Hey guys, it's Jordan again. I'm so excited for college football to start. It's one of my favorite times of the year. Because I am completely obsessed with college football, I have convinced Kaylee to do a pick 'em with me each week. We will do some of the biggest games each week and also pick the winner for the three big Utah schools (Utah, BYU and Utah State). The commentary for each game will be mine unless otherwise noted.
We'll start with the Utah schools this week because two of three should be easy (I'll let you guess which is the harder one).
Weber State at Utah State
Jordan's pick: Utah State - Kaylee's pick: Utah State
This game shouldn't be interesting, but with the recent news about Weber's head coach's wife having cancer, the Wildcats may have something more to play for this season. Utah State should have more talent being the bigger school, but could struggle at times with a new quarterback in the system. Overall, I think Utah State will win though, and I don't expect it to be closer than 14 points by the end.
Southern Utah at Utah
Jordan's pick: Utah - Kaylee's pick: Utah
This game will be a blowout. Utah's defense is too good to allow SUU to do much on offense. SUU is starting two new offensive linemen that are freshmen and a new starting quarterback. While Utah's quarterback is new also, I expect the kinks will not be big enough to have any effect on the game.
Arizona at BYU
Jordan's pick: BYU - Kaylee's pick: Arizona
This is the most intriguing game for the state of Utah this week. With an entirely new coaching staff, BYU will be figuring out its new identity. BYU will start Taysom Hill at quarterback again, which will keep Arizona on its toes, especially if Hill found his accuracy. Arizona will have Anu Solomon behind center again, but inconsistency has been an issue for him. I expect the game to go back and forth, but because Arizona's defense might be suspect with a small defensive line, I'm going to pick BYU by less than a touchdown.
No. 20 USC vs. No. 1 Alabama
Jordan's pick: Alabama - Kaylee's pick: Alabama
Two of the most storied programs in the history of college football square off in the first game of the season. Both programs will be bringing in new starting quarterbacks for the game. Alabama's defensive line is nasty, but USC's offense is bringing back most of its starters outside of the QB. If it comes down to coaching, which most close games do, Nick Saban has the advantage over Clay Helton. I'm going to have to go with the Crimson Tide by three points.
No. 3 Oklahoma at No. 15 Houston
Jordan's pick: OU - Kaylee's pick: OU
In what may end up being a future Big 12 match up, Oklahoma and Houston face off in Houston. Both teams are projected as a potential playoff team, but only one can win the head-to-head match. Oklahoma will have long drives with the ball as they return two great running backs. Houston, led by senior quarterback Greg Ward, Jr., will be looking for a huge upset to start off their potential dream season. The dual threat quarterback may have what it takes to knock off the Sooners, but OU head coach Bob Stoops will have the scheme to beat him. Sooners win by a touchdown.
No. 11 Ole Miss at No. 4 Florida State
Jordan's pick: Ole Miss - Kaylee's pick: Ole Miss
FSU's Dalvin Cook may be the best returning running back in the country. He should be a Heisman contender this year and a surefire first round draft pick, but that doesn't mean he's going to be able to do enough to win this game. Ole Miss has a defense that will be able to hold Cook in check and win the game big. Ole Miss only allowed 132 rushing yards per game last year, I don't expect that to change much this year. I expect Ole Miss to win by ten points in this game.
Kaylee's take: Ole Miss will win because they have a whole movie about them (The Blind Side).
Monday, August 29, 2016
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Talk in church
Hey, Jordan here. I got to speak today in church, so that was fun. I wanted to share my talk here. Let me know what you think.
Love of God
I want to start off with a story that many of you have heard. There once was a men with two sons. One day, the younger son asked for his inheritance, so the father split the inheritance to his two sons and the younger son left to live on his own a few days later. The younger son spent his inheritance and ended up quite literally living with the pigs. He decided to go home and tell his father that he sinned against him and would serve him instead of being his son. The verse I wanted to read is Luke 15:20. It says, "And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Like this father, our Heavenly Father is just waiting for us to come back to him and He will run to meet us to fall upon us.
