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!

Paragraphs

Our water heater finally bit the dust the other day. We knew it would soon because it's like 15 years old. Man, even in 90 degree weather, taking cold showers just stinks. It takes me back to my good ole Uganda days. It takes guts to jump into that cold shower, it takes me a minute or two just to buildup to doing it. It definitely keeps the shower very short- 30 seconds to get wet, a minute to put on the soap and a minute and a half to get the soap off. Seriously though, if I wanted to torture someone I'd put under a cold shower like 5 times a day, that'll get em to talk.

Cold showering builds character.

College football has prevented me from getting any work done lately. Boise State to the Mtn West, Nebraska to the Big 10, Colorado to the Pac 10, and Utah to the Pac 10. That last one was kinda sad, it was like breaking up with a girlfriend. We had some good times, some rough times, some more good times and some fun times looking at their devastated faces after we beat them in a gut-wrenching thriller. You can't blame them for leaving- more money and more opportunity to do good things on the national stage. It's just tough because it won't be the same again. Yeah, we'll still play them but the rivalry will be dampened a little bit. My partner is a big Utah fan and he's been surprised at how well I've taken it. I can definitely understand how some BYU fans feel like we're left behind, because we are, there's no way around it. But this whole thing has just made me realize that BYU is different. It's different from Utah, from Texas, from Duke. Because the Church runs BYU, emphasis on sports will always take a back seat to religion and education. We're lucky BYU even has sports, I'm sure there are some among the brethren who wouldn't mind doing away with BYU sports. There are reasons BYU is where it is and why other conferences want BYU (even though it's more superior to Utah in sports and academics), and it's these same reasons that make BYU one of a kind. So I'm good, thanks for those of you who may have prayed for me in this difficult challenge. BYU is still awesome, and though we're different and may not have the same sports' opportunities as others, stuff happens, live with it, accept that BYU is different in a good way.

Having said all that, burn in heck Utah...

Emmy and I went on a great vacation, we both were just dieing to get away from it all. We spent more time together than we did on the honeymoon and any other vacation. Here are some of the highlights:

Our trip started out through Vegas where we had a fun day with Emily's sister, Becky. I wish we took pictures there, it was a lot of fun.

Then we stayed the night with Gavin and Emily. Again, I wish we would have taken pictures. It was really nice of them to let us stay with them.

Then on to Sequoia Natl Park where we went camping, did lots of hiking, and saw BIG trees.

This is a tree that fell over and was uprooted, it's HUGE!

And we saw bears, a ranger stopped us from going any further on this hike by screaming at the top of his lungs, "STOP! The bear will kill you!" The two cubs came down the tree to hang out with Momma bear.

At another point on the hike I took a picture of the bear behind Emmy and tell her there's a bear while I'm taking the picture...she didn't believe me.

On another hike, we ran into a bear and Emily believed me and got the heck out of there, I didn't catch up to her until like a quarter mile down the hike.

These pictures are in memory of Colby.

I gotta get my hero shot!

So cute
And then we went to Yosemite that tells you about bears every 10 feet.

We did a lot of cool hikes and saw beautiful scenery!

Yosemite Falls is the fifth tallest falls in the world and the tallest in the U.S.
Pork Chop came on the trip too

Then, on to San Francisco! We first just hung out in the hotel for a day, eating Jack in the Box and swimming.

We went to Six Flags for a day.

We did a lot of fun things in SF. This is where we ran into Donny and Marie.

...and Al E.
We saw what our kids are going to look like

Yes, our kids are going to be very ugly

We saw a heat-sensing mirror which confirmed what we already knew, Emmy's hands are ALWAYS cold, along with her nose.

We went on a trolley tour of the city
And saw the Golden Gate Bridge!!

But the fog covered it up two minutes later once we got off the trolley

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Our favorite thing about SF is probably the clam chowder bread bowls.

And our favorite thing about Oakland is Fenton's!!!! We met up with Becca and her parents who were so nice and treated us to the JUMBO sundae. We told the waitress to tell the chef we dared him to make something too big for us.

Again, why didn't we take pictures of the Andersons?!?!

On our way back we stopped at Sutter's Mill where James Marshall discovered gold

We drove by Lake Tahoe

And saw a Blockbuster relic

We stopped in Reno and really enjoyed it, as our smiles show

Just my luck- probably the best job I've ever done watering the yard and now it starts raining!

Some Random Pics...ya know, for the kids someday

Mommy and Daddy just married!

Driving through Zions
Rafting the Colorada with some friends

Gettin a good readin in of the Daily Herald with your dad's friend, Kyle.

Hikin through Arches
On the bridge between Omaha and CB.

Happy Birtday!!!!!!!!!!!

Yo, it's my wife's birtday! She's pretty amazing ya know, I'm really lucky to have her. I know it's her birtday and I should be giving her gifts, but she's the one who is constantly giving of herself, gosh, what would I do without her?!?!! I am really blessed to have her in my life.

So besides being birtday week, it's also Kasey and Emmy's 7 month anniversary week! Here's a little of what we've been up to the last 7 months:


Our Honeymoon!!



In Rhode Island


Fun in Connecticut

The Liberty Trail in Boston

To Salem, Massachusetts on a creepy evening a little before Halloween

To Maine

To Lake Winipasaukee in New Hamphire, the place What About Bob was filmed

To Joseph Smith's birthplace in Vermont

A trip to Florida with the fam and then Disney World!

Russ got us Coldplay tickets for a wedding gift! Gosh, that was so cool, we listen to Coldplay all the time now. Coldplay makes us happy

Went to a Jazz game!

Lotsa BYU basketball games!

A visit to Park Place...it's just not the same

Snowboarding/skiing with Skbekah!

Vanilla Ice/MC Hammer Concert- It was a 90's night!

Twin Falls, ID!

Amanda and Jack's wedding

How'd that get in there?!

Workin on the yard

We went to Arches last weekend, now that's a story! I'll have to write about it sometime.