QB U

Emmy suggested that I blog so I thought I'd be a good husband and obey. I'm in one of those moods to just write random thoughts and brush off being cohesive. -Tonight was fun at mutual. We went to BYU's recycling maze. I had fun timing the deacons as they ran through and organizing their races. I told Emmy that I really hope I'm in the ym presidency again when Jimmer's a deacon. -I love fall weather. I love how each week it gets cooler and cooler and how the trees slowly change colors. Tonight it was low 50's, high 40's. I have great memories for each part of the year, but there's something about fall- the coolness in the air, the wonderful smell...it's all nostalgic and just great. I try to remember the good memories from similar weather and there's just too many of them. There's walking home from class or late night studying and just enjoying the night time, or there were the hay rides when I was a teen. There's also biking home from an appointment on my mission and being grateful to have familiar weather and smells. The weather also reminds me of my freshman year and going home to Iowa for a few days, surprising mom, and opening my mission call. I also brought home my laundry so I could do it at home and it would be free. I lugged around a huge bag of laundry on the bus, trax, airplane and then all back to save $3. Considering inflation, though, that $3 is now worth $5 or $6 so I'd say I came out on top. -The most spiritual moment of my life is when Jimmer was born. I loved it when Emmy got to hold him for the first time and then I got to hold him. Man, it's just so amazing and indescribable. I'm getting really excited for our next baby and that next amazing moment. I think it will be really special to see Emmy hold the next baby again and then for me to hold him. I think what will also be really special is to see Jimmer hold him. They'll be good buddies, two really special spirits, along with my Emmy, another special spirit. Speaking of Emmy, she really is such a great mom...I knew she would be, but she's been even better than I thought she'd be. -In August I stayed home from Church with sick little Jimmy. As part of our little "sunday school," I talked to him about Jesus and showed him our painting of Jesus and the little boy. Later, Jimmer was looking up at the picture, there was something really neat about that, almost like realizing these were the beginning steps of Jimmer's lifelong journey of learning about and getting closer to his Savior. -Jimmer's a really funny kid. The nursery workers think it's really funny how excited Jimmer gets about snacks and certain toys. I can relate, I get really excited with ice cream, steak, and other good foods. We often walk around the temple, and Jimmer loves pointing at the temple. -So, the election is less than two weeks away...crazy. I'm nervous about it, but I can also accept either result. I mean, it would be absolutely awesome if Romney won. But if Obama does win I think our nation deserves him. That doesn't mean I haven't tried to make sure my guy wins and won't continue fighting for the things important to me, but ultimately I think a society deserves the leaders they elect. Having said that, Romney's going to win, 70% sure on this one and it continues to go up each day. -BYU football...ugh. It's ironic that BYU...Quarterback U...is only 1 good quarterback away from being 7-1 or even 8-0. Luckily, I've tempered things down this year to just being a fan and not a fanatic. I still LOVE college football and it I didn't have the family responsibilities I would sit and watch college football all day every Saturday and just eat wings, pizza, artichoke dip and chips...mmmmmm, doesn't that sound good. -Speaking of things I'm crazy about...the jet ski fund is up to $643. So only like $9,000 to go. I'm taking donations. -Man, me and Emmy had such a fun Europe trip. We bring up our trip often and enjoy talking about strolling the streets of Paris, driving the Battle of the Bulge sites in Belgium, tram hopping in the Hague, walking around Koln's zentrum, or biking Heerenveen. We like talking about all the chocolate we ate and the vla, doner kebabs, Indonesian food, and good desserts. It's kind of running joke now that whenever I go to Europe I almost always accidentally buy carbonated water while I'm there. I HATE carbonated water! But because of the way I travel, I can't throw it away and must drink it. We do hard things afterall. Except when it comes to toothbrushes apparently. Emmy's fell on the floor at one of the hostels we stayed at. She thinks it's disgusting to share toothbrushes so I let her use mine and I had to use my finger. When our family drove in Rome it was one of the worst driving experiences of my life. We kept on getting lost and going around in circles. I think it took us 2 hours to get out of Rome. I didn't want that to happen in Paris...but it somehow did. Luckily I knew where our hostel was in reference to the Eiffel Tower and to the Seine River. We found our hostel after only being in the center for 10 minutes. In Germany I hit 160 km/hr. I thought it was pretty cool except that cars were still zooming past me. I was also disappointed that 160 km/hr is only 100 mph, so yeah, there's room for improvement. Whenever we go back and spend more time in Germany we're going to get a better rental car to take on the Autobahn.

Fire Obama!

