My Little Jelly Belly

My favorite candy treat by far are the delicious gourmet jelly beans from Jelly Belly.  The folks at Jelly Belly have captured some incredible flavors in a wondrous variety.  Sometimes I like to eat them one at a time and enjoy the sensation of the flavor washing over my tongue.  Other times I go really crazy and throw a whole handful in my mouth at once and I am delighted and sometimes gleefully disgusted by the combinations of flavors.  

I even snuck a pocketful of Jelly Bellies into church today and tried my darnedest to eat them without the kids noticing, but Claire and Kyle caught me.  Kyle got pretty good at sneaking them out of my pocket.  Jessica only noticed when Claire had one stuck on her newly emerged molar. 

Well, as you can see, I just love Jelly Bellies, but I think baby Claire likes them even more than me.  Jessica just bought me a large jug of them from Costco.  Claire knows that they are in the cupboard and she points at them and grunts, then screams, and then wails until we satisfy her craving.  

On long family drives we will sometimes have a bag of Jelly Bellies to make the ride more enjoyable.  Claire insists on more than her fair share.  Now I know that I am spoiling her in this one small way, but I admit that I love that she loves what I love.  While still keeping one steady hand on the wheel, I blindly I reach my other hand around behind me and I feel her chubby little fingers snatch up these marvelous masticable morsels from my palm.  She generally goes for the "shove-'em-all-in-your-mouth-at-once-method" of devouring the delicacy.  I just chuckle softly to myself...a proud father am I.

When we get her out of her car seat we quickly become aware of which flavors she did not enjoy so thoroughly as the gooey mess of spat-out undesirables are plastered to her bottom.

We know there are many great candies and snack foods competing for our hard-earned dollars, "but as for me and my house", we choose Jelly Bellies.

Government Bail-outs

I've been avoiding the radio talk-shows about this, 'cause frankly it is rather boring and if we all really understood it, we'd be scared to death.  So I'm going to throw out my random thoughts on the subject as I needed to rant about something and leave it at that.

Remember...there is no such thing as a government bail-out.  The government doesn't generate money on its own, so we donate it to them from the kindness of our hearts.  (Its called legal plunder.  Through the force of law, they take it from us.  If you don't pay, you go to jail.)

From my BYU Econ 110 class from "his-tests-are-so-hard-he-must-be-evil" Brother Kearl, I do "get it"... I get the reasons why the government steps in with our tax dollars for corporate bail-outs and farm subsidies.  Its all in the name of maintaining "economic stability", but at what cost?

A free market economy should be one in which businesses and people are allowed to succeed and allowed to fail.  If a company is making bad decisions then the losses they face are good lessons learned.  The government is rewarding incompetencies in the market by bailing them out.

If we let companies fail, there will be customers that suffer with them, but the market can heal itself very quickly if left to its own merits.  We need to get back to the pure and basic economic system of "I provide a good or service of value to you, for which you provide me a good or service that is of value to me."  

Money, in the form of bills, coins, checks, and bank accounts is a great tool, but remember, it is all fake money and has no value in and of itself.  Money is simply the means of trading goods and services of value.

I imagine that if world markets colapse, that money will be the least of anyones worries and people will be more concerned about trading goods and services of value to survive and to be successful.

The worst part of the bail-outs is the nationalization, or government taking control, of these businesses.  We are subtly sliding down the slippery slope of socialism.  We are allowing the government to grow in power, size, and the expense to support it.  Most Americans don't even realize that we are now, more than ever, like Soviet Russia was 20 years ago.  We are taxed 400% more now than those who declared independence from their mother country for unjust taxation.  Where is the free market America that Bastiat (author of The Law) saw in the 1850's?  I want it back!

The solution?  Vote for people who want to downsize government.  Vote for people who will start eliminating government programs that are better left in the hands of private enterprise.  Vote for people that will reduce taxes and that will live within a budget.  Vote for people who want to return the government to its proper role as written in the Constitution and as advocated by our founding fathers.

Grandma Carlson

We just returned from a weekend trip down to Utah to attend the funeral for my dear sweet 92 year old grandmother.  Her funeral was wonderful; the music and talks were all great and deeply touching.  There are twelve kids in the Carlson family and they were all there, plus loads of my cousins and swarms of little kids.  I know Grandma was pleased to observe the goings-on from up above, and she was probably there with Grandpa as he counted how many of his posterity were in attendance.  Here is a link to her obituary.

It is amazing to look at the infinite impact one person can have on the entire world.  Grandma raised twelve kids and each of those twelve kids had kids, and those grandkids have had and are still having loads of kids.  The posterity of Glen and Nila Carlson have served missions across the globe touching thousands of lives and wherever one with Carlson blood resides, I am confident that thousands of lives continue to be touched.  So, starting with two simple people, just about every continent has been affected by their love, example, and teachings.  I am certain that this example is part of the fulfilling of the prophecy that through the seed of Abraham, all the world would be blessed.  Not to mention that Abraham's seed will be like the sands of the sea and the stars of the heavens, so to will be the posterity of Glen and Nila Carlson.

For all my blogging relatives...it was especially nice to see you in person.  I did feel a deeper connection with you because your blogs have allowed me into your lives in some small way.  Keep it up and keep recruiting more family members to join the Carlson Junction.

Realigned Priorities

One beautiful day I sat on the grass outside the Tanner Building at BYU pondering and praying. I prayed with intense fervency in my heart that my first priorities in life would always be my family and the kingdom of God.  I prayed that the Lord would not curse me with wealth if it would lead me toward materialism.  If my heart would be true and full of charity, then I prayed that the Lord would bless me with the means to be generous.  

