More Pictures

Just thought that I would post some more pictures...

Kallies Birthday-sweet #16! I love you Kal!

All of us cousins at Kallie's B-day

We went up to Brighton a couple weeks ago. This is a pic of my dad and I, the snow up there was six feet deep in some areas!

We decided to go snow shoeing while we were in Brighton, It was really fun!

The mountain man! :)

We saw a really beautiful sunset the other night, the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

To Talk or Not To Talk

Wow, I just got done giving a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was very stressful!!! But it feels good to have it over and behind me. Looking back on it, it was kinda fun to prepare for it. The talk was based on a General Conference talk given last October by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled, "Of Things That Matter Most". I liked being able to read it and prepare my own thoughts about it. It really strengthened my testimony on on focusing our lives on the important things that surround us.
What was really cool was being able to speak with my family (minus Julie and Mark) :( They gave wonderful talks that really inspired and uplifted me.

This week was a little depressing/exciting for me. Of course the stress of having to give a talk didn't help much. Wednesday I went with my Aunt Dee Ann and Uncle Darrel and their kids to drop off my cousin Dalton at the MTC! He is going to serve in the Independence Missouri mission. So he gets to serve where the New Jerusalem will be! (I am so Jealous) :) It was a depressing time to see him leave us. He has been a HUGE example to me in my life and I hope to be as good and kind as he is. It's a little sad and a little exciting that i actually won't see him for 31/2 years! Right before he gets back it will be my turn to leave and that is exciting and depressing. It will be really cool to be serving at the same time as my cousins and friends. Exciting days ahead!

Well, just for a little news flash, today is Julies B-day!!! Happy Birthday Julie, I LOVE YOU SIS!!! She is turning #20 years old! I can't believe it! She better get married before i leave on my mission or she will have to wait till I get back. ;)

Well, I hope that whoever reads this is having a wonderful day and that they are enjoying life to the extreme!!! If they are not then just know that the Lord loves you and that you are Amazingly Awesome!!! :)

A Few Pictures

Just thought I would post a few pictures:


My Cousins Dalton, Austin, and I planning our future business's together.



My Cousin Gary and I eating a delicious meal at the Olive Garden






Riding the Trolley in Park City!






Going to the Temple. I have really been blessed with the opportunity to go to the Temple more often with my cousins, imparticularly my cousin Austin. We don't have seminary Friday mornings, and so we usually spend that morning doing Baptisms at the Salt Lake Temple.

I can't get any of the other pics to upload, so this will have to do. I am loving life, and my adventures are many. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful and loving family. To have wonderful cousins that fill my life with so much joy and so much laughter. They are awesome, and great examples to me in my life!

A Blog Long Neglected

I have long neglected writing in my blog and I hope that I might be able to start out afresh once more.

There has been a lot of things that have happened since I last posted. I am now living in a place called Grantsville Utah!!! It was quite the sudden change for me, but I am learning from it and loving it. But constantly I am reminded of my home in Tennessee and I miss it very much, but I will be able to take with me all the fun memories and faces of all my good friends with me wherever I go.

I hope to write down some of my thoughts and impressions in this blog that I have a harder time expressing vocally. I am somewhat of a quite person, (unless you get to know me really well) and I have been often told that I don't socialize very much. (which actually I really don't) I have often told people that I am an AntiSocialist :) But to tell the truth, I do love being around family and friends, they are the best thing that I have, other than my testimony. I hope that in the future I might come out of my shell a little.

Just a few thoughts that I have been having:

Today in Seminary we talked about Charity. Bro. Baker is my Seminary Teacher and I absolutely love him! He is really awesome and brings the spirit into all of his lessons. But he told us some really good insights into this word called charity. as found in Moroni 7:47 "Charity is the pure love of Christ" But what is the pure love of Christ, and how do we obtain it?

We are studying Doctrine and Covenants this year and we were reading yesterday about spiritual gifts found in section 46:12-25. Bro Baker went into today's lesson by saying that charity is the greatest spiritual gift that we can obtain! So what is charity? If it is the Pure Love Of Christ, then it must be the greatest love that there is. Bro. Baker told us that Charity is "loving those who don't deserve your love."

One of my favorite scriptures that talks about this topic is 1 Corinthians 13. I love how Paul illustrates the importance of charity in this chapter. In verse 13 it states, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." In the next chapter, verse 1 it says to "Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts". How do we "follow after charity?" If you turn back to Moroni 7 you will find one of the ways we can obtain this precious gift. In verse 48 it says, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ..." To obtain this great gift, we must pray and fast "with all the energy of heart" that we can obtain this spiritual gift.

If Charity is about loving others, even if they don't want our love, than what else would help us to obtain this great gift? Bro. Baker showed us an Especially For Youth video that shed some light on this subject. The video was about a girl who went into talk to her bishop. She was having a hard time with her self esteem. She felt like everyone made fun of her, she didn't have any friends, she didn't feel like she was beautiful. She wanted to know what was wrong with herself. The bishop handed her a mirror and asked her what she saw in it. She took it and said, "I see me,is this necessary?" she asked, "look again" he replied. She looked again and said, "I see a mouth, a nose, a chin. I don't see what this has to do with anything!" The bishop told her, "Look closer" She stared long and hard until she gasped, "I see the Savior" right behind her, hanging on the wall was a picture of the savior. The video went on to talk about how our "Focus" is what helps us be Charitable. When we aren't looking at ourselves all the time, but when we focus on those around us, and their needs and feelings, that helps us to gain charity in our hearts. It made me think of Jesus and how he loved the sinner and the poor and afflicted, how he spent his life visiting, teaching, healing all those that surrounded him. His focus was on others. We need to focus on others to gain the greatest spiritual gift called charity.

It was a wonderful lesson and I loved learning about this wonderful gift and I hope and pray that I might be filled with charity, which is the "Pure Love of Christ."

My Room

I recently redecorated my room. I painted the walls and ceiling and changed my room into a more colonial style.

A big catch

I went fishing in Alabama this past weekend and we found this Large carp floating in the water. It was still alive and we managed to net it and take a picture with it.

These were a couple Largemouth Bass that I caught, they were about five pounds each. It was a really fun trip and I had a great time.

The Principles of Real Men

I would like to discuss with you a few principles that I have learned from studying the Founding Fathers. These principles are what I would like to call the Principles of Real Men. The first, being the Principle of Learning without any Limitation. The Founding Fathers Believed in this principle quite strongly I think. I think it is common knowledge that you can’t build a house if you don’t know what tools to use and the dynamics of building one. You need to know about foundations, supports, measurements, wiring, etc…. You need the knowhow before accomplishing the thing you need done. In order to accomplish much in your life you need to learn about life and the things around you. We will benefit greatly if we seek for knowledge and expand our understanding of things.
Thomas Jefferson was one who believed in and loved to learn. He is remembered to have, at one point in his life, been spending often fifteen hours a day reading and studying trying to quench his great thirst for knowledge. He was excited to learn new things and to explore new things. He once said this, “It is impossible for a man who takes a survey of what is already known not to see what an immensity in every branch of science yet remains to be discovered…. Great fields are yet to be explored to which our faculties are equal, and that to an extant of which we cannot fix the limits.” I feel that it is important to use as much effort as we can in educating ourselves so that we can add something to this world in which we live. I have yet to know any good leader that ever lived in this world who was not well educated.
The Second principle is the Principle of Observance. This principle has the meaning of not jumping to conclusions too quickly. You need to observe all sides of the story and consider them until you decide which one is the right one. You cannot pass judgment on something until you have uncovered every nook and cranny. It is very interesting to look at some of the great Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington and how they were men who spoke little, yet their word’s were full of power. They acquired this by observing and using the first principle (which I have already talked about) hand in hand. They took something and observed and studied it out until they gave their opinion of it. When they did this it made their opinion strong and of a sound understanding. Why was it of a sound understanding? Simply because you will find that the right answers will make the most sense and will yield the right fruit when taken into effect.
The Third Principle is the Principle of Ambition. In order to accomplish something and to make it as good as you possibly can, you need to be ambitious. Once you have set your mind to doing something you need to follow through with it. I consider the Founding Fathers and most all notable leaders as being very ambitious. They set goals and strive to follow through with them. You need to tackle the hard things and embrace yourself in them. You need the mindset of thinking and knowing that you can accomplish hard and trying things. I look at the life of Thomas Jefferson and I think how could he accomplish everything that he did without being ambitious? He had a reason for doing everything he did and he plunged into his works and never stopped until it was completed. He wanted to do something with his life, and he did.
The Fourth Principle goes right along with the third. It is the Principle of Work. Work is a natural law. There needs to be work in order to do anything. However it depends on the amount of work that you are willing to do that will depict what you make of yourself. Work is what will make you who you are. Too many people are trying to get out of having to do work in these modern days and it is causing society to crumble and fall. You cannot have happiness without work, it is nigh impossible to have true happiness. We all need something in our life that we are constantly working at and striving to accomplish. The founding Fathers were great examples of this. They worked all day long exhausting themselves. People are better remembered by their works than by their words or any other thing. Does anyone really remember what Leonardo Da Vince said in his life, or do they remember what he did in his life? What about the French leader Napoleon or even our very own George Washington? True that you may remember many great sayings from various leaders, however which speaks the loudest, words or works?
The fifth Principle is the Principle of Selfless Service. When we look at the good men throughout history who benefited humanity, we look at those who gave selfless service. What do we look for in this world? Is it to gain riches? To be absolutely beautiful so everyone will dote on us? Or is it to leave behind some fantastic work that everyone will praise us for with our accomplishments? I would like to share what Thomas Jefferson wrote about service, “If in the course of my life, it has been in any degree useful to the cause of humanity, the fact itself bears its full reward….. Nothing makes me more happy than to render any service in my power, of whatever description.” The founding Fathers devoted their lives to helping others, and I do not believe that it was to get gain or to become popular. They simply wanted to make life easier and better for others. Selfless Service is what makes a man who he really is. It is what will truly make him the happiest.
We at last come to the last principle which is probably the most important, the Principle of Doing Your Duty to God and Freedom. This is the principle which hangs most dear to my heart and to the heart of the founding fathers. This is what will truly transform you into a real man. Benjamin Franklin wrote this about God, “Being mindful that before I address the Deity my soul ought to be calm and serene, free from passion and perturbation, or otherwise elevated with rational joy and pleasure, I ought to use a countenance that expresses a filial respect, with a kind of smiling, that signifies inward joy, and satisfaction, and admiration….. I love him therefore for his goodness, and I adore him for his wisdom.” We need to recognize the hand of the Supreme Being in all things and except it. We cannot do all things without him. We need his help more than we can possibly imagine.
Freedom is an essential principle to the happiness of man, and it is through freedom that we learn and grow. We need to embrace this fact with all that we hold dear. In these days the idea of freedom is diminishing and fading. If we let that principle die, we ourselves will die with it. The Real Men throughout history held freedom so highly that it was higher than their very lives. The Founding Fathers esteemed this freedom so greatly that they fought for it and developed all their efforts into constructing a government in which we could be free. People take too much of that for granted and relinquish that freedom that was fought for at so high a price to others who abuse it and destroy it.
I look at the world today and I see many people making a mockery of the government, where therein lies their freedom. They laugh and make fun of something that men and women gave up their lives to have. It is true that there may be men in political offices that abuse their power, yet who are they who let them abuse it? The very same who make degrading remarks about the Government. What is this leading society into? Children will grow up and learn to despise their government and learn to make a mockery of it. What will happen to freedom then? It is vital to uphold freedom in the highest degree and the government which was founded on that great principal. We as citizens of this free country need to stop making a mockery of it and instead place those morals and values back into it. If we do not, then we will fall as other nations have before us.
We need to become Real Men to lift back again society into its proper place. There is no other way to make life better. We need to Learn, Observe, be Ambitious, Work, give Selfless Service, and do our Duty to God and Freedom. It is through these principles that we will be able to make our lives happier and full of meaning. I have really enjoyed learning about real men and to see the values that they hold in their life. The principles that I have gone through are just ones that I have thought of and that I have gleaned from my studying thus far of the Real Men in history. My wish is that we can become Real Men like them.