My mission president, Don H. Staheli, who is now the assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was President Gordon B. Hinckley's personal assistant. He also wrote a book titled Just Hold Me: Embraced by the Savior's Love. This is what he said about this story in the book:
“Despite our straying from the way of righteousness, regardless of how we may have distanced ourselves from God. Our Father, Redeemer will come to us and in a manner as real as any father’s embrace will have compassion and encompass us in His fervent welcome back. He is watching and waiting for our return. If we move toward Him, He will come out to greet us. … Time and distance, whether physical or spiritual, pose no obstacle for Him. He only awaits a sign of our repentant willingness, for He will force no man to heaven. As we seek Him and wait upon Him, His spirit will fall upon us as though we were literally enfolded in His sweet embrace.” President Don H. Staheli - Just Hold Me: Embraced by the Savior’s Love
Also in this book, President Staheli talked about a scripture found in Doctrine and Covenants section 6 verse 20 and it says:
“Behold, thou art Oliver, and I have spoken unto thee because of thy desires; therefore treasure up these words in thy heart. Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love.” - D&C 6:20
While on my mission, I searched out this scripture and other verses related to it because I haven't ever heard that phrase, "...encircle thee in the arms of my love." There was only one other scripture which I found with that type of phrasing. It is in Second Nephi 1:15, and it's Lehi talking to his sons says "My sould has been redeemed from hell...I am encircled in the arms of his love."
Upon further researching it, I found a quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf that says:
“Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely.” - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
I'd like to talk about another story from the scriptures. Christ walked on the water to meet the apostles and Peter asked to join him, to which Christ responded for him to come unto him. In the scriptures it says:
“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, ‘Lord, save me.’ And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” - Matthew 14:30-31
In Preach My Gospel, there's a line that I love.
“Doubt and fear are opposed to faith.” - Preach My Gospel
It's interesting to not both of these things are present when Peter started to sink. He was afraid and Christ asked, "wherefore didst thou doubt." That's the reason he started to sink.
How often do we find ourselves looking around, realizing we’re in the wrong, and reaching out for the Savior, say “save me”? When we do this, do we feel His hands outstretched catching us, like Peter?
I promise you that He is still there. In Isaiah, the Lord continually says “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”
This image reminds me of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam painted in the Sistine chapel. God is reaching, stretched as much as possible to reach Adam, but Adam (representing man) is relaxed, arm bent with one finger slightly stretched out back to God.
Just imagine that image. The Lord’s hand is ever reaching towards each of us waiting for us to do our part so He can grab hold and lead each of us back to Him.
It wouldn't be fair to talk about God's love without mentioning the atonement of Jesus Christ and without mention John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” - John 3:16
Christ being given is the ultimate form of love. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only way back to Heavenly Father for us. We wouldn't be able to live with Heavenly Father again without Christ giving His life for us. I know this to be true.
Once again, I would like to reiterate that scripture that got me thinking about this topic. D&C 6:20:
“Behold, thou art (your name here), and I have spoken unto thee because of thy desires; therefore treasure up these words in thy heart. Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love.” - D&C 6:20
President Staheli had this to say about the scripture in his book:
“The Savior is never untouchable, but is available to all who will reach out to Him to be enfolded in His embrace. Surely, if we call upon Him, He will respond with our name and we will be encircled about eternally in the arms of His love and remember eternally goes both ways, forward and back. It means we have been, and we can always be encircled in the arms of His love.” - Don H. Staheli, Just Hold Me: Embraced by the Savior’s Love
I just wanted to bear my testimony. I know this church is true. I know Christ gave His life so that we can live with Him and Heavenly Father again. I know God loves each of us in a very real way. We are His children and He loves His children.
My Wife
Hey, it's Jordan again.
I was thinking, now that you know a little about how we met, we should describe and introduce each other to you. Don't worry though, I highly doubt this lovey-dovey information about us will continue for much longer, but while I feel like doing so, here we go:
Kaylee is a 5-foot-4-inch beauty with light-almost-golden, brown hair. She is impossibly thin, because she runs all the time and her metabolism is amazing. Her eyes are either blue or green depending on the lighting, what she's wearing and the angle at which you look at them. Her hair, no matter the style, always makes her more beautiful. Her smile is infectious.
In terms of personality, she is ofttimes happy, but sometimes fiery, especially when she gets hangry (it's a real thing). She can be incredibly intelligent at times, but have obvious forgetful moments. My favorite thing is when it's late and she thinks everything is funny. I call it being slaphappy, but when I say that, she always laughs harder because she's never heard that term before. You know something was really funny when Kaylee makes her cute, unpredictable Goofy "gu-huh!" though.
