Well, today being sunday, i thought i might make a slightly more spiritually oriented post. church was interesting today, since it was combined priesthood and relief society (which didnt affect me, since im not old enough to be part of that class). anyway, the lesson today in priesthood was really good, and was taught by drentz (for those of u who know him). he mostly taught about the book of mormon and spoke a little bit about the challenge to read it by the end of the year. we read several really cool scriptures and went through the story of Joseph in Egypt, as well as the story of the prophet Joseph of this dispensation. to sum up, it got me thinking about some of my favorite scriptures, and i thought itd be neat to see what everybody's favorite scripture, or scriptures, are. i guess since this is my post, i should start first (ahh the burdens of blogging...lol). i cant really pick a favorite scripture, because i have so many that i really really like. but one of my all time favorites is Alma 48:17, which talks about how if all men had been like moroni, then satan would no longer have power of the hearts of the children of men. this scripture has always been kind of a goal for me, that maybe someday, if i work at it enough, i can be like moroni. haha...however, if that scripture was written about me right now, it might go something like this:..."if all men had been like adam, then we'd be in trouble!" im just kidding around, but i really do like that scripture. anyway, i hope this blog isnt too serious of a post, but hopefully something interesting or at least something to think about...lol.

Hey everybody, here are just a few of my senior portraits, just tell me which ones you like best, so we can pick some to buy! Sorry, short post, but stay tuned for another big update tommorow! P.S. Kristen, im trying to get you some competetion for the "most popular blog"...lol! just kidding with u, but it really has been fun to keep in touch more!

senior pic tux 

senior pic bbw 

senior pic bw 

senior pic 

"The Farm" 

Wait a minute...thats not a real movie...thats my life! For todays post ive decided to write about something very close to home...gardening in the country (otherwise known as farming!). for about the past month, my dad has been actively involving the family in the gardening process. i thought the idea of a garden was pretty cool at first, growing plants, u know, the usual. at first it was cool, dad did all the work, and i got to sit back and just enjoy the benefits of gardening. i started to get some ominous premonitions when my dad needed mine and logan's help digging holes for his tomato plants. i was fine, a few hours work wasnt a bad price to pay for having a garden, right? anyway, from that point on things progressively got worse...lol. soon me and logan became regular farm hands, weeding the garden, picking beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, pretty much everything! one day me, logan, ethan, and dad picked over 5 gallons of beans alone! that was a memorable day. the craziest part of gardening (which i didnt know till recently) is that u dont just pick beans one day....they keep coming back! we picked beans for the next several weeks, but it wasnt so bad after that initial looong day. however the biggest shock of farming, is that plants die each year (or u have to kill them...im not quite sure) but anyway, u have to replant a garden every year! ive got to say, i was pretty surprised, realizing that a garden would require this much work...every year! well, as much as i have thoroughly bashed the idea of gardens (actually on large gardens...like my dads) ive got to admit, it is really nice to be able to eat fresh vegetables and such from the garden. and as much as my dad will be glad to hear this, fresh vegetables do taste better than stuff from the store...lol. all in all, gardening is actually bearable and id even go so far as to say its actually worth the work it takes to make a garden work. that said, im pretty sure that if i have a garden when i grow up...i think something 1 yd X 1yd sounds plenty big to me!

I'd have to say this is probably the earliest I've ever posted...lol...which is saying much considering its about 11am...lol. Anyway id just like to quickly mention a welcome home to sam (kim's brother who just returned from a mission in Brazil). Welcome Home! I was trying to think of something to post about while i was listening to some music and trying to get some of my good (though ancient) music on my new computer. so i thought for this post id make it into kind of a survey and see some of the types of music that other people like to listen to. and if anybody really wants to, i was wondering what everybody would pick as their top 5 slow songs of all time. to start off ill just name a few songs that i like and listen to often. ive always been a fan of the group named yellowcard, although they havent made any really good albums in several years. i like almost any kind of rock (but not too hard rock), although lately id have to say my favorite song is definitely "stars" by switchfoot, although some classic songs are "work" by jimmy eat world, "so long, astoria" by the ataris, and "takeoffs and landings" also by the ataris. i like country from time to time, ill occasionally listen to a song on the radio, and i have a few country songs, but not quite the same as my "rock" colleciton. for my top 5 slows songs, thats quite a bit tougher! its hard to rank them...so ill just go in a group of 5. id say "when you say nothing at all" by alison krauss, "you" by switchfoot, "we danced" by brad paisley, "love me tender" by norah jones, and since i cant really think of a 5th song...ill say that the 5th song doesnt matter...any slow song is great...as long as your with that "someone!"

