Troy

I've Moved!!

2011-01-27T22:23:00.002-07:00

I have been promoted. I now have a married life blog.

That I will probably post in.......never.

(My wife even did this for me!)

Check it out anyway!!!

troyney.blogspot.com

Update

2010-12-04T19:10:00.003-07:00

So I am just sitting here at Whit's work, The Crepery while she is making some delicious crepes for the people of Logan pondering life. School is almost over, and I definitely have end-of-semesteritis. I just want it to be over. I really am practically done. I do, however, need to write a 5 page paper in my Brazilian Literature class that I haven't started yet. Its due next Friday so I am starting to gather information and trying not to procrastinate it any longer. I am done with all my other projects, so basically I just have to go to my classes this last week to get the points, and then I will take my finals the week after. I only have to take two finals. One in psychology (which I am dreading) and one in my Life Sciences class. That one I should do good in. But my other classes don't have finals. Just the final paper I will work on, and my creative arts class had a final paper but it was only two pages on what I learned this semester in the class. So in all it should be fairly painless. Only half-way painful.

We went and saw Inception again last night in the dollar theater and once again, I was blown away. I have been thinking about it off and on today. It was just as good the second time. I love that movie. We went on a double with my roommate Quiz and Whit's friend Tori.

We are now officially less than a month away and things are starting to get super hectic. But we are on top of things in general. Almost there!

Working man

2010-11-17T12:38:00.002-07:00

Wow its been quite some time since I have updated my blog. I guess I have not been as motivated to do it as I have been in the past. I need to get into a better rhythm.

The good news is that I not only started working at the wonderful Kmart, but I also finally heard back from that Allstate guy and I started last night there. I am doing calls to try and get people to give us information for free insurance quotes, and based on the leads that we get, the agents follow up and try to make the sale. I interviewed at a different company for pretty much the same position but he wanted me to call all my friends and relatives and try to get them to get quotes and eventually try and get them to his company. I did plenty of fundraising for baseball and I hate it more than anything. I was not about to do the same thing to help this guy get his work going. So I turned it down. This was early on in the semester. It would have been nice to have been working and making money, but not to call and pester my friends and family about a company that they would never switch to.

This place is about the same but he is already established and I am making calls on an automatic dialer system and its not bad at all. Last night I teamed up with the other girl that was hired with me. I started and actually got someone to give me the needed information, then she came over to my computer and we switched off. By the end, we both finished with 2 each. It was fairly simple. So it will be a good thing I think. At least for the next month to help me save up a little. I work again at Kmart tonight and I hope it goes alright. I am actually kind of stressing about how busy it will get there for the holidays, but I feel pretty comfortable with the system, so it should go pretty well.

Whit is a two job girl now. She not only works at the said company that fired me (haha) but she just started working at a place called The Crepery as a crepe maker. It is a really cool job, and the crepes are so delectable. The place is inside a little house and they share the space with a coffee shop, but she only gets like one little corner of the house. But it is a fun little business. I spent Monday with her while she worked because when its calm she can just relax in the booths. Her bosses are really laid back. So hopefully we can both handle the workload and successfully not fail our classes this semester. I am only worried about my Psychology class. But it should work out. Tonight I have to register for next semester, and I have no idea what to do with my life. I am pretty much completely done with my generals, so its time to pick a major and move on. I just don't know what to do. Its frustrating.

But all in all, life is good. Things are starting to fall into place. We'll see how this goes.

Pumpkin Walk

2010-10-26T20:09:00.009-06:00

So I have been a super slacker, but I will post a bunch of pictures from the Pumpkin Walk that we went to this week. These were so cool! They were all made from just using pumpkins. It was super cold and we kinda got a little lost and cold getting back to our car, but in all it was way fun. Enjoy

"Hiss! You're never around when I need you!" "Coming... Coming."

Pumba's mouth is the best part

Thought this was funny

Alice In Wonderland

Horton

Monsters Inc.

Spongebob

Finding Nemo (from the inside of the fish tank)

101 Dalmations

Snoopy was awesome

Charlie Brown

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Toy Story

Me and Whit

Expecto Patronum!!

Fim.

Meiosis Square Dance

2010-10-21T15:55:00.001-06:00

This is what I learned today in college. :)

Playoffs are in the air

2010-09-29T12:50:00.002-06:00

Its crunch time. There are only 4 regular season games left. All of the playoff spots are set, except for the NL West and the NL Wild Card. The Braves currently have a 1 1/2 game lead on the Padres. I am starting to freak out. I'm excited. They better make it.

I LOVE this time of the year!

Western Who?

2010-09-17T12:43:00.002-06:00

So in case you didn't know, my last post I talked about my job. I had to remove most of the post. Here's the scoop:

So I got a job at a phone survey place. I went through orientation where I learned about company policies and such. I had to pass a test at the end to make sure I learned what I needed to for the job. Which is funny since I was practically nodding off the entire time.

So I get hired, and go to training the next week. All is well. I ended up working 2 more full days, and then the next day I was scheduled to work. In between my classes, I wrote my last post. I explained about the job, what I did, where I worked etc. After one my next class I got a call from work saying they needed to talk to me. They told me to erase my blog post because it mentioned the company, and they said they had to talk to me when I got to work.

So I get there and talk to the manager or whatever she was, and she brought up again the fact that I mentioned the company in my blog and asked me why I did it. They have a very strict policy that you can't mention the company at all on the internet. I totally forgot about this. So, she told me because of that I couldn't work there anymore. I didn't even say anything negative or malicious but they had to follow their policy and I was fired. So. There's the rest of the story. haha

Needless to say, I am searching for a job once again.

Fun stuff.

Other than that, things are great. We started watching Lost from the beginning. My roommate Logan bought this super intense box set of all six seasons with other gadgets and special stuff. So we are getting everyone hooked on it too. We have nice little parties at our house on our new big screen that we all chipped in for $150. Whit and I will pay the others back so that it will be ours later. Its sweet. We have me, Whit, Logan, Quin aka Quizno, and Logan's friend Kylee. A pretty good crowd. It makes it fun.

We made Sloppy Joes yesterday and I couldn't resist.

Enjoy.

School and stuff

2010-09-09T11:06:00.004-06:00

So I am sitting in Whit's Humanities class today. I was on my break, and I decided to go to her class with her for "moral support." Now I understand why she wanted me to go with her. This class is ridiculous! The whole subject of the class is the Bible. Not the King James Version like we use. It is based on the new international translation of the Bible that has the modern language. He claims that it is not going to be interpreted, it will only be used because it had a great effect on western civilization. I can't believe how weird it is. I feel bad that she has to go to this all semester long. Haha.

Anyway.

The first week of school is over, and I am now a professional at this school thing.... or something like that. I am getting the hang of my classes and my schedule. I am back to the situation where I have no free time anymore like earlier in the summer. I have school until around 3 or 4 every day, and from there I ride the shuttle home and hop in my car and head off to work until 8 or 9 or 10.

I really love it up here. I knew I would like it, but I really do like it here a lot. The school, the city, the mountains, the classes. So far so good.

Let's just hope that I can make it through the semester with good grades, and my sanity. Just a few more months. :)

The Pre-Engagement Post

2010-08-30T17:40:00.003-06:00

Ok. Whit told me that after she did a post about her engagement experience, I had to do my side of the story as well so that we can compare the two. Granted this happened close to a month ago. But late is better than never, right?

Where to start?
We first discussed the "M" word in April at the end of one of my visits to Logan. We didn't really entertain the thought too much more for a while. Whit would drop occasional hints here and there on things that she liked, etc. At first she was pretty anxious from what she told me. She was almost expecting it to happen at any time. But when she realized that she might have to wait a bit, she stopped worrying about it. I didn't know about this.
She continued to drop hints, and joke about the fact that she didn't have a ring yet. Which was weird since we were starting to plan the wedding already and pretty much the whole ward knew that we were getting married. The news spread like the plague and I wasn't too much of a fan of that. I wanted it to be unknown to everyone else until that happened. But I didn't even know when I was going to pop the question. I was (and still am) dirt poor, and didn't know what to do.

Finally I decided to just talk to Kendall to officially ask for his permission to marry his daughter. It started out with just Kendall and I at the dinner table and I made some lame joke about how as my home teacher, he needed to help me with something. But we were both nervous so it wasn't too funny. But we got the business out of the way pretty quickly actually. I promised him that I would take good care of Whit, and that I loved her more than anything. By this time both Suzanne and Courtney had entered the room and were involved in the conversation. Haha. We talked about a bunch of other things for like 15 minutes which was nice. This was in the middle of July sometime.

My Dad finally told me to start thinking of a time period when I would like to do it. I got a lot of opinions on what to do, and finally settled on the idea of doing in over the 24th of July weekend when I would be at a family reunion with all of Kendall's side of the family at a cabin near Strawberry Reservoir. That was about a two weeks away, so on one Saturday, my Dad drove down from camp, and he took me to a place that he had just thought of. He had been thinking and the impression came to go to J.P. Lee Fine Jewlery in Draper. He compared it to Oceans Thirteen where they had the group of men that shook Sinatra's hand. He said: "This guy shook Grandpa Butterfield's hand." I loved that. Apparently Grandpa had been doing business there for years, and so had my aunts, and some of their children. We went there and got treated like gold. I picked out a ring, but it was a little different than the one that I had in mind, so he told me he would custom make the ring. The problem is that it would not be ready for two weeks. This was the 21st of July. I was hoping that it would be done in a few days, but he was going out of town for a whole week, so it would take an extra week to get done. (on Aug 4th)
So we went to the family reunion, and that whole two weeks I was super ornery at the fact that I couldn't get the ring yet. Any time that any of her family joked about it I was super sensitive because I was still upset that it was in the works and I couldn't talk about it.

But the day finally came and I picked up the ring after work on Aug 4th, and waited for Whit to get off work so we could drive up to Logan. The rest of that story can be found here or here again
Thats pretty much it I think.

We're Engaged!!

2010-08-07T14:37:00.004-06:00

I'm terrible at updating. But, I do have something very worthwhile to write about.
I'm engaged!! After about 8 months of dating I finally got a ring and popped the questing. Granted it seemed as if it was a formality since we had already started planning the wedding and set an appointment at the Draper Temple. But it was good to finally get it done.
I had to do orientation at school on Thursday Aug 5th, so we went up the night before, and met up with Whit's friend Parker and her boyfriend Kris. We went up Green Canyon in Logan, and made a bonfire and sat around the fire for a while. Parker and Kris got up and left, so we were just by the fire, and I dropped to one knee and asked. I had planned it out with Parker, but Whit was still suspicious. She was surprised, but not really. Oh well, I tried, right?
Wednesday was also my one year mark since being home, so that also made the day even more special.
So, now we just have to make it through four more months and we are there!
It was also good to get registered for classes and take care of other school things.

I will post pictures of the ring later.

Hey howdy hey

2010-06-16T14:22:00.007-06:00

I finally have some time to do an update on here. I have just been working all day everyday and when I get home I dont have time, or I dont feel like it. But I got today, tomorrow and Saturday off, thus giving me some extra time to do some of the things that needed to get done. So this will be my attempt at an update.

