The New Arah

Chapter 41: Time Warps

2011-11-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

Last night around 5:30pm I called my wife and told her I was coming home early from school. I gathered my things and proceeded downstairs to the main floor of the law school. Upon seeing outside, I had a moment of utter confusion. I hadn't checked my phone, and was sure that it was around 3:30pm. I felt like I had entered a time warp which catapulted me ahead two hours. I guess the same could be said about the last seven months. There is so much that needs to be said and so little time in which to say, so again I will just try to cover the highlights, hopefully in some semblance of chronolgy.

I graduated from the College of Business Magna Cum Laude

Our softball teams got first place for both men's and co-ed this summer.

I started law school in august. It has been a CRAZY semester and I am currently getting prepared to take finals.

We went to General Conference on my birthday

I played flag football, we lost in the tournament.

We played co-ed volleyball with me, PJ, Kevin, and Cassidee. We did ok, we won about half our games.

I sang with LDSSA for the homecoming sing.

I got the highest grade on a paper in my writing class!

Christin and her kids came to visit Laramie

Calvin Sanford Shumway was born October 24th, 2011 at 8:41am. The kid is as cute a baby as any I have ever seen. He was very alert immediately after being born, and had more hair than you could imagine. He makes my life so much more meaningful, and is a HUGE deterant for me getting any work done in law school. He still sleeps mostly during the day and keeps Heather up all night. He is now a little over a month old and is getting bigger by the minute. He struggled at first to breastfeed, and now that is pretty much all he does when he is not sleeping or diarehha farting. I can't really tell who he looks like yet, but he definitely has his mom's eyes. I am the head diaper changer. Heather deals with imports and I deal with exports. He loves to be held and will snuggle with just about anyone (as long as he has been fed). One of my favorite things is getting him out of his crib around 5:00am and bringing him to our bed and having him sleep with us. A couple weeks ago, Heather laid Cal on the bed while I was still sleeping. She laid him about a foot away from me, and over the course of about 15 minutes, he wiggled his way over to me and snuggled up to me. Snuggling with him is one of my favorite things in the world. Heather is an amazing mom. She was back in school the week after Cal was born, and back running after about three weeks. She started insanity this week, so I hope she can keep it up with Cal's constant need for attention. A lot of people asked me how I felt after having a baby. I didn't really feel all that different. It was a little strange that in a way, Calvin was a complete stranger to me, and yet I still loved him so much. The love of a parent for a child is beyond my writing abilities. He makes my life so much better, and he doesn't even do anything.

Well, I guess most of the events since Calvin's birth revolve around him, but the last thing I'll mention is although I feel like I entered a time warp, the memories I have are good ones.

Chaper 39: Almost there!

2011-04-21T12:32:00.001-07:00

Two more weeks of school and I will have finished my four year undergraduate degree. It'll feel really good, but it is only the beginning of my professional career. I am starting Law school in the Fall at the university of Wyoming, so I have another three years to go. I really enjoyed my time getting an education in business. I think it'll really help me looking into the future. One way I think it'll really help is this summer. I am getting started in Melaleuca this summer and I am hoping that I can get to the point where we are making a substantial supplimental income. My long term goal is to make that my primary income, but I think that will take a while. I am excited to get started though. I recently won the "Most Likely to Succeed in Business Administration" award, so hopefully I can live up to that award. The next two weeks are going to be filled with group meetings and presentations, but then summer will arrive. It's going to be a really busy summer, but one that I am looking forward to. Heather has felt better over the last couple weeks so that's good. I have been feeling great too. Ever since I started taking Enbrel, I have felt like a whole new person, like the person I was before my pain started, but with a new-found appreciation for how nice not being in constant pain is. Well, that's about all right now. Certainly not a comprehensive update, but at least a start.

Wow, a lot happens in five months

2011-02-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

I didn't keep up so I'll have to do a bullet point of what has happened over the last few months

Thanksgiving at the Shumways
Finals (sucked)
Missing the LSAT to make the family vacation
Switching the cruise to Norwegian since Carnival burned up
Fun fun fun in the caribbian
Christmas at the Mullers (A Blast!!)
Anniversary on the road (Heather getting a big surprise)
Christmas break on the road
Going to Arizona and seeing Wicked
Finding out that I have Ankylosing Spondylitis
Being prescribed EnBrel
Having EnBrel work and end a year and a half of constant pain
School starting again
Getting my Law School applications finished
Fun Valentines (I got a banana!)
HEATHER IS PREGNANT!!! We are so so excited! We found out on valentines day

That's far from comprehensive but at least I am kind of caught up. Oh and Tangled was AMAZING too :)

Chapter 37: The Last 12 Months

2010-10-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

This month I turned 25 and I am convinced that it will be the last year I spend on this earth. Ok probably not but it feels like that sometimes. Last night was another of a series of nights where I went to bed at 11 and woke up at 2 and couldn't get back to sleep after that. The reason? Severe pain in my knees, back, chest, neck and foot. It seriously sucks. I am on medication right now but it really only takes the edge off. I am going to get my knee xrayed today so I can continue through the diagnosis process because I can't keep this up. I work and go to school full time and it is just exhausting when compounded with the pain. On a more positive note I had a good birthday. Heather's dad and sister came into town and we went out to eat on Saturday. I got to listen to Wyoming win a football game and found out that Heather's dad got me tickets to an upcoming Bronco's game. That will be really fun and I've never been to an NFL game. Heather got fired from the ARK last week for the stupidest thing ever. They told her because she wrote on a form that she worked til 8 and clocked out at 7:30 that she was fired and they couldn't tolerate that kind of dishonest behavior. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! I do the same thing every week and so does everyone else. We were even trained to do it that way. It's ok, she hated the job anyway and the ARK is not going to get away with it. We performed "From Cummorah's Hill" on Sunday night and I got to fulfil one of my long time dreams of singing a solo in it. It was really awesome! Sam and his family and John came down to watch so we got to see the new baby. She is a DOLL!! The day before the fireside I took the LSAT. I felt pretty good about it which means I probably did horrible. I find out in November so time will tell. Well I think that is about all that has happened thus far this month. Now I just need to get rid of this stupid pain!!!

