Who Is Our Frodo?

This morning I had this thought pop into my head; Who is our Frodo? Who is the one that carries this burden power for us? Remember Frodo, even though he took the ring to the fires of Mordor, he could not bring himself to giving that power up and ultimately it was the creature Gollum that carried the ring to its final resting place in the fires of Mordor.
The Lord of the Rings is such a deep story about the ability of absolute power to corrupt absolutely. It took the most innocent of creatures to bare the burden of the ring, but in the end, even the most innocent could not bring himself to sacrifice the power he held.
Somewhere there is a creature that has the power to bring the ring to the edge of the fire, but we can not trust anyone who has that kind of power to finish the job. It will, in the end be evil itself that hurls itself and its power over the edge. And though we do not know where this Frodo may be, it is our job to keep the evil eye on us.  

The Ambiguity Of Love

What do you mean when you say love? Love is probably the most ambiguous word in the English language. It has so many different meanings depending on the context of its usage and who or what it is spoken of. In fact, it is so personal that just about everyone has their own definition of what love is to them. If not their own definition, their own understanding of what love is.

Each of us uses the same word to describe how we feel about certain foods, our spouse, our children, our family in general, our friends, colors, smells, sounds, textures, feelings, etc... You name it someone might say they love it. Each of us have an understanding that just because you love lasagna you are not going to marry it. Although, a good lasagna may deserve consideration to such a serious commitment ;) We also understand that when we say we love our friends or neighbors we do not love them the same way we love our children or our spouse. We may have feelings for a pair of shoes, but we, for the most part, understand that the feeling we feel towards our shoes is different than the feeling we feel for a friend.

When we speak of the Language of Love, it would indeed seem that love has it's own language and the words don't matter so much as the feelings placed in the words and the actions that follow. Although love can be written and some may find creative ways to say it, words just never seem enough. Maybe because love can not be fully expressed in words alone, and it is the actions that follow the words that truly define what we are saying. It is in the actions that we find whether someone truly understands what love is, and what we mean when we say that we love them. That is true when we say it to our children, our spouse, or our friends. It is the actions that we take that define the meaning of our words, and the level of our commitment.

The greater our understanding of God's plan of happiness the greater capacity we will have to love, and the closer we will come to defining what pure love truly is.

Love may well be the most ambiguous word in the English language, but if we as individuals do not define it with confidence, we may find ourselves questioning with regularity just what the heck this thing called love is? where do we find it? And how do we keep it once we have found it?

Tell Me What You Stand For

If we preach an anti message we might as well be advertising for the opposition. If our own message is not clearly better than the other message then we better rethink our own message.

When we preach an anti message we may inadvertently be burning the bridge that divides us from those whom we wish to convert to our own point of view. Instead of reaching out we are pushing others away. Challenging another point of view is not a bad idea, but we should always carry our own banner before us, lest our own war be lost in the emotion of the battle.

When we preach an anti message it is like asking others to just trust us that there is something else better without really having an option at the moment. Not many of us are going to be excited about letting go of our dollar if we don't know what we are buying into.

We can rally around the battle cry, "In memory of our God, our Family, and our Country." But we are less likely to be willing to sacrifice our all on, "You are wrong and we know it."

Tell me what you stand for and I will know what you are against.

A Broken Heart Comes Naturally, But A Contrite Spirit...

Sometimes we are asked to bare a burden we thought we did not ask for. We assumed that our life would go as we had planned it, and our hopes and dreams, whatever they may be, slip from our grasp and fall to the floor shattered, often by those we love. Our hearts are left broken and it is apparent that we can not fix it.

Our Savior has asked us for a broken heart and a contrite spirit. (2 Nephi 2:7; 3 Nephi 9:20, 12:19.) It seems to me that God has given us all a heart that is easily broken, but a spirit that is not so easily tamed. When our hearts are broken a piece of us dies inside, but what we often fail to realize is the reward that awaits us once we learn to submit ourselves to the will of God.

In a husband and wife relationship we think that everything should be peaches and cream. We have a picture of what our life is going to be like with them and then we get married and we find out that it is hard, sometimes seemingly harder than we can bare. We may even feel that we were short changed. I believe it was meant to be that way. As our hearts are broken together we can either leave the pieces on the floor or pick them up and take them to the Lord and ask him to help us mend them.

