Music and Lyrics

Dear Readers, Happy 100th post on this blog. I'm sure you have enjoyed every single thought that has ever crossed my mind during these babbling times, but don't get too excited that today is the 100th. What an appropriate day to have a historic post such as this: Memorial Day. Now, Memorial Day may not mean a whole lot to me, but I respect other's feelings towards it without a doubt. The reason it doesn't mean as much in my life? Well, plenty of people around here have relatives in the military and especially loved ones lost while in the line of duty, thus the origin of the holiday. The only person relatively close to me in Military service(so far as I'm aware) happens to be my Grandpa. The one I never knew. He died before I was born, but not before serving in the second World War. My brother carries on his name because he was the first grandchild to be born after he died back in the '80s. Don't get me wrong, I love this holiday. Who wouldn't be grateful

Dear Readers, The time is coming for life to change drastically. Already the effects have been showing up that some people will be leaving each other's lives for a long time or possibly for the rest of their lives. Graduation takes place this next week, followed a few hours later by a "Last Night" party for seniors. As mentioned before, I will miss a few aspects of high school and whatever else is ending around here. For many other things, they can easily come to an end. Some classes that have no point will not be missed at all. Unfortunately, some changes are not fun. People get stressed and sometimes life just ends up being a rough go-around.

Dear Readers, Here I have a wonderful scripture found in a mild perusing of the Book of Mormon the other day: "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the a trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and acome unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth." - Alma 29:1-2

Dear Readers, Never before have I been so excited. Assuming everything goes as planned, my mission papers will go in this week. I had an interview with the Stake President this morning and I am both looking forward and feeling scared by going on a mission. I know missions test the integrity of the most worthy people, and yet I can't wait to experience the difficulty. Let's see where I get called!

Dear Readers, In 2nd Nephi, there is a verse in Chapter two that states: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be compounded in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibilty." The first part of the verse I consider most important because certainly no one trait or way of life can take sovereignty over all others. Faith cannot exist when no doubt exists. For what is faith when doubt doesn't show itself? Having that in mind, many things have been happening lately. Having something you want on your mind has never been a bad thing. Its what you do about it that makes it bad. If one thing you want seems to make others unhap

Dear Readers, I have written about rain before, but I don't believe I mentioned one of my favorite aspects about it. Listening to it can calm just about any emotion. With rain as background noise, a person can picture great situations that are like memories from the future. Just tonight, after our band concert, I pulled into our driveway and sat there for a good ten minutes just listening to the rain, first pounding on the roof of the car and later merely sprinkling on it. My thoughts went something like this: Just getting home from the concert, I thought about the recognition given to those who received it tonight. It was our senior night, comparable to any sport that honors their seniors on their last game. I am so proud of the seniors we've had this year. We've had so much fun: on tour, at concerts and even performing at festivals. I received an award from our instructor called the "Director's Choice" award. I feel very honored that Mr. Bateman thought to g

Dear Readers, I'd just like to take the time to say that I can turn my textbooks in on thursday if I feel so inclined. Thus, the school year is coming to a close and we can start celebrating and drawing everything to a close. :) Yipee! Go world!

Dear Readers, In no way do I support Brittany Spears, but her song "You drive me crazy" so accurately describes this week that the catchy tune has been stuck in my head. Maybe I'll have to think of another song like "Crazy Train." Getting to the point, this week brings a lot of action for me and everyone else. First off, I have to share the most exciting news of my week. I am officially an member of one the largest fraternities on this earth: the Melchezidik Priesthood. That's right, on Sunday I was sustained in stake conference and then ordained an elder later in the afternoon. It may seem obvious, but I feel this overwhelming sense of more responsibility. Whatever the case, I feel really great. :) This week brings many a final meeting for various groups as our high school career comes to an end. Tomorrow is our last band concert of the year, during which all the seniors will be recognized for their participation in the instrumental music program. Our Jazz

Dear Readers, I don't understand a lot of things. Most people think I'm smart, but I'm really not. My favortite description of this conundrum was supplied by one of my friends, most likely Morgan(It was on a paper they all wrote on, so I don't know who wrote it). Anyway, it said something along the lines of, "Dale always seems to know what he's talking about. Even when he doesn't know, he seems to." Now I ask you, "Will you teach me?" I am always eager to learn. Well, try to be eager. It brightens up the day when knowledge becomes known to someone in the world. Whether it be a breakthrough in biochemistry or simply something learned about a friend, knowledge brightens things immensely. Winston Churchhill said, "I am always ready to know more, but I'm not always ready to learn." "Share what you know. You never know when someone else may know something that might help."

