Well That Came Quick

Our first anniversary was this past sunday, Nov 21st.  I can't believe how fast this year went.

On saturday the 20th we went and did sealings at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  The sealer was really good, probably the best one I've seen while doing proxy sealings.  He would explain a lot of things in between and it was really neat.  After the temple we were gonna head up straight to Park City, but decided to go back to Provo and get my truck.  Good thing we did too.  It was so snowy up in Park City!  It snowed the whole weekend we were up there.

We started out our stay up there with a trip to the Tanager outlet mall.  Amanda found a $70 dress, but it was marked down half price.  Then an employee accidentally marked it down further to $10.99, so when we took it up to the register they rang it up and it came out to be like $25 (it had another discount), but I pointed out that the tag said $10.  They checked the rack and a few of them were marked like this, so they had no choice but to sell it to us for $10.  Pretty good deal!  I'm sure they immediately changed the other ones.

Then we checked into the hotel and went walking up and down the historic main st. where we ate some dinner.  It was pretty neat with all the snow, etc.  I had never really been on that main st. up there before.  It was a great weekend.  Sunday we just relaxed and drove home monday morning in time for me to go to class at 10.  Unfortunately we forgot the camera, so no pics.

Life Is Precious

Sometimes I have the tendency to feel invincible.  Especially in high school.  Nothing could happen to me. I have done some very high risk activities to include skydiving, scuba diving, cliff jumping, rock climbing, extreme skiing, wake boarding, flying, etc.  After my mission I kind of realized that I wasn't invincible, but still had this attitude that nothing could happen to me.

Today all that changed.  A student from UVU, who I knew, and his instructor crashed in their airplane killing both of them.  They are not sure what happened yet, but its pretty humbling and eerie to think that just yesterday he was sitting behind me in class, and now he's gone from this world.  He got married a month after I did, so it hasn't even been a year yet.  I've always taken the stance that these things happen to other people.  Somebody else, but not me.  Even though UVU has had 400,000 successful flying hours since 1987, all it takes is one unsuccessful one to cast a huge shadow.

I am so grateful for the protection I have had from Heavenly Father over the span of my short life, cause he knows I've done some stupid and outrageous things.  life is precious and we should live each day to its fullest.

Laboris Gloria Ludi

In case any of you have wondered what "Laboris Gloria Ludi" means, I'll tell you.  It is latin for "Work Hard, Play Hard."  I have adopted that as my life motto because I feel that both of them are important.  I try not to take things too seriously, unless I have to.  It feels good to accomplish something hard, but life needs a good balance.

Lately

Life has been great since I last posted. I try to post more often, but its hard to find time. So buckle your seat belts and remain seated until the post comes to a complete stop.

I have been looking to buy a truck for a while now. I finally found one that was in great condition and went to West Valley to look at it. I liked what I saw, so I called the bank and got the loan all set up. Then to my dismay, he didn't have the title for it, so the bank would not let the loan go through. I was disappointed, but kept looking. Nothing like it was coming up on KSL. Finally another truck came up on KSL, and I called and went up to Kamas to go look at it, gave him the money and drove away with it that night. The cool thing is, the body is in better shape, its a year newer than the other one, and has less miles than the other one.

It is a 1994 Toyota Pickup 4X4.  Basically a Toyota Tacoma, but they didn't start calling it a Tacoma until 96.  Its in awesome condition and I love it.  I sold the Honda I was driving to a friend in the ROTC.
I'm also in the process of selling the camper shell.

As soon as I drove off from the guys house buying it I went with my friend Steve Davis up to his cabin to go deer hunting.  We got up at 4 am saturday and hiked around the mountains until about 2 pm when I snow storm came out of nowhere.  We hadn't seen any bucks unfortunately (but lots of Elk and a few doe) so we decided to head back to the truck.  However, we still had about a 3.5 mile hike back to the truck in this snow storm.  The snow was not snow at all.  It was little ice pellets that were coming in sideways, stinging any exposed skin.  It was a fun day though all in all, even though we didn't get anything.  Next year.

