Problems

"The problem is we can't find the solution." --Matthew James

This quote came about in a conversation that Matt and I had the other night. We dig deep into the details today. The point is that we were trying to find the solution to the problem but couldn't find it.

Isn't that always the problem?

"As much as I want to sit here and complain about how bad I feel, I look into your faces and you look like crap."

Today in Madrigals, Mrs. Tawa wasn't feeling very well. Since we are a family, she feels like she can complain to us. She stood in front of us, instructing us in the ways of sweaters. She then said the quote and we laughed. And laughed.

I wrote it on the board.

Cookie

"That's great. Do you want a cookie?" --Jeremy

I know it has taken a while for this story, but I promise that it was worth the wait.

The other day we were eating lunch. Big shocker there, right? Our friend Marci came over and chatted with us. She plays Water Polo, but last year she broke her collar bone and couldn't play for the season. Now she can lift her arms enough to play efficiently.

She was showing Katie that she would be able to block people. Jeremy, this kid who we love very much, said the quote. Just blurted it.

It's even more funny when you can hear Jeremy's voice. We laughed, hard. So hard that I had to hide my face on Matt's shoulder.

Laughter

"I think I just swallowed my nose." --The Chard

Thursday and Friday this week were the region swim meet. Thursday went rather poorly for both Richard and I to say the least. But to make up for everything Friday went pretty well. Our relay took first in our region, earning both of us our first gold medals which was really exciting. To celebrate we watched Bill Cosby again. Richard was being Richard to the max after our races. I can think of only two times in my life I have ever laughed as hard as I did Friday night. It was really entertaining.


I spent most of the night looking at this face. Needless to say I have never had a better ab workout, it lasted about 4 hours. I can't look at this picture without laughing my head off, typing this post is really difficult. The quote finally came in between laughs. Fortunately he still has his nose, so what he meant, no one knows....... but it was funny.

"If I could be like this all the time, I would make spirits light and hearts heavy with laughter." --The Chard

Seeping

"Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be." -Arthur Golden

Yesterday was an interesting day in my house. We have a turtle tank and it flooded, seeping through the walls and ceiling in the basement, ruining carpet upstairs. It was quite interesting.

Heather described the room as a pond. My mom left work to help Heather clean up the yucky turtle water. Once it was all gone from John's room and they showered, I discovered a bubble in my ceiling. Yeah... not the greatest thing. And then it went downhill from there. The water had seeped down through the walls in the basement, the carpet was wet in three rooms, just not our idea of a "good time." (Any Bill Cosby fans out there?)

Anyhow, my mom and Heather stayed super, cleaning and pondering what to do. My dad called a guy and he came with fans to start drying the walls, floors, and ceiling. It was decided that everyone, but my dad, would have to go somewhere else to sleep because of the noisy fans. I called my friend Jill and stayed the night at her house.

As I was thinking about the whole fiasco during seminary, I came up with a good analogy. The turtle tank flooding is the world, pouring nasty water on to us. We are the walls; we soak up the world and it causes problems. Heavenly Father is the fan (well, there are six fans) that came help us heal.

When the world pours its water onto you and the winds push against you, remember that "these things shall give thee experience." (D&C122:7)

Breathing

"Over-breathing may feel good but it's bad for you. Under-breathing may feel bad but it is good for you... like drugs!" --Martin Bradwards

Once upon a time this quote somehow came to exist. How? We don't really remember. It was too long ago (one whole day).

It probably had something to do with Richard and his bags, once again. This tends to be a daily occurrence in our lunch time.

But now it stinks because someone has class during lunch Monday, Wednesday, AND Friday. Yeah. You read that right.

So, if quotes are lacking, check back on a Tuesday or Thursday. Or on a weekend. Or everyday just to be surprised.

Flow

"You cannot push a river; let it flow on its own." --Doris Murphy

I just had the wonderful opportunity to visit one of my neighbors. Her name is Doris; she is 92 years old with arthritis and other things that make her weak physically. She is a wise, grateful woman of virtue. Sharing her company is one of the greatest blessings because her happiness takes you over.

Dorris heard this quote from her grandson and his wife. They travel the world together. While they were in China, they sent a card, or something of that sort, to Dorris that had the quote written on it. We discussed the importance of taking time to enjoy little things, letting life run on its own.

I know that I often try to push my life in the direction I want it to go. One day I will be better at letting things just happen, letting the river flow by itself.

Famous

"Everything in life is easy, it's just difficult to be good at it." - Martin Bradwards

This is the first Martin Bradwards quote of them all. This is the original, the one that started them all, the first inspiration for writing down quotes in the first place, the reason this blog eventually came to exist.

You see this quote will eventually become famous, just because it is so awesome.

Just as a side story: When this whole quote thing was fairly new Richard typed up a few quotes that we had, including this one and gave it to one of our seminary teachers to put on their daily quote things. Later that day, I was talking to my younger brother who happened to have that same seminary teacher. He told me "I heard a good quote today". "Oh, Really?" I asked, "what was it?". And to my amazement he quoted this quote back to me, not realizing that I was present when that quote first came to be.

This quote can apply to just about everything in life. I believe it probably started during a conversation about swimming, but it has been refined to apply everywhere. For example, I can play guitar, that is easy. Sure I can strum the strings, I couldn't play a song, I probably couldn't even make it sound good. But if I wanted to be good at it then I would have to spend a lot of time learning how to really play the guitar. But I could play the guitar.

Heaven

"Heaven is school without grades." --John Grafelman

Today during our Sunday dinner, we were discussing the end of the semester. My little brother doesn't enjoy school very much, like most children his age. Unfortunately, he doesn't earn the best grades in the world. However, he does love science and the universe. He was talking about wanting to make planets in heaven. Then the quote was made, but not like the "big bang."

Swimmers

"We swim because we are too good looking for a sport that requires clothes." - Unknown

I rather like this quote. I saw it on the internet once. We had a swim meet this weekend down in Saint George and it reminded me of this quote. You see this week was very difficult at practice and it paid off because this morning my abs looked awesome, probably the best they have ever been........... I'm such a guy.

"Failure is never final and success is never ending. Success is a journey, not a destination."
--Ben Sweetland

I receive e-mails everyday that have the quote of the day. This is the inspirational quote for today.

Pondering the quote, I thought of two things. The first is our school's best choir, Madrigals. Yesterday was awful. It could be considered a failure day in class. Luckily, that is not how the class is everyday. Despite the tension and frustration, we always sound really good. Our blend is amazing, and every individual voice is amazing. It is our journey to become a functional family.

Matt is an amazing swimmer. He loves it, if you couldn't tell by this quote. When he doesn't swim his very best, he tends to be frustrated. Sometimes I am sure that he feels like a failure. Even when he doesn't swim his best it is really fast. His constant journey to success will pay off soon.

I hope that your journey is a successful one.

Successfulness

"If you want to be successful in life............. don't be a fat man that wears shorts." --The Chard

I would love to give some background for how this quote came to be, but there is none. Richard, being Richard, kindly let us know how to not be successful in life out of the blue, that's all.

Hey Baby

"I'm a full grown man." --Matthew B.

Tonight there was another basketball game, which we won again. During the games the band always plays a song called "Hey Baby". Michelle and I rather like this song. For those of you who do not know the words, it goes like this "Hey, Hey baby, I wanna know, will you be my girl?". Well Michelle likes to alter the words to the song changing "girl" to "man" since it makes more sense that way when she sings it. Then to make it complete she likes to scream the word "man" really loud at me, or whoever she happens to be with of the male gender. Eventually I picked up the hint and shout "girl" really loud back.(Just as a side note: on one of them she messed up and asked me to be her girl..... I declined.)

