Paying Attention and Loving

So many changes that have happened in over the year since I last posted. First we are in Utah and we doing better. Our little family has grown and we are blooming family of four. We are a fun and silly bunch which I'm glad to say that I learned from my family that I grew up in. Evelyn is a cute toddler who understands two languages, French and English, and speak one and a half. Julie Leanne joined our family four months ago and is a happy little girl who has thus far decided to Daddy's little girl and Evelyn has taken claim of Mommy.

I love to expound on the ways that our lives have gotten better but some of them are too personal to address on here. I will say that I have been doing some "Wii exercises" as one of my friends used to joke with me. I have also cut back on my reading which has helped me focus on families and friends. Wendy and I have made friends in our ward or congregation and we intend to only get more because we are greedy like that. I do want to say that I am married to my best friend who is wonderful and who is bent on helping me be a better man. I love flirting with her. Also if you haven't have listened to the song "Beauty and the Beast" it's awesome. My favorite line from it now is "learning you were wrong". I like it mainly because my first impression of the beautiful woman who would become my wife was not a positive one at first. I've had the good experience of learning just how wrong my first impression was of her.

I do want to mention that I am excited for the Pokémon Go App. I will only mention this topic in passing to warn anyone who might have an inclination of talking to me about it, as I might talk your ear off about that subject. I do want to mention that Brandon Sandersen has become my favorite author is another subject about which I could talk at length.

The title of my post is based on something I realized from an experience with my second daughter Julie. Wendy had just given birth to our daughter, I had clamped the cord and Julie was off to a great start. As always the nurses needed to check all of Julie's vitals and make sure that she was healthy and ensure that she could indeed survive on her own. I remember that there were three nurses checking all of the monitors and looking at Julie to make sure would be fine. In the midst of all of these screenings, I remember hearing Julie cry for probably the second time in her short little existence. I glanced at Wendy to ensure she was alright and then went over to little Julie. She was crying, red and flailing. I put my hand out to her and she grabbed my finger in her tiny little hand and suddenly stopped crying. As I reflected on this experience I realized that three very caring people were all paying attention to Julie but I had to reach out in love and that's what she felt. I think that we often tend to pay attention to what someone is saying or doing or we are thinking about our response. I think that we often forget the vital part that we need to love them. I'm not saying that things two things are mutually exclusive but I am saying that we tend to do one rather than the other. As both the Apostle Paul and the Book of Mormon prophet Moroni taught that if we don't have charity we are nothing. While we do need to pray for charity, I think that it is also important that we exercise the muscle that is love towards our brothers and sisters. I pray that as you go through out your week that you will exercise that muscle of love towards your neighbor. I know that as you do so you will touch the lives of others in positive ways and you will start to reflect the love our Heavenly Father and Christ to others.

Building Others

So I think that I should start with some updates. I finished my internship in Utah. It was really cool. I loved being able to contribute to a community. Wendy and I moved back up to Idaho. While I was down in Utah I made a shirt for a good friend of mine. It was the first shirt design that I'd ever done on my own. The quote on it is an inside joke from a double date with him and his wife.

Since moving back to Idaho, Wendy has started back to school and I've started back to work. We've made lots of friends in our new ward and we're really liking it. Also I made Wendy a shirt design after we got back. I have to admit, I really like making the designing because it gives me a creative outlet. Now I'm thinking about making more shirt designs.

Wendy and I have arranged our apartment and made general preparations for when our baby girl comes in a few months. We've been blessed to have all of our parents helping us out in that regard. One of my new favorite things is to put a hand on Wendy's stomach and feel our little girl kicking or moving. Wendy and I have discovered that we like eating at Frontier Pies. We both really like their pies.

My spiritual thought comes from our Gospel Doctrine teacher at church. Every Sunday he gives his lesson and finds a way to emphasize helping others out. Each week he asks us if we have experiences from the previous week on how we've helped others. Recently I've realized that the whole goal of the Gospel of Christ is to help others. Christ's teachings uplift us and help us to understand how to teach everyone but I think the ultimate goal of His teachings and actions was to show us how to help others. This week it is my goal to be more like my Savior and try to help those around me. A friend of mine once told me that I was a "builder" or someone who tried to build others up. At the time I believe I did a better job at "building". I want to challenge y'all to try to help build those around you then let me know how you did. I hope y'all have a great week!

