Please, Step Into My Office...

Engagement Photos

2010-05-16T22:49:00.005-06:00

Check a bunch of our engagement pics that the photographer posted on her blog.

It was a lot of fun and we were able to find locations with really cool colors!!!

*Lynsey's lookin' as delicious as ever! :)*

The Luckiest...

2010-03-30T01:23:00.001-06:00

So, have you ever had everything fall into place and feel amazingly content and happy?
That happened for me recently, and I often sit back and reflect how truly lucky I am. I asked Lynsey Barrus to marry me March 25th 2010... and she said YES!

We are planning on being married the beginning of this July, and it couldn't come soon enough. I completely adore this amazing woman!
I can honestly say that I started loving Lynsey from the first time I saw her & I love her more and more everyday.
I remember getting frustrated with people's explanation that I would "just know" as to finding the girl that I would marry. It's true, everything has been so natural. It hasn't been without it's "hiccups" or trials, but all that pales in comparison with all the happiness that we are coming to find.

I'll stop with the cheesy stuff, just thought you should know ;)...

Are We Listening?

2010-01-22T00:35:00.004-07:00

"Listen to many, speak to a few."
- William Shakespeare

Within the several weeks since my last blog, I've had multiple conversations and experiences that have lead me to the re-discovery of the need for the 'art of listening'. But listening in the true sense of the word.
by definition "to listen" is to:
1 : to pay attention to sound
2 : to hear something with thoughtful attention : give consideration
3 : to be alert to catch an expected sound
So... according to this description, and apart from paying "attention to sound", listening is "thoughtful attention or consideration" - "to be alert to something expected". I feel like this is a pretty sturdy explanation, but the only real question I have is this - what about the unexpected? Why is the unexpected so... unexpected?
My guess is because we're not listening...
I am getting ahead of myself, let me back up a little bit:

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
                                                                                                           -Winston Churchill
How many times has a distraught loved one needed to "talk" when really they don't need you adding any extra confusion, they just need to hear themselves - they need you to listen.

Have you had the occasion when silence is the only way to sum up what you're feeling, words - for whatever reason - just wont do the experience justice.

Have you ever wanted so badly to speak your mind, to express yourself - but felt the deep need to keep silent? To listen?
These are only several examples of when it takes a touch of "courage" to "sit down and listen".
Why does it take courage to listen?
Do we fear what we'll hear?
Do we hesitate because of what we'll have to act on/do once we've heard and understood?
Maybe it's just that we think that we wont hear anything at all...but deep down, we know better.

The are so many things that "speak" to us. Whether we call it "intuition" or "inspiration" or even a mixture of both, it's real; it can clue us in to so many things that may not have been viewed at a superficial level. Communication isn't just verbal, and there is so much that is internal and external that we can see, feel, hear and understand -it's all "talking" to us, we just need to learn, decipher and apply - but it only starts if we listen and truly hear.
Just pause & listen - I have a feeling you'll be surprised as to what you'll recognize.

                     "Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her."
                                      -Benjamin Franklin

                   "Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone."
                                      -Mohandas Gandhi

                     "We hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers."
                                      -Friedrich Nietzsche

Um... Sir. You're on Fire...

2010-01-03T06:35:00.002-07:00

It's been a while, which is an understatement, but here I am.
Hi, it's me. Fur reals. I promise.
Well, I have to say I think this photo is pretty cool looking - and visually, it sums up my new years experience:
Fire, on many levels, can be just what I need.

I had the chance, New Years Eve night, to watch my buddy perform (Scottish Dancing) at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which may have been his last, and also brought back a lot of fond memories of us performing together. Not to mention the fact that bagpipes can really get me "stoked" - though I can only go about 45mins, then they start a headache...

Then was the pyrotechnic display that helped my heart. We filled a cardboard box with remnants of several pivotal & failed business attempts, then filled that same box with rifle powder pellets - made a fuse with a trail of the same pellets, lit a match and watched. As I waited on the fuse I reflected on the last couple years and all the emotion that surrounded what these business relics represented - the relationships, hard work, let downs, self discovery, full out heart-ache etc... - at that moment I was ready to let go of all that threatened to hold me back, but not without a little help :) After a couple admonitions for me to back away from the box, the fuse caught and boy did it burn!
- (Special Thanks to Roy Barrus: The rifle powder did the trick) -

At that point I was able to spend some quality time with those who have recently come to mean a great deal to me.
T'was a great night.

In retrospect I learned several things:
1- Fire is great
2- Moving forward is better
3- Spending time with those that mean most to you is the best

Really when you think about it, and you can quote me on this:

"Its what's behind us that can give us strength, what's ahead of us that can gives us hope and what's currently in our hands and on our shoulders that can give us faith. It's up to us"
-M.Ryan Bond

The rough stuff in life is usually a blessing in disguise in the long run, we just need to keep running. Now more than ever I am determined to make the most of what I am given, and am grateful for the strength that I was able to find, recently, in my past, and for the hope and faith that now awaits me.

THROWIN' SHAPES

2008-10-21T04:38:00.000-06:00

So, it's been a while... Yeah... I often times struggle with sitting down and writing. I LOVE writing - don't get me wrong, but I SERIOUSLY get in a mental fist fight with an entity known as Francisco, "Pancho" for short (you might know him as ADHD). Pancho has won that internal fist fight more often than not - but for those of you who know me - I ain't no quitter. I'm not giving up.

This post is active proof. Oooohhhhhhh yyyyeeeeaaaahhhh!

Well - I was working on this in the wee hours of the morning (I am currently attempting to get on a better schedule - I need to be very tired by 11:00 ish so I pulled an "all nighter") and have gotten the blog set up well enough. During this process I was listening to Minus the Bear and have been literally throwing shapes... ha. I am currently experiencing a life "restoration".

Getting back on track with a lot of things that I have let fall through the cracks for various reasons. From not eating as many whoppers (BK is a blessed place) to training for a tri-athalon or selling many of my toys, that have hurt me or don't get enough use to be worth the purchase, to SAVING MONEY? So strange. See, I am very good and spending money and love shiny things - but I am starting to see "the light". Oh how growing up is strange. Life truly shouldn't be rushed. The right stuff "just happens" when we are being honest with ourselves and others. Life sure can really throw some unexpected "shapes" in front of you; but I am coming to find that this is precisely when life get exciting.

Some how at that point you find yourself closer to what you've wanted than you've ever been before, and you weren't in control?!?! Interesting. Faith and patience are rough for me, but I am finding having these two principles as core bases is the only way to be truly happy in life. I get bored with my own "shapes", and I do get bored easily - unfortunately... Pancho and I are pretty close, but I am finding that the more unexpected and demanding the experience.

I like life a lot more when someone else is "throwin' the shapes", I now have a renewed determination to be faithfully patient... we'll see how it goes... hahahah.

Wish me luck, eh?!