Chapter 36: Football and Workahol

2010-09-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am actually posting in the middle of the month that I am writing about. I haven't done that in a while and that is saying something since I am busier now than I have ben in forever. School's in full swing. I am taking 5 classes, working 32 hours at the ARK, and teaching a class. The reason I am working so much at the ARK is because two weeks ago they informed us that for some brilliant reason that I now believe I'll never understand, everyone in supported living has to work split shifts, meaning 6-8 am and 4-8 pm. So basically my day starts between 5-5:30 am and finally winds down around 11-11:30pm, with no breaks in the middle. Heather has the same schedule so we are both going nuts. I'll be glad when it's all over, but for now it kinda sucks. I'm still in a lot of pain and this morning I went into student health to see if they could figure out what was wrong with me. Right now they are thinking Rhemetoid Arthretis (I probably spelled that wrong) so they did some blood work in hopes that they will track down why I hurt all the time. The one good thing about school starting is getting to watch football again. Wyoming is 1-1 right now. They won their opener against SUU and the next week lost to Texas. Texas was ranked #4 and they sure didn't look like it. Except for two big plays, Wyoming stuck right with them. It was a lot closer than the score showed, and Wyoming was even up at one point. Laramie football sucks so nothing new there. Also BYU lost to Airforce this last weekend. They looked awful so maybe Wyoming will beat them in one of the last chances they will have to play them (BYU went independant for football). Well that's about it. I am already looking toward the end of the sememester and I have a whole heck of a lot to do before then. Off I go.

Chapter 35: Homeward Bound

2010-08-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

Another month comes and goes and again, I am trying to catch up and remember everything that happened this month. The most significant thing that happened is Kevin getting home from England. He got home the 19th of August and will be leaving for Idado in Sept. It was cool to see him again. He's pretty much just like I remember him, just a little bit more spiritual. School started the week after Kevin came back and has been SO busy! I seriously am wondering if I am going to make it through this semester. The other thing that is going to make this semester extra busy is the fact that I need to get ready to apply to law schools. The biggest time consumer with that is studying for the LSAT. I take it October 9th and I am already really nervous about it. I hope that I do well enough to get into where I want to go, and possibly scholarships. BYU is my first choice if I don't get any money though. I just want to get away from the cold, like forever. I have no problem coming and visiting the frozen wasteland every once and a while but I am so fed up with the 9 month winters I could scream. It doesn't help that I have major back problems right now and the cold only makes it worse. Since school started I have been going back to the gym. I am doing mostly legs though so I can rehab my knees and foot. It is really painful but I want to think that it is helping. I am going to try to work the upper body too though. Other than that life is just super duper busy again. What's new . . .

Chapter 33: SUMMER!!!!!!!

2010-07-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well, another month of summer comes and goes. July wasn't all that eventful, of maybe I just don't remember why it was eventful. In any event, I am loving summer. I never want it to end. If Football was played and Christmas celebrated in the summer there would be no need for any other season. This 4th of July, Heather and I took a trip up to Evanston. The fireworks there are insane! The city allows people to shoot fireworks in town so there was the constant noise of fireworks going off for the entire weekend. We also got the chance to see the worst movie ever made. "The Last Airbender" looked really cool in trailer form, but there was nothing good about it. It was just plain awful. Well, the fireworks made up for it. Other eventful happenings in July include me dropping my toothbrush in the toilet. Don't ask me how, all I can say is that I was not, in fact, peeing and brushing my teeth at the same time. Heather's brother Kevin also came home this month which was pretty cool. It was fun to meet him and get to know him better. Other than that we have just been doing a lot of relaxing and movie watching at home. Netflix instant movies has been a real boredom killer. We'll probably unsubscribe once school starts though.

Chapter 32: OK, it's time for pictures

2010-06-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well I have decided to put pictures on my blog. I figure my only excuse for not adding pictures is that I didn't know how so I have no excuses now. This month has been pretty fun. Heather and I only work part time so we are lucky enough to spend a lot of time together. We went to water world with Sam and his family. It was great because Water World is Heather's favorite thing in the real world. I couldn't ride too many rides because of my foot but I hung out with Conner and it was fun. My foot is getting better I think. It's kinda weird because while I had the boot on, my left calf shrank to about half its original size which wasn't much to begin with. I am trying to get it worked back up but it is pretty tough. Insanity is helping I think. The other noteworthy event is I got Heather hooked on Lost. We are starting the 5th season today which means we have watched 4 seasons in a month. One a week. Pretty crazy but we enjoy it. I have as well even though I have seen them all. That show is so confusing that it doesn't hurt to see them again. I started playing softball again after taking a month off. My first up to bat I hit a home run which was cool. Well that's about it. Now, to those pictures

This was from our trip to AZ. In front of the temple.

