kyle jacob butterfield

Lake Mead Trip

2010-05-06T00:11:00.002-06:00

This past weekend was awesome! My roommates and I realized that we had had enough of all this cold Utah weather, so we decided to escape from it all and make a weekend boating trip down to Lake Mead! It was a blast! We were able to stay with some friends in Vegas for a few nights and then spend much of the day Friday and Saturday on the lake. The air temperatures were around 70-75, and probably weren't the best for Lake Mead, but we Utahans LOVED it. Besides, since all the local yocals were scared off by the "low temperatures", it felt like we had the lake to ourselves and were able to enjoy the near perfect water to ourselves! (perfect meaning smooth by the way...the temperature of water was still really cold! ha ha) Anyway I was really glad we were able to go. Here are some photos from the trip:

Some of us might have gambled...and one of us might have won three hundred dollars!!!! Boo Yeah!!!!

This was the best part of the trip though. Saturday morning Chad came and picked me up and I was able to spend some time with my nephews. I loved seeing Jay, Rex, and Little Eli. It is always so much fun spending time with them. The new baby is such a cool little guy. I loved getting the chance to hold and meet him. Jay and Rex were great too.

If you can't tell, Jay didn't want to be in this photo :)

Cluffs Update

2010-03-29T23:03:00.003-06:00

I realized I haven't posted anything about the Cluffs for a while so here's a quick post about what we did last week.

Special needs mutual talent show:

Last Thursday night I took Jared, Taylor and Jordin to their special needs mutual talent show. It was awesome! They attend the special needs mutual in Sandy and it has been really good for them. The leaders and youth counselors are so great. They do a wonderful job of including everyone and fostering an environment where the kids can truly enjoy themselves. I loved watching the talent show and seeing the support everyone was giving the kids. Taylor and Jordin both participated and were so funny with their talents. Jordin stood and recited her favorite animals and Taylor stood and told a joke about dinosaurs...of course. :)

Haircuts, Wingers, and Nickelcade:

Saturday night Sylvia and Jordin went to the Conference Center for the Womans Conference so the boys and I up and decided to have ourselves a bit of a guys night out. We got crazy and painted the town red by getting some haircuts, ordering some wings, and staying out late playing video games. You KNOW it was a blast! :) Its actually funny cause I can't help but notice how much older the boys are getting. Nickelcade and haircuts have been our routine for a while so its hard not to be a little nostalgic while we're doing them. In fact, I remember before my mission going to Nickelcade with Jared and having to find stools for him to sit on because he was too short to reach the controls for most of the games! Ha Ha! Now all he wants to do is challenge me to air hockey and ski ball competitions. Its funny to see how things change. He's all into sports now too. At wingers I couldn't help but laugh at how much he was getting into watching the NCAA tournament games with me...I guess Spongebob and Ben10 are no longer the center of his universe. Too bad. :) Taylor's funny too because he'sreally developing a funny sense of humor. He loves teasing and playing jokes with me. His new thing is to act like he's all the sudden comatose and make me move him around to wherever we're going. Its kinda funny. At Nickelcade he really gets into games where he can win tickets that he can use to redeem for...well...dinosaurs. Ok, maybe Taylor isn't changing quite as fast as Jared is. :) And by the way, thats a good thing.

Trip to Vegas

2010-03-16T23:05:00.001-06:00

This past weekend was really fun. I decided to go to Vegas and visit Chad and Lindsay and the boys and also attend some of the Mountain West basketball championship tournament. It has always been something that I have wanted to do so it was fun to finally go and do it...plus, I always love the chance to see my nephews and and hang out with my family that lives out of state. Other than Utah playing like a high school team, Chad and I had a good time at the game. Too bad I forgot my camera for it. --- Good thing I made up for it by taking lots of photos of the boys. :) I had so much fun being around Rex and Jay-boy. They are such good kids and it makes me happy to be their uncle...too bad coybin wasn't there to play with them. Jay is as smart and creative as ever. He loves the new super mario brothers game on the wii, his new coin collection, playing outside, and making maps...especially treasure maps. Rex is strong and athletic and very happy by nature. He loves playing any game with a ball, teasing and making jokes, following Jay, shooting hoops, dancing, and watching Dora the Explorer and Spongebob...of course.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Jay at T-Ball

Rex playing Basketball

Playing in the backyard

Silly guys

At the park

Thanks guys for the fun weekend!!!

Office Superiority

2010-03-02T12:46:00.003-07:00

I recently watched one of the original episodes of The Office and there's really no debate...The UK version of The Office is sooooo much more funny than the american version.

Hockey Game

2010-02-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last night was pretty fun. My boss Jerry had some extra Grizzlies tickets and invited a bunch of us from the office go to the game with him. The seats were really good. I guess they are Jimmy Chunga's from 101.9 the end. Jerry plays on a club team with Chunga...who apparently plays goalie. Anyway, the seats were directly next to the fiber glass boards on the first row right behind one of the goals. It was SO cool. Hockey games are fun to go to because of all the action, but sitting so close and being next to the boards gave me a whole new perspective! All the hits, checks, and pucks flying towards us made the match really exciting. In fact, it was pretty hard not to flinch each time one of the pucks ricocheted loudly off the glass in front of us. Anyway, it was fun going and seeing the game so close to the ice.

Master of Public Administration

2010-02-17T12:07:00.005-07:00

Well its official. Last night I turned in my application to the University of Utah's Master of Public Administration Program . . . and I wont lie, it feels really good to have it done! :) After a month of preparing for the MAT, writing my letter of intent, filling out applications, and making sure my letters of recommendation got submitted, its nice to finally sit back and exhale a little. I guess now all I need to do is wait...which might not be any better! :) Actually, things shouldn't be too bad. One of the administrators told me yesterday that I should receive news sometime in March about whether or not I'll be accepted, so the wait really wont be that bad. Thanks, by the way, to all the family and friend who helped me get everything ready to turn in. The proof reading and the extra help studying really made a difference. So, again, Thank You! :)

WOW!

2010-02-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

I can not believe how good tonights episode was. Lost is SOOOOOOOO good! I hate having to wait another week for it to come on. Two BIG thumbs up on the final season's opening episode...and yes a single tear just formed in the corner of my eye while I was writing the words 'final season' just now. Sniffle.

PS Sawyer is still the best and Jack sucks big time

Staci and Corbin in Town

2010-01-23T23:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Grandpa

2010-01-23T23:05:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, sorry its been so long since I've done anything on here! I guess three months is a bit much for a sabbatical from the blog world isn't it. In my defense however, I really can't be blamed too much for my extended absence. My old computer got sick a few months ago and was never able to recover. In fact, the poor little guy is right now in the hospital still trying to make it through. Such a trooper. Anyway, I think he fell victim to the swine flu and just didn't have enough strength to fight it off. For my music's and photo's sake I really hope he comes out of it ok. We'll see...lets just all hope for the best.

So, despite my absence, these last few months have been really eventful. In fact, so eventful that I wish I had the energy and the desire to update you all about it...but unfortunately I don't :) sorry. I will try and do a little though. So here goes:

Troy and I were able to go to Vegas for the UNLV Utah football game which was a ton of fun...until the ride home when my car broke down!...which, if you were wondering was not a ton of fun. Especially since it took over two weeks and four repair shops to finally solve the problem.

October and Halloween was a fun time for being with friends and family. Travis, Troy, and I were able to go to the Wyoming Utah 'black out' game on Halloween which was cool.