I guess I've been slacking off a little bit on my blog since i didnt post at all yesterday. i kept trying to think of something creative or hopefully funny, but nothing really seemed worth posting, so ill try to make up for that today. before i really get started, i just want to mention a happy anniversary to both of my parents yesterday! i know they enjoyed their "hott" date in winston, with some peace and quiet away from us kids...haha! Anyway, on to my advertisement for riding lawn mowers! Yesterday was a very long day after i had to push mow my entire yard (with some help from younger siblings). Weve always had the luxury of a riding lawnmower, which mows like 4 to 5 feet of grass at a time. not to mention the fact that its a riding lawnmower, meaning u dont even have to push it over that enormous 5 foot area! yesterday was a shock since it was the first time i had to mow the yard by hand (because i broke the riding lawnmower last time i mowed the yard). after pushing that tiny lawnmower, which mustve only mowed about 1/4 foot of grass at a time, during the hottest part of the day, i was exhuasted! with the riding lawn mower, i could finish the yard in 30 min easy. 30 minutes is nothing compared to the nearly 3 hours (at least thats how it felt) to mow my yard with a push mower. and the worst part is im not even FINISHED! ARGHH!!! there...i fell better now that ive vented my hatred for the "time saving" curse..i mean invention we call the push mower. i would like to end on a positive note though. Let me recommend for anyone with a yard larger than a 1/2 acre yard, especially a yard that contains any hills, or for that matter, even if ur yard is dirt with only a few blades of grass, the riding lawnmower is worth it.

As summer draws to and end, many changes have taken place. Ethan is gone to college, dad now has a job, mom is preparing to go back to work, and I'm a senior! However of these changes, perhaps the most surprising is my search for employment! I never realized how hard it can be to actually find a job! My plan was to apply to 5-10 places in the hope that at least one of them would give me a job. My efforts proved pretty futile! My first stop consisted of Cingular Wireless and Carolina West Wireless, one of which didn't even have job applications, and the other wasn't hiring! Already I was 2 down and I hadn't even started yet! I stopped by Wal-Mart, thinking that surely the largest department store in the country could have at least one small part-time job for me. I waited at the employment center for about an hour while this guy went through the application process! I looked over his shoulder and he was only halfway through! I decided just to come back later! My next stop was the other Cingular store, which didn't have any applications, but said i could come back with a resumé! The closest i came to applying was at food lion, which said i could apply online. Disheartened, my final stop was the new movie theatre. The application actually went really well! I got an application, filled it out, and even happened to find the manager and give it to him. Overall this was my most promising job application of the day, and I hope that I'll get the job. The manager seemed fairly interested in my application and looked like he was actually considering it! After this forray into the world of job hunting, I don't want to imagine what finding a full time, "real" job after college will be like! Hopefully it will be at least slightly simplified by then, although I'm pretty skeptical at this point...lol!

This is me chilling on day 5 and enjoying some drinks from home! 

This is mine, Logan, and Shaylon's tent after about 5 days at scout camp. Even at scout camp you can tell which side of the tent is mine because its...slightly...cleaner than logan's side. 