So I'm writing this message to do my civic duty of participating in the political process and here are my reasons why I won't be voting for Obama and why I don't think you should either: -43 months of 8% or higher unemployment, but up to 11.63% when adding in all the number of people who have dropped out of the workforce -Our national debt has gone up over $5.5 trillion -Gas prices have increased by nearly $2.00. Obama doesn’t control prices, obviously, but he’s prohibited drilling in the Arctic and the gas pipeline to help alleviate this increase. -Obama’s support for gay marriage -Billions of wasted dollars on Solyndra and other companies. -Obamacare violates the Constitution by mandating that each citizen purchases health insurance -Obamacare requires churches to include provisions in their health insurance policies against their religious beliefs -Blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants under employment -Obamacare will mean higher health insurance premiums -Obamacare means more fees and penalties, but the real name for it is taxes. -The average household income is down $4,000 -The number of people on food stamps has gone up by 15 million -The poverty rate has gone up 2% -Real economic growth is averaging 2.2%, less than half of the historic average for past post recession rebounds -Under Obamacare, abortions are funded by taxpayers. -The number of people receiving welfare has increased by 10 million, which now means 107 million (one-third of Americans) are on welfare. -Obama panders to African Americans by playing up race issues (i.e. Obama’s speech in Jeremiah Wright’s congregation where he blamed race as the reason the Feds were slow to give aid to New Orleans) -Obama endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement even though he has benefitted the most from receiving money from Wall Street more than any other president in the last 20 years. -Despite ’08 campaign promises, Obama’s administration has not been transparent (i.e. Fast and Furious, Obamacare) -Obama’s quote to outgoing Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility. -Obama made it easier to stay on welfare by removing “the work requirement” Obama has done a lousy job the first four years of trying to improve the economy, and has not given us any confidence in his ability to improve it the next four years. The best way to defeat Obama is to elect Mitt Romney as the next president. Romney has a proven track record of turning things around (i.e. struggling businesses, 2002 Olympics, state of Massachusetts). To defeat Obama, here’s what you can do: 1) Register to vote. Google your state and “how to register to vote” for instructions. Encourage others to also register to vote 2) Be sure to vote on Tuesday, November 6th. To find where you need to go, google your state and “find your polling station.” Encourage others to do the same. 3) Donate to Mitt Romney’s Campaign and encourage others to donate: http://www.mittromney.com/action/fundraise/fire-obama-fundraiser 4) Donate money to the major Super PAC’s and encourage others to donate: Restore Our Future- https://restoreourfuture.com/donate Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies- https://www.crossroadsgps.org/donate/ Americans For Prosperity- http://americansforprosperity.org/ 5) Volunteer to help the campaign by signing up to make calls from home and encourage others to volunteer- http://www.mittromney.com/call-home-landing 6) Order yard signs and bumper stickers- http://store.mittromney.com/ We are only one month away from this critical election. If you agree that our nation can’t afford another four years of Obama, do whatever you can do to ensure this outcome. Don’t regret later that you could have done more.

Lil Update

Dang, I'm a lousy blogger these days. So I've been going through my old blog entries- copying them so I have a backup and attaching labels to each entry. It's fun reading through them. This morning I copied and labeled entries from Feb. 2007 where we went to Burroughs Burros and I won the squirt gun war...good times. I was wondering where the old blogs are for Bit of Whit, The Fruit Roll up and Pdub's blog. There are some good reads in those. Politics just really bother me these days. I get pretty upset so I have to control how much I read, watch, and listen to about politics. This is a really important election, though. I keep feeling the urge of wanting to do everything I can to make sure Obama isn't re-elected and we take the Senate. The tough part is figuring out what I can do to help. I love my family. It's awesome coming home everyday to Emmy and Jimmer.

Stand for Religious Freedom Rally

Hey all, I am inviting all of you here in Utah to a rally in Provo that I've helped put together in the last few days and is part of a nationwide rally for religious freedom. An aspect of Obamacare forces employers to provide, as part of the insurance coverage, free contraceptives and abortion coverage. This also mandates that religious employers such as the Catholic Church and LDS Church have to provide this coverage even if it goes against their beliefs. Here is more info about the rally: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/locations/ Here is a fact sheet about the HHS mandate: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/docs/ObamacareMandatesFactSheetADF.pdf

Occupy Kasey

It's been awhile since I've done a good blog entry. I'll blame it on a few things- not usually in the mood to sit down and write down some thoughts and then also just lack of time. Our life these days revolves around Jimmer naturally. I'm trying to do my best to play with him for the 3-4 hours between getting home from work and putting him to bed. He's changed a lot in a month's time. He's a big crawler these days and so busy making his rounds around the house from the shoe rack to the ottoman with his toys to the vent in the kitchen and the books under his crib. He's so full of energy and doesn't like to focus on one thing, it's kind of funny to watch. I'm not sure how I was when I was a baby but sometimes I feel like my life is like Jimmer's- not able to focus on one thing and lots of things occupying my mind.

