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.

Manti Te'o Interview

This is a really touching interview from probably the best college football linebacker. He's LDS but chose to go to Notre Dame for school. He's such a stud. This interview will inspire you and bring a tear to the eye. http://www.jimrome.com/junglehighlights?uri=channels/465575/1701019

2 months!

Well 2 months ago we were at the hospital as Emmy was going into labor. It's crazy to think how fast it's gone and how much I forgot what it was like when it was just the two of us. I'm so blessed to have Jimmer in my life, I feel like I've changed a lot in the past two months...for the better. It's just awesome being a dad! It has helped me understand better the love Heavenly Father has for his children. I'm not completely sure he's my kid because I don't think he looks like me. I'm not sure he's Emmy's kid either cause he doesn't look like her. None of our families claim him either- with Emmy's family saying he looks like me and my family all saying he looks like her. But, ya know, I still love the little guy and just assume he's mine.

He's been smiling and coo-ing a lot. He has a lot of different type of smiles- he does this smile that's kind of like a sarcastic, making fun of you-type smile. My favorite is when his whole face smiles. It's fun to see his personality, it's like, "oh, there you are Jimmer, where have you been?" It's fun that he's starting to respond to us. So I'm trying to do exercises with him where I lift him up like 10 or so times. If I keep it up and do that his whole life, imagine how strong I'll be when he's 18!!

Jimmer's first trip to the Temple.

A couple things about Jimmer:

-He grunts all the time, a few of the videos show that too. We're not sure if that's a normal thing with other newborns, but this kid is always doing it.

-He gets the jimmy leg a lot.

-The whole soft spot in the head kind of disturbs me. I mean, I can see his pulse through his head. I got a haircut this last week and the girl who gave it to me said she was born without a soft spot and had to have 7 surgeries because of it, so I guess I'm grateful for it.

-He's not doing the mouth shiver as much as when he was first born, but he still does it quite a bit.

-Again, not sure if these things are normal with other babies, but when you lay him down to change him or put him in the crib he'll turn his head back and forth over and over, it's pretty funny.

-He likes sticking up his arm like the black power sign.

-He's outgrown his newborn clothes and is doing pretty good with his 3-6 month clothes. He's not growing out of the clothes wide-wise, but length-wise. Go figure, I got a tall son.

-His hair is starting to come in better. It's kind of coming in blond and light brown. I was born brown and then went blonde until I was like 6 or 7, so I dunno, we'll see.

Utter tings:

-Really glad it's spring/summer. I like the springs a lot here in Utah! I love it when it's nice down in the valley but still a lot of snow on the mountains. Today it's nice, cool, crisp, weather. It's great.

-Playin softball this summer for intramurals, it's my last chance to get a t-shirt, man I want one!

-Taking out our fence, putting in a nice white vinyl fence. It's become quite the project because of all the vines back there. The roots grow deep. This fence is the one of the major steps of our plan to really beautify our yard.

-I don't know what it is, but the last 2 days it seems like everyone in Provo is out on the roads, it's just been so packed on the roads. Provo is a growin methinks.

-Getting pretty excited for jet skiing and then college football--seriously, the best time of year!

-I'm venturing into the computer building world. I guess it doesn't take that long to do, so I've been buying parts that Emily's bro, David, is showing me to buy. He'll show me how to put together the computer and hopefully I can make a few hundred. Trying to build up our jet ski fund. It was around $800, lost a few hundred in some stock gambles I took. If anybody reading this wants to donate to my jet ski fund, please feel welcome to.

-Been riding the good ole scooter to work and softball games...it's so fun. Man I love that thing when it works.

-So we're tentatively scheduling a trip to Europe next year. I think the plan is to do Holland for like 5 days and then SW Germany, Luxembourg, and Paris for like 7 days. If anybody is interested in doing the second part with us, let us know.

-Shout out to Alan and Nieman for getting engaged!

Rushin the court after the San Diego St. game. It's like playing "Where's Kasey?" (hint, I'm pointing to the camera)

His favorite toy is the massage chair

I think he finally realized he doesn't have any hair and is embarrassed.

Me and Rose (the Lil Caesers lady)

Spring football game yesterday.

BYU-UTAH!!!!

