The Light at the End of the Tunnel

It has been two months since I graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Consumer and Community Studies...and it's about time! You are probably thinking that I have been in school forever, and you are correct. It didn't help that I changed my major twice and transferred schools. But in the end, I found a program that I loved.

By the end of my final semester, I felt so burned out, like many students do. I kept telling myself I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The last two semesters I was working on average 35 hours per week, taking 15 credits, serving as president of the Financial Planning Association, and serving on the Human Rights Campaign steering committee. I am still struggling with the feeling of being burned out even though it has been two months. I feel the same way I did 2 1/2 years ago when I left Brigham Young University - Idaho feeling exhausted from school, work, student clubs, and church responsibilities. I guess my body just takes a while to re-coop after a long period of stress. But, I bet by this fall I will be feeling much better, especially when the heat dies down.

It feels strange to not have reading assignments, papers, or exams, but I am not complaining. I actually enjoy having a typical Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, kind of work schedule and be able to come home and do something other than homework. Now I spend my evenings running, reading, staining my bookshelf, working on a budget, or simply relaxing while watching Pretty Little Liars, my new favorite show (yes, I know I should be embarrassed that I watch a teen-girl TV show).

While I am definitely enjoying this break from school, I hope I don't get too comfortable. My plan is to start a graduate program in September 2014, but my fear is I will enjoy my "no-homework" life so much that I will not want to go back. But, since I work full-time at the University of Utah, both Christopher and I are able to go back to school with a 50% tuition reduction, one of the many perks of working at the U. So we have no excuse not to go back. When else will have have a 50% tuition reduction?

Although my life has slowed down a bit, I am still keeping myself busy with personal goals (like training for another half marathon happening this Wednesday, July 24th). And maybe I will even blog about some of those things :)

Becoming an Herbivore

Okay, not really.  I do not think I could completely give up meat.  I love hamburgers, ribs, and chicken.  I might be able to "eat meat sparingly," but I know myself well enough to know I will most likely never completely eliminate meat from my diet.  For now I will start by participating in Meatless Monday.

But recently Christopher and I have been watching various documentaries such as Food, Inc., Fresh, and Forks over Knives.  These documentaries, particularly the latter, have made me rethink the foods I buy and what I eat.  I realized I can still have the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals necessary from a plant-based diet, while avoiding cholesterol and other negative results from a diet largely of meat.

After watching those documentaries, we both have committed to living a little bit healthier lives.  Now we shop at the local Farmer's Market and participate in a co-op called Bountiful Baskets.  We also started to preserve our food by dehydration (thanks to my mother for giving me the dehydrator) and freezing.

Also after watching those documentaries, I have been inspired to quit school and start my own greenhouse!  Okay, again that is another lie.  But at this moment, almost anything can motivate me to quit school.  I am so burned out...

This is all the produce I received from my Bountiful Basket purchase - I paid $16.50 for all of this:

Here are some strawberries and bananas we dehydrated:

One morning we made an omelet garnished fresh tomatoes and squash with Italian Herbs and Seasoning:

Sadly I do not have the picture of Christopher's Egg Plant Lasagna he made on Saturday.  It was delicious!

Maybe one day, when I am not a poor college-student anymore, I will start a greenhouse and a food blog.  But until then, enjoy the inconsistent, random blog posts from me :)

The Worst Parade Ever!

Some people think I am crazy because I like to run.  They're probably right. Running fulfills many purposes for me.  Health is only part of the reason.  I also like the warmth from the sun, the beating of my heart, and the feeling of accomplishment.  Running is also like therapy, but a lot cheaper.

Last fall Audra convinced me to sign up for the South Jordan Half-Marathon.  After that race, I kind of became addicted to running in half-marathons.  Soon after the South Jordan race, I signed up for the Salt Lake City Half-Marathon.  I tried to convince a lot of my friends to sign up with me, but for many of them, asking them to sign up with me, was like pulling teeth.  As a matter of fact, I bet many of them would rather have their teeth pulled than to run 13.1 miles with me.

