The Adventures of My Life

First off, to correct an error in Part 1, Martha was not the name of our Parakeet. The correct name is Suzie, pointed out by Brian. Martha was a cat we used to have, but I have mixed up all of the names of our old animals because I don’t even remember them. Anyways, in the last episode, I explained the peril that faced our old Parakeet Suzie. Continuing the journey of explanation to my luck with birds…

2) Orbie. Our lovable cockatiel. His name originated from a Disney cartoon “Katie and Orbie”. I was in 7th grade when Brian brought Orbie home. Orbie had a unique personality. He never wanted to be in his cage and loved people, total opposite of Suzie. He would make perfect sounds to all of the appliances and even the telephone. If you would walk to the microwave, he would start to make a beeping sound and it would correspond perfectly to the intervals of the microwave. Same with the oven and telephone. So, he was a pretty special bird to us. I know a few times I was “grounded” from the bird by Brian for poor behavior. I don’t think I was treating the bird badly, I just did something that made him mad. Since Orbie always wanted to be out, I established a habit to put him on my shoulder every morning. One cold Wyoming morning, I made a stupid mistake. While Orbie was on my shoulder I opened up the door to get the paper. I really don’t know what I was thinking, but Orbie was off in an instant. As he flew over the house into the backyard, my hopes rose and I thought he might land in the back yard. But I heard his chirping come back over the house and over my head, I knew it was going to be trouble. I started chasing the bird as far as I could go but soon I lost it. Ohh, it hurt. The worst part was going back into the house and telling Brian (although I don’t think I was the one to tell him). It’s always horrible when a bird escapes, even worse when your the one to blame. We spent the rest of the morning but couldn’t find a trace of Orbie. It was tough. I felt so bad and I knew Brian mad at me for awhile. And so it was, 2 birds-2 deaths cause by me. I got over the guilt, but I just wish I could have been smarter for that one moment and taken it back. Life goes on…The Next story isn’t so much my fault but the fact that I was in the room makes sense….

Here is a good Cockatiel article for a new owner

This is part 2 of a 3 part series.

One may say I have bad luck with birds…Let me rephrase this, “One may conclude that when I am in contact with a bird, the expected lifespan will significantly decrease due to sudden death or flying away to freedom”. Let me recount my history with birds.

1) Our first bird, or the first bird I remember in our house was a parakeet by the name of Martha. Martha, from what I remember was very mean, and maybe she deserved what was coming to her. Supposedly whenever she was let out, she would fly all over the place and wouldn’t let anyone catch her and she would bit like crazy. The only way to catch her was to throw a rag over her. Now, let me remind you I was only around four years old at the time. I was a clumsy little kid who always tripped. One day, my mom took all of my siblings to school because it was a little cold outside. So, it left me all alone in the house. Whenever someone left me alone when I was under-10…meant BIG trouble. I would always cause a mess or run away. Anyways, back to the story, I decided ole’ Martha wanted out. This was my only time to play with the bird cause no one would let me when I wasn’t alone. Kids are naturally attracted to flying things. Martha was free and loose in the house. What I didn’t know was how hard it was to catch her. I went and grabbed a rag, like I saw my family do many times and I threw it at her. Luckily I hit the target. In my youthful energy I ran at her and fell to my knees. But, one little problem…I underestimated my jump and my kneed landed right on her body. A cold feeling came over my body as I knew something was wrong. I picked her up and didn’t know what to do. Right about that moment, my mom walked into the room and asked me what was wrong. I showed her the bird and she knew that Martha had passed away do to possibly a broken neck. But I refused to believe and I asked my mom if we could take her to the vet and see if they could make her live again. That was it for poor Martha, she just couldn’t escape from me in time. After this experience, we didn’t get a bird for a loong time until my brother Brian got a cockatiel named Orbi

Here is a Parakeet*

*Note: This is not a picture of Martha, just a random Parakeet!!

This is part 1 of a 3 part series

This week has been alright. I got really sick yesterday, had a bad cold. I am still feeling a little under the weather today but should get better. Life is good…there isn’t anywhere I would be than where I am today. Soon, when the time is ready I will be gone like the wind to where I want to be. For those of you who don’t know, I was going on a LDS mission to Portugal in November. I was at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) for about a month until I was sent home for medical reasons. Those are still clearing up and I hope to be going out soon. Well, I hope to inform often but I am not promising anthing!

Many times I have wondered why must I starve for half the day….No food, no water for two meals. I’ve always known the purpose of fast sunday via sunday school lessons, but it really has never applied to my life. What is the point of not eating too meals?? I’ve always thought it was a sacrifice to gain blessings and also the estimated money that would pay for those meals would be given in “fast offerings”. But, in my BoM institute class, I gained a different perspective. It deals with the dual nature of man. Most of the time, our physical bodies get what they want. When they are hungry, we feed them. When they are thristy, we give them drink. When they want to play Xbox, we satisfy that demand. How can we show our physical bodies that the spirit is in control?? Easy..we do something the physical body doesn’t want to do. Some ideas include: waking up early, doing exercise, eating good..etc. If our physical body had preference, we would just lie around all day and eat ice cream. In this quest we have called life, we have to show our physical body we are in control. Thus is the reason we fast. The physical says, “Sooo Hungry, give me something to eat!”. The spiritual body says, “No Way, I’m gonna teach you a lesson…I’m in control!”. David O. McKay told us to do one thing daily that our body doesn’t want to do. If we do this, I know that our spiritual body will always be in control.

Yesterday was fun. We went to the University of Utah basketball game, saw Grandma dance at halftime and then went and had fun with my mom’s side of the family. I’ll put some pictures of the game on the gallery. Also, on the way home from American Fork, I had to stop the car twice for Julie to empty her stomach because she is really sick. Well…have a good day everyone!

“The moment you begin a serious study of the [Book of Mormon], you will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path….When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance.” — President Ezra Taft Benson

This is one of my favorites of the Provo Temple:

Click on “My Gallery” link on the side of the page.

Ok, I am kind of pissed, cause I made this big entry and it deleted! I hate it when that happens!!!

“How much pressure is too much pressure to remain true? How much disappointment is too much disappointment to stand firm? How far is too far to walk with a discouraged friend, or a struggling spouse, or a troubled child? When the opposition heats up and the going gets tough, how much of what we thought was important to us will we defend and how much, in that inevitable tug and pull of life, will we find it convenient to give away?” — Jeffrey R. Holland

I’m pretty bad at updating…but don’t blame me! Blame the template being screwed up! I’m working to fix it.

This is a test