Some of the things occupying my mind these days:

-Trip to Europe. Me and Emmy are stoked about going. I haven't been back to Holland since 2007 so it's about time I get back there, show off my pretty wife, and check up on the people I love there. In the two times I've been back I've gone to all the cities I served- we're doing that this time but the next time we go to Europe we'll just do one or two cities in Holland so we can spend more time in another part of Europe. The region we're visiting in this trip to Europe is Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Western Germany and Northern France. We're going to rent a car and stay along the Rhine and see lots of castles and pretty cities in Germany. We're doing the whole backpack thing and stay in a few hostels along with some hotels. It's kind of how I like to do it- the 2006 Europe trip was just so awesoem and it's a style I like to do. Turns out that Groupon and Living Social are really big there like they are here. We've been buying some good deals that will help us eat nice for not too much. So yeah, we'll see a lot, eat a lot of cool foods, get some cool souvenirs, some cool pictures, and just enjoy ourselves in Europe. It'll definitely be tough to be away from Jimmer for 2 weeks but he'll have fun with my parents. There's lots of new toys for him and Skybekah's kids he can play with.

-The Republican primaries. It's pretty fun to watch. I still think there's no way it won't be Romney. I actually don't mind the bickering in the debates or just from the campaigns...it's politics, that's what happens. As long as the Mormon card doesn't get played I'm fine with either campaign doing what they're doing. The schedule favors Romney- he'll win Florida and then Nevada and Maine favor him, he won Colorado and Minnesota in 2008 so he'll do well there and then Arizona and Michigan are two states he'll easily win. All this momentum early on will pretty much just make him the inevitable candidate. It's interesting how many top Republicans just do not like Newt, that's another thing that's been working to Romney's advantage.

-House Projects. I think we will rent out our house when the time comes to move out of Utah or move to a different house. It'll be a good addition to our retirement portfolio, shouldn't be hard too stressful since there are some good property management companies here, and it's kind of fun getting the house ready to be able to rent. We finished the fence in October so we have a new white vinyl fence in the back and on each side of the house. We still need to either close off the fence or extend it into the front yard- that'll be a small project this summer. We're also looking forward to landscaping the yard with low-maintenance plants, painting the shed, leveling the garden area, putting crown molding in our bedroom, doing some small projects in the house, and putting in a sprinkler system. I really want a sprinkler system in place so the grass doesn't go downhill. Anyway, it's fun working on the house/yard and it'll probably take 2-3 summers of doing all this, but it's fun doing the prep for the projects.

-School. So I'm starting to come around to realize more education is a good thing that I'm anxious to do. For one, I think more business education will help with my career and two, I want to make myself more valuable.

-Church calling. I work with the priests in our ward. It's a calling that I really enjoy but just wish I was better at. We have good young men in our ward- they need some encouraging and some of them don't have strong families. Sometimes I want to shake them, take away their agency, and force them to get their Eagle and Duty to God. It's something I think a lot about--how can I help them more. It's not a new feeling, it's something that I constantly dealt with on my mission. It's just tough to help people progress when they don't have that desire. How can you help others have more desire? Like today in Sacrament meeting--we were a tad late and sat in the very back--I couldn't believe how many people around us were on their cell phone. In just a small sampling there were 12 people looking down at the phone...it really frustrates me and just makes me feel sad for them.

-Family History. When my died last year I went down to the funeral in Mesa, AZ and then we went to Virden, New Mexico for his burial. Virden probably has the population of 50 people? I would be shocked if there were more than that. It's way out in the middle of no where, it felt like we were in a desolate part of Mordor to be honest. But the whole experience really had a strong effect on me. First of all our family is very representative of the urbanization of America. Grandpa grew up on a farm in a small house with a large family. Sounds like a pretty typical story you'd hear from a grandparent, right? When I hear(d) stories from my two grandpas or about them you can't help but be impressed at how down to earth they are and just how good they are. They are very good men who lived in very poor circumstances, but they aren't complaining. They lived in smalltown, USA without tv, internet, electricity. They didn't need to live close to a mall or close to a place with a lot of entertainment. They had little but appreciate and are grateful for the things they did have. They worked hard growing up which made them the men they are and were. I'm frustrated right now because I can't quite put into words what I think/feel about the situation but I think it's sad that those days are over. It's not the same time, it's not the same country where people grow up like that and I think it's sad that we're missing or aren't going to have the experiences they had. I think it's sad that my generation has everything and therefore feels entitled to more because that's what we're accostomed to. It's sad that smalltown, USA is pretty much non-existent now because those experiences produced great people as evidenced through my grandparents. Virden used to have more people, it used to have a pretty vibrant ward and high school. Grandpa's brother told the story of how they would go to church dances and perform a skit that would get girls. I thought that was funny. They had hard experiences, I can't imagine what it would be like to have the chores they did or to live in those small homes with so many family families. I'm grateful they went through those things and turned out the way they did which in turn has influenced me. I guess I just want my kids to somehow learn those same things and turn out to be good Church members, good citizens, just good respectable and decent people.

