The little things

This past week was my daughter's first birthday. It was a busy week as my family traveled back to Arizona to celebrate June's first birthday with our family and friends. Amiss all the stress of the party coming together, getting things ready, and decorating for the party I lost sight of the "little things" I normally do so that my love and affection is shown towards my wife. I've been married four years now, and I'd like to think I know a thing or two about marriage. So I'm going to share some advice on the subject of those "little things" in a marriage.

• Don't ever go a day without saying "I love you."
• Don't loose sight of what's most important, your wife. 
• When you are tired, and don't want to help decorate anymore, do it anyways, your wife will appreciate it and take notice. 
• After a long day, give your wife a foot rub, (this will go a long way!)
• Offer to change the babies diaper, without being asked. 
• Cook a meal, without being asked. 
• Take out the trash, without being asked. 
• Pretty much anything you do without being asked, will go a long way!

While this list isn't all encompassing, these are a few things I noticed this last week that I could have done better, and it would have gone a long way. Learn from my mistakes, by doing these "little things" you will have a happy wife and happy life!

-huntingoutdoorsguy

Video Conference Meeting

This past week I experienced video conferencing for the first time. It was an eye opening experience. I was able to meet with my consulting group members without having to travel and without having to meet in a central location. The ability to meet with whomever you'd like just with the touch of a button is a very powerful tool.

I did learn that this new tool can be a very keen asset in a professional setting. No longer is there just a phone call or email to communicate with customers, now there is another avenue available, video conferencing. It was an ah-ha moment making this realization, and I hope to continue using this style of video meeting in the future. The convenience for all involved make it an essential option for all businesses to have for there customers and employees, and I'm surprised it isn't used more often.

What is your experience with video conferencing? Are you a believer in this new mode of communication for businesses?

-huntingoutdoorsguy

5 minute presentation

This past week for a class assignment, I created a 5 minute presentation on tips for an effective blog. I've learned that being able to take a lot of information and synthesize and condense it so that it's relatable to the audience and applicable, is a very valuable skill to have.

When I started my research on tips for an effective blog, there was so much information available, I didn't know how to organize it. What helped was making the information applicable to my audience which would be other fellow BYU students from the class. With this in mind, I was able to focus and narrow the topic and how these tips could benefit future careers and create possible promotions from having diverse skills in the blogosphere.

In my marketing class this week we learned that, "creativity loves constraints". Meaning, creativity will flow with having a constraint. For example, if you were asked to think of a new product idea? Or, think of a new type of chair? Which would be easier? The latter because, the additional constraint focused on a new type of chair makes creating new ideas easier. By having a constraint we are more likely to come up with very creative ideas. This applies to other aspects in life, like creating a project.

Give it a try next time you want to create a presentation or come up with a new idea, add a constraint and let the creativity flow.

-huntingoutdoorsguy

Family

What makes family, family? Is it those who you are related to through marriage and bloodlines? Or is it more than that? Up here in Utah, my little family doesn't have the support of all of our extended family back in Arizona. However, a close friend of mine, family was here in Provo this past week visiting there son and daughter that attend BYU. Their family has twelve children and we have grown so close to this family that we now consider them our own family as they do to us.

Today was the second youngest's baptism. It was an experience to be able to share this special moment with the family. I know that because of the relationship that has formed between our two families through love and example through actions are creating lasting ties. We can depend on them, and they can depend on us for anything that might come our way. It's an awesome experience to see this happen and grow so close to another family.

Here is a picture of us at Rock Canyon park today after a family soccer game and frisbee. We had loads of fun on this awesome Saturday.

By being open and accepting to another family our love has grown so much for others outside of our regular "family". This openness to change and difference in this life can really make a huge impact to the way we interact and view others around us. I'm so glad for the love and support of our new family.

-huntingoutdoorsguy

Studying

Oh that dreaded studying. It's a tough, tedious task all college students have to do. I know everyone does it, but I'm curious about how others study. I feel that sometimes my studying techniques aren't adequate. Here's a blog that talked about an effective way to study and how we can think about studying.

After reading this post, I have some new insights on a more effective way to study. In the past there have been times where I feel that breaking up the study sessions for an upcoming midterm should be dispersed throughout the day and sitting down straight for a couple of hours wouldn't be effective. This study showed that those that did put their full efforts into practicing for a couple hours straight performed better than those that disperses the practice throughout the day. As well, those that did the couple of hours straight through were less "busy"and tired because they on average slept an hour longer than those that dispersed the practicing throughout the day.

I really liked this statement from the blog "if your goal is to build a remarkable life, then busyness and exhaustion should be your enemy." Wow, that is deep, real and needs to be said. This summed up the findings, and I love this statement: "Do less. But do what you do with complete and hard focus. Then when you’re done be done, and go enjoy the rest of the day."

This was refreshing and I really enjoyed reading this blog. If you need some insight on other techniques of studying, take a look at this blog and see what it can do for you.

-Huntingoutdoorsguy

What's important?

Well, it's now past the halfway point of the semester, and if you are overwhelmed with all the projects, midterms, and added stress, you are not alone! Lately school has been rough, and I have so much to do, however today (Saturday) I could have done some of my long to do list of school work, instead I made the decision to spend it with my family having fun. I know that my school work is important, and I will find time to get it done, except I felt that more importantly I needed to spend quality time with my two girls today, my wife and daughter.

So we planned to go bowling, then go to the BYU Men's volleyball game. We had so much fun bowling with our daughter June, she had a blast hearing the music and dancing! Also when we were at the volleyball game June would mimic others clapping and dancing to the music there too! It was a fun filled, non-stressful day.

These kinds of days are definitely needed, they give a break from the day to day grind of BYU. Give it a try if you are needing a break. Have fun!

-Huntingoutdoorsguy

Dirty Dishes

Do you hate doing dishes? If you're like me, they are the worst! We don't have a dishwasher and the dishes can really pile up sometimes. 

My wife is constantly in a full out battle with these dishes everyday. I took the time today, to help her out. So how can the constant build up of a pile of dishes be avoided? The answer is consistency. By taking the small amount of time to wash the dish right after its used, can avoid a long tedious battle with the dishes. This same concept can be applied to our lives daily. Such as taking the small amount of time to do the daily necessities, we can avoid a build up of stress or negativity. 

I know I can do better in this, and maybe we won't have pile of dishes anymore. Win the battle with those dishes! Never give up, never surrender!

-Huntingoutdoorsguy