The Gray Report

Wolf Creek Village, in Eden UT is a wonderful place. It was with great joy and pleasure that Kassie and I stayed with Mom, Dad, Lucy, and Abi/Logan for nearly a week. We hot tubbed, watched movies, played games, went on some drives, laughed, ate, and even worked up some sweat playing racquetball. It was a grand experience and here are some pictures to prove it. Mom, the leader of the pack poses at the top of Powder Ridge. Her love, direction, and goodness are lights to our family that I believe will have an exponential impact on our lives forever. On our drive, Logan was my companion (and Dad's) in the back seat as we went to President McKay's house in Huntsville and to the Monastery. He is a happy child, and his mullet gives his toothy visage an even happier presence. The sun shone upon us during our walk/hike, and I was able to snap this before running to catch up to the vanguard company. I consider this my patriotic picture. It is hard to believe this was all happening in De

So the semester has come to an end, and that means a valuable thing has entered my life: time. Now I can be obnoxious, take pictures, sleep in till 5:45, think about new routines, and watch/help Kassie with dinner. About a week ago Kas asked me, "what would you like for dinner this week?" I thought for a moment, flashes of the usual quickly went by - things like pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, and so forth. Before shrugging my shoulders and saying, "I don't know" like I usually do when I am just too lazy to think harder than normal, my mind recalled a golden happy memory from the dark recesses of days gone by. Chicken Pot Pie. The thought was concrete and my mouth watered. "Chicken Pot Pie would be a good option," I said while trying to hide how actually excited I was at the prospect. When I get overly excited about things it betrays the natural calm that I try to portray to the world and those around me. kas nodded, "That sounds good. I haven&

As I reflect upon the spiritual thoughts I have had in classes this semester, and the unique parallels to the gospel that have been noted, I think it would be helpful to quote from a reflection I wrote for my job as a freshman mentor at BYU. “I think that really the breakthrough for me this semester was recognizing the parts of my life in which I was stuck in a fixed mindset. Studying the animation program with my other job, the readings I have had with this job, as well as taking on a mentorship role, has taught me to just not worry so much about what I don't know or can't do. Instead I have tried to begin to focus on what I can do, and what I can learn with the time I have. I have always wanted to learn how to use Photoshop, and make cool stuff on the computer. For one reason or another (my own pride/fear?) I never tried. This semester I took 2 hours a week and dedicated it towards learning Photoshop and other new skills. Though I have yet to learn much more, it ha

Here are some more pictures. I had some great fun taking these at the end of Thanksgiving break. Unfortunately the light was a bit strong - but the pictures turned out ok I reckon. Logan was flashin' his awesome mullet for the picture shoot, along with his great two big front teeth! Check out Brian's crazy mustache! Looking classy. Nice. Near the end of the shoot Logan was getting ready to go. Just moments after this was taken he began to eat something large on the ground, maybe a rock? It was time to go home and get some food and rest. I think we can all identify with that feeling.

Today I took some more pictures, and then uploaded and edited a few of them (along with some others). I posted just a small sample below, but more of my pictures can be found here at my Flickr account. As always I have a goal - that I may keep strong or not. I would like to keep up my Flickr account and expand it with more photos in the years to come. The web offers such remarkable methods of sharing things. Kassie didn't really like this picture. She gave me some reasons but I am still not sure why. I really like it because in the back you can see the small chunks of our 1st apartment together. We are both smiling and my smile actually looks sort of normal. And - - it is just a good picture. You know? This is one of the many pictures I took with Abi and Brian yesterday at the park near Wasatch. Logan was pretty happy for a while, and even gave a few good reactions to my odd noises. I realized why photographers are so strange and awkward - it is the only way to get a reaction out

In church on Sunday we read many scriptures in the Book of James. As the teacher continued talking about different points, a neat chain that began forming in my mind distracted me and I began to pursue it during class. For this paper, I completed the chain (or just took it a little further) and using Elder Bednar's insights on searching, studying, and making connections I have gained some new thoughts on patience. Below I have listed the scriptures in their entirety. James 1:3-4 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh b patience . 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be a perfect and entire, wanting nothing. D&C 67:13 13 Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, continue in patience until ye are perfected . Romans 2:7 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality , eternal life Hebrews 1

It has been a while since I have posted to my blog. This thought is small, but meaningful to me so I figured I would share. Joy is something that is not always a part of my everyday life. Obviously things come and go that make my routine a challenging experience. But in reality, nothing is too bad or too hard for me to not to find a way to be happy about it. I have the choice to be happy any time, though this fact doesn't discount the necessary times one needs to experience sorrow and the other range of feelings to connect to others and understand the world around them. Sister Sanchez, my mission president's wife said something along these lines when she addressed my departing group of Elders as we prepared to go home. It was something like, "Challenges can be humorous now or in a few years, either way it is going to be funny. It is just up to us on when we decide to laugh about it." This reminds me of Elder Worthlin's talk about "Come what may and love it&q

I admire this song, and Sean Kingston for writing it and making it sound so fun and cool. The truth of the matter though, is that one person can change the world. I am not going to get all crazy and write about the different worlds that exist in each of our minds and neighborhoods, but I do want to point to one man that changed the world and showed us how we too can make a difference to those around us and our posterity. In Words of Mormon which is in The Book of Mormon, the prophet explains why he choose certain records to be in the book. In verse seven he states, "And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." Mormon both recognizes his short comings and mortal short-sightedness, while also acknowledging the fact that God's view is all encompassing. Mormon knows that if he can open his mind and heart to what God wants him to do then he can become a tool - or an instru

This summer has been a full one! Brandon and I finished it off (mainly Brandon) with two short training videos for Freshman Mentoring here at BYU. They played in the Marriott Center on the Jumbotron in front of hundreds (if not thousands) of incoming freshmen and their peer mentors. It was pretty neat!

