The BYU-I LeSueur

Oh, by the way. I am back.

2010-05-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

Yep, I am back from my mission in South Africa. Great to be back. Been back for about 3 weeks now and it is nice. Different and hard but nice.

Anyways just wanted to make a small post and say I am back.

If you guys want to ask me about mission or what I did or something, ask me and I'll talk to you about it the best I can.

-Elder.......I mean

-Braden Karl LeSueur

THE END IS FINALLY HERE! (Day: Mission Boy!)

2008-04-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

Ok guys! Well I haven't left on the plane just yet....but I will be gone as of 2:35 pm Utah Time from the Salt Lake City Airport to my mission! Thanks for everything and it has been fun! I get to Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday to go to the MTC there. Please write me at my current e-mail address of byu-i_lesueur@hotmail.com. Chances are I'll have to change it out there so keep this and I'll send it out. If you wanna e-mail me to have me put you on my e-mail list...please do that now so then I can just easily do it out there in Johannesburg or wherever I get to sit down to a computer!

Again thanks for everything and if I can post on here while I am out there in Africa.....I'll try and do that so you guys can hear all the awesome stories I have had and everything.

Good luck with life and wish me good luck out there too!

Peace Out!

This is my new home now!

How to write or get a hold of me from within South Africa (Day: 2 More Days left of Sweet Freedom!)

2008-04-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

Ok I got my stuff yesterday like my tag and plane tickets and all that and this came in the mail with my stuff.A yellow little slip of paper that says:

Once a missionary has arrived we request there be no contact made by family or friends except by mail. The MTC Postal address is:

South Africa Mission Training Centre
P.O. Box 6228
Ansfrere
1711
South Africa

So if people wanna talk to me......write me...again I'll be at the MTC for 19 days and I don't know how long it takes for mail to get out to South Africa so.....And again...please keep my current e-mail address of byu-i_lesueur@hotmail.com

I heard from a parent of a kid I knew in High School who is out on the same mission that you do have to change your e-mail to be under the church's system when you get there....so I'll change it and the first chance I get....I'll e-mail my Missionary E-Mail Address to everyone through my Hotmail address. So keep tabs on your e-mail and you should all hear from me soon or something.

Oh and if you do want me to write to you....please e-mail me or write to me on here between now and Monday your e-mail addresses....Please keep in touch because I want to keep in touch while even on my mission so then I know what is going on back in the USA....so please write and I'll write back any chance I get which will probably be every monday.

Thanks and I'll see you all in 2 years!

In the words of a Missionary (My farewell talk to anyone that wants to read it!) (Day: The End is around the Corner!)

2008-04-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

Good-morning brothers and sisters! It’s really weird to finally be here today and give this talk. You picture this day your whole life and for me, the way I pictured this was different in every way compared to the way it is all happening right now, but I guess everything can’t always happen the way you want it to play out! Anyways for anyone in here who for some reason doesn’t know me, I’m Elder Braden Karl LeSueur! And I’m going to be serving my mission in Cape Town, South Africa, which is a huge surprise for my family since one of my brothers went to Johannesburg, South Africa back in 2001. I guess my family needs to do more over there in South Africa or something. Anywho so I leave here on April 8th and I fly for 2 days out to the MTC in Johannesburg where I’ll be for 19 days. Just some other little information about me, I’m the youngest of 6 and of 10. My parents got divorced and my Dad got re-married and so it went from 6 kids to 10 kids and I was still at the bottom of the food chain, but being the youngest had its rewards here and there. In my family I have 7 brothers and they have all served missions, so now I am the last one and now we can wrap all the missionary stuff up in our family when I get back. We’re all from California! My parents and I moved here in 2004 and I love it here, but I do miss my hometown of Orange County, since it was my childhood city and the place we all grew up and everything. So anyways, I think that is all that you need to know about me.

My talk was about the little article that Elder Nelson wrote in this month’s Ensign. He titled in Faith in Jesus Christ. Before I start though I just wanted to say, I’m going to try and be pretty quick about this because it’s Fast Sunday and I personally think it would be really weird to be the only person that gets a chance to say anything today as far as a testimony or anything, so hopefully I can be quick enough that the messege is understood and the spirit is felt but also that others will also come up and say stuff so that the spirit will grow more. So from the Title of Faith in Jesus Christ you can tell that it is mostly about Faith. Faith I actually think is an interesting thing, you all probably sang the song about how Faith is like a little seed, and if it is planted it’ll grow and become a tree. You all sang this when we were little just like I did, well hopefully not really like I did since I was pretty rowdy when I was little….but you know what I mean. But the point of the song was that you have the faith that everything you are doing is right, what you believe is right and so because of that a seed is planted in your heart which is your testimony or your belief; and if you keep doing what is right it’ll grow and become a tree and it’ll bring forth good fruit which others can/will partake of and it’ll benefit them also. So faith is a cool thing that we all function on; for example, we have faith that the sun will come up, we have faith that the car will start, we have faith that we can make it to school on time, we have faith that it’ll soon be 80 degrees here and the Snow will go away for good. We all live on faith.

Anyways so I guess it would help to understand the word faith if we Break It Down! So to start I went to Dictionary.com just to see what they say Faith means or is and everything and this is what I found are the definitions of Faith:

1. Confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. Belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. Belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. Belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. A system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

Then just to give the other side of the coin…I looked up Faith in the Bible Dictionary:

Faith is to hope for things which are not, seen but which are true, and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed himself and his perfect character, possessing in their fullness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in him without reservation.

Then it goes on with some more interesting stuff but I think a lot of good stuff was said already so I’ll move on.

A little quick story/experience I had a few years back to relate to Faith and everything and just to kind of show a way faith works and helps. I only ended up going to EFY once. Our group one day was hanging out and we had done a little lesson about something, I forget what now; but after we were done they told us to go find a little secluded spot to ourselves and to pray for any little questions you might have and see if you get an answer, or something to that effect because the lesson, I do remember, had something to do with finding answers. Anyways when they told us to do that I went and climbed up a tree since I figured it was a good spot and I loved being in a tree. So I went there and the little thing I’ve always had that I was hoping to get an answer to is even though I know everything is right and true and I have faith in it, I’ve had a little dark thought in the back of my mind that would come and say “Is it!? Is it really!?” and it would kind of make me question things. So I asked for help and just proof that this was real or that I knew it is all true even from the beginning and everything and to help get rid of this dark thought. And from that I was led to Alma 32: 18 but I wanna read 17 and 18:

17. “Yeah, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.”
18. “Now I ask, is that faith? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.”

So for me when I just read verse 18 I sat there and realized that I really have known for a long time that it is true so I don’t need to really think about it or see if I believe it because I know it. And since then I’ve always loved this scripture and it has been a big help.

I think Faith is a great thing in life. Faith is everything to us. Faith is not only the thing that helps us go on in life, but is also what makes the church go and function in certain ways. Faith is the thing that converts. Faith is what helps make the church grow along with commandments and guidance. Faith is probably one thing that helped all the prophets do what they do and needed to do to keep going, like Hinckley. Faith is also what might help my family know I am safe and doing the right thing and will be home in 2 years. Faith is what is going to be taking me out to Cape Town, South Africa to preach to people and receive the little spiritual experiences I’ll have out there. Faith is what is going to help a family come together and be baptized. Faith is what we always hear about from the apostles, prophets, missionaries, and Average Joes of the Church because of what it does and how helpful and great it is to all of us. Faith is what we read about in the scriptures:

“Faith without works is dead.”

“Oh ye of little faith”

“Faith is things hoped for which are not seen.”

“By faith men become sons of God.”

And a load of other scriptures.

I wish I could stand here and say I know that God is there and everything but I haven’t seen him so I can’t. What I can do is have faith he is there and thus know he is there based off of the faith and feelings of the Spirit and all the experiences I have heard and gone through in my life…thus far.

So do I really know if God is there, since I haven’t seen him….no. But do I believe he is there and thus know it from my faith and from the spirit!? Yes!

Before I finish up I wanna bring up one more point, I was searching around for more material that could be helpful in this talk on lds.org and I found some interesting stuff in the Gospel Topic section or whatever it is called on faith which I though related really well to a bunch of the stuff I said just a second ago. The first one they called Faith in Jesus Christ. What this Faith in Christ section or point said was:

In order for faith to lead to salvation, it must be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can exercise faith in Christ when we have an assurance that He exists, a correct idea of His character, and a knowledge that we are striving to live according to His will.

Having faith in Jesus Christ means relying completely on Him—trusting in His infinite power, intelligence, and love. It includes believing His teachings. It means believing that even though we do not understand all things, He does. Because He has experienced all our pains, afflictions, and infirmities, He knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties. He has "overcome the world" and prepared the way for us to receive eternal life. He is always ready to help us as we remember His plea: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

Then they had another section called Living in Faith which said:

Faith is much more than passive belief. We express our faith through action—by the way we live.
The Savior promised, “If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me”. Faith in Jesus Christ can motivate us to follow His perfect example. Our faith can lead us to do good works, obey the commandments, and repent of our sins. Our faith can help us overcome temptation. Alma counseled his son Helaman, “Teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Lord will work mighty miracles in our life according to our faith. Faith in Jesus Christ helps us receive spiritual and physical healing through His Atonement. When times of trial come, faith can give us strength to press forward and face our hardships with courage. Even when the future seems uncertain, our faith in the Savior can give us peace.

So I told you earlier in my talk that we all live off of Faith and I think that is so cool especially since we practice it every day also with sin. I mean like we sin and then we have faith that we can be forgiven, depending on how big it is, through Jesus and the Atonement and because of that faith, we come here every week to take the sacrament to partake of the atonement Jesus established through his actions and everything. And the little paragraph above just proved that point even more, to all of us…I think. Anyways so to kind of relate to all of that, one of my favorite movies has a line that I think is a really good way to explain the atonement and how it works and also kind of the faith in the Atonement. It’s from the movie Batman: Begins. At the beginning of the movie it shows Bruce Wayne as a kid hanging out with a friend of his named Rachel. Well they are fighting over an arrowhead and who found it and thus who is the owner of it. Well Bruce takes it and runs and hides over a well. Later on he falls through it and down to the bottom of the well. Then it shows his Dad come and gets him from out of the well. And as they are walking you hear Alfred the Butler go: Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce? Then Bruce’s dad says: And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.

So from that, I started to imagine the way it looks for us all striving to get to heaven. And I came to this where we’re climbing up a fairly steep mountain and each step we take is us doing everything right so that we can go to the kingdom of God. So we are climbing and climbing and climbing to get to the Kingdom of God and if we sin we trip or fall a little and then Jesus comes down and looks at us and says the same line “And why do we fall?” And he reaches out his hand to help us up and then finishes with: “So we can learn to pick ourselves up!” And then we keep going up the mountain. So we have the atonement to help when we sin and the faith that Jesus will help us get up and to keep going after he helps us up from our little set back.

The other thing I got a kick out of the Living by Faith thing because not only did I think it helped some of my points but I think it is a great little missionary thing. It’s a nice little boost/motivation and this gets me excited to go out and preach and serve!

Anyways I wanna bear my testimony and wrap everything up; I know this church is true because of my faith and experiences. I know God is there and Jesus is his Son and our Savior from my faith and knowledge and scripture studying and reading and other little evidence I have received. I know Gordon B. Hinckley was the Prophet of God and that I know, even though it might be hard to live up to Hinckley’s charm and sense of humor, that Thomas S. Monson is the one that is supposed to be the next Prophet of this church and I know he will be just as good as any of the other Prophets and I can’t wait to watch him and see what he does. I know the Book of Mormon is true, otherwise I don’t think I’d be standing here giving this talk, be in these kinds of clothes, or be heading out to South Africa to do all the stuff I’m going to do out there. I am so happy for everyone that came out here today. I was telling my friends to come if they could because the more people that came today to hear my talk, the more excited I’d be from everyone coming, and the more I’d want to get on that plane in a little over a week and not look back. If you wanna know if I am really feeling that right now, ask me after sacrament and I’ll let you know.

Anyways, I love my family, and it’s funny how I’ve just barely realized that I never really have said that to my brothers and sisters or anyone else expect my parents, but I have to have faith that they all knew that I loved them…I think that is just a natural family thing. But I love my siblings, they have been there for me and helped me out in different ways, from going on missions, to hanging out with me, to the endless embarrassing stories that I hate to hear every Sunday but also love to laugh about with them because we all enjoy the laugh, to my ups and downs I had in the past. I honestly believe that family is the only way to get through life…and my family was the bomb at doing that for me way back when but then still is the bomb at it even to this day! I love my parents even when I do get in disagreements with them and see things differently than they do and I think this will be really hard to leave them here and go to Africa for the whole 2 years but I am happy to do it. I wanna go pick up that accent anyways because of how cool it sounds! Anyways again I thank you for letting me give this talk and change up this month’s Fast Sunday for the ward a little bit. Hopefully now there will be other people that will come up and give testimonies. And like I said, hopefully the spirit was felt and helped out everyone here, today in some way, then will continue on and grow even more through everyone else that comes up to bare their testimonies.

Anyways thanks again and I love you all, even if I don’t show it, and yes even when I get made fun of about the Lakers or whatever people love to bring up that bugs me, I still love you all! And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

LAKERS @ JAZZ GOOD!!!! (Day: March)

2008-03-21T01:11:00.000-07:00

Ok.....so basic little break-down of my night. First of all it was a great night. I enjoyed every minute of us owning the Jazz with such a, looked-at, weak team.

Ok so my cousin and I left and got food a long the way, then we took off to Salt Lake City. Got there at about 6:50 and then waited to get let into the arena at like 7:00. Went to our seats and dropped off all our stuff which all I really dropped off was my sign. Then I took my hats, laker shorts, and everything else to go get signed. We go to the floor and like Turiaf, Vlad, Koby, Luke, and Farmar are all on the floor shooting around and everything. My cousin and I go over and watch, then we got closer to the little area they walk out of to try and get signatures. Fisher came out, Mbenga, Sasha, Odom, Kobe, Vlad, and they all shot around. When Fisher walked back in I ran up to try and get him to sign my hat. He signed a bunch of peoples stuff and right as he was like practically looking me in the face and everything he said he was done and walked away. Super close to getting it signed by him. Then when Odom started going and signing stuff....same thing happened to me. Sasha also....kind of. He kind of gave up early. Koby same as Sasha and then like Vlad Rad and Kobe just blew by without signing anyone's stuff. For me like I didn't take it as a blow or make a big deal of it because I was just hoping but I didn't care if it didn't work out.

Anyways so after that all the workers and security shooed us off to our real seats becasue we wouldn't be getting another chance at getting signatures so my cousin and I went back to our seats. When I got there I couldn't find my sign. Either a Laker fan or a Jazz fan stole it and used it or got rid of it....or it was mistakenly thrown away. I was bummed about that....especially at all the parts where a foul was called and the Jazz fans flipped because they didn't think it was even though you could so tell it was. I wanted to hold my sign up at those times. Oh well.

So they did the line-up and I cheered for all the Lakers as they came up and everything. They I felt crap hit my back-side. One actually hit my hand and flew forward....from what I could tell of it....it looked like rolled up piece of red tape. Well they threw like a few of these at me. Would of said something but I didn't really want to turn around to see who did it plus I don't think I would have been able to see who did it anyways.....I think they would have like turned around or blended in with the crowd so much that I didn't have a chance at it anyways....so I blew it off.

Then when all the Jazz players came out I booed them and to every....one I was like "Boo...go back to Russia" or Boo....go back to Turkey" or "Boo...go back to Illinois" depending on who was coming out and where they were from. Just as like a joke so.....

Anyways then the game started and I was super impressed that we quickly went up by 20 and just from there kept owning them and owning them and owning them....it was great.

It was funny though when they flipped out about fouls like I knew they would have....like I said...I wish I had my sign at those times but whatever.

At half time my cousin and I tried to go up closer and take seats that weren't being used and stuff but when we found the spots we saw the open spots....they asked for my ticket and then I just gave it to them just so I didn't look super suspicious and they were like "Your seat is up the stairs!" So I was like "Oh....ok! Thanks!" and left and then we gave up on that and just stayed up where we were.

I loved the times when the Jazz got on rolls and the fans started going nuts and then like Kobe would dunk it hard or Fisher would hit a 3 or something and they would just shut-up.....it was funny!

Then at the end of the game I stood up and cheered and they threw crap at me again like earlier.

They have a movie in the arena that says stuff like "Don't throw crap on the court or at each other and do get in fights and all this stuff or else you'll get kicked out." I would have done that but like said,...I figured it wouldn't have done me any good so I never ended up doing anything.

It was weird though because like there was one point where like the Jazz Bear was like throwing balls at the crowd or something and I guess a Laker fan threw it back at the Bear becasue he didn't want it or something...and I don't know if he did it jokingly or seriously...but they escorted him out and everything like they said they would in the movie. Then like later on at the end of the game someone like threw a water balloon on the floor or something and they cancelled the game. Then I think another time something else happened but now I can't remember.

But yeah it was all good! I loved it!!!!!!! I kept poping my Laker jersey after the game was over since they won and I just had a huge smile on my face and everything.

I have pics and movies and I'll probably post them on here. How do you put movies on here though like I know about image bucket or whatever for the pictures but I don't know how to do videos so....someone want to help me out there!?

The Best, Worst Week of My Life (Day: 24 or so days to I leave)

2008-03-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so, you must all be pretty confused by the title. It's ok, it doesn't make much sense anyways but I do have a story which might help you a little understand what I mean by it.

Ok so Saturday I'm over at my parents house watching Pearl Harbor with my cousin Kurt and his buddies who are my buddies too (Kurt said he wanted to watch Pearl Harbor because he never saw it...so don't ask me about that one). Well in the middle of the movie, Dad came in and said I was going with Bryan to Nogales, AZ on Monday and I was going to work. See somehow luck worked out that my class on Wednesday got cancelled because our teacher was gone and Thursday got cancelled because it was Spring Break at UVSC that I was free after Monday. So I went to work. So we fly to Tucson, get picked up, go to the Hotel, throw our stuff in our room, go to a good Mexican Restuarant where I ate some realy hot and spicy Tortilla Soup and part of a Chimichunga (would have eaten the whole thing if I didn't fill up on chips and Soup) and then we went to work.

The week I happen to choose to go happens to be the week we do Check Stands. In the past it hasn't really been that bad, but then again I can't remember now if I have ever really done check stands or if it was more of fixing them after they were really done weeks earlier but still I think to myself "at least it isn't bathrooms."

After the week was done....I really wish we had done bathrooms.

So we drive and we go and first we take down the old power poles, then the tile guys come in and scrape the old tile. At first I am sent in to help with that, which I don't enjoy doing because it has never been fun to do in the past, but I did it for a few minutes and then my dad called me out of that to help him run around and do other stuff. So after just little things and the tile getting done real slow and I guess in the wrong direction or something, we get in and do the power poles for the registers and everything and end up having a real long night. We got done at 8:30 am on Tuesday. I had woken up at like 7:45 am on Monday to get ready for my class in SLC, so I pulled a whole 24 hour day and then some, which I was actually excited to have done.

So we go back to the hotel and I sleep and I slept till like 6:00 or so and it was great! So after that we get up and get ready and go back to work. First we go eat at Home Town Buffet and Dad tells us the night is going to be better and everything, which it was for the most part. Bryan and I, if I remember right, took all the old power poles out to the trash that night and my shoulders hurt so bad after that. But we did the same thing and did about 14 check stands that night when the night before we probably did like 6. I was made the errand boy and had to go fetch all the tools and everything and my feet hurt so bad when the night was over from going back and forth, what seemed like, every 3 minutes. But we got done at like 6:30 or so and went home and slept.

At about 3:00 on Wednesday my brothers called me and woke me up about going over the border into Mexico that day. So I was like "Yeah, sure! Sounds cool!" So we ran over the border and walked around the other half of Nogales that is actually over the border and into Mexico a bit. We walked around and my brothers (who went to Mexico and Guatemala on their Mormon missions) would talk to the locals about where to find a good taco joint. We found on later on and they made some tacos, that to me looked like the Carbons at Del Taco, and gave us some glass bottle Cokes, which my brother told me to wipe off the top of the bottle because sometimes they re-use the bottles, and then we ate. THE TACOS DONE THERE ARE SO FRICKEN GOOD! I realize that actual Mexican food in Mexico is expected to be good but I mean this was GOOD, GOOD! I ate about 3 of those things in about 2 minutes. They were awesome.

Anyways so Mexico itself is actually a pretty cool place. Now grant it, down there it really does feel like a 3rd World Country because of the way all the stores and everything looks and is set up. Then you have the street sellers trying to make you buy something, and even when you tell them no...they still keep going and won't leave you alone till you are out of the store's area. The people were cool and the Latinas down there were WAY CUTE! (Yeah I know I am going to be leaving on my mission soon and I can't be thinking about that but the face that it is still a month away makes me want to do it more since I have to give that up for 2 years!) I didn't get any souveniors but I did get pictures and videos with my digital camera and everything. There is a wall on the border and there are crosses on the wall at some spots which my brothers and I were guessing that is all the people that have tried to jump the wooden fence over to get in. There were a lot of crosses. But yeah, Mexico was cool!

Anyways so we go back to the hotel and chill for a little while and then go back to work that night to finish up check stands. That night...was as bad at the first night. Kept getting yelled at for parts and other little things and just ran around, had to carry more power poles out to the trash which my shoulders were still pretty tender from the night before and all this other stuff. But we did it and got done by 7 am. Now this is the funny part. So we are taking all the tools out and everything and I am talking to my dad about how hard the week has been and how after the first night I actually was ready to just leave right there and go home because of how bad it seemed and everything. And out of all the years of working WATG and being the errand boy and helping out here and there and all the other hard stuff I've been through and done like Bathrooms and all that, I have never hit that point but it was bad, and so I was telling my dad how bad it was that night too and how all the same stuff was there about wanting to leave. Well he yells to my brothers, in a joking way, about all the stuff I said to him, and he yelled this as they were coming to the bin to drop off the lift and tools. They all laughed and everything and started talking about like how hard it would be on my mission. How I would be walking 15 miles a day and wanting a break but my companion will be saying "Nope! We can't stop!" and I'll hate life and all that.

Well I wasn't mad for them to say that because I know they knew what I would be going through since they all went before me and everything. But I am a believer that whatever happens walking, biking, or driving that it'll work out for the best. I still think that if I do have to walk a lot that my feet will take longer to hurt because I am doing what I am supposed to be doing and all that. So anyways I let this all sink in as they yelled it and just was like "Yeah! Ok! I believe you!" and all this other stuff. And they kept going and going and going and then finally I said "But wait....let's think about this, besides right now, when have I complained at all about how bad this week was!?" And they were all like "Uh!" and I was like "Exactly, because I know how to suck it up now and just work with it till it is really over or I see a spot that I can actually take a breather because nothing is going on that needs my help and all that." It was super funny.

Anyways that day my brother and my uncle both took off and so that left me, my dad, and my other brother to finish up the little things. That night was fun. First we went back to the Mexican place that we went to on Monday and I had some tacos there that were good but not as good as the ones in Mexico. Then we went to work, and that night I got to do some little things that was actually like work and helpful for WATG and wasn't me getting tools, which I have been hoping to be doing more of for the last few years now, because getting tools, by yourself even, kind of sucks. So I did a little thing and then I went back to getting tools and supplies again which was annoying especially with the fact that I said earlier of like every 3 minutes having to run out to the bin to get material. I started thinking out it would be nicer or better if I just went and got things all at once instead of every 3 minutes because then I could be standing around more and being more helpful or be told to do some little job like I did this day. I figure if it could work out that way then I would be a little less distracted when walking through electronics to get to the Bin and I saw 40 copies of like Smash Brothers Brawl (which was a bummer to look at since I had no way of getting a copy...at least not till I get back from my mission) and all this other stuff. But then I think more importantly, if it worked ou that way....I wouldn't want to sit down and read magazines because my feet are so tired and I don't want to be on them or anything. So....but that was just my thought process.

Anyways after that my brother and I ended up back at the apartment around 2:30 and then we slept and woke up at about 7:00 to go to the Pheniox airport to catch a flight back to Utah at like 10:00.

My brother went to Northern California and my dad and I went to Utah. Ended up riding 1st Class and I have to say now "From that cool experience I will never look at Couch the same way ever again." But I'll be able to handle that fact.

So that was my Best, Worst Week EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"You have ONE MONTH to live!!!!!!" (Day: March 8th, 2008)

2008-03-09T01:09:00.000-08:00

Ok....it is really March 9th but that is because I was partying late and it took me a while to get around to doing this. But there is a good thing about it being March 9th, 2008.....which is Super Smash Brothers Brawl finally came out for the Wii......I am hoping to play and/or own it before I leave in a month but we'll see what happens.

(Thinks about it....then realizes that he might be able to actually by it himself after this week since he only has school on Monday and in the morning and then is taking off to Nogales, AZ to work with his dad and family in the WATG Business where he figures he might earn about $200....or at least he hopes....) Anyways I am hoping to be doing a lot of fun and cool stuff over the span of the next 29 to 30 days that I have left in America before I leave to Africa for 2 years. I am going to party and have fun and everything and I am just going to live life.

Wish me luck!

Oh yeah and don't forget my farewell is March 30th up in Highland....so everyone that can come, please come. More people that come, the more support I feel like I have from people coming and then the more excited I will be to leave on my mission.

Californiaaaaaaaa...here I come! For the last time (:_-( (Day: Something)

2008-02-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well I think I went to the OC for the last time. Sad but it was a nice little trip. Paula and I drove down Thursday 21st, which I think according to the date of this post would have been yesterday....well I am editing it and the date is really the 28th so....just remember all that when you read this post, and we got in at about 4:30ish. Well nobody could really do anything so I just chilled. Dad, Paula, and I did go to Don Jose's and that was fun. Dad kept bugging me that it was going to be my last time eating there....and it made me sad. But I figure that it won't be so bad because when I get back from South Africa and I hear people are going to the OC my ears will perk up and I'll be all excited to go back to In-N-Out and Don Jose's so it'll all work out in the end. Anyways the next day nothing happened, except me walking all the way to Del Taco on Chapman and then all the way back, till later on at night. At about 4:30 I went to go hang out with my Marines Buddy, Kevin Kelly, and we went to In-N-Out and the Block and then went home at about 9 or so. Then Saturday I went and hung out at Trevor's. I walked all the way over there, where I walked through the Alley behind the Shasta House and I peered through the trash gate thing and saw that those old net fench things that we put up around the pool after Daphne was born so she wouldn't fall in, were still there and up, and I think the old lawn chair we all used to lay on was out there still too. But then things got more interesting when I walked by Wellington St. and saw that the Wellington House was for sale. I texted Dad, jokingly, that it was for sale and he should by it....and then that was that. I got to Trevor's and then we ran to Del Taco. Then from there we went to the Block and then we went back to Trevor's house where he got all dressed up for work. He left for work and then later on me and my new buddy, who was more Trevor's and Brig's friend, Cameron....went all the way out to Corona to hang out with Jake Duarte. We went over there and played Smash Brothers 2 and Halo 3 and all this other stuff till late at night and it was fun. We also beat up Dylan, Jake's Brother, ocassionally just because we were bored and had nothing better to do. Anyways then we went home and I went to bed. Then I woke up and Paula and I went back to Utah.....and we made it home just in time to watch the Oscars! And that was what happened on possibly the last trip I ever do to California or the OC for 2 years or so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Mission Farewell Talk (Day: New Beginnings)

2008-01-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

Ok so I am going to be giving my Mormon Mission Farewell Speech for my Cape Town, South Africa Mormon Mission I will be leaving to on April 8th and it is at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints building on 6411 West 11800 North in Highland, Utah 84003 next to an Elementary School which the name of the school I forget but my fareweel talk is on March 30th, 2008. My church starts at 11 am.

And then there is a party afterwards at my house on 6515 West Bull River Road in Highland, Utah 84003. And if you can't find it on Google Map or anything....I'll drive to church and you guys can follow me back to my house. All are invited to that too afterwards!!!!!!!!!

Anyone that wants to or can come....please come. More people that come the more support I feel like I have and the more excited I will be to leave on April 8th to Cape Town, South Africa for 2 years!!!!!!!!!!

CLOVERFIELD (Day: January)

2008-01-18T23:47:00.000-08:00

OK well to have some fun and just to see if I am any good at this (because I think doing reviews along with personally making movies and writing articles about sports games would be fun) I am going to do my own little personal review about this movie.

I just saw it a while ago and it was good. I liked it a lot actually. But when I got out of it I did have a weird feeling in me about the movie. It is an intense and insane movie where you get out and scratch your head about to think about if you liked it or not. I liked it enough I wanna go see it again but there are certain people I would take with me to go see it a second time because it has some squeamish parts to it and it is kind of a little disturbing.

Anyways so the movie is about a monster that attacks Manhattan....hopefully I spelled that right. Now before I saw this I watched a little web cam movie where J.J. Abram was talking about this movie and the point of it. He said, and this was at the Comic Con Convention last summer, that he thought up the movie or the movie was thought up, if it wasn't personally him that thought it up, after a vacation in Japan. And he saw lots of Godzilla toys and things and started thinking that America needed it's own monster to compare with Godzilla and King Kong and everything. And this monster was awesome and scary. I liked it. Would love to see it and Godzilla go at it.

Anyways the movie is all shot from the perspective of a personal video camera and for me like it was cool watching it just because of all the movies I have made with my video camera and watching those tapes over again and then seeing this.....so to me it felt like the same way I would have probably shot it if I was there in person. It was shaky and everything and I sat at the very front and it didn't bug me but for some of my friends it bugged them....so if you get motion sick....go early so you don't get stuck up front.

So the movie was good and it had some jokes in it and like it really felt like you were watching this right after someone filmed it with their own camera because they were there.

So that is about it.....aside from the little spoilers I am going to do. So if you wanna go see it and don't really want anything ruined just stop here and give your own little opinion on my review if you want.

*****SPOILER ALERT.....STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT THE MOVIE BEFORE SEEING IT!*****

Now for everyone else still around I am just going to give a few little spoilers. First off the monster. To me, the monster looked like a cross between two creatures from other movies and then super sized to Godzilla size or something.

My opinion is the monster looked like a cross between the Orc Giant from Lord of the Rings 1:

And the weird Spider type creature from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (Episode 2):

(The Big Blue One with the Point Legs)

But then it kind of had a whale's tail on it too because it was an ocean monster.....and it has gills that you see it breathing from around the end of the movie

And then the monster has kids which looks like a cross of those 2 creatures plus a third which is the evil little boom box robot from Transformers:

So then that is the creatures. Now there were 2 parts of the movie that were weird for me in a few ways that are kind of the reason that I got done with the movie and felt weird. One was right after the monster first came out and attacked. Some buildings blow up and this dust storm brushes through the streets, but you see it from inside a grocery store from the personal video camera perspective, and then they go outside to see what happened and everything looks exactly like it did after 9/11 and the Towers fell. Now I mean I was like "Oh....wow!" because it surprised me that they did that....and it wasn't a huge deal to me personally but I leaned to a friend and said "I wonder like if that made people over in New York feel uneasy a little because it looked like that....especially anyone that knew someone that died in all that." And so that was that scene.