This is what it's all about sports fans! We've had some amazing game the last few years- I get goose bumps everytime I watch these videos because sitting in the stands...or R22 for 2006, I was on pins and needles- we could have won it or lost it with these three plays. Man, I sure hope BYU has it in them for some fireworks this year.

BYU vs. Utah 2006 Final Play Must See!

2006: Harline is still open

4th & 18...Collie is still open

2007: Magic Happens

Max Hall TD pass to Andrew George - BYU Beats Utah 2009 Football!!!

2009: George is still running

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!

-So this last week was pretty much amazing, it's probably what Heaven will be like. Hung out with family all week and spent several hours on the jet ski. Gosh I love that thing.

-LeBron made too much of a deal announcing on ESPN that he was leaving Cleveland to go to Miami. It is definitely insulting to the city of Cleveland to announce it that way. But the Cavs owner has been dumb saying he guarantees the Cavs will win before the Heat...yeah right! And then Jesse Jackson has to be dumb and bring race into everything. Pretty much everybody is acting dumb with this whole situation.

-Excited for college football

-Me and Em have both been trying to figure out everything- what are we supposed to be doing. Lotsa questions. You ever heard that story where the fisherman spends his time fishing in the mornings, hanging out with the kids and wife the rest of the afternoon and evening and then plays guitar with his friends at night. A banker comes along and says how he has a Harvard MBA and can help the fisherman buy giving him a loan to purchase a fleet of boats which will make him a few million. The fisherman asks how long that will take, the banker says 15-20 years, the fisherman asks and then what, banker: then you'll have millions of dollars, fisherman: then what? banker: then you'll be able to retire and spend your time fishing in the mornings, spending time with your family in the afternoons and evenings, and play guitar with your friends at night.

Lol, it's a funny story, our elders quorum teacher told the story this last Sunday and just got me thinking about things. A few months ago in a Priesthood training, the stake president told us to always remember that your job is just that...a job, it's not your life, it's not "your work." Your work is your family and doing the Lord's work. I'm trying to figure out a lot of things right now, one difficult part about running your own business is that it becomes more of your life. It's tricky to not let that happen. But the absolute best thing, I think, about running your own business is the flexibility. I'm able to just take off and do service in the middle of the day, or do random things because of that flexibility. Tons of tradeoffs! I've read quite a few biographies about Sam Walton, Jack Welch, and Walt Disney...all good guys who worked hard and really benefitted the world with the businesses they built up, but the downside is that their job was their life. Their family lives suffered in my opinion. That's a tradeoff I'm not willing to make. Balancing life priorities is tough, especially when you add in Church service and having fun. That entrepreneurship bug is definitely in me, and I can't go back to not trying to start up things, but sometimes I envy an 8-5 job because it's a job, not your life. Anyway, just some random thoughts as we are trying to figure out things. I doubt I'll have things figured out anytime soon, but I think day by day I'm figuring it out a little bit more.

Paragraphs

Our water heater finally bit the dust the other day. We knew it would soon because it's like 15 years old. Man, even in 90 degree weather, taking cold showers just stinks. It takes me back to my good ole Uganda days. It takes guts to jump into that cold shower, it takes me a minute or two just to buildup to doing it. It definitely keeps the shower very short- 30 seconds to get wet, a minute to put on the soap and a minute and a half to get the soap off. Seriously though, if I wanted to torture someone I'd put under a cold shower like 5 times a day, that'll get em to talk.

Cold showering builds character.

College football has prevented me from getting any work done lately. Boise State to the Mtn West, Nebraska to the Big 10, Colorado to the Pac 10, and Utah to the Pac 10. That last one was kinda sad, it was like breaking up with a girlfriend. We had some good times, some rough times, some more good times and some fun times looking at their devastated faces after we beat them in a gut-wrenching thriller. You can't blame them for leaving- more money and more opportunity to do good things on the national stage. It's just tough because it won't be the same again. Yeah, we'll still play them but the rivalry will be dampened a little bit. My partner is a big Utah fan and he's been surprised at how well I've taken it. I can definitely understand how some BYU fans feel like we're left behind, because we are, there's no way around it. But this whole thing has just made me realize that BYU is different. It's different from Utah, from Texas, from Duke. Because the Church runs BYU, emphasis on sports will always take a back seat to religion and education. We're lucky BYU even has sports, I'm sure there are some among the brethren who wouldn't mind doing away with BYU sports. There are reasons BYU is where it is and why other conferences want BYU (even though it's more superior to Utah in sports and academics), and it's these same reasons that make BYU one of a kind. So I'm good, thanks for those of you who may have prayed for me in this difficult challenge. BYU is still awesome, and though we're different and may not have the same sports' opportunities as others, stuff happens, live with it, accept that BYU is different in a good way.