I am basically a slave to my job. :) I have been working at Hadco Construction for close to a month now. My crew is working on a new highway that will connect Redwood Road near Camp Williams to the freeway.

I am working on building the bridge that goes over the Jordan River.

I am basically just the helper boy. I hold up the metal panels, I shovel gravel, I move long metal straps and bolt them into the wall, and I have run the big roller to compact the dirt a few times.
Last week I spent 5 1/2 hours on it just rolling away. But I actually enjoyed that. It was a good change of scenery. But it is going well. I am just always tired and since I work from 6:00-7:00 everyday I don't have time to really do anything but relax at home with Whitney. We have become kind of boring because she works long hours baking cookies too, so we are both just tired and content to pretty much do nothing. :)

We made a quick trip to Vegas to see baby Eli get blessed. That was really fun, but really quick.

Last weekend I went to Whitney's family reunion spectacular, which was like a retreat at her Aunts huge house in Lindon. The whole family was there and it was intense. I had a really good time meeting her extended family, playing games, laughing and things, riding in a limo, and just being with Whitney. They are a little intense, but I survived. :)

Now its the World Cup and I am so excited to watch it! I hate that the games are in the morning though because I work. Thank goodness for DVR.

VIVA BRASIL!!!

I wear a hardhat (who'd have thought?)

2010-05-22T16:04:00.004-06:00

I started a new job this week. Kendall got me a job for Hadco Construction, and I am a laborer. I started Tuesday and I have been working overtime all week. I get there at 6:00, and I usually end up leaving around 7:00. Its really tiring, but luckily I am working right close to home so I don't have to worry about much travel time. I don't know anything about construction whatsoever, so this is all foreign to me, and I am slowly catching on. My first day was super long. It rained all day, I worked a long day, and I was completely clueless! It was funny, but also really frustrating. But I am starting to figure it out. We are working on a section of a new highway being built from Redwood road near Camp Williams, to I-15. We are building the support walls for the overpass, and building up the dirt to keep it stable. I will try and get some photos up later to help understand. But it has been good despite all the work, and the guys that I work with. (A little rough around the edges to say the least :) but I like most of them) They even taught me how to use the big compression roller thing that compacts the dirt. Its cool. I am getting the hang of it. I didn't think they would even let me touch a machine for a while, but I'm not complaining. I'm just glad to finally be making some money.
I donated platelets for the first time on Monday. Its the same process as donating plasma, but they extract the platelets too. Its only a small amount which is surprising.
I also had a little "surgery" since I last wrote on last Wednesday. I had a cyst removed from my face near my jawline. It was a cinch and took only a half hour to do. I got the stitches out on Monday before I donated the platelets.
It has been great having Whitney here home from school. I don't know how we were able to go weeks at a time without seeing each other. I'm glad thats over with. Things are just great.
Life is good.
I am a happy camper.
But a tired one.
The end.

2010-04-27T18:48:00.001-06:00

This is from the MS walk that we did on Saturday. It was super fun!

A series of unfortunate events...actually just one.

2010-04-27T10:09:00.003-06:00

Well, I'm sitting here in the Library at school just killing time until I really have to crack down and study for my Chemistry final tomorrow. I just got done turning in my business test. It was a take-home final and when we turned it in, he had us answer 10 questions in class to fulfill university requirements of being in class for the final. He let us work together, so I am feeling pretty confident about it. True/false tests have not grown on me thats for sure. I enjoy the fact that i get to work on the test using as many resources as possible, but I don't like how tricky the questions can be. Oh well. I'm done with that one. Two down, two to go. Then it's FREEDOM!!

I have a funny story about last night. After our softball game last night (which we won!) we went to eat at Rumbi by South Towne Mall. I was driving with my top down, and it was getting dark so I decided to put it back up. I did this and then went to turn off the car and I couldn't get it all the way shut off. I stopped the engine, but the ignition wouldn't rotate enough. It seemed like it was in the battery position. Oh, and I couldn't get it started again. This freaked me out because a very similar thing happened in Virginia. I was really nervous. I had to get back home to finish my test. I had to get to school before 9am for my final. I wouldn't have a way to get there. I didn't have money to tow it. I was nervous. Kyle finally came over and started fiddling with it. Then, after about five minutes of this drama, he reaches over and grabs my shifter and puts it in park. I had left the Emergency brake on from when I put the top up (while in drive appartently) and never took it off. Haha. It must be finals week or something...

Surprise...

2010-04-22T00:03:00.002-06:00

This morning I had the joy of finding this cute little yellow paper attached to my windshield. I also found a little surprise on my wheel. Don't worry the guy was nice enough to take care of my problems for $50. What a nice guy. They are so lenient around here with parking. Especially when the person already has a parking permit, but forgets to put the top up on the convertable. Don't worry, they will still do this wonderful service even if you have a permit. They are also nice enough to say that there was nothing else they could do even though they knew that I was right. What a great company. I love Provo parking. I definitely will be sad to move out of here.....NOT!!!!

Studying Away!!

2010-04-20T01:53:00.002-06:00

Well we are down to the "nitty gritty" as Nacho Libre would say. I have only done one semester, but I am so glad that its almost over!
This is my last week of classes, and I am pretty stressed at all I need to do before m the end of school, and finals. But thats college life. I am glad that I have already gone through this process before so that I kind of have a "heads-up" on what to expect.

I have been a bad poster as of late. Lots has happened.
We had a camping trip last weekend for my Elders Quorum, and it was really good despite all the stress that went into it. Lets just say that I am a Dutch Oven master!

This weekend I went up to Logan to visit Whitney, (and Logan too), and it was really good. I stayed Friday night with my him, and we went to a bonfire (a rather small and wimpy one I might add) We were there looking at the flames, when I looked over and saw my friend Aaron Taylor whom I hadn't seen since like middle school besides the occasional church ball game in high school. It was really fun to see him and catch up on what he has been up to. What are the odds.

I also signed my contract for my new apartment that I will be living in next semester, which is a big relief to get out of the way. I think that I will really like it there.

We also went to a stake conference there that was really good as well.

I am super happy about the Jazz game today. What a finish. My heart was pounding pretty hard.

I love that it was almost 80 degrees today.

We had our first softball game today, and it was really fun to just relax and play with no worries. I was rounding first base and I don't have cleats, so as soon as my foot touched the bag, it totally slipped out from under me and I fell on my face pretty much. It was funny.

Derek took this picture of me on Friday when I was waiting for a ride back to my apartment so I could start working. Luke is having me separate segments of a cedar wood slatted fence, so we can get them back to the farm to be used at his discretion. It was hard work, because it was a little tedious, and time consuming. It took me Thursday and Friday, but I still couldn't get it completely finished. I will have to go back this week.

Anyway, I am tired, and pretty much out of things to say. I am sorry for the lame recap of my life. Hopefully I can become more interesting.
Tchau

SVU is famous now!!

2010-04-10T19:59:00.002-06:00

This video was rated number one in the Sportscenter "not top ten" countdown. As in the ten worst plays of the week. It was number one!! haha It comes from none other than my alma mater (except I didn't graduate from there obviously...) AKA Southern Virginia University. At least they got some national TV time, right? haha Enjoy.

Its been a while.

2010-04-09T00:57:00.002-06:00

Well folks, I have been a slacker. What else is new. Oh well, I will use the excuse that I have been really busy. Thats generally acceptable.
Life has been really good lately. Things in general are going really well, and I am pleased with that.
Easter/General Conference was amazing. How cool is it that they fell on the same day? I really enjoyed it. I think having them on the same day helped me do better at celebrating the real reason for Easter; the Savior.
General Conference is always so invigorating. The way that the Spirit teaches us the things we need to be taught is always amazing to me. That is one of the coolest things about a mission, and gospel relating things in general. There were so many great talks. I loved President Eyring's talks both in the general session and the Priesthood session. He always speaks with such emotion, and conviction. President Uchtdorf also had some really great talks. I always enjoy hearing Elder Holland, and Elder Scott. The talk about the way missionaries are called, by Elder Rasband. I had already heard that story, but it is still fascinating the process of calling missionaries works. Look for it in the Ensign those of you that missed it.
Saturday night after the Priesthood session, I grabbed Whit and headed up to Salt Lake for my mission reunion. It was really good, and I am really glad that I got to go so I could see my president, and his wife as well as some mission friends that I had not seen since being home. There were quite a few there that I didn't know, and quite a few missing that I had wanted to see, but oh well. We all have our own schedules. It was so good to see them though. The first thing that Sister Asconavieta said was "Butterfly!!" Just as I had predicted :) It was really fun to talk to them and see how their English has improved haha. Really good.
Sunday conference was just grand as well, and in the afternoon Whit took me to her big family Easter candy hunt/dinner. It was really fun, and crazy. Whit and I took home a good load of candy, and there is still plenty of it. It was really fun to meet more people from her extended family. They all joked around with me and whatnot, but it was fine. It was good, I am glad I went.
School this week has been rough, but pretty busy which is good. I don't have the hardest schedule imaginable, so it was good to stay busy. I got my Art History test back and I got 90%. Not too shabby. I knew that I wouldn't do as well as my other, but I was still pleased. My professor said that it was the hardest test of the class, so that is a good sign. I really like that class. It is so interesting, the professor makes it good, and its not too hard. Lots of writing. But not too hard. It's not chemistry, thats for sure. (I hate that class by the way.)
Oh, Sunday in between sessions, I dashed to Salt Lake and met up with a Brazilian missionary serving in the Ogden Utah mission. I served in his ward on my mission and knew him well. So it was really fun to see him. I also saw a different mission friend there, as well as my old Virginia roommate Adam. I have seen him now at two consecutive conferences, so we said "see ya in six months!" It was funny.
Well, I am tired from playing some ultimate frisbee, (and from being up late...) so I am going to bed.
Hope that this sufficed as an update of my life as of late.
If not, too bad.
Tchau

One year older and wiser too...

2010-03-31T00:44:00.005-06:00

Wow. It's been so long since I last wrote, its embarrassing. Oh well, at least I'm writing, right?
I am not even going to try and recap all that has happened, because I can't remember it all. But it's been a really good month. (March always is.)
School.
Spring break.
School.
March madness.
Spring training.
Birthday.
Etc.

My birthday was really good; my first one back! My last one was funny because I didn't do anything special except buy my own birthday pizza.

