Conclusion....for now.

Well, I have to admit, blogging is not that bad. I actually think I will continue in my spare time because I really don't keep a journal. The problem is spare time. This semester I took 17 credits and 7 of them were math and engineering classes. I've definitely learned my lesson of how much I can actually handle. As you can see I've only done the minimum amount of blog entries required for the class, but it's not because I don't like the blog. It's a great way to easily record your life through pictures, videos and text. I've learned that although I have all of these experiences and thoughts stored in my head, one day they will be gone. I want my kids and wife to have a record of funny times, great lessons learned and things of that sort to go through as I get older and lose my memory. My wife has taught me that visual rhetoric really does matter. The way colors go together does affect the attractiveness of a piece, whether it be art of text. I do know it's important now, but I still need some practice with it, as you can probably tell. One thing I liked about the blog was being able to record feelings and thoughts that are sometimes hard to express. There isn't always an appropriate time to talk about lessons learned in life but if I post them on the blog then my children and wife may read them at their own leisure. I guess now I'll conclude my conclusion (ha ha). Overall I liked the blogging experience and I am glad I was forced to do it through an assignment. I would never have tried it out because I figured it was only for girls. Thanks Sis. Steadman for helping me find something new that I like to do and that will help my posterity in the future! 

The Hula-Hula Air Engine with Custom Flywheel

This is my final project for the year in Mechanical Engineering 172. It's called the "Hula-Hula Air Engine". The above is a video of how the real engine works. We built every one of the parts in groups of four in our class in less than a week. The previous two posts show pictures of assembled and exploded views with my custom designed flywheel. I am pretty happy with my progress in this class. Our teacher recently went to a conference in Florida for engineering companies and educators to see the latest in engineering programs. After seeing presentations from engineering professors from Purdue and other elite schools our professor proudly returned to tell us that the students in our class are more advanced in engineering design programs than any other students in the world at our level of education. The fact that we were able to model this engine, assemble it and provide engineering drawings for each part shown is a great success. I love the engineering program and can't wait to apply for the program after this semester!

Final M.E. Project Assembled

Final M.E. Project Exploded

President Uchtdorf's "Your Potential, Your Privilege"

Pres. Uchtdorf's talk greatly impressed me and thousands others during the Priesthood Session of this conference. The strongest rhetorical device that Pres. Uchtdorf used was the story that he started out with to create pathos, grabbing the attention of the audience. He began his talk with a story of a man who was going on a cruise. The man had saved up all of the money he could in order to go on this cruise. Because of his poverty after finally paying for the cruise, he packed one of his suitcases with canned beans, crackers and powdered lemonade in order to have food for his trip. He didn't want to have to waste money on the ship paying for food or activities so he stayed in his cabin and ate out of his suitcase the whole trip. At the end of the man's voyage he was asked by a crewman which farewell party he would be attending. When he heard this he realized that all of the activities, the mouthwatering food and the farewell party were already included in his ticket price from the beginning of the cruise. This story captures the attention of all who listen to it. Everyone can relate to the way the man must have felt when he heard that news. Not everyone in the world has gone on a cruise, but everyone can appreciate the regret the man must have lived with knowing that he lived far below his privileges. That was exactly the point that Pres. Uchtdorf wanted to illustrate with this talk. He went on to compare the man living below his privileges on the cruise to men of the Priesthood living far below their privileges. Pres. Uchtdorf, throughout the rest of his talk, focused on three ways to not end up living below our Priesthood privilege. His organization of introduction, three main points and conclusion greatly increased logos for the audience because we could follow easily and take notes without getting lost or having to backtrack. All in all his talk was amazing. The Spirit was very strong. Because of his pathos creating story at the beginning of his talk, he automatically had the attention throughout his message. He also made his talk easy to follow through his organizational skills enhancing logos. He grabbed our attention and then laid out a beautiful message that the Spirit could testify of .

My Wife is a Trooper!

