Josh Albrecht Family

It finally feels like winter...

2012-01-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

First Hair Cut

2011-10-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

We finally cut off the curls. He looks five!

Candles

2011-08-27T06:21:00.001-07:00

We went to Target to get some candles in case of a power outage. This was all we could find. We will have light and some guests of honor if we get stuck in the dark.

On the other hand, maybe we won't even light them. JJ is in the pitch black closet right now laughing his head off all by himself.

529 Plan

2011-08-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

When JJ was born, I opened up a 529 college savings account with the Utah Educational Savings Plan. After taking some time to visit his colleges of choice, I think we may need to increase our monthly contributions. We were able to visit some fairly prestigious campuses this summer, and although we would be proud to have our smart and funny son attend either of these schools, Lori thinks they are a little too far away from home.

The whole Cambridge area was really neat. It seemed as though the entire surrounding area revolved around Harvard. There was a lot of Harvard memorabilia and people were bustling all over touring the campus. It seemed that with the exception of one white building, all of the buildings were red brick. I'm not sure we saw the whole campus though, so I could be wrong. I think the highlight of the campus visit was seeing that one of the dormitory buildings is called Wigglesworth Hall. Maybe JJ will live there during his first year at Harvard. That is, unless Yale won him over.

Yale campus had a much different feel to it. First of all, it didn't seem like the surrounding area revolved around the school. There weren't hundreds of tourists wandering around and we didn't have to pay $15 for parking to explore around the campus. We just parked at a meter on the street for less than $1. The buildings at Yale were much more diverse in architectural style and appeared much older, which is interesting since Harvard is actually an older school. I guess that red brick really never does go out of style! When we drove away from Yale I told JJ to say, "See you in twenty years." He seemed pretty excited when we stood him by the sign for the School of Engineering at Yale. If he goes there, maybe he could buy us a house that looks like the building in the last picture. Lori and I both think that would be a pretty classy place to call home.

I hope and pray that our son did not inherit our study skills. Otherwise, these two visits may be his first and last to any college campus, let alone Harvard and Yale!

A Day at the Beach

2011-08-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

What We Have Been up to This Summer. Part III

2011-08-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

What We Have Been up to This Summer. Part II

2011-08-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

What We've Been up to This Summer. Part I

2011-08-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

Myrtle Beach

2011-06-01T19:17:00.001-07:00

We decided to go on a vacation to celebrate graduation, instead of attending the ceremony. From what we hear, we didn't miss a whole lot. We heard three words from friends that described the day of commencement at the University of Utah: long, hot, boring.

We spent eight warm, fun days in Myrtle Beach instead. And we got to wear swimsuits instead of a cap and gown. We're pretty sure we didn't get the short end of the stick on this deal.

Here are some photos of our trip...

Have you ever seen a more relaxed 9 month-old? He loved the pool... but HATED the ocean. The ocean was actually just as warm as the pool, so not sure what he didn't like about it.

Lori's sister met us out there with her husband and baby. JJ and his cousin are just six weeks apart in age and had a good time playing together.

All ready for church.

Lori's first Mother's Day.

"WINK"

This was our last night. Neither of us were ready to come home. Hopefully we'll be back soon!

GQ

2011-04-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture of Shia LaBeouf a while back and thought it was pretty ridiculous. What is he trying to do? To me, it kinda looks as though he just farted really loudly right in front of the girl of his dreams, and feels like such a moron that his heart has sunk way down, into the deepest part of his stomach.

Our little guy, on the other hand, pulls off the GQ look as if he were born for it.

Who is the Bigger Idiot?

2011-04-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Once in a while in April we get some decent days. It seems like this year there has been a shortage of those decent days. However, yesterday wasn't just decent. It was nearly perfect.

We decided to go for a hike up Millcreek Canyon. The weather was nice, we have a killer new hiking backpack for JJ (thanks to my sister), and it was the 16th, an even-numbered day. What's the deal with the even-numbered day? Well, in Millcreek Canyon, odd-numbered days are designated for dogs to be allowed on the trails off-leash while even-numbered days are designated for mountain bikers to be on the trails, thus requiring dogs to be leashed. Since our dog is not great with other dogs, even-numbered days, when dogs should be leashed, are more ideal. Unfortunately, most of the people who bring their dogs to Millcreek don't follow the leash rules.

To be frank, the lack of obedience to this rule pisses me off. The people not following the rules get all put out when we ask them to leash their dogs as we pass. One guy acted particularly irritated while leashing his dog.

He wisely told us, "This probably isn't the best trail to hike if your dog doesn't get along well with other dogs."

We replied, "That's why we come on leash days so we don't have to worry about loose dogs."

"It's not a leash day."

"It's the 16th. In my book 16 is an even number."

[looking at his watch] "...uh, I guess you're right."

IDIOT.

Not only is it a pain for us to have to worry about a dog fight, but the mountain bikers that go specifically on even-numbered days have to dodge loose dogs. I have very little patience for this complete disregard to an established rule in a very public place.

We decided that we can't change the world full of idiots, so next time we'll just put a muzzle on our dog. Maybe we are the idiots for not thinking of that sooner... but then again, muzzling our dog isn't going to stop a mountain biker from being thrown over his handle bars after hitting a loose dog though. I guess that still makes them the bigger idiots, right?

Either way, we had a great time and have made a goal to do the hike at least once a week. Hopefully it will get us in better shape and teach our dog some social skills.

JJ was mimicking the dog - sticking his tongue out and trying to do whatever the dog was doing.

Can your kid show off his smile without taking out his pacifier? Didn't think so.

Mommy Blogs...

2011-04-08T07:55:00.001-07:00

We started feeding our baby rice cereal a couple of times a day. He loves it. We got a lot of crap from pretty much everyone for not feeding him anything but breast milk for so long, but like my brother told me, "The nice thing about being a parent is that you get to decide what's right for your kid, the copious free and conflicting advice you'll receive notwithstanding."

That being said, this same brother and I don't see eye to eye on everything. For one, he hates blogs like the one you are currently reading. Actually, I'm not so sure that hate is the right word. Let's go back to October 18, 2009, when he used two of his strongest talents: writing and being a smart a%$, to humorously describe what he calls "mommy blogs" and the rampant creation of these blogs in the cyber world. Is hate the right word? Probably not, but my vocabulary is not extensive enough to come up with a better word right now. Read the post in that link. It's funny.

With all of my free time I have lately, I have been trying to develop a hobby. I have often thought about the fact that I don't have a hobby. I hate it. I used to love to snowboard, but I'm too poor to do it now. I think I could get into golf, but again, money is an issue there. I like to cook, but I have a wife who, for the most part, has the taste buds of a pre-teen. The only other real interest I have had has been photography. Taking pictures has always kind of interested me, but since I've been married, that job has always been up to Lori. She has a nice camera and used to work at a couple of different photography studios. We never really thought of photography being a hobby that we could do together, until now.

I guess it only makes sense that since I write on a "mommy blog" I may as well start taking pictures. However, once the weather starts warming up, I don't know how much portrait photography I will be doing. I'd like to photograph things. Nature, bridges, landscapes, power lines, sunsets, architecture...

I've started reading, watching tutorials, and practicing. I'm having fun. Maybe once I figure things out, I can stop writing on my "mommy blog" and write about things I learn, tricks I have discovered, and hopefully post some cool shots. In the meantime, here are some pictures I took a couple of days ago of the most photogenic kid in the world.

Water Drops

2011-03-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend Lori and I read about photographing water droplets. We had to try it. It wasn't easy to get them to turn out just right, but after a while, we got it figured out. We were pretty pleased with the results and had a lot of fun doing it.

2011-03-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

click on the image so you can actually see his funny faces. such entertainment.

