Random Events

Where to start, I could take this way back, and just write all the small random events that have begun to shape the person that I am, but lets start with college for now. I enrolled in college while serving in Salt Lake City South Utah. I was positive at first that I was going to be going to Provo to BYU and yet I somehow (personally I still am puzzled) ended up at BYU Idaho where this particular segment of randomness occurred. I went to Canada on November 5th and re united with my family after 2 very short years apart. Tears flowed from my eyes like a raging waterfall as I sobbed to my dad and told him I wanted to go back. I was so petrified to make yet another life altering change and I couldn't contain my emotions. After some chinese food that I didn't eat, and my family relentlessly asking questions and me telling stories I was released from my 2 year calling. I had learned to love the people of Salt Lake City; it being challenging at first. I poured my heart and soul into my work, and was blessed as a result. The next few days were surely going to be long I thought as I sat there, shocked and in awe. My family all ate their cheesecake and we drove the rather unfamiliar roads home. Everything had been turned upside down. No more freeways, no more miles per hour signs, everything was smaller, slower, and less crowded. I called my old boss, and started working the 2nd day home. The first day home I spent unpacking and settling my life due to an uncontrollable urge to be organized (OCD perhaps). Work was great, it kept me occupied and it wore me out. Concrete is a job I think every young man should have some experience in. Coming home exhausted, and literally being able to fall asleep in mid chew of dinner is such a great feeling. I often found myself driving around listening to my old favorite songs and thinking about all the things that were ahead of me. A curious romantic potential arose and fell giving my poor exhausted heart its fare share of wear and tear. I just had to wait a few more weeks and I could find my way back. A visit back to SLC over Thanksgiving proved to be what the doctor ordered, until I ran out of gas 40 miles from home and had no way to get there. We slept in a cold car until a father of a friend rescued us and brought a gas can. I switched jobs to make a bit more money, and a week before Christmas got in my first car wreck. I couldn't believe it. It was the most horrible day already, we had built 15 sections of cedar fence, and I was just not wanting to be out in the -10 degree weather anymore. We were finished and on our way home when the wife of a cop slid through her intersection and hit me on the front drivers side. My car was written off, and my dad had to pack my sister and I in the car, and be apart from his wife for the first time in 22 years over New Years to drop us of at our colleges. I was excited to be gone from home again. I had planned, and somehow it all came together, to be roommates with my old mission friends. We all had so much fun those first few weeks... meeting people and just talking to everyone (still habitual from the mission I guess). Classes started and we all began to buckle down. I made a few great friends in the first few weeks, and again had a small heart break. With it, went my friends for a while, but this is where the adventures began. Clayton Williams, my big red head comedian friend invited me go with him home for spring break. I of course jumped at the opportunity because my family was going to be in Hawaii without me during that time. We flew into LA and I was like a small child as he saw all the gifts Christmas morning. "Palm trees! Can we pull over here and take a picture!?" "I have three in my backyard Rex...." said Clayton in response to my perhaps overly excited request. That week proved to be amazing. We partied it up Saturday, and I found myself sitting out at the pool in the sun as often as the others were napping. Sunday we toured LA and it was great, we saw the temple and the normal Hollywood stuff. Monday was another adventure of itself. We all went to 6 flags and heard "have a 6 flags day." It started off that way, we went on any ride we wanted, without a line. That was true the whole day, but Jordan put a damper on it for 2 of the gang. Jordan's phone fell out of his pocket on a ride, and he was mad. Ryan and JD went over a fence looking, and pretty soon there was security everywhere looking for them because of the obvious danger of being hit by a roller coaster. They were escorted out of the park and we had to just send them text messages to sooth the pain. Tuesday we saw Dr. Phil in his finest, and Wednesday we dropped half our gang off at the airport. The other highlights of the trip: bonfire and guitar on the beach til 2 AM, horseback riding in the mountains of Cali, seeing dolphins swimming the waves, body surfing, soccer on the beach, 3rd street promenade, fish and chips on the pier, the BMW on the free way, the street dancers, in and out, of course getting lost during fugitive, sailing a real boat in the ocean, and finally the awesome people we met as we saw the world our friends grew up in. The next semester was sure to bring about its fair share of challenges and fun times, but I had no idea what I was in for!