Ask Away Sunday: Week 25

Cinnamon rolls or sugar cookies?
I like sugar cookies just a little more than cinnamon rolls. 

How old is Melanie now? 
My niece is approximately 5 months old now. 

What fun exciting things is a she doing?
Melanie's learned how to mimic some of peoples' actions. She knows how to grab my finger.  Sheila's also been trying to teach her to roll over, but Melanie doesn't understand how to roll over yet. 

What is your favorite kind of bird?
I don't necessarily have a favorite bird.

What are the official plans for the remodeling and what % is complete? 
The plan is to remodel the kitchen, take out the carpet in the living room/bedrooms and build an addition onto my home.  Hopefully it'll be finished by early in the Fall.

Do you agree with Lebron James getting the MVP award? If not then who should have?
Yes, I thought that Lebron James was the best player for the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. At the same time I don't like that the NBA usually automatically gives the MVP award to a superstar. I think 
that a role player can be very valuable player in an NBA Finals such as Danny Green was for the Spurs in this NBA Finals.

Ask Away Sunday: Week 24

What is your favorite way to exercise? 
Playing basketball

Which is your most recent favorite song?

Are you a good liar?

No.

What is your take on facial hair?

I don't mind having facial hair. 

If you were given the power to get rid of one state, which would it be?

North Dakota 

Ask Away Sunday: Week 23

Which temple did you receive your endowments in? 
The Idaho Falls Temple. 

How many temples have you been to? 
Probably not enough, but I have been to several.  

What was your initial reaction when you opened your mission call? 
I actually didn't know how it worked out for disabled people to have an opportunity to serve a mission. So I was grateful that I was able to serve a mission in my own area

Reflect back on your mission, share a FEW stories about your mission and how they strengthened your testimony.
The summer after I graduated high school I took a family vacation to Hawaii. I was briefly able to see one of my cousins who was serving a mission there at the time. It seemed like Hawaii would be a great place to serve a mission, but when I went on my mission I realized that it didn't matter where you served as much as how you served which strengthened my testimony.

I was able to teach Seminary on my mission in the same place that I went to Seminary classes when I was in high school.  It was a very interesting experience to look at Seminary from a different perspective. I remember that it was especially inspiring to see how willing some of the girls in that class were to go the extra mile to help the special needs students in the class be successful. 

I also assisted with doing Family History work and had to learn a quite a bit about it to be able to help people to do it which was way out of my comfort zone and made me a better person. I didn't have a testimony of the importance of doing family history work, but I was able to gain a basic testimony of why that work is in important. Family history still isn't something that I'd be thrilled about doing on my own, and I haven't taken the time do to much of it since my mission, but I do appreciate the opportunity to have a lady and man train me about it who truly loved it and were so passionate about it.

Missionary Farewells

Last Sunday I attended a missionary farewell for two of my younger cousins Kelsey and Cortney. It was nice to be able to see some of my extended family again that I hadn't seen for several years. I'm especially grateful for the opportunities I've had to get to know Kelsey and Cortney better in recent years and I'll miss being able to visit with them as consistently as I have online...

Cortney and I

Kelsey and I

Amory, Emily and I

Bethany and I

Kelsey and Cortney

Ask Away Sunday: Week 22

Are you commenting on blogs a few times a week?
It seems like when I comment on a blog post it's too tempting to make a comment on everything on the blog or I feel like I should comment on all of my friends blogs equally. So I try not to comment very often anymore.

 Do you think you are attractive?
I think that I have some attractive and unattractive qualities just like everyone else does.

Are you going through the motions?
It seems like it.

Can you name 5 social networks?
No, I can't think of quite that many.

When was the last time that you wrote something on your blog that someone disagreed with?
I don't remember and I don't think that it's wrong to have a different opinion than someone else.

Red Baron

Last week two of my best friends, Halie and Betsy, invited me to eat dinner with them at the Red Baron Drive-In. I looked forward to seeing them again and it was very enjoyable for me to be able to spend time getting to know them better last Friday.   I've always appreciated my friendships with them and that they've been very supportive and kind friends to me since I've known them. I was able to have several great memories with them as I grew up. So I'm very grateful that I've been able to get back in touch with both of them and also that I can continue to have opportunities to spend some time with them or still be a part of their lives as their friend...

Betsy, Halie and I at Red Baron

Ask Away Sunday: Week 21

Who were some of your favorite high school players? 
A few of my closest friends were on the girls basketball team. So they were my favorite players to talk to and spend time with on basketball trips.

What was it like? 
It was an interesting experience that taught me quite a bit and made me a better person. I was always disappointed that I couldn't play in the games and I knew that being a manager wasn't the most glamorous thing to do on the basketball team, but I tried to do the best that I could and I think people respected that about me. I actually considered taking choir my senior year, and not being the manager anymore, but decided to stick with basketball.

Did you travel with the team? 
I had to travel with my Dad for a few years, because the team bus didn't have a ramp for my wheelchair, but eventually I was able to travel on the bus with the team which was a lot of fun for me.

What was your favorite tournament?
My favorite tournament was the Flaming Gorge Tournament in Green River. It was fun to see Star Valley try to compete against some of the larger schools in Wyoming.

Tell a story or two about being the high school manager.
When I was a freshman my uncle Dahl told me, before the first game, that if he was ejected from a basketball game during the season  I was next in line to be the head coach for that game. So I remember secretly hoping he'd get ejected and I'd have a chance to coach the team.At the time I was naive enough to believe that the high school would somehow allow me to coach the team in that type of emergency situation

When I became the Varsity manager, as a sophomore, one of my responsibilities was to fill the water cooler with ice.  The first time I tried to do it I had difficulty holding the bucket and scooping the ice into the cooler at the same time. I also thought that I might accidentally knock the water cooler over with my wheelchair if I set the water cooler on the ground.  One of the cheerleaders just happened to be in the equipment room with me.  She insisted that she help me hold the water cooler while I filled the cooler to make it easier for me. 

As I began filling the water cooler I would frequently miss the water cooler and hit her shirt with the ice cubes. However, she just kept holding the water cooler for me without complaining and she continued to have a conversation with me until I was finished filling it. Then she went and asked some of her friends to help her carry it for me to where it needed to go for the team to use for practice. I'd never talked to her much prior to that, but I was very impressed that she was so kind to me. I enjoyed talking to her that day and she became one of my best friends. So that experience helped to teach me that it's important to look for opportunities to help people even if I don't know them very well. She's still one of my favorite people that I talk to consistently online.