Life With Derek

Butter vs Margarine

2011-07-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Last week Erica and I ran out of butter. We didn't realize how much our lives revolved around that delicious dairy delight(I've been practicing my alliterations). We drove to the grocery store and were a little upset at the prices. The grocery stores in Rexburg provide butter at $3.49 a package, and offers margarine at $.79.

I turned to Erica and proposed the idea to purchase margarine. At that moment I knew that the word "margarine" would never be spoken of again in our home.

For the next couple of days whenever Erica wasn't looking I was secretly looking up the differences between butter and margarine. The general consensus on the internet and among blogging mothers is that when margarine is in a baked good, the difference would be miniscule if at all noticeable. If the items were cooked, adding margarine was taboo and result in a much inferior product.

I decided to put this to the test. If anyone could pick out margarine in a baked good, Erica could...or could she?

Today Erica had class at 2. I was home cooking an early dinner for us because we both work this evening. The table was set and dinner was ready by the time she got home. We sat down for dinner and saw that the timer on the stove was about to go off. She wondered what was baking. I opened the oven door and she was amazed as to how thoughtful and loving I had been for making her mothers molten lava cakes.
They were so good! Erica even thought so. Erica and I spent the next ten minutes around the dinner table devouring the molten lava cakes and discussing amongst ourselves how wonderful they were.

I asked her what she would think if I told her these were made with margarine as oppose to butter. Her whole countenance changed. I've never been that scared before. I proceeded to back peddle and tell her that I was just wondering what she would think and that nothing was different with these molten lava cakes. I then reminded her that she thought they were delicious. She then told me that they weren't delicious and that she just didn't want to hurt my feelings. I think she lied.

I did infact use margarine. I used blue bonnet, which isn't just margarine. It's the cheapest margarine at the grocery store. Instead of spending $1.75 on butter for this recipe, we spent $0.40 on margarine.As Erica was leaving for work I asked her to tell me the truth of what she thought of the molten lava cakes. She said they were good but she still hated margarine. I'm not sure if she's trying to be nice or if she really thought that they were good. I think this calls for another experiment in the near future. I will keep you all posted.

I personally could not tell a difference in the taste nor the texture.

We finally saw Twilight Eclipse!

2010-07-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Erica and I saw Twilight Eclipse. We had previously seen the first two movies and didn’t mind them at all. I could even go as far to say that we may have enjoyed watching the first two movies. Yesterday rolled around and Erica and I were looking for something to do. She anxiously suggested that we go and see Eclipse. The movie started at 10:10. We quickly ran to WINCO to purchase some snacks.

We sat down and were instantly drawn into the attraction of the previews. There are a lot of good movies coming out soon. The lights began to dim and eventually the whole theater was dark. The first scene came on and Edward and Bella were in the middle of a beautiful field of flowers immersed in themselves and how beautiful they were. I looked over at Erica and she was rolling her eyes just as much as I was. …Why wasn’t Edward shimmering while he was sitting romantically with his lover in the hot sun in the middle of a field?

Edward: Wow Bella, you’re beautiful
Bella: I know, want to get married?
Edward: I love you, but can’t be with you forever because I’m a vampire and don’t have a soul and there is still hope for you to go to heaven eventually if you live a life full of integrity so I’m going to keep showing you that I’m interested in you knowing full well that I’ll never change you into a vampire
Belle: Ok, I love you too!

My favorite part was when Jacob (teen wolf) and Bella were walking by a lake and Jacob was telling Bella how much she loved him.

Jacob: I love you Bella and I know you love me too
Bella: No I don’t
Jacob: yes, you do, you just don’t know it yet.
Bella: I’m pretty sure I don’t

Jacob then takes Bellas hand and puts it on his bare chest

Jacob: Feel this! This is my heart, flesh and bones, It’s warm because I have a soul.
Bella: You know, I may love you after all!

Jacob then kisses Bella and she punches him in the face and almost breaks her hand because his muscles are just that big!

This is just a peek into the mundane dialogue that encompassed this superficial teenage drama.

Why does Bella love Edward? Because he’s mysterious. Why does Edward love Bella? Because she too is mysterious. In other words, they don’t know why they love eachother, they just do. Or what they think is love (hormones, misguided passion, etc.) has taken over, and nothing else matters. Romantic, or just a lie?

If I had a dollar for every scene Jacob was half-naked in this movie, I would have enough money to buy another movie ticket and watch it again. But I know better. I’d take the money and run! It would be different if it was filmed at a beach or something, but they were in a snowy mountain half time-- once during a blizzard!

I love...

2010-07-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

Man vs Food

It is honestly one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. Its about a guy who goes around attempting all of the food competitions around the world. He's eaten huge pizzas, huge burgers, he has eaten crazy hot buffalo wings and a bunch of other things. Most of the time there is a time limit. Yesterday he attempted to eat 180 oysters in under an hour. He did it in twenty minutes. This guy is good! Today he is attempting to eat a twelve egg omelet. Sometimes man wins, and sometimes the food wins. But no matter who wins, it is still one of my favorite shows.

My favorite part is when he's about half way through and he's making funny noises and faces because it's not sitting well. It is so funny. All of you should watch it sometime. Most evenings when Erica and I finish school we cuddle up on the couch and watch an episode before we say goodnight. It's great. Here are some pictures from the show and some things he has eaten.

I'm going home!

2010-07-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

There is only three weeks left in the term and I am fed up! I am so ready for this term to be over. Erica and I were able to work things out with her sisters and we will be heading home soon for a short break! I am so excited to spend the fourth of July in the beautiful state of Oregon! :-)

Update on the second update!

2010-06-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

There may have been some confusion as to why I didn't mention my Mom in the group that came to visit me. It was merely because my Mom is so sweet and beautiful that she needs a blog page all to herself. Mom and I have always had a great relationship and I love her very much. I love her so much, that I even wrote her a poem:

My mother Nancy

Caught the fancy

For my dad

When they were lads

After five kids came

Me they were able to claim

Ever since that March night

My mom and I’ve been real tight

I love my mom

She’s da bomb

She’d rather crochet

Than to waste the day

She makes me blankets

And cooks crispy bacon

I guess what I’m trying to say

Is there really is no way

That I can express in words

What’s sung by morning birds

Or seen in the vast sky blue

Simply put, Mom I love you.:-)

P.S. The cake looked nothing like the pictures but it was really good. We enjoyed it.

Update on my update!

2010-06-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

The 4 hour exam wasn't as hard as they made it seem. I feel confident about it and finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes. I'll know my score once the exam closes. The teacher saw me today riding my bike and we talked for awhile. I have debunked the myth that he has no heart. He is only a nice man who grades tough.

I'm updating my blog!

2010-06-17T16:32:00.001-07:00

Life has been insane lately. All of you may have noticed that I haven’t updated my blog in four weeks! Ikes!

Even though life has been hectic, Erica has been very patient and supportive. I really appreciate that about her. She’s leaving to do a yoga class in Idaho Falls so she wont see this blog until she gets home. I’m making her a cake that she mentioned earlier today. I had never heard of it before but she was describing it to me and it sounds really good. It’s called an earthquake cake. It’s in the oven right now.

I think it’s supposed to look like this…but I don’t have chocolate chips.

School is insane. I’ve already taken two exams and two quizzes this week. I have another Exam I have to take tomorrow. It’s in Managerial Accounting and our teacher told us that if we know our stuff and don’t really get hung up on any problems then we might be able to get it done in 3.5 hours. The rumor around campus is that this guy has no heart. I’ve been studying all week for it and I don’t feel prepared yet, but I have until tomorrow. I have a mandatory field trip this Saturday to Yellowstone national park in my natural disasters class. It is a tough class. It sounds like it would be a lot of fun but it’s a lot of work.

Erica and I are on an ultimate Frisbee team. Our name is “Da Lambs” We are undefeated right now, there is only one other team that’s undefeated. I love it. Yoga is another thing I do every week which keeps me healthy. It’s one of those things that I probably would of never tried on my own, but now that Erica has introduced me with it, I love it. I’m not that great at it, but I am definitely better than I was when I first started. Here is my favorite pose: It’s one that I was able to do this one even before I became a full fledged yogi.

Golf is going well also. We have tournaments every Friday and practices every 2 weeks. I have a lot of fun. I like how it’s competitive, but nobody takes it too serious. I got a new (new to me) driver a couple weeks ago. It matches my three wood and I’m able to hit it a lot better than I was able to hit my big bertha driver.
Erica and I paid the application fee and also the deposit on our new apartment. It’s really nice. I’ll post pictures when we’re actually moved in.

Life in Rexburg has been really stressful lately so Erica and I are thinking that we need to take a break from school and make an escape. We don’t have a plan yet, but it’s going to be good! :-)

Oh I forgot to mention. Dad, Laura, Landon and Lach came to visit Erica and me this weekend. It was a lot of fun. While Laura was here, she took our engagement pictures. They turned out way cute!

Interesting story

2010-05-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

At the end of last term I had a dream. It was one of those dreams where you wake up and you know that you’re supposed to learn something from it. I kept thinking about it throughout the day, but I ended up forgetting what my dream was about except for a plague that I had hanging above my door.

The plague read, “I CAN DO HARD THINGS.” I first heard this phrase from Robert, Erica’s brother. He heard it on his mission and it became one of his mission motto's.

So I went home the next week and I decided to make this plague. With the help of LongBoardLarry and Ardith, I was able to make two. One for Robert and the other to put above my door just as it was in my dream.

I hung it in my room as soon as I got back to school. I would look at when I woke up and admire the workmanship of it, but I don’t think it’s message had as deep of an impact on me as I would of hoped.

The other day I was in my front room doing homework with Erica when my roommate comes out and asks me about my sign. He asks if he could purchase one from me. It obviously meant more to him than it did to me, so I just gave it to him.

He then tells me that something happened to his father and he is partially paralyzed. His motto for the past three years has been, “I CAN DO HARD THINGS.” My roommate described his father as the type of person who when he hears a joke, he’ll tell everyone the joke twice just to make sure everyone heard it and also because he was so excited about it. So for the past three years, my roommate would hear his dad tell him that he could do hard things frequently.

I’m not sure what exactly happened to his dad, I think it may have been a mini stroke, but it happened on April 17^th and it left him partially paralyzed. That was the Saturday before we came to school, that was also the day that I finished the last coat of clear on the plagues.

So we all sat around talking, and Erica and I think that I had my dream for my roommate's father. That I was supposed to make that plague for him. My roommate is home right now, but I’ll hear about his fathers reaction tomorrow night when he gets home.

So there's a cool story that happened to me recently. Love you all! :-)

Epidemics

2010-05-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

An epidemic is defined as something affecting many persons at the same time, and spreading from person to person in a locality where the disease is not permanently prevalent. (www.dictionary.com) Epidemics are usually associated with deadly diseases. The black plague was an epidemic, there have been many cases of influenza, and even HIV has been defined as a current epidemic.

I would like to add facebook to the list of current epidemics. It may not have killed people, but it has certainly caused a widespread numbness to reality. Rarely is someone on facebook real. We live in a society in which everyone is trying portray their perfect selves in an attempt to out do others. People have lost social skills: skills which will allow them to further themselves in their careers and also as their potential as a human being.

