More Than a Month and No Post?

I know, I have not posted in over a month and I just started this blog. What is up with that? I will try to be better. I havent even been very busy. Things look like they will be picking up soon though and again become very busy.
Well for an update on the last month and a half of our lives goes like this....
December was great with lots of parties, family, presents, and food. I bet I gained 10 pounds. Ok, hopefully not but sometimes it feels like it.
Haley had her wisdom teeth pulled in a research study and it was no bueno. She was in pain for several days and the only good thing was she got paid to do it. However, she didnt get clothes or her nails done or things that a normal girl would do with it. No no, she bought me a dog for my Christmas present. We named her Cosmopolatin Sole "something". We call her Cosmo but the "something" is where I need your help. To be registered with the AKC she needs 3 names so we dont know what the last name should be, and it wont be Castillo.

I built her a dog house several months ago with the hopes that she would be living in it soon. It was a lot of fun to build and she is doing really well. She is getting big quickly and is eating more than I expected.

Easton and Averie are still getting used to her and she is getting used to them. Easton loves to play with her but her teeth are sharp and she is still learning not to jump on people and not to nip at them. Easton is also still learning that he is the master and that he is in charge of feeding her and picking up the poop. Oh well, its a work in progress, right? It sure makes for some great teaching moments though and Cosmo really is a fun addition to our family. We have a blast going on walks and she is starting to really catch on to playing fetch.

January was also of course really busy and fun. We have had alot of time to spend together as a family and it has been great. I made a New Years resolution to read a book a week and it is going really well. I am doing it for 52 weeks and so far I am on track. Maybe I will add a little snippet about the books I read each week. I just finished "More Than Enough" by Dave Ramsey. I highly recommend his books. They are very practical and inspiring. This year I have also read Beleiving Christ, Financial Peace, Green Side Up, and I am almost finished with The Science of Getting Rich, Standing for Something, and Good to Great. This is a great goal for anyone who loves to read.

I also just finished building some shelving in our garage. I am really proud of myself and I also did a little section in our crawl space for food storage. I will be adding onto that soon but it is a lot of fun to work on projects at home and of course the list keeps growing. I am especially excited for the garden this year. Last year we had a great harvest and we expect the same this year but I redid the sprinklers in the garden and we have doubled the size of is as well. I will definitley be writing about that and am thinking about taking a daily picture and making a time lapsed film about our garden growing. That would be fun to watch. I will post pictures of the shelves and the garden as we get further along.

So, what should we name our dog?

What are you reading?

What are you looking forward to in the spring?

The Reason I Breathe

Happy Valentines everyone.

I am dedicating this post to my incredible wife, Haley. She truly is the reason I breathe, she is the reason I wake up each day and the last thought to cross my mind as I go to sleep each night.

For her Valentines gift I made her chocolate covered strawberries. They were awesome if I do say so myself. I also made a list of 365 reasons why I love her, cut them each into a strip of paper, rolled each one up and stuck them in a capsule so she will have one to open and read each day for a year. That way she will have a daily reminder of why I love her.
Here is a sample from the list....

1. I love your intelligence and excitement for what you do.
2. I love the way you kiss me passionately.
3. I love that you can be yourself around me.
4. I love the fact that you will go to the guy movies with me and never complain.
5. I love the way you look at me when we are together.
6. I love the way your head fits right into the crook between my shoulder and chin and I love it when you burrow.
7. I love the way I can kiss your forehead and your hair when I hold you in my arms.
8. I love the way you can make me laugh so hard that I'm rolling around on the floor.
9. I love that you call me “sweetheart”.
10. I love that you let me be a gentleman and let me open your car door.
11. I love the way you make me happy even when I'm sad
12. I love the way your smile warms me up inside.
13. I love the way your hair falls on my face and occasionally gets in my mouth while we're kissing.
14. I love the way you squirm when I tickle you.
15. love that you like me to sing to you.
16. I love the way my arms feel around your waist.
17. I love that you like to be romantic.
18. I love that you are so respectful and understanding.
19. I love that you are so caring.
20. I love that you are so trustworthy and loyal.

I love my wife with all my heart and am so grateful that she loves me in return.

Haley, thank you for almost six wonderful years full of memories and I can wait for the next lifetime of memories with you by my side! I love you. Happy Valentines day.

Christmas is in Full Gear

This week is a special week for many reasons. Sorry for not posting anything last week. I am sure you can all relate that from time to time you feel so overwhelmed with what you “have” to do that you don’t really get to do too much of what you “want” to do. That was last week. Well, I have a little time before I go take a Sunday nap with my sweet wife so I wanted to share a couple of things that I have been thinking about.


