Chad and Brittany Hawkins

Disneyland

2010-11-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

The Beach

2010-11-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

We made it to the beach just in time to take pictures at sunset. Even though we didn't plan to do this I am glad it worked out that way.

11 Months Old

2010-11-12T08:57:00.001-08:00

Halloween

2010-11-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Fred, Willma, and Pebbles. We love Halloween and are sad to see it go but now we have thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to. Happy Holidays!

The Cutest Witch at Gardner Village

2010-10-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a mean old witch with a hat
and I fly on my broomstick with my cat.
My ears are pointed and my chin is too.
so you better watch out or I might scare you.
I'm a mean old witch with a hat

BOO!!!

(This is a song I sing with my students and with Kelsey of coarse)

Lagoon

2010-10-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

After a trial run at Lagoon we think Kelsey is ready for Disneyland next month! She will probably be walking by then as well. "Hunny we better get some squeeky shoes." I had the best time at Lagoon. I think these kind of activities are more fun with kids. Kelsey rode the Carousel and loved it. Do Carousels remind anyone else of Mary Poppins? I just imagined us bouncing off and around the park. Chad is apperantly great at skee ball, he won Kelsey two stuffed bears (for those who don't know Kelsey is obsessed with teaddy bears). We love Lagoon and are counting down the days until Disneyland!!!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

I never thought my daughter would be afraid of pumpkins. Yes Pumpkins. At the pumpkin patch she did not want to touch or even sit down next to a pumpkin.

Family Pictures

2010-10-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

9 Months

2010-10-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

8 months young!

2010-08-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Kelsey is Crawling

2010-08-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

Kelsey got her first teeth and the next day started to crawl. She is just growing up so fast. This video is of Kelsey doing three things trying to crawl, crawling and just being cute.

I have a new cousin?

2010-07-22T12:14:00.001-07:00

We want to welcome our new niece and Kelsey's cousin Ainsley Kate Allred. She was born at 11:53pm last night and is 7 pounds 6 oz, 19 inches. We are so excited to have another cousin Kelsey's age and hope that they will be good friends as they grow up.
Bravo to April who gave birth naturally!

Trip to Zions

2010-07-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

We had a blast with our friends Brian and Karey in Zions over the weekend. It was a quick trip but worth it. We stayed at Zions Ponderosa which is an amazing place. It has miniature golf, rock climbing, zip line, horse back ridding, and a fun pool with two slides. We went on a hike (Kelsey's first) and swam in the river. We also stopped at cove fort on the way down.

4th of July

2010-07-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Kelsey has such a fun personality. She is sweet, independent, and loving. Her favorite toy is a wooden block. She loves to sleep with her teaddy bear. She rockes out to music and plays catch with her mom. Although she cant throw the ball she lets it go and it rolls off her legs, then she gets all excited.

Kelsey's Safari Nursery

2010-06-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ever since 2005 when I went to South Africa I have been collecting Safari things for a future baby's room. Over the years I accumulated safari stuffed animals, wooden animals and some safari style decorations.
When I was pregnant and going through the nesting stage my parents came up and helped us get Kelsey's room ready. The only problem is no one ever sees her room. So here are pictures of Kelsey's SAFARI NURSERY!

Happy Fathers Day!!!

2010-06-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Over the Rainbow

2010-06-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

We saw this outside our house a few days ago. Isn't our world beautiful?
It was only there for a few minutes and this picture doesn't even do it justice.

Mommy and Baby

2010-06-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Kelsey's First Bites

2010-05-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

The first few bites she was confused, but then she got the hang of it, and then loved it. She occasionally blew on the spoon and the food went everywhere. She is so cute even with her face covered in food.

First BBQ at Gramme's House

2010-04-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

She already does the "Mitchell Face"

These eggs are huge!

She looks so pretty in the dress Grandma Mitchell gave her.

All of Kelsey's Cousins on Chad's side

We had such a fun time at gramme's house today. Kelsey got a second Easter and all the adults played games similar to that show a minute to win it. Chad and I won it! There was good food, great fun, and Kelsey even took a nap during all the excitement.

Cake Pops!!!

2010-04-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

My sister found these on bakerella.com and we had a blast making them. All of the boys even got into it but theirs were more scary than cute. Here are pictures of the ones we made.