It is often said that whenever God creates something good, Satan then counters it with something bad. An example of this is the internet. God allows us to do research and to increase our knowledge through the numberless resources on the internet. Satan counters it with numberless sites of easily obtainable pornography. I personally feel that there is no good that comes from facebook. What good is there that comes solely from facebook that cannot be obtained in another way? What about evil? Erica was invited to become friends with someone she didn’t now. This person had an Islamic name with a profile picture of a gun. Has facebook helped in the exploitation of women and children? Just think about that. Has the drama of facebook ever caused friction in a marriage or relationship of someone that you know?

Check out this site of random facebook facts. It is unbiased but I think some of the facts on there will scare a lot of you.

BYU did a study and found a correlation between failing grades and addiction to electronic entertainment. Imagine how much more successful students would be if they weren’t constantly wondering who poked them or wrote on their wall. Imagine how much more efficient people would be in their jobs if they weren’t checking facebook on their cell phones.

This past week I gave facebook another chance. I found myself on it often. I enjoyed looking at people’s pictures, searching for past friends and seeing what is new in their lives, and feeling connected to my friends back in Salem. I also saw a decline in homework effort. I saw an increase in stress for upcoming quizes which I have yet to study for.

I have a vision of the man that I want to become. I feel that everyday I’m climbing up the mountain of success and of moral strength which will eventually help me be there. When I am on facebook; I not only to I take a step back, but I feel myself slipping and falling down that mountain. I become unmotivated. I start to worry about what everyone is thinking. I even become a jealous person.

I feel that people have lost the ability to communicate effectively in face to face scenarios. For over 2000 years we’ve lived without facebook, so why is there a need for it now? Some may argue that it keeps friends in contact. If someone is a real friend, wouldn’t they take the effort to pick up the phone and to call you?

So with all of that said, I am boycotting facebook.

Update on my life

2010-05-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

So a lot has been going on lately.

There is no particular order to these events.

I made the golf team yesterday. There were tryouts. 7 people were cut. Then there was a draft. We all sat on one end of the room and as we'd get picked we'd move over to the other end of the room and sit with our team. I was the fourth to the last to get picked. It was a little awkward. I made it though! I am on Roberts' team. He's the coach. I'm going to get a cool shirt and get to play golf a couple times a week.

Go Titans! :-)

I decided that I'm going to stay in Rexburg year round. It has been a thought for sometime, but last week Erica and I fasted and prayed about it and I feel really good about staying. I'm a little nervous, I'm not sure what's going to happen. I've already started looking for work though and this would allow me to graduate faster.

I've already spoken with financial aid and my scholarship will apply to every term as long as I take 15 credits. It is also the first year that I wont be a dependent so I'm hoping I'll be elligable for some grants on top of my scholarship.

Yesterday I didn't eat very well. I didn't have the intention of eating a lot of sweets but it just happened that way.

Breakfast: i had 3 donuts and two cups of chocolate milk
Lunch: I had a slice of pizza
Dinner: I had taco bell.

Then our friend invited us over for cake and Erica and I couldn't say no. Then Jason was having a birthday party and he was having a waffle eating competition and a girl from monmouth said she could beat me. I was not going to let he beat me. We were making huge Belgium waffles. I ate three as fast as I could thinking that she wouldn't be able to compete. She ate slow, but steady. She ended up eating five. I lost the bet, and my body was not happy with me.

I'm thinking of giving up sugar for a little bit.

Luckily I have an amazing girlfriend. She is bringing me tums. She wasn't feeling all that great yesterday either. I called this morning and she's feeling a lot better though.

I want to go off on a tangent about Erica. She is super woman!

I made the picture above in photoshop. I am really proud of it.

Erica really is super woman though. She is tackling 14 credits of school. Four of which is Anatomy and Physiology. People change their majors so they don't have to take that class. Shes taking it head on and is doing great! She is always super busy with homework. She teaches three classes of yoga every week and every other week she teaches an additional class.

Despite all of her obligations she still finds time to spend with her sisters and with me. Only super woman would have the ability and capacity to take on the world and still find time to let her boyfriend and family knows how much she loves them.

The winner is...

2010-04-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

First we'll do the second place prize. The second place winner, the person who gets to take me out to lunch while I'm home for spring break is... Stephanie! She's excited!

And now... The winner of the big letter give away is... Me!

A big thank you goes out to Laura and Stephanie for making all of this possible.

I'm doing a give away!

2010-04-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a give away. Send me a comment if you want to be added into the drawing. Whomever wins will get a giant letter of their choice from my eldest sister.

The winner will be hand selected by me and the winner will be announced tomorrow at noon.

There can only be one winner, but there will be a second place winner. Second place wins a chance to buy me lunch when I go home over the spring break.

Stay tuned tomorrow at noon to see who the winners are.

Here is a picture which I borrowed from my sister in law. She just recieved one of these for her birthday.

I had an interesting experience yesterday...

2010-03-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Erica and I were working on our Statistical Analysis for our Business Stats class. We were working out the probability of certain events occurring. One problem came up where we had to multiply two fractions. We both looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. We didn't have access to the internet, so I did what every college student in need would do. I called my 12 year old nephew and asked him how to multiply fractions. Thank you Laird for helping Erica and me with our college level statistical analysis.

As for my other nephews and neices, I go to them for different things.

Larry J keeps me updated on all of the latest technology
Laird helps me with my math
Landon is the go to man for all my Super Mario Bro's needs
Lach is a great listener
Alivia helps me with my girl problems
Madison always have a joke on the tip of her tongue
Mike Jr gives great hugs.

I couldn't do college with all of you. :-)

The end.

I've had a rough day so far...

2010-03-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

I've had a rough day so far. I'm still sick. I feel a lot better than I have the past few days though. I woke up a little after 8 to get ready for school. I took a shower and then I go to the kitchen to eat cereal. As I begin pouring my cereal I see that I only have ten minutes to get to class. I put my cereal back in the box, throw together a pb and j sandwich and rush to class.

I was one of the first people to class. I thought to myself, "self, this is odd" and then I remembered...

...Our power went out last week. I made the clocks five minutes fast to help me roommates who are always late to school. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was five minutes fast. As I spent the last two days in the house I thought I'd be nice and add an additional five minutes to the clock. This morning I forgot that. I probably deserved it. Needless to say, I'm going to change the clocks back tonight. That will probably mess my roommates up more than anything.

So there I was in class, runny nose, slight headache and I did not want to be in that class. I was about to get up and leave but something inside of me said "meh". So I stayed.

The teacher starts handing out a worksheet and I see the words extra credit written on it. I was glad that I stayed.

The worksheet was a game. It was covering the topic of "the rules of the game" which basically means in business people try to guess what their competitors are going to do and what intensives consumers will most likely be drawn to. There's a whole science on trying to figure out what other people will do. John Nash thought of it. Remember in the movie "Beautiful Mind" or something like that and they're in the bar and they all want the blond girl but he convinces them to go for the brunettes. Yea, he was an economist and that was when he had his epiphany.

So we could either raise our hand with a closed fist or an open fist. If the majority of the class did a close fist and we did an open fist we got 40 points. If we had a close fist as well we'd get 20 points. if the majority of the class had open fists and we didn't we'd get 10 points if we matched we'd get zero points. For every ten points we have above a hundred we'd get one extra credit point.

Confused? ... so was I.

So a guy in the middle of the class has a great idea of systematically having everyone raise their hands in different ways so everyone gets 6 extra credit points. There were some cheaters and the boxing gloves came off and the teacher asked us if we wanted to try again. So everyone does it and it's going great and then when we have three rounds left, I became the cheater. (It was anonymous no one knew and I didn't affect anyone else score) So I received ten extra credit points instead of six like everyone else. I felt great. So I did the math and on the final exam instead of needing a 91 to get an A in the class I need a 81. Instead of a 74 to get an A- in the class I need a 64. It was great.

K so Mario vs Donkey Kong on the bottom of my blog. I got up to 700 points. Still haven't reached the princess yet. I found out a trick though that I'm willing to share with all of you. If you jump while you're standing still it's easier to get over the barrels. Jump is space bar.

What other random things can I tell you about my day...

It snowed today. I'm still sick.

My FHE parents got a divorce. I'm now fatherless on Monday nights.

Eli my friend got married two days ago. that day was also Jackies, Jaclyns and Zack's birthday. Zack had two cakes made for him. I helped myself.

That concludes my life as of today. :-)

I'm the proud owner of

2010-03-21T20:34:00.001-07:00

two plants. I first bought the zebra plant from the school and then I bought the the aloe vera plant from K- Mart.

I don't have pictures of my actual plants but here are some pictures from the web that I found.

Here is a zebra plant. Mine doesn't have a yellow flower yet though.

This is an aloe vera plant. There are a lot of medical benefits to it, but I just thought it looked cool.

that's my show and tell for today.

P.S. I put donkey kong on the bottom of my blog so everyone can play it. :-)

I'm sick :-(

2010-03-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

My roommates haven't been feeling well the past few weeks. They've been sick close to two weeks. I've managed not to get sick thus far, but yesterday I wasn't feeling all that great. My throat was sore, my limphnodes(the things on your upper neck that the doctor always feels when you tell him you're sick) were aching and I was just not feeling up to par. I decided to try to get rid of the sickness before it gets bad. My roommates have been sick for about two weeks, and I can't afford to be sick that long. My roommate came home last night from the doctors with a medicine. It was a cough medicine on steroids. It had codin in it and it smelt like alcohol. So like a good roommate, he let me have some. I know this wasn't very smart, but I figured he's the one that got me sick and so I had the same thing he had. That codin made me sleep so well. I slept better last night than I have this whole term so far.

I woke up this morning feeling horrible though. My voice is all raspy. I feel a little light headed. My limphnoids are still sore. I went to Wal*Mart and bought gatorade, chicken noodle soup, and a thing of chocolate pudding. Gatorade is on sell by the way, 50 cents each. I've already drank a whole one, I have seven more I'm going to drink throughout the day.

I'm staying inside today, dressing warm. Harry Potter is having a marathon. I'm going to drink lots of fluids and maybe get some homework done.

Life is busy!

2010-03-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

Life is busy. I had two tests so far this week. I got 100% on one and 80% on the other. I was rather distraught about that test. I have another one tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about it. I'm going to be spending all this evening in preparation for it. I need an A on it.

So far my grades are looking great though. I have A's in all of my classes except Business Stats, I have an A- but I'm working on it and hopefully it will end well.

Erica and I are preparing for our second half marathon. It's the Teton Dam Marathon. Sometimes I get really excited about it and other times I remember how I felt at mile 9 of my first half marathon and I get a knot in my stomach.

I'm going to try to train better this time. Tomorrow I'm going to have my first big run (big for me). I'm going to be running 5 miles. I've been consistently running three miles this week. It's going to be a big test for me. I'm running with Erica's brother Robert. He's going to run ten miles though and we'll stash my car so I can turn back after five. He's training for the full Marathon.