Well today was interesting, as it was my first (and last) day of physical therapy! I was kind of dreading the whole physical therapy, since it meant that I would have to spend three days a week working on getting my ankle rehabilitated. Anyway, to make matters worse, since one of our cars is in the shop for a few days, meaning that we only have one car, which my dad needs for work! So i had to get a ride from my grandma to physical therapy, which really hasn't too bad. I went into the office and got the paperwork worked out and went back to begin my physical therapy. The guy worked with me for about 5 minutes, asking if my ankle hurt as he twisted it in ways I'm sure no ankles were ever meant to bend! Then when i told him my ankle didn't hurt, he was kinda surprised and said, "Well, i guess you wont need to come back after all!" I was definitely excited about that, as now i don't have to worry about any physical therapy! The only worries will come when soccer season starts, which I'll probably still need to wear the brace for, but all in all, my first broken bone really hasn't been all that bad! I think not having to wear a cast has been pretty nice!

Well it appears my blogging is official now that I have a wide audience (with 4 comments on my first post...lol) and now as i attempt my second post! Anyway after scout camp yesterday i got a few guys together to go see the new movie "The Island" with Ewan McGregor (from star wars II and III) and Scarlett Johannsen. I don't want to spoil any of the movie, as it has a really neat and surprising plot. Ill simply give a preview of how the movie begins. Apparently a global disaster known as "the contamination" has killed a lot of the worlds population. A few remaining people have been relocated to a secure facility where they wait to be relocated to "the island", the last remaining clean and safe environment on earth. Me, Daniel, and Logan all went to see it at the new movie theatre in Mt. Airy (which is very cool by the way). The plot was really well done and kept u guessing until the very end. And for those that love action movies, the action in "The Island" is top notch. The car chase scene is one of the cooolest ive seen in movies, and special effects are amazing, but not overused. All in all, i'd say "The Island" gets a 9 out of 10.

Well this is my first real attempt at a blog, so here goes! I've gotten plenty of hands-on experience from reading (althouh sporadically) kristen's blog; And when Ethan started a blog, I knew I was behind the times. For my first post I just wanted to write about a recent scout camp i attended at camp Bud Schiele. I left for camp last Saturday (July 16th), with many complaints from me and logan about how dumb scout camp was and that there was no point in going. I felt especailly jipped since I had been looking forward to NOT going to scout camp ever since my first scout camp at age 12. Once i got my eagle scout award, i thought i had it all made, no scout camp, senior year of high school, i mean how could anything go wrong? Anyway, this tell continues when i learned i broke my leg the Thursday before i left for scout camp. I figured i was all set, i had the perfect excuse for skipping scout camp, and with enough rationalization, i knew i could ease my slightly worried conscience. As it turned out, i went to scout camp and stayed for the entire week!! i planned to go home early, but thanks to the well timed arrival of a few friends (and the discovery of an outlet to charge my cell phone) i decided to stay the rest of the week. Scout camp itself was actually not too bad. Thanks to my eagle scout rank, i was able to pass as a leader and got to do pretty much whatever i wanted. I went to a few merit badge classes, but mostly relaxed around camp and tried to stay as cool as possible. The biggest downside to the camp was the weather. I spent the past week in a SAUNA! The temperature never dipped below 85°F! And that was at night. During the day, the temperature usually hovered around 95°F, plus what i guessed must have been 110% humidity! The best part of the week was the 15 minutes after a shower where i was actually sweat and grease free! There were a few fun firesides and other camp activities, but my favorite part of the week was archery. I went from one of the worst shooters on day one, to winning a class tournament by the end of the week! It was pretty exciting and i really enjoyed shooting a bow and arrow alot more than i thought i would. Overall, the week was pretty exciting. A few other highlights were the nights when me shaylon and logan all stayed up in our tents having gospel discussions. Sometimes they were pretty in depth discussions about the Atonement, and others ranged to discussions about what we would do if we were gods...lol! I think it was about the time we started imagining what kind of worlds we would make that i decided to go to sleep...lol! But that was a really special memory and somehting that made scout camp fun. Overall, scout camp was acutally pretty good (except for the food....NEVER eat scout camp food) and even if it wasnt the greatest part of my summer, it was a nice change to get to hang out with my friends and enjoy a few scouting memories!