It is incredible how quickly attitudes and circumstances can change and shift. Let me preface this by saying that I hate my job with a passion. I feel like I don’t belong in a job. I am an entrepreneur to my core and it is one of the things that give me most joy. Right now I am working in a job that I really hate and it gets worse the longer I am there. Well, I was at work, hating it and feeling sorry for myself and I called a lead that I had from Haley applying me for a job in Riverton with a landscaping company. As so often happens, 10 minutes later I was day dreaming about not having to work where I do any longer because I had just scheduled an interview with this company and it certainly seems much more appealing than what I am doing now.

So many time we can be “in the toilet” as far as our attitude is concerned and one little thing, a call, email, song, looking out a window to see the beautiful mountains, or even just a smile can give that attitude a complete 180.

I love this time of year that nearly forces us to reflect on the year past and on the blessings that we have. How truly blessed we are and what power and influence we have to be used for good if we so choose.

This week I am grateful for:

1. Snow, and even when I have to shovel it out of my drive way. That means that I have vehicles to drive and a garage of my own to park them in.

2. Reminders of love that still exists in the world.

3. Music. Not only Christmas but all types that are uplifting. What a great concert my wife and I got to go to last night and we are looking forward to Jennifer’s concert tonight.

4. New Years resolutions. What a great time to reflect and commit to do a little better and make a change for good.

5. Easton. He is all boy and I love every bit of it. He loves the Cougars like me and loves to “go to work”, “run his business”, and go fishing, camping, ride four wheelers, and anything else that is considered manly. He is the joy of my life.

6. Averie. Nothing warms my heart like when I come home and open the door and she comes running and screams, “ADDA”. That is Averie speak for “daddy”. She melts my heart with her snuggles and kisses.

7. Haley. She is my everything. I admire her courage, strength, determination to live the gospel, and her ability to lift my spirits and always seems to say and do the right things. I love her with all my heart and I really “could not ask for more”.

8. The cannon of scriptures. How blessed we are to have the full knowledge of the gospel. I love to study the Book of Mormon and have even started the Old Testament a few months ago and have had a great time learning more about the Gospel.

9. Christmas time. I love the caring and displays of love and compassion that come out during this time of year.

10. Jesus Christ. Christ is my savior and has blessed my life with so much more than I “deserve”. I know that He love me despite of me. He is my redeemer and I commit myself to love and serve Him all my life. What blessing will come as I do so.



Some of my goals are:

1. Learn how to do a back flip on a trampoline.

2. Land a back flip on a wake board in open water.

3. Travel to every country, territory, and state in North America.

4. Travel to every country in South America.

5. Go on a safari through the Amazon.

6. Write a book series for kids on financial literacy and positive thinking.

7. Generate $500,000 in company profit in a single month.

8. Compete in some type of physical race every year.

9. Have sponsors for that race each year to raise $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, $250,000 in a year for that race.

10. Go white water kayaking in an open river.

What are you thankful for this season and what are some of your goals?

Post Numero Dos

Sunday afternoon seems to be the best time for me to post on my blog. I like writing and hope that I can improve my writin' skills through this blog. I have been thinking a lot about my goals and the lists that I am making a regular part of this blog and how they will impact my life.

I have seen some things that I am going to commit to and make a part of my new years resolutions. First, I am going to be a part of the 52 books in 2010 group. I joined a group in 2009 but it was more to follow what they were doing than to do it myself. I am going to do it myself this year and am looking forward to the challenge. Second, I just saw another group on facebook that is a lot smaller but pretty cool. It is the 100 pushups for 100 days group. I saw a video of a guy doing it and it seems pretty intense. Wish me luck.

The main part of this weeks post is about the projects that I am working on over the winter. This week was the DOG HOUSE! It was a lot of fun to build and yes, I know, we dont even have a dog. We are going to take care of that hopefully for Christmas but if not then for Eastons birthday. I got the plans from Ron Hazelton, they are great and pretty easy.Next is some shelving for Haley in the crawl space for the food storage and holiday decorations. Then, I will be doing a chicken coop. That is right, we are going to get chickens. I plan on getting about 6-8 this spring and then we might increase the sixe of our flock depending on how it goes. After the coop, I will be doing shelving and a work bench in the garage as well as a mulch barrel and a fence around the garden. I will post about each project as I complete them.

Easton and I had a heart to heart today about what his jobs will be when we get the dog and chickens. He is going to feed, water, clean the poop, and get the eggs. We'll see how long that lasts. It will be good for him though.