The rest of Halloween was spent at parties with friends. I dressed up as a soldier one night...easy and comfortable costume...until a bunch of real soldiers started asking me where I served and what division/unit I belonged to...then I didn't feel so comfortable.
My second costume, if you couldn't tell, was pretty sweet. I wore a t-shirt with a map of Utah on it and basically went as the whole State of Utah. I thought it was pretty funny...plus I didn't have to get drilled all night about my tours of duty.

Staci and Clark were nice enough to host us for Thanksgiving this year. It was fun to finally see where they live and to spend time with their family. We played games, watched football, laughed while Corbin played his own football game chasing down fumbles, and even went to a DU hockey match. Thanks to Staci and Clark for being such gracious hosts.

Work is going well and fortunately West Valley City is in good enough shape financially that I don't have to worry too much about lay-offs. The end of summer, entire fall, and early winter seasons always prove to be our busiest times. Everyone working in our city always seems to find themselves behind in their projects and begin their rush to finish prior to the snow fall and extreme temperature lows. In fact, September and October proved to be very busy for me. Looking back though, all the overtime was actually a blessing because it helped me pay for all my car problems :)

December is going great and proving to really fly by...as it usually does. In fact, I can't believe its already Christmas Eve and I'm once again finding myself at my parents house waiting "to see if reindeer really know how to fly". :) Overall its been a great Christmas season and I've really enjoyed the chance to listen to Christmas music, buy presents, and most importantly try to reflect more on my relationship with Jesus Christ.

Another great thing about the Christmas season is that it also means the start of another skiing season! :) I'll miss having a season pass to Park City this year and my memories from going up each week (381), but I still hope to make it to the slopes a few times this season. I actually found a cool website (liftopia.com) that offers discount passes to a number of resorts if you catch it at the right time...which is great for all us poor people. In fact, Troy, Travis, Jeff, and I were able to go to Snowbird just the other day for a great price! (43% off) It snowed the whole time we were there and we had a blast spending some time together in the fresh snow.

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Finally, my sweet Grandma passed away this October. Its truly been sad not having her here these last few months, but I'm happy that she was able to pass to the other side without having to suffer too much. I guess I just miss having her around to cheer me up and make me feel special. Anyone who had the chance to know her and be around her knows how wonderful she was and how wonderful she was able to make you feel. I could always count on a big hug, a roast beef sandwich, another roast beef sandwich, a bit of ice cream, and all the attention she could give me each time I went over to visit. Her Kylo Lako loved her dearly and counts himself as blessed to have had such a perfect grandmother :)

California Dreamin

2009-09-16T18:34:00.000-06:00

Last weekend a few friends and I we're able to take off to California for the Utah football game against San Jose State. It was a pretty quick trip but I had a ton of fun. We spent the day saturday on the beach in Santa Cruz and had a blast. Santa Cruz is such a cool beach-side town. We hung out by the water, rode some rollercoasters, and visited some pretty cool shops. The game was really fun too...even though the utes didn't really show up for it. We had great seats and it was cool to hang out among all the other fans who traveled to support the team. Coming back to work on Monday was really the only bad thing about the whole trip. Im glad I got to go.

Happy Birthday Grandma

2009-09-06T16:57:00.001-06:00

Real Salt Lake

2009-08-26T22:51:00.001-06:00

Wednesday Troy and I decided to hit up the Real Salt Lake Chivas USA match. It was pretty cool! Rio Tinto stadium is a pretty sweete place. Real won the match 4-0 which was crazy. Seeing them score so many goals was pretty fun.

happy birthday mom

2009-08-16T21:17:00.000-06:00

WELCOME HOME TROY!

2009-08-07T13:21:00.000-06:00

Its Limpy...not Lumpy

2009-08-03T18:53:00.000-06:00

So I've had a run of bad luck lately. I LOVE boating but...

Bad Luck #1 ... CONCUSSION

Bad Luck #2 ... MCL TEAR

Not Cool

2009-07-23T17:36:00.000-06:00

Apparently someone wanted this more than me...

...thats right, some jerk stole my phone out of my work truck today.

Brian Johnson

2009-07-14T20:42:00.000-06:00

I think this is pretty sweet. EA sports chose Brian Johnson as their cover artist for NCAA Football 2010 on Playstation 3. What a cool honor for him and a sweet tribute to the Utes success last year. Back in the day, Troy and I used to love playing these NCAA Football games on his playstation so I thought it was pretty cool that a local athlete got chosen for the cover.

Brian was actually signing autographs in support of the new games release at this store right next to city hall today so I was able to go over while I was at work and say hi to him real quick and get my 'perfect season' hat signed. Pretty cool.

Boating

2009-06-25T18:42:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was perfect for boating! We had so much fun getting out on the lake and enjoying the nice weather and great water. Trevors brother-in-law let us take his boat out for the afternoon so a bunch of us were able to get together and head down to utah lake. The pictures are just of me, Trevor, Vincent, and Derek though.

Oquirrh Temple Open House

2009-06-12T18:01:00.000-06:00

Today was a good day. Mom and I were able to visit the new Oquirrh Temple in South Jordan. What a beautiful building! We really enjoyed going through and appreciating its beauty. I especially have been looking forward to qoing through and seeing the temple since I grew up in the area. In fact, I was able to attend the ground breaking a few years back so now being able to go through the finished product was really cool. The Oquirrh Temple is sweet cause it has its own unique beauty and style. After recently going through the Draper Temple it was fun to see how each of the temples have their own different styles, strengths, and beauties. I really have enjoyed the chance to be able to go through these temples. Though each were unique in their style and beauty, both were full of such a peaceful and warm spirit. If you haven't had the chance, you definately should take the opportunity to go through and visit the temple.

In The Year Three Thousand

2009-06-09T22:33:00.000-06:00

"... Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook will merge to form one super time waisting website called, YOU-TWIT-FACE!"

Where have you been?

2009-06-09T21:07:00.000-06:00

Holy Cow! Its been so long since I've paid my blog any attention. Sorry. I've been doing good despite my absenteeism. The summer has started out fun and I feel like I've been able to do a number of cool things so far. In fact, I just spent the last hour and a half updating my blog aboutit...so scroll down and check it out!

...SIDENOTE ...

This is really sad, but its been such a long since I've done any posting that all of my recent updates wont fit on this page!!! If you want to see all of them...and this could be a big IF...you need to click on the 'older posts' link at the bottom of the page. Enjoy.

Air Show

2009-06-09T21:00:00.001-06:00

Last Friday Cortney and I went with Jordin and Taylor's special needs mutual to the Hill Airforce Base air show. It was sooo cool! The kids loved it and the planes they had doing tricks were pretty awesome. The highlight of the show were the Thunderbirds. We couldnt believe how fast and accurate and together they flew. It really was sweet!

Eagle Mountain Carnival

2009-06-09T20:39:00.000-06:00

How cool are my nephews?! Last week Lindsay and the kids were in town and it was so fun to see them. Everytime Im with them I cant believe how old and big they are getting. Last Thursday Mom was nice enough to treat us all to the Eagle Mountain City Carnival. They held it at the little park right next to Mom and Dads house. It was just the perfect size for the little boys. Jay was soooooo excited to be there are Rex absolutely loved going on all the little rides. I swear we rode the ferris wheel at least six times! Jay would yell out silly words each time we came round the wheel and Rex couldnt stop "OOO-ING" the whole time. So fun! Here are some pics of Me, Cortney, Mom, Lindsay, and the boys.

