Surprise On Morning One

Morning one! Just got outta the shower and Jeff jumped out from behind the door and surprised me. Wow didn't see that coming. Sign of good things to come!! 5 a.m. hiking sesh, you know they're gonna pursue! Or insue... What's the word?

First Night...

Well, tonight's my first night without Amber and Jeremy. I worked nearly 12 hours, played basketball, and packed for my backpacking trip tomorrow so that kept me occupied. But lying in bed right now kinda brings me back to the reality that they're not here. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked for my trip and glad they could go... But I miss them terribly. I didn't need them to leave to realize this, but I know that I can't live without them. They're my reason for living and my guiding stars. They're my source of happiness and joy and my examples. I love you guys! Be safe. 7 days left...

Skeet Shoot!

Today was our Elders Quorum Skeet Shoot Extravaganza! I admit that I was a little skeptical after only a couple guys raised their hands to confirm their attendance on Sunday and after all of 5 people were able to come to our golf activity... Yeah, no worries today! We had like 20 guys show it up!! It was rad. We went up to the gun range in Fruit Heights and "skatted" to our hearts' contents. We had two throwers going and it sounded like we were in the middle of a war with all the shotguns going off. Sooooo sick. After over an hour, I felt like I'd been kicked in the shoulder by a mule, but it was well worth it. Guess there's just something about guns that bring the men out in hoards. Haha. I think I "skot" a good twenty rounds. At my last "skeetin'" I went 5 for 5! Not too shabby. Tim and I wanted to take out a couple of real pigeons that were on the telephone wire outside the house after we got back, but decided against it. Thus, our EQ "Skat" event was a roaring success!

Tim and the boys take aim!

Your's truly, "skeeting" like it's '99.

More Random Jeremy Pics

Here's my latest installment of "Random Jeremy." Enjoy.

Grandpa got Jeremy this Cabela's hoodie at our latest

trip down to Lehi and he looks so steezy in it. The butter

knife in his hands was just the cherry on top. Steezy!

Today before church, Jeremy took Amber's sunglasses

and kept trying to play with them so she tried putting

them on his face and he loved it. What a ham. But sure

does make for a great pic! One of my all-time favorites.

Yeah, this one didn’t turn out super great, but I think
you get the idea of where I was going with it. This
was at the Tabernacle during church when Jeremy
was ready to go home 30 minutes before the meeting
was over. There’s a lot of cool stained glass in the
building and he loves to play by it. With a better camera
this would be way more rad, but I like it anyway. Word
to the iPhone.

Our First "Catch"

Today was another one of those great "Dad Moments." Jeremy and I had our first "catch" today! For some reason, he's never shown much interest in throwing things (which is a GOOD thing so far) and while he liked playing with the ball, he never really threw it to me. Today was the day, though! He would pick it with both hands and throw it to me as he yelled, "Bahhhh!" It was awesome. Whenever I think about today I think about the movie "Field of Dreams." In part of the movie, Ray confesses that while growing up he told his dad that he wouldn't play catch with him. "Can you believe it? An American boy refusing to have a catch with his dad?" he would later tell his friend. And at the end of the movie, just as his dad is about to disappear into the corn field he yells, "Dad! You wanna have a catch?" Yeah, it sounds corny, but nothing beats having a catch with your son... or your dad. I'm so grateful that I've had plenty of "catches" with my dad and I can't wait for the future ones with Jeremy.

Greatest License Plate EVER!

So I was at work this week and stumbled upon this little beauty in the garage. Enough said.

Funniest YouTube Video EVER!

Okay so I'm really easily entertained! I get it. But I still think this is the funniest YouTube video of all time that I've ever seen. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P4wUG7Zllo

