1,095 days later.

Is it really December again? Is it really almost Christmas? Has December 6th really come and gone? The past 2 days I have been really reminiscent of days that have past. 3 years ago today, was my first full day as a missionary for the Church. 3 years ago? Really? Has it been that long, then why does it feel like yesterday? Why can I remember that day as clearly as if it had just happened, almost as if I were still living it?

It makes me chuckle as I think about that first day. I woke up at 6:30 after about 3 hours of sleep, we went to the classroom, had a quick study. Took off for breakfast, met my MTC teacher, studied more, ate Lunch, studied more, lot's more. Set up an appointment in the TLC ( I think that's the acronym.) Studied, ate, met my other teacher, sang a Christmas hymn, prayed a lot, and wondered the whole day if I was really going to be able to do it. Little did I know I was currently companions with the kid who became my brother and my family in the field, and also someone who would never allow me to quit because he saw who I was and who I could become as long as I tried. Lights out at 10:30, where Elder McNeel and I would lie awake rolling around for the next 4 or so hours.

Then I think about what I did today. Woke up at 7:30, went to class. Took my Zoology final, played racquetball, studied what it is that makes the world go round. Talked about ectothermy and endothermy for the 4th time this semester. Attempted to pay attention the best I could in class. Thought about studying for genetics, couldn't muster up the courage so I went where my time would be much better spent at Collie's place, playing with Easton. Came back ate dinner celebrated a new friends birthday, watched the Jazz game, went over to Macys, where probably the only thing I accomplished there was distracted her from studying for her test tomorrow, and I was definitely not in bed by 10:30.

As I think about both of those days, I can't help but feel accomplished in both of them. Sure they are definitely different, in one I studied the gospel, in the other I studied things less important. In one I had an exact purpose, in the other I am still defining my purpose. I am glad to have served my mission, I am also glad to be exactly where I am in this life right now. I am also glad the good Lord continues to watch out for me even though I am not one of his missionaries.

I just can't believe it has been 3 years ago.

Today during my Genetics lab, which runs from 10:00 to 10:50, there were 6,908 people born according to the world population counter in the science department at Utah Valley University. That equates out to a little over 138 people born every minute, and over 2 people born every second.

That is more people born in 50 minutes than I had in my high school.

That is more people than currently live in Kanosh Utah.

That is more people than my room ates, Preston, Brock, Myself, Alvin, Andrew, and Jordan, have as friends on facebook combined.

That is more people than were killed in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001

That is a lot of people. The crazy part is, it only takes one person to change lives. In the past 50 minutes who has been born? What will all these people become? What will they do to change the world?

It only takes one person to change my life.



My thanks goes out to this AWESOME commercial and the Utah Valley University population counter for inspiring this post. Also I hope that another Micheal Jordan has not been born in the last 50 minutes unless he will play for the Jazz.

1....2....3.....GO!

There are times in this life when I feel that we deserve to be happy. There are times when I reserve the right to walk around campus with a smile on my face because I am happy. I feel there are enough bad, and blah days that everyone needs some days that they can just smile. There are things and people in my life that just make me smile. There are things in my life that just make me happy.

Like this

And this

And These

And This

There are things in my life that I don’t currently have pictures of that make me happy. There are many things in life that bring me joy.

I reserve the right to do the things the make me smile, laugh, and be happy.

I reserve the right to laugh.
I reserve the right to smile.

I reserve the right to be happy.

I reserve the right to store these people, things, and memories in my mind, so that when I am doing my thing I can smile.

I reserve the right to enjoy my life.

Sometimes.....

I just wanted to say that most of the time, Goliath really does kick the crap out of David in life, it's just no one wants to hear that story. So no one tells it.

