November 26, 2014

     Thanksgiving break has been great so far. Paige showed me her skills of driving in ice and snow. I am still scared of driving in Utah's winter. The unity of Paige, Rachel, Jesse, and I hanging out for this break has been good so far. We cooked and we have not done any other adventures outside yet. Driving in the Ice was stressful enough for Paige, and we had homework to do too.

     Since I am from California, I have no idea what knowledge and skills that Paige employed to get us to arrive safely at the cabin in Bear Lake. The roads were fine until we started driving up into the hills of Bear Lake. It was full of slick ice. Paige's efforts, driving on the ice, is so stressful that she consumes ibuprofen to relax. We had to drive the car today, the 27th of November, because we did not make it to the top. When we stopped, it was funny because we drifted off to the side. It seemed fine because we needed to park anyways. When we hit the side, the most funny part was that we spun 180 degrees perfectly because how slick the road was, and we let the car be parked there.

     Since today is Thursday, the 27th of November, I get to write about our glorious Thanksgiving that we had. We still follow the honor code of BYU Idaho. Last night we went to the other cabin to sleep, and the cabin was barely insulated and it was not heated. In the morning we waited to go back to hang out with Paige and Rachel at 10 AM, which is the earliest that you can visit a girl in their apartment. When we arrived, Rachel was already up cooking, and we cooked all day until Thanksgiving.

     Last night was rough sleep wise because as I said the cabin was barely insulated and it was not heated. I had an odd thick comforter that would only provide insulation, touching me, if I moved it. I told Jesse that it felt like it was floating above me. It was so cold that my bed was only warm on the mattress underneath me, and moving around required re-positioning my rigid comforter. It was a rough night.

     In the morning, I woke up about eight, and the wait to come to the warmth of the other house was slow. I didn't have my scriptures, but they did have some good books. I tried reading Speaker of the Dead again, but I realized that the logic behind studying other intelligent aliens in person is very destructive, which turned me off from the continuing reading the Ender's series. Communing in that cabin was hard because you feel that the floor, outside, the wind, everything is sucking heat out of you. Jesse was reading the Fantastic Mr. Fox book, and I stood listening to him reading it. As I stood, I had to stand in one place to keep my feet comfortable because the floor would suck the heat out of my feet if I moved around.

     One adventure that we went on before we went to visit Paige and Rachel is that we explored a trail that we saw going down into the valley. As we walked it was interesting because we saw animal tracks. It was mainly moose, but there was one random big print. We suspected that it was a wolf, which was a little scary, but we did not really need to worry about it because it was looked like it was on the surface of about four inches of snow frozen; plus, there was only one. It was a little funny because Jesse led the way. Since he had nice boots, I would step in this footsteps in order to not get my shoes wet. When we were walking back, I tried to step in his footstep again, and I stepped on the wolf track.

      When we arrived at the house, Rachel had already baked the rolls. I helped bake a cream of tartar berry pie. We worked well together, seeking a happy peaceful Thanksgiving together. The girls were stressing out, and we had to move the car again as I said before, having the feast soon after.

     Seeing my Turkey when I returned was a little sad because I could not see any meat on him. As we moved him around, he almost ripped in half. I thought that he was pitiful. Everyone else was proud of him though. We also went all out on setting up the table. We were all pleased at how everything was prepared. When we sat down, we felt relief and excited. The spirit of the occasion was interesting. That feeling of relief and excitement sustained itself, and we were all speechless. It felt reverent and sacred.

     Today is now Friday, the 28th. Last night was glorious kind of. I built a fire in the furnace, and it lasted most of the night. I decided to start organizing Track and Field for the Spring of 2015 because guess what! I was chosen to be the Track and Field Coordinator. I spoke with Jessica today, and Paige, Rachel, Jesse, and I went on a hike. Now it's Sunday! We did not do much yesterday. I did engage in communication to cultivate better relations with my older brother. We have only spoken to him a handful of times over the past 4 years or so. This is one of the things that Jessica and I decided to do together because we both have older siblings that are married, which we don't communicate much with. It has been a week since Jessica and I have been dating steadily, and I wrote her a Words of Affirmation letter. I should do that each week. We played games and almost made an igloo.