Fun Easter in Henderson!

2010-04-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

We were only there for about 4 days but we did a ton of stuff.

Kelsey went swimming for the first time my mom bought her a way cute swim suit. She could not stop looking at it when we put it on her.

My brother Matt is a great photographer and taught me a few things about my camera. Here are the results.

Three Months old!!!

2010-03-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

HAPPY MARCH

Grandma Mitchell loves to buy Kelsey the cutest dresses and I am not complaining. Kelsey continues to be a happy and easy baby which is good for mom because she works full time. I cant wait until I only work part time, I feel like I miss so much while I am at work. Only three months left until summer, then we can just play all day.

Kelsey's Little Bear Outfit

2010-03-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

Old Pictures

2010-03-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

For New Years we were at Jen's house and Loni was changing Autumn into her PJ's and I said "Hey Kelsey has those same pajamas." Then I realized that I had them with me. So we dressed Kelsey in them and Whitney took pictures with her new camera. The top three pictures are a sequence that represented the whole night. We couldn't let Autumn too close to one month old Kelsey because she would grab her or pull her hair. It is so funny to watch Autumn around her cusins because she gets so excited and always wants to grab them.

On Christmas day we dressed Kelsey and Kalina up in matching cupcake outfits. Kalina was screeming in Kelsey's ear and Kelsey didnt make a peep or even seemed bothered. I love how babies even at one month old can have personalities. Kelsey is such a mellow baby and so happy all the time.

Kelsey is so lucky to have cousins her age. First there is Autumn, she is 6 months older than Kelsey then there is Kalina who is 5 days younger than Kelsey. The next one to come will be April's baby girl due in July then another cousin in september that we hope will be a girl also. I think it would be so fun if Kelsey had 4 girl cusins around her age.

All Smiles

2010-02-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

Today I came home for lunch and kelsey was so happy to see me she almost fell off of Chads lap. She was kicking her legs and giving me a big grin. It was so cute. She is such a happy baby and smiles all the time, even when we are trying to get her to go to sleep. She just looks up at us as if she is saying "see mom I'm not tired I can play for at least another hour". Then she gives me a big yaun.

Two Month Pictures

2010-02-23T20:36:00.000-08:00

Our baby girl is growing up so fast she is 10 weeks old and I still havent posted her one month pictures so here they are! I am trying to become a better photographer so every month I take pictures of Kelsey. She just gets cuter and cuter every day.

Kelseys Blessing

2010-01-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

On January 3rd Chad got to bless Kelsey. We had a lot of family and friends there for her big day. She looked beautiful in her white dress which of coarse she pooped on during church. It seems like baby's always explode either when they are in something nice or when you are about to go somewhere.

Here she is in her pretty white dress.

After her big day she zonked out on daddy's chest.
Four Generations

Christmas with Kelsey

2010-01-06T20:55:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun! It seems like the Christmas spark is back. I am so excited to watch Kelsey grow and to see her face light up as she gives and receives gifts. This year she slept through everything but she was only two weeks so we forgave her.

Kelsey Mae Hawkins Born December 11th 10:33PM, 7lb 4oz, 18 1/2 inch

2009-12-16T10:42:00.000-08:00

Having this new addition to our family has been the most incredible experience. I was so nervous for the delivery because everyone tells the horror stories. I had such a perfect pregnancy that I thought labor would have to have some issues because not everything can be perfect right? Well I was wrong my labor and delivery was just as smooth as my pregnancy, so here is the story.