Team 115

When I say the names, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Micheal Jordan, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Tom Brady, and Joe Paterno what are a few of the things you think of? You might think of a favorite play, these athletes did while on the field, or court. You might think of a stat, that they achieved during their careers. I imagine though at some point you thought of the team that they played for during their careers. Steve Young and Jerry Rice played for the 49ers, Micheal Jordan for the Bulls, John Stockton and Karl Malone for the Jazz, Larry Bird for the Celtics, Tom Brady for the Patriots, and Joe Paterno is the long standing coach of the Penn State Lions. Now imagine for one second if these team names would have been different. What if the 49ers had been called the tigers? What if the Bulls were called the Leafs? Imagine if the Jazz had been called the Smelterites, or the Patriots were called the plungers. How about those Knittany Lions, what if they flew under the banner of Team 115? Would that make these players or the feats that the accomplished any less? Would it somehow diminish what they had done? Would they be any less memorable?

Down in Provo Utah, my friends and I have recently joined an intramural ultimate frisbee league. Because of our busy schedules we were trying to staple down the essentials for a team, to make sure we have enough players, and to make sure that we were all going to wear the same color for our game the next day. Well in the hustle and bustle the need for a team name kind of was back seated due to other essentials that were needed at the moment. Thus became the dawn of Team 115. See, when a team comes together, the intramural program automatically assigns each team a number until they pick a team name, so that each can be differentiated. Well since we didn't have time to change our name, we became known to the intramural world as Team 115. The more I thought about this team name the more I began to like it. Because I soon began to realize what's in a name? If you were pummeled on the field by the Jordan Beatdiggers is it any less of a loss than if you were to lose to the Alta Hawks? No. A loss is a loss and a win is a win, and it isn't because of the name that you remember the team. Whether John Stockton played for the Jazz, or the Pigs, he is still the all time assist leader. Whether Micheal Jordan played for the Bulls or the Walruses (It pains me to say this but.....) he is still one of the greatest men to ever play basketball. Whether Tom Brady won 3 championships with the Patriots or the Bengals his team still won three championships.

As it is with Team 115. We haven't walked onto the frisbee field with the best name yet. However we are still undefeated, and Team 115 has handed out 2 losses thus far this season. It won't be because of our memorable name that teams like the Ultimate Salad Eaters remember us. It will be because we beat them 15-4. And when it boils down to it, that's what matters. So here's to team 115.

Sweet, sweet summertime

In the past my summertime has consisted of early morning runs, lazy afternoons, movies, friends, late nights, frisbee, and lot's of unwinding before another long grueling school year. This summer however has not been what I am used to at all. This summer has consisted of 2 things, work and school. For the past 2 weeks however with school out, and another semester staring me right in the eyes I had to live it up while I could. I came to call it the shortest, long lived summer I have ever had in my life. Plenty was said and done, so here's my post to sweet summertime. A list of a few of the things I have enjoyed, and some pictures to go along with it.

1. Spending time with my family (First and foremost)

2. Since not being able to boat at Utah Lake, swimming at Utah Lake

3. Catching up with friends

4. Villiage in turning off their grills at 2 A.M.

5. So going to IHOP at 2 A.M.

6. Watching Brock consume chicken fingers at 2:30 A.M.

7. Hiking Mt. Olympus in the dark

8. Almost quitting because I thought the top of Mt. Olympus would never come

9. Peacing to the East, literally

10. Getting back to the car, and finding Brock sound asleep

11. Fishing on the Provo River

12. Almost drowning in the Provo river

13. Ultimate Frisbee!!!! (This could occupy a few number as I played
a few times, but i'll just mention it once.)

14. Having Baydon come to town

15. Meeting Brittany

16. Having a lazy summer afternoon

17. Taking a long nap

18. Heading off to California

19. Driving all day with Baydon again


20. Riding a horse named Cody in Woodland California

21. Watching the reaction as I surprised Marian by showing up on her doorstep.

22. Eating Lunch with Sister Wannberg

23. Going to the beach

24. Freezing to death in the Water

25. Playing Frisbee in the cold water

26. Eating pizza with Brother Forbush

27. Driving to Eureka for the 48th time

28. Enjoying a night at the Mikkelsens

29. Seeing Marco Kypta

30. Still laughing as we passes our 2,000 mile of the trip

31. Getting home at 3:30 A.M. and still having to clean up

32. A pool party

33. Listening to Trevor Searle laugh

34. Rounding things up with a spur the minute fire




I should mention also because I loved it so much, that although not in this two week time frame, part of my summer was definitely Bear Lake. All in all it was on heck of a summer, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Shotglasses

So it's been a while, and as I thought about all the things that have happened since I last posted, which I could potentially now post about they all seemed so important that I couldn't prioritize. I wanted to talk about how I became a great uncle 6 times in one day. And how proud it makes me to see their mom take such good care of them. I wanted to post about how cute my little nephew is, and about how much our relationship has improved especially as of late. How we play hide and seek, and how he drags me around the house for hours. I wanted to say a few words about how much I want to be a beach bum, again. I wanted to tell you about Bear Lake, and how all I worried about for an entire week was when I was hungry, thirsty, tired, and what the weather was like. I wanted to let you know about how much I am enjoying the summer, and I wanted to tell you 101 reasons why I love it so much. I wanted to talk sports of course, and discuss the Jazz and the Utah Football season coming up. I wanted to post about my best buddy coming home from his mission in Germany, and how happy I am he is home. About how much I missed him, and about how much I am going to miss sitting down every Sunday night and writing about how unimportant my week seemed when I thought about what he was doing. So since I can't decide what to write about I thought I would write about my shot glass collection instead.

If you were to walk in my room, and look a little below eye level you would see on my second shelf a plethora of little shot glasses. Tall ones, short ones, fat ones, round ones, square ones, even some that roll around even though they are sitting flat on the shelf. I am not even sure when I started collecting shot glasses. I don't remember the first time I bought one, and thought "hmmm it would be fun to collect these." I know it must have been before 8th grade because when I look I see a shot glass from the Winter Olympics, that took place in 2002. I have collected shot glasses from all over the world by now. I almost have one from every continent....well almost.

These shot glasses mean so much to me because when I look at them I see memories, I see trips, and inside jokes. I see my family, and time well spent. I see a shot glass from my trip to Disneyland before my senior year with the Brotherhood. And I am reminded of the people that I love, and people who love me. I see a shot glass from Sweden, and I am reminded of my trip to Sweden with my family. I am reminded of my Farmor and Farfar, and my heritage that means so much to me. I am reminded of the strength of my Dad holding an entire subway train on hold, waiting for my Farmor to get out. I see a shot glass from New York, and I think of my family trip to New York. I think of the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers, Times Square, Broadway, and the Yankees.

I see a shot glass that I bought the exact same night Harry Potter number 6 came out. This shot glass has a big lion on it, with a red and gold background that reads Gryffindor. I see a shot glass from Bear Lake, and I am reminded about all that I need in life. Fresh air, food, water, and family. How about a shot glass from North Carolina, maybe even 3 :), and I am reminded of Staci and Ryan. How much I miss them, but look forward to seeing them again. I see a few shot glasses from Hawaii and I wonder where I got them? Surely from people who love me enough to think about me even on their vacation. I am also reminded how much I would like to go there someday. How about my most recent addition. A shot glass from Germany, that reads Deutschland, that I got from that same kid I mentioned above. I am reminded that 2 years and 7 months was well worth the wait. The last I will mention here is a shot glass from Sweden. Different this time than the one I already mention still from Sweden though. This one is Easton's favorite because on the inside is a Mickey Mouse pin in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform, that he loves to pull out of the shot glass. He pulls it out every time we play our game of let's look at the shot glasses. I am reminded how fun it is to see him happy and smiling over something so simple. Also how much I look forward to seeing him even though I spend all this last week with him.
The moral of this story is I could go on and on, about these shot glasses. Ones from my mission, in California. Visits to Detroit, the airport in Atlanta, Chicago, Texas, Idaho, Colorado, on and on and on. Really though, it's much more than a piece of glass that I payed $3.99 for. It's a memory of something important to me that I can hang on too.

This is just in case you wanted to see my Great Nephews and Nieces. I am also happy to report everyone is doing just fine.