I do believe that God does not ask us to bare more than we can bare, but often we carry much more than he asks us to carry. An unforgiving heart carries with it much more than God requires of us. It is in forgiving that our burdens are made light. Marriage has the greatest potential for both a broken heart and contrite spirit as we learn to help each other past the hurts that we inflict upon each other, and begin to realize the potential of a true companionship. It is then that we may begin to get a glimpse at how insignificant even some of the most egregious offenses really are so long as we are in the process of overcoming. 

The broken heart comes easy, it just happens. However, the contrite spirit is unnatural. It requires submission, which would seemingly contradict our desire to be free. However, in reality, submission to the will of God is the ultimate expression which leads to total freedom.

Submit yourself and you will not only find freedom, but peace. All your burdens will become light and you will have found that the shattered dreams you took to the Lord were far too small for you. What you thought was the end of any chance of happiness, was only the beginning of real happiness.

Shame Makes Us Helpless To Avoid

Shame is a string that fetters us to the stake we fear,
but feel hopeless to avoid.

Shame is an emotion we feel when we have done something dishonorable. When we ignore this emotional response and continue to participate in our dishonorable actions we begin to develop a very self destructive habit, or addiction. This addiction in the beginning could have been easily avoided had we not ignored the shame in the beginning. However, the more we feed our addiction the more it sucks the will from us to stop our actions, and shame becomes a fetter that binds us to that addiction. 

When a young elephant is captured for the purpose of enslaving it they are often tide to a small post with a rope. As a young elephant this is enough to discourage them from running away. As they grow older this massive creature could easily break the rope or possibly even pull up the post that it is bound to, but because it was conditioned early on it loses its desire try and escape. 

As human beings when we become both the hunter and the hunted we drive the stake into the ground and fetter ourselves only to find that the spirit of freedom within us begins to be awakened far too late for us to recognize what we have done to ourselves. We begin to fear the stake which we drove into the ground, because even though the string is not very strong we have become weaker than it.

Term Limits Should Be Up To Us

I apologize up front in that I do not want this to become a political blog, but there are times when politics seems to impose itself on my mind.
Term limits is an issue that is often brought up by challengers and agreed to by incumbents but rarely ever is it self imposed. I have been thinking about it, and my thoughts are not original, but they are mine. I used to be pro term limits by mandate of the law. Since, I have come to realize that would be a very bad idea. If we think corruption is bad now, imagine what might happen if every election we had a bunch of lame ducks...not that we don't already...but now they have absolutely no consideration of having to answer to their constituents.
We keep looking to government to save us from government. Where is the logic in this? This government is a government of the people. It is our responsibility to direct the government. Rather than
ask our representatives to sign a petition to pledge for term limits we should get the people to sign a pledge not to vote for the same candidate twice for a senator and 3 times for a congress man. We should be vigilant in our search for new leadership, and in developing new leaders to take the place of those who are serving us well. The longer they are left back in Washington the less they represent us and the more they represent Congress to us.  
So, while I might have supported a term limits amendment in the past, I see the wisdom of the founding fathers in not imposing it by law, but by giving us the chance to choose those who represent us, the onus is on us to keep them accountable.
We have allowed Seniority to trump wisdom. It is us, the people, who have fallen for the argument that seniority matters. And in so doing we have allowed our politicians to get away with far too many compromises. This has only emboldened them. We like them the first time they run and the second, but after that we give them the benefit of the doubt and that is not wise. We need to make being the incumbent a disadvantage instead of an automatic advantage. We need to make our politicians more replaceable instead of irreplaceable.
To every thing there is a season and for every politician there should be a term and that term should come and go as the sun rises and sets.

