Happy Father's Day

This is my dad. Isn't He cute?
This is my tribute to my dad on father's day.
My dad is wonderful. He is so kind and loving and he is always there when you need him. He is the one I have learned the most from in my life, I have his humour, his taste in music and TV shows. I learned my love of reading from him. He is an animal lover. He loves his "neighbor" even if they don't even live next door. My favorite memory of my dad is the time when the two of us rode the bus into SLC and went to the Geneology Library together. That was fun and he took me to Crown Burger for lunch.
I truely love my dad and hope that I can be like him when I grow up.

Thanks for everything Dad. I love you.

Unexpected Surprises

Last night we went to Barnes & Noble (one of my very favorite stores) and while John was looking at comic books I wandered off to find a book I had been thinking of buying. I hadn't gotten more then 10 feet from where John was when I was accosted by a Barnes & Noble employee who simply asked "Will you hug me?" ... Yes, that would have been strange - if the employee had been a stranger. However the employee was none other then Blaine Taggart. I know that some of you have heard of Blaine before, but other's have not so here is a little back ground.

I met Blaine in the summer of 1998 while John worked for KB Toys in Riverdale. I would often hear stories about the people he worked with. There was Deanne (Mrs.. Doubtfire), Alan (39 & living with his dad), Crystal (the fair-weather employee), Colleen (the suck up), Bonnie (Ricky Lake), and Blaine.

Blaine is a beautiful person. He has black hair and stunning blue eyes and a personality that takes a little while to come to terms with, but once your past his bitter exterior there is a friendly lovable man behind it all that one can get used to and trust. Blaine is an artist and as such he has these mood swings that can be shocking sometimes as he is fine one moment and then a moment later he is wallowing in self pity and there is no external reason for it. Strangely though, this is what endeared him to me.

I got a job at KB Toys when John left on his mission. In fact, I got his job when he left. One of the questions Deanne asked during my interview (off the record) was "So, when you told John to dump his girlfriend and go out with you ... were you serious?" apparently Deanne had over heard a conversation between me and John while we were in the store.. ha ha.

Anyway, back to Blaine - I worked at KB Toy from July 12, 1999 - February 17, 2000 and I loved the times when I got to work with Blaine. I'd like to think that he did too. We had a lot of fun. He would tell me all sorts of stories and make up theme songs for me. He would mock the multi-colored barrettes that I would wear in my hair and tell me that I looked like I had lucky charms on my head. He is the first person who ever suggested to me that I would make a great "Dr. Who girl". He would stand at the counter with me and point out pretty girls as they walked by the store saying "there goes my wife" or "who is that man with my wife", you get the idea. Never-the-less, he was a good friend to me, and I appreciated it. When I got my mission call to the Washington DC South Mission, the first words out of his mouth when I told him were "Don't get shot." Gosh that's comforting. But he gave me some great mission advise that I reflected on a lot while I was gone. "Be the Reaper!" - well Blaine, I tried, but I don't think I reaped very much - One random afternoon in the toy store after I had already gotten my mission call he took me by surprise and asked "If someone were to ask you to marry him right now, what would you say?" I don't really remember my answer to him. I think it fell along the lines of if someone really wanted me, wouldn't he be willing to wait.

I haven't seen him much since I came home back in 2001. I worked at the KB Toy Express Store in the Layton Hills Mall during Christmas 2001 and he was one of the managers. I tried working at the KB Store again in 2004 for the Christmas season but found that life was too busy and the commute from Salt Lake to home then form Home to Riverdale was too much for me some days so that really didn't work out well for me. That was the last time I worked with him. I have run into him from time to time, usually at a comic book store where he recognizes me instantaneously, but he never seems to remember John. However when he does see John he usually has a cutting remark that makes John so angry. John used to idolize Blaine. I heard so many Blaine stories while John worked with him and John really did look up to him and just wanted Blaine to treat him as an equal and to be his friend. But that never happened and at first John just felt shot down and that he'd get over it, but when Blaine only acknowledges me and rarely remembers John's name John gets very angry. Like last night - He popped out of nowhere and asked for a hug and I happily obliged and we talked for a moment about life and the "geek books" I was buying and I mentioned that one was for me and the other was for John and he said, "you're still married to John?" to wich I replied, "Yes I am and very happily too."

I don't know what it is about them, is it an alpha male thing where Blaine is threatened by John's happiness. Maybe John's jealousy just gets the better of him and the words coming from Blaine's mouth are tainted by that.... I hate to have to admit that Blaine is a jerk- that's just not who he is to me.

Sigh ...

Oh well ... I guess the point of all this is - I was really happy to see Blaine yesterday. He is just as angry and single as ever. I truly do wish that he could find a good woman who could deal with his emotional issues and just love him because he is a wonderful man. When I got home from Barnes & Noble last night I thought I wonder if I could find him on the Internet somewhere ... so I "Googled" (yeah, John was really happy about that) And when I put in his name I came up with all sorts of links directly to Blaine. Funny how some people have a million points of reference to be found by doing a Google search, and others (like me) don't.

