Tribute to la familia

here it is folks. I wouldn't leave with out doing this post or the next post. But they are two of the very important posts i make. This one is another tribute. Man i love these tributes, they are so great! I feel like this is my chance to declare publicly how happy i am about something or someone. This one goes to my family. and they each get their own piece.

youngest to oldest,
Tim- what a kid. He really is such an example to me. I know he is my little brother now, but he threatens to eat me when i get back from my mission. and for now, its funny, but when it happens I'm sure I'll think otherwise. But seriously, this kid is so awesome. He is so concerned about everyone in the family. He is the glue that holds us together in so many ways. He got me really bad when he said at the last family home evening that "it will be hard not to have a big brother for two years." I started bawling when he said this. it was so bad! But really, From being my Christmas present 10 years ago til what he is now, i can't wait to grow up with him and see him excel in everything he does. I will miss watching his football games but I'm sure I'll hear all about them! well at least i hope i will.

Cassie- What a sweetheart. She is as strong in her spirit as she is in her stature. She will be taller than me when i get home. But she, like Tim, has a heart of gold. Everyone loves her. I've never met anyone that is better with animals than Cassie. She can do things with the pets that i wouldn't be able to do in a million years! Basically everyone loves Cassie, especially the dog. I will miss her a lot too, but i know she has a lot she will accomplish. I hear she is writing a book, and it'll be done when i get back, she is an excellent piano player, and most of all she is a wonderful young woman. A daughter of God. Whom is well pleased with all she is doing!

Heather- wow... sometimes quite a handful. My dad said it best one time when he said that she was blessed with her mom's looks but cursed with her dad's mouth... She is definitely one you want on your team in an argument because if she isn't on your team she will wear you out til its not even fun to argue anymore. She is so sweet too. She is stubborn til she gets her way but even if she doesn't get what she wants, she is still a sweetheart on the inside. Everyone loves to meet her, and she loves to meet everyone. It works out perfectly. She is perfect for figuring out stuff on other people because she is so beautifully blunt about everything. She is going places too, i just hope not marriage by the time i get back. She will be out of high school though, crazy! Everyone should really get to know heather if they haven't already, she really is just one of the greatest people you'll ever meet.

next is me, k that's it...

Then there is mom. wow. What an angel. She is probably the number one reason our household holds the Mel. priesthood. She turned dad around and everything went up from there! She is so strong in the gospel. So wise when it comes to life and things in it, yet not too old and boring. One of the things i love most about my parents are that they are only 18 years older than me. That makes them more like my older siblings rather than my boring old parents. We have so much fun together wherever we go! Back when i used to have a cell phone, half the time i was always texting my mom, now how many people can you say do that?! Everything from water ski-ing to scripture reading, my mom is the bomb. Definitely the bomb-diggity! Everyone loves mom, There honestly isn't anything not to like! I will miss her so much while i am gone. But i know she will miss me too. We've got a connection though that will not be broken, even if i am a few continents away! I know she'll be expecting a letter every week, and at the same time, i will not receive any more support than that of my mom. She has always been there for me, things will never be any different. She loves this gospel so much. You can see it in her eyes. She is full of the light of God, and ready to share it with whomever will listen! She is so excited for me to go, not so I'm out of the house, but so i may go out and share with others what i have and love so much.
Mom is the greatest. Please everyone, take care of my mom while I'm gone!

Dad- He's a super hero. I want to be like him in so many ways you don't even know. He is one of the smartest guys i know, well that is until l you get him to some sort of technology... lets face it, he's not exactly as tech-savey as everyone else is. But seriously, street smarts, football strategy smarts, any sport strategy smarts actually, and now, Church smart as well. He is the complete package that added up completely makes up the perfect dad. Like i said before he is more like my older brother i never had than he is my dad. One of my favorite memories was one day after a polo game he came and said that he could tell that i was frustrated about my lack of playing time, but i really was just fine.. after all it was just my sophomore year and i was still getting a lot of minutes, but he used the opportunity to go go-karting one on one with me. It was so awesome! another great thing he is good for is supporting me when i'm down. I remember my last individual race i ever swam in high school, i was fit enough to get top three in the race, until i missed the wall on one of my turns. I ended up 7th or 8th and i was furious. he came stomping down onto the deck and told me to keep my head up. I can't even tell you how many polo games i saw him up there yelling at the ref's, or coming down to tell me to just kick the guy that was guarding me or something. He was always as much into the meets and games as i was and i enjoyed that so much. The greatest thing about him though seriously, now that I've blabbed on forever, is how he turned his life around. He turned everything around, quit drinking coffee, came to church, got the priesthood, then we all got sealed, now he's the elder's quorum president and a leader both in our house and in the church. Everyone looks up to him, especially me, i hope i seriously can be half as good of a man that he is.

there you have it. I can't say enough about them. They seriously have helped me become what i am today and i am very proud of that! I will miss them with all my heart, but i know i am doing the right thing, and i will be back. Things will be fine, you'll see

Besties

I have three really really close friends. They truly are my best friends. I love them with all my heart. I love all my friends, but these three... man, they really are just something else. I have been blessed with so many great friends, they all mean something to me. But on Saturday night, i had to say goodbye to two of these my best friends.

There are four of us. its kinda weird how it all works out. Reed is my best friend. and Allison and Brooke are best friends. Turns out Reed dated Brooke, and Allison and I dated. The four of us together is really just something special. So special in fact that after reed left. The connection was still there. I have a good feeling that the connection will always be there. We will all be best friends forever, all of us will grow old, some of us will grow fat, but seriously, together we will always strive to be! Even if we aren't hitched! ha! we were talking about it one time, imagine later on in life, all four of us getting married to someone else, but we being as close as we are get together and hang out with our spouses following along... we started feeling bad for our spouses! sometimes we are just nuts... evidence... see here...

Isn't this face cute on me? wow i can't believe i am releasing this picture... and look at that creature atop my head! wow... but yeah this picture can't even measure up to the craziness we sometimes get...

But reed soon left us. That was January 2nd that he left... 8 months ago. We've been super close ever since! Its so great. But Reed's in Alaska, Allison will be in south jordan, Brooke in orem, and I in Australia. So far apart, yet so close together, i love how great friends we are!

Memories are plentiful as well, like the time we hopped a fence to climb up a weedy mountain to watch fireworks, just to have some crazy guy looking for us with a flashlight! wow that was close, but he didn't get us! all the great dinners for celebrations and achievements, swing dancing, playing on a playground in the park til a cop told us we were to old! watching ET in the park... gosh dang it i could go on forever.

Turns out though, the time has come for me to leave too. and poor Allison, she will be all alone because Brooke is moving away to college. But i guarantee the four of us will have that same connection, the one we've had for the past few years! Things are so good between us. It was such an emotionally draining day on Saturday... all three of us in tears, leading up to me driving home and them watching me leave for two years. It was tough, one of the hardest things I've ever done, but i know i am doing the right thing, and i also know that i have lots of support behind me. Especially these three best friends of mine.

No i did not ask Allison to wait for me, no Brooke didn't tell reed he would either, and who knows, chances are likely none of us will get married to each other... nevertheless, we all have made 3 eternal friends, that will last a lifetime and more!

This blog entry goes to you three. You guys are amazing. Do whatever it is you do. People will fall in love with you, just as i have. Please be good, be careful and keep in touch. Sooner than you think, the four of us will get together again, and life will be so awesome!

Sharing the Gospel

I will not name any names. Please do not be offended... But i have someone that has come into my life for a reason. I have taught him/her the gospel. I have given him/her the advice that she needs in life. I have done great things with this person. He/She is totally grasping everything that I teach him/her. It is without a single little doubt in my mind that i have waited for this long because i needed this opportunity to teach one of now my best friends! I hope things go so well for this person. He/She knows how they are. and they know that i am very proud of everything that they are doing. I have done all i can while i am still here... i will continue to teach this person forever but I see great things happening in this persons life!
I saw great things before, but now i see even more great things! Today this good friend of mine said a prayer out loud for the first time ever! He/She did so good. I was so happy when i heard it!
Life is good. I want everyone to know that I have done all i could for now, and i hope great things continue... but this person forever will have a place in this heart of mine. Good luck dude. Please keep in touch, and keep up with your testimony!!!

on my mind

so i am sitting here at the computer, millions of things running through my mind. mainly the fact that in less than 24 hours i will be set apart as a missionary! I will be called to serve the Lord in Australia! i am so excited... so i come on the computer and what do i do? i get on facebook. what a joke. Guys seriously, facebook.... let me just say that facebook is royally the most retarded thing i've ever been a part of! what a joke! Let me get online... for an hour at a time at least, so i can nose my way into what everyone else is doing in their lives. all this so others can mosy nosy right in to my life to see what i'm doing in mine! what?! why?! seriously, i am looking back on all the time i've spent on facebook in the past... 3 weeks... rediculous. frickin rediculous. facebook=evil. good thing i'm leavin...

but now that i've got that out of my system i need to make a few tributes before i leave. They will all be on different entries too.
here we go...

Almost that time ...

Well world, I've only got about a week left! I am so excited to get out there, it'll be so great! One of the things that i am so excited for is finding my good friend nate ruben. I really hope that somehow I will be able to get around to seeing him somewhere for a minute. But besides that i am just so excited to get out there and serve the Lord. It's been a long wait. I am just so anxious to get out there! I had my talk yesterday, and i thought i did alright, but i always seem to think i could have done better...

A lot of people said they really enjoyed hearing my talk, some even said that they thought i should be coming home, not leaving. Or that they haven't seen anyone more well prepared. Well they are wrong. Although I am super excited i wanted to make a tribute to some of my brothers who i think are just amazing.

Starting with Nate Ruben. He is so unreal. There are so many good things to say about this kid but i'd be on the computer all day. He was really always ahead of the gang when it came to spirituality and stuff like that. I remember his talk, --Beautiful talk-- on the atonement. I remember that one because seriously i have never heard anybody speak like he did that day. The spirit was so strong and everyone was either sobbing with tears or bursting with joy, or both. Then after his talk he wanted to go to a fireside! what a kid! and he wanted me to come with him, of course i did, and it was awesome. But there ya go, my brother nate, going to arcadia california, still in the mtc, but seriously should be out there right now, he is definitely ready.

