Snowshoeing

December 26

A Tender Christmas Mercy

A Christmas miracle indeed. I got another glimpse of the Lord's tender mercies for His children this holiday season. I was getting ready to pack up my things and leave my house within the hour, when my neighbor knocked at the door. She said, "I received a package for your house today." I replied, "I don't think that it is for me, who did it say it was for?" She said, "I don't remember the name, but come over to my house and get it." We slowly crossed the icy street and as we were about to enter her house, I saw a man in a small white truck check out the address on my house and quickly stop. He jumped out of his car and approached my door, and I called out, "Hi, are you looking for people in that house." He replied, "Yes, a package should have been delivered here (motioning to my house) and I have been trying to track it down since 7am this morning. I replied, "well, the package was delivered here at this ladies house, and I am pretty sure its not mine, so come in and get it." We all walked into the house and the man examined the package (Dell Laptop) and sat down next to it and with his arms around the box, he started to cry, my neighbor and I just stood there and stared at this stranger as he wept. He said, "I wouldn't be so emotional, but I didn't get any sleep last night because of this, and I have been trying to find this package all day, I thought I would run into unreasonable people or not find it. It is a customized pink laptop for my wife and I am so glad it is here." My neighbor and I exchanged glances and then I said, "It's a Christmas miracle, do you realize that if you would have come even a minute earlier, I would have not even known about the package that came for my house, but was dropped off here at the neighbors. I would have known nothing about it!! And, if you would have come later, I would have been gone! Also, if my neighbor would have come tell me a little later then you also wouldn't have received the package, you must have been praying!" As I was pointing out the perfect timing of it all, I knew that the Lord was aware of this man's predicament, and he made it all work out. I started to think about how often I have witnessed the Lord's hand in my life, and how each time it leaves me in awe of God's love and tender care for me and everybody else. I was overwhelmed in my heart by the Lord's hand in this man finding his wife's pink computer, that was shipped to the wrong house in the wrong city, then dropped off at the neighbors house, and not signed for at all, and then randomly all 3 of us came together at the same minute. I really tried to communicate the awesomeness of the circumstance to this man, but He didn't seem to receive what I was telling him, but I knew who was behind it all, and wanted to share with everybody that the Lord was in the details of this small Christmas miracle. Elder Bednar said "... the Lord's tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence.... and it is often the Lord's timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings." And so I will treasure this small Christmas mercy, indeed.

Mr. Mike goes to washington

believe it

Mexico

Yosemite Pics

#1 navigator

melissa was our navigator; we were only lost for half a day each day

hairspray

we went to hairspray when we were in new york- it was great, but my favorites continue to be wicked and scarlet pimpernel

my favorite NY experience

i lived through the ordeal. outside as the girls ate their pb & j sandwiches, a beggar on his bike passes by everybody else comes directly to me and says, "hey bro man, do you have 50 cents" i replied , "no, but here is a dollar", i was impressed with his skills in finding the only sucker in the crowd, "thanks bro man, thanks" i fully expected him to work the group, but he left without asking anyone else for money. so funny

Morn' Identity

A few months ago the fort was broken into, ransacked, infiltrated by the enemy. When my roommates and I arrived we found evidence of all sorts of curious pranks scattered about the house. Some we recognized earlier than others, and some took more time to discover. We immediately realized that every garbage can had been maliciously stolen, it took 7 days to find the 7 goldfish that were swimming separately in 7 different cups, and the girls/enemy laughed when it took until the 7th day to find the one in the cleaning closet. The colder shower in the morning showed that the enemy was clever, and I was grateful that my roommate checked the hot water heater early so no repercussions were felt from that one. Lastly, and most noteworthy for discussion seemed a small thing a few months ago, but taught me something important this very morning. The enemy had to point out that they removed all the labels from each of the cans of various types of food that we had, and sure enough when we checked the cupboards, all the labels were gone and we had no way of knowing what food was in each of the cans. We didn’t really care, because we didn’t cook, and we made a game out of it- I would pass each can around have everybody guess and then we would open it to discover the real contents. The whole potatoes, refried beans, and green beans went to waste, while we consumed the canned peaches and pears. Life went on, and as the days passed sporadically when I wanted food I would look into the cupboard and smile when I saw the cans with no name, no indication of what they were or who they were. I always ended up giving up on identifying the cans and eating something else.
This morning was different. I woke up at 5am sharp and cleaned my room, did some laundry but halted because my stomach was calling for food, and specifically some fruit. I instinctively looked into the cupboard to locate my canned peaches and saw that I would have to open 8 cans to find my peaches, because I didn’t know what they were and having all been put in the same location, I was surprised how important those labels were in finding what I wanted. I had no good way to distinguish between the good (peaches) and the bad (whole potatoes). That is when I thought and realized that it is important to have a name, know our name, and display our name, so that any day that the Lord calls on us, whether it be today when he asks us to “show forth good examples” bearing his name, or the last day when he calls us by name, we will know the name, remember and retain the name, and finally recognize and respond to the name. After all, it is His name by which we are called. (Mosiah 5:8-12; Alma 5:38). I will try and be better at representing him and his name.
I eventually found the peaches and I have enjoyed eating them while I have been typing this up.

Painting

The interest of late has been painting Jackson Pollock style. It was a lot of fun, I put a tarp all around my downstairs wall and carpet and then strategically splattered the paint on several of the canvases.

Jousting Josh

Jousting Josh @ Valcom Work Party- All I have to say is that my mom knows how to through a good party. Thanks Mom!!

