We've had a decent drought in Florida, but there have still been a few beautiful sunsets. It will be sad to leave the beautiful weather here. I know the summers are hot, and the mosquitoes will get insane at some point, but I do really like it here. I think there is a beauty to every part of the earth, in the forests, mountains, deserts, oceans, swamps, etc., and, in my book, it exponentially increases the majesty of it all.

 Easter is a fun time of year, that's for sure. I love to just mess around making eggs pretty. I actually drained five of these eggs before we decorated them, and I was going to spray a matte finish on them, but I think they got tossed. One day I'm going to drain them, fill them with heavily salted water, let them dry out so the salt cake will coat the inside and act as a preservative, decorate them, spray a permanent finish on them, and then go place them up high on a cliff on the Y-mount, or someplace more remote. I would spend more time on them, and make them into the most amazing eggs you've ever seen... I'm such a weirdo. :)

These are some pics of a fish house in Houston. The service was amazing, and the food was decent. I would recommend this as a place 100 times better than "III Forks" which is basically down the street, and which we ate at the night before.  Great steak can't make up for rude idiot waiters. 

I think this frog is not indigenous, but I could be wrong. Either way, its cool to have frogs like this hopping around in you backyard.  Living in Naples is like having a pet store in your own backyard, and you don't need cages to have an amazing collection of animals constantly surrounding you. What an amazing creation our little Spaceship Earth really is.

A long time ago, I crept onto campus late at night, and used a nail punch to inscribe this on an eve of a gazebo.  I did it in honor of the late Hugh Nibley, although I'm not sure if he would appreciate its graffiti nature.  I did it in January, and so it was pretty cold.  It took all night long, and I was freaked out the whole time because my wife had planted warnings of expulsion in my head. 

Beautiful sunset when we went out to dinner one time. We had a double rainbow show up too, but I didn't get the picture of the double, just the single. I wonder if the middle latitudes have brighter sunlight, and therefore an increased likelihood to see double rainbows...

So, I also made this a long time ago, and haven't ever posted these pictures. Thanks, Ben, for thinking it was cool, and for actually keeping it. It actually had a lot of meaning behind it, Little Bighorn, etc, which I've tried to show in the pictures. I include the picture below in case anyone doesn't know what this is supposed to be.

"...the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds." Doctrine and Covenants 88:90

May God open the windows of heaven upon the people of Japan.

One time in Alpine, Utah, I found the most amazing thing. And within the next moment, it got even more amazing.

I love the shells that you find on the beach here in Naples. There is so much beauty everywhere, but I just noticed a little while ago, you can even find beauty in the nooks and crannies. Just take a close look at these shells.

So, lately, I've started something back up that I used to do in high school... Every time I find a worn out paper clip, I work it into something cool. This is one example.

So, I don't think I've ever posted these pictures, but this is my favorite book that I ever made. I cut pieces of a rock that I found with Nathan Kelsey in Swett Canyon, and sort of went from there. I made it into a piece of artwork with different things inside of the pages, even burning some from the center out. I actually gave it to my bookbinding teacher, Judy Sommerfeldt, who was amazing. Seeing these pictures makes me want to abandon the law to its crumbling self and just make books.

  

Also, I just finished competing in the finals for the Southeastern Region of the Giles Rich Moot Court Comp, and it looks like I get to go compete in Washington DC. Wish me luck.

The following is a small quote from the Catholic encyclical Deus Caritas Est, paragraph 38, regarding the physical sufferings we experience in life:

It is Saint Augustine who gives us faith's answer to our sufferings: “Si comprehendis, non est Deus”—”if you understand him, he is not God.” 

I just wanted to emphasize how grateful I am for Joseph Smith, and the restoration of the truth on the earth, that man is not only able to come to know God, but that he is commanded to know him. It is a fundamental aspect of faith itself to understand the character and nature of God, and if we accept a doctrine that completely denies this knowledge, we cannot have true faith.

Share the gospel. It is sorely needed.

Sorry, its been too long. National Day of Service was yesterday, here are some pics.

So on May 3rd, you and everyone you know, and their dog too, needs to get online and watch this video. Actually go to YouTube and click thumbs up, save it to your favorites, comment favorably on it, and share it with others. The goal is to blast it on to the front page of youtube, instead of the usual trash that is there. Anyhow, pass it on.

Book of Mormon Video

Well, God answers prayers. Eli has been even more consistent than me in asking Heavenly Father to provide us with a job, and, sure enough, after I thought there was no possible way, I get two choices. First, a dream opportunity to work at BYU law school helping to rewrite a treatise on religious freedom and relevant law. Second, a federal clerkship at the district court. CRAP!! I'm clinging to the hope that I can still do both, but either way, I feel so blessed by a loving Father. I was not seeking the clerkship, I didn't even know about it, but a professor recommended me for it and then tracked me down to tell me. Talk about divine intervention. And I feel so much more confident about the Loyola interviews this summer.
Anyhow, whatever happens, all I really want is to take Eli, Wesley and Eva to Zion NP, and do some fun hiking. Maybe the San Rafael as well. I can hardly wait, although the drive is going to stink.

So I had a quick daydream about doing some canyoneering again this summer, but I don't have a sufficient post of pics for Englestead Hollow. Such a fantastic canyon should be kept secret, really, but in violation of such desires, I'll post some of the pics that I have. Begin salesmanship:










So this last one is taken after you technically leave Englestead Hollow and enter the park boundaries, but the fact that one must also complete the best part of Orderville Canyon in order to actually do Englestead is even better. I'll refrain from all but one more of Orderville, but I think every 100 yards of that canyon could merit an award winning photograph.