Reproducing Beauty and the Beast

Not that we are already thinking about babies....but if we were to have one, this is what it might look like.

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The Ongoing Prop 8 Dispute....

For the last couple of months I have almost been annoyed with the manner of which the church's stand has been on this proposition. As someone who is a very close associate with many who choose a different lifestyle from my own, it has been difficult for me indeed to attempt to defend the church's council when my own political thoughts had been in disarray. I found this quote by Elder Maxwell to be very interesting indeed. With all that is going on in our nation at this time, it seems that prophetic counsel is once again coming to pass for our generation. In my American Heritage class, there was a quote shared by Brigham Young who stated that, "When the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call on the 'Mormon' Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it" (Discourses of Brigham Young, pg. 361) However, with the rumors surrounding that the people's vote will once again be overturned it looks as though our democracy is beginning to "hang by a thread" and that the people's voice is no longer being heard.

As for Elder Maxwell's quote, I find this to be extremely good prophetic advice to those who are having a difficult time understanding why the church may have needed to get involved. Pay close attention to the way he words his advice on our involvement:

'Elder Neal A. Maxwell's counsel below is prophetic. Elder Maxwell was known to be very politically active. The question is: As Elijah asked, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD [be] God, follow him [and His prophets]: but if Baal, [then] follow him. And the people answered him not a word." I Kings 18:21'

Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, Feb 1979

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.

'"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes willbe lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices areclear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us,let us not then complain of the heat."…there is occurring a discounting of religiously based opinions. There may even be a covert and subtle disqualification of some for certain offices in some situations, in an ironic irreligious test for office. If people, however, are not permitted to advocate, to assert, and to bring to bear, in every legitimate way, the opinions and views they hold which grow out of their religious convictions, what manner of men and women would we be?

"If we let come into being a secular church which is shorn of traditional and divine values, where shall we go for inspiration in the crises of tomorrow? Can we appeal to the rightness of a specific regulation to sustain us in our hour of need? Will we be able to seek shelter under a First Amendment which by then may have been twisted to favor irreligion? Will we be able to rely for counterforce on value education aided in school systems which are increasingly secularized? And if our governments and schools were to fail us, would we be able to fall back upon and rely upon the institution of the family, when so many secular movements seek to shred it? It may well be that as our time comes to "suffer shame for his name" (Acts 5:41), some of that special stress will grow out of that portion of discipleship which involves citizenship."

So, my dear friends, the day has come for us to choose "whose on the Lord's side who? Now is the time to show." I have come to learn even more so now the importance of loving someone for who they are and not for what they do. These associates will continue to be dear friends of mine, but I must defend what I believe.

Finally, here is an article about Elton John that I was a little skeptical about reading, but he actually defends proposition 8! Go ahead and take a look...http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-11-12-elton-john_N.htm

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Reaching for Higher Ground

What a great couple of weeks. Things continue to move forward slowly with Kaylinn and I, but moving they are. What an amazing girl! If I could only begin to describe how amazing she really is, I would fill up about 20 posts worth, and that would only be the beginning. One thing that she and I have decided to do, being that she is endowed, is to try and go to the temple every week. This was our first week going, and being that I hadn't been in a while, was surprised to see some of the "changes". Threw me off a little and was intrigued by the changes. But most of all, I can't believe that I had been putting off the opportunity to feel such peace. You see, for whatever reasons I just had not been to the temple in a really long time. Something always came up when I wanted to go. I even made the attempt to head out to the Newport temple (tiny by the way) about 3 weeks ago and blasted MapQuest sent me on a wild goose chase and I showed up 3 minutes late for the session. I am just so blessed to be dating a girl who is worthy to go to the temple and has the desire to go on a weekly basis. I have always had certain curiosities about things in the temple, none that have made me doubt, but when I asked her about them she just said, "I don't know. I don't really think about them. I just accept them for what they are and realize that someday I will know." Like I said, amazing! I am excited to fulfill this goal we have made to go to the temple on a weekly basis. How did I get so lucky?

Another thing we have decided to do is to do a scripture study every time we see each other. I just had this really strong impression that she and I should make a solid foundation to our relationship. That we shouldn't just focus on the physical benefits of a relationship, but to create a deep emotional and spiritual foundation. It has turned out to be such a great experience and she has so many great insights that I have never seen before. And what better habit to get into now as a couple than having a prayerful scripture study.

We also tried to do as my chiropractor suggested to me a couple of months ago, a sugar fast. It is so hard to stay away from any form of non-healthy sugars. But, I was able to make it three weeks before I caved. This was the temptress, Jogurt. It is a frozen yogurt bar of pure divinity. You can choose from like 10 flavors of yogurt and then mix in whatever you want. I highly recommend the english toffee ice cream with heath bar add-in. Pretty sure I could eat that continuously for the rest of my life. So, being that the sugar fast did not work, we are trying the moderation thing cause cold turkey is just not happening! He also told me that it really needs to be like 80/20 anyway. haha I dare you to try it...NOT EASY! It does help you feel really healthy though, especially when you are eating loads of veggies!

To answer any speculations out there...no, we are not engaged. Time is the best tool for building a solid foundation. If it is meant to last forever, than taking a few minuscule months to make sure that it will work is fine by me. The only way for me not to destroy this one is just to take it one step at a time. She is so supportive and I have never met anyone who wants to work for me as much as I do for her. L-U-C-K-Y is what I am.