     The glorious thing about Thursday night was that it was warm, but the thing that made it kind of glorious is that I was sleeping in the highest bed of the cabin. It got really warm; insomuch that, I was uncomfortable, and the thing that made me more uncomfortable was how dark that it was. I thought that the furnace was leaking smoke in the house. I even yelled out my concern in the middle of the night before I realized that the pitch darkness was not smoke. It was a good thing that Jesse didn't wake up, and I slept on the main level for the rest of the vacation. I am surprised of my fear that I discovered. I don't usually claim that I have fears.

     My Track and Field Coordination is off to a good start. People are very supportive. I met Amie Whipple at cross country and the P2B conference. She said that one of her life goals is to be a track coach, so I approached her first about being a coach. She is dating the cross country coach that dominated, and she said that they would like to be a team coaching the middle and long distance events of one team. I chose to create an event with Facebook inviting most everyone that I know at BYUI to the founding meeting of the Cross Country and Track and Field Association  mainly so I can have a good list of all the possible people interested for myself to contact. Alex Galbraith contacted me about being the Track and Field Association President. It seems that he has a lot of ideas. I asked a few people about being leaders in the association, but they did not seem to have as many ideas. We will see when I interview them. I asked Vanessa Vankatwyk for help finding coaches for the throwing events. Although Vanessa is small, she is surprisingly very passionate about throwing. When I was taking BIM in the Spring, I saw in a presentation of the first BIM class' work a throwing facility. I was hoping who would be so passionate about the sport to model such a big facility, and I did not expect to meet the creator. Vanessa was that person. She said that she would coach, but she is graduating before the spring semester. She recommended that I ask you a guy named Jorge Olveiras, but he may be too busy to coach. He is super friendly, but he is already involved with a chess club and Jujitsu. I hope that I am creating a healthy competition in my efforts.

     Oh yeah. I was told that I got the position to be the Track and Field Coordinator in Wednesday on our way up to Bear Lake. The first thing that I did is develop a vision for the season. I did not bother think of a developed vision for the association because I am not running it. The event for founding the association is going to be on Wednesday, and I am going to present my vision to those who come. It is interestingly intertwined with the Track and Field sport. I am having the position of the President of the Association separate from my coordinator position, but we will work together with Brother Stutz to establish coaching standards for the season. I need two team leaders, and the association needs two vice presidents; therefore, the position will be the same. I need the two team leaders to develop team unity for their individual teams, since we are going to have two teams. I am going to have all three members of the presidency play important roles in suggesting coaches, which I choose. Vanessa asked what type of individuals that I am looking for to coach, and this is what my response was. "I want an individual that would try to recruit as many people as possible to be a thrower, having great enthusiasm and passion, a contagious coach." My focus is a combination of developing unity and competition to retain my athletes. I don't expect expertise. I will develop standards for them with the legendary Brother Stutz.

     I like my conversations with Jessica because they are so realistic. There is a special unity that we have. This partially comes because how similar we are to each other. The conversations come naturally, but we are comfortable with silence. She was unable to play with her cousins that much, running around because her knee pains. Guess what! Devin's knees are feeling better! I am excited to start working with him again.

     I am not going to share what I wrote to Jessica because it is for her.

     Last night we wanted to do something because we have been sitting around all day, writing or doing other homework. We decided to make a snow man; however, our decision morphed into making an igloo. We got baking bread pans, and we started making brick walls. I don't have snow boots, so my Converses got soaked and cold after a while. I didn't endure to the end, but a wall fell apart soon after I left. I didn't miss much.

Today is now the 7th of December. This week has been glorious just as every other week. I organized the Track and Field association, and Jessica organized my birthday. It was the most glorious birthday. Usually I have to think of my own birthday party because I don't believe that anyone would put together an actual party for me. These two things sum up my week. Nothing much really happened. Jessica has recovered from her knee pain, and we ran yesterday! We also attended the BYUI Christmas Concert and the Yule Ball.