This is me getting ready for church

K that's all for now

Chapter 31: May or May not

2010-05-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

Another month gone. I'm going to try and recall everything worth writing about while I type this out. The most obvious item worth noting is that we got a new couch. I am currently sitting on it and it is a dream. It is big and fluffy and wonderful, just like me. My back is still hurting and my foot is now in a boot. Not one of those sexy cowboy boots, a posurepedic osteomarmatron boots you get from a foot doc. I have to wear it for a month and it is supposed to let my foot actually heal. Here's to hoping, foot pain sucks. My knee is also still pretty messed up. I seriously can't believe how bad of shape my body is in right now. It sucks but hey, not much I can do about it. The little I can do I am doing. On that note, Heather and I started the Insanity work out videos this month. I really like them but I have to take it pretty easy seeing as how my foot's in a boot and all. I do what I can though. We have been out of school for about a month now which has been really nice. I have enjoyed just relaxing and not having to really worry about anything. It'll probably be one of the last chances I have to do that. We went and saw Joseph and Lauren as soon as school got out and that was a lot of fun. Our favorite part was Claire. She is a cutie. Other than that we have just been going to a lot of movies. Iron Man 2 was good, Robin Hood was ok and Shrek 4 was what you would expect. I am still enjoying teaching Sunday School. I really hope they keep me there for a while, I don't want any other calling right now. Softball has been rough lately. Our team has only won 1 game out of 4 but hey, there's still a lot of season left and hopefully by the time I have this boot on, we will be in a little bit better shape. Well that's all for now.

Chapter 30: Limp to the Finish Line

2010-04-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

It's the middle of April. This is the time when my academic plane does a spinning nose dive and crashes into the end of finals week. We have 2 and a half weeks of classes left and finals week and I will be officially done with my 3rd year of college. The only thing I am sad about is that I have one more til I even start my post grad. Having said that, I am in no big hurry to get finished with school. I was actually thinking about how school is so much better than working in the real world. I mean granted, I will be making more than 12,000 dollars a year, and I guess that will be nice, but to be honest, the fact that I want a family is a far greater motivation for me to finish school and urk my way up into the higher earning bracket than simply having more disposable income. I mean, right now I am at a place in my life where outside a new car or a huge TV or pool or something, I can pretty much afford whatever I want. The reason being, I don't really want a lot of things. Maybe that changes as time goes on. In the mean time, I am just going to enjoy being in school and having summers off and getting to spend lots of time with my awesome wife. Now if I could just get healthy. I don't know why health is such an easy thing to take for granted. You really don't appreciate how nice it is to not be in constant pain until you are contantly in pain. That being said I acknowledge that there are millions of people a lot worse off than me. It's just hard to keep that kind of perspective when you live in such a padded "All Amercian" existence. I guess I will just keep hoping and praying that my back and knee and foot will get better and that eventually I will be able to stop taking 12 ibuprofen (I call them I-B-Potions) a day. Until then, I will hope and pray my stomache doesn't shred.

Chapter 29: Wearing green and sorrowing

2010-03-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

March is chugging right along and I am taking the opportunity to write before the month ends on me. So far this month we have had spring break, St. Patrick's day and March Madness. Who says March doesn't have anything going on? Also this Friday is Heather's birthday so we are going up to Evanston. There is also a Michael Buble concert next week that would be amazing to go to but I am not sure we would both be able to get off work for it. We'll see. Spring Break was great. Besides my back, foot and knee hurting I had a marvelous time. We pretty much lazed around all break and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. Actually the doctor ordered me to do stretches and come back to see her three times a week. Well I am doing the first one anyway. We got netflix and the internet right before spring break started so we watched a lot of movies and TV and just relaxed. For St. Patrick's day we had Lucky Charms for breakfast. A lot of people do green eggs and stuff but I figured Lucky Charms was easier so I think that'll be our tradition from now on. March Madness has been quite "mad". There have been a lot of upsets and my bracket suffered pretty bad from some of them. I had Kansas going to the championship game and they lost before the sweet 16. Oh well, as long as Duke doesn't choke I could still come out on top (oh crap). We also had stake conference this last weekend. We had Elder Quintin L. Cook come which was really cool. I thought it was for some big change or something but apparently it wasn't. It was still really good. Also P.J. and I have solos in the musical fireside "The Garden" and we will be performing this Sunday. I haven't been to many of the practices but I know it really well so I am not too worried about it. I am actually looking forward to it as long as I get over the cold I have. Well other than that nothing much is going on. Til next time . . .

Chapter 28: Febbbbrrrrrruary

2010-02-28T11:36:00.000-08:00

February is a hard month to keep track of. It's like the little midget month that you can't seem to get yours hands on before it takes off and you never see it again. February for me was ok. I am still in a lot of pain with my back and foot and now knee but I have just been kinda dealing with it. I'll have to go see a doctor to figure out what I need to do to recover. Valentine's day was fun. I got Heather a pedicure and made her breakfast in bed and she got me a back massager. Married life is really great. It's so fun being able to come home to Heather and just relax and chill with her. She's perfect for me. We also bought two vidja games this month. Heather only likes tomb raider so we got that one for her and I got Resident Evil 5. It was pretty fun to play through. Wow, my life's boring. Oh well . . . School Work Marriage Family. What else is there?