I was kind of nervous for this race because I train as well for this race as I did for the South Jordan race.  I worried that I might injure myself, or just really struggle to finish.  I definitely felt much more pain this time around and even became a little dizzy around mile eight or nine. 

Luckily, there were funny signs like these which made me laugh off the pain:

As runners passed by him, he yelled, "This is by far the worst parade ever!"

Here I am towards the end of the race, about 60 seconds to the finish line:

 After I completed the race, I jumped back in to run with my friend Alesha:

This is what I look like after 13.1 miles:

I am impressed with the medals they give to all those who completed the race:

Needless to say, I enjoyed the run, but I was extremely exhausted by the end and had two hurting knees.  I decided to take a short nap afterwards that ended up being just over four hours!

Here is a comparison of my South Jordan Half-Marathon and my Salt Lake City Half-Marathon:

I was about 30 seconds per mile slower at the SLC race.  If I would have ran the same pace as I did at the South Jordan race (6:51/mile) I would have placed 68th overall instead of 146th.  It's amazing to me how 30 seconds per mile slower can make a difference of 78 spots.

Now I am trying to decide what half-marathon to run next.  Sign up with me! 

10,000 Mormons and 25 Hindus

I am so glad spring is here and summer is around the corner. I can't stand the winter. I shouldn't complain, though. This past winter in Utah was so mild compared to what I have experienced in Rexburg, ID. But despite how mild this winter was, I am grateful spring has arrived with warmer weather and brighter days.

This past March I celebrated a Hindu tradition in Utah, of all places. I was surprised to learn that there are Hindus in Utah and they even have a temple. So a group of friends and I went to the Festival of Colors. I won't go into the history or meaning of the festival (you can go to Wikipedia for that info), but basically it is a tradition to celebrate the arrival of spring. I went on the last day and there were a couple hundred people there.

Here are some random pictures taken at the event:

For the next couple of days my snot was very colorful. It was so much fun I felt like a kid again!

Here is one last photo I saw floating around on Facebook and Pinterest. This is so true:

Extreme Couponing

Currently I don't have a TV where I live, and even if I did, I wouldn't have much time to watch anything. But when I did have access to satellite TV, I loved watching shows like American Idol, Glee, Amazing Race, the Ellen Show, and even Extreme Couponing on TLC. Yes, I know, that is very nerdy of me, but I am a personal finance nerd. That's what I am studying at the University of Utah.

Recently I have decided to save a little money by collecting coupons. So I made a coupon box organizer. My organizing technique is not as complicated or intense like the people on TLC's Extreme Couponing, but it works for me. Basically, I clip coupons and file them by the month they expire.

I have only saved a few dollars so far, but I will continue to clip coupons and keep track of how much I have saved. I am hoping my extreme couponing will allow me to retire at age 28 and own a home like this:

I have an Addiction!

First it started with a gateway drug: Facebook. Then my family convinced me to start a blog. After a couple years of blogging, that wasn't enough. I needed more. So a friend from BYU-Idaho got me hooked on twitter. I left BYU-Idaho and transferred to the University of Utah where I met my friend, and co-worker, Kelsy. She gave me a taste of Pinterest. Now I can't stop. Social media has taken over my life!!

I actually do love Pinterest. I wake up at 5 AM, shower, eat, and get on the Trax which takes me to campus. I open the library around 6:45 AM, well before most students are even awake. I work the morning shift at the library and it is usually pretty slow. So I have a lot of free time at the desk just waiting for students to arrive and ask for help. That idle time has only fueled my addiction to social media.

Recently I saw a picture like this on Pinterest and loved it. I decided I wanted to make this for the next time I was invited to a get together. My friend, Brig, invited Christopher and me to his apartment for a St. Patrick's themed party. We were all supposed to bring green treats. So here it is!

