Simple Joys

We all live in this crazy thing called life. We hustle and bustle to and fro, trying to get everything we possibly can get done within a 24 hour period. Then. Tomorrow comes. And the whole process starts all over again, whith maybe a few differences.

I think while we go through this life we need to find the simple joys. Instead of making everything so complex and what not. For example, this weekend me and my only brother Hung out for about an hour. Just me and him while we took my little sister to soccer practice. While we were there I was showing him how to climb trees. I also was teasing him a lot about girls (he just started kindergarten). The whole situation just mad me smile and I think he had a good time as well. 

And one other thing I would like to add. While searching for the Simple Joys, don't let little things knock ya down. Once again...I have another example. This week I was in my favorite class at school. AP art. I enjoy it so much. The whole thing happened at the very beginning of class. I went to the back of the room to acquire paint that was needed for the current project I am working on. As I was dispensing the black paint, it decided to shoot out at me. It sprayed out and got me at about the bottom of my rib cage on my all white t-shirt. LAME SAUCE. So...I then began to attempt to wash it out...but..EPIC FAIL. I proceeded on to getting more paint...with a not so happy attitude. Then...showing my friend Kurt my accident..being the genius he is, he came up with a brilliant idea. Just splattered the whole short with more paint since it was already ruined. So...what the heck, we did! Kurt along with two girls in my class made me the coolest shirt in school that day ;) see for yourself. 

Look at that shirt! (Ignore the highly unattractive photo of me)

Anyways...all I am trying to say is make the most out of situations that come your way and find the Simple Joys.

"Come what may, and love it!" -- Joseph B. Wirthlin

¡Holá Señor!

No no no...it is Senior to you. Can you believe it...as my final summer of high school has come to a close. It is time to get into the swing of things once again. Waking up early, going to school, doing work...you know...no big deal.

As some of you may know I go to school twice a day. I attend Desert Ridge High School half the day, and in the evenings I go to Benjamin Franklin Charter School Crismon Campus. Yes, I did get transferred from the Gilbert campus that I was at last year. I like to think it is a good thing. I got welcomed into every single classroom from friendly messages on the board. They tell me it is for the students...but I like to believe they were for me. While here though I have acquired some new responsibilities. I no longer only have to vacuum, but I also have to take out the trash and put new trash bags in every single little trash can. Yay. It is especially fun when you get one filled with puke after the first day of school. Poor kid...and poor me as well. But for the most part it is not that bad. It just takes a lot longer...but hopefully I will get faster as the year progresses. It also helps that my boss hired a friend of mine to help out...so it makes it a lot more enjoyable. I am no longer alone in my efforts to keep the school sanitary for the little children. (Yes, I like to think of myself as a hero).

And as for my final year of high school...you can catch me swaggin to the max at the top of the food chain. I am officially a Senior. Not a Super Senior...like some may believe...do I really look that old? (I really did get asked if I was). I think this year may have its challenges, but all in all I am expecting a fantastic final year of being a Jaguar. Well that is all for now..so....Remember to smile. Life is GREAT!

One Good Example

My life has been full of people that are such great examples to me. I must say, I am quite blessed. One of those examples happens to be my one and only older sister. Jeri Lin Brown is her name, and she sure means a lot to me. More than she may actually realize.

What can I say, she is the only sibling that has been with me my whole entire life. She has taught me a lot over the past 17 1/2 years of my life. When I started kindergarten, she would walk me over to my classroom and stay there with me until school had to start. And as we got older we she would allow me to come and hang out with her friends, and we would do many things together. We had some great times, let me tell ya.

Then the next thing I know, she is growing up. BAM. She is out of high school. BANG. Moving out and goin to ASU. CRASH. Getting married. And I honestly admit, I came home afterward and cried into the late hours of the night crying. Not because I was necessarily sad. I was very happy for her, I was just gonna miss her a lot more I thought. SNAP. She gives birth to my first nephew.

All of this seemed to happen in one little blink if an eye. But now I realize how good all of it is and what a great example she is setting for me, along with for all my other 5 siblings younger than me. Whether it be in school, future decisions we should make (like getting married for time and all eternity in the temple), and setting an example of a good parent.

