Thoughts From the Saddle

My Bathroom Chatter (BC) story

2010-01-12T10:48:00.002-07:00

I was taking a moment before class to catch up on my friends and their blogs when I ran into Jason's blog about bathroom chatter (very good post by the way although I am somewhat intrigued by his claim to having a 'skillful tongue' and wonder where he has been practicing that since moving to Missouri but I will leave that for another post) and realized that I had mentioned on facebook an experience I recently had with Bathroom Chatter and decided that for those of you who have NOT heard this story now would be a great time to tell it.

Several weeks ago I was returning to Blanding after the first of several trips to the north country during my December break from school and needed to stop in Moab to get gas. Sure I had enough gas to get home but one learns quickly that it is in one's best interest to gas up anyplace but Blanding because the 'cartel' keeps gas prices in Blanding 20- 50 cents a gallon higher than the rest of the free world, but that is a blog for another day also. Anyways, I pulled into the one place I feel comfortable in that bug (no offense intended to actual members of the bug species as I am not referring to that type of bug here) infested gut pile (hunting term) of a town. I have always stopped there and have always been quite pleased with the nice people I've encountered there as opposed to those I encounter IN Moab. I topped off my tank and then went inside to.... use the little boy's room in order to make the last hour of my trip a little more comfortable. I opened the bathroom door to realize that it was full and I needed to wait outside so I backed out and closed the door when I was confronted with a particularly fairy-esque voice saying " Is it full? Don't they know I've been holding it since Provo?" Not wanting to judge the voice I slowly turned and noticed that indeed his attire and posture fit his voice to a 't' but not wanting to be rude I decided to reply that I had been 'holding it' since Salt Lake. That started a dialogue in the hallway that I was pretty sure would end once we entered the bathroom. All men know that talking in the bathroom is strictly prohibited (especially with strangers) and that for the most part we want to just enjoy our time in this peaceful place.

As coincidence would have it both occupants of the bathroom came out at the same time and allowed us to enter. I quickly made my way past the lone urinal and into the sanctuary of the only stall (with locking door) in the bathroom. I was safe at last! WAIT, WHAT? He continues to talk to me over the stall! I'm a little freaked out and limit my responses to short, concise and very fragmented sentences in hopes to squelch his desire to talk to me but to no avail. He finished up first and washed his hands and while he dried his hands while I washed mine. That bathroom is an absolute DEATH TRAP for people in my position because if a man is washing his hands nobody else can enter or exit the bathroom. Due to this terrible design flaw my unwilling conversation continued with him standing directly behind me and me washing my hands while standing sideways and keeping at least one eye on the man at all times. Finally I was certain that my hands were clean, or at least clean enough, and turned to take some paper towel and that's when it happened.....

He puts his hand on my shoulder blade and as he very gently slides (rubs if you ask me) it off my back and half way down my humerus (Yes Kendra I DO know anatomy just not while playing Taboo) while giving me a disturbingly salacious look and says, "drive safe and don't go tail piping me." Then he left. I was in shock.... this had REALLY just happened to me!? I looked in the mirror and stared at myself for a moment. Then, with head drooping quite low I left the store, got in my car, and, being quite careful to not do anything that he might consider tail piping, I drove home as quickly as possible.

The moral of the story: 1- Moab is not a safe place, 2- Bathroom Chatter is WRONG, and 3- apparently one must be careful whom he/she speaks with while waiting for the toilet.

Trait of Flaw?

2010-01-07T23:51:00.002-07:00

I was told last night that I am a very analytical thinker. At first I wasn't sure if that was a compliment of a trait I hold or a criticism of a flaw that I wasn't aware of (I thought I was pretty aware of my flaws and shortcomings so this was a bit of a surprise to me). However the more I've thought about it, and admittedly analyzed it I have come up with a conclusion as well as an explanation. If you have any input I'd be more than happy to get feedback.

