Squaw Peak Hike and Camping (kindof)

On the Forth of July weekend we went camping in the mountains near Provo. We drove up to a great lookout point on a dirt road that was about 30 minutes aways. Because I am way minimalist when it comes to camping we ate on the way up (plus I got out of school at 6pm) and didn't even bother with a fire. We just backed into nice little spot near a 1500 ft cliff and whipped out the camping chairs and watched the sun set. After the sun went down we went into the truck camper and watched some House on the laptop. The next mooring we hiked Squaw Peak. The trail starts in Provo and climbs about 3000ft through Rock Canyon and up the mountain. It was about 8 miles long and was pretty awesome.

Panoramic from camping spot. Click on it to make it bigger.

Panoramic from Squaw Peak

This was a meadow near the top with a bunch of blooming yellow flowers. I don't know if my trashy camera was able to capture it.

This was near our camping spot. This is Rock Canyon and the mountain in the back is Wymountain.

This is the camping spot .

A view from inside the camper. We were about 4 ft from the 1500 ft cliff.

On top of Squaw Peak with Utah Valley in the background. Almost 7900 ft elevation.

Here is a 360 view of the top of Squaw Peak.

Kitchen Update

So we didn't really like our kitchen so we decided to get the counter tops refinished and to paint the cabinets. We were a bit nervous when we were in the middle of painting but are pretty pleased with the result. Our tan appliances are a bit ugly and the vinyl flooring is archaic, but we have plans to get some new(er) white appliances and some cherry wood laminate flooring.

Before:

Before:

After:

After:

Texas Trip

This Christmas we had the opportunity to fly out to see my family in Texas. We flew out Friday the 18th of December from Salt Lake after having left Otis (our truck) in the care of Diamond parking (Which we highly recommend! They were great!). We were on a plane with only like 72 seats on it, two rows of two. Needless to say we were very cramped. We arrived in Texas after almost three hrs. It was really great to see the fam! My mom and little brother picked us up. In my mom's truck we got our first close up of San Antonio Texas, while also getting our ears chatted off by my little brother talking about his most recent Nintendo game. Texas is very flat.... I am sure it is very pretty in the spring though. My parents actually live outside of San Antonio in a city called Boerne (pronounced bernie). They live on Katie ct.! Isn't that great!? My dad got home from work that evening and then my older sister's family came that evening. My little sis came late that night and then my older brother actually wasn't able to come until the next tues. that first weekend was nice, it felt so good outside and we had a lot of fun with the fam. We made gingerbread houses, played Nert and watched Star Trek. Saturday we made our potato soup and everyone loved it!
Monday we went to some local caves that were supposed to have a 120 ft waterfall. Total waist of money really, there was no waterfall, the tour included a water damaged building... yup.. pretty much a huge thumbs down! that evening we decided to take a little tour of downtown Boerne. Very cute and old. Boerne was established a very long time ago by a group of Germans and so many of it's main streets have fun unpronounceable names, it made it fun. They had a bunch of cute little antique shops but sadly, most of them were closed when we made it to them (at 5 pm).
Tuesday Erik and I went to downtown San Antonio, walked along the river walk and saw the sights. We spent six hours walking around and saw some pretty interesting things. It was really pretty, there wasn't a lot to do but it was still enjoyable. We saw the Alamo. We saw our first display of public urination (pretty traumatizing..). We ate dinner at a little Texas style restaurant.
Wednesday we drove to Lizi's home down in Big Spring. We were there through Christmas. We played a lot of games and ate a lot of very nummy food. On Christmas Eve, Santa came to visit. My niece was very excited! My dad, as part of marketing his company and had been going around the hospitals as Santa so he brought the suit home and dressed up for Kyleena.
Christmas was exciting. It is always fun opening presents, no matter how old you are.
On the 26th, we had a girls/boys day. The girls went out shopping, looking for Christmas decor sales. As part of a girls day tradition we went to Olive Garden for their endless soup and salad and had a waitress through water and soda all over everything on accident. The boys went to gamestop and played golf on the wii.
We drove back to my parents house on Sunday the 27th. We watched some more star treck, caught up on some sleep lost at Lizi's and then on Monday we flew home.
It was a great trip and I am very grateful that we were able to go. Next year we are planning on going to Erik's parent's home and can't wait! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Katie's Family

The River Walk at night.

Katie Remembering the Alamo.

Turkey Day

So we have been pretty into cooking this semester and decided to make our own Thanksgiving. Bask in the glory of our results (by our results I mean Katie's results):

Katie's turkey. 14 pounds of gluttony.

Gnawing on a turkey leg in a tryptophan induced stupor.

I forgot to drain the water from the sweet potatoes to they turned out to be marshmallows floating on a sweet potato soup.

Cat Video

We try not to be wierd cat people, we really do. But our cat has some amazing skills.

Vegas Vacation

So the people in Utah practice a ritual that might seem foriegn called it "Pioneer Day." To celebrate it we decided to go to Vegas and we are proud to say that not one hooker was harmed. We started off by getting a motel in Cedar City. Under parental counsil we were told that "no one ever tells the motel manage how many people you really have." So with these words of wisdom I told the nice lady motel manager that only two people would be staying in the motel for the night (when in fact Katie's sister Alice was along with us). Thereafter the nice lady walked around from her office and went to the glass door to see how many people were in the truck. When she saw that there were two girls in the truck, plus me, which added to 3 and not to 2, then confronted me. She pointed out her onbservation and at that point, I am proud to say, I was able to weive the most fantastic, (and one might say even beautiful) lie. I explained that I was going to stay with a mission budy who lived in town (I did have a mission buddy in town) and that I was getting the motel for the two nice ladies in the truck. Suspisionsly she asked me if there was any chance that I would be staying in the motel, and in a moment of weakenss I said I might. She explained that I would have to pay more if I did. At this point I decided that if she is going to imply that I was lying (wich I was ) then she could kiss my $42 bye bye. So I said "Well, I'll go talk to my buddy and if I can't stay there then we'll come back and we will pay for all three of us. Then with the little (if any) dignity that I had left, I left. We drove down the road and found an even cheaper motel, so suck it stingy motel lady. But I digress.

So we went to Vegas and stayed in an actually pretty dang swank downtown hotel. On Pioneer Day we started at the Stratoshpere and walked all the way down to New York New York. The hole day we walked about 14 miles, after which we decieded that we have experience Vegas would not be upset if we never came back.

This is from our hotel room.

Provo River Pictures

So we needed some pictures of us to put into our house so we went down to the Provo River to take some pictures. We had to hop a fence to get on the bridge and as we were comming back a little 4 year old told on us to his dad. The dad agreed with his son that we were being bad.

Update

We don't have any little kids so we don't have much material for weekly updates on our lives. We do have a cat but that would be weird if we did weekly updates about our cat (Whom after 2 months we still haven't come up with an official name for. We are thinking "Princess Pretty Kitty", "Sasha", "Pam", or "Miss Meowington". Let us know what you think.)
So far this summer we having been painting and doing other little construction projects that have kept us busy. Katie is pulling 47 hour weeks with two jobs, and I just started summer school. I also have gotten an extra job at, not to brag, Dominos. The fact that I have to drive around Provo in an extra large blue Dominos Shirt and goofy looking slip resistant shoes is total made up by the sweet 50% percent discount we get. By the way if anyone that reads this doesn't give at least a 2 dollar tip to the delivery guy I will find you and hurt you.
We were also able to go out of town a few times this summer. First I was able to bear witness to the small town Katie calls home, Blanding. Whilst in the town we stayed in the beautiful "Cliff Palace Motel" which fetured fuzy cable TV with no remote, moldy bathroom walls, and no other motel customers. However, we did get to hike around various area around blanding including Katies homestead. We also went to Glenwood Springs to visit with Grand mummy and grand father. Last of all we spent a weekend with some of Katie's younger cousins while their parents went out of town. There were 3 boys and 1 girl all under the age of 11 and after a weekend of watching them we spent the money we earned on additional birth conrtol.
So that is what has been going on with us.

Condo Video!

Here is our new condo, enjoy.

Our New Condo

So we are all moved in and we are LOVING it! We only have like one box left. We got the key on Tuesday of last week.. March 31. Wednesday was mainly getting it clean and ready to move in. Ooh I also was able to use my own washer and dryer for the first time!! I moved as much as I could on Wednesday but then had class while Erik moved. Overall it took us the entire weekend to get it all in and unpacked, but it is nice to have it over with. With everything piled in the living room, we really had no idea how we fit it into our old apartment! We have soo much stuff. Now though, we have a place for it. In fact we even have so much cupboard space that we aren't using them all. Isn't it exciting!?!?! As soon as we get internet at home we promise to put up pictures, but that won't be for the next couple of days, sorry.
Also, we now have a new little addition to our family. Her name is Sasha and she is a beautiful very loud black kitty!!! We picked her up over this last weekend from a little old woman who needed to find a home for her because her grandkids were allergic. She is extremely cuddly but also very loud. Even her purr can be hear across the house. She is always standing on her back legs and has amazing balance, which is way cute. We love her and are very excited to have her as part of our little family. We now have two fish (kevin: our original gold fish that Erik gave me for Christmas, Carlos: My neices fish that we adopted when she moved) and now Sasha.

Our New Condo

So we are moving into our new condo. We are posting a picture, More will come later. It is actually a lot smaller than we thought. Here is the kitchen/ living room

Nick Flash Back

So the other day I was cruisin the You Tube and found a few videos that brought tears of joy to my heart. Memories resurfaced that had been hidden in my subconscious for 15 years and reminded me of the joys of my childhood. Here they are:

Clarissa Explains It All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S8cs8_8XHQ
Salute Your Shorts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsb1VAw-fkk
Pete and Pete
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcqSfAHvuAo
Are You Afraid of the Dark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jitg-3xbmKU&feature=related
Alex Mack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQsWHVqKxzM&feature=related

The Ultimate Toaster

So i just found this picture of a toaster I designed and drafted up on the computer last year for a project. I thought you would all want to know how cool and talented I am.

The Best Website Ever

So for one of my Civil Engineering classes I had to make a Website, so I did what any normal person would do: I made a Full House Tribute Site. Warning, only the most staunch Full House fans can enter. Click on here if you want to.

Katie's list of 100 random facts

Erik did a list, Melissa did a list, I didn't want to be left out..

1. I have this weird obsession with touching my face… smoothing my eyebrows, playing with my eyelashes… Erik hates it!.. I hate it.. But can’t stop.
2. I never have been sent to the principals office or gotten detention. Only once have I had to sit out during recess because I didn’t finish my homework.
3. The first crush I had was when I was 5. He broke my heart by getting up in front of everyone at recess and telling them I like him.. I tried to deny it..I hated him after that.
4. I got my first pair of glasses when I was 18 months old.
5. I try to win radio contests like twice a week.
6. Rainy days make me happy.
7. I crave popcorn, French fries, chocolate and diet coke regularly.
8. My toes are always cold, there is nothing can do about it.
9. In the winter I wear like 5 layers (no joke) along with my big jacket. (My bus driver actually made fun of me once because of it)
10. I have these random needs to pet a cat, so I made a cat friend who lives across the street and he now recognizes me and sometimes follows Erik and I around.
11. I love candles and nummy smelling things..
12. Coming from the previous one, I love the smell of the cologne that Erik would wear when we were dating.. That he doesn’t’ wear anymore because I guess ‘it gives him headaches’ hehe
13. I never drink enough water, I try, it just doesn’t happen.
14. Having painted toenails makes me feel feminine.
15. I had to pierce my ears twice because the first time I had to let them grow over.
16. In Highschool I drove an old chevy that had a 420 gallon tank in the back which I used to haul water home with daily.
17. Through out my life my family has had over 10 cats, 5 dogs, probably a million fish, at least 3 birds, 5 turtles, several bunnies, a goat, several chickens (that we actually never ate, we would just give them to our mailman when they were getting old), a turkey, a deer, a frog, several rats, 3 hamsters.. I think that is it.. Yup.. We are definitely animal people!
18. I had bifocals in middle school.
19. I was so small when I was a baby, my mom would literally dress me in doll clothes.
20. At one point in my life I could do over 500 sit-ups in a row, I know this because I competed with my brother once and should have beet him but my mom told me to stop or he wouldn’t.
21. I have always really liked monkeys and if it weren’t for the whole diaper thing which I will have to deal with with my kids anyway, I would have one as a pet.
22. I don’t ever really remember not having a CTR ring on my right hand.
23. I was the child that everyone thought was perfect, but now that I think about it I really got away with a lot.
24. On rainy days my favorite thing to do would be to get in sweats, grab a book and sit in a soft rocking chair in front of a fire place and drink cocoa.
25. I love gewy love songs.. Josh Groban, Chicago… Erik doesn’t, especially the 80’s soft rock ones which I think are just great.
26. I used to be way tom-boy, I would wear baggy shirts and go on the hiking trips with the boy scouts..
27. I loved band ,drama and choir in high school! They were my favorite classes.
28. Victoria’s secret lotion is amazing and I use it often!
29. Before I met Erik my best mile time was 9.36.. Now with his help and encouragement I can run it in 8.30!
30. I love reading!
31. I feel you can never have enough clothing, it is always exciting to go through your closet and remember you own another cute shirt!
32. I love playing my piano, it helps me deal with stress. When I was younger I would always play a keyboard my mom bought for us, it drove her crazy sometimes cause I would be doing homework and then get distracted by it and play for hours.
33. I love decorating for Halloween and Christmas! I have never decorated for thanksgiving/fall until this year, it isn’t as fun.. My family would always decorate for Christmas the Saturday after Halloween, but Erik says that is too early.
34. If I could, I think I would go to bed at 8:30 every night and wake up at 9:30 the next morning.. Or later.. I love sleep and never seem to get enough, hence the coke craving :)
35. I like to cross stitch but never seem to finish them.
36. There are a number of things that sooth me: someone playing with my hair, Erik’s voice, curling up and cuddling, Erik playing guitar and singing, music, reading and popcorn!
37. I hate messes but am a messy person.. Which doesn’t really make sense.. Like when I am cleaning I get all down and dirty with it, scrubbing… disinfecting.. Every little inch.. But when I am not involved in my cleaning I just things around.
38. I own more than 5 pairs of jeans that I switch off wearing… the more clothes you own the less often you have to do laundry.. Hehe
39. I cry over everything! When I laugh to hard, the first time I heard the “Christmas shoes” song.. My books.. Everything
40. My pet peeves: not quite turning off the water so it drips, when people don’t clean off their mouth after brushing their teeth so you find toothpaste on the towels, when coworkers don’t work but still get bonuses because you have to end up doing their work for them, dryers that you have to dry a single load in three times before they are done
41. When I was reading Harry Potter for the first time through my mom had to ground me from them because I was so addicted..
42. I was in the Miss San Juan contest my junior year.. I didn’t win anything
43. I tried out for cheerleading my sophomore year.. Yup.. I pretty much sucked at it and needless to say .. I didn’t get in
44. I was Drum Major my Junior year.
45. I was first chair I our flute section my senior year. Of course, we only had 5 flutes but what the hey..
46. I graduated with my Associates in Science before I graduated from high school.
47. Drama trips were the best!
48. I can never keep my fingernails painted because no matter what I do it always chips off