Ashley's Hat Trick

2009-06-09T20:32:00.000-06:00

While Cortney's family was in town they threw a 'hat trick' party for Cortney's older sister Ashley. It was to celebrate Ashley getting her MBA, giving birth to her second child (garbage can stinky), and having her 30th birthday. Nice Job Ash! These are a few pictures from the shin dig.

Memorial Day

2009-06-09T20:28:00.001-06:00

Bees Game

2009-06-09T20:15:00.001-06:00

I love Bees games...another favorite thing of mine about summer. I love the laid back atmosphere and culture of going to a ball game. Wednesdays are usually dollar hot dog nights so we love going, getting a couple of cheep dogs, and just hanging out on the grass. The best thing about the last game we went to was that we got on the jumbotron 'kiss cam'! We were laughing so hard about it...especially since Cortney's brother-in-law and his friends were at the game and hassled us about it. "Get a room sicko's"

Scout Camp with Jared

2009-06-09T20:07:00.001-06:00

A couple of weekends ago I went with Jared and his troop on their scout camp. We went to the Geode pits somewhere out in Dugway...aka middle of nowhere. The boys had a blast. The opportunity to dig, get dirty, and break open geodes made for a perfect camp for the eleven year old scouts.

Lagoon

2009-06-09T19:53:00.000-06:00

So...Lagoon's still pretty fun. Who knew? :) Cortney's family all came into town a couple of weekends ago and decided to spend a day at Lagoon. It was a lot of fun! Her little nieces and nephews were especially fun to watch and be with. Lagoon is perfect for little kids. Cortney and I loved going on the rides with them and hanging out with everyone. As you can see, we ended up getting a bit wet while we were there.

Garbage Can Stinky Zach

2009-06-09T19:48:00.000-06:00

This is Cortney's newest nephew. He's such a fun little guy...how couldn't he be...his name is garbage can stinky! (James, Zach's older brother, was hoping his parents would name his new baby brother Garbage Can Stinky...who knew it would stick?)

Softball!!!

2009-06-09T19:43:00.000-06:00

One thing I absolutely love about summer is rec. softball. I always play with friends from high school and we have a blast...even though we're not always that good.

Visiting Family

2009-04-25T11:18:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was pretty fun. Chad and Lindsay decided to take a small vacation and come up to Utah for a few days. Having the kids in town was such a blast. I cant believe how big and smart they are getting. It was also good hanging out with Chad and Lindsay. Cortney and I enjoyed going to dinner with them and hitting up the batting cages!! We were out to eat at the India House and got to talking about baseball/softball and up and decided to make a run to the batting cages at Mulligans. It was so fun. I love the batting cages...Ive been like three times in the last two weeks. :) Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend.

Jay is so smart. He reads so well. Here he is reading from the Book of Mormon (without help) and he hasnt even been to preschool!!

Jay the Chef

Jay loves the WII...and as you can see, he takes it pretty serious :)

Rex going in to give me a kiss

Rex loved these goggles

Ski Season Over

2009-04-25T10:39:00.000-06:00

Well, the ski season is over. No more Park City saturdays. Its actually pretty sad cause Ive really enjoyed going up this year. In fact, I don't really know what to do with myself today. :) It has been so fun to be able to go up with Cortney each weekend. It was nice to have something that we could do togeter. The other day we went up with Derek and here are some pictures of us three.

This is me skiing down the slopes

Derek heading down the runs

This is Cortney dominating the slopes...like always :)

Opening Day

2009-04-25T10:27:00.000-06:00

Here are some pics from the bees opening game from couple of weeks ago. We went with the Davis' and had a blast. We also randomly ended up sitting next to Nick Zachman, another friend from high school. It was cool to hang out with everyone and enjoy watching baseball again.

Conference Weekend

2009-04-08T11:59:00.000-06:00

As always, I really enjoyed watching general conference this past weekend. The opportunity to see and hear from current apostles and prophets has been something that has really increased in value for me over the years. On my mission I remember really missing living so close to so many general authorities. We used to get so excited when the area authorities would come to France and our mission. Anyway, I really enjoyed the spirit and messages from conference. There are always a number of talks that kind of resonate with you. Cortney and I were actually pretty lucky because we were able to go to one of the sessions. Out of no where our bishop surprised us and gave us four tickets to the Saturday afternoon session. He is such a nice guy. We went with a couple of our friends and really enjoyed the experience. For priesthood session I was able to take Taylor with me again. Howard seems to always get stuck out of town for conference weekend so its nice that Taylor is able to come with us...especially since he cracks me up. Lately he's really been getting into the Three Stooges so randomly you'll catch him trying to mimic some of the pranks he learns from them. Its so funny.

Jazz Game

2009-04-08T11:54:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures of the Jazz game cortney and I were able to go to the other day. Her Family has pretty nice seats so it was a blast to go and watch the game with her...especially since we made it on the jumbo tron. :) It was the game where we played the Knicks and blew a 20+ point lead and almost lost. Its funny cause early on in the game we were bummed that we were going to have to watch a boring blow out game.

Half way to Fifty?!!!

2009-03-23T13:31:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORTNEY! Saturday was Cortneys 25th birthday and we had a blast celebrating. Luckily she got let off from ski instructing so we could spend the day together. We went to breakfast with her family, spent the day skiing at park city, and then went out to eat with her family and some of her best friends for dinner. We ate at a sushi place called Tsunami and loved it...Cortney digs the sushi there. Anyway, it was such a good time...especially watching her sister Ashley bust up over our 'Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia' conversation. We also had the best waitress. She offered to refrigerate our ice cream cake while we were eating and then cut it up and brought it out on a nice platter for us when we were done...we totally rocked the disney princess icecream cake :) . Friday we were also able to celebrate a bit by going out to dinner with a group of her close pharmacy school friends. One was sweet enough to bake a cake and bring it to the dinner. We ate at Iggies and loved watching the games as we ate and celebrated. Here are some pics of all the birthday comings and goings.

Haircuts and Swimming

2009-03-23T13:12:00.000-06:00

So the Cluffs and I have been able to establish a bit of a tradition over the years of going to get haircuts and then going swimming right after. [ Jared always claims he NEEDS to do this so he can get all that excess hair washed off his body...autism=sensory issues :) ] Anyway, we have been doing this for forever and its always a blast. In fact I have a SO many good memories from the fairmont aquatic center. Each time we're there Im reminded of different times we've been there through the years. Check it out.

Temple Open House

2009-03-23T12:58:00.001-06:00

Here are some pics of when we went through the temple open house. I was actually able to go through a couple of times and really enjoyed each experience. The pictures are of when Derek, his girlfriend Sarah, Cortney and I went through. Sarah is investigating the church right now so it was a really cool experience to go through with her and Derek.

what else

2009-03-22T21:25:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I was able to head up to Logan for the wedding of one of Cortney's best friends. Weddings aren't always one of my favorite things to go to but we ended up having a pretty good time up there. I hadn't been up to Logan in such a long time so it was really nice to be able to revist some of my old stomping grounds. Logan is the best. I loved my time up there with Jeff. I had so many good memories come back to me while I was showing Cortney around some of the old diggs. Logan feels like home to me sometimes...which is funny since I was only there for a year. Anyway, here are some pictures of the trip.

where have you been?

