Finals Week

Finals week is here!! I'm excited for the part about being done with school but I definatly have my apprehensions as well. Lots of things are up in the air with me these days, work, school, and other things as well. So rather than dwell on the things that are out of my hands I went and had a BBQ last night with Jason and his date Cami, Micah and his date that stood him up, and I was lucky enough to have Camille with me. So I took a few pictures and I'll post them on the blog so anyone that is hurting themselves studying can be jealous that we had fun.


Micah working the mountain man routine and getting our fire started on the 5th or 6th try!



Camille not sure if she's cold yet or if that is just the sensation of having FUN during finals ;)

Jason and Cami (aka jackie, trixie, and waffle). Not really sure what they were doing but Cami was laughing as always.

Micah still working the fire... Camille and Cami wondering if he'll get it started before they freeze to death.



:)

Well there ya have it! If you're not jealous you're not human:) GOOD LUCK TO YA"LL ON FINALS!!!

Another Season Soon Ends and a Chapter Closes

Do you ever realize that a chapter in your life is about to end whether you want it to or not? Well I've recently noticed that another chapter in my life is quickly coming to a close. I must say that this chapter has not included all the things that I had imagined it would at the onset but it has also included many things that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. So, although this chapter of my life still has approximately a week left I just want to take a few minutes to reflect on the things that the past few years have held for me. Lessons learned, lessons missed, mistakes made, friends made, friends lost, loves lost, understanding gained, and heaven felt are all part of this game we call life and I am so grateful to be able to be a player in the game and not just a sideline observer.

1- Friends gained and lost: I can't believe its been nearly 2 1/2 years since my best high school friend Eldon was killed! Time definitely flies past us if we aren't careful. I feel lucky to have had him in my life and am grateful that I haven't lost any more loved ones than him. Along with losing a great friend I have gained 3 of my closest friends in the entire world here in Logan. I count my blessings every day that I was put in an apartment two years ago with Jason and Micah. They have been such a great blessing in my life and I love them like brothers. We have had a lot of fun and interesting times together and have never had any roommate drama.... well besides that time I pushed Jason just a hair too far... whoops! The third friend will remain unnamed but she has literally been my salvation in the past year. I don't know what I'd have done without her! She'll probably never know just how much she means to me. I have also made many other friends and associates that have helped me so much in this chapter of my life. I will truly miss those that are moving on to new chapters of life and leaving me, especially Jason and Micah. Thanks guys!

2- I have gained a whole new understanding of who I am and what I am doing with my life. Its crazy how Heavenly Father will remind you that you're not going the direction you should be going and will help guide you to retrace your steps and make the right turns in your life. We really can't go wrong with Him in our corner. My testimony and understanding of the atonement and other essential Gospel principles have grown immensely. So grateful for the learning opportunities that God has put in my path. Its nice to have a more clear idea of where you want to go in life and how you intend to get there. Doesn't mean you wont have to work your tail off but it does mean that you can be certain that the hard work will actually get you someplace, not just anyplace but someplace you actually want to go.

3- The depth of love that I have for my family has really come into focus in this chapter of my life as well. In the past three years I've had the opportunity to hold 3 new nieces and 1 new nephew and I tell you what, holding one of those precious little infants is about as close to touching Heaven as I've ever come. The most recent addition to my family was this past Monday with the birth of Kyle and Becca's second child Abigale Kate (spelling?). I was so happy to be able to drive down and see her the day after she was born. Family is probably the most important thing in my life right now. I don't know when I'll be blessed with such blessings of my own but for now I am content with sharing these precious moments with those that I love.

4- The loss, gain, and eventual loss again of love has been a very active part of the last few years. I don't feel it is necessary to go into any great details on this topic. I hate the topic and have yet to have any lasting good experience so there is not reason to dwell on the losses right? I have seen the hand of the Lord in this aspect of my life. Sure it is tough when someone you become interested in leaves and goes on a mission but I accept that this is the right path for them and I am so jealous of them for being able to get away from the world and serve the Lord for their allotted time. I can't believe how soon one gets home and I wish the other all the luck in the world. She will be just as successful as the first. The one thing that does frustrate me about this part of my life is when a very amazing and steadfast friendship suddenly appears to be so much more. But I have also learned that when in the pursuit of a meaningful relationship one can never assume to know what the other is thinking. As the old antage goes, "when you assume you make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'." I couldn't agree with this more. But every once in a while you come across another person who is as honest and straightforward as you are. When you find that person you need to fight for them like there is no tomorrow. I intend to do just that! Love isn't always fair and almost never makes any sense but I'm confident that it will all eventually make sense.