Dear Readers, If ever you are hestitant to say something because it may come across the wrong way, don't say what's on your mind unless you are planning to have a good discussion about it so the other person knows what you mean. If ever you are trying to say something funny, but the thought really isn't that funny, also restrain yourself. I, for one, know how stupid you can feel afterward. "watch your thoughts, words and deeds." Mosiah 4:30

Dear Readers, Today marks one of the first days in a long time that all the family has been home on normal timeline. Curtis is home from USU for the summer and working; Holly came over to visit and watch videos; Cami and Jessie are staying with us while he is working on something in Salt Lake and Maddie made herself right at home the past couple of days. Dad has been working late this week, probably to relieve stress. Ironic, right? Holly is becoming an expert witness in tax court cases and curtis now works for the census. We are an odd family. Bryce excitedly tells us about CRTs and how easily he breezes through them. Yes, our family busily travels fast. We get things done and of course we have fun doing it.

Dear Readers, Take one moment in your life. Any moment, no matter how large or small. Try to remember every detail you can about that moment. If you think about it, there are many details that could mean a thousand different things. Something someone said: what did they mean? What was going through their head? Something that occured: what caused it? How does it affect you? Questions like these can drive a person crazy if thought about enough.

Dear Readers, Happy 129th Mother's day of this year! Yep, that's right. I've decided that mothers need to be celebrated every day and not just one day every year. So here's to all you mothers out there: Here's to the mothers whose children have odd friends that come over and eat all their food. Here's to the mothers who work tirelessly to make their homes run smoothly, including cooking cleaning and all other forms of home-making. Here's to the mothers go to countless preformances for their children, whether the children want them there or not. Here's to the mothers who are marvelously talented and share their talents with their kids. Here's to the mothers who put up with husbands, whether they're annoying or the best husband on the planet(yes, you have to put up with them, too). Here's to the mothers who let friends stay over late and bring them into debates over the validity of Chuck Norris as a world leader. Here's to the mothers who s

Dear Readers, Happy times have come! All my friends are done with AP tests for the year and we can start to party for the duration of May. I'd never thought I'd would have such blissful feelings about tests ending, but I have to admit that it ranks among my favorite things right now. So let's party and enjoy our time! :)

Dear Readers, Have you ever experienced a night where it seems you didn't sleep, even though you did? I believe it goes a little like this: One goes to bed thinking about something, whether good or bad. Laying in bed, they drift off to sleep, still thinking about that particular subject. The don't realize they are asleep because their dreams are almost exactly what they had been thinking about. Waking up doesn't matter because the dreams will just translate back to thoughts. Needless to say, it's odd to wake up the next morning in the same position and think that you haven't slept. It makes you feel tired even though sleep was all you needed.

Dear Readers, I don't know if you have experienced the most annoying thing in the world in your lives: hiccups. I can assure you there are very few things that exist in this world that match their obnoxious nature. If you have any feedback on how to get rid of them, it would be greatly appreciated. On a different note, other things can have a similar nature to hiccups. Like annoying people. You know when they are coming around and exactly what you will feel when they do, but you are never really prepared for it. Likewise, certain situations are like hiccups. Like dentist appointments. You will experience them, but you never like them(my apologies to those aspiring dentists out there). My health class is another one of those hiccup situations. You know you aren't going to accomplish anything, yet we go to get a good grade and graduate high school. Yes, hiccups are annoying. Better get accustomed to them.

Dear Readers, I've had an awesome week trying to get my wisdom teeth out. I'll let you in all the whole story(Just FYI, these are not my teeth): About a month ago, I scheduled an appointment with my dentist to just come in, get all numbed up and get all of them out and get back to normal life. That appointment was this last Wednesday, April 28. After the dentist numbed up my lips and gums, he gave me the release forms saying I understand the possible outcomes of getting the teeth out. While reading that over, I felt sick. They laid me back in the chair and I felt fine, so he continued on with the extraction. Almost 5 minutes in, when the dentist had about half a tooth out, I felt real queasy again. He then decided that I should go to an oral surgeon and be put to sleep while getting my teeth removed. It apparently made it easier. Why he didn't recommend that in the first place? No one knows. I went home that day and it was difficult to eat anything with my mouth still numb(