Zions/Bryce Canyon

Me and Emmy had a fun weekend at Zions and Bryce Canyon.

This is Em right before the really steep part. The hike was pretty cool and challenging up to this point, but the last 1/2 mile is pretty steep...and a thousand feet in the air.

It's a long way down.

That was such a good nap.


I hope our kids never read this blog.

The photographer made a big deal about the heart on Emily

Bryce Canyon- Em's in deep contemplation about life.

Me and my buddy

Porky wanted a blog post

Things that really bite

Not being the Wiz...

AZ Trip

It really isn't my fault that I missed last week. Two weeks ago from last Thursday we left for Mesa for my grandparents' 50th anniversary. It was pretty fun. We got in late Thursday night after seeing some cool things along the way, like the Dixie National Forest and Glen Canyon Park. We OF COURSE got Jack in the Box in AZ, dropped Carl off, and went to Amy's. Friday was fun- there was an Amazing Race scavenger hunt that my team did terrible on, the food was really good. Let's see, then we chilled, played human foosball at the church and went to this little water park. That was a lot of fun, there were some cool slides. The girls and us saw old Robson Elementary, our old house, and introduced Jamie and Kayla to Jack in the Box. The next day was the reunion all day. We stayed up late playing Werewolves, went to Church the next day and then drove back. That weekend the National Parks were free, so on the way back we saw the Grand Canyon (it really is a grand canyon, not just an ok canyon) and Zions National Park. Gosh the earth is pretty!

Zion's
Grand Canyon

Glen Canyon

Engaged a year ago

I'm trying to do better about blogging at least once a week. There's a lot to talk about- how our summer is going, rafting, vacations, etc. I'll get to that soon I hope, but a year ago last Tuesday June 30th was when we got engaged...holy cow! It's been an awesome year, we hope to re-enact the same engagement date we had. We didn't play basketball, but we did take the convertible (thanks Bishop Dad!) up the Alpine Loop and then went to our spot. We couldn't exactly remember how we the pictures were last year so we tried to do it somewhat similar to our memory. We only had a camera phone so we both couldn't be in some of the pictures.
It's been a great year and things just keep getting better.

We've gone on lots of evening/night drives up Provo Canyon lately with Em's fam...and the convertible. It's been really cool and it always gets me into deep contemplation. I can't quite put my finger on what I feel as we come down the canyon with smells of the mountain air, looking up at the majestic mountains with the wind in the face, and the sounds of the falls coming down the mountain. It's so hard to describe- it's definitely appreciation of the beauty around me, but it's more than that. I think about memories, how things are going presently, and just loving what the future will bring. It's nostalgic, but more...can't find the words to describe my feelings (I never can and fail miserably in trying to). Awe might describe it, maybe spritual renewal...whatever it is I love it and crave it. Sometimes it's the smell that does me in- just the smell of the trees takes me back to old family reunions or hikes I've been on. It's a great feeling, makes me love being alive and love all the blessings around me, including Heavenly Father sending me Emily, someone I'll be with forever and experience life with together.

Maybe I'll say a little about our vacation or just some of the highlights or thoughts.

-Had an amazing time at Trevor and Meghan's wedding. It was fun being with high school friends. The dance was really fun- me, Emmy, Skyler, and Rebekah got our groove on in the middle of the dance floor. I loved the old stake dances we went to cause I just let go and dance til I drop. I sweat so much at that dance, but it was really fun.

-Nauvoo was cool...really hot, but it's always cool to be there and feel like we're in Utah out in the Midwest. At each location we went to they always asked where we're from. We kept saying Provo...yep, that's right I'm starting to say I'm from Provo now. I'll always really be from CB, but once you buy a house I think you're home has shifted.

-Springfield, IL was really cool. Abraham Lincoln was just a good guy. America really needed him. It's interesting how he was a one-term Congressman, then a nobody for awhile, and then President. It was cool seeing the sites and just appreciating that man.

-St. Louis, MO- Steak and Shake was good, so was Jack in the Box. Six Flags was a lot of fun- the water park was especially cool. It was SOOOO stinkin hot- one of my favorite parts about the park was just standing under the outside showers they had- the water was freezing but gosh it felt good. We also went to the Cahokia Indian Mounds site- that was interesting.

-Kansas City, MO. More like Independence, Liberty Jail, and Adam Ondi Ahman. There was a huge storm that we drove through- it's always cool seeing signs that say entering Jackson County or something like that. So weird and fascinating to think all that has happened there and all that will happen. I've been to all these sites before, but it was fun taking Emily to them.

-JET SKIING for three days! For the love...I can't explain how much fun I have on it. Whenever I think about jet skiing in general I have to hum a hymn or do something to think different thoughts because I long after it so much and I just...(I gotta stop thinking about it)

-Being with family, late night talks, eating lotsa pizza and other good foods, being home, etc. It was a mini-reunion with a lot of family- it was just fun and relaxing.

Anyway, this blog ended up being a lot longer than I thought. I'll stop here and try to do better to put up an entry every week. Me and Emmy are working on something big that we'll hopefully roll out online by September, stay tuned

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.

Maha Rushie, El Rushbo, Harmless loveable little fuzzball

A lot of people don't like Rush Limbaugh. They have many reasons for not liking him, but I think the lamest reason is that he's wrong...cause he really isn't. Yes, he comes off as a little arrogant, or very arrogant, and he definitely is very conservative and blames practically all problems in the world on liberals, but he is very convincing. Some journalists are talking about the Limbaugh Challenge, which means before passing judgement and just believing what others tell you, how bout you listen to him for a couple weeks, and then form your opinion. I'm pretty sure anyone that does that will be converted to conservatism.

A guy at work said it would be the worst financial decision of your life if you didn't buy your first home this year if you were. He was joking around at the time, but there is some truth to that. I mean, you can get a dirt cheap house with a dirt cheap interest rate, you can negotiate the seller to pay for all the closing costs and possibly your down payment as well. And then on top of all of that the government will GIVE you $8,000, and maybe even $6,000 more!!!! For the love!
As you can probably guess somebody wants their house value to go up and the only way that will happen is if we get out of this economic mess, and that will only happen if people start buying homes again.

What does "nothing wavering" mean? Here is Pres. Monson's First Presidency message in the March Ensign:

If our desire is to discard all doubt and to substitute therefore an abiding faith, we have but to accept the invitation extended to you and to me in the Epistle of James:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”

This promise motivated the young man Joseph Smith to seek God in prayer. He declared to us in his own words:

“At length I came to the conclusion that I … must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to ‘ask of God,’ concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

“So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. … It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.”8

Now, if we have hesitated in supplicating God our Eternal Father simply because we have not as yet made the attempt to pray, we certainly can take courage from the example of the Prophet Joseph. But let us remember, as did the Prophet, our prayer must be offered in faith, nothing wavering.

He may mean that to get an answer, we need to absolutely believe that God is there and that he can and will answer us. Or he may mean that nothing must waver in our belief of Christ and the Gospel. It's interesting that to get faith we need to have faith. That is the great leap of faith we hear a lot about. It's not easy, and inviting people to do it is what missionary work is all about. The desire is the real kicker- how can you help someone get that desire? How can you yourself get that desire. I think that comes partly from hearing and reading of experiences of people who have that faith. That's probably why Pres. Monson goes on to talk about examples from the scriptures:

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that the brother of Jared saw the finger of God touch the stones in response to his plea.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Noah erected an ark in obedience to the command from God.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Abraham was willing to offer up his beloved Isaac as a sacrifice.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Joshua and his followers brought the walls of Jericho tumbling down.

It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Joseph saw God our Eternal Father and Jesus Christ, His Son.

Now, the skeptic may say that these mighty accounts of faith occurred long ago, that times have changed.

Have times really changed? Don’t we today, as always, love our children and want them to live righteously? Don’t we today, as always, need God’s divine, protecting care? Don’t we today, as always, continue to be at His mercy and in His debt for the very life He has given us?

Times have not really changed. Prayer continues to provide power—spiritual power. Prayer continues to provide peace—spiritual peace.