Running helps me manage my stress. It seems like I'm constantly stressed and I feel I don't have time to run but when I do I feel better.

Erica is going to be in Utah this weekend so I'm going to spend all weekend trying to catch up with school work. It's going to be nice having so much downtime where I can catch up, but I'm sure going to miss her. I feel lost and I don't know what to do when she's around. I've been making a list of things to do.

I'm going to...
call Kim and ask her if I can bring my adopted nieces brownies.
do a whole bunch of homework
give plasma
take a test
clean my room and apartment
go for a walk
play guitar
figure out how to do spin while playing ping pong
and nap.

That's about it. If you have any suggestions of things I can do, let me know :-)

Oh! we had a Salem party the other day. Sarah blogged about it here. And we only invited people from Salem, Keizer, or Monmouth. It was fun. I made meat balls though. Wal*Mart has a 5 dollar bag of 80 meat balls. So I put all those in a crock pot with BBQ sauce and a little salsa and they were amazing. Erica suggested doing sweat and sour and having it over rice. Her mom used to make that. I'm going to try that next.

:-) The End

Cool Random Fact

2010-03-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

So today my Old Testament teacher told us how he was messing around on the new family search website and was able to trace his lineage back to Adam. I thought that was kinda cool so I pulled up my genealogy and started to see how far I could trace mine back.

I figured that royalty kept better records than anyone else, so I kept pressing the lineages of the kings and the queens that came off of my line. Before I knew it I was clicking on Enoch, Methuselah, Shem, Noah, Adam (they aren't in order, but they were all on my genealogy!) and a bunch of other famous Bible people.

I want to thank everyone for

2010-03-06T21:53:00.001-08:00

wishing me a happy birthday. My birthday was great! Erica took care of me and it was amazing. I am a lucky man.

The day was full of surprises. First I was woken up with Erica already in my house(she called to wake me up) she had breakfast all ready. We went to our classes then we went to Craigos. I love that place. We went to green canyon. We saw the new Alice in Wonderland. I loved the movie. Erica got me some amazing presents. It was great.

My mom knit me a beanie and it has really come in handy. I got a haircut on my birthday and it turned out way bad. I've been wearing the beanie ever sense :-)

I just signed up for my classes for next term.

2010-03-04T00:03:00.001-08:00

After summer term, the school will reevaluate my GPA to see if I'm still eligible for a full tuition scholarship.

Because of this, I'm trying to take some easier classes that go towards my associates degree instead of my Bachelors. I only have 5 more classes until I have my associates, I'm taking three of those this next term. Hopfully this will raise my GPA. Right now I have a 3.852 and after this term if I get the grades I'm hoping for I'll have a 3.88. After Summer Term I'll need to have above a 3.5.

I'm taking two classes that will go towards my Bachelors. I've been trying to work on both at the same time so I'm always taking a mixture of easier classes with my hard classes.

So this term I'm taking these classes:

Managerial Accounting MWF 9 am - 10 am
Natural Disasters MWF 1015 am - 1115 am
International Economics MWF 1130 am - 1230 pm
Family Foundations TR 1015 am-1115 am
Math in the Real World TR 1130am - 1 pm

All of them should be really easy except for Managerial Accounting and International Economics.

I have this habit of leaving class early becuase

2010-03-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

I get bored. I think I have a mild case of A.D.D.

I decided to try and fix this though. I'm now taking my laptop to class to take notes, instead of just writing my notes.

So I'm in class right now not tempted to walk out.

My teacher thinks I'm only taking notes, little does he know that I'm actually multitasking and looking at blogs too. :-)

Mid-Term Grades are in

2010-03-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

Midterm grades are in...

Middle East A

Business Statistics B+
(Erica and I have talked to the teacher how to improve our grade and she's allowing us to do some extra work outside of class. I'm hoping this will be an A by the end of the term)

Accounting A

MicroEconomics B
(I got an 86% on my first exam. I did the math and added in all my other work and my grade is really at 93.77% so it's an A

Old Testament N/A
(this is a second block class. I hope I get an A in it.)

I can sign up for classes for next term either Thursday or Friday of this week. I think next term is going to be fairly difficult. There are a couple classes I have to take included mangerial accounting, and either international economics or intermediate microeconomics. :-/

Coupon Clipping!

2010-02-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

Alright everyone.

My cupboards are empty and I'm preparing to go to the grocery store. I've been really interested in coupons lately. I've been able to see how much my family has been able to save on their journeys to the grocery store.

I found these two websites which I'm going to be searching and getting coupons from. I'd like to share them with you, and if you know of any other websites that have coupons I can print off, I'd love to know about them so I can bookmark them. I wanna learn the tricks of being a successful coupon clipper.

I tried calling Laura and she didn't answer her phone. I would appreciate any tips and tricks that you can share.

Thanks!

www.coupons.com

Smart Source

Craziest thing happened to me today.

2010-02-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

So I’m sitting in my 9 am economics class and I can’t stop thinking about the new value menu cheeseburger the school is offering.

Around 9:30 I couldn’t take it anymore so I packed up and walked out of class determined to have a $1.19 cheeseburger and maybe even some 99 cent fries.

I get to the Crossroad(our cafeteria) and I’m looking around and there are no cheeseburgers. They were still serving breakfast and they wouldn’t be serving lunch until 11 am. I didn’t know what to do!

So I start walking towards the library and I stop in the middle of the hall way, tilt my head slightly to the right and look up and say, “ you know what, I could really go for a donut right now”. So I did! I went for a donut! I ordered a persing. The chef adds too much lemon extract. I don’t recommend them.

So I’m eating my donut that I don’t care for and walking towards the library and I see a couple to my left talking and the guy slides out of his chair and lays on the ground. She runs and grabs a bin thinking he’s about to throw up and I walk over there. I ask if he’s ok and she said no. He was arching his back and mumbling and doing a lot of weird things. I ran and I got help, he had stopped breathing. By the time I got back there, a random lady was giving him CPR.

Another guy and I gave him a blessing while he was receiving CPR. Another lady was calling the paramedics. And the lady who was with him from the beginning was stroking his hand and trying to talk to him. It didn’t take long for a huge crowd to gather around us. The guy started breathing on his own again and was conscious.

Just like any guy, I probably would of done the same thing, he started telling us that he was ok and didn’t need any paramedics. The school security who showed up made him lay down and reassured him that paramedics only charge you if they have to take you in. College kids are poor and finances are on our minds even in life or death situations! Did I mention my birthday is coming up?***

Paramedics finally show up and I left.

So that’s been my morning so far.

I went to accounting and felt really smart. Now I’m in the Library doing homework.

Oh! BYU –Idaho has a secret library lab that’s behind the computer help desk. It used to be a family history center, but I don’t think anybody knows about it. It has a completely separate entrance as the Library and both times I’ve been here, there have been probably 50+ computers free.

***Dad is coming to Rexburg towards the middle/end of March, this will save money on the shipping costs of my birthday presents.

P.S. I also learned that the guy who created pickles, the comic strip went to Ricks and is LDS. Sometimes he has pictures of temples or the ensign in his comic strips. The picture below shows a picture of a temple on the top left corner.

History

2010-02-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

In my middle east class we listen to at least one “mosaic” a week. A mosaic is a website that takes news solely from Middle Eastern countries and makes it available to the world.

http://www.linktv.org/mosaic is the website to listen to the news.

Once we listen to the news we are then asked to go onto a major US news site such as cnn.com or foxnews.com and search through their website to try to find the same articles with an American twist on it. Usually you scroll down and click on "World", then "Middle East", they are then listed in order that they are posted.

While studying both the Mosaic and the US news I’ve concluded that everyone around the world is the exact same as us. There are nice people and there are not so nice people. Today I got on and it was speaking a lot about corruption in the Middle East. It caught me because we’re learning about the integrity which is enforced in the Islamic religion and also in the Arab culture. I thought to myself, “that’s not very Arab like” Then my epiphany about them being just like us hit me in the face.

Erica and I started talking about this and everyone is born with the light of Christ. There is the concept of the natural man which we have to overcome, but we are also born with the light of Christ, the innate capacity to love and care for others, even those whom we don’t know.

While watching Mosaic, Erica and I saw footage of innocent people being executed. The men carrying out the executions had no mercy, and seemed as if they had no emotions. One man was executed because a military officer wanted his hat. History has many examples of dictators oppressing their people and taking away their God given rights. Are these men going to be excused of their crimes because they haven’t received the Gospel? I personally don’t think they will.

I feel that the gospel doesn’t make someone a good person. I’ve known many people who do not belong to my faith, some even who are atheist, and are amazing people. On the other hand there have been prominent members of many different religions who live two lives, one of a publicly religious person, and another they pray the public never finds out about.

If Hitler had heard the Gospel would he had spared the Jews? Would he had shut down his concentration camps and let everyone go home. I don’t think he would of.

I think that Hitler and other Tyrants of history have surpassed the concept of the natural man. I feel there are many people alive today who have accomplished the same, Osama Bin Laden being one of them. The natural man isn’t being born with the desire to murder, torture and oppress.

When we are born we have two guiding lights in our lives: the natural man being one and the light of Christ being the other. They pull is in opposite directions and the more we give heed to one, the less influence the other has on us.

To the extent that the persons earlier mentioned lost the light of Christ and succumbed to the natural man, we can equally lose the natural man and in the same magnitude that they had become bad, we can become good.

All of our lives are going to be written in a history book of some sort, whether it be journals, textbooks, etc, What will history say about how you lived your life? :-)

Mid-terms are this week.

2010-02-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

Most of my classes don't have mid-terms but we've been having Exams throughout the whole term. I took my second Middle East Exam today. I got a 97%. I was happy with that. I have my second accounting exam on Friday.

Because it's half way through the term, second block classes are about to start. Erica and I both have a second block class. It's Old Testament.

I was really nervous about this class because I feel like I'm swamped with school work with the classes I have now. I have to take this class though so it's not an option to not take it.

I've made goals though to work smarter and not necessarily harder. I do spend a lot of time in the Library and even though it doesn't make sense, I feel that I can be just as productive without being as busy.

Here are some of my goals. I'm going to read all class material before the topics get taught in the classroom.

During class, my A.D.D. mind starts to wander and I draw a lot of pictures. I'm going to pay close attention and take good notes.

I'm going to learn the material thoroughly as it gets taught so I don't feel the need to cram for tests or exams.

So those are pretty much my goals and I feel that it will work. I also got a tutor for my Business Statistics class. That's the only class where I feel like I'm starting to fall behind.

Everything is going to be A Okay

Cheap Date Idea

2010-02-15T15:49:00.000-08:00

Erica and I are poor, very poor. Last year after midterms or after a stressful day at school we would want to eat somewhere fancy.

Here is our cheap date idea.

Whatever you get at Olive Garden comes with free bread sticks. They are delicious and for a college student, are a gourmet meal by themselves.

If you buy soup, it costs around 5-6 dollars and is unlimited. They usually have about 4 options and you can switch the type of soup you get when you get a refill.