Although I didn't realize it before Kendra pointed it out to me, I can now see that I am clearly an analyzer. I find myself often times carefully choosing my words and trying to gauge the response they get as well as whether they are saying what I want them to say. I also noticed that I miss out on fun and spontaneous moments (such as throwing the most amazing girl in the world in the snow and giving her the snow bath of a lifetime) because I think too much of the consequences or possible consequences of the actions not only from the person directly involved but also by those around me who are not directly involved. First let me explain where this process came from and why I adopted it.

I think I was born to be a lawyer. Although I don't like contention and I absolutely HATE contention with those I love the most, I am also one that enjoys a good argument. When I say argument I do not mean that I like to fight. I hate fighting but I love a good healthy argument. If you have any questions about what constitutes a 'good healthy argument' and how it differentiates from a 'fight' then feel free to ask and I'll explain but that is not the focus of my post tonight. I digress... In order to argue effectively one must gauge the response of their words on the opponent in order to find wholes in their argument or resolve. One must also choose words wisely to prevent being backed into a corner or having their words morphed into something they do not believe. I also find that it is really important to look at the facts and look at ideas and arguments and weed out the cold hard facts from the fallacies or not so firm facts. In order to do this it takes a great deal of analyzing. So, all in all I think I was just born to be an analytical thinker.... is it a character flaw or is it a valuable tool and trait?

I think it is both. When I get into law school and become a lawyer I believe it will be a very valuable tool in making me a successful lawyer. I think it will be something I will be very grateful for in years to come. However, when it comes to relationships and that person or persons who mean the very most to me I think its a double edged sword. While its important to think before you speak and to try and communicate clearly, its is just as important (if not MORE important) to be spontaneous and simple. Often the calculated speaking comes across and lacking sincerity and thus doesn't have the same meaning to those you love. Also when you thin and calculate too much you end up missing out on fun experiences like giving Kendra a snow bath, or going and getting frosty's and fries on a whim and eating them in a parking lot while listening to sappy late night radio. Those type of experiences are so important in a relationship. I girl needs to know that you are FUN and that you can let your hair down and read a Dr. Seuss book to her and her mom and sister. So there are times when you need to go NIKE and 'just do it' and not worry about the consequences. I know that I will certainly work on being more spontaneous. I don't think there is any doubt of my feelings and my commitment to those closest to me but I wonder if they realize that I CAN have fun and let my hair down and just go with the flow. So my January resolution is to not be so calculating when it comes to having fun with those I love.

In thinking about this today I did come to one conclusion that I think is worth sharing. As I mentioned before I take information and observations that are in front of me and I try to sort them, solid facts, possibly fact, not sure of the validity, and false. If things are accepted as solid facts then I don't analyze them past that point. If there are enough 'solid facts' for me to feel confident in the course of action or in the course that something is taking then I wont analyze it. I am capable of being spontaneous and doing things on a feeling rather than simply on logic but I can only do that if I am confident of the situation.... I'm trying hard to be better at leaving logic out of relationships but I think if there are enough solid facts about the course it is taking then I will be less likely to calculate every move and every word. That's just my opinion.... take it for what its worth.

_ ____ ___ ____ __ __ ___ ______!

aaacwwwiitttnllooohsyume

Village Inn

2010-01-06T22:21:00.002-07:00

yes everyone, it is true, i am writing in my blog two days in a row! i can't believe it myself really. Kendra started a blog today and it has inspirEd me to be better at writing iN my own blog. the title of this blog inDicates that i'm going to say something about village inn we can assume:) Right?

so last weekend I had tHe great OpPortunity to drive to south jordan to see kendra and her familY fOr a few days bUt because of the circumstances i didn't leave blanding until 8 pm and didn't get to south jordan until 1 am. however, much to my suprise Kendra still waNted tO see me tHat night. i was really happy and had initially just planned On seeing her for a feW minutes eitHer At her hosue or at my brother's Parking lot and then going to P bed but when i got into town and called her to see what she wanted to do she asked where we should meet. half jokinglY i said, "well we can meet at mY brOther's parking lot or i'd be willing to drive to yoUr house and see you there if that's easier. or we could get pie at village inn." again, Much to my surprise And delight, she went for the idea of meeting at village inn for pie. what started out as a simple 1 am date for pie turned into 2 + hours of talKing and gEnuinly having a great time. it was possibly the More relaxEd, fun tIme i've had the past year! the details of the time we spent together wont be incLuded here but, speaking fOr myself, it was amazing.