Michelle Huppi Young

Michelle Huppi Young 1977 ~ 2008 SHOSHONE, IDAHO- Michelle Huppi Young, 30, of Shoshone, Idaho passed away Wednesday, March 12, 2008 in Twin Falls Idaho. Born in Logan, Utah, the daughter of Melvin Charles Huppi and Denise LaDine Johnson Huppi, she grew into a wonderful woman. She loved playing the clarinet and being a wife and mother. Michelle was in her final semester at the College of Southern Idaho and would have graduated with honors. Michelle served an LDS Mission in Washington D.C. She loved the Young Women in the Shoshone Ward and will miss them greatly. Michelle will be missed by her husband Andrew Young, her boys, Caleb and Jackson, her foster daughter, Maria, her brother-in-law, Allen Hanberg, and her parents Mel and Denise Huppi. Michelle was greeted on the other side by her sister, Maya, her brother, Mel, and her grandpas Huppi, Johnson, and Oyler. Services will be conducted at 11 a.m., Sat., March 22, 2008, at the Shoshone LDS Church, 507 N Greenwood St., Shoshone, with Bishop Gale C. Roberts officiating. A visitation will be held on Fri., March 21, 2008, also at the Shoshone LDS Church, where family and friends may call from 6-8 p.m., and again on Sat. one hour prior to the service. Interment will be held at 4 p.m. at the Wellsville, Utah Cemetery (friends are welcome). In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to: The Michelle Huppi Young Memorial Fund, at any branch of the Wells Fargo bank. Arrangements are under the care of Farnsworth Mortuary, 1343 South Lincoln, Jerome, ID 83338.

http://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?I=LS000105949151X

Published in the Salt Lake Tribune on 3/19/2008.

when faced with mortality

It's raining today.

It's unfair to me how life just seems to be picking up again and we look towards the future with a brighter shade of gray then usual and then suddenly trials abound.

My Michelle passed away last night. She was a mother of two and not to much older then me.

It makes me think. I need to tell people "I love you" more often and be more open and loving to the world around me. I need to reorganize my priorities and not stress over the little things in life. You never know, I could die tomorrow. For a while there we had an untimely funeral to attend for a cousin and friends every 6 months. We took a year off and the cycle starts again. I have learned something from each of them:

Ryan McIntyre 9/26/2005 - Appreciate Family more

Jan Callahan 1/30/2006 - Let your friends know you care

Chad Ashby 8/16/2006 - Call those friends you haven't heard from in a while

Michelle Huppi Young 3/12/08 - Always, Always say I love you. And respond today, because they may not be there tomorrow

These deaths have all been hard for me to deal with, but Michelle is on a different level completely. She and I were kindred spirits. She is the one who saved my mission for me, without her I would have given up completely and just gone home before it even started. She is the companion I had the most fun with and was the most off-the-plan with. We spent our time teaching the gospel and checking out historic Fredericksburg. She loved cemeteries and ghosts. When she met her husband she told me that she loved him more then ice cream, and to Michelle, that meant a lot. She is the one I cried with when her younger brother died, and the one I sought to comfort but she comforted me instead. She is a rock. We listened to off-the-plan music. She got tattoos and piercing on P-Days and fraternized with the Elders, but still set an example of what a good missionary could do. I loved that about her. She is one of my best friends.

I am feeling very mortal today.

Life is precious.

This song has played several times on my iPod today. maybe there is a message I'm supposed to learn.

If Tomorrow Never Comes by Garth Brooks

Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch her sleeping
She's lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of
If tomorrow never comes

Gordon B. Hinckley 1910 - 2008

President Hinckley passed away last nigh January 27, 2008. I was watching Exreame Home Makeover when "Breaking News" came on to announce his death. I was about to be upset about missing my show, but instead I found myself crying for the loss of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, our Prophet.
President Hinkley became the propht in 1995 when Howard W. Hunter passed away. I was a sophomore in High School. I remember hearing the news in my Seminary Class, my teacher at the time was Brother Slaughter. I remember that I was so glad President Hinckley was the new Prophet, he had been running the church for a while anyway with the last few prophets being old and not in the best of health.
I once had the opportunity of see President Hinckley as he passed me in a hallway at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I was standing at the ticket desk to get tickets to Legacy when a hush came over the building and you knew something was coming even if you couldn't see it. Moments later President Hinckley, his wife and an escort of security came around the corner. Many in that group I was standing with got to shake his hand, but being in the back I did not. However, I could "feel" his presence and I knew he was a prophet of God. I will miss President Hinckley, but the work goes on and the church is still true.

“This work is true. You know that, as do I. It is God's work. You know that also. It is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the way to happiness, the plan for peace and righteousness.”

“God our Eternal Father lives. His Son, our Redeemer, the resurrected Savior of the world, lives. They appeared to the boy Joseph Smith to part the curtains in opening a great work of restoration, ushering in the dispensation of the fullness of times. The Book of Mormon is true. It speaks as a voice from the dust in testimony of the divinity of the Lord. The priesthood with its keys, its authority, and all of its blessings is upon the earth.”

“And we are partakers of these precious gifts. And so, as we might say to an old friend, good-bye. May the blessings of God rest upon this sacred and wonderful hall. And may we, as those who have come here frequently to partake of the Spirit felt here, live worthy of the title Latter-day Saints is my humble prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”

(“Good-bye to This Wonderful Tabernacle,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 91. )

My Hero of the Day:

Funny... It has been a little over 5 years since I've actually seen this person, and yet, somehow he still holds an ounce of control over what I think, and it matters to me what he thinks about me. Strange.

This person has meant more to me in the 6 months I served with him then anyone else I have been privileged to be around. Weird to think that I spent 18 months working with elders and getting to know them and yet it was him in that last 6 months that made a huge difference to me.

This is "Master G".

Now, just between you and me, I have always had a soft spot for red heads. It seems that when one red head leaves my life another has stepped up to take their place, but this red head is special.

I just wanted to say: Thank you for being a friend, I'm sure you probably have no idea what you really mean to me, but I think you're great.