Kyle and Laura...Better Together

Catch-up.. ketchup.. catsup?!

2011-11-13T22:24:00.001-07:00

Much to share.. but we are still convinced we aren't very interesting people and really just think we should blog so we can have some sort of journal.. So in a very interesting list of bullet points, here is what has happened since May.

* We found out we are having a baby!! Stapley Baby is due for arrival around January 11

* Upon discovering that we were expanding the family by 1..Kyle sold his truck.. his pride and joy. It was a hard decision but having it break down 2 times in the awful construction zone in Utah county certainly made this decision a bit easier

*After much deliberation and research we joined the ranks of white sedan owners. We bought a newish Toyota Camry. We have learned now that you should check out every single part of the car before purchase. Much to our dismay.. we discovered too late that the CD player doesn't work. Awesome. Good thing iPods were invented.

* In July we were able to spend some time up in Washington and had a swell time. We always love a vacation. We also discovered our favorite drink while there.. that is SEAGRAM'S ginger ale. The best stuff. Unfortunately they don't sell it in Utah so we have to have it imported.

* August we found out that Stapley Baby is a BOY!! We are very excited!

* Also in August we celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage.. can hardly believe it's been that long. We had a nice staycation in Park City and ended the weekend with the Josh Groban concert. His best one yet.

* Kyle's family came to town at the beginning of October to have a joint baby shower with his cousin, Brittanie and I. It was fun having them here.

* In October, we celebrated Kyle's birthday. He had to run a film festival that day at BYU so we didn't get to go out and celebrate it until later that night. we just decided to stop at a nearby pizza place in the Riverwoods that just opened and lo and behold...what did they have on tap? Seagram's Ginger Ale! It was a birthday miracle!

* Now it's November, and it has already been a crazy busy month mainly because of my brother, Jake's, wedding. It was a long time coming and we are really happy that we were able to help out with the festivities. We are excited to have Leila in our family officially, but honestly, it's felt like she has already been in the family for a year.

Whew. Now whats next? We are getting the baby's room all ready, even though we still feel like we have hardly any baby stuff at all. Thanksgiving should be fun, and hopefully our doctor will okay us to go to Denver for Jake and Leila's reception there. Then Christmas, then Baby Stapley comes! Ahh it's coming so fast.

Back Blogging

2011-05-18T19:58:00.003-06:00

So we are pretty convinced that we have dull lives, as you can probably witness from the lack of posts that we have had on our blog. And by golly, our last two posts are about eating food without buns! Anyway... we thought that we still should update what we have been doing the last few months. And what is the best way to do that? With collages of course!

Winter that never ends... in February we were able to go to the ice castles in Midway. It was pretty amazing how big they were. We also went to the premiere of "For Robbing The Dead" a full length film created by the BYU Film Department. Easter was fun and we still had way too much snow. We also went to a family wedding where we decided to all sneak into a small classroom to have our own personal reception.

April and May are big months with lots of birthdays, including Laura's 25th birthday, so I took her to St. George for the weekend to get some sun. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Cedar City where we slept in the "peacock room." It was interesting. Laura's parents met us in St. George the next day and took us to Mesquite for a large casino buffet dinner. It was pretty amazing. To get a discount. we signed up for the Eureka Club and got these sweet cards with bungee cords and free mugs. Laura's aunt and uncle hosted us for her birthday dinner and we had the most amazing ribs! Thanks uncle Brad! On the way home we decided to find these petroglyphs near Pinto, UT. Some locals told us about it and we thought we knew where to go. Well, their directions weren't the best and it doesn't help when the site doesn't have any markings. We drove a few unnecessary miles, but eventually found it. It was pretty amazing.

The next Sunday, we had a Mother's Day/Birthdays/Cinco De Mayo extravaganza with Laura's family. We ate a huge Mexican feast and had a party that included mustaches, piñatas, and mariachi music. It was hilarious to see everyone with their dark mustaches, especially Laura's brother Jake and her Dad, who actually grew theirs out for the occasion. We have never laughed so hard in our lives.

We are looking forward to our summer with plans to visit my family in Washington. Look for that trip's post to be up sometime early 2012...

Who needs buns? part 2...

2011-03-04T19:32:00.001-07:00

So we are having fun finding all of the healthy alternatives to our favorite restaurants. Today adventure was Jimmy Johns. They have this great website that let's you add or subtract the stuff on your sandwiches and see the nutritional facts. It was crazy to see the difference in calories from a sandwich with bread and one without. It was like 200 off! Then you take off the mayo and that's another 200 calories off. Pretty soon our lettuce wrapped "un-wich" is only 280 calories. Pretty awesome and quite tasty.

Who needs buns...

2011-03-02T20:09:00.003-07:00

This month we are trying to cut way back on certain things that are not so good for us. Things like sugar, carbs, and really bad snacks. So basically everything delicious. But with some planning and research, we have found some really great tasting alternatives, like awesome recipes for fish, salads, and turkey burgers. We can even eat our favorite fast foods. For example, today we went to In-n-Out and both got a cheeseburger "protein style." It was awesome, and only 300 calories (it's normally around 580ish). Laura loved it because it was like eating a hamburger mixed with lettuce wraps. We are excited to try other fun foods, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T17:27:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope that you are all having an amazing holiday season.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-11T09:05:00.003-07:00

This year we had two Thanksgivings as a family. Laura's parents picked us up and took us to Laura's aunts for the first meal. It was a feast! They had every Thanksgiving food you can think of. After our food comas, we went up to Kaysville to meet up with Laura'd brother, Jake, who had to work most of the day. Then we had our second dinner with him, which consisted of really good prime rib and mashed potatoes. Yum! Overall, a great Thanksgiving Day!

Kyle's Birthday

2010-12-11T08:55:00.001-07:00

For my birthday we decided to go to my favorite Chinese place, Joy Luck. Our friends, the Cole's, joined us with Laura's parents and brother. Yum, good food is always a must for a birthday celebration!

New job, New house, no time...

2010-09-20T20:45:00.008-06:00

Hi Internet, how are you? It's been a while, huh? You look good....have you been working out?

So it's been a crazy year. I can't believe that it's already the end of September! As you can see from Laura's last post. we have had a lot of stuff happen in our lives, yet we have neglected to share it on our blog. I guess when you make a lot of life changes, your priorities get moved around. However, as things start to settle back into normalcy, as so will our blogging.

So what made our lives so crazy? It all started with me getting laid-off from my last job. I worked at this awesome little animation studio for a little over two years. They were doing so great, until the market crashed and unfortunately, the funding got pulled. Luckily, Laura and I were still living at Laura's parents house. It was actually funny, we had put in an offer for a house the day before I found out the company was going to have to lay everyone off. Luckily we were able to get out of that, I couldn't even imagine what kind of situation we would have been in if we had bought that home in North Salt Lake and then I got laid-off. Whew! (Blessing number one) So I stayed on with them and volunteered while I looked for work, which was great because it gave me some structure in my life during that time. Little did I know that I would be looking for over a year and submitting over 400 resumes. There were so many close interviews and so many more disappointments. Thankfully, after what seemed like forever, I received a job offer at BYU to work in their film department. (Blessing number 2)

Now, the next challenge was that I was driving from Kaysville to BYU and back every day. (about 65 miles each way) So Laura and I knew that we had to fix that somehow. With Laura working in the Downtown area and me driving to Provo, when knew we had to find a place somewhere in the middle. So we started looking at apartments, and we were sorely disappointed with the options out there. We went from complex to complex looking at apartments that seemed to get older and cruddier, and where the rent was almost $1000+ a month. That seemed ridiculous to us. Why would we want to spend that much for something that we don't even own? So Laura started to dust off the old Realtor websites and started to see what was out there for fun. We weren't really looking seriously since we weren't planning on finding something permanent. But we just liked to look, it was kinda addicting. Well, after many weeks of looking for fun, a great looking town home popped up on the website. Laura begged me to call my friend who helped us find the house we put an offer on before I lost my job. She really wanted to just see this town home. I made her pick a few others so that it wouldn't be a waste if we didn't like the place. At this point, neither of us really considered looking at buying a house. and with us going out and looking was more just curiosity rather than actually looking to buy. Our realtor showed us the other places we picked. which were okay, then he showed us the home Laura picked out. We fell in love with it immediately. It was clean, new, had everything we were looking for. We left the house and went immediately to our bank to see if we could get pre-a pproved. 15 Days later, we were signing for the home. (Blessing #3) Crazy! We are homeowners! I guess we are growing up.

We have learned a lot from buying a new home. and all of the little nuances that come with it. Getting use to all the bills, dealing with a finicky microwave, finding the tricks to get good hot water, and lots of other stuff. It's been really nice to actually make the plac

e our own, and we will be working on that for the whole time we are living here, I'm sure. We finally got our guest room completed and are waiting for our first house guests to stay in the new room.

We are so grateful for what has happened to us in the last 2 years. Some may say, well how can you be grateful for losing your job? Well, we have learned so much and gained so mu ch by going through these hard times. We have gained good friends and outlooks in life. Things still aren't perfect, but they are getting so much better now. My relationship with Laura is better than ever, we have been married for 4 years now and we still act like we were married 4 months ago. We went to our new church building the other week and one of the guys in the bishopric asked me how I've liked being a newlywed. I told him th at we've been married for 4 years and he was surprised! I hope we can keep that up for the rest of our lives. I know there are countless lessons we have both learned, and I'm sure I won't realize them until years to come. But such is life. Right?

Here is a picture of our place. I will post more from the inside as soon as I can get them up.

To blog or not to blog...

2010-09-18T10:45:00.004-06:00

Finding the will power and motivation to blog is hard. That is why we haven't done it. Especially with all the back blogging we'd have to do.. Anyone want to do it for us?! I'd give you a dollar!

A quick recap:
Kyle got a job.
Amazing 4th of July with great friends.
We bought a townhouse so we could move, finally!!
(Laura) Cut hair off, miss it almost every single day.
Dealing with the many lovely things that come with home ownership, like broken microwaves.
Bought a couch, huge for us cause we really didn't own any furniture.
The Frenza's moved to Texas, sad day.
Celebrated 4 blissful years of marriage! Go us!
Hiked up to Timp cave, it was hard.
Went to Kennecott Copper mine and learned about copper and other minerals.
(Laura) Ran the Sandy Midnight 5k. Fun, but running alone isn't.
John Mayer concert, great musician but doesn't know how to talk appropriately to a crowd.
Colors 'reunion' concert. Good clean fun.

That about sums it up. Now we will try to go forth with better blogging motivation.

Zions and Bryce Canyon

2010-06-06T21:05:00.009-06:00

Our marathon Memorial Day weekend continued with Saturday in Zions and Sunday in Bryce Canyon. Kyle had never really been to either parks and since my Dad gets in freewe decided to make that apart of the trip. Zions was beautiful and the weather was perfect. My aunt Rhonda, uncle Brad, and Kye were also able to join us. We had lots of fun taking the shuttle bus up in to all the different areas and hike around. Sunday we left St. George and headed to Bryce Canyon. It was also nice weather and we just drove to the certain

areas that we wanted to see there. Unfortunately the best hike was closed due to falling rock so we opted to do a different one but there were like a million people so we just went a little way down and came back up.

It is a challenge to enjoy yourself and feel safe on a small trail with a drop off on one side when millions of people are trying to do the same thing and people just stop randomly to take pictures! After we saw all we wanted to see we headed back towards Manti where we stayed in a very interesting little hotel across from the temple. We stayed there Sunday night so we could just get up and go to Nephi for our annual Memorial Day in Nephi. It was a small turn out this year with just us and Jeanne's family. This year we made our return to the Family Treehouse Restaurant in Santaquin. We used to go there every Memorial Day but stopped about 5 years ago. This year we decided to give it another try. It didn't disappoint! Their scones were as yummy as ever! Perhaps it will become part of the tradition again. Overall we had a great weekend packed to the brim!

St. George Midnight 5K

2010-06-06T20:33:00.007-06:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we were able to go to St. George. We drove down Friday afternoon so we could make it in time to run the Midnight 5K. We had a great time, and did really well. It was lots of fun running in the dark with a full moon. It was quite the sight, there were about 500 people all decked out in glow-sticks and lights running like crazy. I'll tell you what, there is nothing better than running at night!

Us before the run, Look at the moon!

Kyle Coming in strong!

My Mom coming in at the end! We wanted a picture of me but right when my dad took it, a guy walked in front of the camera. Sad!

My Mom and Aunt all ready to run with their glow stick glasses

Happy Birthday Laura!

2010-05-01T23:09:00.003-06:00

Today we celebrated my amazing and beautiful wife's Birthday! She is so awesome and amazing so I hope that I was able to make this day really special for her!

I love you Laura! Happy Birthday!

My Beard Experiment

2010-04-10T19:37:00.004-06:00

A while back I made an oath with some of the people at my studio that I wouldn't shave until I got another job interview. So 8 days later, to my excitement, I got an interview so off goes the beard! I've never let my facial hair grow out this long. I think the longest was about 3 days. So I was surprised how quickly it grew and how full it looked. At first I hated it. It was so itchy and annoying. Towards the end, it kind of stopped itching, but it was annoying with all the food getting stuck in it and Laura not wanting to kiss me because it was too prickly. So today we shaved it off. But we decided to try out some different hair styles before completely taking it all the way off:Here is the full beard. It was funny because it was pretty red and brown but it also had little blond hairs in it that sparkled in the light. Weird huh?

Me before the shave. Style #1: The Beard

Style 2: Gotee. Not really my favorite. I liked the bread better.

Style 3: The Handlebars. Awesome!

