Four Score and 11 Years Ago...

....I met Ryan Seastrand at a BYU dance thrown on the first day of BYU summer semester, 1998. Due to our similar interests and complimenting personalities, we became instant friends. Due to our similar physical appearance (5'9" height, brown hair, blue eyes...etc), people assume we are brothers or at least cousins. In fact, after my mission I ran in to Ryan's freshmen year roomate and he thought I was Ryan.

Ryan and I have stayed close throughout the years. One of the things that I enjoy most about him is we have entered the same stages of life at the same time. Its not a coincidence, being that our birthdays are 2 weeks apart. Ryan and I started at BYU at the same time, we both went to Brazil on our missions at the same time, we returned to BYU, sold pest control in SoCal, graduated, entered the workforce, and got married a few months apart last year. We got together when he was in town twice in the last month.....

Good stuff.

If I Were the Crying Type...

Happy Father's Day to all Fathers and those who have Fatherhood potential. IF I were the crying type this video would unleash some tears:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhqRMP9meMc



Amazing.

Ca Ca Ca Camping with Easty

A few weeks ago Candace and I decided to go camping on a Friday night, even though the forecast expected rain. We invited my friend Easton Harvey to come. He and I were friends when I was an undergrad and I lived with him in Orem before getting married last year. Candace and I found a great camping spot about 45 minutes outside of Provo.

On the way, we came across a lot of wildlife-

Setting up camp!

It ended up being a gorgeous night. We had smores and soup around the campfire.

In the morning, Easty cooked JiffyPop while Cbug learned how to ride the SuperMoto.


Easty and I went on a ride to fish some creeks.

Popcorn is tastier when its cooked on an open fire!

Cbug saw a bear approaching camp and she opened fire~!

This is what I imagine heaven looks like:

Did you know I'm supersticious? I always have to wear a red hat while fishing.

Easty, thanks for coming with. We had a blast. Next post: Hawaii!

Yeah for Weddings!!!

Bubby's engaged!



Everyone, meet "Sam the Man," as Ray calls him. We couldn't be happier for Alli and these two couldn't be cuter. I love it so much!

Congrats you guys! You're going to accomplish wonderful things together.

Bed Time

One of the ways that I show Candace how much I love her is by singing to her this song every night before going to bed. Cbug's favorite part is the beginning: "You're my Honeybunch, Sugarplum, Pumpy-umpy-umpkin..."

Gone Fishin'

This last weekend we went to Loa, UT to go fishing with Curtis' great uncle Merril. Loa is where Curtis' Grandma and Grandpa are from and where his mom, Diane, spent many summer vacations. It was great to see where Curtis' grandparents were raised, to get to know Merril, and to explore the high country.

We started the day at Thousand Lakes where we fished at a handful of incredibly beautiful, hidden lakes on the tops of mountains. It's amazing how the scenery can change all within a 20 minute drive. The land went from high desert to pines with snow and lakes still covered in ice. Although we didn't have much luck at Thousand Lakes as far as the fishing went, we had a great time being out of the city breathing the clear mountain air.

Here's Cur and Uncle Merril.

The first pretty lake of many.

This is the second lake. We saw a ton of fish jumping but they refused to bite our hooks.

The last lake we visited in this area. There was still snow here and the lake was mostly covered in ice!

Tree bark... I can't help myself.

Next we headed to Fish Lake where Merril took us out on his boat. We caught over a dozen rainbow trout and splake.

Me and Uncle Merril.

This is my favorite photo of the trip. We talked Merril into letting us take his pic with a fish he caught and as soon as we snapped the camera that fish wriggled right out of his hands! This is Uncle Merril at his finest.

I caught a few.

We were sad to leave and we can't wait to go back. I love being outdoors. Even if my hands have to smell all fishy.

Spring is Here.

I've been in denial for quite some time now about spring. "Spring" to me means I get to lay by the pool whenever I want... NOT an intermittent snow here or there. However... it seems that spring is really here for me now with no turning back. I love it and I've grown to love this place. Having actual seasons in the year has been a pleasant suprise for me (although you might ask me again this winter). There are things about Utah that have become a part of me now. If I ever leave, I know I'll miss them just like I now dearly miss the smell of the desert after a heavy monsoon rain, or the beautiful Arizona sunsets.

Cur took me on a ride and a picnic tonight. We had so much fun exploring trails in Provo Canyon. The country here is amazing. It's so green I can't get over it. Who knew grass would just spring up on it's own like this? People would die for grass like this in AZ. I may have gone a little snap happy with the camera so bear with me.

We came around the corner of a mountain and all of a sudden it opened up into this huge valley below us. It really was breathtaking.

Smooshed faces.

The trail.