Christopher helped me make it. Honestly, the only thing that is semi-time consuming is carefully peeling the kiwi. This treat only took about 10 minutes to make.

Although I admit I have a social media addiction, I am glad it gives me some simple and creative ideas for parties. I am excited today is the first day of spring, which means summer is only a few months away! I can't wait for summer dinner parties, like picnics and BBQ's.

So, I will continue to use my drug, Pinterest, to fuel my addiction and give me some good ideas.

P.S. I am not the only one with a social media addiction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jT0JT3N47g

Dinner Parties

It seems like I have attended more dinner parties in the last six months since I moved to Salt Lake City, UT than I have in Rexburg, ID or La Grande, OR. Maybe it is a Utah thing, or maybe I now have friends who love dinner parties. I am not sure the reason, but I love it.

The dinner parties seemed to pick up right before Christmas and continued with frequency in this past month. Right before I came home for Christmas, my friend Kendra and I planned a little Christmas gathering at her place. Reed, her roommate and my friend, helped out too.

After my visit to Oregon for the holidays, I came back to Salt Lake City, UT. The week I got back, I had three dinner parties in a row. The first was at Christopher's condo with a couple friends that belong to the same social group as we do. It was the first time we met our friend, Rob.

The next day, my vegetarian friend from Portland, OR came to Salt Lake City, UT to visit family for the holidays. We had a potluck dinner with vegetarian options, played games, and socialized.

On New Year's Eve a small group of us got together for another potluck, games, and celebrating the New Year!

This past weekend, I went to a Housewarming party for my friend, Kellen, who just bought and remodeled his home. That was a blast! The next day I went to dinner with Christopher at Red Robin and later that evening we went to a birthday party for our friend, Steven. It was dinner at the Cheesecake Factory where I met Annie, and her son Isaac (although in the picture below is Ian, not Isaac).

I am pretty sure 'Phi was about to throw that sushi at me :)

Lastly, I celebrated the Lunar New Year at Reed's house on Sunday and Heather's house on Monday. I made Bul-go-gi, a Korean dish for Reed's dinner party. I got the recipe from Heather and it was delicious.

The best part of these dinner parties besides good food and a good time, was all the friends I made in the process. I met many funny, and absolutely wonderful people. Maybe one day I will own my own little home and can host regular dinner parties :)

A Year in Review

Time seems to fly by so quickly. It feels like just yesterday when I was loading all my belongings into my little Hyundai Elantra and making the trek from Rexburg, ID to La Grande, OR. I left Rexburg a year ago to do an internship for Lanny and Ava Hildebrandt as a tax intern.

I arrived home for Christmas exhausted. I was unofficially diagnosed with Adrenal Fatigue, so when I got home, I began to follow a fairly strict lifestyle change as described from a book called, "Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome." The book was written by James L. Wilson, ND, DC, PhD. I don't want this to sound like a late night ad on crap TV, but it really worked! After a month I began to feel like I had more energy. It was the first time in a year that I actually felt healthy.

As mentioned above, I worked as a tax intern for Hildebrandt & Company, PC. I enjoyed the break from taking a full load of classes and learned quite a bit while I was working. One thing I learned for sure was I didn't want to be a tax accountant. I enjoyed the consistency and routine, but it lacked human interaction. Even though I can be shy, I like to work with others.

Right before I was supposed to go back to Rexburg, I got this crazy idea from one of my friends to apply to the University of Utah. Never in my life have I made a decision on a whim. I usually over-analyze my decisions over a long period of time until I am sure what I should do. But this time I just followed my heart instead of my head and decided if I was accepted to the University of Utah, I would go.

Shortly after I applied I found out I was accepted, so I made the necessary preparations for the change. I visited the school and declared my major as Consumer and Community Studies, with an emphasis in Financial Planning.