Style #4: The Mustache: Very Creepy.

Me shaving the mustache. Thank goodness it's all gone!

Style #5: Back to normal. Which style do you like best?

Wow...so much yarn...

2010-01-24T19:05:00.009-07:00

Today we went to church with Laura's best friend and our eyes were able to behold a masterpiece of amazing proportions. A girl walked in with a full dress crocheted all out of really thick yarn. The best part was all over the bottom of the dress were yarn tassels that swung as she walked. It was probably the most interesting dress I've ever seen. We had to sneak this picture:

Thank you Crochet lady, you made our Sunday. But we have to give her some credit, I'm sure it took her a really long time to make it. Hmm, Makes you think of the Muppets doesn't it?

End of year review...in Collages!

2010-01-11T21:21:00.004-07:00

Due to so much time that has passed since we have last blogged, and we know how daunting it is to back blog, we have decided to keep this post short and sweet and to do the pictures in collages.

During the Christmas season we were surprised by a visit from my sister, Kelli, and her family. We met up at our Grandma's favorite place to eat, Cowboy Grub, and then visited her grave. It was really fun to see then again. Later that month Laura and I were able to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert with our friends Matt and Rebekah. We had a blast despite some pretty terrible traffic. We decided to meet at the Gateway and take Trax over to the Conference Center since parking was so bad. It was my first time on Trax! So fun. Natalie Cole was the special guest for the evening and she was amazing. And lastly, we were invited to a neighborhood Murder Mystery Christmas Dinner. It was fun to get all dressed up and act the whole night. Laura played a burnt out waitress and I played a sleazy moocher. Luckily neither of us were the murderer or the one murdered.

This year we spent Christmas with my family in Seattle. It was fun for me since I haven't really spent it with them since we've gotten married. On Christmas eve we had a gingerbread house contest, which we won. Then games galore! We got the usual pajamas the night before, which is a great tradition. The next morning we made Laura's family's traditional Caramel Pull-a-parts and opened presents. It was so nice to just relax during those first few days in Seattle. The weather was super nice and it hardly rained the whole week we were there. A nice change from the frigid weather in Utah. After recouping, we did some more sightseeing. My parents went with us to Orcas Island and Mt. Constitution. Then my little sister, Kaci, came with us to Snoqualmie Falls. Really fun stuff. The day we flew out, we didn't have to be to the airport until the evening so we went downtown to walk around Pikes Place. We took Laura to the worlds first Starbucks so she can get her Caramel Apple Spice that she loves. We also visited the less knows Post Alley Gum Wall. It's not for those who are germaphobes. Laura and I included our contribution to the wall and we headed out to Alki Point, which has gorgeous views of the Seattle skyline. Sadly our trip had to end and we made it back to Utah safely, even after a few hours of delay due to snow and ice in Salt Lake.

Our Holiday festivities didn't end there, For New Years Eve we met back up with Matt and Rebekah for a really fancy 5-course meal at this amazing Italian restaurant in Sandy called Fratelli. The food was so extra fancy, we all felt like we were judging Iron Chef or something. That night we stayed with Matt and Rebekah and celebrated the New Year with more food and games. Then next morning, Rebekah taught me how to make some amazing omelets, which I will have to add to our cooking blog sometime soon. Later that night we drove down to Utah County and met up with our friends Amy and Brandon for more games and food. Laura made little Kennedy the cutest little tutu. She was adorable.

Overall, we had a great holiday season. We both agree that we need a vacation just to recover from our holidays. We hope everyone had a great holiday season and let's hope that 2010 is the best year yet!

New Recipe to Try!

2010-01-02T15:35:00.003-07:00

After a bit of a Hiatus, we just added a new recipe to our cooking blog so check it out! Updates to this blog is soon to follow...

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

2009-12-25T14:34:00.003-07:00

We hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! We are certainly looking forward to 2010 and hope it has much in store for us! We are kind of behind on our blogging, so perhaps we will have to attempt some back blogging some time, also we didn't get out any Christmas cards this year. So this will have to do!! Happy Holidays!

Fall Family Photoshoot

2009-11-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Last week we had Laura's sister, Jeanne, take some pictures of the family out in the fall leaves. We had some fun acting like models, but I think the pictures turned out really good. Here is a collage of some of our favorites:

Happy Halloween 2009!!

2009-10-31T23:31:00.002-06:00

Happy Halloween! Here are some pictures from our fun Halloween party we had today. As you can see Laura dressed up this year as a butterfly and I dressed up as a professional bowler from the 1980's, although everyone at work thought I dressed up as a pedophile. I'm sure I won the "Creepiest Costume" Award. But the party was fun and full of food, home-made Root beer, and rockband/singstar. We were suprised by the talent some of our friends had. Thanks to the Frenzas, Crowes, and Markham for coming all the way up to our place to share Halloween with us!

1980's Professional Bowler

Laura hated my costume because I looked like I was a creepy 40 year-old.

Isn't she a beautiful butterfly?

Kasia was super cute all dressed up. Looks like she knows what Halloween is all about. Candy!

Me and JC rocking it!

Group Picture!
Our Modern Pose

Laura really liked our pumpkin. It's Polka-dot!

Happy Happy Birthday Kyle Dear...

2009-10-13T07:32:00.004-06:00

Today is Kyle's Birthday!! I won't say how old he'll be... he might not like that!! So Happy Happy Birthday to my amazing, talented, hardworking, super funny and fun, kind, and handsome husband!

A Fall Weekend

2009-10-05T21:08:00.003-06:00

I think fall has arrived with a vengeance, which is ok with me. It means I get to wear all my pretty jackets! This last weekend was my kind of weekend for General Conference. Cold, crisp air, and some rain. I didn't have to go anywhere really and could just enjoy it all from inside a nice warm house. However, Kyle and I did go for drive on Sunday afternoon despite the rain, to check out some of the changing leaves. It was lovely up by East Canyon, that's where our little drive took us.The leaves were really bright, even if the camera doesn't show it!

Also perfect for the fall weather is chili and freshly made cinnamon rolls and bread! Kyle made his delicious chili, and I successfully made my first real loaf of bread.

To Bend and Back

2009-09-08T17:13:00.004-06:00

To Bend, Oregon and back we did in all about 50 hours. What a long drive! We decided that for Labor Day weekend we would go visit Kyle's sister Kelli an her family who live in Bend, Oregon. They just recently had a baby and we thought we would go meet her and because they were also blessing her in church. Kyle's parents and Luke also came down for the occasion, so it was a nice little family reunion of sorts. We had a good time playing games and talking. We always love going to Oregon because there is no sales tax and to stock up on our favorite things from Trader Joe's. Kyle really enjoys driving...he drove the whole way, which is good cause otherwise I would have to.

This is basically the entire drive from Boise to Bend.. long, straight, nothingnessWe had a party for Cooper's 3rd birthday on Saturday... the cake was delish!We drove up to the Butte that overlooks all of Bend, from up there you can see everything!THE MENThe Lovely Ladies-don't we all look so radiant with the sun on our faces?!

Crabbing and Seattle 2009

2009-08-23T20:47:00.010-06:00

A few weeks ago Laura and I made our annual trip with my family to the Oregon Coast to do some Crabbing. Last year was Laura's first time out and it was also the first time we didn't catch any "keepers" (crab big enough to keep). we were determined to make this year count and catch as many as we can. We also were able to do some salmon fishing in the ocean. It was pretty cool since last time I went out past the bar, or the opening of the bay to the ocean, I got instantly sick and we had to turn back. Luckily, I took some medication to help with my sea legs and I did fine the whole time. Our captain is our old family friend, Van, who takes us out every year. We set the crab traps then went out about 3 or 4 miles into the ocean to troll for salmon. We trolled for about an hour and a half before I finally caught the largest fish I have ever caught. We were all excited about the catch so we decided to continue fishing for a few more hours. after some failed attempts to reel some in and the changing of the lures. My brother in law, Aaron, caught hold of a huge salmon. He fought with it for about 15 minutes before we finally got it in the net. It was about twice the size of my fish I caught earlier. Definitely the largest salmon I have ever seen. Van cleaned it on the boat, which is pretty disgusting, who knew fish has so much blood. Then it was off to get the crab. As we pulled each pot up we were pleasantly surprised to see that most of them were "keepers." we left that night with about 45 crabs. We had so much, Van decided to give a few to a family who were crabbing in the bay with little success. That was a really fun experience and something we are looking forward to doing again next year, maybe we will go out for tuna next time.

Another thing we love to do in Oregon is to visit the Tillamook Cheese factory. This place is like heaven on earth. they have the best cheese and ice cream. They have the best garlic and black pepper cheddar cheese, it's amazing. But this year they started a new promotion called the 38 flavor ice cream tour. We had to try it. So Laura and I and my sister and her husband pooled our money together to try it out. We really didn't know what to expect from it so we asked the workers what it was all about and they said it was a platter with mini size scoops of each flavor of ice cream they have. So we ordered it, and after a very, very weak attempt at a song about the 38 flavor tour, they brought out a platter and started to scoop up HUGE scoops of each flavor. It was massive. We all got spoons and started our 30 minute trek of eating this mountain of ice cream. It was sooo good! I think we ate almost all of it but some of the not so appetizing flavors that had melted into one glob of gross ice cream. But we are happy to say that we did it and we would recommend it to anyone that passed Tillamook.

After Oregon we drove up to Seattle for a few days of relaxing and playing games with my family. We also went downtown to go through the EMP (Experience Music Project) and walked around the Seattle Center. I love Seattle, there isn't a nicer and more beautiful city on the planet! We had a great time there and everytime we leave we miss it more.

The making of our 38 Flavor Tour

Aaron's massive fish

My catch of the day

Yum, crab bate!

Laura looking hot in a rain slicker

Laura and I jumping in the sunset

The Oregon Coast was so beautiful

Laura enjoying the small crabs on the jetty
Yum, crab...

Us at the EMP

Vegas Baby!

2009-08-02T18:20:00.011-06:00

Last weekend Laura and I went on a road trip with our friends, the Frenza's, for a fun and exciting weekend in Vegas! The main reason we wanted to go is because we got a really good deal on the Phantom of the Opera showing at the Venetian, but I haven't ever really been to Vegas and I wanted to walk around and see what the big hub-bub was all about. The first day we got there we started by walking around inside the Venetian. I was taken back by how huge these Hotels were. I was also amazed at how much alcohol was flowing everywhere. It was really weird to me to see people walking around malls and casinos at 10 in the morning with all types of drinks. (My personal favorites were the people walking around with these huge yard long margaritas that are so huge they have to have neck support.) During the day it was really nice to walk around, we went to the M&M's world and the Coca-Cola Store. While at the Coke Store, we had to try to drinks from around the world. Most were not that bad, but there was a few from Italy and Japan that were just awful. We went to In-N-Out for dinner (the cheapest place to eat in Vegas) and then decided to try to make it to the Bellagio for the fountains. Walking on the strip at night is an interesting experience. There are thousands of drunk people freaking out because they are at Vegas and you have to walk through a gauntlet of people passing out porn. It's funny because there is so much porn on the streets that we had to walk gingerly cause I almost slipped about 10 times. One of the funny things that happened while we were walking on the strip is this one guy was freaking out because his friend just missed the cross walk. He started yelling at him to just cross the street while cars were wizzing by. He started to walk out into the crosswalk to try to stop traffic so his friend could cross, even though his friend totally thought he was crazy. He was yelling how everyone needs to stop cause "I've got a badge!" of which he never produced. Needless to say, no one stopped for him and this just made him more angry. This gave us a great catchphrase for the rest of our trip. The Bellagio fountains were pretty awesome and worth the walk. We finally made it back to our hotel about 1 AM and just crashed. The next day, we decided to avoid the strip and its craziness so we drove out the the Hoover Dam. On the way we stopped at a Casino close to the dam for some lunch. One of our goals in Vegas were to eat at a buffet, however, the buffets now were $30-50 a person on the strip, luckily, this casino's buffet was only $7. So that was great! We also decided to play a few nickles in the slots since Laura has always wanted to try it out since she turned 21. We only got a dollar in nickles just to say we did it. My first pull I won $1.75, yeah! However, we flew through our dollar of nickles in about 5 minutes. That's enough gambling for us. The Hoover dam was awesome and huge! It's amazing how they built that so long ago. We went back to our hotel and got dressed up for Phantom. Phantom was amazing! I was really impressed with the production. It did seem a little rushed, but it was well worth the money. After we ate at the Luxe Restaurant, the sister restaurant of the Cheesecake Factory. It was amazing. The food did not disappoint and the prices were very reasonable. We wanted to see the Treasure Island show that night so we walked all the way down to TI and waited for the show. It was LAME! A bunch of girls stripping and making really bad booty jokes just made it not as classy as we thought. When a guy with half his shirt off started to scream in my face for no reason, we decided to just head back to the hotel. So overall, I would say we enjoyed most of our time in Vegas, but I was really glad we were leaving. I still don't understand what attracts people there, I guess it's the partying that I have just grown out of and now I think is childish. It actually made me sad that this is how my generation aspires to live. No responsibilities, no respect for others, and just partying all the time. I guess it's the "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die" attitude. Sadly, they don't understand the time they are wasting to find what really brings happiness in life.

Satterthwaite Family Reunion 09

2009-08-02T17:35:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago we helped my Mom with her family reunion. As a fun little surprise, on of Kyle's friends at his studio drew up a caricature of our Grandma that we put on T-Shirts for everyone. The first day all the girls got together and had manicures and pedicures at the local beauty school while the men met at Davis Golf Course and played a round of golf. We all met up at the end of the night at Cherry Hill and had a wonderful dinner. The next day we drove up to Francis peak on one of the scary roads we have ever driven on. It was sheer drop-offs the whole way up to the peak. At the top, it was beautiful. We all gathered for group pictures and then released balloons. The rest of the day was filled with games, food, and fun.

