A man, his radio, and a long drive home (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--Ryan had come out from California to visit me this weekend...yes, just a week after we first met..and we had a good time, and went to the Visitors Center to watch the Joseph Smith movie. On the way out to the car, Ryan asked if he could hold my hand. And for those brief 30 seconds that we were holding hands, he (and I) was on top of the clouds. This email below came after his drive home that weekend. He wrote it using names of songs (you'll probably recognize a few). See if you notice any references to a certain "girl". (and I don't mean the drunk girl in the beginning :)...I know I sure did when I read it! And I knew EXACTLY who he was talking about! As a girl, I loved this blog! :)** PAM

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I was getting ready to drive out when I saw a Drunk Girl standing there with an Umbrella. I admit that she startled me and I might have squeaked like a girl, I'm not sure. She told me that she could be my Girlfriend. WEIRD! I realized she couldn't help herself. After all, when I wear my glasses I look just like Buddy Holly, and who can resist a guy standing In The Garage? I told her, "Look weirdy, I don't know you and quite frankly I don't want to. I am heading Back Home. So I am just gonna get in my car and Drive Away ok?" Awkward! So I left driving down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. I'm sure she'll be fine because Big Girls Don't Cry.

I decided I better grab something to eat so I could Maintain Conciousness. So I stopped and had Breakfast At Tiffany's. It was a fabulous diner, their cheesecake is The Sweetness because in The Middle it has The White Stuff that is just to die for! Thnks Fr Th Mmrs! With food in my tummy, I figured I had better hit the road and get myself home. Of course, I did get a little lost, and I really wished I had a map with me for the ride, oh well, I had to do it By Myself.

Traffic wasn't too bad in Phoenix. Of course, there was this one guy that kept bugging me! He was driving a Big Yellow Taxi and kept tailgating me, and everytime I would get over, he would just follow me into the same lane. He was a real American Idiot! Just when I thought that I Can't Take It, he finally passed me and I noticed his goofy little bumper sticker that said, "Everything You Know Is Wrong". I thought to myself, "Dude, you're a Basket Case! You need to Change Your Mind!" I'll Leave Out All The Rest.

Anyone who has driven from Phoenix to L.A. along I-10 knows there is this long stretch of road that is perfectly straight for like a bazillion miles and there is nothing but desert, and the road is usually pretty open. It was about this time that I hit that part of the drive. I started thinking about All The Small Things. How I met this Girl At The Rock Show, and our First Date. It was awesome! Whenever she's around it's Another Perfect Day. Uh Oh, it sounds like we have a Man Overboard!

I was glad that Al was willing to come along with me and keep me company on this Night Drive. We talked about all the important issues-- Which Backstreet Boy is Gay, Darth Maul, and how It's All About The Pentiums. He told me this long and boring story of how he was Trapped In The Drive-Thru... I wanted to die! He made up for it by showing me this Alf alarm clock that he had bought on Ebay. Then we joked about how we were White and Nerdy.

Finally, I could see it! California! The weather was nice with a High of 75. At the border, they welcomed me with 99 Red Balloons and one Black Balloon. I was greeted by The Black Parade which was lead by Helena, She's A Rebel. I stopped and thought I could check out all the Lights and Sounds. In the parade I saw Miss America, St. Jimmy, and Superman. Then I saw Stacy's Mom! She really did have it goin' on. It was pretty cool. I filled up, said goodbye to everyone and set out on my way again.

By the time I reached Indio, traffic was pretty backed up around Ocean Avenue. There was a Head On Collision involving Clark Gable and Whatsername... it was pretty bad and I thought I could just sit, maybe sleep since nothing was moving. I rolled down my window and yelled to the guy next to me, "Hey, will you Wake Me Up When September Ends?" He said he would, so I sat there and zoned out for a little bit. Again, I thought about the Girl All The Bad Guys Want.