2009-03-22T19:53:00.000-06:00

Well, after my month or so hiatus from the world of blahging I guess its about time I do a quick update of all my comings and goings. To be honest, I have actually been wanting to do an update for a while now but havent been able to since we still are without internet at the house. Oh well, I guess being late is better than never.

So whats new?

First of all, a couple of weekends ago Cortney and I were able to spend a fun weekend in park city with her family. We stayed in one of their family friend's condo right on the deer valley hill and had a blast. We skied, hot tubbed, went on the alpine coaster, and just hung out. Actually, one of the coolest things we did was we sledded down the face of deer valley from the foot of our condo to the base of the resort. It was sooooooo fun. We did it late one saturday night with Cortney's dad, her brother in law, and her nephew. We couldnt help but laugh the whole way down because it was so fun. Heres some pics.

warshington dc

2009-02-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

I cant believe a week has already passed since Cortney and I were in D.C.! I wanted to post some photos and do an update about the trip a little earlier, but I haven't been able to since we don't have internet at the house yet. (Im actually sitting in Mcdonalds right now eating a gross ham-burgler and using their WIFI connection...pretty shameless) Anyway, back to the trip...We had such a good time together! DC was such a fun city to visit. Going to Les Mis (the reason behind the trip), seeing the sites, and just walking around together was really a blast. We even had perfect weather to accomany us...last Sunday was like 58 degrees! Anyway, here are a few photos from our trip.

go utes

2009-01-30T11:04:00.001-07:00

here are some pics of me stace and cortney at the byu utah basketball game from tueday. the game was a lot of fun and it was nice to hang out with stacer while she was still in town. as a former cougar athlete and grad, stace held her own and cheered for her cougs. it was fun to see her politely and proudly cheer them on next to a couple of goofy ute fans. thanks again for coming stace and cortney...and jeff, you suck for always having to work :)

oh, and jeff, these photos are for you...or any other 'its always sunny in philadelphia' fan

fun with staci and corbin

2009-01-30T10:44:00.001-07:00

the last few weeks have been pretty fun. staci and corbin decided to come into town and hang out with the fam a bit while clark has been slaving away in the accounting industry. it really has been a blast. coybin is such a smart, cool, and funny little guy. he observes and analyzes everything. the picutes above are from our field trip to jungle jims. stace mom cortney and i were able to spend the day with him there and he seemed to really enjoy himself...except for when i took him on the mini rollercoaster. he was WAY to young for it and was completely TERRIFIED throughout the whole thing. i felt soooo bad for the little guy. he clung to my side and just cried through it all. poor dude :) he loved the carousel and the mini spaceship ride though so i think, and hope, he was able to forget about his traumatising rolllercoaster ride.

not again!

2009-01-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

not cool! so while i was driving to church the other day i totally ended up getting in a fender bender. luckily the damage was not too bad and the car i hit only had minor bumber damage. basically what happened was a car tried to merge into our lane a couple cars ahead of the vehicle i hit and everyone had to slam on their brakes in order to avoid hitting them. unfortunately i slammed on mine but didnt have enough time to avoid kissing the bumper of the car ahead of me. NOT COOL! luckily the lady in front of me was pretty cool and we didnt even involve the cops in the fender bender. allstate is taking care of the rest and fortunately i have already been able to get my car repaired and running again...it only took four days!

Sweet Satisfaction

2009-01-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

This last week I was able to finish the unabridged version of Les Miserables. To be honest, I was pretty proud of myself for doing so. I have been working on reading Les Miserables for quite some time now so finishing really gave me a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Les Miserables is an excellent novel and I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it. Victor Hugo did an amazing job of developing his characters and weaving them into the fabric of his story and social commentary. I of course loved following the account of Jean Valjean's redemption and subsequent life of selflessness and charity throughout the novel, but I was also very intrigued with the portrayal of some of the other significant characters in the novel; specifically, Fantine, Javert, Bishop Myriel, Eponine, and Thenardier. Also, as a French enthusiast, I really enjoyed reading the book and seeing its depiction of French culture and history...proof being that I found myself actually enjoying the pages upon pages of detailed history of the Paris sewage system. (odd...I know) Anyway, I really enjoyed reading Les Miserables and would definitely put it on my top ten list of favorite books.

Oh Yeah!

2009-01-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

So Cortney totally hooked me up with a season pass to Park City... Boo Yeah! We went up on Saturday for a half day and it was really fun even though it was FREEZING. By the end of the day my feet were frozen. When they were thawing they felt like they were on FIRE. Let me emphasize this... THEY FELT LIKE THEY WERE ON FIRE!!! I was in so much pain. Anyway, I have never skied at Park City so it was fun to have her show me around. I am really excited for this year. Having a pass will be so sweet! Ive never had a season pass before so it will be a lot fun to go up all the time. And by the way, I totally dominated Cortney on the slopes ... just kidding ... she ski instructs at Park City so I'm sure we can all surmise who actually dominated who :)

Winter Camp with Jared

2009-01-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday and Friday was pretty fun. Jared had his first winter camp as a blazer scout and I was able to go with him and his troop. Howard got called out for work last minute and wasnt able to go so Sylvia called and asked if I could fill in. It was a blast and I was happy that she thought of me to go. The camp was at a place called Topaz Mountain which a bit west of Delta. The kids loved it because they could all act like amature miners and search for topaz in the rocks and hills. Jared had a blast...despite the fact he isnt smiling in any of these photos :)

mayan fun with the cluffs

2008-12-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

the cluffs are so cool. saturday for a christmas present they took me to a movie and to the mayan. it was a lot of fun. the kids LOVE the mayan. the atmosphere and the divers are perfect for them...and me...i wont lie, i thought it was pretty cool too. in fact, i found myself kind of was wishing i could jump off some of the cliffs into the pools too...it looks pretty fun. anyway, the cluffs are the best and i am so glad to have the opportunity to know them.

yikes!...zoo lights

2008-12-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

so i was really pleasantly surprised with how cool the zoo lights were. it was a lot of fun walking around and looking at everything...my favorite displays were the turtles and the crabs! they were sweet. the crocodile was fun too. the best however was being able to see the gorillas sleeping. cortney and i loved it. thanks cortney for the fun time.

peer advisor reunion

2008-12-21T18:06:00.001-07:00

so the other day was kind of fun. last year i was able to be one of the academic peer advisors for the psychology department up at the u. it was a really good experience for me and i very much enjoyed the chance to befriend and belong with some of the other advisors. anyway, the other day we all decided that it would be a lot of fun to get together and have a reunion of sorts. it turned out to be a ton of fun. i loved seeing everyone and having the chance to catch up on what has been going on after graduation ... it was also pretty sweet kicking everyones butts at bowling! :) these are some pics of everyone.

Ward Christmas Party

2008-12-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from our ward Christmas party this year. It was held up at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and was a really nice evening. The people who put it together really invested a lot of time and effort into it and really made it a very nice event. I was pretty impressed with it all ... especially with the fact that we were able to have it up at the memorial building. What a nice place for a ward pary! We were able to have a nice meal, watch the nativity movie, sing christmas songs, and hear a short message from the Bishop. I really had a good time (except for when Jimmie was sitting at our table...what an idiot) Anyway, the pics are of me, Doug, Cush, Vincent, and Cortney.

happy thanksgiving!