I had my 24th birthday on the 28th.  We had a bunch of friends over for Hoagies, then 4 of us went to the Haunted Forest in American Fork.  It was pretty good, compared to some of the other ones I've been too.  It took about an hour to go through, and people were spaced out.  So we weren't just standing in line through the whole thing watching the people ahead of us get scared and know what's coming up.  Amanda had never been to anything haunted, so it was a good night.

The 29th was our ward Trunk-or-Treat.  It was pretty fun.  A few hours before we still didn't know what we were gonna do for our costumes or how to decorate our trunk, but pulled together something pretty good.  We decided to be a Mad Scientist (Amanda) and Igor (me).  We decorated the trunk like a mad scientist's lab with things in jars like grapes for eyes, fake mice floating in apple juice (AKA formaldehyde) and propped my head on a box with black cloth around my body so it looked like a live head on display.

 It was pretty good and kind of put some of the really little kids on edge, but everyone loved it.  It was pretty uncomfortable laying there with my head crained like it was.  But it was good.  We got 2nd place on the trunk decorating contest and only lost to a full on pirate ship with a mast and a plank.  A few couples came as peter pan, wendy, and some pirates.  So we felt good about our 2nd place, especially after throwing it together at the last minute.

After I climbed out of the truck I put on a trench coat and was Igor, the hunchback assistant.  We didn't win any prizes for our costumes.  However, after the Trunk-or-Treat was over there was a chilli cook-off that Amanda's chilli got 2nd place.  We take great pride in the fact that we are the #1 losers.  No one lost ahead of us. ha ha.

This is our Jack-o-Lantern that Amanda and I carved together.  I found a picture of a pumpkin like this on the internet and we tried our best to recreate it.   I think it turned out pretty well.

On Nov 1st Amanda got her wisdom teeth pulled and a few cavities filled all in the same procedure.  She got the laughing gas for it, but they didn't put her out.  I was kinda hoping she would be all drugged up and I could film her and put it on youtube, but she was pretty coherent.  The dental assistant told me that it only took like 10 minutes to get all 4 wisdom teeth out, but her recovery has been extremely quick.  The next day she didn't even need any pain killers.  Lucky her.

Spooky Cobwebs and Crazy Children. This Is My Life.

Fall has fell, and we are already half way through October. Crazy! Where does the time go? We have been working hard around here making our house look good, etc. Amanda has decorated the house with all sorts of halloween things, to include fake spider webs. Funny that for one month out of the year spider webs are not only acceptable, but desired. And who ever decided that that was spooky? Gross yes, but spooky or scary? Maybe if the spider that built the web was too large to comfortably squish between your fingers in a strip of toilet paper.

We also have been painting the apartment room by room. Most the paint in the house was really old and looking pretty bad, so we are updating it. It looks much better! The girl that lived here before us came by yesterday to get some mail that came to our house and was very impressed with all the changes we'd made and Amanda's decorating skills. It almost looked like she wished she hadn't moved because now she knew how good it could look.

School is officially half way over for the semester. Its gone by quick. I only have 4 more semesters after this one, then I commission. The end is near, but the light at the end of the tunnel is still a little pin prick. But hey, its visible.

Last night I went to the Salt Lake ReAL game. That is Utah's Professional Soccer team. They are really good! They won the game last night, which was their last regular season game. With the win last night they set a new Major League Soccer record with 25 straight wins, and are now tied for 1st place in the nation heading into the play offs. Pretty neat. I went with my "Little" Joseph from Big Brother/Big Sisters. We had a good time.

Today I was called as the Assistant Scout Master. I am excited for the call cause I love camping, hiking, and doing outdoors stuff. However, Deacons quorum today was a little interesting. I haven't been to deacons quorum since I was a deacon, and seeing it from the leaders perspective is funny. I was laughing to myself almost the whole time, not because what the kids were saying was funny, but because they were just funny. It will be an interesting calling, but I'm excited.

New Beginnings and Stuff Like That

Since my last post Amanda has started her new job at Primary Children's Hospital. She loves the job, but hates the commute. Who could blame her? It's a long ways to drive a few times a week. But she has finished a lot of her training, so now she has her own patients and is a bonified RN. She still have to go up one additional time for a few hour training, on top of her 3 shifts a week. But in 3 months she won't have to do that anymore. By then I think she will have to chance to transfer to the children's unit in Riverton, which would be a lot closer. So we'll see what she decides to do.

