This chapter was good to read.  I felt the spirit quite a bit.  Some insights I had this time around were interesting... I really wish I knew how much Alma knew about the Gospel before he was converted by Abinadi.  Regardless of how much he knew, it's interesting that each decision Alma makes with his little city of people he broug...

The Powwow was great. Just what I needed, I spent a lot of time thinking and relaxing and getting over all the offel things that've happend! I danced and with each step I released my pain. It was truely amazing, but that's not what I want to talk about.. Not yet any way! So this is how my story starts right, fridaynight I set up camp and then sa...

Wow....  I guess all of our babies couldn't be 100% perfect in the birthing process. I thought I'd have written 2 or more entries by now, but...  Things definitely are dynamic with birth, so ya never know. If you haven't read the pre-post and the first post on Samuel's birth, I'd recommend it, just to catch up... After the birth,...

I'm still kind of in awe of it all, but ....  holy cow..  Samuel Jason Jones has arrived! We got into the car around 4:30pm after Sarah had been in labor since around 6:00am.  Wow... What a trooper. We arrived here at the hospital at 5:00pm anticipating his arrival around 10:00pm or so...  Yeah right...  Samuel had ot...

I thought that today I'd be enjoying conference, but instead I'm playing Mr. Mom, as Sarah is trying to control her contractions. I woke up around 7:30 this morning to the tune of my wife exclaiming that she was sure today was the day.  Due to her body's signals, I believed it. So, we've been patiently waiting for her body to get a bit mor...

Interesting that the council invites the entire Nephite people in the land of Nephi to join in the discussion about how they should free themselves.  I wonder why they make a point to note that. Also, it's very cool that Mosiah received them with joy, although I can't find any reason that they should have done otherwise. This seems like a ...

Update:  Due to the popularity of this post, some people are having a hard time viewing the video posted above.  If it won't play for you, simply wait until the gray progress bar has filled 1/4 to 1/2 of the way before you press play.  That should do the trick. Yesterday I took the day off work to go to my bother's sealing to his w...

Ya know...  This time around with this chapter was filled with little tid-bits of inspiration.  I don't remember this chapter being so filled with doctrine, but I'll do my best to write down what I thought about as I read the chapter. The first verse which caught my attention was verse 4.  The people of Limhi were, by and large, a ...

Last Thursday I took the kids to Jumpin Jacks.  It is a huge warehouse with a bunch of bounce houses.  The kids had an absolutely great time! We also had the place to ourselves for the whole hour and half we were there. It was awesome!!   I think they would of stayed all day if I let them. They really loved this really tall slide...

Ya know...  I'm not the best coder in the world, and I'm not the geekiest of geeks, either.  I personally know quite a few people who would classify me as a "mutt coder", because I really don't care too much about code purity. I'm not quite sure what in me makes me that way, but it's true.  Maybe it's because I learned p...

I noticed in this chapter that even though many threatenings were made to the king of the land of Jershon (most likely an Ammonite), he didn't seem to care at all.  His concentration was on the many poor people of the Zoramites who were coming to his city. Eventually, I believe this action was the tipping point for the wars forthcoming throu...

Sunday March 27, 2011 Hey everyone! It's been a while but I'm back and I have so much to share with you. Lately I've been busy with school. It's really challenging and it's getting down to being time for finals. I just hope that I'll do very well on my finals than I am on my classwork. I also would like to share that I'll be participating in ...

I've often wondered why Nephi included the portions of scripture containing the writings of Isaiah. I remember one time during my mission when I was reading the stuff in 2nd Nephi and it actually made sense, but I didn't write any of it down, so.... it still makes no sense to me. Only one verse out of this chapter gave me any inspiration at all...

Man... I'm just tired.  Today was weird..  So... Studying chapter 5 right now, I'm brought to another realization that even the families of Prophets aren't perfect (hello, Lehi was a prophet, and he managed to have Laman and Lemuel...) The specifics to which I refer is Sariah's murmuring, and reaction when she saw her 4 boys return fr...

This past Thursday, we finally decided to rip it up.  I mean, literally - rip it up. Then, we decided to take it out the backyard to see what the heck was clogging it all up. It was just as we suspected.  Collin had flushed a freaking toy cell-phone down our toilet! and yes, we took the toilet out in the backyard, twisted it, turned it...

