Being a father

Here in the next couple of weeks I will experience a major change in my life, pretty much at any time in the next three weeks I am going to become a father. It is something that I have looked forward to ever since August 9 2006. I knew this day would come but I did not think this soon. Amanda and I just thought that since we both got full times that we would just use this year to travel, see things, and do things that we have always wanted to do. Someone had other ideas. It lead to the conclusion; you are never fully prepared for somethings in life. I think if Amanda and I had waited until everything was perfect we would have never had kids. I just can not imagine a time that we would have sat down together, and said " I feel like we are ready to be parents in nine months. I feel like we have enough money now, lets have kids now." I just can not imagine doing that feeling like I am ready to be a father. I had a dream the other night where I was holding Braxton, and I said to Amanda " What did we even do before he was here." I can only imagine that it is going to like that, but even better. This little boy is going to change our lives for the better. He is going to bring so much joy in the life of Amanda and I. I know it is going to be hard, I know that we are not going to get much sleep, and that the money is going to be a bit tighter, however we will be parents, the highest calling that we could ever have. Amanda and I always say to each other, " I just want to hold him." Holding him for the first time will be the greatest moment of my life. I can not wait to take him to his first football game, to take him to the Zoo for the first time, and so many other moments that every father looks forward to. It only seems like a few short years ago I was heading to the MTC so excited to start the next step of my life. This last Tuesday, Amanda and I had to renew our temple recommends for Shane's wedding. Their in the waiting room was a young man waiting to be set apart as a missionary. I could help but sit their and remember the day that I got set apart to be a missionary. I still to this day remember that well. The thing I remember the most was walking to have a final interview with President Brady, ( the former Stake President) I was sobbing, and I did not why. Maybe it was because I was could not watch Sportscenter for two years, maybe it was because I could not hang out with my friends and watch Football. When I sat down in the chair with him and he sat and talked to me, I then realized why I was crying. It was at that moment that my life was never going to be the same. When the interview was over, I had never felt better. It was then time to be set apart as a missionary. I remember getting set apart, and when the blessing was over I really felt different, like I had a purpose in life. I know that when that baby comes I will feel that same feeling only to a stronger degree.

Stil Going

Well I will use this as my personal writing space, like a journal only less personal. I am still at Xango and becoming a little impatient waiting for a promotion to come up. I was up for a promotion but I did not get the job. I took it very hard, but I am praying the job will become open again here very soon. Their would definitely be less stress in my life as far as money goes but then would be something else to stress about. I have only been at Xango since December and I love the company, I just need to be more patient and wait for the right time. I love the fact I am going to be a father in October. I have wanted to be a father for so long in my life. I look up to my own father so much, that makes me want to be such a great dad. It is such a big responsibility. This kid is going to have the best mom in the world. Any one that has been around my sweet wife Amanda, knows that she is going to be the best mother in the world. I can not wait to see her as a mom. I have never meet anyone as caring, sweet, and kind as my wife. I am so excited for Braxton to be with Amanda. I can not imagine raising a child with any other person in the world than Amanda. Until next time, Tyler.

American Idol Sweeps Utah

This summer there are a few things that may excite teens in Utah. The warm weather and the idea of going to the lake is only of the things that teens are looking forward to. According to a few teens here in Utah County, the name of David Archuleta is a sure fire way to make a girl scream for joy.
“I just think that I could honestly marry David Archuleta." Maxcene Jensen an 18 year old college student said. "
“He is just the dreamiest person that I have ever seen in my life." Jensesn said.
However not everyone has that same view point of David Archuleta being “The most dreamy person."
“I just think he is a lizard boy. The way he licks his lips is the very disturbing to me. What does he think that he is trying to do? It is just gross to me." Sally Lewis a 26 year old UVSC student said.
American Idol always seems to bring up the many different opinions of college student. This year in particular many Utah citizens have a special interest in the show this year due to the face that Archuleta is from Murray, Utah.
A few local people feel that this is a very big advantage for young Archuleta , who is the youngest contestant in the running to become this year's American Idol.
“I just really feel like this will be a very big advantage to him, because now everyone in his high school can vote for him. I also feel like that he will appeal to the younger audience. That is who really watches American Idol are all the teenagers." Amber Sampson a 25 year old Lehi resident said.
Will this be enough to make David Archuleta join the famous list of American Idol Winners? Most of young girls in Utah would say yes, will the rest of the nation vote for him. Win or lose it will be a fun summer of American Idol mania.

