Sunday Dinner

Welcome to the best part of the week at the Hammond home. SUNDAY DINNER. It is one thing to look forward to for many reasons during the week. Here they are,

1- Great food

2- Conversations that would and will only happen at the Hammond dinner table

ex. Spongebob square pants, Twilight, skiing, girls, boys, golf, last weeks crazy stories, dad's sunday school class trying to turn off the lights every 2 seconds stories, so on (NOTE these examples are taken from a conglomerate of stories over a couple of years, now spongebob only comes up about once a month) Also we have the regular what happened at church at least once a month.

3- Friends and Family gathering. This is one of the best parts. We have Jamie and her Husband Aaron over and sister Kim Jamie's old mission companion who happens to be Korean and Jon and his friends and my friends and when we are lucky we have Jessica and Dru and the kids when they are in town.

4- Great food.

5- Dessert has to be one of my favorites of them all.

The best part though of this all would have to be the gathering of the family. This week it was a blast because we were able to hang the ornaments on the tree. Now me being a post missionary who has not experienced it for the past two years, I loved every single ornament that I hung. It is great to see the wonderful blessing of a family.

"The family. We [are] a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting on another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."

-- Erma Bombeck

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMIE! My big sister who I love!

Sundays will always be my favorite part of the week because of the church and the great opportunity I have to hang with the family each week. I love you all and have a super day.

The Post Office Run

The post office is the place to be from 12:00 until 3:00 at BYU. Why I say that is because I work there. The great old post office at BYU. It is amazing how many people come into the BYU post office mailing things to foreign countries. I guess the girls are always trying to keep up with their boyfriends who are on missions (we all know those never last). To prove the point of the foreign mail, the BYU post office mails more foreign mail in the United states west of the Mississippi then any other place. Cool thing. We even have the provo post office call us about stuff when it comes to foreign stuff. 

Well the cool thing that happened this week has to do with a korean man that came into the post office. He came in and came up to my desk and did not say anything to me and pointed at some stuff and I gave him a pen and he went on writing his letter. So I looked to see what he was writing and it was in korean so I said hello to him in korean. He just sat their and looked at me and I kept talking to him. Eventually he got that I was speaking korean and he pointed towards his ears and gave me the sign that he was deaf. So I thought this was interesting that a korean man was in Utah and deaf. The cool thing though is that I lived with the Elders that taught deaf in people korea, so I learned a little Korean Sign Language. So I said hello and nice to meet you to him and he got a big smile on his face and we had an instant bond. We did not have to say anything to each other but we both noticed we had a love for each other for our cultures and that we wanted to help each other. He left with a smile on his face and I was happy the rest of the day. Words are not everything I came to find out. 

If you truly care for someone the actions and ways you try to make them happy shows you what you feel and think about them as a person. I am so happy that I could say hello to him, but I was happier that we could trust each other by pointing and trying to understand each other. 

"There are times when silence has the loudest voice"

-- Leroy Brownlow 

It is true, actions are what shows us the love of others it has the loudest voice. I have one request for you all that read this, look at what others do for you and see what you do for others. I love you all and have a super week. 

"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  --Matthew 25:40

Seasons of Change

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity wold not be so welcome." -Anne Bradstreet

The seasons are changing in Provo, Ut. This week we had a lovely snow fall on to the mountains and also a taste of it down in the valleys. I love the quote above but I think I would change it to say something like this. "If we had no spring and summer, the winter would not be so pleasant." Now I am not saying that I dislike summer or spring, but winter is amazing in Utah for many reasons. I wont list them but skiing is one and the great holidays of the winter months. It brings families together and their is a serenity of peace that comes with the white covered cities of the world. 

The title of my blog this week has more to it then just the seasons of change, but it also is a metaphor for change in ones life. Life has been a change for me over the pass couple of weeks and it has been for the better. 

If you look into nature as the season change you see that their have to be changes in order for the world to be ready for the upcoming season. Winter for example can not come with out Fall. The leaves of the trees must fall off of the tree in order for the snow to come and not kill the tree. This is the same in our lives. We must have changes in order to bring about the essential things in life. Their may be things stopping us or changes that we do not want to go up against, but if we follow thru the change brings about good. 

Life is good in Provo, Ut. I am excited for the changes of life to come and to experience the unexperienced. Change is a necessity in life and it will bring the rewards we need. 

School is good to me when I am good to it. For all those who have attended BYU with morn with me when I say that I am in Chemistry 105. This is a change from the norm. From preaching the gospel to memorizing chemicals and how to change a liter in to a molar ratio has put my life in a state of change. Also the wonders of Social life and how to act around a girl and not to bore her with stories of the mission. My life is a constant change it feels like. Change is good and will bring the better of life. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. 

"Sliding into Change"

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage." -Henry David Thoreau

Me and My Gang!

You know life is good when you have great friends. This week has been all about the great friends that I have and the amazing Halloween I had partying with them. 

To start out lets talk about how old can you be when you go "trick or treating". I say their is no age to stop as long as you dress up and you are happy about it. To make this clear, I was not the only one last night trick or treating that was a University student. I saw my brother with his friends trick or treating. Of course when we saw him he was quick to say, "I thought we were to old to be trick or treating." So this made us feel old but did not deter us from going from house to house getting a great reward of candy. I probably have a enough to last me the next twenty years, but hey it is great to be in America again when you can go and get great stuff going door to door. 

The night did not start their though. Me and my friends had to venture over to the great Wienerschnitzel and have a good hot dog and hamburger before the festivities. It was good. I wont lie it was the first time I have been their. My friend Stefanie came up with the idea to go. She is a smart one. She is from the south, she knows good food. 

Well after the trick or treating experience of our lives we had to head to the parties around Halloween. BYU has them around every corner, so what do you do if you are a college student you go to them all. First one, me and Brittany won the whip cream eating contest and then me and Stefanie won the most marshmallows you could stuff in you mouth, I got 15 of the big ones before we ran out. So we rocked the first one and then we made it to another party and we danced the night away.  My friends rocked the night away, I did my old waddle and stuff and tried to make my body move. (note to self I need to loosen up a bit) So the Halloween night turned out to be a blast. I had a great time and that is all because of my friends. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson --

 "A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud"

This is true. I have two of the best friends right now. Stefanie and Seth. Stefanie is the best and she truly is what Emerson said about friends. She is a open ear to me when I am in tough time. Seth is the man and is just that he is the man. I am forever thankful for them and their love for me. I hope they always know they are the best and I will always love them no matter what happens, they are the best.  

Henry David Thoreau--

"The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?"

I love everyone. Thank you for all of you support in my life. Special Thanks to Stefanie and Seth.