My wife is such a trooper! She was sick all the night before and all the day of the wedding. She was really sick. She threw up during her bachelorette party the night before and all night long. For about half of the wedding she was in the bathroom throwing up. The times that she could muster the strength to keep it down she would come out and greet the guests. Everyone thought I was lying when I had told them that she was sick in the bathroom. She came out smiling and beautiful. She stood up straight and never missed a beat. Her dress had a corset-like feature that put extreme pressure on her already nauseated stomach, but that didn't slow her down. She walked around with the happiest look on her face even though she was sick as a dog. We had practiced a dance a couple of times before the wedding that she really wanted to do for our first dance and she did it! I'll post a link of part of the dance so that you all can see how well she performed while being sick. She did all she could to make the wedding worth while for our guests and family. No one could even tell she was ill. The only people who knew were her friends that helped her in the bathroom and our families. Everyone else was told but they still couldn't tell. She's an amazing wife and going to be an amazing mom!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=824927217259&comments

Family Traditions

I Love family traditions! They are so bonding and they always create great memories. My wife's family gets together every year around Christmas to have a "gingerbread house" contest. I put that in quotes because as you can see we actually use graham crackers and they aren't always houses. In this case my wife made a manger with Jesus and all the animals. I made a circus tent and some of her other siblings made structures such as the BYU football stadium. We all start out with all of the ingredients, or "construction materials", laid out on the table. We have all sorts of treats: marshmallows, gum drops, candy canes, skittles, m&m's, licorice, starbursts and frosting. Her father announces the time to start and we all begin. Frosting is flying everywhere, graham crackers are being sawed, marshmallows are squished into form and most certainly everyone is sick of eating the sweets within the hour. Then all creations are recorded on camera and a winner is chosen. Her dad is the judge and because he is a big BYU fan, usually not the most excellent construction wins. You have to cater to his taste as a judge. I can't remember if we one this year or not but it certainly was fun and we will always be able to talk about it together as a family. We also get to look forward to the next competition each year as we gather together to enjoy each other's company. I can't wait to introduce our future children to family traditions so that we, too, can grow close together through family activities!

Getting Called

Wow! It seems like so long ago. I remember waiting, what seemed like an eternity, to get my call to serve a mission. I was so ready to get out of the house and do something. I had graduated in 2007 but I didn't turn 19 till July of 2008. I didn't quite have enough money to go to school and save enough for the mission so I just decided to work full time and save as much as possible for college when I got home. After working for a year with no real progress in life except the bank account, I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything. We had only been in Arizona for my senior year of high school and the few friends I had made were on missions or in college. I worked from 6:30am to 6:30pm five days a week and got home in time to eat dinner, chat with my parents and go to bed. I wasn't really tired after work but I just had nothing to do. Once the big white envelope came in the mail I was so excited I could hardly breathe. First of all, a big white envelope meant it was a mission call not a we don't need you letter. Also, I just was so happy that finally I had received my ticket out of boredom. My older brother was in Monterrey, Mexico on his mission and wasn't going to be home until the end of January 2009. With my family gathered around me, I opened the letter and began to read. I kind of skipped to the location part because that's the exciting part when you are waiting to serve. When I read Iowa Des Moines Mission my family had a bunch of mixed reactions. Most of them were kind of disappointed because I was going to one of the states, but I was overflowing with joy! I was just so excited to serve that I didn't really care where the Lord wanted me to go. My mom took me aside and tried to console me by saying that it was going to be ok and that Iowa is just as cool as Mexico. I was way surprised that my family thought I was so shallow. I said to my mom that I was just excited to leave the house and go serve the Lord. I had already known that the Prophet and the apostles received revelation from God. I didn't doubt my assignment and as long as there were people in Iowa then there was a need for missionaries. I was quite aware that before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ the whole earth needed to hear the message of the restored gospel. There were people in Iowa that needed to hear it just as bad as people in exotic places. In retrospect, I know that there were specific people prepared for me to come. I know that I was prepared throughout my life to bring the blessings of the gospel to specific people throughout Iowa and Nebraska. Most importantly, the Lord not only was mindful of His other children when He sent me to Iowa, but also of me. Because I served in the Des Moines Iowa Mission at the exact time that I did, my wife and I were able to see each other serve and we were able to have a strong friendship long before anything in regards to relationships could occur. I love the Lord and know that He inspires His leaders here on the earth. We need to follow their counsel with a firm testimony that God directs His church.