This year I didn't have to buy my own pizza, don't worry.
Friday, Dad and Mom came down and took me to lunch at Tucano's and it was AMAZING!! I stuffed my face more than I have in such a long time. It was fun to have some good Brazilian food again. I loved it.
At night Whitney came down with her friend Parker, Logan came down from Logan (kind of funny to say it like that) and we went out to Red Robin with my roommates and a couple other friends. It was really fun too, except I couldn't eat hardly anything because of the massive lunch. But thats ok. It was a good birthday.
Sunday we celebrated it at home with the traditional "Sunday dinner." We had a good crowd there. I will post pictures later. Mom and I made Brazilian Flan for dessert and it turned out really well actually. Man, I love that stuff.
I got some great gifts. I got a pair of shorts, and temple clothes from Mom and Dad. Jeff gave me a CD by Vampire Weekend. (I like it!) Kyle and Cortney gave me 2 shirts from American Eagle (my very first cowboy style snap up shirt.) And Whit gave me a new CTR ring, which is awesome. Thanks y'all! :)
Now we are back to the nitty gritty. I have a chemistry test Friday that I am not ready for. It's going to be massive (like 95 questions!) Things are cracking down.
Today, I went to the dermatoligist and marked the day for my surgery! haha Don't worry. I am just getting a cist (spell?) removed from my face/neck that is really annoying. Its not until May. No big deal.
Thats it for the basic update. I already have written more than I originally had intended.
Anyway,
Tchau.

An update

2010-03-06T15:19:00.005-07:00

I haven't written for a while, and there is a lot to update. I don't think that I will even remember much to tell since so much has happened.
I will try and remember, so this might just be a really random, rambling post. But thats ok.
School is going well. I am at the half-way point pretty much and I can't believe that it has gone by this fast. I am doing fairly well in most of my classes. My worst is my chemistry class. I think I have and overall 80% in the class so far, so I need to kick it in gear and do better on the upcoming tests and such.
My pride and joy is my Art History class, because I got a 98% on my test that I was so stressed about. I will have another test right after spring break, so we will see if I can keep up the with the same results.
Spring is in the air. I love springtime. I love how everything seems to be "waking up". You see more people out and about, you can wear less layers of clothing, I get to drive with the top down. There are many reasons why I like spring. Its a little strange to not be playing baseball though. But I am loving the fact that its baseball season.
Last weekend I went to the Jazz game with Derek and my friend Todd.

I guess the biggest news since I last wrote is that I have decided to transfer (yet again) to Utah State, and I have sent in my application. I just have to wait for my transcripts to get there, and I'll be "in like flint". I am really excited about it, and I feel good about the decision, so thats good too.

Logan... Part II

2010-02-22T19:05:00.004-07:00

Ok Now that I am more coherent, I will update more about the Logan trip for those who don't know.
I got up there Friday night and Whitney and I went to the USU hockey game against Denver, and USU totally dominated, and it was fun to watch, despite the delay for an injury, but that wasn't too bad because we just talked, which is one of my new favorite things I have decided. I like to have a good involving conversation, which is funny because I usually don't like to talk that much. I am more of a listener. Even when it is around people I am comfortable around. If there is a group of people talking and telling stories, I like to just sit back and take it all in, and I am content at that. I know, I'm weird. But I think I'm getting better at that.
Anyhoo.
Back to Logan.
We also watched Star Trek which was sweet. I really liked that movie. You don't even have to be a "trekkie" to enjoy it. (Although I am a pretty big nerd myself.)
Saturday Whitney had a conference thingy for her ASL stuff all day long, so I slept in while Logan donated plasma(I should try this) and when he got back we went to lunch at a pizza place called the Firehouse, and I really enjoyed it. Except my stomach was not feeling so hot (probably the result of a late Taco Bell trip...) and we went back to his apartment so he could study, and I went to the Logan Temple. I really had a good time there. I liked that temple a lot. It is a little different. It makes me wish I could have seen it as it was before the remodeling. But it was really good. As I was walking back to my car I ran into Jerry and Judy Labrum and their son Trevor with either his wife or girlfriend or whatever, I have no idea. It was a really fun surprise and coincidence. They were looking for the Baptistry, but I had no idea where that was, so I was no help. But it was really fun to see them again.
The last event of the day was the basketball game against Wichita State. It was intense!! The students go crazy in the Spectrum. I loved it.
This was my favorite part of the game:

Sunday was funny because Logan's ward starts at 9:30 so I was awake for when he was getting ready but I fell asleep when he left, and didn't get up until 12:25. I had combined with Whitney to meet her at like 12:15 to go to her ward, so I hurried and ran in the shower and got ready ran to the church in less than 20 minutes from when I woke up (shower and all). The best part is that my phone battery was dead so there was no way of Whitney calling me or vice versa. But I made it.
We had a dinner thing after with her ward, and finished the night off with the annual Joseph Smith Restoration fireside with Elder Hales, which was really really good. I got a lot of good things from it.
I will close with a few of the things that he said that stuck out to me.

There are many times when we need to turn to God for help but Satan tries to do all he can to stop that from happening. We must remember just one thing: Light and darkness cannot occupy the same place at the same time.

The great work of God moves forward despite trials!

When a family member or someone else close to us is sick or struggling, or needs help, we must know that it is for our benefit and learning as well as theirs. (he then told a story about when his mother was really sick when he was the Presiding Bishop. She asked him why this was happening to her, and he replied that maybe it was to give her more patience. She said: "I already have mine. Do you?")

So maybe a family tragedy or emergency, etc. could be more for our own benefit than theirs.

We need to record our testimonies and spiritual experiences in journals for our posterity to read.

"God hath made broad shoulders for the burden. We rejoice in our tribulations." -Joseph Smith

Logan... Part I

2010-02-22T00:50:00.003-07:00

I'm too tired to talk about my weekend, so here are a few photos. I will explain more tomorrow. The end.

This is my aforementioned Temple attire reenacted. Yes, I am awesome.

Logan Temple

New shirt and stuff

2010-02-18T01:06:00.002-07:00

Well I have been a real slacker at writing lately but thats ok. Things have been going pretty good since I last wrote. Valentines was really good. I Had a really good time with Whitney even though she was worn out from selling cookies all day. She gave me my favorite movie of all time, "The Sting". I always was trying to find it at home and the movie places and it never worked out, so we watched it, and it was awesome. I love it.
I went to the Jordan River temple on Saturday with Logan. He came down from Logan for the day, and we met up and went. We made it all the way there and we were changing in the parking lot, and I realized I brought my suit, but no white shirt! Logan was wearing a red flannel looking button up shirt, so I put that on under my suit and threw on my blue tie. It was hideous, and I was super embarrassed to even go into the temple like that. But it worked out. I had a really good experience there actually, and the thought came into my head that the Lord didn't care what shirt I was wearing, as long as I was there. That made me feel a lot better. I need to go to the temple more often. Its so amazing. I wish I had a picture of the outfit though. Logan told me that I looked like a cheap used car salesman. I thought it was really funny.
I took my huge Art History test yesterday (Tuesday) and it was INTENSE!! I spent the whole day studying, and luckily my teacher cancelled class because she was sick, so that gave me more time to study. I was studying from 7 am until I took the test (with a brief food break) at 6:00. I took a Chemistry quiz first, and then my test and I didnt leave there until 9:00. It was really hard, and a lot of writing, but I think that I did a pretty good job. I at least got all the identifications right ( name date title etc) but that was only a third of the test so we'll see how the essays went in two weeks. But I feel pretty good about it.
Today I went to the mall with Derek and Collin and I bought this sweet Jazz shirt. I have been wanting one for some time now, and I finally found the right size. I am really proud of it, so here is a picture of it.

"...and [Troy] hath chosen that good part..."

2010-02-12T00:42:00.003-07:00

So I had a pretty cool experience today in between classes. My Business class got out early, and I went upstairs in the student center to study a bit. I got out my folder to start studying for my Art History test (I will take it Tuesday I think.) but I remembered that I hadn't read any of the talks in my institute class and I was pretty behind. So I grabbed my little booklet and started reading away. I read one talk, and moved onto the next one. That is the one that I really liked. It is called "The Spirit Giveth Life" by President Monson from 1997. I won't go into much detail about the talk, but I really really liked it. It was something that I have been needing to study. The best part about the whole experience was that the way that I was studying made me feel like the way I studied on my mission. I have read the Scriptures everyday since being home, but I guess the quality of my study lacks sometimes. So it felt really good to get a really good study session. I whipped out my scriptures and was really getting into it. I was there for over an hour, it was really good. I made a new goal to study the Scriptures for at least an hour while I am at school. I just felt so good doing it, and the quality of my study was so much better than if I had done it at night like I usually do, plus it made my day go really good, and especially the Institute class went really good too becuase I was already focused. (I played the piano again by the way)
So, thats my new plan. I need to do better. I need to be like Mary and not like Martha!

Luke 10:38-42:

38¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named aMartha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art acareful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Who spilled the milk?

2010-02-10T23:56:00.002-07:00

So I gained a bad habit while in Brazil. I guess it started when I was living in an area that had just rented a new apartment, and there weren't any plates, or cups or utinsels, etc (I forgot the name for those... stoneware maybe?). As most of you know, we couldn't drink the water, so we would buy the big 20 gallon jugs and we filled up 2 liter bottles with the water and put them in the fridge to keep it cold. As a result of the no cup situation, I got into the habit of just drinking right out of the bottle without putting my mouth on it. It was actually better because it took less time and was more practical. Mom would get on me for drinking right out of the juice jug or milk or anything while I was at home.
The whole point of this long preface is to help you understand why I am so cool.
So, I was watching The Office with my roommates, and I felt the need to get a cold beverage. So I mosied on over to the fridge, and I grabbed the milk jug. Because of my new trick, I just grabbed the milk and went for a drink. Bad idea. I totally misjudged how much I was going to drink, and I don't know if I squeezed the jug too much, or what, but to get to the point, I got milk ALL OVER! This lead to laughter, which led to milk coming out of my nose, and all that jazz. It was so funny!
I'm sure you can imagine how cool it was.

Barbers

2010-02-10T00:25:00.002-07:00

Derek gave me a haircut last weekend, and it actually turned out really good. He has been wanting to get his hair cut for a while now, and there is a girl in the ward that cuts hair, but she was being lame and never would do it, plus she would have charged like ten bucks, so tonight he had me cut it, and I did a good job too! So we decided that we would go into beauty school and learn then start up our own business. What do you think??

Focus, Focus, Focus!

2010-02-09T00:15:00.003-07:00

I have had the hardest time lately to stay focused on one thing for a long period of time (ie. homework). Its really starting to get me frustrated, because I know how much I need to do, but most of the time I just can't get myself motivated enough to do it. But the funny thing is that I have been able to get a good chunk of stuff done. I just feel like I am doing worse than I am I guess.
With that in mind, I started writing this post, and got distracted with my roommates as is the case every night (ours is the room that everyone stops in before heading to theirs,) and we looked at stuff online, had group prayer (Christian did it in Spanish and I could understand pretty much everything he said) and now I have found that I have lost the desire to write anything else here. So there you have it. I just proved what I was talking about earlier.
I really need to work on that.
And at getting to bed early.
The end.

