The Day I Hated the Snow!

I've always been one to love winter and snow. All of that changed last week... at least it changed for a few hours. I will try to put some pictures up of my little.... "incident" but let me tell the story the way I want it told.

On Wednesday (the 17th) Blanding had approximately 15 inches of snow and Mustang (where my family ranch is at) had a few inches more than that built up since Monday. My Dad asked me to go out and check on some of our cows to see if they were finding grass to eat and water to drink. So, me being the diligent and obedient son that I am, I got in our farm truck and headed out into the storm. I loaded up some hay and went off into the back country to find the lost cows.

The important thing that my dad forgot to inform me of was that the tires on the truck were about as bald as tires can get. FYI: bald tires don't drive very effectively in the snow. Anyways, I found the cows and checked their water and headed for a better spot to feed them, but I couldn't climb up out of the valley that I was in. I went every direction, through the brush, over a couple of small trees, into a few washed out ditches, and still couldn't get up the hill. About this time my blood pressure was going through the roof and I was on the verge of blowing my top when I looked out my driver's side window and saw 4 of our cows just standing there staring at me spinning the tires. I lost it! I rolled down my window and yelled, " You stupid cows! Don't just stand there, PUSH!!" Needless to say, the stupid things just stood there and didn't reply. I attempted to stare them down with the look I've been known to give when I've been pushed beyond my limits, but because cows are so incredibly dense they absorbed the look and were not even slightly affected.

I realized this hill was not going to cut me any slack so I backed down it and turned around to try the hill on the other side of the valley.... as the pictures show I didn't quite make it...

I had to climb out the passenger side because my driver side door wouldn't open (As you may notice from the one picture there is quite a gap between the snow and the bottom of the truck directly under the passenger door. You may have guessed but I slipped and slid all the way under the truck), threw the hay off to the cows and started walking.... Luckily I had my phone so I called my mom to meet me on the county road about 1.5 miles from where I was stuck. After I had trudged all that way in snow up to my knees you'd think I would have 'cooled off', I hadn't. I even went so far as to text Megan and tell her that I hated snow, hated winter, and hated the cold! She was happy to welcome me into her world!

My family says its not a vacation for Kendall unless he gets stuck so I just thought I'd christen my vacation early on and get it out of the way before I had anyone else with me.

A Nephew ATLAST!!

Now don't get me wrong, I love my nieces more than anything in the world... BUT I was beginning to wonder if my brother's and their wives were capable of having male children. I was happy to be proven wrong when my nephew, Kooper Teage Laws was born Friday morning. Klayton and Shelbie finally proved me wrong (probably the first time Klayton has had the upper hand on me in 23 years :) ). Both Kooper and Shelbie are healthy and well and Ryleigh, Reaghan, and Klayton are happy to have their mother and baby brother at home.

I went down on Friday and babysat the the girls (with my parents) while Klayton was at the hospital with Shelbie and Kooper. It was funny to see Reaghan trying to teach her two day old little brother the secret handshake that I have with my nieces! Needless to say he wasn't at all interested in learning that at the moment and was content to sleep.

As you can see by the picture I had plenty of help anytime I got the chance to hold Kooper. Ryleigh went through the checklist: Wash your hands, Sanitize you hands, sit down, and let her and her sister sit on my lap while I hold him. She's got the system down that's for sure! Anyways, life is good.

Finals, Christmas, and Gingerbread

Many of you might be wondering, "what has happened to Kendall since his fabulous weekend?" Well, I'm here to tell you that I am still alive and that my fabulous weekend has extended itself into a fabulous two weeks!

How on earth could finals week be so good? Well, first of all, 3 take home finals and one rather easy Russian final make for an easy, stress-free 'finals week'. I found out today that I got a 100% on the Russian final which solidified a 98.5% in the course for my final grade! I was grateful for that! My last final was finished and printed just a little bit ago and will be handed in tomorrow. So, Finals week has been really easy on the school side and lots of fun on the social side.

Christmas break is upon us and I'm excited! I love Christmas and I love breaks from school so, naturally, Christmas BREAK is a fantastic time of the year for me. It means no more school 'til January 5th! Along with Christmas comes Christmas shopping... not exactly my past time of choice but its alright sometimes. Jason and I went shopping the other night and found the most amazing deal at JC Penney's! It had a certain some one's name written all over it and it was on sale! Not just any sale mind you, but the sale of a lifetime! I liked it so much that I am wishing someone was giving it to me :). (If any of you know what it is please don't say in the comments cause its still a surprise! ) I just realized that I still have two people in my family left to shop for so I guess I'll do that tomorrow....

Now, for the social part of my life.... well it suffices me to say that it is going GREAT! In the last two weeks I've seen both Chronicles of Narnia movies for the first time (GREAT MOVIES), went to the Festival of Trees in Salt Lake, went shopping (and actually enjoyed it), and last night I made the coolest gingerbread house/winter scene ever! If you want to see pictures click HERE for details and pictures. There are some things that are left out of the story on Megan's blog though. 1- We not only made the gingerbread house but the coolest paper snowflakes EVER! 2- In the process of making the gingerbread house we cut the table clothe in several places. We tried to tape them before Keara could see what we had done. In the process of covering up our crime we actually taped frosting to the table clothe! WHOOPS :) I guess it'll be a treat for someone next Christmas.

Anyways, this post was only intended to catch you up on my life since my last post. I'm thinking that over the break I'll post more often and even add some photos.

My Fabulous Weekend

Yes, you read that right, it was a fabulous weekend! This is pretty significant coming from me and I'll explain why. When I am lucky enough to have an extended weekend I love nothing more than going home. Yes, its a 6 1/2 hour drive but, its worth it! But, since my two older brothers have gotten married they, along with my parents, came up with a 'holiday rotation play' that one year we go to Blanding for Thanksgiving and the next year we go home for Christmas. On the off years my brother's go to the homes of their respective in laws and, at least for Thanksgiving, my parents go the my mom's family in Grantsville. I went down Wednesday evenings and got to my grandparents before anyone else. This gave me the rare opportunity to visit with my Grandmother one on one. It was really enjoyable.

Thursday morning my dad and I went for a Thanksgiving morning drive. Its a tradition we've had since I can remember that on Thanksgiving we go for a ride and explore Tooele County. This year we went out to Skull Valley and did some geocaching along the way. It was oodles of fun and we ended up at Dugway Military Base. We went past it and hit the old Pony Express Trail and took it over back into the valley Grantsville is in and then headed home in a round about sort of way. It was a good chance to talk to my dad and have some one on one time with him. Thanksgiving itself was a lot of fun too. Family, good food, and lots of aforementioned good food :).

Black Friday is not a day I enjoy AT ALL. Not even a little bit. I don't like the aimless wondering around style of "shopping" and I like the massive throngs of people doing the same thing even less. Usually I only last about half a day of doing so with my parents before I start getting grouchy and irritable. This year however, I followed them in their 'shopping journeys' all day Friday and a good portion of Saturday without getting upset once! Well.... there was a little incident Saturday when I was making an important phone call and my parents were ruthlessly teasing me (with Kyle's help also) and I apparently gave my mom a dirty look... I apologized for it though so its OK right? Really though I think the only reason I was able to accomplish such a feat while shopping with all of those other people was because I had a good friend texting me both days and helping me to keep my sanity! She'll never quite know just how grateful I am for that and the other shoppers don't know how grateful they should be to her for that :) Thanks Megan, from all involved :)

Saturday night we went to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square. It was the first time I had been in several years and I had forgotten how great it was. Helen had invited me the night before but I had a dead phone. So, Saturday night, my parents, Kyle, Becca, Hannah, and myself rode trax downtown and met up with Megan, who had driven down from Centerville to meet us. The lights were GREAT! It was so much fun to just wonder around and enjoy the lights and holiday spirit down there. It was also fun to watch Hannah as we walked around and she saw the lights and the manger scene and stuff. She's such a funny little girl. Yes, she has her uncle Kendall wrapped around her finger (as does her two cousins, Klatyon and Shelbie's little girls) and I'm not ashamed to admit it! :) The weather on Temple Square was perfect last night too! All in all it was a great night to spend at my favorite place in Salt Lake with some of my favorite people around! I don't know if everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did, but I think they did.

Anyways I just wanted to post a blog about my fabulous weekend. No better way to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday than to spend it with family that you love and other great people!

Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of days I decided it would be a worthy idea for my post. I hope you will forgive me for taking a moment for sincerity. As this time of year comes around I try to make a special point to be grateful for the blessings I have in my life. This, combined with my bishop speaking in church on Sunday and asking us to take a minute this week to be thankful, has pushed me to take some time here on the blog.