Going Home

So I have a confession. I've lied. I didn't know the meaning of busy until I got married... Oh yeah, for those of you who missed it. I got married to my best friend Wendy. She is crazy like me so we have some pretty awesome times. I was planning on writing this post several times in the course of the last three months but things kept coming up. I will say that being married is a lot of fun though.

I'll do a brief summary of what's been going on in my life. I got married. We got an apartment. Wendy started another semester and I started a new job. Wendy and I went our friends Sean and Liz to a Valetine's day stake party. Wendy and I hang out with friends and sometimes family. We had my brother-in-law Gregory here which was fun. We had to go down to Utah to pick him up so we stopped by to see my family. Also I got my sister Catherine hooked to Percy Jackson & the Heroes of Olympus series. I'm working on getting an internship down in Utah for the summer. Now for some pictures.



And here is a picture from the Valentine's day dance.



My thought this week comes from a quiet moment today. Today I sat outside the Rexburg temple. I haven't been there this entire semester which is the longest that I've been without it since I was on my mission. I'm not gonna lie, I miss going there. Sitting there on a cool quiet day reminded me that it was really here that I felt like I was home for the first time in this small town. I was reminded that the temple is in part a reminder that one day we'll all go home one day or another. Our time here is time to get prepared to go back home to our Heavenly Father. This life is a temporarily sojourn in which we must learn, grow, and "write home" as frequently as we can. If you haven't talked to your Heavenly Father recently, I recommend it. I know that He always wants to hear from you and sometimes if you listen He has something to say. I hope y'all have a great week!

Update

For starters, I'm alive. It's been over two months since I posted. They have been crazy busy for the most part. I apologize for not writing sooner. Either I remembered and didn't have time or I forgot; the last few weeks have been a lot of the former. I'm very sorry guys.

Well, what to tell you.... I've been doing school stuff, work, wedding stuff and sometimes relaxing. Since last time, Wendy and I went to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert on campus. Wendy was super happy to go and we had really good seats. Wendy and I also went down to my parents house for General Conference and Thanksgiving. Both of those were really good and I was glad to spend time with my family and my darling Wendy. These last couple months have been full of ups and downs.

Today, going to church was a bittersweet experience. It was sweet because it was my last Sunday in a single's ward. While I have really enjoyed being in that ward, I won't miss the competition that seems to go on in a single's ward. At the same time, it was a bitter experience because it was my last time in the 67th ward. The ward that has become my home ward having been in it for two years. The experience was embittered more by the fact that the man who's been my Bishop for two years got released today. I won't deny it, that man has become my friend because he's helped me in some of my toughest moments. I will note that I was pleased to have him do an important interview for me today which was very touching because he's not just my Bishop, he's my friend.

Well, I should say that I'm really happy to be finishing up school this week and heading home for bit. Then from there I get to fly home with my darling Wendy to meet her family. And a few weeks after that I get to marry my best friend!

My spiritual thought this week comes from a reflection that I had during sacrament meeting. I realized one of the reasons that this ward has become my favorite and my home ward. It is because of all the friends that I've made here. Something I've really come to appreciate over the last few days are the friends that I have. They are really great people and I love them dearly. They have helped me and more often than they know they have changed my life for the better. As Sister Dalton once said in a devotional here on campus, everyone in your life is there for a purpose. I know that this is definitely true of my friends and I'm grateful to have them in my life. I hope y'all can recognize that your friends are gifts from God and I hope you let them know how much you love and appreciate them! Have a good week!

P.S. I've stop talking about what books I'm reading because I'm pretty sure no one really cares. Let me know if you wanted it included. If not I'll leave that part out.