Blessed

2011-03-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

Most of the time,I would say that my life is pretty good. However, if you were to ask me this week, I'd say that my life is great. March of 2011 has some pretty exciting milestones for my little family and me. This month, Lori and I will celebrate four years of marriage, and I must say, it's been a wonderful four years. On March 16th, 2007, Lori became my wife. Since then, she has become a mother and my best friend. We have established a home together and started a family. We have helped each other recover from sicknesses and surgeries, supported each other in new jobs, and we've learned to rely on one another the way a husband and wife should. We are each the other's support systems--at least I know that Lori is mine.

On Monday I started a new job. For over four years I worked for KeyBank. When I left, I felt like I was leaving a part of my life behind. Lori said that Key has helped us build the life that we have had together. I have worked there since before we were married and I really have never had any other "real" job. A few weeks ago I accepted a position in the Tax Department at Goldman Sachs. Monday was my first day. Starting a new job has been fun, exciting, and scary. So far, there is a very obvious benefit to my new job: I have spent more time with my family this week than I have in months. To say it's been amazing would be an understatement.

Since JJ turned 7 months old this week, Lori had to take some pictures of him. OK, I guess she doesn't really need an excuse to take pictures of him, but here are some of his "7 month" pictures that have been taken over the course of the weekend.

JJ is a very determined boy. He has an extremely long attention span and an insane ability to focus on a particular task. I'm pretty sure he didn't get that quality from me, but hey, it's a pretty good thing to have. This picture above is him studying the rain outside of our front room window.

Everywhere we go, people compliment JJ's eyes.

Nothing much to do but stare at the rain. Poor JJ has had a cold all week so we haven't had him outside much. He seemed pretty content to just stare out the window though.

The kid has an obsession with tags. He scoots around all day finding tags to suck on. We had to take this picture to remember this little quirk about him.

Since he's been able to sit up, Lori is really excited about all the new poses she can do for pictures. The only problem is that he has absolutely no concept of falling or getting hurt so he'll throw himself off of anything.

JJ loves dogs. Well, at least he loves his dog, Hurley, and this stuffed dog that his Aunt Kathy gave him on the day he was born.

The laundry basket is one of JJ's favorite new toys. There is something about the toys being louder when he bangs them on the floor that really seems to get him excited.

He had to sit on the chair like a tough guy because he kept lunging forward out of the chair. Most of the time I was paying attention enough to catch him before he fell, but there was one close call. I caught the poor kid by the back of the shirt with about a quarter of an inch between the cement floor and his face.

Tags and strings. If he doesn't have a tag to suck on, he'll find a string to pull on. Funny kid.

7 months has flown by. JJ is almost crawling. He gets around in his own ways (scooting and rolling), but I know that any day now he's just going to take off. He is by far the best toy I've ever had. Yes, I am blessed.

What a Stud

2011-02-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

Just some pictures to show you how much cooler our baby is than yours. Ha! just kidding. Seriously though, this little guy is just six months old and already has it figured out. He knows how to flirt, he has dashing good looks, and he's like a baby dog whisperer. JJ's life is simple. He just needs sleep, food, his dog, and colorful toys to keep him happy. I think those stickers that say "simplify" should probably say, "sleep, food, toys, dog"

That's todays lesson from a 6 month old. Trust me, he's probably the happiest person I know so you should probably take his advice.

Lori Made This Bread...

2011-01-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of some of the most delicious bread imaginable. Well, at least we know the back two loaves will be delicious. We decided to bake some cheese into the one in the front and can't imagine that will do anything but make it even more divine.

If you want to know Lori's secret to baking bread that looks like this, just ask.

It is probably easier than you think.

Newspaper Anyone?

2011-01-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

This is my little Newsies baby, isn't he cute?! :) These are his 5 month pictures. He has been growing up so much lately! His little personality is sure coming out! He's very sweet and happy all the time. He makes us laugh constantly! Right now the winner for the Best Friend slot goes to.....HURLEY!

Hurley makes this little man so happy. It is the cutest thing! He will just sit and talk to him and laugh at him. Hurley will just be laying there, not even interacting with JJ and he thinks it's the greatest thing ever.

Hurley seems to really love him too so that makes me super happy! :)

I'm constantly having to wipe JJ, Hurley stills kisses on his hands and face any chance he gets! :)

JJ LOVES his tongue!

It looks like he's saying, "What's up?" in a little tough guy voice. :)

Is that not the sweetest little face you have ever seen?

Merry Christmas

2010-12-18T20:46:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful time of year. School is over for a few weeks, shopping is done, parties are starting, and we have the cutest Christmas baby around. JJ loves the lights on the Christmas tree and he loves to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

We hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season as much as we are. With all the food, fun, presents, lights, and music of Christmas, it's easy to lose sight of the true meaning of the season. Let us not forget!

Baby's Best Friend

2010-12-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

Show me something cuter than this. I dare you.

Everything is Bigger and Better in Texas...

2010-11-15T19:38:00.001-08:00

The three of us packed up and flew to Texas! Lori's sister, Cindy, had a new baby just seven weeks after JJ was born, so we decided it would be fun to go down and spend some time getting our babies familiar with each other. We all enjoyed the week, and Lori almost got me convinced to move down to the Lone Star State. If it weren't for the humidity, I might be able to handle it.

Even the families are bigger in Texas. Seriously, who has seven kids these days? It was so much fun to see this big family laughing, playing, fighting, dancing, praying, and loving each other. We really loved our time with the Pritchards and made us wonder if the two kids we've planned on will really be enough.

JJ loves his Mommy. Even after being with him all day, every day for a week, he still prefers his Mommy.

Here is JJ taking his new cousin, Ryan, under his wing. We couldn't believe what a difference 7 weeks makes in these tiny little guys. JJ looks huge for the first time in his life!

Eathyn sure loved JJ. He kissed him, hugged him, and laid on him all day long.

JJ got all dressed up to try to fit in down in Texas. Here he is in his cowboy outfit -- boots and all.

Look who has more hair now!! JJ is going bald, so this may be the only time in his life that I have more hair than he does.

Lori and I love this picture. We finally captured his real smile on camera. He is such a smiley kid these days, but as soon as the camera comes out he is so serious.

Apparently they like guns in Texas...

I bet our kid sat up at a younger age than your kid. OK, he's cheating... I'm holding onto the back of his shirt through the wagon wheel.

For All The Non-Facebookers Out There

2010-10-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

We live in a world of chaos. We are busy, hurried, rushed, tired, and sometimes cranky. As Ellen DeGeneres pointedly remarks to an imaginary barrista in her 2003 HBO special, "I'll have a coffee and a side of Red Bull, because I'm very busy. I've got TBD [too busy disorder] and I'm late for yoga, hurry, hurry!" With all the craziness of our lives, it's amazing how, just like there is always room for Jell-O, there is somehow almost always time for Facebook.

For those of you who somehow can't find the time for Facebook, or are "anti-Facebook," or just plain don't know how to use it because you are old or something, here are some pictures that you are missing out on. We think he's pretty freaking cute. What do you think? Leave a comment if it's a nice one :)

First Grandkid Party

2010-10-11T16:45:00.001-07:00

My mom likes to do what she calls "Grandkids' night." All of the kids are invited to her house to play games, do crafts, and have fun. Since it is October, this month's grandkids' night was a Halloween party. It was fun to see all of the kids dressed up in their costumes and having lots of fun. JJ was fascinated by everything that was going on and couldn't get enough of the action. Here are a few pictures of the adventure. Thanks, Mom!!

JJ's First (Real) Smile

2010-09-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Last night at my brother's house, JJ had his first real smile. Sure, he's smiled before when he's in and out of sleep and things like that, but this was an actual, intentional smile. And... of course it was at me (Josh)! I came inside from grilling some meat on the BBQ and he looked at me and kept smiling over and over for about 2 or 3 minutes. Looks like one more tick mark on my side for the best friend spot!!

