Finals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so finals are this week crazy!!!!!! I'm only stressing out A LOT!!!! But whatever it should be okay haha. I can't wait for them to be over and then a week off until summer classes start... fun fun fun. Other then that life is good I guess getting applications in for BYU and Texas we will see what happens there hopefully I get into one of them!!!If I get into both I will have a problem cause then I will have to choose lol oh well so yeah that's all really that's going on in life at the moment. Boring I know but what can you do right haha. Anyways hope everyone had a wonderful week!!! talk to you again soon!!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I was reading a talk that President Uchtdorf gave and I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share it with all of you too. So I hope you get as much out of it as I did. I also hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!!! We did with all of the family and babies!!! Hope you guys have a wonderful rest of the week!!!

We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down

We cannot and we must not allow ourselves to get distracted from our sacred duty. We cannot and we must not lose focus on the things that matter most.

My dear brethren, I have known for a few months the message I want to give to you today. During that time, I have searched for a story that would illustrate what I want to say. I looked for a story about farming. I looked for a story about animals. In honor of Elder Scott, I looked for a story about nuclear engineering, and in honor of President Monson, one about raising pigeons.
In the end, one story kept coming back to me—a story that has been imprinted on my memory for many, many years. It isn't about farming, animals, nuclear engineering, or pigeons. It is as you might have guessed—about aviation. I call it "The Story of the Light Bulb."

The Story of the Light Bulb, or Losing Sight of What Matters Most

On a dark December night 36 years ago, a Lockheed 1011 jumbo jet crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing over 100 people. This terrible accident was one of the deadliest crashes in the history of the United States.
A curious thing about this accident is that all vital parts and systems of the airplane were functioning perfectly—the plane could have easily landed safely at its destination in Miami, only 20 miles away.
During the final approach, however, the crew noticed that one green light had failed to illuminate—a light that indicates whether or not the nose landing gear has extended successfully. The pilots discontinued the approach, set the aircraft into a circling holding pattern over the pitch-black Everglades, and turned their attention toward investigating the problem.
They became so preoccupied with their search that they failed to realize the plane was gradually descending closer and closer toward the dark swamp below. By the time someone noticed what was happening, it was too late to avoid the disaster.
After the accident, investigators tried to determine the cause. The landing gear had indeed lowered properly. The plane was in perfect mechanical condition. Everything was working properly—all except one thing: a single burned-out light bulb. That tiny bulb—worth about 20 cents—started the chain of events that ultimately led to the tragic deaths of over 100 people.
Of course, the malfunctioning light bulb didn't cause the accident; it happened because the crew placed its focus on something that seemed to matter at the moment while losing sight of what mattered most.

Set Your Heart on Things That Matter Most
The tendency to focus on the insignificant at the expense of the profound happens not only to pilots but to everyone. We are all at risk. The driver who focuses on the road has a far greater chance of arriving at his destination accident free than the driver who focuses on sending text messages on his phone.
We know what matters most in life—the Light of Christ teaches this to everyone. We as faithful Latter-day Saints have the Holy Ghost as a "constant companion" to teach us the things of eternal value. I imagine that any priesthood holder listening to my voice today, if asked to prepare a talk on the subject "what matters most," could and would do an excellent job. Our weakness is in failing to align our actions with our conscience.
Pause for a moment and check where your own heart and thoughts are. Are you focused on the things that matter most? How you spend your quiet time may provide a valuable clue. Where do your thoughts go when the pressure of deadlines is gone? Are your thoughts and heart focused on those short-lived fleeting things that matter only in the moment, or on things that matter most?
What grudges do you bear? What excuses do you cling to that keep you from being the kind of husband, father, son, and priesthood holder you know you should be? What are the things that distract you from your duties or hinder you from magnifying your calling more diligently?
Sometimes the things that distract us are not bad, in and of themselves; often they even make us feel good.
It is possible to take even good things to excess. One example can be seen in a father or grandfather who spends hours upon hours searching for his ancestors or creating a blog while neglecting or avoiding quality or meaningful time with his own children and grandchildren. Another example could be a gardener who spends his days pulling weeds from the soil while ignoring the spiritual weeds that threaten to choke his soul.
Even some programs of the Church can become a distraction if we take them to extremes and allow them to dominate our time and our attention at the expense of things that matter most. We need balance in life.
When we truly love our Heavenly Father and His children, we demonstrate that love through our actions. We forgive one another and seek to do good, for "our old [self] is crucified with [Christ]."1 We "visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction," and we keep ourselves "unspotted from the vices of the world."2
My dear brethren of the priesthood, we live in the latter days. The gospel of Jesus Christ is restored to the earth. The keys of the priesthood of God are given again to man. We live in an era of anticipation and preparation, entrusted by God to prepare ourselves, our families, our world for the approaching dawn—the day when the Son of God will "descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God"3 and usher in His millennial reign.
We have been entrusted with the holy priesthood and charged with the responsibility, power, and right to act as agents of our Heavenly King.
These are the things that matter most. These are the things of eternal value that deserve our attention.
We cannot and we must not allow ourselves to get distracted from our sacred duty. We cannot and we must not lose focus on the things that matter most.