So for around 11 dollars you get unlimited amazing soup and bread sticks for two people. So for under 15 dollars, you can include a tip and eat really good food.
This is only recommended for someone you've been dating for awhile. It would not go over well to take a girl to Olive Garden and tell her she can only have soup.

Here's another tip, if you have a really nice waiter or waitress, they have to go containers made especially for soup. We've had waiters give us an extra bowl each and extra bread sticks to go.

I have the most amazing girlfriend

2010-02-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

Today was valentines day and Erica and I have spent the weekend home in Oregon.

Because we see each other every day in Rexburg we decided to try to spend as much time with our families as possible this weekend.

We didn't see each other at all on Friday. It was rather difficult. I missed her a lot. The next day though, my parents and I went to Erica's beach house and spent the afternoon with Erica's family. We ate a wonderful lunch and dessert. We played ping pong. I LOVE ping pong. There was also pool and a bunch of little snacks. It was a lot of fun.

Today is Sunday. Erica came home a little early so I could have my valentines date with her. I decorated the living room and made it all cute.

I had the dinner table in the dining room set up with paper plates and mix matched mugs full of water. I was trying to trick her and I think it worked.

So for our date we watched tootsie and I made Erica dinner. We were also going to make a pie together but didn't have time. We are going to postpone that event for Rexburg.

When it was time for us to exchange gifts, I told her that if she lined up all the possible presents in the world the first being the one gift that was more romantic than the others, mine would be last in the list. My gift for Erica was very functional. She reassured me that her gift for me was functional as well. :-) We're good for each other.

I got her pie pan as well as a book that teaches you how to make all different sorts of pies. I'm really excited about it. It's a little late in the mail though.

She got me a huge bamboo cutting board with a built in strainer. I LOVE it. I've been shopping around for a collapsible strainer and no one in my apartment has a cutting board. It really is the perfect gift. There's a picture below of it.

We also decided to get to get plants because both of our roommates went home. She got a really cool bonsai tree. It's way cool. I'm shopping around for an aloe vera plant. These plants will be our roommates until next term when we get new roommates.

This has been an amazing weekend. Tomorrow we have a long drive back, but the long drive is hardly a sacrifice for being able to see our families and spend time with each other in Oregon.

My Economics exam is over

2010-02-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

I got an 86% on my economics exam. I was really disappointed because I felt like I did well despite feeling unprepared.

I've already done the math though and it's still likely for me to get an "A" in that class.

Update on my weight loss

2010-02-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Last week I was weighed at the Plasma center at 216 lbs. That was the week we ate all of those cookies. Today I was weighed in at 212 at plasma. That is four lbs.

I've been eating smaller portions. Particularly with my cereal. I only eat 1 cup like it says on the back. By lunch time I'm usually starving but I don't binge at lunch.

I've been doing pulls everyday for the past week. It's been said to the be the single most beneficial exercise for upper body. It also works the abs. I've been doing pull ups in three different types every day and Every other day I record it in excel and am going to graph my progress. I've already almost tripled what I was able to do when I first started out.

We might win dinner for two!

2010-02-04T11:23:00.001-08:00

So Erica and I were walking to the Library and we found a sign that said we could win a dinner for two. We had to tell about our best engagement or worst date story and which ever was best or worst would win.

So Erica and I decided to get creative and make up our stories.

Here are my two stories. Erica's can be found here.

Story # 1

I knew Erica ever sense 3rd grade. She seemed perfect and I thought I loved her. Our senior year I finally got the nerve to ask her on a date. She said yes. The next weekend we planned on a simple movie then dinner. In the theater I would randomly get whiffs of a horrible smell. I shrugged it off but then Erica released the loudest fart. The ground shook and the whole theater was looking at us. She looked at me and yelled, "DEREK!" and walked out. I went home alone that night. No girl, no dignity and $15 poorer. Erica hasn't spoken to me sense.

Story #2 ( this story is influenced my Uncle John and Aunt Anne. Something similar happened to them, I just changed it around a little bit.)

I was 17 and Kris was my first girlfriend. I invited Kris to an employee party for the grocery store I woekd at. before the party we ate at a local Thai restaurant. During the drive to the party Kris kept complaining of stomach pains. We were about 15 miles from the party and she's screaming at me to go faster. We hit a bump in the road and Kris soiled ehrself in the front seat of my dads Mercedes Benz. We never did make it to the party that night and I had to pay for the professional cleaner to clean my dad's car.

Wish us luck!

So...something weird happened last night.

2010-02-03T22:23:00.000-08:00

K something weird happened last night and I want to share it with everyone.

I went to bed last night and I was all cozy in my bed. Eli moved out and so I'm the only one in my room.

At 5:30 am. I wake up to someone shaking my leg. I felt a hand grasping my foot and shaking my leg. I wake up look at the foot of my bed and see a person standing there. I sit up and as my eyes adjust the person is no longer there. It disappeared.

I then felt like I needed to get out of bed. I got up and I ran outside. I felt as if I was needed for something. Maybe there was a fire or someone walking around that shouldn't be there so I ran outside and I looked across the parking lot to Erica's building and no it seemed calm and like there was no problems. I looked around outside. (I was in shorts and a t-shirt walking around on the balcony.) There was no fire and I didn't' see anything.

I go back inside, said a prayer, and felt like I could go to bed. So I went to bed.

So here's the thing. There is no doubt that I felt something grabbing my foot and shaking my leg. I don't know if it was all in my head or if someone was intentionally waking my up. It seemed as if I woke up for no reason because I didn't see an immediate result of me getting out of bed. Maybe there was someone outside and I scared him off or maybe it was a test to see if I could do what I felt like I needed to or it could of all been in my head.

I just don't know

My Accounting Exam is over!

2010-02-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

I was way worried about todays exam and have been studying all week. I ended up getting a 95%. :-) not too shabby.

My economics exam is next...

I haven't been able to blog

2010-02-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to blog. I shouldn't be on my blog right now either :-/ I have so many exams to take. Studying for them is consuming my life. I'm so glad that Erica likes study dates. The library has become my home.

I've taken one. It was in Middle East and I got a 96%
I'm taking my accounting exam tomorrow. I need to get an A. This is one of my major classes
Economics on Friday. I need an A in this one too. It's also a major class.
Business Stats next Thursday. This is a major class as well... I'm shooting for an A.

This picture kinda describes how my brain feels. :-)

CONTEST!

2010-01-25T20:41:00.001-08:00

My sister, Laura is doing a contest. Go to her blog and do it too. www.6lalas.blogspot.com

Yesterday Erica and I made a

2010-01-25T20:24:00.000-08:00

double batch of cookies. It was her fathers famous chocolate chip cookie recipe.

They were so good that today I ate ten! :-/ I've eaten more cookies since I came to school this term than I have in my whole life. I am really starting to hate cookies.

With that said, I've been inspired by one of my high school friends, Melissa. She has lost 74 lbs and is still losing weight. She blogs about it every week including her weight. She also includes a before and after picture bi-weekly. It is inspiring. So I'm going to do the same.

Last week I weighed myself at 212. With my cookie binging, I think I'm up to 215 this week.

I have the help of my personal trainer, Erica. I am planning on getting down to 200 by the end of the term.

Once I reach my goal I will post a before and after picture. I'm making my goal the end of the term(April) because I don't want to lose weight by merely exercising like crazy and eating healthy but rather change my lifestyle where I can maintain that weight.

I am going to be eating smaller portions, drinking lots of water, exercising a healthy amount each week and a taking any and all advice that my personal trainer gives me.

Erica and I went snowboarding

2010-01-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

Erica and i were invited to go snowboarding with some of our friends. We went to Kelly Canyon, where Erica's uncle is the manager. It was a lot of fun. It would not stop snowing though and it was way cold.

Here are the slopes

This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was a beautiful sunset. The pink was reflecting on the hills of snow and I had to take a picture.

Here is my snowboard

Erica was cold when we were getting ready to leave. Like a good boyfriend, I gave my sweat shirt.

and my coat

and my snow pants

She wore my coat over her winter clothes. We wrapped my sweatshirt around her head and tied my snow pants around her waist. She was finally warm. It was a really cold night.

And here is me :-)

Along with my heart she took all of my clothes. I don't know what was up with me though, I wasn't really cold at all.

Overall we had a really fun night. Before we left, I made us dinner while we did homework together and after we got home, she made us some hot cocoa for dessert and we did some more homework. We're trying to get all of our homework done before Sundays. We're going to try and not do homework on Sundays. I think it's going to be good.

These are quite possibly the most delicious things I have ever eaten

2010-01-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

One of the New Year's resolutions Erica and I made was to not eat candy. We have done great so far. For Christmas Ardith and Brian gave us all some gummi vitamins. These vitamins are amazing. They taste a lot like candy and have helped me get through my times of weakness. I think they may even be laced with nicotine.

Erica told me about a guy who ate the whole bottle in one day and had to get his stomach pumped. I believed her, but I didn't realize how bad that would of been until one day I ate six in one day. I took two in the morning. Around lunch time I was home and I popped a couple more and then that night I took a couple more without thinking.

The next day I almost died. I had the worst stomach ache I had ever experienced. I only had six, imagine if I would have taken the whole bottle.

Anyways... I've never been so faithful in taking my multivitamins. I'm about 2/3 of the way done with my bottle and I think when I finish I will buy another.

My hat goes off to you One Source Gummi Bear MultiVitamins. You have achieved what no other multivitamin company has been able to do. I am now a devoted consumer for life.

Random Stuff

2010-01-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

This has been a fun week. I've been really busy. I have a free moment tonight though and so I'm going to update my blog with a bunch of random things.

I found this note just now. I wrote it during business stats and passed it along to Erica,

"Hey good looking. How 'bout you and me head out of town this Saturday and kick it? Kick it real good."

She replied, " Sounds good sugah!"

I love that woman. :-)

Here is a picture of a small date Erica and I went on. I made a fort out of a snow bank. From the road you can't see it, it just looks like a pile of snow, but I made a path that goes around the back and i made bleacher style seats. We went there bundled up and had some hot cocoa. It was pretty cool. The temple was behind us and it was really bright and in front of us we were able to see the city.

My roommate Eli went to Salem for the weekend to propose to his fiance. As a welcome home gift I made his bed. Here is a tutorial and how to short sheet a bed.

1.Take off the comforter.

2. Pull the sheet that goes over his body all the way to the front. Fold it over and tuck in the bottom half.

3. Put comforter on and add pillows. The level is how far his feet can go when he gets into bed.

4. Add cookies so he doesn't suspect that you did anything to his bed. If your cookies are in the shape of Mickey Mouse it's an added bonus.

He got home around 3 in the morning and I was like a little school girl. I was still awake because I was too excited to go to sleep. he got home and I was peaking through the covers waiting for him to get into bed. I laughed so hard. I then made his bed because I felt bad. I'm a good roommate.

Now Eli is leaving. He is packing up as I write this. Tomorrow morning he is driving home so he can be with his fiance before they get married. I'm going to miss that guy. I now have a room to myself and no one to have pillow talk with. I know I should be excited that I don't have to share a room, but I am actually rather sad. I've known Eli since 2nd grade. He is one of my best friends.

