Table of Contents

1) Thou Shalt Not Idle Away Thy Time
2) The Strength of Family Ties
3) Analyzing President Kennedy's Inaugural Address
4) Research Paper Thesis
5) General Conference Analysis: Elder David A. Bednar October 2014
6) Updated Research Thesis
7) Research Paper Reflection
8) Don't Mess With Momma or Papa Bear
9) Turkey Bowl!!
10) Disappointed in the Cowboys
11) Food Family and Football!!
12) Time to Hit the Gym
13) The Grand America
14) I'm a Working Man
15) My Bestie Quigz
16) My New Baby
17) Merry Christmas!
18) Equation to Success: Cheesecake and Fudge
19) How Speaking Helped Me Open My Eyes
20) Dating was Surely Missed on the Mission
21) I Have Been Changed for the Better

I Have Been Changed for the Better (21)

          My experience this semester in Writing 150 has been great. I've learned a lot have grown a lot as a writer. I use to look at writing as a drag, but now it's not so bad. I don't think I'll ever enjoy writing a research paper that's 8 pages long, but now I know I can do it! Confidence in writing is half the battle in my opinion.
          I didn't blog much at the beginning of the semester, but towards the end I made a lot of blogs and I actually enjoyed writing them. It's fun to talk about yourself and your life achievements, and to express it in writing and pictures. I think blogging also gives me the opportunity to open up and be myself in writing. I don't have to meet certain criteria for the teacher to grade. I love school, reading, writing, and learning in general, but I hate that we have to be graded on how we are at certain things. It's important to be graded to test our progress and comprehension, but it's a bummer when you feel good about a piece of your work and you end up getting a terrible grade.
          This may be the end of the Writing 150 chapter of my life, but it's definitely not the end of my writing. I look forward to using my writing skills in the future now that I understand writing more and have the confidence to write. I'm sure there will be some very boring papers I will have to write, but I will definitely be thankful for all that I've learned in Writing 150 about writing and about myself.

Dating was Surely Missed on The Mission (20)

          

          It's a blessing to be able to be close to girls again. 2 years away from girls is a long time. Tonight I went out with Kennedy for the first time and had such a good time. She is awesome. She came over at 7 and I taught her how to play Don't Worry by Bob Marley on the Ukulele. It's a very simple song. We're going to play together for my ward's talent show next week. The plan is to wear Jamaican wigs and act like Bob Marley and a made up character, Barbara Marley. We practiced for a little less than an hour and a half.
          After practicing the ukulele we went to sub-zero for some ice cream. It was delicious. The server also froze some of the gummy bears and showed us how they break into pieces when you drop them. He also froze some marshmallows and let us try them. They were gross at first, but then pretty good once they melted in your mouth. Kennedy and I talked for about an hour about each others lives and got to know each other. It was great.
          After ice cream we went back to her place and talked with her roommates for about an hour. Her roommates invited me to do cross-fit with them. They allow you to go five times for free, so I'm gonna give it a try and maybe a few tires more after that. It's $75 a month after the free trials, so I'm not sure if I'll continue to go or not. It would help me stay in shape and have a better looking body, but I also need money to buy food. After talking with Kennedy's roommates I said goodnight and went home. I shared with my roommates my version of how the night went.
          I really like Kennedy. She's extremely pretty and has a wonderful personality. I look forward to hopefully going out with her again. I'll probably ask her out on another date the next time we practice. I don't see any signs telling me she doesn't like me, so I'm gonna keep trying with her. Even if it doesn't work out, I'll make sure she's a part o my life as a good friend.

How Speaking Helped Me Open My Eyes (19)

          A few weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking in Sacrament Meeting. I admit that I not the best at attending my Sunday Services. I always go to church, but I don't always go to my church. I often go to church with my grandparents in Sandy, or with someone else up near Salt Lake City. I couldn't tell the Bishop's Counselor no, and as a matter of fact, I was hoping to have the opportunity to speak in my ward.

