And so it begins...

Last weekend was spent doing one of the things that I love most... playing softball. My team, the Juggernauts, played in a tournament up in Clearfield Utah. The outcome of the tournament wasn't that of which we had hoped but none the less we had a great time and got some games under our belt to prepare us for the upcoming season. I'm really excited for this summer season. Summer and baseball go hand in hand and now that I am a past the baseball stage of my life I now spend quite as much time as I can playing softball. I love to play along side of my brother Elliot had have fun while doing it.

Art, Travel, Fortunes, and Family...

A long time without blogging means lots of pictures to add and even more info to update.
Between the hustle and bustle of school and work I have found myself traveling to and from Salt Lake almost every weekend to see friends and family and to try and get things set up and ready for the coming summer. Lately I have been finding myself getting more and more anxious for the summer time to come. With many activities awaiting me: Softball, biking, running, swimming, triathlons. There are also various traveling adventures that are loaded in the chamber and "listo para tirar". My beautiful girlfriend Lisa took the first picture of me on the bike one while we were having a little getaway weekend in St. George. The following three pictures were some fortunes that I got from the local Panda Express here in Cedar City. I always keep the good ones and these are three of the best that I have come across. The timing couldn't have worked out any better with the fortune about traveling seeing that Lisa and I have been talking about and planning a trip to visit Puerto Rico this summer. Many think that fortune cookies are not legit but this just proves them wrong. As I have talked about in previous blogs I love to cycle and am looking forward to spending many hours and traveling many miles with my brother Cam this summer. We were in St. George this last weekend and were able to kick off the season with a nice little ride up through Ivens and the Snow Canyon area. The next few pictures are from the annual Steadman Family brunch at Little America. I love to spend time with family especially when there is lots of good food involved.

Live, Love, Laugh. A good motto to follow and live by. Being able to take a step back and analyze the past few months of my life have made me realize just how lucky I am. Now looking to the future with many hopes and dreams makes each a day a new exciting chance to embark on a new journey and learn something new. As I like to leave you with a little quote this is one that I found that I think is very well suited for this last blog post... "Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake". -Henry David Thoreau

San Carlos...

Hospitals and surgery rooms. Crazy things happen in Mexican hospitals one of which is letting american pre-dental, and pre-med students into the operating room to hang out, observe, and sometimes even assist in the sugeries. This is Nick and I just agter walking in the OR and getting scrubbed up.

Javier was one of the little kids that we saw at the orphanage. It is funny to see how much all of these little kids love to see their tall friends from America and how much they love to play with the cameras and have their pictures taken. It is a humbling experience to be go to these places and spend some time with little kids that can have a day of fun with nothing more than a few gringos that don't speak their language, a camera, and a set of monkey bars

She sells sea shells down by the sea shore. Nick and I took a nice afternoon walk on the beach and came across these awesome shells that had these bright pink stripes on them. I decided to set them up as so and see if I could have a little artistic flare come out, and I am glad to say that I think I pulled it off.

Jordan, Me, Nick, Noe, Brandon, and Eric. Great friendships made and fun days spent basking in the sun and absorbing in the Mexican culture. Us sitting over the harbor, in Guaymas after going to "el mercado" in the city.

Bliss
San Carlos was amazing. Everything from the experience we had, to the friends that we made and the time that was just enjoying beautiful sunsets like this.

Our last night on be beach

It's like a little hideaway...

Between the stresses of school, work, family, and life that get thrown at each of us everyday, it is important that we all have things that make us happy, smile, and say thank you. I have had that opportunity a lot lately and am just super stoked on where my life is going right now.

So spring brings great weather, fun times, and special times to be had with special people. These last two weekends have been two of the more fun weekends that I have had in a long time... Lisa came down to visit and we for sure had a great time. We for sure did a lot of things that Southern Utah has to offer: Skeet shooting, hiking, off-roading, four-wheeling, running, batting cages, mini gold, dinner on the patio with beautiful weather, and biking all around on beach cruisers.

Lisa and I just after shooting.