On Friday December 11th we (Chad, my mom and I) went to the hospital for a stress test secretly hoping that they would induce me that day. My mom had been up all week waiting for Kelsey to
come and would have to leave in a few days. My due date was on the ninth so they wouldn't be inducing me early or anything. After the stress test they said everything looked great and we could go home. Chad and my mom talked the nurse into checking my cervix to see if anything had changed because we did not want to go home without the baby. Plus if we did go home I was scheduled for an induction for the following Wednesday which is the same day my sister was being induced. The nurse checked me and I had made some progress so we pleaded our case and she said she would call our doctor to see what she could do. We waited for 45 minutes and the nurse came back and said that we should go get some lunch then come back and they would induce me. They put me on pitocin at 12:15 and we just waited. Around 3:00 I started to get “REAL” contractions instead of the Braxton Hicks that I had been feeling the previous 10 days. Everyone said you will know it when the real ones hit and they were right. I got hot flashes, threw up, wanted Chad to fan me then didn’t want him to, wanted Chad to rub my back, then didn’t want to be touched. Luckly that only lasted a half an hour, then out came the best drug on earth, the epidural. After it kicked in, which was quick, labor was smooth sailing filled with movies and waiting. I liked how the epidural made it so I could still feel but had no pain at all. It was like the bottom half of my body was asleep. The only incident happened around 8:00 when I had 7 contractions in 8 minutes and Kelsey’s heart rate dropped. None of us knew that anything was wrong until 6 nurses came in and they put an oxygen mask on me. Then they took me off of the pitocin and 7 minutes later her heart rate went back up.
It is amazing how you know what your body is doing even when you have an epidural. I had been dilated to a 1 for three weeks. After getting the pitocin I went from a 1 to a 3 in 5 hours then from a three to a nine in an hour and 15 minutes. I keep telling Chad and my mom to have the nurse check me because I could tell the baby was dropping. Both Chad and my mom told me to wait but I convinced them and the nurse was surprised at how fast I dilated. At about 9:15 PM we began the pushing process. Chad was a great cheer leader saying “come on babe, you can do it, almost there” over and over like a recording. Pushing felt like the most stubborn BM that I have ever had. The doctor got there for the last 20 minutes of pushing and our little girl was born at 10:33 PM.
When I was dilated to a three I asked the nurse if she could feel any hair when she was checking me and she said “oh ya I grabbed and it just keep going” I thought she was joking but no Kelsey has a head of hair. When I was pushing I got to watch with a mirror, I recommend this. It is amazing to see what is going on as you are pushing. When Her head came out I just started saying “oh my gosh” because it was so surreal. Then when the rest of her came out and they set her on my chest I was overwhelmed with joy, relief, and love. Chad started to cry and when I say cry I mean it. He told me later “I knew I would get emotional but I didn’t know I would burst into tears” I want to clear up a myth, I never once yelled “you did this to me” at Chad, maybe I would have if I didn’t have an epidural but our common phrase was “I love you so much” and after chad just keep telling me how good I did and how amazing I am. I am so lucky to be married to a loving husband and now father. Our little Angle is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen and I fall more in love with her and Chad everyday.

Halloween Party

2009-10-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

Fun Fall Pictures

2009-10-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

We love Fall! The colors, perfect weather, sports, Halloween, everything. We went to the pumpkin patch and took some fun pictures of chads siblings and their families.

Baby Update

2009-09-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

It has been a little while since I have posted anything on here, sorry I just seem to forget about it. Brittany is doing really well with only about 11 weeks to go, pretty exciting. As surprising as it may sound, she actually really enjoys being pregnant. She loves the connection she has with the baby and being able to feel her all the time. Besides needing some iron tablets, both Britt and the baby are healthy. We haven't decided on a name yet, but there are some that we both like, so we'll have to see when she is born what name fits her best.

We had a really good summer and I'll try to do some catch up here in a little bit.

The Baby's Heartbeat!

2009-05-23T11:02:00.001-07:00

I just had a very exciting moment in my life this week. I heard the heartbeat of my first child. We went to the doctor's on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 6:15pm and met with our doctor, Doctor Cox. We were a little nervous about the doctor because Britt and I hardly ever go to the doctor and neither of us have a physician or anything so we really didn't know who to go to. My sister April suggested this doctor because she has worked with her at the clinic before. We really like her. She is very personable, but also very professional. Brittany is about 11 weeks and the doctor kept warning us that even though you can usually hear the heartbeat between 10 and 12 weeks, we might not hear a heartbeat and not to freak out. Then when she was about to listen to it, she said it could take a few minutes to hear it, but sure enough about 30 seconds after she started we heard the baby's heartbeat. It was so exciting and it made everything so real. We are going to be parents! She gave us a due date of December 9, 2009.