Chapter 27: Falling apart one piece at a time

2010-01-19T09:50:00.000-08:00

I am having a repeat of the start of the year from last year. I am falling apart and don't know what I can do about it. My back is still really bad and now I have a cold and foot pain to add to the list. Last night I woke up at about 4am and didn't get back to sleep because my foot was hurting so bad. Why you might ask? No idea. I sprained my ankle about two months ago and it's still pretty tender but this foot pain is all new. I am just waiting for the next symptom to creep up. Other than slowly and painfully dying my life's not all that bad. I started back at school and while it is quite time consuming, I am enjoying my classes and think that it will be a good semester. Married life is great. There is a lot of things I have to geet used to, like someone doing my laundry for me and cleaning my house and rubbing my feet and back and cooking my meals but I think I'll survive. Heather's amazing. I can't even believe how lucky I am to have her. Maybe that's why I am going through such a hard time physically. If I get such an amazing wife there has to be some kind of price to pay. If so it's well worth it. We went and visited Heather's family this past weekend. It was really fun as usual. Her family reminds me of what my family looked like about ten years ago. A lot more kids at home and thus a lot more craziness. I didn't want to leave. The only other thing worth writing about is that I have decided to start studying for the LSAT. I am going to take it either this summer or fall. I think if I start to study now I can get a good score on it and actually have an idea of where I would like to go. Still so much to figure out . . .

Chapter 26: The Big Day and BenGay

2009-12-27T18:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I am a married man. On the 11th of this cold, horrible month, something not cold and horrible happened. I was married to Heather Renee Shumway, formerly Heather Renee Muller. It was a great day and it went off without a hitch. The only real crisis' that we saw was roads closing two days before the wedding because of blowing snow and Heather's dress being a little wrinkled. Luckily the roads opened in time and we had time to get to Utah and get a wedding license with time to spare. That and Heather was ok with her dress being a little wrinkled. She's just awesome like that. The other thing that was a little rough was the fact that the two hours following the wedding dedicated to picture taking was to be done outside in 20 degree weather. That would have been fine except that it was 20 degrees F. Needless to say we survived it and made it home safely. That's right, we didn't stay in Utah that night. We drove the 6 hours back to Laramie so we could spend our wedding night at our wonderful home. Longest 6 hours of my life, hands down. The next day we just cleaned up our apartment, packed and got ready for the reception . . . did I leave anything out? After the reception we came home and opened all our wedding gifts, finished packing and headed to the airport. A few hours later we were in Florida and boarding the Carnival Legend, our cruise ship for our honeymoon. We had a blast on our cruise. We went snorkeling in the Grand Caymans, shopped in Cozemel Mexico (we were going to rent a scooter but then decided that it might not be prudent . . . good call), went cave tubing in Belize, and ziplining in Isla Roatan. The whole thing was great. Heather got sick on the last day at sea and had a rough time coming home but recovered. I on the other hand am still wrestling with back problems. My back has been messed up for a few months now and I am running out of ideas on how to fix it. Our current method is Bengay, so hopefully those homos know a thing or two about back pain. Anyway, we got back and continued cleaning and getting ready for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we made nachos and watched christmas movies. Oh and we cleaned the movie theatre at 11pm for a friend of mine Jillee. We got home and went to bed around 1:30am and then I got up at 6am to go to work. After that I came home and we opened presents together. Santa must've been too tired after cleaning the theatre with me because I came home to an empty stocking and had to wait while the newly aroused Santa to fill it. I went back to work and brought Kenny Griffith over for Christmas dinner which Heather prepared and it was DELICIOUS. She is quite the cook! After that we just relaxed and watched another christmas movie and went to bed early, since we had to get up the next morning and clean the theatre one more time. I think the only things I missed from this crazy month is that our show went really well and was a lot of fun, and we went to our new ward this sunday. It was pretty good. We'll see how it is once everyone gets back from the holidays. Well that was quite a busy month and lots to read but lets face it, I am really the only one who reads this anyway (I think) and so no harm done. Merry Freakin' Christmas and a Happy Stinkin' New Year ya freak!

Chapter 25: 6 Shows, a Wedding and a Funeral

2009-11-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

I'm going to get through this, I'm going to get through this, I'm going to get through this. 6 words for 6 shows. We start our "Plaid Tidings" show this Monday and run it every night til Saturday. With all the catastrophe that has surrounded this show, it'll be a sort of Christmas miracle if we jusr survive it. It has been the source of quite a bit of stress for me. I have been putting in a lot of time and effort in order to prepare for this show and God willing (and I think only under that circumstance) we'll give a performance worthy of the Shumway name. Right after the week of the show (and actually somewhat during the week of the show) I shift gears and get right into finals. Now this I am not as worried about. Turns out when you are shooting for a B, you don't need to take as much time loading your gun. That's the story of my semester. If I am lucky I'll end the semester with three A's and two B's. The more likely outcome will be two A's and three B's. At this point as long as I pass everything I'll be Jim Dandy. Oh, I skipped the funeral part. My grandpa Arah DeVar died two days ago peacefully at home. His funeral will be the Wednesday of the week of the show, so there's no chance I'll be able to go. My Dad is going and we are recording a song to be played at his funeral so that'll be good. I am not a big fan of funerals myself. They make me think of death. Ok forging ahead to bigger and better things. The end of the week of finals I am leaving the ranks of batchellorhood and getting married. Quite the prize at the finish line of this crazy race I signed up for. I am so excited for that. I am marrying my best friend and a girl who is absolutely perfect for me. I am nervous about all the added responsibility that marriage brings but there's no turning back now (and why would I want to?) After that we leave for our honeymoon and all will be well! I'm going to get through this, I'm going to get through this, I'm going to get through this . . .

