Remember (What an ironic title....)

It has been several weeks since I updated this blog, so I will quickly touch on the things I've experienced lately.

After the semester ended, I was privileged enough to go on a week-long road trip with my Dad, and was able to participate in great soul-saving ordinances of six temples. I have lots of pictures and I might put them up if I remember. We'll see :)

We stopped first at the Winter Quarters Temple and visitor center. If you ever get the chance to go there, I highly recommend it. The temple there is beautiful but the grounds also have a powerful spirit about them. This is a place where the saints camped after fleeing from persecution along the Mississippi in Nauvoo. Many of them died, and they are buried there.

We then traveled to the Chicago and Detroit Temples. They are just as magnificent as any other temple. We did those two in the same day. After that, we went to Palmyra and due to time constraints didn't visit any of the sights, but we had both been to them before so it wasn't really a big deal. We then headed up north and hit Boston and then Manhattan in the same day. It was a pretty crazy schedule but temple work is worth it.

This was a great thing to do with my Dad because I obviously didn't get to see him much during the year except for at funerals and the two short breaks I had. What a great way to spend the time before my mission! Serving in the House of the Lord, where we make eternal covenants and promises, and where the family is sealed together forever--there really is no better family activity than temple work.

I love the temple and have been back to the D.C. temple where I received my endowment a few times. As a side-note, the phrase, "taking out my endowment" doesn't really make sense because the word endowment means gift. You're not losing anything, not getting a limb or organ removed or anything.... I don't know, it just doesn't make sense. Anyway....

Since then I have been doing a lot of yard work and spending time with family and catching up with some friends. Some of my buddies are already in the MTC. WEIRD.

I cannot wait.

My best friend Isa enters the MTC this Wednesday, and it's really just awesome to me. I would die for this guy, really. He is such a great man and you would be very privileged to know him, as I am. I cannot wait to see him in the MTC. What an example.

Since I got home from my temple trip with my Dad, a lot of other stuff has happened. There was Mother's day, which is always good because my Mom has been way good to me over the last 19 years. She's taught me a lot about life, and how to just be a good person. She only asked for some flowers to help beautify our pond in the backyard, which is pretty telling of her character I think. She never asks for things that only she would like or enjoy. In fact she never really asks for anything, other than her children call her often. If you don't, you get a voicemail from her saying "Please! we just want our son/daughter back! What did you do with him/her?!?!? etc..." She thinks she's funny :) But really she is a great woman and my Dad is lucky to have married such beautiful and caring wife, mother, and friend.

Speaking of there fortunate union, they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary the Tuesday following Mother's day. And by they, I mean we, because we all went to dinner. Sorry for the intrusion haha. My kids will not be at my 35th :). It seemed like kind of a letdown because they went to Spain for their 30th, which was awesome and they had a great time. I guess they didn't go anywhere because like the great parents they are, they decided to stay and celebrate simply, due to all the help they will most likely be giving to all their kids in the coming year. With a kid going on a mission, a new granddaughter, a son moving to Atlanta, and my parents moving to Manhattan, I understand it. But really, I'm proud of them and so lucky that they are still together, as most of my friends parents are either divorced, or they hate each other and are sticking together "for the kids."

Then one night we got a call, late, from my cousin Dan. He and his extremely new bride, Kate, were doing summer sales in South Carolina and decided that they hated it after one day. Who can blame them though? Anyways, they told us that they quit and wanted to know if they could come stay with us for a couple weeks while they planned out their two-month-long trip to Europe. We said "sure!", and they were there the next day.

That was fun because I hadn't seen Dan or Kate in a very long time and it made for more exciting dinners and they helped out a lot with the yard work. The only thing I was worried about was if there would be enough room in our house for when Sophie was supposed to come up and visit, the next weekend.

Have you ever had a Queen or King as a friend? Chances are, you definitely do NOT have any royal friends (but I hear Prince Harry is still available, Ladies). Well as it got closer to Friday the 13th, (spooky, didn't realize that at the time) I started to feel like I was expecting a visit from the Queen, or Katy Perry or some other insanely famous person. That's because Sophie was finally coming! We had talked about visiting each other over the summer a few months ago, and finally those plans were coming to fruition. I was kind of nervous that she would totally hate the sleeping arrangements because my parents donated almost all the extra furniture in our house to a needy family. That meant she was going to get an air mattress which is not a big deal, but I was really hoping for a four-post bed. You see where this is going. I was worried about how she would like it up here, and if everything was decent enough. You do that when you really love somebody right? Well anyway she got here and really clicked with my parents, Dan, and Kate. We decided to play Scattergories and my dad is an infamous cheater, but Sophie caught on right away. She totally got him. I was really glad that everyone was comfortable and not awkward haha... We then had cake (which was supplied by the lovely, Linda Giler) and ice cream. And then everyone else went to bed and Sophie and I were able to just sit and talk for about an hour.

That was awesome. We hadn't seen each other in about a month. Talking on the phone almost everyday, Skype-ing, and texting was good because we stayed in touch well, but it just doesn't do it like face-to-face talking.

