Wedding Video

SNAKE MEAL

DON'T WATCH UNLESS YOU CAN HANDLE NAT'L GEO, ANIMAL PLANET, AND OUT OF FOCUS-NESS.

Happenings!

Okay so I check at least a couple times a week to see my sibling's blogs and watch for updates. I love them. Sometimes I want to see more updates and then think that I need to give updates to get updates. Ha! Here's what I have:

The other week it finally got warm enough to have a pool party. And let me tell you it was one heck of a party!! I told each of the roommates they were allowed to invite 1 dude and the rest had to be ladies and they should plan on inviting 5-10 ladies. We had about 50 that were in and out with a strong 3:1 gals to guys ratio...just how we like it. I lost the bellyflop contest in the finals to another guy named Jared. I really thought the 1 1/4 flip would win it for sure but they said my face hit before my belly and my headache confirmed that.

I love where I am living right now. There is quite the dynamic with roommates. 30 yr old that works at Roberts Craft, 28 yr old that manages a mechanic shop, me, 23 yr old agnostic, and 21 year old punk. But it works... for now.

My new ward is awesome! There is a 2nd Elder's quorum that is 24+. And likewise for Relief Society but 21+. The teachers in priesthood keep trying to one up the other on treats and I enjoy the benefits of their girlfriend's cooking.

The Bishop asked me how long I planned on being in the ward and I told him I keep trying to graduate from the singles ward scene. He then told me to up my service in my life... and called me to the Activities Committee Chair. We have the best activities!

We did a hike and BBQ up Stewart Falls. This weekend we are going to the Manti Pageant and then skeet shooting afterwards. The bishopric hesitated with the idea of guns. I told them in Spanish Fork we go shooting every 2 or 3 months in the ward. I don't know why that worked but it did.

The suit biz is booming. I haven't really touched the missionary market but have somehow claimed a partial market share of the wedding market. I had a guy come in that used to play some AAA Baseball and bought 10 suits, shirts, etc... That helped make the month. We may actually hit our quota this month.

Lastly, we are doing a motorcycle brigade in the coming local parades with a bunch of guys in suits. I hope to get some pics of that up!!!

That's all for now

The Bachelor Pad!

I am managing a house and as long as I fill it up with a bunch of dudes, rent is FREE! I will post up some more pics and such when the furniture gets here. It's a little fun to spend oodles of someone else's money on furnishing a place.

We have 2 theater rooms, one upstairs and down. We're getting a BBQ big enough to cook a small pig, at least that is what the guy wants. He wan

ted to dig and build a fire pit but I think I have him convinced to buy an above ground fire pit from Wal-mart. I want the pool to be ready now but I'll just have to wait a bit longer.

here's some pics!

A JOB!!!

I always knew that Julianna and I were close but I didn't picture myself quite following in her footsteps.

Timberline called and offered me a job today and I am stoked out of my mind to take it!

I can't believe it's actually happening. I'm really going to be done with school just to go to school.

I have talked everyone's ear off about the job opportunities and interviews and want to thank you for all of your input. I felt that the Lord really had a hand in this one and that's always a good feeling to have.

roller blading fireworks

This is a video that a buddy just emailed me. This was one night after midnight and getting home from the anatomy lab. We were eating popsicles on the stairs and well idle minds meddle....

SNOESHOEING

Leti and I went snowshoeing today and it was awesome!! My calves were burning as I was trying to keep up with her, and when I was in the lead I was really kicking it in to high gear so I wouldn't be one of the slow people that she goes hiking with and tells me about.

She really didn't want to be caught on camera so there isn't a lot but here an inside moment to my life:

I hope these work!

welcome December!

Finals are on their way. I feel like there should be another month of school. Crazy, right!? I'm doing quite well in school this semester but feel like I should be trying harder somehow. I have a few papers left and presentations to sum up but other than that...cake walk.

