How Good Life Has Been

I have to honestly admit that the last six months have been some of the best I've ever had. Dreams, some small and some large are coming together like I never knew them to do before. The lessons I've learned and truths I've gleaned have been instrumental at helping stay afloat and overcome circumstances that would have in the past put me under.

2015 Year in Review

Another year gone by, and what a year it was! It was sometimes referred to as the 90's on repeat. Terminator and Jurassic Park in theaters while Bush and Clinton run for the White House.

 Most importantly, I married my eternal companion, Katie Helfert. We were married on the unseasonably cold, windy and snowy day of May 9th in New Mexico.
 

Following suit, our planned honeymoon to Costa Rica was rained out and we had to resort to Plan B in Palm Springs California, stopping at the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, San Francisco, and the Redwood Forest over the course of our trip.We also made an impromptu December trip to Atlanta, Georgia which included a drive down to New Orleans and Pensacola, Florida.


I saw lots of family


I gained more family!



Significant Events in 2015:

•  The U.S. Debt passed 18.8 trillion dollars
• Largest terrorist attack on the city of Paris since WWII
• Massive earth quake in Nepal
• A presidential primary race mostly full of walking jokes
• Homosexual Marriage was legalized by the Supreme Court in all 50 States - quite the milestone as signs of the times tend to go.

Popular Things:

• Selfie sticks
• Star Wars EVERYTHING
• Hoverboards

Fun things this year:

• Rush 40th anniversary tour with Jess
• Lagoon Day with Katie hosted by Packsize
• Lots of good Dota and Counterstrike with the gang
• Durango Bluegrass Meltdown 
• Bowling and going to the movies 

Went to the Movies this year:

• Ant Man
• Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
• Inside Out
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Taken 3
• Mortdecai
• Seventh Son
• Divergent: Insurgent
• Furious 7
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Jurassic World
• Terminator Genisys
• A Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• Hotel Transylvania
• Bridge of Spies
• The Hobbit Extended Trilogy
• The Martian
• Interstellar
• Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Creed

New Places:

• Drove through Washington D.C.
• Springfield, MO
• Vancouver, Canada
• Seattle, Washington/ Space Needle
• Detroit, Michigan and Windsor Canada
• New Orleans, LA
• San Francisco, CA
• Minneapolis, MN

Projects

• Building a shed
• tiered garden
• window well covers
• pergola
• replaced a window
• many car repair and maintenance projects
• Cabling jobs here and there

Things that I have learned this year:
Learning to focus on one thing at a time and putting all energy into a task before adding another and spreading my energy in multiple direction. (still working on this skill)

  Thoroughly Enjoyed This Year:

• Monster energy drinks
• Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files 
• The music of Alan Jackson

Visited States This Year:

• West Virginia
• Tennessee
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Virginia
• Michigan
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Wisconsin
• Missouri
• Idaho
• California
• Arizona
• Nevada
• Colorado
• New Mexico
• Arkansas
• Oklahoma
• Kansas
• Maryland
• New Jersey
• Delaware
• Washington
• Ohio
• Florida
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Louisiana
• Georgia
• Indiana 

Map of soil samples:

• dark green are states I've visited and collected soil
• light green are visited states missing a soil sample
• red are un-visited states (which include Alaska and Hawaii)

 


Dressed up for Halloween
Sarah spent three hours doing my old man makeup



Things I am Looking Forward to in 2016

• Paying off my car
• Attempt # 2 at visiting Costa Rica
• Attending the temple on a regular basis with Katie
• Serving with the Stake Young Men's Presidency
• Fulfilling my new calling as 1st Counselor in the Stake Young Men's presidency
• Making a trip to Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone

Things I am Not Looking Forward to in 2016:

• Another ugly presidential election

It was a year of improvement, learning, stress, worries, business trips and lots of travel, Church, home improvement projects, success at work, but not nearly enough visits to the gym.

I hope to think more of others especially my family, feel more positive when things aren't going my way, I hope to succeed as a husband, brother, son, home teacher, employee, servant of God and so forth.

A family photo for Christmas: