Wednesday, October 24, 2012

QB U

Emmy suggested that I blog so I thought I'd be a good husband and obey. I'm in one of those moods to just write random thoughts and brush off being cohesive. -Tonight was fun at mutual. We went to BYU's recycling maze. I had fun timing the deacons as they ran through and organizing their races. I told Emmy that I really hope I'm in the ym presidency again when Jimmer's a deacon. -I love fall weather. I love how each week it gets cooler and cooler and how the trees slowly change colors. Tonight it was low 50's, high 40's. I have great memories for each part of the year, but there's something about fall- the coolness in the air, the wonderful smell...it's all nostalgic and just great. I try to remember the good memories from similar weather and there's just too many of them. There's walking home from class or late night studying and just enjoying the night time, or there were the hay rides when I was a teen. There's also biking home from an appointment on my mission and being grateful to have familiar weather and smells. The weather also reminds me of my freshman year and going home to Iowa for a few days, surprising mom, and opening my mission call. I also brought home my laundry so I could do it at home and it would be free. I lugged around a huge bag of laundry on the bus, trax, airplane and then all back to save $3. Considering inflation, though, that $3 is now worth $5 or $6 so I'd say I came out on top. -The most spiritual moment of my life is when Jimmer was born. I loved it when Emmy got to hold him for the first time and then I got to hold him. Man, it's just so amazing and indescribable. I'm getting really excited for our next baby and that next amazing moment. I think it will be really special to see Emmy hold the next baby again and then for me to hold him. I think what will also be really special is to see Jimmer hold him. They'll be good buddies, two really special spirits, along with my Emmy, another special spirit. Speaking of Emmy, she really is such a great mom...I knew she would be, but she's been even better than I thought she'd be. -In August I stayed home from Church with sick little Jimmy. As part of our little "sunday school," I talked to him about Jesus and showed him our painting of Jesus and the little boy. Later, Jimmer was looking up at the picture, there was something really neat about that, almost like realizing these were the beginning steps of Jimmer's lifelong journey of learning about and getting closer to his Savior. -Jimmer's a really funny kid. The nursery workers think it's really funny how excited Jimmer gets about snacks and certain toys. I can relate, I get really excited with ice cream, steak, and other good foods. We often walk around the temple, and Jimmer loves pointing at the temple. -So, the election is less than two weeks away...crazy. I'm nervous about it, but I can also accept either result. I mean, it would be absolutely awesome if Romney won. But if Obama does win I think our nation deserves him. That doesn't mean I haven't tried to make sure my guy wins and won't continue fighting for the things important to me, but ultimately I think a society deserves the leaders they elect. Having said that, Romney's going to win, 70% sure on this one and it continues to go up each day. -BYU football...ugh. It's ironic that BYU...Quarterback U...is only 1 good quarterback away from being 7-1 or even 8-0. Luckily, I've tempered things down this year to just being a fan and not a fanatic. I still LOVE college football and it I didn't have the family responsibilities I would sit and watch college football all day every Saturday and just eat wings, pizza, artichoke dip and chips...mmmmmm, doesn't that sound good. -Speaking of things I'm crazy about...the jet ski fund is up to $643. So only like $9,000 to go. I'm taking donations. -Man, me and Emmy had such a fun Europe trip. We bring up our trip often and enjoy talking about strolling the streets of Paris, driving the Battle of the Bulge sites in Belgium, tram hopping in the Hague, walking around Koln's zentrum, or biking Heerenveen. We like talking about all the chocolate we ate and the vla, doner kebabs, Indonesian food, and good desserts. It's kind of running joke now that whenever I go to Europe I almost always accidentally buy carbonated water while I'm there. I HATE carbonated water! But because of the way I travel, I can't throw it away and must drink it. We do hard things afterall. Except when it comes to toothbrushes apparently. Emmy's fell on the floor at one of the hostels we stayed at. She thinks it's disgusting to share toothbrushes so I let her use mine and I had to use my finger. When our family drove in Rome it was one of the worst driving experiences of my life. We kept on getting lost and going around in circles. I think it took us 2 hours to get out of Rome. I didn't want that to happen in Paris...but it somehow did. Luckily I knew where our hostel was in reference to the Eiffel Tower and to the Seine River. We found our hostel after only being in the center for 10 minutes. In Germany I hit 160 km/hr. I thought it was pretty cool except that cars were still zooming past me. I was also disappointed that 160 km/hr is only 100 mph, so yeah, there's room for improvement. Whenever we go back and spend more time in Germany we're going to get a better rental car to take on the Autobahn.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Manti Te'o Interview

This is a really touching interview from probably the best college football linebacker. He's LDS but chose to go to Notre Dame for school. He's such a stud. This interview will inspire you and bring a tear to the eye. http://www.jimrome.com/junglehighlights?uri=channels/465575/1701019

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Fire Obama!