My hair after the lightning strike

The lightning storm came unexpectedly and I had no time to escape. I have always pondered the effects of being struck by lightning, but I didn’t know that I would end up looking like those toy trolls. As of writing this, I have grown out my hair to reach below my mouth. I have challenged myself to grow it past my chin before I cut it all off, it’s a pointless goal, but one I will reach soon.

stewart falls

I got up Saturday morning and went to a photography class (I just bought a camera a week ago), I came home and watched a photography video, and so after a few hours of photography education, I was itching to take some pictures using my new acquired knowledge. I went to Sundance and took the lift up, and saw a sign that said "Stewart Falls 3.0 Miles" I started off on the trail taking pictures all along the way. The trail ended and this beautiful waterfall was at the end. Ironically, I took this picture with my phone, but there will be more pictures to come.

delicate arch

about a month ago i decided to plan a moab river rafting trip. a group of us came early on friday to find a place to camp, but instead we decided to hike up to the delicate arch. it was fun and amazing to see. the next time i come i am going to study up on the geology of the place so i can appreciate it more.

High Adventures w/ Papa

Funnest time ever

Thailand2007

Randomness

Video

My first dog holding/sniffing/cuddling

So my brother's family just bought a hypoallergenic dog or so they said. Lucky for me I was chosen (among thousands) to be the first test subject. I held her, put my nose up against her, and rubbed my eyes. I won't show you how i looked one hour after. Actually it wasn't too bad, and now I believe that there are semi-hypoallergenic dogs, and my brother has one. I will probably go visit them more often now so that I can play with their dog, and my nephews.

my garden

so here are the beginnings of my garden.

chess match in the park

Here is the kid i beat in chess. He charged me $5. I decided that i would practice up in chess and be the one that charged the $5 so as to finance my trips. I bought the pieces for it and the next day I played in central park and I was beat several times by an Austrian artist. I preferred playing the young kid pictured here.

new york temple

On tuesday we went to the new york temple and did baptisms. It was a great experience.

Papaya Dog

May 24, New york city, I had my favorite hot dog ever at Papaya Dog.

vinyl record

As I was looking at a house with Brandon (the best real estate agent I've ever had), the owner lady was going through all her old junk and found an 'antique vinyl record', i had her pose for this picture. I won't be moving into that house.

Tom Colicchio's $1000 kobe steaks

Table set for seven, and a $1500 bill. thankfully i didn't have to pick up the bill. i took a picture of the Kobe beef (which i learned comes from special japanese cattle) when nobody was watching because i don't expect to eat that ever again.

Vegas Randomness

On our journey to find a place to go bowling, and through a twist of events we ended up stumbling upon Heather Beers the star of the movie Charly by Jack Weyland (famous LDS writer and my former bishop up at BYU-Idaho). After Ashlee and I finished riding the New York, New York roller coaster, we decided that bowling would be a fun activity. We started asking people and information desks (only after i tried texting google to no avail) for directions to the nearest bowling alley. We came across a timeshare saleswomen at her booth that asked us if we were living together or something like that. We laughed and told her we didn't and that we were just looking for a place to go bowling. She laughed hysterically, almost mockingly and told us we are in Vegas (like we didn't know) and that we should go clubbing (ironically we had decided earlier to leave PURE, one of the nicest and most popular clubs on the strip, to find cleaner more wholesome fun- like roller coasters and bowling). She handed us an envelope that contained tickets to PURE, Coyote Ugly, LAX, and Tao (apparently the hottest clubs around). Instantly in my mind I thought about selling the tickets. I asked her how much the tickets cost and she said between $20-30 each. We had just struck gold. I told Ashlee we were going to go sell the tickets and she laughed and responded, 'that's hilarious'. I was trying to figure out if that was a good hilarious like 'that will be fun' hilarious, or like a 'Mike you are really crazy and I would rather not but I can't tell you because we are on a date and that wouldn't be proper' hilarious. So I compromised between the two interpretations of hilarious and decided to give them away instead of sell them. We started towards Coyote Ugly. After being lost in the casinos and teaching Ashlee how to play Craps (I had learned the night before), we finally found our way to the entrance of the club and we went up to the back of the line and handed the tickets to the last two people in line. They graciously and confusingly accepted and we walked away. Ashlee turned to me and said, "I think that was the actress in Charly." I told her it probably wasn't, and she affirmed that it was. So we passed back and forth a few times, trying to get a glimpse of her without being seen by them. As we passed they were still looking at their free tickets to read and see if they were valid and so they didn't notice us staring and passing. After a little deliberation, I decided that I wasn't going to wonder all night if it really was her, so as I approached them I thought in my mind to say "I'm sorry to bother you, but my friend thinks you are the actress in Charly and I just want to make sure that you aren't so we are not wondering all night," but as I tapped her on the shoulder, I knew that it was her, the one and only Charly/Heather Beers, and I said "hey, my friend Ashlee realized that you are the famous actress on the movie Charly and she wanted her picture with you, would that be ok?" She graciously replied and I waved Ashlee over, took the picture, and left.

jazz/lakers playoff game

so i had the amazing opportunity to go see game 1 of the jazz vs lakers playoff matchup. it was incredible and i credit the awesome experience to heidi jo (and her mom for the plane tickets). i decided at 1230pm the day of the game to go see it. caught my flight at 4pm. arrived at 6pm, we got to the game at 7pm (just in time to see kobe bryant get the MVP). fisnished watching the jazz get beat around 11pm. got home at went to bed by 1am. got up at 430am. caught another flight at 7am, and was back to work by 10am. Thanks heidi!!!

hollywood and me

need i explain more?

batcave

yeah that's me hanging in the original batcave in hollywood, i make a pretty bad bat

yankee/redsox game

serendipitous story to be written later