House Pictures

Gutted, but this is the idea. Read the real blog below, too!



The outside.


The Master Bedroom


Kitchen Pantry


Kid's Bedroom.


Bathroom.


Kitchen.


Living Room.

Los Guachimontones

Well on Thursday we were able to go to the Guachimontones. It was so much fun and pretty cool to imagine what happened there. For those who don't know about the Guachimontones, it is a location in Jalisco, Mexico. They are a series of circular pyramids created either 1000 B.C. or 300 B.C. The tour guide and Wikipedia were in disagreeance on that. At any rate, I zoned out a few times while I was there. There wasn't much to look at. It was cool and all, but my zoning out was thinking of the people that created these pyramids and this culture. After much thought I realized that it was probably the Jaredites in their migration to the north. It was so cool. I can't express that enough how amazing it was to be there and to know that. The archeologists haven't decided who was the group of people, except that they were an ancient people to this area. Of course, but luckily I know! And even if it wasn't the Jaredites, it would still be the Nephites or the Lamanites. But I doubt that by 300 B.C. the Nephites or Lamanites would have migrated so far north by that point. It was so cool. I'm excited to go there again with my parents and be able to discuss things out loud as opposed to in my head. Tomorrow we are going to Guanajuato, another ancient city. I'm excited to go there, too.

In other notes, Onna and I found a place to live! At first the rent was a little more than we wanted to spend, but I called the owner and explained it to him and he was fine with the rent that we wanted. It was nice, and it was exciting for us. The cool thing is that it is an old house, but an entirely new inside. He gutted the whole house and will put in all brand new appliances. We are excited. It feels like its a house that we built. Onna will move in there on June 1 more or less in preparation for our wedding at the end of July. How exciting!

Ok okay, I'm sorry.

It's so hard to blog when you keep meaning to and you always think that today will be the day, but instead more things just pile on that you think you should blog about and, eventually, it becomes so great a task that you just fight it all the way to the end. This is what happened to me. Of course a lot has happened in the last month, but the more that happened the more that piled and I just knew it was going to be too great a task for an ordinary man. Since I last posted I have received somewhat of a calling in my ward. It isn't a calling because I won't be around long enough to have it be known as a calling, but it is an assignment. My assignment is to attend mutual and help out with the Young Men. What a great assignment that has been! I love it! I love the young men, it's so fun to feel their spirits. Mutual is on a Friday night, so it is no easy task, but nevertheless, these guys come and enjoy themselves all night. And afterwords everyone plays soccer (of course). So far I have attended two mutuals. The first one the boys all brought in food they cooked themselves and we ate and we also learned how to iron correctly. The second one was watching Mormons and Mafia. Good movie. I have really enjoyed myself in that. Speaking of my ward, it has the youngest ward leadership I've ever heard of. The Bishop is early 30s, the Elder's Quorum President is 24, the Young Men's President is 21, the Young Women's President is 20. I am unsure of the HP and RS, but the counselors in each of these organizations (minus the Bishopric) are the same age, so it is very young. I like it though. School has been interesting. It has turned out to be quite easy. I am making straight A's without doing much studying. My days mostly consist of watching Seinfeld and surfing the Internet. In fact, the three seasons I brought of Seinfeld were all completed and I was lost, so I decided to buy the rest of the series. That's fun. I watch a few episodes a day. I actually saw an episode yesterday that I had never seen. It was a miracle! Jerry, George, and Elaine all decide to do some volunteer work. I'd never seen it. But it's cool to see the order of the episodes and how things happened in the series. I've also been watching quite a bit of sports. I was an avid watcher of the World Baseball Classic. The USA did good this time, but they still lost and tied for third, which is alright considering they got eighth last time. We haven't been on any trips in Mexico since I last posted. We were going to go to Guanajuato but Jill lost her wallet the day before so we were unable to go. We are going this weekend instead. And tomorrow we are going to Guachimontones. It's an archeological site. Wikipedia has some good info on it with pictures. Although I didn't travel around Mexico I did go home again for a weekend. Boy was that some trip. I got in on Thursday, Onna picked me up and we drove to Columbia to show the boys the temple. Christian had seen it before, but we weren't sure that Ethan had. It was a positive experience for them both I think. The purpose of going was to talk about eternal families and how mommy and daddy were going to go there and how they were going to go in a year with us. We also attempted to teach them to call me dad. Ethan picked it right up. He loved the idea of us being a family. Christian was not so fortunate. Actually, he refused to talk about it and walked away. Onna took him as I took Ethan and we each talked to them. Christian actually took it much worse than expected. He cried. Some welcoming! Oh well, he'll come around. It doesn't make me lose my excitement at all. On Friday night Kyle and MaryEllen came to Hartsville and we were able to hang out. We ate dinner first. I ate 50 chicken nuggets from McDonalds. Onna and I had a bet and she thought I couldn't do it. No one did. I proved them all wrong. And they knew that if I did do it I would be in a terrible mood the rest of the night. Not so! We were rockin' out to Guitar Hero all night. I surprisingly didn't get to much like a blob. In fact, I was able to bounce around playing Guitar Hero and wrestling later. I wasn't hungry for breakfast on Saturday though. We got up early and went to Ikea. Onna and I bought a good bit of stuff. We bought 4 chairs, a kitchen table, and a sofa. The ride home was interesting trying to fit everything in the truck. Onna and I were so squished in the back seat of the Tundra. We stopped at Wal Mart and I bought exactly what Kyle told me to buy--the biggest tarp they have. Well it was in fact WAY too big. It was 20' by 30'! It was a comfortable ride home from there on out. On Sunday we drove to the airport for me to return. Sad day. It was such a long trip home, though! We got to Charlotte and it was pouring, the planes were delayed. I didn't take off until 5:30, I missed my connection home in Atlanta and so from Atlanta I flew to Los Angeles and from Los Angeles to Guadalajara. I arrived at 5:30am instead of 8:30pm the night before. On top of that, my bag was gone. It didn't make it. How sad! Luckily we didn't have school on Monday, but even Tuesday I didn't have my bag until after school (luckily) and so I went without deodorant on Tuesday. And my contacts were in from Sunday morning until Tuesday night. They were burning. But all is well again. Onna and I have been avidly searching for a place to live come June. Hartsville doesn't have a lot to offer, but we are searching. We found a great place we love but it is just barely out of our price range so we'll see. While Onna was out looking in a neighborhood, my future son decided to unbuckle himself and jump out of the car. He must have done it quick and quiet (premeditated/planned) because Onna looked back and he was seated and next she saw him rolling on the street. What a scary thing! Luckily he's okay and it was a neighborhood road before the speed got up higher. He left with a few scrapes and bruises but is mostly doing just fine. Spring break starts next Friday and goes for two weeks--most of which I'll be spending in Arizona with my sisters. I'm pretty excited to see the Easter Pageant. I will try to write more. It's not like I have an excuse.


Wrestling.


Almost done with my nuggets.



Guitar Hero.


Brown Couch.

Hace mucho!

Well last week seemed to be a blur. Probably because we only had three days of school. Last week I just went on with my normal schedule. I caught completely up with the Office and am now having Office withdrawals because I have to wait for the new episodes. I have curbed that a little by watching my Seinfeld seasons 1-3, but even then, it's not the same! I didn't go to yoga this last week and today I have it again, so I'll probably be sore. Oh well. On Thursday I got up really early and got on a bus to go to Mexico City. What a long journey!! Luckily, and unplanned, I slept the WHOLE way. How nice was that?! The whole 7 hour trip. I did wake up twice and watch an episode of the Office before falling back asleep. On Thursday we arrived, checked in to the hotel, and went downtown touring. There were so many people! We were able to see dug up pyramids that were in shambles and cool stuff like that. We saw the largest church in Mexico, of course Catholic, too. It is so odd to me, and often gruesome, how the crucifix is portrayed. I am in full agreement that Christ died on the cross, but do I have to relive that gruesome scene all the time?! We went to a old church on Saturday and it had paintings up, dried blood on them, dead body with blood stained sheets. It was just gruesome, I walked out. I couldn't stand it! On Friday we were able to go to the archeological museum. That was well worth it. A lot of cool stuff from the Aztecs and the Mayans. We also saw some people "flying" from a pole. I have posted a video. On Saturday we went to see the temple, which was simply amazing, and then we went to see the pyramids of the Sun and of the Moon, which were likewise amazing. I have posted a video of those, too. As always, pictures are on Facebook in the Mexico 4 album. On Saturday as we drove home I didn't sleep nearly as much. I read my book and watched the Office. It was nice to be home. I hated the 7-8 hour bus ride! On Sunday I went to church, sick, but went, and then studied all afternoon while chatting with family. On Monday I didn't do too much, just watched Seinfeld before studying and chatting online. Tomorrow is Mexican Flag Day. I never understood the meaning of flag day, but what do I know??



SO SORRY IT'S SIDEWAYS!!