So I'm writing this message to do my civic duty of participating in the political process and here are my reasons why I won't be voting for Obama and why I don't think you should either: -43 months of 8% or higher unemployment, but up to 11.63% when adding in all the number of people who have dropped out of the workforce -Our national debt has gone up over $5.5 trillion -Gas prices have increased by nearly $2.00. Obama doesn’t control prices, obviously, but he’s prohibited drilling in the Arctic and the gas pipeline to help alleviate this increase. -Obama’s support for gay marriage -Billions of wasted dollars on Solyndra and other companies. -Obamacare violates the Constitution by mandating that each citizen purchases health insurance -Obamacare requires churches to include provisions in their health insurance policies against their religious beliefs -Blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants under employment -Obamacare will mean higher health insurance premiums -Obamacare means more fees and penalties, but the real name for it is taxes. -The average household income is down $4,000 -The number of people on food stamps has gone up by 15 million -The poverty rate has gone up 2% -Real economic growth is averaging 2.2%, less than half of the historic average for past post recession rebounds -Under Obamacare, abortions are funded by taxpayers. -The number of people receiving welfare has increased by 10 million, which now means 107 million (one-third of Americans) are on welfare. -Obama panders to African Americans by playing up race issues (i.e. Obama’s speech in Jeremiah Wright’s congregation where he blamed race as the reason the Feds were slow to give aid to New Orleans) -Obama endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement even though he has benefitted the most from receiving money from Wall Street more than any other president in the last 20 years. -Despite ’08 campaign promises, Obama’s administration has not been transparent (i.e. Fast and Furious, Obamacare) -Obama’s quote to outgoing Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility. -Obama made it easier to stay on welfare by removing “the work requirement” Obama has done a lousy job the first four years of trying to improve the economy, and has not given us any confidence in his ability to improve it the next four years. The best way to defeat Obama is to elect Mitt Romney as the next president. Romney has a proven track record of turning things around (i.e. struggling businesses, 2002 Olympics, state of Massachusetts). To defeat Obama, here’s what you can do: 1) Register to vote. Google your state and “how to register to vote” for instructions. Encourage others to also register to vote 2) Be sure to vote on Tuesday, November 6th. To find where you need to go, google your state and “find your polling station.” Encourage others to do the same. 3) Donate to Mitt Romney’s Campaign and encourage others to donate: http://www.mittromney.com/action/fundraise/fire-obama-fundraiser 4) Donate money to the major Super PAC’s and encourage others to donate: Restore Our Future- https://restoreourfuture.com/donate Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies- https://www.crossroadsgps.org/donate/ Americans For Prosperity- http://americansforprosperity.org/ 5) Volunteer to help the campaign by signing up to make calls from home and encourage others to volunteer- http://www.mittromney.com/call-home-landing 6) Order yard signs and bumper stickers- http://store.mittromney.com/ We are only one month away from this critical election. If you agree that our nation can’t afford another four years of Obama, do whatever you can do to ensure this outcome. Don’t regret later that you could have done more.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

BOY!!!!!

Yep, we're having another boy. We're all pretty stoked! Everything becomes more real once ya know the gender. Four and a half months and counting...

Friday, September 07, 2012

Food Storage

Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel? -Pres. Ezra Taft Benson in the October 1980 Conference http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1980/10/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Interior Crocodile Alligator 10 hours







I know people love this video, so here's 10 hours worth



Thursday, August 23, 2012

Neat story

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865561066/The-gospel-is-for-everybody-says-former-BYU-basketball-great-Jeff-Chatman.html?pg=1

