Gosh it's been too long since I actually wrote on here. Life has been really busy with the Becks. Sometimes I feel like my head is spinning with so much going on.

August through the 2nd week of January is my favorite time of year. I love watching college football. It is just so fun for me to have a couple games going on at a time, and listen/watch as I work on something else. In college I had school work to do, now it's yard work/house work. I'm getting very excited for the upcoming season, especially because all that has gone on this offseason. Last week was sure interesting with word getting out that BYU was going to go independent in football. I won't give a summary of all the drama that happened from that, but things were just exciting last week- it was fun talking about it at work and with the fam. We talked about it for half our bishopric meeting. Anyway, life is just great right now, we're going jet skiing all day Thursday and football is here.

I hate politics. I don't really like reading current events or listening to the news anymore, it just all makes me so mad. I still do all those things, they just make me mad. BYU football has kind of filled that void. Probably what has made me the most upset is the overturning of Prop 8. It's the fact that one man's opinion has more of an effect than 7 million voters who twice showed they don't want gay marriage in their state. It just leaves you feeling really helpless. If voting against it won't stop it, then the voter is powerless. That's so undemocratic! I read a book about the whole John Edwards mess, called "The Politician." That book was very interesting and very unnerving. John Edwards was a good man, a good father, who was passionate about some things and wanted to change circumstances for the better. I didn't agree with many of his stances, but he was a good guy. When he got elected to Senator, he didn't really even like it. He didn't like being away from his family all the time. And then someone mentioned his name as a possible running mate with Al Gore. From then on, the desire for more prestige and more power drowned out his family and other important priorities. It’s sad how often things like this happen in politics. The book just amazed me at how corrupt politics/Hollywood/The REALLY Wealthy are. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised because this is how it was in the Book of Mormon. But gosh, ambition and power is a deadly combination.

Whitney got married last week, the house the reception was at was HUGE. I think it’s the biggest house/yard I’ve ever been to. I talked it over with Emmy and we decided we’re not going to have a house like that in this life. But oh man, wait til ya’ll see our house in Heaven, trust me kids you’ll want to come. Just a little sneak peak- waverunners and dolphins will be involved.

Inception- good movie. I made it down 2 levels last night, but that’s so common for me, I’m pretty sure I hit that level 4-5 times a week. Once in awhile I’ll hit the 3^rd level. I wonder if I’ve ever hit 4…it’s possible, as is being in limbo.

I’ve noticed that I’ve been happier lately than usual. It’s probably not obvious at all on the outside but I definitely feel that way on the inside. Two things that I think I can attribute it to is living in the now and not comparing myself/my situation to others. It’s funny because we’re taught to not just live for the present, but I think at the same time it’s bad to live just for the future as well. I think I’m the type of person who is always looking forward to the next step and planning that next move. That move could be anything, but I think it was distracting me from just being content and enjoying the present. Planning ahead is usually what gets me worried, stressed, unhappy. If I just think about today, and how purposely live to enjoy today- the people I’ll be with, the weather, the food I’ll eat, the different events I’ll participate in, the beauty of the world around me, etc. it really makes me grateful for everything and just content and relaxed with what’s going on now. This explanation is pretty much the same explanation for why not comparing yourself makes you happy. When I think that if we would have waited 4 months to buy our house we would have gotten it cheaper and would have been given an $8,000 tax credit I get frustrated. But at the time, it was what we wanted, we felt good about the decision and it was just a good situation for us. It’s only when we compare our situation to what we could have had that we get frustrated. That goes for pretty much anything I think. If we compare ourselves to others we’ll never be content or happy with our current situation. It’s just a vicious and nasty cycle that’s tough to get out of, but getting out of has just got to be HUGE for making you happy. Anyway, here’s to today!