Boppy

Lately I have been reading an amazing book.   


The Book: Bigger Than Yourself
The Author: Wendell J. Ashton (my grandpa...aka Boppy.)
The content: Inspiring. I was only four when he died, I feel so blessed to learn from his words seventeen years later. 


Here are two anecdotes for today:
1. "If we want to win, we have to risk losing.  Nothing worth having is ever won by weakly pecking at it, by being afraid of it." (U.S. News and World Report, 1961)

2. "When there is danger in standing still or moving forward, move forward." (James Monroe in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.)

Be a man. man.

Tuesday was a milestone event in my short little life.  I went in for surgery.  aka to get my wisdom teeth out.  Yes, they put me under and yes I was weird when I woke up and yes it is on film.  But that's not my point right now.  So last night at 4:44 AM I woke up and was wallowing in post-wisdom tooth extraction pain. 


So obviously I decided to google "what to do when you get your wisdom teeth out" and for the next 20 minutes was reading these great accounts of other Americans who have suffered through the procedure.  Here were some of my favorites:


Example A:
*Well, I got my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday morning. Not to scare anyone, I have never been in more pain in my life. It's horible. None of my pain killers work so i basically sit here in pain. 


(Side note:  This comment would thoroughly freak me out if I had not been through it already. Obviously this person was trying to scare someone.)




Example B:


*PACE YOURSELF WHEN EATING; DON'T BINGE. I rushed eating and threw up. I also ate the whole pudding cup the first time. The third time I ate slower and only about 1/2 of the cup and only vomited about 1/4 -_-. 


(Side note: what happened the second time they tried eating the pudding cup?  Apparently too scarring to share on the comment page.)




Example C: (My personal favorite)


*Well it seems I am in a very small percintile but I begged my wife to take me straight to Burger King on thw way home from having my four wisdom teeth taken out.....but as I soon foud out you cant feel anything so once you put it in your mouth you cant find it so you end up just chewing on your tongue...lol There was also a lot of blood.

(Personal side note:  this man is my hero right now.  It takes a real man to eat a burger on the way home from that.  They say the old spice guy is a real man?  Try eating a burger after that. haha)


These accounts were taken from: 
 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_can_you_eat_after_you_have_your_wisdom_teeth_extracted#ixzz1VoI4HBOz

So I felt connected to people all over the country sitting on their couches wallowing (except for the Burger King hero).  haha happily, I have passed that stage and I even ate small morsels of steak for lunch.  That. is. a. big. deal. 

Have a great day! 

Coeur de Pirate

Well hello,


In preparation for my upcoming mission to France I have become obsessed with french music. 


Here are two of my favorites (my friend Arianna introduced me to Coeur de Pirate and now I am obsessed!)


Listen to one of my favorites here and the other here. (Kind of sounds like Regina Spektor)

We carbonate our own water

Reasons I am so incredibly happy:


1.  STATISTICS is over forever!! (The only downside to that is I no longer talk to Rachel Reese for 45 minutes on the phone every single night without fail.)


2.  I have a new tennis obsession and I love it.


3.  I've been studying french with my dad every night. I probably sound like a lost American tourist whenever I try to speak conversationally to him, but it's a great time.


4.  Danielle's home from her service trip to Cambodia! Heather was sporting her "I heart Cambodia" t-shirt all day yesterday and I have a pretty spiffy shirt myself compliments of Dani. Hez and I are just living vicariously through her adventure. And we love having her home!


5. Probably the biggest news of the week right here.... my family now carbonates our own water.  Isn't that everyone's life dream?  Tap water to Pellegrino's in ten seconds.  (and if that's not cool enough the contraption is shaped like a penguin.) Yeah, I'm hooked on that too.  Come over for italian sodas!


So basically, this week I'm addicted to tennis and italian soda.  Life is great. 

Summer Goals

You know when you hit those points in your life when you are so busy you feel like you don't even have time to stop and think?  I hit that point last week and finally took a minute to stop and reflect on what I'm doing with my life. 

I pulled out my summer goals list (because I make lists for virtually everything) and I realized that I really was only accomplishing 1 of my 14 goals.  And.... that was earning enough money for my mission.  Which is all great, but I have been totally missing out on focusing on the most important things in life.

Today I came across this article by Clayton Christensen in the Harvard Business Review.  I read it about a year ago and was thinking about it today.  

In it, Clayton Christensen explains that when there's a spare moment many people look to accomplish goals where success can be measured immediately.  Whether it's finishing a project, making money, etc.  In reality what matters most is the relationships we develop with our family and our friends and in finding out what our life's purpose is. 

So that's probably why I loved the last part of Clayton Christensen's article today:  

"I’ve concluded that the metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched.

I think that’s the way it will work for us all. Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people. This is my final recommendation: Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success."

So I'm starting over in how I live my life. Starting now. H.A.G.S. 

BYU- we all need a little basketball in our lives

Brandon Davies was kicked off the BYU team earlier this week. 

In the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Men's College Basketball poll we were rated #3. For the first time we are a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. Yet, Brandon Davies still will not play because of an honor code violation.

Last night my roommate read this article to me. While we live in a world with so many shifting values, I am proud to go to a school that emulates integrity- especially when it is the most difficult way to live. 

Tomorrow is our final home game before we head to the NCAA tournament for a little March Madness. GO BYU!!  

Also, in an effort to become more spontaneous, I may or may not be going to Vegas next week for the Mountain West Conference Tournament. More to come on that...

Failure is the best thing that can happen

A couple of years ago my mom showed me this Harvard commencement speech and it inspired me to redefine the way I live my life. 

When I was young my dream was to meet J.K. Rowling. She has always been one of my heroes because she started out with nothing and ultimately changed the world because she dared to live her dream. 


Start watching at 7:05 to hear what she has to say about failure. Sometimes it is easy for me to think that if life doesn't work out exactly the way I want it to or if I don't achieve my goals with perfection that my life will be a disaster. 


I think she is incredibly optimist. At the lowest point in her life she explains that "my rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." 


One of my favorite quotes (on my blog) comes from this speech. She says that "It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you fail by default." 


She inspires me to find my passion and pursue it, even if I fail a few times along the way. :)