The 5 things I am most thankful for:

1- My Family. When I think about my family it doesn't just include my wonderful parents, great brothers, incredible sisters-in-law, and adorable nieces (with a nephew coming anytime now). When I express gratitude for my family it also applies to my ancestors. My grandparents and great great great grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. I don't know if any of you have read the books Banner is Unfurled but it is actually about my ancestors, the Ezekiel Johnson Family. This summer, in all my driving for work, I listened to the first several books of the series and realized how inspiring my ancestors are. I also took the hours on the road and listened to interviews people had done with my grandparents and my gratefulness grew even more because I was only 2 when my paternal grandfather died and by the time I could remember my paternal grandmother she was suffering the affects of diabetes and wasn't the woman that I heard about in the interviews with her. My maternal grandparents are also pretty amazing and I'm grateful to them for much (possibly the most is for there daughter, my mother). I also take the chance when I have free time to read the histories of ancestors. If you have never done this I highly recommend it. You will 'meet' amazing people you never knew much about, and be inspired by them.

2- The Gospel. Without going on for pages and pages I'll just leave it short and simple. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what propels me to continuously strive to be a better person. Many people say "I don't know where I'd be without the Gospel", but I, on the other hand, am precisely aware of where I'd be and that makes me cherish my testimony and cherish the Gospel that much more. No, I've never been where I would be without it but I know myself better than anyone and I know my weaknesses. Thanks to the Gospel I also have a clear picture of what I want to achieve and that keeps me from taking the easy and immediately pleasureful route in life. It is TRUE.

3- America and the Associated Freedoms. I have always tried to make a point of not taking my freedoms for granted but I sometimes fall short on that. There are so many things to be grateful for associated with this. The chance to get an education, the freedom to own guns (for now at least), the freedom to speak your mind, the freedom to choose your own partner (although sometimes I think that the African tribes have it easiest), the freedom to travel anyplace in America without having special documents or permission, and most importantly the freedom to hope and dream (in no way is that an endorsement of ANY KIND for our next President). While he has used that as a political strategy I mean it in the sincere way. How many countries allow their people the luxury of being able to dream, with the possibility of actually achieving those dreams? Not very many but it is not a gift from Barrack Obama but rather a gift from our ancestors and the veterans who have made the freedoms given by God a reality, with their blood on foreign battle grounds. Be grateful for your freedoms and for the veterans that have paid the price for our freedoms.

4- Friends. My Roommates are probably the top of this list. For being 4 guys thrown into an apartment with little or no knowledge of one another beforehand we are like family it seems a lot of the time. Of course they are not my only friends. I refuse to pin point anyone specifically but I figure if you think you are one of them then you probably are :) . I am grateful for you and for your support and friendship. You are important to me. Thank you.

5- The University of Utah Runnin' Utes. I love college football and Saturday was great! If you want to watch a funny video click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6CROOR2QN8 . It is a couple minutes long and subtitles but it is HILARIOUS. Thank you UTES!!

Thanks All and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tomorrow at 10 AM

Tomorrow your time runs out Lucky Charmer.... After 10 AM if I have not recieved a legit clue then you will be banished from being mentioned in the blog. Do you have what it takes?

THREE DOWN

TWO DAYS TO GO!!!! The half-way point has been reached.... what will you do?

TWO DOWN

THREE DAYS TO GO!!!! TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK!!

One Down

FOUR DAYS TO GO!!!!!

Steak and Shrimp

Wow what a weekend.... It was a lot like a roller coaster, ups and downs and such.... I really don't wanna talk about it right now but I would like to make my final challenge to the Lucky Charmer.... I like Steak. I like Shrimp. Your code was a hoax. So steak and shrimp it is for your last challenge. We'll see what you got.

I've been told several times recently that you shouldn't be intimidated of people. So if you're sure of yourself bring it on. If you're not then work on that. You have 5 days.

PS "Last Challenge" doesn't mean anything more than that this is the last time I'll mention the lucky charmer in my blog unless there is a LEGIT clue.