Kaylee is a quiet, down-to-earth person who loves to get into "discussions" as she calls them. Her discussions usually turn into an argument, because she thinks it's funny. She is obsessed with watching people live their lives. The weirdest thing about her is she loves to be "squished." She squeezes her arms or legs underneath someone sitting or laying down, because she likes the feeling of being "squished."
She loves country music and Linkin Park (yeah, try to imagine those two together). I'm pretty sure she knows all the words to the big name Linkin Park songs (i.e. Numb, In the End, Crawling, What I've Done, etc.). She also comes from a family of movie lovers, so she has a reliable opinion when it comes to films.
There's probably a billion more things I could say about Kaylee, but I can't think of anything else to say right now. Needless to add, she makes me happy, and I love her!
I was thinking, now that you know a little about how we met, we should describe and introduce each other to you. Don't worry though, I highly doubt this lovey-dovey information about us will continue for much longer, but while I feel like doing so, here we go:
Kaylee is a 5-foot-4-inch beauty with light-almost-golden, brown hair. She is impossibly thin, because she runs all the time and her metabolism is amazing. Her eyes are either blue or green depending on the lighting, what she's wearing and the angle at which you look at them. Her hair, no matter the style, always makes her more beautiful. Her smile is infectious.
In terms of personality, she is ofttimes happy, but sometimes fiery, especially when she gets hangry (it's a real thing). She can be incredibly intelligent at times, but have obvious forgetful moments. My favorite thing is when it's late and she thinks everything is funny. I call it being slaphappy, but when I say that, she always laughs harder because she's never heard that term before. You know something was really funny when Kaylee makes her cute, unpredictable Goofy "gu-huh!" though.
Kaylee is a quiet, down-to-earth person who loves to get into "discussions" as she calls them. Her discussions usually turn into an argument, because she thinks it's funny. She is obsessed with watching people live their lives. The weirdest thing about her is she loves to be "squished." She squeezes her arms or legs underneath someone sitting or laying down, because she likes the feeling of being "squished."
She loves country music and Linkin Park (yeah, try to imagine those two together). I'm pretty sure she knows all the words to the big name Linkin Park songs (i.e. Numb, In the End, Crawling, What I've Done, etc.). She also comes from a family of movie lovers, so she has a reliable opinion when it comes to films.
There's probably a billion more things I could say about Kaylee, but I can't think of anything else to say right now. Needless to add, she makes me happy, and I love her!
Friday, August 26, 2016
How My Wife Met Me
What a fantasy story, right? Being set up by our mothers! But ok, I’ll admit, moms are geniuses (especially ours).
A little clarification and I guess my side of the story is in order. I was indeed on a date with a wonderful guy that I honestly enjoyed doing many things with, one of which was this roller skating date. Although, a little shameful to admit, I was enjoying the company of my date while also crushing on another guy that happened to be there. And no it was not Jordan. However, Jordan did show up late to this evening's events, and my thoughts go like this as he walks up the steps, “Oh, he’s cute. No! I can’t be on a date with one guy checking out another guy and now this guy.” So I gave no further thought to this Jordan fella but I guess God just wanted me to have a glimpse of my future.
Now, as for this much persuading that was mentioned: no such luck. Here’s a little thing I’ll admit about both of us. Jordan was used to his mom setting him up on dates throughout his life. While, me, not so much. I guess, in this instance, I heard tell that his mom thought he needed to be dating more than he was, and well, my mom thought I was a good “dater”. I was :) so in short, I didn't need much persuading; I was all for a fun date.
And a fun date it was with some stroke of luck and some worrying thoughts. Let me explain: first, yes, indeed I did impress him with some Frisbee skills. If I hadn't, I don’t know if we would have continued dating. He admitted to me later into our relationship that it was my Frisbee skill that perked his interest a little higher in me. Luckily, it did, because after our first date, I had some thoughts that went like this, “man I don’t think this relationship would ever work, we’re both TOO quiet.” We really are. If you know us, we’ll jabber all you want, but initially we are quiet, chill people. So even though we had no sparks a flying that first night, we sure have turned it into something that could be eternal!