I do not see her everyday any more like I used to, but she is still one of the greatest examples to me. And what can I say, I love her. Now...I'm not exactly sure what made me want to even write on my blog about this...but I did it anyways (obviously). Probably because I always talk about me...and my Mormon Boy Swag, and it may get old. So I just wanted to provide One Good Example of Mormon Girl Swag.

Enchanted

June 26, 2011

Dear Breanna,

         Wow. Today is that day. The day that you decided to walk up and ask me to dance. Who knew that this crazy-awesome-amazing-wonderful-fantastic friendship just after one little dance. I want to say thank you for that night if I have not done so already. ( I believe I have, but just in case ). Thank you for having the courage to ask a scary Beast like me to dance, and then pretty much puttin' up with me for the rest of the night. I must say, I have some dang good memories from that night, and I can remember it quite clearly. Like...I dunno if you know this, but after I danced with you, I danced with Elise. I remember I told her, at least twice, "You're friend Breanna is pretty cool". Ha...I feel bad for that now....but what can I say....I had been ENCHANTED (click on it ) by the Beauty.

        That night I couldn't wait to text ya....and I remembered that you said you would be driving and that it would probably take you a while because you lived basically in a land far far away, once upon a time. Anyways, I did text you and...eventually one thing led to another and I decided that I wanted to call to hear that wonderful voice of yours. But my goodness, I was sure nervous. And after about....20 dropped calls, we had our first phone conversation...and I must say I liked it. I liked it a lot.

       The next thing I knew, We were driving out to your house in a land far far away, once upon a time just so we could hang out. That day consisted of making origami hearts, playin with some dominoes, eatin some pizza, checkin out your backyard and all the animals...but these were just the very first of our many adventures...some of which we have caught with the help from a camera:

 Like our adventure to the top of Flat Iron. Where we popper out some sparkling apple cider = UNFORGETTABLE

That's Right. We Did it.



                                                     Look at how well we match. Perfect.

 Best friends make each other look good. So thank you for the straightening out of my tie.

And Best Friends make each other laugh, smile, etc.

 You taught me to Kiss ;) even though the very thought scared me to death.

And our most recent adventure. Fixing up and moving into your new-old house. That isn't really in a land far far away anymore.

           Now those are just a few of the many...but all I can say is that they have been some pretty dang good times. We have had our ups and downs here and there, but we have endured. Over the past year you have really taught me lots n' lots about what I can do to be a better person. Honestly...I dunno what my life would be like right now if I hadn't met you, and had the courage to ask you for your digits. It would be like....New York City with no street lines or traffic lights. TOTAL Chaos.  So this is me saying thank you for everything. Especially for being my best friend. I hope we will be having even more adventures in the near future.



       Love,

Bryton Shinkle

(Beast, Gorilla, whatever else you like to call me :)

P.S. Just another little song. <3 <3 ( click on this one too )

A Happy-Sad Occasion...Maybe More Happy.

Wow...It is Summer time. Officially. All I can say is thank goodness. Somehow I managed to survive my Junior year. I am now a SENIOR! WHOA! This past year has been pretty eventful...all kinds of things have happened. Like me becoming an uncle to the most awesome little nephew EVER. I also managed to get a job in the rough economy, which helped a lot. Today was the last day at school, and at work at the elementary school. It was happy, but also a sad occasion. First of all I am happy that I do not have to wake up in the wee-hours of the morning, get to school, do school work, drive, vacuum for 3 hours, drive some more, walk in my house, do homework, get to sleep, repeat. THANK GOODNESS. However, I am sad that I won't be seeing lots of my friends everyday anymore. I am happy that I won't have to strap on my vacuum and suck up, sand, paper, etc. However I am sad that I won't get to see all the little kids works of art, mis-spelled words, etc. They gave me a good laugh. I did get another job though so that is good. Over the summer you will be able catch me washing windows at least a couple times a week. Woohoo!

All in all though, this was a good year. I think the 26th is a good day. School ended on the 26th this month. Which also happens to be 11 months after I met a person I am really close to now. Crazy. Anyways, I would just like to say that I hope everyone has a fabulous summer. Whatever you may be doing. Me...well...you know. You will catch me on my Mormon Boy Swag. Life is good!

I'm in love.