I was almost home! It had been a long drive. But I made it without any harm or incident :) I cranked up H! Vltg3 and rolled into Riverside like an All Star because it Doesn't Remind Me of anything. Not to mention it's fun to Be Yourself. It was a good Holiday. Not to mention, I learned How To Save A Life. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

I am a child of God...(Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**Note--Ryan wrote this the same night he wrote about his vegetable nightmare. I loved that he could be silly one minute, but serious the next.** PAM

Saturday, June 23, 2007

2nd of two blogs (this one is more serious)

A friend of mine just reminded me of some of the most important things in life.

I am a child of God.

Perhaps one of the most empowering phrases ever to be penned. Naomi Randall was most definitely inspired. It tells me that God really is my Father. And because He is my Father, I can take comfort in the knowledge that He loves me, as any good father would. This does not mean that He gives me everything I want on a silver platter. Infact, it's usually quite the opposite. The most difficult things in my life have taught me more and meant more to me than anything else. It never ceases to amaze me as I look at my own life, or when I hear of other people's experiances, just how much our Father in Heaven loves us. He knows us each individually, inside and out, and has prepared for each one of us a personal plan of salvation.

I would just like to take a moment to share one experiance that helped build my faith in our Heavenly Father and the Savior, who is Jesus Christ, and helped me come to a more excellent knowledge of just how much they are watching out for us. The experiance I had was my service as a missionary. Now, let me say that I cannot do justice to how great of an experiance this was for me, nor can I even begin to list all the blessings. I am only going to be listing one (the timing of it) and I don't want to go into knitty gritties. I am just trying to express how grateful I am for the gospel in my life...and I don't quite know how to say it.

My mission was filled to the brim with wonderful, spiritual, fun, and faith building experiances. There are simply too many to even attempt a partial list here, and some are too personal and sacred that I would not even consider listing them here. Instead, I would like to share how I got on my mission in hopes that it might be something positive for someone else.

Growing up in the Church (the LDS church) I was always taught, and I looked forward to, going on a mission. There is nothing better that a young man between 19 and 26 can do than to dedicate two years of his life to the Lord. Naturally this was my goal. As I grew older, some of the things necessary to prepare for a mission were difficult and long, but I made those preparations so that I could go and serve.

In high school I played football and basketball. It was in football that I sustained a back injury. It later required surgery after I graduated from high school. The surgery I had was not successful. My mom says it was because it was done on Halloween. I had to have another surgery a couple months later. These surgeries came at the time when I was supposed to be getting ready to serve my mission, I even spent my 19th birthday in the hospital! The recovery from them was long and difficult. If I was going to be able to seve a mission, I would have to wait at least a year, and even then, I probably would not be able to go for health reasons.

It was during this recovery time that I became very discouraged. I had worked hard up to this point, and it seemed to be flying out the window! I also got really scared of what being a missionary would entail. I never have been very good at talking to people and I'm so flippin' shy all the time--there was no way I was going to be able to carry on a gospel conversation, let alone knock on some random person's door! It got so bad that I didn't even want to go anymore, even if I was cleared. I began to attend college, thinking I would just go on with life. It was there that a friend of mine, who was not a member of my church, encouraged me to go. She told me, by word and example, that I should always follow through with what I believe in. Otherwise, I shouldn't believe in it.

That stuck with me. I did believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. I believed that I was a child of God and that He loved me and continued to watch over and help me through His servants the prophets and latter day revelation including the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. So I thought I should follow through with that.
After a long rehabilitation period I was cleared to go on a mission. I was called to serve in the Illinois, Peoria Mission, and I served honorably.

What amazes me most out of all that, was the timing. The time in my life at which I served could not have been better. I thought I was I ready to go at 19, but the Lord saw something different. I cannot even begin to imagine how my mission would have been different had I gone at 19 (or not gone at all). Everything would have been different--that long list of experiances I mentioned earlier, would never have happened. The Lord knew exactly what I needed, and he knew exactly when I needed it. The things I saw and learned, the people I met...EVERYTHING! The good as well as the bad. I would not trade it for the world. Oddly enough, I am very grateful that I had to have a couple of surgeries, not only did I learn from those experiances, but they got me into the mission field at the best time. You see! Our Father in Heaven is aware of us! Our Father in Heaven loves us, He is our Father. The Savior also loves us and He will never forsake us because He has engraven us upon the palms of His hands. And even though we go through trials, they are always for our benefit and our experiance because of this perfect love.