I bear solemn testimony that God lives and is mindful of each one of us. He will stretch forth His hand and uphold those who rise up and bear the priesthood with honor, for in these latter days He has a great work for us to do.
This gospel does not come from man. The doctrine of the Church is not someone's best guess as to the meaning of ancient scripture. It is the truth of heaven revealed by God Himself. I testify that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. He truly looked into the heavens and communed with God the Father and the Son, and with angels.
I bear witness that Heavenly Father speaks to those who seek Him in spirit and in truth. I have witnessed with my own eyes and joyfully testify that in our day, God speaks through His prophet, seer, and revelator, even Thomas S. Monson.
My dear brethren, like Nehemiah, we have a great work to do. We stand overlooking the horizon of our age. It is my fervent prayer that in spite of temptations, we will never lower our standards; that in spite of distractions, wherever they may come from, we will not lose focus on what matters most; that we will stand resolute and together, shoulder to shoulder, as we valiantly bear the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that we may be worthy of the holy priesthood of Almighty God and, to a man, lift our heads and with unwavering voice proclaim to the world, "We are doing a great work, and we will not come down." In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Life...

Okay so here is an update on life. First the new stuff, besides Elias being born I finally got a job at Valencia again which is nice cause I need the money!! I got done painting my room and put my new bed and mattress which are amazing!!! and I paid for all by myself into my room and it looks amazing!!! But I can't take all the credit cause John and Aaron helped me to paint it too so thanks to them!!! Okay now to school... Classes are going well a bit crazy with the end of the semester coming up but okay. I am taking all technical theater class, which have been pretty fun. My stagecraft class is so much fun because we get to build set pieces and paint and use power tools that's always fun!! My costume class is at times boring to me but I'm still learning a lot so its cool. Script class is one of my favorites because I get to read plays and then discuss them in class but some of the plays she has picked are ones I would not have read due to the content and language and so it sucks that I have had to read some of that but other then that its a cool class. So that's school...next love life I'm sure everyone wants to know about that!! Well at the moment I don't have one lol I guess I just haven't found the right guy or really any guy in general because there are really not many out here but I'm not too concerned with it school keeps me pretty busy and I don't really have time for much else. I'm still singing and writing music cause I love to. Other then that not much is going on with my life. Pretty boring to tell you the truth but whats new haha Hope evveryone else is enjoying life!! Have a good weekend... and talk to you again soon!!

Elias Silva...

Here are some pictures of the family with Elias and some of just cause he is just too cute!! Everything is going well and we are all in love with this new little boy in our lives!!

The proud Mommy!!!!

Grandma!!

Daniel and Elias

John and Elias

Aaron and Elias

Elias Clarke Silva

As of 12:43pm March 17th 2009 Elias Clarke Silva was born to Michael and Lauren Silva. He weighs 7 lbs 4oz and is 20 inches long!! He is such a cute little boy mom and baby are doing wonderfully!!!

Disney...

So spring break has been fun I guess...I haven't done anything too fun but I did paint my room and moved everything into it so i accomplished a lot!! We are going to Disney tomorrow so that should be fun!!!! oh yeah oh yeah!! so that's pretty exciting!!! other then that Mike and Lauren are now past their due date and so the new one is Tuesday I believe but we will see i guess Elias is too comfy where he is to come out!!! So thats about it back to school on tuesday...peace!!

Spring Break!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so tomorrow is my last day of class for the week!!!! And then Spring Break time what!!! I am so happy to have a break from classes. These one require a lot of physical labor and work haha so they make my sleepy a lot more then just regular old boring classes. Anyways like I was saying about a week and a half of down time!! So I am planning on painting my room and putting together my amazing new bed I bought!! Yes I did pay for it all by myself!!! I also have to go out and buy the mattress for it this weekend too so I am so excited to finally get all that done. I am planning to have some really fun like going to Disney as much as possible before my pass expires on the 15th so yeah busy and yet fun break and then back to school ugh not really all that fun but whatever. I am taking class with Daniel in the summer so that will be fun to be in the same class with the older brother hahaha we all know I'm the smarter one but its all good lol. So that's about it nothing else really to say I think!!!

PS. I almost forgot Michael and his wife Lauren are due to have the baby on the 11 of march so really soon!!! I'll keep you up to date when that happens!!! Talk to you later!!