We moved into a new apartment in north provo on August 2nd. I had a bunch of friends come over and we knocked it out in just 2 hours, then had a BBQ. We are liking the new place though. Its much larger than our old apartment, and Amanda is having fun painting and getting it looking good. We are liking our new ward as well. We decided to go to a family ward instead of the married student ward like we have been going to. We almost got a calling in the primary, but didn't because Amanda has to work about 2 sundays a month, so I couldn't teach them alone. Dodged that bullet (j/k). So we'll see what callings we do get.

The day after we moved into our new place we drove to CA for the 4th time this year. My family got a beach house for the week on Balboa Island, right off the coast of Newport Beach. It was really fun and nice to go spend time with family, play in the ocean and with nieces and nephews, etc.

School has started, and since I went to field training this summer I am now officially an "upper-classman." The first 2 years of ROTC you are considered enlisted, and learn how to follow orders. Your junior and senior years you are a cadet officer, and give orders. We basically run the cadet side of the ROTC and the real officers observe and teach us as we go. I am in charge of a service organization called Arnold Air Society, and the vice commander for the Color Guard. Here is a sweet video we made to recruit for Color Guard.

Sweet video

One of the perks of being the commander is that we choose if we wanna do the flag at the football games. If we do we get 2 free tickets on the front row, 40 yard line. Pretty good tickets. So Amanda and I went to the University of Washington/ BYU game, and I also brought my "little Brother" Joseph. I think he liked the game, but he doesn't really show too much excitement for anything, so who knows.

To be honest I am glad school is back on again. Amanda feels weird because its the first time in her life that she isn't going back to school for the fall. But when I'm in school its so much easier to live a schedule and exercise, etc. And, at the end of this semester I'll be applying for my pilot slot, so I'll find out about that probably March. Cross your fingers and mention me in your prayers, cause I've worked hard to get to this point, and getting my pilot slot would be the pinnacle of my efforts.

On the flip side

The title of this post has a few different contexts.  First of all, I am done with Field Training! Its so nice to have it behind me.  I learned a ton, it was a good experience and I'm glad that now I can say I've done it, but I wouldn't want to do it again.  We learned a lot, including Self-Aid buddy care, Rifle training, Convoy procedures, how to search a vehicle/person, radio communication, land navigation, etc.  The first two weeks we were in Alabama, and the last 2 weeks we were in Mississippi.  While in Mississippi we had a Tornado form up over our camp and all the cadets had to run to the showers.  It was exciting.  We got to meet a few generals, and hear some pretty interesting briefings (as well as some not so interesting briefings).  On the 4th of July they let us go to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to a 4th of july party.  There were 369 Cadets, so we pretty much dominated the party.  It was held at a huge baptist church.  This thing was literally the size of a high school.  I think they did other stuff there too, but it was huge.  They had food (which was a nice change from eating MRE's) and a live band.  This was the first time in Air Force history that they have allowed anything like this to happen during boot camp, so it was great.  I met a lot of cool people, learned a lot, but as I said, I'm glad to be on the flip side and have it behind me.

Unfortunately the day I left was also the day My sister-in-law Annie got married, as well as my cousin Eric.  So I missed both of their weddings.  However, this kept Amanda pretty busy while I was gone, at least for the first week and a half.  She flew back to North Carolina to help with the reception out there, then stayed for another week and went to NYC with her sister and girl cousins for a shopping trip, then flew home.  Today she started her new job at Primary Children's Hospital.  We are really excited that she has a job, but also a job that she really wanted.  We will have benefits, etc.

The day I got home we went to Winger's for dinner then stayed the night at the Hilton in Salt Lake.  The next day was sunday and we went to church with my parents then had dinner with them.  Then later that night said Hi to a bunch of friends and headed back to provo.  Its been a task trying to get used to the altitude again.  It doesn't bother me until I start running.  The other day I decided to run up the mountain to the Y Mountain Trail Head.  From my house its only about a 4 mile round-trip run, but half of it was extremely steep.  By the time I got up to the trail head my heart was beating so hard I thought it was gonna jump out of my chest.  To add to it it was about 4 pm and very hot, so I was overheated.  I sat on the bathroom floor (cause that was the only shade on the mountain) and sipped my water until I cooled down.  On my way down the mountain I found a wallet in the middle of the road.  So I picked it up and returned it later that night.  When I knocked on the door (there was an address on the drivers license) this kids mom answered and when she found out I had the wallet got so excited.  She said they had been praying they would find it.  She wanted to give me a hug and said I was such a great guy and an answer to their prayers.  It was a great feeling to be on the flip side and be part of an answer to someone else's prayers.

