God Must Really Love Me

Lately I have been thinkin a lot about my life, and ya know what God must really love me. When I turn to Him before the world things just happen the way they are supposed to. I was tryin to figure out which girl to date and He steered me the direction I should go, I fell in love with Jessie and her little boy Cole. I keep thinkin wow I am a lucky man, I have an amazing family, amazing friends, I am lucky enough to be able to strive to start my own family with Jess and Cole, I have my own house, a good job, multiple modes of transportation so when one breaks I still have a way to get around. I have escaped unscathed from accidents that I shoulda really been hurt. The greatest thing happening in my life right now is my parents are goin to temple prep classes so they can go through and be sealed together and have us kids sealed to them, my little sister is gonna do the same thing with her husband and little boy, and now I have an amazing woman who I am gonna marry in the temple near the end of the year. Looks like all of us are striving to do what is right and become closer to God. I have learned this much if I center my life around God, He will guide me and direct me to where I need to be and with Him all things are possible. I love my Savior, my family and my future family with all my heart!!!!!!

Unanswered Prayers

There's an old Garth Brooks song called unanswered prayers, its got a really good message the only thing is the prayers really aren't unanswered, they are just answered differently then we wanted them to be. I have had quite a series of my prayers being answered that way lately and the more I look at them the more I realize just how right the answer was. I am so glad that God is in charge of my life, He really does know what is best for me. I am very grateful for the fact that by the end of the year my family will be sealed together, my parents then us kids to them, then my sister and her husband, then who knows I could be married by the end of the year as well. Life is crazy, but I love it. God is Great, Life is Good, and People are Crazy!!!!!! My modified version of the song by billy currington and I think it is so true. Just another blurb from the mind of a crazy countryboy.

That's what I get!

So that's what I get for thinkin too much. I was thinkin that God was tellin me it was time to move on and try somethin different, low and behold I got released and called back to the same calling. Truth be told I am glad, I love my branch family and all the friendships I have built here. I now know that there is still more for me to do in the Ammon 20th branch. I will go and do what God has in store for me, may not know what it is til He tells me but I will do it. I am startin to catch spring fever, still not ready to give up boardin for the year but I so don't wanna wear a coat all the time anymore. It was a beautiful day at Big Sky yesterday, spent my birthday ridin with a new friend at a new resort that ended up costin both of us a total of 40 bucks, some stiff and sore muscles later and not even close to ridin the whole mountain we got home. I also went and played at Kelly's today, it was gorgeous out there today I kept sheddin layers put on the lightest pair of gloves I had with me. The snow was sticky in spots but still a good day of ridin all and all. Hill management says they are gonna try and make it another week of bein open I hope they make it. My plans for next saturday are to hike a ridge I've been meanin to do all year ride down it at least once maybe twice dependin on how good it is and then go play at Kelly's for the rest of the afternoon. Well it looks like spring is comin so bring on the shootin, mud throwin and what ever else I can do outside, but I can guarantee I am still gonna find some places to play in the snow until april or so. Wooo Hooooo I love my life!!!!!!!!!

Random contemplations

First off this past week I became an uncle and came so close to losin my best friend in the whole world(my sister) in the same night(she had a hard labor and lost a lot of blood, just to clarify). You have no idea how much both thoughts scare me, I will do anything in this world for that girl and my heart would be crushed if she was gone, than I wonder if I am goin to be a good enough example for little Hunter to follow. I do know however that God's hand was in it and that He means for both to be here and healthy. I got to hold Hunter today and while I was holdin him I was contemplating families and their eternal nature, I crave more than anything in this world to be sealed to my family forever and I hope that some day here in the near future it will happen. I am amazed at just how delicate life is and how brief it is as well, we are only here for a brief moment in time as it really comes down to it and we can be gone in the blink of an eye. So in turn I am gonna strive to do my best in this life, I want to live my life to the fullest, serve those that I can, my philosophy on life is "work hard to play harder" but I mix as much service as I can in there as well. Another random contemplation that makes me feel a bit selfish is that lately a bunch of my dear friends are movin away or gettin married, I have to admit I don't like to see them go, but I know that in both cases that they are goin where God wants and needs them to be. I have been debatin lately about goin to the branch that my house is in the boundaries of. I know that I can make new friends there and that I will do good there, but I tend to not like change I try and avoid it and do my best to keep it to a minimal amount. I also know that the little thoughts of goin to that branch have been placed there by my Heavenly Father to give me direction and the fact that other things are happenin in the branch to kind of indicate that God is makin it possible for me to go that direction, nothin bad by any means, but it seems like everything is fallin into place to possibly make the move. Maybe it is time for a change for me. Other random contemplations, girls just confuse me yet they amaze me all at the same time if that makes any sense. I had an awesome time hangin out and gettin to know my friend Crystal this weekend, she seems like a pretty cool girl. A talk I heard in my uncles ward this Sunday was comparing each and everyone of us to High density steel. We all start out as a rough and ugly lookin piece of metal that doesn't seem to be much. Through a series of heating the steel up and slowly cooling it and beating and grinding it, the steel slowly becomes to take shape into a beautiful piece of art, it has to be done slowly or it will crack and not turn out right. In turn God does the same with us, He runs us through the refiners fire, we are put through trials to strengthen us and help us to become who we are meant to be. Each trial and blessing slowly yet surely grinds away our rough edges and helps us to become more like Him and be who we are supposed to be. The finished product that the guy showed us was a beautifully crafted and shiny knife that was both extremely strong and yet delicate at the same time, the knife has to be cleaned off if touched by the human hand because it will rust. We in turn are also like this knife as we grow we both become stronger and delicate all at the same time, we can get through things that astonish so many people yet simple things can hurt us if not taken care of correctly. So remember as we go through our refiners fire that God loves us and knows what is best for us and life is kinda crazy but it is all for the best. With Gods help we can get through anything. I love my life even though some times I get down, but that is part of life we must go through the ups and downs to get where we need to be. Hopefully this makes sense and I didn't confuse you too bad, but hey I write like I think, pretty randomly ;-)

Christmas

As far as I am concerned the best part about Christmas is Christ. I love the feeling I get while listening to the songs that talk about Him. I also love the feelin after doin service or just plain givin. I have long since not worried about whether or not others were givin something to me to make my decision about givin them somethin. After our branch activity of caroling at a retirement home, a few of my friends and I went and moved a couple of couches for a guy. Gettin them in the one basement didn't work so we revamped our plans and took the couch and recliner from upstairs down. I felt pretty good after that. I have a tendency to like to be the one behind the scenes that could care less about recognition, I do it for the feelin I get and rarely do I not help when asked. But back to beginnins of this blog bein about Christ, He lived his life in service of all mankind which is why celebratin His birth is so special. He came to this earth for each and everyone of us, He lived and died so we could return to be with Him and Heavenly Father someday. Serving others around this time and all the times throughout the year will bring us closer to Him. My wish is that we all had a Merry Christmas and will remember Christ in all we do.

Snow

So last year I decided to invest in a helmet for snowboarding and yesterday I was really glad I did. I rolled over a couple times while snowboarding and am sure those would of hurt my head a whole lot worse without it. In fast and testimony meeting today Keith was talking about the things he loved to do and one of which is snowboarding. Which has me thinkin bout how I feel about it, I love it so much that I wish I could do it all year round. That is a big part of the reason I got on Kelly Canyon's ski patrol cause then I can do something I love and be doin service at the same time. If any of you have been payin attention to my status's on facebook I talk about snow alot that is because I love it. I also realized the other things in my life that I really love, My Family, The Gospel, The Temple, Country Dancing, Service. My life revolves around the things I love, I put the Gospel first, then my family, and whatever else needs to get done. A lot of times I put myself so far off the list that it seems like I don't have anytime for me, but that's just it as far as I am concerned I am happiest when I am helping those around me out. So in turn by puttin others first I still get my needs met. I will go and do whatever it is that God asks me to do.

There ya go another blip into the random thoughts of my head

Random Travels

This month I have pretty much been traveling all over the place. The first part of the month I was in Anchorage Alaska for my big brothers wedding. That trip was interesting, I ended up playin DD (Designated Driver) for my brother's bachelor party, watchin a bunch of half typsy guys play frisbee golf was pretty funny. That was a long day, I was up for about 27 hours straight. The sucky part about that trip was it was too late to go snowboardin and to early to fish and almost any tourist activities. But I did get to go through the Anchorage Temple while I was there, that was really cool, I love those places. Then the last two weeks I have been on the road for work training the new guy. We have covered somewhere in the neighborhood of 4000 miles. The plus to it is I was able to stop by the Stetson Hat outlet in St Joseph and get a new cowboy hat for quite a bit less than I could anywhere else, half price. Last weekend I got to go to Nauvoo and go through the Nauvoo temple while there, another awesome experience. I have seen some pretty country and covered lots of ground. I always love the chance to go to temples that I haven't been too yet. But alas I am ready to be home, I have only been home for two days so far in the month of May. I will be glad to be home for a while.