The Priesthood

I've kind of delayed writing this for a while, because it's personal and very important to me, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to share, and if there was anything I shouldn't or didn't want to.

However, for the few people who read my blog, I think, I would feel comfortable telling you about these experiences in person, so why not in my blog?

A couple of weeks ago, our family went down to my favorite place on Earth - Lake Powell.  We've been going twice or three times a year since I was a little kid, and I look forward to every single opportunity we have to go. This year was no different.  I was able to go the whole week, and I couldn't wait for morning ski rides, sun-tanning, hikes, swimming, having fun with my awesome cousins and sisters and parents (I could've just said family), and perfecting the back-flip on my air chair.  We got there on Monday afternoon, so my first opportunity to ski on nice water was Tuesday morning.  Unfortunately, for some strange reason, my Dad decided not to wake me up for the nice water, and just went (even though I've woken him up many times to go skiing)!  I was a little upset.

So later on that day, when the water was choppy because of boat traffic, I decided to break out my air chair, and see if I couldn't land the flip and hold on.  So I rode for a while, just enjoying the flying feeling of gliding above the waves.  Then, I jumped a couple of times, and tried the back-flip, but didn't really jump, so I just fell headfirst into the water, which I've done a lot (see video).

So the next attempt, I jumped, flipped, and in mid-air I thought "Yes!  This is it!  I'm going to make it!".  Something weird happened, and even though I had made it around, I crashed when I hit the water.  Usually, this is no big deal.  This time though, it was.

To me, it felt like my hand had gone into the rope handle, and that the handle had hit my forearm extremely hard and pulled me forward in the water a little bit.  It hurt like the Dickens, and when I came up, I saw that my glove was gone.  After telling the people in the boat to pick up the glove, I noticed that I couldn't move my fingers, they were just stuck in a half-clenched position (as if I were still holding the rope in my hand), and there was a half-golf-ball-size local area of swelling right where it felt like the handle had hit me.  I thought (verbatim) "Crap, I just broke my arm".  So my dad helped me into the ski boat, and we went back to the houseboat to look at it.  It still hurt a ton, and I was thinking I had ruined my family's (as well as my own) favorite summer vacation - which, to me, was more painful than the injury - seriously.  I didn't cry about my arm, I only cried when I was by myself changing, because I was sad to have to leave without getting to ski.

Anyway, I had the thought "I should have my dad give me a blessing", and Christine, one of my 3 amazing sisters, even suggested it to my dad.  Well, we decided to drive out to the channel to see where we could go to get my arm x-rayed, or at least to talk to someone about my arm.  When we got out there, my dad gave me a blessing, and then we called.  As I talked to Brian, the guy at the Bullfrog clinic, my arm hurt less and less, even though I didn't notice that until afterward.  The swelling had gone down almost completely, and I could move my fingers almost as much as before.  There was still some pain when I flexed my hand or wrist, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before.

The next day, Christine and I decided to go on a little hike across the canyon from our houseboat:

So we took the kayaks over there, and parked them at the bottom (1).  We left our life jackets there, and started climbing up the rocky slope.  Every step we took sent small rocks down, so we tried to make sure not to send rocks down on top of each other.  We got to a point where there were huge boulders (2), and we had to rock climb around them to get up higher.  I went one way, and Christine decided to go another way, about 10 ft away from me, (to the right in the photo).  We were just talking, and both of us were thinking how cool we were as siblings to go hiking up this hill with our chacos on and everything, when I suddenly hear Christine yelling.  I turn around to see her falling backwards off of the rocks above a 10-foot drop, and about 60 feet total below her to the water.  I watched in horror as she fell and rolled and fell again down the hill.  All I could do was yell her name trying to show my immense concern and worry and love for her, because I thought she was going to die.  When she finally stopped falling (about 10 feet above the water) (3), she sat there, turned and looked up at me holding her head.  I was worried she had split her head open, and was going to go unconscious soon.  I heard her yell across the water to the houseboat "Dad!  Get in the ski boat and hurry over here!"  That comforted me a little in knowing she could think and yell.  I slowly started moving to the side and then down as they came over in the boat and took her back to the houseboat.  As I walked down carefully, I noticed that one of the kayaks was upside-down in the water about 10 feet from the shore (4).  At the bottom, my dad and I talked a little about what had happened.  He said that he could only see me up at the boulders and the rocks falling down from me.  The huge boulder Christine had been on was falling straight toward the kayaks, and he thought Christine was in or near the kayaks!  One miracle is that the boulder didn't follow the same path as Christine, who went left (black line) and the rocks went right (green line).  Apparently that boulder had hit the one kayak and flipped it over into the water, smashing the one end.  When we got back to the houseboat, I went to change into dry clothes, and again, being alone, cried because of the emotions I had felt as I watched what I thought were my sister's last moments.  Then, my dad and I gave her a blessing as my mom, aunt and sister Chelsey took care of Christine's cuts.  She was in shock and was shaking.  Miraculously, she didn't break any bones, didn't split her head open or anything.  She had some pretty big scrapes, but no deep cuts, and a twisted ankle to top it off.