i digress howeVer. thE purpose in writing this post is to explain the situation at village in during the wee hours of the morning. while kendra and i were there there was onlY one table that stayed as lOng as we did and they were still there when we left. it was interesting to watch them becaUse at 2 in the morning they were eating deserts AND playing cArds. i'M not sure what game tHey were plAying but they were having a great time just talking and Playing some sort of card game in the middle of village in. the other peoPle that were there were unique also. theY didn't show up until about 2 ish and When they ordered they ordered food for themselves to eat but also ordered several to-go dIshes.... however, The to go disHes came out wiTh tHeir ordERs and thEy causuaLly just sAt and aTe theIr foOd there iN the reStraunt. all in all it was quite an interesting situation. 3 couples at one table playing cards, two couples eating eitHer a very late dInner or an even earlier breakfast, and 1 couple talking and laughing and reconnecting. it just goes to show you that sometimes things happen when you least expect them to and in locations that you least exPect them to happen in. so if you cant sleep some night and there is a village in near by you should really drop in and have some pie and take a look around.... i assure you it'll be a unique experience.... as for me, i'd like to go there in the wee morning hours sometime and play cards just for the sake of doing it.... who is with me?

Exciting Month

2010-01-05T22:47:00.002-07:00

Wow what a month this has been! First of all who in the world thought it was a good idea for Utah State to give us a full month away from school? I mean sure its fun and it gives you time to relax and have some fun BUT I'm honestly afraid they will have to retrain me after such a long break! I'm not going to remember where the library is (not that I use it anymore... the secret UR lab is a ton better)! At any rate they gave us a month off and what a month it has been. Here are some of the highlights:

I went to Logan once (very unexpectedly) and Salt Lake twice (once planned and once not so planned) in order to try to fix my own stupidity. I'm not sure how its working but I'm learning to be a patient man. The details of this particular part of my month will be omitted and left for my journal. However, on the way back from one of these trips I was hit on in a Maverick store bathroom (in Moab of course) by a severely gay Navajo kid.... I could definitely live the rest of my life without that happening. Luckily I had the stall so i was able to lock him out of my space... ugh!

Christmas was amazing this year and New Years.... well I slept through New Years cause I was sick.

Last but certainly not least.... I heard back from my first law school that I applied to..... the letter went to my apt in Logan so I asked Kendra to go get it and read it to me over the phone. I got accepted! Its my 2nd choice out of the schools I applied to so now I will just wait for the others but I'm really excited. Its somewhat far away though and I am not really excited about moving so far away without any friends or anything to take along with me... maybe.... (but maybe).

Anyways Sorry this isn't much of a blog post but I just needed to get some of the dust off of my brain so hopefully I can do better in the future.

PS University of Tulsa is where I got accepted to today.

The Beauty of Castle Dale

2009-10-07T20:45:00.002-06:00

It may surprise many that I am breaking my blogging silence. That is, if anyone even reads my blog anymore since it has been months since I posted and even longer since it was a meaningful post. You may wonder what has caused this extended absence from the blogging community. Well, that question will not be addressed in this post but it will be addressed in the next post.

This post is dedicated to the awesome little town in the center of Utah. I certainly don't mean Price! Many people don't even know of the existence of the town of Castle Dale, Utah.

Founded in the late 1870's the communities in Castle Valley (among which is Castle Dale) were part of the last colonization call given by President Brigham Young. This call was issued just 7 days before the death of the Prophet. In the 2000 census there were found to be 1,657 people living in Castle Dale. The main source of employment for the town of Castle Dale is probably Pacific Corp. (Rocky Mountain Power, formerly known as Utah Power and Light). There are also many farmers and ranchers in the Castle Dale area as well as the employment that comes with being the Emery County seat (ie. school district, county office, and Emery High School).