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Big Announcement

See Family and Friends' Blogs

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Lil Update

Dang, I'm a lousy blogger these days. So I've been going through my old blog entries- copying them so I have a backup and attaching labels to each entry. It's fun reading through them. This morning I copied and labeled entries from Feb. 2007 where we went to Burroughs Burros and I won the squirt gun war...good times. I was wondering where the old blogs are for Bit of Whit, The Fruit Roll up and Pdub's blog. There are some good reads in those. Politics just really bother me these days. I get pretty upset so I have to control how much I read, watch, and listen to about politics. This is a really important election, though. I keep feeling the urge of wanting to do everything I can to make sure Obama isn't re-elected and we take the Senate. The tough part is figuring out what I can do to help. I love my family. It's awesome coming home everyday to Emmy and Jimmer.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Stand for Religious Freedom Rally

Hey all, I am inviting all of you here in Utah to a rally in Provo that I've helped put together in the last few days and is part of a nationwide rally for religious freedom. An aspect of Obamacare forces employers to provide, as part of the insurance coverage, free contraceptives and abortion coverage. This also mandates that religious employers such as the Catholic Church and LDS Church have to provide this coverage even if it goes against their beliefs. Here is more info about the rally: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/locations/ Here is a fact sheet about the HHS mandate: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/docs/ObamacareMandatesFactSheetADF.pdf

Monday, May 21, 2012

Emmy

Mom posted a very nice blog on Emmy. Check it out at TonyBeckFamily.blogspot.com. "So, our dear Emily is having a birthday!!!! The day after Carrie...how awesome is that! I so love Emily!!! She is the best thing that ever happened to Kasey! I can't even believe how perfect she is for Kasey! When I think of Emily, I think of love. All Emily needs is love and Emily is so good at giving love. She is an absolutely amazing, devoted mother. I learned that so well when she spent that week with us before they left for Europe. She and Jimmer were practically glued together. She would not leave his side, even when I offered to watch him so they could do dates, she wouldn't leave him. I loved to watch her singing to Jimmer, talking to him and loving him. It really made my heart happy. I really, really felt an obligation to give Jimmer as much love as he received from his mother. Whenever I would hold Jimmer or play with him that 2 weeks he was with us, I would think in my mind, "this is a baby who receives so much love from his mother." It was such a beautiful thing to watch, is Emily's love for her child. (in turn, I got so attached to Jimmer and I'm still having a hard time getting over that). I love to talk with Emily. We can talk to well and get along so well. Seriously, Emily, you are such a wonderful addition to our family and I can't imagine the Tony Beck family without Emily Beck! We so love you. Thank you for the love you continually give us. You are a very, very beautiful person, inside and out!" Happy birthday to Emmy!

Monday, May 07, 2012

Lord of the Rings Medley - Lindsey Stirling

Thanks to my cuz Jared for sharing this. This is an awesome medley.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Jimmer's Jet Ski

He loves this! Thanks to Carrie and Bret for giving it to him. he does not like getting off of it and really pouts when we force him off...like father like son.
He'll get better at digging.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

This kid is a stud. He's considered many to be the best high school basketball (as a junior!). I hope he chooses to go to BYU.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=20054421&nid=272&title=teen-hoops-star-in-spotlight-leans-on-lds-faith&s_cid=featured-4

Sunday, April 15, 2012

So we're posting all our Europe pics and stories at kaseyandemily.blogspot.com. The entry for Days 1 and 2 is up.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

In Europe. Having fun. Jimmer's in Iowa. Having fun. Colby's back from his mission.
Check out tonybeckfamily.blogspot.com for pics of Jimmer and Colby. We'll post pics when we get back to the states.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Some well known facts about Dad

-Dad's quite the business guy- he knows business really well which is why he's been successful at it.
-Dad was always obedient to Grandma and Grandpa and was always solid in the Church
-Dad likes the jet ski but the main reason he got it and plans outings with it is because of how much his kids love it. Both Mom and Dad are really good examples to us about putting the needs of others first.
-Dad's definitely a family guy. He's always been about spending time with his kids. When I was a baby it hurt Dad a lot that he had to study when I would want to play.
-Dad's the middle child which makes him more of the peace-maker type...I've noticed that about a lot of middle children. It's funny how birth order makes a difference.
-Emmy is impressed with how much Dad and Mom love the grandkids. I mean they are willing to watch Jimmer for 2 weeks while me and Emmy are in Europe. They're also trying to convince us to go on a 7 day cruise with my other siblings and they'll watch all the grandkids for a week. Dad genuinely loves his grandkids and that is neat.
-Dad's willing to help with anything. If ever anything goes wrong, my first thought is to call Dad. It's cool to have that support.
-Dad is funny and likes to laugh.