Tim: Week 1

My brother Tim has officially been living in the basement with us now for one week and it's been really great. We've always gotten along really well so it wasn't a question of "if" it would work out. But even I didn't see it being this great to have him home with us. I guess I forgot how much I really missed him while he was gone on his mission for 2 years. It's been a really great week. Amber helped him put a resume together and within 2 hours of applying, he had an interview and job down in Salt Lake City. He's now a spa tech and will do service work for Arctic Spas. Jeff and I kid him that he's going to be "cougar bait" but it'll be a really great opportunity for him. And the pay is really good too. It's just so amazing to me how well everything has worked out for him since coming home and this is just one example. I mean so many people can't even get an interview let alone a job right now for way less than what he received. Just proof that when we ask for God's help, somehow things work out with hard work and a little faith. He's even got a date lined up for this coming weekend! Gnarly. He and Jeremy have really bonded well. It's really cool to see them grow close together. And most of all, it's great to have my brother back. We had such an awesome and blessed childhood together and it's so awesome that the adventures can continue again. On top of that, there's just something special about having the Spirit of a recently returned missionary in your home... Tim had to go back up to Montana this past weekend and we really missed him. It's funny because his room looks just like it did back at Mom and Dad's and even smells the same! So when I went in there while he was gone I got a case of the "saudades" as we call them in Brazil. But again, it's great to have him home. Hopefully this week he won't be stuck working 12 hours shifts anymore! Anyway, I love you, bro. Glad you're here with us!

Tim's new abode. (AKA "La Casa de Tim-O")

Who wouldn't want to live with us?!

The Next Generation of Tape Balling

A new generation of tapeballing has begun... Carry on my son. Carry on.

Jeremy's First Haircut

Mom gave Jeremy his first haircut this past weekend! Judging from the pictures, he REALLY liked it! Haha. Yeah, he was pretty upset. He sure was cute though. I don't wanna speak for Amber, but I bet she was pretty stoked about giving him his first haircut. Overall, though, I think it went pretty well. Lucky for Jeremy his hair doesn't grow very fast so he won't have to worry about another haircut for quite a while...

Happy Birfday, Jeff

Since Jeff has been a lame-o about keeping his blog updated, I'll just go ahead and announce his birfday for him. Happy freaking birthday, ol' buddy. A song comes to mind when I think about this situation. It's entitled "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day. Why? Because our birthdays are at the end of September, duh! Yeah, it's always exciting when the 29th and 30th roll around. Somehow we always end up buying two of whatever present we get each other. (That's the sign of a REALLY good present after all!) This year was the same. Jeff got me an iPhone case (and one for himself) and I got him a car charger (and one for myself) and we both bought black trucks last week... Hmm. Yeah, that's how we roll. So happy birfday to us!!

My Birfday, Take 25. ACTION!

Happy freaking birthday to ME! The big 25 this year. I'm getting old. I think this is the year when my body starts to break down and I should probably start looking for a cane and hearing aides. Jk. It was a wonderful day, thanks to Amber. Sometimes I think that she gets more excited for my birthday than I do... And that's saying a lot because I really, REALLY love my birthday! Every year though, she seems to come up with something new and special to make it the best yet. She didn't disappoint this year at all! I came home from work to a huge banner on the garage (which I've always wanted by the way) and a huge birthday card she made herself with candy bars on it! She even added chocolate turtles so I didn't have to ask "Where are the TURTLES?!" (Office reference.) She let me pick anything that I wanted to do for the day and this is probably the first birthday where I didn't know. I didn't even really want anything either. Not that I wasn't ever happy before with what I already had, but this year, I honestly couldn't think of a single thing I could be lacking. I have everything I could have ever dreamed of, imagined, or wanted. So I chose to take a nap (hahaha), take Jeremy to the park and play, go window shopping at the mall with Amber, go to dinner, and then take a walk together or watch a movie on the couch at home. Sounds like a perfect day to me! And it was!! The nap was exquisite, the park was fantastic and Jeremy had a blast, the window shopping turned into real shopping (always a plus), dinner was awesome at Ruby River Steakhouse, and the evening together was wonderful. I couldn't imagine a better birthday...

Here's my birthday banner! Handmade with love!

Jeremy takes control (literally) at the park.

Jeremy prepares for the decent. Gnarly.

The kid is steezy. Enough said.

In the end, we decided dad better go down with him.

This would be our new truck! Okay, so yeah, pretty much the

greatest birthday present EVER! Since our old truck wouldn't pass

inspection, we decided to look into getting a new one and turns out

we were buying at just the right time! Needless to say, we LOVE it!

Jeremy also loves it because he can see out so much better.

What a sexy truck! Uhnn!

Amber and I in the truck.

Found this cool zebra print hat at TJ Maxx. Couldn't resist a pic.