Tribute to a special and kind man

Most of you know that recently Gordon B. Hinckley President and Prophet of the LDS Church recently passed away. Also if any of you know me very well you know I like Glenn Beck, enjoy his humor and respect most of his opinions. In my opinion Glenn Beck is good at expressing his feelings on things and I'm not very good with expressing my emotions or putting them into words, but I can honestly say these are almost the exact feelings I had when I heard the news of President Hinckley's death.

I too had the oppurtunity to meet President Hinckley at one point when his wife's sister offered to introduce us (my companion and I) to him I truly felt the same way as Glenn expresses in the video, and didn't take the oppurtunity but really wish I had. But even though I never met him in person President Hinckley was a true inspiration and even if you aren't LDS if you met him or saw him speak you knew he was a special and very kind man. I'm very glad to have had him be an influence in my life.

Tagged again!

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 Years Ago I was a Senior in High School I graduated in 1998...HOLY CRAP!

5 Things on my To-Do List today:

1. Finish fixing car so I can sell (see #2).

2. Find 2nd job (one of my goals is to pay down as much debt as possible this year).

3. Begin exercising at least 3 times a week.

4. Blog... CHECK.

5. Start my part time business.

Snacks I enjoy:

1. Granola Bars

2. Ritz crackers w/cheese

3. Cheese Quesadillas w/ sour cream

4. Popcorn

5. Chips and Salsa

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Invest money- even at a measly interest rate of 1% you would get a return of 10 million dollars a year in just interest!

2. Have fun giving it to people who really needed it (I think it would be fun to go to stores and tell the manager that everything in his store that is purchased that day would be no cost to those buying, and it be a surprise when people come to check-out).

3. (I stole this one from my wife Emily) Donate tons of money to all of the businesses/hospitals/schools that have helped Jordyn.

4. Make sure my Dad and Mom had everything they've ever wanted (they've given me so much it would be hard to repay them)

5. Buy a couple ranches one for summer one for winter (I've decided I don't really like the cold, although I don't like the extreme heat either).

3 of my bad habits:

1. Too much time online.

2. Procrastination in general... I hate that I do this and work hard to stop it, maybe I'll stop tomorrow?

3. Not exercising like I should.

5 places I have lived:

1. Somewhere in NM (I was too young to remember)

2. Buffalo, WY

3. Salt Lake City, UT

4. Billings, MT

5. Spokane, WA

5 jobs I have had:

1. Rodeo hand (traveled the west and worked Rodeo's)

2. Old Navy associate ( don't laugh...this was a short gig)

3. Blue vest wearing Wal-mart associate...hated it!

4. Surgical Aide-Good times!

5. Meter Reader (electrical meters not parking meters...easiest job ever that paid so well)

5 things people don't know about me: + a bonus!

1. I at one point had a goal to become a podiatrist...weird to think about now.

2. I don't like riding horses (done it a lot while growing up but never for fun... just work).

3. If I'm driving any long distance at all I drive with no shoes on... I've heard this is illegal?

4. I skipped school on Thursdays my junior and senior year to either go fishing or skiing.

5. I want to own a ranch...the work I hated growing up is the work I want my kids to do, one so I don't have to and two it is the best life one could ask for... I love living in the country.

6. Just remembered one that I had to add: My parents almost named me Bandy (after a famous Rodeo Clown or song about one) thank goodness they came to their senses and didn't do it! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Just looked it up; this is the first time I've heard this...Wow how inspirational I think I'll name my next son... Bandy!!!

X-country sickness?

This past Saturday I went cross country skiing with the scouts in the ward. We get to go camping somewhere new every month and I love it...even if it does involve super hyper, often annoying 12 -14 yr old boys. I had been cross country skiing once before back in high school physics class (we were studying the characteristics of mountain snow) and remember it being fun. What I didn't remember was how hard it was. Not hard to do, skill wise, but physically exhausting... but I loved it and I wish I could do that every other day instead of running! We went up to past Idaho City and there was a ton of snow, the trail we were on was a 6 mile loop. I only got to do about a mile and a half of it (I was pretty bummed) since one of the boys needed to go back because he felt sick and was throwing up. OK what is it with scouts and throwing up? My first camp out in the ward, one of the boys drank what seemed like gallons of Mountain Dew Code Red right before we drove home on a curvy mountain road, and right after we got our new van...you can probably figure out what happened from there I won't go into details... but I made him clean it up no matter if he was sick or not since he didn't get the window down in time. It seems every camp out someone has to throw-up at least once or else it isn't considered a scout camp out. Oh well, at least I can laugh about it now. Anyways so yeah after a mile and a half of X-country skiing I was sweating buckets, wheezing for air, and knowing I would be extremely sore the next few days (I was really trying to push myself hard, plus I'm a little out of shape right now) but it was a lot of fun. I was feeling pretty good about myself until down at the bottom of the hill (a very steep hill that the rest of us only were able to ski down and never thought of going up) here came Super Dad pulling behind him first, a huge supply sled stacked full of equipment, and attached behind that, a sled with his two old enough to be skiing by themselves daughters. To every one's amazement he skied up the steep hill and did it faster than I skied it going down, needless to say we all just stood there with our jaws dropped looking like losers. We all agreed that it was a good thing our wives weren't there to see that and make us feel even less inadequate. Over all the trip was fun and I can't wait to do it again.

I didn't take this picture (because I always forget to take pictures) but this is the area we were skiing it was awesome!

Here is a picture I did take once I remembered that I had my camera on the way back home just to show how much snow there was.

Presidential Election Calculator

Some of you might find this boring, but I enjoy politics and government to an extent, and think it is a great right and duty of Americans to study the issues and vote accordingly.

I found a, what I thought, was a reasonably fair and accurate "calculator" to aid in learning the issues, and the candidate's stands on those issues. I liked it because it didn't take very long, and on issues I wasn't sure on which way to vote, you could click on the issue and it would tell you what it meant if you supported it vs. opposed it. It also opened my eyes to some candidates that were more closely matched with my stands on the issues than I knew (candidates I wouldn't have necessarily thought of voting for before, but now am studying more carefully). It didn't always (took it a few times) bring the candidate that I thought I was most closely matched with to the top. I'm not afraid to share the selectiong that the calculator matched with me, although this is not necessarily who I would vote for since there are a few issues I'm still studying and deciding on, and there are a lot more issues then the ones in the quiz. Mike Huckabee came up as the top candidate for me a couple times as well as Duncan Hunter, feel free to share your results (if you're not too scared...haha) it doesn't mean you will be voting for that person but I think it is interesting.

Go here to take the quiz: http://www.speakout.com/votematch/

P.S. I won't allow any "low blows" in the comments section about people's "selection" since I respect that everyone has different views, and that is what makes America great!