2008-12-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! This year Chad and Lindsay wanted to host everyone for the holiday so we were able to head out to Vegas and enjoy a bit of t-shirt weather for the weekend. Everyone but but Staci, Clark and Corbin were able to come so it was a lot of fun getting as many as we could together...even though we missed having the Gee's around. We enjoyed a nice turkey dinner (with plenty of pumpkin pie), hung out at a couple of parks, watched football, played the wii, saw some movies, and just enjoyed each others company...especially Rex and Jay's. Here are a few pictures from the weekend...apparently I only took photos of my nephews.

So this last photo has a funny story. As we were playing the wii, we decided to make some mii characters that resembled each of our appearances. As we were doing everyone, Jay of course wanted to have one made of himself. He was able to pick out much of how his character would look and we surprisingly were able make one that looked pretty close to him...well except for one thing...Jay wanted his mii to have a mustache. It was pretty funny. Jay must have got pretty motivated by this because before you knew it he up and decided to give himself a mustache. (see photo above) It was soooo funny. Needless to say, Jay was pretty proud of himself.

deer

2008-12-04T07:39:00.001-07:00

So one of the things that I have really come to enjoy over the last little bit has been the opportunity to see deer up around where we live. I would bet that I don't go an entire week without seeing at least two or three somewhere along my drive home. For some reason I just really love it. If I can, I usually will always stop the car and just watch them for a minute or two. I guess its just kind of cool being so close to wildlife. The other day was the best though. I had just gotten home from work and was pulling up my driveway when all of a sudden I saw 7 deer just hanging out in our yard. It was pretty awesome! I hurried inside and grabbed my camera and the above photos are some that I was able to grab while the deer kind of progressed along our ridge.

Who am I sir? ... A UTAH MAN AM I

2008-11-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

What a fun game to be at on saturday! I can't believe how good the utes played. It was awesome to see them really step up and finish out their regular season schedule so well. 12 and 0...how cool is that! Im so glad I was able to have my tickets this year and attend so many games. I actually was able to befriend a guy who sits next to me over the last couple of games and we got to talking after the game on Saturday and we think we're pretty set on going to the upcoming BCS bowl...wherever it ends up being...hopefully Arizona for convenience. I was lucky enough to go to the 2004 Utah vs Pitt BCS game so I think it would be really cool to have the chance to go to this one too...even though we'll probably get killed by some SEC or Big 12 team...it will be fun all the same supporting the utes. Anyway, Cortney and I had a blast cheering on the utes on Saturday.

Why BYU doesn't get it

2008-11-21T15:53:00.001-07:00

"I wouldn't say [the catch] was lucky. We executed the play well. We should have had another [TD]. Obviously, if you do what's right on and off the field, I think the Lord steps in and plays a part. Magic Happens."

Austin Collie

So Whats My Prediction?...

2008-11-18T17:49:00.001-07:00

So today at work we had a "celebrate that the summer is over" bbq luncheon and the funniest thing happened. While a bunch of us were all talking and hanging out, a couple of the guys I work with started asking me what my prediction was for the upcoming BYU Utah game. Before I could even say anything, another guy I work with all of a sudden blurted out, "You want to know what my prediction for the game is? ... PAIN!" It was sooooo funny! You know you gotta love a random Clubber Lang plug. So funny. I was seriously laughing about it the rest of the day.

P.S.

2008-11-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Andy Bernard Killed on the Office today...Soooooooooo funny!!!!!!!!!

fun things

2008-11-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

So Ive yet to post about how freaking cool the game was last week! Can you believe how crazy that game was? Cortney and I had a blast cheering on the Utes and biting our nails leading up to the games one and only Utah touchdown. ... And you know we had to take advantage of the moment and rush the field after the game! Thanks for the good time Cortney. -- The other photos are from the Real Salt Lake playoff game from a couple weeks ago. That was a pretty fun crazy match to be at too by the way. Real scored the game winning goal in the last minute of regulation. It was really cool. Thanks again for the fun time.

pretty nervous

2008-11-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

So do I even need to say how excited I am for tonights game? I definately don't think that it is the "biggest game" in Utah history like the paper is trying to sell, but I do have to admit that it is a pretty big one. I mean, lets be honest, I've been nervous about the game since waking up today. Hopefully it will be a good one. Its been fun cause it seems like everyone is either going to the game or at least talking about wanting to go to the game. In fact, the guys at work have been pretty funny cause they've been hassling me all week about wanting to go...suckers! :) Anyway, cross your fingers cause this is going to be a tough one. Hopefully I can go home from the game happy tonight rather crying myself to sleep.

happy halloween

2008-11-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins

2008-10-29T21:07:00.000-06:00

So whats Halloween without a little pumpkin carving? Monday, after our FHE Halloween shin-dig, a couple of us decided to grab some pumpkins and head up to the house and carve 'em up. It was a pretty good time...Especially since Vincent (aka Michael) now considers pumpkin carving one of his greatest hidden talents. Since I havent had too much to post about lately Ive decided to post some of our pictures. Check 'em out.

2008-10-29T21:02:00.000-06:00

P.S. - So for the past month or two my roommates and I have been a little over-enthusiastic about playing Mario Kart on the WII. In fact, its pretty safe to say that we are quite a bit more than just "a little over-enthusiastic" about playing. Anyway, the only reason I mention this is because I totally used Mario Kart as my motivation for my jack-o-lantern design. (childish and silly...I know) So check out it out. Dry Bones dominates!

a general conference plug

2008-10-20T01:15:00.000-06:00

one of my all time favorite books is "le petit prince" (the little prince) by antoine de saint-exupéry. it is only a short childrens story, but i have always been attracted to and love its humor and message. mostly, i guess i have always enjoyed how it addresses a number of social and personal issues from the innocent vantage point of a child. each time i read it i find myself being amused at the authors wit and creativity.
anyway, one of the talks that i really enjoyed this last conference was from Elder Gérald Caussé of the seventy. he talked about how gaining spiritual knowledge is only most effective when we open our hearts to that spiritual knowledge and allow for it to become personally valuable to us. in illustrating this point he actually shared a small portion from the story of "the little prince". already being a pretty big fan of the story, i thought that it was pretty cool that he mentioned it in his talk. anyway, i just got done reading elder causse's talk again and thought i'd post post the portion of it where he talks about the little prince. hopefully youll enjoy reading it...and more importantly...it will motivate you to read a sweet little childrens book from france!

In his philosophical short story The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry describes the confusion of a little boy who, on discovering a field of roses, perceives that the flower he has, which he has tended with such love, is not unique but very ordinary. Then he comes to the realization that the thing that makes his rose unique is not its outward appearance but the time and the love he has consecrated to taking care of it. He exclaims:
“Men . . . raise five thousand roses in the same garden—and they do not find in it what they are looking for. . . .
“And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water. . . .
“But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart” ([1943], 79).
In the same way, our knowledge of God does not depend on the amount of information we accumulate. After all, all the knowledge of the gospel which is meaningful for our salvation can be summarized in a few points of doctrine, principles, and essential commandments, which are already there in the missionary lessons we receive before baptism. Knowing God is a matter of opening our hearts to gain a spiritual understanding and a fervent testimony of the truth of these few fundamental points of doctrine. Knowing God is having a testimony of His existence and feeling in one’s heart that He loves us. It is accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and having a fervent desire to follow His example. In serving God and our neighbor, we witness of Christ and allow those around us to get to know Him better.
...I pray that we will know how to open our hearts like a little child and take pleasure in hearing and practicing the word of God in all the power of its simplicity. I bear testimony that if we do this, we will gain the knowledge of the “mysteries [of God] and [the] peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal” (D&C 42:61). In the name of Jesus Christ, amen

Hmmmm....