Bad things happen to good people, it's true. But through it all is the love of God.
Faith: Trust and confidence in the Savior and that He loves us
Hope: Confidence that all will work out in the end. Hope also conquers disapppointment.
Charity: the pure love of Christ, it never faileth

Those are three of my favorite attributes! I invite anyone, regardless of your faith, to learn of them, study them, and apply them in your own lives. They have helped me tremendously in my own life and I hope that they can be a blessing to you in yours.

I gotta go to bed! Good night!

Vegetable Nightmare (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--This blog absolutely CRACKED ME UP when I read it...I thought Ryan had the most imaginative ideas. I loved his writing style. This is probably one of my favorite blogs ever from Ryan** PAM

June 23rd, 2007

I'm up late tonight, it's true. I won't bore anyone with the details, rather, I'll tell a story. Often when people are up this late, it's because they had a nightmare, or have serious mental issues and they need help and lots of medication. Tonight, it's the former. Most of the time when people have a nightmare, it involves some hideous creature or a common phobia (i.e. being covered in spiders or cotton balls). Recently I had a nightmare of a slightly different nature. Heck, most of the things I experiance are of a different nature! Let's face it, I'm peculier and proud of it. No, really I am, I even have a sign in my room to prove it. But I digress. My recent nightmare dealt more with the brutal nature and depravity that a person could sink to more than some alien with periwinkle skin and 32 eyes who could beat me at every game of chess (maybe another time).

In this particular nightmare, I was sitting on the floor playing shoots and ladders with my "friends". Which consisted of: A cucumber, some baby carrots, and a good size head of broccoli. We were having a great time! I was winning because they didn't move much, and I was telling them all about my day and the things I did. Now what would have made this a really good nightmare was if my so-called friends would talk back and interact with me. This was not the case. The cucumber and broccoli each sat on thier own plate, and the baby carrots occupied some trendy tupperware from Target. They did absolutely nothing, they were just like normal vegetables!

Usually I embrace these types of things, I think their kinda silly. But I was mortified at the thought of having no one but vegetables to hang out with, heck, you might as well be a vegetable if you are that bad off! It only gets worse! To celebrate my winning of the great shoots and ladders contest, I went to the fridge and procured a bottle of Hidden Valley ranch along with some creamy Kraft Caeser dressing. It was all down hill from there.

I won't go into the specifics of the horror that ensued as I proceeded to enjoy the oh-so-yummy combination of my favorite veggies and favorite dressings. It's mortifying! The idea that I would eat those that I just played with! The whole ordeal gave me a new perspective on when my mom told me to never play with my food. I felt so bad.

All in all it was, in every sense of the word, a nightmare.

Disneyland vs. Disneyworld (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--The funny thing about this blog was that Ryan had never even BEEN to Disneyworld to even compare the two. Where did we end up going to for our honeymoon? That's right...DisneyWORLD! And where is Ryan's all-time favorite vacation location now? That's right...Disneyworld...hands down. :)** PAM


Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Of all the important issues we face in life, this is probably one of the most insignificant. Disneyland vs. Disneyworld. Which is the better the themepark? What are the attributes that give a park the "land" classification and how are they different from a "world" ranked park. Please join us on a deep sea adventure that is both strange and pointless, as we pit Disneyland against Disneyworld. Before we begin, allow me to say that Disneyland is way better than Disneyworld, this is not an unbiased study.

1. Location: Disneyland is in California, and Disneyworld is in Florida. Who in thier right mind wants to go to Florida?! California is the obvious choice here folks. When the Eagles needed to write a legenday song, which stately hotel did they stay at--California! When the Beach Boys dreamed about girls, they were California girls because East coast girls were only hip! Seriously, what does Florida bring to the table? Oranges and hurricanes? We hear about California all the time: Movie stars in court, police brutality, peoples houses falling into the ocean, Steve Jobs. California has it all. This place is so hot that every summer half the state is on fire. West coast-1 East coast-0

2. Park Attractions: Nothing is more memorable than "It's a small world". Anyone who has riden this ride knows what I am talking about. It leaves such an impression that when you hear small children singing you experiance symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome. The only thing that Disneyworld has that can even compete with that is Epcot. Every year golf enthusiasts gather to summon the Spirit of Tiger Woods to come and send that giant golf ball fying into the Bermuda Triangle. That is the only reason people go there.

