Just a couple of things

First off, I gotta give props to my sweet wife who indeed keeps me on the happy train! She's great! 

I hope you're focused on her. I know, I haven't figure out why someone as cute as she would have chosen someone like me. But, I won't complain :)

Secondly, I am a rockstar... didn't y'all hear? 

That's me playing at Sammy's. I opened up for a band and played 8 of my own original songs! 

Since y'all couldn't have made it I made sure to record it! Here is a glimpse of the concert. Since I couldn't figure out how to put an mp3 file on the blog, I made a video so y'all could hear it. The video consists of random pictures of Megan and I. Enjoy! 

Anyway, I had a lot more to blog about but the internet froze and erased all the other stuff I wrote. I'll write again soon! I promise. 

Alright, alright!

Here you go Mom! You're about to have the grand tour of a lifetime.

This is the living room, complete with FREE hide-a-bed.f

This is our dining room. Sam assembled all 15 zillion pieces.

This bookshelf is affectionately known as "The Box."

Here's the kitchen! That's chili on the stove.

Bathroom. That is lipstick on the mirror.

This is the dresser that I love. It used to have a mirror that I loved, until I broke it and got 7 years of bad luck.

Here is our cozy bed. I think the blanket looks a little like a caterpillar.

 We love our little house (apartment.) You're all invited to sleep on our hide-a-bed.

Things about Life

I told myself the next blog I would do would include pictures of our house, but I just don't think that's going to happen because I'm sitting in the library and should be studying the economic impact of natural disasters, but I'm not really into that. So I'll just blog about thoughts that I have about life and things that I've learned since being married for an official 13 weeks today.

Thought 1.

When you get a dipped cone, it's going to be messy. I recently went to Arctic Circle and got what they call "a Topper." Don't be deceived. It's a dipped cone. And I guess every time I go to Arctic Circle, they're having a severe napkin shortage, and so they give me a napkin that's ripped in half. Dipped cones are delicious, but I don't think it's appropriate to dip soft serve ice cream in chocolate that hardens like a caramel apple, because that confounded soft serve turns to water when it starts melting, and the you have a waterfall of soft serve (that you know when it dries will be used as the sticky stuff on a band-aid because that's the stickiest thing they've found that will also leave a black layer of stick on you) that's covered by an impenetrable layer of chocolate, and so to consume it, you gnaw on the chocolate with your molars because your teeth are sensitive and drip stick water all over you and the half napkin and the car your friend let you borrow, all with the tune of "Can I Get a Napkin, Please?!?!" stuck in your head.

Thought 2.

I've learned a lot of things since I've been married, so thought 2 will be broken into mini thoughts.

a. Just because you put garlic salt in it, doesn't mean it's going to taste good.

b. Everyone should be married. I highly recommend it. It really is as cool as everyone says it is.

c. You HAVE to clean the bathroom.

d. Contrary to my previous speculations, just because I'm a wife now DOES NOT mean that I'm good at hanging up my clothes. I have a messy room. I don't know how Mom and Dad never do.

e. Again, contrary to previous belief, now that I'm a wife DOES mean that I want to decorate our house like crazy all the time.

f. As long as you're nice, everything is usually ok.

Thought 3.

I lost the key to our apartment before we even were married, and so we've been sharing one key, which takes careful coordination to make sure that whoever will get home first has the keys, especially now that we're both in school and working, because if one gets home and has no keys and the other is in class and the manager's office hours are from approximately 4-4:05 and you have to be at work at 3, you have a bit of a problem.

This happened just the other day. We didn't coordinate, I biked home at super-sonic speed so I wouldn't wet my pants, only to discover that Sam had the keys and would be in chemistry for another hour. The managers were gone, as were the THREE ASSISTANT resident managers, who conveniently live of opposite sides of the complex, all of them on the 3 floor. I tried the credit card trick with no luck. It may have been because I didn't use a card that matters to me, I used my Ingles card and the door detected that I wasn't really invested in getting in if I wouldn't sacrifice my debit card. 

I tried the bobby pin, because in the second or third Harry Potter book, Fred and George Weasley break in to Harry's bedroom with no magic using a bobby pin, and they said "it's good to know these little Muggle tricks." No luck. I'm not even a presentable Muggle. 

I tried to break into the window. Someone had the rotten idea of planting a stinking poisonous thorn bush right in front of the window, and then pruning it so that lovely little thorn covered twigs hide under the mulch and stab your unsuspecting feet, THROUGH YOUR SHOES. When you step back in alarm, you get 35 bun shots from the mother bush itself. Obviously, I had no luck. So I crouched outside the door doing the potty dance til Sam came home 40 minutes later. And no, I did not wet my pants.

He found me

My childhood consisted of moving a lot, because my dad was in the military. As a child, I didn't really appreciate leaving my friends every three to four years, but today I am extremely grateful for the experiences I gained during those years.

Here is a list/ time frame of where I lived. 

