About

Without getting too personal I want to inform and enlighten those who’re reading my blog posts a bit. I was born in Utah and lived there for the first couple years of my life. When I was three, my parents, younger brother, and I moved to the Seattle area. Seattle is where I call home.

The home I grew up in was awesome. I have one of the greatest families out there. Our home was always filled with love, jokes, and of course plenty of laughter. Arguments were rare and we always knew we were loved. It was a perfect Petri Dish for breading normalcy and goodness. Which is why I wonder sometimes, “why am I abnormally weird?” I have so many great, funny, and inspiring stories I could tell from my childhood. I’ll stay succinct and a bit plutonic in my descriptions, not for political correctness sake, but simply for privacy reasons.

High school was a great experience. I especially enjoyed the sports I participated in, especially running and wrestling. The time I spent there, I believe, was a preparation in many ways for the rest of my life. They taught me a bit of discipline and something about setting goals and working to achieve. I also grew up with some great friends who I still keep in contact with to this day. I’ll always look at “the good ole’ days” with fondness. It seems every time I get together with old friends, we tell the same stories, but laugh just as hard at the people and situations we shared growing up.

After high school I spent my freshman year of college at BYU. It was a mixture of fun and work. Without really knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I started college with the prereqs for the business program. I took some interesting classes that year, as freshman often do, thinking it would be intellectually stimulating. Intro to the Humanities of Asia proved to be such a class. I struggled enough memorizing the names of places and people, without having to worry about the music they played. It reminded me of what I used to do when I was an obnoxious ten year old: banging pots together while screaming.

Three weeks after my freshman semester ended, I was off to Tallahassee, FL for my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I can’t say enough about that experience. The experiences I had there already fill several books of journal entries. To shorten the summary of such an experience down to one sentence simply does not due justice to the blessing that was my mission. However, I will say a little something. I now how more conviction, more desire, and more willingness to follow as well as to lead than I would have otherwise had I not served a mission. I loved the experiences I had, the knowledge I gained, and the people I worked with. What a richly rewarding time and quite literally, they were “days never to be forgotten.”

Well, good things must end and time must be spent on the grindstone. When I returned I worked the summer as a landscaper. What a great summer. I really do love landscaping. Maybe it’s the boy in me that likes to get his fingers dirty (I just don’t eat it now like I used to). Upon my return to BYU I came with new conviction. Dental school was the direction I was going. I kept business as my major, but decided I was going to be at school an extra year and take all the necessary, biology, chemistry, physiology, and physics that would be required of me to apply to a dental program. So I went to work. It wasn’t easy. I did work hard and it paid off, but life’s journey has unexpected twists and turns which cause not only reflection and introspection, but oftentimes course corrections.

In between my summers at school I started a company with a couple old time buddies. Ascent Marketing, originally a sole Dish Network satellite retailer, grew to the largest retailer in the state of Washington in five months with first year annual revenues over $660,000. It was a marvelous experience for us. They’re still involved and working on it, but because of my strong desire for dental school, I quickly jetted out because I was not committed for the long haul. My reflections on it are fond. I do believe that if any business is going to succeed it’s because of its sales—both the people and the effective training. Before you double human resources, R&D, and management; double sales and you’ll always be right.

I graduated from BYU’s Marriott School of Management in April of 2007. I did make some course corrections, mostly after graduation. I learned so very much while at college and I will always be grateful for the education I received at BYU. But for circumstances unforeseen by me, after acceptance to several dental programs, I’ve decided it wasn’t for me. It’s a long story. The short version is that life requires passion. If we lack a light inside of us and a burning desire for some aim, then we’ll never reach our full stature and potential.

If we have passion for something it will automatically bread success with that thing. That is a fact. At the graduation ceremony last year Elder David Bednar said simply, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” I have passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ as I do my business and I hope I can reflect the life typified by a true Saint.

Finally, I just have to say I’ve been extremely blessed in my life, mostly with the people who’ve come into it and affected me for the better. My family, both immediate and extended, have truly been awesome examples to me as well as just cool people to be around. If the greatest complement extended could be, “I wish to be like that person,” then I think they all deserve a gold star. They inspire emulation, the greatest of all qualities. I was blessed with wonderful parents who’ve got a great desire to see their children succeed both temporally and spiritually. Also, the friends I’ve had along my path have truly been the greatest blessing of my life and continue to be so. I don’t know why I’m so blessed in that regard, but the Lord has seen fit to send me wonderful friends. Inspiring, loyal, happy, unwavering, entertaining, clean, and committed! You know who you are, Just keep it up. You’ll inspire many more to come.

Current life happenings will be contained in my blog. I hope you enjoy reading and aren’t too disturbed by my ramblings. Send me some input from time to time!