American Idol

2009-03-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else think the judges were off tonight? I didn't think it was Scott's or Danny's best performance but they said it was. Also, I loved Matt's performance and thought it was awesome. He sang it very well and added his own spin to it. It's weird because the judges have been telling the contestants that they are seeming like "wanna-be's," but to me it seems like they are trying to be themselves and what they like to sing, but the judges are wanting them to be somebody else. They talk about singing songs that they can make marketable and make them into stars, but they don't decide, we do. Usually I think Simon is pretty right on most of the time, but obviously there are times when I don't agree with him. Tonight was one of those nights. I don't know, I could be wrong, but that's just the way I felt tonight. What do you think?

P.S. My new favorite thing is when they show Simon's face while Paula is talking and the look on his face is classic. It's hilarious, he looks at her like she is saying the stupidest thing in the world, which is usually right on.

Holiday Pictures

2009-01-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

From Christmas 08

And the Winner Is...

2008-12-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

So Michelle won the Biggest Loser this season. She worked really hard to become the last standing member of the black team and pulled it off. My favorite part of the show was when Allison said that the vote between Heba and Ed was a landslide in Ed's favor. I knew this was going to happen and I voted for Ed several times myself. She won the at home money of $100,000, but the funny thing is that if she had been voted back on to compete for the finale, she would have won it all. All I can say is what you do on the show comes back to bite you in the butt. She was a pain for a good portion of the show. Granted Vicky overtook the throne of Miss Evil, but Heba did her share. Vicky tried to play the game, but in the end it did her no good. Heba was much better when her husband was at the ranch with her. I actually really liked Ed. He seemed like a great guy and a hard worker. I would have had no problem with him winning the whole thing, but Michelle worked harder.

My disappointment came in the fact that Heba beat Amy and Phil in the at home contest. They both looked incredible and I thought for sure they would win it. Heba looked really good too. I just did not want Heba to win because of how nasty she was to Phil at the ranch. It would have been sweet justice for Phil or Amy to have won to stick it to Heba. If that would have happened I would have been completely satisfied with this season's outcome.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

2008-12-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

I wanted to go see this movie in the theater for the special effects and action. I had heard that the reviews weren't very good for this movie, but I thought that it would be at least entertaining. There are plenty of movies where the story line goes nowhere and the acting isn't very good, but at least you can be entertained during the movie and it can keep your attention. Not this movie. I was extremely bored and there was only about 15 min of special effects. It wasn't the worst movie of the year, but not worth paying to see in the theaters.

So who watched Biggest Loser last night?

2008-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

I need to start out by saying that I fast forwarded through most of the episode last night. This is the first season that I ever fast forwarded through this show, usually I am glued to the set and can't even miss a minute of it. For some reason, I really don't care about the people on it this season. Like Bob was telling Vicky, it seems like this year is more about the game play than the weight loss. I feel the same way and it's very annoying. When I first turned it on, I went to the very end just to see who won the weigh in. Then I went back and watched the rest of the episode in about 20 min. I was really hoping Michelle would win the challenge because that would be a huge benefit for the finale. I was happy to see that Michelle was the biggest loser of the week, but upset that Vicky made it into the top three. I really wish she was one of the contestants America was voting for. When Ed begged America to vote for his wife, it made me want to vote for him even more. Heba doesn't deserve Ed or a shot to be in the final three. I voted for Ed 3 times on three different phones last night and I will vote for him ten times with each email account that I have. Is anyone with me on this or am I way off base?

Thanksgiving week

2008-12-03T08:57:00.001-08:00

From November 08

So last week was a really crazy week. It started off as a normal week, but on Tuesday at about 10:15am, we found out that a friend of the family, Bart Slack, had died. It came as a big shock to everybody. He was a really good guy that worked for my mom and stepdad at Imaginos. He did alot for them and has worked with them for over 15 years. Kyle and I have personally worked with him quite a bit since we were about 12 and 10 years old, working over the summers and when we were in between jobs. As soon as Kyle and I heard about this at work, we both left right away and went to Mom's house. All the girls came after work and we all played cards and hung out. It was good to be together and try to focus on something else. We all helped get ready for Thanksgiving as it was going to be a lot of work.