Could it really be just one more semester o

f course work? I feel like I've been going to school for so long I won't know what to do with myself. Well of course I'll get a job and all... but it will be so different.

On another note. I have had so many people setting me up on dates lately. I visited the Spanish Fork ward the other week and after sacrament meeting the high councilman and I were talking and he gave me his little sister's number. We went ice skating and had a good time. Then an old mission buddy gave

me his wife's second cousin's number. Not to mention my own efforts. Ah, the life of Reedo.

I am totally loving life right now. It's not perfect but I am seeking to do and be the best at what I am doing. Life is good!

Lastly, here is our third cousin, Andrew George, scoring the winning touchdown!!!

The Sin Bin

My team lost tonight. I set a new record for myself. I was thrown in the penalty box 3 times. I couldn't believe what was going on. Then this little guy came skating down on our end and I hit him into the boards so hard. He was super mad and feisty. He jumped on my back and just started swinging. The guy had to be 5' nothing and weighed 120 lbs. I knew if I started swinging back, it would have been malicious and I would've killed the kid. I love a good physical game but don't hit the ice looking for a fight. We lost 6-4 and I blame myself as 2 goals were scored as I was sitting watching my team play a man down for my zealousness. In the words of Rocky Balboa: "There's some stuff down in the basement." I suppose I get most of it out with that one hour a week on the ice.

pumpkin carving

The other night I went on a group date with some of the boys and the wonderful residents of Apt. 212. We all had a blast. We carved pumpkins. Have you ever wondered where the pumpkin carving started; I have. Before I get into that too much I have to announce our pumpkin was modeled after the Monsters Inc. character, Mike Wazowski. What do you think?

Origin of pumpkin carving

Vegetable lanterns have been used for a long time during harvest season. this would illuminate fields and block the winds from blowing out the flame. They haven't only used pumpkins for this and in Europe turnips were a favorite for many years. Although these lanterns were used in agrarian societies they were only associated with American inline with Halloween. Evidence of the carved vegetable lanterns aren't associated with Halloween until later in the 19th century. Lastly, the carving of lanterns is worldwide but the word Jack o' lantern is almost exclusively associated with America. ..... God Bless it!

A roommates proposal

My roommate proposed this summer and I played a small role. It's a little long but you can skip ahead to about the 4 minute mark if you want... I just thought I would throw my youtube debut up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXIWV_gypHg

Eucalyptus deglupta

When we were in Hawaii last year there were the coolest looking trees outside the Walther's condo. The bark was the most amazing variation of colors. We all stood around it and admired and of course it was cool because it was in Hawaii!

I am currently taking a Plant Biology test and we are studying the morphology of bark. I was flipping through the text book and saw THE TREE.

It is a Rainbow Eucalyptus tree. This is the only Eucalyptus tree that is native to the Northern Hemisphere. The bark actually sheds every year and the green inner bark is shown. As the green inner bark matures it darkens to blue, purple, red, and/or maroon.

Pretty cool stuff!

Aphonopelma iodius

The other day I went fishing up Payson Canyon.  As I was driving up I spotted a black blob in the road.  I pulled off the road and saw this awesome Tarantula.  This was about 7,000 ft.  Don't freak out too much.  This is the first one I have ever seen in the wild.  I had a small 12 oz soda cup so I didn't try to catch it.  Another adventure....PS: this is a female.

Lessons of Life from the Pioneers- September 14, 2009

I'm taking a church history class this semester.  It's the second semester of the class and it is post martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  We have been talking a lot about the pioneers and all about the details of their leaving to the Rocky Mountains.

The saints were driven from place to place to place.  I wonder at times of the faithful almost questioning in their minds "what could they do more?!"  Oh! how they yearned for Zion; how they wanted to do what is right!

When we look at the big picture now we can see of how the Lord was getting them out of the USA before the Civil War.  So it is with us; not knowing the Lord's plans for us but having faith that he does have a plan for us.