Word Count; 332

Last Post for School

Well this is the last time that I have to make a post for school. There have been a few changes in my life, since my last post. Of course you all know that beautiful wife Amanda is pregnant. She is due on October 4 2008. We have a couple of names that we like but are not 100% set on them as of yet. We still do not know the gender of the child. I have no idea what I want it to be. Amanda and I are primary teachers for our ward. We teach the 4 year old's. We have three of the sweetest and cutest little girls. So after every Sunday I want a sweet little girl just like that. Although I can not think of anything better than taking my son to his first BYU football game, it almost brings a tear to my eye when I think about it, not really but you get the idea. To be honest we just want a healthy happy baby. Now that we are going to have a child it makes us think back to what we were like as toddlers. After speaking to both of our parents we have realized one thing; WE ARE IN FOR IT. Apparently, Amanda and I were both very active babies. I pray that we get an active baby. I just think they are so fun to be around. I have four nephews on my side of the family all of whom are very active. I love to be around them and play with them. It is one of my favorite things to do. It makes me so excited to have one of my own. Amanda for sure wants a little girl. She wants to dress it up and put bows, bracelets and all that girly stuff on her little girl. I agree that there is nothing cuter in this world than a sweet and cute little girl. But then again those sweet little girls grow up to be teenagers, and then they are not so sweet. I will probably one of those dad's that will interview my daughters dates. Anyway on to SPORTS.

The Final Four is coming up and to my surprise all the #1 seeds are still in the tournament. To make a bold prediction, I think that Memphis and UNC will play for the title. Memphis is a very good team. They blew out Texas, and did not really have a close with the exception of Mississippi State, which ended up not being that close. I pick UNC to win it all. I would love to see a Tyler Hansbrough, Kevin Love match up in the title game as well.

Another and most importantly LDS General Conference is this weekend as well. The LDS Church will also call another Apostle. My bold prediction is that it is going to be Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Presidency of the 70. What a good weekend this will be.

school article

Many people that live in American Fork may have no idea that there city has its own beautification committee. Paul Hansen head of the committee, is a hard working father of 5 children. He is also takes on the role of President of the Beautification committee of American Fork.
On March 5 the committee meet in the city center to discuss the needs of the city in beautification matters. The close group of whom have known each other for many years, all have one thing in common they all care about there positions on the council.
“ It does take a lot of time, but I love to do it, and I really feel like we are doing a good thing.”
Hansen said. Hansen has been the president for almost two years. Among the things he has done include; putting pots of flowers on main street, awarding they best yards in the city with many different categories, and made his own yard better.
“ I had to make my own yard look like better, especially if I was going to be judging all the yards in the city, I had to make my yard look better.”
The minutes for the meeting included many different things. Among of those were what to do about next years city Christmas Tree.”
There were many opinions involved in the light hearted debate. Among the most opinionated were those of council member Jeff Rich.
“ I really though that they would like the idea of having a real tree this year.” Rich said
Rich was one of the council members who thought that the time had come to have a real Christmas tree. The City has had only artificial trees.
“ It is just a little to risky to have a real tree. We just do not know what could be in the trees. With all the types of allergies that people have, you just do not know who is going to walk by the tree.” Hansen said.
“I feel that the committee makes an impact for the good of the City. We may not be as visible as are other committees, but we do our share. Many of the projects we do go un known by the general public, but if went for a small drive down Main Street you would be surprised just how much we have done.” Hansen said

New Post

Well the time has finally come to update the ol blog. My wife Amanda and I are expecting our first child. We do not know what it is yet. She is due on October 4. That is the birthday of my one and only niece Hailey's birthday. Hailey wants it to be a girl and wants it to be born on October 4. I am not happy with the way that the BYU game turned out. I wonder if BYU knew how to rebound there for a while. Lee Cummard played very well. Trent Plaistead would be crazy if he left early. He would be lucky to get picked at all. How about developing a 10 foot jump shoot, or how about cutting off his left hand for the summer and learn to play with his right hand. Sorry this post is so random, but that's the way it goes. In other news Duke got lucky again. My friend Dustin Call is a Duke fan. I text ed him when Duke was down by 1 with about 30 seconds to go. He said " the refs will not let Duke lose." I agree with Dustin, the refs did not let duke lose. Hats off to Henderson, he made a good play there at the end. I called the Kansas State upset of USC. Michael Beasley is a man Child.

We finally got a new car, we were so pleased with the work that my parents did at the auction in Las Vegas. We got a 2005 Nissian Altima. It is Pearl. That is the shiny white color. We absolutely love it. This is the car that we wanted for sure. Maybe sometime I will put a picture of the car on my blog. Well Anyway I am need to get to bed. I will try and post more this next week.