So the first time that we went out shooting the day started off with Lisa getting lucky on her very first shot and peppering the pigeon that was thrown, to her consistently knocking them down every time that we go out. But hey, sometimes all it takes is a lucky first shot.

Out on the trails of Santa Clara

The four-wheeling was super fun as well until the one that I was on started to run out of gas quite a ways out in the hills and every time that I would try and flag Lisa down to stop she just thought that I was waving and continued on until finally she stopped and we turned around and made it home.

"Somewhere only we know"

So on Saturday when we took our little bike ride it was just beautiful. We cruised up through these pastures with horses running around, along a little creek, and came across this little area by a stream that was quite and relaxing. In this area there was a rope swing and we thought that it would be a good idea to hope on and swing, well that Lisa hopped on cause I thought that I would break the tree limb. So she hopped on and I pushed her for a little bit and was able to talk this beautiful picture.

Well as I said things are going well right now and I am super content as to where I find myself right now and am very grateful for the opportunities that have presented themselves to me. As always my friends remember the wise words of a man name Slug... "When Life give you lemons, paint that shit gold" Much love to all.

Hola a todos. Well long time and no blog, so I guess that means that it is time to hop back on and type a few inspiring phrases and let world know what is going on in my life. Well as you can see here in this sweet pic I decided to shave my head... It was against my own will but when people say that I look way better with short head or a shaved head I usually take their advice! So yeah, I woke up one day and just decided to shave it because I had an extra hour before I had to be to class. I forgot how cold the old head gets when there is no hair up there keeping the heat in.

Me and my shaved head

Other than the shaved head nothing is really new in my life besides the fact that I have had to cut down on my training time a little bit. I love to get out and bike and run and swim but I have recently started a new job, so I guess that is something that is new in my life, and it has taken a lot of the time that I had to train out of my life but I still manage to get it in. I was pretty stoked on this day when the following picture was taken. I had just got done with a run and did the calculations and saw that I was averaging seven and a half minute miles. That isn't too bad for a kid my size haha. Speaking of size, I have lost a lot of weight lately, I have dropped 40 pounds in the past three months. I feel so much better, especially in the back area.

Me after a good Saturday afternoon run in Sandy

This is my new bike that I bought in January... I love it. Because of the cold weather I haven't been able to use it as much as I would like to but there is always a day here and there that is sunny and semi not freezing. Now that the weather is warming up I am stoked to get out and use it much much more. I have a goal to have over 1ooo miles on it by the end of summer.

My bike on a ride in cold Cedar City, UT

Well that is all for the day, but as I said earlier, I will and would love to leave you with some words of advice. As the wise Dr. Albert Schweitzer said: "An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere. The pessimist sees only the red light. But the truly wise person is color blind." Remeber all. When life is great and when it gives you lemons just paint them gold and put a smile on. Much love!

New Years bring new goals and new suprises

Well in this new year I have a few new goals a aspirations and a few of those include a bike, so I bought a bike... This is my new 2009 Specialized Allez Elite and I love it. I am still trying outfit it all the way but it is a sweet bike and fun to ride. I am training for a couple of triathlons and so it was a necessary buy. Also I am very close with my brothers and love to do things with them and share common interests. Well with Elliot we play a lot of softball together and it is super fun. Last summer we played in a few tournaments and we actually took second place inthe Utah Summer Games and we will continue to play this somming summer. Now that I have a bike I can start to do bike rides and things with my brother Cam. He has biked for years and has inspired me to get on and start peddling we are actually going to try for a couple group rides this Spring.

My new bike and myself!

So going along with the whole training for a triathlon you have to be able to bike, swim, and run so I have been doing all three. I have really started to like running a lot and I owe a lot of that to my girlfriend Meghan. She is an awesome and very motivated runner and therefore motivates me to run more too. There was a half marathon in St. George this last weekend and I had thought about doing it but I didn't want to run it alone and plus I was thinking that I was not in shape for it. I was flip-flopping back and forth and decided not to run it because Meghan was working out of town last week and was supposed to be out of town for the weekend too. Well on Thursday she called and told me that she was actually going to be in town because her boss gave her the weekend off so That night we got registered to run it. So we show up on race day and I was still a little worried because we had these daunting 13.1 miles ahead of us to run and I had never ran any distance longer than 6 miles. Well we started off and I ran the whole thing, finished with a huge smile, had a great time, and finished in a decent time too! Thanks Meghan!