Thanks Aunt Karyn!

2010-09-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

JJ's Aunt Karyn gave him this darling Hippo! We had to take his picture in it!! :)

Look how well he can hold up his head. This is what he looks like everytime I try and burp him! He's holding his head up, looking around!

I love his blue eyes!

When you look at this picture it probably makes you think he purposely laid his head on the Hippo's shoulder. Instead it's him falling over right after the picture below was taken! haha

My precious little baby!

Cute little smirk!

Daddy's Blessing Outfit

2010-09-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

This darling outfit is what Josh was blessed in. We realized this week after hearing that our little man weighs 10 lb 13 oz (on Wednesday) that he may not fit in it by the time his blessing comes around. I decided we better take his picture in it right now just in case. It's so precious and I love that it used to belong to Josh. I think it's so sweet that now Josh's son is wearing his clothes. Thank you to my sweet mother-in-law for giving it to us. I sure hope it still fits by October! It would be so special if he could be blessed in it just like his Daddy was!

Look at those cheeks! They are just so kissable!! :)

I love this picture! It looks like he's really listening to every word his Daddy is saying!

He has such big BEAUTIFUL eyes!! :)

I love my precious baby! He hasn't been feeling super great the past couple days so we have been doing a lot of cuddling!

I know Josh thinks he's JJ best friend, but secretly I am! :) haha

Labor Day in Cedar City

2010-09-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Yep, the Albrecht family had its first family trip. All four of us (Lori, Josh, JJ, and Hurley) piled up in the station wagon and headed on down to the country. OK, unfortunately we don't really have a station wagon and our little Insight was busting at the seems. It is amazing how much crap we had to pack for one little baby!

Here are some pictures of our weekend full of fun, food, horses, sheep, food, family, food, and fun. Did I mention fun and food? I know there isn't any food in any of these pictures, but we ate like royalty down there. Tami, Lori's sister, made sure we each gained about ten pounds before we left. Between her and Lori's parents we couldn't have asked for better hosts.

Lori insists I write about my "near death experience" as she calls it. I was riding Salomon, the big beautiful paint, and he tripped. We both went down right as Lori was pulling up to the riding arena. She saw the a huge cloud of dust, then the horse popped up and I was still on the ground. Of course, she assumed the worst and immediately thought the horse had fallen on me. Turns out Salomon and I both just got a little scraped up, but we were fine.

Thanks Tami and Travis for letting us come play at your "ranch." We had a great time and really appreciated all you did to make sure we had fun. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us crash at your house and for being much better hosts than we ever have been here up north!

Here is where we spent a lot of our time. Tami's new house!! Aren't the horses beautiful?

Tami, JJ, and Madison

She is pretty much battling it out with me for the best friend spot in JJ's life. I hate to admit that I think she was winning over the weekend.

Madison's dream come true.

JJ's first horse experience. Spirit was letting him hang onto her.

Not really, but it kinda looks like it.

Lacy and Spirit

Is that a happy face or what?!

That giant is Salomon. The horse, not the guy on the horse.

Travis had to show me how it was done on the monster.

The "cotton balls"

Lacy says they need to sell the sheep back. Nobody really likes them...

Funny thing is, they never bought them. They are just "storing" them for Lori's brother, Wayne.

Three beautiful girls.

TJ and JJ just loving each other

JJ's cousins took really good care of him and made him feel really welcome in the family. He may be just one of 27 cousins on the Childs side, but he sure felt special all weekend.

Lori and her Daddy

Lori's Mommy

Most beautiful wife ever

Here I am trying to control Salomon. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I didn't take my boots or any good riding clothes. Do not attempt to ride that guy in tennis shoes and ankle socks.

Isn't he a beauty?!

TJ told me I "took it like a man" when the horse and I fell. He's such a funny kid.

He also said that he used to think horses were stupid, but he just didn't know any better. Now he wants to rope steers in the rodeo and he wears his boots all over like a real cowboy.

We didn't want to come home and face reality again, but here we are back in the city. TJ, you were right. Cities are BORING!!

More Mommy and JJ photos

2010-08-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

I hate pictures of myself but I needed some photos with my baby before he's all grown up! :)

Look, we're making the same face! HAHA!

Mommy and JJ

2010-08-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

Finally a couple pictures with mommy! JJ will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and these are the first pictures we have together. More will follow soon hopefully!! I looked horrible last night, I was definitely not planning on doing any pictures, so that's why my face is cut out or I'm not looking at the camera! :) HAHA. The picture where only half my face is showing is ridiculous, I know, but he just looked so cute and I looked horrible so that's what we ended up with when editing the picture. :) Isn't he just the cutest thing ever!? :) He's getting so big! You can't tell in his bean bag photo but the little guy has a double chin these days. It's so cute!! I wish my double chin was as cute as his! HAHA

Oops...We forgot...

2010-08-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

Oops..... we forgot to post his 8 day old photos. I love these! I just love every single picture with my two favorite boys in the whole world. Look how special these ones are! Daddy and JJ are just so cute together I can't resist taking lots of pictures of the two of them!

Already So Handsome! (12 Days Old)

2010-08-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

I was told today that we needed to update our blog, so I made Lori take some new pictures of the little guy. It just so happened to be that we were both in white t-shirts, so here's what we ended up with...

I love his hands in this one. He's just holding on to his daddy.

Lori and I both love this one. Everything about him is just PERFECT.

I think he's still trying to figure out who I am.

This was before we got really daring and took off his clothes.

And here is our naked little cutie getting squished by his daddy.

And finally, we just couldn't resist those eyes!

I'm still just blown away by how much we love him and how much joy he brings to our home. He's getting cuter and cuter every day!

Angel Baby

2010-08-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

We can't believe how fast this little guy is already growing up. Every day he looks a little bit different. Mostly because, little by little, he is getting some fat on his bones. He gained about half a pound in the two days from the time he left the hospital until we took him to his first Dr. visit yesterday. Neither of us can believe how much we love him and how unreal the joys of parenting can be. Lori even thinks it is cute when he cries (which doesn't happen very often). I know, we are probably in dream land and his sweetness won't last forever. But in the meantime, we are just going to love it, and enjoy our little angel.

Fuzzy Wuzzy

2010-08-08T22:06:00.001-07:00

Can you see all the fur on this little guy? We can't believe how much we love him already.

JJ

2010-08-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

Our little guy finally decided to come. Lori was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday morning, but he came all on his own. Lori rocked at being a mom from the first signs of labor. After only 15 minutes of pushing, our baby boy was safely here. I cried a lot harder than the baby did, by the way.

First family photo

Best Buddies

He's not very photogenic yet, but he really is adorable. He has a head full of black hair and long, long eyelashes.

Less Than a Week Left!!

2010-07-29T21:07:00.001-07:00

Yep, the boy is coming some time in the next week. By Wednesday, to be precise. If Lori hasn't gone into labor by the morning of the 4th, her doctor wants to induce her... This is getting real.

Memorial Day

2010-06-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Lori and I did a lot of driving on Memorial Day. We left the house early and headed down to Fremont to see my Grandma's grave. She died while I was on my mission and I hadn't ever been to see her at the cemetery. It was good to go down there and see her old house again and get some closure on the whole situation.

After our visit to Fremont, we did the Childs family tradition and went to Centerfield and Gunnison cemeteries. Afterward, we played softball and had a picnic in the park. It was a long day, but we both had a really good time.