3. Florida is chock full of old men wandering aroud without a shirt. Need I say more?

4. So what if Disneyworld is a "world"! that doesn't amount to hill of beans in this world--the real world. When Pirates are out sailing around and they find a coast to plunder, what is thier clarion call? That's right, it's "land ho!" because no one cares if there is a "world ho". Infact, the only reason it's called Disneyworld, is because Disneyland was already taken. Disneyworld has little brother envy.

5. Lastly, Disneyland has always been hailed as the "Happiest place on Earth" and "the place where dreams come true". What is Disneyworld? "Something for Everyone" give me a break!

Honestly, Disneyland is the better choice for family vacations, marriage proposals, and losing gobs of money on the cost of concessions and souveniers. Next time you wish you were somewhere else becasue you got busted for peaking in your friends medicine cabinet--wish you were in Disneyland.

Tom and Me (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

(Posted by Ryan on Myspace)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

I remember this one time when Tom and me were in college, we were taking a Shakespeare class together. I don't remember much of the class, but I do remember the day Tom tried too hard.

On the first day of class Ms. Fisher put us into groups. My group consisted of Tom, Ashley, Shane, and myself. Poor Ashley, all alone in a group of nerds. Ms. Fisher might as well have thrown her to the wolves. Shane started giggling to himself while a little dribble of drool slid out of his mouth. Tom just stared but you could see the wheels turning in his head. And me? Well, I am always too nervous to do anything smooth. I just stared at her cool knee-high boots and asked her what her favorite toothpaste was. It was Crest.

We all took an instant liking to Ashley, especially Tom. Everyday, he would talk about how smart she was, Ashley this, Ashley that. You couldn't shut him up! As the semester went on and we worked together on projects in our little group, we all got to know each other pretty well. Tom was constantly making mental notes of all of Ashley's likes and dislikes. She was quite the character, Tom's dream girl. Vampires, Linkin Park, poetry, and plays were among Ashley's most favoritest things.

That Christmas, Ashley was in a production of "A Christmas Carol". Tom saw his chance to impress this gothic angel. On opening night, Tom stood second in line. He colored his hair red (to match Chester Bennington) and wore a shirt that said, "Vampires Suck" which was 3 sizes too small. I was first in line! I had gone out and bought a pink sweater for the occasion. And seeing as how pink sweaters are hard to come by, I had to buy a women's sweater. It even had a zipper down the back. I thought it was quite lovely.

I didn't know what Tom was up to that night. If I had, I never would have gone. After the play, Tom jumped onto the stage (you can do that sort of thing in Prescott) and asked for everyone's attention. He proceeded to scream out a vampiric rendition of "I got you babe" by Sonny and Cher. I recall that he changed the chorus line to, "I'll bite you babe" to really impress her with his creative use of vampires. He thought it was romantic. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

I don't think that Tom has ever tried so hard to impress a girl since.

Adventures in Physical Therapy (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Ryan had to come home from his mission a month early due to an injury he aggravated in his back playing basketball on his P-Day. It was pretty severe, and he had to be flown home immediately to have emergency back surgery. We met a month after his surgery...bowling, as noted in the previous blog...he had to go to physical therapy after the surgery, so he was outlining his day at PT in this blog. At this time he was still living in California with his mom...he would come down on the weekends to take me on dates.** PAM

June 19th, 2007

Today was exciting! I headed out to Loma Linda for my physical therapy, just like any other Tuesday, but this would be no ordinary visit. I knew this would be the case when I had pulled into the parking and was greeted by an illegal immigrant trying to sell me a balloon for my girlfriend. I politely explained to him that no woman in her right mind would even consider being my girlfriend and that he would have better luck selling balloons over at McDonalds. Honestly, do I look like someone that would buy a balloon in a hospital parking lot? Come on!