49. If I wake up before 8 in the morning I have this serious low at like 9:30 am.
50. Even if I am wide awake if I go into class I suddenly can’t keep my eyes open, it is like a subconscious need...
51. When my family gets together all the girls sit down and play a rather violent game of nert while eating chocolate and drinking coke!
52. I grind my teeth in my sleep, but when Erik wakes me up because of it I could swear I was just chewing.
53. I Block things from my memory all the time.. Subconsciously. I don’t know.. But I guess it is how I deal with things…
54. I love big teddy bears and still have one on Erik’s and my bed as décor..
55. Tulips are my favorite flower!
56. I hate wind blowing on me in my sleep, it tweeks my brain and makes me hear things.
57. I love wearing my huge, fashionably wrong and icky overalls!
58. I think toe rings are fun.
59. I regularly clean my keyboard with alcohol and q-tips
60. When I was little I could have eaten spaghetti everyday and been completely thrilled about it.
61. My brother and sister are still mad at me for getting in trouble for some things that I did when I was little and unaccountable.
62. I love dancing and singing along with my music while I clean.
63. I have seen every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer twice.
64. I love bread! When I first moved to college I would sometimes stop by the creamery and buy a loaf of their freshly baked French bread and eat it all in one day.
65. My family still makes fun of me for some mac and cheese I turned into glue when I was like 12.
66. Once when I was playing upwards with my sisters I suddenly had a brilliant thought for a word and looked it up in the dictionary just to verify that it was really a word, after seeing it was I excitedly layed down the word “toe.”
67. My first boyfriend was when I was 14.. And he was an 18 year old football player..
68. My first kiss was also when I was 14, at the first party I went to in Blanding, we played spin the bottle.
69. Because of the 4 years I lived in Blanding I have vowed to never live in a small town again.
70. I am really not into politics.. They honestly drive me crazy.
71. The first time I honked at someone was today.. November 24, 2008.
72. I have never gotten a ticket or even been pulled over, except for once when someone had stolen a truck just like mine.. So they thought it was me.
73. If it were my choice I would buy only Charmin Ultra!
74. For some reason, Snorkeling terrifies me to the point of almost crying, I think it is because I can’t see without my glasses so everything is fuzzy and I can’t tell how close I am to the rocks due to my horrible depth perception.
75. At one point in my life I was barely off from being legally blind.
76. I have had three surgeries on my eyes.
77. I have a lazy eye, a stigmatism and am far-sighted.
78. I have horrible posture and because of it, my back always hurts.
79. I love playing the flute and with it got a scholarship to BYU for Full tuition for a year through Sterling Scholar.
80. I wanted to be a band or chorus teacher forever, now I am majoring in Communication disorders..
81. I talk to my sister or mother for over 3 hours a day.
82. I am horrible at plucking my eyebrows, when I was younger I would have my older sister do it for me because otherwise I would always be lopsided.
83. All of my siblings and I have the same overlapping tooth in the front of our mouth on the right.. We got it from out dad.
84. I know that I have changed a lot since high school and when people recognize me for some reason it weirds me out.. Even though I know I don’t look different..
85. I used to be way good at math.. But then , as my mom puts it, “I discovered boys.” I haven’t been in math since the beginning of my junior year of high school.
86. If I could, I would wear slippers everywhere I go.
87. I like wearing make up, it makes me feel pretty.
88. I hate putting on makeup in natural light.. Like when I am driving for example, it never seems to cover up my flaws as well..
89. Not to sound vain, but I kick butt at minesweeper and FreeCell and play them all the time.
90. My family doesn’t understand how I could have such horrible English even though I read constantly.
91. I have a very strong testimony of the Gospel. I know that I am loved and always watched over. I know that the Atonement is an amazing blessing and that we shouldn’t take it for granted.
92. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite type of cookie.
93. I don’t like having anything heavier than cold cereal in the morning or it upsets my tummy.
94. In high school I would call all my girlfriends babe and sexy beast.. Not sure why.. I still use babe occasionally
95. I was the leader of my little group of friends in high school.. so in a way I was popular.. Just it was among the band geeks and drama nerds.. Which was me all around.
96. I have the best husband that any girl could ever ask for.. He is attractive, he honors his priesthood, he plays guitar.. Yup.. He is pretty much perfect!
97. I love Clorox wipes and Magic Erasers, they are amazing inventions that I use often.
98. I name my vehicles, in high school my truck’s name was Charlie, Erik’s truck is named Otis.
99. The best salad ever has to be crisp and include lettuce, carrots, cheese, egg, sunflower seeds, chicken, avocado, cucumber, a little cabbage, tomato, and a small amount of ranch.
100. I only cussed my freshman year of high school and then realized how stupid it was.. Of course on random events one slips out. As an example of that.. When I was living with my parents in Hawaii January of 08’ I got locked out of the house while no one was home. The only way to get it was to use my amazing muscles and climb over the deck which I had to jump to reach. During the process I slammed my glasses against the railing and into my face.. That was the last time I remember swearing..

My 100 random facts

I know I am a copy cat, but I really liked Melissa's 100 facts. I actually learned a lot about her. I guess it because I haven't been around the family much for the past 40 months. So me thought that people might not really know me as much as they thought they do, so here are 100 random facts.

1. If I could get a free pass for any commandment, it would be drinking coffee.
2. When I started High School I was 4'10" and 91lbs.
3. My favorite music is style is Indie-Folk
4. My Favorite food is still Sandwiches.
5. I have been to the principals office 3 time before (I think this is the first time Mom, and Dad have heard this.)
6. I am obsessed with Politics.
7. I absolutely loath Politics.
8. I read about 1 book every two weeks.
9. I have been married for almost 6 months.
10. I married the first girl that I talked to in Utah.
11. I really like playing the guitar. I even sing along too!
12. I buy my shoes at Payless.
13. My socks usually don't match.
14. I was bald during 5th and 6th grade.
15. I CAN NOT, to save my life, multi-task. Especially when I am talking on the phone.
16. I am a very awkward phone talker so I try to avoid it.
17. One of my biggest pet peeves is littering.
18. I have seen every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
19. I am close to getting my minor in Mathematics.
20. When I am talking to a stranger, a hick accent slips out of my dialect. I never noticed it till Katie pointed it out. It’s kind of bizarre. Just one side effect of serving in West Virginia.
21. I couldn't care less about BYU football.
22. I and everyone else would agree that I pretty much have the sweetest wife, ever.
23. Katie and I have competed in a Ballroom Dancing Competition and made it 3 rounds.
24. I swore like a sailor in 2nd grade and in 5th grade.
25. My first Girlfriend was in 5th grade. Her name was Angela. We said a total of no more than 10 words in the 6 months we were "boyfriend" and "Girlfriend."
26. I am fascinated by bridges, buildings, and Dams.
27. I try to get at least 15 min of exercise a day.
28. Every morning I drink a "Protein shake" that contains 1200 calories.
29. Whitney (my little sister) has influenced my musical tastes a lot. She is the one that introduced me to the beautiful world of off the beaten path music.
30. We don't get Television. Antennas don't even work in our apt. so we just watch Netflix.
31. My wedding ring is in a girls size. My fingers were too small for the man sizes. Thanks a lot for the small hand genes mom. On top of that, Katie’s hands are abnormally small to. Are kids are going to be small handed freaks.
32. The only two girlfriends (5th grade Angela doesn't count) I ever had I met at Subway and were fellow sandwich artists together.
33. I loved my mission.
34. I am a brown belt in Tekwondo.
35. I has two mice named Mary-Kate and Ashley, in high school. Sadly, they were the closest think I had to a girlfriend in High School.
36. I am addicted to looking up random facts on wikipedia.
37. I love reading the road atlas.
38. When I was little, I used to be obsessed with learning the different populations of towns, cities and states.
39. I voted for Obama despite the fact that he is the biggest over hyped thing since pogs. Hopefully we don't find out that he is just a round cut out of cardboard liked pogs turned out to be.
40. Katie let me get a bike off of Craig’s list a couple of months ago. I love her so much. I love Katie too.
41. I developed a strange fascination with shoes whilst on my mission. My favorites are Vans Off the Wall.
42. I have read the first four Harry Potters at least 7 times, the 5 book 4 times, and the 6th and 7th books 2 times.
43. If my house was burning, there first thing I would grab(excluding people, but including pets) would be my Ipod.
44. I work as a drafter for an electrical engineer on Campus.
45. I think that the Doctrine of the Atonement is the most Bountiful thing in the world.
46. I like the smell of wet cement.
47. I never mowed a lawn until I was 20 years old.
48. I have never bought anything with a BYU logo on it.
49. Despite my lack of Display of School spirit, I am overall way impressed with the teachers at BYU.
50. In second grade (when we lived in Mesa), for some unknown, unholy reason, I told people that my birthday was in November and played along with it the whole time we lived in Mesa (like 8 months).
51. I played the trumpet for 6 years.
52. I gained 50 lbs on my mission which was almost 50% of my body weight. (I have only lost about 8 lbs since I got home thanks to my Protein Drink.
53. My first car was a wrecked 1999 Ford Contour.
54. I saved about $300 dollars for a sweet sound system for my car. I installed it near the end of October of 2003 and by the beginning of November 2003 is was stolen. They caught the guy that did it in a couple months later.
55. I have always kept the option of going to Law School in my mind if I decide that I don’t want to peruse civil engineering as a career when I graduate.
56. I use to have some weird eye twitch when I was around 11 years old. Even when I think about it now, I have an urge to do it. Let’s change the subject.
57. I drove a mission car into a ditch and caused quite a bit of damage two weeks before I came home from my mission.
58. Katie has joined sides with my family in refusing to play monopoly with me.
59. My dream calling is Teachers quorum adviser. I would get to go camping once a month. Deacons are too annoying and priest are too inactive.
60. I wear brown skinny ties to church every week.
61. I am desperately trying to convince Katie to allow me give our fist boy a middle name of Danger. She’ll crack eventually.
62. I shave twice a week. Please don’t report me to the honor code office. My face is sensitive (not to mention aesthetically pleasing).
63. I really try my best to look at both sides of every coin.
64. I am really indecisive, probably because of the fact #58.
65. As pathetic as it is, since we’ve gotten married our bed time has moved from 12am to a solid 10:30 pm. (Katie would prefer 7 to 9 pm)
66. If you call me anytime between November though March, chances are my toes are cold.
67. To fall asleep I have to be on my stomach.
68. In order to fall asleep I have to clear my mind of the daily events. To do that I usually have a fantasy about being a CIA agent, or a super hero, or something to that effect. I have done this since I was little, and don’t plan to stop anytime soon.
69. I was know as the kid who always wore pajama bottoms in High School.
70. I love Math (except for linear algerbra) and Physics.
71. Despite is huge bias, i think John Stewart is the funniest man in America, way more funny the Stephen Colbert.
72. I don't follow movies very well. I always have to ask Katie what is going on.
73. Up untill the 6th grade I was pretty sure that I was going to be a professional Basketball player.
74. The tooth fairy wrote mean notes to me and my sisters growing up.
75. I have a lot of respect for my sisters and parents.
76. I don't know what got into me, but the first time I saw "Elf" I cried when Santa Clause came flying through the City to prove to everybody that he was real.
77. I am not creative enough to come up with 100 facts.

Our Summer Addiction

So, as some of you know, pretty much since we have gotten married, we have fallen into the grasp of a strong addiction, an addition that has swallowed our lives. This addictionis, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Well, this past week, through much blood and sweat, we were able to overcome this addiction (pretty much because we ran out of episodes to watch).

It all started soon after the honey money. We decided, like many in college tend to do, to experiment with questionable things. We decided to experiment a little with "Netflix". This period of curiosity is what initially got us into the pit of addiction, that we tried so desperately to escaped from but were with no avail. When we started, Katie thought it would be exciting to get Buffy the Vampire the TV show from Netflix.
Now, this went against all the instruction of my youth. I knew in my heart that nothing good could come from this. In fact, I had seen the terrible effects of this very thing in my family. My own sister dealt with this very addiction years ago. It reduced her to tears on many occasions when she could not watch this show on a weekly basis. The screams " I WANT TO WATCH BUFFY! I WANT TO WATCH BUFFY" are etched upon the souls of all those who were close to her. Fortunately, through much strength, tears, and a couple of interventions, this dear sister was able to overcome this devil.
Now, even with this chilling experience from within my own family, in a moment of weakness I succumbed to the the pressure of my wife, and agreed reluctantly, to get Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on DVD from Netflix. Now, at first I was resilient. The first few episodes were not too bad. But slowly, but surely, I started to fall under a terrible spell. I started looking forward to watching the weekly foibles of this Vampire slayer. Even after a couple weeks, I still felt that I was in control. I could stop at any time. But, as time would eventually show, I was already deep within the grasps of this addiction. After a few weeks of getting one disc of Buffy the vampire slayer per week, we needed more. One DVD a week was no longer enough. We needed more. So we decided to get two DVD's at a time. This brought our addiction to a new level. Our lives now rotated around the false lives of Buffy, Willow, Zander, and Giles. We started dreaming about the characters. A night would not pass when Katie wouldn't wake up in a cold sweat mumbling, " No! Buffy! Look behind you! Vampire." I started calling Katie Buffy, and requested that she would call me "Angle" (Buffy's 1st love). Soon, the once clear boarder that separated reality and the imaginary became blurred. Our lives became lost in this netherworld of Vampires, sarcastic teenage girls, and other unholy things we dare not mention. When august came around, two DVDs at a time was not enough. We enlisted for 3 DVD's at a time. After that, our lives became so twisted and dark, I cannot put in words the sick hypnotic spell we were in. We no longer watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we were Buffy the vampire slayer. However, about 3 days ago, something amazing happened. Something that released us from this horrible spell and addiction. We finished the last episode of the Series. After seven seasons, and 143 episodes, we finally watched all the Buffy that we could, so we had no choice but to end this addiction.
However, just like any hardcore addiction, it is not healthy to just go cold turkey. Withdraws would inevitably follow. So Katie and I thought, that in our best interest, we would slowly ease off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin off show " Angle." So with this, we hope to, by Christmas, announce that we are complete free from being slaves to this addiction. Thank you all for your support and help during this time of tribulation.

Our Little Home

Around mid August Erik and I started discussing the idea of moving out of Wymount. It wasn't completely serious plan but was definitely an option. So we started looking around. After only a couple of days Erik texted me about a basemtent "studio" apartment south of campus that was only $420 a month. We decided to go look at it of course and when we got there we realized that we weren't the only ones. There were probably 7 couples there to look at it. We got inside finally and I loved it.. I mean it was WAY small but good for us. We filled out an application and left it at that. Needless to say we got the apartment and we had like a week and half to move. We got everything packed and somehow fit it into the apartment. We had three days to get all moved

out of the apartment and into our new apartment and Erik had to work so for the most part I was just piling things up where I could fit them and figured I would organize later. We have soo much stuff! We could barely move through the apartment!
As you can see it is a disaster! We made a path to the back hall, the bed and the sink. I was way stressed about it too. The desicion to move, the state of the apartment when we started moving in (I spent like an hour scrubbing the shower.. ewww) and having no idea how we would fit into this apartment.

Slowly but surely we got it all in. We sold our little entertainment set thing and got a little dresser/bed side table, and fit everything else under the bed that was supported by cinderblocks. It was amazing really.. I never thought it was possible. If we hadn't helped a friend move during the process of unpacking and seen her cinderblocks I don't know where we would be today. They really were the things that saved us.

At this point our little apartment is now our home and we both feel very comfortable in it.
We have some trouble finding things sometimes because everything is so compact but it works for us. For example we have a bookshelf thing in our bedroom that holds our pots and pans. Our bedside table thing has our pants and such; we didn't have a place for the rest of our books so they are on top of the bookshelf/ pots and pans cupboard.. and so on and so forth. There is no way that you can get the full effect of our little apartment unless you see it.. so you guys will just have to come visit ;) Just be careful coming in the driveway.. it is a bit squishy...I know this from experience(hitting someones back light) but that is a story for another day.

Our Humble Abode

So, we are finally going to put up a short video of our little apartment in BYU family housing known as Wymount. The time is empecable merely because our days are limited at this place. Last week we came upon a apartment near campus that we really liked. It is cheaped, closer to campus, and much closer to Katie’s bus stop, soooo we are going to move there in two weeks. It's a bit smaller but we are pretty small people, so we can deal. It's in a nice little house that has been split into 4 apartments. Plus, it lacks the stigma of BYU housing which will be a perk.

Hiking the 'Y'

Although we may try to fool ourselves and you guys that we are different, it isn't true; we are pretty close to a typical BYU couple. To prove it, the picture above is at the top of the "Y"; of which we have climbed twice. See told you!

With how much people talk about for dates or family home evenings and such you would think it would be easy. Yeah, it isn't. Of course... I am a wimp. But to tell the truth, it was worth it. Erik thought of the idea of going up at sunset... it was gorgeous! (And he pretends he isn't a romantic.)

The first time we hiked it we weren't really that prepared for how strenuous it was. This time we were prepared which made it much better. We started up the steep switch backs just before the sun started to set. Although we stopped a couple times for me to catch my breath we made it up to the top just in time. It was amazing how drastically the sky changed as we got to the top. At about half way the sun was starting to set and there were rays over the mountain the made this red haze show up over the valley.We finally got to the Y where Erik encouraged me to be brave and face my fear of heights (which were really getting to me at this point) and bees that kept following us and actually walk up the Y to the top rather than on the path that took a lot longer. It was a scary experience honestly, don't tell anyone but I actually got a little teary. At the top I was actually so scared I couldn't sit
on the edge. Erik sat on the edge a bit to take a picture from from the top looking down the mountain. Then he moved back and we cuddled as we watched the sky change colors.

After a little while we decided to head down the mountain before it got to dark. (If you ever want to work out your knees and thighs that the the thing for you.) It was nice to occasionally glance and see the last bit of sun poking over the mountain. The bugs thought so too, but don't worry, we survived.

Well, we did it, we hiked the 'Y', and we didn't even hurt ourselves. We made it down the mountain just as it was starting to sprinkle.

When we got home we celebrated by having a large breakfast for dinner thanks to Erik's amazing cooking (he wouldn't let me finish this blog without talking about his amazing cooking,he even took a picture of it). It was rather scrumptious really.

Wedding Pictures

To make things simple we decided to post all of the weeding pictures that Katie’s family takeded (or is it tooked?) for our wedding. Now everyone can sleep soundly knowing that they can save these pictures to a CD or a memory card and go to their nearest friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart and print a off dozen 24x36 poster size pictures of everyone’s favorite couple, and then display them at the entrance of all of their homes, so that all people who enter there home can behold beauty in its most pure form. There’s no way that we could fit all the pictures on the blog, but you can see them by clicking here. So with out further ado, the pictures:

Here they are really: