he got that Ambition baby look in his eyes...

Last night I was driving through Town and Country, which is a very nice part of St. Louis and I swear I had an epiphany! Or something like it anyways…I had this huge burst of ambition! As I was cruising around looking at these super nice houses I thought of a poster I saw a very long time ago. It was of this crazy nice house on the beach with 3 super cars parked in the driveway. And underneath it said, “Reasons For Higher Education” And how motivating is that huh? I think about all the things I want to do, all the things I want to have, and I really need to be rich. And not just all selfish things…I want to do things for others too. Like I want to build my parents a house and I want to get involved with a charity and save little Peruvian children and I want to save the lightning bugs! (Seriously! they are going extinct and its going to be really sad) I want a sailboat! So I can take the young men out on it. I want a theater room so my kids’ friends will come to my house! (I have this really sweet idea too! So in this theater room there are going to be a few closed circuit hidden cameras that are fed right into my bedroom. So when my daughter and some boy go to ‘watch a movie’ and somehow get distracted and end up mackin’ on each others faces I can see…But here comes the best part. There is going to be a camera in my room to so that I don’t have to get up and go get them. Rather I can just turn on my camera and project it on the screen they were ‘watching’. So it will just be my big face saying ‘James…I think its time for you to go…’ That would be sweet huh? Except maybe then my kids’ friends wouldn’t come over…hmmm. I would only use it in special circumstances. Besides I’m not trying to get in the way of my daughters having a little fun…a LITTLE fun) I want to travel too! I want to go to Belize, Bali, Montana! I want to go everywhere! I want to buy an island in Samoa. I want a summer home on a lake on the east coast, a winter home in park city, and a ‘whenever I need to get away’ condo in Miami. I want an old Ford T-Bird with bench seats so my wife and me every Sunday can go cruising around and she can sit right next to me and run her fingers through my hair. I want to buy a big ol’ cheese wheel just because who buys a cheese wheel? I want to pay for my kids to go to college and buy them crappy beat up cars like a Ford Festivas. I want to own a racehorse and have a farm in Kentucky. I want to give money to the Church and pay for some kids Mission. I want to start a scholarship for ‘white middle class males who get bad grades.’ I want to do so, so much!

But its time I stopped asking myself ‘How on earth am I going to accomplish these things?’ and rather, ‘what am I willing to do to make these things happen?’ I heard once that the people who get what they want, are the people who show up to get it…so starting today I’m going to ‘show up.’ I am not an ordinary person and I will not settle for an ordinary life! I can’t…I won’t! I refuse to!

So get ready…you’ll be hearing about me soon!

An Extreme Makeover...

I'm not doing a very good job keeping up on my blog...Oh well! So the big news is a couple of days ago my friend Cole and I are going to be on tv! Sometime in November, on the new season of Extreme Home Makeover we will be on tv...We! are going to be famous!!! This is it! It's my big break...So it might not be that big but who knows? It was an experience of a lifetime! Ten hours! standing on a hill in the hot hot sun. I will never do it again. But I have no regrets it was awesome. I got to kick it with my homie all day, we made some good friends with some old ladies and a little girl named Jill, talked to some famous people, and got some cool pics! So you know...it was a good day. That was a couple of days ago but last night i took my cousins to Skyzone. A big trampoline place and I almost broke my neck! Im telling you it was crazy...and today I am in so much pain. My lip is fat, my neck and back are sore, and my pride is injured.

Now I can do front flips. I can do backflips. But I wanted to do a gainer. So i tried it and the first time I almost had it! I was really close landed on my feet I just couldnt keep my balance. So I tried it again...this time I landed on my face! I almost knocked my self out haha i couldnt even get up. I just laid there for a couple of minutes. It was kind of scary cause I couldnt really see anything out of my left eye, it was like the room was spinning, but only in my left eye. So i just stumbled my way over to the side of the tramps and sat there. It was awesome...I'm sure all the 12 year olds there thought I was a loser cause I cant do a gainer...What can you do? you know?

Labor Day and Hater-ade

Today was Labor day and I must say it was a good one. Started off with a few good games of raquetball at the JCCA. Followed closely by heading to the ballpark for some umpire training. Then to my Aunts house where my little bro and cousins and I had the long awaited and much anticipated wiffle ball game!!! Whoo-Hoo!!! What a show down it was. Sadly I can not claim myself as the victor. Final score Sam/Matt 8 Ed/Me 5. While there were a few questionable calls...namely Sam standing in the baseline clearly obstructing Edwards attempt to make it to first...But I'm not going sit here and complain. Then my Aunt had a BBQ for her birthday where there were a bunch of people and right after that Edward and I hit a few hills on the longboard. Right before he had a baseball game which I attended. However I did leave early so I could go shower before I went to go see THE DARK KNIGHT!!! It was a sweet movie, but I worry I had, perhaps, too high of expectations. While I loved the movie, from all the hype I had heard coupled with the anticipation from not being able to see it 'till I got home from my mission, I thought this movie would forever change my life. Not so. Good but not life changing good. Then I ran out of the movie theater to leave and go to my Bishops house cause he wanted to talk to me. It was an intense interview...I think I'm going to be called as the Elders Quorom Pres...HA jk!
Maybe to top it off was that I got a call from The Westras aka the coolest family in Seattle. So I got to talk to my girls, Tiff (Tiffany to all those not on the 'Tiff-List') and Natalie. It was Monday and they missed me not being there for Family night/Dinner. What can I say? I'm awesome. People love me...it's just the way it goes. Seriously though it was probably my favorite thing that happened today. I love that family and it was awesome to talk to them. Sometimes I think about all the people I met on my mission. All the people I got to know and form relationships with and how sad it is when people decide not to go an a mission. For no reason in particular. Tragic is the only word I can think of to describe it, just tragic.

After the mission there's the.....after party..?

I thought post-mission life was supposed to be hard? Ever since I've been home its been nothing but non-stop parties! Seriously...if this is all there is to it, then I think I'll be just fine. I have a feeling that the 'Gustav' of my life is about to hit come Tuesday. All my extended family will leave, The parties will end, and I'll have to look for a job. Then we'll see if I get the after mission blues. Today my friend Andrew left for BYU. In two weeks my freind Cole leaves for his mission to Brazil and pretty much everyone else is already gone. So yeah, things are looking good in the near future. (note: That last sentence was typed with considerable amounts of sarcasm)

On the band wagon!

Boy my first blog! What a big day in my life. Pretty much everyone I know has a blog so I figured I might as well open up my thoughts and feelings to anyone with an internet connection. I mean even my mother has a blog. Neat huh! So I've been home from my mission for apx. 3 days now and its pretty cool. Lots of family and friends around plus I can pretty much do what ever I want with out getting in trouble. You know cool things like hang out with my friends, put videos on youtube, eat dinner with who ever I want, email. It is so neat. I miss the mission sometimes though, all my friends out there, teaching people, the rain...

Whew! Thats about all the blogging I can handle for the day

Maybe next time I'll type sosmething interesting!