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.