Chapter 24: Hallowhen is this going to be over?

2009-10-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend is Halloween. I am pretty excited about it but it's also going to be a very busy weekend. I have rehearsal all day, trunk or treat (if we decide to go), Stake conference adult session and a lame singles dance which Heather and I are going to so we can show off our awesome costumes. I am going as Jack Skellington this year and Heather is Sally Ragdoll. It is going to be a lot of fun I hope. I just wish I could skip ahead to two days after our wedding. We would be on our cruise and not have a single care or worry. Why does fall semester seem so much longer and more daunting? I guess everything's relative. I am getting really excited for all the up and coming events. We are doing the Christmas version of Forever Plaid called "Plaid Tidings" so that should be a lot of fun. The only draw back is that rehearsals and memorizing lines is taking the small amount of free time I had. School's fine, I'll probably get all A's and maybe a B or 2. I don't really care at this point. As long as I do my best and turn everything in, I don't really mind what letter grade I get. Heather's sick right now which makes me sad. I have been trying to get her to go to bed earlier but she's just as busy if not busier than I am. Her Dad offered to give us whatever money he would spend on a reception if we just forwent the whole thing. I think it's a good idea but that's probably because it wouldn't really be any big sacrifice to me. That's why I am just letting Heather decide. I don't really care either way. I love that girl a lot. She is so thoughtful (as I was writing out thoughtful I accidently wrote tough, which she also is so I'll include that too). I can't believe how lucky I am to have her. I guess I just need to keep trying to show Heavenly Father how grateful I am to have her by treating her right. I don't always do the best job I could, but I don't think anyone does. Well other than weddings and shows and school and work, not a whole lot is going on with me. I hope I don't get H1N1, I'm too hot to die.

Chapter 23: Wedding Rings and Forwardings

2009-09-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I have written. I am in love. Completely. Heather and I are getting married in 94 days (I think, it's close to that anyway). We had originally planned to get married in May but decided that December was as good a time as any. And better in many ways. We are getting married in the newest dedicated temple: The Oquirrh Mountian Temple. I am so excited for all of this! It is obviously going to be a lot of work which I am sure will add to the stress levels of this semester but in the words of Glinda, I couldn't be happier. Right after the wedding we are going to go on a cruise to Mexico. That'll be really fun as well seeing as how Heather's never really done anything like that. I am ordering her ring today so hopefully it will arrive soon. Other than that we are just planning things and both going to school. Classes haven't been too bad this semester so far but we are only three weeks in. That and I am not working mornings so I get to sleep in a lot. I am going to try and get more hours in order to start saving for stuff. Other than that I can report that I had the best summer of my life. I spent almost all of it with the woman that I love. I have been pretty consistent in writing Kevin. It's a shame he won't be at the wedding but I know that he'll be happy for me. I think I will have him be my best man vicariously. He seems to be doing good. Well that's really all I have to say. I am thrilled and completely happy with where my life is right now.

Chapter 22: Love in Laramie

2009-07-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

It's been another three months so I'll take a paragraph to recollect what I did over that period of time. I got a B, I got to go to New York, and I got a girlfriend. My B came in Modern Religion. Pretty sure I am going to hell for that one. Last semester was kind of funny in that the only class I put forth really any effort in was the only class I got a B in. Funny how that works. Well seeing as how it's the middle of July I can report that I got an A in my summer class. It's weird looking back and seeing that I am pretty much doing the same sort of things this summer as I did last summer. I am playing softball again with the same team as last year and we have two more games but since we haven't lost any games yet we are guartenteed the first place spot already. It has been a lot of fun playing. I pitched most the time but also had a short stint at 2nd base. I actually did really well there. I think there are a few tournaments that we could take part in and I hope we do because I really love playing and don't think there will be too many more chances after this. To the girlfriend. I read in a previous entry that I went on a date with Heather Muller. Well now we have been dating for about two months and it's going great! We are having so much fun together and I really love so much about her. She is wonderful :) I met her parents a couple of weeks ago while heading to Grandpa Dale's 80th birthday. She came up with me and we had a lot of fun. I am not even close to sure but she definately could be who I end up marrying. That's way down the road for me though. Other than that I have just been working and playing volleyball and whatnot. Nothing too new in life going on. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince comes out next week and I am going to buy tickets for it today sometime. Heather and I are going as Harry and Hermione. I hope no one gets upset when they see those two characters kissing. We might get hexed! (I am such a nerd). Well I am just trying to suck as much fun out of this summer as I can but I can already tell it's going to be a quick one. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts

Chapter 21: Time to Catch Up

2009-04-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Where did the semester go? Well I was doing well writing monthly but I have been pretty lazy over the last three months. This semester is almost over and it has been a pretty interesting one. I am doing pretty well in school. I might get straight A's again but we'll have to see. I have really enjoyed teaching my math discussion and I'll be doing it again next fall. I sort of started dating Nicole Walker who is leaving in three weeks so I guess we'll see what happens while she's gone. Also just this week I started talking to Kelly Lorimer again out of the blue. It was quite the curveball for me but I am glad to have a good friend again. I still am playing volleyball every week and it's a lot of fun. The last three weeks I have had games almost every night of the week. This last weekend I had two dates with two really awesome girls. I hung out with Heather Muller on Thursday night and she was a lot of fun. Then on Friday I hung out with Mikel Barfuss. She's another amazing girl. Lots of fun! Also I rented Guitar Hero: Metalica and have playing through that. It's pretty fun. Other than that just a lot of random happenings. I am really working on being more christ-like. I am trying to be more positive and not tear other people down. I am especially working on being more consistent with reading the scriptures and praying daily. Today was a really amazing day for spirituality. I was driving to Cheyenne and listening to The Garden since we are performing that tonight and I was really touched by the spirit about how much the Savior and Heavenly Father loves us. It's such a common expression to say that Heavenly Father and Jesus love me, but having the spirit whisper to my spirit that truth was really amazing. I am really starting to understand what it means to give my will to the Father and let him make of me what He wants. It's an amazing feeling.