I remember when we moved to Utah.  We looked around Fairview with thoughts of moving there, which would be relatively close to dad's work.  Somehow we moved to Spanish Fork.  Richard met Melissa and I remember thinking in my 15 year old mind that if we hadn't moved there they wouldn't have met.  I see them as soul mates and knowing Richard, he would have found her.

The Lord gives us so many opportunities to learn, grow, and be happy.  I shrink when I study more about the saints and their trials.  I want not to shrink at my trials and opportunities to grow.

Every time you or I are obedient we are blessed and every time we are blessed we are given opportunities to grow; aka- trials and tribulations.  A talk given not too long after I came home by Elder Richard G. Scott rings a familiar heart string to this: Peace of Conscience and Peace of Mind. Here's the link:

 http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-479-5,00.html

I mentioned this in class today and Brother Bartholomew (yes, the one and only Ron Bartholomew, if you don't know him listen to some of his talks from education weeks on BYUB.ORG).  He then had us turn to D&C 59:23.  The blessing in this life is PEACE.  He also had us turn to 2 Ne 2:11 and if you remember your scripture masteries from seminary you'll remember this one.  He said when you are doing what is right there will always be some form of opposition in life.

I am proud of my pioneer heritage and seek the Lord's will and help as I am on my road to the "Rockies."  I love the life that is mine, and though I am far from perfect, I plant my feet today on the sod and tread the path that was trod by those who followed the prophet to what seemed a mortal wasteland yet in truth was and is spiritual inspiration and aspiration!

 PS- Who is this a picture of?

My Favorite Anatomy Terms

Hypothalamohypophyseal portal system

Sustentaculum Tali of the Calcaneus

Zygopophyseal Joint

These are a few of my new favorite terms.

I also would like to meet someone that has had: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.  If you know anyone you can introduce me.

Ciao

Small Town Bowling

South County Lanes in Payson County is quite the bowling alley!  It is rather out of the main stream flow of the PBA (professional bowlers association).  It might be in a small town like Payson but it is not replacement for Duke's Lanes.  And yes, this is the infamous bowling alley that Gary Coleman (from Diff'rent Strokes) was ticketed for Disorderly Conduct earlier this year.

There was a sign at the counter that said "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."  I thought it was pretty crazy considering that there was our group and a couple kids that looked like they had just graduated high school.  They like to pick and choose who gets to bowl their alleys.

Rebecca and I doubled with Dan and Angela.  It was a good time except for my competitive nature put a bit of pressure on Rebecca.  I bet Dan that the losing team buys the winners ice cream.  We lost two games in a row.  I'm not that great of a bowler.  Rebecca was trying different styles of bowling to keep us in the running but she was having an off night too. ha!

Actually we had been  boating just a few hours earlier so I suppose that is our excuse. Yeah, we were so worn out from Mike flipping us on the tube.

We then visited the Daley Freeze.  It's the "Glades" of Payson.  Be weary of the fry sauce there it has a hint of dill that isn't bad but catches one off guard.

I then helped Rebecca unload some of her things into her new apt.  It's pretty nice and fancy.  I live in quite the dive but hopefully that will be another post....

summer of learning

I have had quite the ride this summer.  I took Physiology and am finishing Anatomy right now.  It hasn't been a quick easy ride but I have learned so much.  If you have talked to me in the last 7 weeks I talk about morphological landmarks on the human body.  This is the kind of class that I live for.  I love Biology that I can touch!  I have spent almost every night until midnight in the cadaver lab learning as many of the landmarks as I can get to stick in my head.  I have my lecture and lab finals over the next two days.  My lab teacher approached me today and asked me if I would TA for next semester.  I will be crazy busy but this was quite flattering.  We'll see if I can survive the finals and perhaps squeeze this into the schedule.  I'm excited to think that I might actually graduate college someday.  The thought stays in my mind, though, that I will never leave school.  Good times!