Then there was one scene where the survivor people are walking through the subway and then after a while some of the baby monster people attack and one girl gets bitten. Now you think when someone gets bitten by a monster it is bad but you don't know really how bad it will end up being.....just that it will be bad. Well anyways after a while they try to treat it which they think they did as well as they could for now and then they decided to keep moving and walk on. Well then the girl says she feels dizzy as they are walking through a mall. Well they are going to chill when the army finds them and takes them to a camp. So they go to the camp to figure everything out and make up a plan for the main part of the movie.....which that I won't blow....so I guess you'll have to see the movie in a way anyways. But while they are there they film everything that is going on and so you see people running around and treating people and all that and they wheel this soldier by that it looks like his stomach exploded. And they say all this stuff about the monster babies attacking them. Well then it goes to the girl that got bitten and she is like bleeding from her nose and eye and she talks about how she still doesn't feel good and then people notice her and scream that she is a victim that got bitten and they talk about quarantining her and everything and they drag her away kicking and screaming and then it shows them take her into this tent and like all this weird noise and everything happens and then she just like explodes and you see blood all over.

Right after that you don't feel real hungry at all and you are creeped out and it's all just weird.

My friend and I were talking about it when the movie was over and he thinks that like her stomach exploded like the soldier dude's because they say something about the soldier dude getting bitten but what was weird was like when they showed her scene like one minute she is there the next minute she is gone and you see her explode and hear a weird like gargling and popping sound and there is blood all over the inside of the tent and that is that.

It was all just really weird.

I am actually glad "in a way" that the girl ended up exploding, not like that happening was good to see at all or anything, but like I remember seeing that part in the trailer up until she actually explodes....and when I saw that part I thought like it was just them walking by a tent and like people like took a knife or something to someone to try and get something out....so for a minute I thought they were going to do something stupid and like rip off the movie Alien and have like the monster babies like attack people and then more monster babies come but they pop out of people's guts or something like that from their bites or something. So I was happy that they didn't do that. But the scene was weird all together so I don't know if I liked that part at all anyways.

Like I said it was good and I wanna see it again but I got out feeling really weird and trying to think about how I should feel and think about this movie.

I think if I get the chance I will see it again but definitely watch it over and over a few times on DVD.....if I haven't left on my mission yet by the time it comes out......which probably isn't likely.

So anyways for everyone that just read the spoilers....if you wanna go see it....I say go see it and if you don't then that's fine.

I think it is worth the time and money but whatever.

The mission and 19th Birthday draw closer. (Day: January 16th)

2008-01-16T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well much hasn't happened lately to me. I got little info for my mission aka my itinerary for me to get to South Africa. I leave April 8th and get to South Africa April 10th....long trip.....hopefully I can really master sleeping on a plane.....I know my dad and my Unlce Craig can back me up in saying I CAN sleep on a plane but that is after working all night for WATG....and this is just a get up and go and never look back thing.

Anyways so I leave Salt Lake City International at 2:40 pm on the 8th and I fly to Chicago where I land, with a couple of other missionaries who I guess are going to the same mission as me or something, at 6:40 pm. This will be fun even if it is short since it will be my first time to Chicago. If I can I might try and buy a little easy to keep around me for 2 years, non-breakable souvenior and take some pictures of me around the airport and of as much of the city as I can. So then at 8:25 pm I leave on British Airways to London. We get to London at 10 am on April 9th. This will also be cool since it will be my 3rd time outside the country and first time to Europe and London. So I can cross that goal off my list of things to do before I die. We are in London ALL DAY! And when I say ALL DAY....I MEAN ALL DAY!!!!!!! We don't leave to South Africa till 9:05 that night. Now MY HOPE....is that either they will say something to us that will allow us to explore London or that people over in London will hear about us and some local Missionaries will come and pick us up and show us around till we have to be back to fly to Africa.....BECAUSE EVEN WITH OTHER MISSIONARIES....I DON'T WANT TO BE STUCK IN LONDON'S AIRPORT ALL DAY WHEN I CAN BE OUT CHECKING OUT ONE OF THE WORLD'S COOLEST CITIES!!!!!!!! My dad says I'll be stuck in there....others agree and disagree with him. I am the disagree people or one of them. We'll have to see. Personally my opinion is that even though I am a missionary...I don't know why I should just click into missionary mode while flying there and just be all excited about sitting in London's airport reading scriptures. Hate to say it people but that is not me.....yet! And that won't be fun.

Anyways so we leave London at 9:05 pm on April 9th and then we get to South Africa....Johannesburg at 9:15 am on April 10th. It says people will pick me or us up and take us to the MTC and then life as a missionary will begin.

Again along the way I hope to take pictures and lots of them. I will be in the MTC for 19 days I read and then I go to Cape Town. In the MTC they said they have limited resources and so they won't have e-mail so I might write my MTC address on here if people want to send me stuff but I haven't decided. So if I can, and I hope some how I will be able to, I will see if I can post on here still while out on my mission just any little cool stories and pictures. DO NOT COUNT ON IT.....BUT YOU NEVER KNOW.

Anyways then the only good news is that my 19th birthday is in a week and I am taking a Book of Mormon class up at BYU's Salt Lake Center along with New Testament and then I signed up for a Mission Prep class at UVSC or UVU or whatever it is now and then I am living at home with my parents and I have no job.....but I am hoping both of those things change soon and before I leave.....but we'll just have to wait and see...............

Anyways please wish me luck. It really helps me out and motivates me and I think I might need some. I've been feeling sick lately and it usually happens when I talk about or do stuff for my mission which is leading me to believe I am getting nervous about it. So any support or luck wishing might help out if me being nervous is really the case of what's going on with my little sickness lately.

Thanks for everything and hopefully you'll be able to hear from me somehow, someway when I get out there to South Africa either on here or facebook or e-mail or picasa or whatever.

PEACE OUT!

THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME! REPENT! REPENT! (Day: Mission Call)

2007-12-31T16:32:00.000-08:00

OK....I finally got it! After many delays on papers, after my stake president up in Idaho turning them in 2 weeks later than we thought and messing up a load of stuff for us. AFTER ALL THE WAITING AND WAITING AND WAITING AND WAITING....IT IS HERE! Well....ok so I came Saturday the 29th BUT IT CAME!!!!!! So I know give you....my future destination for the span of 24 months:

"Dear Elder LeSueur:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the SOUTH AFRICA CAPE TOWN MISSION. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the SOUTH AFRICA MTC on Thursday, 10 April 2008. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language. Your mission president may modify your specific assignment according to the needs of the mission."

And then it just talks about following the rules and some other stuff.

So that is it.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!!!

The funny thing about it....my (step) brother James served his Mormon Mission in South Africa.....but it was Johannesburg. So he got one part of South Africa and I get the other part he didn't get....plus the Country of Namibia!!!!!!!!

Lions, Tigers, Rhinoes, Elephants, African Tribes, and other people and creatures of Africa....HERE I COME WITH LOADS OF BOOKS OF MORMON OR BOOK OF MORMONS TO PASS OUT TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE PLEASE WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!! IT HELPS ME AND GIVES ME MOTIVATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now if I can and if I have time and a computer out there....I will post pictures and stories, or at least try to post them, on here.

If I don't post them on here...I will try to post pictures at least on my picasa site:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bradydalesuer

"So keep a weathered eye out on the horizon" for pictures and whatever else comes up and again....WISH ME LUCK OUT THERE IN AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!

STOP PROLONGING THE AGONY (Day: Mission)

2007-12-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

Well my week started out ok and then went bad on Monday morning. Aside from having woke up in the middle of the night to loads of pain from the current holes in my mouth and having to stay up for an hour watching Spongebob Squarepants and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, at about 5:30 or so in the morning, (Again with the Cartoon thing....but again there was nothing good on and it was early in the morning....and I was in pain so I just didn't care what I was watching) until my Lortab pill that I just recently took kicked in and I could go back to sleep....I woke up at 8:30 or so AM to my phine vibrating. I look at it and it is a Idaho areacode. So I answer my phone and half a sleep say "Hello!?" "Hey Brady! It's President McGary!" This is my stake president from my BYU-I Stake. He calls to tell me that he finally got my medical papers for my mission papers and is turning them in this second. Well I start thinking in a angry shock "What!?" because the way I remembered it....my bishop, Bishop Turner, had that stuff at like the beginning of the month and I signed them off with my Herby Hancock on the first Tuesday of the month. So after asking me stuff like "If I am still worthy to go on a mission" and other things all over again, he says he is going to turn my papers in right then and there....hopefully. "When can I expect my call then!?" I ask "Oh around January 4th!" Bye!" And then I hang up....and then toss my phone in anger across the room and out the door....but not hitting anything or breaking it. "Dad is going to be so happy to hear this when he comes down and wakes me up again!" I think....and fall back asleep. And just like I thought....he was pissed (or maybe the right wording is super mad) about it. I was mad and bummed too because I was all excited about checking the mail everyday this week to get my call and do a party and everything. Heck we were talking about it the night before at the weekly family dinner we have about what we were going to do. I told everyone to make 2 guesses one in the U.S. and one out....like me and my friends did in Idaho, but nobody wanted to do it. So instead Dad made it more interesting and put money down to anyone that guessed the right country I would go to and even I could get it. We were all thinking we could have the party either Wednesday (Today techinqually) or Thursday (Tomorrow techniqually) becuase that is probably when it would come in. Before I went to sleep I called my Bishop back up in Idaho about it and he was like "Yeah....I gave them to the Stake Secrectary the day after you signed them!" "So when is he getting them now!?" I asked "Between then and now...I don't know what happened or why it took so long." he said. We figure it all sat on his desk probably and they forgot. So now I gotta wait even longer for my call, unless by some miracle it is out in my mailbox right now as I am typing, and then it sucks more for my parents because they were gonna wait to see where I go and then based on that get my christmas presents and now they can't and my dad said he felt bad and what he could get me based on what he was getting all my other siblings since, I guess, he is putting a big cash limit on each of us all he could get is the typical missionary stuff of like luggage and all that stuff and nothing really exciting. I told him I didn't care just because it is just like a crappy moment and timing but whatever....and I also through out the idea of just getting me a Nintendo DS and other stuff like that and I'd be happy....we'll see what happens. So anyways....if anyone reading this that knows me wants to put little bets as to where I will go on my mission....post them here and if you are siblings or wifes or husbands or children of siblings and wanna put bets on...you can too and then call Dad about how much money is on the table if you win! Anyways wish my luck on my call and just life. Chirstmas is around the corner....Merry Christmas, Happy Hannauka...or however you spell it, Happy Holidays, Happy Kuanza or whatever holiday that is....a long with all the other celebrations going on around this time. And to anyone that doesn't celebrate any holdidays around this time....have fun with whatever you do.