Answering Our Prayers

Oh wow. So it's been over a month since I last wrote. Well to get y'all caught up. A few days after my last post, my family and I left for California to see my sister Megan get married to her best friend, Garett. It was fun experience and I'm glad to see my sister be so happy. It also made me excited because... It means Wendy and I are next! Yay!!!

After the wedding, we came back home to Utah. Since being back, I've done my best to keep busy and get needed stuff done. Well and I've done my best not to think about how much I miss Wendy. While being home I've been to a fair in Bountiful that had a some fun dance groups and one of them was French! It was fun to see a French dance group and made me miss the country even more. My darling Wendy got to visit it which made me a bit jealous. Well, I hope to one day visit it with my darling Wendy. I should also say that during this break we've been able to grow closer to one another.

I've got to hang out with my family and get caught up with them. It's been really nice to be able to hang out with them. I love being around my family; it always makes me feel like I'm spoiled. I've also been able to play with my little nephew Nikolai. He's adorable and he's crawling like crazy. For the most part he's really happy and really fun. Last week, my sister Catherine helped me make (more like helped her) a really cool t-shirt. It's a copy of a shirt from the Heroes of Olympus series that I read earlier; that series is a continuation of the Percy Jackson series. Anyways, I'm happy and excited to wear the shirt around campus.

I've also got caught up on watching some movies that I've wanted to see. I got to see the new Batman movie which was really good. I also got to talk to my dad about the French Revolution parallels in it. For me, it was really fun to be able to do that with him. I also got to watch a movie recommended by one of my French teachers called "Joyeux Noël" or Merry Christmas. If you watch it, you probably want to put English subtitles on. The movie has English, French and German all spoken in it. It's based on a true story from WWI. Around the Christmas season, a German tenor came and sung for some German soldiers in the trenches. He sung a hymn for them and a Scottish priest recognized the hymn and started accompanying the tenor on his bagpipes. From there three battalions, one German, one Scottish and one French rapidly become friends and stopped fighting. It was really cool and for me showed how the spirit of Christmas can unite people. It was really good.

So a few weeks before Megan and Garett's wedding, Catherine (my other sister) and Jesse's car broke down. It was horrible timing on many levels. I watched as they struggled with this trial. I know that they prayed a lot about it. I know that my parents and I prayed a lot about it. I will admit that I was impressed by both Catherine and Jesse's strength during this trial. A couple weeks ago, they were able to purchase a very good used car. It reminded me that the Lord does indeed hear and answer our prayers, even if our answers to our prayers are not immediately forthcoming. It also reminded of another prayer that was answered. I got home from my LDS mission in March of 2009. My plan was to date around for about a year and then find my special someone and get married. The Lord though, had a different plan for me. For three years, I went on flirted, went on dates, and did the whole dating game at BYU-Idaho. It was long and tiring . At times it was heartbreaking but I continued my search and continued praying. I'm glad that the Lord didn't get annoyed at my incessant prayers about finding my wife. Well three years to the day (or pretty close) that I got home from my mission, I got engaged to my best friend, Miss Wendy. I'll try not to brag about her too much... I just want to say that she really is my best friend in the whole world, like no else has been. To be honest, when I think about Wendy, I can just see so many of my prayers answered about how I wanted my wife to be, plus so many more awesome quirks and traits! I can honestly see that the Lord really did answer my prayers by giving me her.

I want to testify that the Lord really does hear and answer our prayers, even when we don't yet see it. Oftentimes we have to work hard, pray hard, and be patient to see our prayers answered but the Lord will answer them in His time. I have a quote that I shared with a friend of mine earlier that relates to working towards the Lord's answers to our prayers. Elder Holland said “Take advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow. Dream dreams and see visions. Work toward their realization. Wait patiently when you have no other choice. Lean on your sword and rest a while, but get up and fight again.” I testify that the Lord hears and answers our prayers. Oftentimes we have to work diligently towards their realization. I testify that the heartache, tears, and sacrifice that we have to go through will always be worth it. May the Lord bless you with the patience to see the answers to your prayers! Have a good week!