I was amazed at how quickly she and I healed.  I was able to ski Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.  Christine, I think, could have as well, but to be safe decided not to, in case of infection from the water getting in her cuts.

(The girl in the picture is my cousin Ashlyn, who got up on skis for the first time this trip!)

I know those are long stories, but I wanted to preserve as much as I could what happened, and add to them my testimony of the Priesthood.  I know that it's a real power, which has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith by Angels, and that God and Jesus Christ personally appeared to Joseph Smith to restore this power and the true Church of Jesus Christ.  How grateful I am for a worthy father who is willing and able to give me and my sisters those blessings when they are needed, and for the blessings that come through that Priesthood and the love of God.

Hearts (Again)

The heart is so amazing!  The human heart beats over 2.8 BILLION times over the course of an average lifespan of 75 years*.  This pumping machine pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every day, and works from it's first beat to it's last.  How cool is that???

I just started a job at the same research lab that I've been volunteering in for almost a year now.  I'm analyzing some structural differences in striation patterns of t-tubules (which serve as boundary lines for sarcomeres) in healthy vs diseased vs diseased then treated hearts.  It's really cool stuff, and I'm excited for the opportunity to learn more and grow in experience.

I'm just grateful that Heavenly Father knew to put such a diligent, persistent organ in us to which we attribute our deepest feelings (i.e. love, devotion, pain, joy, disappointment, and hope), and which provides life to our body and its systems.

*http://www.fi.edu/learn/heart/

Road Bike!

I bought a road bike yesterday.

This is a factory picture, but the real one looks identical to this one.







I'm fairly excited.

Summertime

I just love summertime.

It's made for me.  I think my body's natural habitat is some desert with a nice clear lake nearby.  I love the hot, dry air, and so does my skin.  Basically, Lake Powell is where I belong (or similar places).

Last summer I took classes at the U, trying to accelerate my acceptance into the major (which did help).  However, after going to school constantly for over a year and a half, I decided that this summer I would not take summer classes and try to enjoy it as much as I can.  I've been looking forward to being out of school now for a year, so I can enjoy summer.

Two problems:  1.  It's not really summer-typical weather right now.  It feels more like March in May!  However, that's not the main problem.  2.  I don't have any structure to my life!  I have all these awesome plans of things to do, but then I end up not doing them.  I was worried that I might fall into this pattern.  It's hard because I'm working at nights, so I don't get to hang out with people (who mostly work during the day), and during the day, there's only so much that sounds fun to do by yourself!  I also have an expensive car repair coming up, so I don't want to be spending tons of money on anything.

So, I need to figure out some way to be more productive that will keep me going on a good, healthy schedule.  I think I'll start going up to the research lab almost every day for a few hours.  I don't like feeling lazy.

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break.