It was also a little weird. In a good way. It didn't feel real, like I was sure I was going to wake up the next morning and have it end up being a really good dream. It's somewhat hard to describe just because we had been in Provo for almost a half-year, and now all of a sudden, we were here together on my turf, with my family, riding in my truck, sitting on my couch watching my movies haha. It was so awesome! On Saturday, we went into D.C. and did a couple things. We visited USMC Memorial by Arlington and then my parents dropped Dan and Kate and Sophie and I off at the FDR memorial with all the waterfalls. We then walked around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial, and finally met up with my parents again. From there we went to Ben's Chili Bowl, which is a Washington D.C. favorite, and ate lunch. I'm proud of her for (mostly) handling a chili-cheese half-smoke haha. Then we headed over to the Eastern Market, which was a lot smaller than it usually was because it was threatening to rain all day. But anyway we were allotted $10 to pick out a random ingredient for dinner that night. She bought some funky fingerling potatoes, I got some weird drinks with flavors like dandelion. Dan and Kate got a few more ingredients and my Dad and Mom got corn and Pork chops. It was actually a really good dinner haha... Anyway after that we went home and my Dad and I went to our Stake Priesthood meeting, where I had to give a talk (seriously? twice in one weekend???). After that, it started raining really hard, and so we went for a nice little walk in the rain. The next morning at church, I had to speak again, because technically it was my farewell, even though we don't really do that in our stake... but that's one of the reasons she came up and it went OK. A lot of heads turned when she walked in the chapel at my church, which made me smile. They don't get to see beauty like that ever :)

Later that day, we had lunch/dinner, went on a good long walk, barefooted, which was cool. Until I picked a trail with gravel to walk on haha... Sorry. We spent the rest of that weekend kind of just hanging out, and going into the District, where we saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington (my choice...), walked around taking "senior pictures" in front of the Capitol building, and ate lunch at a random sports grille thing. Unfortunately, it started raining a little bit and we were both kind of tired so we hit the Navy memorial and then rode the Metro home.

Unfortunately, her trip came to an end and she left at 11:00 AM on Tuesday morning, which was cool because she was going to leave on Monday, but I guess I just have this crazy, animal magnetism? I don't know. It also stunk because we've already had to say goodbye once, and then we didn't see each other for a month. The good news is I get to see her in just a little more than a week, because I am going down to North Carolina to meet her family and just spend some quality time with her before I head out on the mish. That good bye is going to be really hard because Sophie is the best.

I am really a lucky guy to have met her back in January and become good friends, and then more than that. She's kept me in line and I think is more excited for me to go on a mission than I am at times. But she really is great. She knows the gospel so well, and I'm sure she would make a great missionary which she has thought about doing. She's also extremely beautiful and no matter how much I reported that back to my parents, I just didn't do her justice. They wouldn't stop telling me how gorgeous she is. She is funny and way smart. I shared Book of Mormon with her, and American Heritage. We had a class everyday and almost everyday (assuming I didn't sleep in), we sat next to each other. That was a little distracting haha. I couldn't take my eyes off of her most of the time. I'm really glad to have gotten to know her and I am still trying to imagine what I must have done right to be so lucky as to know her. But she is a beautiful girl inside and out. She's a great example to me and I've told her before that I want to be just like her someday.I love her and even though the mission is going to be difficult we've talked and we have a plan and I think everything will work out exactly as it is meant to be. But I could write a whole blog about her, but I don't think I will because I quite enjoy all the memories and they are mine. No one else needs to hear about them :) I can't wait to go down and meet her family and friends and see all the people who's lives she has blessed. I will probably talk about her some more after I get back from NC. STAY TUNED!:)

This weekend, I spent a lot of time with my brother, R and his wife Hope at his house in Austin Texas and that was so cool. We haven't been able to hang out a lot and it was just really good to see him and Hope and his two dogs, two chickens, and one rabbit, before I go off to Argentina. He is such a great man. His job is to help homeless people get some sort of stability in their lives. He gave us a tour of the shelter that he works at and it was cool to see hundreds of the homeless people greet him with excitement. He barely got a complete sentence out in between all the "hey R!" and "I'm so glad to see you R!" etc... He does a lot of good in this world. I am so lucky to have such a great family who really does a lot of good for other people. I really don't deserve them. But I really love them and I know they love me too.


My time as a regular 19 year old is winding down and I now only have three weeks, two days, and roughly sixteen hours before I go into the MTC. Worries really start to buildup, but I have great friends and family who act as a significant support to me. This assignment would be WAY harder without them.

Anyways, today I was looking back at some old conference talks and found the talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from the April 2010 General Conference, which talked about the actual Atonement taking place. Elder Holland is a powerhouse. The devil checks for Elder Holland under his bed every night I'm sure. But anyways, this talk is full of emotion and has a spiritual force that is impressive because Elder Holland is a special witness of Christ.

Here is the summation of what he was talking about.


I am so thankful for Jesus' sacrifice and I know he has felt every thing I have ever felt. Physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I know I am responsible for some of the blood that he shed, and I can never repay him for it. The only way we can earn the right to live in the presence of God for eternity with our families, is if we let Christ atone for us. He has already done that, we just need to take the initiative and use it in our lives as often as we can. I know I need it daily, even hourly and I don't always take full advantage of it. I know he died for me and he lives now. His arms are outstretched still and we can never do anything that would change that. He loves us, and did everything that a God can do to ensure we live with him for all eternity. We just need to take His name upon us, and allow his blood to cleanse and heal us. I love the Savior, and I testify in his name that he lives. Amen.