The Erickson's

The Erickson's

Sunday, November 27, 2011

11/27/201....

Hey guys, welcome to another week of my life!

Thanksgiving Break
This was a fun thanksgiving break. We stayed here in Orem and enjoyed the holiday at the Roney's. Even though the family is vegetarian, they still made a delicious turkey (thank goodness)! I felt like a total bum this last week because I did a lot of lounging. It was nice to spend time with Brienne, and just relax! Work has been so crazy lately that we don't get much down time. We saw the movie "Hugo" and it was a bit weird but good. One unexpected surprise happened with my good friend Gerry. His appendix ruptured and he had to have it removed. The poor guy just arrived from Ireland a couple weeks ago and now he's out for a week after surgery. It's kind of crazy because this guy eats incredibly healthy but still had Appendix problems. We had a cool experience with him in the hospital, and I believe our prayers were answered.

The only other thing that I'd really like to post is how grateful I am for this thanksgiving holiday. One of my professor's shared his thoughts on the true meaning of thanksgiving and it goes like this. The true meaning of thanksgiving is for us to remember and be grateful to live in a land where we are free. The pilgrims arrived in America just before winter and did not have time to plant and harvest crops. So needless to say, they had more mouths to feed then they had food. About 100 arrived in the Mayflower to America, and 13 died the first winter. The next year they planted their crops but because of unfamiliarity with the American soil the crops did not grow as they had intended. To make matters worse, another ship arrived just before the next winter and unloaded more men and took many supplies and food. Now they had a bigger problem than the year before, more mouths to feed and less food. While a feast with the indians did occur (probably because the pilgrims wanted their food), the real purpose of thanksgiving is to remember these pilgrims. They looked around at eachother before the next winter knowing that many people would not survive the winter. Even though they knew that many would die, their hearts were filled with gratitude for having the opportunity to live in a free land. Many did die the following winter, at least another 30. Let us remember how grateful we should be to live in a free land and choose our paths in life.

I've added a little survey to the right, if you could answer the questions, it would help me with market research for Sponsor me Slim. Thanks

Sunday, November 20, 2011

11/20/2011......

It's 11:00pm at night and I have to write a blog before I go to bed. Wow, life has been absolutely crazy! Tomorrow is my last day of classes before Thanksgiving break and it is very much needed. Here's a little catch up on my life

Sponsor Me Slim
Things are going better than ever! There are hundreds of people on the program and changing their lives for the better. It's been a real treat to watch these people change their lives and make a change in their health. We have donated hundreds of meals for the children and I still get choked up thinking that kids lives are being saved because of this wonderful program. I'm very thankful for Kenton Worthington and Peter Lavery for thinking it up and bringing me on board. There is so much to catch you up on, I don't even know where to start. We have spread from Centerville, Utah to Lehi, Utah and now we are holding awareness evenings in Provo, Utah at the Wells Fargo building. Every Wednesday night at 7:00pm you can come and learn how to slim down and hear testimonials from our current clients. Another update for you all, we are now working in three gyms with Sponsor Me Slim and have had amazing success this last week. Yesterday we held interviews for our first 10 to compete in the Sponsor Me Slim competition. These lucky ten people will receive a free month's membership at the gym, free personal training for the month and the winner gets some pretty great prizes. The person who loses the most amount of weight in the first month will win a free nutrition program for the following month and a free trip to Thailand where they can stay for 10 days in our private weight loss resort. We have chosen our contestants for this competition and it will start tomorrow! I'll keep you updated on their progress

School
This isn't really a subject that I want to talk about right now. I'm going back and forth of whether or not I want to continue school this next semester. Things are going very well with work and school seems like more of a distraction than anything else. The only thing holding me in there are two things. First, I have already gone to three years of schooling, and to quit now would be crazy! Second, the prophet has told us to get as much education as possible. While I don't think that College is the only way to gain education, I know that he would support me going to school. I'm not going to regret finishing school, but it's possible to regret leaving. I will most likely continue going to school next semester even though it's hard for me. I'm going to need to speak with my teachers to make sure that I pass all of my classes this semester. I just haven't really been there! haha, any suggestions would help if you've been in my shoes. :)

Everything else
I feel extremely blessed to have such an incredible wife, family, friends, and mentors. I only hope that I can use all of these blessings to be better serve others. To close, here's something written on the back of a coin that I carry with me everywhere. It says: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things i can, and wisdom to know the difference."

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

11/8/2011.....


Hey guys, welcome back to my life! Kind of hard to know where I left off but I'll try.

Our life
Brie and I are doing really well. We have such a crazy busy life right now I'm surprised that we even stay normal. I'm lucky to have her as a wife, and love that we'll always make time for each other. We bought our tickets out to Texas for Christmas this year, and we are very much looking forward to seeing my family. I just got word that my sister'
s boy Carter has been put back in the hospital for troubles breathing. We are praying and fasting for baby Carter that he'll be ok. The poor guy has been poked and prodded ever since his premature birth last December. Another crazy incident took place last week on Brie's side of the family. Her cousins were on their way to a youth activity for their church and the roads were icy. They slid off the road and down a 100' cliff. I can't believe it, but they all survived. Two of the cousins were just fine, one suffered from hypothermia, and the third got a big gash in her face and many broken bones. The driver broker her back, and o
ne other girl was hurt quite severely. She is at Primary Children's Hospital, please keep them all in your prayers. Here is a picture of the vehicle:
School Life
I know that everybody in my classes thinks that I'm going to drop out, but i won't! School's been an interesting challenge for me :). I'm having a hard time attending classes that I don't feel contribute much to my future. You know, some of those annoying general classes. I remember before I made a switch to Entrepreneurship, school was so different. I was studying Civil Engineering and had school paid for and then some left over. I really hated my major and found no relevance in what I was learning, yet it paid well. I felt like that wasn't a track that I wanted to get started on. If I continued with Civil, I could probably get a decent job and make decent amounts of money, but I'd have been miserable. Grades were so important to me, now they are not. Don't get me wrong, i know that i need to pass my classes. I just know that grades don't really define me. I pick and choose what I want to apply into my life and I like that better. The funny thing is, the only people that this makes any sense to are Entrepreneurs.

Work Life
Sponsor me Slim is still going amazingly well. We had the grand opening of our new center up in Centerville Utah and there were over 180 people there. I'm amazed with how fast this is growing, but it's very exciting. I love the fact that i'm able to slim people down and change their lives. At the same time we feed starving children and save their lives. Peter Lavery has flown people in from all over the world to work at slimming down America. Now Gerry is in from Thailand and last night we went to the airport to pick up Leni from England. These are all incredible individuals. It was a true pleasure to spend time with Leni last night. He has trained 4 world champion boxers and over 20 national champions. His son Richard Odwall is training the British Olympic Boxing team. They are very influential and respectable people and it's an honor to work with them. I'm trying to soak in everything that they are teaching me so that I can make the best possible impact in some one's life. That's all I have time for, thanks guys!