I Say It Best When I Say Nothing At All.....

Shortly before I served an LDS Mission in Recife, Brazil, I was lazily enjoying an afternoon at home; listening to music. The phone rang, and my brother answered. "Corey, the phone is for you!" "Who is it?" "It's Todd." Todd was a friend from High School and he probably wanted to hang out. I casually made my way to the phone, winked at my siblings and said, "watch this." I picked up the phone, lifted the receiver to my ear and began making a series of sounds. I started with the clearing of my throat, "Hmmmm..aaaaa....*cough, cough* hmmm, hmmm, ack, ack" After going on with the throat clearing noises for about 30 seconds, I began belching the alphabet, "A, B, C, D......." My brothers and sister were laughing. After the alphabet, I started hopping up and down with my arms rounded in a downward hang; fingers dangling. I made the sounds of a gorilla, "heeeee heeee haaaa haaaa oooooohhhh oooohhhh" Every once in...

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are taught that when we pray, we address our Father in Heaven. We then thank Him for ... (fill in the blanks here) and then we ask Him for ... (fill in the blanks here). We then close in the name of Jesus Christ. I have understood this order of prayer since I was a child......keep that in mind as you read this post. I graduated High School in 1989. In my small town, and a graduating class of 63 students, the High School graduation ceremony is a big event. People from the entire community come out to celebrate their kin's accomplishment of being able to read, write and do some math. In the year, 1989, it was still okay to open and close a secular graduation ceremony with a prayer. A few days before the big event, I was asked to be prepared to give the opening prayer. I was filled with so much anxiety and nervousness about this task; I petitioned my dad for some help in what to say in this prayer. Being the won...

My family had just moved to Kamas, Utah, and I was the new kid on the block. The new blood in a small town made me a fascinating prospect for the ladies. I had never had so much attention and I was loving it. Shelley Smith lived only a few houses from mine; just around the block. She started coming over to the house and we spent a lot of time together: riding our bikes, slurping cherry sno-cones from Dick's Drive-Inn, and fishing in the stream that parted our houses. She was the only person I really knew that summer, and she became my best friend. One night, we were bouncing on her trampoline and she asked me if I "would go with her." "Where?" "No, I mean, will you go with me? You know, we are boyfriend and girlfriend." "Oh, yeah....sure. Can we still go fishing?" "Yeah. I think so. I think the only thing different is that we get to hold hands and kiss." With those words, my heart raced and my palms started sweating. I lik...

Some of us here at the office were reflecting back on some of our more embarrassing moments. After a few laughs, I thought to myself, "why not blog about some of my more embarrassing moments?" I can't think of anyone better to share this with than you..... So, over the next few days, I'll share some of my experiences with you. I'll start this off by publishing a photo after shoveling the driveway last winter. I was so proud of the accomplishment that I forgot to close the hatch after coloring the snow.

As I sometimes do while I'm waiting for my carpool buddies to show up, I'll go outside and walk around my yard. I usually check to see if the sprinklers are providing adequate coverage to all parts of my lawn. Sometimes I just sit on the porch and prepare myself for the new day. It is always peaceful and quiet in the morning.....I love this time of day. This morning, as I walked across the driveway, I noticed several ants in small huddles; like in football. It was fascinating. They were scattered all over the driveway, but always in these small bunches of 7 or 8, all their heads together. They looked like little ink-spot flowers. Perhaps these small clusters of ants were enjoying a friendly game of football. I wanted to play, so I grabbed the football the kids had left outside. I tossed it across the yard and waited for the ants to bring it back. I didn't have time to find out if they would, so I decided to walk up to Chris' house, rather than wait for him to c...

I haven't blogged since May. Are you kidding me? Randall suggested I blog about "nothing." So, I will blog....nothing.

"Can you give me a few extra minutes this morning? I'm running behind." Those were the first words I remember hearing this morning when I answered my cell phone at 6:52. I rubbed my eyes and tried to process the words. "Yeah, that would be just fine with me if you guys are running a little behind. I'll be there in a few minutes." My alarm had gone off at 6:00. I remember being conscious then and thinking, wow, I'm surprisingly more awake than I thought I'd be. I do have some time to kill. I'm just going to stay here for a few more minutes, and then I'll get up and shower. I was scheduled to drive for our carpool, and Brian sarcastically, but graciously, gave me a few extra minutes to get ready. "We're at your back door." He and Chris both walked down to my house when I didn't pick them up at 6:45. The realization that I had slept in just slapped me in the face. "Did your alarm go off this morning," Coralee ask...