Chapter 20: Two months of Too Much

2009-01-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

Today is January 25th. A lot has happened and as expected I am single once again. December was a blur. I got straight A's again (Yipee). I went and saw Jonna in Honeyville. The first day and a half sucked because she was either in appointments or unconscious. I did get to hang out with her family a lot which was cool. I came home and the next day we left for the cruise. This was a trip to remember. We started off by going to see Christin in St. George. It was good to see her and the next day we left bright and early to make it to Sand Diego with plenty of time to get on the ship. Unfortunately when we got to Las Vegas there was a tiny bit of snow on the ground and whenever that happens there, people go into crisis mode and all hell breaks loose. We waited in line to get through a road that had closed due to snow for four hours. Well needless to say we hadn't alloted ourselves an extra 4 hours so we were running very late. The following four hours were the scariest that I can remember. We drove from Las Vegas to San Diego going between 85 to 110 mile per hour the whole way. We were weaving in and out of traffic and praying that we would not be killed in a car accident or pulled over by police. During the drive we were periodically calling the cruiseline to see if they would delay the ship seeing as how even with our insane driving we would not arrive any earier than an hour late. They continued to tell us that they were planning on leaving on time but that we should keep comming in case something happened and they changed their mind. We arrived about an hour late and by some christmas miracle they decided at the last minute to wait and we made it on the ship. The cruise was really fun and I went bungee jumping for the first time ever. I got home and went and saw Jonna again. This time was a little better but still she was very hard to deal with in a lot of ways. I came home, January started and I got really REALLY sick. I started off with a cold, which turned into strep. Along with that I had a gum infection which made my mouth in constant pain and stopped me from eating anything. Along with that I had really bad acid reflux which burned an ulcer into the bottom of my esophugus and I was having esophugal spasms anytime I sat or layed down so I went three straight days with literally minutes of sleep. Along with that I was running a fever of 102. Other than that though I was perfectly healthy. School started and I was over the strep and esophugus problems but my gums and teeth still hurt a lot so I went another couple weeks eating nothing but pudding and soup. I ended up losing about ten pounds along the way. One good thing that came from it is almost every time I eat now, and certainly every time I brush my teeth I am thankful that I can do so without overwhelming pain. It has really humbled me in that regard. Well a bunch of complications came up with Jonna and she basically wasn't going to be able to come down for an unspecified ammount of time and I finally realised that I really didn't like dating her. She was attractive and I think I was more physically attracted to her than anything else. I finally broke it off with her and it was not pretty. She was pretty mad about it and basically never wants to talk to me again. Honestly unless she were to make some huge and I mean HUGE changes, I really don't mind having no contact with her what so ever. I am happy that I got out of that relationship before things got too serious. It did however kind of screw me up socially. Since I ended it I just don't really feel like the same person. I have no desire to be social and am actively avoiding dating. I am just tired of getting burned so the safest thing to do is just take a break for a while. Other than that I am just hating school and struggling to figure out what I am going to do with my life. 2009 here I come

Chapter 19: Thanksgiving and Yourwelcometaking

2008-11-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

Ok I didn't write for november, but luckily I am the only one who reads this so it doesn't matter. This month like every other month of my life was CuhRAZY!!!! Way cool though. School was pretty constant this month. Everything is looking good for pulling straight A's again. My eyes are now paid off and I am half way paid on the trip to New York. K now to the good stuff. Cassidee's friend Jonna came down for Thanksgiving. Honestly looking back I can't even remember how everything went down so I'll try to catch the highlights. The first night we went to the Cowboys basketball game and the moment we got there the Cowboys went on a run and came back from down by like 8 and won (good sign). We came back to the house and watched the entire 4th season of the office. During the marathon me and Jonna held hands (good sign). The next day was thanksgiving. I had Kenny come over and we had Sam and John and their families over as well. We ate the usual goodies. After that I took Kenny home and me and Jonna went on a walk. It was freezing but still fun. We came home and watch Hot Rod and I kissed her. That's the fastest I have ever kissed a girl and the first time I have never felt a little apprehensive immediately following it (good sign). Pretty much from there the rest of the break was a blur. A very very fun and exciting blur. I seriously like Jonna so much. This is also the first time that I have ever gone into a relationship without any apprehension either (good sign). Well the week wrapped up and Jonna left on the first of December so I guess I have to wait to write about all that has happened up to this point in the next chapter. I have a feeling the next couple of months are going to be huge . . . HUGE!

