Okay, I know what you're thinking. Bulldogs are disgusting pets who only chew on leather shoes and slobber everywhere. Though this may be true, bulldogs are probably the funniest looking and acting pets. If you don't believe me, go to www.hulu.com, search for the show Rob and Big, and watch a few episodes to be introduced to their pet bulldog 'Meaty'. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life seeing some of the things that Meaty does.

As previously mentioned, I do have a love for pitbulls. I also have a love for bulldogs, courtesy of the show Rob and Big where they have a pet bulldog named Meaty. The dog is hilarious.

For the longest time I have wanted to own my very own dog. One that will grow up and prove to be a legit man dog. Yes, pitbulls are known to be fierce animals who are dangerous to be around. But, what they don't realize is that it depends on how the dog is trained. If you train it correctly, all the dog will want to do is play with a kong and run around. Yes, they are powerful creatures that can knock a full grown man, such as myself, to the ground. But once again, it depends on how you train that particular dog.

This is a picture of a puppy pitbull asleep on the couch, a picture that I found on the internet when I simply did a Google image search for "pitbull puppy". Once this dog gets to be 1-2 years, any man walking this kind of a dog will feel proud to be of the male gender, out walking his bad pitbull terrier.

Pitbull Puppy #2. I will eventually own one of these someday and it will be trained extremely well, much like Dolly Brown's pitbull JAKE.

And yet another from the same article. Good stuff.

“Those who humble themselves before the Lord, and wait upon him with a perfect heart and willing mind, will receive little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, ‘now and again,’ as [Brother] John Taylor says, until they receive a certain amount. Then they have to nourish and cherish what they receive, and make it their constant companion, encouraging every good thought, doctrine and principle, and doing every good work they can perform, until by and bye the Lord is in them a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.”

So I read an awesome quote today that Brigham Young said regarding the importance of maintaining a pure heart and having the Spirit in your life. How true is this quote below though? How many times in your life have you noticed the absence of the Spirit and the difference that it makes? In my own personal life, as I lead others, give talks, conduct business, etc... I've noticed that I am able to do so more effectively and clearly when my heart is pure and when I am close to the Spirit. Yet, the natural man gets everyone of us and we slip and fall. That's the beauty though of the Gospel. It's a Gospel of forgiveness and growth.

“In addressing a congregation, though the speaker be unable to say more than half a dozen sentences, and those awkwardly constructed, if his heart is pure before God, those few broken sentences are of more value than the greatest eloquence without the Spirit of the Lord and of more real worth in the sight of God, angels, and all good men. In praying, though a person’s words be few and awkwardly expressed, if the heart is pure before God, that prayer will avail more than the eloquence of a Cicero [a first century b.c. Roman orator]. What does the Lord, the Father of us all, care about our mode of expression? The simple, honest heart is of more avail with the Lord than all the pomp, pride, splendor, and eloquence produced by men. When he looks upon a heart full of sincerity, integrity, and child-like simplicity, he sees a principle that will endure forever—‘That is the spirit of my own kingdom—the spirit I have given to my children.’ ”

MY NEW HOME!!!

After living with my relatives for six months, I had saved up enough money for a down payment on my very first new home!

I began my search in May 2009. I set forth a budget and worked with an excellent agent who found me several homes within range that we went and viewed. I searched all throughout the valley (Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Ahwatukee) and found several nice places that I saw myself living in. Gilbert had two homes in particular that really caught my eye. Reasoning? Not only were the places really nice, but the cost of living is much cheaper in Gilbert than in any other suburb city. Gilbert is experiencing a lot of growth right now and homes are selling for extremely cheap, so I felt very strongly about moving there. Even though I would be moving outside of the ward boundaries where I was currently living, I was ready for a change.

I placed an offer on both homes that I liked and one of them was accepted! I now had ten days to back out of the offer just in case something were to happen where I couldn't buy it. Days 1-3 come and go, all was well. Days 4-6 come, but don't go as I had planned. Due to circumstance change in my life, I had to back out of the offer that was initially accepted. I was a little bummed, but knew it was the correct decision. I later found out that the home that I had an accepted offer on dropped $15k in price the following week. OUCH! I'm still didn't regret my decision even though the place dropped SO much in price.

My search continued. I decided that I needed to stay within my ward boundaries, so this narrowed my search to very few options. Luckily, though, within a matter of 2-3 weeks, we stumbled across a place that I fell in love with. It was outside my price range, but still doable. My agent and I placed an offer and it was immediately accepted.

The place that accepted my offer is the place that you see in these pictures. It was a new build, so being the first tenant to occupy the condo/townhome was a good feeling. The smell of fresh paint, new carpet, etc... was, and still is, fun. I closed on July 31st, 2009 and moved in the following week. Let me tell you though and I'm not sure if this was a normal process or not, but getting all the paperwork ready for the day of closing was absolutely ridiculous. I don't think I had ever been so flustered before in my life. With the housing market being hit hard as of late and with all the recent foreclosures and shortsales, banks are very hesitant with giving out loans for mortgages these days. They want every nitty gritty detail explained regarding credits into your account over dollar $$$ amount. I can't tell you how many times I exchanged emails, phone calls, etc.. with my loan officer explaining to her where this money came from, where this money from, where this money came from. Caused me much fatigue and frustration, but in the end it was worth it. I understand that banks, now-a-days, are careful with who the loan money to because they want to make sure you can afford the monthly mortgage payments. So I appreciated the fact that they were genuinely concerned for me being able to afford mortgage payments, but the process in getting to the final closing date was absurd. Would I do it again? Absolutely, but only when we're not in a recession!