     I had about 10 people committed to attend the founding meeting of the Track and Field Association. Jessica, Rhett Mullins, Amie Whipple, and Kaleb Martin were the only people who attended. Rhett's commitment made him a trusted candidate to be the president of the association.  Alex Galbraith said about an hour before the meeting that he would be too busy to be the president of the association. Jessica felt awkward at the meeting because she had nothing to contribute. Amie and Kaleb are going to be the long and middle distance coaches for the 6 PM team. Their attendance was great, for they had many great ideas and opinions. I could not find any white board pens around, so I had to purchase some quickly. I wrote up my vision on the white board, so people can follow along easily. My presentation and the audience's participation was great. I don't believe that I missed anything. Tyre Russell was a candidate that I hoped would be a Team Leader, and I am grateful for her willingness and enthusiasm. I interviewed Rhett and Tyre and gave them the position the next day. I was hoping that Cory Hafen would be the second team leader, but he is too slow to coordinate consultation. Jeffrey Wood is an enthusiast of Track and Field. I gave Cory the rest of that day to reply to my request of meeting with him about being a team leader. Since he didn't, I had to network, and see who I can get as a team leader. It was a Friday, and I wanted to get the Team Leaders chosen because I want to print their team shirts by next weekend. Jeff invited his friends to like the Facebook Page, and Valerie Nielson did. I know her from Track and Cross Country. I asked three people to meet with me that day, and I was surprised that all three was willing to meet with me. I met with Amanda Reaser, Irvin Silva, and Valerie Nielson. It was not that hard to choose the second Team Leader because Valerie Nielson caught the vision of the Track and Field Program, coming up with many ideas.

     My birthday was that evening, and Jessica asked me to come to her apartment at 6 PM. I felt so happy for her effort to organize it. It was a great environment. Jessica says that she is not creative, but her birthday party plans were the most original that I have ever seen. She had various friends including herself prepare a part of a four course meal. Jessica prepared a most tasty Tomato Soup. Vanessa Vankatwyk, who is coincidentally Jessica's Sunday School teaching companion and the same person who is really into throwing mentioned above, made us a salad. At that course of the meal, I asked Jessica if she would like to begin a tradition of having one meal a day with each other. It is important in familial relationships to keep current with each other to maintain trust, understanding, relevance, and more. We figured that a family only has about 1000 meals together, when raising a child, if they commit to having it once a week. If we have meals with each other each day, it is multiplied by 7. 7000 meals with a family is not that much. This brings into perspective the precious time that we have to give each other in mortality. We need to give each other our best. Eating breakfast and dinner together would double the amount of meals in a family. 14000 meals is more comforting. Jessica and I often have two meals a day with each other. After salad at Vanessa's apartment, we went to my apartment, where Jesse prepared us the main course. Jesse cooked us grill cheese sandwiches, a family tradition; then, we went to Paige Dexter and Naomi House's apartment for dinner. They tried to make it a surprise, but it was not too surprising. I surprised them more when I popped a balloon on the cake's candles. The occasion's materiality was manifest in the typical confetti, streamers, balloons, blow tools, and another party toy. These things have never been in a birthday party  of mine, so that made is even more special with the coordination of everything. The love of Jessica and my friends that helped prepare everything was felt greatly, and we enjoyed ourselves for desert together. Jeanette was bummed that we forgot to throw the confetti at the surprise, so she decided to throw it at Jessica and I. I got it all in my hair and jacket, tracking it even into the temple yesterday. After enjoying the cake, we decided to play Apples to Apples, having the most joyous time. Jessica and I's unity is special. We matched clothing without even trying these past few days, and the funny thing was that when I judged during the game. A high majority of the time like 8 out of 10 times I chose her card. She seems to have my humor, and Jessica chose my card like half of the time too. It was all coincidental.

      Over the next couple days we enjoyed the Yule Ball and BYU Idaho Christmas Concert. The Yule Ball had an interesting feeling that it was like a country dance. We hung out with a good group of friends, getting plenty of pictures. Some people fell in the dances including Rachel Dunlap. We ate at the Hickory before the ball, and Naomi, Rachel, and Jessica was preparing and getting dressed at Paige's apartment. Jessica looked gorgeous. She told me to come to the apartment at 6:30, so I reserved a table at 6:40, but they were not ready. We didn't get there until 7. We only practiced the dances the Wednesday previous, so we were a little confused. It's all fun though. The BYU Idaho Concert was amazing and very creative. Jessica and I have a good tradition of holding hands whenever appropriate. Jesse had a date, and Rachel came alone. We all sat in different location because we did not coordinate sitting together.