This is Eric. I didn't know him really before we came up to school. He's from Keizer and we have a lot of mutual friends. I really started to like him and felt like we could of been really good friends. After coming up here, he decided to take the term off so he can go home and get married to his fiance. Our apartment started with 6 people and now we are down to four.

Oh! I have good news though. It's kinda useless me telling all of you because I have to speak in generalities. Today I finalized the gift that I'm getting Erica for Valentines day. Now all of you can wait in anticipation until February 14th so you can find out what it is.

It's 10:30 pm...

2010-01-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

It's 10:30pm on a dark and dreary night in Rexburg Idaho. My eyes are continually having to readjust to the flickering library lights. I try to keep my concentration on the task ahead of me but I feel as if some unknown force is inside me trying to escape. My friends are back at the apartment playing games, being on facebook and eating top ramen while I spend my nights in isolation from the rest of the world. Why you may ask? What terrible thing have I done which would constitute me being confined the library on a Thursday night? I chose to be here.

I'm spending this night exploring my text books trying to comprehend the material my teachers are continually throwing my way. I don't enjoy this. I can't, however, go home where my friends are having fun while I'm experiencing an internal Armageddon.

My heart was torn in two the other day as I looked on Erica’s blog and noticed that she had over 1600 hits. My measly blog just barely has over 1500 hits. My hit counter only raises when I bribe my family with candy bars. In an attempt to glue back together my shattered heart, Erica offered to make me dinner. I gladly accepted.

I am done moping though! I am resolved. I know what my viewers want and so I’m going to give it to them. If I can reach 1000 hits with a candy bar. What will it take to get my families help to reach 5000 hits? Well…

My dear friends and family,

If I reach 5000 hits before the end of the term. One of you, whomever is the 5000^th hit is will win a one night stay in Rexburg Idaho.

God bless each and everyone one of you.

I learned something very important today.

2010-01-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'll tell you what I learned, and then I will tell you how I learned it:

I learned that men are supposed to be strong:

Comfortable with themselves:
Hairy:

independent:

and a bunch of other attributes that I don't care to list:

I found all of this out today while Erica was at the movies with her sisters. I was at home making lunch in the kitchen and watching "say yes to the dress"

I like TLC and it was the best thing on.

So...I'm cooking lunch and watching a show about girls picking out wedding dresses and then I hear a knock on the door. I open the door and my roommates sister is there with two of her friends. All three of them gave me a weird look and said, "what are you doing watching "say yes to the dress?"" I told them I like the show and by that time Zak walked on and all of their attention was drawn to him.

First of all: the shows not all that bad and secondly I have a girlfriend who loves to watch TLC with me :-) I am a lucky man.

I figured out my minor

2010-01-15T22:26:00.000-08:00

So I've been going to different academic offices and asking a bunch of different people about different minors. Today I figured it out.

My major is Financial Economics and my minor is Public Relations. I'm sticking to it too!

That's it. :-)

Love ya, bye

I got done with my homework before Erica did.

2010-01-13T15:26:00.000-08:00

So I have 15 extra minutes that I can update my blog.

School has been killing me. Everyday after school I go to the Library and usually stay there until the sun goes down. My classes are tough.

I'm taking

1. Accounting
2. Micro Economics
3. Music 104 (it teaches you how to sing)
4. Middle East
5. Business Statistics.
6. Old Testament

I signed up for a tutor in Accounting and I think I may need one sometimes in Business Stats as well.

I've been also thinking a lot about what minor to choose. Any input all of you want to give me would be appreciated.

I could either get one minor or two emphasis or clusters.

I'm thinking about going for two emphasis because I'm closer to achieving those. I saw an academic advisor and he suggest doing either accounting, communications, or CIT (Computer Integrated Technology)

I'm two classes away from an accounting emphasis, here are three options for that.

1. Financial Accounting

2. Accounting Information Systems

3. Tax Accounting

My other option is for me to get an emphasis in communications. Here are my options there.

1. Organization Communication

2. Public Relations

3. Broadcasting

4. Interpersonal Communication

5. Advertising

6. Journalism

7. Visual/ Digital Media

Other emphasis which interested me, but not sure how they would fit in with my degree are:

1. Real Estate
2.Culinary Arts
3. I could do a Fijian Emphasis. I'm only one class away. It'd be an easy out but completely useless.

Do emphasis really matter? Will my future employer be looking at those or is it solely for my benefit?

If it doesn't really matter then I want to do Culinary Arts as one of them. If it does matter I think I'm going to pick an accounting emphasis as well as a communications emphasis.

I don't know. Maybe I'll just choose two that I'm already close to achieving.

I'm in the library too...:-/

2010-01-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

I've been studying for the past 3.5 hours straight. I'll be here atleast another 2 and then maybe a little more tonight. I need a break so I'm going to copy Erica and write in my blog.

So today was a crazy day.

It started off with economics, accounting and then my singing class. My accounting class is going to be insane. We have to read all of chapter 1 and do two homework assignments before next class starts. The teacher hasn't given us a lecture at all. We just went over the syllabus.

So after my singing class I started walking to my old testament class and I really didn't want to be there. I had a stressful day and I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time in the library. I go to class anyways. I walk in and all the seats are facing the door. I'm standing in front of the class looking at everyone. Everyones looking at me. I shake my head a little turn around and I left.

I then went to the library and changed to an online Book of Mormon class.

So that's my story for the day. Love ya! :-)

I am at college :-)

2010-01-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

I am finally at college. I actually got here on the 2nd but have been really busy. We spent two days driving here. We stopped and spent the night near Boise with Erica's aunt. They were amazing hosts and they cooked us two great meals. For breakfast they made waffles and a buttermilk syrup which I fell in love with.

Once in Rexburg we got all settled in. We've done our Winco and Wal*mart trips and have bought all the supplies that we'll need for a little bit.

I called my cousin Kim, I'll be going over there with Erica sometime to have dinner. I'm excited to meet them.

Oh! funny story...

So Rexburg has a thing called a starving student card. It's a compilation of coupons which we can use all around the city and even some places in Idaho Falls. It costs $20 but you save a lot more than that. I think it's an investment and I've gotten at least one every term so far.

Erica and I were walking out of Wal*mart the other day and this guy stops us and tries to sell us the starving student cards. He tells us that there is a special married price so if we bought two then he'd knock five dollars off of each.

Erica says, "yea I'll get one for 15 bucks."

We start pulling out our cash and he gets a skeptical look on his face. He then asks, "you two are married...right?"

Erica, "Uh...Uh... no! but we're almost married ... see look ... Derek! Kiss me!"

We got the special married price. It was really funny. The guy told us that we are not allowed to tell anyone that he gave us the deal and I just posted it on my blog.

Here is a picture of my room.

Here is a picture of my roommate.

Ardith has been in town helping all of her children get settled in. It's been fun hanging out with the Haws family.

Here is my post of college thus far. I'm going to bed. I have class starting tomorrow morning followed by an afternoon in the Library.

I am finally home.

2009-12-30T06:59:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we came home from Orlando. The flights went really smooth. When we got home, we were excited to see snow on the ground. It was beautiful. When we got our car we were surprised as to how slow traffic was going. A 70 minute drive turned into a 5.5 hour drive. It took forever! Brian was driving though and did a great job. I finally got home around midnight. I talked with my parents until about 1 and then I woke up at 6. I'm wide awake too. I think I'm going to crash tonight.

I just posted a bunch of random pictures from the trip. Some of these photo's might be from Ardith. I tried to only use mine though.

Oh! funny story before I get off the computer.

Erica Miranda and I were in the Magic Kingdom. The parade just went by and people start flowing into the street again. We jump in behind the parade though and start waving at everyone just like the characters were. We then started going towards a ride we wanted to go on but were stopped by the parade once more. Prince Charming and Cinderella were going by. Cinderella was blowing kisses and I caught them. Erica looked at me and pushed me. She then started blowing kisses at Prince Charming. I grabbed her and hugged her as she was pushing me away and still trying to blow kisses at Prince Charming. Prince Charming and Cinderella were busting up laughing. Needless to say, Erica and I needed to have a talk that night. I promised her that she'd be the only Princess I ever catch kisses from and she promised that I'd be the only Prince Charming to receive her kisses. It was a win/win.

Disney World Day 3 - 5 ???

2009-12-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

Hey family,

I'm not sure how many days I've been on vacation. I've been having alot of fun.

I'm sorry for not being able to blog. We were first staying at Vero Beach and they had wifi internet. I was able to update, however, I've been at Disney World for the last couple of days and they only have internet via an ethernet cable. There is only one plug and it's in the master bedroom where the baby sleeps. So...I haven't been able to blog. I don't have much time right now either so I'll give a quick overview and I'll post pictures once I get home.

The resort here is amazing. We have a great view and access to a monorail that will take us to The Magic Kingdom and also to Epcot. We have bus access to Disney Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom. I haven't been to the animal kingdom yet. I'm going there tomorrow.

At the magic kingdom I went on a bunch of fun rides. There are more that I still want to do though. So far splash mountain is my favorite from that park.

Epcot is really cool. They have a pavilion where different countries were reconstructed and you get to experience some of their culture and see their architecture, etc. The food there is amazing. They have France, Italy, Mexico, China, Germany, Norway, Canada, America, and a bunch of others It's really cool. They also have fun rides. Soarin and Test Track were my favorites. Soarin is a giant simulator that makes you feel like you're flying over California. You fly over the san franscisco bridge and LA. You go through a forest and smell the pine, You fly through an orange orchard and smell the oranges. It's great. Test Track is as if you're a test crash dummy. They put you in a car and do tests such as brake tests, turning ability, and acceleration. Oh yeah, At Epcot I saw the best firework show I've ever seen in my life. They did it over a lake in the middle of all the countries with a giant globe that showed pictures and there was music.

The day we went to Epcot was also Christmas day. Christmas was nice. Erica's family mailed a little christmas tree and set it up once we got here. It was really pretty. We all brought gifts for each other and we exchanged them. It was a lot of fun and a lot of good memories were built.

Today we went to Disney HollyWood Studios. It's one of my favorites so far. They have the Osbourne Lights which is pretty much a city that has 5 million Christmas lights in it and they play to songs. I've never seen anything like it before. I've been nervous all week to go on The Tower of Terror because the dropping sensation kills me. I'm fine with speed but dropping really makes me nervous. I went on it twice today and I loved it. The second time we asked to be placed in the front row and it made it a lot scarier. The pictures they take mid-ride were hilarious. They also have a ride called rock and roller coaster. It's a roller coaster completely in the dark. It doesn't have an up hill then big downhill, but instead they have a count down and then it shoots you off at full speed. It was insane.

That's been my vacation so far. If there's a lot of bad grammar it's because I'm really tired.

I'm going to bed now. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Love,
Derek

Disney World Day 2

2009-12-23T12:29:00.001-08:00

Day 2 was mostly traveling. We spent a long time in the airport. Right before we took off for Orlando, Erica and I remembered that we hadn't taken any pictures through our travels. We then took this picture of us with our crowns. It was a long day.

