Embrace This Day

Life is good. I am genuinely happy. Don't worry, I could still complain about sleep deprivation, the dating scene, or homework, but I don't notice any of those things right now. In fact, I am going to try to never let them be a focus ever again. Even though things have been a little hectic this week, I feel very content with everything in my life. It started with getting a blessing on Sunday from my Elder's Quorum President (he's my roommate). Things changed for me. I changed. Then a phenomenal lesson in my religion class opened up Alma 36 in ways that I never could have imagined. I changed some more. I have a hope for the future that is burning in me that cannot be quenched by the economy or whatever the world may throw at me. I am going to make a difference in the world. My children will make a difference. And this is not because of any special ability that I have, but rather that I am going to try to live my life a little more like a byu devotional given back in 1996. My friend David sent it to me on facebook, for which I am very grateful. I don't feel fear or regret about opportunities that I chose not to pursue, or even apprehension about what comes next. It will be alright in the end. I'm just waiting for the next big trial in my life, but when it comes I will face it as a new man. I don't deserve any of the countless blessings that I have been given, but I am very grateful for them. Life is good. Even when its hard, life is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAjZ8mfoYw

Musings of a tired boy

While taking pictures of stars (moonrise) out in the desert, with my brother, I came to the realization that there is so much light. No matter how "dark" it is at night, there is always light. It can be hard to see it at time, but its always there.

Er, 4 months of blogging?

So my first semester at BYU-I has been pretty awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I didn't have the time to blog. Or rather sleep was more important than blogging. Or maybe I was just lazy. So here is a little slice of what life has been like (aside from the lovely hours spent searching for research or reading textbooks or writing papers etc) I goofed off sufficiently at the beginning of the semester to earn me a 3.1. Now my cumulative gpa is only a 3.5. Please do not accredit that to this next picture because my grades were on the up-bound the entire time I was dating her.

Biggest event of the semester was this girl here (not the fatty dandelion). Her name is Hailee, and yes, we are dating. And no, I am not planning on proposing anytime soon. And yes, she can sing. Gorgeous voice, actually, and yes, she can sing soprano, but prefers alto. Um, I can't anticipate any other questions from the family right now so you'll just have to ask them later.
I finally got to go camping with Andy's family. I'm rather jealous that he has a great campsite 20 mins away from his house. It was a fun weekend and we shot lots of cans.

While visiting an old friend before she went on a mission, a crazy lightning storm came up and I ran home and got my camera. To the left is President Eyring's son's house. It was a fun night.
On a Sunday drive I, along with 4 others, went for a drive to Tetonia. We stopped along the way a couple of times for pictures. It was a much needed break.
The blurry head is one of my fhe sisters. I don't know which one. I was mostly interested in the mountains, anyhoo. I really want to climb that big mountain.
The view. Almost worth the -20 degree weather in the winter.

On another trip I went to cress creek with some friends. As you can tell I like to look my best on these little excursions. The picture was a request made by Barbie, one of the sisters I hometeach. The flower smelled like fruit loops. Not even kidding.

This is the view from cress creek. Its about 20 mins away from campus and it overlooks this nice little valley. One of the places I like to go :)

Mesa Falls. It was really pretty, and my econ partner, Betsy, wanted to go. See, going places and doing things was always better than doing our weekly econ assignments, but this was our "reward" for getting it done. She brought along her roomates....uh.... (forgot the names. they're the girls) She is the one with her arm around Jordan. (i tried to set them up but it didn't work)
And of course i couldn't leave out my fhe sisters. We had a lot of fun even though half of our lessons were spent harassing me.
I made many an excursion to take pictures with dates, friends, and by myself. Photography was my escape from going insane.
My other escape was going to the temple. It has been such a blessing having the temple only 20 mins away if I walked. (only walked twice)
Now seeing how its good ol' Rexburg, there isn't that much to do for fun. You have to get creative. VERY creative. I apologize to those with sensitive dispositions, but you chose to look at this blog, nobody made you. This was an 80's night date that was a lot of fun. It turned into an impromptu dance party that made our manager come up and tell us to be quiet. Ooops?