1. Dallas, TX - I was born here. (2 years)

2. Kensington, MD - (4 years)

3. El Paso, TX - (1 year)

4. Kensington, MD - (3 years)

5. Augusta, GA - (6 Years)

6. Kensington, MD - (4 years)

7. Augusta, GA - (1 year)

While living in Augusta, Ga I met a really good friend named Larry. He was one of the kids I grew up playing baseball and football with in my subdivision. We went to the same middle school and rode the same bus to school each day. Well, after 6 years of living in Augusta, my dad got notified that he would be transferring back to a hospital in Kensington, MD and we would be moving. Just like every move, I anticipated I would keep in touch with Larry for a couple of years and then sooner or later our lives would get so busy that we'd be acquaintances on Facebook. I was wrong. 

It's started out as expected, we kept in touch. I learned that he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints my sophomore year while he was a junior in high school. I didn't know anything about the church. The only thing that I knew was I had two other friends at the time who were members. These other friends I knew for pretty much my whole high school career, but learned that they were members my senior year of high school. They never really talked to me about the church, except that they went to church at 5am Monday-Friday during the school year. I thought that was crazy, especially since I wasn't a part of any church and had never been religious, but I respected it. 

My senior year of high school was the hardest year of my life. I didn't know why all these bad things were happening to me. I decided that I was finished with Maryland and I wanted to move back to Georgia. I just felt that was the right thing for me to do. I got in contact with Larry and I let him know that I was moving back to Georgia and asked if he could help me move into my new apartment. He agreed.

When I met up with Larry in Georgia I noticed that he had changed. He dressed and talked differently. He didn't curse anymore. He seemed even more interested in service. He had a light about him and it made me want to know where it came from. The first thing he talked to me about was his new religion. I remember we would have hour discussions about what he believed and the organization of the church. This was the first time in my life that I had ever been interested in religion. After a couple of discussions about his religion, he gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon. He told me to read it and to pray about it to see if it was true. The night I received the book, I immediately went up to my room and read part of it. I read the testimony of Joseph Smith. It was pretty hard to understand at the time, but I couldn't put it down. Larry eventually invited me to his home to meet the missionaries and take some lessons from them. I really enjoyed the lessons. The lessons would last about 40 minutes, and after, they would assign me something to read out of the Book of Mormon. I don't remember the day, but I remember reading a chapter that the missionaries had assigned, and as I prayed I felt something amazing in my heart. Everything the missionaries told me just made sense. A couple weeks after meeting with the missionaries, I told Larry that I wanted to be baptized.

I was baptized on August 25th, 2007 and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on August 26th, 2007. It's been 5 years and I can't explain how grateful I am for my friend Larry for sharing the wonderful gift of the gospel with me. It has indeed changed my life. During my mission, one of my companions said during a talk, "The person that brought me into the church and shared the gospel to me is my hero." I agree whole heartedly in this. As I have thought about this experience many times I have realized that my trials during my senior year of high school were given to me to prepare me to receive the gospel. If it weren't for those trials I might not have ever moved back to Georgia.

Since I joined the church I've had the privilege to:
1. Received my Endowments in the Atlanta Georgia Temple
2. Served a full time mission - Ogden, UT
3. Learned a new language - Spanish
4. Have been sealed in the temple to my beautiful wife Megan.
5. Have continued to be a missionary and teach my siblings and parents the gospel.
6. Have an eternal family.

I know with all of my heart that this church is true. That the Book of Mormon is another testimony of Jesus Christ. I know that our Heavenly Father cares for us and loves us so much that He will find us and give us the opportunity to come back to Him. We have a living prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson, who guides and leads this church. As we give heed to him and the apostles we will prosper and find happiness in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am eternally thankful and grateful for where I am today, because He found me.

AMEN

I promise I'll blog about our house really soon, but I just wanted to share. I watch this almost daily. For real. Some things are just super.

July 6th, 2012 

                     So it's been only a little over six weeks since we got married and we must say that marriage is pretty darn awesome! I think we'd both agree that our favorite perk of being married is that we never have to leave each other at night. Another one is that curfew doesn't apply anymore! That's a relief. I remember us both being extremely exhausted while we were still dating, but not wanting to go to bed because then we couldn't spend time together.We use to always stay up pretty late. I don't think we ever went to bed before midnight on Fridays and 1am on Saturdays during those days. Now we can't keep our eyes open past 10pm. We feel old needless to say. We can't even finish a full length movie anymore, which wouldn't be that bad, but with our last batch of gift cards to Target we decided to buy some movies. 16 movies to be exact. I think we have only finished 2 of them in the last six weeks... 

                     Now to elucidate a little more on how great marriage is, here is a list of other reasons why I love being married to Megan.

1. I am married to this beautiful woman

                     

2. She makes me laugh constantly! 

3. She is such an amazing cook.

4. She is my best friend. 

5. She keeps me on key when we sing the hymn during family night. 

6.She has the coolest family!

7. She makes me want to be the best that I can be. 

8. She lets me sleep with a fan at night, even though most nights she is super cold. 

9. She is extremely supportive in everything that I do.

10. She laughs at all my jokes (even if she doesn't think it's funny-most of the time i'm sure it's not)

I can't describe the way I felt the day of our wedding, but I know the love I have for her is increasing daily. She is the kindest and sweetest person I know. There are so many more reasons why I am so blessed to have her as my wife and I am looking forward to learning many more. Since I can't describe my happiness very well through words here is a picture that should illustrate just how I feel right now. 

Life is great!