6 Months!!!

2010-02-05T01:25:00.002-07:00

Well today, February 4, 2010 officially marks six months that I have been home from my mission. Missionaries would burn a tie when they hit this landmark on the mission, so I'm wondering what I should burn for this stupendous day. Maybe my Chemistry book. That sounds like a good idea right about now.
A lot has happened in six months. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I have been able to do a lot of cool things. I have gone traveling, I have worked, I have sat at home with nothing to do, I have spoken a ton of times in church, I had a calling, I went back to school, I started the dating scene, and many other great things! :)
I am grateful to where I am at right now; six months after my mission. I have gone through a lot. Good things, hard things, big decisions, and a lot of stress. Its a lot different than being a missionary, where you don't think or worry about yourself for two years. All that matters is serving the Lord, and the people. Things are prepared for you, and you are taken care of. No worries other than obedience to the rules and thinking about how to help others. Life was easier then.... sort of haha it was actually the hardest time of my life, but by far the best time of my life until now. I usually don't speak too often about my mission because I am in a new phase of my life. The mission is over. I obviously never want to forget the experiences, and things that I learned while as a missionary, but they are things that will help me in my day to day life. But it sure is different when you have to worry about making decisions that will affect your own future. Like I have said, the decision to go to UVU rather than SVU was probably the hardest that I have ever made, and I was so so so stressed out about it! But after a month of school, I am pleased with how things have turned out, and I am pretty confident that I made the right choice. It definitely would have been pretty cool to go back to Virginia. Who knows. Maybe it would have been just fine either way. But I felt better about staying here, and it seems to have been the right choice for me, and I am ok with that.
It's hard to think about making those important decisions now. Like what to major in, where to work, who to marry, etc. Man those are tough. It was a lot easier when my biggest trouble was trying to find people, and help them prepare for baptism and confirmation (which, isn't exactly a walk in the park either, but the Lord prepares the way when we are faithful).
But thats part of the journey. Thats part of this great adventure that we are in together. We learn and grow each day. We make mistakes, and we try our best to correct them and learn from them. We get challenges, some that are really tough. But if we do things right, we will be able to rise up to the challenge, and be strengthened because of it. The Lord never will put something in our path that we won't be able to handle. He knows our weak and strong points, and knows what will help us and what will strengthen us (if we act according to His will). Thats the great miracle. Thats the real point of our existence. "Men are that they might have joy." We are here to gain experience, to learn, but most importantly to be happy. And if we learn how to be happy here on Earth (I mean truly happy) then we will prepare ourselves to be eternally happy after this life.

"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

-Mosiah 2:41

This is one of my all time favorite scriptures.

I can say that I have been truly happy in my life, but not always. I have experienced both sides. I think we all have. But I do know that I am doing the very best that I can right now, to obey the Commandments of God, and when I am doing that I am truly happy; and what a good feeling that is!

This turned out to be a lot longer and random than I had imagined, so sorry. Bear with me.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like life! Que vida boa!!

A Few Pics

2010-02-03T00:49:00.003-07:00

FHE

2010-02-02T01:05:00.002-07:00

We were in charge of FHE tonight at our apartment, so we had the idea to make Brazilian food for everyone. We were going to make beans and rice, so we went shopping at the Mexican market near us. We got a lot of cool stuff and by the time we got it all and made it back to the apartment it was already like 7:00 and it would have started at 7:00. So Derek and I left and bought some Guraraná and when we got back everyone from the group was there watching the Gordon B. Hinckley movie, and the Brazilian girl we home teach was there in the kitchen. My roommates didn't know how to do it so they called her over to help cool, but we didn't have a pressure pan thing, which would have saved a lot of time, but instead it would have taken a couple hours in a normal pan, so we did some improvising and we made a type of pasta out of the stuff we had in our apartment with the Brazilian twist. It was actually really really good! It was by far the best of the FHE's that we have been to if I do say so myself. Everyone was pretty inpressed. The best part was the Guaraná of course. We had some ice cream too for everyone so most everyone stayed over for a while just chatting, it was really funny. One girl in our group is taking ASL at UVU and she was teaching us some cool signs. The guys were joking around with her it was funny.

Utah State Hey! Aggies all the way! Go Aggies! Go Aggies! Hey! Hey! Hey!

2010-02-01T01:11:00.002-07:00

Just in case you were wondering, I had a really good weekend! I will try to give y'all the rundown of what happened. (Which reminds me, we actually watched a movie called "The Rundown" last night.) Anyways.
I ate pretty good this weekend. The best in a while (because I am a poor college student.) Friday, Whitney and her friend Tori made us some shrimp alfredo pasta stuff that was delicious(I have turned into a huge shrimp fan... too bad I was too much of a picky eater before to try them) and on Saturday we went to a pizza place called Fredrico's I believe. And today for Sunday lunch we made chicken fajitas, that were really good too. I made some killer lime juice. (aka limeade) That was my contribution haha. Not too shabby.
We went to the USU basketball game on Saturday, it was really fun! The USU fans are intense! I really had fun at the good old Spectrum. It was Stew Merrill's 500th career win, so they did a little ceremony at the end. I really liked it. I need to go to a UVU game now to see how it compares haha. I'm sure less intense, but oh well.
Saturday night it snowed like a foot! It was crazy. I drove to my friend Logan's house where we were staying, and the roads hadn't been plowed yet, and the Black Widow really struggled. He lives on a pretty big hill, and I couldn't make it up, so I had to go over to another street that was less steep and I just about didn't make it up that one either, but I did. Pulling into Logan's parking garage, I started slipping like crazy, and I ended up getting stuck, but we had the help of 2 random sledders taking advantage of the newly fallen snow. Luckily they were there because I couldn't see myself getting out of that too easily. But I made it.
Logan was pretty cold. And foggy.
I miss the sunny days of Brazil. I am so ready for warm weather. I am a wimp. Oh well.
Anyway, thats the Reader's Digest version I guess of my trip to Logan. It was a good one. I didn't want to leave.
So... thats my story. Just in case you were wondering.

The Karate Kid

2010-01-29T00:48:00.003-07:00

I really wish I had my camera today. The funniest thing happened at school. I never seem to have my camera when I need it.
Anyway, so I was walking down the hall of flags (self explanatory) and on the right side of the hall there is a courtyard. I could see a group of people looking at something, so I looked over too, and there was this random kid practicing his sweet karate skills by himself. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a while. The kid didn't hold anything back, and the thing is, he really had no karate skills whatsoever. But he was really serious about it. Soon a huge crowd began to gather and people were recording it on their phones and such. Finally one kid went out there and told him that everyone was watching, but he kept at it. Then a little later a different kid went out there and started doing some fake karate moves to be funny, it was awesome.
This all went on for about a half hour!
I wish I had had my camera!

Peer Pressure

2010-01-28T01:16:00.002-07:00

Ok. I'm going to try and do this story justice. Keep in mind that I am the worst story teller in the world, and also that its hard to describe things on paper rather in person. I have decided to give it a shot nonetheless. It's not a super amazing story, but it's kinda funny. Here goes.
So at Institute (yes, another institute story.) once again while shaking my hand expressed his positive feelings toward me.(I think his words were: "You're the man!") No big deal. I already know this. He had me choose the hymn, so I thought I would have to play the piano again(I did last week) but turns out that I just chose the hymn. No big deal. By this time, he already has my name memorized, which is interesting because he doesn't know the names of too many yet. Anyway, the lesson went on, and about half way through, he paused, and started scanning the class for a volunteer. Yep, you guessed it. He stopped his gaze right at me, and paused and said: "yep, it's you." He then proceeded to call me to the front of the class. He had me stand there in front of everyone, and he told me(at least this is what I understood, as well as a few of my friends in the class) to "find a handsome young lady." Now I understood this as: "pick out a girl and you have to take her on a date." I thought this because earlier he had mentioned how important it is for us to go on dates with girls, etc etc. So thats why I was expecting that from him. So, to follow along with him, I started sheepishly looking around the room.
Then somehow he changed it to asking me if I was a handsome young lady. I have no idea how it got to that, nor how I had understood it the other way. Since I was not the only one to understand it that way, however, I think that he was the one that messed up.
At this point, I was already awkwardly in front of the class, and I didn't know what to do. So, somehow I ended up agreeing with him that I was a handsome young lady. Mostly because I was put on the spot. And peer pressure. Then he took it to the class. He asked them if I was a girl or not, and only like 2 people raised their hands, but the one girl said it was because she thought that everyone would too. Peer pressure.
Then he asked them if I was a guy and they all raised their hands, myself included, and he started asking me why I changed my mind. At this point my mind was starting to seriously jumble. He turned me around and had me look at a slide of the 10 Virgins on the projector, and asked me to describe them. So I did, and came to the point that they represented us, as members of the church.
Hence, the reasoning for the "handsome young lady." Because I am one of the 10 Virgins (metaphorically). So apparently I was right at first when I said I really was a handsome young lady. I'll just pretend like I knew it all along. Right.
Does anyone else think that that was the weirdest way to convey the message he wanted to get across? I sure do. It was so awkward. I already hate being in front of people. But my roommates told me that I was actually pretty composed, and handled it pretty well, considering the circumstances.
But it was so awkward. But funny.
I guess he could tell that I am gullable, and kind of a push over. Who knows. But as soon as his piercing gaze settled on me, his eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
But, the good thing about all of this is that he likes me even more because of this whole experience! Haha.
Hopefully this made somewhat of sense. I am not a good story teller. Maybe this didnt even seem funny. I guess you had to be there.
I'm not as bad as Logan, but I gained some awkward points on this one.

Stretchy Pants

2010-01-26T00:12:00.004-07:00

We were playing a game like "mafia" for our FHE and at the very end, Christian(the Mexican kid that is going on his mission) was asking about how to say sweat pants, and Dutsons told him they were stretchy pants, and he told him to say, it. So later tonight we all got together and convinced him to say the quote from Nacho Libre, and it was so so so funny. So, here it is so you can all remember how it goes. Its way funnier with Christian!

Finishers Wanted

2010-01-21T19:02:00.003-07:00

So today right after the opening hymn in Institute, the teacher likes to shake everyone's hand before class starts and sometimes he has to do it during the hymn, but after the hymn was over he came over to me and shook my hand and said:"You are a great guy. I can tell, and I don't even know much about you." Then he went about the class as normal. It was a really good class. He is really good at opening the class to us to comment, or discuss anything. We read a talk from President Monson titled "Finishers Wanted". A very good one. We ended up talking about how its not an easy thing to be a finisher. Its not easy to do all the little things right, but as we do our best we will be blessed and great things will happen to us (Alma 37:6). Then we read 1 Nephi 8:21-22, and in verse 21 it talks about how those in the vision of the tree of life were "pressing forward" to get to the tree. Then it hit me that being a finisher doesn't mean that we have to be the best, all we have to do is press forward, doing our best and repenting of our sins on our way. The blessings don't come immediately. They come after a while. But as long as we press forward we will be blessed. I really liked that.
Here is a small poem that President Monson used in his talk:

Stick to your task 'till it sticks to you;

Beginners are many, but enders are few.

Honor, power, place and praise

Will always come to the one who stays.

Stick to your task 'till it sticks to you;

Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;

For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile

Will come life's victories after a while.

-Author Unknown

On my way out of the class, Brother Soderburg shook my hand at the door again, and said:"You are a great man, I know it!"

Needless to say I left the building in a great mood!

I love Institute.

Viva México!!

