with him. Talk about an exciting life.

My addiction

I've realized that I have a major addiction. Its probably the most addictive thing that one can encounter. Its worse than Drugs, Alcohol, Pornography, you name it this substance is more addictive. Its the $5 foot-long Spicy Italian Sub on Italian Herb and Cheese bread from Subway. I was initially exposed by my father during my 7th grade year of school. Since then I've been off and on. I'd quit for a week or two but I've never had the will power to resist. I was doing so good. It had been about 3 months since I had acted out and then one of my friends wanted to go. I was powerless to resist. Since then I think that I've hit rock bottom. They say that when your trying to break an addiction that you have to change everything about yourself, even the way that you do certain things. This is to help you avoid triggering your "Habit," so I fled to Utah under the guise of going to school. To my up most horror that there is a Subway across the street from LDSBC! Oh the Horror. So I went and applied.

Greatest Moment as an Uncle

So I live near my older sister Laurie and her husband and 2 sons. I remember the Oldest Son Micheal from before my mission, but he doesn't remember me at all. He is also notoriously slow to warm up to people(His younger brother Hyrum is another story). I've been going to their house on Sunday for Family dinner and Michael has been avoiding/ignoring the strange man who keeps coming to his house. Well this last Sunday it finally happened. I was sitting on the couch and I threw a pillow at little Michael, he looked at me and threw it back. Before you know it we're knocking down pictures and candlesticks as we frolicked in their living room. It was so fun. I doubt that he'll remember me this next Sunday. But for 1 hour I felt like his uncle again. I love being near enough to develop this relationship with at least 2 of my nephews.

New Beginings

This is my blog for any interesting ideas that I have at any random moment on any random day during any random year. I'm still trying to figure out the difference between bogging and facebook, but life goes on.