Now that the demographics are out of the way let me tell you the top 5 reasons why Castle Dale is an amazing place, and why I could honestly see myself living there in the future.

1. The People

The people of Castle Dale are some of the nicest, most hardworking individuals I've ever seen. Its very impressive to me that a person can go to the many activities (4th of July, 24th of July, Dinosaur Days, etc.) in Castle Dale and the surrounding communities and that person is welcomed in as part of the family even if they have never been there before. The people of Castle Valley, and Castle Dale specifically, are certainly part of a dying breed of people in this country. Just think of the problems facing the world today and then realize that if the people of the world, or even just of the United States, would remember their roots and act more like rural America, these problems would disappear very quickly. If you want to meet the friendliest, most helpful people, go the the country (places like Castle Dale and Blanding of course).

2. The Location

Castle Dale is situated along Cottonwood Creek in Castle Valley, Utah. Many people might say that it is the middle of the desert and as such is quite unappealing and ugly. Moreover there are two massive coal power plants within just a few short miles of Castle Dale so how can it possibly be a location that I love? Well, very simply, I love the desert and I love Coal Power! Call me crazy but the whole global warming thing is a load of crap and I quite enjoy seeing the steam rise from the triple (when all three are working) stacks of the Hunter power plant from my brother's front porch. To me it signifies why America is great and serves as a reminder of the natural resources God has blessed this country with TO USE. Also it serves as a reminder of all those brave men who work in the coal mines and power plants to keep America (and California which I hesitate to include in the word "America") lit at night, cool in the summer, and warm in the winter via electricity. Besides this the area out in what the locals call 'the desert' is absolutely amazing. I've been out there geocaching on many occasions and it steals my imagination and my heart every time. To think that it is the same area that the legendary Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch roamed and that somewhere out there the infamous Robber's Roost is tucked away from the public view. The 'desert' is quite enchanting, I could spend days out there without even the quaint desire to return to 'civilization'.

3. The County Community

As was previously mentioned in the 1st reason the people of the area are amazing. This 3rd reason is about the people of Castle Dale alone but to the whole Castle Valley community (orangeville, cleveland, huntington, ferron, etc). While living in Cache Valley I have seen how the once rural communities of this valley have their own individual celebrations and invite everyone in the valley to attend. I was quite impressed with the set up and had thought it to be unique until I went to Dinosaur Days in Cleveland a couple years back. It was then that I realized that Cache Valley had departed from its rural roots and had probably, at one time, had the sense of community that it now lacks but that is found in abundance in the Castle Valley Community. While one might argue that the reason the county acts so much like family is because it is, in reality family, I argue that this is simply the ignorant urban population accusing the more content and more ideal part of America of such absurdities in order to make themselves not seem like such a culturally defunct lot. While it is fact that often times there are families in the rural areas that seem to enjoy intermarriage it is not the rule, but rather the exception. In reality the reason why rural communities such as those found in Castle Valley are so close and so familial-like is that they share one another's ideals. They are content at being hard working, under paid, and under appreciated. They also enjoy being left alone by the cultural rot that urbanization and city life bring into the relaxing life of the country. The County as a whole consists of the type of people you can rub shoulders with in any circumstance and know that you are part of a family.

4. Family

The 4th reason why I could live in Castle Dale is certainly not lacking in importance. My Brother and his family live in Castle Dale. This brother use to live in Logan and took great care of me. I was pretty sad to see them leave Logan and move so close to Price (I'm not a fan of Price). However, I have seen them be welcomed into the community with open arms and have never seen them more happy. I love my brother and his family and would enjoy living so close to them.