Now Amanda and I are just working and preparing for our move next week.  We are moving on monday evening, then going to Balboa Island, CA with my family for a week.  This summer sure has gone by quickly.  Before camp that was all I could think about and it came quickly, then a huge chunk was dedicated to training, and now its almost time for school to start again.  I've gotta live it up while I still can.  Viva la summer.

I always start these posts out with something like "its been a while."  Indeed it has, but I'm not gonna say it this time.  I'm just gonna fill you in.

So much to tell.  First off, Amanda took her test to become and RN and passed it.  We are very excited.  She starts her new job at the end of July.  I knew she was gonna pass, but its nice to know that it is behind us now.

Yesterday Amanda and I flew down to Salina, UT where my Grandparents live.  It was my grandpa's birthday this past week, so my whole family was going down for a bbq to celebrate.  Well, for a christmas gift my grandma gave my grandpa money to go flying with me (that was a long time ago, about half a year!).  My grandpa was an Air Force pilot and then flew for United Airlines for a while, so it was really fun to go up with him.  Anyways, Amanda and I flew down there and Amanda hung out with my grandma while my grandpa and I went flying.  We flew for an hour.  We flew over the Manti temple, and then over the mountains looking for a big mine, and then over their house.  It was really fun, I LOVE flying.

This is a picture of the Manti temple from about 2,000 ft off the ground.

This is a picture of their house (the one on the corner with the gray roof).  Not too bad for a camera phone, eh?

After flying we had lunch at my grandparents, then Amanda and I had to fly back to provo so I could get  the plane back for someone else who had rented it, and go to work.  It was a fun day.  It was Amanda's first time flying with me, and first time in a small plane.  She really liked it.  The flight back to provo got a little bumpy, and in those small planes you really feel it, so she got a little nervous during that brief period, but I can't blame her.  I did too at first.

Since last September I have been preparing to go to Field Training for the Air Force ROTC.  It is in Alabama and a base called Maxwell AFB.  Its near Montgomery.  They have taught us everything we need to know, we've conditioned our bodies and minds, we've practiced marching, etc.  And now the time if finally here to put all that knowledge to use.  Truth be told I'm a little nervous, but excited to go and get it over with.  It's basically basic training, but its only 4 weeks and its only for ROTC cadets.  We do a lot of leadership training, and they rank us on how well we handle the challenges and lead our peers.  Its crazy that the time if finally here.  I leave on June 19th, and I will be back on July 17th.  Its 28 days long.  Amanda's sister is getting married  the day I fly out, and then she is going to North Carolina to be with her family and attend/run the reception out there.  So I will miss her, but she'll keep herself busy.  I am including a video for those interested to show you exactly what I'll be doing for 28 days.



As you can see, it will be intense, but I think it will be fun/hard.  So if anyone wants to get a hold of me between June 19th and July 17th, you can't.  Sorry.  But you can call Amanda.  I'm sure she would like the support.  I'll try and do at least one more post before I leave.

What a Great Day

I haven't been flying since last May 23rd.  I've had the plane all rented about 5 times since then, but every I try to go it rains.  Plus its expensive and I haven't had the money.  So this last saturday I was finally able to go with some tax refund money.  I went up with my old flight instructor and friend Todd Christensen.  It was amazing, I miss flying so much.  I wish I could go every day.  We took of from Spanish fork airport, flew up provo canyon, over Heber and Jordanelle, past Park City, down through Parley's canyon and back to provo.  We made a few landings at heber and SLC.  It was a beautiful day for flying, and just reaffirmed how much I love to fly.