          I was asked to speak on a talk given by Thomas S. Monson on January 16th, 1973 at a BYU Devotional entitled: Four Words to Guide You. The four words that Monson uses are Listen, Learn, Labor and Love. I found some great parables to share about a few of these words, which I felt went really well with my talk. 

          I believe that the one who learns the most from a talk given on Sunday is the person who prepared the talk. So many times I have either been on my phone, dozed off, or just didn't pay attention resulting in me not learning from the speaker. As the speaker, I had to pay attention to what I was studying so that I could deliver a well prepared talk. As a result, I learned of the importance to listen before judging, learn from my life experiences, labor when the Lord needs me, love others as I love myself and my savior, Jesus Christ. 

          I am eternally grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I cannot express the joy that I feel knowing that my family is eternal and that my future family will be eternal. I know I'm not perfect, but that doesn't mean I can't be perfect in striving to be perfect. The Lord asks for our best. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Equation to Success: Cheesecake and Fudge (18)

          Last night my roommates and I made dinner for some of the girls in our ward. Eric made Curry for dinner and I made cheesecake for dessert. We invited an apartment of six girls, but only three came. The other three had other things to do. I was happy though, because the girl that I'm crushing on was able to come. We had a great dinner and some fun conversations. My cheesecake was a big hit! The girls loved it. My roommates loved it too. I made mini cheesecakes. It's nice because you don't have to cut up cheesecake, and you don't have to worry about someone getting too big or too small of a piece. 

          I also made some fudge that the girls took home with them. They loved the fudge. I made a few others to give to different people and everyone has liked it so far. That makes me want to make more! I'm sure everyone else is just like me when it comes to fudge. I can't have just one piece unless I'm absolutely full or I'm feeling fat. if I feel good, I may eat the whole thing! There's something special about chocolate when you add a few things, warm it up, let it cool, and then call it fudge as you put it into your mouth. 

          The reason I say that cheesecake and fudge lead to success is because at the end of the night I asked the girl I'm crushing on if I could take her out the next day. She said yes. I was so happy and have been excited all day. The plan is to teach her how to play the ukulele then probably go get ice cream at Sub Zero. I hope those who read this are wishing me luck in their hearts!

Merry Christmas! (17)

          My roommates and I are too poor to afford an actually tree, so we made one out of Christmas lights on our wall! My roommate Eric had the great idea to do it. Tis the season!
          One of my favorite things about Christmas is giving away gifts and seeing the smile on the recipient's face. I need money to purchase the gifts though... It's this time of the year that I go completely broke. There's a lot of people that I care about and want to get gifts for. I've just gotta find nice gifts at discounted prices. That's what Black Friday is for!
          I actually didn't go Black Friday shopping though. I'm a little behind because I just started working and haven't made much money yet. I'm looking forward to the next few paychecks though, because after I receive those then I will have the money I need to buy the wonderful gifts for everyone.
          I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas! I hope you all can be with your families to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. What a wonderful season of the year it is. I'm looking forward to all of the Christmas music and Christmas movies throughout the month of December.

My New Baby (16)

          My roommate, Eric, started teaching me how to play the ukulele a few weeks ago. He has two ukuleles so I borrowed his for a while until I got my own. I've been practicing a few songs that I really enjoy. Examples are: I'm Yours, Hallelujah, and Don't Worry.

          I'm actually going to be performing in my Ward's talent show next week. I'll be playing Don't Worry by Bob Marley. The plan is to wear a wig and act like a Jamaican. It's gonna be awesome. Eric was going to do it perform with me, but it turns out he has to work. So hopefully I can find someone else that can help me out. i could do a solo and just use someone else as part of the act. 

          Playing the ukulele is very easy. It took me about ten minutes to learn how to play. The hard part of playing the ukulele is switching your fingers to play different chords. It becomes easy after a little bit of practice. The ladies seem to like a man that plays the ukulele and sings to it, so hopefully I have better luck with the ladies now that I'm a ukulele player!