Man.... No wonder we're all so screwed up in this life. If someone out there honestly does not think he or she is screwed up in some manner hasn't really lived. :) The whole reason for my saying this is the very essence of my life. If I've been taught once, I've been taught 1,000,000 times that to touch a lit burner on a stove is to get B-U-R-N-E-...

Interesting that, again, the pride of one man seemed to be the reason of much wickedness and death.  If Paanchi would have just accepted the rule of his own brother because he was voted in by the majority, I'll bet the whole war with Coriantumr wouldn't have happened. That being bad enough, doesn't hold a candle to what happened with Kishkum...

The beginning of this talk was set by talking about the experience President Gordon B. Hinckley had as a deacon.  He spoke of the moving power of the men singing "Praise To The Man", at a Stake Priesthood Meeting. While reading that experience, my mind immediately turned back to a very similar experience I had when beginning my mis...

"Yielding Our Hearts to God"  or   "Change of Heart" - Man, I love this talk. I wish I could tell you all how much this talk means to me.  When I heard it the first time, I was with noisy kids, so I didn't get much out of it, but the next time I listened to it was during lunch, and I was alone.  I...

Well... I just spent the last 3 hours re-vamping around 300 lines of code for ilovemyjournal.com.  Hopefully, I've made it a lot more search-engine friendly for people who want to share their blogs, without compromising security any security. Being that this is also the 24th of July, I'm also very grateful for the pioneers, and everything the...

I love the feeling of Elder Uchtdorf's talk.  We really have no basis upon which to judge each other.  We need to accept and love each other.  "Do unto others that which we would hope they would do unto us" Seems like we need to actually do the work we need to do.  Christ "did" the work, he didn't delegate ...

To write... Feeling as though worthlessness is she who has found me... The block of feeling sinks deeper into an endless ocean... of creative decay. Yes, to write is to live. But to live defines my weakness my misunderstanding my inadequacy my wretched mind my life. nevertheless! to write... ..is to live... ...and I shall live....

 Okay...  I've decided I'm going to get a little more serious about recording music.  I've had quite a few positive comments made about my recordings from 3rd parties, and over the years, I've enjoyed recording it more and more. So now, I'm here with approximately $200.00 to spend, and I think I'm going to get some overhead mics fo...

With as little sleep as I got last night, when I woke up this morning, I was a bit worried about the Aces' session today.  Man alive!  I don't know what I was worried about!  These girls nailed their new song, Fooled Twice, wholeheartedly!  Spot-on timing, vocals, tunes, and had a great time, to boot. You're gonna love it!&nbs...

Ya know...  The first verses of this chapter brought back some well-known stories of Mormon culture.  The most potent one being the experience Joseph Smith had in a Missouri jail surrounded by a mob of people cursing and glorying in their raping, murdering, and wickedness against the Mormon people. Parley P. Pratt said the following in ...

Ya know...  This time around with this chapter was filled with little tid-bits of inspiration.  I don't remember this chapter being so filled with doctrine, but I'll do my best to write down what I thought about as I read the chapter. The first verse which caught my attention was verse 4.  The people of Limhi were, by and large, a ...

About a week ago, I began thinking I needed another project.  I really was getting to thinking about how I spend my time, and how I can better use the time I have. Nothing popped out at me, until yesterday. Yesterday, I got a call from one of the people in my ward, and he asked me if I would teach the 15-16 year olds in their gospel doctri...

Wow, it's been a long time since I last studied my scriptures. The first thing which caught my attention is the phrase, "if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost".   I guess that...

Ya know...  Today was a good Sunday.  In church, we learned about trials, and the nature of them - why God gives them to us, and why we need them.  D&C 58 1-4 is a great reference if you're looking for some good stuff on trials.  We talked a lot about Zion's Camp, and the general tendency the early saints had toward generati...

This entire week, so far, has been spent mixing, mastering, and nit-picking The Blue Aces' 4-song demo debut.  I'm not at liberty to give many details (yet), but let me just say that this group has some of the most rocking tunes I've ever heard come out of a group like this. More to come later!  The demo should be finished by this weeke...