When I watch General Conference I ALWAYS get that desire to have more faith and to live a better life. It's amazing the power that comes from reading the scriptures, the Ensign, or hearing the words of the General Authorities. It's the spirit touching the spirit, and inspiring the better side of us to do want to do better and desire to have faith. Gosh I'm excited for this weekend!

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&vgnextoid=a6246a008952b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

My new home

So Provo is my new home...it was my first home since I was born here, and even though I've been up here for awhile for school, CB has still been "home." But this is where my family is now, so this is home. Thought I'd share a couple interesting things I read today about my new home:

"Provo was ranked the best mid-sized city in the U.S.--Provo has the best quality of life among 124 mid-sized metro areas in the United States, according to a new study. Bizjournals, a national network of business publications, rated Provo ahead of every other mid-sized city of at least 50,000 people in the country. Boulder, Colo., and Madison, Wis., rounded out the top three, while El Paso, Texas, and Bakersfield and Visalia, Calif., came in at the bottom of the rankings. Provo's healthy population growth, low unemployment rate and inventory of large homes -- more than a quarter in the area have at least nine rooms -- helped place it at the top of the list, according to the study. Other criteria looked at include median household income, percentage of residents with higher education degrees, and average commuting time to work. The designation is not new to Provo. In the past few years, the city has received the following recognition: Nation's top city for commercial growth performance by The Milken Institute in 2008 Metro area with highest volunteerism by The Corporation for National and Community Service in 2008 One of "10 Great Places to Live, Work and Play" by Kiplinger's Personal Finance in 2008 One of the "Best Cities for Married With Children" by Kiplinger's Personal Finance in 2007 One of "50 Smart Places to Live" by Kiplinger's Personal Finance in 2006 Eighth-safest mid-sized city by Farmers Insurance Group of Companies in 2005 " http://www.heraldextra.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=303180&Itemid=79&s_cid=afternoon_update Not bad, not bad.

Tjonge jongen!

Should I make this a post about what's going on in my life or my thoughts on some things going right now? I think I'll just write and see what comes out. Bill Buchanan died- wow, that bites! I bought season tickets for football season next year. I think I may have gotten season basketball tickets too, cause there was some sort of promotion with that, but I'm not totally sure. I seriously have no idea what America will be like in let's say 5 years. Yeah, a lot will be the same, but gosh what is going on with the government and the economy? The Idaho trip was fun, always nice to see a sealing. It was fun playing werewolves with the ole group and then some Balderdash, chill time, Jack in the Box, staying at the Andersons and driving home with Jared and Cannon. We saw the Malad Gorge, Shoshone Falls and a huge gorge outside of Twin Falls. We kept on calling it the Great Valley, from The Land Before Time. It's weird that Provo is home. I've been here awhile now, but home was always Council Bluffs. Buying a home and settling down with a steady job sure changed all that pretty fast.

Emily saw Ninja Turtles 2 for the first time and she loved it! That's good to hear, I trust that she will raise our kids with Ninja Turtles. That was my favorite movie growing up and I purposely made it the last movie I saw before my mission. We need to watch Ninja Turtles 1 sometime, even though #2 is much better in my opinion. One of the reasons it's so good is because of the Ninja Rap. Speaking of the Ninja Rap, we saw Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer in concert. It was good- Vanilla doesn't have any moves left and sounds like a frog. Hammer definitely has it still. We almost saw a fight at the concert. We all dressed in 90's clothes- I can't believe we're already dressing in 90's clothes, though early 90's is pretty much the 80's. I wonder what the 2000's will be known for, actually I want to know what they'll even call the 2000's- probably that.

Go BYU! I forget how much I enjoy BYU basketball. I definitely LOVE football and I really enjoy basketball. That is one thing I am definitely excited about the next several years we're here in Utah- living so close to BYU. We have a lot of friends and family moving away from BYU going to jobs and school away from here. It's definitely sad that they're leaving and gets me a little anxious for a change, but then I remember how much our little family has been blessed with the circumstances we're in, and I'm glad we'll be here for 5-7 years. After that...law school in Hawaii???

There's so much to love about life! It really isn't worth worrying or wasting away. There are so many opportunities to have fun and just be happy. So much to see, so much to do, so many people to get to know, soooooooooooooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!