First Photo Shoot

2010-03-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we finally got to see our baby BOY. Lori and I were both very anxious to find out if our baby was growing and developing the way he should be. According to the ultrasound, everything looks perfect (even the gender)! He was a good boy and showed everything off without much difficulty. We made sure that he has all four limbs, his fingers and toes, and a perfectly functioning heart and brain. It was neat to see that he even had fluids and his stomach and urine in his bladder. We both think that he looks like he'll be a cute little boy. It seems so real now and we are both very, very excited.

R.I.P. Prince

2010-03-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

Today has been one of the hardest and most emotional days that I've lived through so far. Prince, my cat of 17 years had to be put to sleep. I can't remember a time Prince hasn't been around. I'm the youngest in my family and all my siblings where married or living on their own for most of my life so it felt a lot like I was an only child. While it felt like I was an only child, I wasn't lonely. Prince was always there for me. He has always been one of my best friends. It's amazing how much a pet can mean to you!!

A month ago Prince became paralyzed from the waist down. The vet didn't know why, it was a mystery. Even if I would have been able to afford thousands of dollars worth of test and MRI's, he would not have been able to live through a surgery that the vet wasn't confident would do any good anyways. Prince was not only old, but also had a heart murmur so surgery wouldn't have been in his best interest. After being in the vet hospital a few days he showed a little improvement so I couldn't bring myself to put him down. I decided to take him home and just hope he would recover with time. He did slowly get a little better but his improvement hadn't progressed in the past couple weeks and I just couldn't watch him drag his little body around any more. It was a very sad sight! Prince has always been a very lively cat and I can only imagine how upsetting it's been on him to not be able to get around. My parents were wonderful and took him for me. I was able to say goodbye to him here at home and they took him and stayed with him until he was gone. I was grateful, I'm happy he didn't have to die alone. They said he didn't cry or try to get off the exam table like he usually does when he was at the vet. He laid there calmly and slipped away quickly and peacefully. He must have known he was leaving this life, that in the end of was so hard for him, to go onto somewhere better.

Prince has been the best cat ever and will be extremely missed!!

Translation anyone??

2010-03-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

The following is an email conversation I had with a customer at work. His email messages are in quotes. My responses are in blue. Does anyone know what it means to "reg" an account?

1:39 a.m.
"i cannot reg my accounts on line and have notime during biz hrs to do it as i must support my family, if you can get it reset so i might do it at time like this, off hrs, then i can reg and make use of the accounts."

Call Online Banking Help and they can help you. 1-800-539-1539

8:59 a.m.
"not after hrs, pleas take care of it"

I do not have the ability to reset anything with online banking. You have to call that number. Sorry.

9:33 a.m.
"ACT AS ME AND GET IT DONE AND CALL ME ON CEL 801-xxx-xxxx WITH INFO THANKS"

2:54 a.m.
"not opened, u gave me bad advise, not good"

My apologies, I thought that was a 24 hour line. You will have to call back during business hours. It should not take more than five minutes. I cannot act as you and do it for you, as that would be unethical. I'm not sure what more to tell you.

Thanks Mom

2010-02-14T19:33:00.000-08:00

Every Valentine's Day that I can remember has included a big, heart-shaped cookie with my name on it. When I was younger, they were always from my Grandma (and came with a $5 Bill). Ever since my Grandma passed away, my Mom has taken it upon herself to carry on the tradition. I absolutely LOVE that she is still doing this for us. It always brings back great memories. This year she even mailed cookies out to the whole fam while she is living the good life out in Myrtle Beach. Thanks, Mom!

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Oh, and wasn't Lori so sweet to get me those beautiful roses...? What a day!

School...

2009-12-21T20:39:00.000-08:00

How is it that my worst grade for Fall semester was in what I thought to be my easiest class? I guess this confirms my decision to go with accounting instead of finance. After all, who cares about puts, options, present values, and strike prices?

Mr. Dubil said to expect no higher than a B in his class and I guess he wasn't joking! He's Eastern European and I have an inkling that maybe he doesn't give anything higher than a B in an effort to prove that Americans are lazy. Oh well. He was the most sarcastic person I have ever met, and frankly, the only thing that slightly justified the tuition I paid. I still don't understand how I didn't get an A in a class that was essentially a review of my job!

He doesn't look evil, right?

Personal Favorites

2009-12-05T22:39:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I just thought I'd add my personal favorites of a few pictures I took today.

The three little girls by themselves are my gorgeous nieces Elli, Kate, and Morgan.

The darling family is my cute cousin and her adorable kids/family.

I hate a great time!! :) It was snowing all around us and all the kids that were there today did such a great job of trying not to let it show on their faces how FROZEN they all were. :) CUTE CUTE!

Thanksgiving Pictures

2009-11-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, here are a few cute pictures from Thanksgiving....

FALL FUN 2009

2009-11-08T19:33:00.001-08:00

It was such a nice day today we had to get out and make the most of it while we can!! Here are a few pictures of our cute little family. Hurley was such a good boy!!!! Isn't he handsome?! :) I must say, Josh looks pretty dang sexy too!! :) We had a great time....and thanks to Kathleen these turned out super cute!! She was our HERO!! We've taken our own pictures before, but this year we wanted to include Hurley and we knew we'd never get him to look at the camera if there wasn't any one there to keep his attention! THANKS KATHLEEN!!! I OWE YOU!!! :)

My two favorite boys!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU TWO!! :)

I look kind of awkward, but i couldn't resist, i just love how Hurley's looking at us. It so cute!! :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2009-11-07T14:34:00.001-08:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Josh and I had a great time being Pirates!!! It has been too long to remember when the last time was that I dressed up!! These are the best "mean" faces we could come up with! :)

I'm Not Racist

2009-10-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

I absolutely hate getting my hair cut. If I weren't balding, I would just let it grow long and be free. Unfortunately for me, I'm getting a little thin on top. The longer my hair gets, the more bald I look. At least that's how my loving wife has worded it in the past. She likes my hair short. Not too short. Not short enough that I could just put a number 2 on the clippers and go to town, but short. About every 5-6 weeks I am overdue for a haircut. Yes, overdue. I am very much due for a haircut for about a five day period (usually 3-4 weeks after my previous haircut). But the haircut never happens during the period when it has become necessary. Thus, when I do get a haircut, it is always overdue.

I have reasons for my loathing of haircuts.

First, I hate paying for a haircut. I will always find the cheapest haircut I can. You will typically find me at one of three places: Great Clips, Fantastic Sams, or Super Cuts. There is no way I am actually going to make an appointment, go to a salon, and pay $30 for a haircut. Not worth it. As I mentioned above, I need haircuts often, and there is no way I'm shelling out $30 a month.

Second, I hate the itchy mess after a haircut. Really, is it that hard to keep the majority of the tiny hairs out of my shirt? What's the point of the apron? Is it there to trap the hairs just so the lady can funnel them right down the back of my shirt when she's done? Honestly.

Final reason (which is my own fault I guess): Without fail, I always have crazy Asians cutting my hair. Regardless of location, time of day, and number of good deeds done throughout the course of the week, I always get stuck with the weird Asian chick. Like I said, I am not racist. I love Asian food, and I think they know how to make cars. I actually find the half-breeds very attractive as well. But, I do not like it when they cut my hair. I know this could be avoided by finding a girl that I like at a salon, but then I would have to overcome my number one hatred for haircuts and I just don't know if I'm ready for that.

I have two stories to share. About 4 months ago, I went to the Fantastic Sam's by my house. It is close by, convenient, and almost never has a wait early in the morning. There were three girls working there and all of them were finishing up a haircut. Two of the girls were nice-looking girls who had taken some pride in themselves while getting ready for the day. But in the blue corner, weighing in at 67 lbs, was a tiny little Asian lady. Of course, she finished first and invited me back. I sat down, told her that I wanted a number one on the sides and to taper it up and blend it to a finger length on the top. Easy, right? I thought so. After all, that is the same haircut about 2 million other guys in the State of Utah have. She seemed to understand and started cutting away. It was going well, until she started asking me questions and tried to make small talk. I was giving my typical one-word answers trying to hint that I was just there for a haircut and really didn't care about the swap meet at the fair grounds. Then she told me that she needed to ask me a guy's opinion on something. I gave her the go-ahead and she went on to ask me if it would be weird to get her boyfriend a 4th of July present. They had only been dating a couple of weeks and she didn't want to come on too strong.... la la la.... What?!

Was she really asking me about getting a 4th of July present for some guy she has been seeing for two weeks? I told her that it was really up to her and I didn't think he would mind. She then muttered something about looking for some new sneakers she could probably find for him at the swap meet. She did some touching up on my hair and asked if it looked alright.

Somewhat surprised, I responded, "Uh, sure. The half that you have cut looks great."

"OMG, I was so worried about what to buy my boyfriend that I only cut half of your hair!"

Yes, I do believe this woman was a genius. She finished up and took me over to wash my hair. This is where I got weirded out. As she was washing my hair, she put sat me up, put one palm on my forehead, and started beating on the pack of my head with the heal of her other palm. I don't know if she was casting a spell on my or what, but it was odd and I didn't talk to her again. I still can't figure out what that was all about.

This morning while I was out getting the mail with Hurley, I noticed a coupon in our mailbox. $7.99 haircut at Great Clips. Great! I love haircut coupons, and I am about exactly 2 weeks overdue for a haircut. I'm supposed to be taking it easy since I'm still in recovery from my surgery, but I thought it would be nice to get out and get the haircut situation taken care of.

I walked into Great Clips and there was only one lady working. Yep, she was about 4' 6" tall and freshly imported from Japan. I sat down in the chair, gave her my typical instruction, and waited for her attempt to make small talk. It didn't take long. Before I knew it, she was asking me where I grew up and what I like to do. I told her that I don't have a lot of free time lately with work and school keeping me busy. This led to a conversation about me studying accounting and how I decided that is what I want to do. Then, out of nowhere, she said to me (very excited-like), "I need to tell you something. Last winter I was in Idaho with my husband and I walked into the bathroom at the ski resort and there was a woman who looked like a man. I couldn't tell if she was a man, so I thought maybe I was in the wrong bathroom. But then I realized it was just a really ugly woman. That was scary."

What the...? Where did that come from? OK, I get it. Accounting is kinda nerdy, and a lot of the girls in my classes aren't the most attractive. Is that where she pulled that story from? I just don't get it. Then she gave me what is probably the worst haircut of my life. At least it was only $7.99. I'm not racist.

Update!

2009-10-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning at 7:45am I checked in at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center to have my neck operated on. When I woke up in the morning I actually felt better than I had in quite a while, and I had slept through the night pretty well. I told Lori that I was feeling like I should call in and cancel my surgery. She quickly told me that I shouldn't let one decent day take precedence over months of pain and discomfort. I agreed and off we went to the hospital. I'm glad I listened to her. By the time we got to the hospital, I was in so much pain I could hardly stand it.

We got checked in right away and I was asked to put on a hospital gown. It was a pretty neat little gown that had some hookups for tubes that blew hot air onto my body to keep me warm. Only problem: I rarely get cold, so it just made me hot. After I got all dressed and ready to go, my mom and dad, Lori, and I sat in a tiny little room for what seemed like an eternity while I starved to death. I wasn't allowed to eat anything after 9:00 the night before. I started complaining about being hungry and my mom told me that I sounded like my brother, Mark the night before. I was unaware up until this point that my brother had suffered a pretty gruesome mountain biking accident and had spent Monday night in the ER at LDS hospital. He had a good fall and split his forearm open on a rock. He's tough and was back at work the next day, but you can see on his face that this didn't feel too good! He went for a ride on his lunch break, planning to eat when he got back to work, and ended up spending all night in the ER where they wouldn't let him eat because of the anesthetics they were using to ease his pain. Poor guy!

So anyway, I was hungry and miserable, but felt worse for Mark after seeing what he was going through. He came to visit me at the hospital and told me that they took a scrub brush to his wound in order to get all of the gravel, sticks, and leaves out of his arm. Wow! That just sounds miserable.

After what seemed like an eternity, my doctor came to my room, explained the surgery to my family, and introduced me to his nurse practitioner and the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist doped me up and I don't remember another thing until after the surgery was over. I woke up in an immense amount of pain and was unable to talk because my throat hurt so badly. The guy that was there when I woke up kept asking me if I was in pain and I couldn't manage to tell him that YES, I felt like I was going to die! Finally I muttered out that I needed something and he quickly hooked me up with some fentanyl which dramatically reduced my pain level. Since then I have been on a steady dose of oxycodone and soma that has been keeping me quite pleasant :)

The first picture there at the top shows a close-up of my incision and the tube that was placed into my neck to help drain the fluids away from the operation area. Sorry if it grosses you out. The next one is me doped up on my hospital bed. Don't you just love the V-neck? When I was getting dressed, one of the nurses was going on and on about my chest hair. She was absolutely blown away by it. She said that she now knows that Sasquatch does exist. Shortly after that I lifted my leg while getting up to use the restroom and showed off my johnson to the entire hallway. I think my dad saw it too. Oops! I apologized to the nurse and told her that I was just trying to impress her. She quickly reminded me that she was already so impressed by my chest hair that I didn't need to do anything else to gain her respect.

The black and white picture is an x-ray of the plate and screws they installed into my spine. It is a profile shot with my chin pointing to the left (so you can have some perspective). The titanium plate is right on the front of my spine and holds the C6 and C7 vertebra together. In between the bones (and right behind the plate), you can see the piece of cadaver bone they replaced my disc with. Over the next 6-8 months the two vertebra above and below the cadaver bond will grow into the dead bone and fuse together. Pretty cool how it all works out. I'll have the plate and screws in for the rest of my life.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support, prayers, thoughts, and visits. It has been very, very appreciated. I am happy to say that I am more comfortable right now than I have been in months. I'm sure everyone's prayers played a huge role in the success of this surgery. Thanks again!

How To Share Your Testimony With a Baby

2009-10-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting experience at open mic day today. I was attending church in Lehi for a baby blessing at my good friend's church. He was blessing his new baby, Easton, and another baby was blessed as well. Before church started I saw a guy shaking hands with some people and introducing himself as Michael McLean. I figured I had heard him wrong, or it was just coincidental that he shared a name with the LDS musician. After all, what would the somewhat-famous Michael McLean be doing at the Lehi First Ward? Throughout the meeting, I kept looking back at him wondering if, in fact, it was the Michael McLean who wrote the Forgotten Carols and other soft 80s LDS hits.

After the baby blessings, the meeting was opened up for the sharing of testimonies. A few people got up and said some things that were nice and uplifting. Then this Michael McLean guy started walking up to the mic. I noticed that he was carrying a hymnbook with him and figured this would be my answer whether it was him, or not.

He stood up to the microphone and began to explain that he had been invited to the meeting by the family of the other baby who was being blessed. He had been holding the baby before the meeting started and he said that he felt as though she was looking up at him wondering if he was going to testify of the Savior to her. He explained that he wanted that little baby girl and Easton to hear his testimony and that he was going to share it in a language that they could understand. At that point, he walked over to the piano and played a beautiful solo of I Need Thee Every Hour. It was a stunning piece of music and a very neat experience.

Good Knife Set?

2009-10-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

So this is the guy that's going to slit my neck next week. Yep, literally. Dr. Robert Hood, MD. He'll be cutting open the front of my neck on Tuesday, October 13. When I think about it, I get a little nervous. I guess it's not too bad, but I've never even had the gas at the dentist before and now, all of the sudden, I'm going to be put under and have my neck cut open. Whooeee! He seems like a really cool guy. This picture doesn't do him any favors -- he's not as nerdy as he looks. Come to think of it, maybe it's good to have a nerdy doc. The nerds usually know their stuff, right? Either way, I think the surgery will be great and I might finally get rid of this pain in the neck. Pray for me, people. I may need it.

Stupid Bodies

2009-09-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

This is an MRI of my neck. Aren't I good lookin'? For the past few months I have been in some serious pain, and didn't really know why. It's like I've had a stiff neck that just doesn't want to go away. About a month ago the pain got worse than ever and I started noticing some numbness and tingling in my left arm. That was when Lori demanded that I go see a doctor. I explained my symptoms to the doctor and he said he was pretty confident I had some kind of bulging or herniated disk in my neck or upper back. Apparently he was right. If you follow that nice white line going down the middle of my neck (I think it's my spine or spinal cord or something) there is a nice little chunk taken out. Yep, that's where I have my new best friend: a herniated disk between the C6-C7 vertebra. Next step: drop my MRI off at Dr. Hood's office. He's a neurosurgeon. Yeah, I'm a little nervous.

Other stupid body story: One of my best buddies from the mission, Justin Barton, called me yesterday and let me know that his beautiful wife had just been diagnosed with Lupus. Her name is Alli and I think right now she can use all the prayers she can get. They are really scared and pretty emotionally stirred right now. Please keep them in your thoughts and remember them in your prayers.

Head Shots

2009-09-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

We have been encouraged to add a picture to the online phonebook on the intranet at work. I'm having a hard time deciding which one to send in. Any input is appreciated. This is a big deal.

THIS IS MY (LORI) FAVORITE!!!

LOTOJA 2009

2009-09-13T17:18:00.001-07:00

This weekend was kind of a big deal for some of the members of my family. My two brothers and my Dad have been training for the big race from Logan to Jackson Hole, LOTOJA. It's a 206 mile race of tons of steep uphill. I was tired just driving the whole thing! Steve and Mark have done it before (along with a bunch of other races), but this was the first year for my Dad. My brother Mark, the one in pink, asked me a few months ago if I would be willing to crew for him during the race. I was excited to have the chance to go and help out.

I got to decorate my car with a bunch of super-official stickers

This is Marco, Steve's wife. Steve is in the blue and white, by the way. Marco and I were together pretty much the whole day. We were in charge of putting together musette bags for Mark and Steve. For those of you not familiar with the term "musette" it's just a bag filled with food and drinks that the cyclists grab as they ride by designated feed zones.

We always stood by number 8 at the feed zones so that Mark and Steve would know where to find us.

This is Rachel, Mark's wife, and his baby, Kate. They were able to cheer Mark on while I worried about getting him his musette.

If you look closely in this picture you can see Marco handing off the musette to Steve. Do you kind of get how it works now? I had no idea about any of this stuff before Saturday morning. They don't stop the whole time... just grab and go.

Here's Mark (in the pink and black) after I handed him his musette. It was hard to get any pictures of his front side since I was handing him his goods. The hand off is actually pretty intense. I saw one guy who made his cyclist crash way hard because of a bad hand-off. The cyclist did a complete front flip right in front of me and landed on his shoulder. It was pretty graphic, and loud! No joke, it sounded like a car accident. He lost control for a second and plowed into a cone. He did not finish the race due to a seriously jacked up shoulder.

Here is Steve crossing the finish line. He came in Second Place in his category!! We were all really proud of him.

Mark's kids cheering him on at the finish. I didn't get a picture of him crossing the line. Oops!

Here he is after his finish. Not even tired :)

Doesn't my Dad look like a stud? Hard to believe how fit he has become in the last couple of years. There weren't a lot of guys in their sixties there.

Here's Steve at the podium. He was .25 seconds behind the first place guy. Pretty impressive, don't you think??

Stay in touch and maybe you'll see some pictures of Lori participating in the race next year!

Welcome to our Team's Homepage

2009-09-12T16:29:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our Team's Homepage

Clink on the link above to find out what I've been up to lately.... :)

Shared via AddThis

Southern Utah 2009

2009-08-21T20:12:00.001-07:00

This last week, Lori and I went down to Southern Utah for one last hoorah of summer before my social life ends (school starts up again on Monday).

On Saturday, I went to Zion National Park with Lori's brother and Dad. We hiked Angel's Landing. When we heard about the lady who died there a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't resist going to see what it's like. Here is a view from the very top. It was gorgeous! Sorry the picture isn't better. It was smoggy that day and I took the picture with my phone since Lori wouldn't let me take the camera.

This is the view before the final climb. It's a little intimidating if you look down either side. Straight drop-off!

Lori's Dad climbing up

On Monday we left for Lake Powell. Hurley found two new best friends: Our niece, Ellie, and the lake. He spent almost the entire time fetching tennis balls out of the water.

Hurley would just sit and anxiously wait for someone to throw the ball into the water.

As you can see, he has no fear of just jumping right in!

This is Morgan. She was Lori's source of entertainment on the trip. She's almost two and is just the cutest little thing. She talks and talks all day long. And for some reason, she loves her Uncle Josh :)

Here I am attempting to jump on the wakeboard. The small amount of athleticism I had when I was in high school is diminishing in my old age.

Lori still has it goin' on though. She can even ride one-handed!!

And still has time to plug her nose when she goes down :)

We were both really proud of Lori's Dad. He got up his very first time on the wakeboard. Even with me doing a horrible job driving the boat, he still rocked it out there.

Hurley had the time of his life and just loved having Ellie, Kate, and Morgan to play with.

Lori says Hurley is more than just a dog. She brought him on the boat with his life jacket just as if he were our little baby.

Just waiting for someone to play with him...

We drove down Cedar Mountain on the way home. It was a gorgeous drive.

Then we went back up the mountain the next day to have a picnic for Ellie's birthday. Lori and Morgan spent the whole time taking pictures and playing together. I hope she loves our kids as much as she loves Morgan...

BORED

2009-06-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is how much time we have on our hands now that I am out of school for the summer. Somebody please call us so we can do something fun and actually have a real activity to blog about on here!! Poor Hurley is turning into a stage child.

FUN!

2009-06-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

The new Senior Security Manager at my work let me take one of these babies home with me....it is SUPER FUN! I get to eavesdrop all over the valley from the comfort of my own couch! You would not believe some of the things I'm hearing on this sucker!! It's a really cool radio that picks up on all the conversations of the police, firemen, school bus drivers,truck drivers, and pretty much anyone else that talks on a radio. It's pretty cool! :)

GO BEES...

2009-06-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday night Josh and I met an old friend and his girlfriend at the bees game. It was so fun. Josh and I arrived early so we actually watched the game. I haven't actually watched a baseball game in forever!!

Hell of the North

2009-04-04T14:47:00.001-07:00

This morning I went to watch my brothers in a bike race called The Hell of the North. I've heard rumors that Hell is actually freezing cold and not the fiery furnace that most of us think of. If those rumors are true, then this race lived up to its name. My brother Mark is the one in the middle with the short shorts, red vest and white blocks on his shoulders.

As you can see, the race started out pretty cold and wet. As the group came around, lap by lap, it got colder and snowier...

and the guys got muddier.

I think at this point, Mark was about in tears -- I know I would have been.

Poor Steve got a flat tire right at the start of the race. He was a little behind, but stayed determined to finish. He was flying by so fast every time he rounded the corner that it was hard to get a good shot of him.

And the snow pressed on...

Mark came in with the first group to cross the finish line...

And Steve followed shortly.

All in all, it was an awesome day and I was proud of my two big brothers. They have such determination and athleticism. They finished cold, muddy, and tired. WAY TO GO GUYS!!

