he's got moves you've never seen

I never knew Shaq could move like this. Crazy.

oh my darlin' oh my darlin' oh my darlin'...

my favorite for the week:

communication, mis-

passive-aggressive
adjective
of or denoting a type of behavior or personality characterized by indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of direct confrontation, as in procrastinating, pouting, or misplacing important materials.

and, i'd like to make two important additions to this definition: being two-faced and complaining/backbiting to an unrelated source or observer.



if people just knew how hurtful it can be.

it's a love/hate thing

things I love from last week:

• rice crispy treats: I forgot how good they taste and how easy/cheap they are to make!
• the drive to heber: it's 60 miles round trip for four hours of work, but it's great think time and is just beautiful.
• finding $7 cowboy boots at DI to wear to the Strawberry Days Rodeo...complete with snakeskin.
  
• longboarding: I've always been nervous about board sports because I'm uncoordinated when it comes activities that require you to use your feet for skills other than running/jumping. but I went down provo canyon on a longboard saturday and realized just how great it really is. i'm thinking i may need to invest in one...
• jinxes
• late night chats with nicole
• 4-wheel drive vehicles--they make the drive to silver lake SO much smoother!
  
• looking at the stars while lying on an air matress in the middle of a lake
• my own bed
• hearing "lamanite" again at the manti pageant...it still makes me laugh!
• feeling the spirit
• my sunday night walk with Rachel
  

things i didn't like so much:

• loud, techno music listening, expletive shouting, drunk out of their mind neighbors while camping that have a lovers' spat until 4am and nearly start a forest fire with the size of ginormous blaze
  
• wanting more but not getting any...or at least as much as i want
  
• being content being quiet and then feeling awkward for not being louder than the next person
• feeling territorial when it's not my place to be so
  
• the hard ground at the manti temple pageant (though it was definitely better than the chairs, let me tell you)
• sleeping in. way sleeping in.
• funny jokes in improper settings
  

Félicitations!

Check this out to see another one of the many reasons why my friends are the best. I'm so proud of you Zazzman!

BYU student ad team wins international best communications campaign

happy pappy!

So my little sister emailed me tonight and opened up her email like this: "Happy Pappy! That's what was on the cake that Grandma Betty brought over for Father's Day dinner."

Man, I love my family.

why my dad is a great father

It's been a great Sunday. One of those Sundays where you come away edified after each part of church and instilled with a greater desire to make a difference during the course of the next week.

I think a big part of that was the fact that it's Father's Day. During the course of the day I was able to sit back and listen to stories about fathers from people in my ward and ponder the example my dad has been to me. I want to write a fitting tribute to him that captures just how much he means to me, just how much he is a part of who I am, and just how much I love him, but I honestly don't know how to put into words the effect his 23 years of time, effort, love, concern, and involvement have had on me. But I think that President Ezra Taft Benson was able to capture, to some extent, how I feel about my dad.

"Brethren, we are to teach the fundamental doctrines of the Church in such a way that our children may understand. Some fathers teach, but their children do not understand. This places responsibility on fathers to study and learn the gospel.

With a few exceptions, righteous sons and daughters who have attained eternal blessings are not just physically begotten by their fathers. They are spiritually regenerated by the examples and teachings of their fathers.

Great fathers lead their children to Christ."

(“Great Things Required of Their Fathers,” Ensign, May 1981, 36).

Papa, thank you for being a great father.

this worked for me and could for you too

click here to possibly have your wildest dreams come true.

i just needed a change.

and must have been in a patriotic mood (with a hint of spring).

Santa's Workshop is in Shanghai

I don't think there could be anything better than Christmas in May, even if I did have to pay for it. I'm taking votes for names.

i kind of miss my hometeachers...

Why, you ask? Just watch.

if Diana Ross could see me now...

I survived.

Yes, it's true--180 days of teaching, baby.

For the last year and a half of my life, I've spent the majority of it teaching, trying to teach, thinking about teaching, loving teaching, or dreading teaching 11 students with Autism. In the long run, I think I'll remember each of my 11 students for the amazing capacity they had to bless the lives of others and the changes they not only experienced but the changes they brought about in me. To each of them I say thank you for providing learning, laughter, tears, and growth that will last a lifetime.

I will miss these little guys.