Many may know that I, in fact, do have a love for art. I'm in love with the visual art as well as the musical art. However, since I am not so musically inclined, I  have a little more of the visual art talents. Now, I definately am not a Picasso by any means. I do believe that I have been blessed with a little talent though. It is just up to me to work with that talent, and become better. There is just some sort of enjoyment that I get from creating something out of nothing. It helps me relax and get away from a lot of the stress of everyday life. That is probably one of the big reasons I want to become an architect when I grow up. ( I still have a while ago until that happens). Without any further ado, here are some of the things that I have created over the last couple of years. Some good...others not so good. Just take a look.

This is probably my most recent stuff...t-shirt designs. These are just a few that have not been accepted.

This was my first design that I ever tried entering into a t-shirt design contest. It didn't get accepted obviously.

This shirt design is actually a sketch I did. I just scanned it into my computer, and did some editing with photoshop.

Quite possibly one of my favorites. Also a drawing that I did, but then edited a little in photoshop. Sad...it wasn't accepted.

Just another one that did not get accepted. I call it, A Loved Heart.

I currently do have a design that is up for voting. It is called Out Of Place. However, it does need a lot more votes if I want it to actually be printed into a shirt though. You can take a look at it HERE.  All you have to do is create an account on this website. Its free and easy. Then vote. It really would be appreciated.

I'm sorry to say that because of technical difficulties I can't get pictures of some of my paintings and drawings on here...I will in the future if i can. Hopefully once I finish the acrylic painting that me and my friend Breanna are workin on I can put that one up on here. It's gonna be sweet.  Once again I apologize for not being able to upload them...I hope you do like what I was able to put up though. :)

Adam Young

As some of you may know...I am an addict. An addict to the wonderful musical artistic abilities of Adam Young. He is more commonly known as Owl City. I know I may be just another obsessive fan...but this guy really does impress me. Not just with his musicly inclined talents. Although I have never actually met him personally...I have a very high respect for him. Call me crazy. I find him to be very humble...unlike a lot of other celebrities. In fact on the inside of his album covers (most of you probably don't have these, because you bought the album off itunes or somethin) but it says "All Praise & Glory to Jesus Christ, to whom I owe everything." This really impresses me. He is not afraid to share what he believes, and he knows that the abilities he has are from Christ. Now I know that Adam is not a Latter Day Saint (Mormon) like myself. He is however a Christian, and I respect him for that. There is a common misconception that Mormons are not Christian, but just for your awareness, we are. We believe in Jesus Christ, which by definition is a Christian. Sorry...I'm gettin a little off track...all I'm trying to say is that I want to be like Adam Young, and not be afraid to share my beliefs with others. So that is exactly what I am going to do. Here are the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as outlined by Joseph Smith:

"1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."
"2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression."
"3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."
"4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."
"5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."
"6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth."
"7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth."
"8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God."
"9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."
"10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory."
(bet you know how the next one starts)
"11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."
(got cha there :)
"12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."
"13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

Well that is that. If you have any questions about what I believe, please don't be afraid to ask. I will be happy to answer as best I can. Remember, life is good :)

I Run Into Walls.

Yes, along with sucking floors I manage to do this too. Literally and figuratively. This probably needs a little bit of an explanation, right? Well...here it goes. (Don't laugh too hard).

It happened at work today, May 9, 2011. I was driving to work. Drove down the US60, got off on Gilbert Road, everything is normal. I make my way down Gilbert and turn left at Warner. Everything is fine-n-dandy. My excitement for work is absolutely through the roof at this point, let me tell ya. I pull into the school parking lot and make my way around searching for an open spot. I find one. I make my way towards it and proceed to park my party van. It is a rather large van, so it results in difficulty to park especially for a fairly new driver such as myself. Well as I was parking my beastly van decided it wanted to go up over the curb and then....SMASH into the wall/ fence in front of me. The fence was a little dented and my van got a nice dent in the hood. The bumper kinda broke and the guard for the headlight cracked. On top of that, something (undetermined) underneath the van is preventing me from backing up off the curb. So as of tonight I do not have a vehicle. In the morning (I am going to miss my a-hour and maybe more school) I get to wake up and meet a tow truck down there with my mom in order to get the van off the stupid curb at 6:30 in the morning. YAY!