-Jet ski.

-Exercise. So we bought a treadmill in November. It's pretty sweet. I think it's probably one of the best investments I've made. We only have one body, right, so might as well make it healthy and fit. I'm trying to lose 12 pounds this year which is crazy for me because I don't think I actually need to lose weight, but it's just more of a by-product of the real goal to be healthy and exercise a lot this year.

-Emmy!

I have a lot on my mind and even though I don't think I'll be able to really express my thoughts and feelings, but it does help to blog them.

I love fall, we've been on a few drives to enjoy the foliage- the Nebo and Alpine Loops. Man the colors are amazing, and the pictures don't do it any justice. I've been in DC the past couple of days and have really enjoyed the scenery, experience, and feel of it. There's a familiar Fall smell that resembles the same smell in CB...it must be the humidity.

I've really enjoyed DC- the architecture and the feel remind me of my mission and living in some of the big cities in Europe. It'd be really fun to have the urban/metropolitan experience. My co-worker and I walked a few miles trying to find a restaurant and there's just something to taking an evening stroll in the city, enjoying the atmosphere, and thinking about what it's like to live here.

Jimmer made me real happy tonight. I called Emmy and heard Jimmer being fussy in the background. Emmy put the phone up to him and he stopped crying and made his funny little noises when he's excited. Me and Emmy talked a little more and then Jimmer was again fussy, she put the phone up to his ear and again the same thing, he got really excited. Man I love Jimmer and Emmy. I never could have imagined how much I could just love Jimmer and Emmy so much. That probably comes out weird, but man I just love them so much. I know Emmy loves me, and now it's special to know that Jimmer loves me too.

I've been really disturbed by some of the international political events recently. For one, I'm glad we're getting out of Iraq because I don't honestly think things will ever fully improve to where we could feel totally comfortable about leaving, but it's just frustrating because this feels like it's a political move only by Obama and that I think things could really get bad in Iraq with Iran next door. The Gaddafi killing has really disturbed me and I'm not quite sure what my opinion or feelings about it are. I mean he was a bad dude who did bad things. He killed a lot of his own people and deserved punishment, but how he died is really uneasy with me how he was captured and paraded around and then executed in front of the masses. It's just interesting and disturbing to me how a brutal dictator of 42 years is one day ruling the country and later is at the mercy of the people. Man, I think I'm probably not clear at all, because I don't even know what I'm really thinking. Maybe it comes down to just pitying him. I mean, he was a bad person, he did bad things to his people. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. Here he was pulled and beaten out of his hiding place, bloodied and shoved out of the truck...begging for mercy from the people he never showed mercy to. And then he was shot in the head and his body is still being paraded as a trophy. It's very disturbing to me, and I feel really really bad for him. Watching the footage on the news channels is disturbing, but also fascinated me because in that footage Gaddafi is not a leader/dictator of a country, but a person. Just a regular person, a child of God, someone as reliant on the mercies of the Savior as I am. He controlled billions of dollars, an entire country, navies, armies, but this did nothing for him in the end. He's just a regular person- nothingness. The whole thing also reminds me of the scripture about Korihor and about how in the end Satan abandoned him, like Satan does with all those who choose to follow him. It's just amazing to me, and I realize my thoughts are confusing and I'm probably feeling/thinking too much of this situation, but I pity Gaddafi. I pity him for going back, unprepared, to his maker, having to be fully accountable for everything he did. The whole thing is disturbing and creeps me out, but ultimately I'm just sad for him and his soul.

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!

Maha Rushie, El Rushbo, Harmless loveable little fuzzball

A lot of people don't like Rush Limbaugh. They have many reasons for not liking him, but I think the lamest reason is that he's wrong...cause he really isn't. Yes, he comes off as a little arrogant, or very arrogant, and he definitely is very conservative and blames practically all problems in the world on liberals, but he is very convincing. Some journalists are talking about the Limbaugh Challenge, which means before passing judgement and just believing what others tell you, how bout you listen to him for a couple weeks, and then form your opinion. I'm pretty sure anyone that does that will be converted to conservatism.