2008-10-20T01:07:00.000-06:00

So can BYU fans still wear these?

first snow!

2008-10-11T11:18:00.000-06:00

so check out what i just woke up to

donut falls in the fall

2008-10-07T19:00:00.000-06:00

Check out how cool the autumn leaves are right now!

2008-10-07T18:51:00.000-06:00

holy cow

2008-10-03T07:51:00.000-06:00

OK, I know my last post was about going to the ute game, but how could I not post about last nights game against oregon state! What a crazy finish! I seriously havent been able to attend a game like that in a long time. I still cant believe the Utes pulled off that last scoring drive to win. Especially since our offence was absolutely abysmal for the entire second half up to that point. Then again, what else could I expect from my hot and cold Utes. One of these days we'll get it together...but still, that game was so fun to see.

go utes!

2008-09-28T20:26:00.000-06:00

saturday jared cluff and i were able to go down to the u of u game against weber state. even though we were playing weber and the game wasnt ever that close, we had a ton of fun hanging out and watching the game. jared had never been to a football game before so he was pretty pumped about being there. i think the funniest comment of the night came when jared started jumping up and down and cheering with everyone around him but then suddenly stopped and sheepishly told me that he had no idea why everyone was going nuts and he wanted to know what was going on. i had to chuckle at his enthusiasm. it was fun.

oh yeah

2008-09-26T13:14:00.000-06:00

ok, so is it sad that i got excited to see that a possible hurricane could be named after me? i mean really, hurricanes are bad right? ... but still, you've got to admit that its pretty sweet having your name associated with something so powerful! childish and silly, i know, but hey, try and imagine it as having something way cool, like a shark or a dinosaur, being named after you. (and we're not talking about some wussy leaf eating dinosaur) ... anyway, feels pretty good doesnt it. yeah, thats right, im a clustering ball of spinning tropical hatered on my way to ruin someones day. in fact, check me out just biding my time off the coast of bermuda.

here's msnbc's version of things:

This September 26, 2008 NOAA satellite handout image shows Tropical Storm Kyle located south-southwest of Bermuda. Tropical Storm Kyle was churning Friday on a path that would take it west of Bermuda and could become a hurricane before it takes aim at the US coast, the National Hurricane Center said. "A tropical storm watch is in effect for Bermuda," the Miami-based center said in a bulletin at 1200 GMT. "Interests in the northeastern United States and the Canadian maritimes region should closely monitor the progress of Kyle during the next couple of days," it added.
9:24 a.m. ET, 9/26/08

P.S. all of the above mentioned comments should be taken with a grain of salt...if you couldnt tell. i most definately hope that this tropical storm stays away from any inhabited areas and avoids its opportunity to "ruin someones day".

whats new...

2008-09-13T13:04:00.000-06:00

well, i realized that its been quite a while since i have posted anything on my blog, so ive decided to take a quick minute and write down a little of what has been going on lately. unfortunately, i really dont have too much tell everyone about. things i guess keep moving forward as usual. the other day however i was able to take the cluffs to the aquarium out in sandy and we had a pretty good time. the aquarium is kind of small but it was pretty cool all the same. they had sharks, an octipus, and a few other exotic fish...but the coolest thing they had was this tank of sting rays that you could reach down and pet! the kids loved it. heck, i even thought it was pretty cool. anyway, overall we had a pretty good time hanging out and looking at all the marine life.

in other news...

2008-09-13T13:00:00.000-06:00

everyone obviously remembers the fire out in draper a couple weeks ago. well, from where we live i was able to get a number of petty cool photos of all the smoke, fire, etc. in fact the most of these were taken just from our front yard. i cant tell you how happy i was that the wind was blowing all that smoke away from our house instead of towards it. we would have been swamped otherwise and everything would have ended up stinking

what else...

2008-09-13T12:59:00.000-06:00

last weekend a bunch of us were able to go boating for probably the last, or one of the last times of the season. it was so fun. i really love getting out on the lake. the thing that was really nice was that the water was pretty much close to perfect for the majority of the time we were there. it was awesome for skiing...which was really nice since nearly every other time we have gone out this year we've gotten stuck with pretty mediocre water. cush also had just bought a new ski which was soooo nice. i couldnt believe how effortless it made cutting and leaning in to the water. wakeboarding was pretty fun too. this season i have really been able to get more in to it and i have actually really grown to like it.
in other news, i was able to go and visit chad, lindsey and the kids out in vegas a three or four weeks ago. it was a really fun trip and i really enjoyed being able to see my nephews. rex is a very mild mannered baby and jay is simply getting funnier and funnier as he grows up. unfortunatly i forgot to bring my camera down there so i wasnt able to get any photos of them. oh well. thanks again chad and lindsey for letting us come and stay down there. now i just need to get out and see staci, clark, and coybin.
well, i cant really think of anything else to update about. im enjoying the changing of the season and look farward to the next couple of months of fall. i always enjoy the different smells in the air and the cripser air. the leaves changing are always really cool too. well, like i said, thats about all ive got for today.

go utes

2008-08-29T22:06:00.001-06:00

i am so excited for the start of the football season tomorrow! its such a fun time of year when college football is going on. as a recent grad from the U i was able to get discounted season tickets for the games which should be a lot of fun...since i cant get free tickets any more since im not a student. as far as the game goes tomorrow, im really excited for utah to get the chance to play michigan. its always cool when teams in the mountain west get to go up against some of the historic and larger programs. hopefully it will be a good game. it seems like everyone and their dog has been picking utah for the upset win of the week but im not so sure. dont get me wrong, i would be out of my mind pumped if we did and ill for sure be sitting on the edge of the couch the whole game cheering the utes on for a win...but i just dont think michigan will be that easy of a win tomorrow. i know its a new coach and a new system and all and that there arent many returning starters this year for their team, but i just think they'll be as unprepared as everyone is saying. rich rodriguez for sure will want to have his team ready for his first home game as the michigan coach and he most definitely wont want to experience another apalation state type of a loss to start off the year...not that utah and apalation state are all that comparable...you get my point though. anyway, like i said i hope it will be a good game and ill be really excited if utah wins.

scary potter

2008-08-15T21:34:00.001-06:00

well my day just got 1000 times better...

new car

2008-08-01T17:54:00.000-06:00

all i can say is 30+ mpg! ... because after driving my explorer around, and especially after driving my dad's f150 around this past month, i am SO excited to be in a little car that gets good gas mileage. i just hope this little dodge proves to be a reliable car over the next few years.

a long wild night

2008-07-16T07:44:00.000-06:00

i cant believe the all star game went as long as it did. it ran 15 long innings and was really only inches away from going more. after having multle plays at the plate and after stranding multiple runners in scoring position, justin morneau of the twins was finally able to slip by brian mccann's tag at home and score the winning run. i found it all pretty exciting...though i probably would have gone to bed if the game would have gone into the 16th. i mean, the game was only like 10 min shy of lasting 5 hours. pretty crazy for an all star game. like i said though, it was all pertty exciting for me and i actually enjoyed watching the entire game. the pitching was dominant, the hits and homeruns came at key times, and the drama of sitting through inning after inning, though tiring, was still very suspensful...especially since terry francona was out of bench players and was exteremly limited on how long he could pitch his final reliever (who he was forced to put in the game at the top of the 15th). im sure all of the american league dugout was starting to wonder what they were going to do if the game went in to the 16th, 17th, or 18th innings. maybe francona could have gotten a field player to come in and try his hand at pitching...or maybe bud selig would have been forced to call the game a tie or something (which would not have been cool...baseball is not soccer). anyway, despite being long, i thought the all star game was overall pretty enjoyable to watch.

boom!