HELP!!! $$ REWARD$$

OK the lucky charmer has struck again! This blog post will be short and to the point... same M.O. as before.... doorbell ring and run with a little box of surprises on the doorstep. It's a Pillsbury Traditional Fudge Brownie mix with "To: KENDALL" written on it..... on the back there are five words underlined in marker: SPRAY, SPOON, AT, FOR, and MADE. So either they are just jacking with me or else there is some sort of code in those words... if they are just jacking with me then kudos to them (but its not working). If there really is a code then I need YOUR help.... $10 reward to anyone that either figures out the code or else turns in their 'friend' or 'associate' for terrorizing my sanity.... Thanks and i appreciate your help.... If you don't want you tips showing up in my comment section then facebook message me or call me or something.... I'd prefer that they didn't know you told me so that I can terrorize them in return!!! $2o reward if they don't know you told and i can terrorize them in return...... all tips are welcome and any that lead to the capture of the culprit will receive their just reward.

PS If they are using all the letters of the 'code words' then there are 15! (roughly 1000000000000) possible permutations.... (Its great to have a statistician as a room mate).

PSS My next blogpost will compare my life to a steak and lobster dinner. We'll see how good you are then Lucky Charmer

Lucky Charmer: You're Missing the Best Part

The activities of this past week have really got me thinking about 'jokes' I've played on people in the past. I'm assuming the Lucky Charmer was simply out to have a laugh and confuse the snot out of me.... mission accomplished, but I have some pointers for the LC. It is true that playing a trick on someone is tons of fun, and it might seem that its the most fun when nobody knows who played the prank. I, personally, beg to differ. It is a lot more fun to tell the person you did it and then see the look on their face to know that YOU 'got them' so to speak. While thinking about this today I remembered probably one of my favorite.... feuds... from high school that illustrates this point very well.

When I was a freshman in high school my brother Kyle, was a senior. He and his friends were having a party in the basement of our house and I had a few of the fellas over playing risk at the kitchen table upstairs (Yes, I am a risk nerd and proud of it). Well some people knocked on the front door to inquire as to where my brother and his friends were at (their cars were all parked around the block). I told them and directed them to the door that goes into our basement. About an hour later some of my brother's friends came in and asked who had trashed their cars. We did some figuring and concluded that the kids had never went around to the basement door so it must have been them that had trashed the vehicles. When I say trashed I mean that they had done the whole toilet paper thing (very elementry warefare if I do say so myself) to all the vehicles but one. My brother had a 1950 Chevy pickup that had just recently been painted a beautiful blue color. They had dumped pickles and pickle juice all over his truck! The acids in the vinegar used to make pickles is highly corrosive to paint! So, while Kyle would never have been involved in such things his friends decided to get even. One of his female friends (who incidently was VERY goodlooking to us poor little freshmen) asked us if we wanted to go with them to get 'even'. Well, of course we did!

We drove to a gas station outside of town and bought every form of condiments you could ever imagine, lemonade, and toiletpaper. We then drove to the girl's house and "did up her boyfriend's car the right way" with honey on his steering wheel and gear shift, bbq sauce under the door handles, and other stuff all over the car (but nothing that would eat the paint off the rust bucket). We then realized that we had done absolutly nothing to the girl's car. We brainstormed about what we could do to her car and came up with putting a baby calf in her car but quickly decided that was a bad idea and settled on pigeons unstead! We drove to a barn outside of town and caught two of them and then drove back to her house and quickly put them in her car. We honestly figured when they found his car messed up they'd notice the pigeons in her car and liberate them.... We found out from the police on my front steps the next day that we had sadly overestimated their intelligence and the birds had spent an eventful night of doing what pigeons do best in her car (pooping, pecking, scratching, and pooping much much more). Well long story short the cops thought it was my brother and I was more than willing to let him take the fall until I realized how big a shame it would be to not get credit for the best retaliation ever (atleast to that point in my life)! So we confessed our evil (albeit ingenious) deeds and explained that they had dumped corrosive liquids on Kyle's truck. Needless to say nothing happened besides the cops telling us we needed to apologize for our actions, which we never did because we didnt think we were in the wrong and refused to dam our souls by lying. That was my first real feud to be involved in and it was definatly the first time my parents had the cops show up at their house (my older brothers weren't much fun apparently).

The moral of the story is that whoever lucky charmed me is missing out on the best part! That is the part where they fess up to their acts and reap the rewards of playing their little trick on me. No need to worry about pigeons in your car eithe because I'm now an adult (and the important fact that I dont know where to find any pigeons in Logan) and don't really want a record. As for the brownies I came to the conclusion that you must not be able to cook and thus you didn't bring me my much deserved brownies.... Oh well!