Lo Siento

Sorry it's been so long. Last week I was busy keeping in a secret that only Onna and my dad knew. I went through my normal days with soccer and yoga and finally on Friday at 6:30am I took off to fly home for the weekend. Onna and I had worked something out less than a week ago to allow this to happen. It was so nice being able to see her again. It had only been a month, but nice, nonetheless. I drove back home in her car and we went to Fuji's, a Japanese restaurant in Hartsville. SO GOOD! After Fuji's I went to Onna's to see the kids. I had missed them too. We played with them by putting marbles down their shirts. Ethan enjoyed it a little more than Christian! After they went down for bed, Onna and I watched movie trailers for the next day (we were going to see a movie) and then before too long the night was over and I drove the truck home. On Saturday I got up and got ready to go. We went to Lawton Park and took pictures (most of which can be found on Facebook). It was so fun to take family pictures and see the place where we'll have our reception. It still feels like so far away though! We are still over 150 days (thanks Eden!). We went to McDonalds for lunch and then put the kids down for a nap before heading off to Florence. We saw the movie Taken. It was such a good movie. It was the second time I had seen it. I saw it a few weeks ago in my class in school. It is already on DVD (legal) in Mexico, but just barely hit theaters in the US. I wonder why. We went to one of my faves, Five Guys. The food took longer than normal to arrive, 20 minutes, and we ate quickly and raced home to surprise my mom and sister of my arrival. Onna dropped me off down the street and went inside my house. I putzed around for a few minutes before entering the house to shocked faces. Did I get a hello? NO! I got a "what are you doing here?!" Oh well, I'll take it. Gracen was happy to see me! I know the other two were too, she just ran up and hugged me! We played Settlers and to no one's surprise, Onna won. She has the best beginners luck of anyone I know! We then played Uno Flash and I won two hands on that before calling it a night. I was SO tired! Sunday was another great day. I got to church a bit early and my dad went and told Will to turn around. He was ecstatic to see me. It was nice to see him too. He's such a great friend. Onna and I sat by her parents because I felt like it was too early to start a bench dual in Hartsville. We'll wait until I'm back from Mexico for that. After church there was a luncheon for Will and then I raced home, packed, and Onna and I were off to Charlotte. We got lost on the way and only got to the airport an hour early, but I got through security and still had over 45 minutes to wait. It was hard leaving, but it all will work out. I almost missed my connecting flight in Houston. I went to McDonalds when they called for boarding and it wasn't taking card, so I went to Schlotzky's Deli and they ran out of bread. I heard my name on the intercom and ran to my plane before they took off. They were suppsoed to leave the gate at 8:55, but we were off the ground at 8:53, they pulled away from the gate about 20 minutes early! I fell asleep on this one. When we got to Guadalajara I raced through customs and was fearful they would search my bag and steal my Mountain Dew, but sure enough, I was searched, but both 12-packs are still in tact! I took a taxi home from the airport. It is nice to be back on the normal schedule, but hard at the same time. Monday I spent most of my time working on a tourism project to encourage people to visit Hartsville. Pretty hard! I used the BlueGrass festival as a selling point and we listened to some music in class on Tuesday. This weekend we go to Mexico City and will see some pyramids!