Well, the Lord has answered my prayers...I have a great job and have survived numerous rounds of layoffs.  My family has always had its basic needs.  In spite of some poor financial decisions and losses on real estate risks, we're still okay.  

I've had a decent part time job at RC Willey, a furniture store, which has been helpful in paying the bills, but it has been a counterweight on that precious balance of family, church, and work.  This last week I cut back my hours at RC Willey so that I could rejoin my family.  For the first time, I will be an assistant coach on Kyle's soccer team.  We may lose our house in the coming months, but our credit scores mean so little compared to developing the eternal relationships of family.  We would happily rent a home half the size for half the monthly rate just to be together more.

The Lord has been working on me the last couple of weeks to make this obvious to me.  Jessica and I have had lots of discussions regarding my two jobs situation.  She is the greatest source of my balance in life.  She keeps my ego in check and is good at letting me know when my balance is off.  

Last Sunday in our church meetings, a couple spoke about how they became millionaires by starting up a scrapbooking company and how they lost everything after the husband received a brain injury in a wakeboarding accident.  The Lord loved them enough to remind them of their dependence upon Him and their story deeply affected me.

My mom and dad invited Jessica and I to attend "Time Out for Couples" sponsored by Deseret Book.  I love this acceptable form of priestcraft that we have in our Mormon culture.  Its always cheesy and gets your out of your comfort zone, but being outside of comfort zones is often where real learning happens.  It was a great night!  The speakers were awesome and they helped bring my mind back to my biggest priorities...my wife and my kids.  They also reminded me to spend more time simply being thankful to God for all that I do have and not to measure my success in life by the accumulation of things and the honors of men.  That Brad Wilcox had me laughing myself to stomach cramps; reminding me to never forget the importance of humor in my life.  A more eternal perspective on marriage and family was awakened in my soul.  

So anyway, here I sit tonight with a renewed motivation and perspective on life.  Thanks for listening!

"...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  Matthew 6:33

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

  And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

  And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." DC 78:17-19

And it came to pass...

Monday morning at approximately 4:30 a.m. (Labor Day) I woke up having contractions, not of the motherly sort, but of the kidney kind as my right kidney was pushing a jagged crystal covered pebble into my ureter tube.  Oh the pain!  Being lactose intolerant, I am used to waking up at night with abdominal pain followed by explosions better left unmentioned.  But this was different and I quickly summoned my eternal bride to chauffeur me to the emergency room.  

Jessica called Crystal our friendly neighbor who quickly answered "What's wrong?" and immediately replied, "I'll be right over to stay with the kids."  

Man, I tell ya, I was hurtin' somethin' fierce and every bump in the road was another nightmare. 

I gave a urine sample and the amount of visible blood in it let me know right away what I was experiencing...my dad, my boss, and two co-workers all having had them recently.  The sympathetic physician's assistant promptly inserted the IV and started the good stuff a flowin' and I was sent to a new world of peace and tranquility while Jessica handled all the questions and information.  It was strange in that I was mentally aware of the discussions being had around me, but completely unable to respond.  I wonder if that is what being in a coma is like?  Weird, but I felt the pain no more.

They prescribed me some psychedelic narcotics, some anti-nausea stuff that I didn't know why they were giving me (until later), and some pills that help old men with swollen prostates pee better, aptly named "Flomax".  The Flomax proved quite useful and for the next couple of days I could give any race horse a run for his money (as long as the competition related to the frequency and volume of urination and not actually running).  I was also given a handy plastic urine filter to catch any particles that might issue from my internal organs.

The pain meds really messed me up.  For three days they put me in a zombie state that bored me, but they were effective in keeping the pain to a minimum.  I don't understand why people get addicted to those things as they didn't make me feel good at all.  Monday night the pain came back along with terribly violent vomiting that lasted a good hour.  I should have taken one more of those anti-nausea pills.  Maybe they explained to Jessica in my comatose state that hurling your guts out is part of the process of passing a kidney stone, but I missed that one.

Tuesday came and went with general uncomfortableness and incoherency.  But I did step up my water in-take figuring the floods of Noah would wash my system clean.  I think I actually felt the stone scratching its way down the ureter tube toward my bladder.  This is the worst part!  I always thought it would be the toughest having the stone pass through my man-parts, but the trip from the kidney to the bladder is the tough part.

Wednesday morning started well with the Flomax working perfectly along with my flooded bladder.  Did  you know your bladder can completely refill in just seconds?!  After many many trips to the little boys room within a very short period of time out came that little sucker.  It was pretty cool and had tons of Robert-made crystals all over it that glistened in the sunlight.  I was a proud father of my very own creation.

It was time to go to the Urologist and present them with my little stone.  The Flomax still had not let up even though I has passed the stone, but I had to hold back on releasing my bladder so that it would be nice and full so the CT scan would be able to see everything well.  (The CT scanner at the emergency room was down, so I was diagnosed on the assumption of it being a kidney stone)

The CT scan was quick and easy, buy my eyes were turning yellow as my bladder was about to burst.  Not to mention that they had a water fountain running in the lobby which made the need to pee all the worse.  I begged the nurse to please take my urine sample now and they obliged.  We never actually saw the Urologist, but the P.A. was sure a cute little thing and I tell Jessica that it might be worth another kidney stone just to see her again!

I spent the rest of the day resting at home, still in a drug-induced stupor.  Today I went back to work having not taken any more pain meds.  I must be coming off those drugs as my head is still throbbing.  My right kidney is still tender but I am well on my way good health.  The CT scan showed a second stone, but they said it was so small that it will probably pass unnoticed. 

So, when one of  you need a kidney transplant, I'm happy to give you my right one and I hope it provides you with as much joy as it gave me.