Basically I want you all to know that you have each touched my life in the past few years in a way that only you could have touched it. You are each important to me. I struggle to express these feelings and because of that inability I find that most of those that mean so much to me never realize just what they have done to touch my life. Thank you all! I hope many of you will be key players to some extent in the next chapter of my life!

I Guess it Means I Have Good Taste....?

Followers of my blog aren't used to me making short posts but this one is going to be quite short and to the point.

My mission helped me to clear up a very popular Mormon legend: "Sister missionaries are worthless."

Some of the greatest missionaries I had the opportunity of serving with were Sisters. Such hard working and dedicated Elders are hard to find. So I guess the "cream of the female crop" are those that go on missions..... If that is the case then I must be attracted to the "cream of the crop" but dang its frustrating! Sending one amazing girl on a mission was hard enough but I don't know if I can do a second one.... But for those of you that know me I always have a hard time getting between a person and something they feel very strongly about. I know how I feel when people do that to me so I struggle to do it to others. So basically I'm STUCK! What to do?

I guess I'll look at the bright side.... At least I'm attracted to the Cream of the Crop huh? RIGHT?

I'm Glad Michelle Obama is 'Finally Proud to be American"

As the title of this post might indicate, I am going to vent in this post. For those of you who are unaware of the titled quote from the great princess of the New America it was said at a rally towards the end of the Presidential Elections last fall. So what am I going to vent about? I am really disgusted that the French President Sarkozy has more backbone than our savior president Obama! Let me explain.

For any of you that are living someplace besides under a rock you have heard the buzz the past few days about the U.S. flagged ship that was attacked off the coast of Somalia this week. If you haven't heard anything about this, crawl out from under your rock and listen to the news, or HEAVEN FORBID read a newspaper. The sailors on this ship epitomized the spirit of America by fighting off the heavily armed pirates and at one point even taking a pirate hostage. As Americans these are individuals that we can be proud of! In the scuffle, as we know, the American captain was taken hostage by the pirates and currently they are sitting in a 'dead' lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with one US Destroyer on site and two more that should be there later today. So now that there has been some background on the situation let me explain my beef with our invertebrate of a president.

The first sign that we, as a country, are in trouble when it comes to security came yesterday when, following a Presidential briefing on the housing crisis a reporter asked the President about the current situation off the coast of Somalia. The Obama said, and I directly quote, "we are talking about the housing issue right now." He then folded up his papers and exited the room! Not even a, "we have specialists on site and we are working towards a peaceful ending. Our prayers are with the family of the Captain." So my blood has been at a simmer since that happened yesterday and now it has again returned to a healthy boil. The latest news reports are that they are negotiating a 2 million dollar ransom demand by the pirates for the captain. WHAT? There is very reliable intelligence that proves these Somali pirates are funneling a good portion of their money to known terrorist groups, our enemies, but rather than kill these worthless pukes of humanity and take back our captain we are NEGOTIATING WITH THEM? At the same time the French military stormed a French yacht held by pirates earlier this morning and killed the pirates and took back the boat. Its true that one of the french civilians on board was killed as well but atleast the French had the guts to fight back!

Now they are reporting that several pirate controlled ships are heading to the area and the standoff will soon become much more critical. Thankfully we have a President, Commander and Chief, that will NOT make decisions when it is critical and now unstead of just killing 4 worthless Somali pirates and moving on with life we are now involved in a situation that can only get worse! So much for the French being gutless. It seems that the shoes have switched feet and the U.S. is now the gutless nation and the French are willing to fight for what they believe in.

So, Michelle Obama might be proud to be an American FINALLY but I think right now I'd rather be French!