A little clarification and I guess my side of the story is in order. I was indeed on a date with a wonderful guy that I honestly enjoyed doing many things with, one of which was this roller skating date. Although, a little shameful to admit, I was enjoying the company of my date while also crushing on another guy that happened to be there. And no it was not Jordan. However, Jordan did show up late to this evening's events, and my thoughts go like this as he walks up the steps, “Oh, he’s cute. No! I can’t be on a date with one guy checking out another guy and now this guy.” So I gave no further thought to this Jordan fella but I guess God just wanted me to have a glimpse of my future.
Now, as for this much persuading that was mentioned: no such luck. Here’s a little thing I’ll admit about both of us. Jordan was used to his mom setting him up on dates throughout his life. While, me, not so much. I guess, in this instance, I heard tell that his mom thought he needed to be dating more than he was, and well, my mom thought I was a good “dater”. I was :) so in short, I didn't need much persuading; I was all for a fun date.
And a fun date it was with some stroke of luck and some worrying thoughts. Let me explain: first, yes, indeed I did impress him with some Frisbee skills. If I hadn't, I don’t know if we would have continued dating. He admitted to me later into our relationship that it was my Frisbee skill that perked his interest a little higher in me. Luckily, it did, because after our first date, I had some thoughts that went like this, “man I don’t think this relationship would ever work, we’re both TOO quiet.” We really are. If you know us, we’ll jabber all you want, but initially we are quiet, chill people. So even though we had no sparks a flying that first night, we sure have turned it into something that could be eternal!
How I Met...My Wife
Hey everybody, Jordan here with our first blog post.
I figured I would start off with a little information about Kaylee and me. We both attended Pine View High School in St. George, Utah. Kaylee ran cross country and track, I played Ultimate Frisbee and worked. She was a freshman when I graduated, which at Pine View meant we didn't even attend the same school. In St. George, the middle school has 8th and 9th grade students, while the high school has 10th through 12th.
I left on an LDS mission to Paris, France for two years from 2010-2012, while she finished high school and got a scholarship to Southern Utah University to run. After my mission, I was invited to a group date to go roller skating where we would have first seen each other. Kaylee told me she was there on this occasion after we had been dating for awhile. Maybe I can convince her to write her side of this story.
I broke up with the date I took to the roller skating date around February 2013, and Kaylee never dated anyone seriously in her life, so we were now both single. Luckily for us, our mothers were working together in a church calling and decided to set us up on a date.
I contacted her, I believe, through text (I know, lame, right?), and after hours and days of persuading her, we went on our first date (It probably helped that I spoke the language of love...French).
On our first date, we decided to go caving in the Snow Canyon caves with a small group of six people and just explored the caves. One of the group members was late arriving, so we stopped at a park and threw a Frisbee between the four of us that were there. Kaylee was pretty good at Frisbee, so that definitely made me like her at the time.
The date went just fine, there were no sparks flying to report on, but it was the beginning of what will hopefully be a long life together.
I figured I would start off with a little information about Kaylee and me. We both attended Pine View High School in St. George, Utah. Kaylee ran cross country and track, I played Ultimate Frisbee and worked. She was a freshman when I graduated, which at Pine View meant we didn't even attend the same school. In St. George, the middle school has 8th and 9th grade students, while the high school has 10th through 12th.
I left on an LDS mission to Paris, France for two years from 2010-2012, while she finished high school and got a scholarship to Southern Utah University to run. After my mission, I was invited to a group date to go roller skating where we would have first seen each other. Kaylee told me she was there on this occasion after we had been dating for awhile. Maybe I can convince her to write her side of this story.
I broke up with the date I took to the roller skating date around February 2013, and Kaylee never dated anyone seriously in her life, so we were now both single. Luckily for us, our mothers were working together in a church calling and decided to set us up on a date.
I contacted her, I believe, through text (I know, lame, right?), and after hours and days of persuading her, we went on our first date (It probably helped that I spoke the language of love...French).
On our first date, we decided to go caving in the Snow Canyon caves with a small group of six people and just explored the caves. One of the group members was late arriving, so we stopped at a park and threw a Frisbee between the four of us that were there. Kaylee was pretty good at Frisbee, so that definitely made me like her at the time.
The date went just fine, there were no sparks flying to report on, but it was the beginning of what will hopefully be a long life together.
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