After I was done flying Amanda and I went with our friends Brandon and Lisa Jastal to a car show at Thanksgiving Point.  It was pretty cool.  There were some sweet cars.  Their friend had an old Model-T that was submitted into the show, so we got a picture of us sitting in it.  It was a pretty fun day and the weather couldn't have been any better.

                                                   Us and the Jastals (he's in the ROTC with me)

Congratulations is in order

Amanda finally got a job!  Woo Hoo!  She applied to work at Primary Children's Hospital in SLC a few weeks ago.  They had over 200 applicants, and only a few positions.  Well she got an interview and rocked it.  The people loved her.  They told her they would make a decision that weekend and let everyone know the beginning of the next week.  Well that happened before we went to CA, so the whole time we were in CA we were worrying about it.  We hadn't heard anything.  The week past, and still nothing.  Well Amanda sent some emails and tried calling, and no responses.  And still another week went by and we didn't hear anything.  So she sent some more emails and made a few more phone calls.  We were kind of starting to get worried, but we kept praying.  And finally today they called her and offered her a position!  We are so excited.  She will start July 26th, and we'll start getting benefits on Sept 1st.  She will be working on the medical unit, which is just a normal floor in the hospital.  However, kids will be sent to her until when they are kind of unstable mentally to become stable before they try out the mental hospital.  So it will be fun for her, she is really excited.

Is anyone out there?

So I am just wondering who actually reads my blog (besides my mom and dad).  Not that it is a big deal, because I really enjoy doing it.  I am always hearing how important it is too keep a journal, and I am horrible at sitting down and taking the time to write one, so the blog is the next best thing.  So even if nobody else does read it, I will continue.  Anyways, if you are reading this leave a quick comment so I can see if anybody does read it.  Thanks.

Third Times A Charm

Well, we went to California AGAIN!  It was our 3rd time this year so far.  This time we went for Amanda's friend Julie's wedding.  They were married in the Redlands, CA temple on May 1st.  Here is a little synopsis of our journey to the land of fruits and nuts.

We rented a car (because neither of our cars are reliable enough) and drove to San Bernadino, CA on friday Apr 30th.  As a little side note, we stopped in Vegas for lunch at an Arby's and Amanda ordered popcorn chicken.  She bit into the first one and it was completely raw inside!  So we broke open the other ones and they were all uncooked!  So I took them up to the counter and the manger was bugged.  She returned them, then resold us a roast beef sandwich.  I was shocked.  It was horrible customer service.  I was thinking they would just swap it out, or maybe comp our meal or something, but no.

Anyways, we got to our hotel that night and got some subway and watched the Jazz play the nuggets (which they won).  The next morning we had to be out of our room by 11 am, and the wedding wasn't until 2:30.  So we found a movie theatre and watched The Backup Plan.  It was alright, there were some funny lines, but I probably wouldn't recommend it.  After the movie we went to a local pizza shop, ate lunch and changed in their bathrooms and headed to the temple.  After the wedding and the whole pictures thing, we had another few hours to kill, so we went back to the theatre and watched Clash of the Titans in 3D.  This movie I would recommend, it was pretty cool.  Then the reception was in a neighbor's front yard.  After the reception we drove to Aliso Viejo, CA where my cousin and his wife live.  We stayed with them the rest of the trip.

                                                (picture I took of the Redlands, CA temple)

(they had this wall set up with their pictures all over it, and an empty frame the guests could stand in fro a picture as they arrived.)

The next morning was sunday, so we found a church and went to just sacrament meeting, then drove down to Laguna beach, which was only about 10 minutes away.  It was beautiful.  We pulled up into a parking spot and the person who was there before us had left 3 hours left on the meter.  That saved us about 6 dollars!  We walked around the beach, got some lunch, etc.  It was amazingly beautiful.  We walked along the sand, looked at shells, saw an old muslim lady smoking out of a BONG, a really old lady in a bikini, etc.  We saw it all.

Later that night we had a BBQ with my cousins and their next door neighbors.  The next day was DISNEY LAND DAY!  It was fun.  Amanda had never been, so it was a whole new world for her (no pun intended).  It wasn't crowded at all, so the longest line we waited in was about 20 minutes for the Indiana Jones ride.  Did I mention we got in for Free?  Yeah, we did the "give a day get a day" program for free tickets.  We volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for a few hours and got free day passes to disney land (which are now going for $75 a day per person!).  We also got honorary volunteer pins to wear around.  It was a great day, about 80 degrees, and perfect.

