The most wonderful time of the year

Yep, it's that time of the year....MARCH MADNESS!!! Oh how I love it! For 3 weeks, it's nothing but basketball and more basketball, culminated by a cutting down of nets, and a playing of a video montage with "One Shining Moment" as the backdrop. Upsets galore and bracket challenges. Cinderella stories and perennial powers. And of course Dick Enberg's classic "oh my!!!!" when something amazing happens. So my beloved Aggies are primed for the postseason and a bunch of us are headed out to Reno to bring it home!!!

Skiing has been pretty good this year, not as good as years past but still very solid. The Beav has been a great learning and proving grounds for me these last 4 years. I even have found a little cliff that I like to "huck". I'm kinda sad that the season is coming to a close but there will still be a few days to come. And of course, there's always next year. And warm weather brings fishing, so life will be good as always.

my little cliff at the Beav

So, somehow I'm graduating this semester. I know right? I will have a degree in biological engineering. I promise it's not as nerdy as it sounds. It's actually been a lot of fun and I've met some really cool people along the way. All the med schools I applied to said thanks but no thanks. But never fear cause I'll probably apply again next year. And someday I'll be just like J.D. on Scrubs, or at least that's the idea.

So life is good right now, I'm way excited for the next couple of weeks and the NCAA tournament. Hopefully this year all my preparation will pay off and I'll do better in my bracket picks. I figure it's gotta work one of these years. Oh yeah, I went to the Draper temple open house in January with the fam and it was way way cool. Such a beautiful building.

The Fam and I at the Draper temple

Where has this year gone?

Well well, it has been a really long time now.....Winter is here and it has been bountiful and blessed with much snow, very much to my delight!! Skiing has been quite awesome indeed, as I bought myself a pair of new skis for the first time ever and they are killer. I've even tried to be cool and pull off tricks, but I still have much improvement to do. I have a season pass to Beaver Mountain and can't wait to get up on my secret stashes in the trees.

Sports are in that glorious time of the year, yes college basketball! The Aggies are looking quite good thus far. We had an amazing game against Utah this week, a nail biter indeed. WAC play starts in just over a week, and my beloved Ags shall do awesome says I. This is my last basketball season as a student, which is sad but I gotta move on one of these days. Oh and on a similar note, I finally made it to the football game of my life last month thanks to Bishop and Sister Hyde, two of my favorite people ever!! Photos thereof:

What a beautiful scoreboard!!!!

I was just a bit adorned in red apparel

Me and two of the greatest people ever!!!!

This was indeed one of the best days of my life. The Utes play Alabama next week in the Sugar Bowl and I'm hoping they can put the finishing touches on a perfect season. Oh and I had my interview for med school at the U last week and it went really well so now I get to wait and see if I get in for next fall!!

Concerts have been good this fall. I saw Sherwood in October, and they were a blast as always. I got to see Anberlin for the first/second time the other week. I say it that way cause I saw them at Warped Tour but I didn't know who they were so this time was way better. The crowd of retarded 14 year olds was annoying, but Anberlin put on a great show and it was a truly killer time with my crazy delinquent concert going peeps!

And of course, Christmas has come and gone and left me wishing it was more than once a year. I tried to be more giving this year and worry about others more than myself. I had a blast going crazy on presents and even finding some surprises for the important peeps in my life. Most of all, I realized again how lucky we all to have the gift of our Savior and how His love and life are the most important gifts in all of our lives.

So I start my last semester of college in a week and change and I can't believe I'm that old. It doesn't seem real but it's way exciting. I'm gonna miss Logan tons, especially all the awesome people I've met up there. Going to THE Utah State University has been one of the best decisions of my life. I feel so blessed to have had so many amazing experiences and to be walking away with a great education and preparation for the future.

Well now I'm starting to ramble philosophically so I best be wrapping it up. Life is killer and I'm so grateful for all those who care about me and make my life so awesome. I really don't deserve to be surrounded by such amazing individuals but I'll take it. GO AGGIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Music, fishin and only 55 days left!!!!

Well it's been a while i'd say.....Life is great though!! I just got back from the Rocket Summer and all i can say is wow and a half!!!! Bryce avary is just amazing and i have such a good feeling after that show. Not just a high from going to a show, but a truly positive outlook on life. There aren't very many bands that make me feel that way but those that do ohhhh i love them. And Sherwood being one of them is coming next month!!!!! So yeah music rules and is such a blessing in my life.



School is crazy as ever but I still have been able to fit some fishing in here and there. I got out on the Blacksmith Fork this week and it was great, many a cutthroat and brown were caught. I love going to school here in Logan there is so much to do in the out of doors....segue to the expedition we made to Naomi Peak a couple weeks ago.....

This is me on the trail, a truly pensive pose.

Here's the view from the top looking north...

Needless to say, this was a killer hike and hopefully will take place again soon.