A guy at work said it would be the worst financial decision of your life if you didn't buy your first home this year if you were. He was joking around at the time, but there is some truth to that. I mean, you can get a dirt cheap house with a dirt cheap interest rate, you can negotiate the seller to pay for all the closing costs and possibly your down payment as well. And then on top of all of that the government will GIVE you $8,000, and maybe even $6,000 more!!!! For the love!
As you can probably guess somebody wants their house value to go up and the only way that will happen is if we get out of this economic mess, and that will only happen if people start buying homes again.

What does "nothing wavering" mean? Here is Pres. Monson's First Presidency message in the March Ensign:

If our desire is to discard all doubt and to substitute therefore an abiding faith, we have but to accept the invitation extended to you and to me in the Epistle of James:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”

This promise motivated the young man Joseph Smith to seek God in prayer. He declared to us in his own words:

“At length I came to the conclusion that I … must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to ‘ask of God,’ concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

“So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. … It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.”8

Now, if we have hesitated in supplicating God our Eternal Father simply because we have not as yet made the attempt to pray, we certainly can take courage from the example of the Prophet Joseph. But let us remember, as did the Prophet, our prayer must be offered in faith, nothing wavering.

He may mean that to get an answer, we need to absolutely believe that God is there and that he can and will answer us. Or he may mean that nothing must waver in our belief of Christ and the Gospel. It's interesting that to get faith we need to have faith. That is the great leap of faith we hear a lot about. It's not easy, and inviting people to do it is what missionary work is all about. The desire is the real kicker- how can you help someone get that desire? How can you yourself get that desire. I think that comes partly from hearing and reading of experiences of people who have that faith. That's probably why Pres. Monson goes on to talk about examples from the scriptures:

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that the brother of Jared saw the finger of God touch the stones in response to his plea.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Noah erected an ark in obedience to the command from God.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Abraham was willing to offer up his beloved Isaac as a sacrifice.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Joshua and his followers brought the walls of Jericho tumbling down.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Joseph saw God our Eternal Father and Jesus Christ, His Son.

Now, the skeptic may say that these mighty accounts of faith occurred long ago, that times have changed.

Have times really changed? Don’t we today, as always, love our children and want them to live righteously? Don’t we today, as always, need God’s divine, protecting care? Don’t we today, as always, continue to be at His mercy and in His debt for the very life He has given us?

Times have not really changed. Prayer continues to provide power—spiritual power. Prayer continues to provide peace—spiritual peace.

When I watch General Conference I ALWAYS get that desire to have more faith and to live a better life. It's amazing the power that comes from reading the scriptures, the Ensign, or hearing the words of the General Authorities. It's the spirit touching the spirit, and inspiring the better side of us to do want to do better and desire to have faith. Gosh I'm excited for this weekend!

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&vgnextoid=a6246a008952b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Tjonge jongen!

Should I make this a post about what's going on in my life or my thoughts on some things going right now? I think I'll just write and see what comes out. Bill Buchanan died- wow, that bites! I bought season tickets for football season next year. I think I may have gotten season basketball tickets too, cause there was some sort of promotion with that, but I'm not totally sure. I seriously have no idea what America will be like in let's say 5 years. Yeah, a lot will be the same, but gosh what is going on with the government and the economy? The Idaho trip was fun, always nice to see a sealing. It was fun playing werewolves with the ole group and then some Balderdash, chill time, Jack in the Box, staying at the Andersons and driving home with Jared and Cannon. We saw the Malad Gorge, Shoshone Falls and a huge gorge outside of Twin Falls. We kept on calling it the Great Valley, from The Land Before Time. It's weird that Provo is home. I've been here awhile now, but home was always Council Bluffs. Buying a home and settling down with a steady job sure changed all that pretty fast.

Emily saw Ninja Turtles 2 for the first time and she loved it! That's good to hear, I trust that she will raise our kids with Ninja Turtles. That was my favorite movie growing up and I purposely made it the last movie I saw before my mission. We need to watch Ninja Turtles 1 sometime, even though #2 is much better in my opinion. One of the reasons it's so good is because of the Ninja Rap. Speaking of the Ninja Rap, we saw Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer in concert. It was good- Vanilla doesn't have any moves left and sounds like a frog. Hammer definitely has it still. We almost saw a fight at the concert. We all dressed in 90's clothes- I can't believe we're already dressing in 90's clothes, though early 90's is pretty much the 80's. I wonder what the 2000's will be known for, actually I want to know what they'll even call the 2000's- probably that.

Go BYU! I forget how much I enjoy BYU basketball. I definitely LOVE football and I really enjoy basketball. That is one thing I am definitely excited about the next several years we're here in Utah- living so close to BYU. We have a lot of friends and family moving away from BYU going to jobs and school away from here. It's definitely sad that they're leaving and gets me a little anxious for a change, but then I remember how much our little family has been blessed with the circumstances we're in, and I'm glad we'll be here for 5-7 years. After that...law school in Hawaii???