2010-01-21T01:00:00.002-07:00

So the well anticipated day of the mission call came for our roommate Christian, from Mexico. He is here studying English at the BYU English Learning Center. He had been waiting for 5 weeks for the mission call. Wow, and I thought that 3 weeks was a long time for mine to arrive, and I was going crazy. So, Christian got his brothers there, and we all got together to watch him open it. He is going to.....(drumroll please) Mexico City West Mission! You could kind of tell that he was wanting something here in the states since he is already here, but he was excited. And even if he isn't too excited right now, he will be. He will LOVE it!
It brought back a lot of memories of when I received my mission call, and just of the mission in general. Good times. I didn't even know how to pronounce Fortaleza! haha
I am a very firm believer that you are called to the place where you are supposed to go. So I am happy for Christian and the new adventure that he will begin on March 17th(pretty soon).
As you can see, I changed the layout thingy on my blog to this super cool baseball one I thought that it was cool, and a little more reflective of my personality. I cant wait for baseball to start again. Although, it will be strange not actually playing it.
Well, I need to hit the sack.
Until the next time...

The best part of Provo

2010-01-13T23:42:00.002-07:00

Macey's in Provo is my new favorite place to shop. Derek and I went to Fresh Market or whatever Albertsons changed to, but we were in the mood for some Guaraná, so we decided to go to Macey´s which is not too far away at all. Wow, they have so much good stuff! They have cases and cases of Guaraná and other sodas from other places, as well as the next best thing that I found is Água de Coco aka coconut milk in a can. (This is me drinking coconut milk in Brasil FYI)
I was so excited to find it. I love it with a passion. (I dont understand why it is called coconut milk by the way. it should be coconut water. Thats what it is in Portuguese. Anyway) Logan told me he had found it, but I always forgot to look for it, but since there are so many return missionaries in "P-town" you can find this kind of stuff really easily. Which is great.
We signed up for the Brazilian Club at school today. I have no idea what that means. But I guess they will have occasional parties and BBQs or something. But its fun to say that I belong to the Brazilian Club at UVU. It has a nice ring to it.
I am super tired right now. So I will end on that note, and get some shut-eye.
Until next time...

Pumping iron

2010-01-12T17:40:00.003-07:00

Well today marks the first day of my workout routine, and I am pretty excited about it. I gained some definite "holiday weight" and I am not too happy about it, so Derek and I decided to get a pass to the gym by us, and today was our first day there. I am beat. It is a pretty good feeling. I definitely want to take advantage of the free time that I have while I am not working and work on my bod. haha
I definitely am a weakling though. Lindsay could definitely beat me in an arm wrestle again I think. Wait, didn't we do an arm wrestle after I got home? I cant remember, but it seems like we did and I won, but barely. But that is because she wasn't a super tough gymnast anymore. But still, I am weak.
Things are good on the school front. I am liking my classes so far, and I haven't really had too much homework which is nice. But then again, it is still the very beginning of the semester. I have already dropped some dough, and I need to get a job to improve the economic situation.
Things have been really good lately. I am in a good mood.
Today was my first day of institute class. We (Derek, Eric, Collin and I-my roommates) are taking Teachings of the Prophet Thomas S. Monson. I am really excited about it. There was a cool quote from Ezra Taft Benson that says: "The living Prophet is more vital to us than the standard works." I thought that was really interesting. Obviously the standard works are very important to us and we should study them often, but having a living prophet to receive revelation from God for us right now is so important. I love listening to the Prophet, because it is as if the Lord is personally speaking to us. SO... I am excited for the class. I think I will learn a lot.
So, Whitney and I have decided to "officially" go to the next level. I am really happy with how things have turned out. Its just a bummer that we are going to different schools. Oh well. I think just about all of you know about her already so I won't write too much. But things are just dandy! :)
Well, I can barely lift my arms to type anymore, so thats where I am going to end, so... TCHAU!

Back to school

2010-01-06T11:44:00.003-07:00

Well the time finally has come for me to get back to school. A whole lot has happened since I last posted anything so I feel like a slacker but that's ok. I plan on doing a lot better now that I am hitting the books again. I am glad to be able to do something productive with my life, although I really did enjoy my time watching NCIS every day.
For those who didnt know, I am at UVU living in Provo rather than going back to Virginia to play baseball. This was basically the hardest decision that I have ever made. I was very very stressed out, because it was a win-win situation. But ultimately I decided to stay close to home. It just felt better. I think that either way would have been good, but this was what I felt best doing. So, we'll see how things go on that end.
I am really excited to get back to school. This was my first week of classes, and I am pleased with how things are going to end up. I have some good classes, and hopefully I wont struggle too badly. Its like riding a bike I guess.
Anyway. I moved in this week, and I have some really cool roommates. My roommate is Derek Dutson(who was my last companion of my mission) and there is one other guy from my mission named Eric, and his friend, and then there is Christian from Mexico and Taeku from Korea. They are both learning English at BYUs ESL program. I really like all the people I live with. We are having fun getting to know each other lately. Christian will move out as soon as his mission call comes in the mail, so we are excited for him.
Anyway, I dont know what else to write for now, but at least I am posting again right?
Até o próximo.

From the office of the First Presidency...

2009-12-10T15:08:00.006-07:00

I had a once in a lifetime opportunity yesterday. All the youth in the ward got to go downtown, and tour the First Presidency's office in the Church Administration Building.
Our Bishop, Bishop Mortensen works as the Assistant secretary to the First Presidency, so he showed us around and answered a lot of questions. It was really neat. We got to see President Monson's office(but not enter), and we saw a couple of their meeting rooms(one is a board room where some committee meetings are held(general welfare, etc.) The other is another meeting room for the Apostles and First Presidency along with the Presidency of the Seventy.

That is where they meet most often, and if you look in the photo, in the left corner is the door that leads to the Prophet's office. Our Bishop has the responsability to open it for the Prophet. The wood in the room was imported from Russia, and the door is at least 3 inches thick, so it is heavy and President Monson always jokes with our Bishop because its hard. One day they were joking and The Bishop mentioned he was doing push-ups to get ready to open it and Pres. Monson said: "Oh really? Well lets see!" So Bishop Mortensen dropped down and gave the Prophet 10 push-ups and got up and Pres. Monson said: "I meant show me by opening the door!" Funny story.

This is the tree inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

We went through the lights, but it was so cold(like 2 or 3 degrees F) that we hurried and left and went to Crown Burger. That is apparently a tradition they have, but this is the first time that we were able to see the offices.
SO overall it was a great, cold night!

I love to clean the Temple

2009-11-30T21:28:00.003-07:00

Well I had an interesting experience today. Dad signed me up to do cleaning at the Mt. Timponogos Temple. I really enjoyed doing it. I got there at 8:00 and left at Noon. Even though it was 4 hours, it actually passed by quickly.
I worked in the basement of the temple. I swept the floor in the Laundry room, I washed the stainless steel doors of the elevators, I dusted paintings, and other things. I dusted off every wooden door and trim in the whole lower level, and finally we went to the locker rooms(mens and womens), and I vacuumed out all the lockers, then we wiped the front of all the lockers down with disinfecting stuff. It was surprisingly tiring, and I am feeling worn out right now. But it was good, and I was glad to have that experience. It brought back memories of the MTC in Brazil where we had to do an hour of service each week, and like the Temple(but to a lesser degree) the MTC was not really dirty, so we cleaned things that really didnt need it, but that is what made the MTC look so nice all the time. They told us that they wanted a similar atmosphere to the temple inside the MTC. There, I washed walls in the hallways of where the rooms are. I picked up leaves outside too. But the funniest thing was one certain day of service. We got down there, and it seemed like they had nothing else left to do, and there was this HUGE stack of boxes(taller than me), and they opened them up and inside were loads and loads of papers. They were cafeteria orders and stuff like that. Well, we were instructed to open the boxes, take out the papers..... and rip them in half! So because of that we all left with blisters on our fingers, it was funny. We started getting into competitions as to who could rip the most at one time. I remember doing over 90 papers, but I dont remember what the record was. I still think that that was so funny... ripping papers. Oh well. It built character I guess

New Glasses

2009-11-13T10:53:00.002-07:00

Well I finally broke down and bought me a new pair of glasses that I have been needing. I got a really good deal on both the frames and lenses. They were both 50% off. I ended up saving about $250.00 So that was good. I am pleased with them.
Tell me what you think.

Welcome to Buena Vista, Home of the World Series Champion Manager, Charlie Manuel

2009-11-08T08:50:00.004-07:00

So after the Phillies won the World Series, Charlie Manuel came back to his hometown, and they built a really nice sign at the entrance of BV that welcomes you to his hometown. They had a little wooden one before, but now it is high tech with lights and everything. Pretty funny. He is the biggest star from this little podunk city, which is actually pretty good considering the size.
So I went back to Virginia to check out SVU again, and practice with the baseball team. It was a really good little trip. The flight to Virginia was really long actually. I stopped in Atlanta for a couple of hours then I went to Detriot, and jumped on a tiny plane to Roanoke, Virginia which is a really small airport too.
But I had a good time here. I was able to meet up with friend who took me around the city to see what was new, and then I had practice on friday, and we went to the Basketball game it was pretty fun. I only recognized a few faces there. Most everyone else has left. So that is a little weird, but I will be able to make new friendships.
Playing baseball was really fun. It was like riding a bike, but the bike was really really wobbly! I had a hard time adjusting to playing again. It seems I am a step slower in everything, but there were also som positive things that I saw in the experience too. Good to know what I need to work on. I like the guys on the team, they are pretty cool. Its a different feel than the last team, but thats because they are all different guys. We had 5 recruits come in too to, and they were all pretty interested, so hopefully they can make it too. A couple were really good.
The only boring thing was going through the open house the school did, because i already know everything about the school. But I had to do it in order to receive the reimbursement for the travel, we got $250 back, which was really good since we only had to pay $160 to process the sky miles.
I went to church at the new chapel they built, and it was really good. I was able to see a few people that I knew from before, so that was fun. I had forgotten how quiet a singles ward is compared to a regular one, especially during the sacrament.
Anyway, thats my recent news.
Over and out.

Vegas Trip

2009-10-22T22:32:00.006-06:00

Well I we all thought that this video was so funny, we had just gone to Circus Circus to play the arcades and stuff, then we went to In-n-Out Burger, and this video was from the drive home after that. Rex was so tired from the day, and he was trying so hard to stay awake! Jay had just won that sword at the Circus Circus, and loves it!(especially its kachow noises. Lets just say that it isnt really cool at 7am though; or when it gets jabbed into your stomach huh chad) Anyway, Kyle and I went down to watch the Utah vs UNLV game. It was a really fun trip This is where we sat for the most of the game, right next to the Utah band. It was so loud! There were so many utah fans there. the whole east side(where the picture shows) were Utah fans! almost half of the fans at the stadium!! It was cool.

Oops

2009-10-08T22:57:00.002-06:00

Well this is whats new in my life.
I was working, no worries, stocking up the produce stand, getting everything ready, listening to music, etc. and I went to go grab some boxes of tomatoes to put on the shelf. Well as I bent over, I heard (and felt) a "rrrrriiiippp" noise and to my surprise I had a huge rip in my pants in the back pocket area. I would show a real photo rather than the spongebob, but that would be inappropriate for the children. Each time that I bent over in the next few hours, it got worse, to the point that Luke had to go find me a pair of pants in his house. Too bad though, it was nice to have a little bit of a breeze back there! haha just kidding.