2008-07-09T20:00:00.001-06:00

so i got in a wreck a week ago. goodbye red explorer and hello new car...wherever you are. i got hit as i was turning through an intersection as the light was turning red. luckily the other driver got away with only scratches and i came away with just a headache. right now im just waiting on allstate to figure everything out but i kind of wish it would all just be over with and buttoned up. im tired of wondering how it will turn out. i guess allstate is still debating over whos at fault since the light was turning red. hopefully i wont end up being liable...or at least be given shared liability. we'll see, ill be fine with whatever as long as i feel im being dealt with fairly.

coybin

2008-06-30T14:35:00.000-06:00

check it out, this is my nephew corbin. he's been real fun to have in town.

update

2008-06-24T15:34:00.001-06:00

what better way to celebrate having staci and coybin (aka corbin) in town than by buying a new wii game! thats right, yesterday me, stacer, and coybin decided to put a couple of best buy gift cards to good use and buy guitar hero! its definiately a pretty sweet game. i had only played it one time before so you know it was fun to rock the joint with staci for a little bit...not to say that coybin wasnt giving us sufficient entertainment though. that little guy is so cool...ill have to post some pictures of him when i get a chance.

oh yeah!

2008-06-19T13:26:00.000-06:00

thats right...guess who just won tickets to the "80's regeneration tour" at his work party! you know im gonna be kickin it with flock of seagulls, the human league, abc, belinda carlisle, and naked eyes. (dont worry, i had to look up some of these guys on the internet to know who they were) oh yeah, this is gonna rock!

boating!

2008-05-31T17:51:00.000-06:00

today cush was nice enough to take a few of us out on the boat. we all headed down to utah lake for the day and had a blast. we skied to start out the day while the water was still calm and then wakeboarded. it was awesome. i love going boating so thanks to cush for the good time. here are some pics of me heid cush and trevor...notice im the only one not getting air on the wakeboard...gotta work on that.

nephews in town

2008-05-26T14:34:00.001-06:00

its always fun when the nephews come in town. jay and rex are such cool kids. this weekend was chad and lindsays anneversary so they came up and dropped the kids off at 'grandma and grandpas' so they could celebrate a bit...personally, i think grandma might have died and gone to heaven while they were both here...both she and dad love it when the kids are in town. as you can see from some of the pictures, saturday it was 'thomas the train' day out at the heber city railroad station. i was able to go up with mom and dad and the kids and ride the train and see all the 'cool' thomas stuff. like most kids his age, jay loves trains and especially thomas the train so he was sure happy to be there. it was so fun to see him jump around and get excited to look at all the things and actually ride a real train. - there was even a real life size thomas the train replica at the train station sitting on the tracks, so you can only imagine how pumped jay was to be there! - i think the prize of the trip however was the thomas balloon that grandpa got jay. both he and rex couldnt stop playing with it. funny how the little things entertain the most. speaking of rex, i cant believe how mild mannered and cool he is. he is so much fun to play with. he laughs and smiles over just about everything. it was really fun to have him and jay come in to town.

not worth it!

2008-05-23T12:23:00.000-06:00

as a fairly big fan of the original indiana jones movies (except for the temple of doom...of course), I was pretty excited to go and watch the new "kingdom of the crystal skull" movie. although having heard a number of negative reviews regarding the film, i was still somewhat optimistic about going and watching it. this was because i kept telling myself that in the end, despite the poor reviews, the movie couldnt really turn out to be THAT bad of a film....i mean, how hard is it to not screw up the new installment of an already popular and successful movie series. -- well, as it turns out, apparently it is pretty hard to not screw up what should be a movie classic and a given box office success...cause thats precisely what george lucas and stevo speilburg ended up doing. im dead serious. the new indiana jones movie is sure dissapoint you....and even though i know you will, (because it is the new indiana jones movie and all), dont go run out and pay full ticket price for a movie like this! WAIT TILL IT ENDS UP IN THE DOLLAR MOVIES! trust me, if you dont you will end up laughing at yourself for being so excited to see such a waist of a movie...i did.

graduation and california

2008-05-08T21:12:00.000-06:00

well i made it...last friday was graduation at the U. mom dad heidi jeff and grandma & grandpa all came up to support me. we had a good time going out to eat and attending the college ceremonies. i think the highlight of it all was when the brass band started playing the beatles "when im sixty four" while the p.h.d. candidates were walking...rumor has it heidi leaned over to my mom when it started plyaing it and said, "well this is different." ha ha, i guess the u's a little different than the y.
after graduation, heidi surprised me with a trip to california for a graduation present! we went saturday afternoon and flew back in monday night. we stayed with some of her old friends and it was blast. they live in hunington beach and are basically five minutes from the beach. heidi and i were able to do a lot of fun things while we were there...as you can probably see from the pictures. we went surfing, boating, bike riding, softball-ing, and exploring! thanks to heidi, mel, and mat for such good time.
for another surprise, mom and dad got me a wii for graduation! i had never had the chance to play one before so i was really excited for it. the games are really cool and can get pretty competitve...you should see heidi at bowling or tennis and youll know what i mean. thanks ma and pa

more pics

2008-05-08T21:03:00.000-06:00

more pics

2008-05-08T20:57:00.000-06:00

more pics

2008-05-08T20:46:00.001-06:00

groovy baby yeah

2008-04-24T08:08:00.000-06:00

this was on msn the other day and i found it somewhat amusing. out of 100 cities, salt lake ranked 97th for having the "worst teet"...looks like i should have studied pre-dental for my undergrad.

Cities with the Worst Teeth
Rank City Name
100 Lubbock, TX
99 Philadelphia, PA
98 Spokane, WA
97 Salt Lake City, UT
96 Jackson, MS
95 El Paso, TX
94 Portland, OR
93 Tulsa, OK
92 Tucson, AZ
91 Baton Rouge, LA

softball

2008-04-10T12:27:00.000-06:00

so yesterday was the start of an all new softball season...and it was 30 degrees outside! im playing again out in south jordan with some high school friends and all of us were bundled up like it was november or december! ( i wore a beanie the whole time) the funny thing was that when i left my appartment in salt lake to start heading to the game it was snowing outside! fortunately the strom avoided the west side and we stayed dry...but cold all the same. In all actuality though, it wasnt that bad outside and we stayed pretty warm. its just crazy to think that we were starting the softball season when its still so chilly out! anyway, the game itself was a lot of fun and im really excited to start playing another season. its not that im any good at softball or anything, but ive really come to enjoy spending a couple nights a week throughout the summer playing softball. i think its just fun to get out and play. its actually funny because the team we played last night was the very same team we played last year to start the out the season. i only remember that because i have a friend on that team and also because last year when we played we had to play an extra 30 or 40 minutes to win the game. it was pretty fun...however the teams playing after us werent so happy though. anyway, i had fun last night playing and actually will be playing again tonight so im looking forward to that...plus it should be just a bit warmer than it was last night...at least hopefully it will be!