A Test

I had an interesting experience with my last blog post that I'd like to share. So I do a comparison of sorts of my life and Lucky Charms right? Well, at about midnight last night the doorbell rang and when I answered there was a box of Lucky Charms on the steps with the words, "TO: Kendall" written on the box. At first I was confused and just stood there in the doorway. I then walked around my building and looked around a bit for the person that left me such a scrumptious gift but to no avail. I've done some sleuthing and come up empty so far so I'm offering a proposal. I decided that I really, really like brownies so I'm going to use them in an analogy of my life somehow.

Ya know, I was thinking today, my personality is a lot like a pan of brownies. If you look at the whole pan from only one angle (the top since all other sides are hidden by the pan) you see someone that is kinda rough and maybe not that appealing. However, if you take the time to get to know me and maybe see me in different situations and get to know me more one on one (or cut a chunk of brownie out of the pan and look at all the sides, taking special note of the soft, chewy, and delicious inside) you'll see that I'm actually a pretty decent guy. I'm actually warm and quite a softy once you get to know me.

OK, so now I've made an attempt at applying myself to a pan of brownies you (secret Lucky Charms person) have a choice to make. You could do nothing and leave me in the dark forever (I don't recommend because that simply means you'll never know my reaction), OR you could let me know who you are and either give me that plate of brownies OR, if you are who I want you to be I'll give ya the option to upgrade YOUR plate of brownies for an amazing evening with a great dinner and a fun time on ME..... the choice is yours.


PS if you're a guy and you did it.... you're sick and need help :) AND you don't get a dinner out of this :)

When Life Gives You a Treat

Life is tough. That's something that anyone grounded in reality knows and should appreciate. Day in and day out its a struggle to stay on top of things and make the best of sometimes crappy situations. With life being like that how can a person really enjoy it? Well, for me its simple- not easy by any means, but still simple- find the little treats that come your way and savor them as long as you can. Its like eating Lucky Charms, there are those nasty puffed oat bits that make up the majority of the bowl of cereal, and there is the tasty marshmallows. I'm the first to admit that I eat all the nasty oat chunks first so that the marshmallows can be the last thing I eat. Life is very much like that bowl of Lucky Charms. Most of it is the nasty, redundant, and sometimes ridiculous and painful day to day activities, but occasionally (albeit not often enough) you find a sweet little morsel of marshmallow in the mix. Let me explain. Life right now for me consists of school, working out (which is usually a marshmallow when its finished), homework, reading, church calling, studying for the LSAT, and making an attempt to be social (difficult for me sometimes). However, every once in a while a find a surprise in the mix of cereal that I call life.

Some of my favorite morsels of marshmallow that I find in my life are working out, geocaching, Heroes, The Unit, and possibly talking to a certain someone. These are not the only sweet little treats I find in my life but they are the most consistent. Going home is always a big ole' fatty marshmallow that I savor until my parents finally tell me its time to leave for Logan so they wont be up all night waiting for me...

So Basically what I'm getting at is this: Life is tough and knocks you down often BUT God puts little treats in your life to help you through the tough times. I have come to appreciate the tough times because I know that they will make the treats that much more amazing. So, until I find the nerve to let her know what I think I'll just continue to enjoy the LITTLE morsels I find in my life. Maybe if I cowboy up the morsels will be larger and sweeter.... Until then... bring out the Marshmallow Mateys!!! (I am a student that can't afford the luxury of Lucky Charms)

The Gifts that Keep on Giving

Have you ever heard the phrase, "its just a gift that keeps on giving"? Well I have and I actually have one of those 'gifts' in my life right now. We all know of such gifts, fruitcakes at Christmas time, nasty perfume or cologne a grandparent gave us, an 'ex' significant other, stalker, illnesses, etc.
Possibly my favorite is the Christmas fruitcake. Why do they even exist anymore? Nobody likes them and the same fruitcake can make it all around the community in one Christmas season! I've seen, in my own family, husband/wife conferences discussing some gift they are thinking of giving to someone else on a special occasion. The discussion usually goes with the husband saying, "Yeah, lets give them that. We don't use it and it looks new. They'll never know we didn't buy it specifically for them." The wife, who is usually more on the ball, replies something like, "No, honey (gag for the pet names also but that's for another day), I'm almost certain, now that i think about it, that they gave that gift to us!" And so the story always goes, we have these things that nobody wants but we give them away to people in vulnerable positions (such as having it be their birthday or being our neighbor around Christmas) and hope to never see them again. But just like those nasty exes, dramatic friends, and malaria, they always seem to find their way back to us!