Having said all that, burn in heck Utah...

Emmy and I went on a great vacation, we both were just dieing to get away from it all. We spent more time together than we did on the honeymoon and any other vacation. Here are some of the highlights:

Our trip started out through Vegas where we had a fun day with Emily's sister, Becky. I wish we took pictures there, it was a lot of fun.

Then we stayed the night with Gavin and Emily. Again, I wish we would have taken pictures. It was really nice of them to let us stay with them.

Then on to Sequoia Natl Park where we went camping, did lots of hiking, and saw BIG trees.

This is a tree that fell over and was uprooted, it's HUGE!

And we saw bears, a ranger stopped us from going any further on this hike by screaming at the top of his lungs, "STOP! The bear will kill you!" The two cubs came down the tree to hang out with Momma bear.

At another point on the hike I took a picture of the bear behind Emmy and tell her there's a bear while I'm taking the picture...she didn't believe me.

On another hike, we ran into a bear and Emily believed me and got the heck out of there, I didn't catch up to her until like a quarter mile down the hike.

These pictures are in memory of Colby.

I gotta get my hero shot!

So cute
And then we went to Yosemite that tells you about bears every 10 feet.

We did a lot of cool hikes and saw beautiful scenery!

Yosemite Falls is the fifth tallest falls in the world and the tallest in the U.S.
Pork Chop came on the trip too

Then, on to San Francisco! We first just hung out in the hotel for a day, eating Jack in the Box and swimming.

We went to Six Flags for a day.

We did a lot of fun things in SF. This is where we ran into Donny and Marie.

...and Al E.
We saw what our kids are going to look like

Yes, our kids are going to be very ugly

We saw a heat-sensing mirror which confirmed what we already knew, Emmy's hands are ALWAYS cold, along with her nose.

We went on a trolley tour of the city
And saw the Golden Gate Bridge!!

But the fog covered it up two minutes later once we got off the trolley

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Our favorite thing about SF is probably the clam chowder bread bowls.

And our favorite thing about Oakland is Fenton's!!!! We met up with Becca and her parents who were so nice and treated us to the JUMBO sundae. We told the waitress to tell the chef we dared him to make something too big for us.

Again, why didn't we take pictures of the Andersons?!?!

On our way back we stopped at Sutter's Mill where James Marshall discovered gold

We drove by Lake Tahoe

And saw a Blockbuster relic

We stopped in Reno and really enjoyed it, as our smiles show

In Heaven, we will be enthralled by those we associate with. We will ask someone in which time period they lived and you will might hear, "I lived during the LaVell Edwards' years," or "I saw Roger Reid coach in the Marriott Center" or "I sang the Cougar Fight Song at a Gary Crowton game". And as you are standing there in amazement, someone will turn to you ask you which of the BYU coaches' period did you live in? And when you say "Bronco Mendenhall and Dave Rose" a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. Guys, we were held back 6,000 years to witness the best years of BYU football and basketball. Remember who you are!

Better times...

So one of the main reasons we went to Texas is because of the BYU-Oklahoma game. It was amazing! I loved almost every second of it. It was incredible, so magical! The stadium was unbelievable! I have never seen anything like it and it really is worth all the hype. Jerry J went all out. This last week everybody has been asking me how it was. It's almost like answering the same when people asked me how my mission was. It was amazing! What else can I say?! There were tons of Oklahoma fans, it was pretty intimidating, but in the end the Cougars from Provo, UT pulled it off.

Lots of celebrating!

That big screen is incredible! I sure missed that as we were at the game yesterday. I've heard that the screen itself costs as much as a normal stadium.

I loved it when they showed the BYU logo

Once we went ahead I had to take a picture

The fam loved it! That was so much fun, we'll be talking about that game for years.