Prepare Yourself For Better Things

Often when we struggle in relationships or personal trials we recognize that we are being prepared for something better. It is that optimism that carries us through to the next challenge. However, it seems like we keep going through the same thing over and over, again and again. Eventually, if we are not careful, we may lose hope of ever having a happily ever after.
It is very important that we recognize that happily ever afters only come when we take an active role in preparing ourselves for our own crowning event.
The parable of the 10 virgins tells the story of 5 virgins that collected oil and waited for the day of the bride groom's coming, while 5 other virgins neglected preparing until the announcement that the bride groom was on his way. The second 5 ended up asking the first 5 for some of their oil, but prudently the first 5 declined. While the second 5 may have considered themselves prepared, because they had their vessels ready, they forgot that a vessel not filled is still not prepared.
When a prince is born he is not a king, but a prince. As the prince grows he is taught all the things that he will need to know in order to become the king some day. However, the prince remains a prince until the moment he is anointed a king. It is his responsibility to prepare himself to be worthy of his calling.
Recognizing the difference between being prepared and preparing ourselves is huge. Many are being prepared, but few prepare themselves to become what they are prepared to be.
Even Cinderella's godmother could not have prepared her to become the princess just by giving her the glass slippers and the dress. Cinderella had already become a princess among her friends... She just was waiting for her bride groom to show up.  

Keep Life Simple Right is Right And Wrong is Wrong

The question was posed, why is it that we ask others to participate with us when we know that we are about to do something wrong? I think that man has a tendency to believe if he can persuade enough people into doing something wrong that he can make that which is wrong right.
To suppose that God will change his mind is a foolish thought indeed. God is not a respecter of people, he does not consider popularity as a determination of right and wrong.
Life really is simple. Do what is right and happiness will follow. Do what is wrong, no matter how much you want to do it, and you will sow and or reap unhappiness.

San Diego Vacation 2012

This year for Christmas we decided that if we could pay off several of our debts and put ourselves in position to pay off the rest, we would go to San Diego with our friends the Recksiek family. They are a traveling family and while they like to go to Disneyland often, I have struggled getting excited about Disneyland. So, when they said San Diego I thought it could be promising. To be honest I have struggled taking time off at all for vacation, not that I don't like time off, but because I fear coming back. Nonetheless, I decided if my wife was willing to work for it that hard I was not going to be a fuddy duddy. Besides the other part of the deal was that it be paid for ahead of time.

So, after planning things out with the Recksieks we were excited for the new adventure. We decided to leave a day earlier than the Recksieks so that we could visit with the Lee family in Irvine on the way down. So we left on Saturday the 14th just after noon in our rental vehicle, a GMC Canyon. The ride down was rather uneventful. DeeAnn wanted to drive and there were not any dirt roads for "short cuts" to slow us down so we made good time and arrived just about midnight.

As we entered the valley we were taken back with the size of the moon. It was incredible. We used our handy dandy GPS app on my phone which worked pretty good. There were a couple of areas that it wigged out on us, but we were able to get to our destination without too much hassle, in fact we beat the Lees home.
Sunday morning we got up and ready for church. We were a bit late, but we made it to most of our meetings. That day the Elders quorum had taken over the Primary for the Sisters so they could attend a special Relief Society meeting. I decided to stay with the primary where we had a cool lesson on protecting ourselves spiritually by putting on the Armor of God. During the lesson I had this thought, God's laws do not restrict us, but they reveal those things that do restrict us.

After we got back from church, we hung around the house, talked and rested some until about 4:30 when we were going to try and catch a sunset at Inspiration Point at New Port Beach. Not the best time for a sunset picture due to the clouds and the coming storm, but we still got a couple of pictures and the kids got their feet...and a little bit more wet before the wet from beneath us started meeting with the wet from above us. And that ended our stay at the beach.
Monday we visited with the Lees and Lauree got to help Jean make sushi for us before we headed off to San Diego. Our timing couldn't have been any better as We met up with the Recksieks just after we got checked in at the Plaza Circle Ramada. That was would be our base for the next 5 nights. We shared neighboring rooms. It probably drove the people underneath us crazy, but we had kids back and forth from room to room at times. It was really fun.
That first night we ate at Ricky's it was supposed to be like the 2nd best place to eat in San Diego. We didn't have to fight for seating and the food was pretty good, but I was not sold on 2nd best. Maybe it was because I looked at the wrong side of the menu to determine what I ate, but I would definitely eat there again.

Tuesday morning after we got back from the hotel breakfast nook we prepared our lunches for the day and headed out on our first activity. We decided since Legoland was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday that we would go to the Point Loma Lighthouse museum and then to the Aquarium.
Did I tell you I really love technology. All I did was put Point Loma into my GPS and wallah it sends me to Point Loma...naval base where we were greeted some very friendly well armed sailors who were nice enough to turn us around before declaring us enemies of the state...
The ride to Point Loma lighthouse was quite humbling as we past through the cemetery where thousands of sailors have been laid to rest.
The museum and lighthouse were pretty cool as you can stand above the bay and watch ships coming and going from the bay. I have been to harbors before but nothing like this. It was impressive. The lighthouse was interesting as we got to learn about how a small light could be magnified by the shape of the glass. The living quarters were interesting as well. I heard someone say that it was 10 hours away to get any wood...That is crazy. It took us not much longer than that to drive from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles.

After the Lighthouse we took the road down bellow the lighthouse to the tidal pools along the shore. There we ate lunch and played on the rocks looking for hermit crabs, fish, and any other signs of terrestrial life forms that we could find. We got there a little late for the to explore too much, but it was fun and we found some interesting life forms.

On to the Birch Aquarium. Birch Aquarium was not as good as the Aquarium of the Pacific, but it was fun. The kids got to play in the mock tidal pool. Emily made friends with gentleman who was instructing us as to what we were seeing and giving us the opportunity to do some hands on activities. At the overlook we were told we could see the whale spouts as the whales were migrating through the area...Indeed we did see the whale spouts. I even got some pictures of the event. After going through the aquarium portion they had some cool water features and games for everyone to play.
We had received a tip that in La Jolla there was a beach that taken over by sea lions. It was getting kind of late, but I also wanted to get a sunset picture so once found the park in La Jolla I was able to get a few pictures in before the sun went down. One of my favorites was a split second shot of 5 seagulls flying in directly toward me with the sunset at their backs. It was awesome. Bytheway, those sea lions were not very graceful when they were on land, but they were beautiful creatures nonetheless.
We had to laugh at our GPS which thus far had given us the correct pronunciation for the streets in San Diego, but when it came to La Jolla it pronounced it with the English rules. So it became our joke when ever we passed the La Jolla exit.

After getting some dinner at Wendy's we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. So we could get some rest for the day to come...

Wednesday was the Zoo. We headed out right after breakfast. I think I ate more waffles that week than I have in a couple of years, it was a good thing we stayed active through the week.
The Zoo was incredible. We started off with the bus tour, which was a good thing because had it not been for the bus and the sky ride we would not have seen half the zoo. It was amazing how big it was and how many different animals we saw. I think my favorite part of the zoo had to be the primates, but the polar bears were pretty cool as well in fact all the animals were pretty cool. We learned that zebras are identified by the stripes on their butt. It seems that their butt is more identifiable than any other part of their body. So I took a picture of a zebra leaving his identity in tact. It was a lot of walking, but it was tons of fun. We were there from just after opening to closing time.
For Dinner we decided to go to Little Italy, to eat at Filipa's Pizza Grotto. The food was really good, but this was where the Recksieks vacation started to take a dip to the south, as little Millie got sick at dinner. You would not have known it by looking at her because Millie is probably one of the happiest sick people I have ever met.
This was just the first of their children to get sick on the trip. First it was Millie, then Hyrum, next was Emily, and finally Sam on the way home. I can't say enough about how well Amy and Joe handled it. We would have never known that they were having such a hard time had we not seen what was going on. We learned a lot from them about parenting in general just by observing them in action. I am so glad that we have friends that we can continue to learn from. Amy and Joe are certainly a great couple and it is obvious their children are in good hands.

 So, Thursday was the day that the boys had been waiting for. It was a day at Legoland where they could spend the money that they didn't lose by disobeying adults or running off. They did well so they were excited. Legoland was probably my biggest surprise. I have to admit it did not sound like fun to me. I was going for the kids and was going to have fun watching them have fun. I mean how much can you do with the legos that I grew up with? I was impressed from the get go as they had life sized sculptures of people just outside the entrance to the park. It only got better from there. I took tons of pictures, but I have to say my favorite area was the several world cityscapes. They were breath taking how intricately detailed they were. from the band playing in front of the the United States Capital replica, to the streets in New York City. it was just amazing. You felt like you could just step in and be a part of it. They had life size elephants and giraffes, as well as....well so many things I couldn't name them all without several pages of mentions.