It was SO nice to get away from school!  For the first half of the week, I stayed at home because I had to work each night (still from 9pm to 1am - I don't think I've blogged about my current job yet, maybe I will someday...).  So I realized that if I weren't going to school, my life would be fairly boring!  I slept in almost every day, (one day 'til 11:30!!!)  I never sleep in that late, so I felt pretty lazy.  I went up to the U to work in our research lab a little, and I did some shopping and stuff, but overall, I just played music and enjoyed not having a ton of things to do!  Then... on Thursday... I went... to...

LAKE POWELL!!!


Pictures are from past trips - that's why it looks so warm and calm.  I don't have a camera anymore because it got soaked on this trip

I love that place.  Even though this trip was a little different:  1. I was only there a couple of days, whereas usually I've been able to go the whole week.  2.  It was windy and cold, so I only got in one ski ride (usually I ski at least twice a day).

On the way home, we had a fun experience.  It was me, my bro.in law Paul and my sister Chelsey.  We were just driving along, everything was fine.  I was driving and we were following a truck towing a trailer.  All of a sudden, some black thing comes flying out from under the trailer, flailing around on the road, so I swerved to avoid it, not knowing what it was, and we started fish-tailing, did a 180, and slid off the side of the road sideways, into the near side of a ditch.  We were extremely blessed that we didn't roll or damage my car or get injured.  About 10 different groups of people stopped to help us.  We got towed out and continued on our way.

Two things:  1.  Prayer works.  That morning we said a prayer to get us home safely, and I know that things could have been much much worse for us, but they weren't because Heavenly Father was watching over us.  2.  People are good.  Sometimes it's hard to believe this when you get cut off on the freeway, or people are rude in lines or places.  I was so amazed at how many people were IMMEDIATELY there to help us out.  My faith in the human race was strengthened because of that.

So anyway, it was an eventful, relaxing Spring Break, and I'm so glad that we have it at the U every year.  Now, I can't wait 'til June for our next Powell trip, and for Moab and whatever other things I'm going to do this summer!

The hardest thing about Spring Break though,

is going back to school.

How long has it been?

So...

I've been pretty busy lately.  Sorry to not update all of you on my life.  Basically, I started a new job last week, it's going well, but I'll be tired for the next several months, and I'm trying my best to stay on top of school work.  Sorry it's short!

Here's a picture to make you happier:

Dating Race? Over. Dating? Still going on.

With the end of January, several things have been going on.

1. My 24th birthday was on Thursday, the 28th!  It was a great day and I got tons of happy birthday wishes from my family and friends!  Thanks everyone.

2. The Dating Race has now finished.  Congratulations to Shayla, who went on 22 first dates in the month of January!  I am very impressed by her.  Now I need all of you to go to the blog (if you missed the previous link, click here), and vote for the person you think each of us should take on our second group date!  It's been a great learning experience, which you can read about there on the blog.
Although the dating race itself is over, don't think that I'm just going to sit back and relax and not go out on any more dates.  No sir (or ma'am).  I've met some awesome girls this month that I'm excited to ask out again!  I really have learned that this is what the brethren are talking about when they say that we young men should be dating more.  Honestly it's amazing to date a lot, you learn a ton about other people, and about yourself, and it's amazing how much more fun it is than hanging out with groups of people (not that that's not fun, it's just dating is more fun).

3. This wasn't necessarily at the end of January, more at the beginning of February, but....

I'M FINALLY GETTING MY BIKE BACK - TOMORROW!  I'm super-stoked.  I haven't ridden my bike since September, and I miss it.  Anyone who wants to go mountain biking soon, let me know, and we'll go.  Hopefully it's not too snowy.

Other than that, just trying to find a job still that will fit my schedule, and working on staying on top of school assignments.  Life is good!

Tell-Tale Heart

This was so crazy, and a friend of mine told me to post about it.

So the other night, I was sleeping (cool, huh?), and usually I don't wake up in the middle of the night.  But this night, I did.  I also don't usually sleep on my back, but this night, I was.  So I woke up, wondering "Why did I wake up?  That's weird."  Usually if I wake up it's because of noises or motion.  So I started listening really attentively.  What did I hear?  A knocking sound - in the constant rhythm of a heartbeat.