School Lunch- Article # 4

Most parents are hoping more of these will appear on the menu.

As many children head off to school, mothers may have many concerns. Some concerns may be; bullies, making friends, and what their new teacher is going to be like. Another one of those concerns is what are they going to be eating for lunch?

With the latest health craze taking place in America, many fast food restaurants now have healthy choices . Wendy's offers new healthy choices in kid's meals such as ,milk, fruit juices and even mandarin oranges.

Natalie Matthews a 27 year old teacher in the Granite School District when asked about school lunches said " I know they have stopped serving hamburgers, in the Granite School District."

" At least at school they always have a fresh salad bar as an option" Mathews said.

" I do not know what is like at others school, but at my school they always serve something sweet, like a cookie or brownie, for the most part kids love school." Mathews said

She also remember as a young elementary student many years ago that the school were not very good. They have come a long way since then." Mathews said.

As the Obesity toll continues to rise in America, many parents now feel it is time to teach our children about eating healthy. What better place for a child to learn then School? As they learn about Math, History, and Grammar, the need to learn about proper eating has become even more important.

Shauna Strong a long time teacher and current literacy specialist has seen many things change with in the school district, and one of those things is the lunch menu.

" I remember when they just feed the kids pizza and hamburgers every day." Strong said.

" The Lunch Menu has really come a long way. The school district is even feeding the kids a good breakfast each day, to emphasize the importance of good breakfast in the morning." Strong said.

" I think the Breakfast in the morning has helped the students have energy and focus on there schoolwork throughout the day." Strong said.

The Schools have as well caught onto the healthy direction, that the country has bought into, the question is raised, how long will it last, and can it teach the students to eat healthy outside of the school walls?

" I sure hope my boys learn from what the School is trying to teach them. Not only academically, but health as well." Strong said.

An example of a typical school lunch menu.

Weekly Update

Well Nothing much new has happened this week. Tomorrow i get the day off of work, except for I get rewarded for getting all 4's on motoring's. It would have been a better reward if it would have been on Thursday. My boss said that normally the lunch is on a Thursday. I switched my day off, so that I would be able to go to the lunch, and what happens? They switch it to a Friday, that is just my luck I guess. This should be a fun weekend, Amanda and I are going to have a relaxing up at my family's condo in Midway. My oldest sister for my Christmas present got Amanda and I some passes so that we could go sledding at Soldiers Hollow for a couple of hours. I have always wanted to do that. I think they have a lift that takes up so you don't have to walk up the hill. I guess I will be headed down to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks to go to the Las Vegas Car Auction. My Dad has his auction license, and I need a car so, we are headed down. It just so happens to the Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament as well. It is so funny how that worked out!!!! No I knew that the tournament was coming up. One of my greatest memories from my high school years was going down to the tournament with my dad, and a bunch of my friends. Hopefully this year will be just as memorable. Amanda and I have decided between two cars; a Honda Accord and a Nissian Altima. It is a very difficult choice. I know that a Accord will run forever from what I have been told, but from the way things are looking the Altima are actually cheaper. The car we have right now has had its fair share of problem's, but it's like and old man ( my dad) once said " you either have a car payment or pay to fix the problems." So after doing years of paying to fix the car, we are going to do a payment I guess. I guess we just have to roll dice in Vegas and hope to get lucky with a car.

V- Day

I just thought that I would let everyone know what Amanda and I did on Valentine's Day. We both had to work that day, from 8 to 4:30. Then the real Day began, I surprised Amanda with a romantic dinner at the Melting Pot. Which is a fondue resturant. We have wanted to go there for a very long time, so I figured what the heck lets go. What Amanda did not know is that our friends, Breelyn and Ryan Ehin were going to meet us there. It was a great dinner, the only thing that I wish would have happened is that there would have been more meat especially the shrimp. Then, Ryan and I surprised the girls again with a romantic evening up to Ryans parents house where we had dessert and watched Step up it was a very good evening, what romantic feat will I pull next? Stay Tuned.

BYU Wins

Yes BYU won, was a good game? Yeah it was the Utes played a lot better than I thought they would. I would love to have the Utes guard Jhonny Bryant wear a BYU uniform. When is the last time BYU had a lighting quick guard that could penetrate like that, wait Jimmer Ferdette can he schooled Bryant many times to the basket. I love this BYU team they can win in many different ways. I will say this about the Utes; hiring Jim Boylen was the best thing that they have done in a long time. He is fiery, and is a very good coach. He also has a way with the refferres, I noticed that he got all the ref's together at halftime with BYU Coach to talk about the way the game was being called. His little meeting worked, the refs called a different game in the second half, credit those Boylen sales skills.