There's so much to love about life! It really isn't worth worrying or wasting away. There are so many opportunities to have fun and just be happy. So much to see, so much to do, so many people to get to know, soooooooooooooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!

Our Silly Government

The government is really bothering me right now. They are the ones who cause this whole mess with the economy...and not Obama thinks the government is the last hope for saving the economy. The government isn't what makes America great, it's the people, it's the American people and the American dream...which the government helps secure. The economy will be bad for a long time because the government thinks the way out of this mess is to continue tax, spend, and borrow. For the love! In my job I see how a lot of businesses all over the U.S. are doing and it is a sad sad picture. Lots of businesses are struggling and laying off people.

I guess what really bothers me especially is all the bailout happening, rewarding businesses and states for bad management and bad policies. Unions really are messing up this country. Everyone's asking for bailout money now- the porn industry, towns of 174, mob museums...it's stupid. A lot of corruption and scandal out there. Our president hangs around a lot of corrupt people...but he's not corrupt! Isn't interesting how no matter how much money people they always want more.

Why I am voting Democract!

I've finally seen the light, kids. Please don't stop me.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Iraq I trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they now think we're good people.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as THEY see fit.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe three or four pointy headed elitist liberals need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would NEVER get their agendas past the voters.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that when the terrorists don't have to hide from us over there, when they come over here I don't want to have any guns in the house to fight them off with.

I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't. Makes ya wonder how anyone would NEVER vote Democrat , now doesn't it?

(From an email)

For the love! It has been such a long time. Here's the thing, life is a little more complicated than before. It's tougher to find time to post in here when I'm working during the day and then playing at night. I haven't been able to find much time to do research or other things that I've wanted to do. But I have wanted to write in here for awhile now. Maybe I'll just do shorter posts for now on...as long as I'm putting something in my blog, huh?

Ok, so we planted a bunch of flowers in an inflatable pool in front of my apartment. They are sort of coming along. They haven't budded yet, so you can't see the actual flowers yet, but the green stems and leaves are definitely there. The poor sunflowers- I don't think they'll grow much more because the soil is really shallow. We planted pumkins, watermelons, cauliflowers, and cantelopes all over campus. Most of them have been picked and what not but we have one hope left with some pumpkins. They're growing quite nicely on the path on the hill south of campus. I really hope they grow all the way so we can throw pumpkins off a bridge.

Summer is really fun- a lot of frisbee, swimming, hiking, biking, traveling, anything and everything. I love it here.

Lately I've gotten quite a few comments on here and questions about who this girl is in a lot of my pictures. Well...this is Emily. We've been friends since October 2006 when we first talked about all the good drinking fountains on campus. We played steal the flag once, I put my arm around her so that we would be disguised as a couple as we walked to the enemy side. We went to a basketball game once which was our first date. After that we didn't do much with each other for the spring and summer. I was back home during the fall semester, but I came out with some friends and I made sure to hang out with her. We played werewolves with friends and it was fun. I moved back to Provo in January 2008 and I ran into Emily on campus, but we were both talking on the phone so we couldn't chat. We hung out a couple times, playing football in the snow or playing werewolves. I started liking her again but still thought that I never really had a chance. But something happened, something big...she silly stringed me as I was coming out of Del Taco. Oh the games. Still though, I was nervous to take her out. Then something else happened...we played Battle UNO and she rested her arm on my knee. Oh the games. So I asked her out for what I called a wicked cool date. A year ago I wanted to take her out after our first date and do a choose your own adventure date. I even planned it out but never got to it. So I decided to do it again. A couple hours before the date I discovered a new talent- sounding like the singer Aaron Neville, "And I don't know much." Gavin said he would give me $3,000 if I would talk like Aaron Neville for the whole date. I thought about it on the car ride over, but I thought that it was possible that I could mess up a good thing by doing that. I told Emily on the date about the bet and she was disappointed I didn't do it. $3,000 would have been nice, but we both agreed that the date was worth more than that. I can't remember all the options she had for the first part of the date, but because it was hard for her to choose which adventure to do, I gave her the option of phoning a friend. Carrie Robinson decided that we should play basketball. So we played bball and beat another couple at the RB. And that's when I knew she was a keeper...lol. For the next adventure she chose finding a recipe online and making it over begging for food, a bonfire, Chinese food, or the Movies 8 snackbar. That brought her to final stage which was to play UNO at the H-fac. We ended up talking instead of playing, it was easier to talk with me because I was Kasey and not Aaron Neville.

And from there, ladies and gentlemen, the rest is history. I honestly don't know how the last 4 1/2 months could have been any better. I have never had so much fun with another person, never been able to talk with anyone else like I can with Emily, never felt so "wanting to be a better person" than I do when I'm with her. I think of the 'perfect girl' and she is it. During the 4 1/2 months we've dated, each day I came to like and then love her more and more. Each day I realized more and more that I could not live without her and that she is "the girl of my dreams."

Yesterday, June 30th, I asked her to marry me and she said 'Yes.' I woke up yesterday knowing that it would be the last "normal" day of my life. We've of course talked a lot about getting married and pinky swore that we would. She knew I wanted to marry her and I knew she wanted to marry me. But I wanted to surprise her. Me and Emily had this inside thing that we would write out dreams and then try hard to dream it and meet up in our dreams. Well she wanted to dream that we would play PIG w/o the honor, we would go on a convertible ride through the mountains, we would watch the sunset on a beach, and then we would dance on the beach under the stars and moonlight. So yesterday she was studying and I got her to take a break, we went and shot hoops and she beat me in PIG w/o the honor, and then I surprised her with a convertible and took her away. I thought she would know what was going on when she saw the convertible, but turns out she didn't. We drove the Alpine Loop in the mountains and forests behind Mt. Timp...it was gorgeous- just perfect. We drove through Provo Canyon to Deer Creek Resevoir and parked on the beach and danced under the stars and moonlight. I try to get to bed by 10:30 everynight so we started going home but we wanted to go to "our spot" along the river. We went there and we "found" a dozen roses. I started kneeling on one knee and started pulling out a ring box, but "accidentally" got it caught on my jeans and then somehow threw it into the river. I tried convincing her that I was freaked out and she was freaked out for a couple seconds too but then thought it was all a joke until I completely surprised her with the real ring in my right pocket. I asked, she agreed...and then almost passed out. Ha, poor Emily, she didn't get much sleep the night before and gave blood that day but gave more than a pint because they kept having problems and blood squirted onto her shirt and stuff. She was pretty nautious and light-headed and then this about did her in. But it was perfect. We told our families, then enjoyed the convertible some more, cruisin, picked up some friends, and enjoyed our "engagement night" together. So that is Emily everyone. My favorite person in the world, my bff (best friend forever), mi amiga (?), my fiancee! I showed a lady at work a picture of us two and she simply commented that she can tell we are best friends. We are...and more.

Anyway, sorry if this is mushy and stuff. I actually don't like it too much when people talk about little things their significant others do for each other because it is just a "them" thing and the world doesn't need to know about it. I don't imagine ever being this public again about our relationship because it's an "us" thing. Can't promise anything and I apologize if I slip. But I am very happy and excited. It's been a fun and rough ride. Dating is the worst and the best. The past 4 1/2 months have been simple the best, but there was a lot of worst before that. I'm not sure what it was...but a lot of close family and friends have made fun of me for not being married. It's unfortunate that our Mormon culture is like that and that people carelessly make you feel bad for something that you really have no control over. I'm sad to say that I'm not exempt from making careless comments either. But it's a normal and sad thing to equate your self-worth with your dating success. It's unfortunate that it's like that, because it shouldn't be like that, but it's kind of a negative consequence that comes about from all the talk about families/dating/marriage, etc. It's sad, but I used to kind of believe that I must have been a bad missionary because I wasn't married. That was a long time ago that I felt that, but members of the Church are really good at making you feel unrighteous for not being married, and sometimes it can be a completely harmless comment where you simply mention marriage. Some people probably need those comments but for most of the people I've been around, the comments really aren't needed, even if it's joking. Ummm, so yeah, I'm not meaning to make anybody feel bad for saying stuff like that to me, I'm fine, but if you're ever thinking about making a comment about somebody not being married...think twice.

Anyway, I got a lot to say, I guess. I haven't written in here in awhile. I didn't think I had much to say at the beginning, but now a novel is coming out. We went on a hike last Saturday, we started at Rock Canyon and went up to just to the side of Mt. Y by going around the backside. I really enjoyed the last half...and not just because we were going downhill. It was really scenic and just made me appreciate nature and Heavenly Father's little blessings He gives us. I felt that last night too. To be blessed with somebody like Emily just amazes me--it just puts me that much more in debt to Him for his countless blessings.

It's looking like Mitt Romney will probably be the VP choice. That'll be good for him. He really is a good choice and hopefully it'll help him for 2012. I really don't think McCain has a chance against Obama, which is really unfortunate cause Obama will be a really bad president. He is the most liberal candidate ever and it's unfortunate that the Dems will have a hey day with him as prez.