Chapter 18: Halloween and Everything

2008-10-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to have to start posting more than once a month because I never remember all the stuff that happened throughout the month. Just recently I discovered So Seriously Blessed. A blog making fun of all the mommy blogs that run rampant throughout the blogging world. I laughed pretty hard at how accurate those kinds of self serving, vain validation blogs
were mirrored. I wish my blog was that cool. Luckily no one even knows I have a blog so hopefully that will stay that way. Halloween was pretty fun. Becca came up from Ft. Collins and we went to the church dance and hit up a few people who were supposedly having parties. Those "parties" consisted of a bunch of girls dressed up like hookers and a bunch of guys dressed up like. . . well man hookers all drinking. We didn't stick around too long and ended up just watching a movie at home. I am singing in the Messiah again this year. At first I had a horrible attitude about it and was really only doing it to support mom, but I am coming around to enjoying singing about the savior. Kevin seems to be doing well and it's crazy to think he has been out a month now. Other fun things that happened in October: I kissed two more girls. That makes the grand total . . . seven? Let's see . . . yeah seven. I am such a freaking pimp. Maybe I am in the bragging mood after reading that So seriously blessed blog. Other than that school has been tons of not fun and works the same, I get paid to play Yahtzee and watch Wheel of Fortune.

Chapter 17: Good and Bad Luck

2008-09-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Time is going so fast! It's almost the end of September and it seems like it just started. This has been a really crazy month. School is so intense this semester and working 32 hours a week isn't helping. This is one of the only times in my life where I have actually considered myself "burnt out". I just seem like I never have enough time to get anything done. I really hope that this isn't the semester that I get a B because none of my classes are really that hard, they are all just so time demanding! Kevin sounds like he's doing really well. I have written him weekly so far so we'll see how long I can keep that up. So just this last Wednesday I had pretty much the worst day ever. To make a short story shorter, I lost my keys, had to turn in an assignment late because it was locked in my car, and as I was pulling onto Grand out of the Corbett parking lot a construction worker rear ended me. Luckily they have insurance so it should get taken care of. I actually was lucky enough to have someone turn in my keys to UW police so I got them back today. All in all even though I feel like I can't keep up with things, the fact that I am a little more balanced in the way of spiritual matters I believe is helping me stay afloat in all the other pursuits I am undertaking.

Chapter 16: Lazer Eyes and Goodbyes

2008-09-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

This month (well last month, I didn't quite get to writing in the actual month) was very busy for me. I had a lot of things happen but probably the most significant was Kevin leaving for England. It is so weird that he is gone. I still haven't gotten used to it. I'll think of something I want to ask him and I can't. I am probably going to write him a letter today. Anyway the other very significant event that happened in August is I got lasic. I am so so so so so glad I got it done. It was painless and the whole process took minutes. It has really been fantastic not having to worry about contacts and glasses and all the hubub. It did cost me a pretty penny however. Actually it was more like 360,000 pretty pennies. But I should have it paid off by the end of this year. And I would have done it had it cost twice that. Kevin and I recorded one more episode of driving that I guess I am going to have to edit at some point. I don't know when because another fun thing about August is the fact that school started up. It's funny because although I feel like my classes are going to be easier, I feel much less prepared for them and I worry that this might be the semester where I get that dreaded "B". It doesn't really matter all that much but I would like to keep a perfect GPA. Who knows, maybe I could be the validictorian or something. That'd be cool. Well Kendal and I decided it wasn't worth trying a long distance relationship so we kind of ended it and decided to stay friends. She is a great girl but I didn't know her well enough to really make a judgment call about whether or not she was someone that I could see myself together with forever. Luckily I am not too worried about that right now. There are a few new girls this fall but not what I had hoped. On a positive note there are girls that were here last year that were dating someone that are now single. There's a couple girls that I plan on pursuing but one of them Kyle likes too so I am going to kind of steer clear and be a good wingman. Other than that the only other noteworthy thing is the fact that football season is back and the Cowboys won their first game 21-20. It was a really fun game to watch. We went jet skiing in the morning and caught most of the second half which is where the cowboys really came through and pulled it out. Well that's all for now. I will be sure to post September's happenings in September.

Chapter 15: First Place and Kissy Face

2008-07-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Last night was one of the coolest nights of the summer. Our softball team did really well this year going into our final regular season game with only one loss. Our final game was against Tri-Hydro, another team with only one loss and tied for first with us. This game would decide who finished in first place so we were pretty pumped up about it. The game started off terribly. They were hitting really well and we were not fielding all that well. By the time the fourth inning rolled around we were down 12-1. At this point we needed two runs to even keep playing. Well our defense started picking up and we got the bats going and by some mixture of luck, skill, and divine intervention we came back and won shutting them out the last three innings and winning 13-12. Seriously I am still pumped about it. The city league tournament starts monday and we are playing in the competitive tourney. Then in August we play the state tournament. It has been such a fun year of softball and I hope we keep having success.

This last weekend I went down to Utah to help Cassidee get a bunch of stuff ready for her move to Cheyenne. While I was there I saw Kendal. It was really really fun to see her but it makes me sad that she is still there and I have no idea when I'll see her again. I have really only known her for like two weeks face to face but I really get on well with her in a lot of ways. And she's gorgeous. Other than that I am just staying busy working 40 hours a week and spending the rest of my spare time brain storming and scripting for upcoming episodes of Driving. I'd like to think it is picking up momentum but I really have no idea. Toodles