I continued to work that summer in La Grande for the Union County Vector Control and the Peppermint job. Working in the peppermint fields gave me a lot of time to reflect on my life and the direction I wanted to go. I knew I wasn't completely satisfied or happy, so I thought a lot about what I could do to find that happiness. I realized the move to Salt Lake City would help me find that change I needed.

In August I loaded up my little Hyundai Elantra with all my belongings again and moved into a ghetto house a couple blocks from the university. I didn't actually take a tour of the home before I moved Salt Lake, since I was several hours away in Oregon. I just found it on Craigslist and saw that it was close to campus and cheap. When I walked in the place, I saw the grime on a kitchen counters and the mold on the bathroom ceiling. My room wasn't too bad. That night I discovered this place had no A/C. Some nights I would have the fan directly on me going full blast and still wouldn't be able to fall asleep until 3:30 AM because of the heat. Luckily it was only miserable for a month then the temperatures cooled down. Now it is cold because our landlord has locked the thermostat to 56 degrees. The only other things I have to deal with here is my landlord's father, who is here at random times during the day and night. He usually harasses us, but I am learning to have a back bone and dish it right back. I think he was a little surprise when I told him to shut up and get out. Since then he hasn't harassed me. And lastly, one of my roommates who spent more time in jail than in our house, was evicted. On his way out he threw rotting fruit into our bathroom window. Luckily, I will be moving out in a few months.

The first month I was in Salt Lake City, I didn't know very many people and had a lot of time to myself. But I decided to volunteer with various political organizations and made some friends. Now I feel I have a great group of friends. I feel blessed because these are the first friends I feel completely comfortable around. They like me for me, and not for who I pretended to be for years. My friends make me smile randomly during the day when I think about them. They are a riot!

School started in September. I honestly loved all my classes and did well in them. I had online and night classes and worked during the day at the library. In October I got an internship at the Personal Money Management Center at the University of Utah. I will explain more about the internship in a later blog.

October was a fun month. In the beginning of the month I took a trip to Moab, UT with some friends. There was a parade and festival there to celebrate diversity and human rights. It was fun to take part in that event and feel the energy there. A couple weeks later, Audra and I ran in the South Jordan Half Marathon. Both of us placed in our divisions, so we get to go back next October for free. At the end of October a group of friends went to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show at a theatre off 9th & 9th. It was an interactive show, so we participated in the story by dancing, singing, throwing rice, toast, cards, and getting soaking wet.

By the end of the semester, I was working 35 hours a week at the library and for my internship. I was finishing up my classes and continued to volunteer for a couple political organizations. I was exhausted and ready for the break to visit family and friends. I attended and even hosted some small parties to celebrate with friends during the holidays.

2010 was a difficult year for me, which prompted a lot of soul searching in 2011. I have made so many changes for the better and found a sense of peace I hadn't felt in previous years. I am grateful for life's experiences---good and bad---which have shaped my character and taught me much about myself and my relationships with others. 2011 was such a great year and I can only imagine 2012 will be even greater :)

Christmas Pig

Hello Family!

I haven't updated my blog lately, so a lot has changed. I promise I will update you about my classes, job, and internship eventually. But before I do that I would like to ask a favor of you. Could you comment on this post or on my Facebook wall and tell me what you do to save money during the holidays?

I am writing a newsletter for my internship (which I will blog about soon) and my topic for the December newsletter is about saving money/staying frugal during the holidays. It would be great if you decide to share your ideas, you use "I" statements, so I could quote you in the article. For example, "I hand make all my Christmas cards instead of buying them from the store, so I can save money."

If you would like, I would even forward the newsletter when I am done, which will probably be the first week of December. Thanks!

Do you need help, Uncle Jonah?

Yes, Afton, yes I do.

Since I am the youngest in my family, I never had to take care of younger siblings. I don't know how to take care of children under 19-years old. Children are a foreign concept to me, so the few times I have been asked to babysit, I have no clue what I am doing.

