Nostalgia

I am feeling very nostalgic right now. And it doesn't help that Peter is in bed sleeping and all is quiet. I attribute this nostalgia to several things-school starting and me not starting with it (which I am not feeling sad about, it's just kinda wierd), going through all the junk I have stored at parent's house, and a sharing time lesson I gave last week on journal writing that ultimately prompted me to find all my old journals and get them together in one place. Of course, I also ended up reading a few entries along the way. My favorites are from when I was a wee kid. My dad would sit down with each of us on Sunday afternoon and we would dictate to him while he wrote. The things I thought were important back then are so funny. And my dad would literally write every word we said, so some entries have a lot of "um, let me think"...this is a tradition that I want to do with my kids someday too. And then my high school years....if my posterity learns anything about me from those entries it will be simply that I was boy crazy!
Part of my newly-sparked enthusiam for getting all my journals together and stuff comes from finishing "The Undaunted". It was a great book, and I am always impressed with the faith and willingness to sacrifice that the early pioneers exhibited. I love reading of their experiences. I think that for me, they are some of the greatest motivators because they help me realize that my trials aren't any harder than anybody else's and they remind me that I have something (the gospel of Jesus Christ and my testimony of it) that is precious beyond measure.

Gripes (just one really)

I am really grateful to have a job--and it is an excellent job; the company definitely respects and values its employees. My gripe tonight is only about the dress code. I can't complain about anything else right now because I have week off and that is exciting. Anyway, the other day, we were in a meeting and I happened to be sitting across the table from a girl wearing a tank-top kind of shirt and one of the "sleeves" was slippping off her shoulder and she didn't ever bother to fix it so I was stuck looking down at the table for two hours. Our dress code talks about wearing nice, professional clothing to work-we aren't allowed to wear shirts with graphics or phrases because they could offend somebody. The dress code even mentions that bad breath and body odor won't be tolerated at work. Sidenote: Could a company fire you on the claim that you showed up to work with bad breath? And how would you explain that in your next job interview? But why, in a professional environment, is there no code in place for modesty? I know, it is just the world we live in, but it drives me nuts. 

 On a happier note, I checked out Gerald N. Lund's new book "The Undaunted" from the Provo Library and started reading it. I bet nobody can guess what I will be doing with my week off....

Also during the past week, I became addicted to an internet-radio show on the mormon channel (located at www.radio.lds.org). This program is called conversations and has a show host interviewing somebody of prominence in the LDS community-they just talk about their life experiences and conversion stories, you know. Anyway, I find other people's life stories fascinating and have learned so much about people such as L. tom Perry, David A. Bednar, and my favorite so far...Herbert Klopfer-he is on the church music committee (wrote the hymn "Home Can Be A Heaven on Earth"), grew up in Germany during Hilter's reign and just has some neat stories to tell. I put these podcasts on my i-pod and it helps me pass the time at work. 

Kids will be kids...

Peter and I teach the valiant 10 class in our ward. We enjoy it most of the time, although I can't say that I feel like we really get a lot of spiritual in because we are constantly discplining the kids (things like, "don't step on the scriptures," or, "We don't stand on chairs in the Lord's house,") but the five kids in our class are all good kids and we are learning to love them-and just maybe they are learning to love us, too. Anyway, today we had two visitors-twin brothers-and they were absolutely the cutest boys! We were teaching about Adam-Ondi-Ahman and about the Millenium. After I explained about how people won't die during the millenium, one of these little boys exclaimed, with the biggest grin I have ever seen, "You mean we can just keep making babies?!" It was SO funny. Peter and I couldn't help but burst out laughing!

back to reality

I love my family vacations--they are so great! But it always feels nice to be back home. We spend the week in Cortez, Colorado, visiting several sites with ancient indian dwellings. It was pretty amazing to see the cliff dwellings built back around the year 1200 in Mesa Verde national park. It was pretty hot, but it felt good to get sweaty and gross while climbing up mountainsides and 32-ft ladders and through tunnels. We always have so much fun!

New Camera

So...I am looking for a new camera. Mine has never worked well and I just got a bonus at work so I have starting looking around, but I am curious: what kind of cameras do you all use? And what do you like or dislike about your camera? Leave me a post!

Finally!

I got a few wedding pix off my grandma's digital camera..here is a sneak peek:

Life...

Well, I still don't have any pictures from the wedding. I am just feeling a lack of motivation when it comes to contacting people about them. I do want to see the video that my friends did, though, but they are in Oklahoma for a while. So here is a brief list of happenings in my life as of late:

-My apartment is still a mess--we are slowly unpacking boxes as we need the items in them.
-I love strawberries! Hmmm..can't stop eating them.
-I officially have three weeks off work because I broke my arm. And at least it happened on work property and while I was on the clock so worker's comp will cover it.
-Peter and I are addicted to the Chronicles of Narnia. Books on CD are great for a one-armed someone who can't do a whole lot and doesn't have much motivation anyway.
-I am almost finished with wedding thank you notes.
-I am excited for the weekend: a Kelly Clarkson concert tonight, family get-together tomorrow night, cattle drive on Saturday. Maybe I will get pictures to spice up this blog a little.