Pipeline Hike

2009-03-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Lori, Hurley, and I went out for the first hike of the season. It was a beautiful day and Lori was so pumped up to get out and do something fun with the dog. The hike was a little steeper than we had anticipated and I was having a really hard time making it up the mountain. Lori and the dog had to keep pulling me along ;) We finally did make it past the hard part and it ended up being an easy hike with a beautiful view of the Salt Lake Valley. We had a great time and all three of us were pretty tired by the time we got home. Lori and Hurley both stripped their clothes off and took a nap right on the floor (that's why only their heads are showing in the picture). We hope all of you enjoyed the beautiful weekend!!

CABO

2009-02-15T08:00:00.001-08:00

Lori and I just got back from celebrating our 2 year anniversary in Cabo! I know, I know... it hasn't been two years yet, but we got married over spring break which was a HUGE mistake. It is a disaster to try to travel in March. Here are some pictures of our trip. We had a blast!!

Good Old-Fashioned Family Christmas!

2009-01-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. We had a wonderful holiday season full of fun and family. On Christmas Eve we spent time with my family in the afternoon. Lori had the best cheeseball she has ever tasted (thanks Kathy), and the kids had a great time opening presents. My parents gave us all a huge supply of great food storage, which is brilliant - They know we would never buy it on our own.
Later that evening we went to Lori's brother's house to spend time with her family. We had a great dinner and spent some time talking about the Savior, the true meaning of Christmas.
Christmas morning was spent at our little home. Lori's parents were here while we opened our presents. Lori got me some great tools so I can figure out how to become a handyman. Someday I'll have time to use them! She also got me the new John Grisham book, The Dark Knight on DVD, and with her parents, got me some much-needed shirts and ties.
I gave Lori a bunch of boring stuff: an external hard drive to store her pictures on, clothes, a projection alarm clock, a blanket... I know, not too exciting. Hurley got a bunch of new toys that he LOVES! After presents, Christmas morning was spent with Lori's family where we had a wonderful breakfast, and on Christmas night my mom made a delicious Armenian dinner. Even Lori found some ethnic taste buds somewhere on her tongue and really enjoyed the meal. I'm grateful to have such great families to spend the holidays with. Merry Christmas!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2008-12-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Isn't Christmas just great? This morning Hurley and I have been sitting here next to our Christmas tree, listening to Handel's Messiah, and thinking about how great this time of year is. I actually don't know what Hurley is thinking about, but anyhoo... I have always loved the Christmas season. When I was a kid I loved it because I knew it meant new Ninja Turtles and GameBoy games. When I was in high school, I loved it because I knew that it meant some time off from school. On my mission, I loved it because it meant a good dinner at our zone conference and I got to call home to my awesome family. Now that I'm an "adult" I think I love it more than ever. This whole season is a chance for us to take a step back and think about what we can do for others. This year I'm not thinking about getting a break from school (although that is a definite plus), or getting awesome presents. But this year I have really been thinking about what a great season of giving this is. It is a time when families take extra time to be together, and when everyone thinks about how to make sure their loved ones know that they are loved. Most of all, this is a holiday about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Christmas is a celebration of His birth. And what better way to celebrate Him than to show love and charity to those around us? I truly hope that despite the craziness around us we can all remember what Christmas is really about. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Fun weekend...

2008-09-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun weekend thanks to Josh's sister Kristen! Friday night we enjoyed dinner at the famous CHADDERS...It was pretty good, Josh loved it and our cashier was CRAZY...one of those that is "Good for a laugh" for hours after! Then we went to the Kalai concert. I love Kalai!! However, after the opening band was finally done, my attention span was shot. I was also FREEZING, so I just cuddled up to my husband and enjoyed the show. :)

Saturday we layed around and enjoyed our day off, well i should say i did. Poor Josh did homework for most of the day! That night we went to the U of U game. THANKS KRISTEN!! It was fun. I don't know what's going on most of the time, but it's a fun atmosphere still. :) As long as I'm with Josh, I'm happy! :)

Hurley

2008-09-25T18:39:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, it's been a long time since I talked about my baby--Hurley!! :) He is our baby. HAHA, Everyone thinks I'm so silly when I say that. Anyways, I took some pictures of Hurley today. They didn't turn out like I had hoped, but it's pretty hard to take pictures of a dog all by your self. Josh is at school tonight, but I couldn't wait, I got the urge at work to go home and take pictures and i couldn't fight it. :) So here is Hurley. He's huge!! He's big softy though. He thinks everyone was born to be his friend! If you ever need anyone to play with, or you could use a cheering up, he's your guy! :)

Hike in Kanarraville

2008-09-06T13:25:00.001-07:00

We went down to Cedar City over Labor Day weekend for Mom and Dad Childs homecoming. It was a weekend full of wind, fun, and a whole lot of croissants (leftover from the open house). Here are some pictures of a hike we did out by Lori's brother's house. The one of me at the bottom of the waterfall is actually a natural waterslide that was AWESOME. Does my chest hair make me look fat?

YIPPY!!!!

2008-08-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

YIPPY!! My parents are finally home from their mission! They served a 23 month mission in Samara Russia and they are finally home!! I am so happy they are home safely. Having them that far away was hard but it's very nice to have them home! They can finally get to know their son in law. :)

Road Trip to MAUI!!

2008-08-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Lori and I got bored so we decided to take a road trip to Maui. It really wasn't as bad of a drive as you would think it would be. It took us about 5 hours to get there, but we made good time on the way home. It's a pretty good deal for a weekend getaway. We had a lot of fun and saw some really cool stuff. I can't believe we forgot to take more pictures though!!

Arts and Crafts Market

2008-07-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

YIPPY!! Josh and I have always talked about wanting to hang original artwork on our walls. Either something we have done or something original done by someone else. Today we went to the Arts and Crafts Market downtown at Pioneer Park. We found these two pieces that we loved and thought would look perfect over our table, so we put them in these big frames so they would fit the space just right. What do you think?! :) They were done by a local artist named Jessica Willoughby, you should check out her other work http://www.jessicawilloughbyart.blogspot.com/. She does great stuff and I can't wait to buy more in the future! :)

Tower Hill Way

2008-06-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

I finally put some pictures on here, sorry I've been such a slacker.... We can't tell you how much we love our new place! It is very exciting and we are as happy as can be! We feel very blessed to have such a beautiful place! I didn't take pictures of our unfinished basement, but we all know what an unfinished basement looks like, right!? :) You'll have to excuse the empty walls, we are not finished decorating yet. Also the messy room with the air mattress in it is going to be the office when we get around to buying a desk! Right now it just has an air mattress in it for recent guests we had. It is kind of serviving as a junk room at the moment with all kinds of things we haven't put away yet. It has a big walk-in closet full of junk so i didn't take pictures of it. We also have a nice and big walk-in closet too, but i chose not to take it's picture. :) We have lots of stairs, but I didn't post pictures of them...but they are here -- trust me, my legs were sore for 3 days trying to get used to all of them! ;)

Albrecht Clan

2008-06-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the Albrecht clan. :) My mother in law asked me over a year ago to take all the grandkids pictures...I've finally finished! Aren't they such cute kids?! :)

Childs Family Tradition...

2008-06-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone I'd like to introduce you to a long-running Childs Family tradition: FLOATING BOATS! :) It's not officially summer until we've floated boats! Josh thought it sounded so dumb, but really ended up having a good time. My sister, Cindy was in town all week last week so Josh and I decided to take work off on Friday. It was so nice to have a day off! Cindy, Josh, Austin, Rachel, Makenna, Ellie and Kate, and I picked up lunch at Josh's and my favorite sandwich place, Jimmy Johns, and headed up the canyon. It was a fun day full of floating boats, finding bugs and even a little hiking. Cindy is pregnant and due in two months so we did just a little bit of hiking. :) To float boats, you buy cheap boats, NEVER TAKE ONES YOU LIKE, since sometimes they don't come home. So buy cheap boats and some string, find a river and a bridge and that's all you need. It’s really fun for the kids to hold the string and watch their boats. Kids and adults of all ages enjoy this outing! :)

All moved in....

