“One is Silver and the other Gold”

"Make new friends, but keep the old...One is Silver and the other Gold!"

The past two days I've gotten to spend time with some of the "Gold" in my life and celebrate their birthdays.

Friday Night I went to Olive Garden with Frank and Sabrina for Sabrini's Birthday! I can't believe she's married and 6 months pregnant. Her little baby belly is sooo cute! And it was so nice to spend time with her and Frank!

Last night Andrea and I went to P.F. Changs with Gabe for his birthday! Again he's married and has a baby! I'm noticing a pattern here…LOL! I wish that Holly and Reagan could have come too. I guess I'm really grateful and lucky that my old friends seem to marry awesome people who fit right in.

I have so many good memories with both Gabriel and Sabrina! Fun and fights, laughing and crying, serious talks and silly talks- isn't that what friendship is all about!? And even though I don't get to see them every day, there are little things throughout my daily routines that bring to remembrance how much I love them—not just them, but all of the "Gold" in my life!

"The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best token we have of a man's success in life."
- Edward Everett Hale

I think I am truly a rich man to already have so much "Gold" I believe the saying….

"Friends are God's way of taking care of us."

Ode to The Forest Lab

Have you been inside The Forest?

There is something hidden there!

Bombarded by sights, sounds, and smells mixed together between shadows and light

It can be overwhelming, exhilarating; a new experience.

In the land of the land The Forest can embrace both predators and prey—it is no respecter of persons!

The Forest can take in theories, and ideologies

It can take in style and diversity

And like a controlled experiment it can mix and blend these trees of thought and form a new entity

This is the laboratory WE choose!

Both Ancient as days yet new as the morning—The Forest spawns new life.

The Forest will take in your history, your culture, your intuition

And give them new meaning, new context—reinvent them.

The Forest can only be understood from the inside.

The trees, the shadows, the rustle of leaves—only have as much meaning as you let them

And while The Forest will endure, Its creations—it’s experiments—are limited in number

Have you been inside This Forest Lab?

The Forest Lab is growing!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Merging Monday brings thoughts of Sunday

Isn't it funny how the simplest things can often cause you to reflect upon a deeper life lesson? Well that's what happened this morning.

Every morning I make the long drive to work from Murrieta to Santa Fe Springs. Sometimes I carpool with my dad, which makes the commute shorter, but today I drove by myself!

Getting onto the 91 freeway from the 15 can be quite a chore, depending on the amount of cars and whether people remember how to merge that day. Lol!

As I sat on the onramp- dead stopped- I looked down and could see that the westbound freeway was barely moving of at all while the eastbound freeway had hardley anyone on it! I thought to myself, "Geez, the smart people are the ones who commute the opposite direction from the rest of the world!"

That's when it hit me:

If we move in the same direction as the world our spiritual progress ceases! We become stuck in a traffic jam that retards our celestial nature! However, if we move in the opposite direction of the world, we will have the freedom to progress at our own pace- fast or slow!

I think this could be one of the reasons Elder Eyring admonishes us this month to have moral courage! He says:

"One of the purposes of mortal life is to prove to God that we will keep His
commandments when that takes courage. We passed that test in the spirit world.
But a third of the hosts of heaven rebelled against the proposal that they be
tested in a mortal existence where there was a risk that they would fail."

"Before we were born, we knew God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ,
personally. We could see Them and listen to Them as They taught and encouraged
us. Now a veil has been placed over our minds and memories. Satan, the father of
lies, has an advantage because we must see the reality of who we are through the
eyes of faith, while our bodies make us subject to carnal temptation and to
physical weakness."

"We have great helps to give us courage in this
life. The greatest is the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

He continues by saying we also have spiritual gifts, the Holy Ghost, and the priesthood to help us be courageous.

Yesterday, I shared the lyrics of a song performed by Musical Truth, and written by Jolene Kanahele, entitled "Courage"

"Courage is doing what's right
In th prescense of fear
It takes courage
to do what I should when no one else is near
Courage is my way of saying
I will follow thee
When the world walks out on me"

We can find the courage we need to move the opposite direction of the world by relying on our Father in Heaven. Elder Eyring concludes:

"God has given us more than enough help to banish fear and give us courage, whatever we may face in life. As we reach out for His help, He can lift us toward that eternal life we seek."


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Locked out: A tragic story of nudity, time loss, and desperation

Recently I have been attempting to go to the gym in the mornings. I'm no where near perfect at it, but the mornings I do usually go so much smoother than the mornings I don't.

On a gym day, my morning routine consists of waking up, driving there, exercising for 30 minutes, sitting in the sauna for 15, showering and getting dressed for the day, and then driving home. At home I then have time to eat breakfast and read my scriptures before I leave for work! Let me tell you how awesome it feels to do this on a daily basis.

Well this morning, everything was going well. I had a doctor's appointment at 8:45 and knew I would be going in to work late today, so I decided to stay longer at the gym. Feeling good about the way the morning was going, I posted a status on face book that said just what a good morning I was having. At this point I put my phone in my locker and got ready to get in the shower. Out of instinct more than rational thought, I locked my locker. No sooner had I heard the click of the lock that I realized my keys were inside. Actually everything was inside!

So there I was- standing there in a towel, with nothing but my shampoo and bodywash- completely alone in the locker room! I could hear the clanking of weights and the chatter of early morning exercisers at the end of the hallway that leads into the men's locker room-just beyond my reach.

Luckily after about 20 minutes- which seemed like forever- someone finally came into the locker room and I was saved! Lol! He went and got the guy at the front desk, who came back and cut my lock for me! Both men got a good chuckle out of it!

All in all- I guess not too bad! Lol. But now I need a new lock!




-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

TFL T-Shirt Sale!

The Forrest Lab is having a sale that ends this week! So act fast! Many shirts are just $10 and I think there's a special buy 1 get 1 free for Mediums and Smalls.

Check it out:

www.theforestlab.com

http://www.theforestlab.com/store/home.php

Garrett and Troy have worked really hard and their company is way cool!

Josh has been getting EXTREMELY involved with TFL, and I hope to be doing more in the future too.

But take advantage of the sale while it lasts!