They had a whole area dedicated to Star Wars including a life size Chewy, R2D2, and Darth Vader. It was just out right fun. Not to mention the venue they had where you could go as a family and make your own cars and race them. They also had several rides, mostly geared to the kids, but it was fun as an adult as well. Legoland was just awesome.
At the end of the day we decided to try going to a restaurant there in Carlsbad, but unfortunately it was Hyrum's turn to be sick. Joe and I ended up going to Carl's Jr to pick up dinner.


Friday was a little more lax as we got a little slower start getting out. Our first destination was the USS Midway Museum. That was an incredible experience. The first thing I noticed was the passage ways through the ship as you passed from one section to the next you had to watch your step or you find out what they meant by the swearing like a sailor. Your shins would constantly be exposed to the possibility of severe punishment if you ever had to run from place to place. Next sleeping quarters were not for the claustrophobic or the weak of stomach. I can only imagine the smell of a bunch of young men who were working in those conditions, it must have been an terrible smell. I began to realize that those who serve our nation are special people. As we talked to those who were posted on the ship as guides you couldn't help but notice the love they had for their time in the service.

Anchor chain

I was in awe at how big this carrier ship was. I had seen pictures of them in the movies and such, but seeing one in person was more impressive. One link on the anchor chain, they said, weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 130lbs. I can only imagine the sound they made as they were being lowered or raised. Looking inside of the cockpits of the jets brought me another admiration for our service men as I can not imagine all the controls they had to know to fly these machines. If anyone ever infers that our service men are less than intelligent I think we should place them in a plane and have them fly off the backside of a carrier. These young men and women who serve our country are very intelligent.


After the USS Midway we decided it was time for lunch. We found a place that looked promising just up the street from the museum. Anthony's boasted of the best fish and chips in San Diego. Fish and chips was what we were looking for. I ordered the "treasure chest" an assortment of deep fried fish, shrimp, calamari, and clams. Oh my goodness! This was the best place we had eaten all week long. If I thought I could have I think I would have forgotten my good senses and ordered more. Poor Amy was  not left with such a desire as Millie added her to bits to the clam chowder. The boys, once they finished their lunch had a lively conversation with a couple of the board walk vendors.

Following Lunch the Recksieks decided to head back to the hotel to take care of Millie and so Amy could get a much needed nap in. We on the other hand decided to go to Fisherman's Village.
Fisherman's Village as a small retail village with several small stores with lots of souvenir opportunities. It was a fun place little place, prices were for the most part more than I wanted to pay, but I ended up getting a couple of T-shirts from a small camera shop.




When we were done shopping we headed to Coronado Island to meet up with the Recksieks and to get our sunset pictures on the beach. There was not a lot of time to play, before the sun was nearing the horizon. The sand on the beach was super fine and looked like it had gold glitter sprinkled through out the entire beach. It was cool, but the water was not extremely cold so it was fun to let the water lick our toes as the tide continued to rise while we were taking pictures.
Just a note to follow so...It is not as easy as it looked to hold a crane pose with the waves taking the sand out from under your feet. :) After leaving Coronado we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant not far from our hotel. While the food was pretty good we were not impressed with the service, kinda bummed.
After dinner we went back to the hotel. DeeAnn, Emily, and Amy all went shopping for ice cream while Joe and I went down and braved the swimming pool with the boys. We swam for probably an hour or so playing Marco Polo and other such water games. It was lot of fun. Once the other group left the hot tub we took it over for a few minutes while we relaxed before heading back up to our room to get ready for ice cream and games.
We had been trying to do ice cream and games several nights but one thing or another kept going wrong. Mostly we were tired by the time we got back at night, between that and sick kids we finally got together and had ice cream, but following ice cream, Spencer got sick and we were so tired and people were still not feeling super duper so we took a rain check on the games.


Saturday we had planned on going to the Mormon Battalion museum, but after we cleaned up and got ready to leave for breakfast we realized that it was raining. The pull to head home was greater than the desire to see the museum. Not that we did not want to, but we were anxious to get back home and the rain just increased our anxiety as we new what we were headed back to in Utah...a major snow storm.
On the way home we ran into all kinds of weather. We started in the rain, ran into fog about 45 minutes later, followed by monster winds. On I-15 we played a game of frogger with tumble weeds, we being the cars. We almost named one tumble weed that disintegrated upon contact with our bumper. In Barstow we stopped for lunch the wind was blowing so hard that it had shredded a flag above the eatery across the street. On the road from Barstow to Las Vegas we went through a sand blaster of a dust storm and finally in Primm a Semi had been blown over. The wind continued pretty much all the way home. We finally caught up to the Recksieks in Cedar City where they decided to wait it out at Joe's sister's home. We thought about staying, but decided that we would continue on up to Salt Lake City. Had we realized how bad the roads would be we might have been more tempted to stay back in Cedar City, but as the old saying goes, fools go where angels dare not tread.. and so it was we made it home. And we would do it again.

I Am Tired Of Political Parties

Beware of political parties. The more I think about political parties the less I see the need for them. I mean in the current atmosphere of political stink I think we have lost the purpose of the primaries and caucuses. We have already determined that come this fall we are going to elect one of two parties both of which are to blame for our current mess and both of which are unwilling to admit their part in the mess which will lead to just a bigger mess.

Politics are inherently corrupt due to the intoxication of power. Like alcohol or any other drug some may be able to function for a time, but the danger of addiction is almost inevitable. Once addicted denial and self aggrandizement begin to corrode the character of even the strongest of statesmen. It is no wonder that George Washington served with reservation and left without regret.

Once we give our total allegiance to a party we tend to lose our objective point of view and we tend to give "our side" the benefit of the doubt while scrutinizing our "enemy" for the same actions. We tend to drink the kool aid of our party leaders, not realizing that both sides are drinking out of the same bucket. Those in power are more concerned about their next fix (election) than they are about the consequences their actions have on the average person. Both parties seeking the ultimate prize of total control and domination over the other party never mind the casualties along the way.

That being said, I do believe it is our duty to get involved in the process of electing good men, getting them in and getting them out of office before they can be poisoned by the power. I have affiliated myself with the Republican party, but I have many reservations in embracing the party completely. They should have to earn my vote as much anyone.

Our country is being torn apart by all the hot air that is being blown in every direction. I am so tired of the class warfare, name calling, emotional insults, and campaign rhetoric. If I believed everything that was said I don't think I could vote for anyone.

It is the political parties that play tug of war with different demographics, with no real concern for the truth at all. All they care is that we believe them long enough that we will elect them and that we forget after they are elected. If I sound a little bit cynical then I must be communicating effectively.

I am tired of listening to how terrible this country is. I am tired of politicians thinking that we can't live without them. I am tired of political ads. I am tired of debating my friends on issues that I know if it weren't for politics telling us we believe different we might actually understand each other. I am tired of being called a racist, when I know I am not. I am tired of being accused of wanting the poor to suffer. I am tired of being accused by my friends, who know me, of being anything but what I am. I am tired of politicians defining what is right and what is wrong and what I should believe. I am tired of government forcing us to bow to the god of environmentalists and saying we do not care about the environment if we don't believe them. I am tired of being painted with  broad brush that leaves me unrecognizable.

Beware of Political parties they are destroying our desire to get along. Don't give them that power. Yes, we may think differently on some issues, but we really don't believe that differently. We may disagree with how things can be accomplished, but no one wants poisoned water, or dirty air.
Let's be honest. If our goal is to feed the hungry does it matter how it gets done as long as it gets done?The hypocrisy of our leaders is they preach one thing, and enforce another. They speak of equality, but make it impossible for us to become equal. They speak of freedom and of defending our rights while at the same time abusing the agency we gave them to defend us. They have so successfully destroyed the premise of right and wrong and made the argument about right and left, Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal, that the right answer is not even in the equation.

Until "We the People" come together and realize the gift that God has given to us in this country we are going to be kicked to the curb by the very machine we allowed to be created under our very nose. We have to shake ourselves out of the sleep we have been put under and remember who we are and who we are meant to be. It doesn't matter which side you stand on, choose to stand in the light.