2008-06-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

We are FINALLY all moved in to our new place and we love it!! It's so amazing to be in a brand new place. Everything is new and doesn't have other peoples old dirt like our apartment did! :) It's amazing feeling to own too! We take a different pride in it. We are all moved in and unpacked for the most part and we want to thank everyone that helped us! We had so much help and everything was done so quickly! It was so nice and we have the greatest family ever!!
Hurley loves it i might add. He loves all the extra space and he loves running up and down all the stairs! He is so funny to watch! Prince hates it of course and keeps hiding for hours at a time and we can't find him... He'll get used to it though. He just doesn't like change.... But Josh and I and Hurley love it and that's all that matters!! haha...
Pictures to come....

2008-06-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is a crappy picture but I had to put it on here. This was cracking me up so much this morning! Hurley's favorite thing is to run around those basket tables in the picture and chase his leash! This morning he ran into some trouble. While we were packing last night we moved the love sac over and it was right up against the tables so he couldn't get around it! He stared at it and stared at it and couldn't figure out what to do...next thing i know he's just trying to squeeze his body through the best he can. It was so funny! He'd get stuck at first. Once I stopped laughing at him, I decided to help him out and move the tables for him. It was so cute! How would it be to have your biggest problems in life be something like that! haha :) Dog's are so entertaining. Josh and I don't know what we ever did before we got him!!

Fun weekend!

2008-06-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend this weekend, except for sunday when I was sick in bed all day. It's so lame to be sick! Anyway, back to our fun weekend... Friday night we went up to a cabin in American Fork Canyon with Josh's friends from high school. We took Hurley and went up and hung out by the fire and roasted all kinds of foods. :) It was fun and Hurley had the time of his life! It was cute and fun to watch him run around and enjoy the out doors! Saturday we went to my nephew's baptism and had an amazing lunch after! YUM!!! These cute pictures are from the baptism. Then I had my first experience with IKEA. I have never been there before. Wow! It was huge and there was so many things to look at! Josh and I came to the the realization that we will be spending a lot of money there in the next few weeks. Our closing on our house is supposed to be the 11th. Cross your fingers for us! :) We are so excited. WE CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT OF OUR APARTMENT!!! Josh did remind me that we will be living in a construction zone since we are one of the first buildings in the area so every morning including saturdays we will most likely be woken up to bulldozers and things. Oh well, I'm still excited! Owning our own brand new place is going to be so exciting! Josh and I are both such clean freaks that we can't wait to not live in someone else's dirt! Everyone is invited to our place anytime! :)

On Saturday after a quick cat nap we headed up Millcreek to go hiking. Hurley loved every minute of it and of course all three of us were beat by the end! It was a little scary for me though, I worry too much about Hurley. Hurley loves to run up and down hills and the hike we were on was on the end of a steep drop off for most of the time. Josh threw Hurley's stick off of the trail on accident and Hurley went after it! Had he not listened to Josh and come back up the start of a cliff he was heading down, things could have been bad for him! I was freaking out!! But he did come back up and everything was fine! :) We love having Hurley so much. He has made us drag our butts out and do fun things! I know I talk about Hurley like he is our little kid but he really has made Josh and I feel like more of a family having him around. He's so cute and so much fun. He's everything I've ever wanted in a dog. Dogs are so much different than cats! Prince couldn't care less if Josh and I ever even came home again as long as he has food and water and our bed to sleep on. Hurley acts like he hasn't seen us in years when we get home from work. He's so excited and it makes us feel special! :) If anyone is thinking about getting a dog, I say go for it! :) Dogs adore you and make you know you are loved and you are very special to them! It's a great feeling. :) Ok enough about my dog. haha....

We will be posting pictures of our new place soon! Our final walk through is this week. YIPPY!! FINALLY!! :)

Silly Josh!!

2008-04-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

Silly Josh is job hopping! Monday he started at US Bank. Today he quit and tomorrow he will start with Key again but at a branch in Layton. The drive will really suck but it is a good opportunity for him! I'm jealous of his day off he has today! I'm really excited for him though! He will do so well at this new job I just know it! :)

ONE MORE THING...

2008-04-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

One more thing....Josh got a new job and his first day is today. He's a Personal Banker for US Bank. He's excited and so may I! Wish him luck!! :)

Memory Grove

2008-04-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well we had a great time this weekend. We loved the warm weather!! Friday we went to a way YUMMY place for dinner but I can't pronouce the name of it...haha then we walked through our house. IT HAS WALLS NOW!! How exciting! It's coming a long slowly. The best part about friday though was when I got a new camera! I got a new Nikon D200. I love it so much! I got it after work friday and was so excited! It was all I talked about all night. Then I couldn't sleep all night, i was so excited to use it, so I got up at 6:30 AM on saturday and took Hurley outside and took some picture of him. I took the one where he is on the rocks by the water. Then later Josh and I and Hurley all went to Memory Grove to play. Hurley had the time of his life and got so dirty!! But he loved every minute of it! Here are some pictures of us at Memory Grove!

More without a leash...he loved it!

2008-03-18T17:35:00.001-07:00

Look how big he is! He's growing so fast! He went to the vet yesterday and now weighs 19 lbs! He's a big boy!!!:)

Outside without a leash!

2008-03-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today I took Hurley outside and let him run around without a leash for about 30 minutes. He loved it, and I had a good time using Lori's camara to take some pictures of him. What a beautiful day it was today, and what a beautiful dog!

2008-03-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hurley is getting so BIG! We love him to death and can't believe how fast he is growing up. He pretty much takes up all of our free time and we don't know what we did before we had him.

Pictures of our Family....

2008-03-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

Here is my reaction to the puppy. I walked in the room and Josh had gone out to his car and brought him in. I was so excited!!!! My face pretty much says it all.

The Battle of the Species

2008-03-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

People sometimes ask us how our dog and cat get along. The answer can be found in the following video...

The BEST Valentines Day EVER!!

2008-02-15T09:31:00.001-08:00

I'd like to introduce you to HURLEY. He is the newest memember of our family. I have always wanted a Golden Retiever!!!! My paretns always told me that I couldnt' have one but that I could get one when I get married and move out. But Josh has always told me NO.He said that we couldn't get a dog at least until we bought a house. :( I can't descibe to you how surprised I was. Josh took pictures of my reaction, but I'm not going to post them. I am making a pretty crazy face! Haha. But here some cute pictures of him. Prince, my cat, isn't very fond of him yet though. It may take some time. haha. Luckily Hurley doesn't know that he shouldn't like cats. He has no idea how to be mean yet so he jsut sniffs Prince and wonders what in the world he is. It's so cute!!

Our vacation-July

2008-02-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

Last July, I believe, we went to Mrytle Beach. Josh's parents have a house out there. It was so much fun! We went to a swamp, which was VERY, VERY HOT. We also went to the beach and played pool and went out to eat. It was a great time! We can't wait to go back!

Fall Fun -October

2008-02-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Josh and I both LOVE to take pictures. We also both love Fall. It's a beautiful season! We decided we would go to Red Butte and take our picture. Here are a few of them. Of course it was just the two of us so we had to use a tripod. That was interesting let me tell you! haha!! Unfortunately Red Butte had a lot of people there at day so everyone got to watch us run like mad to get into position. It was a really fun day! Also look how funny-- remember we took these pictures with a tripod and still managed to catpure a friend in our photo....If you can't tell what it is...It's a little tiny bunny! haha