Mission President and Mission Mom

As you probably know by now, my wife and I served in the same mission and before you start thinking like that, it wasn't like that. Anyways, our mission is a great bonding glue for us now that we are married. We can talk about the same investigators, the same areas and most importantly the same mission President and mission Mom. They truly were our parents out there in Iowa. They loved and took care of us throughout our missions. We loved them as parents. They taught us and guided us through the Lord's service. I feel a special bond to my mission President's wife especially. She had to deal with me a lot with injuries. I didn't really get injured often but when I did it wasn't just a scrape on the knee or a sore throat. I broke my leg about three months into my mission. Just as I was healing up from that I injured myself yet again and both times it had to do with stairs. After leaving a teaching appointment, I was walking up some stairs and walked right into an air conditioner hanging out of a window. After staples to the head in the hospital and a little narcotics, I was back to normal. When I broke my leg I had fallen down a flight of twenty-one steps. My mission president finally said to me, "Elder Yorgason, are you done getting hurt yet?". Well of course I was. I didn't like getting hurt. They also didn't like me getting hurt. We were their children out in the mission field and we could truly feel their love. I'll forever be grateful for the examples they were and still are to me in my life. Even without all of the spiritual lessons they had taught me, I still would appreciate them the same just because of the love they showed to me unconditionally and completely.

What I learned about Adult Stem Cell Research

Most people think of destroyed embryos when they hear about stem cell research and frankly, that offends most of the religious world. The stem cells that most think of are called embryonic stem cells. These embryonic stem cells are in fact harvested from embryos and said harvesting does result in the failure of that embryo. I by researching academic journals and government records have found that there is another kind of stem cell research going on that, to my surprise, is not widely known. This research is called adult stem cell research. With adult stem cell research you don't have to destroy an embryo to harvest the stem cells. As you can probably imagine, adult stem cells are harvested from adults. As adults we have certain areas in our bodies where stem cells are stored to repair that area of our body when we are hurt. For instance we have stem cells in our bone marrow. There are many other areas in the human body where stem cells are stored. These stem cells can be harvested just like embryonic stem cells without the effect of destroying an embryo. In fact, not only can these adult stem cells be retrieved morally, but recent research shows that they also can be changed to fit the needs of almost any cell in the body. Stem cells taken from adults actually produce results. Throughout my studies I of people recovering over 70 percent with terminal conditions

and/or diseases. There were two accounts of spinal injuries leaving people permanently handicapped. In both cases they now have feeling in their legs and can walk for certain distances. That's not all! A doctor testified in a US Senate hearing that he has patients recovering from Parkinson's disease due to the transplantation of adult stem cells.  In all, I learned that in general, stem cell research gets a bad reputation among religious people because adult stem cell research is widely unheard of. Most people think of embryonic stem cell research when they hear of stem cells, but the truth is that adult stem cell research is actually more successful, completely harmless and not one step behind embryonic stem cells in potential ability to heal. Moral of the story: Adult Stem Cell Research is the way to go!