Teeth are of the Devil (Day: Pain)

2007-12-19T16:57:00.000-08:00

So this is about a week late too but the pain is still there. I got my teeth pulled last Saturday. After taking Andrew and Sam home and hearing their "lovely" experiences about getting their teeth pulled along with other "lovely" expierences, I went to the dentist's office a little optimistic and nervous. I asked my dad questions and he could tell I had heard too many stories about what happens. Thanks guys....you all suck now! Anyways so I go in and first they hand me the remote to the TV installed in the roof of the building....so I was pretty relaxed at that point. Spongebob Squarepants and ESPN helped me get through the whole thing. (Yeah....I still watch cartoons on occasion....especially when there is nothing better on TV to watch....and for noon time on a Saturday....that is about the best you can get) Anyways after that they gave me Nitrous gas which my dentist dude, named Curtis Smith....who was from my ward back in Highland....and still is, said was the stuff everyone calls Laughing gas but it has different affects on everyone. For me....it made me relaxed, sleepy, and like I just wanted to lay there and do nothing. The assistant was like "It makes you feel like you don't care what people do to you right!?" I was thinking "Uh....no! I care that you guys are gonna pull my teeth out but I also will just try and sleep or something so then I don't care what happens after that." I never fell asleep but I think I got close on occasion. Then came the shots....still hate shots but there was nothing I could do about it because everything was too relaxed to do anything about it. That hurt a bit but was just really annoying. Then they went to work...it was interesting watch, and mostly trying to watch, tv and feeling just them push on my teeth here and like move their hands clockwise with a thing that looked like a screw driver and then pounding on my sideways tooth and all these different things. But yeah other than that everything went smooth. The odd part was when Dr. Smith, or Dent. Smith....I dunno which one it is, would take this screw driver looking tool...start making a screwing motion against my teeth and then pull up and then he was all done. And then the stranger part was the stitches. I could see the needle and thread and I saw hime go in and then pull out a few times and I was sitting there thinking "I know that should hurt....and yet it doesn't." Then it was all over. He told me he was gonna give me this antibiotic stuff and some Lortab. Then he called my dad in and said the same thing. Then he was like "Take it easy when you stand up because you are not all there..." or something like that. I honestly felt fine so I just stood up but my dad and Dr. or Dent. Smith came and like helped me like I was old or something. But I was like just moving around and felt good. Anyways my dad did all the paper work and I sat there with an ice pack on my cheek to make sure the swelling didn't go too bad and everything. I had some gosses put in me and a little zip lock bag handed to me and was told to switch them out every 45 minutes. Anyways we walked to the car and everything was fine. On the way home....talking to Dad was the funniest part. I kept saying Lortab and he thing I was saying other stuff. I kept feeling my lip because with the numbness it felt all puffy....like someone decked me in the face or something. We made it home and I just chilled out. Then I went to a service project with my family later on in the day. We went and bought toys for some Middle Eastern Refugees that were here and other people too. Then we ate some pizza....which I did too. (Dr. or Dent. Smith called to check up on me before I left to see how I was, and I asked him what foods I could techniqually eat....he said if I wanted to I could eat soft foods but nothing hard like Chips or Bacon or whatever) Then we just chilled out. I finally held my newest baby Niece....Juliet. SHE IS THE TINIEST BABY I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!!! And then life has gone on from there. I have been taking Lortabm every night since I got them and the Antibiotics every morning and night. My teeth are just finally starting to not hurt at all and the stitches are disolving in my mouth giving me an "awesome" taste to my tounge. (I keep brushing my teeth and using mouth wash to get rid of the taste but it won't stop.....the madness and the horror!!!!!!) And so life is good.

Schools out for.....Winter!!!!! (Day: Uh.....)

2007-12-19T16:55:00.000-08:00

Ok so I am about a week late on this but oh well. School is out for me and life is great. I'm home in Utah....I am sleeping in my bed in my room in the basement again. I am seeing family on a day to day basis instead of a every other weekend basis. Life is good. Only thing I miss about Idaho is the people and maybe the Sand Dunes.

I Don't Wanna Be Thankful!!!!!! (Day: Night)

2007-11-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

So Thanksgiving Break came and went, and it was probably the best thing to happen this semester. Being home for a whole week plus 2 weekends was perfect. I went to back to Lone Peak for Lunch one day and for Radio the day after, I hung out with Shiloe and Jayce, saw relatives, hung out with my mom....a lot, hung out with my dad and Paula....a lot, played the Wii (which I hear hasn't been touched since I left it....which I think sucks but whatever), saw Daphne, Miles, Oliver, Will (7), and Dotty...a lot, plus other stuff. The only thing I missed out on was seeing Juliet Penelope LeSueur (Trixie or J. Penny-as I want to call her now). Suzy had her while I was driving home to Idaho. I was in Logan when I heard the news and wanted to turn around so badly but couldn't because my dad wanted me to go home and get good grades. But thanksgiving was fun, had a big turkey dinner where everyone was there plus some others. We went and saw Enchanted. We celebrated Oliver's First Birthday. Cory and Mary had an Open House for their house which was fun and we played the Wii version of Guitar Hero 3 which was fun. So life was good. I actually felt like I got time out of hanging out in Utah with this Break and it was well worth it. Now all I have to do is get done with the semester with good grades and then I can be home and life will be even better.

The process to being a Missionary (Day: Something)

2007-11-09T23:54:00.000-08:00

Ok well there isn't really been much happening around here in Idaho. The only stuff I have been doing is going to class, trying hard to get good grades, hanging out with friends, going to Utah for the weekend....every other weekend, and then whatever else comes my way. The thing that is sucking right now is I am running low on money and still have to pay for more school. I blame being low on the ticket I got from the stupid accident, which was $75 with a $5 or $6 charge because I was using my card and doing it over the phone, and then I have gone shopping for some clothes a couple of times, and one time going through Wal Mart I picked up Transformers. So yeah....that's about it. Other than that the only other cool thing is that I ran into a friend of mine that I haven't seen since I was 3....and living in Merced, CA. And for anyone that has no clue where Merced is....it's near Family Camp. And if you don't know where Family Camp is, Merced and Family Camp are near Fresno. But yeah her name is Brittany De Lora and I found her through Facebook.com (which one of my friends talked me into and now I am pretty addicted to it which sucks) We have been hanging out and I took her to Utah with me with one of her friends so they could hang out with their siblings down there going to school. But it was awesome seeing her again for the first time in 15 years and the cooler thing was she remembered me when I was talking to her at first on Facebook.com so...everything is going well....I guess. Anyways the only thing that might be interesting that I have been doing is working on my Mormon mission papers (I say Mormon just in case anyone runs through and has no idea what I am talking about....because I think you can run through blogs randomly and just check them out and everything) so I did my dental work in Utah one weekend. It was alright but those fircken metal hooks which I guess they use to get rid of all the plaque and everything suck. I was sitting there just thinking "MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!!!!!" So yeah but it was alright in the end. They got that like Cherry tasting goop and put it on that rubber spinner thing and started massaging my teeth with it and that felt good. Then today I went to go get my medical stuff done. Did the TB Test, Urine Sample (which was odd...they had step by step instructions of how you were supposed to fill this cup up and everything), and they did a Blood Sample. From that I discovered some stuff. Either I was never meant to give blood or I was stupid to watch the girl move and wiggle the needle around as she was doing the TB test and everything. I think I watched her put it in too but now I can't remember. But anyways I watched her do the TB test which she had the needle in there for a good long while compared to the last time I had it done in which they just took a little pricker thing and stabbed my arm and that was it. This one was like a fricken shot that was a huge needle that was probably like 1/4 or 1/3 of an inch big and yeah. Anyways this time was way different and hurt more than the last time I had that done. Then the blood sample thing...I knew if I watched her I would have freaked and crapped my pants and everything so I brought my iPod to distract me so I put Transformers on (which I picked up from home because people had gotten it...so now I have it twice) and then I put my hoodie up so I would be blocked from looking at it at all. This hurt a little too but I didn't flip out and everything like I used to with shots and so life was good....until she got done. She got done with everything and my stomach felt all weird and I just felt sick and then when I got up and sat down in a different chair....I started breaking out in a cold sweat and everything. The girl came in and looked at me and she looked really worried, I have no clue if I was just pale white other than I was sweating and I felt sick. She looked at me and asked me "Do you wanna lie down somewhere!?" Which I was like "If there is a place I can lay down then yes!!!" She got me a room and then I layed down and got all better and then she walked in and handed me a paper and said I was done and I could go to the check out. So everything is basically done for me on my papers for my Mormon mission. All I gotta do is go to a medical appointment at the same place on Monday where they will check the TB and hopefully just give me a couple of shots and check like my eye sight and all this other stuff and then call it a day and then I can get my Stake President Interview before I run off to Utah for Thanksgiving break (which is a week long and two weekends too) and then with some luck I can get my call sometime around the Beginning of Decemeber and everything which would be cool.

So that is life for me right now. Halloween was awesome. I went to a School Set Up Dance and Carnival and it was great......AND THERE WERE MANY HOT GIRLS AT THE DANCE...I got names and basic info but no numbers which I am bummed about now that I think about it and look back on it and everything. Then I had a little weird moment on like Wednesday or Thursday where I lost my truck for a second. I couldn't find it in the dorm parking lot and I thought someone took my keys while I was sleeping and moved it or maybe something wasw going on for this weekend (because Preference is tomorrow and everything) and so I was a little nervous but didn't totally freak out. Well I was like...I am gonna go check the parking around the Medical Center and the Girl's Dorms because I remember last being in that area with the car the night before. Well it was there....I thought I drove it back to our dorm Parking but I guess not and it was just left there all night. Which I mean I could park there without getting in trouble and stuff but still. I wonder if you can get Alzheimer's at the age of 18....and if you can...I blame Mom and Grandma for that problem (I'm joking....but seriously). Anyways that is it. So now I am gonna go hang out for a little while longer with people and then go to bed later. I figure the next time I write in here will be about my brother Darin and his wife Suzy's baby girl being born and I figure sometime around there (if I get everything finished by next week) I'll also get my call. So my next post should be about my call, my new niece, and my thanksgiving break....everyone wish me luck on getting my call and getting good grades for this semester and everything.

And heads up for anyone reading this that is still in High School or something.......COLLEGE REALLY IS DIFFERENT AND HARDER. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE STUDY GROUPS AND UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING OR ELSE IT IS NO FUN. This is kind of the situation I am in but it isn't all that bad because I still have 4 to 5 weeks left of school to make everything work.....BUT STILL.....HEED MY WARNING OR ELSE YOU'LL REGRET IT IN THE END!!!!!!!!

So again, and seriously, wish me luck on everything up here!!!!!!!!!!!

Rain, rain, go away...because you ruin everything (Day: Bad)

2007-10-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

Yeah so, this weekend I went home for the first time in a month. It was great....saw everyone I wanted to see except my mom and my sister casey, who were both in California for a cousin's wedding, and my best-friend Shiloe. I even went back to Del Taco and saw my friend Gabriella and my friend Mike Hansen. So the the trip was great, watched some conference, went to Priesthood session, saw Hanna Lillywhite and went to this sick-tight rap dance party on Center Street in Orem, hung out with Daphne and Miles all-day Saturday, they were at my parents' house while their parents were in NYC for some reason, and then saw everyone on Sunday like Kurt, Lyndi, Rob, Bret and Irene and their family, and then everyone else in my family plus Julia, Bryan's GF, and her sister, and James' GF, oh and Chloe and Brittany.

So great weekend right....well you could say that if the trip here didn't turn out bad. Let's just say I learned a lesson about my car, on a bad road that is really wet from rain and is mostly gravel, trying to stop at a long line of cars trying to hit the junction between the 20 Freeway and the 15 Freeway....isn't all that easy. Yeah, got in my 4th accident ever in my life and 4th this year. Out of 4...2 were my fault and they were minor, the other one some guy hit me while I was in a parking lot, and then the other one was in Paula's car going to school....and it was the morning of my 18th birthday....and my first accident ever in my life.

No but this accident sucked. So what happen was I was slowing down to get over into the lane which would hit the junction and put my on the 15 Freeway. Well I got in the lane, came around the corner probably going around 20 or 25 and the Speed Limit was 35. Anyways I saw a long line of cars so I hit the breaks to slow down, well we kept getting closer and as people were kind of saying stuff loudly at me about getting closer to the car, I hit the breaks harder and I could feel that the tires weren't getting stopped by the breaks. They were sliding through the breaks and so we kept sliding and hit the car infront of us, and they tapped the car in front of them. The damage to my car was just my plastic bumper got cracked and broken and my liscens plate got more mended to form everything that was holding it all in place and everything. The damage to the girl's car I hit was the very left corner of her back bumper got popped out and everything and that was it. Then the car that got hit by the people we hit just left little scratches of screws from the liscens plate in her back bumper. So it was minor. Really tiny. Infact if you looked at the front of my car right now....you wouldn't think it got in a accident...you would have thought it got all old and cracked....minus the liscens plate.

So anyways we got out and exchanged info and everything, made sure I did everything right this time since the last time I got in an accident I screwed up on getting the right info and people kind of flipped out at me a little for it, I called dad who was really only worried about everyone involved and I kept telling him everyone was ok. And then I was at the point where I wanted to just get in the car and go, then the cops showed up. I don't know if someone from the accident called it in or a by-passer but we were stuck there for an hour too long getting everything all squared away and then I ended up getting a $75 ticket for tailing too close when I wasn't even riding someones tail when the accident happened. But then we got it all done and we got in the car and left. We said a prayer there because we forgot to before we left and right as we got to Pocetello my roommate decided he wanted to drive all the way in. (Found out that this accident was my roommate, Andrew's, first accident ever in his life....he seemed a little spooked and shaken up from it. He told me when he got into the car that he is someone that when something like this happens that he wants to take control and handle everything, so when he said he wanted to drive I let him have it so everything was all cool)

So yeah basically the roads here in Idaho suck, and I know they suck because one a few, not planned on, situations just driving around Highland, I was stuck with having to hit the breaks kind of hard doing about the same speed to stop at red lights and everything and with the roads still a little wet from all the rain, and I could stop at the lights with no problem. So the extreme wetness and the roads being gravel didn't work to our advantage. Oh and I drove all the way back on sunday. Everything we well back and we didn't have any problems with weather or anything.

So yeah now I got a ticket to pay for, a slightly battered car, and new wisdom of how to handle and what to expect from the roads up here....and since this is my 4th accident I have been involved in since turning 18...I'm making a vow now to not get in anymore situations that could be or will be accidents anymore for a least, or I hope for, 2 years. NO MORE ACCIDENTS....OR AT LEAST NO MORE THAT I CAUSE. BUT I AM GOING TO JUST STICK WITH NO MORE.

Everyone wish me luck on this vow and everything.

My BYU-I Posse! (Day: "Who Cares?!")

2007-09-22T17:10:00.001-07:00

Ok well first I guess we start out with me. Everyone here knows me so there isn't really much to talk about. But this is a cool picture...I thought I looked Austriallian in it. And we went to a dance and I introduced myself to this group of girls as Steve Irwin in an Austriallian accent but then quickly went back to my regular voice and introduced myself for real.

This is Kyle. I haven't really met Kyle fully but he is part of our posse. He's from Idaho and he's cool. He hangs around and he's cool with us.

This is Mac. He's from Montana. Mac is probably the oddest and craziest kid I've ever met. He isn't odd in a hating way. He's odd in a cool, friendly way. He went on a mission, but I forget where. He loves to give everyone massages which he gave me one on my head and it was eerily comfortable. I was a creeped out though so. He's funny and does really crazy, off the wall things. But he is engaged so he's leagues ahead of us. Mac is awesome! I like him!

This is Sam. He is from Mississippi, I think, I kinda forgot. He went on a mission to Portugal, he's also way into art. Actually seen his drawings and stuff....pretty impressed.

This is Jens. He's from Virginia and he is freakin amazing at Guitar. Like it's crazy how good he is at it. He played Thunderstuck and all these crazy things. He is playing right now as I am typing and it is awesome.

This is Christian. He is from Chicago. He's laid back and all and he actually plays Frisbee Golf. Him and I will try and go play a course in Idaho Falls sometime when we can, see who's better.

This is Mike. He's from Virginia. He's really crazy. He's the one that had the bird and wanted to craemate it and did and he's the one that started our little illegal fish fighting gang, which really hasn't done much becuase Mike says only Betas are allowed and only he some. He has 2 which one is mine because I paid for it and everything. He also had a X-Box 360 so he's gonna be the guy I'm gonna hang around a lot when he gets Halo 3.

This is Brian. He's from Sacremento. He's a fricken baller and plays Football and all this stuff. He's like all sports and all that...and is fricken ghetto. He's cool thought.

This is Blake. He's from Louisiana. He's crazy too. For some reason to me, he seems all cool and stuff but then it seems like he trys to act too cool and then it just gets annoying and like he becomes all like weird and different. But he's cool. I like Blake!

This is Andrew. Andrew is my roommate. He's from outside D.C. and he's sick tight. He's a drummer, said he's drummed for like 8 years or something. Him and I are tight with each other.

This is Taylor. He's from Louisiana also. He's cool and all laid back. He like seems Ghetto but then I don't think he is at all. He brought a car here which is a 98 Camero Z28? or something. He's cool though!

So this is my posse that I've been hanging out with since day 1 of BYU-I. And these are also the guys that I've been doing a lot of wild and crazy this with like the bird craemation and all that. But I am having fun up here. All these guys live at the end of the hallway as we do and so yeah. And so that's it. That's my group, that's who I hang with and have all the fun with. And if we can maybe I'll try and do a Def Leppard thing with or something....kinda depends on what people wanna do.

*Edit:

Later on in the semester....I think it was after they read this post....my friends started calling this "posse"....The Brady Bunch Posse....I think it might have gotten a little out of hand but whatever.

IT'S TIME TO PARTY! LET'S PARTY!!!!! (Day: ???)

2007-09-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

Ok so tonight my friends and I went to "the biggest party of the school year!" It was at this park called (this is really what's it's called...no joke, I have a hard time saying this name and keeping a straight face) Bever Dick Park. The party was ran by some security co. or something called APX. It was a fun party, loads of people were there, they had free food and soda, and they had these crazy carnival things like a dunking tank, a bounce house, one of those american gladiator foam padded stick fighting things, a bull riding machine, and then this surfboard riding thing (which was a lot like the bull riding thing). I tried the surfing one and I was kind of good but not really. They had awesome music which the blaired and everything. They gave away crap and then they had some special guests. They had Wii-Man, or whatever his name is, who I guess is like a famous midget who was on Jackass the movie or the show or something along with other stuff and then they had this guy named Preston, who is from the same show/movie and was like Wii-Man's friend or something. Anyways they showed up and did all this crazy crap. They had a fear factor thing where like they had about 5 or so girls and 5 or so guys and they started out with the people had to hang onto a pole that was elevated by some tractors and they had to stay on as long as they could while getting pelted by Wii-Man and Preston's Paintball guns. The girls all lost in that round. Then they had the next round where they had to eat cockoroaches from like Africa or something that were really big and hissed and stuff. The first 3 people to down all 3 of them went onto the next round. One person backed out so they offered the cockoroaches to any girl to eat for $500 which one girl did. And then my friends and I left. It was cool. They also handed out $100 and DVDs and T-Shirts and Hats and stuff. I didn't get anything but I did have a DVD in my hand which I was wrestling a girl and another guy over and then after a while I gave up and let them have it. Then people would get up on stage and dance and stuff and crowd surf. I jumped up on stage only to sit on an ATV that they were gonna give away in some raffel and everything. And that was my night. It was cool. I got some pictures and movies but they are on my RAZR and I don't have a cord to export them to my lappy so. But yeah it was fun and that's it.

Whoever said College life is crazy, wasn't kidding!!!! (Day: ??)

2007-09-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Ok I hope that Dusten, Darin, Bryan, Casey.....someone did something crazier than the thing my friends and I just did....or at least something kind of similar so then I feel better. Ok I have no clue what happened because I was asleep when it all happened, but appearently some friends of mine found a bird (a sparrow I think) with a broken wing and decided they were gonna take it and try and raise it back to health and everything. Well the bird ended up dying. So then my friend that found it decided an even greater idea, which was to craemate it (burn it to ashes, whoever you spell that word). Originally we were gonna go to the sand dunes and do this, instead we decided to do this tonight. First my friend started by putting it in a box with a cross and then writing on the box, then we had a viewing, then we had a little "prayer" which wasn't supposed to be serious at all (it really wasn't taken serious at all because we were laughing during it and someone had the MTC playing in the background), then my 2 friends that found it gave little eulogies about the bird which one of my friends gave a funny eulogie about how he only knew him for 25 minutes and was really close to it and everything. So anyways we took the box and took it outside, put lighter fluid all over the box inside and out, and then lit it on fire. Seriously.....I have no clue what it going on anymore, we have been doing some crazy stuff for a long, long time. There might be a little spot in heck for us in my opinion but then again most likely not.

But if that isn't crazy enough, all my friends and I have fish now in our rooms because we are aloud to keep fish and stuff, and we are going to make an illegal fish fighting thing, we haven't really started it and yet it has begun.

College life here is really weird and crazy and off the wall.....Def Leppard might have been odd but stuff here might give it a little run for it's money....I really don't know anymore.

Someone try and help me understand what is going on and if this is normal.

Wait, woh, woh.....this is the Lord's School!? (Day: 5)

2007-09-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

Ok so....I had my first day of classes on Wednesday and so far I have come to the conclusion that all the classes I am taking for my major are going to be hard and all my general education classes are gonna be or at least seem easy. But I honestly have to say....I'm still trying to get used to, because I'm a little weirded out by, all the church stuff they have at this school. Yeah it's BYU and it should be obvious that they would do this but you are reading the posts of someone that has been slowly getting worked up to this point basically. I went from Orange County, CA where if you mentioned being Mormon they automatically thought you had 100 wives or wanted 100 wives and had horns and all that, then going to Highland, UT in the middle of "HAPPY VALLEY" where they had separation of church and state there but when you had teachers saying things like "My Local Religious Organization" or "His or Her Two Year Religious Excursion" and stuff like that you know they were talking about Church and missions and stuff and then you went to seminary and it was just all out there and you were cool with it. Now I am here....and when I walk into class and they are asking someone to give a prayer or I walk into Biology and the teacher goes from talking about what we are going to learn to talking about Alma and Amulek and getting called out by Zeezorm or whoever and talking about how much money a judge made in Nephite Currency and how much the bribe was that Zeezrom was offering Amulek to deny God and all that.....it is a little weird. I heard and knew that they would do stuff like that....because when they went to College Day at my High School in Utah they talked about this kind of stuff like how sometimes they have prayers and all this stuff....but having prayers and talking about testimonies in classes like Biology, Writing Communication, and Visual Media, all in the same day seems a little more than just sometimes to me.

Now I'm not saying I'm all anti-mormon with this stuff because it is cool.....but it is also really strange for me to have to get used to. Something about Nephite Currancy and Biology and Testimonies and getting lead by the spirit in Visual Media don't really seem to add up or really have a connection to me.....yet......

Anyways life here is gonna be interesting....that is all I know....

SO FAR SO GOOD THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wish my luck everyone.

Note To Self... (Day: 3)

2007-09-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so today was an interesting day in that it was the start of our freshmen orientation stuff. I went to bits and pieces of it and it was fun and interesting. P.S. This is probably gonna be one of the shortest posts I do. Ok so anyways to end the night they had a dance for just the freshmen and everything which it was alright, especially in the case of scoping out and trying to meet the cute girls. But anyways, from this dance I discovered 2 things that every future freshmen should know: first off, if you are a freshmen, at a new school, where you don't know loads of people, my suggestion is to not go to the first dance of the year. I discovered this when I went to the first dance at my new high school in Utah but it became more official to me tonight. Unless you have a squad of like 20 friends that you know and that know each other and you go with them to the dance, you end up standing around and only lightly dancing. Now this is fine if you wanna do that and just have fun with the slow dances but for me it doesn't really work. I kinda felt stupid just standing around and not really feeling comfortable to dance like I would at like a Family Camp Dance or a Lone Peak High Dance and all that just because I dunno that many people here and didn't feel comfortable.

Ok so Rule #1 Don't go to first dance unless you have a huge squad of friends to go with.

So then here is my next discovery I made: When you see a cute girl or girls, make sure you just always have your eye on them, don't like stock them or anything but don't get distracted by things like text messages either. I found this cute girl who was dressed up all nice and her hair too and her friends all did the same thing, and so I wanted to ask to a slow song and was hoping one was coming up soon. Well I got a text message from a friend in Utah and so I look down and write back and then look up to see if I can still see that girl and she was gone. I ran around to try and find her but with no luck. I looked and looked and couldn't find her and the slow song came and I didn't dance with anyone and so that didn't work out.

My track record for the first dance of the year was Makes: 0, Attempts: 1, Slow Songs: 2

I actually asked a girl who told me flat out No, it was sad but whatever.

Anyways so Rule #2: If you wanna ask a girl to a slow song, make sure you know where she is, but don't like stock or spy on her and creep her out in some weird way.

Anyways so that was my Day 3 and First Dance.....which wasn't all that successful.

But whatever....it's the beginning of school and classes haven't even started....life is pretty good so far.

BYU-Idaho (Day: 1)

2007-09-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Well after waking up an hour later than expected and driving 4 hours by myself with all my stuff in the little 2005 Colorado Truck with nothing but my iPod playing me Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of my old Lone Peak Radio Hours, and some other music. It was still a fun little trip! Anyways so I am finally at BYU-I and am finally in Rexburg, so now I can finally write blogs about life up here. And what better way than to start out with DAY 1!!!!!! So after getting through the heart ache of leaving my Mom and my Dad, Paula, and my family, then waking up at 7 am instead of 6 am and driving for 4 hours by myself with my specially made scotcheroos from Grandma Hutchings and calling my mom and dad every once and a while because of my excitement and them calling me just to see how I'm doing and for my dad....telling me where he is as he is trailing behind me on the way up, I made it. So I get here and first off I get lost. I got thrown off because the road infront of my dorm is blocked by road and other construction. So I go up the road towards the main info. hall only to see that it didn't look like that was where I had to be. So I backtrack to this little parking lot that I saw people going into and it looked like people were telling them where to park and everything. Well when I get there....nobody is there to tell you where to park but people are going in and parking. So I decided to go in and park and see what is up. So I get in and right when I do, I see a friend of mine from Lone Peak High there, so I get out and say hi and then walk off to the Hall that I'm next to. I look around and see people sitting there with little tables with all the resident stuff and so I go up to them. They say Hi and ask me if I'm a resident here. I tell them I have no clue, so they ask for my name which I give them and then they find me and give me my resident stuff, so I was in that hall. So they guide me from the table of where I go, and I head off. My room is #223 which I figured, and I think they told me, was on the second floor and then I just followed the numbers all the way to #223. I pull out the key and start working at it and after I get in and go to turn it....the door is pulled open and my roommate happens to already be there. The kid's name is Andrew and he's from Washington D.C. and he is a freshmen. From just talking a little...the kid seems cool to me and I'm happy that he ends up being a freshmen and everything, because I was worried about that, and appearently he was too. So after a while I run off to get some stuff, call Mom and Dad and tell them about the info. I get on my roommate, Dad tells me they are about 30 minutes or so out so I start grabbing stuff and bringing it up. I make 2 trips and by the time I get back for the 3rd, Dad and Paula show up and help me with the last load. They go up with me and meet my roommate and help me with my stuff like my computer and everything. We unpack here and there and try and figure everything out. Once that is done I start realizing that I am smelling a little bad from all the carrying and sweating and stuff and Dad and Paula do too which they weren't all that happy about. The thing that sucks is like I threw on Deoderant in the morning but I guess all they deoderant that I got sucked so bad that they wore off in like seconds and so we had a problem. So since I ran out of deoderant and needed some other things, Dad and Paula decided to help guide me to get my BYU card and then we were gonna run to Wal-Mart or wherever and get some supplies of toiletries and they they would have to bail so they could run back to Utah to make it to Hayley Cowdell's Pre-Wedding Reception. Well when we get to the main hall we find that the I-Card place is closed for some reason, so we try and figure out what I am gonna do about food, so we go to the food people and they tell us if I just give them my BYU # they'll give me food and stuff. So we walk out and run to town. We end up stopping at Walgreen's and Dad and Paula see that they have to leave. So they leave me and I go in to do all the shopping. I get my stuff and go back to my dorm to finish all my unpacking and get cleaned up.

So when I get in my roommate tells me about how him and his friends are gonna go into Idaho Falls for stuff so I offer to drive there. After I unpack and change and everything is set, we took off to go hang out with his friends over at a different apartment building. Well his friends end up being some of the apartment workers who are just getting off for the day. They decided to clean up a little and my roommate gets hungry so we leave to go find what food there was around town. We go up Main Street and then get to a "T" intersection and then go down that road and end up finding a Jack In The Box. They had like Taco Bell, Gandolfo's, Dominoe's, Pizza Hut, and other stuff along the way but I hadn't been to a Jack In The Box since we were coming home from Family Camp so I decided we'd go there. So we go there and get little burgers and then head back to his friend's place. They are all done and we go run out the door. His friends get in one car and we get in my Colorado and take off to Idaho Falls. When we get there we stop by this shopping center which is kind of like a Costco or maybe more like a Sam's Club but it wasn't either of them. It was called something like Wally's Co. or something weird. My roomy said it was like Wal-Mart but not so. Anyways we go in and my roomy gets some things and I get some Roasted Sunflower Seeds like the ones Paula gets for Hawaiian Haystacks and some Butter for my popcorn maker stuff and a pair of sunglasses. So when we pay my roomy offers to pay and I just pay his back 1/2 way which after he bought I quickly paid him back from the money I had in my pocket. Then after everyone got done shopping we went to the Mall to see what it was like. The mall there is a lot like University Mall except smaller and with a little less stores in there, but my roomy and his friends end up going to this place called GNC and looking around at all these vitaimins and stuff, the even cooler thing is my roomy seems to know all the good stuff along with one of his friends who I guess is majoring in Biology and then his other friend worked at a health food store. So we get some stuff called Men's Mega Men which is supposed to be like vitaimins that like have a lot of stuff to help make your muscles stronger and have other good healthy stuff too, and all those guys said it was good and everything. So they get like these big 3-Month lasting packs and I got this little, maybe, 2 week pack because it was $9 and the 3-Month thing was like $30 or so. Well also while I'm there I start asking them about some of this weight losing stuff because I had been saying all summer how once I got to Idaho I was gonna look for this kind of stuff. Well my roomy shows me all these things that he says would work and are GNC made and all that but they are like $30 and I didn't want to spend so much money so quickly, so I decided I'd come back for them some other time and everything and my roommate said he was gonna help me out in working out at the GYM and losing some weight. Well after we get done there my roommate and I decide to check out this costume place that we saw on the way to GNC, so we go cruise it and I go look around in there for a Knight Costume because I wanna do this Monty Python costume but I didn't find anything and then we decided that we wanted to leave.