General Conference part 2

2009-10-06T21:56:00.003-06:00

Well, I ended up going to the sunday morning session of general conference with my old companion (elder) Derek Dutson.

It was actually my first time ever watching there in the conference center, so i was really excited and taking in the experience. It was quite impressive seeing the leaders of the church all in front of me, especially President Monson. So it was a good first experience. The Brazilians always assumed that i always went to conference, and were alwasys really surprized when i said that i had never been, Well Now I can say that I have gone!
We got there really early we walked around and then we sat down and waited. The fun part of going on sunday, was being able to watch "Music and the Spoken Word." It was interesting because the Apostles were there watching it too(except elder Christofferson and Elder Cook who were in the Tabernacle) But it was interesting that they watched it too. I had always heard and seen about how special it is when the prophet walks into the room, but being there in person really was an amazing experience.
I sat next to a girl from Costa Rica who was just visiting, and to her side was a lady from New Zealand. I never realized how many people come from far away to watch conference.
I especially enjoyed President Monson's talk in that session. Being in his presence, I was able to feel even more strongly that he is that Lord's true prophet.

General conference

2009-10-06T00:24:00.002-06:00

Well I am sure I speak for all in saying how great conference was. I was only able to watch the priesthood session and the Sunday sessions because of work, but thanks to the DVR I recorded it and I will catch up on Saturdays sessions.
There were two highlights of the conference for me. First: President Monson announced a new temple in my mission, Fortaleza!! You can imagine how happy I am! The fun thing has been to hear from the members there and how happy and excited they are. I would like to say that I had a part in the preparation for this temple. The people of Fortaleza are such a special people, and the church is growing like crazy. To use the phrase my friend Alex Johnson(currently serving a mission in thailand) says:"the Lord is smiling upon Fortaleza." I don't doubt it.

To be continued....
It's late

Its about time now...

2009-09-26T22:22:00.003-06:00

Well, after much procrastination, I have once again reacquainted myself with bloggerland, posting my first thing in 2 years. Its not really anything special, but you the stone just needs a little nudge to get rolling down the mountain. So i guess this is my nudge.
I have not really been up to much since returning from Brazil, other than work. In case you didnt know, i am a "farmer" meaning that i work on a farm and i have callused hands, but I am not a real farmer. i dont wear boots, keep a knife in my pocket and I dont wear a cowboy hat(yet- i have a sombrero from Brazil that I keep forgetting to wear to work still. Dont worry I will use it!) But I actually like it a lot. Its hard work, I really sympathize real farmers who do it for a living, because it is really demanding and time consuming. Luke(the cousin-boss) spends the whole day out there. I put on about 9 hours a day of work, but he goes from 6:30 to dark (maybe with some rests inside, but still). I am definately glad that i learned some work ethic skills from being a missionary.
Anywhoo, thats about what i have been up to. I dont do anything too fun usually because i work weekends, and I am usually too tired to do stuff when i get home, so i just end up chatting with friends on the internet, or watching Lost(except i finished the 5th season, so i am officially caught up now). But the produce season is winding down so pretty soon i will be out of work, and I will have more time to do "stuff".
So thats my current life situation in a nutshell.
More to come in the future... if i dont get lazy.
Tchau!

New shoes

2007-08-06T17:59:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, I got my Partiarchal Blessing yesterday from Grandpa Burton. It was pretty cool, I am apparantly going to get married so that is a good sign!
Not much else to say... I got another pair of shoes today, so I am pretty much ready to go, I just need my toiletries and such, and we are going to get most of them today.
Thats all I have to say for now

My Talk

2007-07-30T00:04:00.000-06:00

Wow its been two months since I put anything on here... What a slacker!
Here is my outline for my talk I gave today if you are interested or whatever.

Prayer 7-29-07

Tell story about Chad’s investigator on his mission in Singapore learning to pray for the first time.
--Non Christian family - never prayed before.
--Went through the steps of prayer with them
Our Father in Heaven, we thank thee… we ask thee… in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
--They had the father pray
--He said, “Our Father in Heaven, we thank thee, we ask thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
-- Funny but true story. Happened to him more than once.
--They had a hard time realizing the fact that they are more than just words on a page, and that they were really communicating with a higher power.

Principles of Prayer
-- Some of the important principles: (from Preach My Gospel)
--Make prayers meaningful.
--(having real intent, no vain repetitions 3 Nephi 13: 6-7.)
Ex: people in other religions write their prayers down to make the prayer sound elaborate, or make the person sound better.
--Use the proper language to show respect. (thee, thou, thy, thine) --Show gratitude. It helps us with humility, and we recognize our blessings
--Pray for the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Listen to his promptings, and Courageously follow those promptings. (P.M.G.)
--Pray for others needs. Have love and charity in your heart.
--Believe that God will answer your prayers.
--His thoughts are not your thoughts. (what you want may not be what He wants.)
--Trust He will answer in His own way, in His own time.

Personal Prayer
--Our Prayers should be a 2-way communication where Heavenly Father listens and answers our prayers.
--We need to not only express our feelings to Him, but allow time to reflect and listen to the Spirit.
--Repentance is not possible without prayer.
--We must communicate with H. F. confessing our sins to Him.
--Satan wants to convince us that we should not pray.
--Elder Scott: “Never feel you are too unworthy to pray.”
--P.M.G.: “If you do not feel like praying, pray until you do feel like praying.”
--2 Nephi 32: 8

Receiving Answers
--Doctrine and Covenants 8: 2
--D&C 9: 8-9
--He will answer, in His own way, and the answer could be “no”
--3 Nephi 14: 7-8
--Elder Scott talks about 3 types of answers to prayer:
1. Peace and comfort
2. Stupor of thought
3. No response (after time could mean no)
--Elder Scott: “Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. Your character will grow; your faith will increase.”

Missionaries and Prayer
--Very important, Missionaries use prayer many times everyday.
--Personal Prayer.
--Before Studying.
--Praying for members or investigators before leaving the house.
--Praying for where they should go for that day.
--It invites the Spirit (for the missionary and the investigators)
--You cant teach effectively without the spirit.
--One of the important steps to finding truths (BoM, etc.)
--“No one can know of spiritual truths without Prayer.” (P.M.G.)
--The Holy Ghost then helps us know of these truths.
--Builds testimonies and faith
--President Hinckley:(P.M.G.) “Every morning…, missionaries should get on their knees and plead with the Lord to loosen their tongues and speak through them to the blessing of those they will be teaching. If they do this, a new light will come into their lives. There will be greater enthusiasm for the work. They will come to know that in a very real sense, they are servants of the Lord speaking in His behalf. They will find a different response from those they teach. As they do so by the Spirit, their investigators will respond under the influence of the same Spirit.”
-“Missionary Service” First Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan 11, 2003

Mission Preparation
--Crucial to building testimony
--Helps to know of the truths I talked about earlier
BoM, Joseph Smith, if you should serve a mission, etc.
--I prayed about trying to decide whether or not I should serve a mission, and that it is the right thing for me to do.
--Prayer helps to escape Satan and his influence, & helps focus on Savior and H.F.
--Family Prayer helps with the preparations to serve a mission.
--Brings the family closer, you learn from their examples.
--Mom and Dad have been great examples to me with their faithful prayer and testimonies.
--Example-- Lost wallet: I Looked and looked then prayed expecting an immediate answer, but there was none. Now I realize that my faith was being tested. I kept praying and looking, but I got lazy and stopped praying about it, accepting that it was gone, but my mom kept praying and that gave me the hope to keep praying for it. The answer to my prayers came when I was least expecting it, as do most answers, and I found it in my messy room looking for something else.

--Deciding to go to school in VA.
--Brought blessings that I would have never expected.
--Was able to Confer upon someone the Aaronic Priesthood, and ordain him to be a Priest.

The end. I also read the closing prayer that President Hinckley gave in the October 2001 General Conference because Elder Scott tells us to study and learn from that prayer so I thought it would be good to have. So there.

New Job

2007-05-30T16:11:00.000-06:00

Well I started a new job today. It is pretty grueling. All I do is pretty much sweep and shovel dirt out of gutters in housing developments that are in the construction process so that it looks cleaner, and sells more houses. It is a lot of hard work let me tell you! I have killer blisters on my hands, and my back kills from bending over! A little after lunch, I learned how to drive a Bobcat for the future, and we put it on the trailer, an got out of the neighborhood, and ran over something with the trailer, and totally blew the tire. It was crazy. We spent about 40 minutes just trying to get the lugnuts off, but they were on way too tight. I dont think that Andre the giant would even be able to do it! But it was ok because I got paid to sit around for about an hour, so thats cool. By the way I make $11 and hour. Pretty cool. But its hard.

Im home!

2007-05-22T20:12:00.000-06:00

Its weird being in a new house, but overall its better than being at school, and also living out of a suitcase for almost a month! Now I just have to get all my stuff ready like my passport and visa and such. The end

Church History Sites

2007-05-15T11:09:00.000-06:00

Well yesterday, I went to most of the Church history sites here in Missouri. We went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman then we went to the Liberty Jail, and then we went to the Independance visitors center.
It was a really good day. We started around 11:00, and got back around 6:00. It took about an hour to get to Independance from their house so it wasnt too bad. We went through the whole tour in the jail, and then we also went through just about everything there is to do at the visitors center in Independance. The sister missionaries that were there kind of used us as guinea pigs to practice on us I think, but they also were just trying to help too so it was no big deal. We saw the Joseph Smith movie there too, so that took a little while of the day too, but overall it was a really good day. We had lots of cool things to see and learn. I was the only one of us that hadnt seen any of it before, so I really liked it a lot. It was me, Jeff, and his friend Danny from their ward here. He was on his mission for about 3 weeks in Spain, and he tore his ACL playing soccer so he had to come home, so he was here just getting better and getting ready to go back. It was really cool. The sisters were so excited that there were three of us who all were about to go on missions. They were giving us pointers and helping us understand some of the things to teach easier. It was fun

Jazz

2007-05-13T18:26:00.001-06:00

BRAZIL!!!

2007-05-12T12:23:00.000-06:00

Still nothing

2007-05-10T17:30:00.000-06:00

Well the mail already came, and still nothing. Another guy on the team got his call today to Rochester, NY. He was pumped. Today me and Jeff went on splits with the misisonaries here, for about 3 hours, it was cool. They taught a lesson to one guy and the other ones just were quick visits that really couldnt involve much church discussions, but they were ok. There was a really stubborn old lady whe couldnt hear that "only needed her bible and nothing else." Pretty funny.