Response to Brandon Davies Suspension and BYU Honor Code

I am very proud of the way Brigham Young University has handled the Honor Code issue with Brandon Davies. I am not personally aware of what the Honor Code violation was and do not plan to search to find out. All I know is that he admitted to violating the Honor Code and he was suspended from playing basketball for the rest of the season. The reason I am proud of the way everything was handled is because of the timing of it all. BYU was about to play the only team that they had lost to in the Mountain West Conference and only the second team they had lost to all season. Brandon Davies is a key player for rebounds and posting up down low. Also because of the defense that he draws to the center he opens up the perimeter for jump-shots and Jimmer's famous three-pointers. Needless to say Davies plays a huge role in BYU basketball. Most important of all, the team had two season games left and the performance of BYU's team in the last two games of their season would determine their seed in the NCAA tournament. The seed of an NCAA team in a tournament can greatly affect how far they go because it determines the teams they play. Notwithstanding all of these seemingly very important factors, BYU put honesty and integrity ahead of fame and fortune. Davies was suspended as soon as the coaches were made aware of the violation. This was very hard on the team in many ways. They had no practice time to be able to get used to not having Davies down low. As we saw from the next game against New Mexico, our team was pretty shook up. Now, BYU could have kept Davies on the team till the end of the season and throughout post season and honestly i think we would have performed a lot better. The timing was not only something to be proud of but it was almost perfect for the media. Not one news station would have cared if we were 16th seed and one of our players got suspended. The fact is we were working our way towards a possible 1st seed in the NCAA tournament and everyone's eyes were on our team because of the performance of Jimmer. Because BYU acted promptly and honestly, being true to their own Honor Code, the whole world was able to see what our school was about. We aren't only about winning championships, having the highest GPA, having the most records or sending out the best employees into the workforce. At Brigham Young University we are about honor. We sign our names to an Honor Code and expect to be held accountable to it. Attatched is a link to the BYU honor code for anyone who wants to see it.
http://saas.byu.edu/catalog/2010-2011ucat/GeneralInfo/HonorCode.php#HCOfficeInvovement

Family Conference Notes/Goals

• Daily acts of service and end of day reporting
• Involve kids in service
• Focus on the positive and don't judge the person, judge the acts
• Have a picture of a temple in each room
• Have our children know exactly who they are and where they come from at an early age
• Church music, singing and scriptures always in the house to make it more comfortable for our children who just came from Heaven
• Teach consequences of sin that come naturally, from the Lord, and from us
• Start and keep Celestial traditions

Life-Correction

“Hey, Ivan,” Nikki said as she brushed her long dark curly hair behind her shoulder, “do you want to marry somebody like me someday?”

“Wait, what?” I said, as I straightened my tie and we stepped up onto the beautiful Provo Temple grounds.

“I’m not proposing,” she said with an “in-your-dreams” look on her face, “I’m just saying, you do want to marry someone devoted to God and immovable with things pertaining to religion, right?”

“Well of course I do,” I said, completely oblivious to where she was going with this.

“Well, girls like me don’t marry guys like you, so why would I date a guy like you?”

Wow, I thought, now that was quite a blow to take from my best friend as we walked underneath the October trees towards the temple to do a session. Prior to this conversation she had commented on the kind of music I listened to. We had agreed to disagree on whether listening to edited rap music was really affecting my spirit or not. I argued that it was just music that she didn’t like and she was too sensitive anyway.

After contemplating in the temple, I said, “Nikki, I’ll think about the music thing, but I want you to know that I don’t change for girls. If I decide anything it’s because I’ve changed my mind.” She just looked at me and said “Ok, do what you want,” with a look of complete victory in her eyes. I didn’t like changing for girls. I am very self-confident and firmly believed that there was a girl who would take me just how I was. I also didn’t like admitting I was wrong. Even after pondering to myself, I was yet again convinced that I was perfectly in the right.

 “I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Nikki said as she headed off right before General Priesthood Meeting a few days later to give me time to get dressed. Since Wednesday afternoon a lot had happened. After our mission reunion Friday night, she had suddenly realized her feelings for me and we had decided to date. While putting on my suit for the meeting, I thought silently to myself about how glad I was that she realized the rap music wasn’t that bad, whether or not she wanted to admit it.

I started to listen to Conference and noticed that I had left all my note-taking supplies at home. I was in a side room packed with young single adult priesthood holders in the stake center near my apartment building. I have always loved Priesthood Meeting because the leaders are a little more relaxed and a lot more specific and straight-up in their messages, knowing that all of their audience is composed of males 12 and older. The messages are specifically tailored to help us as Priesthood holders.

