Utah and Slurpees

We went down to Sandy, Utah this last Friday to go to the reception of one of my roommates, Nolan. He ended up marrying the sister of another roommate so it was fun to see all the guys there. We were all roommates back when Laura and I started dating so she had fun seeing the guys too. Nolan's in the Navy and one awesome guy.

 

It's a funny story how I met these guys, all of whom are from Texas. Back in 98' I went to a cross country camp at BYU and Spencer (far right) also went that week. We ended up in the same apartment at Helaman Halls and ended up hanging out for the rest of the week (except for when he was dusting me on the long runs). I guess you could say our friendship was sealed when he saved my life. As part of the camp we hiked to the Emerald Lakes there up Provo Canyon. Well we were tough guys and decided we were going to run the whole time. On the way down, I wasn't watching where I was going and by the time I turned to look where I was running, I was heading off a 200 foot cliff. I tried to stay on the trail, but momentum was pushing me off the ledge. I had a split second to look around and saw a bush 20 or 30 feet below. I was going off the cliff either way so I decided to launch myself toward that bush as it was the only thing that could keep me from meeting a rather gruesome end. Spencer, who was behind me thought I'd committed suicide until he got to the ledge and found me down there hanging on for my life. He climbed down and pulled me up.

The next year we were both in Provo going to school and he was living off campus with these other guys. I ended up hanging out with them when I needed to get off campus and then I moved in after my mission. Needless to say, these are top-notch guys and I'm glad they let a Californian into their posse.

After the reception we went to Herriman so I could get my eyes checked out by a mission buddy who has a practice there. He was nice to stay late for us and I've never had a better eye exam. Then we were off to Provo where we got an awesome deal on a hotel with a pool - our little fish Jessica was in heaven. We spent Saturday showing the kids around BYU and other places that we love in Provo. I put together a little video of our events around BYU:

Saturday afternoon we went to Salt Lake to spend time with Laura's parents and then have dinner with them and her sister Karen and Karen's husband Jake. We went to Tucano's and loved it. Jessica got into it and ended up eating one of those little packets of butter as dessert. 

It's been super hot since we got back. To save money on A/C we just moved our bedrooms to the downstairs. The kids were hot from helping so we got out the blender and made Whispy Willies, a mission Slurpee creation from Belize. It uses a lot of sugar and boy did it excite Chandler. I wish I would have had the Rebel handy so I could get some HD video, but the iPhone was luckily in my pocket so I could get his spontaneous tribute to Napoleon Dynamite.

Adios Honduras

Unfortunately, it looks like Honduras will be eliminated from the World Cup today. It's hard to be sad though since they were really just happy to be there. So to pay tribute, we got Chandler all dressed up in his Honduran jersey and had a little family soccer night.



The good news of course is that the U.S. team is still in and if you missed the extra time goal by Landon Donovan against Algeria, you really should check it out. We're not huge soccer fans, but that was awesome. Go U.S.A.!

Family Visits and Chocolate Covered Raisins

A few weeks ago, Michael's parents and sister came to visit for a weekend. It was fun having family come stay and see the new place, and the kids had so much fun getting spoiled for a couple days.

Michael's dad helped us get a few repairs done around the the house and then did a little planning for Carly's wedding in August. She'll be getting married in LA so we're looking forward to that and maybe Michael can even squeeze in a short surf session while we're there.



Chandler loves these PJs. They were his uncle Adam's when he was a baby and Michael even remembers Adam wearing these. Now 'Elder Hales' is serving a mission in Australia - time flies.

And finally, here are some pictures of the kids' favorite time of the day, snack time. Chandler gets so excited about chocolate covered raisins that he just gets goofy.

Swim Class

Jessica has been enjoying her "pike" swim class this week. She blows bubbles, puts her ears in the water, and gets dragged around the pool by her instructors.

On her way in

Giving a wink to the camera (or avoiding all the water getting in her face)

One week done!

Fish and BBQ, But Don't Barbeque the Fish!

Jessica's wanted a pet for some time now. We're not fond of cats (plus Laura's allergic) and a dog is more of a commitment than we're willing to make at the moment. So we took Jessica over to the pet store to look at fish. Of all the small fish in the store, Jessica had her mind set on the 13-cent goldfish. She even made the guy in the fish department there take out and put back in three fish until she got just the one she wanted out of the tank. After loading up on a tank, rocks, a fake plant, and the probably unnecessary water conditioner, we were on our way home. Jessica named the fish Nina (a female version of Nemo according to Jessica) and we often find her over talking to Nina letting her know that she's safe and that we love her.

And a side note, Laura got this swimsuit for Jessica last week and she's worn it every day since. We seriously can't get her to wear clothes most of the time and even when we go check on her at night, we'll find she's changed into the swimsuit. She tells me she wants me to teach her to surf next summer after she learns how to swim this summer. Swim lessons start tomorrow so she's been practicing blowing bubbles in the bath.

After we got Nina comfortable in her new home, it was time to fire up the grill. Laura let me get a new grill and we've been enjoying it this last week. Unfortunately, while I have an awesome grill, my BBQ accessories are not quite up to par. This is my pansy spatula that doesn't really flip burgers well.

I told Jessica it would be the perfect size for flipping a fish on the grill, but she quickly let me know that goldfish are not for barbecuing! With that settled, Chandler came out and wanted to see what was going on.

It's been a fun weekend. As far as house projects go, this week we got gutters, new motion lights out back, and new door locks for the front door. We've enjoyed, at least so far, finding little things to work on with the house. Just to finish this post, I'll add some pictures of the kids we've taken this week.