Needless to say, I feel like the stupidest person in the world. I understand that accidents happen. I can tell you that this feeling feels worse than locking your keys in your car. I've also done that. The good thing is that I am learning...even if it is the hard way. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes though. This mistake is teaching me how to take responsibility for my mistakes. I can honestly tempted not to tell any of the school administration and just act like nothing happened. But sometimes, you just need to man up and take a hit. It may knock you down, but you just get stronger when you pick yourself back up.

Sometimes, we run into figurative walls in life. They can be a lot of different things, they are our trials. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. It isn't because they are doing something wrong. It is just because our Heavenly Father or God. Whatever you know him as, he gives us trials to make us stronger and better people.

My favorite scripture is 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
"9) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10) Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

What this is saying is that we become strong through our weaknesses. We just to learn from our mistakes, and do better the next time. When we hit that wall, realize what you have done, and correct it. Even get a little laugh out of it if you can. It will get better.

p.s. The offer for a book of Mormon is still there. Don't be afraid to ask, I will be happy to give you one. Then you can have some Mormon boy/girl swag :)

Who Am I To Judge?

One Hundred years from now

it will not matter what kind of car I drove,

what kind of house I lived in,

how much was in my bank account,

nor what my clothes looked like

BUT it may be a little better

because

I was important in the life

of a child

While working, I found this little saying/ poem thing. It kind of stuck out to me. I think we all should try to be important in at least one person's life. It doesn't even have to be in a child's life. It could even just be some random guy on the street. On Thursday on my way to work, I was pulling off the US 60 onto Gilbert Road. On the off ramp, there was a man sitting on the corner with a cardboard sign...I wasn't able to catch exactly what it said. I was sitting at the stop light and he was sitting on the ground next to my van (aka. the party van). I grabbed my wallet and pulled out a little money. I then proceeded to roll down my window. That man popped up off the ground so fast. As I handed him that little bit of cash, he thanked me. I could tell that he was really grateful. As I looked back, people in cars behind me started doing the same thing.

Now, I may never see that man ever again, but I feel that I had some importance in his life. Even if it was just a little. I know people usually say that people like that brought their situation upon themselves. Maybe that is the case...but who am I to judge? With the economy the way it is right now, anything is possible. So, when I see those kind of people, I try my best to help them out...because even if they are lying, or do not do good things with what is given to them, those choices are their own. I know that I will be blessed either way, because I was willing and able to help. That is all that matters. So whenever you see people like that, if you are able to, help them out. It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that you may have just helped someone in need. I know if I was ever in a situation like that, I would love all the help I could get, and I am sure you wouldn't mind the help either. That is all for now, Life is good and you are important in at least one person's life. Remember that.

Back to Elementary

Well once again, I went back to elementary school this past week. Sorry to say that I did not come up with very many funny photographs this time. I apologize. However, it still was a pretty eventful week. On Monday, Chris, the full time janitor quit. Just out of the blue as far as I know. I was not told the reason. The school then wanted to make me the full time janitor, but because I am still in school, I am not able to do that. Oh well. So someone named Tammy was hired. She is nice, but not as cool as Chris. Oh well I suppose. I have gotten a lot faster at my job too, so that is good. One of the posters in the classroom says, "Effort....work hard to get good. Then work harder to get better" I feel as if I am doing a good job at that when it comes to vacuuming. Another thing that happened this week was that on Thursday I blew the motor out in my vacuum when I was about half way done. Luckily, there was a backup vacuum so I was able to finish. It was still kinda crazy though. Friday was a halfday for both me and the school that I work at, so I was able to go in early, so that was nice. I also got my first paycheck yesterday, 50% goes to mission fund, 10% to tithing so I am left with about...$50. That is better than nothin. :) Also, for those of you who do not know. I consider myself an artist. That is probably why I am going into AP art next year. Anyways, I am going to be in the district art show this year. Found that out on Thursday and I am super excited. Also I have been making designs and submitting them to a company called Threadless. I have had quite a few rejected, but on Friday my first design was accepted! You can check it out and vote on it HERE..Now I am just waiting for one other event, the birth of my first niece/nephew. Hopefully he/she will be here soon. (my sister and her husband didn't find out what gender the baby is) It's a SURPRISE!

So as I pace through the classrooms of elementary school I have quite a lot of time to just think. As I was thinkin this week, we all need to take a step back to elementary school and learn something. I think all the basic things we need to know to survive in the crazy world can be found behind these very walls. In kindergarten we learn how to count, how to read, we learn the value of money, etc. I mean...what else do we really need? The world is kinda spinning out of control, but we just need to be like little kids. Simplify our lives just a bit. Maybe it would even help straighten out some of the conflicts that we have in the world today.
Mosiah 3:19 "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (For those of you who don't know, that is from the Book of Mormon. I suggest you read it. If you don't have one, I can get you one. Just ask. And if you have any questions, I don't mind trying to answer those :)

One last thing before I end...You know how I showed you the picture of the name tag for the kid with the coolest name in the whole school? Well I also really like this one :)

I Suck Floors.

Well to start off, I'm sure that the title of this post needs a bit of an explanation. Some of you may know, but for those of you who don't, I got a job earlier this week. I now suck floors for a living at an elementary school. Benjamin Franklin Charter School Gilbert Campus to be exact. I am the new vacuumer, or as my father would say, I am a Sanitational Engineer. I was lucky enough to land this job, because I have some amazing young men leaders that hooked me up. Thank you Brother DeWitt and Brother Robison. So Monday through Friday, from about 3:30pm to about 6:30pm you can catch me walking about this school, jamming out to my tunes, and vacuuming up the little messes (occasionally big) that these youngins like to leave for me.

It isn't a very social job. 99% of the time I am all by my lonesome. There is Chris (the school janitor who does everything except vacuum). He is pretty cool, but I only run into him (not literally) and talk to him on occasion. So while I am all by myself...I need to find some sort of entertainment. Sometimes I sing along to my music...but let me tell ya...there are a lot of little funny things that can be found in elementary classrooms. So I have decided to share a few photos of what I have found during my first week of work.

I found this little reminder on the desk. However, the poor little guy's desk was pulled away from all the others. I felt kinda bad for him. I mean the teacher tried to be nice by putting a smiley at the end of the note...but really...come on now. He is just trying to make new friends.

 This was the handwriting technique of the day. And for all of you who think my handwriting is good, here is the secret. ;)

 I loved the Magic Tree House. Good Memories :)

 Box of tooth picks in the desk? This kid must get food stuck in his teeth a lot.

 I still haven't found the chihuahua.

 Dirty sock on a desk? Disgusting.

 Oooo...I found its missing dirty sock buddy. But in a different classroom? Weird.

 This kid has the coolest name by far in the entire school.


Well that wraps up the photos from this week. It was a very adventurous first week of work. I am glad I was blessed with this opportunity. Now I can start saving up for my mission that I will be leaving on in about two years. I am way excited. Remember to take notice of the little things. Especially the ones that make you laugh.

I Dislike Goodbyes

Well first of all, just an apology for not having much to say in a while. It's not like nothing has happened, it is just that I haven't felt inclined to share anything. Life is full of surprises. One minute you are just running along, thinkin everything is dandy and then....Crack! You are flat on your back. (Trust me, it doesn't feel the greatest. Especially not in football). However, I don't think that it is always a bad thing. It may feel like it at first, but...ahh...just maybe it is for the better. Sometimes we have to give up something good in order to get something great. Even if this means waiting for the great thing.

Now, this goodbye...it wasn't goodbye forever. It was... a goodbye for now. I will still see this person. I can still do things with this person. However, a choice was made for the better instead of the good. Not gonna lie, it didn't feel fabulous. After talking for a little while though...and a decision was made. Its gonna be ok...and if you are reading this...you know who you are...You are my Best Friend. That is the number one thing I do not want to say goodbye to. That means the most to me. It all started with a tap on my shoulder on the 26th day of the month. I don't hate you. I never will hate you. The right decision was made. I respect it, even though it hurt at first. "The end is uncertain, and I've never been so afraid. But I don't need a telescope to see that there's hope, and that makes me feel brave". Couldn't say it better than Adam Young aka Owl City. There is hope for the great to come, I'm not sure exactly what it is...but it will be ok. And just remember the little moments in life...they really mean the most. "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." Alma 37:6. I believe that. No Doubt. Everything will be alright.