Miercoles 4 - Sabado 7

Miercoles 4
Today was an okay day. Less running than yesterday! I went to school first and we had that test on my grammar class, but I think I did okay on it. I was done in about 20 minutes, so that’s good. I just got my laptop out and began doing things. I’ve been doing a little bit of wedding planning, just designing the invitations and stuff. That’s been fun. It’s tedious at times, but fun still. I went to soccer today. It’s been a while since I went, but I went today and there were a lot less people there this time. I was able to play right away and got on a team full of Mexicans so we won a lot. I was the goalie, lucky me, right? I barely broke a sweat there, but it was still nice to play. After soccer I did a little bit of studying and watched the Office. I went on a walk tonight too. I didn’t know where I was going, but I just left. I ended up going to Burger King and ate my dinner and read there. It was a nice spot to chill. I came back about an hour later and just hung out in my room. I think I watched the Bourne Supremecy tonight, but not the whole thing. I was beat!
Jueves 5
Today seemed like a Friday again. Probably because I don’t have school tomorrow. I got up and put some final touches on the PowerPoint I made of “My Life” to share with the class in conversation. In my grammar class we got our tests back and I got a 99.5! I knew I did okay on it! We reviewed for the test we have tomorrow that I was going to take after school because tomorrow we are going to Michocan. In my conversation class we all took our oral finals and I got a 100 on that. Afterwards I gave my presentation and the class seemed to enjoy it, as easy of a topic that it was. I had a slide on Coker, my mission, Sonoco, and Onna, in addition to others. The class was so surprised that I was getting married at such a young age. I still have a lot to figure out about the world I guess. At least that’s what they say. Oh well, I’ll do it with Onna! Tonight I just packed and watched the Bourne Supremecy, it was on again. I’m never going to see the full thing. I stayed up late so tomorrow I could sleep all the way to Michocan.
Viernes 6
Well, I got up at 5:30 to leave at 6, to meet Jill and Abby at 6:30. Wow it was early! And I was tired. I’m pretty sick of taking cold showers. I get about 2 minutes of good nice warm showers, so I guess that’s good. I can save water when I get back to the states! I waited for 15 minutes until 6:45 for the car to arrive, but that’s normal Mexican Standard Time, so I was actually early. We got to the bus station and got on our way. They gave us these ham and cheese sandwiches that were so so good! The little joys in life. We then got to Michocan after the 3 hour bus ride and hopped on another to get to our final destination. When we got to the hotel it seemed to be nice. I had a tv, my own bathroom, and the bed was so comfortable! The people were really nice, too. We left right away to go to the island. The island, I would think, would be filled with wealthy people who could afford to have boats, ect. I was wrong. The island was so poor. They did have a cool Statue of Liberty looking thing. We climbed up that, which was kinda scary as you got higher because the space to walk was getting skinnier and skinnier. Oh well. I’m alive. I found a cool few things there and then we headed back to the hotel and rested for an hour before going out for the night. We ate at this place that seemed pretty good. I had enchiladas. We went shoe shopping that night, how fun, and then we came in. I just watched TV and chatted with Onna. What a good time.
Sabado 7
Wow! Today was a long day! I got up at 8:30 and hopped in the shower. It was hot for a few seconds before going ice cold. I was so upset. I went up to breakfast and Jill said her shower had plenty of hot water, so I just went and took a shower in hers. Yes it was scalding, but it was good. We left around 10 to make the “1.5 hour” drive to see the butterflies. We arrived at 1. Little longer, no? We started heading up the mountain. It was such a long hike. I didn’t expect that. It took about 1.5-2 hours to hike up, but we stopped along the way to take pictures, but I was highly disappointed for a good while. I imagined butterflies flying all around you and all I was seeing was a few if I looked good enough. Nevertheless, I continued hiking. We finally came to this open area where we saw hundreds of butterflies. This is more what I had imagined. They told us to continue hiking up to see more. I didn’t believe them. Well, I was wrong. As we continued hiking, thousands of butterflies were flying all around us. The pictures I got were just magnificient. I got a few videos to show the majesty of it all. All the butterflies in Canada and the United States fly down here to deal with the winter. It’s such a majestic show! It took 30 minutes to hike down and then we stopped at the stores and bought stuff before heading on our way. I just went to sleep, but my goodness, there are some big speed bumps in this place! I felt bad for the guy, but he hit so many of them with the bottom of his car. I was just waiting for a pipe to break or whatever. Luckily it didn’t and I went to sleep. I woke up around 7 and we had pulled off the freeway to look for a place to eat. Finally, seriously, finally over an hour later we pulled into this place that the old man knew about and we ate there. It was good food, but man it seemed like he ordered so much. The final total was only about $30, so that wasn’t bad at all. During the whole dinner convo I’m just wanting to get back, Jill too. He made a joke (that wasn’t a joke to him) about how he’s not a talker. Well we were at the restaurant for quite some time! And after dinner we got on the freeway and then he said we had to get ice cream, so we went to get ice cream. It was okay. He was a nice man, I just wanted to get home, but he was just being nice. We finally got home around 11 and I wanted to clean off quick, so I jumped in the shower, cold. The lady turned on the water heater so I could take a shower and I wanted to wait so it could heat up, but Jill and the lady insisted so I got in. It was nice for about two minutes before going ice cold. It was nice while it lasted, though. I just watched Spiderman 2 and then went to bed. What a long day!

Martes 3

Today was a better day. I actually did something. I went to school, of course, and was told in my first class that we'd be having a test the next day. Dang, stinks. Oh well. In my next class we watched a movie, Taken. Wow it was such a good movie! A dad fights for his daughter that was kidnapped, good stuff. I understood most in Spanish, too. I can tell the Spanish is getting a lot better, although I still lack, I'm definetly improving. The words come out naturally now rather than an afterthought of English. After school I raced home and grabbed my clothes. I hopped on the bus to the laundromat, put my clothes in, ran up the hill a few blocks and spoke to Jill for a little bit about random things, and then sent my package to Onna via UPS. PS. Shipping is expensive! Anyways, afterwards I ran back down the hill and changed my laundry, and then sat in there while my clothes dried. After they were done I raced home on the bus, folded them and put them away quickly and then ran to my yoga class. That class is starting to get interesting. I'm really enjoying it! After class I came home and just sat around doing nothing for a few hours before making one last trip around 10pm. It was a nice trip. I met a cool guy along the way that lived in Santa Barbara for 25 years. Anyways, good day.