A momentous occasion in our lives...

Indiana Jones

What did everyone think?

Ron and I saw it Saturday night. I thought it was just as good/entertaining as the other ones.

Summer

I finished my semester last week. It feels good to be done with a year, possibly the fastest of my life. Just two more to go. This summer, I am interning with the city attorney of thornton. Thornton is a suburb of denver. As of now, I'm not sure what I'll be doing there. Tomorrow is my first day. I'll be doing the internship for 10 hours a week.

Also, I got a part-time job as a clerk for an attorney yesterday. He is "of counsel" to a law firm here, but has a solo practice as well. I basically got lucky in getting it. I submitted my resume and he called me back and asked why I want to work part-time while I am in school. I explained that I am married and that I'd like to contribute to the financial needs of my family and he laughed. He is a seasoned attorney and I will essentially keep his files in order and assist in preparation for litigation. I'll be doing that for 25 hours a week and a little less during the school year. His practice is mainly real estate, tax, trusts/estates, and general business law. So I was glad to get it because this is the area I would like to work in.

Melanie continues to work hard as well. We are grateful to be blessed.

Ryan

Birthday fun

Thanks for all of your birthday wishes. I really had a great day filled with crepes, shopping, a movie and lots of presents. I feel very spoiled. Here are some pics from the day.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Mom, you are a GREAT mother. I couldn't find a really great picture of just you--but I had this picture of you surrounded by some of your kids and grandkids and I thought it was very accurate. You're always taking care of someone else. You've completely devoted your life to us and I don't think I'm appreciative enough of all you've done and continue to do. I am very grateful to have been blessed with such a faithful, patient, and kind mother. I hope you have a great day!

P.S. We've done a few fun things lately. Check my blog later today to see what we've been up to.

Birthday

Happy Birthday!

We hope you have a great birthday Melanie. You're a great sister-in-law.

We're really glad that you're in the family. You're always willing to play games, you're a runner, you're always putting Ryan in his place, and you've got great style. I'm going to hire you to decorate our house when we move into one someday. We hope you have a great day!!

Love, Amy and Riley.

lets get ready to rumble:)

Okay, I just wanted to remind everyone about the family reunion. Angie and Pete are in charge of the family races, and I will be the first to admit, that I would love for our family to shine at these events. By our family, I mean, Amy, Riley, Melanie, Ryan, Jon, Evan, and the Ahren's clan. I am slow. So is my husband, there is no mistake about that. I have always been slow, I will not try to hide it. But we need a little of this..........at the reunion (minus the skimpy "runner's" clothes.)

Lets begin the training sessions now, let us all get into shape and compete. I will watch you all sail to victory, and bask in your glory...from the side-lines.

Driving Controversy and other thoughts

As the family mediator and perfect although less-celebrated child, I interject my voice into the discussion that has sparked the most comments on this site yet. Many of my comments will sound generic, but this is what has been on my mind lately as I try to make the most of my life:

We all need to be more goal-oriented in how we approach our lives. It is my experience that when I only do the minimum then my life experience is at its minimum. When I didn't train hard for Xcountry, my times suffered. When I only did the minimum for school, my grades and intellectual abilities suffered. When I didn't practice my searingly spectacular guitar skills, I couldn't display them in shows. When I didn't read scriptures prior to the mission, I had no answers for people on the streets of Germany. The bottom line is that we all need to answer President Hinkley's charge to be better, goal by goal.

Evan, scouting is a chance to work hard, serve, and self-improve. I needed only five merit badges and the final service project to complete the Eagle and yet I didn't do it. I didn't fail at it because I didn't try. Instead, my efforts were mediocre. This is worse than failing because at least there is some attempt with failure. I can't use sports as an excuse because I wasn't very involved in sports after my sophomore year. I can't use school as an excuse because that only took up part of my day and I did that in a mediocre way too.

I drove occasionally my junior year when it was convenient for everyone because I had zero hour and I also worked after school. With great power comes great responsibility (Spiderman). I plan on requiring that my children contribute to auto insurance premiums if they desire to use my cars. You are the better man, Evan, when you earn the driving privilege such that mom and dad can't reasonably deny it because you are pursuing worthy endeavors such as sports, school, work, scouting, church activities, or service. You do a good job with these things already. But Mom and Dad mean to challenge you to answer President Hinkley's call to be better, goal by goal.

As should we all answer the former Prophet's call. Life is best when we are actively living it as opposed to letting life happen to us. We live actively by setting goals, tracking them, and seeing them to their completion. Whether we fail or succeed is a separate question from whether we were mediocre in our efforts. As an example, I worked my butt off to get the score I got on the Law School Admissions test. I worked on it 15-20 hours a week for 5 months. It was not a score that could get me into Harvard or even BYU. But I knew that after I had taken the test my efforts had not been mediocre and I still got into a good school. What are the things everyone is working on improving right now?

Ryan