That was the case Tuesday night when both Tony and Heather had church responsibilities and asked me to watch Afton and Ainsley. When I arrived at their house, Heather gave me a brief run down of what to do.

First, we used cookies cutters to cut jello into cool shapes to eat. By the time I got the jello pieces to the plates, they looked nothing like the design of the cookie cutter.

Second, was bath time for the girls. Afterward we sat in the hallway, Ainsley on my lap looking at a book while I was blow drying Afton dry (she didn't want to use the towel I gave her).

Third, was pajama time. I got Ainsley's diaper on, but it kind of looked funny to me. I realized it was on backwards. Then I had trouble getting her PJs on. We somehow figured it out (good thing she is flexible).

Fourth, was bedtime. Ainsley did not want to sleep. After 10 minutes of crying and my guilt increasing exponentially by the minute, I went and checked on her. Once I opened the door, I was almost knocked off my feet! It was the worst smell an inexperienced uncle could smell.....a DIRTY diaper!

I recently made a bucket list of things I would like to accomplish and/or experience before I die. Changing dirty diapers, for some reason, did not make it on that list. I thought to myself, "I should have brought nose plugs and rubber gloves!"

Very clumsily I took off the old diaper trying not to gag, and with several wipes, began to clean. When Ainsley was clean, I then reached for another diaper when Afton said, "No Uncle Jonah, those are the daytime diapers!" She gave me a look like, "Duh, Uncle Jonah."

What!? Daytime diapers!? I had no clue there was such a thing as a daytime and nighttime diaper. I thought diapers where just diapers. I don't have daytime and nighttime underwear. It's all the same!

Puzzled, I began to look at the piles of diapers wondering how I was supposed to know which ones were daytime and which ones were nighttime diapers. That's when Afton said, "Do you need help, Uncle Jonah?"

Yes, Afton, yes I do. I need a lot of help, especially with foreign concepts like children.

I definitely didn't follow the schedule perfectly, but I still count it as a success, because no one died---not the girls or me.

The one peaceful part of the night was when Ainsley fell asleep in my arms, because she wouldn't fall asleep in her crib. For a small moment I thought I could have kids....just a SMALL moment!

My decision to move to Salt Lake City has been the best decision that I have made. Everything in my life---school, work, my internship, and social life---are going so well, and I am grateful for that. I have had a blast and I have learned so much---including how to change a dirty diaper.

You all probably thought that I died. Well, I am still alive for now. I guess I just wasn't motivated to blog since I didn't really have anything interesting going on in my life. I pretty much just went to my internship everyday, exercised at the club afterward, and then came home to watch TV and my parents play a couple rounds of yahtzee.

My internship went well. I enjoyed working with the Hildebrandts and learned quite a bit from the experience. I mostly learned that I could never do taxes for a living. I sometimes wanted to shoot myself after plugging numbers into the computer hour after hour. But I am grateful for the experience.

Right before I had to go back to BYU-Idaho I made a quick decision to instead apply to transfer to the University of Utah. The process only took a month and I got in! I am soo excited not to ever have to go back to Rexburg (the frozen hell). I know Salt Lake City will have its quirks, but I am pretty excited for the change and to live in a "big" city.

My dad has disowned me because I left the Lord's University and went to the heathen rival school. Oh well. I think I will get him one of these for Christmas:

That's my life in a nut shell....

New Email Address

I decided to use my gmail account instead of my hotmail account. Email me your email address, phone number, and mailing address (and any other information you want). I realized my contact information I have for many people is outdated.

Here it is: jordan.m.waite@gmail.com

Thanks

Mid-Academic Identity Crisis

I have started my junior year in college which is about half-way through my academic life. That is probably somewhat comparable to someone in their 40s, which is the perfect time for an identity crisis. I woke up about two weeks ago with the second moment of academic identity crisis in my academic life. When my alarm sounded, I turned it off and stayed in bed not wanting to get out and go to accounting classes. My only thought which repeated in my mind was, "Why am I an accounting major?"