5. Jackie

Jackie is the reason I am writing this blog. During the summer I was in a jam and Jackie bailed me out. My payment to her was to write a blog praising her community because I tease her so incessantly about it. However, let me make it clear that the things I have said in this blog are my sincere thoughts on the subject and are in no way tainted by the necessity to praise the community of Castle Dale to pay a debt to a friend. So let me take a minute and explain why Jackie is so amazing. She is my computer go-to-girl since Jason had to leave me to go to Missouri (not that Jason was my go-to-girl but he certainly was my computer whiz prior to leaving Logan for the truly inbred state of Missouri :) ). Jackie is always willing to help me figure things out with my computer even when she isn't at work at the IT desk at USU. Plus she is such a smart girl when it comes to so many other things on top of being a computer whiz. Also, Jackie is a very friendly person. She truly has carried on forth the community banner from the small town of Castle Dale and has established it here Logan. Her community should be proud. So besides bailing be out of a desperate situation over the summer that allowed me to talk to Kendra via cell phone Jackie has been a great friend and help. She's usually pretty happy and is even OK at Taboo (better than me of course). So Thank you Jackie for everything.

Well Friends and Visitors if you have any desire to see what America is all about I recommend that you visit Castle Dale. It truly is an amazing and pleasant place.

High School Poetry

2009-07-30T21:59:00.002-06:00

I was looking through a file of my high school English assignments and found a poem that I had written.

GIRLS ARE LIKE PARKING SPACES

Girls are like parking spaces,

all the good ones are gone.

You must search and search for the one that fits your car best.

However, if you wait too long,

all the good ones will be gone leaving you with one that is wrong.

If she is perfect let your car stay there and don't look around cause soon as you leave your

spot will be stolen in a Christmas shopping rush.

If you feel left out cause everyone else is already parked,

don't rush into the first one you see and suddenly find yourself in something without a spark.

Now many will say, "what is one compared to another, as long as they don't bicker?"

I say, "they don't have my handicap sticker!"

Kendall Laws

10th Grade

Not exactly the most romantic 'love poem' but isn't life great when you are able to find an available handicap parking stall? Nothing makes you more angry than to see some 'pimped out rice grinder' of a car, with no sticker, parked in a perfectly good handicap stall.... Think about the imagery :). Anyways just wanted to share this.... masterpiece. ENJOY

When in the Course of Human Events....

2009-06-11T21:50:00.002-06:00

Today I've had the opportunity to spend roughly 10 hours on a piece of equipment and have contemplated the more recent developments in the relationship between the BLM/Forest Service/Federal Government and the citizens of San Juan County. As the title might indicate my mind has been brought to bear on the Declaration of Independence. That is the approach I will take with this post.

"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." Now I know what you may be thinking, " Kendall has lost his mind and has turned into some fanatic." Well, that might be so but lets look at the situation and then I'll let you decide what the writers of the Declaration would say about the events.

Before I delve into this let me first establish that I am not saying who is guilty or who is being falsely accused. Quite frankly I don't care if the men who were rounded up yesterday are guilty as charged or not. What I do care about, as will shortly be evident, is the complete disregard on the part of the Federal government and her ghestapo-like henchmen of the BLM, Forest Service, and National Park Service of meaning of 'citizen' when dealing with the people of the rural West. Please feel free to comment.

I will assume that anyone reading this is familiar with the raids that took place in the 4 corners area yesterday morning and with the sad developments of today dealing with yesterday's raids. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about then check out any of Utah's major news websites. I am not disputing the fact that what these people are ACCUSED of is a crime (although I think it is ludicrous, it is still considered a crime) but what I do dispute is the necesity of putting thousands of man hours over the course of several years into an investigation to appreahend such "HEINOUS CRIMINALS" as those who dig indian ruins. Many will argue that they are stealing America's cultural artifacts, others might argue that they are stealing 'tribal property' and to both I say BS. Who's tribe do these artifacts belong to? Last time I checked the Anasazi's have been dead and gone in their entirety for nearly a thousand years. If in fact some tribe does have ownership of these 'artifacts' then I want them to know my family is going to charge them rent not only in the future but also an insanely high back fee for storing all of their left over dishes and discarded weapons and clothing for the past 80 years. Feel free to contact me if these articles are the property of your tribe and make sure you give me an address to send the bill. As to the argument that these people are 'stealing America's heritage' I say, "atleast these people have the ambition to go dig this junk up so we can know more about these lost civilizations!"