Vacation

2007-05-08T23:05:00.000-06:00

Howdy!
Well I am in Hamilton, Missouri with my friend Jeff Durfee, which is another way of saying THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!! Ha ha it makes BV look like New York or something. Ok maybe not that drastic. It is cool though. They have a lor of property and stuff. I think it will be a cool week or so while I am here. It will be a nice relaxing time.
My mission call is getting forwarded here from BV. I missed it by 1 day. Bummer. Oh well I am not worried about it.
It was fun to be in St. Louis, I had fun with Staci and Clark and my friend Adam, except when we drove into town we were supposed to call Adam for directions, and we called at like 9:30 am and just had to wait around until around 11:30 and we finally just went to meet up at Staci and Clarks hotel to wait. But right when we were unloading the bags in the parking lot, guess who called?! His phone was out of battery and he didnt know where he packed his charger. It was crazy. Anyway, I am tired.
Look for a phone call this week, even though you have been for all last week too!

Still waiting......

2007-05-03T13:14:00.000-06:00

Well I am almost completely all packed up, and now all I have to do is get my mission call dang it! I am going to stick around tomorrow afternoon or so. It just needs to get here!!!

Nats vs Mets

2007-04-30T16:22:00.000-06:00

Well the game was awesome on saturday. It was really fun, and it was a good game too. It went to the 12th inning. I didnt get home until 3 am but it was worth it! I took my 1st main final today, and I think that I ended up doing pretty good on it too, so that is cool. We had individual interviews with the coach today, so that went pretty good I guess. Still waiting, hopefully it will get here on around wednesday or something.
I need to start packing sometime, I have a lot of random stuff.

I bought this hat at the game, its sweet!

Still no call!

2007-04-27T21:31:00.000-06:00

Well no mission call yet, hopefully soon though! Its weird though, I had a dream last night that I got it, and all my friends were all around me and stuff, and I was reading it outloud, and instead of really reading it I was going to play a joke and say "Dear Elder Butterfield,
We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted to receive a mission call for the church. Your service will not be needed, thanks anyway." Something like that. I got to the point in the dream where I just finished telling everyone that, and I was about to really read it, but I woke up. Bummer. It would have been funny.
Other news, I am going to a Mets vs. Nationals game in DC tomorrow, so that will be rad! Nice little break from studying.
I just finished reading a really cool book, called Yes Man. It was really good! My roommate Adam told me to read it. It is really interesting, it makes you want to change your life! Read the review on that link I put up, it is cool.

All done

2007-04-26T08:49:00.000-06:00

Well baseball is officially over. We didnt do good at all, but it was fun, and I had a good time. I just wish we would hae played better at the beginning of the season. We started playing really well the last 10 games or so. Oh well, it was a good experience I guess. I am ascutally pretty relieved about it to be honest. For a while there, I just didnt even have the desire to be playing, it was just so frustrating, but it ended up better than before.
Now I just have to worry about finals, and not failing athletic training, (worst class in the world, almost worse than philospohy!!) and getting my mission call within the next few days, packing up everything, and making the journey to Missouri. Man, I have been so busy lately, My head has just been going crazy lately just with all the things going through my head, and trying to stay on top of everything. It has been hectic to say the least.
I wonder how long we spent driving to games total. That would be really interesting to find out. I would estimate somewhere in the 100 hour range, but that might be wrong. All I know is that it was WAY too much!
Ok I gotta go and take my taping test for athletic training, so see ya

School

2007-04-22T22:07:00.000-06:00

I dont like it. I have a bunch of tests coming up, and then finals too. Not too exciting at all!

4 games left

2007-04-18T22:01:00.000-06:00

The season, and the school year is about over. We play 4 more games. Saturday we play 2 in North Carolina, and Wednesday we play the last 2 in North Carolina again. I almost am relieved its almost over. It has been hard. Oh well it was fun too. I better get to bed since I was up super late last night because I didnt get home from our game until 1 AM and then I stayed up doing homework for an hour, and then I had to get up for class at 8:30, and then I had 2 more games today that I had to play. We won one of them. I am so exhausted. It felt like I could barely move my legs today. I am just beat.
Oh by the way, I hit another homerun last night.

My first ordination

2007-04-15T18:58:00.000-06:00

I had a really good day at church today. I taught the lesson in Elders Quorum, I think I did okay, but before that, during sacrament meeting, they announced that the newly baptised member of our ward was to be ordained to the office of Priest, and receive the Aaronic Priesthood. So, I thought to myself, "hey that is cool he is getting the priesthood so soon." Well right before I walk into Elders Quorum, the 1st Counselor pulls me aside, and asks if I would feel comfortable performing the ordinance. Wow, I definately wasnt expecting that! So, I ended up doing it! It was a really neat experience. I was pretty nervous, but when I started, I did pretty good I hope. I dont really remember what I said. It was neat though because the Bishop used it as a teaching tool also. Later tonight, I went to a fireside, and my Bishop was one of the speakers, and he pointed me out, how I am a new Elder, and then how I ordained this guy to be a Priest. There was another surprise on the day! It was pretty funny.
Overall, it was a good day.

Long Day

2007-04-14T22:29:00.000-06:00

I had a couple of games in North Carolina today, it was a long trip. We got up, and had to leave the school at 7am, and we didnt get home until around 11pm. It was pretty rough! We won one and lost one, so it was pretty good. We lost the first one 4-3 and they won it off a collision at the plate and the ball fell out of our catchers glove, so they won. The next game we dominated 12-1. It was fun. We played really good both games, so that was cool. They were an NCAA Division II school too, so that is good too, we played good. Worth the drive.
A weird thing though, on the drive back, it was raining, and we were going through a canyon, and it was way foggy, and on the road, they had lights built in on the road lines so you knew when the road curved, it was interesting, I had never seen something like that before. As soon as we started pulling out of the canyon, the fog let up too, it was strange. Well I need to go to bed.
I am teaching the lesson tomorrow (unless they cancel again!)

One to Go

2007-04-12T22:45:00.000-06:00

I have my interview with the stake prez on tuesday to turn in the papers. Pretty Excited! If it goes almost exactly 2 weeks I will be able to get them while I am still here. We'll see I guess.

The Crazy Squirrel

2007-04-11T12:34:00.000-06:00

For the last few days, we have been hearing sounds in our basement, and we thought it was a bat, so the other day, we went on a little hunt to try and find it, and while we were down there we heard the sound again, but couldnt see anything. Well today, someone was down there working on their laundry and they saw something on the steps going down to the basement, and it was a little squirrel. It had been making the noise all along. The only bad thing about that was I was trying to take a nap, and I woke up to Dusitin squealing like a little girl! I was even wearing my earplugs and I could still hear it! Man I wasnt too happy about that, but it was pretty funny. Eventually they got a box and rounded it up and took it outside. Fun stuff

Easter

2007-04-09T06:58:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a good day. I had a good Easter, it was nice and relaxing. I was supposed to teach the lesson yesterday, so I woke up early and got it all ready, and I showed up to church and they decided to have another guy teach without telling me... again, so I will teach the lesson next week unless they have someone else do it! Oh well. After church, we all had Lasagne that we all pitched in on the day before. We all bought something that we would use for dinner. I bought the salad. It was really good. It was just the frozen lasagne but it was delicious and good for us to all have a good Easter dinner. After we watched TV for a while, we put in the movie that the Easter Bunny gave me, "The Testaments." That was a really good way to end the day, I really liked it a lot. I think that was only the 2nd time that I have seen it, so I really liked it. It put a nice spirit in the home, which is good because it isnt always there. Some of my roommates are not the best in that regard, it is frustrating. But anyway, it was good, and the cool thing is that after it was over we were all talking about it, and Josh and Dustin were asking questions about it, and showing a lot of interest. It was really cool. I know that they had a good experience from it, so I am glad we all watched it.

Car issues

2007-04-05T22:09:00.000-06:00

I had a strange experience with my car today. I was on my way back from practice and I parked the car in front of the school, and I went to turn off the car, and nothing happened. The ignition switch just was spinning around instead of locking into place and turning the engine off. It was really weird, no matter what I did, the engine stayed running! I took it to the little Ford dealership here in town, and while I was there, the guy took the whole thing off, and it still wouldnt turn off. I had to leave it there overnight, and they are going to get back to me on what the deal is. I have never heard of anything like that ever before, so it was a little funny and frustrating at the same time. We will see how it turns out.

Yesterday's game

2007-04-05T07:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a pretty good day, we played a good game and beat Washington & Lee University. They are pretty much our rival school since they are just down the street in Lexington. We beat them 15-16 it was an intense game. I did pretty good, I hit another home run and then I hit a double in the 9th to put us ahead by 1. That was fun. Good stuff. I am just waiting on my results from my physical, and then I will be all done with my papers. That is all I can really think about to write for now, other than that nothing really interesting has been going on, so there

My look-a-like thingy

2007-04-01T00:50:00.000-06:00

Grr

2007-03-29T14:57:00.000-06:00

Its pretty frustrating, my computer is too high tech for anything. My printer is connected to kellens computer, so I email my assignments to myself and when I pull it up it is like in a weird code becuase it is the newest version of microsoft word, and so it just isnt compatable on an old computer. Its weird! I have the nice new computer, and it is too good for everything! When I tried to install the printer on my computer, it wouldnt work because of the same reason. I spent like an hour trying to get it installed right, but I just had to give up. It is weird.
But... IT IS AWESOME!!! Ha ha so I am not complaining too much!

Happy Birthday!

2007-03-26T06:05:00.000-06:00

Well I got a new birthday present, and I am using it right now! I got a new computer, it is AWESOME!!! It was a huge surprise, so that was fun to get. Mom and Dad are just about to leave to go back home, and we are going to breakfast before I have class. It was really fun to have them here. Yesterday was the big ordination, and that really went well. Uh, I guess that is it for me right now.

B.V.

2007-03-22T21:27:00.000-06:00

Well Mom and Dad are both here in town with me, I have been hanging out with them since Tuesday. It has been really fun to be with them. We have 2 of our games tomorrow, it will be cool. We play at the high school here in town, so we dont have to drive far. That is good.
Thats about it, I never write anything anymore because it is hard to get a computer, and nothing really interesting is happening lately.
See ya

Mission news

2007-03-12T14:44:00.000-06:00

I have officially started the mission process, I had my big bishops interview, and now I can start doing my papers online. Pretty cool. I meet with the stake president tomorrow after my game for the melchezidek (spelling?) priesthood interview so i can get presented at stake conference on sunday, so that will be good!
Thats about it for now.
Aloha

We finally won!

2007-03-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

The four home run hitters!

This is my home run ball.

March Madness!

2007-03-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hey what do you say about doing the bracket thing we did last year? I sent an invite thing, but if you didnt get it, tell me so I can send it again.
Sound good?
Good luck!

ps you cant start until the 11th

Sicky

2007-02-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well I am starting to feel better, but I still have a really sore throat and I am congested, and I have absolutely zero energy. Today at practice, I would run for a little bit, and I would just be exhausted, it was rough! It was good to be back though even though I only missed one practice. Anyway, we have a game against our "rival" school Washington and Lee University. They are a pretty solid law school, I bet Chad knows a little bit about them. The best thing is that it is only like 10 mitues away instead of 10 hours. Thats about it for now, I have to give my friend his computer back.
see ya

RIP

2007-02-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Well my computer has officially died. It wont even turn on anymore. It has been struggling for the last week or two, and now it just froze up, and then it completely shut off forever. Pretty weird. Kind of a bummer.

