Excitement's in the air

Well not too much has happened since the last update. But a lot is about to happen! :) Shari will be moving to town tomorrow! It's going to be so wonderful to not have to say goodbye for such long periods of time! We're also going to be going to a wedding and to Pennsylvania during the next two weeks. We might have a trip to St. George and/or Beatty in there too! :)

As for now I'm just working and getting everything ready for school to start. I might sign up for a 5th class though I haven't for certain decided yet. I just finished reading Leviticus in my scripture study. Now on to Numbers... oh yay... I'll just have to keep reminding myself that it's only 36 chapters! HAHA

I'm an engaged man!!! :)

Well... The fourth of July weekend 2009 will always be a very special day for me! :) It was this weekend that I asked Shari to marry me! :) Things are up in the air at the moment as to when but we know we're getting married! :) I put the ring on her finger and everything! I was so excited!

So she thinks I should say how I did it. Well... I'd thought of a lot of things that I could have done. But in the end it ended up being a last minute decision to do it before she left so I wasn't able to do any of those things. She and I were cuddling near where her ring was stashed. So I reached over to grab it then pulled it out and showed her. Then while holding her I popped the question. She said yes! :) It wasn't much of a proposal but it was SO nice to be able to just hold her while we became engaged! :) We went out to eat at Chevy's after that. July 6th, 2009...

The rest of the weekend was great to of course... but how can it compete with that. Shari came down for the weekend to visit and we went out to Beatty to stay with my family. We didn't do everything we'd planned to do on the Fourth of July but still got to have a wonderful time together. We visited Rhyolite and watched the fireworks while drinking super yummy slush... oh yes... and there was cuddling involved... :) We got a little swim time and some hiking time in too. Shari saved my life... hehehe. I almost plummeted to my death at one point in our hike. Ok. not really. But it sounds cool that way. I would have been very badly beaten up by the end of the fall though. :) Thanks for saving me all that pain baby! :)

Well that was our weekend! :) Hope all of you are well too! :)

Has boldly gone where no man has gone before... sorta... :)

Well, the realization came to me today that this month I attended a different ward every Sunday of the month. At the beginning of the month I went home to Beatty for a week. So my first Sunday was spent there. However, I didnt attend the Beatty branch because my mom and sister went to the Durango ward here in town so I went with them. :)

Then came the really fun part! I went to Idaho! I bought plane tickets for that trip a month ago or so and it was so much fun! I went to see my girlfriend, Shari, who's going to school there at BYU-Idaho. We ate out and just visited the first night I was there. Then the next day we went to Yellow-Stone! I'd never been there before. It was quite enjoyable. So much beauty! Not to mention that the company was so cute! :) hehehe. That night we made pizza with another couple and watched "Bridal Wars." Sunday was church as usual at her ward. Then monday we hung out and toured campus and enjoyed our last few hours together. And I got to try Bajios! :) I broke down and cried though when I had to leave her at the air port! It was so hard! I was so lonely!

BUT!, She got to come down to St. George the next weekend to visit for a couple days while my family was all gathered there! That was so awesome and made it a lot easier to handle the time we're separated! That was a crazy but fun trip! There was a total of 22 of us all together... 10 very rambunctious kids and lots and lots and lots of people over all! It seemed like most of the time was spent getting the next meal together! HAHA But it was good to be able to see everyone. It was almost a family renunion. We were just missing our oldest sister who wasn't able to make it up. It was very nice to be able to introduce Shari to them all! And the best part is that they all really liked her! They did say however that I stole her away too much! HAHA... ;)

And now I'm back to Vegas... working and saving and waiting anxiously for the 2nd of July to come so I can see Shari again! :)

Just a thought

I need to update you all on my trip to Idaho, St. George and so forth... especially before the 4th when I have Shari down in Beatty... I'll have lots to write about then... Maybe I'll do it later today. But for now I had a thought when I was studying my scriptures.

I found it interesting, and perhaps this isn't the way it was supposed to be taken, but I noticed that all of the sacrifices (I'm currently reading in Leviticus) that the Jews were required to do were made with resources that were renewable. Thus they would never be asked to make a sacrifice that they couldn't make. They'd always be able to access something that was acceptable to be able to make the sacrifice. I think the same is true of us. The lord will never expect us to make a sacrifice that we can't accomplish! It may be hard. We may have to stretch. But we can do it!

I've been studying the scriptures again... :)

So I wasn't originally intending this to be a boiling pot for my scripture study inspirations but I'm reading the Old Testament for the first time from cover to cover and there seems to be a lot of scriptures jumping out at me that I really enjoy and want to share. This is the only book of scripture that I have not read cover to cover yet so I'm excited! Today's insight comes from Exodus 16:3

3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the ^aflesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with ^bhunger.

A couple things stood out to me. One was that instead of trusting that he would provide as he had done so far, the children of Israel decided to murmur and complain instead. I can definitely see this in myself at times. How better it would have been if they had instead said, "Lord, we're hungry, we have no way to provide for ourselves, and we know that thou art watching over us. Please provide a way for us to be able to feed ourselves." The result most definitely would have been the same with the providing of manna and quail. But it's so easy to forget to ask the Lord for help and to just complain instead. The second thought that struck me was the fact that the Lord didn't rebuke them for complaining. He simply provided. I think it's a perfect example of his patience with us and willingness to teach us to trust him before expecting it.