Meghan and me after the Half Marthon on January 17th

Each runner got a little medal for finishing the half marathon. It was such a good accomplishment and a fun thing to do. I am so thankful and grateful that I have been blessed enough to do such things after having gone through such hard times in the past with my back. I am now thinking about shooting for the marathon in St. George this coming October... We'll see how that goes.

My little Medal

Again my friends, as I sign off I wish you all the best of luck in this new year. I love life and am so excited to live it every day and I am so stoked to experience a whole new side of life that I have never seen, each and everyday thanks to certain people around me. As always, I want to remind you of the wise words from a man called Slug..."When life gives you lemons, paint that shit gold!" Much love to all!

Things that make me say... Thank you

Spring = Flowers, showers, sunshine, and new life...
Summer = Lakes, fishing, camping, softball, and all sorts of fun activities.
Winter = Snow boarding, snow, cold, snow, more snow, sledding, and more cold
Fall = Football, World series, hikes, falling leaves, school, and... Thanksgiving.

What a wonderful time that we have to be thankful for all of the things that we have in our lives. This thanksgiving holiday was especially good for me this year not only because I was able to be with all of my friends and family, but I had a great time leaving my dreaded stalker/friend, organic chemistry for those that didn't read my last post, and letting a new friend into my life.


Going up to Salt Lake is always fun especially when you get together with old friends, have a good time, and reminisce about the good old times. This break, I was lucky enough to have Meghan come up to Salt Lake with me and meet a bunch of my friends from High School. We went out to dinner and then ended up going bowling were we came out with the highest scores... Yeah I know, we're a big deal like that. It was a good night and was a lot of fun talking to everyone and here about their situations and where they stand in life. I'll explain...

Danny and Natalie:
Danny Has been one of my best friends since I was in junior high. They are a great couple and work really well together. They got married last summer and it was been great to see them grow closer every time we see them. Danny is going to school up at the U and Natalie is just finishing up hair school at the Paul Mitchell school of hair.

Easton:
Easton is a great kid, and a great friend. He is just working right now and still going to school. He still hasn't settled down yet and is just out there doing his thing meeting a lot of people and having fun.

Taylor and Amy (on the left) Jon and Natalie (on the right):
Taylor and Amy have been dating for a little while now and are starting to talk about taking the next step in life which is engagement. They are super cool people and some of my really good friends down here in Cedar City. It is nice to have such great people around you all the time to keep you company and be there when you need them. Jon and Natalie on the other hand have taken those steps and have been engaged for quite a few months now. They are going to be getting married on May 2nd and that will be a great day for both of them. It is cool how in life you meet people that work so well with each other. That is how it is for Jon and Natalie... They just work really well together.

Mitchell and Elizabeth:
Mitchell and I have been friends since we were just young kids and have continued that friendship ever since. Because of the friendship that he and Taylor and myself have shared for so many years, it has grown and effected our parents who are now best friends and the six of them (Taylor's parents included) ride their Harley's all over the country and have a great time together. Elizabeth and Mitchell got married this last summer and have made a great couple ever since. They are such nice and sincere people and it is sad that we don't get to be together very much due to the cities in which we live and the schools that we attend.

Finally there is Meghan and I. All that I can really say for us is that we are both very greatful for good friends that treat us well and like to have us hang around. We've been dating for a little while and are really happy with how things have worked out thus far. Meghan is from Montana via St. George and is an awesome girl that has a lot going for her.

As I finish this blog I would just like to state a couple of things and give a few reminders: One, I am really thankful for good friends that have impeciable taste and timeing, Never underestimate the worth of a friendship, have fun no matter what walk of life you find yourself in because life is just to short for bad days and bad moods, and most important... When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold. Much love to all