To be honest, to this day I only remember one of the talks given that session. Elder Patrick Kearon of the First Quorum of the Seventy gave a talk that totally changed my outlook on life. As I listened to the other speakers I still felt good about my music decision until I heard a story about an old man who had served in World War II. Elder Kearon said of that man, “He learned that to survive in a minefield, you must follow exactly in the tracks of the vehicle moving ahead of you. Any deviation to the right or left could—and indeed did—prove fatal…….Deviating to the right or the left of the safe track ahead of us, whether because of laziness or rebelliousness, can prove fatal to our spiritual lives. There are no exceptions to this rule” (General Priesthood Meeting talk “Come unto Me with Full Purpose of Heart, and I Shall Heal You” Patrick Kearon Of the First Quorum of the Seventy).

For some reason as I listened to the rest of Conference, one thought kept running through my head--what kind of music would I be listening if I had to go through a minefield? More importantly, what kind of music am I listening to as I go through this minefield of life? Right then and there I knew without a doubt that I needed to get rid of all my distracting music. If I wanted the Spirit to guide my daily life I needed to give him the best environment to reside in so that he could be completely comfortable.

That night I deleted over seventy dollars of music that I had purchased recently over the last month. The funny thing was that even though I knew it was what God wanted me to do, it was still hard to just throw away hard-earned money, but I couldn’t put a price on my spiritual well-being.

After Nikki returned from an outing with her mom and two sisters, she came over to the apartment. I, to my surprise, proudly admitted my change in judgment on the music and my overall verdict. Admitting I was wrong also came surprisingly easy, which is a good thing because now it’s a part-time job of mine, since Nikki and I were recently sealed for all eternity on the 15^th of January 2011

Most AMAZING dinner EVER!!

 My wife is the most AMAZING cook EVER!! She really is. I mean, I'm pretty easy to cook for because I'm like a human garbage disposal, but due to my experience and love of food I can most definitely appreciate some good cooking! My wife can cook the best meal you've ever had in a half hour or less every time. She always cooks things that anyone will like. I mean, look at the meal below for example: Cafe Rio pork, corn, Cafe Rio rice, black beans, grilled caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, Santitas chips, home-cooked tortillas, sour cream and most importantly CHEESE! I love cheese. I honestly think that cheese makes everything better. Even if I won't put it on my ice cream, I still could eat it before or after and the whole experience would be better! So, anyways, like I was saying, she really is a miracle to me. Now this little meal took a little longer because she had to put the pork in the crock pot but it was definitely worth the wait. She's not afraid to experiment either and I'm the perfect little guinea pig. Sorry to make you all jealous out there but I have the best cook in the world for an eternal companion!!

 

Taylor and Prince Kitty

 

This is a tribute to my favorite thirteen-year-old brother-in-law, Taylor, and Prince Kitty. Taylor is probably the sweetest kid I know. He loves animals and babies and loves to make people happy. He loves to dance and sing and get the attention of the "ladies" whenever they are around. Every time i come over to the house he runs and gives me a hug and a kiss and then reaches for the ceiling (I always lift him up so that he can reach the ceiling, I don't know why but he loves it). He's very strong and loves to play basketball outside. He's always down for some beans rice and cheese with a little meat for lunch (somehow it's always lunchtime). His favorite movies are from the High School Musical collection and he loves to sing songs from the Chipmunk movies, especially the "All the Single Ladies" one from Beyonce. When my wife and I were dating (and still to this day) Taylor would make kissing sounds every time we hugged or our faces got close. It used to quite kill the mood for my wife but now we both laugh and do it on purpose just to hear him make the noise. Taylor is a great kid and if you don't watch out he'll steal your heart so bad that no matter how annoying or physically painful he can get sometimes you will always forgive him! Prince Kitty, Taylor's sidekick whether or not the cat agrees to it, has an interesting gender-discovering story. Formerly known as Princess Rae-anna, Prince Kitty has gone through some confusing times. When my wife got home from her mission she bought a kitten for her brother's birthday. I guess from day one they stamped the kitten as a girl and never asked any questions. She was named and treated like a princess from the first time she was in the house. One day I found that the cat had grown up a bit and was definitely not a girl. To the family's surprise, Princess Rae-anna had been a boy all along. Finally coming to grips with his new found gender, Prince Kitty (now renamed) was neutered so that he would not cause a stink in the house. Although he has nothing to live for, Taylor keeps Prince Kitty busy by dragging him around the house and squeezing him to death!

The Grand Canyon

This was a long trip...



.....but so worth it!

This earth truly is a blessing to all of us who live here. I don't think we realize it with all of our needs for technology and modern gadgets. Don't get me wrong, I have a cell phone and a computer and I love all the new technology also, but I think we need to sometimes just stop and enjoy what God has already given us. I realized this when I went down to visit the Grand Canyon with my wife's family. As I looked down into the vast canyon I couldn't help but think about all of the creation and time that was put into the earth. Why would God take all of this time to make an earth so beautiful, functional and perfect? Then it hit me. God is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us and that's why He does things for us. I had known that for a very long time, but it hit me harder that day as I realized that everything created on this earth was created for us. He loves us so much and no matter what we do, His love does not change. Now, He doesn't love everything we do but He will always love us. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and that His son, Jesus Christ, is my Savior. I testify that we are eternally indebted to our God and as we make feeble attempts to pay Him back we are only blessed hundreds of times more in return for our obedience, service and charity.

Das a big DAM

Wow this dam was huge! I've been to a few dams in my life but this one amazed me just how it was built. It retained such a massive amount of water and it was built in a canyon! When we crossed the dam we got out to walk out onto the bridge in front of it and take pictures of the scenery (this picture is before crossing the bridge). As we walked out onto the bridge giant trucks were crossing, making the bridge shake and tremble under the weight of the trucks. I found this very exciting. As for my wife, not so much. I loved the design and human ingenious that went into the construction of the dam and bridge. Humans never give up one things. Well, individually we do but as a whole we keep trying until we complete magnificent feats such as this dam. I love that about our race. I love figuring things out and trying different ways to complete a task until it is done correctly. I don't believe anything is impossible and even if some things are I like to think that if I try hard enough I can make anything happen. This is one of the reasons that I chose Mechanical Engineering as a major. As engineers we work under set laws of physics and we use logical math to design all we produce. Although we follow strict laws we still believe that there are new ways to do everything that will improve the world. I love the idea of improving things. If I have a product I want to make it better. This is a natural human instinct to want to improve and I think it comes from before this life. We have wanted to, do want to and will want to improve forever. We are only in danger in this life when we think that we have "arrived" in any category of our life. We must always strive to improve and progress in everything that we can.

Research Thesis

Although most of the arguments over stem cell research are thought to be ethically impossible to solve, adult stem cell research nearly eliminates the ethical arguments against and is more than twice as productive in health improvement, cell regeneration, and terminal disease cure research.

Provo Library

After the reception at the Provo Library. LOOK at that DRESS!!

That's how it's done!