Making Decisions based on Correct Principles

So these last few weeks have been crazy. Lots of exams, stress and generally getting things done. I'm currently writing from my parents place. I've been able to have lots of fun with Wendy despite the hectic schedule. Last week Wendy's mom came up to pick up Wendy and to get to know me better. Getting to know part of Wendy's family was really nice and helped me understand my Wendy a bit better.

A few weeks ago I found a website that sells t-shirts with special designs from different movies and TV shows. I know that my sister Catherine, is really good at making cool designs for shirts. So I talked to her and in the next few weeks, hopefully she'll be able to teach me how to make cool shirt designs in the next few weeks. If I make any cool shirts, I will be sure to show you, my dear readers. My other sister Megan is getting married in a week. It makes me anxious for December so that it'll be my turn. My sister Catherine cut my hair recently which is nice because it is warm out and then I'm going to California for Megan's wedding soon. I currently reading the fourth book of the Fablehaven series, which Wendy recommended to me.

I will say that the last four days have been rather long for me. Why, you may ask? Because for the last four days I have been missing the company of my darling Wendy. This is the longest that I have been absent from my darling Wendy since we first met. Honestly, I don't remember missing this much since I was little and emotions were overpowering, or like being Tinkerbell who can only have one emotion at a time. Being without her has made me realized how truly blessed I am to have her in my life. Recently, I've thought about the decisions that lead to me meeting my darling Wendy. Looking back I realized that I have not explained this story on my blog.

It started with a decision that I that I made in back in the spring of 2010. I knew that for a break between semesters that I would be working. Just working and being a single guy. I heard about a service opportunity on campus to be a director for freshman orientation. I decided to volunteer for it because I hated the idea of being selfish for seven weeks doing nothing for anyone else. For that seven week break, my apartment complex needed to move me to another complex for the break. When I was filling out the paper, I asked the guy advising me which address I should put down and explained my situation. He told me the address that I was at for the break. In hindsight, I realize NORMALLY I should have put my regular address. The break was fun and I ended up having a girlfriend for a week while I helped with freshmen orientation. The guy's mistake just meant that I would do more walking while helping the freshmen but not much more.

So time went by and I kept in contact with some of my group and went to get-together parties when I could. In March, I was invited to party by a the girl on the far left in the purple. She happened to be roommates with a girl named Michelle who was a former sister missionary (for my church) where Wendy lived. I mentioned Michelle in this post as the girl I helped by giving advice. Michelle had tried to set up Wendy with another guy at the party. I helped Michelle and even asked if it'd be okay if we could go on a date sometime. I remember talking with Michelle when Wendy came by and interrupting making a (in my opinion) rude comment about how she was still going on about her last break even after three weeks. Well after the party, I was walking home when Wendy got my attention and asking if she could walk with me. I agree and we talked until we got to the entrance of her place and then we talked for about an hour more. It was good conversation, if not a bit awkward at the time. Wendy asked me on a date and even offered me her number so that I could "help [her] with French homework". Before I left, Wendy asked me if I'd give her a hug. I said that I would stating that I like hugs but that I know that not everyone does. Well, I gave her a hug and she commented that I knew how to really hug unlike other people she knew. Well I left thinking that I had a date with her but nothing would probably come of it, like so many of my dates. How wrong I was! Well we went on a date and Wendy made sure that Michelle knew that she was interested in the redheaded guy (i.e me) and so I never got a date with Michelle but got a second date with Wendy instead. :) And as they say, the rest is history folks!

The moral of my story is make decisions based on correct principles and the Lord will guide your life. At the time, I didn't think I was being guided by His hand but I was. You may not see it. It may be frustrating and aggravating but trust me, He has a plan. Just make sure that you're doing your best to obey correct principles and God will bless you for it. It may not be immediate and it may be years from then, BUT He will bless you. I promise you this. I love the Lord and He has blessed my life beyond my wildest imagination. I hope that y'all have a good week!

P.S. Never write about your fiancée when she's out of the country. You end up spending half your time looking at photos of her and missing her more. 5 more months!