Ah... There really was a light at the end of the tunnel

So I just completed another class for school. I took the first summer session and completed a general education requirement. I just finished it this week. It was quite good. A relatively easy class! :D I'm glad it's done now though. I really didn't think it was going to be as hard to keep going as it ended up being. I'm so burnt out with school! :/ hahaha. I'm taking the rest of the summer off and just working and saving! :D

I got to spend last weekend with my sweetheart! Shari came down from Idaho again! It was quite fun! I really had a blast! I missed her so much. We spent more or less all of our time together except for a couple hours each night for sleep... hehehe.... We got to do lots of fun things too like going to the Adventure Dome, watching movies, visiting Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, ring shopping, dinner, and lots more! :) It was so hard to say goodbye on Tuesday! But we only have a few more days and then we'll be together again! :D

And a scriptural thought from my studies this morning: (Exodus 14)

13 ¶ And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will ^ashew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

14 The Lord shall ^afight for you, and ye shall hold your ^bpeace.

He won't always fight our battles, because sometimes he wants us to grow, but he'll always be there to strengthen us at the very least and often times he will fight our battles as long as we're doing what he's asked us to! A wonderful promise!

I hope you all are doing wonderful!

A Lesson I'm Learning

In recent years I've become very aware of a fact of life that I was reminded of by my scripture study in the first part of Exodus in Chapter 8:

8 ¶ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.

9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, ^aGlory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?

10 And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is ^anone ^blike unto the ^cLord our God.

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.

13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.

14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he ^ahardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.

It becomes very easy to forget what we learned we needed to do during challenges or while dealing with consequences of our actions once the hardship is passed. It become easy to fall back into the rut we were in before and not make the changes that we knew we need to. I've seen this a lot in my own life and I'm still learning to try to work hard at remembering what I learn once the trial passes and things are relatively easy again. I think this is the true test of humility. Are we willing when it's easy to still do what we know we need to.

I'm trying... hehehehe

So I'm not really sure what to blog about. But I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with this so I'll be more consistent. There's quite a lot going on lately. I have summer school which is almost half way through (the first session that is), my girlfriend, Shari, is coming down to visit this weekend (she might get to meet my mom and youngest sister), work is picking up quite nicely, and I'm trying to get better about doing much needed things like effective daily scripture study, exercise, and healthy eating. :)

I've found it quite intriguing in my scripture study the last couple days just how much Joseph and Moses have lives that can teach us so much about Christ. I've never read through the Old Testament before. It's the only book of scripture that I haven't yet read. So I've found it quite fascinating to read and see these correlations! :)

Well I'm going to leave it at this for now. I hope all of you are well!

Ah... Relaxation

So I'm kinda excited! Today I got to relax... sorta... haha. I still have lots of homework but I really didn't go anywhere or doing anything special today other then shopping. It was kinda nice. I've really needed it. But I have a stupid ear ache now and it's driving me nuts! hahaha. I'm sure I'll be over it soon! Well in 142.5 hours my cute girlfriend will be here! :D

Something I've noticed...

So I've noticed something about myself over the years. That is that I tend to be pretty sporadic whenever I'm attempting to do something like blogging or journal writing. I'll do great for a while at being consistent and then I fall back into the never doing it stage. Well I'm going to try to be more consistent again. There's quite a lot happening for me right now. So I should have plenty to blog about.

I just started summer school and I'm taking a social work class. It's been fairly decent so far but the reading is kicking my butt! It's a three week class. Everything is so condensed it's intense.

But... the most exciting thing at the moment is my new girlfriend! :D Shari is quite amazing! We've had lots of fun the last little while. We've come to know each other quite well and I definitely see things going a long long way with us. I'm excited for her next trip down here from Idaho next week. In July she'll be moving down here to Vegas to live while she's out of school. :) I'm sure I'll get to write lots more about her and I!

Anyways! I'm back to reading! Hope you're all well!

The Eye of the Storm

Ok... I've officially decided that winter break is the eye of the storm that is school... lol. It's just a small break before you get thrust back into the rigorous routine where you feel like you're running constantly trying to manage school, work and a social life while still getting all of the homework and reading done... AND IT STARTS AGAIN TOMORROW!!! lol. Right now it's kinda exciting but give it two weeks and I'll so be ready for spring break and the end of the semester... lol

So yeah... other than that I really haven't been up to too much lately. I've been working at the bookstore this past week which has been fun. I like the interactions I have there. The days are long but getting better. I'm used to standing all day again which is nice. The first day was killer. My legs were like... "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US?!?!" lol So yeah. One more day of freedom and then it's back to it. If I can survive the literature class I signed up for I'll be happy! :)

Well... It's a new year!

So to be quite honest... I've never really gotten the whole point of the new year celebrating... I get the whole new beginnings thing... I guess I really don't know what it is. I just have never really gotten excited about it. lol... anyways...

So we got to spend a little time in St. George visiting family after christmas. That was fun. We had all of our family there except Robert's family. I think that's the first time in a while that we've had so much of our family all in one place.

Since then... Yeah I've just hung out. I haven't had much work available since its the holidays and we didn't have any pending projects really. So I just started doing random stuff. I started day before yesterday working on fixing up the El Portal Motel website for Rick. Today we're going to go home. After we go to church we'll probably be spending a little time with the family before taking off... Now it's back to the real world right? lol

Anyway... Happy new year!