Seizing a Lifetime, One Day at a Time

I'm not a writer. I start that way because I've tried for about 15 minutes to figure out a good way to lead into what I want to say and I'm still stumped. So pretend I had a funny joke, an interesting statistic, or an attention grabbing statement that leaves you on the edge of your seat waiting for what's coming next and humor me while I share a few thoughts on what's sure to be my most controversial blog yet. I might even get double digit comments on this! (Although it's more likely I'll just lose some facebook friends.) In the past few weeks, one of the biggest pieces of news was that President Obama has switched his opinion on gay marriage. He now stands in support of the idea that marriage should be the same, whether homosexual or heterosexual. There has been a lot of news coverage on why he finally announced it, some saying it's a political move to help in November, while others say the president's opinion has naturally evolved and he felt it w...

Is there a law that describes the time when you're just about to take care of a potential problem and then when you make steps to take care of the potential problem, the problem isn't potential anymore? If not, I'd like to name it Tolley's Law because it is the story of my life lately. A year ago, Melissa and I started looking at cars just because we thought it would be nice to get a second one with four doors. After a few months of looking at every car on the market, our little cavalier had a tragic accident with a fence that put it in the garage for a few months (ask Melissa if you want details :) ). Luckily we had already been looking at cars so we went out that weekend and got a new car. Two weeks ago it happened again! We just got a new camera and the pictures are great, but they end up taking a lot of space on our hard drive. Our drive was starting to get full so we thought it was probably time to start looking for an external drive to store our pictures on...

I'm a Sabbath breaker. I just couldn't help it. The six year old girl made me do it. Before I explain, I have to announce that I'm a dad! Nathan James Tolley was born on November 8th at 5:03 am. He weighed 7lbs 1oz (up to 9 lbs 12oz now!) and 19.5 inches long. It was an amazing experience to go through. I was in shock when he arrived and there's still times when I look down and realize he's my son, not just some baby we're taking care of. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone wondering if they should have kids. Now, back to the six year old girl. Melissa and I were sitting on the couch enjoying our Sunday afternoon when a knock came at the door. We weren't expecting anyone so you can imagine our surprise when I opened the door and saw a little girl standing there with a basket in her hands. "Hello, my name is Callie," she said in the cutest voice you've ever heard. "I'm selling oatmeal cookie mix to make money for my piano le...

Hey everyone! After a year, I'm back! Okay, it hasn't been a year and let's be honest, it's likely the person reading this is someone in Latvia who randomly stumbled upon my blog while searching for an article about American toothpaste, or something random like that. If that's you, thanks for stopping by, but I don't have any information about toothpaste. For anyone else, how's it going? I know it's been a while since I last posted. Life has been busy and yet pretty uneventful. I'm married now and just starting to settle into it. I'm living in Boise with my beautiful wife and my new puppy, Topper. He's a handful, but great for our little family right now. My job is going great and I'm learning a lot. I feel like I'm really accomplishing something everyday. Life is just pretty darn good. So that brings us to today. Why do I suddenly decide to blog after a peaceful leave of absence from the digital world? There's two reasons. Fi...

Holy Cow! Things have changed so much since the last time I posted. I promise to keep things up to date (okay, that's probably not true, but I'll try) with my new life. I met someone! I love her! I'm going to marry her! We met on a blind date that we both felt was meh. However, the next day I asked her to go to lunch and she asked if I wanted to play some games with her friends. From then on our relationship just naturally grew. It's been crazy as things have progressed, but I've loved it! Since then I've proposed and I wanted to type that up so everyone could hear the great story of what happened. So here it is. The story starts on Thursday, May 6, 2010. Thursday, Decisions and Graduation (May 6,2010) Thursday, I got an email from Eileen (the lady at SE Needhams) saying that the wax for the ring I had ordered was done. I went in and looked at the wax. It looked good, but not as great as I thought it would be. I wasn't sure if it was exactly what I w...

I have a future! I just accepted a job offer today from Clearwater Analytics, the company in Boise that I worked for last summer. It’s great to have that job security and not have to worry about finding a job over the next few months. The only thing I’m really nervous about is moving back up to Boise. I liked it up there, but it’s no Logan. I’m just starting to feel really comfortable back here in Cache Valley and now I already have to consider leaving again! I guess the constant in life is change and I just have to get used to it. So life has been pretty interesting lately. And by interesting, I mean mostly boring. I’m starting to hang out with some old friends again which has been fun, but I have a feeling that the new semester will change that. There’s a lot of thought going through my head that I would love to post about all my social life experiences, but I think for once I’m going to plead the fifth. I’ve decided that my life really isn’t interesting as an open book and I need ...

You know, it’s so much easier to vent than it is to be grateful. Last night I wrote a post that was all a vent and of course the answer to my venting came this morning. I was (of all places) in the shower and D&C 121 came to my mind. It wasn’t any sudden big revelation or any new knowledge that came to me. The only thought that really came to me was “If you’re going through trials, you’re among good company.” Also, I’ve been reminded of some interesting things that happened a year ago that just helped me know that God loves me. Trials happen, and they’ll pass. If I can’t bear my own trials, how will I be able to bear them and help when it’s my children going through them. I guess what I’m saying is that life can be tough. It sucks sometime. But who cares about the crappy times? Sure I can hold them in and let them make me shallow and angry at life. Or I can get over them and help other people going through them. I’m choosing to smile. After all, it’s better than the alternative. ...