My next brother i want to talk about is my best friend Reed. Man, what a great guy. He's in alaska doing great things. But just the way he lived his life all through high school years was just so amazing. Everyone had their slip ups, everyone made mistakes some fewer than others, but reed never did. He was the epiphany of what we all wanted to be like. He was a man among boys, no doubt about it. And i am so proud of him for what he is doing in the field.

Tommy Durrant, what a kid. You could BARELY hear him when he spoke last sunday, but because i know and love him as a brother like i have forever it seems like i could hear every word. I promise you that it will be completely opposite when he gets back. There will be no mumbling issues, and i know that he will work harder than anyone i know in the mission field, because i know he worked harder in the pool than anybody i know. He will be great, i can't wait to hear how he does.

The last one i want to talk about it Ben Furner. what a guy. I never really knew him, and i hardly ever talked to him. To be honest if i wasn't in his ward I probably would not have made it to his farewell. But to this day, he is one of the most prepared missionaries that i have ever seen. His farewell, like Nate's, was unreal! and he was a great example for me as to why am I going on a mission.

Rollercoaster of emotions

So I've come to realize a few things recently. One, i have one month left before i report. just one. but that's a blog entry all on its own, and i will get that one later. two, i haven't done anything here in almost a month... but then again, no one has said anything to me, so i guess no one really reads it anyways! ha! But here is a blog to whoever reads it.... if anyone reads it... i want to tell you about my day yesterday.

The day started out great, i woke up, went to work. worked, then came home. But this time work was just amazing. Ever since i went from evening crew to day crew i have absolutely loved my job. I love who i work with, i love the environment, i love everything about it. Yes, even the apron! no but really. i love work. and yesterday was my last day. everything went even better than normal for me. I actually hung up an Australian flag where everyone could see it on the back wall! it was great! but like i said, it was my last day and everyone there made it so gosh dang hard for me to leave!

I joked around while i was working with my boss the whole time, which was great but normal you know, then later on lunch came. Macey's paid for everyone in my department to have burger king for lunch. Just because it was my last day and they wanted to share a lunch with me before i left. Then later on it was time to go. So i went and got my flag off the wall, then headed up to go clock out for the last time. I did it. but i didn't want to leave quite yet, so i went over to my boss and we talked for a bit then he stood up, and shook my hand. Now honestly guys i didn't cry but i felt a little tender behind the eyes if you know what i mean. he told me that when i came back that he would hire me right on the spot. So i guess its good to know that i have a job that i can fall back on.... i shook his hand and i said that it had been a great 9 months.... then i left before i got too wimpy with tears.... then i went downstairs to the service desk and the ladies there were so nice. Becca was telling Robynne that it was my last day, so Robynne went right over to the company calendar and put my farewell on it. Just so everyone would know.

Later after work i went and hung out with my good friend Kathryn Parkin. She lives in Ogden, but we chose a halfway point somewhere around Davis high to meet. We went bowling and had a Wendy's frosty then i gave her probably the last hug before she gets tagged by someone else. ha! such is life though its okay. But it was at this point in my day that i realized another thing. it was a terrible, sad, depressing feeling. Starting now, i was going to start saying goodbye to people for the last time. but its a long drive home so i thought about it a little longer and decided, "what am i thinking?!?! I'm not going to die, and no one else is! Why on earth am i saying goodbye?!?!?! It's more of a see you later, than a goodbye!" so from now on it would only be a see you later rather than a goodbye.

I was so gosh dang tired coming home yesterday. But i still had to drive all the way home. And this entry is already way too long but I'll try and make this part short. Basically soon after i passed the spaghetti mess of freeways downtown, i was driving and literally trying to keep myself awake. This was not good! I changed the music to music that was upbeat and happy, and it was even 80's weekend! It was great! i would make it right?.... well i thought i would too, but after i changed the station i don't remember much of what happened, the next thing i realized was i woke up from being asleep, and i was moved from the fast lane of the freeway, across the carpool lane, and still heading towards the wall. I was probably going around 75 or 80 and about 6 inches away from smashing into the wall. Scared for my life (as i should have been) i hurry and turn the wheel the other way. but i turned it way fast. and thinking about it later, i decided there is no way i could coincidentally just wake up RIGHT before hitting the wall, and then turn the wheel like i did and NOT flip over at the same time. So when all this was really happening i was scared, and my heart was going nuts, but later on i was so happy, because i realized that i am supposed to be here for a reason. I'm not meant to leave this world yet. or even if i wouldn't have been killed, i definitely would have been delayed on my mission. I am meant to go on my mission for a reason, and i am so excited to figure that out!

But there was my day yesterday, i hope you enjoyed it. Be good world, I'll see you around. Til next time....
Rob

i know i know... this picture is very late to making it into the blog... but remember back when i talked about the ultimate sports hero?! and it was poli? well here is the scoreboard after the game was all over....

totally worth the wait though...