My mom went a little overboard this year and invited 26 people to Thanksgiving dinner. That's alot of people and requires alot of work. Everything went really smooth and everyone enjoyed themselves and had a really good time. Mom and Pat are extremely selfless. I don't how they pulled off such a big meal for so many people. I thought it was amazing that they invited the whole family, neighbors, and family of family. At first I thought it was going to be overly crowded, uncomfortable and chaotic. It actually turned out really nice and I enjoyed every minute of it. The food was great, the table looked nice, and everyone was very pleasant. Thanks Mom for a wonderful holiday!

Unfortunately I could not spend the whole holiday with the fam, I had to go to work. I had opted for a 3:30-midnight shift so that I could enjoy the meal at 1pm, then go to work after. I thought for sure that I would get off early and that nobody would be calling on Thanksgiving day. But I was wrong. It was really busy and I didn't get to go home early. I worked til midnight all by myself, got home at 12:30am, then I got up at 4:30am to go hit the early bird specials on Black Friday. I went to Walmart and it was insane. I didn't even get anything good, so I don't know why I did it. I got home at 6:30, took a nap for 30 min, then went to work from 8:00-4:30. All day I just wanted to go to sleep because I was so tired. Friday was my Dad's birthday, so there was no resting to be had. We all went to Jenn's house to celebrate. Finally I got to be at about 9:30 and was planning on sleeping til 10am on Sat, but turns out it was the last day for leaf pick up so I had to get up at 8am to rake leaves then go to the funeral. After the funeral, we all went to lunch then to the zoo for the christmas lighting ceremony. On Sunday, I did absoluely nothing. I stayed home and got some much needed rest after a crazy week.

UTAH vs. BYU

2008-11-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

So the big game is almost here! This is the game of the season. Every year this is a big game, but alot is riding on it this year. If Utah wins, they will break the BCS and get into a bowl game...again. I still don't understand why Utah doesn't get credibility. If they win on Saturday, this will be the 2nd time in 5 years to go undefeated in regular season. Hopefully if they do get into the Fiesta Bowl they can play a decent team and have a good game. In 2004, they played Pittsburg and blew them out of the water, 35-7. I understand that week after week they don't play extremely difficult teams, but being undeafted in any conference in a pretty big accomplishment.

Even though I am a Utah fan, I still want BYU to succeed in almost every situation except for when they play Utah. I was kind of bugged this year by Bronco Mendenhall's big mouth about halfway through the season when he was complaining about his top ten standing saying he should be higher and his team could beat any team in the nation. Not too long after he said this, they lost their first game and ended their winning streak. Even with that loss, they have been slowly climbing back up in the top 25 and should be grateful for their current standing.

Nonetheless, my vote is clearly for Utah this year. Regardless of who wins it will be a good game and it's always fun to get together and watch the game with family and friends. Please vote for who you think will win on the top right of the blog, and post comments if you want.

Biggest Loser continuation

2008-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

***Spoiler Alert: Watch last night's episode before reading***

What is Amy thinking? Seriously, what good is it going to do her to keep Vicky on. Vicky would never do that for Amy, especially since Amy voted off Vicky's husband, Brady. This was probably her only chance to vote off Vicky and she blew it. It made me so happy that the challenge came down to Michelle and Renee. When Michelle told her mom that she would buy her a purse if she let go, it made it sound like she was going to take the money. Then at the weigh in when Michelle decided to do the 1 pound disadvantage to Vicky, it almost seemed like she did it for Amy. That 1 pound disadvantage was huge, it put her below the yellow line and up for elimination. Michelle knew Amy would have the swing vote and that she had a miserable week because of Vicky. This was the perfect chance to end it all. I am sure Amy is afraid of Vicky, I mean who wouldn't be, she is psycho. But if she voted her off, she wouldn't ever have to see her again. Amy might have been afraid to face Bob to tell him he voted off another member of the blue team, but I know Bob would have understood. He was really on Vicky's case so he would have seen that it would have been Vicky's own fault. Amy had nothing to lose to vote off Vicky. At the beginning of the episode I was really cheering for Amy and wanted her to win it all, now I am not so sure.

