First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAUDE! I'm sure you'll get lots of wishes but I like to take advantage of special birthday blog opportunities when I can. I'm not really sure how old you are but then again I really can't remember how old I am so don't feel too bad...Joni and I couldn't figure out this week how old I was...of course until we remembered to do math. Thanks for coming to see us this year, I wish we were close enough to teepee your house or something...Maybe another year. Everyone frisbee posing.

Joni and I have become addicted to frisbee golf. I always saw people playing from a distance but I never really played until I came here. Since every park has one here we decided with the help of some friends to get into it. Because all water is brown here and you can't see further than 3 inches, I had to get in to fetch a frisbee with my toes. I must mention that Joni volunteered to go in first but she swears she saw a spider the second she got in the water, so I had to go in even though she was already wet. I waded in there for a good 5 minutes before I found the dang thing. Dilly loves going along with us, and when she saw me go in the water she jumped in after me even though she hates water. Watching her in the water for the first time was the funniest thing ever so of course we posted a video of it at the bottom. I hope everyone is still doing good with the 40 day thing. My 2 week mark is tomorrow and I'm having a tough time but I've done it so far, only 4 more to go. I'm definately going to have to take up swimming when this is over, or at least only run 3-4 days a weeks cause I'm hurting right now. At least I can still relax and watch TV...sorry Glen.

40 Days and 40 nights

I have been inspired by a tradition of the Catholic church called Lent. I am not about to practice it or anything, but it gave me a great idea. I actually started it about a week ago but I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid I would give up after 2 days. If you want to learn more about what Lent really is I'm sure you could google it, but I decided for 40 STRAIGHT days I would complete a goal and give up a bad habit, no exceptions.

So I set a goal to run a certain amount every day for 40 days, and complete a certain amount of pushups and situps. I have also chosen to completely give up any kind of fast food. With the food there is no exception, but if for some reason I can't do the running and exercising, I have to double it the next day...call it Paul's Bootcamp. I figured the only way for me to truly get into shape is to do something like this. I have always hated running, so I have to force myself to like it...I wonder if this would work with certain vegetables? Now that I have mentioned it in the blog it is official and there is no turning back. So for those of you who would like to participate, tell me what you want to give up or do for 40 days...something that won't be easy, and we'll do it together. Of course you need to choose your reward at the end of the 40 days to help you along the way, I'll let you know mine in a couple of weeks. So I've been going strong so far, although sometimes my legs hurt, but I feel good. I am looking forward to hearing what you want to do.

Its funny how inspiration comes, my grandpa Don sent me this quote on the last day of my mission, and I have since laminated it and I read it often:
"The greatest power in the world is the power of good habit. Good, well-established habits absolutely control our success. Our habits determine what we are. We should all make a list of our necessary habits and then become their slaves."

To Joni on Valentine's Day

There once was a boy who was losing his hair
He dated some girls, but there was never a flare
Until one day he met the most beautiful girl
She made him feel special and brag to the world

“Haha! I have found her, a girl with pizazz
A girl who can laugh and love, with a beautiful A$@
Could it be I found a girl who’s not a bore?
A girl who speaks well of others, and isn’t a whore?”...sorry, it rhymed.

So they danced, they camped, and played guitars outside
But none of it mattered as long as she was there by his side
From the day they met, they were never apart
“like peas and carrots” says Forrest, meant to be from the start

I am that boy, and I’ve lost some hair
But none of that matters as long as she’s near
So call this my poem, an ode to my wife
A tribute to the girl I married for eternal life

We laugh, we sing, we fight, and we dance
I act like an idiot, and she loves to prance
So after all that has happened, there’s only one thing to say
“I love you Joni, have a HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!"

This is the place

Today was one of those days that I felt I'm in the right place at the right time in my life. This morning I found myself in the vice president's house at A&M, talking with John Rice, the number 2 guy over all with General Electric. This guy makes $13 million a year, and here I am sitting in a living room by a fire talking to him and seven other people about life and GE for almost 2 hours. I tried to imagine myself in this position somewhere else or at another time, and I don't think it would have happened. Funny, its not the first time I've felt that way, even though I've thought at different times I wished I was somewhere else.

I don't really believe in fate, and that life is mapped out for us against our will, but I do believe the right people are put in front of us at the right times in our lives and it is no coincidence...crap, that's not fate is it? Its crazy to sit back and think about the people you know and why you happened to become friends with them, to marry them, or to even meet them for that matter.

Since moving here we have met some great friends. I have a tennis buddy, a raquetball buddy, a running buddy(Dilly), and lots of hanging out buddies who motivate me to do the right things. I got a new calling that I am not prepared for at all, but I've never been more motivated to be more spiritual and be a better person aside from my mission as I feel now.

I think Joni has been praying for some way for me to lose my love handles and the basketball that I have swallowed recently, because I have lots of motivators to get me into shape. Funny how things work out...no pun intended.

Our Super Bowl party was pretty fun, right up until I threw my hands up into the fan from that last drive the Giants made. Those empty bottles are cream soda, in case anybody is wondering.

Look how big Dilly is getting

I don't want to be one of those pet owners who only talks about their dog, and I promise I won't give a Dilly update on every blog (sorry Carter), but I thought this picture was pretty funny. Dilly has a little stuffed cow that squeaks, and she was snuggling with it, so it looks like a dog with a stuffed cow body. As you can tell, her ears grow twice as fast as the rest of her body. Despite her drama we are really glad we got her and she fits right into our little family.

I don't know if anyone heard about it on the news, but A&M had a 5 OVERTIME basketball game the other day. I've never heard of that happening before so it was cool to say we were there, especially since both teams were ranked in the top 25. Here's a little clip. It was definately loud, but we decided USU fans are way better in basketball. The thing that is lame is the stadium is so big, that rival schools end up buying lots of tickets to the games and they get loud too. For the first two hours we were sitting by a bunch of obnoxious Baylor fans, for the second two hours we moved down by the student section. I was thinking we could get out quicker (man I am like my dad) if we watched the end of the game down by the exit. So we got better seats for the rest of the game which ended up being longer than the regular game. A&M lost but I really wanted to get home, so it wasn't too bad in the end.

Nothing too exciting to report. We've been hanging out a lot with friends and playing when time allows. Joni's sister Andrea sent us a month old "rice crispie christmas house" in the mail. So instead of looking at it we broke out the forks and did whatever damage we could by picking off the good stuff. We probably looked crazy eating that thing but we found enough old candy to make us happy. After we got through with it I think it looked like a mad robot but you be the judge.

We're excited to have a big super bowl party this weekend. When I say big I mean lots and lots of junk food and drinks. We're making mini burgers, the Carroll's are bringing 7 layer dip, the Snideman's are bringing the sweets, and Dilly will bring the whining. We're going for the Giants but I'm predicting:

Patriots 38 Giants 17