I Just Have To Share This...

2009-07-12T18:33:00.001-06:00

The Best Family Pictures Ever!

Hooray For The Fourth of July!

2009-07-05T22:26:00.001-06:00

It's time again for a great Kaysville 4th of July. Again we had our friends, the Frenzas, come and celebrate with us. The Kaysville parade was just as great as always! Tons of people, tons of floats, and tons of giveaways! And the city wide water fight was well worth the wait. I totally scored DDR for the PlayStation 2 from one of the floats. (too bad it's Disney edition, but still pretty cool!) We ate tons of food, watched the fireworks, and just had a great time!

We hope everyone had a great 4th and next year you should all join us up here!

Redbox Hoppin...

2009-06-27T21:36:00.001-06:00

So guess how many redbox kiosks we went to find this movie... That's right six. I really wanted to see it so I made Kyle check his redbox iPhone app to see which kiosk close to us had it in stock. I guess it must be popular since it was not at any within 10 miles. But soon some were popping up at locations all around the city, so we would wrecklessly drive to one, jump out, and be disappointed as someone had just rented it before us. Finally we got one! We have already seen this most hilarious movie, but now I can laugh myself to death all over again from the comfort of my own bed! Plus nothing beats free- love redbox codes! Don't think we've had to pay for one in a while. Anywho, this movie is laugh out loud funny and it may be a bit girly but there is something for everyone to enjoy! I definitely recommend it!!

How It's Made!

2009-06-11T13:00:00.008-06:00

One of my favorite shows on TV is Discovery Channel's How It's Made. It's like HGTV for men! I don't know why I am always so fascinated at how small little bars of metal can be turned into pliers, soda cans, or a cars bumper. We joke at work that because of the show we can all now make our own tent trailer and upright piano easily. So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered a few moths ago that How It's Made was coming to our studio to film us creating our animated films. The reason they chose us is because we create animated films in a different and innovative way then other Animation Studios. We do a hybrid of both the best from Stop Motion animation and the best from digital CG animation. It was so much fun to have them in the studio they were the nicest guys in the world and were really interested in what we are doing. They even filmed us all having a nerf gun fight just for fun. They spent a good 2 to 3 days with us filming all different aspects of our studio. Here are some pictures of them filming, our segments will air sometime in the late fall.

First Golf of the Season: Park City

2009-06-11T12:11:00.004-06:00

Yes, it's that time again where I start posting about my golfing. Yesterday was the fist game of the season for me and I was really not looking forward to it as much as I usually am since I went to the driving range a few weeks ago and just absolutely embarrassed myself. The first few holes were okay but really not the best golf I've played. However, for some reason I decided to switch up my grip just to see how much better I would play. It was like a complete 180 on my game. I was driving straighter and farther then I have ever played in my life. I was even hitting great with my long irons! (Which has always been a struggle for me) So needless to say, it was a great opening to the season. Here are some highlights:

Park City Golf Course is probably one of the most beautiful courses in Utah. It is covered with large trees and is right at the foot of the mountains. It's seriously breathtaking.
It started to rain really hard from holes 2-9 and we got soaked, but it totally made me feel like I was back home in Seattle.
The outhouse bathrooms on the course were the nicest I have ever seen. Granite counter tops, intricate tile floors, stained wood walls. it was nicer than our bathroom at home.
One of the greens was guarded by this small black bird who kept swooping at my head as I was putting. I guess it's nest was close by.
Best part of the course, hardly a soul on it. I love playing when I'm not pressured by people behind us to hurry our game along.

Recap-May 2009

2009-06-07T22:43:00.018-06:00

Since I'm not a very good blogger, and it takes some serious motivation to keep this up, it will be rather simple. We have had a few posts in May, but didn't get around to it, so here is a quick overview of those events.

So, in May I turned 23. Kyle and I went to the Anniversary Inn to celebrate and i had a birthday bubble bath...it was quite nice. I haven't had a 'bath' in like 15 years. Hope none of you are offended by such a picture:) It was a good birthday because I didn't work- I refuse to work on my birthday. We went and ate at Taggart's Grill for dinner. It is up Morgan Canyon. They make delicious bread, and desserts. Also they have peacocks living there so that made it extra festive. That Sunday we had a small get together for more b-day fun. Jake was there.. Yeah! Jeanne, Trac, Aspen, and Sage came. As well as Matt and Rebekah, and also the lovely Ashley Belnap.
My mom made delicious food as usual and a cake.

It appears that the cake is melting, probably because it was, but it was very delicious! Nothing beats chocolate cake and loaded chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream!! Thank you Dryers for finally producing ice cream that is chocolate with peanut butter! To end the festivities my sister Jeanne lovingly provided some amazing entertainment. She brought Rock Band and Singstar. I could have sung for hours! It was so much fun, even my dad got into it!

One weekend we made the long drive up to Boise, ID to visit Kyle's sister Cori and her family. Also Kyle's parents were there that weekend to visit and to watch the kids while Cori and Aaron went on a little trip. So we all had a great time, its been a while since we've seen them. We went to the zoo, the park, shopping, on paddle boats, and to some museum with a bunch of animals that had been stuffed. It was fun to get away from Utah for a bit and put a 1000 miles on my car!
Lastly we'll finish with Memorial Day. This year we all decided to meet at the Brick Oven before heading down to Nephi. What a special experience... Anywho it's quite a tradition in my family to go down to Santaquin and Nephi and visit the graves of our relatives. We do it every year, I really don't believe we have missed once. We also go out to the farm and visit the roof of the house that my dad lived in until he was 3 or something before they moved into town. That is all that is left standing. It's quite pretty out there though, with old barns and the tall grass.

Well here's to summer! Yeah! Oh and to working 40 hours a week.. boo.

Gardening at Grandma's house

2009-05-11T20:43:00.001-06:00

Around every mothers day it has become a tradition in Laura's family to go to her Grandma's house and tend and plant her garden full of plants. Laura's grandma is 85 but she still can get out there and swing a pick ax like a pro. I'm definetly not the gardening type (my mom can attest to that) but this year we borrowed a roto-tiller so I was more than happy to play with manly toy. We had a lot of fun and I hope that her garden will grow extra large this year!

We Love Randomness...

2009-05-02T13:06:00.001-06:00

We both just love small things that are so random and out of place that they just make our day so much happier. Today we made a quick stop at Whole Foods in Sugarhouse to pick up our favorite cereal in the world "Puffins" when we were bombarded by about twenty people dressed in full islander garb and dancing to super loud drums right in front of the registers. It was so random we couldn't do anything but smile think about how awesome it was. It definetly made our day happier.

Happy Birthday Laura!

2009-05-01T16:49:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to wish my beautiful wife a very happy birthday! Look at how beautiful she is! I am such a lucky guy! Happy Birthday Honey!

Hooray for Spring!

2009-04-11T16:21:00.000-06:00

It's so nice today! I hope spring lasts for a long time! Time to start soaking up the sun.

Trip to St. George

2009-04-11T16:10:00.001-06:00

Laura and I totally needed a vacation from our everyday lives so we both took Friday off and drove down to St. George to get a change of scenery. We drove out to Whiterock Canyon and hiked around for a few hours. It's so nice to get away from the daily grind and get into nature. We loved it

Also, I finally found a good iPhone app that can post these blogs so now we can blog on the go! Fun!

Waiting To Do Our Taxes...

2009-03-26T20:00:00.001-06:00

Holy Cow! Smith And Edwards!

2009-03-26T19:56:00.004-06:00

Both Laura and I had the day off a few days ago and I wanted to go somewhere I have never had the chance to go...Smith and Edwards! Smith and Edwards is this huge warehouse that has an ecclectic array of different items ranging from used army clothes to DVDs to cowboy gear. It's really quite the place. We had a great
time dressing up in the army gear and picking out our favorite candies from the large selection of candy you can't find anymore. We had a great time and now we know where to get our next Halloween costumes!

Why I love My job!

2009-03-13T15:55:00.006-06:00

I've been at my current job for almost 10 months now and I absolutely love it! I love the people I work with, I love that I'm getting a ton of experience in the HR field, I love that I am involved in making an actual movie that we will be seen by millions of people, and I love the excitement I feel everyday to go to work. Today was one of those days that makes me realize how lucky I am to be working at Lumenas. For the past few weeks our animators have been invading everyone in the studio one-by-one with a massive arsenal of Nerf guns. So naturally everyone has been arming themselves in case of an attack. It all culminated this morning though when our VFX Supervisor, Brian, decided to make a toilet paper gun from a leaf blower and some spare parts and some help from the shop. This is what resulted:

This week has also been kind of a stressful one for everyone, and our CEO/Producer has been gone to LA for tons and tons of meetings. But he came back today and we just had to go attack him in his office to welcome him back:

All I have to say is that I love this job!

Also thanks Corey and Alexiss for sharing their videos!

Hooray for Ale 8!!!

2009-03-06T18:54:00.004-07:00

My mom went to Kentucky last week to visit my Aunt who lives in Lexington. While there she sent me on of my favorite things in the world...Ale 8. While on my mission in Cincinnati, I was introduced this amazing drink. It was kind of our unofficial drink as it is Kentucky made and can only be found in that area. We loved it so much that some of us got obsessed. We would keep long neck collections and create recipes with it. (I myself created an amazing Ale 8 glazed ham one thanksgiving) It's hard to describe the taste, it's like ginger ale mixed with white grape mixed with apple and other stuff, Laura thinks it tastes like an old left out Diet Coke. But one thing I know, I love it. So I was ecstatic when I got a package today full of Ale 8. Thanks Mom!

Models for a Day!

2009-02-23T22:12:00.005-07:00

Laura's sister is trying to build up her photography business and we have been helping her set up her photo blog. To help her get more photos, and just to have some fun, we acted as models for a day. Here are some of the picture that we loved:

As you can see, she does a pretty good job. So, if anyone needs a great (and inexpensive) photographer contact her at her blog: jeannelouisephotography.blogspot.com

Surprises Are Fun!!!

2009-02-14T19:30:00.002-07:00

Our Friends Adam and Keely are doing this so we thought this would be fun to do also!

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!

Super Bowl/Roomates Reunion

2009-02-01T22:40:00.007-07:00

Today was the Super Bowl and we thought that it would be fun to get all of our friends from our old apartment complex over for a reunion. Laura's roommate's, Tasha, Tiffanie, and Jo (with husband Shane who we kinda counted as a roommate), and My roommate Matt and his wife Rebekkah (who lived in the complex also) all came and had a large buffet of food and fun. Laura and I wanted to make some finger foods for the dinner so we decided to make Ranch Sliders and Sweet and Sour Meatballs. (Check out our recipe blog for recipes) It was so much fun having a party with all of us again. Since 2 1/2 years ago when we all sort of went our ways, 3 of us have gotten married, one went on a a mission, one couple lived in Colorado, and most of us have completed, or just about to complete college. We caught up with what everyone was doing, enjoyed a ton of food, and watched a heck of a great football game. (Although I wish Arizona would have won...But I guess it's okay according to this article) Thanks again for coming everyone, it was a blast seeing you all again and I hope we can have more fun get-togethers like tonight soon!

Us with our 3-D Glasses for the Commercial!
(Totally gave us all a headache after wearing them for like 2 minutes)

Place another setting at the Dinner Club table...

2009-01-23T20:17:00.004-07:00

Congrats to JC and Kjell for having the cutest little baby girl yesterday! Kasia Skye Crowe was born yesterday afternoon and were so so excited for them we had to make the late trip to Provo and visit. She was so adorable and small! And Kjell did it all naturally! You are strong girl! The only one in the hospital to do it naturally that day. Way to go you two!

Food for Thought....

2009-01-08T21:48:00.004-07:00

Our friends, Brandon and Amy, surprised us by stopping by last weekend on their way back to Provo from Idaho. We played games, had fun, unfortunately had to clean up a surprise flood in the basement, and we attempted and accomplished something amazing... What might that be you ask?! Well we made Homemade Donuts!!! Or more correctly- Spudnuts, because there was mashed potatoes in the dough. But let me tell you they were amazing!! They were light and fluffy, and fresh! So for your own donut making enjoyment we have posted the recipe on our recipe blog. You should give it a try..it isn't that difficult, you just need time!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-02T12:47:00.005-07:00

Happy Happy New Year to All!! Sure glad it's 2009- right?! That remains to be decided.. Anywho we didn't really do anything crazy this year- and since the last 3 years we have been in Washington, partying it up in Seattle, we just laid low. Also Kyle has been really sick this week so that also changed things as well! We just worked, and went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse- seriously some of the best food ever- and waited for midnight, rang in the new year, and went to bed!

Here is Jake, me and my mom thrilled with the coming of 2009, and with our version of my favorite drink from Starbucks-Caramel apple spice! Yum, yum- maybe I'll give the recipe out sometime-

House Hunting-A Real Party

2009-01-02T12:03:00.010-07:00

So we are in the process of looking for a house to buy. It has been quite interesting to say the least. It's fun but it can be rather stressful too. I have been doing lots of looking and research online of what available, picking what houses to actually go and look at etc. But boy oh boy... pictures can be awfully deceiving! Like for example.. how tall the ceilings are-one house looked amazing and well remodeled but once we made it to the basement we quickly found out that we could barely stand up all the way! See Exhibit A. Also looking at houses in the winter sure makes things memorable. We went to look at this house that wasn't quite finished and we had no idea that the driveway or curb hadn't been poured because the snow was covering everything- so as I was walking in beautiful new purple shoes, I stepped into this huge muddy hole and got mud everywhere! My shoe was filled with mud, my pants were covered, my foot was covered! Also upon leaving this house our Realtor's truck got stuck in said hole and we had to go and knock on someone's door to ask them to help pull us out! In that process Kyle got splattered allover with mud. So when we went to the next house we were happy to find that the water was turned on- so what did we do?! Yes thats right- I just hopped in the tub and cleaned my feet off and we found some paper towels so that Kyle could attempt to removed some of the mud on him. We probably won't be buying that house.. but we are sure glad we could use their water!! See Exhibit B - C - D- E and F. So all in all it's been nice to narrow things down as far as what we would possibly want, and want to spend. We are still looking for the right one.. hopefully we'll find one soon that is the best bang for our buck,not too far from work and before the interest rates go back up!!

Exhibit AExhibit B

Exhibit CExhibit D
Exhibit E

Exhibit F

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T13:08:00.006-07:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! We hope that you and yours are having a very happy holidays. Laura and I are spending our holidays at her parents in Kaysville. To start off our Christmas celebration we went with some friends last weekend to Temple Square to check out the lights and to eat dessert at The Garden. On Christmas Eve we all went to midnight mass at the Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake City. It was really quite a unique and awesome experience. One of my coworkers who is a member of the parish there was able to score us and Laura's family some tickets to the event. The Cathedral was really quite amazing and very cool. The mass started at midnight and lasted about 2 hours. We all really enjoyed it a lot, if anything, we all gained more respect and became more cultured from the experience. Because mass didn't get out until about 2am, we didn't really get to bed until about 3am. We all woke up so tired but still had our traditional caramel pull-a-parts for breakfast and enjoyed opening presents. We wish that we could share the Holidays with everyone of our friends, Happy Holidays to everyone!

Vancouver BC

2008-12-21T19:25:00.008-07:00

A few weeks back while we were in Washington, we took a little trip up to Vancouver, Canada. This was Laura's first visit to Canada, and the first time we've actually got to use our new passports. We went downtown and went shopping, drove around the park, and spent the night. The best part of the trip was going to the Canadian Heritage Gardens. We were really feeling kinda goofy that day so we took a ton of pictures of us being dorks with my parents. I don't care, we had fun! One thing that was a surprise was how crazy people drove up there. So many people were honking at each other for no reason! It was insane. But other than that it was a normal and fun town. We also saw the duty free shop at the border and were really excited to go there but all it was was just a bunch of booze and perfume. Lame. But we really had a great time.

The Gardens have this awesome maze that Laura and I ran through. and right at the end there is this huge tree. It took as a little while to get there but we finally did it!

Yeah for finally using our passports!Us being silly with these weird headsLaura thought it would be funny to straddle this vine thing but......of course there are consequences to our actions.Helping the gardens out a bit.
There is something I have always wondered, Why is it that in Washington there are grey squirrels, but right when you cross the border to Canada, there are Black squirrels? Do they know where the border is?!Aww, my parents are so cute!We were so excited to be in Canada we wanted to take a mid-air jumping picture.
The best picture of my parents ever.

Kaci and Aaron got married!

2008-11-23T19:52:00.009-07:00

My little sister got married a few weekends ago so we got the privilege to take a small vacation to Seattle and participate. Before the wedding the whole family pitched in with the wedding preparations. Our first night Laura got to do all the girls hair and we helped dip about 150 caramel apples. The night before the wedding, the family all went over to the church to set up the cultural hall for the reception. We spent about 8 hours stringing up lights, putting up a canopy and setting up the decorations. Laura and I were both very pleased with the way that the cultural hall turned out. Usually we discourage using the cultural hall for a reception as it just doesn't ever look very elegant. However, we were very impressed. On the day of the wedding we woke up to a down pour of rain. We were so worried that the rain would ruin the pictures after the wedding, but when we walked out of the temple, there was a huge hole of sunlight through the clouds that lasted just long enough for us to do all of the pictures. It was so awesome how it all worked out. Later that night the reception went off like planned. Kaci got an awesome jazz band to play so everyone that came stuck around until the end. There were so many people there that we had to roll out more tables to accommodate. At the last minute, Kaci told me that I had to MC the reception so that kept me busy most of the night. It was truly a party! We all danced, socialized, and ate some great food. The night was perfect and I think it was exactly how Kaci wanted it. We are so glad that we got to participate with the wedding and to see Kaci and Aaron get married. way to go you two!

Kaci and Aaron walking out of the Seattle Temple

Laura and My Sister Cori having fun

Laura doing Kaci's hair before the wedding

Dipping carmel apples all day

Kaci and Aarons first dance

Laura and I dancing the night away!

My two awesome Nephews

Us and the happy couple

Just Married!!

Kim got married!

2008-11-16T22:37:00.008-07:00

My wonderful friend Kimberly got married!!-it's been like 2 weeks now, so I'm a little slow- Kyle and I drove up to Blackfoot, Idaho to her reception. I couldn't miss such an event! She looked so beautiful and very happy! Aaron is such a lucky guy! Funny thing is.. we decided to make a little trip out of it so we stayed the night in Pocatello and the next morning while coming back from breakfast who did we run into?! Yes- that is right Kim and Aaron! We stayed in the same hotel, literally right next to each other! Small world I tell ya.

-Me and the lovely Lady-

Forks, Washington

2008-11-13T16:03:00.003-07:00

SO guess who went to Forks, Washington?! That's right we did! I (Laura) successfully convinced Kyle to drive us up there. Little did we know how long it really took to get there. We had to take the a ferry- which I Love- to the other side of the sound to drive on down. It was pouring rain all the day long so that made things even more interesting! You drive on this small 2 lane highway with only about 45 to 50 mph speed limit the whole way. So even though the GPS made it seem not so far in miles.. it takes much more time if you can only go 50 miles a hour the whole way. Needless to say we rather enjoyed ourselves. The people of Forks are really nice and friendly- the lady at the town grocery store was so gracious and told us to have a very beautiful day with a big smile. Who does that anymore?! Very few people. Since the town is quite small we kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone knew we were there because of Twlight and kept asking us where we were from. But we think the town really likes it and is capitalizing on this tourist like oppurtuntiy to make a few more bucks. Almost every business in town had some sort of souviner or info. The Chamber of Commerce was very helpful, they have a map designed specifcally for people like us (might I mention that I'm not obsessed and felt kind of foolish checking out some of these places, but it was all very interesting) who want to see the places mentioned in Twlight. Like they had a place chosen for the Cullen's house, a parking spot for Dr. Cullen at the town hospital, and Charlie's house etc. Also Bella's truck was parked at the Chamber of Commerce for all to see. Also we drove down to La Push cause I really wanted to see the beach and of course cause I was curious to see the Indian Reservation. It was another 25 minute drive west on another small highway- it was a kind of run down and a bit deserted. It was raining a little too hard so we didn't get out of the car to go to the beach. So i just snapped a few photos and we left cause we didn't want anyone to come and ask us what we were doing- it didn't appear that this city was welcoming Twlight enthusiasts... But all in all it was a good time- and I'd say worth the drive, at the very least we got to see a place we probably wouldn't have ever gone to.

A Night at the Opera...

2008-10-27T22:32:00.004-06:00

Also this week, my Director asked if I would take his tickets to the Utah Opera's performance of Madame Butterfly. I've never been to an opera, and thought it sounded fun, so I took them (I'm always up for something new). He gave it to me about 4 hours before the show so Laura and I wasn't able to go home and change to nice "opera" clothes. However, we were both just getting off of work so I thought we looked nice enough to go and not feel awkward. We got there and there were so many people dressed in really nice suits and fancy evening gowns. Yeah, we filled a little out of place, especially since our seats were right up front. The opera was very interesting, but really good. It was interesting in the fact that the story is about a WWI US Marine marrying a Japanese geisha, all sung in Italian. Weird huh. I really enjoyed it after I got used to looking up at the English translation and then quickly looking at what the actors are doing. It was a very good opera and surprisingly, kept my attention. Next time, I think i'll try to get dressed up a little bit more. Thanks Colin for the tickets!

My Birthday

2008-10-27T22:00:00.005-06:00

This past week we celebrated my birthday by meeting up with a group of our friends at the lovely Texas Roadhouse. If you have never eaten there, you are missing something special my friends. I have been promising my friend, Matt, for months that I would go with him to the Roadhouse. Finally a few months ago we went and I was sad that I didn't go sooner. Man they have the best ribs! (And I've never been too much of a rib guy) However, we invited some friends to meet us at this glorious restaurant. It took forever to get us seated and it was so crowded, but we had a great waitress and I got to sit on the saddle and get sang to. It was pretty fun. So what did I get for my birthday? An iPhone of course! Yeah, now I really feel trendy, I think I ready for my faux-hawk, double popped-collar, and skinny jeans.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to KYLE!!!

2008-10-13T08:32:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Kyle!!

Today is Kyle's Birthday!! YEAH!! He's growing up more and more everyday! Haha..I tried to talk him into talking the whole day off of work but he said work was important even on his birthday.. boo.. ! Thats ok.. Kyle has great work ethic I guess.. which is very important!! So.. if you read this blog.. you should leave a little present for Kyle.. a happy birthday comment!! Happy Birthday my wonderful.. amazing.. hard working husband!!

Yeah!!! Jake comes home tomorrow!!

2008-10-01T19:49:00.008-06:00

SO.. my brother is coming home from his mish tomorrow! I'm so excited .. I have spent the last 3 weeks (luckily I haven't really had a job until recently) getting things ready so he can have a place to put all his stuff. My mom says I came back just in time, I'm such a good helper ya know... and quite handy if you ask me. I painted Jake's room.. refinished a dresser and book shelf, and vacuumed lots. It was good for me though. But.. Yeah for Elder Broadhead- and yeah for the Dominican Republic letting him come back home. Hopefully he will bring something good back for me.. that's the best part of people coming back from foreign lands right?!

He was a very dedicated, seriously hard working missionary- can't you tell?! :)

Lagoon!

2008-09-28T22:44:00.010-06:00

Last week our friends scored some free tickets to Lagoon and were gracious enough to invite us along. We had so much fun. I haven't been to Lagoon since I was like 10, and up to about two years ago I was such a scaredy cat when it came to roller coasters and crazy scary rides. So I was excited because I really wanted to show my family that I finally got to go on the Collosus. It was fun because there was hardly anyone at the park so there were virtually no lines! I went on the every huge ride (except the ones you have to pay extra on) and loved it!!! Lagoon's new ride, Wicked, was fun but so short it almost wasn't worth it, but I think Collosus was my favorite. Their other new ride, the Samurai, took some encouraging, but I finally got on. It too wasn't that great. It was so jerky and whipped you around to the point that it kinda hurt. Not very fun. I think that I love those rides that make you get pushed back into your seat (like the loops in the Collosus) and not the ones that make you feel like the only thing holding you in the lap bar (like the drop on Wicked). We were so sad to leave, but thanks to JC and Kjell for the tickets and Brandon and Amy for coming too!!!

We got on the carosel and there was this turning seat that I wanted to get on so bad, so I ran to it and then right before it started this random kid got on and wanted to ride it with me. So I turned that thing so fast that the kid was falling all over the place after the ride. It was so funny
Yeah for Kjell for going on some rides even while pregnant!

Ryan Shupe Concert

2008-09-18T19:49:00.008-06:00

Every year Laura and I always try to go to the Ryan Shupe concert at Thanksgiving Point. We missed last year's concert so we made sure that we made it to this years. And we were happy to bring friends along. The concert was great and so much fun. They played all of our favorites and more soon to be favorites. We got to dance, sing, and even do head, shoulders, knees and toes. They put on such a better show than any other concert we have gone to. (and are a ton cheaper) We recommend everyone to go to their concerts!

Utah State Fair!

2008-09-18T19:49:00.003-06:00

Last week we went with Laura's parents to the Utah State Fair. It's always fun to attend the fair. There are rides, booths, weird people, and tons of animals. It's funny how everyone from all sorts of different backgrounds come out for the fair. We did have fun though, we got to see cool tigers from India, eat fair food, see a ton of photos, try to ignore the people trying to sell us stuff, watch a little girl beat her pig because it was overstimulated during the pig show, and all the cute little goats and horses. We had a blast, we need to go to more fairs.

Um.. remember when we attempted mini golf...

2008-09-08T22:28:00.008-06:00

So a while back we went miniature golfing with our dear friends - The Frenza's - it was a good time over there at cascade with all the crazy high school kids and first dates, cause everyone in provo takes their first dates to play mini golf right?! Well I was looking through the pictures again-(and had the random urge to blog) and realized that Brandon snuck into a rather beautiful picture of me and Kyle- what do you think?!Thanks for the surprise Brandon- Here are also some rather lovely pictures of you and Amy!

This is where Amy and I were happy to be golfing!

Clean Up Dress Up...

2008-09-07T10:47:00.006-06:00

This past week we have been slowly helping Laura's parents clean out some of their storage rooms so we can store our stuff while we look for our own place. It's been fun cause Laura keeps finding all of these old dresses and costumes she used to ware as a kid and she kept putting them on and having a fashion show. So of course I had to take pictures to share on the web! She also wanted to see if her wedding dress still fit her. Still fits like a glove! My favorite is that in almost every picture she is wearing her old corsage from a high school dance, we found a couple of them while cleaning her room and she wore them all day for fun. They were so dried out that she was leaving little flower crumbs everywhere she went. I'm glad I married someone who can make cleaning so much fun!

I can't tell if she is ready to go out or go to bed

Arg!

George Washington Wig

Ready to do some magic?

Yeah! It still fits!

The End of an Era...

2008-09-03T20:43:00.008-06:00

This past weekend we ended an era for Laura and I. After four years in Provo for me and three years for Laura, we decided that it was our time to move up in the world and move out of Provo. One major reason we decided to move is because of my job in downtown Salt Lake, and we feel that we have kind of outgrown Provo. So we packed up our stuff and moved up north. Picking Labor Day weekend probably wasn't the best weekend to choose to move since everyone else was moving or on vacation, but luckily we have awesome friends who helped move us all day. We couldn't believe we have accumulated so much junk! We barely fit most everything in one move, but I still had to fill up my truck the next day. We have decided to move temporarily into Laura's parent's house until we find ourselves a place closer to SLC. Luckily they have a lot of room at their house for us. We are really excited about our next chapter in our lives. My job at the Animation Studio is really keeping me busy, but is a ton of fun. And now Laura is enjoying the brief sabbatical from working but is still looking around for opportunities. Although we are excited to move up in the world and out of Provo, there are a few things we will still miss. I'll definitely miss the football, since we lived so close to the stadium we would just walk there. We'll both miss our friends. It's funny cause it seemed that we were all moving on with our lives at about the same time. Good thing we are not all moving too far away from each other. I'll also miss BYU. I remember walking on campus as a freshman, four years ago, and being so excited and proud to be at BYU. And when I left campus Sunday I still felt that same pride and excitement that I had years before. There definitely is a special spirit about that campus and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Things I won't miss about Provo: the driving. People drive crazy there!!! I would be so scared when Laura would drive by herself around Provo. I would take driving in downtown Seattle over Provo any day. Anyways, we loved our time in Provo and at college. It's scary to make changes since you get so comfortable with your life, but if we want to grow up, we have to move on. I guess the saying is true: the only people that like change are wet babies.

Graduation From College!!!

2008-08-15T18:29:00.019-06:00

Finally the last four years of my life has culminated into one final event...Graduation. Today I can officially say that I am a college graduate from Brigham Young University. Bring on those alumni donation calls! I actually finished in June so I have felt done since then but it's nice to have a huge celebration that actually confirms it. (Well, I guess I won't feel really confirmed until I receive my diploma in the mail) Luckily my parents were nice enough to fly down for the celebration. The ceremony began on Thursday with the University Commencement. The meeting is like this huge devotional for all the graduates. Everyone told me how boring and annoying it would be since all the graduates do is sit there and listen. So as the time drew near, we were all kind of not looking forward to going to this meeting, then I remembered that they broadcast it on TV, so we decided to stay home and watch it in our living room in our comfortable clothes, on comfortable couches, with yummy snacks and drinks. I'll tell ya, it was totally the way to go.

This morning, I had to get up really early to get in line at the Marriott Center for the processional at my individual school's convocation. The letter I received with instructions on what we are suppose to do for graduation was very specific about being there at 7am or you will not be able to walk in the processional and be seated with the "latecomers." So I was really worried that I would be late. However, when I got there I was the only one there and the officials didn't even show up until almost 20 minutes before the ceremony. Lame. Anyways, we got to go in and had a great ceremony. It was great to not have a repeat of my High School graduation where it felt like it went on and on forever. It was short and sweet, just the way it should be. After the ceremony, we took tons of pictures and then went to Tucanos to let my parents experience the greatness that is Tucanos. It was so much fun and I am glad that I didn't skip it like my other friends before me have.

It's weird that this chapter of my life is over. It's funny how I really wanted it to be over a few years ago, yet as it got closer I was afraid for it to end, as it gave me structure and it was comfortable. But now that it's over I am grateful for the experiences I had. There were good times and there were hard times. But again, like my mission, all of my growing, learning, and experience happened in these past few years. My time at BYU was amazing, so amazing that I think I'll write a blog post about it later. But now it's time to move on, it's scary but exciting at the same time. But its been shown to me that if I have faith great blessing will happen. For example, I have just started a new job at a major movie production studio in Salt Lake City doing some of their HR stuff and other administrative tasks. It's been a blast so far and I am really enjoying working in a professional, but creative atmosphere. So what's next? Who knows...

They gave me a huge gown! I could have smuggled all sorts of people in with me.

Me giving my mom the Stole of Gratitude

Cosmo the Cougar giving me my diploma

Laura and I after graduation

Hooray for the Y!

Listening to President Samuelson during the University Commencement

Our 2nd Anniversary

2008-08-15T17:40:00.007-06:00

Yeah! We made it to 2 years! Like it was hard at all...It's been so fun and awesome! For our anniversary we decided to just keep it easy and simple by staying in Salt Lake. For dinner we went to the Mayan, a themed restaurant that makes you feel like you just entered a Myan forest with lots of trees, tons of animal sounds, and divers that jump off a huge waterfall while you eat. Now we know, lots of people think the Mayan has gross food, but they must just order the wrong stuff cause our food was really good! After dinner we went to our hotel and spent most of the night watching our new obsession...The Olympics. We've watched so much of the Olympics that it's embarrassing. The next day we traveled up to Kaysville to have dinner with Laura's parents because her sister, Liz, and family were in town from Oregon. We had a great dinner, talked a lot, and again...watched the Olympics! Yeah! It was a great weekend and a great anniversary!

Big Time Update!

2008-08-13T20:57:00.011-06:00

I bet you all are wondering where we have been the last month or so. Well, we've been here but life has been just a little crazy! I started a new job with an animation movie studio in Salt Lake City and we have decided to move up to Salt Lake at the end of August. So between me putting long days in at the studio and us packing and preparing to move, we haven't had that much free time to blog. But we both feel that it is important to update everyone with some fun things we did the past few weeks, so here comes the update:

Laura's Mom's Birthday/Pioneer Celebration Concert.

To celebrate Laura's Mom's birthday we went to the Pioneer celebration concert at the Conference Center featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Osmonds. We'll just say that it was interesting. It's not everyday you see strobe and laser lights fill the Conference Center. It was totally a rock concert. The funny thing was my sister, Kelli, was watching it live on PBS in Oregon. She totally thought it was so weird and called me to laugh about it, while I was at the concert, which made her think it was even more funny. Ah...Good Times. After the concert we went to the Garden restaurant to get some really good dessert and cake for Laura's mom. Yum! Happy Birthday!

Satterthwaite Family Reunion

This year for the family reunion it was decided that we were going to hike Ben Lomond (a mountain in northern Utah) For some reason Laura and I thought we were totally prepared for this hike by taking walks every night, including a six mile walk/run up Provo Canyon. Yeah, we were totally not prepared for this hike. it was in an old river bed so it was really rocky and uneven. We hiked for about 2 hours and finally decided that it was time to turn around. We were so tired when we got back that we totally slept in the car back at camp. we then enjoyed some really good food, fun, and family. It was a lot of fun and we are excited for next years reunion (Which Laura's Mom is in charge of so we get to help)

Um... I think we need to talk...

The Police Concert

2008-07-21T22:22:00.004-06:00

On Saturday we finally got to use those expensive tickets we had on our fridge for over 5 months and attend The Police concert at the USANA amphitheater. We were very happy to be able to attend with Laura's friend, Ashley, and her sisters.(who are all so much fun!) We arrived a few hours early to try to get really good seats on the lawn, however, our idea was also thought up by about 5,000 other fans who got there before us. So we picked out our plot of grass and began to wait for the concert to begin. Luckily we brought Phase 10 to keep us busy while we waited in the heat of the Utah sun. Finally, Elvis Costello took the stage to open. It was an okay performance, except that his guitar was so dang loud that it was totally overpowering all of the other instruments in his band. You know it's bad when the people in front of you have ear plugs and still have to cover their ears. Needless to say, we played Phase 10 through his set. After a good 15 minute intermission, The Police came out strong with "Message in a Bottle" (which is the only Police song I can play on the guitar so of course it has become my favorite) They sounded great and the concert was really good. Laura and I had to sit down a couple of times to get fresh air from all the cigarette/pot smoke that thickly filled the air and I was totally fixated on so many plastered people acting like total idiots around us. We had a drunk guy trying to pick fights in front of us, a drunk couple who were WAY too comfortable with each other to our right, a drunk old guy who kept taking his shirt off and walking around to impress girls to our left, and a young family with kids, who probably have never seen drunk people before, behind us. The concert was actually kind of short, but we stayed after so that we didn't have to wait in line forever to get out. It was fun to see all the drunk people leave. When ever was it cool to inhibit yourself so much that you can barley stand, let alone walk? Luckily we found our way out and made it home is record time. Overall, it was a really fun concert and we had a great time! Thanks to all those who came with us! We had so much fun with all of you!

Crabbing in Oregon and Hanging out in Washington

2008-07-15T13:01:00.015-06:00

A few week ago Laura and I decided that we really needed a vacation. we have really took one since last year so we decided on kind of a whim to fly up to Washington and join my family on their trip to Oregon to go crabbing. Crabbing is something that my family has been doing for years, it kind of a tradition, but I haven't been able to do it since before I started BYU so I was happy when we decided to go out to Oregon and do it. We flew into Seattle (because the tickets were so much cheaper to fly there then to Portland) and immediately jumped into a car my parent brought for us and followed them right down to Portland. It was weird flying for 2 hours and then driving for 4 more, but we survived and ended up staying one night at this really nice Hilton. The next day we drove the rest of the way to the camp site in Nehalem and met up with my little sister (Kaci) and her friends, my older sister(Kelli) and her family, and our old family friends who are the crabbing experts, Van and Janice. It was nice to all be together with my family again, there is something comfortable about being with family and helps you relax. We started to set up camp. Laura and I love firsts and this trip was somewhat full of them, we realized that this was actually our fist time camping together. (we did once set up my tent in our living room and watched a movie, but I don't think that counted) Thankfully my parents and Kelli provided all of the supplies for us and we were so comfortable in our tent. The weather was a balmy 67 degrees with a pretty constant wind, so it got pretty cold at some points, but I loved it compared to Utah's 103 degree temperature when we left. Unfortunately, with the wind constantly blowing like it did, it effected our crabbing. We couldn't go out into the ocean (across the bar) because the waves were too big and choppy, so we had to stay in the bay and crab there. Kaci and her two friends went out first with my dad in the little aluminum boat, but the boat stalled and the winds started to pick up, so as soon as the boat got started again they had to come in for safety sake. The next day, the rest of us went and got our shellfish licenses and went out on Van's larger boat, the C-dory. It was great to be out on the water again and pulling those traps. So for those who are wondering, to catch crab you have these round net looking things called rings and larger, stiffer ones called pots, they are designed so that crab will enter them but when pulled, they cannot escape. So basically, we throw some bait (fish heads, raw chicken, tuna) in a bait-bag and strap it to these rings, then when we are in position we drop them into the water and wait for a few minutes, usually we go and drop a bunch of traps out then come back to pull them. They have a buoy at the end so we know where they are. Then we pull the traps up as fast as we can. It's quite the work out. Laura and i were out there for about 5 hours doing this, and we caught a ton of crab, but unfortunately, the crab have to be males and have to be a certain size requirement and none of the males we caught were big enough, so sadly we had to throw them all back in. It was the first year we have never caught anything, but this was the earliest our family has gone, so I think that was a factor. However, we still had a great time. We went for walks on the beach, went to Tillimook and ate ice cream and cheese, shopped at Seaside, and sat around the fire and laughed a lot. Good times. We drove back into Seattle and it was gorgeous! It was probably the most perfect weather I have ever seen there. It was so clear you could see Mt. Rainier from almost anywhere. While in Seattle, we wanted to drive up to Anacortas and go to this Italian bakery that Laura read about in a magazine. The place is called Geppetto's Italian Take Out. It's this really small building on the main drag in Anacortes and they had the most amazingly large Parmesan garlic rolls there! Yum! We wanted to try and take a ferry to the islands, but the ferries were so packed we would have had to wait until 8 that night to get on. So, my parents, who love to play tour guide, took us around the area into these beautiful forests and ending up at Deception Pass. We played on the beach there for a little bit then went shopping! Yeah! Laura's favorite thing to do when we are in Seattle is go shopping because they have so many stores that Utah doesn't have. The rest of our trip was playing games with my family, playing the Wii, and relaxing! We love Seattle so much and we were so sad to leave it. Thanks family for such a great vacation!!

Here are some more random pictures:

The Ocean was awesome, but freezing!

We stopped at the Cheesecake Factory in Portland and I had leftovers, so to reheat it I threw it into a dutch oven and it heated up like a champ.

Aww...

Oregon is so pretty

Eating ice cream at Tillamook

My nephew really digging into his ice cream

Laura on the boat with the crab traps

Dumping out the crabs that were too small, lucky guys...

Pulling out a stubborn crab that wouldn't let go of the trap

BBQ'ing Kebabs!

Mmmm...

Geppetto's in Anacortes!

Look at the size of that garlic and cheese roll!

Deception Point

Hanging out on a cliff (this pose is for you Ashley)

Crammed in and ready to go shopping!

Fourth of July Fun!

2008-07-15T12:47:00.010-06:00

Well, it's been a while and I bet you've all been wondering where we've been the past few weeks. We were on vacation! Hooray! (and it was a much needed one!) So here is what we were up to: Yeah for the forth of July celebration in Kaysville! Every year we make our way up to Laura's home town to join in the festivities. They may be a small town but they sure can put on a huge party! Luckily, we also got to share the fourth with some of our friends who made the trek up north with us. We first went to the huge parade. It's actually a decent parade, nothing too fancy...until...the huge city-wide water fight at the end. It's fun to see 50,000 people go nuts and spray each other with hoses and water guns all day. We tried to stay out of the action but eventually got wet. The best part was when our friend, Brandon, was taking pictures behind a tree of the water fight and some little kid with a huge water gun ran up behind him and just unloaded on him point blank, soaking Brandon's back. Unfortunately, some kid got hurt and the ambulance had to take him away. It's always fun until someone gets hurt. So who knows if they'll continue the water fight portion. The rest of the day was full of BBQ's, movies, naps, and more food. Then the fireworks! We all had a great time and we want to thank Amy and Brandon and Matt and Rebekah for coming up and enjoying the day with us! We had a great time!

Here are some fun pictures:

Yeah FireworksGirls at the Parade

Water Fight!Brandon after getting ambushed by some random kidMatt And Rebekah at the BBQ

When the power goes out...

2008-06-21T09:01:00.002-06:00

The other day when I was working at the MTC the power went out. The barbershop is in the basement, and therefore we have no windows and it can get very dark. Of course this was discovered when the power went out. So it's pretty hard to cut hair with no light... but that doesn't stop us! So what did we do?! We took the elders and our skills oustide.. and finished them up outside. Luckily someone had a camera so we could document this good time. Gotta love the excitement the MTC brings to my life!

Picture Messages...

2008-06-18T17:29:00.002-06:00

One of the things that I love about Laura is that she is always thinking about me and sending me text messages throughout the day just to say hi. Unfortunately, last month we went over our text messages by a little bit. But looking at the bill we discovered that we had a TON of picture messages that we never use. So we started to send each other picture texts with funny pictures of ourselves. I love them so much, so here is a little sample of some of the pictures that we've sent to each other the past few weeks.

Everybody Wins!

2008-06-17T22:34:00.010-06:00

The other night, Laura and I were listening to my large collection of music that I collected through my mission. It's funny how music can totally remind you of certain moment or events in your life. As we were cycling through the songs we ended up on one of my favorites from the mission. I can't remember how I got it, but I was so happy that I found it. It's this totally 80's inspirational super mix, kind of like this "We Are the World" type of song where all these 80's LDS artist got together to make a collaboration song. The song is called "Everybody Wins!" and it's totally hilarious. I love how sappy and fun it is. Every time I listen to it, it makes me think of my favorite area and district in my mission. We all loved the song so much that we named our district the "everybody wins" district. (wow, I just heard it in my head and realized that it was kinda lame, but oh well, it was awesome at the time) We even had these awesome t-shirts made up with our nicknames on it. Ah good times. However, listening to it the other night made me remember the fun times I had then and wanted me to share it with everyone on our blog. So this is to all my "everybody wins" mission buddies! You guys rock! And enjoy this song in all it's synthesizer glory:

Golfing with the Frenza's...

2008-05-26T22:21:00.007-06:00

Our friend Amy just got promoted to a manager position at America First in Provo, however, because of this promotion, she has to participate in a golf tournament next week. She has really never played golf so she asked us to help her at least not embarrass herself on the course. I never turn down golf and this was perfect because I've been trying to get Laura out on the course. We decided to start out easy and just do the driving range and then chip and putt around the practice areas. It was actually a ton of fun and everyone did pretty good. Laura was amazing with the driver and a putting queen! I think I may need to get her some clubs soon. Good Luck Amy!

Memorial Day Tradition...

2008-05-26T21:52:00.006-06:00

Every year, Laura's family has a tradition to all converge in Nephi, UT and visit the gravesides of the Broadhead Family to place flowers on their graves. We also visit the old family ranch where Laura's Dad and Aunt grew up. Right now, the only thing that is left is the roof of the old homestead. We are so surprised at how small the house must have been. I'm pretty sure that me and Les built a shed next to their house last year that has a roof a few feet larger than that ranch house. Lately, the tradition also include a trip to the "One Man Band", an old fashion diner type restaurant. They are all over Utah but we only eat at the Nephi one. I think it's because of this tradition. Nephi is an interesting little town about 40 miles south of Provo. It's definitely old fashion and remnant of the west many years ago. Everyone has a 4-wheeler and even some of the streets have special 4-wheeler speed limit signs. It's fun to go with Laura's dad to his hometown because no matter where we go, he knows everyone, even though he hasn't lived there for over 45 years. Well, if you know Laura's dad, he can go anywhere and find people he knows.

Here I am at the ranch.

Here is the ranch, Thats how big the roof is. Crazy!

Saturday Fun!

2008-05-26T21:32:00.006-06:00

Wow, It's been so crazy busy the past few weeks and we feel that we've been neglecting our blogging duties. I've been so busy with school and church assignments and Laura is just pooped from standing for 8+ hours a day that we needed to have a break. So last Saturday Laura and I decided to just stay at home, relax, and make our apartment a little more Spring-ish. Laura has a love for gardening, and since we don't have a lot of area to plant flowers, we felt that we needed to get some pots and plants to decorate out front door. So off to the store (which was absolutely crazy). Laura was so happy to be planting flowers. I've always been so impressed with how Laura doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. She just got right in there and before I knew it she was elbow deep into mud and soil. We were pretty happy with how it turned out, even if it's not a full garden, it still makes our front door area not look so bare. Hopefully the sun will come out soon to help them grow!

Happy Birthday Laura!

2008-05-07T10:54:00.006-06:00

On Thursday we celebrated Laura's 22nd birthday! Hooray! The day started out with me surprising her with breakfast in bed! Well, actually, I tried to make it so I could bring it to her in bed but she must have heard me and got up to see what I was doing. Anyways it was a good surprise and a delicious breakfast. Unfortunately I had a class that morning but after the class, the birthday fun began! First off we met Laura's parents and had a quick lunch before parting ways so they could go and get pampered at a spa in American Fork. The boys, on the other hand, got pampered on the Cedar Hills golf Course. Laura and her mom had a great time and we all met up afterward at the Cheesecake Factory. Our waiter was kind of rude, which is always annoying and always seems to happen with us. Laura's Dad asked him if they do anything for a birthday and he said "no, but buy a lot of cheesecake" in this snooty, "I hate dealing with people" attitude. Yeah, thanks for the sales pitch buddy. But we had a good time anyways and somehow did get some waiters to come sing at our table and embarrass Laura a bit. After we left, we started our journey back home. What Laura didn't know was that I called some of our friends to meet us at our place and surprise her with these deliciously huge cupcakes from Costco. We were a little late getting back, and our place was locked so all of our friends that came hid in the window well when we came home. Laura kind of could tell something was up because the light over our door was turned on (it's a motion sensor light) so she was a little skeptical. But we went inside and nobody was in there, so she brushed it off. Then everyone came pouring in the door yelling Happy Birthday! One thing about Laura is that she hates surprises, so she was kind of in shock when everyone came in. But it turned out to be a really fun night. Thanks to all that came and wished her a happy birthday and especially Matt for getting the cakes for me earlier and stashing them in my truck. Happy Birthday Laura! I hope it was a great one!

Here is everyone wishing Laura a Happy Birthday!

Some Hope For Humanity...

2008-04-30T11:19:00.008-06:00

This past week I have been reading a lot out of Gordon B. Hinkley's book "Standing For Something." In the book he discusses virtues that he believes have been ignored or suppressed in our society today. As a Sociology student, I have taken many classes about how our culture is beginning to throw out traditional morals and values in the name of freedom, claiming these morals hold us back from who we really are. This way of thinking scares me to think of what kind of world we will living in within the next few decades. Last night, Laura and I went out for a walk and we talked about how it amazes us how we can see people's individualistic and selfish attitude in their behavior when dealing with others people. What ever happened to the realization that we live in a society where we depend on each other to live and survive? Or how about the realization that we are all literal brothers and sisters on this planet striving for that same goals and aspirations? It is a delight and a breath of fresh air to read books, like President Hinkley's, that try to give us hope in a failing world. It is also a gleam of hope when I read touching stories of people acting like humans, sacrificing and serving others with no expectation for something in return or worry that they won't benefit from their actions. Today I read one such story and felt that it was important enough to share on our blog. This article gives me that hope that there still people who still stand by those traditional morals and values and stands up to the plate (no pun intended) when others are in need.

Link To Article:
Central Washington offers the ultimate act of sportsmanship
By Graham Hays - ESPN.com

I Haz Been Tagged!!!

2008-04-28T15:55:00.011-06:00

Since finals are over and the new semester doesn't start until tomorrow, work has been pretty uneventful. So in my search for things to do, I have finally broke down and replied to being tagged. I don't know why I have been putting it off but I guess today is as good as any to reply to my good old friend, Sean's, request.

10 Years ago...
I was going to Lake Stevens High School as a Sophomore trying to find a place to fit in within the groups of "cool kids." I'd like to think I did pretty well for myself there.

5 Things on my list to do today...

Buy my wife her birthday presents (I spoil her too much)
Shop at Costco
Make Dinner (mmm...sesame chicken)
Tell my wife I love her
Have a well deserved night sleep

Snacks I enjoy...

Lately, I have been on this weird Snyder's large pretzel kick. Other snacks I enjoy are Otter-pops, Clementine oranges, any kind of gummi candy (hard candy is just wrong), peanut butter anything, and french fries.

3 Bad Habits...

Biting my nails when I'm anxious
Pacing when I talk on the phone
Not opening the door for my wife (something I was so good at before)

5 Places I have Lived...

Sandy, Utah
West Richland, Washington
Everett, Washington
Cincinnati, Ohio area (Including Kentucky)
Provo, Utah

5 Jobs I have had...

Courtesy Clerk (Fancy name for bag boy)- Haggen Food
Chef - Haggen Food
Fire/Hole Safety Tech - PSF/Shell Oil Refinery
Government Acquisitions Clerk - Harold B. Lee Library
Business Management Reference Assistant - Harold B. Lee Library

6 Things you don't know about me...

I can get really shy sometimes in certain situations, but I force myself to be outgoing because I know that if I "fake it, then I'll make it." (A motto I adopted on my mission)
I once cried in the 3rd grade because some kid jumped off the swings next to me and the recess lady thought it was me and kicked me off the swings for a week. I'm still hurting inside from that.
I get embarrassed easily when I think of some of the stupid things I did when I was younger. Like when I was like 9 I had my birthday party at Burger King (embarrassing enough) and I got this baseball card I really wanted, so I started screaming and ran around the restaurant showing everyone. Man I cringe every time I think about that.
I was once an amazing baseball player. I played it for 6 years. In my last two years of playing I hit 3 grand slams, and 4 home runs. However, I stopped playing because I felt that it was getting too serious and not focused on having fun anymore.
In my senior year of High School I randomly built this huge Viking Helmet Cheer-O-Meter for the football games. Me and my friends would get to the games about 2 hours early to assure front row seats and then we would paint ourselves in purple and gold and I would wear this huge cape (which I think I still have) and we would cheer and scream the entire game. They would let us down on the field to do the Cheer-O-Meter and get the crowd pumped up. At the end of the school year, the school asked if they could have it and last I heard they are still using it today.
Another High School experience...I went to my Junior prom with this girl and we had an okay time, but at the end of the night she decided to ditch me and leave in another car to go to an after-prom-party and I had to search around and find my own ride back home from downtown Seattle. And thus began my disappointing run with women until I met Laura. Thank goodness I found her!

If I suddenly had a million dollars...

First off, I would give some of it to my Parents for buying me so much unnecessary stuff when I was growing up(i.e. Ninja Turtles, Video Games, He-Men...) I would then buy us a nice, reasonable house and invest the rest. Or blow it all on vacations to Europe and Hawaii!

Well, There you have it. There is probably a ton more I could add, but I think this is good enough. If I have to tag someone else, I think I'll tag our Dinner Club friends. It's always fun to hear their interesting stories. Enjoy...

Jo cut the hairs

2008-04-25T18:00:00.005-06:00

So.. my good friend Jo also known as Alyssa (and her actual given name)entrusted me with her hair today. And why wouldn't she.. I am good, right?! It was a wonderful occasion, I really enjoyed it. Hardly anything better in a days work then when cutting off a lot of someone's hair. Jo looked fabulous with long hair but it was time for a change... so now she looks super chic and is ready for summer!! Thanks Jo for letting me do the honors!

Here is the lovely lady all sectioned into little ponytails. We had to do 5 cause Jo has so much hair. And she cut 8 inches so she can hopefully donate it!

The final product! So fabulous isn't it! I think she was a bit shocked, but who wouldn't be after something like that?! I just hope we are friends tomorrow when she has to style it herself!!

P.S. The pictures are from a camera phone.. not the best quality, but you get the idea!

FORE!!! The Beginning of Golf Season 2008!!!

2008-04-25T15:50:00.007-06:00

Golf Season has officially began! The past few week I have been excitedly waiting (like how I used to be the night of Christmas eve) for the weather to be warm enough to melt all the snow on the golf courses. We have had some really crazy weather here in Utah where one day it will be almost 80 degrees and the next snow 3 inches. It's been so annoying, however, we finally had a good week and a half of warm weather and my Father-in-Law and I decided to hit the links. We decided to play Glen Eagle Golf Course in Syracuse, UT. I really like this course because it is so open and not so busy like other popular courses we have played in the past. It took me a while to get back in the groove of things, but by the beginning of the back 9, I was back to my old ways. It felt so good to be out on the course again. I love it! We ended up shooting a pretty good game, almost like we never had a break from last season. We tried to go play a round at Cedar Hill Golf Course yesterday, but we were met there by a blizzard, so we didn't get to play. Again with the crazy weather! I hope that this season will be even better than last years. And I'm going to apologize in advance to all of those who will get sick of my golf posts this summer...If you don't like it, please feel free to come with us and play a round, and I bet you'll love it in the end!

Finally Finished With Winter Finals

2008-04-25T15:33:00.006-06:00

So finally I finished my finals for my last full semester at BYU! Hooray! And boy were they a beast! I've never had so many essays and papers due on the same week before. (Maybe I shouldn't have been a Sociology Major since writing papers is all that we do) I had many sleepless nights typing away and trying not to fall asleep. I'm pretty positive there were some sentences I wrote in my sleep. However, I am surprised how well I did this semester. Now all I have is two more easy classes and I'm done with college....for now. (Masters??? Hmm maybe?)

Our New Favorite (Organic) Store...

2008-04-21T09:09:00.008-06:00

So a few days ago, Laura and I were driving around looking for fun stuff to do when we found ourselves in front of a Good Earth Store in American Fork. I've always wanted to take a look inside so we decided to do our shopping there for once. It was awesome! There were so many cool things to buy in there! We were kind of like kids in a candy store; A healthy, non-candy, candy store! We loved the bulk food section where we bought all these different types of brown rice and it was actually pretty cheap. It annoys us how trying to eat healthy is so expensive. To me it doesn't make sense; If you are making something that doesn't have nearly as many additives, flavors, sugars, and other junk ingredients, wouldn't you think it would make the food cost less? If I were making it at home, the less number of ingredients, the cheaper the food is to make. Oh well, I guess we just have to live with this false "Healthy Tax." (It's kinda like the paradise tax that makes milk in Hawaii cost $5 a gallon) Anyways, we were excited to see that some of the food was actually not that bad priced. Although, our favorite thing about the store was this machine that would take almonds or peanuts and crush them before your eyes to make fresh almond or peanut butter! I was so fascinated I had to get me some almond butter, just to try it out. It was so good with creamy honey on wheat bread, mmmm. Another favorite that we found was this healthy organic cereal called Puffins. They are really expensive but thankfully we went on a day where they were like $2 off. They come in all these different flavors but peanut butter was by far our favorite. It's kind of like captain crunch but 5 times bigger! The best part is how the milk will get into the center of the cereal so when you bite into it there is like an explosion of milk in your mouth. Yeah! Ha Ha. So we recommend that you check Good Earth out!

BYU Graduation Party!

2008-04-11T23:15:00.004-06:00

Today, we were invited to a huge party BYU was throwing for seniors who are graduating this summer. At first we were planning on going because they had free food, and a free dinner is something that we can't pass up. However, we were totally surprised at how much fun we would have tonight. First off, there was so much food! Free pizza, free hamburgers, free salads, free chips, free fudge, free ice cream, and free drinks! It was awesome, even if the food wasn't the best quality. (But what would you expect when trying to feed 2000 people) After we ate, we decided to mosey on over to the court yard where different departments from BYU had booths with give-a-ways and games. What's that? Swag???? (Stuff We All Get!) We couldn't turn down SWAG. We played Plinko, Wii tennis, putting challenge, and roller tic-tac-toe. We won so much great stuff. But the coolest thing they had were people doing free caricatures. We waited for so long in this line to get one of ourselves, and finally got in. We were so excited, until we got the picture. Ha ha, the artist totally made us look old! Apparently she was a time-warping characaturist. We laughed so hard when she gave it to us. Do we really look like this!? Oh well, i guess that's what we get for free. We then decided to stay for the presentation/concert in the Wilk ballroom as they were giving away a ton of prizes. Hey, we might as well get all that we can from BYU before I leave. First off was the BYU all girl a Capella group, Noteworthy. They were okay, as I have never really been a fan of all girl a Capella group. Not enough bass for me. Then Pres. Samuelson spoke, and Vocal Point, BYU's men a Capella group sang. They were awesome as always. Then the raffle. It was so so funny because they gave away about 60 prizes ranging from fun, small prizes to huge prizes like really nice mountain bikes. It was funny hearing people's reactions and seeing them freak out when they won. It was like being at the Price is Right. Finally, we won a book and a BYU sweatshirt. So after everything, we had a surprisingly good time. BYU really knows how to throw a fun graduation party.

SWAG!!!

Kaci Was Here!!!

2008-04-06T23:20:00.013-06:00

Well, well, well, it's been a long time since we've blogged. We have been so busy with school and work it seems that all we've been doing everyday is come home from work/school, eat, and sleep. Thankfully finals are in two weeks and then we can be normal people again. But this week we got to have my little sister, Kaci, come and visit us for a week! It was really exciting and we had a lot of fun staying up late at night and talking and laughing. Kaci also brought down her friend Daphne and later her boyfriend Aaron and his friend Cory came too. We had a great time playing games like Fear Factor 99, a game that my family played for years and then we added the "fear factor" part to make it more interesting. Basically it's a card game where you add up to 99 and if you get stuck at 99 you have to eat or do something as a punishment. We tried it with many different punishments like eating a tablespoon of cinnamon, drinking pickle juice, eating a spoon-full of mayonnaise, and other things, but we finally ended up always using the gross harry potter Jelly Belly's. None of our friends ever want to play it with us so we were excited for Kaci and her friends to play it with us. It was so funny to watch everyone have to eat the gross jelly beans. we actually almost got Kaci and Laura to throw up, ha ha good times. We also went to Park City and shopped a ton. It's so funny how often we go to the outlet stores here, but when we go to Seattle and go to the exact same outlets up there, there is so much great stuff on sale and we buy a ton of clothes. That's how it was for Kaci. She works at an outlet mall in Seattle and she goes shopping there all the time, but somehow they all found tons of great clothes here. We took Kaci and Daphne to do have the "Provo experience" so we went to devotional, hung out at BYU, saw Bridal veil, and all the other fun stuff, but the best was definitely going to Tucanos. mmmm. The weekend finished up with a great conference. It was really spiritual and we had a great time watching it. Kaci and her friends all got tickets and got to go, but once you've gone, you understand that it's great to watch it in the comfort of your PJ's on the couch. We all went up to Laura's parents Saturday night and watched the rest of conference in the theater room. It was really fun having my sister here for the week and I wished that I could hang out with her more often. Thanks Kaci and Daphne for such a great week, we hope that you had fun too!

Here are the girls having "hair time" with Laura
Kaci and Aaron getting all excited to play Fear Factor 99
Kaci and Daphne had dinner with our awesome cousin Brittney so here is a little reunion picture of us.

With All Due Respect...

2008-03-14T22:07:00.006-06:00

The last few weeks have opened my eyes to a something that has caused me to have unneeded frustration. It began when I was working at my desk at the library. A student came up to me and asked for some help in looking for help finding research regarding a sociological study. We really don't cover Sociology questions, since we are the Business Management area, but since I am a Sociology major and am quite familiar with finding sociology research, I decided to help him. He started to relate how he wants me to find the articles for him. I could tell immediately, he wasn't there to learn how to find the research, but he wanted me to find all the articles for him. It bugs me when students do this because it takes a lot of time, we really don't know what they want, and it's their research! why should I do their work? So I helped show him some databases and how to use the searches and find what he needed. I could tell he was getting irritated that I wasn't getting exact articles for him so I found one or two as examples. So after showing him these I hinted to him that he should have enough information to find the rest by himself. At this he got really frustrated and said "Um, is there someone else I can talk to because, no offense, you clearly suck at this stuff." I was shocked. So I sternly replied that actually, I've worked at the library for 4 years and I'm a Sociology major, so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. I also explained to him that my job is to instruct students on how to find the research for themselves and not to do the research for them. We are told in training that doing their research could be considered cheating and that becomes a clear violation of the honor code. He took a step back and I could tell that he was stunned. He quickly tried to change the subject and then promptly left. My co-worker, Becky, who heard the who conversation, congratulated me on standing up and not letting him make me do his work. The Second event that made me realize this frustration that I have was a conversation that I overheard at dinner in St. George. In our hotel, there was this little BBQ smokehouse. Every time we walked by it, it smelled so good. Laura's been on this BBQ pork kick so we decided to all eat there Saturday night. As we were eating, I noticed a group of people at another table drinking a lot of beer and talking about building a church. (Which I found very interesting) Their waiter was a very neurotic guy who stopped at their table almost every 3 minutes. I found that very weird but didn't think more of it. Finally I noticed him going over to their table and overheard one of the people eating saying "excuse me, with all due respect, you are hovering" then he continued to ream the waiter with a stream of insults and rudeness that I found incredibly unnecessary. This is when I discovered my frustration.
Since when does saying something like "with all due respect" or "no offense" give us the permission to be completely rude to someone else? I venture to say, never. When I was on my mission in Kentucky, I remember being told from the locals that it was okay to say rude things about someone only if you include "bless his/her heart" at the end. For example, "That boy isn't playing with a full deck of cards, bless his heart." Yeah, like that makes it all better. At the time, I thought that was funny, but now I just realize that it's another excuse to show disrespect. It amazes me that in our society today, it has become more acceptable to be rude and disrespectful. Laura likes to tell me horror stories from her barbershop about rude customers who demand free haircuts or just plain walk out without paying. I contribute this to our increasing individualistic ideology. We have now become too interested in ourselves and totally disregarding others. So what can we do? I know I will now change my attitude to be nicer and more helpful to others. BYU started a program trying to promote being friendlier and nicer to everyone on campus. The funny thing was when it was announced, people made fun of it and thought it was totally unnecessary. They proved to me the reason why we needed such a program. We all need to remember that respect is so important in society. Without it, we can never expect to be truly civilized. Wow! Well, I didn't mean this to become an essay on how I believe others should act, but I just thought I would share this frustration with everyone. Please feel free to include your comments on this subject.

Drew and Clarissa's Wedding

2008-03-14T21:33:00.008-06:00

This past weekend we decided to get away from the hustle and bustle of Provo and drive with Laura's parents to spend the weekend in St. George. We also were going down to attend the wedding of Laura's cousin, Drew. So we took half the day off from work and made the lovely 4 hour drive. While in St. George, we helped set up for the wedding, ate out a lot (blegh), and attended Drew and Clarissa's wedding. We also made a special trip to Mesquite to pick up Laura's Dad's pitching wedge that he accidentally left at a one of the golf courses there a few months ago. The wedding was really fun! the St. George Temple is gorgeous and it was really exciting to be there. After the sealing, we went outside to wait for the newlyweds come out. Laura's Dad just bought a new camera a week before so he wanted to take a bunch of pictures of us outside the temple. I guess we got really carried away because as we were busy taking pictures, we suddenly heard an eruption of cheers and we realized we missed Drew and Clarissa coming out of the Temple. (Sorry Drew and Clarissa) At least we got some great pictures! On our way home we also stopped at Kolob Canyon and drove to the top and took pictures. We loved it. It was so beautiful! It was sad to leave, I wanted to explore. We had a really good time on our vacation, I can't express how much we needed to just get away for a weekend. It was really nice to relax and hang out with relatives.

More pictures to come once we get them from Laura's Dad...

Graduation...Here I Come...

2008-02-26T17:43:00.006-07:00

Today was a special day. Today I registered and paid for graduation. Hooray For Me! I can't believe that it is almost here. It's kinda scary because it means that I need to get a real job. Good thing I have been in a "let's apply for every HR job I see" kind of mood. So here's to my final months of school, and let's hope that I get a good job offer soon!

Look at those Bangs!!

2008-02-24T09:32:00.007-07:00

So my good friend Kjell decided she wanted to try something new. She wanted to come to the greener side and get some bangs, um.. side note- such a strange word, bangs, can't say I like it, wish we the people in the USA could start using the word fringe more often, but I don't think people would know what I was talking about if I started really using it... but oh boy! do they look fantastic on her! Now she looks very 70's modern cause we opted to do the straight across fringe, and it looks hott (yes that is with 2 t's)! I just hope she is loving them as much as she did when she left.. because they can be a little hard to get used to sometimes, ya know having something on your forehead all the time! So if anyone else is thinking about getting some bangs.. like Ashley Belnap.. Amy Frenza.. you just give me a call!! You should Do IT!

Her hair was long so we had to cut a few inches.. and she looks scared doesn't she..

Ahh... there is the finished product!
You look so good Kjell!

By Popular Demand...

2008-02-22T13:41:00.003-07:00

I've had a lot of people the last few days mention this picture and want us to post it on our blog to show their friends. I can't tell if it's to show how funny I am, or how funny I look. I really don't understand the fascination. Oh well, here you go everyone...

An Ode to my High School Hangout...

2008-02-20T16:13:00.005-07:00

This happened a few weeks ago but I had to blog about it...

Lake Stevens, Washington is a small town just east across the trestle from Everett. The town is small, but our community has a large heart and a lot of pride for how great and close our small town is. We don't have the luxuries of a movie theater or a mall, but what we do have we treasure. And one of those treasured places was the Lake Stevens Dairy Queen. The Dairy Queen became the local "hang out". When ever a school sport or concert got out, we would all drive to the Dairy Queen and stay until they made us leave. Many memories were made there like the time we tried to fit about 30 people in one corner booth or when I involved the whole Dairy Queen staff in a scavenger hunt that I set up to ask a girl to prom. Many a dates were ended with a delicious Blizzard, chocolate dipped cone, or the occasional Dilly Bar... But sadly, a few weeks ago this well-loved edifice was engulfed in flames and destroyed. The investigators say that it started in the roof as an electrical fire and burned so quickly that there was nothing they could do to save it. It was sad the day I found out, I called my sister and mourned our great loss. Thankfully, the owner of the store is planning on rebuilding and making it bigger and better than ever. But until then...Goodbye old friend, may we cross paths again soon!

New Recipe Site Address

2008-02-20T15:47:00.003-07:00

We just wanted to let everyone know that we changed our Recipe Blog address to www.cookingwiththestapleys.blogspot.com Check it out!

We've Been Duped!!! ...Well, Maybe...

2008-02-18T11:22:00.009-07:00

Last night, Laura got an e-mail from a cosmetology newsletter she subscribes to warning about counterfeit CHI flat irons. For those who may not know about CHI, it's like the Rolls Royce of flat irons. It's pretty expensive and only authorized dealers can sell them, or so we thought. About two years ago, I had my friend Jessica go to this "authorized dealer" to buy a CHI as a valentines gift for Laura. The store was one that only licensed professionals could shop at, so I felt that I was getting a quality product. The flat iron has actually been pretty good, so we never thought that it could be a fake, but then when we got the warning e-mail, we realized that we had been taken. It's pretty easy to spot the fake, as you can see from the pictures that I posted. The real CHI has it's info inscribed in the plastic, the fake has the info on a sticker. The real CHI also has a IDCI plug where as the fakes have just a two pronged plug. And finally the real CHI has a two step on-off switch; the fake has just a platform switch. We've sent e-mails out to both the company that manufactures the CHI irons and also the company that sold us the fake irons. Hopefully, we will get a response soon about this situation. It's so unfortunate that a reputable company will sell fake stuff for so expensive. Hopefully they didn't know that they were selling them, and that we will help them stop selling the counterfeit knock-offs. But if they knew they were selling the fakes, then there is going to be a not so happy person calling the BBB and other consumer protective outlets. So this is just a warning to all of our friends out there who have a CHI iron.
Here is the link to the warning: http://www.behindthechairexchange.com/farouk/2 008/02Feb_Counterfeit/ConuterfitIrons2.pdf
Hopefully we will be able to update what happens soon...

UPDATE:

So, we got an e-mail back from the makers of CHI and it was actually kinda weird. He stated that the CHI that we have is actually a real CHI but one that they stopped producing a year ago. This is an actual part of the e-mail he sent:

The characteristics shown in the article are in no way comprehensive but are meant to demonstrate only the main features of the irons the way we are currently manufacturing them and have been making them for the past year, or so. Just because an iron may have 1 or more of the characteristics portrayed by the red circle does not mean that it is a counterfeit. Those are just not features that are currently being used on authentic irons. There is not just one “recipe” for what makes an iron a counterfeit, and likewise, there is not just one recipe for what makes an iron authentic. The only way you can be assured that an iron is authentic is to purchase it from an authorized professional hair salon who purchased it from an authorized distributor of Farouk Systems’ products. Our products are to be distributed through and to the professional hair salon market only.

Huh? So you send out a bulletin warning people that there are counterfeit CHI's and list the signs of a fake, but then say that actually, some of the irons you made has the same characteristics? Way to confuse everyone! So I guess we may or may not have a true CHI. That didn't really solve anything I guess.

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-15T15:16:00.004-07:00

This Valentines day was sorta interesting, as we both had to somehow celebrate it between all of our other things going on. The major inconvenience is that I have classes from 5-10 pm on Thursdays, so that really took a big chunk of Valentines day away from us being together. But somehow we still managed to have a great one, even if it wasn't that spectacular and was extended over three days. The night before Valentines day, Laura went to work out with her friends, so this made a great opportunity for me to sneak out and get flowers and these heart-shaped pizza's that we thought were so tacky and funny. I guess I really like giving goofy but meaningful gifts. I'm weird like that. The next morning we woke up and decided to spend our Thursday off by going to my work and getting our taxes done. Ha ha, are we boring or what!? BYU offers a free tax service for students and some members of the community, it's pretty awesome but so many people go, the wait is insanely long. So, for some reason, we felt that it was a good time to get it done. We were a little nervous because we tried to do our taxes ourselves and it ended up that we owed money, which didn't make us that happy. So we went to double check. We got there a half hour before the lab opened and there were already ten people in front of us. We waited for about two hours and started to get a little discouraged and annoyed that it was taking so long. There were still six people in line ahead of us after two hours! However, we finally learned that they can call our cell phone when it is our turn, so we left to get something to eat. I've never really been to the Museum of Art on campus, and I heard that they had some decent food at their cafe, so we decided to eat there. Yeah, that was a mistake. The food was so old and gross, and it was so crazy overpriced that it made our frustration and annoyance peak. Luckily, there was an awesome museum awaiting us to walk around. It was actually pretty amazing to walk the whole museum alone together. It really made our day so much better and happier. About the end of our little art tour, we got the call to go back to get our taxes prepared. It was done in a flash and the girl that helped even found all these credits we've never even heard of before. We ended up getting a pretty large refund! Yeah! That just made our day so much better. But only for a few hours until I had to leave for class, take 2 tests, and write a paper. Sad! But at least Laura got to have a girls night our with her best friend, Ashley, and do her and her friends hair all through the night to keep her busy. Tonight we are going to extend our Valentines Day and go out to an actual dinner and rent a ton of movies to stay up and watch! We hope that everyone had a wonderful and exciting Valentines Day!

Our First Single's Ward FHE

2008-02-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

When I first got put into the bishopric, I was told that every month one of the FHE group would come to our place for Family Home Evening (FHE). Last night we had our first FHE. I was excited becuase I remeber doing this when I was single and how fun it was, but I always remembered the FHE groups being really small. So last night we got the place all clean and ready for what we thought was a small group of ward members. Nope! We had about 20 people crammed into our basement apartment (Good thing we moved to somewhere that can hold that many people). I had been worried that the night was going to be a little awkward since we're new in the ward and I still haven't been able to meet with a lot of the members, however, after we introduced everyone, and had a spiritual message, everyone made us feel really welcomed and included. It was actually ton of fun! We played games, laughed, ate cookies, and made some new friends. We even played a huge game of speed rummikub that would make my parents so jealous. We are so blessed to be able to serve in this ward with all these great members, and I hope that they will really enjoy having us in the ward.

Sissel Concert

2008-02-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Last night we got the special opportunity to go see Sissel in concert at Abravanel Hall. For those of you who haven't heard of her, she is a world renowned Norwegian singer. We first heard Sissel when she was the invited guest at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert in 2006. Normally, I'm not really into world music, but she was awesome! We were really captivated and became instant fans. So, when we heard that she was coming to Utah for a concert, we jumped on the chance to see her. We met Laura's parents in Kaysville and decided to eat in Salt Lake before the concert. Unfortunately, every high school in the valley was having a dance so all the good restaurants were totally booked. So we decided to go to the Lion House Pantry. I've never been there, and I like to try new things so i was excited to go. Let just say, I wasn't missing much. It was cool that the restaurant was in Brigham Young's home, but it was very cafeteria like, and they ran out of almost everything before we got there. Kinda disappointing. But we still ended up having fun and making it to the show on time. The concert was fun but kinda underwhelming. We expected a strong and powerful concert but we all felt that it was kind of toned down and soft. It was still good, and she has one of the best female voices I've ever heard, but it was just not as amazing as the Christmas concert. Overall, it was still a pretty good night, and at least we got to feel a little classy by attending a concert at Abravanel Hall. (which we recommend highly)

Will it STOP!!

2008-02-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

Will the snow ever stop?! At this point I'd say no. I'm pretty convinced that it will snow and we will have snow on the ground until next winter. Don't get me wrong the snow is kind of pretty and we need the water. But have a little mercy?! Perhaps these feelings come from the fact that we have to dig ourselves out every time we get any significant amount. For example like today I swear it's coming down an inch every 3o minutes. I have shoveled our stairs and 'grass walk' like 3 times so that when I leave for church I don't have to step through deep snow and get snow all in my shoes. But it still continues to pile and I'm sure I'll still get snow in my shoes like always. Perhaps I'll have to invest in some galoshes or something.

I'm pretty sure this is me shoveling and that we have that much snow, really.

Now By Popular Demand,,,

2008-01-18T14:50:00.001-07:00

Some of our friends have been wanting us to start posting more recipes online, so instead to filling this blog with a ton of food related posts, we've decided to start another blog devoted to recipes and cooking. So feel free to check out our recipe blog at www.cookingwiththestapleys.blogspot.com! Hopefully we will be able to keep it up to date and if you have any suggestions of what recipes you want to see, leave us a comment.

New Career in the Workings?

2008-01-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

This post is kinda old, but a few weeks ago Laura really wanted do get her hair colored and none of her cosmetology friends were available to help, so she came to me and asked if I would do it! I've never done anything like this before, but because I am kind of a "jack of all trades," I guess she thought that I could learn how to do it really fast. At first it was hard to get used to but by the end I was a pro! Her hair turned out great and now ever time I go to the barbershop that Laura works at, some of the workers joke that I should apprentice there and become a barber. Could this be a new career opportunity for me??? Hmmm, probably not.

Our New Calling...

2008-01-06T19:07:00.001-07:00

The past few months has been such a whirlwind! In late October, Laura got a phone call from this executive secretary about us meeting with some random Bishop that wasn't ours. We were really confused but went the next day to meet with him. Turns out I was getting interviewed to be a counselor in a BYU Singles Ward bishopric. I was shocked, nervous, and a little scared at the thought of being in a bishopric. We learned that other couples were also being interviewed so that helped ease some of my nerves. After the interview, we didn't hear anything for two months. We were convinced that the Bishop called another couple, but then I got a call at work from the Stake Presidency wanting to meet with us as soon as possible. We went to the interview and got called to be in the bishopric. We were both very nervous but also very excited. Thankfully we had two weeks of vacation to let it all sink in. Today, I was sustained and got to go to our new ward for the first time. Laura and I had both of our parents come down for it and spend the day with us. Everyone was so nice and we are both so excited to be serving in this ward! We will really miss our married ward but we are so excited for this new opportunity. The scariest thing is that we meet in the testing center on campus, not very fun to bomb a test on Friday and then have to have sacrament meeting in the same room on Sunday. I'm so humbled to be even considered for this calling but I'm excited for this opportunity to be able to serve these single adults.

Happy Holidays From Kyle and Laura!

2008-01-05T21:37:00.001-07:00

This holiday season was super busy! (as you can tell by the lack of blog posts) So hopefully we will be able to cover all that we did in the super-sized post. Our holidays started on Christmas Eve by driving up to North Ogden for a family dinner at Laura's Grandmothers house. We had delicious food, sang Christmas carols, and had a small devotional from Laura's Grandmother. It snowed a ton that night so driving was super scary. I think the fastest we went on the freeway was 35 or 40 mph. But Thankfully Laura's Dad is a good driver in the snow. That night we got our traditional Christmas pj's and took our traditional Christmas Eve pictures. We spent Christmas morning eating caramel pull-aparts (monkey bread) and opening presents. The funniest thing about our presents was that most of the clothes that we got each other were either too big or too small so we ended up taking most of it all back. We had brunch at Laura's brothers house and then waited for her brother Jake, who is on his mission in Dominican Republic, to call us. We waited and waited, but eventually we had to get to the airport to fly to Seattle. We were sad because right when we left, he called the house. luckily we got to talk to him later that night. We flew up to Seattle on Christmas because we wanted to find a way to spend Christmas with both of our parents. So we spent the morning with Laura's parents, and Christmas dinner with my parents. It was so nice to be back in Seattle. It was so green and wonderful! It also snowed a little which made it look so much more beautiful. We had an awesome time up there. My sister, Kelli, and her family also came up from Oregon, so we had quite the full house. It's always a party at my house, we played games almost every night until 2 in the morning, ate a lot of food, talked and laughed a lot, and played the Wii. Laura and I also shopped, a lot! It felt like every day we were out going to the outlets or to the mall. On one day my Dad wanted us to go learn more about his work so we got to spend a day at the Boeing museum and go through the Boeing plant tour. It was pretty awesome! Did you know that Boeing's Everett plant is the largest building in the world by volume? It's so big that without the fans at the top of the buildings, it can actually have clouds form inside and rain! Also, the buildings utilities cost is over $2 million a month! Woah! Crazy! Needless to say it was a lot of educational fun. On New Years Eve we got to go spend the day walking around downtown Seattle with Kelli and her family. We went to the Cheesecake factory, Space Needle, Pikes Place Market, and walked a ton! We went down to the Seattle Center and were surprised to see the fountain was on, so we got our nieces to run down and try to touch the fountain with out getting wet. We all did it except Brinley who got her legs soaking wet. New Years Eve was spent at my parents with a firework show courtesy of my Dad, and dancing courtesy of Me and Laura and Kelli and Duffy. Then plenty of games! We were in Seattle for 8 days, but we finally had to come home. It was sad leaving, but we are glad to be back. Now we are stressing out by preparing for the new semester and this new calling that we just got called to. (there will be more about that later) We are sad the holiday season is over, and we had such a great time spending the past few weeks with both of our families! It's really hard and sad to leave them! We hope everyone else had a great holiday season and will have a happy new year!

Here are some more pictures from our holiday adventure!

I think my Dad was way too excited about his firework show

Laura got to cut everyone's hair. Here she is cutting our nephew, Cooper's hair. He's such a stud!

This is an engine from a 747 Boeing plane. Crazy huge huh?

This is a poster that Laura's Grandma used for her Christmas Eve Devotional.

Merry Christmas Eve!

2007-12-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Laura and I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We are spending Christmas morning with Laura's parents is Kaysville then flying up to Seattle to have Christmas dinner with my family! Happy Holidays Everyone!

PS. We hope everyone got new pajamas like we did!