Biggest Loser

2008-11-12T07:22:00.001-08:00

From TV Shows

***Spoiler Alert: If you aren't caught up with last night's episode, please watch, then read.***

Am I just crazy or are Heba, Brady and Vicky the worst contestants ever on this show? I have been annoyed by previous contestants before, but I have been able to get over it and focus on the weight loss. I understand that this is a game and people are playing for lots of money, but this is beyond that. These people are so rude and they don't try to hide it. Their little outburst last night made the other contestants feel very awkard and even made Stacey cry. Heba kept yelling at Phil to stop playing the victim, but he is the victim. For some strange reason they all think they are the victims and everyone else is rude to them. I just can't believe some of the stuff that Vicky says in front of the camera.

My favorite part of the show was when Amy voted off Brady. That was amazing, I was so happy. She was very brave to do this because she has seen how vicious Vicky and Heba can be. It was smart on her part too because Brady is going to be more of a threat than Michelle, obviously. Plus it's exactly what she said, she has been on both teams, so I don't know why the blue team thought they were all safe, Amy didn't have any more loyalty to them than the black team.

For those of you who don't know who I am talking about, here they are:

Please post your comments

SNOW!!!

2008-11-11T14:43:00.000-08:00

So, every year we go up to snowbird on the 45th week of the year. Sometimes there is sunshine all week and sometimes there is a ton of snow. This year we got 4 whole feet (not exaggerating) in less than 24 hours. Brittany got stuck up there and had to call in to work to tell them she couldn't come in. We had to unbury all the cars to get out of the parking lot.

From Snowbird

This is my car completely buried in the snow.

From Snowbird

Kyle and Whitney's car.

From Snowbird

This is the deck just outside out unit, we literally could not open the door.

From Snowbird

Parking Lot

October

2008-11-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Of course it has been a while since I have updated this blog, but I guess it is about time. We missed our favorite time of year when we were in St. Maarten, so we have to make up for it this year, so far we are off to a great start.

From October

This is us in Disneyland during Halloween.

From October

We made our own Mickey Pumpkin

From October

We also had a really fun Halloween Party. We hadn't seen some of our friends in a long time, so it was great to catch up, there were some great costumes.

From October

This is Pugsley and Wednesday Adams

From October

Brittany and I as Tinkerbell and Captain Hook.

From October

Hand over the Candy!

From October

We didn't even coordinate this, Nate and Melanie came as Peter Pan and Wendy.

From October

Nate brought Dead Man's Toes and used q-tips, delicious!

From October

The black widow and her catch.

From October

My sister April and her husband Mat at Jenn and Loni's party.

From October

Next we went to Lagoon's Frightmares and had a great time.

Bear Lake

2008-08-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from Bear Lake. We go here ever other year and hang out at a great cabin, play around in the beautiful water, and have a great time!

July

2008-07-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ok so it has been a little while since I have updated this blog. Here is what's going on right now in our lives. I am working at Comcast in the sales department and Brittany is getting ready to start teaching Kindergarten at Cedar Hills Elementary. July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. We had a good time this year by getting just about everything in. We had a bbq in my mom's backyard, saw fireworks at Sugarhouse park, and went to a baseball game. Also, we just got back from Yellowstone with my family and had a great time there. We are in the process of getting into a house and I will let you know when it is all complete. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

GO JAZZ!!!

2008-04-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

I have been a Jazz fan as long as I can remember. Obviously I was a huge fan of Stockton, Malone, and Hornacek, but for a few years I had a bit of a falling out. I became more interested in 2006 when they started off to one of the best starts in NBA history. They won their division and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, only to be beaten by the San Antonio Spurs. At the beginning of this season I was in St. Maarten and was not able to watch any of the games. I was looking forward to watching the games and attending a few as well. A few weeks ago I realized the season was coming to an end and I still had not made it to a game. So Brittany and I took her grandma to the Nuggets game for her birthday. I got hooked and wanted more. I had never been to a playoff game, so I looked on Craigslist and found some tickets to game 4 of the first round against the Houston Rockets. It was a close game, but in the end we pulled it off. Jazz lost tonight in Houston, but will take care of business at home in Game 6.

Craigslist

2008-04-07T17:49:00.000-07:00

I love Craigslist. I recently purchased a 22" Widescreen Westinghouse LCD Monitor for my desktop computer. The regular price of this item is $299.99 at a retail store. I got it for $120 and I didn't have to pay for tax or shipping, very nice. I love my new monitor.