Here's a funny kissing story. So, when my wife and I were dating we had decided we both wanted to take it slow. She didn't want to waste time with someone that she wasn't serious about so we had both decided to not just kiss for fun (we both like it very much). We were waiting until we had progressed far enough in the relationship. My criteria was that I had to truly love her before I kissed her. She wanted a solid relationship without physical affection before introducing it to the relationship. We were both very logical about our relationship and so one night we decided that we were ready to kiss. She is a little over four years older than I am and due to her age she has had a lot more kissing experience than I have. I, on the other hand, had only kissed two girls before my wife. I was eighteen when I kissed for the first time and didn't kiss another girl until after my mission. She always bragged about how good she was and so did I, but I really didn't have the "credentials". So, anyways, we decided we had reached the kissing level in our relationship but we still wanted it to be spontaneous. We began to walk around the BYU football stadium. I knew i was to kiss her sometime along the walk but she just kept talking and talking. To tell you the truth, in both of my kissing experiences before the girls kissed me first. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was doing. All of the sudden and out of nowhere, she kissed me. It was just a peck. I was totally unprepared and I knew i hadn't nearly performed up to my abilities. After the kiss she probably thought I really couldn't kiss and I couldn't have that. When we finally got back to the car we got in and we were just talking. Finally, I said, "Do you want to really kiss?" (she later told me that she thought she was just going to have to sacrifice in the kissing area being with me). She agreed and then I really laid it on her. She was not at all prepared. I knocked her socks off! Since then she loves to tell people that first I kissed her then I "really kissed her!"

WOW....

I Love My Wife!

I'm probably in for a lifetime of looks just like these from my beautiful wife. She keeps me in line. There's no doubt about it. She has a very strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is very sensitive to the Spirit. She is humble and sweet and always ready to teach and learn the principles taught to her by the Spirit. Some men find this trait very unattractive in a woman because of their own pride. I love that my wife corrects me. I could and can not become the man my Heavenly Father wants me to become without having a wife who is not only supportive, but also willing to correct when necessary. This is not to say that she bosses me around or that I always give in (I too suffer from the man's curse of pride and stubbornness). She lovingly corrects me because she can see my true potential. By doing so she is fulfilling her duty as my wife. I love that she cares enough about my eternal progression to not let things slip. We both served in the Iowa Des Moines Mission. While serving, I had the opportunity to see what a wonderful person she was. I never thought I would marry someone so perfect and so willing to put God first in all things. Now, after having been blessed with the opportunity to be married to such an angel, I have complete confidence that she will raise our children in righteousness. I just want to say something to those young women out there who are afraid to correct the men in their lives whether they be friends, boyfriends or fiances. If you are afraid to correct them in respect to principles of righteousness or things that offend your spirit then maybe they aren't the right men you should be hanging out with. The righteous men in your lives will accept the correction and strive to improve. Do not ever stay in a relationship in which your spirit is continually offended. These relationships are not worth anything. When men are corrected by women and they are offended it is because they are guilty. The Book of Mormon says that the wicked take the truth to be hard. It is true. Stand up for righteousness in all times, in all places and in all things no matter what the consequences and you will surround yourself with the men who are looking for a righteous woman. I was looking for a righteous woman and when my wife wasn't afraid to correct me on little things that distracted from the Spirit, I knew I had found one. If you can't stand up to your potential eternal companion or friends then you will have an even harder time standing up to your kids when they start to wander.

I just had pretended to push her in!

Eternity

You can't imagine the excitement and overwhelming love that is felt as a new couple heads out into the great unknown of the beginning of an eternal relationship. My wife and I had dreamed of this moment since we were children. I had always just wanted to be married and to start my family. When we heard the words sealing us together for time and all eternity we both began to cry on the altar knowing beyond any doubt that we really would be together forever. Even now as we go throughout daily life we can't help but get emotional sometimes just knowing that we really are going to never be separated after this life. To those who criticize marriage and are pessimistic in general this may sound a little bit too mushy for you but it really is the truth. When you find someone that you know you want to spend the eternities with and they want it just as much as you do then you will know what this feels like. Not everyone who gets married is in true love. There are many couples who learn to live with each other or grow into loving each other after the "honeymoon" is over. There are even couples that get sealed in the temple with false expectations of marriage and of their spouses. Marriage is a sacrifice. It is not easy. God does not just make life a "happily ever after" kind of story just because a couple is sealed in His temple. Marriage still takes work, sacrifice and hard times. Here is the key: Although marriage is a sacrifice, it does not feel like it to couples who are truly dedicated to the Lord and their spouse. Christ definitely sacrificed everything for us, yet He did not complain. He did not think it was a hard decision. He completely and willingly gave His whole life to us because of His love for us. If you do not feel that way towards your eternal companion, then you are missing out. My wife is not perfect (she'll be the first one to tell you that), but she does try. She strives for perfection in all that she does every second that she has. She is easy to serve and sacrifice for because she gives nothing less than her whole being to righteousness. I love her with all of my heart. Because of the love we have for each other, sacrifice is nothing. When you love someone there is no sacrifice. As I started out with this entry, "You can't imagine the excitement and overwhelming love that is felt as a new couple heads out into the great unknown of the beginning of an eternal relationship" unless you have been there. I have been there. I am living that eternal dream. My greatest joy and most extreme happiness is found in my eternal relationship with the love of my whole soul.