Today they had me in the pool. Which meant I had to go to a different building. This is never good. I wandered up down different hallways for what seemed like years. By the time someone notcied me, my clothes were all raggedy, my beard reached to my waist, and I put Tom Hanks from Cast Away to shame becasue I was talking to my swimsuit.

So I finally found the pool, and it was time to change. Now, I am no Matthew Mcoughnehey, but when I stepped out onto the pool deck in my swimsuit, a couple 60 year ladies whistled at me. Yeah, watch out ladies, grrrrrr. After striking a few poses for my fans, it was into the pool for the hard stuff.

The hard stuff kicked off with walking from one end of the pool to the other. Step, step, step...whew, it's rough. After 10 minutes of that, it got worse! Sidestepping *cue scary music*. Step, step, step...You know, sometimes life is difficult, but hey, what can you do?

After warming up and doing some stretches it was time to pump some iron...err...foam. Pool weights are made of foam. I am no stranger to lifting wieghts, so I thought it would be easy. I was dead wrong. I not only had to lift weights and focus on my own excersises, but I had to keep an eye out and dodge an old curmudgeony man that looked just like Pintel from Pirates of the Carribean! He was like a misguided pervert whose soul purpose was to bump into people. That made weight lifting quite a harrowing ordeal. Fortunately, he never touched me :D

Then that was about it, after using the "weights" ... I think they are more like floats, it was time for me to do a few more excersises, then shower, change, and go home. I barely made it out alive. I get to do it again in a couple days!

Bowling (Ryan Blog Excerpt from when we met)

**NOTE** I'm going to be posting some of the blogs that Ryan did on his Myspace page after we met for the first time, and the ones he posted after we started dating. He loved to go on Myspace and post blogs for me to read, and sometimes, posted them to see where we stood...like whether or not he should tell me he loved me! :) In an effort to keep these postings for our future posterity (meaning our chitlins someday) I'm posting them on our family blog so I can print them out and save them in our family journal. And I'm sure his mom hasn't read any of these either, yet...I thought she might get a kick out of them. I loved reading Ryan's blogs...I hope you do too :)** PAM

This first blog was written by Ryan 3 days after we first met at a bowling alley with some friends...

Monday, June 18, 2007

Bowling is perhaps one of the most misunderstood sports of all time. The game involves a ball the size of your head, ten pins that vaguely resemble punching bags (Could this be the result of latent stress on behalf of the inventors?) and a lane. Legend has it that the orignal game of bowling did not involve a lane. Instead of rolling the ball toward the pins, prehistoric bowlers launched the bowling ball toward the pins shot put style. The lane was added by a scrawny Irish man who wasn't able to lift the ball over his head.

A common misconception about bowling is how the game is played. Most individuals (I was one before I saw the light) believe that the object of the game is to use the ball to knock down all the pins. This is not the case. Along with the ten pins there are two gutters that run along the sides of the lane. The odds that you will hit a pin vs. a gutter make it quite clear that the goal of the bowler should be to hit the gutter. 10 vs. 2...Hello, do the math!

Since the goal of a good bowler is not to knock down all the pins, one must ask, what is the purpose of bowling? The legendary Fred "Twinkle Toes" Flintstone asnwers that question. His unique style shows us that in order to bowl well, one must bowl with style. Yes, style is the key to being a good bowler.

Now we all know that I bowl with style. The last time I went bowling, I managed to achieve a style score of 12,567,924.23 points while only scoring a 58. That takes skill! Skill that I have spent almost none of my life perfecting. Inspite of that impressive show of athleticism, I got showed up! Pam dominated the bowling scene with unsurpassed ability to hit gutter after gutter with smoothness and precision. It was incredible! By the end of the night I was begging Pam to let me at least use her ball so that I might salvage some of my reputation. She was nice enough to let me borrow it for a few frames :)

All in all, Bowling is awesome, as long as you bowl with style. The pins are just a gag meant to distract you from what is really important.