BYU Basketball

I know how much everyone loves it when I post about sports, but I am doing it anyway. I had the oppportunity to go the game. It was as intense of a game as I have been to in a very long time. I think my wife even had fun, in the first half at least. I loved every second of the game. It was nice to see BYU blow out a very good team. Though UNLV did not play that well, you could tell that if they were shooting well that they would be a tough team to beat. Wink Adams is lighting quick, and has good moves. BYU played great defense as a team there were only a couple of times that UNLV had free passes to the basket, most of the time when they did their was a 6'10 BYU center waiting for them near the basket. I am really excited for the BYU- Utah game on Wednesday. I can not wait till we beat Utah by 40. But I have kind of gotten used to beating the Utes these past two years, sometimes I wonder why they even show up to play, the Utes fans are the best to watch. They come in so excited, drunk, and do not have a clue about what is going on the game. Utah fans, generally speaking do not understand sports. I do understand that some may understand sports slightly, but not rally. This is just pure trash talk, for the game on Wednesday. My Prediction, BYU 85 Utah- why even show up?

Happenings in life.

Well not that much has changed in my life since last week. Amanda and I had a fun weekend we went and looked at cars, we need to get a new one here pretty quick. If any one has any suggestions please leave me comments and let me know how you feel about cars. I may not do what you suggest but it always fun to hear peoples opnion because everyone has there own opnion. We love the Honda Accord, that is what our mechanic said our the best cars. We have had numerous problems with our Jetta, so we are ready for a very inexpensive, very reliable car. But its like my dad says " you either pay for repairs, or you pay more in car payments." How true is that statement. A car is a car I gues as long as it gets you from point A to Point B right? Anyway please leave comments.

Snow, Snow, Snow, & More SNOW!!!

Will it ever go away? I keep joking that we will have to have summer picnics inside this summer! This is what Amanda and I woke up to on Sunday Morning. Church was canceled so instead we went out with our neighborhood and helped shovel ALL the snow! It took me about 2 hours to just make is look decent! The one thing I love about living in Alpine is the wild life. You can always count on it. This year our neighborhood has adopted a family of deer. There is 1 Buck who is pretty good size, along with him he has 3 doe and 2 babies that tag along. We were driving home on Sunday when we saw this little head poking out of snow on someones lawn. It was one of the babies, it had its nose completely turned up so he could make it through the snow that tells you how deep it is. The Mama deer was right in front trying to lead the way and make a path for them. It was so cute! But all in all I am DONE with the winter. I am getting very antsy for Spring to come! We ABSOLUTELY love where we live and are so excited to be home this summer and play hard! Can't wait for the snow to melt! Summer just can't come fast enough!

President Hinckley

Everyone has been posting about the death of Presidnet Hinckley. I am really going to miss him. I felt like he was my prophet. He signed my mission call. He was the one that I would try and get the people to gain a testimony of. I got to thinking how hard it must have been for the early saints when they learned of the death of Joseph Smith. I can only think of the thousands of converts that knew the Prophet Joseph personally. Back then when the church was much smaller the pepople had a personal relationship with the prophet. It is funny how things stay the same. I never got to meet President Hinckley. But I still feel as though I had a personal relationship with him. In one of my Communications we talked about some of the things that shape our personal idenity. I really feel as though President Hinckley helped a great deal to shape mine, as well as my wife. The church will move forward. There will never be a prophet quite like him. We will love the necxt prophet just as much as we all loved this one. I am very excited to see how this next prophet will move the church forward as the 15 before have done.

New Xango News for Tyler!!

I would like to let everybody know that I received my monitoring for the month of January. This is a big deal at Xango, they look at these for promotions, pay raises and all that good stuff. Let me explain to everyone what it means. I of course am on the phones all day, Xango hires people to listen to us for quality assurance purposes and record our conversations with the people that call in. After the call is completed they listen to many times and they give us a score on criteria such as how friendly we are, how professional we were, stuff like that. For our 1 month monitoring the highest score you can receive is 4 on all of the calls. If you do receive a four as a reward, Xango will buy us lunch at any restaurant of our choice, take off the phones for 2 hours, and let us watch a movie, yes we get paid during that time as well. Well I am very happy to say that I got all 4's on all of my calls. So next month I will be attending that lunch. I asked my monitor how often that happens that people get 4's on there first time being monitored , she says " that never happens." The only other person that got a 4 on their monitoring was someone that came from a much higher department than just call center. So that is what happened with me. I am not trying to boast, but I rule. Just Kidding. Just thought you would all like to know that.