This morning studied the Book of Jarom in the Book of Mormon. A significant verse I found that I had never really paid much attention to was in verse four there is a small formula to receiving revelations (or guidance from God). Jarom states, "And there are many among us who have many revelations, for they are not all stiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children of men, according to their faith. " The term "stiffnecked" means pride to me. I am not positive if that is all that is entailed in the word but I think that works in this case. I understand Jarom to be saying that those who humble themselves and develop a trust in God will open the lines of communication to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost plays as small or large part in our lives as our faith allows it to. Thus I see humility and faith as key components of what Jarom feels to be tools to receiving revelation. I

Near the beginning of the Book of Mormon, Lehi tells his sons about the importance of agency and action. "And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon." (2 Nephi 2:14). I have been thinking about this concept off and on for a long time. I noticed on my mission while listening to Elder Bednar's talks that he often quotes this verse and refers to this idea in his speeches. It seems that Lehi is hitting on something that so often we all forget in our daily life, regardless of what has happened in the past we can choose how we will act in the present. "You got to let go of the stuff from past - because it just doesn't matter! The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now." This quote, as great as it is - is not from Lehi or anyone in the Book of Mormon.

I am finally stepping up to the plate and writing briefly about the films I viewed before the marriage happened. Since August 12 I have seen many other films (more than I can think of right now) and will not worry about writing about ever single one of those. However, I will begin the habit again of writing!! This was a new addition to my educational documentary film rage I have been on in the recent months. Unlike The Lottery and Waiting For Superman, Whatever It Takes follows the story of one administrator and one of his students. There was much less about schools as a whole, and more about how this guy was full of grit and fuel. Like the other films I have seen it motivated me to be an educator, but the film was less powerful and emotionally stimulating as the others. I thought it was ok, but I now better understand why it was not popping up as the first option on Netflix for someone interested in educational documentaries. So it has been said that is perhaps one of the best f

This movie was actually really good. I was not too happy with RottenTomatoes on this one. Some of the critics were so off that it seemed like they had watched a completely different film. I have wondered since how one qualifies to be a critic. Do they just have to watch tons of movies? Be good at ripping things a part? It makes me think about what the scary critic in Ratatouille said near the end of the film which I found to be quite profound. " In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new tale

Hit "Play" and listen while you read :) So It is all over I reckon. It is sort of hard to believe but not really. I felt like when I finished reading book 7 back in 2007 that that was really the end. The movies have been fun and I have enjoyed observing how the filmmakers interpreted JK's world, but really the book was what connected me to the characters. I loved this film because it seemed like there was some true acting, scripting, directing, and real emotion in this one. It was trying. This story really is all about family and the people that matter the most, in the end things like the Elder Wand and so forth fade because that is not important. These items that gave Voldy the false sense of security that he could live forever are similar to villians of today who have distanced themselves so much from the love and warmth of human relationships that they must turn to substances and treatments to find hope and strength when looking forward to tomorrow. Whether i

I have been humming/singing the theme to this movie for almost as long as I can remember. I watched about a fourth of it once on TV, and now I have finally seen it. Some film people tend to not talk about, or maybe even think less of the films like this one that the broad population considers "classic" or monumental in the progression of filmmaking. I often feel like these people have a problem with feeling some sort of elite sense of I'm-smarter-than-you ness that is simply regressive and childish. This film, regardless of how many people liked it, praised it, or shrugged it off, is a profound example of what the motion picture can capture and communicate. I was moved to be better, and my perspective on life has changed because of my experience with this film. I could go on about Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley's performances, but that has been done countless times for the last decade and a half. For me this film was powerful because of the personal element communicate

Dad and I decided to go see Rango on the day when the hordes were off for HP. We hit the dollar theater at 1 pm, and part of the humor of the film I think was hearing Dad and me laughing hard in the almost empty theater. It seems not another soul made a squeak. The film was pretty amazing visually - and I highly enjoyed all the western themes that were alluded to. Perhaps that is what made it so funny for me was that I have seen a fair amount of westerns and so the cliches that I love and the characters that are so recognizable were just a delight to watch in this creative fashion. Everything was there for the story to be complete in terms of the Hero's journey. The wise old latin armadillo, the tests and allies and reluctance to the call. The threshold and the belly of the beast were there to. It worked according to the formula and that made it all the more enjoyable for me. The music and the great montage scenes were very fun and I just never got sick of the innov