So I guess what I'm getting at is if you have one of these gifts in your possession give it to the DI so someone else can be graced with it and charity can get some money from them. Nobody wants those gifts to make the rounds again. If you are one of those gifts then PLEASE for the sake of humanity STOP giving back, as your giving may be compared to the giving of The Bubonic Plague or AIDS.

Comments appreciated....

Geocaching

So I decided to add some music to my blog. You may notice there is a good bit of country on it.... actually ALL the songs but one are country.... I'm a country boy what can I say :).

So lately I have this problem that I never thought would be a problem. Today was day THREE of absolutely no homework and I am getting sooooo bored I cant even stand it! So I dug out my GPS (Global Positioning System unit) and added some geocaches to it from around Logan. I realized that there was one VERY close to my apartment that wasn't there last winter so I went to find it today and saved the rest for another day. I've found that I often have a hard time finding the caches when I am by myself so I enlisted the aid of one of the girls that lives here in Brooklane. Krista (said girl) found it as soon as we go close to it.... I think she thought I just wanted her to go with me. Not like she went very far with me since the cache was literally right outside her bedroom window :). Anyways I LOVE geocaching and will probably mention it many more times on the blog. HOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAY that I now have something to do since I don't have a lick of homework tomorrow either! Anyone that wants to go geocaching with me just needs to mention it and I'm all for it anytime!

What is geocaching you might ask.... Well very simply its a worldwide, hightec treasure hunt. Anyone can play that has a GPS unit and creates a free account at geocaching.com to get the coordinates. Once the unique coordinates of a 'cache' are inserted into the GPS unit you just simply follow the maps and arrows to where ever the cache is located. Depending on the weather, geographical location, and government, you can get within feet of it just by watching the GPS. Caches vary in size and contents but all in all its a really fun activity so if anyone is interested let me know! I'll take any excuse I can to go!

Deer Hunt

This past weekend I drove a total of 800 miles to go home for the deer hunt. Many of you might think, "what a crazy fool! He must be a redneck!" You're probably right I am a redneck! Frankly I'm quite proud of that fact. However, there is a huge difference between 'redneck' and 'hillbilly' but thats for another day and blogpost.

So anyways I love going home and I realized while I was down there this past weekend that I dont do it nearly enough so I'm planning to do it more frequently now. If anyone wants to join me on one of my trips let me know and I can guarentee it'll be the most fun you've ever had in the middle of nowhere!

So back to the deer hunt. I dont think any of you can understand how much I love the deer hunt. Its not really for the killing a deer part because honestly if I were to get skunked (not get a deer) I would be totally fine with it. I must add that NEVER happens but 'if' it did I wouldnt mind because the fun part is the time with the whole family, on the ranch, having fun together. To illustrate the importance of the deer hunt to my sanity I'll divulge that I was only homesick three days a year while on my mission. One of those was opening day of the deer hunt. Dead serious!

Well this year was a lot of fun. I was the first of my siblings to get home (the other two have jobs and families a.k.a. responsibilities). I got home Thursday night and went looking for deer. I find lots of does and fawns and a few little bucks but nothing that really got me excited. Friday I spent the day getting things ready for the hunt, taking fourwheelers to the ranch, hydrating the water line to our family park at the ranch, getting the orange clothes and guns and stuff out, etc. My brothers and their families got to Blanding that night and we just sat around and talked til 10:30 or 11 at night. Not all that late except we were getting up at 5:30 in the morning and wouldnt be in bed til midnight Saturday night but with my family, when we get together, nobody will go to bed first. If someone would go to bed the rest would follow but nobody does and we end up talking til the wee hours (usually) and never get any sleep when the family is together in Blanding.

