A Young Writer...Published

I am published! Stand back for I cometh and will be heard! From the tops of the mountains shall ring my voice for all, well some, to hear and read in their minds. However insignificant my words shall be, they are forever engraved into time.
So you can take off your coat and shut off the car, No reason to hurry down to "Barnes and Noble" just yet. Although they do have good soup and great hot chocolate. Not to mention the many books for you to peruse. Just don't take one into the bathroom, it will be flagged and then you will be stuck with it. No my current book will never make it to the shelves of the great book store in the sky or to the one at Jordan Landing for that matter. My book will most likely be trashed and never be read, but it is bound and on my book shelf on this cold December evening.
I have written in a journal since I was a pimpled, still got those, teenager. Lots of meaningless words have flowed from the bottom of my pencil. Everything from those first dates, my college days and many mission experiences has made it to my precious spiral bound notebook. The last year and a half I have been enamored with ldsjournal.org. I thought lots about this online journaling tool and I decided that I needed to print it out so if something happened to me the family would know how to access it. So, I printed out from October 2008 to December 2009. It makes up 51 pages with some photos and writings all from ME! Not a huge novel, but it is fun to have.
Shameless plug for ldsjournal.com, it is easy and fun to use. Try it if you get a chance. Next time I blog that I have been published it will be for my real book. I have an outline and I am working on the rest. Someday maybe "Barnes and Noble", but not yet. sorry to disappoint, but someday.

Thanks Dad!!!!

I have come the full circle as a Man, Dad, Son and ...well Male. I am not the inexperienced prude I once was. In fact the last couple of weeks I have had the chance to think about lots of the past oh 40 years of my wonderful life. In that time I have experienced lots of embarrassing and difficult situations. It had to have started early on in my life maybe 4th grade. Mrs. Class taught health and my friends tormented me for weeks that my phalanges were showing. I was really worried that some part of my whitey tighties was poking out or something. Come to find out phalanges means fingers or toes, but from then on I have tried my best to stay on top of it.
Can you remember the racing of your heart on that first "real" date? Was a kiss or hold of the hand in the cards? Curtis Sanchez dropped me into the fire by finding the church up in the top of the avenues that looked over the entire valley. Needless to say I left that night with a little less gum and no more school ring. (See in those days that meant something if she would wear your school ring, Thank you Jostens!) Those experiences led to more "mature" chances in college and later on to marriage. Men are different from Women if you have not noticed. One week into my married life and I was at the grocery store buying bulk toilet paper so, as a yelled across the store... "Jill we can shit all we want". Needless to say I should have kept my mouth shut. I think I was well into marriage before I had to venture into the feminine hygiene section of the store. For us males this is like the bra section, it is fine to look at from a distance, but do not enter. There should be fortress walls here. We should not be allowed to enter. Heck what is the difference between wings and no wings? Who knows!!
Now that time of the month as a husband is a good thing.... No babies coming! I sweat it out quite a few months. It does weird things to the women though. I have not experienced that for sometime because Jill had one of those rip em out operations a few years ago, but I have come to find out that it is approaching me from a different angle now. As Dad, raging bull fighter, muscle man, and expert marksman. For if some boy even approaches my daughters wrong, I will unleash the fury, and I can probably be seen inside the walls of those forbidden areas at the super market. This time for my little girls. "Is there a problem in the health department?" No way, I am here super Dad!

Me... MR. ROMANTIC!!!

I know that most of you will not be able to believe this, but deep down I am quite the romantic. Ok, if you will not take my word for it just call Jill, anytime day or night and she will certainly back me up. Back me up right in front of that big school bus most likely. Now if you get her to stop her hard and uncontrollable laughing just remind her one thing. I do know what the inside of a "house of ill repute" looks like.
I do not prescribe to the giving of flowers as a regular item. "Flowers" are an admission of guilt. Fran from Tulip Tree Floral will probably kill me on Monday when I get to see her, but they are. When do I arrive home with flowers? When I have done something wrong. I almost hate going over to Smiths anymore because they have placed the floral section right there by the front doors. Can I get the guilty feeling just a little later in my shopping experience? Not at the front doors.
Jill and I celebrated 17 years of non-flower giving marriage today. (actually yesterday, but the 17th is the actual day). Of those 17 years the anniversary usually involves some dreaded Christmas shopping. Heck, I think we did that the day after our wedding too (when we came out for fresh air). Last year I took the day off and we went to see the "Body Worlds" exhibit, romantic eh? We have done the Armstrong Mansion in the past so Jill set it up again this year. After some heavy panting (carrying the packages back to the car, get your mind out of the gutter!) We checked into the February room at the "house". Rodizio Grill was the dinner spot and then back to the room to relax with NO kids!
EXPLICIT WARNING...... Jill and I have 3 kids, so we have done the mamba a couple of times. There I said it, but we got the biggest laugh after talking so much last night, at one of the notes in the room diary. It included lots of wedding nights and wedding anniversary notes. One caught ours and many other peoples attention in that book and I quote "This was a fabulous room and me and my wife had a great time.. In the tub, on the stairs, on the bed, on the floor and in the shower...... signed ".....LOL. A house of ill repute and a wonderful romantic get away. I love you, Jill and thanks for the good years and the bad ones. I would not trade any of it.... UNLESS you could find me some autographed baseball cards, then I would trade it all. Next year can we go to that monster truck rally in Vegas???

Rivalry

One who attempts to equal or surpass another, or who pursues the same object as another; a competitor. To strive against, compete, contend, contest, challenge, approach, approximate, or emulate. The Rival has a long list of definitions. Friends and even family can be rivals. Hatred, love, and a fair or or uneven spirit of competition is part of a a rivalries attributes. I can't imagine this world without conflict. What are we to do when the Millennium arrives and there is no more rivals. No conflict, no war, no contention.....no "Holy War"!!!

Where does BYU-Utah rank? Lets think for a moment about some of the great world wide rivalries. Iran-Iraq, Brasil-Guatamala, USA-Russia. Hmmm ... Not in the shadow I suppose. I have never seen militia and guns pointed at the Cougars down south. Nor do I think it ranks with the Army-Navy, Florida- Georgia, Texas-Oklahoma or USC-UCLA battles. In these parts of the country it does have plenty of merit. Sundays at the pulpit before and after the game it always finds it's way into a testimony or talk. Paul James woke every year to his house being toilet papered and marked with a U (for those of you that do not know he was the Cougar announcer, he would even help set it all up and take it down). I am sure the Cougar statue was covered this week so it would not end up red.

I grew up not liking the team down south. It started with a good friend of mine, Kevin Olson, he loved the Cougars so I had to be different. In my early years we never won. I can remember some large losses in fact. Lately, it has evened out. The cougars have not been to a BCS game, we have, twice! Now this ranks up there with West Jordan-Bingham, Cowboys-Steelers, or Dodgers-Giants for me. I enjoy the build up and hope the best team wins, but I HAD BETTER NOT LOSE THAT SIX PACK!!!

All joking aside may the team down south be struck with crying and gnashing of teeth after today's game. The good will prevail. Utah Red will live on. It is coming to me..... (the score not the knock to the head as you are thinking) Utah 27 BYU 20. Long live the good guy, GO Utes! Go Cowboys, Go Dodgers and may the rest of my rivals get their faces smashed into the turf. (By the way I am starting to hate the Phillies as much as the Giants). Just kidding... I hope today is a GREAT game.