Pictures of You, Pictures of Me

Such a funny picture


Hoover Dam


Vegas

The happiest place in the world!

Splash mountain with zombie faces

I honestly thought I'd pull it out this time

Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones

Graduation!!!!!

My building - the SWKT

The stole makes a good tie

I am a graduate, like my father before me

Moving

Leaving PP8 like we came in, minus Bravin, the gorlock and guitars

Baseball

Wheelchair basketball

Gosh, we should have totally done it. Drawn stashes on people as they are frozen in the flash mob

A sighting of Elder Kaiser

General Conference

Zombie faces

Bike riding

Freaky

Leaving the Festival of Colors

Don't worry, I got her pretty good too.

Awwwww, poor baby

I always like doing these type of pictures

Taking a picture of Em's building, the Widtsoe from my building, the SWKT

Playing frisbee on top of the SWKT.

I've decided that McCain isn't such a bad guy. I mean I disagree with a lot of policies and stuff, but this article: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080508/D90H5S3O0.html convinced me that he's at least a good guy.

A few things...

I'm really liking George Will right now because of two articles. A couple years ago he wrote about how Conservatives are happier than liberals...and by like 13%. And it's been like that ever since this poll has been taken since 1972. It's a really interesting article. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022202012.html

He says: Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong, they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.

Today an article came out about how conservatives give MUCH more than libs in time, money, and blood.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html
The study was actually done by an independent, but he has lots of interesting findings and then says: -- People who reject the idea that "government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality" give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.

Will ends with: In 2000, brows were furrowed in perplexity because Vice President Al Gore's charitable contributions, as a percentage of his income, were below the national average: He gave 0.2 percent of his family income, one-seventh of the average for donating households. But Gore "gave at the office." By using public office to give other peoples' money to government programs, he was being charitable, as liberals increasingly, and conveniently, understand that word.

Interestingly enough, libs are actually wealthier than conservatives. Most think it's the other way around, but it's not. Funny huh? Conservatives have less, but give more and are happier. Honestly, we rock!

I think this is such a funny web site, I found it on Caitlin's blog, but it's Stuff White People Like:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/full-list-of-stuff-white-people-like/

And introducing an additional link to my blog- Justin and Sara Skidmore's blog- http://sjskidmore.blogspot.com/

For the Freakin Love

New York's governor, Elliot Spitzer, resigned last week because of his involvement in a prostitution ring. So he was replaced with David Paterson who will finish up his term. Within hours, Paterson admitted to having had an extramarital affair with another woman for years. His wife admitted to having had an extramarital affair too. FOR THE FREAKIN LOVE!

Why you shouldn't vote for Barack Obama

As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with fullequality in their family and adoption laws. I personally believe that civil unions represent the bestway to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should notstand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay andlesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage.Unlike Senator Clinton, I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)– a position I have held since before arriving in the U.S. Senate. While some say we should repealonly part of the law, I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether. Federal law should notdiscriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. Ihave also called for us to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and I have worked to improve the UnitingAmerican Families Act so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations asmarried couples in our immigration system.

Fleece it up

My computer has been down for awhile so I didn't think I could post pictures, but I figured out I can still get my pictures by uploading them onto campus computers. But yeah, I have a lot of pictures.

Haha, I love this picture. This is on the way to stake conference.


Utah can have a cool sky too.


Playing Risk on Cannon's computer

Met up with my Uganda peeps.

Colby's car.

Playing this fun winking game at the Bishop's house.

Attaboy Mitt.

Whenever I chat with Carrie on gmail, two text boxes always come up.

Me and Barack Hussein Obama.

Little la likes her beef jerky. Colbers doesn't like getting his picture taken.

My sweet ride for a month. A 2008 Toyota Prius Hybrid. I should have taken some pictures on the inside.

I spied on the enemy. Mr. Huckabigot.

I walked downstairs in the morning and what did I see? A lamp magneted onto the ceiling. And Miss Jenny creepily standing there.

Eating with Apartment #3. We celebrated the joining of our two apartments through Kecca's (Kyle and Becca) engagement. Soon we'll all be roommates-in-law.

Mitt won Michigan. So we celebrated at Del Taco. Attaboy Del Taco.

A wicked cool sunset while walking home from campus.

Contra-dancing. Which has nothing to do with the nintendo game, I found out.

Wow, Tricia got taken out by a Wyoming mile marker #138.

We rocked the caucus.

The other side of the gym had a Ron Paul and a Thompson section. Our whole side was pretty much Mitt Romney. We had some fun chants across the court.

We were talking to Cannon, who we thought was in bed, but then he came upstairs, but it seriously looks like he's in there.

Adam and Cannon being boys.