to thee we raise

i have so many things to be grateful for - remember this list? it just keeps growing. every time someone mentions something they are grateful for, i add it to my list too. i could count for days and days and still not be done.

but, since it is thanksgiving day and i have so many blessings, here are just a few, in no particular order:

- supportive and loving family and friends
- blankets, and a bed to sleep in
- my wimpy dogs
- the restored truth of the Gospel on the earth today
- everything i am free to do
- my job(s) and the people i meet doing them
- music in all of its forms (maybe most of its forms)
- basketball (i won't elaborate)
- beautiful warm weather
- my Heavenly Father and my Savior
- whatever the future holds (my life has tremendous upside)
- the Book of Mormon
- mad skills

and many many more. like i said, my list keeps growing. happy thanksgiving!

you sit tight shotgun

seems like my life is usually so full of funny stories, but i'm not sure where they have gone lately... however, the past few days have had their moments, including-

- homeboy ate an entire bag of jelly bellies (minus 2) at "blizzards & wizards" friday night, and then had an ice cream cone for dessert. so, pretty much an awesome night. for real. made for one entertaining dj sweet j.
- saturday night, some boy told me the jazz were his second favorite team. his first? the lakers. get real. that must be in violation of all sorts of guy codes, or basketball fan codes, or something. (maybe i should help a brother out a little and educate him. he called the jazz's all-star point guard "derek" williams. whoops.)
- nerd alert - saturday night, during the "mr. and ms. san marcos pageant," my question was "what is your favorite tv show right now?" my answer? "inside the nba." what a dork i am.
- forgot to wear my jazz shirt to meet jeff malone. lame.
- someone used the word "cajones" in their talk in sacrament meeting on sunday, and it reminded me of the time (in sacrament meeting) i heard patience referred to as the "marijuana of virtues" (because it's the gateway...)
- "sometimes they are for to be to get you dead"
- my little bro likes to say "yarp" in his texts. i heart that.
- paul millsap, making threes? seems like that should happen more often. (that is old news, but i forgot to talk about it earlier. something else i heart - every game the heat lose.)
- this video. i love love love love it,

in case anyone is bored or sick of the basketball references, i apologize. i'm crazy about it - something about the sound of that ball hitting the net and those shoes sqeaking on the floor makes my heart thump.

make us free

i've been thinking and thinking about what i wanted to write about thanksgiving. i love this time of year - i don't think there is anything about it i would want to leave out, in planning my perfect... time of year. (or something to that effect.) when i had a hard time thinking of the exact right words to say, though, i found other people who had said it better. so, without further ado, my three thanksgiving quotes.

"Although the time and date of the first American thanksgiving observance may be uncertain, there is no question but that this treasured custom derives from our Judeo-Christian heritage. "Unto Three, O God, do we give thanks," the Psalmist sang, praising God not only for the "wondrous works" of His creation, but for loving guidance and deliverance from dangers."
-Ronald Reagan, Thanksgiving Proclamation 1985

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God...

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People."
-Abraham Lincoln, 1863

"And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!

I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."
-Mosiah 2:19-21

all mixed up in the wash

apparently, i've been putting some of you to sleep. i'll try to be a bit more exciting today.

this weekend, i was asked to compete in the first annual "mr. & miss san marcos pageant." (i said yes, reluctantly. who thought it would be a good idea to have me be in that? i'm a much better spectator.)

that's right - i'll be up on stage, doing... something. i'm debating back and forth between inviting everyone i know so i'll have a cheering section, or calling everyone the hour before and saying the activity was cancelled.

maybe i can pull the fire alarm right before it is my turn. hmmm...

anyway, wish me luck, and come cheer me on if you can! (if you can make it physically, and if you feel like you can add to my moral support and not make fun of me acting like a fool. there is a talent section. is watching basketball a talent? or playing this video on my laptop?)

"Build Me Up Buttercup" from on Vimeo.

one is the loneliest number

i finished this book last night. very thought-provoking - i can't say i agreed with everything (especially the second to last chapter) but it contained some very interesting points.

like this one (another addition to the "i've never thought of it quite that way before" portion of this blog...)

talking about the way our relationships with others form a collective memory, he wrote "knowing someone well enough to know what they know, and knowing them well enough so you can trust them to know things in their specialty." so, knowing someone and what they know - like who to call for a basketball discussion or who to ask about a recipe - is part of your memory. you don't have stored in your brain the information you need. what you do have stored is where to go to get that information.

it was interesting - he talked about divorce being so devastating partially because that collective memory you develop as a married couple is gone, and you lose the information that was part of that collective memory. i found it interesting as i was reading it, anyway. put a different spin on relationships - the book almost made it sound like that was the only reason relationships are valuable, which is probably over-simplification to the extreme. but i can get behind that aspect being a good part of what makes relationships nice to have.

(and, in other news, how about them jazz? i have a stronger-than-usual love for the nba right now, mostly because the lakers lost last night.)

i waited up all night

what a crazy weekend.

driving range friday night. (thanks to whoever invented lighted driving ranges. lit driving ranges? what a struggle that is...)

party at my house saturday night, during which we played beatles rock band and the jazz pulled off an exciting double ot win.

yesterday I left my house at 12:30 pm and returned at 11:15 pm. it was worth it though - I got to see my awesome grandma and aunt, say goodbye to tiffany bee, and witness the insane dance skills of annie and kenny. (this video is for you annie. don't mind my stupid cackle. or the text message i got in the middle.)

you may rescue, you may save

i read this quote today, and i like it.

"the one great revolution in the world is the revolution for human liberty. this was the paramount issue in the great council in heaven before this earth life. it has been the issue throughout the ages. it is the issue today." - Pres. Ezra Taft Benson

isn't it amazing to live in a country where your voice can be heard, where you can exercise your rights as a citizen and not worry about those rights being taken away?

i have always loved reading about the revolutionary war, about our founding fathers, about the civil war, and the rest of the history of our nation. it seems like the hand of the Lord is so evident in our history, that things happened so deliberately and precisely.

i know things aren't perfect, but we have our freedom to choose. and having that gift from God is worth sacrifice.

i hope someday everyone can have the privileges we do - that the whole world will know how sweet it is to choose to follow our Savior and become more like Him.

Jesu, joy of man's desiring

Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.
Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty's fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom's holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.


i heart this