But... Becuase our reservations were messed up. Erica and her family were able to enjoy first class while I was in coach for the first flight. The first flight took us to Minneapolis, Minnesota. There was snow on the run way. I have to say I got really nervous. I tightened my seat belt and said a little prayer.

The second flight the tables were turned. I was in first class while the Haws family was in coach. It was nice. They fed me a turkey pesto sandwich with chips, fruit and a cookie, which is what Ericas family had on the first flight. I think pesto turkey may be my new favorite food combination.

So, when we got close to Orlando the skies were clear and I was able to see all the city lights. The city in and of itself is HUGE. The lights from the city seemed to stretch on forever. I saw this particularly colorful spot...I'm not saying it's Disney World...but I'm going to imagine that I flew over Disney World just to enhance my Disney Experience.

I know this is a day late...Today, Day 3 has been amazing. I'll blog about it tonight. Tomorrow morning we're off to the magic kingdom. :-)

Disney World Day 1

2009-12-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

Today was mostly a traveling day. I woke up early and had to be at Erica's home before 6:30 am. When I arrived we went to the airport. Traffic was great. Once we arrived at the airport we quickly got through security. The plane was delayed a little bit so we waited.

Erica was unable to pack my present because it didn't fit in her suit case.

I spent the majority of today trying to figure out what she was giving me.

We found out that the de-icer in our plane wasn't working properly. Technicians were called in and they were able to diagnose the problem in 15 minutes. They then announced that our plane was canceled. Erica's dad ran to the line where I joined him. This is the picture I took at the beginning of our adventure in the line. Erica's mom got on the phone and was trying to find a solution as well.

This is the same line about 50 minutes later. We moved up two people.

This is a picture Erica took from the end of the line. I'm holding up a blue pillow.

This is Miranda and Ardith waiting...still

We eventually got a hotel room. Because I am in fact dating Erica, I was able to get my own room. This is the view from my window.

This is me jumping on my bed.

This is Erica jumping on my bed.

My bed room.

The Study.

The entry way.

The bathroom.

The TV room.

My neighbor :-)

Today we waited at the airport for about 7 hours. I had alot of fun though. If i get this excited being in an airport all day. I can't wait until Disney World. We leave tomorrow around lunch :-).

Christmas Wishes

2009-12-20T23:41:00.000-08:00

I loved Erica's post with her acronym for "Disney World" and so I'm copying her.

Dear Santa,

This Christmas Trip I want to...

D iscover the Magic of Disney
I dentify a ton of hidden Mickeys
S it next to Erica on a bunch of rides.
N ot get sun burnt at Vero Beach
E at a giant turkey leg
Y ell as I plummet down splash mountain

W itness the world with Erica (from the view of EPCOT)
O rder the most expensive thing on the menu
R ead Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" on the plane
L ove Evelyn so much that she loves me back
D istribute Christmas gifts Christmas morning and watch every ones faces.

Thank you Santa,

P.S. Santa, I would like to have world peace too :-)

With love,
Derek

Here is the contest!

2009-12-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone for looking at my blog. I have reached over 1000 hits. In an earlier post I posted the rules of the game. I changed them a little bit. So I'll explain it over. I'm really tired and so my explanation will probably repeat itself and seem redundant. I'm sorry.

Everybody gets one chance to guess at the pictures. Guesses can be made for every member of your family, however, whoever wins must have the 1000 grand. Parents can not use their kids to get the 1000 grand.

There are three photos. Each photo will include a hint. When you guess please include a guess for each photo. An example of an entry is below.

Derek:
Photo 1: Your nose
Photo 2: Coca Cola
Photo 3: The French Flag

Derek's imaginary child number 1:
Photo 1: Your foot
Photo 2: A lint roller
Photo 3: The Applebees sign

I'm fairly confident that nobody will be able to guess both number 2 and number 3 correctly, so I'm going to look at all the votes and whomever posted earliest and who I thought was the most correct will win and get 1000 grand (candy bar)

Photo 1
Hint: This is one of my body parts.

Photo 2
This is an item that can be found in a Super Wal*Mart

Photo 3

Hint: This item is made out of a crafty material.

I changed the challenge to 8 pm

2009-12-20T19:25:00.001-08:00

I changed the challenge to 8pm becuase I'm done and I wanna post it. That's in 30 minutes. :-)

New Blog Name

2009-12-19T15:41:00.001-08:00

I have been informed that the blog title "The Life of Derek" sounds too much like memorial or a funeral service. After a lot of soul searching on this subject it occurred to me that it does in fact sound like I have passed away. So now my blog will be called "Life With Derek" :-)

I have an ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

2009-12-18T21:10:00.000-08:00

I have an announcement. My blog has had over 1000 hits. So as a thank you to everyone who has viewed my blog. I am going to do a fun little competition.

I am going to take a picture of an object from an extremely close view. I will post it Sunday at 10pm. The first person who can identify what the object is will get a prize.

The prize will be 1000 grand(candy bar).

There is only one guess allowed per person. However you may include guesses from anybody of your household along with your guess.

Example: I have a sister who has a family of six. She can include one guess for every member of her family with her post. However, the winner has to get the prize. So...if Lach guesses right, Lach gets the 1000 grand. Capiche?

The Golden Child

2009-12-17T17:36:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

It has been brought to my attention that some of you have come to know me as the "golden child". I think this is because I am the youngest of six children and therefore have five older siblings who love me and have helped raise me throughout my adolescent years. It baffles me though, because the term "golden child" is used with a negative connotation which isn't deserving of the relationship i have built with each of you.

I have been thinking long and hard this past week and have come to the conclusion that I am not "the "golden child" for multiple reasons.

Firstly: I googled the definition of "golden child" and discovered that the golden child is African American. (See picture below) I am very much Caucasian and therefore can not be the golden child.

Secondly: When I think of a golden child I think of a person who is privileged by his or her parents and has the opportunity of doing whatever his or her heart desires. If this is the definition of a golden child, then the golden child in my family must be either Steve or Mike.

Steve was able to stay at home throughout college. He had his own room and a hot meal always waiting for him whenever he got hungry. Now that he has matured, he is out seeing the world and living the dream. He may be the golden child.

Mike is the third eldest in our family. Not only was he able to experience the love that my parents had for him, but he was also able to experience the love that Ivon and Laura had for him. He was the baby of the family at a time when the family was small enough for mom and dad to still give him all of the love and devotion that he needed topped with the playfulness of Laura and Ivon. He may be the golden child.

I'm not saying the golden child is Steve and I'm not saying the golden child is Mike. Once this thing blows over and the real golden child is revealed. I want my family to know that I'm going to be sensitive enough not to discriminate against Steve or Mike because of their privileged status. I love them and I will always love them. I hope my family will follow after me and do the same.

Merry Christmas :-)

Happy Anniversary Erica ! :-)

2009-12-16T02:15:00.000-08:00

One year has come and gone away.
To you, there are many things I want to say.
I'll start by saying that I love you.
The words wont stop though, I don't know what to do.

I often ask myself, was it love at first sight?
Or did it occur with your face covered with cake that night?
Maybe it was while we walked the beach in Seattle.
Or seeing you shoot a gun, knowing you'd keep me safe in a battle ;-)

During the winter months on the freezing slopes I wonder what I felt?
During pond skimming it came back. All I knew is that it was real and made me melt.
The beauty of yellow stone national park, or even Noah's completion of his arc,
Couldn't compare to the joy I felt with this journey that we've embarked.

Life is tough, Thanks for helping me throughout school.
You taught me where in Rexburg to get some bodily fuel.
You even supported me that cold night during my Longboard Race.
You supported me in Portland when we stuffed cookies in our face.

We've been through a lot together and we both like our milk non-fat.
Once we went to Oktoberfest and got some way cool tats.
At ice skating the kids got angry as we looked at the pirate shop.
We got our seat taken at a NBA game. We had to move to the top.

Not sure if you noticed, but the poem matched the pictures I posted of us
This year has been remarkable, who would of known I had this much good luck?
Who would of known I'd meet a girl as kind, caring, and beautiful as you?
You're that special light which guides me through my day and I love you.

Happy One Year Anniversary
I love you!

New Blog Title

2009-12-12T16:39:00.001-08:00

I've been playing around with Gimp. It's an image editing software. The photo was originally taken and put together by Laura, my sister. All I did was add the title and I feel very accomplished.

I just want to know if you guys like it? Be critical because I can change it back real easy.

Thanks

I miss my brother Steve.

2009-12-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

He lives in Alaska and is coming home to visit after I leave for Rexburg. I wont be able to see him and I miss him so I wrote him a poem... I titled it Steve :-)

Steve

Steve is my brother, kind, dear and smart.
Living his life in Alaska still fulfilling his big brother part.
Though in winter months, Alaska is black.
He still puts on a smile and starts up his mac.
He works on computers, clicking the mouse all day long
Through years of working out, his pointer finger is pretty dang strong.
I feel that I know him better than anyone else.
I feel that as we grow older, our hearts have begun to meld.
He tells me things Laura doesn't even know.
Having him live so far away really blows.
We grew up together and not always got along
But now that we're older our relationship has become strong.
Three years is what separates his age from mine.
But him being older isn't what makes him shine.
I'm running out of rhymes so my poem ends here.
But the next time I see Steve will be sometime next year :-(

Good Morning!

2009-12-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

I woke up early this morning and was able to see Erica before she went off to work. I was planning on going into work right after that and answer emails. Erica had a great suggestion though. She said, "why don't you go home and go back to sleep?" What a great idea! When I got home though, I decided that this would be a perfect time to be a little productive. I usually get busy in the evenings.

I went home, cleaned a little bit, packed a little bit for Rexburg and then I cooked breakfast for the whole family. I woke them up at 7am for breakfast. My mom was a good sport. She let me take a picture of her even. Stephanie made me delete the picture I took of her. Dad wouldn't get out of bed. ( I saved him some breakfast though)

This is what I cooked. I made a skillet breakfast. It had potatoes, ham, bacon, egg and cheese. It was pretty good.

Here is a picture of us eating it.

Stephanie gave it one thumb up.

Mom gave it two thumbs up

I gave it three thumbs up.

After the family had breakfast, they all went back to bed. I'm still awake though. I'm writing my blog and just finished watching Ace of Cakes Christmas special, Ace Merry Cakemas. I love that show.

100 Things to do before I die!

2009-12-07T23:07:00.000-08:00

Ok. Here is my list of 100 things I want to accomplish before I die. I've been mentioning how I was going to post it and so here it is.

I only have 41 things though. So I need help brainstorming. If you think of anything post it in a comment and I may add it. I've only added things that I actually want to do and expect doing. Some of these have already been done, so if they have I'll mention that next to it.