general conference

2008-04-06T18:38:00.001-06:00

sorry it has been a while since i have sat down and updated my blog. things are going well and, like everyone else it seems, im staying pretty busy. school is winding down and leaving much to get done before the semester finishes, and work is picking up as the construction season is returning. yet, even though it seems busy, things are, like i said, going fairly well. its fun to get back outside for work on a more regular basis and check the job sites around the city, and its additionally fun to prepare for graduation from the U. in fact, just this past week i got done buying my cap and gown etc for the big day. anyway, things are going good.

on another note, the last session of conference has just ended and i would like to express how much i enjoyed watching conference this season. ever since going on a mission i have really come to love and appreciate gereral conference. in fact, i remember just being home from france and looking forward to the october 04 conference almost like it was christmas. i think that probably has something to do with serving outside of the united states and learning to appreciate the blessing of living so close to church head quarters and church authorities...and being able to hear the prophets and apostles in their native tongue. even though its a blessing to broadcast conference across the globe, ive always felt bad for french and other members who have to hear the words of the prophet through a translator. anyway, i enjoyed conference and the chance to participate in feeling the spirit of the messages. I really enjoyed elder wirthlins talk and also the messages from the first presedency during the priesthood session. - - speaking of the priesthood session, i was able to take taylor cluff along with me for the session and subsequent butterfield traditional after-conference dinner. howard is basically out of town right now so i asked sylvia if it would be ok if i took taylor with me and the fam to the priesthood session. she of course said yes and was actually pretty excited about it all since taylor had never been able to go before. so, i met up with taylor, helped him get his tie on, and brought him with me. it was so fun! i was so proud of him all throughout the night and was really able to reflect on how grateful i am to be a friend with the cluffs. i have known taylor now for close to seven years and it has truly been one of my biggest blessings being able to watch him grow and develop...besides, how could you not have fun at conference when the person you bring pulls out a pirate eye-patch from his pocket half way though the session and wears it for a good half hour or so! trust me, that was classic!

weekend in vegas

2008-03-24T12:07:00.000-06:00

easter egg hunt

2008-03-24T11:57:00.001-06:00

jays pretty pumped about his finds

happy easter!

2008-03-24T11:33:00.000-06:00

here are a few highlights from my weekend trip to vegas. i went down with my mom and dad for the holiday and spent some time with chad, lindsey and their two gremlins. it was a pretty fun time. we watched the basketball games, painted eggs, did an easter egg hunt, and saw chad and lindsey's new house.

jay loved the u of u egg...much to lindseys dismay.

its the most wonderful time of the year

2008-03-18T10:25:00.001-06:00

i cant believe i never really got that into the ncaa tournament until after my mission! i love it now though. it seriously is so fun to make picks and then watch the games...especially the first two days because of all the upsets. anyway, for everyone who's in a group with me this year, watch out, cause im due for a win!

and the winner is...

2008-03-13T07:49:00.000-06:00

monday i got a random call from a representative for 'wireless city'. apparetntly there had been a drawing for a new cell phone and i had been the lucky name drawn. cool right?...well, the only problem was that i had no recollection of ever entering a drawing to win anything, let alone a drawing from wireless city. in fact, im pretty sure i had absolutely never entered their drawing since...I NEVER ENTER DRAWINGS! i always see them as ways for companies to get my personal information and exploit me with numerous calls and offers. anyway, getting back to the story, to my suprise, wireless city had somehow gotten my number and to my even greater suprise (since i never win drawings or raffles) i was to be the lucky winner of some drawing for a cell phone. A bit intrigued, i told them id come in to their office the following day and check out what this was all about. in the mean time i tried to figure out how my name was submitted in their contest. after thinking about it for a while, i decided that most likely reason was that maybe heidi had entered my name in something without my knowing...so i decided to give her a call. it turns out she actually had entered my name in a drawing (as best as she can remeber) and the funny thing about it was that i was even with her when she did so. i guess we were at a jazz game or something like that when she saw a promotion that was offering a free new cell phone. since i was in need of new phone (the one i was using was getting to be in pretty shabby shape) she decided to enter our names in the drawing. of course as she was doing so i was trying to lecture her on how entering our names was a bad idea because now we would be on some 'annoy you whenever we want' corporate list. she of course said it was fine and not to worry about it. well long story short, because of her entering my name, i am the proud proud owner of a new (and a little outdated) phone. not too bad eh. anyway, i dont know if it was an actual drawing that i had won or if, and this is the more likely possibility, wireless city went through the names of their applicants and picked out the ones who were up for contract renewal. at any rate, they picked out my name, gave me a free phone, and signed me up for another year of tmobile service...which is fine since i wasnt planning on switching from them anyway...and like i said, i was in pretty bad need of getting a new phone, so i guess in the end it all worked out in my favor.

pics from the cluffs

2008-03-10T20:17:00.001-06:00

these are pics in front of the dollar movie from the other day. i tried to put them up yesterday but there was a problem with the blog website.

alvin and the chipmunks

2008-03-09T21:58:00.001-06:00

yesterday i ended up taking the cluff's for a few hours. as always, it was a lot of fun. we got haircuts, chased ducks at the park, and went to the dollar movies. not a bad saturday if i say so myself. -- the movie we saw by the way was the revamped version of alvin and the chipmunks. it was pretty good, but i think i mostly liked it because it took me a bit down memory lane. i loved watching alvin and the chipmunks all growinig up. in fact i still remember sneaking and playing with travis' simon stuffed animal when he wasnt looking...sucker.

i pod tag...sort of

2008-03-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

kelsey invited me to do an ipod tag a bit ago, and since i really dont have anything better to post about right now, i thought i better get on it. the only problem is that i dont have a "top 25 played" playlist anymore on my itunes so i cant really do the ipod tag like im supposed to. as a result, ive decided to improvise and just list a few of the bands/artists ive been listening to recently...that will work right kels?

...and these appear in no certain order:

DEAR AND THE HEADLIGHTS - these guys are really good and not very well known, so check em out

MATT POND PA - i just discovered these guys and i really like them

BEN FOLDS/BEND FOLDS FIVE - always a good listen

CHAD WOOLNER - guitar church music...i stole it from my little brother's missionary collection

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH - the unintelligible lyrics are actually pretty cool

BAND OF HORSES - just good all around

THE EARLY NOVEMBER - i especially like to listen to The Mother, The Mechanic, And The Path [Disc 3]

HELENE BOSCHI/GERMAINE MOUNIER - Musique Pour Deux Pianos...really good study music

THE HIVES - i actually forgot about these guys for a long time and have just recently began listening to them again

DIERKS BENTLEY - i always listen to his albums

OLD 97's - good alt country kind of stuff

THE WRENS - especially "hopeless" from the meadowlands

WILCO - i got these guys from jeff...like most of my music...and lately have been getting to know them more.

MICHAEL BUBLE - i actually never get tired of listening to him

JAMES TAYLOR - i like to listen to him when im just calm or hanging out

EVERCLEAR - basically i have never been able to let these guys go from the high school days

ALAN JACKSON - he and george strait are probably my favorite country artists

GEORGE STRAIT - see above

...well thats probably good for now. too bad i couldnt do the top 25 option. oh well, this should give everyone an idea of what i mostly have been listening to.