Movin Up

I posted how I am enjoying my job very much. It looks like I will be moving up in the company very soon. Today I was informed that I am going to be taking customer service calls which is a step up in the company from where I am now so that is a good thing. Hopefully I can find a place in this company that will benefit Amanda and I in the long run. The calls are not that much different it is hard though because I have not gone through any training for that department yet. Once I go through the training I will hopefully know what I am doing.

Life Besides Sports

Well as a request from older and wiser sister Jaime, I will talk about other things besides Sports. As many of you know I am employed at Xango working in the call center also known as Order Entry. I love my job. Today I found out that I had some of the best stats for the United States department, I would love to explain what stats are but it would take forever and time is so precious, but its a good thing. This is the second week in a row I have been in the top five. I learned last week that in February I am going to get promoted. So that it is a good thing. I really enjoy working there. The best company I have ever worked for by far. The Christmas party was at the Grand America Hotel in The Grand Ball Room. Xango gave away a car and a ton of others cool prizes. I unfortunately did not win a prize. I did however receive a door prize for going which was a 50$ Gateway gift card, some Skull Candy Head Phones that are valued at about 80$, also some really nice company materials. So that is whats going on with my job. Props to Jaime for getting a new hard drive I filled it up when I down loaded the Boise State Oklahoma game from 2006. Arguably the greatest College Football game ever. Well I'll be back before Thursday for my final entry this week.

BYU Defeats Utah in ugly game.

I must admit that I did not watch the game live on Saturday. I was actually organizing my house, and I do not get Verses anyway, however I did watch the second half. What I saw I did not like. BYU does not look like an NCAA Tournament team the last 2 months. Yes they did beat CSU, but who hasn't? Trent Plaistead needs to learn to go to his right. Everyone in the world knows what he is going to do in the low post, and shoot a 10 foot jump shot is not one of those things. What in the world has happened to Jonatha Tavenari? Pretty soon he is going to put up 20 shoots in one game and not make one of those. He is very similar to a black hole, once he gets the ball no one else is going to see it until the next possession. Ok now to the positive. Lee Cummard has got to be int he running for MWC player of the year honors!! If it was not for him BYU would have gotten blown out of the Huntsman Center. But when all is said and done the Cougars got the victory so all is well in cougartown.

My first Blog Entry!!!!!!!!!

This is going to be a fun thing for me to do. I feel like this will be a journal of some sort for me, which I have been wanting to do since I get home from my mission in 2005. It has been basically been about two years since I have written in a journal. I will begin by saying that this is an assignment for my reporting for The Mass Media class. The assignment is to be 400 words each time, but I am not going to use word count. Once I do not have any thing more to say I will stop writing. For those of you who know me, also know that 400 words will not be any problem fulfilling that requirement. My blog might be a little random. I am going to talk about basically whatever is on my mind at that moment. So basically it will be a sports themed blog. The BYU basketball recently played their conference road opener against UNLV. Although the Cougars had success in that arena even in the beginning of this season beating then #6 Louisville, and giving current #1 North Carolina all they could handle. That Vegas luck ran out as the Cougars were humiliated, embarrassed, all those words you never want to hear. I can not remember the last time a BYU team was humiliated like that. It's not like we have never seen UNLV play or know what they are going to do. It is unacceptable to lose to conference opponent by that much. On the other hand, the BYU football program looks like it is in the best shape I have ever seen it since I can remember. I wish they would have gone after a better opponent than Northern Iowa for the season opener. Although I am very pleased that BYU has worked out a deal with Boise State starting in 2012. The one time I did see a BYU Football team play Boise State was in 2003 is a snow storm. That was an ugly game. I do not expect to a lose a game in 2008. If there is a game that does worry it is the Washington game. Although the Huskies were 4-8 in 2007, they did play the toughest schedule in the NCAA. Playing the likes of Hawaii on the road, Ohio State, beating Boise State, in Boise, they also lost to #1 USC by a mere three points. BYU needs to get up for that game. As many of you will remember in 1996 when BYU went to the Cotton Bowl and defeated Kansas State, BYU's only loss on the season came to the Washington Huskies. Collie better come ready to play. The BYU Defense must be ready for Huskies super sophomore Quarterback Jake Locker, who is a run pass option on every play. See you all next week