So I finally watched it. Being somewhat skeptical I didn't think I would swayed much by the film. However, Gore presented tons of facts and it seemed to be very true. I am easily persuaded by media and the like so was sure to watch it with Kassie (who majored in Biology and somehow seems to remember everything from all her classes!) so she could keep things real. When it was over she told me that pretty much everything seemed to be true, except perhaps a few connections between hurricanes and warming and other things. What was cool is 19 scientists came to that same conclusion. After the release of the film, the associated press went and questioned these scientists about the truthfulness of what was presented. You can read about that here . My only real exposure to the issue was from Glenn Beck's book called "An Inconvenient Book" which really raked over the film and its message. This clip illustrates his perspective at the time the book came out (2007 ish). However,

I have enjoyed the previous X men films to a certain extent. The constant theme that his hit each time is one that I think is important for today. The idea of "mutants" and how some folks just aren't like others has always been true, and I think there is some great potential for a paper on the connections between X-men and illegal immigrants. The series also offers some interesting looks into human nature through the microcosm of the few characters we are introduced to, and asks questions of us about how we are using our talents and so forth. Beyond these good themes and discussions, however, lies a deep immoral violence that really surprised me. Kassie and I saw this film in the "big boy" theaters. It was full of spectacle, mutant changing creatures, computer effects, and practically naked women. I was amazed at the amounts of un-called for violence. The brutality was useless. Sure I know Eric hurts from his past, but the manner in which he shows it and the

I wanted to watch this film because I love westerns and they really haven't been much in production since the 50's, and I admit that Brad Pitt is perhaps one of my favorite actors. The film is really long (nearly 3 hours) and actually has the same violence rating as films such as Lord of the Rings and other PG-13 action movies on "Kids-in-mind.com" though it was given an R rating. It was interesting to think about this phenomenon in light of a comment a peer of mine made in one of the last days of the term this Spring. He mentioned that he has actually walked out of many PG-13 films because of the use of violence is so immoral. That might sound sort of weird, but in thinking about it it made a lot of sense. To show tons of violence just because it is "cool" or "fun" or makes you want the bad guy to get demolished is frankly not right. On the other hand, some filmmakers use violence merely to show how things really are/were and not necessarily for

I didn't really know what to expect going into this movie. Kassie had told me the basic plot, but I was a little hesitant about seeing Legolas and MJ in a chick flick. As it turns out, it wasn't as much of a chick flick as I thought. How would one define a chick flick? Well, next semester in theory I am sure I could tell you in a more professional way but I think it goes something like. Character A wants a boy/girl. A meets B. B and A have a series of growing relationship building experiences. A finds out some horrible thing about B (or somehow there is a falling out of sorts). A finds out that that horrible thing is not true, or they get over it, and it is resolved. In the end A gets B and they get married, or are re-united. I can say this, because I have seen this pattern multiple times (Pride and Prejudice, Hitch, 10 things I hate about you, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, Shallow Hal, Notting Hill, etc etc etc). I am not saying it is bad per se, because the movies I really l

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com I stubbled across this video due to a supplementary option in my training at Freshman Mentoring. We were also asked to read a chapter from a book about Mindsets. The main focus was on vulnerability and how that is both the center of shame, fear, and depression as well as the springboard to security, joy, and a wholesome life. The Woman in the video shares her findings from over six years of intensive research. She said that those who were happy and who felt accepted and loved were the same in every way to those who didn't, except they felt like they were worth loving. This sense of worthiness enabled them to have the courage to be imperfect, and they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be so they could really become who they were. They embraced vulnerability. These people were willing to let their true selves be seen and to love with everything they could with out guarantee. Folks from the other spectrum

I left on my mission back in 2008, not knowing, hearing, or feeling inflicted with Bieber Fever. Upon my return I became aware that apparently he is the biggest thing and pass time for girls age 4 and up. Kassie and I watched the Documentary "Never Say Never" after hearing really amazing things about it. When the film first came out in theaters I was just about 100% sure I would never even look at the cover again. However, I have begun to develop a more charitable attitude towards films thanks to my variety of history and theory classes at the BY. Even my professor was caught at the dollar theater watching the film, I guess one of the students got a photo and later posted it on Facebook. So was it good? Mmm, I think my opinion would be different than the hosts of females throughout the world who cry at the thought of the spunky Canadian dancing across the stage. But it was neat to see how apparently good, clean, and wholesome Justin is. What was particularly neat for me to se

Kassie asked me why I don't write in my blog anymore. As I thought about it, I realized that I don't ! So it is with great desire, I am going to try and at least say a few words about every movie I see. Not a big old analysis or anything - but at least a few words. Tonight I watched Glory which follows the first all black regiment in the Union during the Civil War. It was hard for me to get over Matthew Broderick being a colonel when all I could think about was Ferris Bueller's day off. However, he did really good even though I kept expecting him to grin at the camera and start talking about skipping school. Perhaps the most moving part of the film for me was the few scenes emphasizing Denzil Washington's character and his story. He is a run away slave who feels like he really is not a part of either the South or the North, black or white. He is filled with a lot of hate and takes it out on another black soldier who has been raised in the North. I think what struck me