I am thankful for:
11. This week. I love the holidays and I even am almost done with hanging out Christmas lights (but we wont be turning them on until after Thanksgiving)
12. Paying tithing. Each year tithing settlement is a great time to take an accounting of how well we are living the gospel.
13. So many temples so close by. Another that I set earlier this year is to attend the temple once per week. It is going well but I can do better.
14. My hands. I had a blast making the dog house and am excited about the other projects coming up.
15. Power tools. That would have been awful to cut all that wood with hand tools.
16. Electricity. To make the power tools work.
17. Being a daddy. Haley and I teach Eastons primary class and today we talked about being thankful and when I asked what every class member was thankful for, Eastons answer was, "playing football with my daddy". There is not a better feeling in the world than to be loved by your children.
18. Those who fight for our freedom. My brother-in-law, Homer, is signing up for the National Guard this week and I talked with him about it last night for quite a while and it helped me appreciate even more the sacrifices that are made so that we can enjoy our freedoms.
19. My testimony of the Jesus Christ. Christ is my savior and Joseph Smith restored his true gospel on the earth. I know that is true.
20. Max Hall, Harvey Unga, Dennis Pitta, and Jan Jorgensen. Max broke the all time career wins, Harvey broke the all time carries and all time rushing yards, Dennis broke all the records for tide ends at BYU, and Jan broke the all time tackles for loss in the MWC. Good victory yesterday fellas, congrats and GO COUGS!

Some of my 1,000 goals are:
11. Beat every member of the Paxman family at "Settlers of Catan".
12. Win a game of "Cash Flow 101".
13. Run a "Cash Flow 101" club with at least 500 members.
14. Wake up at 5:45 for 90 days in a row to form the habit.
15. Own a horse for every member of my family.
16. Own acreage for the horses and other animals.
17. Have a helicopter pad in my back yard for the commute.
18. Own the helicopter that parks on the pad in my back yard for the commute.
19. Have a golf cart that takes me out to the helicopter in the morning and back in the afternoon.
20. Attend a baseball game at every major league stadium in MLB.

What books would you recommend I add to my list of 52 for the year?
What are you thankful for during this season?
What are some of your goals?
Thanks for posting.

Post Numero Uno

I have not posted since June of 2008. That is a sin and I hope you will forgive me. I have decided to start this new blog and start all over. I have been thinking a lot about this past year and what has been happening with my family. Things are so wonderful. It may be the season but I truly have nothing to complain about. I might not like my job, my car, my income, my progress at school, or a whole lot of other things but that is not what this blog is about. This blog is going to be about me, my family, our adventures and our accomplishments. Some things that I am planning on posting are:

1. My gratitude list: the 1,000 things that I am grateful for. 2. My goal list and their accomplishments: I have a goal to accomplish 1,000 goals. 3. My books: I love to read and one of my 1,000 goals is to collect and hopefully read a library of 5,000 book. 4. The Castillo family adventures: we love to camp, fish, hunt, jeep, really anything outdoors, as well as Haley and I are challenging each other to a health contest to see who will be the sexiest. 5. And, the Castillo family accomplishments: a weekly update on what is going on with me and mine.

I hope you will read and comment often. I will do my best to write things of interest, but like most people’s blogs this is more for me and my wife than creating a following. Wish me luck!

POST NUMERO UNO

I am grateful for:

1. My family. They are so kind and understading. I would rather be with my wife, Haley, and my kids, Easton and Averie, than do anything else in the world.

2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that it is the true gospel and that Christ is my Savior.

3. My home. We live in a beautiful 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom split level in Lehi. We love our neighborhood and we love our home (just not the mortgage on or around the 1st of each month).

4. The upcoming holiday season. What a great time of year. So much fun, family, friends, good food, changing weather, etc. What is there not to love about it.

5. Food on the table. I catch myself sometimes thinking, "I wish Haley would go shopping so we would have some food in this house". I open the pantry and the fridge and there is hardly anywhere to put things.

6. Means to provide for my family. I am currently employed at an undisclosed location (as you will come to understand through this blog, I am anti-JOB). It is not fun but it allows me to pay my bills. I also just started my second landscaping company (I sold the first one in 2005). It is called Elite Landscape Management. I love the industry and am excited about the future of the company. We just finished our first job about a month ago. It was my moms house in Cedar Hills. I think it turned out really nice and I will post the before and after pictures in the spring.

7. The good ol' U. S. of A.. We live in a great land and have more opportunities than anyone else could ever dream of. No one is stopping me from acheiving our dreams but myself.

8. Date night with my wife. We try to go on a date every Friday night so if anyone is volunteering to babysit, we dont pay well but our kids will clean your bathrooms.

9. Books. Mostly personal development and Church books. Not really into fiction but I am up for almost anything.

10. BYU football. This season has not gone as planned but GO COUGS!!

Some of my 1,000 goals are:

1. Accomplish 1,ooo goals.

2. Collect a library of (and hopefully read) 5,000 books.

3. Finish a spring triathlon.

4. Change the world.

5. Commute to the office via helicopter every morning.

6. Attend a temple session at every temple in the USA.

7. Ride a bike across the whole state of Utah.

8. Visit all 50 states.

9. Visit every continent.

10. Raise and donate $20,000,000 for charity.

What are you grateful for and what are some of your goals?