On the way home that night our stupid GPS took us on a toll road, which we didn't have enough money for.  So we are sitting there at the gate 15 cents short of the toll debating what to do.  If you just go through they take a picture of your license plate and send you a ticket in the mail.  There were about 6 lanes we would have gone too, but happened to choose this specific one (it was all automated and there wasn't any attendant around).  I had the though to check the place where peoples extra change is returned and sure enough there was 2 $1 gold coins in there!  Coincidence?  I think not.  Heavenly Father was watching over us.  So we payed the toll and went on our way.  It was definitely a tender mercy.

The next morning we drove to San Clemente to stop of the Rainbow Sandals outlet, then made the 9 1/2 hour drive back to provo and got home around 10:30.  The drive went by really quick there and back.  It was a really fun trip, and a nice break right after school ended.

On To Bigger And Better Things

Amanda graduated from BYU on April 23rd, 2010.  She is really excited to get a break from school, because she has been going straight for the past 4 years (not to mention high school).  She graduated from the college of nursing, which is one of the best programs in utah.  Her family flew out on wednesday evening and thursday was the big commencement for all the graduates in the Marriot Center.

There were about 6,100 graduates from the entire university, and they took up a good portion of the marriot center.  Elder Christoffersen spoke, and I got to lead him and the graduates into the marriot center (see post below).  Right after that was done we went outside and took pictures, then I had to run to my very last class of the semester.

                           (from L to R: Me, Amanda, Annie & Fiance Ryan, Rebecca, Mike)
The next day was the actual graduation where she walked.  It was for all the nursing program.  There were about 65 nurses graduating, and around 40 walked from December.  It was exciting to watch her.

After the graduation ceremony we took more pictures in the Spencer W. Kimball Tower, then went to Training Table.  Unfortunately it was raining that day, otherwise we would have gone and taken more pictures around campus.  Friday night we had a BBQ then watched Blind Side.  Saturday was a relaxing day.  The girls had a wedding shower for Amanda's sister Annie in our back yard.  While that was going on I went and hung out with Joseph, my little brother (I volunteer with Big Brother/Big Sisters of Utah) during the shower.  Later that afternoon we grilled burgers, then went to the distribution center, then took them on a tour of provo.  The girls took about half hour to look at dresses, then we all drove up to Bridal Veil Falls

Then we stopped off at the trail head to Y Mountain to show Mike and Rebecca the view of utah county.

It was a fun weekend.  We drove them to the airport saturday night for a red-eye flight back to North Carolina.  We'll see them all again this june when Annie and Ryan get married.

Practically famous

So for the BYU graduation I was in the color guard that led all the seniors on their march from the Abraham Smoot Building into the Marriot center.  It was neat because we were walking right in front of all the dignitaries, namely Elder Christoffersen and Elder Samuelson (BYU president).  The deseret news was there taking all sorts of pictures, and KSL was there filming everything.  It was neat to be a part of Amanda's graduation.  So in all the pictures we have after the graduation ceremony (for the whole school, 6,100 graduates) I am in my Air Force Uniform.  I will post some pictures of the graduation a little later, but here are some pictures I got off Deseretnews.com

that is me in the Air Force Uniform with Elder Christoffersen right behind me.  I was carrying a rifle.

Another picture of an Army cadet and I leading the dignitaries and the seniors across the bridge to the marriot center.

Up to speed

Once again it has taken me a while to update this blog.  I've just been so busy.  Here is a brief update for half of March and April.

We went to San Clemente, CA for my cousin Alex's wedding.  We drove to Vegas on Thursday, then the rest of the way to CA of Friday.  That evening there was a wedding rehearsal and a dinner.  It was fun to see all the family.  The next day we went to the beach and played in the waves with my nephews, build sand castles, etc.  Then the wedding was that afternoon.  I was an usher and got to walk my aunt down the aisle (the grooms mom).  The wedding was in a stake parking lot overlooking the ocean.  It was a beautiful view.  Then the reception later that night.  The next day we drove back home.  So it was a quick trip, but fun.

I found out I am going to Field training this summer at Maxwell AFB for the Air Force ROTC.  It was really competitive this year.  Last year they had to cut about 200 guys from the program, this year they had to cut 900!  They only allow so many people to go to field training each summer, because when you get a slot to go to field training it saves a spot for you to become an Air Force officer when you graduate.  They can only allow so many new officers a year.  I recently found out that I am going from June 20th to July 16th.  It will not be fun to leave Amanda for a month, but it is exciting that I got the slot.  Only 74% of the cadets from BYU got in, with a 70% average.

We had our semi annual dining out for the ROTC.  We dress up in our service dress and have a formal dinner.  It is really fun.

Amanda is graduating this week.  I am so proud of her!  she has done really well in the BYU nursing program, and has worked hard.  The senior commencement is on thursday, and as a member of the Air Force color guard I am leading all the seniors into the Marriot center.  Then there is the graduation ceremony on friday for the nursing program.  Her family is coming into town wednesday night, so it will be fun to see all them.

The other night a bunch of the girls from the nursing program all met up provo canyon and I built a bon fire for them to burn their BYU student scrubs.  It was fun to hear them swap stories.

California trip # 1

Well, Here we go.  Last week we went to Southern California for the Southern California Invitation Drill Meet (SCIDM) with the Air force ROTC.  It was a blast.  Amanda came with us, which made it much better.  We drove one of those grey hound busses with the T.V.'s to Vegas the first day.  We stopped at Nellis Air Force Base in vegas and saw the thunder birds (Air force equivalent of the blue angels).  We got to meet their crew, but not the pilots themselves.  But they put on a little show for us.  They did all their pre-flight stuff which is a show in and of itself, then they took off in diamond formation and went straight into a loop over the runway.  It was awesome.  Then they did a fly over.  Unfortunately thats all we got to see because they went and practiced somewhere over the desert.

This picture is Amanda and I standing out on the flight line in from of the thunder bird jets.  

They fly F-16's.

This is a picture of them taking off.  There are about 9 planes in all, but only 6 planes fly and do all the stunts at one time.  The others do publicity stuff like going to air shows early and fly the mayor around, etc.  The man standing there is one of the enlisted crew members.

In the Thunder Bird hangar there is a huge American flag.  So being in the color guard, we decided it would make a cool picture to get the member of the BYU AFROTC color guard in front of it.  I have become pretty close to mainly the guys on the front row.  We spent a lot of time together practicing for this trip.

After we saw the Thunder Birds we went to what is affectionately known as "the petting zoo."  It is there on the Base.  It is a museum compiled of a bunch of confiscated russian military equipment they acquired during the cold war.  It was pretty cool.  They had Planes, helicopters, guns, tanks, missiles, etc.  Above is a pic of me sitting in the cockpit of a Mig-29.

Amanda got the itch to blow something up with a grenade launcher, and who wouldn't?  I mean, look at that thing.  It was pretty heavy, and she had a bit of trouble getting it up on her shoulder, but she managed.

This is Amanda and I sitting in the cockpit of one of the russian helicopters.  I can't remember the name of it, but it was one that could land on water or land.  It would float like a boat, and could shoot torpedos.  

This is us sitting on top of the helicopter we were just sitting in.

Part of the festivities of SCIDM is the inspection.  The drill team gets inspected by Marine drill sergeants.  It was pretty funny to watch.  These Marines would scream at the top of their lungs at the cadets to get them flustered, etc.  This is a picture of my friend Josh getting yelled at.

Here is the color guard at the Anaheim Angels stadium parking lot (that is where the competition took place).  Those of us in blue were the ones who competed.  That particular uniform is called Service Dress.  The camo is Called Battle Dress Uniform.  But we recently got new camo (you can see me wearing it in the pictures above) called Air Battle Uniforms (ABU's).

Here is a picture of me getting ready to go compete.  I thought we did a really good job.  Probably the best we have ever done.  Unfortunately we didn't win though.  BYU got 2nd place overall, right behind the Air Force Academy.  It was a really fun trip.