My semester has been an eventful one. I grew a lot. I had more powerful, spiritual experiences in the one semester than I perhaps did in the preceding two years after my mission. I've met a lot of people who will be my lifelong friends and made a lot of great memories. This is only a very small slice of life since April but hopefully it will update y'all to whats been going on in my life as of late.

Life is Good

Im guessing that some of you are interested in how I like byu-i. I don’t suppose I can give an accurate and full report yet seeing how I have only been here for about 6 days but what a six days it has been! The doubts and concerns that I had about whether or not I was supposed to come to this school have been completely erased. This is a holy place. The only thing I can really compare it to is the MTC but with less razor-rash and its okay to hug girls here. In fact, I guess the hugging is encouraged because its called byu-I do. But back to the seriousness of it, it has been a far greater spiritual experience than I could have hoped for. No, I haven’t found my eternal companion, or not that I know of, but this campus is Zion. There is a spirit of unity and dedication that It is ridiculous how friendly people are here! My new good friend Vanessa makes it a habit to say hi to everyone that she passes by- even if they are across the street or quad. Its more like an obsession but it makes me laugh every time all the same. I have been on a couple dates already and have plenty more in the works. Don’t worry; my self esteem is rather healthy with all of these wonderfully spiritual (and cute) girls smiling at me. And yes, they smile at everyone they pass but I don’t care! Haha

I have a large group of really good friends as well as an amazing ward. My Elder’s Quorum President is nothing short of a spiritual giant and he gave one of the most powerful eq’s lesson that I have ever heard. I love how I can go up to a random apartment pretty much anywhere around and knock on the door and make new friends just like that. I’ve done that a bit (girls’ apartments mostly) and its been a lot of fun. I haven’t drowned in homework yet but I have plenty to do. I still am hopeful to get a job because that would make life considerably easier on the pocketbook. If I don’t get one this semester then I will just focus all the more on my classes and getting straight “A”s so I can get a scholarship here.

My teachers seem to be pretty cool and reasonable thus far and I am very happy with the class size because it is a very intimate teaching setting with no class larger than 50 thus far. I think that these teachers may actually CARE about our success, which is a rarity in the rest of the world. I had an interview with one of the Stake Presidency councilors and I’ve been called to serve as (I think) an assistant ward clerk. Or something like that. I figure I’ll just show up on Sunday and they will tell me what they want me to do.

The weather has been thus far-sunny to cloudy and warm to cloudy and cold to crazy intense thunderstorms. I had fun with that last one because I took a friend up out of town to get a spectacular view of the fireworks. Right now its windy and rainy and I have discovered that my brown shoes are not water tight anymore. You learn something new every day here!

Beginnings and Endings

The end of one thing is the start of another, or so some random person once said. Maybe not a random person, but i just don't have the desire to look it up. As I come to the end of this particular chapter of life, I find myself reflecting on the past two years and what has transpired. It seems somewhat unreal to think back on how many amazing experiences I have had. All of which has led to who I am today in one way or another. I had very specific goals that I have been working on and it has been very rewarding to see some personal growth. I've got a long way to go still (everyone does) but I feel like I've finally accomplished what I set out to do before I went to the temple with someone.

Now don't go thinking that I'm gonna go marriage crazy here but rather that I finally feel ready for the next step in life. I'm more concerned about keeping up with the 17 units and finding a job somewhere, at this point so that will happen at some point. haha So here I sit on my bed, chatting with an old friend, listening to some good music and feeling excited for the future. Mom is saying that Idaho will never live up to what I am making it out to be, but we'll just see about that. Life is what you make of it, and I plan on making this a memorable semester! Life for the next three days will be a whirlwind of work, stress, packing, last minute visits and then a drive thru the night into the dawn of a new chapter of life. :)

Mountains to Lakes

On Tuesday night Adam and I went on a adventure of a sort to take pictures of the stars. After driving an hour and half to get to clear skies, we arrived in a bank of fog. Yeah. We still shot some pics and I got startled by what turned out to be noisy and curious white tailed deer. Not the yeti I had envisioned, darn it. haha So we went down the road and found this spot to shoot from.
It was slightly hazy still, and the moon was out so the stars weren't really visible but we still shot away and got some pretty coolish pictures anyway.
Today we met at Donely Park in Turlock, after work, to feed the ducks and geese and boy did Jake enjoy that! His throw with saltine cracker was somewhat short but the people-friendly birds seemed to do alright.
The crackers in the water did more than just attract birds... fish! This is a shot I got of a fish trying to get the cracker from out of a Mallards beak. Either that or I stumbled on a private moment... awkward. haha
We had a good time playing around the lake and then the others went to the playground for a bit so it turned out well. I went to visit less-actives and was successful (YES!!) while the ABSs packed up and left for Riverside. In fact they should be somewhere around Bakersfield right now... Anyhoo, the next family on the list is the Haymonds in 3 weeks! Woot!