It was a moment like someone has when they wonder which religious path to take (except much less spiritual, and probably eternally much less important). I then got out of bed and took a shower where many of my best ideas originate, and by the time I was finished showering decided to talk to the academic advising office and change my major.



I walked into the office and declared that I was no longer an accounting major, but instead I was switching to Humanities! Okay that part was a lie. I actually asked if I could switch to Business Management with an emphasis in Finance. I originally was an Accounting major with a cluster in Business Management, but I swapped those two around and now I am a Business Management major and a cluster in Accounting.

I had to jump through six hoops to get my first signature, jump through ten more hoops to get the second signature, just to get the final approval. After a week of waiting and wondering, I found out they let me make the switch. I feel so much better and wondered why it took me this long to make the change. I have really enjoyed my business classes, but dreaded my accounting classes. I realized I didn't want to sit in a cubicle my entire life making sure the debits and credits balanced, or spend tax season after tax season working on others taxes. Instead I would much rather understand finance and investments, to help others make important financial decisions.



Just as a side note, I did get the internship with Lanny Hildebrandt and will get to be in La Grande from January to April. I am excited not to have homework for the next few months and to get out of Rexburg!

Gray Hair and Balding

Despite the fact that I am both going gray and bald, people still think I am younger than I really am. If this continues the rest of my life, then it might work to my advantage. When I am 50-years old people might think that I am actually 40. But the only time I don't like when people can't guess my age is when I need something that you must be 18-years old or older to buy. Now don't jump to conclusions, I wasn't buying cigarettes or alcohol, I was just buying NyQuil because I had a cold for a couple days and wanted help sleeping.

The Wal*Mart worker scanned the NyQuil, paused, looked up and said, "Are you 18 or older?" With a frustrated tone I said, "I am six years over 18!" He then looked back down, paused for another moment then said, "Can I see some ID?"

I couldn't believe it. I know I might not look 24-years old, but I should at least look like I am out of high school! I passed over my ID and waited for him to do the math in his head. He seemed to have some trouble adding up the years but finally he gave the okay and took my cash. I came to Wal*Mart already not in a good mood since I was sick and left in an even worse mood.

But I drank my sorrows away with NyQuil and quickly fell asleep. I do love NyQuil. It is the only thing that can put me to sleep when I am sick.

Oops, that last blog was kind of vague

I should probably apologize. I was pretty vague in my last blog and everyone thought I had a horrible experience or a near break down. Nothing in particular happened that made me post that blog. I am just simply burned out of homework and the culture of Rexburg (I have now lived here for 14 months straight, and have had homework ALL 14 months because I got on Fast Grad, so I go to school year round).

I am just ready for a break in homework, new scenery, no calling, and new people. I hope I get an internship this January, but if not, I will go one more semester, then get off of Fast Grad and take a break in the Summer.

So you don't need to worry about me, I am doing great!

Rexburg....

....I need to get out of here!

250 Can Friend

Last semester I was the Area Director of Service Activities. If students had an idea for a service project, they had to go through my adviser and me in order to get the approval to go ahead with their project. For the most part, if they project followed the University's guidelines, then the project was approved.

Two students came to me and want to do a "Charity Date Auction." Basically students could fill out an application to auction themselves off for a date with the person who bids the most for them. Because of certain policies, we weren't allow to bid on people with money, so we bid with cans. All the cans would then be given to the Rexburg Family Crisis Center.

I convinced my friends to fill out applications, and three of them were chosen. The event was fun. All the "meat" came out on the stage to begin. Then they left and one by one, each person being auctioned off would come on stage. Music would play and a clip from their video interview would be in the background. Then the bids would start. All three of my friends went for over 200 cans. Another friend and I were in the audience and we bid against each other for one of our friends on the stage. We won the date with her for 250 cans.