Everything else in life continues to move forward. I am excited to see my sister and her boys here next week. I sure do miss the family a lot and am hoping that I will be able to utilize my vacation days in a more efficient manner this next year. On that note, I will say adieu.

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Taking the Plunge...and Loving It!

So, after days of me contemplating about whether or not I should just go for it, I decided to take the plunge and see what happens. All I can say is that I am very glad I did. Kaylinn is absolutely an amazing person with so much going for her. I seriously have a hard time focusing and just can't wait to be around her again. There is a lot to say about her, but I definitely do not have the time to spill it all out via blog. Lets just say that I am in very good hands, and very fortunate to have this opportunity. My parents (who happened to be in town) and sister Malissa were able to meet her this last weekend and they were very impressed by her. I will admit, I was a little nervous to see how they would react being that she and I haven't known each other too long, but they liked her a lot. BONUS! I really have never felt so happy and excited to be with someone. It has only been a couple of weeks I know, but we are playing it smart and making sure that we let time be the most important factor in our relationship. She really is so great, and I know you all would really like her. I know I do!

Anyway, here is a picture of her for all of you curious followers. The first is my favorite pic of her and then the other is one we took at Disneyland while riding the train around the park. She is almost as obsessed about that place as I am...but not quite! And I do know what you are thinking...the most incredible smile ever. :)

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Pushing Back the Fear

Well, here it is....September has come and gone and I can't even believe it. A lot has happened since I last wrote. Which, if you think about it, really makes sense since I haven't written since the last full moon. So, in a very particular order, here are the things that have happened of note in the last month.

6. I finally finished the Twilight series. This rage started for me a year ago in Florida when I had nothing to do and all my friends were reading them. I thought the idea for the final book was extremely good, but I was fairly disappointed with the ending.


5. I went to see Wicked. All I can say is oh my jolly-goodness. It is absolutely amazing. I have seen it twice and will be going this weekend with my parents and then hopefully next weekend too. LOVE IT!

4. My position here has been extended until Jan. Even, though I am in a temporary position still, at least I have the guarantee of a job until then, unlike most of my fellow interns. I have been asked to join a basketball team with a bunch of parkside big shots, so I am hoping that this will turn into some sort of permanent postion for me.

3. I think that for the first time since we were kids that my relationship with my family has started to strengthen again. I have missed being able to laugh and have fun with my fam. So, when I went home this last month, I made a conscious effort to spend a lot of time with the family that was there. I have also tried to make a better effort with keeping in contact with them, which has always been kind of difficult for some reason, but I am loving the results.

2. Rise and Shout the Cougars are out! For the first time in 2 years I was able to go to a BYU football game. Luckily I went to the one where they cremated UCLA 59-0. I also have gotten satellite TV so that I can watch every single game and not even feel bad about it. Amazing.

1. Around the end of August, my sister Malissa and i were talking and she recommended (being that my social life down here has been close to non-existent) that I try and sign up for a singles website. I was not too excited about the idea. My friend Courtney and I checked one out right after I got back from my mission and I just didn't like the idea. So, about 2 weeks ago I was doing my scripture study and I read in 3 Nephi 14:7-8 "Ask and it shall be given unto you; SEEK and ye shall FIND; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For EVERYONE that asketh receiveth; and he that SEEKETH, FINDETH; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." I have never felt stronger in my life that the reason I am 27 and without a band on my finger is because I had given up.

Literally, 4 days later I got an email from an lds singles website offering me a free 7 day trial. Putting aside my pride I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. I put in a search and browsed two pages and was pretty much done. Then, on the third page a girl caught my eye. The most AMAZING smile I had ever seen! To make a long story short, I messaged her, got her number, set up a date. We chatted a couple of times before our first date for many hours and something inside of me told me that this girl is completely legit. That was my biggest worry about the website, fake people.

Her name is Kaylinn Wright from the San Francisco area living in Chino (about 25 minutes from me) She is a 25 year old high school teacher. Being that she has a love for Disneyland, we went there for our first date and ate at the Blue Bayou. This girl is absolutely gorgeous and amazing and things went so incredibly well. It didn't feel like a first date at all, more like going on a date with someone I have wanted to ask out for a really long time. That date led to another date, and we have spent a lot of time with each other in the last couple of weeks.

Then, for whatever reason, I started to get nervous. I can't even begin to explain why in the world I would get nervous. Maybe because I couldn't believe that a girl of this caliber would be even slightly interested in me. But I think, more than that, it is I was nervous that things were going SO well SO fast that we had missed a step somewhere and that we hadn't been able to set up a solid foundation. By no means did I want to take any steps backwards with her, just slower steps forward. I have been in a situation like this before, and I got burned badly, so I just wanted to be cautious. It was the hardest conversation I have ever had to initiate in my life, knowing that she might get upset and not understand where I was coming from. I knew, and I felt deeply that this was the right thing to do. So, you can imagine my surprise when she told me that she was completely supportive of the idea. She was very honest with me and said that it hurt her a little (something I never, ever want to do again) but that she understands that for anything to be successful that there needs to be that sure foundation. I just hope she also understands that I want to build that foundation so that it will be successful.

So, I woke up this morning feeling so good about everything. I get to see her again on Wednesday, which can't come soon enough, and I will just continue to enjoy everything about her. But, my followers out there, let me know if I am crazy. Is it normal to feel that way? Why am I such an idiot?

Finale: So, those are the recent events of my life. My #1 has definitely been the highlight since my move to California. Life is really, really good right now. :)

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