My Family

Its all about family. Adam and Liz have been staying with us since Friday night and its been a lot of fun. We visited Grandma and Grandpa yesterday and got to spend some time with them. Today a high councilor gave a talk about families and their importance. I feel overwhelmed by how awesome my family is. We're not perfect, and we have a dysfunctional way of showing love and concern but we all love each other and love spending time together. We all live the gospel, and my brothers and sisters are raising their children in the gospel. I don't deserve a family as amazing as mine. I certainly don't deserve a rich heritage of faithful members giving their all to the church in spite of what life throws at them. I can't wait for the day when I will get to be in the temple with all my brothers and sisters and see what Heaven is like. I love my Family :)

Cali isn't so bad in the spring

On Friday, Monique and I went on a really fun and adventurous date to Black Diamond Mines. We Arrived a little before 4 and explored around the main facility before blazing trails and running down crazy embankments. After finally making it to an actual trail, we ran into a large entourage that were "taking pictures for a catalog." Yeah right! They were shooting film, and we KNEW they were lying.... all lies!! From there we headed up the mountain with the goal of making it to prospect tunnel some 2 miles away. Yeah... we instead decided that we didn't want to hike all that way with our limited amount of time...

... so we decided to hop a barb wired fence and had a lovely picnic here! I totally spaced on taking a picture of the remarkable view from there but trust me, it was pretty phenomenal.
After a yummy lunch with egg-shaped sugar cookies we decided to head back down the mountain and check out the cemetery. Before we left we stopped and snapped a couple of shots of the beautiful view from the top.
As we got near the cattle gate, Bessy the cow decided that she didn't care for us much. She (a fatty fatty cow) first climbed up onto the road we were walking on and stared us down. When that didn't stop our advance she retreated to higher ground and proceeded to give us the most evil cow-eye I have ever seen. Evil cow!
We survived that encounter and made it to the cemetery. We noticed the "catalog shoot" (liars) had moved locations and we attributed that to them realizing that we were onto them... The cemetery was pretty cool but also sad because the majority of the people buried there were just kids... Came across a "Davies" there and I have been meaning to ask Emily if she is distantly related or something. From there we hustled back down to the parking lot and sped towards the exit. I kid you not, the park ranger came and locked the main gate about 30 seconds after we made it out. That was CLOSE. haha We headed back to esaclon and watched "New in Town" and spent the rest of the evening talking to each other with a Minnesotan accent. Not gonna lie, it was hilarious at the moment. haha Made it back to the house about 10 minutes before Adam and Liz arrived, and then crashed after a very fun, adventurous, eventful, awesome day. :)

Manresa Beach... was awesome!

For our regional YSA activity the Merced ward organized a beach trip. In winter. Yeah. On Friday the weather was bleak, gray, and very wet. However come Saturday morning, the weather was GORGEOUS. Got to Manresa about 12:30 and there were about 15 of us there in total. Turns out that the beach was really warm- warmer than the valley was that day. So unfortunately for everyone else on the beach, I felt like going for a run up and down the beach. Felt SO good. When I got back from my exercise, there was about 40 of us there so we started to play games. Made some new friends- Monique and Chantal, (pictured above- i already knew scott) and had a blast playing catch with a football.

Lunch was pretty decent, and you could not have asked for a more beautiful day. I went on several more walks accompanied by friends and I just had an all-around good day. :) The sunset was spectacular and its a good thing that I listened to Monique about getting my camera because I woulda regretted that BIG time. My car was packed to the brim with two additional persons and off we went. Made it home by about 9:30, stuffed my face with food, and then hit the hay. Good times!