We Did It!!

Why did she pick me? I'll never know...

I still wonder that to this day. Why did this return missionary young woman who is beautiful, righteous and amazing in every way want to spend the eternities with me. Well, it turns out she wondered the same thing when she started having feelings for me. When we first came home from our missions we both had no interest in each other with respect to love. She needed a drummer to write songs with and perform with and I needed a place to store my drums while going to school. It turns out that our needs seemed to fit perfectly. Some of my mission companions used to ask me what was going to happen with Sis. Shields and I after the mission. I always told them jokingly, "Well, she needs me to play drums for her so we'll have a lot of alone time in the garage together. I'll probably kiss her and we'll just keep our relationship at that!" We got a good laugh about that but nothing more. After I came up to BYU for school we ended up spending quite a lot more time together then we had thought. She would show me around Provo, help me with girl advice and I would do my laundry at her house (she lived with her parents at the time). I then began to be truly interested in her and, while it took a whole lot more convincing to get her on the same page, she eventually realized that she had feelings for me also. She had been held back all along for a few reasons: first, she wasn't ready to date yet after the mission, second, she just needed a friend at the time and third, she couldn't see any depth to my personality. The third one surprised me the most when she later told me (yep, she's brutally honest). She said that I didn't open up until we were already dating. I didn't realize any change but she could all of the sudden see my life goals, my testimony and my core beliefs due to experiences in my life. I subconsciously was holding these back because she was rejecting me left and right. She once broke down and said "Why can't you just bee a friend to me? Can't you just be the guy who has a hot friend of the opposite sex with out being interested in her?" I mean, she was really not into me at all. She said I became a new person when she finally decided to give a relationship a try. Now, because of this experience, I would like to give a word of advice to both guys and girls: Don't hold back who you really are for fear of rejection. In this case, it turned out that who I really was fit perfectly into who she wanted to be with. It doesn't always work out this way. Maybe, when you show who you really are, the girl or guy you are interested in will drop you right there, but that's ok. I promise you that you will not want to be with anyone who does not want to be with the real you.

She is so BEAUTIFUL!!!

Pride Kills Progress

Pride is and has been the root of, I would say all evil. Sometimes pride can subltly come into our lives and slowly drag us away from the God we love and serve. Pride prevents learning. We are here to learn and thus pride prevents our mortal purpose. It is Satan's purpose to impede our progress and pride is one of his greatest tools. Elder Eyring gives us one way to fight pride in a speech given at BYU October 21 1997. He said, "It is simply to remember who God is and what it means to be his child. That is what we covenant to do each time we take the sacrament, promising always to remember the Savior. Because of what has been revealed to us about the plan of salvation, remembering him can produce the humility that will be our protection. And then, as we will see later, that same choice to remember him will in time produce in us greater power to learn both what we need to know for living in this world and in the life to come." Maintaining this eternal perspective and knowledge of who we are can save us from pride. Not only should we know that we are children of God but we should also keep in the front of our minds that so is everyone else. Pride separates us from those around us, putting us above the rest, while the end goal in life is to be in the Celestial Kingdom with everyone after this life. There is no class system in God's eyes. To avoid having to be humbled by circumstances and experiences in life we can keep in remembrance the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what it means to all of His children.