Oh and last but not least.....basketball starts in 55 days and change!!! I can't wait to get back in the Spectrum and lose my voice and go crazy. Pretty much the best thing about being here in logan. Well it's late and i'm out of stuff to say, so this is the end, yea verily it is the end

Only 93 days left!!!!

Yep, you guessed it, the title is for the countdown to the return of the most glorious sport of all in the most glorious arena of all....THE SPECTRUM!!!!! I am indeed beyond words with excitement to return there and watch my Aggies...OH it will be glorious. We will miss Jaycee but I think as a team we will play better. I'm excited to see the newcomers and the continued development of Pooh, Newbold, and Tai.

The med school train rolls on and applications remain to be received and subsequently filled. I should be hearing about interviews hopefully in the next little bit. Crazy stuff I tell ya. It is a way exciting time of life though for me, and I'm really looking forward to finding out where I'll be going for med school.

I've been watching the Olympics quite a lot and I don't recall ever being into them as much as I am this year. I mean I stayed up till like 1:30 just to watch volleyball!!! The USA is doing great and I'm proud to be an American as always. I hope the basketball team can keep ripping it up cuz they should. I mean, we invented the game after all....sorry for the pompous attitude but I call it like I see it.

So there ya have it, the last little bit of life for me. Things are pretty much awesome and I'm pumped for cold weather, skiing, college football, and the greatest basketball arena in the world!!!!

Med School Applying and the Dog Days of Summer

So now the journey begins..... I'm doing the med school application deal and it's quite a process. I have to fill out secondaries for each school and pay them yet another lovely fee...But it's ok, it will all be worth it in the end. It's only moderately ironic that the school I want to go to most, the U, is the most strenuous in its application process. Oh well, at this point I'll go where I'm supposed to go which I'm very excited about!!

Summer is rolling on and I can't believe that it is almost over. I'm way excited to go back to school though...only 111 days left till Aggie basketball !!!!! The 24th of July was awesome as always watching the parade, spending time with the fam watching fireworks and even going to the Rocky Mountain Revue to watch my boy JC play for the Nets. He did really well and I'm hoping that he gets to play in the NBA, he deserves it.

I played Rock Band for the first time ever last night and it was pretty killer. I pretty much got rocked by the people I was playing with and have lots of room for improvement. But it was fun, nonetheless. It's amazing to me how far video games have come from the days of DuckHunt, which was awesome and still is, to what there is today. Wow, what the nerds can do.....

MCAT scores, Bear lake monsters, and other such things

Well, pretty much the first part of the blog is to build myself up on my awesome MCAT performance....ok I didn't do amazing but I got a 29 which I'm way happy with and med school is now a greater possibility than ever before. I've started hearing back from a few schools and right now I feel really good about Creighton and Michigan. So we'll see how the rest of the application goes and where I get interviews and such...

So last week the singles ward went up to Bear Lake and it was pretty killer indeed. We camped over on the east side of the lake and went to Minnetonka Cave and a hike up to Bloomington Lake that even included some "skiing". Oh oh oh also I got a bit of fishing in, nice little streams for cutthroats and brooks, what a lovely time it was!

So my boy Jaycee is playing for the Nets summer league team and also the Raptors. He's done quite well and is even playing quite a bit of point guard. Right now it looks pretty good for him to make it with one of those teams. I hope he does cuz he definitely deserves it. College football is soon approaching and nothing would make me happier than to have Northern Iowa beat the school that shall not be named at home.....

So life is good as always, excited for the 24th of July coming up and the festivies therewith... So until next time watch out for the media monkeys and their junky junkies and the invites to the plastic pantomime....

In-duh-pendence Day

Perhaps it's fate that tomorrow is the 4th of July...and once again we'll be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny or oppression, but from friggin heat!!! Ok so not really, but I long for the days of winter and skiing. Summer does have fishing which can't be beat though and I did get out on the water this last weekend on an undisclosed stream.

On a serious note though, how cool is our country?! I mean the freedom we enjoy is amazing and those who have given their lives in defense thereof are heroes to me. I think too many people take our country and freedom for granted. I get a bit emotional every time I hear the national anthem or even Neil Diamond's "Coming to America"..ok not so much with the second one but it's still a cool tune. Also, many times I've heard the national anthem at the Spectrum, but I'm emotional there already....But the point being America is awesome and I'm grateful to live here and enjoy freedom.

Oh yeah, Jaycee is gonna play with the New Jersey Nets summer league team and they're playing in Salt Lake for the Rocky Mountain Revue. Yup, Jaycee is coming back and I plan to go see him play and show what he can do. I'm sure he would love to have a bunch of Aggies there cheering him on, so anybody that can make it, do so!!

Well I think that's all for today... i'm pumped for the fireworks tonight at Eaglewood, hopefully they don't set the course on fire too bad.