Ps. I am no longer pasty white!!

My Passion

Since creating this blog, I have found that I feel a greater desire to share thoughts and feelings that normally I might just keep to myself. I guess its a good thing to see my thoughts written out because its like I am learning more about me.

Music is such a powerful thing to me. I know some individuals that music is practically meaningless to them and I just can’t relate to them in that sense. Take a powerful conference talk, put it to some beautiful music, and the message seems to grow in intensity. Take a miserable day and go for a drive or a walk listening to a favorite song and the world’s problems seem to melt away. Take a boy who is excited for the future and give him a moving and passionate score to listen to and his feelings become all the greater. Music is such an integral part of me- I just wish I could create the kind of music that inspires and uplifts others.

I have often mused what it would be like to have a soundtrack to life- every mood or situation would be mirrored by a brilliant score. As I write this, I am listening to a soundtrack that is a personal favorite and I feel motivated to go do something amazing. Its truly remarkable how it can affect me, and often does affect me. I am passionate about music, and life.

The Future Looks Bright

Tonight I met with Brother and Sister Rawe to discuss potential careers that I might pursue and find something that I might be good at. We did not arrive at one profession that was "perfect" but I came away with a renewed perspective on life and a "can do" attitude. I feel like I literally can do anything! I finally have the right perspective- I just need to have faith that I will be led to make the right choices for me and for my future family. The gospel is so amazing and its such a wonderful feeling to feel that overwhelming sense of gratitude that just permeates your entire being. I love life. It keeps getting better and better all the time, and I can't even fathom what awesome experiences Rexburg might hold in store for me!

Stress, Fun, and Sun

My weekend started off on a less than ideal note with the car trying to die on me. I spent pretty much the entire afternoon trying to take apart the Pontiac to replace the valve cover gasket which appeared to be leaking. No luck. Not only did I not succeed but I noticed an orange, oily/watery substance in the resonator which led me to believe that perhaps the head gasket was blown. Yipee. I put the car back together and to my much dismay, it ran really rough, and died often. Yipee. So I called Bobby's (the mechanic) and he told me to bring it in Saturday morning. Brought it in, and he pointed out right away that a vacuum hose to the air intake manifold was broken so it wasn't giving the correct amount of vacuum. Sure enough, the car runs really smooth and the repair was only $100 instead of $1000 for a head gasket.

The car even was fixed fast enough for me to run down to Merced (late, of course) to go on an trip with my friend, Joy. AKA "felicity" to some of the fam. haha Our ultimate goal was Yosemite via the 140 but we took a more meandering route that took us to some really pretty places and some awesome vistas. We eventually made it back to the 140 and I must say that I really enjoyed the drive. It was really pretty and followed the Merced river for a ways. The 120 is pretty lame in comparison. Sigh. We went ice skating in curry village for a while (didn't fall ONCE), saw some mormons (a 14 year old wearing a BYU shirt...i asked him haha) and then drove around the park for a bit. We hiked around exploring random places until it started to get dark. At this point we decided to have an impromptu snowball fight that lasted over an hour. When I say "impromtu", I mean she threw a snowball at my face. haha I won. lol Started to drive back to Merced, stopped in Mariposa for some pizza, and then headed back.

Cameron and I had a good conversation on the phone on my drive back to Mo-town (used a headset, so don't worry) and I must say that I am getting REALLY excited to go to school next month! We shot the breeze for a while, caught up on each other's lives a bit, and talked about the near future. Im stoked!!

Woke up this morning to a cloudless sky and the sunlight streaming through my window. Not too shabby. I am looking forward to today seeing how it is Fast Sunday and for an added bonus there is a CES fireside tonight. So the weekend began on a less than ideal note but seems to be getting better and better as it goes. Tomorrow is career counseling with the Rawes (Bob and Kathleen) Im optimistic about what the future holds for me, and it certainly helps my optimism to have a freshly dry-cleaned suit for today! haha Now if you will excuse me, I do believe that I will go and listen to some Mo-tab and pretend like im the conductor. Gotta love it!

Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light , not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of god. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make and manifest the glory of god that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-Marianne Williamson

Clear Skies & Ice Cream Towers

Last night was the first night in a long time that wasn't overcast or raining or something so i grabbed my camera and ran out to the country in an attempt to take a picture that i have been waiting TWO WEEKS to take. I know, my life is SO hard. haha I took about 40 pics, maybe 5 of which i actually liked. I didn't get the "shot" that i had envisioned, but i got a few pretty ones nonetheless.(coolest word ever right there)

From there i ran over to the Ice Cream Co and met up with a bunch of friends and we tackled the La La Palooza (no idea how its spelled). What a mess! From there was a party of the "what if" game, followed by big booty, followed by ninja, followed by signs. Then a SECOND party of pictionary (boys won). Busy, fun night!

In case there may be those wondering why i just blogged about this, its to satiate the demands of those who feel that i have not been keeping up to date with current events. Enjoy!

Friday Morning Adventure

Today I went on an adventure with a friend in spite of the gloomy weather forecast. We headed out to Knights Ferry and went for a hike. After a failed attempt to locate a geo cache we just started hiking along the river. We passed up the beach that the parentals and I went to the year previous and went to the very end of navigable trail. We made a pretty cool discovery: the Stanislaus river has one pretty wicked rapid right above Knights Ferry. One slip and a bruise later (not me, surprisingly) we started to head back. In fact we pretty much went off roading for a bit while trying to make it back up the bank to the trail. As we made it to the top of the hill the rain hit. HARD. I had brought my rain jacket and an umbrella for just this occasion but after about 2 minutes, it stopped. I was glad it stopped but im not sure that 2 minutes of rain made lugging around that jacket for an hour really worth it. Oh well! The rain held off until I made it home, and is now pitter-pattering against the window. Had a really fun time and didn't die so today goes down in my book as a success.

The Journey Continues

This past weekend was a lot of fun, and eventful. I turned a whopping 23 and have officially become the oldest bachelor out of the Slade boys. Don't panic, the ratio of girls to guys at BYU-I is something like 2-1 so im BOUND to find someone who might like old men. On Friday the momma and the poppa and i went down to Riverside to visit Adam and Liz and the boys. We relaxed from our 6 hour drive by hiking Mt. Rubidox and getting a pretty panorama of the city. It was a lot of fun and Liz and Mom blazed the trail while the boys tried to prevent Jake from jumping.

Saturday was a trip to the train museum and then napping in the afternoon to try to catch up on lost sleep. That evening Adam and I went out of the city to a somewhat dark spot of land to play with our cameras. Adam's Canon 7D proved to be ridiculously cool but even my humble Canon Rebel xs took some pretty cool shots. Long exposure shots are pretty fun! (see middle)

Sunday we blessed Samuel Joseph Slade with Dad and I participating and i have to admit that it was a tender experience getting to do that with a child that is part of my eternal family. I imagine that when i finally get to do that with a child of my own, I probably will have trouble keeping back the tears. Sunday dinner was a 3 course meal prepared by dad and adam for their sweethearts which turned out quite nice. The evening was spent walking around some lakes and then sitting on swings and talking with a good friend who happened to be in a neighboring city that weekend. Good times. Monday rolled around and the nice little vacation came to an end. It was a lot of fun and it was good to see another chunk of family. Next on the list is the SFSs!

There and back again

So this past weekend was a whirlwind of activity involving lots and lots of driving and some fun times with family and friends. After arriving in Salt Lake on Thursday, i commandeered Holly's saturn for a quick 3.5 hour drive up north to rexburg. Had a bit of a birthday party at Lorraine's apartment and caught up with old friends while making some new ones. I met my future roomates and I look forward to moving in with them in about two months. Spent the night at Cameron's and toured the campus the next day while attempting to find employment and some counseling. A yummy lunch later and i was out the door for another 3.5 hour drive through a bit of snow but nothing that slowed me down below 83 mph...oops? The trip was well worth it and now i am no longer as apprehensive about school, so mission accomplished. Dinner with the family was fun when i got back to Salt Lake except that Idaho had imparted a gift to me while i was there: a slight sprained ankle from a spectacular fall on the ice. So i was a bit gimpish but hey, when am i not? A poor nights sleep later and we were back on the road to home. We managed to avoid all the woes the forecasters had predicted and we arrived back to a rainy Modesto and warm beds. Gotta love it!