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)