Tomorrow it will be two weeks out from the Olympic Trials. I am so excited to compete in Vegas. I have spent many years of life in preparation for this upcoming event. I feel blessed in the fact that I have been able to do something that I love, and also that I have dared to dream. In today’s mostly negative society, people do not give themselves the opportunity to dare to dream. Obviously dreaming is not enough. There must be hours of toil and labor in order to make a dream become a reality. However, I am very grateful that I have had friends and associations who have encouraged and supported me to help me reach my dream. Regardless of what happens in two weeks at the Olympic Trials I am grateful for the opportunity to dream. But what happens in two weeks is still just the beginning of things to come. This next event is a step to take me to the next level to compete on the world’s largest sports stage, the Olympics in

I am working on my dream, and I love it. I hope that you are giving yourself a chance to dream. Believe that you can achieve! Believe that you can succeed! Give yourself the gift of hope, and don’t let yourself give up on that dream because someone wants to discourage you. Think about that next time someone else shares their dream with you. What are you going to do? Are you going to tell them all the reasons why they can’t do it? Or are you going to tell them, “You know what? I believe in you. I think that you can succeed. Let me know how I can support you in your decision.” Imagine how that could affect your relationship with that person! I am sure that it would probably surprise them because most people are told many times in their life that they can’t do something. By helping and encouraging that person think about the boost that you just gave them personally, not even to mention the strength that you just gave to your relationship. If your friend follows through or not, that is on them, but you have the opportunity to possibly be part of the turning point in that person’s life. Constructive criticism has it’s place, but at least encourage someone to take action. If it doesn’t work obviously they will have to evaluate how to make it work, and that is when suggestion is useful.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes. The first was written in an article by Jim Rohn, “I will climb the mountain. They’ve told me it’s too high, it’s too far, it’s too steep, it’s too rocky, it’s too difficult. But it’s my mountain! I will climb it. You’ll soon see me waving from the top or you’ll never see me, because unless I reach the peak, I’m not coming back.” Another one is by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

May you be well. Good luck with your dreams. I wish you the best.

The Olympic Trials are just a few short weeks away. I am so excited to be preparing for the Olympic Games in Beijing, China! It is hard to describe the feeling that there is right now in preparation for the Olympic Games. There is just an excitement in the air that is energizing everyone that is involved with the Olympics. I am very grateful for all the help and support that I have received to help me be living my dream. I cannot wait until I get the chance to compete in Las Vegas, Nevada!

I have been staying busy with training, fixing up our house, doing some work on the side, and trying to get organized with some fund raising. Last month, I won the US Nationals, and in doing so I am qualified for the finals of the Olympic Trials. It was my fifth US title and it was a great experience. Shortly after the nationals, I went to Chicago for a team building summit for team USA. It was a great experience to be able to listen to some of the keynote speakers as well as mingling with and getting to know some of the athletes that will be on team USA for their sports.

One of the most beneficial pieces of information that I pulled away from the event was to practice like it is competition and to compete like it is practice. Peter Vidmar, a 1984 Gold medalist gymnast, shared his experience of how at the end of every practice that he would pretend that he was doing the routine for the Gold at the Olympics and how that would motivate him. He said that if he nailed his routine that he would be on top of the world and he could go home and say, “I just won the Olympics.” If he didn’t do as well as he wanted, then that served as motivation for him to keep improving and to get it next time. I have been applying that into my own wrestling, and it has made a huge difference in my training. I feel so motivated and energized when I visualize myself wrestling for Olympic Gold. It is amazing!

Good luck to everyone. Love the game, improve daily, and enjoy the process!

How embarrassing!, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

This is one of my dogs. His name is Newton and this is a picture of him in some type of baby play device. One of my sisters in law was playing with him and this is what she did. It is emasculating enough to have two small white dogs but when someone does this to them it is another low blow to my masculinity. Well I guess that I should look on the bright side. It could be worse. I could have been the one in the jeep.

Electricity, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

So I have been a home owner for over a year now. During that time I have learned to do some home repairs, however, electrical work is not my strength. In fact tonight my wife and I were having a conversation about home repair. It became evident that my wife doubts my man abilities as far as home repair is concerned. I then took it upon myself to show my wife that she was wrong in judging me, and I made an attempt to impress her by doing some electrical work. This is a picture of the switch that I changed out. I almost shocked myself because I didnt shut off the breaker so there was juice in the wires. I accidently touched the wires together and sparks flew! My wife laughed at me. I solidified in her mind that I lack man abilities involving home repair. I guess at least she won’t ask me to do much around the house.

Temple, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

My wife Sarah and I were sealed in the Salt Lake temple on March 13, just a couple of weeks ago. Here is a picture of us with her family on the steps of the temple after the sealing. It was such an awesome day.

I am starting to just blog from my phone because I can send pictures right to the blog. There may not be as much writing as in some of my other entries but as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

I am so excited about life right now. I feel like I am on track to accomplish my wrestling goals and I am accomplishing many of my other goals in life as well. There is nothing like setting a goal and reaching it that will keep you motivated to just keep going. After going to the convention that I just went to in vegas I am more excited than ever about the American dream and living it.

Toughest Man I’ve Met, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

This man’s name is Markus Lattrel. I think that he is the toughest man that I have ever met. He was a navy seal and he fought his way out of the mountains in Afghanistan. I don’t even think that I can entirely give justice to his story, but he was shot, blown up, captured, tortured, and his entire team was killed in the mission. He spoke at the 2008 Medassets healthcare summit in las vegas. I have been here since Wednesday and I fly home today. The convention has been amazing! I’m so glad that I was able to come out for this. I will write about the trip in more detail when I get home.

Hi everyone, it has been too long since I have last posted on the blog. I have been pretty busy lately with a lot of different things. I wrestled in the pan am championships and got the weight qualified last month, after that I headed to Slovenia for a tournament and was successful there. After I returned from the tournament in Slovenia, I headed to Utah for a week. My wife and I were sealed in the Salt Lake temple on March 13th. We were both so excited to be able to do that. It has been a huge goal of ours, and I am so glad that we were able to accomplish that goal. I don’t think that there has been a time in our marriage when we have been happier.

So this week has been a great one as far as training goes. This morning we had a great sprint workout that was a little different than we have done before. We went to the Bear Creek Trail, a cross country trail with plenty of hills, to run some sprints. The sprints were all uphill, and then we reached the top of the hill we had other exercises that we did like pummeling or doing lifts or executing technique. It was a great workout, and my legs were hurting this afternoon! I made sure that I got in a good ice bath after our afternoon practice so that I can get some of the soreness out. We have a recovery center here on complex that has some different modalities for recovery. I like to alternate between the steam and the cold bath to recover. It really does wonders, especially when you are hitting a hard training cycle.

Tomorrow the world team is heading out to Las Vegas to go to a convention for Medassets. I am pretty excited about the convention because I have heard that it is a pretty good time. I don’t know exactly what we are going to do, but TC told me that he went last year and that it was awesome. We are going to be doing some training while we are out there too. I am not crazy about everything that goes on in Vegas, but I am a big fan of the restaurants and buffets that they have there. I don’t know if any of you know this, but I am a pretty big eater, in fact I am going to have to be pretty careful after I am finished wrestling so that I don’t swell up like the good year blimp! I will make sure that I pace myself while I am out there so that I don’t make myself sick. I will fill you in on how the trip goes. Good luck to everyone. I hope that you are making great progress with all of your goals!