CADE COWDIN

My family is the most important thing to me. I lean on them for a lot of things in my life and I don’t really think you understand how important family is to you until you experience life away from them and not being able to see them everyday or every couple weeks. I have a pretty big family, my parents are divorced so it makes it even bigger. I have 1 real brother and 2 real sisters. My mom is remarried and lives in Utah .When my dad got remarried he had 2 sets of twins, first it was a boy and a girl,their names are Culter and Yarlee and they are about to turn 18 and have only one year left in high school. A year later they had another set of twins it was two boys, their names are Bridger and Tucker they are now 16. I cant believe how big they are. My oldest Sister is named Britani’ she has a daughter named Drue’. Drue’ is alomost 15 years old. Britani’ recently got married to who now is my brother in-law. his name is Tracy, they are expecting a baby boy in the next three months. My oldest brother is named Tyke, he is married with two boys, their names are Jett and Gunner, they are 6 and 4 and his wife is named Megan. My other sister is named Heather, she is 24 years old and she isn’t married yet. My family is very important to me and I am so thankful to have them in my life. Its easy to forget how you got somewhere and who it was that helped get you where you are. I pray that I will always keep my family first in my life, no matter where I go. I hope that when me and my wife start making a family, we make it with the same close bonds that me and my family have and share with one another, because there is no greater love than your families.

Staying fit is a big part of my life because of how important it is for your health and simply because im a college football player. Ive been training and working out pretty consistent for the past 6 or 7 years now. I have learned so many things about how to work out and how to eat. When I very first got into working out I didnt know how important it was to eat healthy. I thought that all you needed to do was lift heavy weight, eat whatever you wanted and you would be good to go. Little did I know how many different things you need to do to get your body fit and how essential it is to eat healthy. Since then I have studied and seen for myself different results for different diets as well as work outs. I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about fitness until I came to Oregon State. I have been here for three months now and they are still teaching me different forms and ways to lift/workout as well as eating habits to get into. It opened up my eyes a lot and it as also helping me shape my body into the best shape of my life. I cant wait to see how much more I can learn.

Music is one of my favorite things in this world. I have a different type of music for whatever type of mood im in, if im getting ready for a football game or going to work out im gonna want to listen to something a little different than when I just want to relax. For me I feel like music speaks to me. I love listening to songs and hearing the lyrics to them. There are so many good messeges in songs that you really feel as though you can relate to. There are also a lot of bad messages you can get out of songs if you are truly paying attention to the lyrics and what it is the artist are saying. Sometiems you don’t know or want to understand why they are bad because its your favorite artists and you just don’t want to see someone you really respect and like as a singer singing such ridiculous songs that have terrible meanings. I feel like I can relate to a lot of different songs, music is definitely a coping mechanism that has helped me get through hard times in my life. Whenever I need to think or sometimes just feel like i need to get away I put on some of my favorite music and puts me at ease. I dont know where I would be without music.

Victoria is the most important person in my life. I go to her for everything, if im having a bad day I talk to her about it, if im having a good day i want to spend it with her. She always trys to make me happy even though sometimes I make it hard for her. When I am stuggling in school she always helps me and she explains it right because she’s way smarter then me. I met her when I was in middle school, I would always hang out with her little sister who is my age and let her know how much i wanted Victoria. This went on all through high school untill one summer night in Utah, I got lucky and kissed her, I think that i had her hooked from that point but I could be wrong. I soon moved away for school and we didnt talk to much, but everytime i would come back into town we would always hang out. This went on for a couple years But last summer was different from all the other times, we would hang out eveyday and it soon became more than just a summer fling. I had to move back to California because thats where i was going to school at the time, she would try and come visist me as much as she could and almost made it to everyone of my Football games. I knew she was the love of my life so one night around thanksgiving i got down on one knee, we got married 5 months later. I dont know what I would do without her in my life right now, even though we have up and downs and sometimes do and say things we regret, shes who I want to be with for the rest of my life.

Football has been my passion ever since I was a little kid. I loved watching college football every Saturday and then wake up the next morning to watch the NFL games.  As soon as I was able to I started playing football. First it was flag football but that soon turned into tackle.  I was always a little undersized but when I got into high school I grew a little bit more into my body, but I still was smaller than the rest of the guys. High school football was some of the best times for me, I had the opportunity to play ball with all of my closest friends. Half way through my senior year I had a devastating injury, I tore my ACL  I didnt want to sit out and waste the rest of my season so I played through it. Right after the season was over I got surgery, I was out of activity for 6 to 8 months. After I finally recovered I still wanted to play football, but I didnt have too many offers out of high school so I went to a junior college in Utah. I only played there for one semester because it didn’t end up working out. After the semester was over I transferred schools and went to College of the Desert in Palm Desert California. I ended up playing two years.  It was one of the best experiences of my life. I finished up my season and had the opportunity to recieve a full scholarship to Oregon State, this is where I am now and I cant wait for the season to start.