Top 10 reasons why I'm excited for March

I am really excited for this coming month. Here are some reasons why, to name a few:
1) Winter is nearly over
2) School is nearly over
3) I am going to California TWICE in the same month! Once with the ROTC, and once for my cousins wedding.
4) After this week I no longer have to get up at 5:30 AM every week day
5) Flash Forward starts back up with season 2
6) We are getting a big tax refund
7) I finally have some money to go flying again, and the weather is great for it (most days)
8) I will have been married for 4 wonderful months
9) Elder Neuenschwander is coming to speak to the ROTC on the 24th
10) March Madness

Flash Forward

My sister ashley got Amanda and I hooked on a TV show called "Flash Forward." I think we probably watched all 10 episodes in like 3 days. But then it ended. Well, fortunately they just announced that will start up again on March 18. Oh yeah. I am wondering if they will try and wrap it up by april 29, 2010 because in the show that is they day all their flash forwards went to. (if you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the trailer on youtube.) We'll see where this series goes.

From the same writers came LOST. I am having a hard time watching one episode at a time now. All the other seasons I was behind and would rent or borrow them on DVD, but now its in the 6th season and I have to watch each episode on the computer as it comes. Its killing me. I'm excited to see where this all ends up.

My favorite super bowl ad

There were some great commercials this super bowl. My all time favorite of them all was this one.



My 2nd favorite was this one:



Anyways, good ads. They never cease to amaze me. Also, the new Robin Hood movie coming out with Russel Crowe Looks AWESOME!

My new Design

So, after a lot of work, and confusing stuff, I finally have my very own personalized background for my blog. I designed it on Adobe Illustrator, and thanks to about 9 emails back and forth from a lady in TX named Teresa, we got it onto my blog. I had to update my template, and go through a bunch of hoops to get it up there. So tell me, what do you think about it? I kind of like it. and I will be doing custom ones in the future from now on now that I know how to do it. Thanks Teresa (if your reading this).

So, how about a little update in our lives. We have been married a grand total of 8 weeks and 3 days now. On thursday it will be exactly 2 months. I can't believe how fast it has gone so far. I love being married. Amanda makes my life so much better. School has started up, and I'm taking 15 credits. Its not going to be too bad. Although this is Amanda's last semester, so she is wicked busy. She is doing her capstone (like an internship) at Primary Children's Hospital in SLC. She has to be there at 7AM, and take the TRAX there, so she leaves our apartment at 5:30AM, drives to 1300 E. in Salt Lake, jumps on TRAX, and rides it to the hospital. She doesn't get home until about 9PM. So with that and work and school, its going to be a long semester of us not seeing each other very much. We just keep telling ourselves it will be worth it in the end.

And, some big new............I FINALLY GOT ANOTHER JOB! I have been booting cars since August, and it is 100% commission, which can really suck if nobody parks illegally. I've gotten some huge paychecks, and some really small ones. My last two paychecks totaled $201. So I have been job hunting for a while, and applying at a ton of different places. And I finally got a job at Office Max here in provo. I will be doing everything from warehouse work to running the cash register to helping people find stuff they want. I will start probably monday. To start I will only make $7.50 an hour, but hey, thats still more than I made over the past month. Working twenty hours a week will put me at about $300 a pay check, so it will be nice to know how much I'm getting paid each pay period. I'm excited for it.

Funny Commercial

2010 thus far

Last saturday Amanda and I decided to take a little excursion to Ogden.  We made it a little day trip.  It was about a two hour drive up to Ogden.  We stopped at the Hill Air Force Base and went to their Airplane museum.  It was great!  I swear I could spend all day there.  They have so many cool planes.  We took a picture next to the Douglas C-3 which is the plane my Grandpa flew during the vietnam era.

It was a huge plane used for Cargo.  It was pretty neat.  After the museum we went to the Ogden temple.  We had planned on doing an endowment session, but when we got there they asked us if we could do sealings.  It was neat to be able to remember those promises and covenants.  After the temple we drove to layton and went to a mexican restaurant called Garcia's.  It was great.  We had to pick up Amanda's sister from the airport that night in SLC.  Her plane was supposed to land at 11:37 p.m. but she didn't walk out of the gate until about 12:30 a.m.  So needless to say it was a late night by the time we got back to provo.  And besides that and school starting today, that just about wraps up the exciting stuff for 2010 thus far.