California- business and pleasure

California was such a blast!  I love my life and its unfolding before me.  I went to Los Angeles to meet with some vendors that supply my suit store.  I don't have the volume, capitol, and know how to be running around internationally and thus use vendors to help supply the store.  I have been using a vendor out of  New York City and one out of Los Angeles.

Some of you know the business model of my store.  The whole store is your store.  I have about 100 styles and colors in the store.  When a customer walks in my store he can choose any style and color and then we will order that color in your size specifically for you.  We have started to find moderate success and I am well pleased.

I was able to meet some great people.  I have totally obsoleted the vendor from NYC and have found some great vendors.  I can do and blend suit from 34S-70L!!!  And any wool suit from 34S-60L!  And we are able to do 2 pant suits!!!  Send any would-be missionaries my way!!

It was so crazy.  We went down to the LA Fashion District.  It was NYC meets China town.  You could buy pretty much anything fashionable there.  I didn't have time to see if they do "watches" like they do in NYC china town.  We were able to register our business with the fashion district and work with vendors at wholesale pricing.

I met Sammy.  He is a 30 something year old millionaire.  He took me to his warehouse where he has 100,000 suits at all times.  crazy!!! We were able to work up some deals with him.  He is a great Jewish Business man that says he likes to work with mormons.  He asked me what I am passionate about.  I told him a lot of things that I love.  He told me that I was very fortunate and that he isn't passionate about much of anything.  He is a prime example of someone who has tried to appease his appetites with sensations and materials and can't do it.  It is true of what Elder Robert D. Hales said in last conference: the natural man can't ever be satisfied.  I hope to send him out a Book of Mormon as a gift as our relationship grows.

The fore mentioned individual helps us with our blend suits.  We use another vendor for our wool suits.  We also had a great meeting with him and he also asked if we were mormons.  This guy did not look what the suit business usually looks like.  wow! he was pretty inked up.  He is not the guy we usually work with but one of their employees.  He did however know his stuff when it came to suits.  He helped us out quite a bit and gave us some screaming prices for suits to go in our show room.

My Uncle Kent got us a smoking deal on the hotel.  Thanks.  I went down with Jesse and his wife Kelsy.  Jesse is one of my best friends and former missionary companion.  And my cousin Amanda came with us.  They were all great to have on the trip.  I got a new cell phone and it has GPS functionality.  It was such a saver for us.  We drove down Friday morning after finals and drove back Saturday night.  Quick trip!

We went to a couple of beaches.  The weather was a little chilly and the water even more so.  It reminded me of Oregon a little bit.  It was great to have the sand between my toes nonetheless.  We went to Newport Beach and Malibu.  I was glad that we were able to play a little bit but so happy that I was able to meet with some great vendors and get exactly what I needed for the store.

I am excited to plan my next adventure!

The store

You may have heard rumors of my opening a store.  They are true.  I have made a new partner who is also the investor.  He owns the building in which we are in.  It is the upstairs rooms of the Towne Cinemas in American Fork, 120 W Main Street.

They were simply old storage rooms full of junk two weeks.  They are somewhat small but will work great for how I sell my suits.  I should have been taking before and after pictures but I haven't.  The painting is complete, save a few little touch ups.  I want to thank all of my friends and family that have helped me along the way.  We just finished laying the carpet Saturday.

We are going to paint the stairs black with red and white flakes in it; this is set to happen Tuesday.  The walls are white and the ceilings and finish moldings are black.  We have our inspection for fire code this week.  I hope to hang all of the racks as well and set up the cash register area and such by mid week.  Lights should be up and installed by Wednesday.  We still have to order mirrors.  If you think of any details I might be needing let me know.

I am really excited for this!  Our hours are Monday-Friday 3-9 and Saturday 12-7, or by appointment.  I am taking classes this summer and plan on studying a lot at the office when it's slow.  And if it gets busy I have a few guys that want to already sell for us, but I'm not going to hire anyone if I can't afford to...

Referrals are appreciated!