Im a long way from home, I know some people are farther but it took me around twenty hours to drive here, so for me thats a long ways away.  Ive only been here for a small amount of time, but ever since I’ve been here it has allowed me to see  just how diverse my town is from others. Oregon is very nice and very green, but it rains a lot and there is no real mountains here in Corvallis. I’m from the desert, which some can’t believe when I tell them I’m from Utah. When most people think of Utah they think of the snow and cold, but not St George, Utah. St George is located right at the bottom of Utah, its about an hour and a half north of Las Vegas. Its a very dry climate, thats about the only down fall to this town in my opinion. We have huge red rock mountains surrounding us, which makes for great hikes and climbs. We have caves all over town and it only takes an hour to get to the tree mountains where there is plenty of fishing, hunting and four-wheeling. We are surrounded by four lakes when it gets nice and toasty in the summer, and when you need to get away from the small town your can always take an hour and a half drive to Las Vegas.  I didn’t really pay much attention to all that St George has to offer us, but now that Im gone I can see why everyone loves it. We have Zions National Park right by us, its one of the most famous National Parks in the country it has great hikes that people enjoy.  Here is a blog where people can talk about their great times in St. George Utah http://www.dostgeorge.com/blog/.

I love all different kinds of music, if you look at my Ipod you would see a wide range of genres from rap to to classical music. I would have to say my favortie genre of music is country, maybe its because of where I grew up (Utah) or what they sings about, I just  really connect with what they are singing. One of my favorite things to do is go to concerts, I love bringing surrounded by people who love listening to the same music and having a great time while doing it. I have been to several concerts and its fun to see how each singer sets up and plays his show, some better than other but all are a blast to go to! Last year I was Living in California and had the opportunity to do security for two big festivals, one was Coachella Fest it had a wide variety of music which I really enjoyed. There was alternative, techno and rap. I was able to meet a lot of famous people and got to see that they were people just like us who wanted to make a great show and enjoy their time there. Stagecoach Festival was the other festival I had the pleasure of working for. The only type of music they play at Stagecoach is county. It was a two day event and some of the biggest names in county were there. I got to work right on the main stage, so I was basically ten feet away from all the acts. It was one of the best times I have ever had. I got to be closer than front row and I got paid to do it. Since I just moved  I wasn’t able to work it this year, so I started to look up different information so I could still see what was going on and enjoy the music. I found a stagecoach blog, it kept me updated on how the festival went and who all was there.

I have been cooking for myself for a long time now. The reason being…. I like to eat a lot. Im a very active person, from being at football practice and working out on the side. I try to cook and eat healthy food but we all know that isn’t possible ALL the time. Im always looking for new things to cook, from the internet to new family recipes I find. One of my favorite things to do is experiment and see what creation I can come up with, some turn out great while others not so great. From being in this blog class I decided to look into recipe blogs and little more and see what new recipes I could find. Surprisingly, there were so many amazing recipes out there. I found the recipes off blogs are more personable and explain the process and what each ingredient offers in making the masterpiece. I was able to see pictures of step by step directions for recipes and at the end I was able to read followers opinions on the recipes, what they liked, what they weren’t so crazy about. This one in particular blog stuck out to me, its called betterrecipes.com/blogs/daily-dish/. This blog has great recipes and see comments to help you out.

Body building has been a hobby of mine for long time now. When people think of body building the first thing that comes to mind is the huge guys posing in a little swimming suites. My perspective of body building goes way beyond that. The small things are what got me interested in body building. I like the nutrition part of it, finding out what is good to eat and what is not good to eat. The nutrition side of it in my eyes is probably the most important part of everything simply because if you are not fueling your body with proper nutrition you are not going to run and build your body to its full potential. There are so many different food groups that do different things for your body, some give you energy and others are building blocks for your muscles. Another fundamental part body building is the time that people put in at the gym to look the way they look. People think that if you take a supplements muscles will just appear, thats not the case at all. To get to where the body builders and top performing athletes are today they put in countless hours in the gym and outside of the gym. I refer to bodybuilding.com blog because it talks about different types of work outs to do and also appropriate supplements to take.

I really enjoy cooking BBQ chicken, its one of my favorite foods to eat and I’m always looking for new recipes and techniques. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that slow cooking BBQ chicken or ribs makes for the best. The meat doesn’t dry up but instead tenderizes and becomes more juicy and delicious. Another important step to remember in making BBQ chicken is making sure you always marinate your chicken. By doing this the chicken can absorb more flavor and you are on the track to making some amazing BBQ chicken. This last week I stumbled upon a BBQ blog and decided to test out a couple of Brian Pearcys theories for good BBQ chicken and man was it good. I made Brian’s original BBQ chicken wrapped in bacon. The recipes from http://bbqguyblog.blogspot.com/ is very simple and tastes amazing! What Brian incorporates in is blog is BBQ that doesn’t require you to be a chef or buy a million products. The BBQ Guy’s Chicken Drumsticks Wrapped in Bacon was done in six easy steps that anybody could do. Every time you BBQ taste is one of the biggest components to worry about and with Brian’s recipe taste is the last thing that it lacks. I’ll definitely be resorting to his blog for more delicious recipes.