4:45 Saturday morning I was wide awake! Its honestly worse than Christmas morning as a little kid (for me atleast but my oldest brother Klayton is still up every half hour Christmas morning begging his wife to wake up the little girls so they can go open presents :) he just loves seeing their faces i think). My spot was the first one on the road that morning so I got dumped off in the dark to go find a place I thought would be the best to see the deer moving when it got light. I sat down in the brush with a clear view of the pumpkin patch (deer love pumpkins and there was a nice buck eating them Thursday night and Friday morning), I had brush all around me and a big bush tree between me and the road. About 25 minutes before it was light enough to shoot there was a glow on the horizon and anything that moved between me and the Eastern sky was skylighted but otherwise it was pitch black. About then I heard 3 or 4 deer jump the fence and cross the gravel road towards me. I started breathing more quietly and turned just a bit to see their sillouettes against the glowing dawn light. Although it is completely illegal to shoot before daylight I decided if it was a big enough buck and shoot its sillouette and then wait til light to take care of it (i'm not perfect what can I say, I study politics). Well about 5 minutes later I hear something in the brush beside me and then I hear a deer loudly sniffing the air (for my scent of course)! It was worse than the loudest snore you've ever heard and, honestly, my stomach swallowed my heart! After about the third sniff this nice buck sticks his head through the brush and looks right at me! I dont know who was startled the most but he ran and I didnt so I'll chalk it up as a win for me. Daylight came and I didnt see a single deer in the patch (he must have told his friends about me watching them). Deciding my daylight suprise was a bust I called my oldest brother on the radio to see if he had seen anything. He had shot twice at a couple bucks 300 yds away but had missed (he wasn't 100% sure which two in the herd were bucks through his scope that had fogged up so its probably good he missed :) )

We went down to get my dad and middle brother and his wife and found that Kyle (my brother) had gotten a little buck. We took care of it and then went to see if anyone else in our hunting party got any shots or anything. One of our family friends had nailed a pretty good sized buck but it had gotten into the canyon on him and was still on the move. We spent the next two hours hunting that thing down! Then came the best part of Opening morning, my Mom's HUGE breakfast when we come in to eat! Anything you can imagine for breakfast is there! I'd say that I gained a few pounds but after going up and down that canyon for two hours after Kelvin's deer I still probably lost weight after all the food I ate.

All afternoon we rode around on the four wheelers just looking for deer and trying to stir them up for one another. We saw a LOT of deer but no bucks all day until evening. When evening came Klayton and I ended up in the same field looking at the same 150 does and fawns so he came over and we were just shooting the breeze when some people on the county road started shooting at some deer on our neighbor's land just across the road from us. It was totally illegal what the were doing but we just watched them and talked as we looked for deer in the canyon below. I looked up and saw two deer coming from the field the stupid road hunters were shooting into so we glassed them and one was a pretty nice buck. Well, with Klayton its always a race to beat him to the shot cause he HATES to get skunked but I beat him to it. One shot from 200 + yards and down he went in a heap. I was quite proud of the shot as the deer was moving, he was a long ways away, and i didn't ruin any meat! I'm pretty much an amazing shot.

While I was gutting my deer three guys from the lazy road hunters crossed the fence and started towards us.... Oh, GREAT they are gonna claim this is their deer even though it clearly had not been shot before I took it down. Sure enough the one guys says, "Did that deer have a spot on its back?" I said, rather sarcastically, "No I think he lost his spots a couple years ago when he left his mother." He says, "well I shot him in that field over there and he went down but must have gotten up and ran over here." I said, "well sir you clearly missed with your shot. Unless, of course, you were shooting with an air soft gun because he was not shot until I shot him." The guys says, "well I was just hoping to get a good buck this year before I have to go back to school." Not feeling the least bit sympathetic I said, "well my advice to you is that next year you actually get permission from landowners to hunt their land instead of just driving the county road. Its unethical and illegal to just shoot deer off people's private land without permission." With that they left. Yes, you are right I am a JERK but I feel very strongly about land owner rights. Stupid people deserve to be treated as such.

Anyways, this is my first monologue of a blog post and I'm afraid its really boring and not something I'm gonna do a lot of in my blog but I love the deer hunt. Its all about getting out into the great outdoors and enjoying some time to just relax and enjoy having NOBODY around. Its so good to just be able to enjoy your family and renew your friendships and spend time together making memories. I'm lucky that my family are my best friends.

The Results of the 'Game'

It has many names, 'the game', 'the scene', 'the meat market' just to name a few. We are all forced to participate albeit sometimes unwillingly. Why do we play? Its the natural thing to want to be loved, wanted, appreciated. As a result of this natural desire we all have infused into our DNA we subject ourselves to this 'game'. Quite frankly I hate the game. Even as I sit and write this blog I tell myself I'm through playing and ready to just sit it out on the sideline. Those of you who know me know that I am, by nature, an overly competitive human being so why would I accept defeat? I'll explain.

