7-5=2

Hello and welcome to this my latest entry! I bet you are on the edge of your seat with eager anticipation to discover what is the latest and greatest in the Life O Zach. Well, I can assure you that if you are looking for adventure, travel, excitement, perhaps a little bit of romance and a heap chock full of good ol' fashioned drama...there's got to be something better out there to read. But I shan't disappoint through lack of effort. At the very least this fissiparous bombast should be slightly entertaining.
First things first...Buckskin Gulch. This was by far one of the greatest perambulations that I have ever had the pleasure to meander. I'll skip the details of the what and where...(see previous post)...and dive right into the who and whats.
Our group consisted of me, Uncle Karl, Cousins Craig and Ryan, their neighbors Craig (orange shirt), his boys Mark and Nate, and the two girls on the end are Melanie and her friend Kristi. Melanie works with Uncle Karl and Kristi is her friend.
The slot canyons were amazing. You really can't believe the sheer awesomeness of these geographical wonders of nature unless you are right there staring at them. Truly a work only accomplished by Heavenly Means.
At one point we crossed from Utah into Arizona...this picture shows about where that happened.
Overall, one of the best trips I have ever been on. Probably the one thing that stood out more than anything else was the first night, when I saw more stars packed in the night sky than I have ever seen before in my life. Unbelievable celestial show. Thanks Uncle Karl for setting pace as the fugleman of our motley crew.

7 is a Cleansing Number

Not exactly the smoothest transition...but hey...welcome to Drama Central. I have to admit that over the last few months, I have received quite a few requests for updates into the quagmire that is my social life, or rather, more specifically, "What's Up with the Wife Hunt?" (Too crass?)
I have to preface this grandiloquent, yet myopic, pasquinade with a short apology and overture. I realized rather sheepishly that in previous posts, I could have been a bit more subtle and changed the names of the innocent to save them the embarrassment of having shards of their life splayed out across the illumination of computer monitors across the nation like the tabloid headlines of some worthless rag. To you, I am sorry. I will endeavor from this point forward to be more sensitive to individuals involved.
With that said...let's dive into the history of the number 7. Why 7? According to ancient times, 7 was a cleansing number. Numerous references throughout the Old Testament cite the importance of doing things 7 times for a completion of rituals. The number 8 was considered a perfect number...but in order to get there, 7 had to be conquered. What is this fascination with 7? Delving into 2 Nephi 14:1 may shed some light on the whole situation, however, to avoid a completely cryptic entry, I will just say that I found that in my life there were 7 most eligible and fantastic women whom I found myself hoping to win the affection of.
A long time ago, most of my teenage years in fact, I grew up with the absolute conviction that there was but One person for each of us out there to marry. Now, (and this is where it gets confusing), I didn't think that there was a One and Only and she was the only one I could marry. I just thought there was One person for me.
I know...this is random...but imagine that your life is a book or novel. At the end of the book, you will know how your life ends up and to whom you were married. Well, because our Heavenly Father is Omnipotent, I knew that He had already read the book of my life and knew exactly who I would be marrying. So in that sense...looking from the back to the front, there really is only one person that I could marry. Going forward though...it could be anyone. The choice is still mine, (and hers). We just have to work our way through the book.
Alas...I digress. This said, I found myself looking at 7 most wonderful girls. Each of them in their own right is an spectacular exemplification of womanhood. However, polygamy being a thing of the past, and considering my luck thus far at achieving even one matrimonial success in my life, a wise friend suggested that it was time to clean house. I needed to sort through and narrow down as much as possible the whats and whos from my dating pool.
So that's what I have done. Fearing an inimical response, I won't name names. However, you will be happy to know that my gallimaufry collection has now been depleted to a much more manageable and realistic aggregation.

Did I mention 31 years old?