Arg. Grrr. Roar.

I've been thinking about a few things lately, namely: what I can do better as a priesthood holder to avoid any situation that could possibly break the heart of my future wife, or cost me the confidence of my future children, and anger, and about how it makes people feel and act. I'm gonna talk about anger a little. Anger can ruin relationships, and if entertained, can become a monster that is almost uncontrollable. Harmful, caustic words can be said, and things are sometimes done that are regretted. I, for one, do not like the way I feel when I am angry. Apologizing is not easy. I'm sorry. Those two words are the hardest ones to say with sincerity. Making other people feel bad, or angry, or like any less of a person kills me, and I hate it when I do. So, I made a promise to myself, and to the Lord, that from this point on I will not act on anger. If at some point frustration is clouding my judgement, I will leave the situation and come back to it later when my mind is clear. There ya go. Hold me to it, and I'll do my best.

Work that updoo!

So, I had my first modelling gig this past Monday for the BYU-I art department's advanced figure drawing class. It was interesting. Believe it or not, art modelling is hard work! Maintaining one position in perfect stillness for 20 minutes is more difficult than I imagined. Those 3 hours were rough, but it was fun. There are some older ladies in the class that cracked jokes, and made comments about my physique. haha, when I put on the first thing - a thick robe-like costume - for the first pose, the neckline of the king's gown was very low, so my chest was pretty bare. The oldest woman(probably around 50) called out, "mmmmmm! Bare chested men!" haha Then, during a later pose, I was wearing super short bunchy, knicker pant things that must have been daisy dukes of the mid-1300's. Some girl whistled at my bare man-legs. Basically, it was a blast. I was hesitant to take the job, but I really liked it, and I'll probably keep this for a while.

Mutual Benefits

This is gonna be short, but hopefully good. On Sunday, I was feeling alright, and I had been playfully teasing people all day. That evening, I decided to give my amazing friend Chanel a hard time for not posting a blog in almost a week(kind of calling the kettle black). Recently I have been struggling with what seems like everything, and I was wondering what the heck I am doing here, and if I ever even make a difference to anybody. Well, my comments to Chanel got her thinking about some things that have been keeping her down, and just when I felt like I make no difference to anybody, Chan posts this inspirational post about patience. My point of all this that we don't know what lies ahead. It ties in perfectly with her post about patience, because I was getting frustrated with myself. I'm not sure, exactly, what God is trying to teach me this semester, but this lesson just showed me that patience pays off. And, if you feel like you don't make a difference, think again. You do. I'm just lucky enough to have a friend who posted a blog, and vocalized my influence.

Bears

Heart Lake and the valley from Sheridan Peak

We saw none. That might be a good thing, but it's not a good thing, because I wanted to see one. Not a violent encounter, but a normal one where I see a bear and it sees me, then we go on our way. Anyways, I was pretty ticked when I saw no yellow stones either, but the trip was still one I won't forget.

Heart Lake Valley

Day 1 - We hiked in late, so it was dark and cold for half of our 8 mile hike. By cold I mean it was something like 25 or 30 degrees, and hiking in the dark is not fun, because you can't see any of the stuff you came to see. As we strolled into camp, we were greeted by some crazy old dudes from the camp over that decided they liked our fire pit more than their own. They were all smart, affluent old men from Texas. Among their posse were doctors, dentists, engineers, and one very successful bank owner. They called their group the BOOTS, an acronym i don't remember. They were fun, full of life, and we didn't mind sharing our site with them. We hiked the Heart lake Trail to Heart Lake.

 Trevor, Stan, and me at Sheridan Peak. That little clump of trees just over my right shoulder is our camp, 3000 feet below us.

Ladies and Gentlemen... Mt. Sheridan

Day 2 - Mt. Sheridan didn't stand a chance against us. We conquered Sheridan, took a nap on her, and then ran all the way back down her 4 mile trail back to camp. Some people may say that running 4 miles downhill is bad for your joints, and I am hesitant to disagree, but that's the only way to go down a mountain. There was no other option. It was the only way. There was snow at the top of her 10,300 ft peak. Not a lot, but enough to make snow angels. Those angels were painful. The snow was old and hard, and felt like sandpaper. The half-hour nap we took at her peak was much deserved as the trail was 4 miles, with a 3000 foot elevation gain... so we basically climbed a wall. mhmmm, git some. All of us took a beating though. my left LCL is not in good shape, and our knees and feet were sore after, but it was totally worth it.

Us... leaving Yellowstone behind.

Day 3 - A bear visited the camp we were originally going to stay at. It tore up the fire pit, threw some trees around, and made a mess. It could have at least cleaned up its footprints or something. The hike out was bitter sweet, and we crossed paths with a tiny garter snake, hot pools, hell's river, a few geysers, elk, and a couple deer. The hot pools were HOT. Stan knows... he touched one. I mean, the steam wasn't enough for him, he just had to know. I say hell's river because it flowed from a hot pool, and at dusk there was a steam trail from where it started in the pass all the way into the valley. As far as geysers go, we may have stepped off the trail a little bit... a quarter mile little bit... to see them up close. It was like the earth had something caught in it's throat and was hacking it up. Really a spectacular sight. I'd encourage anybody to go see it, except that if you happen to fall through the marshy ground that surrounds a geyser, you may just find yourself neck deep in literally boiling water.

Stan and a hot pool.

Overall, the trip was a blast. We were camped just over 100 feet from a lake, and there were no bugs bothering us. There was a cool stream that passed by our camp as well. The total distance we hiked was about 25 miles, 8 of those miles were on a ridiculous incline. If you are at school here in Idaho, i say take advantage of your proximity to Yellowstone. GO THERE. It's really an incredible experience, and the scenery is beautiful. There you have it, and I have posted more pics below. Enjoy.

 That used to be a neatly made fire pit. Mr. Bear did not approve.

 Crazy old dudes. They were chanting.

 That baby snake was tasty.

 Ranger station at Sheridan Peak... Almost there!

 Grizzly track... it was a big boy.

 Steam on Heart lake in the morning

 See those white things at the bottom of that hot pool? Those are animal bones. Apparently they were thirsty enough to die for a drink of hot water.

 That water burned Stan. It's hot.

 Halfway up Sheridan. The bunch of trees on the shore at the top right is our camp.

 Beautiful woods

 Stan likes aluminum... and Sheridan

 Sheridan valley... heart lake in the distance.

 Standing around waiting for a geyser to blow up.

 Hell's river, afternoonish.

 Beware of bears where forest meets meadow

Our tents... mine's on the left, Stan's on the right.