bigcreek

Members
  • Posts

    24
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by bigcreek

  1. My wife and I got married and took off to BYU-I. My parents didn't give me a single penny. Not that they could if they wanted to, we were a tad on the poor side, but I never expected it either. We got $100 from my wifes parents but other than that we were on our own. I worked part time at the railroad as a conductor and for the college outdoor department running heavy equipment and welding. My wife worked at a call center and at a hotel cleaning rooms. Also together we worked for a vet clinic cleaning and what not. Not all the jobs at the same time but always had at least two jobs while also going to school. We got a pell grant or two but when we graduated I had a bachelor in business and we had just under $20,000 in student loans to pay off. The debt was enough but not too bad. I tell my kids all the time though to not expect any help at all for school. I just tell them that so they don't expect much but in reality I would help them a bit because life has been good to us and we are able to assist. I wont pay for everything though by any means, but I will certainly help and would want to. Trade schools are often overlooked which is very unfortunate because an excellent living can be made with the trades. College is great for some, but a total waste of money for others. Although I came out of school with a 4 year business degree I still didn't have a clue what to do for a living. Not a clue. So I went to work for the railroad and started a business eventually and 20 years later things for us are great but those first few years of our marriage were financially tight man! I remember a fond memory from our college days which my wife and I reminisce on fairly often is most weekends for a date we would go to the Wendys in Rexburg and get a 5 or 6 piece chicken nugget (cant remember how many was in it now for sure) and we would share it because that is all we could afford haha. That is the only time we would ever eat out. Hmmm its funny the little things you look back on with fondness. Well that was longer than expected...
  2. Wow that was quite the read. I hope things get better for you. Sending prayers your way.
  3. There were times I went to church wearing my railroad clothes because I was in another town and nobody seemed to care. Always had folks come up and welcome me, a stranger. It would be sad indeed if someone were to berate me for not dressing as they saw fit.
  4. There was a lady sitting in front of me in sacrament today wearing a tank top and blue jeans. Nobody cared one bit about what she wore. They are just happy to see her come to church.
  5. I am an inactive active member if that makes any sense. I don't go to church much because I am always working at the railroad and have for 17 years. Every other word it seems is the F bomb around here. I used to never miss reading my scriptures daily or praying. Working at the railroad riding trains around 24/7 I stopped reading every day and made it every other day then that led to once a week then once every couple weeks then once a month until I stopped completely and pretty much didn't read my scriptures or pray much for that matter for several years. I rarely went to church. Some years I literally made it to church maybe 3 or 4 times if that because my shift covered Sunday. I read the BOM cover to cover 18 times before I went on my mission then zero times cover to cover after I got back. For a couple/few years I read quite well just not necessarily start to finish. But as life happened and I worked all the time it slowly shipped away as my fortitude gave out and I slowly started giving into certain vises. Such as I never would have in a million years bought something on the Sabbath day, now I do it without batting an eye. Being away from home at another terminal on the railroad got me into that. I could have worked around it with a little better planning but I didn't. Now I don't mind buying something on a Sunday even when I don't have to. Or doing an activity on a Sunday. I never would have hunted on a Sunday, now I don't mind. Also I never ever said a cuss word all the way until I was probably 24 or 25. Now I swear a lot. I am doing better on that though. When I was younger I remember looking ahead and thinking I would continually improve as I progressed through life and got older but man o man it did not pan out that way for me at all but quite the opposite. No ones fault but my own. I have fallen a long ways but such is life I suppose. Just have to keep pushing forward. The crummy part is I have lost a lot of desire to do some of those things such as scripture reading and going to church and praying. It is drudgery to me now. I do enjoy attending church though because I like to BS with everyone. I have seen this same thing happen to a friend of mine, his story is almost a mirror image of mine. Grew up staunch and now he cusses like a sailor and has a few vises he developed post mission. His work is in the steel industry and coarse language and such is the same their as it is at the railroad. Carry on!
  6. As for me I did pray a lot to find out and never got an answer either way so said to myself well she is an amazing girl so I'm going for it answer or not and weve been hitched over 18 years now. I think there is a lot to be said that if a couple is willing to put in effort then any marriage can work. Although on the other hand I also believe certain people are much, much more compatible and hence they would be much happier together than they would be with certain others even though they could have made a marriage "work" with someone else.
  7. Not sure amigo, but it may make you feel better to know my fiancee rejected me asking her on a date 4 times before she said yes and once she reject my marriage proposal. Dang JayKi your a persistent son of a gun!
  8. Ive only been to three countries. USA, Fiji for a layover in the airport, and New Zealand for a couple years. New Zealand was absolutely amazing but of course there is no place like home as they say.
  9. What brings me joy is the knowledge that I will see family again after this life. I believe I will also see again my favorite animals for they will be resurrected to. There are a couple cows and dogs I would love to see again. (: But to be reunited with my family will be the greatest thing ever.
  10. My wife and I were discussing this. When I grew up as a teen in the mid to late 90's there were 18 Priests in my quorum and all 18 went on a mission. None came home early. Now I know of many who have come home early over the last several years. We were trying to figure out if the younger age of 18 had anything to do with it or just a change in testimony/commitment over that time period.
  11. I was home schooled from 6th grade on up through 12th. I scored higher than average on the ACT and SAT exams although I am far from a brain. My older brother was also home schooled and went on to become a physics professor at a university although he did just leave that job for Ratheon Corp. doing missile modeling or something along those lines. There were 8 kids in the family. Two I would call somewhat socially inept. Everyone else is perfectly normal including of course yours truly. (: There were a lot of things I missed out on by not attending public school such as sports and shop classes and such that I would have enjoyed. I did rodeo, for one because I enjoyed it and would have done it anyway, but also because there was no other sport I could play! At that time home schoolers were scorned in our area of southwestern Idaho and were not allowed to participate in sports. My home ward was divided on the issue and it got to the point where the stake president got up at the beginning of sacrament meeting and chastised the anti home schooler's and told them to cool it. I had a lot of friends I did stuff with. One thing I did like about being home schooled is I could work hard and get my school work done and go hunting all the time or to a roping or wherever while everyone else was still in school. That was nice. Would I home school my kids? No. Why? Because neither my wife nor I have the mindset or whatever you want to call it to do it. And we have good schools were we are so the pressure perhaps isn't as great. Homeschooling works better for some than others, that is all there is to it.
  12. You know I can relate as well. It was just a few weeks ago I told my wife I have a small nagging desire to try alcohol. I wont of course but the desire to try it is there. I was a rebel up until the age of 10. Smoked when I was 8 and 9, burned stuff up, went to jail at age 10 and that is when I swore I would never do anything bad again for the rest of my life. And I didn't for the most part. I never said cuss words, never drank, etc. My grandpa and I were very close and team roped a lot together and he was always trying to get me to drink but I didn't. We would go to a rodeo together and I was always the designated driver. He would try to get me to drink but of course I wouldn't so he would get drunk and Id drive us and the horses home. I went to Ricks College with my parents to drop my older brother off there and thought that place looked like the awesomest place on earth and swore I would go there after my mission. And that was the plan but after I got home from my mission I happened to meet the perfect girl and we went to Ricks College/BYU-I together as a married couple. It was great but my original ideas for wanting to go there so badly was because of all the beautiful ladies I saw prior to going on my mission. LOL. My wife is georgeous (spelling?) and I am very thankful for her. Been married 18 years now. But I to have had the desires to try some things Ive not tried before. Drink some fine wine, smoke a cigar, sounds fun even thinking about it now, but no way in heck would I give up what I have to chase something stupid like that. I don't know why I have any desire at all to try those things but I wont because I know it definitely isn't worth it. Well good luck Molly Mormon. I wont be giving in and hope you don't either
  13. American Sniper. First movie Ive seen in the theater in a long time. It was very good.
  14. I was in a singles ward and gave a talk in sacrament mtg. A couple weeks later some friends and I were out late at Dennys restaurant on a weekend when some girls walked in and started talking to us. One asked me if I would go on a blind date with her sister because she had seen me in the ward. I said heck yes because I was always up for stuff like that. Well we met up for our triple date with some other couples and as she was playing mini golf at the place we were at I looked at her and thought my goodness she will make someone a wonderful wife. I thought to myself that she is the most beautiful lady I have ever seen in my life. Little did I know. I am so, so lucky. That was 15 years ago now. I always tell her the main reason I married her is because her dad owns a huge ranch that has awesome hunting on it. She of course knows I am kidding. Well sort of.. just kidding.
  15. Hmm ok some may find this a little strange but when I was 10 I had a pet steer named baby and I kid you not he was the smartest bovine Ive ever been around and Ive been around alot! He loved me and I loved him. We would take naps together and play together (no I wasnt deprived of childhood friends) as I would chase him and he would chase me etc. No different from a pet like a dog or cat, just alot bigger. I cried when my dad made me take him to the sale because that meant eventual slaughter. Kinda like the pig in that book Charlottes Web except that pig got lucky. Well I hope I see him again. That was 25 years ago now and he is long gone save the memory but I would really like to see that fella again.
  16. Gas welding is awesome. No power needed for that. Plus if you can gas weld the rest of it comes pretty easy. Ya the welders laying beads on trailers in factories and such dont make much money, but those in business for themselves CAN make good bank. I know a guy well who lost his farm so he opened a welding shop as he had that skill to fall back on. Now 12 or 15 years later he is worth over a million bucks from his welding business. That is securing govt contracts for railings (lots of them) and some structural steel among other things. I think its one of those things you need to find a kind of niche market because putting up a sign and waiting for the neighbors to drop off their lawn mower or rake for you to fix sure wont bring in much money.
  17. It can definately be profitable. My tip would be to get a good mig welder. No harbor freight stuff. You will be up and welding in no time pretty much anything you want (to a point). Check out my website Home | Ranch and Business Signs, Gates, and Metal Art | Big Creek Metal Works to see what i make as it may give you some ideas. It can be alot of fun and yes even profitable.
  18. Good comment Traveler. Also your name is the coolest Ive seen thus far on this site.
  19. My boys car from 2 years ago won the tourney and it was in the shape of a school bus. It looked dog ugly! The carving work was terrible, rough, and the paint job was quite "unprofessional" shall we say? But my boy made it and next to the others it did look pretty bad. I helped him graphite the wheels/axles but other than that it was pretty much his baby. He even raced it across the floor for 15 min before the games began. I was going to stop him but thought what the heck, let him have his fun. Well despite the ugliness and the abuse it took prior to the race it won it all. Everyone got schooled by the bus. lol it was a great night for my boy. And for me. I dont think the shape matters much. You can argue aerodynamics but I have not seen the shape of the vehicle make much of a difference. Get as close to the max weight as you can, straight wheels, lubed wheels/axles. Thats about all I know.
  20. Save up and pay cash. Thats what I did with my last truck and it is so nice to know you are not paying hundreds or thousands in interest. Its all yours free and clear. Still have the insurance to pay but that is minor compared to payments.
  21. Well this is my first post on this site but your question I can relate to. I have a welding / cnc plasma cutting business. Do you weld or are you getting into it?
  22. Ive lurked for a long while and figured Id join up so thanks for having me. Been a member all my life and served in NZ but live in Idaho. I Have a wonderful family and hope to contribute something sometime. Thank you kindly.