All arguments aside the fact of the matter is that the FBI and their fellow goons raided homes and arrested people yesterday to close a several year investigation. How much money was spent on this investigation? How many Border Patrol agents could we have trained for that much money? How many DEA agents and drug dogs could we have trained for that much money? How many terrorists could we have waterboarded with that much money? In the world we live in are there not more important things for the government to be doing to protect us? In the quote from the Declaration that I already used it says that when the government stops providing for our future security it is our RIGHT to find a new guard for our future.

I found several aspects of the press conference held by the government yestarday to be quite interesting. Mr Salazar (who I think is about as worthless as worthless gets) said (quoted straight from CNN.com), "Let this case serve notice to anyone who is considering breaking these laws and trampling our nation's cultural heritage that the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], the Department of Justice and the federal government will track you down and bring you to justice," There you have it, yesterday's raids on American citizens were nothing more than terror tactics brought to you courtesy of our own government that should be protecting us from foreign and domestic dangers not from pot hunters! When a government starts allowing its people to be terrorised in order to 'prove a point' then that government is no longer functioning as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and the like set it up, but rather as Hitler and Stalin set up their respective 'governments.'

The other part of the press conference I found to be quite disturbing was the fact that all of the officials were flaunting the fact that they had the Redds again. The attitude was that of "well we were too sloppy with out case on them ten years ago so we came back at them and got them this time and regardless of what the truth is we WILL convict them." Thats not the way the legal process was designed to work but alas the government we are governed by today is not the organization that Hamilton so nobley defended in the Federalist Papers either.

Basically what I'm getting at is that yesterdays raids that resulted in 24 people being arrested and lives being broken and ruined forever was nothing more than terroristic scare tactics by a government that would rather have the citizens of this part of the world be evicted so they could turn the 4 corners into a play ground. The government that was founded to save us and provide safety to us against the tyranny, oppression and despotism of England has, over time, BECOME that very institution it was developed to deter. Once again I am not saying anyone is guilty or innocent but what I am saying is that this is a poor use of our limited funds and law enforcement resources and that if Mr. Salazar wanted to 'send a message' he did a fine job of it. Message sent AND recieved, you don't want us here and thats fine cause we don't want YOU here either! You keep taking our land and our ways of enjoying it, we know you will, but stop fighting our desire to have freedom in our own land with trumped up charges and ridiculous laws!

In closing I just want to tie the complaints back in with the Declaration of Independance. What do you think? Are James Madison and Thomas Jefferson rolling over in their graves? You bet they are!

Rifles for Watie

2009-06-04T12:55:00.002-06:00

What would summer be without getting a chance to read a good book? In my opinion it wouldn't be a fulfilled summer without reading at least one great book so the past couple days I decided to read a book I hadn't read since before my mission. Before I could read it I had to find it. I ended up crawling all over in the attic digging through all the boxes I had packed up with all the stuff I'd accumulated over the first 19 years of my life in order to find this amazing book. Once I finally found it (in the last box left in the attic of course) I realized just how many times I had read it growing up since the number was recorded with tally marks on the inside cover of the book, 12 times before the mission. After being read that many times its not wonder that pages 184- 213 are completely free of the binding and fall out anytime you casually pick the book up. Also the cover is so worn you can barely read the back of the book to know what the story is about, lucky for me I don't need to read the synopses to know what Rifles for Watie is about!

Anyways, after having read a book that many times you'd think it would be hard to get 'into' the story but the 13th time around was the best yet. I stayed up really late last night (early this morning) to finish the book because I didn't want to put it down and sleep! Maybe I'm just crazy but I think anyone who enjoys historical fiction would be the same way with this book.