So we left and came back to our dorm to watch some of the college football that was on the tele and everything and then after that we went to bed, which by then it was like 1:30 for me when I fell asleep and that was because I was writing in my journal and everything. I met some cool people in my hallway and my friend from Lone Peak is on my same hallway and then that was it. The people in the dorm across the hall I'm cool with and they have a 360 and we played a little Halo 2 also yesterday and everything. So everything here is a little weird to me still but cool. Last night I felt like at around 10 pm I should just be getting in my car and driving back hom but I knew I wasn't supposed to and everything so. But yeah so life is good and now I'm all in and everything. There are cute girls here and I'm just going day by day. And now when anything cool happens I'll jump on here and write....or just when I wanna tell about things that happened over the week, I'll write in here too....kinda like a journal but not.

Wish my luck on the new College life and I hope you guys enjoy reading my stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DON'T FEED THE....Buffalo!?

2007-08-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm still not in Idaho but this is a post of our trip to Yellowstone which I found out is close to Rexburg so I think it should count for something. Plus I wanted to talk about this trip and another trip that I took but the other trip I took I am gonna see if I can talk about after I get some pictures from it from my Aunt. We'll see. Anyways so my family and I went to Yellowstone for a Family Reunion on my mom's side. It was actually a fun and interesting trip although I suggest that if you are going to go see Old Faithful and wanna take pictures and stuff of it...don't do it at night.

Anyways so to just start our trip my mom, my sister, Casey, my 3rd oldest brother, Bryan, my brand new baby niece of about 6 months, Dotty, and I drove to the cabins my uncle was renting about 20 minutes outside the park...or amybe it was more, I honestly can't remember. Anyways so after about an 8 hour trip that should have been like 5 hours, with some stops at the Idaho Falls LDS Temple (I'm Mormon but I say LDS incase someone that isn't Mormon is reading this), Sonics in Idaho Falls for Shakes, BYU-Idaho Campus (my mom wanted to see it), the Rexburg LDS Temple (which looked more complete than the last time I saw it which was December 2006), and the gocery store in Rexburg (to get supplies for lunches for one of the days we were out there) we finally made it and just chilled out and hung with the family. Then later that night we went to go see Old Faithful, which was pretty sweet, and that was about it. We saw a Buffalo and a couple of Elk along the way. It was cool because one Elk we saw looked like a Doe so I guess it was a Female Elk (which I have no clue if it has a different name like a Female Deer does) and it was cool because I ended up being like 4 feet away from it and it had like a little tracker around it's neck.

Then on day 2, I was woken up by my family about going on a little cruise up a hill and then go canoeing. So I got up and got dressed and we went up this hill to check out the area and take pictures of us standing infront of this giant black soccerball looking thing which could have been a little telescope tower thingy but I am not at all sure what it really was. My almost 3 year old nephew Miles kept calling it a giant soccerball which it really did look like one. Anyways after that my eldest brother, Darin, and I drove over to this house where we ran into my unlce and aunt and some cousins who just went canoeing down the same river we were gonna go down. We went and helped load the canoes and went to where the launched off. We waited for out family which all came but my sister-in-law, Mary and Dotty that drove up with us, Dotty. They decided they didn't want to come which was probably a smart thing on her part. So we launch the canoes and just everyone picks a canoe and goes which ended up being my mom, Bryan, and I in one, my 4th oldest brother, Cory, and Casey in one, Darin and his wife, Suzy, and 2 kids, Daphne and Miles, in one, and my 2nd oldest brother, Dusten, and his wife, Nicole, with their 8 month old baby, Oliver, in her arms in the last. (this is Dusten and Nicole's version of this story if you wanna read it: http://loslesueur.blogspot.com/2007/08/good-ol-faithful.html) Anyways as we launched we noticed a little storm coming in but didn't think of it as being a huge deal. So we went and had fun, splashed each other, and I ate my lunch because everyone decided to eat lunch before coming on this little canoe adventure but I didn't and neither did Darin because we were the ones getting the canoes. So we went and went and Dusten and Nicole were a little far behind since he was the only one paddling because Nicole was holding Oliver so she couldn't really paddle. Well after a while that storm we saw ended up coming at us and it came in full fury. First it was light rain and we were like "Big deal!" and kept going. Then it turned into heavy rain which we decided to pull over and right as we hit land it turned to hail. We did everything we could to get shelter and have everyone happy. In the end though everyone was miserable and soaked except Dusten, Nicole, and Oliver. Dusten ended up taking the canoe and proping it up really quick while the rest of us were kind of runniny around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to figure out what to do next. The funny part of this whole thing though was that Oliver was just chilling out and having fun and seemed to be like "Oh this is no big deal!" and he just sat there all happy and curious while Miles and Daphne were as miserable as miserable can be. Miles was all wet and crying and was just hating the part of being in the rain. I just stood out in the open because I was all wet and cold anyway and figured there wasn't anything else I could do. Luckily I have a swimming suit on but my shirt was so soaked.

Finally after a while as the rain finally started calming down we decided to get back in the canoes and try and make it back before the rain started again. Dusten and my mom decided it would be better to go help out him and his family out in their canoe since I wasn't really helping in my Mom's and Bryan's canoe, and so they kicked me out of their canoe and put me in with Dusten. We went as fast as we could and after 30 or so minutes of canoeing and our arms and shoulders slightly hurting we made it to our destination, it was supposed to take like an hour and a half to get done but we just blew through everything so we wouldn't get stuck in the storm again if it decided to start up again, and pulled the canoes to shore and went home. Once we got home we decided to go jump in the jacuzze that was at the cabins. We were in there for a while till it was almost too hot to bare. Then we just chilled out and did whatever till people got done doing their stuff and got back and then we had a big BBQ with all of our relatives and everyone and then after that I went to my cabin to play some Wii cause one of my cousins brought his up to sell to another cousin and everything.

So our 3rd day was Sunday and that day pretty much everyone went home. All my cousins went home and everything while all my family and an unlce and his family went to a church service in town. It was interesting becuase this church had the building and then like a visitor building seperate of it which had a projector that was showing what was going on in the main building. So we went to that and then went back to the cabin and got dressed and went into the park again. The picture I have in here is a picture my mom took for me at a gas station that we stopped at in West Yellowstone. If any of you know Dusten and the pictures him and my brother Bill took, like the one I took and am showing at the top of this post, on our family crusie we took back in 2005 to the Caribbean you might get a good kick out of my picture. Yeah, Dusten started it and I stole the idea of it but I had to do this....it was so tempting to do. Anyways after getting stuff at the gas station like gas...we went into the park and saw more Elk...at least I think. Someone was calling them Mule Deer or something which I dunno if there is really a difference because they looked like the same 4 legged deer looking creatures we saw on the first day and when we first went into the park but whatever. Anyways we also stopped at some little geyser park places and then ended up at Old Faithful in time to see it go off. After that we decided to leave and Darin and his family decided to leave back to Utah from the park while Dusten and Cory and their families decided to go back to the Cabin with us and then leave from there back to Utah with their families. My mom, Casey, Bryan, and I stayed one more night just to leave the following morning to go home.

On the way home we stopped in Idaho Falls again to check out their museum there because on the way up we say that they had part of the Dead Sea Scrolls there and Bryan and my mom were way into that stuff. So we were there for a while and then ate at a deli and then went home and that was the end of our trip.

Sorry if that was a bit of a long post. You catch on after a while that I am a really deep and descriptive person when it comes to stories which works for me because I love to write stories and stuff. Anyways I have one more post I'll do probably, before I am officially up there in Idaho for school, which is of my last year at Family Camp until I get back from my LDS mission (I turn 19 in January and unless by luck they don't need me to go out till the end of August or Sepetmber after I turn 19, then this year was my last year at Family Camp)

But I am gonna try and hold out on writing that post till I get pictures from my aunt that she took but we'll just see what happens because she might not get around to giving us those pictures till December so...anyway whatever works out I'll just do. Hope you enjoyed reading this post. And I hope you guys enjoy reading all the post I right on here....but if you don't....that's cool....just don't tell me about it because I won't care. Anyways that's it!!!!! Peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting the Ball Rolling

2007-07-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm Brady or Braden....whichever you prefer to call me....and this is going to be the start of my blog....well at least just the first post. I'll post more but not until I am officially up at BYU-Idaho for school which won't be until sometime around the beginning of September. School starts on the 12th but if I can I might go up a little early. So anyways more about me can be found anywhere such as the following websites:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=2720153
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wD9iz4mavBw
http://youtube.com/watch?v=L8IxMcF8d2k
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-C6KoSVbTVU

Then for all Laker fans out there and to find more about me in a way:

http://www.clublakers.com/

So and then finally these are my family's blogspots and picasa picture files:

http://www.donnaysfamily.blogspot.com/
http://dottydottydotdot.blogspot.com/
http://www.loslesueur.blogspot.com/
http://www.ddhutchingsfamily.blogspot.com/
http://adayinthelifeoftheprestons.blogspot.com/
http://picasaweb.google.com/dslesueur
http://picasaweb.google.com/m.lesueur
http://picasaweb.google.com/donnayh

And pictures and the webiste of a annual trip we do every first week of August aka Family Camp:

http://picasaweb.google.com/LDSFamilyCampPhotos
http://ldsfamilycamp.com/

And that is it. So enjoy this little first post for now just as an intro and everything. Once I get up to Idaho and everything I'll post all about life up there and just experiences and stories and anything else fun and creative I can do or did or whatever. Anyways....that's basically it!!!!!!!!!