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...