Rifles for Watie and I met when I was in the 5th grade and my teacher, Mr Bayles, read it to our class. For anyone interested in a pretty easy but very enjoyable story of a young boy who joins the Kansas Volunteers of the Union Army at the start of the Civil war and ends up being and infantryman, a Cavalry man and eventual a Union scout/spy and in the process of being out on scout for the Union is enlisted into the Confederate Army and serves under Colonel Stand Watie in his Cherokee Mounted Rifles for 18 months before making a harrowing 125 mile escape back to Union lines with the whole confederate army after him, I highly encourage you to look into Rifles for Watie. Oh and did I mention that I have a huge crush on Miss Lucy Washbourne? You'll have to read the book to understand but just remember, I already spoke for her!

2009-05-01T09:45:00.001-06:00

Finals Week

2009-04-28T14:35:00.003-06:00

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

2009-04-23T21:57:00.003-06:00

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....?

2009-04-13T23:42:00.002-06:00

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"

2009-04-10T11:40:00.002-06:00

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!

A Copycat or the Real Thing?

2009-03-31T17:56:00.002-06:00

I very rarely go back on something I vow to do but times like these call for exceptions. For anyone who has followed my blog the past several months the Lucky Charmer was banished from my blog months ago. For those of you who are new to my blog I would recommend reading about this phantom of the night in my previous blog entries.

Why am I talking about the banished follower of my blog? I'll explain. Last night my favorite neighbor from BLAPT 13 was at my place visiting Jason and I and when we walked her to the door at a little past midnight we were surprised to see the LC's calling card (a box of Lucky Charms) sitting in front of our door. Those of you who are familiar with the LC will recall that each item that was left on my porch was littered with meaningless clues to nowhere in an attempt by the adversary to piddle my time away chasing false clues (it worked). Well, last night's 'gift' followed the same mo with the words 'Grow up' and 'time is running out' circled very prominently on the box. Today I decided to open them up and have a bowl of cereal only to find that this particular box of Lucky Charms was lacking the marshmallows! Upon further investigation I found that the perpetrator had opened the bottom of the bag, poured out the cereal, sorted out all the marshmallows, put the puffed poop leftovers back in the bag, and then melted the bag shut again! Once again, for those familiar with the LC's beginnings you will recall that it all started when I made reference in a blog post to Lucky Charms in a post dedicated to life and dating. In that reference I pointed out that while most of the time, in life, we are stuck dealing with the menial labors of life (nasty puffed oat pieces in LC cereal) once in a while we are blessed with sweet little morsels that persuade us to continue looking for love, success, education, etc (this would be the marshmallows). So, in essence last nights little escapade by the LC (or a copycat) was meant to show me that they have essentially taken it upon themselves to deprive me of the sweet moments in life. To me this is an act of war and I refuse to stand idly by while they do such things!

You may be wondering, "what can he do since he doesn't even know who it is?" That is an excellent question, and one that I have a very solid answer for. A very close friend of mine just happened to be out in the parking lot in his/her car that was parked very closely to my door and noticed the package being dumped on my steps! Yup, the LC was caught red handed! Well upon investigation we figured out who it was that made the drop last night and we are planning retaliatory measures that will, essentially make them cry. I have my doubts that last night was actually an impersonator that only wished they were the LC but regardless the war is on. The ONLY way that you can escape the wrath of BLAPT 14 is by admitting your actions. You might think that by saying this I am admitting that I really don't know who you are. In that case, you are absolutely WRONG and will suffer the consequences. Choose wisely.

If you are in fact the original Lucky Charmer I will gladly admit your greatness on my blog if you come and fess up. If you aren't the original LC then apparently you had nothing better to do last night so you pulled a flawed copycat prank (flawed since you were caught) after stalking my blog. Anyways, Copy Cat or "Real Deal" the choice is yours. If we have not heard from you by Thursday night you can expect a visit from us. Good Luck!

Is Having a Taste Better Than Ignorance?