1. Go on a mission (Fiji 2005-2007).
2. Get married in the temple.
3. Start a family.
4. Become a grandparent.
5. Get a Masters Degree.
6. Read Les Miserable.
7. Play music for people and earn at least $1.
8. Run a half marathon (Run to Stay Warm 2009, Eugene Oregon).
9. Run a marathon.
10. Sing in front of a group of people (Completed on my mission).
11. Go skinny dipping.
12. Send a message in a bottle.
13. Put a penny on a train track and watch it get smashed (July 22, 2009).
14. Write a book.
15. Learn to play a musical instrument with some degree of skill.
16. Touch all four oceans.
17. Do something to get my families name on something.
18. Buy a home and fix it up.
19. go in a hot air balloon ride.
20. Visit a concentration camp.
21. Learn to competent on a snowboard.
22. See a broadway play.
23. See Les Miserable in Europe..
24. See the northern lights.
25. Visit mayan or aztec ruins.
26. Go to Disney World ( Will be completed in 13 days :-) ).
27. Be in the same room as the President of the Church.
28. Be smart enough to answer all my kids questions (or witty enough to make them think I know the answers) until they are at least in high school.
29. Host an exchange student.
30. Make a piece of art that my wife deems good enough to be kept in a room other than the closet.
31. Say something profound enough to be quoted.
32. Take my wife to Fiji.
33. See a real life platypus.
34. Plant a garden.
35. Learn to never take offense.
36. Attend a NFL Game.
37. Watch the 6 VHS tape version of pride and prejudice (I'm still debating if I really want to do this one. I like the other versions I've seen though)
38. Visit a castle
39. Visit the Georgia Aquarium
40. Visit the San Diego Zoo
41. Order Lobster at a restaurant.

I'm going to do something different today

2009-12-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

I'm going to do an entry without pictures. This is a test for my family to see if they will read the whole thing. I'm expecting comments! :-)

Today has been really nice so far. I woke up at 10:20 am. It felt really nice to sleep in that long but I feel kinda lazy. I got up and my nephew, Landon was running around the house. He spent the night last night. So the first thing I did was sneak up behind him and stand there until he saw me. I love him. I usually eat around this time everyday but it's fast Sunday. Fast Sundays throw off my schedule and I never know what to do...

Side note: Landon just left and I went to give him and good bye hug. We did the face smoosh and I got gummy bear juice all over my cheek. It was a little gross.

...So in my moment of confusion I decided to brush my teeth so I wouldn't be tempted to eat. It worked.

I then called the beautiful young woman in my life to see what she was up to. We talked for awhile and that started my day off well. She then told me about her new blog. I read her post and was inspired to do an entry without pictures. I think it may help me become a better writer instead of relying solely on my pictures to intrigue my family.

Now I'm sitting on my bed writing my blog.

15 more days until Vero Beach and Disney World.
18 more days in Salem until I leave for Rexburg.

Here is a recap of

2009-12-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Fall 2009

In no particular order...

I had to sell my motorcycle. It was tough but it needed to be done.

I brought home 51 rolls of fabric for Stephanie. She's making Erica and I some pajamas before we leave for school. (you only have one month left)

I learned some acrobat moves with Erica. We're getting really good.

Ran a half marathon with my best friend. No one else on earth could convince me to run 13.1 miles with them. She could though and she did...and I enjoyed it :-)

I watched Erica open up her birthday presents. One from her parents allowed her to take me to Vero Beach and Disney World this Christmas. We've been talking about Disney World ever since and I am getting very anxious. Oh! I finished Christmas shopping today! :-)

Erica made a glass bowl for her birthday. It turned out way good. I don't think I have a picture of it finished.

Laura took a photo shoot of me.

Went to a blazers game.

Competed in a Longboarding "club ride".

Watched Larry J play his first year of football. He did an amazing job!

Went on alot of dates with Erica. We did so many fun and random things this fall. We have alot of good ideas for winter also!

I went to Alaska

I went to my first political rally.

My nephew got me really sick.

I made a Longboard for my friend, Jason.

Co-hosted the halloween party of the year with Erica.

I ate a chocolate covered cricket

I got turned into a ghost.

And oh so much more.

This week I have had the opportunity

2009-11-25T18:06:00.000-08:00

to work with Erica at her fathers work. We were doing inventory of all of the fabric. It was a little daunting but we encouraged eachother and helped eachother through it. We're almost done. It's been great being able to spend the first four hours of my day with my best friend.

The other day our supervisor, Rob, showed us an area with outdated fabric. The fabric in this area would not be used again. They were donating alot of the fabric and some they were even obliged to throw away. Erica talked to him about the possibility of Stephanie coming and taking some becuase she enjoys sowing so much. Rob was completely fine with Stephanie coming by and picking out any fabric that she could use.

Erica okayed it with her dad and this morning Stephanie showed up to Summit right as Erica's and my break began. We showed her the rack of fabric and let her pick out her stuff.

At first Stephanie was hesitant. Once she found out that Ericas dad said it was ok she was up for it. She said, "I'll stop by and maybe take five rolls of fabric. That would be plenty."

About an hour later, Stephanie shows us where she put her fabric and before I know it my moms sewing room looks like this.

Erica helped me load the car and then I carried in 51 rolls of fabric into my moms sewing room. I learned a few things from this experience:

Firstly: Stephanie will agree to pretty much anything if you entice her with a little fabric

Secondly: Mom and dad shouldn't travel around the holidays.

Here is a link to Stephanie's blog. I know she's posting about this as well.

Stephanie's Blog

Halloween Party

2009-11-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

I should of put these pictures up a long time ago. They are in no particular order.

Our halloween party was fun...

When people came to our party, they first needed to walk through a "spook alley" It was tarped off and really dark. There were a couple black lights in there so you could see a little bit but for the most part it was really dark.

This was the end, right outside of the front door. Erica, Miranda, and I carved pumpkins which gave a little light to people who were going through the spook alley

Scary Head

Coffin with dead thing

The little get away in the backyard.

Food

Lots of it

Dancing

And of course...Thriller, which was headed off by Erica. It was amazing. :-)

A tragedy has struck the Young home.

2009-10-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

Landon has struck again!

This is my darling sister Stephanie.

The story is rather tragic. Stephanie and I have always been really close. We have alot of fun together and we share everything. This past week was rough because I was sick. But now that I am finally getting better, Landon, viciously attacked her and got her sick. I didn't see it myself, and Landon denies ever coming over to our home since I got sick but there is no other explanation to how Stephanie got sick.

I'm asking for martial law! I am asking for help beyond the reach of my out stretched arms. I am asking for a sense of relief and hope for my family who lives in fear. I am asking for justice.

If anyone has information pertaining to this individual, please contact his mother.

Whoever can diagnose me will get

2009-10-26T23:01:00.001-07:00

a huge hug when I am better.

So. I'm going to rant and tell all of you my symptoms in an attempt to know what I am sick with.

It all started two days ago. Landon came over and we hugged and had a sentimental nephew uncle moment ( see post before this one)

I then went to sleep and I slept well but was having bad dreams about Erica and I baking pies that we coudln't sell. I woke up tossing and turning at 2, 4, and finally at 6 I got out of bed. All those times I was really hot, dizzy, and I had a headache.

Dr. Mom comes downstairs puts me down on the couch, gives me some medicine and then feels me and she believes that I was "atleast 103". I kept waking up the remainder of the morning extremely hot. That whole day I slept and slept and slept. The dizziness went away. The temperature lessoned, yet the headache never went away. When I went to sleep my temperature was above 100. We had a thermometer that time.

So I went to sleep and I slept great! I woke up and I was thinking that I had 24 hour flu or something, then around 11 it started coming back. I had a headache like you wouldn't believe. It lasted throughout the morning and around 1 or 2 it goes away. I feel great. I get a headache again around 7:30 and it goes away. When I went to sleep, I felt 100% completely better.

Once I was in bed, I all of a sudden started getting really cold. I layed in bed for an hour and a half trying to warm myself up. I kept putting on more clothes and I kept putting on more blankets on the bed. I ran out of blankets and started putting clothes on the bed too. After an hour and a half, I finally get up to check the thermometer and it reads that its 71 in the house. I decide to take a warm bath to warm myself up. I was really dizzy. My dad came down to check on me and now I am here by the fireplace venting on my blog in a hope for a cure. My dad took the picture.

I also watched the grudge tonight. It wasn't bad, it wasn't good though. Movies like this don't really scare me. I noticed, however, that the little boy grudge would mark all the men and the mama grudge would kill them. If they were girls, they were usually marked and killed by the mom grudge.

Those are my thoughts on that movie.

We have a halloween party coming up soon. I don't think any of my friends read this blog, but the party is going to be amazing. Erica, Miranda, Stephanie and I have been planning it for quite awhile now. We have all the details worked out and it's going to be amazing.

Hmmm... what else is there

Oh! someone is coming to look at my guitar tomorrow. I hope he likes it and I'll get a little extra money for school.

WANTED: Reward for capture. Alive only.

2009-10-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Name: Landon
Alias: The Germinator, Mr HuffleBug, Tripple L, Thuuggg
Sex: Male
D.O.B. 3-13
Height: 40 inches
Weight: 35 lbs

Landon is wanted for getting his family members sick without remorse nor the feelings of guilt of anytype. Don't let his looks fool you. Below are some pictures of him pretending to be sweet and innocent. In reality Landon is always on the lookout for someone to hug and breath on.

This is Landon smiling. Behind that smile the mechanics of his brain are constantly thinking of the best way to spread his germs.

Landon often pretends to be interested in the hobbies that you enjoy. This is a ploy to get close to you so he can infect you with his germs.
No, he's not getting a drink of water. He's sticking his tongue out at all of those who are fooled by his 4 year old innocence.

He often goes undercover wearing a hat and covering his face with some sort of sugary substance. His victims often don't know that Landon has been stalking them for weeks, even months.

Wondering what this is? So was I. I did some detective work and found that this is where Landon breeds his germs.

If any of you have any information pertaining to this individual, please contact the number below or your local law enforcement agency.

1-800-GET-SICK

I went to a Blazer game with

2009-10-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

my favorite person in the whole entire world...

Erica!

We started the day off right though. We had a vegetarian stir fry.
And vegetarian chocolate chips.

We then drove to Portland. Erica was kind enough to drive. Her car does alot better on gas mileage than mine does.

Once we arrived, we set our priorities in order and mimicked the bathroom people.

Becuase we were early we were able to explore a little and Taylor gave us some advice. I'll paraphrase. Taylor, "If you act confident and pretend like you know what you're doing then people wont question you." We did just that and got seats four isles up from the court. I was sure someone was going to kick us out but no one came.

25 minutes until the game started and no one was there yet to claim their seat. Erica was excited about our seats.

Then all at once it happened. The stadium got dark and I heard a quiet yet thunderous voice proclaimed, "I'm sorry, I think you're in my seat". From our seats we were able to see him so I took a picture.

There he is!

It was ok though. We had alot of fun up in our seats.

Here's our cross-eyed faces.

They drove this car around also. It was pretty exciting. It dropped prizes.

1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4

2009-10-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

1 mans dream of owning a board

2 Couples, anything but bored

The 3rd wheel, He owns a Ford
All this, 4 one night that couldn't be ignored

Boone to Bush 2009

Boone to Bush started tonight at nine
The competition was stiff, but I didn’t whine
I knew I’d do my best and no matter my time
My prize was waiting for me at the finish line.