Overall, we raised 5000 plus cans of food and other items for the Family Crisis Center. This was such a success that we want to do it at least once a year.

Here are my three friends who were auctioned off:


Here is my friend that we bid on, and the cans/items she is worth:


I guess this is the modern day Johny Lingo.

The Garden of Eden: Clothes Are Optional

I decided since this would be the first Summer that I didn't live at home (excluding my mission years) I would plant a garden at my apartment complex. I asked permission to plant in this square box in front of my old apartment. I knew I would most likely get permission since every Summer the box is usually full of weeds.

One Saturday I bought tomato plants and seeds for green beans and peas. I went out to the garden and began to weed and water. Eventually, others in the apartment complex were curious what I was doing and they joined me. Here they are:


It was a good thing I just pulled weeds and tilled the dirt that week without planting because the next week Rexburg looked like this:


But that was the last snow of the year, so I began to plant:


Finally a few weeks later the peas began to sprout:


And as of a week ago, this is what my garden looks like:


I really should have taken another picture because the garden is about twice as big as this picture shows. The peas now have pods (and almost ready to harvest) and one of my three tomato plants has an almost red tomato (with about 18 green tomatoes). I am still waiting for green beans to show.

I wanted to put a sign in my garden that says:

The Garden of Eden
Clothes are Optional

But my manager said it probably wouldn't be approved by the University. Oh, well. I am just excited in a few weeks when I can harvest my little garden.

My Brother's Keeper

This semester I have been serving as the EQ President. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a new calling next semester, because I have never held a calling more that one semester.

My counselors and secretary are great guys and have strong testimonies (and they are much more serious than I am. I think they balance out my sarcastic personality). When it comes to having a testimony, keeping the commandments, and living the university's honor code, they are on the ball. But when it comes to filling their assignments, I have about as much luck as a coin toss if they will actually do it. Also, when it comes to punctuality...well, let's just say they don't have much.
Each week I would stop by their apartments a few minutes before our meeting to round them up for the meeting we have each Sunday morning at 9 am with our High Counselor. It seems they were always in the shower, or eating, or sleeping. So I began to come 10 minutes before the meeting would start. That didn't seem to work, so I tried 15 minutes. When that didn't work, I decided I would walk to my meeting alone and let them come when they do.

The next week I stopped by their apartments and only one my first counselor was ready. My second counselor was still in the shower and my secretary was no where to be found. Like I had planned, we I didn't wait for the others, but instead went to our meeting. My first counselor and I arrived on time at the meeting. Upon arriving my High Counselor said, "Where is your second counselor and secretary?" I responded and said, "My first counselor is on his way and I have no clue where my secretary is. We can just get started." Then my High Counselor said, "That sounds like somebody I know. That sounds like Cain. Are you your brother's keeper."

I wanted to respond, "Hell no, not this week. If you want to be the keeper of my presidency and knock on their doors every Sunday morning and drag them to this meeting, go right ahead." But of course I usually never speak my mind. I have found that usually gets me in trouble.
Despite the tardiness of my presidency and sometimes the lack of completing assignments, they are great guys. I do consider all of them friends. Even though they can be late and forget assignments, they have made great contributions to the Elders Quorum.

Pregnant Marathon

Here at BYU-Idaho the campus is very "family friendly." Great efforts are made to encourage everyone to get married, then multiply and replenish the earth. To encourage these commandments, BYU-Idaho offers many "married student" activities from married camping to children carnivals, and pregnant aerobics to pregnant marathons.

Even though Audra is not a BYU-Idaho student anymore, she recently reaped the benefit of this "family friendly" campus events.

In connection with the City of Rexburg, BYU-Idaho put on the Teton Dam Marathon. Audra got to participate in the event:


This video is dedicated to Audra (despite her threats if I made it public):

Maybe next year we can all run in the marathon.