Jason 1983~2007

On Tuesday, February 20th, my little brother Jason headed out early to take his little boy Brayden to preschool. On the way to the car he fell, hitting his head. A neighbor alerted Jamie and she called 911 before rushing to his side. Being the stubborn guy that he is, he insisted that she call them back and tell them he was fine. Before she could, however, his speech began to slur and he started having a seizure. He was able to regain consciousness and speak to Jamie before the ambulance arrived, but when they pulled away he was having trouble breathing. Mid way to the hospital his heart stopped beating. They worked on him for forty minutes but they were unable to revive him.

I was in the ER helping take care of my nephews when I heard the news. At first I just felt disbelief. It wasn’t long, however, before the tears came. Despite the difficulty of it all, I have felt an underlying peace. Just two days before the accident we held a family fast for Jason. Almost two years have passed since he was involved in a dirt biking accident that nearly took his life and since that time he has been living in severe pain. Although he never complained, at times it seemed as though it was just too much for him to bear. We had been praying and fasting for a miracle and while this wasn’t what we were hoping for, I know it was what he needed and I am grateful he no longer suffers. I love the way Brigham Young describes it:

"We shall turn around and look upon it (the valley of death) and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish and dissapointment into a state of existence where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that can be done without a body. My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my Heavenly Father."

Although it still seems impossible to comprehend life without him, I rejoice in my knowledge of the plan of salvation and I look forward to the day when I will see him again.

Life Lessons #1

You are reading the blog of the proud owner of used sawmill equipment from the distinguished LPS Equipment & Acquisition Co. (check it out at http://www.lps-inc.com/).

For the low price of just $3,289.00, some lucky fella out there is hacking and sawing away at what we can only hope is wood. Meanwhile, I have a monster credit card bill. Three thousand two hundred and eighty nine dollars!!!! That's approximately 70% of my entire last year's income! And what is he doing with sawmill equipment anyways? At least he's sensible. No big screen tv for this guy. No siree, he's gonna work to earn his big screen - even if it means he has to chop down an entire forest to get it. (Either that or there's some huge illegal underground sawmill industry out there somewhere. Who knows, I'm not really all that into wood.)

In the end, I have learned several life lessons:

#1 - Don't sign up for a credit card from Amazon just so you can get $30 off on your stupid $150 microbiology book that you never even read (granted it did have some really cool, albeit graphic, pictures of weird diseases.)

#2 - In the event you do succumb to the $30 bait, don't just throw your credit card statement away every month without reading it. (Even if you never use the account and didn't even activate the card.)

#3 - In the event you do throw away your unopened statements every month, hope that you get lucky and the same guy that uses your card uses somebody else's card who does open their statements every month. Then, hope that they call the credit card company and that the credit card company traces other purchases to your card and then calls you to inquire as to whether you did in fact purchase used sawmill equipment. Otherwise you're in big trouble because you already threw away last month's statement with the notification of said purchase and you wouldn't have even noticed until it went to collections. (Not that they could have found you because you didn't give them your new address when you moved because you were sick of throwing away those pesky statements every month.)

Talon

Meet my new adorable little nephew Talon. My mom thinks he looks just like me when I was a baby. Dang, I must have been cute! Lucky for Talon, his older brother Spiderman (formerly known as Brayden), keeps a close watch over him to protect him from any would-be-predators.

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Lost in Cyberworld

The following is an excerpt from a message I left on my former landlord's answering machine. Imagine with me, if you will, as I clearly and distinctly recite my forwarding address:

". . . I now live at 3-7-5 Elm Road @ Provo Utah dot com . . . (insert long awkward silence, followed by an uncomfortable chuckle) . . . I mean 84597."

Ahhh . . . the age of technology. Gotta love it!

P.S. For those of you out there who wish to either stalk me or send me any more bridal/baby shower invitations, you may reach me at the above address. To everyone else, this is not my real address.

Jen, Ph.D.

It's official - I finally graduated! For those of you who have been keeping a running tally of my credit hours the final count is in (drum roll please) . . . 212! That's right folks, 212. "But can't you get a bachelor's degree with 120 credits and a master's degree with 160?" Why yes, yes you can. Which is why I have decided to declare an honorary doctorate of undergraduate studies. BYU hasn't officially recognized it, but I'm pretty sure it's just because they don't want to set a precedent. Luckily I'm not one to be beset by the need for recognition for this miraculous feat (accomplished in a mere 4 1/2 years of intense study) so I won't bemoan the fact that after all the blood, sweat, and tears I am hereby qualified to return to the same job I had in high school. Do not fret, I have not yet abandoned my educational endeavors. In addition to working full time, I am currently enrolled in 11 online credit hours so that I can apply to go to more school and hopefully one day break the 300 credit line barrier. Upon reaching said milestone, I will retire to the woods where I will write a book entitled "How to Get Real Smart and Still Get Paid Minimum Wage."