Chapter 14: Driving

2008-06-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

For how relaxed I am my life is pretty freakin' crazy. Maybe it just seems that way in retrospect because I plug a month's worth of life into 15 seconds of reflection. Yeah, that's probably it. Our internet series is underway and it's pretty much like all the other projects we get ourselves involved in, above average and completely unknown. I have to say, however, that the second episode seems to be having more attention than the first so I can't complain (even though I already did). Speaking of how crazy my life is, about three weeks ago I met a girl named Kendal. Crazy I know. Within three days of meeting we were more or less dating, and then she decided to move back to Utah. I know what you're thinking (of course I do, the only one who reads my blog is me) I scared her off. Well I'll have you know that to this day she still tells me how much she misses me, or was it my family she missed? When she first told me she was leaving I was pretty ok with it. At that point we hadn't kissed and were really not that involved. Then I kissed her. What's worse is she was a good kisser! I am a sucker for RGK's (Think hard and you'll figure out what that means). Needless to say (when people write or say that, they are basically giving whomever they are addressing warant to completely disregard the rest of what they are going to say next) I miss her too. But I am not sure if it is just the fact that I don't like being alone. I also pretty much cut all ties with Kelly Lorimer. I finally told her that she needs to get over herself and she disagreed in a roundabout way. Good ridance if you ask me (and good ridance if you don't). I told her the reason I brought the whole thing up is because I had been evaluating the kind of girls I was dating. She told me she was doing the same and figuring out who she would want to marry and thankfully it would never be me (I'm thankful for that every day). Moving on. After editing the second episode of driving, I proceeded to drop and break PJ's camera, so now that my teeth are paid for, I just need to pay for a new camera, a piano (oh yeah, I got a piano) and then I can start saving to get lasic. Lastly, I finished my summer class with an A. It was the funnest class I have taken so far in my college expirience. Even though my life is crazy I love living it. Each day is a new chance to make someone smile and then apologize to the person who got hit with the pie.

Chapter 13: Straight A's and Gays

2008-05-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

Schools out for summer. Too bad the weather takes another two months to figure it out. I got straight A's again which made me very happy. I need to be striving to be my best in order for me to be happy. I have a lot of fun activities planned for this summer and I need to start organising them. One of them is organising a race for the cure fighting homosexuality. It may end up being a little too controversial, we'll have to see. Also we are going to start filming our series "Driving" soon which I hope turns out to be a funny project. Other than that I am just trying to stay busy so I don't die of boredom

Chapter 12: Engagement and England

2008-04-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well, this month I got engaged. It was interesting because apparently you don't have to buy a ring or propose or anything to get engaged. All you need to do it go to Happy Jack, take some engagement pictures, make a fake wedding announcement complete with several typos and put it up at the institute. So yeah, engaged life is good. On a more interesting and exciting note (let's face it, fake engagements are childish and stupid) Kevin got his mission call on Thursday. He is off to Leeds England for two years. What makes it even better is he opened his call in his mission president's house. That's right, Wally Stock will be his mission president for 23/24ths of his mission. Jolly Good

Chapter 11: Robbery

2008-03-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well last night I got robbed. Or stolen from. First we played the last three games of the City League tournament for basketball and I maybe played 2 minutes in each game. I got robbed in playing time. We beat the first two teams and then playted the same team we beat in the Championship game and lost so we got robbed of the championship. To top it all off I went to get dressed and found that a kind stranger had removed the 50 dollars I had in my wallet (may he burn in hell). So yeah . . . maybe I should travel back in time and beat the crap out of the punk who did it. . . . not worth it.

Chapter 10: Outsourcing

2008-02-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

I just finished BSing a paper about outsourcing. I would love to know more about this topic but not enough to go out of my way to find out more than I need to know. So it's February which is the "Month of Love". To be honest, unless you are dating someone you adore or are married it is pretty much the gayest (not "gay" gay, "stupid" gay) month ever. The End

Chapter 9: Banana Cream Pie

2008-01-24T05:55:00.001-08:00

Well the earth has rotated a few more times since last I wrote. I was gone for almost the entire break and school has begun once again. I am still girlfriend-less and pretty much a complete loser. On the plus side I am getting lumineers on my front four teeth so I won't have a gap anymore. And we had banana cream pie for breakfast.

Chapter 8: Procrastination at the finish line

2007-12-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

School's almost done. I have another couple days of class and finals. Life's weird. I want to do some time traveling and talk myself out of some stuff . . . that oughta work

Chapter 7: Breakups that really were

2007-11-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

Well, Kelly and I really did break up this time. It was about two weeks ago and we now very rarely talk. I think we are still both on good terms, so it's ok. I get over things pretty fast so it's all good. The other amazing news is that I beat Through the Fire and the Flames on expert. I am a Guitar Legend. . .

Chapter 6: Break ups that almost were

2007-10-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

So school is getting crazy and Kelly and I nearly broke up. And then we decided it'd be too stressful right now, so we didn't . . .

Chapter 5: Skool

2007-09-14T15:09:00.001-07:00

Well, I am about a month into school and I am loving it. It is much more demanding than High School, but I enjoy the craziness of it all. I am really enjoying life and trying to be good. Yep, that's about it

Chapter 4: Summer

2007-08-23T21:21:00.001-07:00

I'm at the end of one of the strangest summers of my life. . .

Chapter 3: Communication

2007-05-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

I finally got a mobile phone. It took me a while but I was just afraid to enter the realm of reachability, and I didn't want to fork out $40 a month. Well, gotta grow up some time. What's next? One of those picture boxes, or a lap top computing device? Only time will tell...

Chapter 2: General Conference

2007-04-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well this last weekend was general conference and it was really good. I am not going to lie, I enjoyed it a lot more as a missionary. That kind of scares me a bit. I must be losing my edge. Well, other than that I have been using my time traveling abilities to go around having fun and crazy adventures. Maybe I'll post one next time...

Chapter 1: Time Travel

2007-03-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

Well . . . here we are. I realized that I can travel through time. And I created a blog.