...We love Dad, happy b-day!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Occupy Kasey

It's been awhile since I've done a good blog entry. I'll blame it on a few things- not usually in the mood to sit down and write down some thoughts and then also just lack of time. Our life these days revolves around Jimmer naturally. I'm trying to do my best to play with him for the 3-4 hours between getting home from work and putting him to bed. He's changed a lot in a month's time. He's a big crawler these days and so busy making his rounds around the house from the shoe rack to the ottoman with his toys to the vent in the kitchen and the books under his crib. He's so full of energy and doesn't like to focus on one thing, it's kind of funny to watch. I'm not sure how I was when I was a baby but sometimes I feel like my life is like Jimmer's- not able to focus on one thing and lots of things occupying my mind.

Some of the things occupying my mind these days:

-Trip to Europe. Me and Emmy are stoked about going. I haven't been back to Holland since 2007 so it's about time I get back there, show off my pretty wife, and check up on the people I love there. In the two times I've been back I've gone to all the cities I served- we're doing that this time but the next time we go to Europe we'll just do one or two cities in Holland so we can spend more time in another part of Europe. The region we're visiting in this trip to Europe is Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Western Germany and Northern France. We're going to rent a car and stay along the Rhine and see lots of castles and pretty cities in Germany. We're doing the whole backpack thing and stay in a few hostels along with some hotels. It's kind of how I like to do it- the 2006 Europe trip was just so awesoem and it's a style I like to do. Turns out that Groupon and Living Social are really big there like they are here. We've been buying some good deals that will help us eat nice for not too much. So yeah, we'll see a lot, eat a lot of cool foods, get some cool souvenirs, some cool pictures, and just enjoy ourselves in Europe. It'll definitely be tough to be away from Jimmer for 2 weeks but he'll have fun with my parents. There's lots of new toys for him and Skybekah's kids he can play with.

-The Republican primaries. It's pretty fun to watch. I still think there's no way it won't be Romney. I actually don't mind the bickering in the debates or just from the campaigns...it's politics, that's what happens. As long as the Mormon card doesn't get played I'm fine with either campaign doing what they're doing. The schedule favors Romney- he'll win Florida and then Nevada and Maine favor him, he won Colorado and Minnesota in 2008 so he'll do well there and then Arizona and Michigan are two states he'll easily win. All this momentum early on will pretty much just make him the inevitable candidate. It's interesting how many top Republicans just do not like Newt, that's another thing that's been working to Romney's advantage.

-House Projects. I think we will rent out our house when the time comes to move out of Utah or move to a different house. It'll be a good addition to our retirement portfolio, shouldn't be hard too stressful since there are some good property management companies here, and it's kind of fun getting the house ready to be able to rent. We finished the fence in October so we have a new white vinyl fence in the back and on each side of the house. We still need to either close off the fence or extend it into the front yard- that'll be a small project this summer. We're also looking forward to landscaping the yard with low-maintenance plants, painting the shed, leveling the garden area, putting crown molding in our bedroom, doing some small projects in the house, and putting in a sprinkler system. I really want a sprinkler system in place so the grass doesn't go downhill. Anyway, it's fun working on the house/yard and it'll probably take 2-3 summers of doing all this, but it's fun doing the prep for the projects.

-School. So I'm starting to come around to realize more education is a good thing that I'm anxious to do. For one, I think more business education will help with my career and two, I want to make myself more valuable.

-Church calling. I work with the priests in our ward. It's a calling that I really enjoy but just wish I was better at. We have good young men in our ward- they need some encouraging and some of them don't have strong families. Sometimes I want to shake them, take away their agency, and force them to get their Eagle and Duty to God. It's something I think a lot about--how can I help them more. It's not a new feeling, it's something that I constantly dealt with on my mission. It's just tough to help people progress when they don't have that desire. How can you help others have more desire? Like today in Sacrament meeting--we were a tad late and sat in the very back--I couldn't believe how many people around us were on their cell phone. In just a small sampling there were 12 people looking down at the phone...it really frustrates me and just makes me feel sad for them.