Yes, I was creeped out.  I thought of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.  Yeah, kinda crazy.  I wondered "what kind of animal could be right above my head and have that strong of a heartbeat?"  But, I couldn't think of any.  So I felt my own heartbeat.  It was exactly in sync with the knocking heart above my head!!!  I moved a little, and my back came up off the bed for a second, and the knocking stopped in that second.  I finally figured it out - my heartbeat was causing my bed to move just enough to make my helmet (which hangs on my bed-post) to hit the wall!  After this, I was no longer creeped out, but amazed at how cool this was!

So I discovered that I have a really strong heart. :)

Flight of the Arrow

Sorry, it's been a while since I last posted on my blog.  School has started up again, and it's keeping me busy!

As per the Dating Race, I've fallen behind quite a bit!  Shayla is rockin' the planet by dating so many awesome guys, and Jon is right behind her (dating girls though).  Me?  I've run into a couple of "obstacles" that aren't necessarily bad, but just have kept me from asking more girls out and accepting suggestions from others of people to take out.  However, I've decided to not let those obstacles stop me anymore.  Even though I don't expect to catch up to Jon and Shayla, I hope to at least stay in the game.

In school, there have been a few cool things going on for me!  Well, really just one, but it's really pretty awesome.  So you might remember that I started working in a Research Lab at the University of Utah a semester ago.  I picked a really good lab to work in, for a few reasons: 1. It's flexible, 2. It involves doing work that is less mundane than others, and 3. We have had some significant success and are in the process of PUBLISHING A PAPER on it!  How cool is that?  As an undergraduate with a little over 2 years left still, I'll have my name on a published article!  I'm hoping that we will be able to continue to progress and hopefully repeat this process once more before I graduate.  I will, of course, let you all know when the paper is done, but for now, I'm just excited to be involved in something so cool!  I think this will help increase the amount of responsibility that I have in the lab as well, because we want to get some really good images and data out in the next couple of months to include in our Results section.  Yeah, I'm pretty excited.

Also, in our Ward Missionary Committee (I don't remember if I've said that I'm our Ward Mission Leader), we've recently started to go out and visit young single adults within our ward boundaries to invite them to come to our activities and meet new people and come back to Church.  It's been very rewarding to be more involved in the Lord's work, and I hope that we'll be able to reach some people who need the light of the Gospel in their lives.

Basically, my life is wonderful.  The only not-so-good thing that's going on right now is that I have a pretty bad cold that didn't allow me to sleep (like, at all) last night.  But that seems like a minor setback in comparison with all the blessings I have.  Yeah, there are things I would like to change, like being single, not having a steady source of income, etc., but I'm finding that "it's not hitting the target, it's the flight of the arrow".  (I don't know who that quote is by, but it's cool.)

Dating Race Update

So THIS is going well!

It's been a really good experience so far!  It's only the 3rd day in, but it feels like we've been doing this for a while already!  I'm surprised (pleasantly) at the attitude change that I've experienced toward dating, and the great topics that I've had the chance to talk to my friends about with this thing going on.

After reading Elder Oaks' talk, which Jon also posted on our dating blog, I realized that this is a good way for me to take dating more seriously!  I know it probably seems like we're taking dating LESS seriously with this "competition".  But to be honest, I couldn't care less if I lost the race.  I'm just glad to have an extra incentive to ask girls out!  It's already helped me to stay in the mindset of dating as a priority in my life.  I've dated somewhat consistently in the past, but i feel like this is really helping me to focus on it.  Of course, when school starts up again in a week (on the 11th), I'm betting my "date rate" will decrease significantly.  But I will still try to have asking girls out in the forefront of my mind.

I want everyone to know that the people I take out on these dates are people I would normally feel comfortable asking out, not just people around me to take on dates so that I can beat Shayla and Jon.  Jon did a great job of explaining why we're doing this in his post, "Not Just a Number", which I completely agree with, but I wanted to explain my own personal view on it as well.

I'd like to hear what each of you think about our dating idea, whether you like it or not, what you would do differently, etc...  Make your comments as long or short as you like, just try to keep it considerate.  Thanks!