An analogy from the ranch comes to mind. When you are walking through the Corral you cant make it from one side to the other without getting some poop on your feet. That's how the dating game is. Every time you put yourself on the line and offer your heart or feelings to someone you are in essence walking through the Corral. For those of you that have never had the experience of then getting your heart taken from your shirt sleeve and broken (whether innocently or maliciously) you are very new to the game. For the rest of us we have experienced getting our 'feet covered in poop' so to speak. Each time we learn to walk a little more carefully and take care to maybe not offer our heart as easily. Sometimes you may even fall head over heels into a pile of crap and sometimes you get up only to fall in it again, and again. I must say that this is what the last 3 years of my life have been. Regardless of the persona I give to my peers, in reality I hate being alone. This has caused me to fall into the manure pile more than once and as a result I have changed my game plan.

The fact that I am admitting my battle wounds on my blog is very scary to me. However, I've screwed up enough recently (tonight even) to realize that I'm done pretending. I have developed a severe problem anytime I'm faced with putting my heart on my sleeve. It seems that whenever I give my emotions to anyone my self confidence goes away also. No matter how bad i want to hang out with the person or even take her out I refuse myself from doing it because I don't think she'll really want to. Girls have a habit of doing sometimes saying YES because they don't want to be mean. Its not mean to tell a guy NO if you don't want to do something with him. TRY IT! So to avoid putting her in the situation of doing something she may not want to do I just refuse myself the pleasure of spending time with her. Some of you may have even experienced this first hand from me. We are friends and we spend time together and everything is cool until we realize we may like each other.... then, i distance myself and do stupid things and assume things and presume things and put words in your mouth that you never thought of saying.... it then causes drama and things unravel before they can start to build.... as a result I've lost out on a fair number of amazing people in my life and continue to do so.... I dare guess I'm not the only one that has scars from the game.... So what do those of us need that have built significant barriers around us that set us up to fail in any relationship? We need someone (of the opposite sex) that has mutual feelings for us to help us out. I dare guess that anyone that has the same problem i do hates it just as much as I do. However, we cant overcome it alone. If we don't have someone that is patient, and understanding to help us through it we'll just continue to fall in the manure piles and building thicker and taller walls around our hearts. Its not fun. Its very lonely. So if you find yourself on one side of this or the other TALK ABOUT IT. Girls, guys don't want your sympathy. That is the LAST thing they want. They want to trust you and they want to open up to you. They want a friendship that can turn into more but they cant have that if you manipulate them or 'play mind games'.

As for me, I'm ready to work on my problem and get through it.... now if she'd just forgive me and realize I am the guy she knew when we wer just friends we could work through it and find something amazing. If not? Then hopefully someone someday will have what it takes to help me through the piles of manure I've accumulated around me from playing this STUPID GAME!

What are "thoughts from the saddle"?

For Anyone that has ever spent very much time on the back of a horse or in the seat of a tractor you know what I'm talking about. For those of you that have been deprived (and i mean that very sincerely that you are missing out on one of life's greatest opportunities) of such an experience let me explain.

There are two misconceptions that need to be confronted before one can understand "thoughts from the saddle". The first is that music or other distractions blaring in your ears is necessary when driving or operating machinery or anything else. It simply is not true. Silence is the greatest noise I've ever come to know. I find that often those who are afraid of silence are afraid of their own imagination or thinking for themselves. The second is that the people that ride horses or tractors or other equipment for a living are not smart people and simply have that job because there is nothing else they are capable of doing. Some of the smartest, most talented people I know do these things for a living. I'd like to see any of you take a 74 ton bulldozer and be able to make a pad that is perfectly level or make a slope 200 feet tall that is exactly 3:1 sloped just by sight. It is a talent and some of the best ideas for life come from such people.

Now that those two misconceptions have been addressed let me explain the process. When one spends hours and hours each day sitting on the back of a horse or in the seat of equipment they have a great amount of time to think. President Hinckly once said that a man's virtue is best measured by the thoughts he entertains when he is alone. I agree. As one having the opportunity from as far back as i can remember up to the present of spending many hours in such situations I can say that while I haven't solved all of the world's problems I have sure solved a lot of them :). I encourage you all to take the time to have some "thoughts from the saddle" come into your mind. Maybe in your car or maybe on a bench in a park, or the top of the mountain, or anyplace else that you can turn off the music and tune out the world for a little bit and just let your mind wonder. At first you may think its a big waste of time as you will only think about school or work or that 'special someone'. It takes time to develop and once you get over your fear of your own thoughts you will be amazed and what solutions come to you from the seat of your proverbial saddle that have evaded you for so long.