Pics from the game against Methodist

2007-02-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Pics

2007-02-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

These are from the first team we played in Memphis. I was going to take more but my camera was acting a little funny and wasnt working the rest of the trip. Too bad because the second team we played had such a nice field. It was really nice. I was jealous. We leave for North Carolina tomorrow. We are staying overnight again, so that will be a fun one I think. Thats about it

Im Back

2007-02-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well I got back last night at 5:30am, that was rough. Not a very fun drive in a van. It was a long trip. I tried to sleep, but everytime I would get close, or comfortable, I would just get so uncomfortable and awkward, so I had to move and stuff. It was tough. But that is about as far as we have to travel I think, so at least it is out of the way. We lost all four of our games, I did alright this tourny, especially the last two games. That wasnt too bad. We just couldnt put anything together really. Hopefully we start getting things together. If you want to check out how we are doing, you can check out our school's website. You can just navigate around and see whatever you want to see on it. I really dont care what you see!
Thats it for now.

MEMPHIS!!

2007-02-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well Im off to Memphis, wish me luck!! I will take pictures for you to see.
Oh by the way, it snowed like 4 inches here on tuesday. Pretty crazy

I got this from Mark Smith

2007-02-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Brrrr

2007-02-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

I bought a small heater fan thingy today. I couldnt take it anymore! This morning, the thermostat needle was below all the numbers! This is all crazy. The housing lady is supposed to come over and get a guy to fix it, but I just am going to use mine in the room because my room is almost colder than all the other ones. It is supposed to be this cold for a while which is definately not a good sign.

This picture is of my genious invention to keep my legs warm during practice yesterday. I was pretty proud of it. It worked too! If you cant tell, that is an extra pair of my long sleeves, and I just tied a not at the top to keep it around my waist!

Cold

2007-02-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

Oh man, it is so cold today! It is 19 DEGREES!! The wind is just terrible too. Our heater in the house barely works too, so the house is like 65 degrees no matter how hot you put it. It is so bad! My room is especially bad because of the windows, we have 5 in our room alone. I hate it!! We have practice outside today, and it is going to be just miserable! I am not excited.
In other news, I forgot to tell anyone, but on Sunday, I was called to be a teacher in Elders quarum every 2nd Sunday. We will just have to see how that goes. I start this Sunday, but I actually might not even be there because we will be coming back from our game. Who knows. I will only have to teach 3 lessons total, so that wont be too bad I guess. Yep

SVU vs. Averett

2007-02-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

Check it out! This is a crazy site that Lumpy showed me, you can design your own m & m to look like you, or whatever you want. Its pretty funny.
In other news, we lost both games today. The first game was 5-2 I think, and the second was like 8-0. We played pretty well the whole time in both games, our pitching was good, and our hitting was not too bad, we just couldnt come up with the big hits to score runs, and we werent catching any breaks. They got so many lucky bounces, and stuff like that. Both games we had just about one bad inning where they broke the lead open, and put it out of reach. Some of it was our fault, but most of it was just that the ball wasnt falling our way. Oh well, it was a good day overall, I feel pretty good about it. I played center both games, I didnt hit too great, but I was hitting everything hard, jus right at someone. I almost took one out, the guy ran it down on the warning track in left center about 385 feet. If the wind hadnt been blowing so bad, I would have hit it out. Oh well. It was a good day. I am glad that we are started, its good to be back. Now we know how good we can actually be if we do the little things right. So there

New Uni's!!!

2007-02-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

Check it out!!!! Not too shabby huh??

Windshield

2007-01-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well after all fall and basically winter, I finally am getting my cracked windsheild replaced. I am getting it done thursday. The bad thing is that I have to leave my car there all day. I would have done it earlier, but I could never find the right place to do it, and then when I finally did, I would check out the place and it would be closed on Saturdays. How stupid is that? Saturday is the day to do that kind of stuff! I couldnt believe it! Same story with oil places and stuff. I dont understand how they do it. Oh well.
In other news, I sold 2 of my books from last semester on amazon for a little over $120.00 total. I am pretty glad about that!
Thats about it
We play on Sat.!

Mike Tyson

2007-01-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

So I have been playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out lately, and I am addicted! I am stuck on Mike though, he is so hard to beat! I only have made it to the second round with him once, and then I just got dominated! Dont worry, I will make you all proud and beat him, then I will take a picture for posterity reasons.
I really dont have much else to say right now, so see ya

Swimmin'

2007-01-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

We still cant get out on the field because it is too muddy, but we were supposed to just throw and hit, and for our conditioning we were had to swim for a half hour. Well it turns out that we had people late and forget stuff, so we had to do some killer sprints forever. Our coaches were not happy at all. But needless to say, the swimming was hard at first because we did laps, and then we just messed around, it was so fun. It was good conditioning, but it didnt even seem like it because it was fun. Well thats about it. Its Friday night, and I need to party!! ha ha just kidding, I dont even think we are doing anything.
See ya

Oh mom,I sent letters to aunt veda and aunt rhonda, and I got my contacts yesterday, thanks!

New Fleece

2007-01-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

This is my new fleece that we got today. It is pretty cool, we can only wear it to practice and games, so it is kind of a bummer, but they are cool anyway.

It is SO COLD outside!! I freeze at practice! The wind is so bad. All we can wear to practice is long sleeves. I never can get warm.

Stupid house

2007-01-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

No one ever cleans our house, it drives me CRAZY!! I am always the only one that ever does anything. I just got done cleaning the kitchen, it was so bad. No one does their dishes, or puts stuff away. Tomorrow is when the RA comes and does a house check, and it seems like I am the only one that ever cares. Last week I cleaned the bathroom, and I did a dang good job if you ask me! I cant stand it when everything is just dirty everywhere. I cant just let it sit there, I have to do something about it, because I know that if I dont do it, it will never get done. GRRR this is tough stuff!!

New internet and stuff

2007-01-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

I finally just got my internet working today. I had to buy a new wireless card becuase I think I fried the last one. But now its working like a charm.
One of my classes got cancelled today, that was AWESOME!!! I love it when that happens. I was done with school at 10:00 today. Here is a picture of my car after the storm. It was completely covered. The white part it at least an inch thick. It was so bad.

This is our HUGE 50 inch tv

This is some random sign that is in the middle of the city, I thought it was funny

Frain

2007-01-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today I had my first experience with freezing rain. It was crazy! It has been doing it all day, and the ground is just covered with ice. It was really weird. I am glad I didnt have to drive anywhere, because I dont think that my car would be able to handle it, especially since I live on a huge hill. Crazy stuff.
So we have been watching Prison Break all week. We all finished season one yesterday, and they have all been catching up on the beginning of season 2 to get ready for the next episode tomorrow night, so that is a pretty funny thing. Everyone at the house is completely hooked, its funny!

Some random thoughts

2007-01-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well I am just sitting in the library killing time during study hall. It is pretty boring. I got my work done, and now I have nothing to do. I have to come for baseball so thats a bummer. It has been so cold lately. Practice has so freakin cold this week!! It has been so bad. I can never feel my hands, and it is so hard to run. We have been doing a lot of running, and my legs are so sore!! I can barely get out of bed in the morning. Oh well, I am hitting pretty good so that is encouraging. I think that we will have a pretty good team, I am excited!
School is going good, I really like my institute class. I am taking a Book of Mormon class from Mosiah to Moroni. My teacher is a couple missionary in this area, and he teaches 3 or 4 classes. He is a really good teacher. He taught at Utah State before this mission. He really keeps you involved and interested. Good stuff. We actually have 2 sets of couple missionaries here it is a pretty cool thing.
I need to buy groceries pretty bad. I havent shopped since I first got here, and all I bought was cereal, milk, P, B and J fixins, and some Brats for the good ole George Foreman. Oh man those were so good!!
We have 3 George's at the house, its funny. Mine is the medium size, another one is newer and smaller, and there is a really wide one too. Its funny, the people that own the grills dont usually cook on their own one.
Anyway, that is about it for now.
Have a good one

My southern virginia university education

2007-01-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

So I like my school schedule. I am done a 12:00 on MWF and I have an 8:00 class and 1:00 instutute on Tue Thur. I like it, Its nice to be done so early. I think that I will really like my astronomy class. It has been really interesting so far, and the teacher is really good. He is good at keeping everyone interested, and he is a pretty cool guy. I really am going to like my athletic training class too. I have I think 7 other guys on the team in the class with me, so it is fun. Plus the teacher is the athletic trainer here, and he and I get along well. He is really a cool guy. He is the one who taught my volleyball class.
Well thats about it for now, I have to finish my laundry, and then go to practice.

TTFN

Practice and some KILLER ladybugs

2007-01-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well I had a post that talked about my first practice today, but it got erased, so lets just summarize and say that it went well, and it was good to be back! My hands are getting torn up though so thats not to cool.
I am pretty sore from lifting this morning; we did legs, and my legs were so tired for practice. I could barely run normal when we ran at the end. It was hard.

Oh, we pretty much have hundreds of ladybugs in our room. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. We are the only room with them, and they just chill by the lights. You can always here them banging on the lights, I just dont get it. The gross thing is that the guy that lived in this room before left his stuff over Christmas, and there were dead ladybugs all over the room when we got in. He had a mini fidge, and there were tons under it, and they were spread out over the floor. Stupid ladybugs! I just vaccuumed the room, and that made it look ten times better. I couldnt do it before because I thought that the vacuum was broken, and of coarse no one esle would do it, so there ya have it.
Dad, did you ever get ladybugs on your mission? Or how about you in Jersey, Chad?
Kind of a weird phenomenon if you ask me.
Well thats about it for me.
Talk to y'all later

Happy Birthday Staci and Clark by the way.

Ahoy

2007-01-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. I am supposed to go to a new ward because I moved, but I decided to stay in the same one. I am really glad that I am. I like my ward a lot. There are a lot of people that didnt come back this semester. We have like a 3 to 1 girl to guy ratio, its funny.
Man, I just got done watching 24. It was pretty good; intense as always. I am glad the good shows are finally coming back on tv. Prison Break has really got me excited.
So I bought some Listerine, and it came with a free trail container of Listerine Whitening. You use it before you brush, and after like 12 weeks you get results. I think it will be pretty cool, except you swish it for a minute, and it has hydrogen peroxide in it, and it is making my tongue feel weird. Oh well, it is just a price I will have to pay I guess!
Farewell

More pics

2007-01-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well we found out today that Josh could move in with us. He got a single room in our house for the same price as us because he couldnt stand living with the other people in his house. It is funny that all four of us live in the same house: Me, Kellen, Josh and Dustin.

Speaking of Josh... I called him today, or so I thought. I put Josh Burton's number in my phone at the Christmas party, and i accidently called him today. It was so weird at first. He said at first he was wondering if there was something wrong or something like that. It was a surprise for both of us. Pretty funny.
Well I should be sleeping right now, so here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasures

The kitchen is on the top floor, its weird. The house is a split level house.

This is my side of the room

This is Kellen's side