Au lomani kemuni ka via umataki kemuni vakalevu sara!

I LOVE the fall...

2009-10-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

Erica and I went on a date last Saturday. I want to tell you about it.

Our day started off going to Sassy Onion. We were able to catch Miranda on her break and take a quick picture. The food was amazing but Erica and I ate fast; we were anxious to go to the zoo. The traffic was horrid but we eventually made it to the zoo. Once there we found that the parking lot was full. I gazed into Ericas eyes and said, "Aint nothing gonna break our stride. Nobodys gonna slow us down. Oh-no, we gotta keep on moving." We were determined, we drove to Portland for the zoo and by golly, we were going to go to the zoo! We saw signs which led us to an another parking lot where they would shuttle us to the zoo and so we went.
We parked our car and ran to get in the line. The line was huge. We weren't able to see the end and so Erica decided that she would go find the front of the line. She came back really excited, she told me that there were two lines and that the other one was really short. We chose the wrong line, ours was huge. So we decide to be sneaky and leave our line and go to the other line. After a long walk we found the end of the other line and we could see the shuttle. We were almost there, and we were so excited and then everything went wrong...

You see that lady carrying the sign? Trust us, she's no lady. She saw that we went to the other line and she had a cow! She started screaming and yelling at us to go back to the other line. I don't think she had a very good childhood. Erica and I decided that we were too good for the zoo anyways though, so we initiated plan "B".

Derek Dating Tip: Always have a plan B. It doesn't hurt to have a plan C,D or even E either.

Plan B: We were going to go to the mall and play around there. We weren't quite sure how to get there but didn't think it would be too hard, we would just follow the signs...

We followed the signs straight to Washington. We got off on the last exit before leaving Oregon and we turned around. Once we knew we were heading back in the right direction we found the mall with no problem. First thing we did was go ice skating.

I know this picture is dark. We had others taken but they're sideways and I'm too lazy to make them right side up right now. I'll do that later.

Ok...funny story. So Erica and I were skating and having fun and we got really tired. We go to the edge and look at a pirate shop and wait to catch our breath. Before we know it we're surrounded by little kids. There was a train of kids walking around the edge of the ice arena and Erica and I were in there way. All the little kids successfully made it around us and we decided we needed to get a picture, so Erica positions herself in front of the kids again while I went to a vantage point to take pictures.

Erica is in the yellow on the left.

Erica is in the yellow engulfed by the blanket of kids.

P.S. If you look closely, you can notice that Erica is whistling.

P.S.S. I think someone knew what were we doing and didn't approve. I got an ice ball thrown at me from behind while taking this picture...

After playing with the kids, Erica and I showed everyone our ice skating skills.

Lunch was next. We had a picnic in her car.

Oh ya! We also went to ROSS. Erica purchased a lovely jacket. It was a bargain! It was only $9.99 and she looks amazing in it!

After lunch we went and saw Fame. The choices were Fame or Ponyo. I hadn't really seen previews for Fame but I had for Ponyo and I didn't have much of a desire to go see it. I really enjoyed Fame though. It's definitaly worth seeing. I'm pretty sure Erica liked it as well.

This is me doing a Fame pose.

After the movie got out, Erica and I walked over to the railing where we could look down over the Ice Arena. The zamboni had just smoothed the surface and it still appeared wet. All at once though a mass of kids come bolting onto the ice. Everyone was falling. We hurried and got my camera out and were able to take a picture of two kids who had fallen. Erica and I really aren't bad people, but we had alot of fun with the kids ice skating.
We then went to Mrs. Fields. I never had their cookies before. They were soooooooo good. The double chocolate ones were our favorites.

While we were in Portland we stopped by the temple on our way home. The grounds were closed so we walked around the outside of the fence. We were surprised to see one of our friends from Salem also. Alden Papritz made his appearance into our date. We chatted for a little bit and then headed home.

This concluded our evening. However we have many more dates to look forward to this fall. We already have planned to attend the pumpkin patch, attend a blazer game, go and see twilight, run a marathon and so much more. Life is treating me really well right now. :-)

Hi Mom!

2009-09-30T08:56:00.001-07:00

Oh, Hi Derek! How are you doing today?

Not so well... Erica and I ran six miles yesterday and I am sooooo tired.

Mom never had a blog conversation with her son up in Alaska. She leaves me here all alone with my moosen.

I never had a blog when I was Derek and Steves age!

ROOOOOAAAARRRR!!!!

C'mon guys, I'm trying to talk to mom.

Oh Derek, six miles isn't too far. I got onto google and looked up some quick facts. I posted them below.

Six miles is the distance between the Oregon State Capitol and Creekside Golf Course

Six miles is the distance between the Oregon State Capitol and Keizer station.

Six miles is the distance between Sprague High School and Corban College

Six miles is the distance between the Haws home and Minto Brown Island Park

Six miles is the distance between the Haws home and West Salem

Six miles is the distance between our home at Enchanted Forest

Six miles is the distance between our home and Lancaster mall

I don't know mom, when you name those facts it doesn't seem too bad, but it seems so much farther when we're out there running. Erica and I did it though, becuase we're number 1!

Whoooo... Yea!

Yeeeaaahh Babeh! Whooo!

I'm gonna go sew now....

ooh...ok. I love you mom.

So far this fall I have...

2009-09-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Visited my brother Steve in Alaska...Saw some moose... Built a fire in a place where the sun never sets...Had a spiritual experience on a mountain top...
Had an epiphane...

Went to a political rally...

Met the statue of liberty...
Had a little too much to drink at Oktoberfest...

What do you get when you mix...

2009-09-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

...twilight, Europe, and my family?...

...You get me being home all alone for an extended weekend. :-/

I'm the youngest of six kids and am not used to being alone. I'm trying to stay out of trouble though and keep myself busy. I've been doing alot of random stuff. I've been adding more things to my "100 things to do before I die" list. I've been working alot. I've applied for scholarships. I've been working on various projects. I've even gone as far as reading and cleaning the house.

Today though, I was also looking at pictures and movies from my mission. I'm going to share two of them with you.

There was a missionary who had been out two months longer than me. Amazing guy, even more amazing dancer. One day he wanted to show off his break dancing skills. So we popped in the Insideout Accapella group cd and then he went to work. Here are two of his videos.

Elder Vai break dancing video 1

Elder Vai break dancing video 2

I'm training to

2009-09-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

run a half marathon. It is called "Run To Stay Warm"

http://www.eclecticedgeracing2.com/EWEB_Run_To_Stay_Warm.html

The proceeds go to help families pay for their electric bills this winter if they are unable to otherwise. It is November 21st. Training starts bright and early tomorrow morning with my running partner, Erica. :-). Her family is going to do it as well. They are going to walk while Erica and I run. As soon as my parents get back from Europe I'm going to try and convince them to do it as well.

I need a good pair of running shoes too. I don't have a pair yet, I've been wearing old tennis shoes. Maybe I can convince dad that he needs to buy me a pair. He did leave me for three weeks to fend for myself and scavenge around for food. Maybe he will help me out a little bit. I think i'll ask dad for these...and he'll say, "no"

Then I'll tell dad how sad I am and tell him I'll settle for these...

This way I'll get what I really want and dad will feel like he saved a bunch of money. It's a win win situation.

If you want to do the half marathon as well, let me know.

Erica and I had a wonderful time

2009-07-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

in Idaho Falls today...but that's not what my post is about. :-) Once we got back into Rexburg we went to Wal*Mart and I went to the clearance isle and I found that womans underwear was on sell for only a dollar! I immediately got an idea and looked for the largest size I could find in pink.

I had planned to put these silky drawers in one of my roommates bed, near the feet. Or in his laundry basket so he would find it in the laundry room, with potentially a bunch of people around.

Here is the school photograph of our victim, my roommate Richard.

Here is his laundry basket.

Here is the underwear making it's way inside.
Here it is tucked in the top left corner. It looks slightly pink.

Here is his laundry basket after the deed. It looks just like it did. He'll never suspect a thing.

I'll keep everyone updated on what happens with this. It will probably happen in the next couple days or so. I'm guessing he'll do laundry next monday or tuesday.

My idol

2009-06-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

is Urkel! I hope to be half the man he is someday. And he does a wicked YMCA dance with those nutcrackers.

Photo is by The Steve

Erica

2009-06-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

told me to update my blog. She is sitting next to me and making sure it gets done. So here I go... Now for an update of what we've been up to this term.

We went to yellow stone...

We went to Idaho Falls and went to the zoo...

Now for a classic Derek and Erica moment.

And now a bonus becuase I love Stephanie.

I got a job at...

2009-05-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Lexington Law Firm

I've been desperatly looking for a job. I give plasma twice a week which gives me 50 dollars each week. Subtract tithing and I have 45 dollars for gas, food, dating, and anything else I might need. Larry helped me out a little bit by setting it up so I can answer his emails even though I'm in Idaho. That gives me about 2o minutes a day which equals out to roughly $3 a day. So...15 a week minus tithing I'm looking at 58.50 a week. When I figured this all out, I was stoked. I was a rich man. I'm making 58.50 a week!

Turns out that 58.50 a week isn't very much. :-/ That is what began my search for a job. I've been looking and talking to people and trying to get refered but to no avail (I hope I used that word correctly) About a month ago I turned in an application for Lexington Law Firm. They never called me back. So last week I called back and the reception told me to call yesterday. I called yesterday about 10 times and the manager was in meetings all day. So i decided to go down and see him. I just got out of the temple with Erica and so I dropped her off and printed off a resume and went down there. They just got out of an interview and walked over to me and this is how the conversation went.

Derek: Hi, my name is Derek Young, I turned in an application about a month ago and would like to check up on it, blah blah blah.

Manager: Well we just got done with interviews, you're a little too late.

Regional Director: But you're all dressed up and I have fifteen minutes, step into our office.

So I was interviewed and it went well and they liked me and told me they'd know by 5pm on Friday if I got the job. They called me today and said I got it. :-)

People call into lexington law firm when they have bad credit and lexington helps them improve it. I'm going into financial economics and figure a year and a half or more of working at a law firm dealing with credit and money while I'm in college will look great on a resume when I graduate college

Wow, that was a long post.

Lets see how long it takes

2009-05-03T20:10:00.001-07:00

my family to realize that I have added a post to my blog. I figure since I'm not going to be on facebook I'll be able to write in this blog every once in awhile.

Lets see...what's new in my life. Since my last post I finished one semester at BYU - Idaho and got all A's and a B-. This semester is a little tougher and a whole lot funner. The weather is starting to be sunny on some days and all the snow is melted. I am currently looking for second job. My first job, plasma, doesn't offer any pay raises and I'm going to need to start saving some more money. Erica and I are having alot of fun together. We ride bikes everywhere and go on lots of dates.

I miss my nephews and neices. I saw Taken last night at the 2 dollar theatre and it was way good. Kinda intense. That gave me a good excuse to hold Erica's hand real tight.

I'm going to look for a random picture to post since my last entry to make my blog a little more attractive.

This is my beautiful girlfriend, Erica :-)

I've been accepted to...

2008-09-21T23:21:00.000-07:00