Anyway, the band was about to play the song, or so we thought, and Michelle halfway started to sing. The band stopped playing as she said the words "Hey Baby". For a moment I thought she was just saying this to me. So I kindly informed her that I am not an infant.

Determination

"Determination has nothing to do with talent; a lot of determination can become talent." --Martin Bradwards

This was one of the days where we heard one of the girls at our tables low self-esteem come through. It's sad really. Anyway, she was talking about how she wasn't talented and she had to determination to do anything. Truly sad.

Matt, Richard, and I were sitting at the table listening to this conversation. Richard sat deep in thought. Eventually Martin Bradwards made another quote.

Ziploc Bags

"The next time I get a good idea, I hope someone convinces me otherwise" - Matt Bray

Richard rather likes to play with certain items you might find in a high school lunch setting, including plastic knives, straws, water bottles, and ziploc bags. These all have good stories of their own but for now this is all about ziploc bags. When Richard gets hold of some of these bags often our table ends up laughing really hard for several minutes straight, it's really entertaining. But I will just let the video speak for itself.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the quote, those were my ziploc bags. That's not really where the quote came from(that's a whole other story), but it works.

The quote actually came during swim practice, as so many of mine do. One day I just so happened to be in the mood to work hard, which happens once every so often. I was really fired up and determined to practice hard so that I could be faster. This day just so happened to be before the swim season, so we did not have a coach with us and we had to make up our own work outs. Being the brilliant person I am I suggested a really hard set nicknamed as "The Puke Set." Being named so because it was the only set ever to make one of our swimming friends puke. When my teammates grudgingly agreed we began. I started off enthusiastically but a little way into the set realized what a stupid idea it really was. Nevertheless we finished the set. My enthusiasm was completely drained and this quote came along.

"Richard, there are some certain girls sitting behind you that would either like you to pull down your shirt or pull up your pants." --Michelle Lorena


Today during lunch, we were being crazy, which is normal. I had asked Richard if he had kept a comic that I gave him for Christmas. He didn't. So I yelled his name and shunned him.

While this conversation was going on, some of our friends were sitting on a bench behind us looking at our backsides. They noticed that Richard's underwear was showing and it was bothering them. When I yelled "Richard!" they laughed because it was perfect timing in their conversation.

I then went back to the table. And the quote came.

See-through

"See-through is my favorite color." --The Chard

We were just sitting at a girls basketball game (which we won, by the way) when Richard said this... deep... quote.

See, he has this thing for water bottles. He likes to saw away at them, chew on them, drink out of them, you name it! Since he was playing the trumpet at the game, he was thirsty, therefore drinking out of it. The water bottles name is Rachel.

We told this kid standing next to us if he had seen Rachel. He responded that he didn't know Rachel and had a hard time putting faces with names. We then told him that Rachel is a water bottle.

After some looking around for Rachel and finding her, we informed everyone that Richard was going to marry Rachel. He giggled and said his colors were going to be aqua. Michelle wants to be a wedding planner when she grows up, so she thought this rather funny. She added that the color "see-through" should also be in the color scheme. Then came the quote.

"You hide dead people in your pantry?!" --Matthew James

So one day at lunch for some reason we were talking about cremation. Why? I don't remember. But that is beside the point. One of our friends made a remark about there being ashes in her pantry, which I only half heard. So I was confused and this quote was born.

The purpose of this blog is to share all the wonderful quotes that are said during my lunchtime. Actually, just anytime. You may possibly hear the background stories of the quotes along with the quote. Most of them will be from Martin Bradwards. One day he will be famous.

This blog is a team effort. I, Michelle Lorena, will be doing the majority of the posting. Matthew James will be the second contributor (he happens to be with Martin Bradwards quite frequently). If you are worried about being confused about who is writing, have no fear, the author will always be clear!

I hope that you find yourself entertained and maybe uplifted!

"There are only two things that are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, but I am not sure about the universe." --Albert Einstein and the Chard

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