2009-03-02T23:36:00.002-07:00

Well, I'm still alive! Hopefully the majority of those that read this are glad to hear that news. Sorry I haven't written in so long. I have been really busy and really shouldn't have time to be writing tonight but for two nights in a row I am unable to sleep. Maybe I'll get back into the swing of things though.

It seems like all of my closest friends have been going through one hardship or another recently. Admittedly most of them have to do with relationships with the opposite sex. I was in the middle of a conversation last night with a dear friend of mine about her recent let down and the question came to my mind, "is ignorance really bliss?" I mean just about all of us have experienced some sort of situation in our lives where we feel like, at least for some short period of time, we were able to taste what the happiness of heaven might be like. We have also probably felt the sting of having that little taste of heaven ripped away from us, never to return again. Maybe this was a relationship, a friendship, or an outpouring of the spirit, but we have all felt the highs of life and the lows in some facet of our life thus far. If you haven't... get away from the computer and go live a life.

So, back to the ignorance issue. Since it was a broken heart at the hand of a boy that brought this question into my mind I'm going to focus on that. Anyone that has had a dating experience that seemed so perfect, you clicked with the significant other in every way possible, you felt like there was nothing negative about the experience, and, in the best of cases, he/she brings out a side of you that is so good it surprises even you to find it inside yourself. I've had a couple such experiences and, to me it seems like that's the closest thing to heaven I've had the pleasure to experience thus far in life. However, in the aftermath of the collapse of such relationships the pain is so immense you wonder if you'll ever want to clear the emotional rubble and date again because you just can't imagine finding such happiness with anyone else. At least that's how I've been following surprise breakups. This is where the ignorance question comes in.

Those people that have never had such an experience as outlined above are, essentially in a state of ignorance. This ignorance may or may not be of their own choosing but, nonetheless they are ignorant of the happiness and joy that such an experience can bring into their life and are left hoping that one day they might taste of the fruits thereof. At the same time there are those of us who HAVE tasted the positive fruits of a healthy, happy relationship but are no longer involved in one. For us the single life is bitter sweet. Sure its nice to have 'your own life back' but on the other hand hanging out with the fellas just doesn't have the same appeal that it once had (with each healthy relationship that appeal seems to diminish) and you may find yourself wishing, albeit on the inside only, for something more to brighten your life. Basically what I'm getting at is this: Those who are ignorant don't have first hand experience of what they are living without and as such can't fully understand just how good it really is. Those who have tasted, to some extent, the fruits (both good and bad) of the better parts of life are keenly aware of what they are living without and, in many cases, mourn its absence. This is applicable to nearly everything not only in life but in the eternal scheme of things also. So while I don't regret having the life experiences that I have acquired I still wonder if maybe ignorance in some things is the way to go.

One has to wonder what other things we as humans are living in ignorance of. For those things I guess all we can do is hope that someday we can taste of those fruits.

The Day I Hated the Snow!

2008-12-22T18:05:00.005-07:00

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!!

2008-12-14T17:38:00.003-07:00

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

2008-12-10T18:54:00.002-07:00

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

2008-11-30T11:18:00.002-07:00

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

2008-11-25T10:31:00.002-07:00

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

2008-11-21T14:19:00.001-07:00

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

2008-11-20T10:13:00.001-07:00

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

TWO DOWN

2008-11-19T10:44:00.003-07:00

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

One Down

2008-11-18T21:08:00.001-07:00

FOUR DAYS TO GO!!!!!

Steak and Shrimp

2008-11-17T10:55:00.003-07:00

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!!! $$ REWARD$$

2008-11-12T21:36:00.004-07:00

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

2008-11-07T22:08:00.003-07:00

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

2008-11-05T19:49:00.003-07:00

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

2008-11-04T15:21:00.003-07:00

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

2008-10-24T17:20:00.002-06:00

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

2008-10-22T20:49:00.003-06:00

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

2008-10-21T22:18:00.002-06:00

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'

2008-10-03T23:27:00.003-06:00

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"?

2008-09-29T12:35:00.001-06:00

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.