-Family History. When my died last year I went down to the funeral in Mesa, AZ and then we went to Virden, New Mexico for his burial. Virden probably has the population of 50 people? I would be shocked if there were more than that. It's way out in the middle of no where, it felt like we were in a desolate part of Mordor to be honest. But the whole experience really had a strong effect on me. First of all our family is very representative of the urbanization of America. Grandpa grew up on a farm in a small house with a large family. Sounds like a pretty typical story you'd hear from a grandparent, right? When I hear(d) stories from my two grandpas or about them you can't help but be impressed at how down to earth they are and just how good they are. They are very good men who lived in very poor circumstances, but they aren't complaining. They lived in smalltown, USA without tv, internet, electricity. They didn't need to live close to a mall or close to a place with a lot of entertainment. They had little but appreciate and are grateful for the things they did have. They worked hard growing up which made them the men they are and were. I'm frustrated right now because I can't quite put into words what I think/feel about the situation but I think it's sad that those days are over. It's not the same time, it's not the same country where people grow up like that and I think it's sad that we're missing or aren't going to have the experiences they had. I think it's sad that my generation has everything and therefore feels entitled to more because that's what we're accostomed to. It's sad that smalltown, USA is pretty much non-existent now because those experiences produced great people as evidenced through my grandparents. Virden used to have more people, it used to have a pretty vibrant ward and high school. Grandpa's brother told the story of how they would go to church dances and perform a skit that would get girls. I thought that was funny. They had hard experiences, I can't imagine what it would be like to have the chores they did or to live in those small homes with so many family families. I'm grateful they went through those things and turned out the way they did which in turn has influenced me. I guess I just want my kids to somehow learn those same things and turn out to be good Church members, good citizens, just good respectable and decent people.

-Jet ski.

-Exercise. So we bought a treadmill in November. It's pretty sweet. I think it's probably one of the best investments I've made. We only have one body, right, so might as well make it healthy and fit. I'm trying to lose 12 pounds this year which is crazy for me because I don't think I actually need to lose weight, but it's just more of a by-product of the real goal to be healthy and exercise a lot this year.

-Emmy!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Colbers

So we have Brian's b-day on the 19th, Jamie's on the 21st, and Colby's on the 23rd. I remember being confused on when Jamie's and Colby's b-days were, but then I remembered that the 21st is younger than the 23rd. When Brian was born that still worked. I was worried that Annie would be born sometime after the 19th and mess up the system but she was born on the 15th so it still works.

When Colby was out here for college I got to know him a little better- he's really fun to play mariokart with, was always willing to take me and Dallas out to eat with his meal deal and was just a really fun, cool guy to be with. He also shares my love for playing Risk, and once he gets back I'm ready to schedule an all nighter for Risk.

A few memories of Colby growing up- he was pretty chill, he was totaling willing to let us give him a swirly until Mom found out. He was the same height as Jamie for awhile, while that could be humiliating, he took it in stride and was cool with it.

A few years ago Dallas asked me if I had to choose to kick someone out of the family who would it be. Ya always hate to answer a question like that but if I HAD to pick, it would be Colby. A couple reasons why- whenever me and Emmy talk about Colby, somewhere in the conversation Emmy will say how cute Colby is. He makes us older kids look bad. He's pretty much good at everything- he got straight A's through high school, was good at the cello, varsity in football and baseball, Prom King, and student body something, VP I think. See what I mean? Getting his mission letters has been great, and we can all tell that he's a really good missionary...one more thing he excels at...what a stud!

Now Mom, of course I don't really want Colby out of the family, just trying to make a point.

Happy b-day Elder Beck!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

No one understands us.

Jamie Lynn--I gotta say that Jamie is the most interesting of the Beck bunch. She's definitely a leader and not a follower. Jamie likes to have fun, likes for others to have fun, and makes sure others are included. She was a cute baby and a cute little girl. Jamie was as tall if not taller than Colby for a few years. She was into sports, especially volleyball. I don't remember talking to Jamie much before my mission, but after my mission she was really into the color effervescent. It was kind of her thing. In school she decided it was her favorite color and everyone thought she was cool because she was different like that. Jamie made varsity cheer as a freshman and pretty much got straight A's through high school, I'm telling ya, the younger kids make us look bad.

Nowadays Jamie is up here in Provo and we're getting to know her a little better. She's always willing to watch Jimmer and to teach us how to dougie or to do other dance moves. She also does the freshman thing of taking us out to eat or buy us food with her meal card which we think is pretty sweet. We have chocolate ice cream ready for her for when a guy breaks her heart but so far she's been doin' the heart breaking.

She's a cool sister, an excellent addition to the family and life would be boring without her. Props to Jamie.

Happy birthday Jamie, love ya!

Be sure to check out Becca's Blog