The next item I bought was a portable hard drive. A buddy of mine had one of these in St. Maarten and I have wanted one ever since. It matches my laptop perfectly. The regular price of this is $119.99, I got it for $40.

I also saved $50 on an iPod Nano with video.

My last purchase was a bluetooth headset for $15, it retails for about $50.

So all together if I had paid full price for these I would have spent $619.98 and I only spent $325, so I basically saved around $300, very exciting.

Facebook Texas Hold 'Em

2008-03-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been fascinated and intrigued by facebook's application of Texas Hold 'Em. I have always loved a good game of Hold 'Em, but sometimes it is hard to find people to play with. This is why it is great to play on Facebook. My brother Kyle and I are quite competitive as you may know and we are always trying to top the leader board. If you have a facebook account, I highly recommend playing Hold Em. If you don't have a facebook account, I suggest you get one and add me as a friend.

Mom's Accident

2008-02-27T12:27:00.000-08:00

What's the deal with all of the accidents? Before my mission our family never got in any accidents. I remember once when I was probably 9 or 10 and Jenn had just gotten her license. We were at the intersection of Highland Drive and Fort Union Blvd waiting for the light. I guess she thought the light turned green and went for it. Well I wasn't wearing my seatbelt and I hit my head on the windshield and made a big crack. I learned my lesson and from then on I have always worn my seatbelt. Anyway, it was just a small fender bender, but it was the only accident I remember for a long time. Since 2004, there have been way too many accidents. First I got in one in October of that year, Grandpa's was in 2006, in 2007 both my dad and Loni totalled their cars, Anna got hit by a car and now at the beginning of 2008 Mom wrecked her car. I don't know what the deal is, but hopefully we are done now.

So the details of what happened from my point of view. I talked to Mom at about 5:20 and I guess she was on her way home from work. About 20 minutes later I get another call from her and it was extremely loud. I couldn't hear her at first and I didn't know what was going on. Then she said, "I got in an accident" and that caught my attention. So I jumped up and was still talking to her. She told me to go home and wait for Dad, then we needed to come and get her. She was just before the off ramp at 4700 S on I-215 heading South. I went to her house and waited for about 5 minutes. When I told him, he jumped in the car and sped off. I almost thought we were going to get in another accident on the way to this one because he was going so fast. He couldn't believe that he passed her up on his way home since he left after her. We drove past her going North and saw her car. From the other side of the freeway it didn't look like the damage was very bad at all. Even when we pulled up we couldn't tell right away. When we got closer we saw how bad it really was. The front end was completely smashed in and her airbag was deployed. I guess she was in the right lane and her lane was going slow, about 10 miles an hour and she saw an opening in the lane to the left. She thought her lane was still moving so she gunned it to go into the lane next to her, but her lane had stopped, hence she ran into the guy in front of her. She said she couldn't have been going more than 25 mph, but apparently the impact was pretty strong. The car had to be towed away, but Mom was fine. One hand was burned from the airbag and the other was badly bruised. When I opened the car door to get some stuff out of her car, the stench from the airbag was really strong. I hate that smell. It reminded me of my accident, awful. Ok, so from here on out, nobody get in any more accidents, ok?

Coming Home

2008-02-23T20:46:00.001-08:00

Well, I probably should have posted this about 2 months ago, but I am a bit of a slacker. We got home on Friday January 4, 2008. We were welcomed by our families and the snow. The previous Wednesday, we were swimming in the clear blue waters of the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Of course we had to come home in the middle of the worst winter Utah has seen in 20 years. This was quite a shock to us. I mean our Christmas was spent getting sunburned on the beach and body surfing the waves. It was our choice to come home, and we were tempted to stay, but we felt it necessary to come home so we could finish school and settle down. The plan was for Brittany to finish up school while I found a job and saved up money to get into a house. I am currently living with my sister Loni, who is ever so kind for letting me stay with her. I wanted to get a job with Del Sol corporate in Sandy, but that has proven more difficult than I had expected. Right when I got home I interviewed for one job and got turned down. I interviewed last week for an even better job at Corporate, but have yet to hear the latest on that. This job would be perfect for me. It's a marketing job that I have wanted ever since I heard of Del Sol. I really want it, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high for it because I've heard that they have interviewed alot of people for the position. I have got a temporary job at Comcast until I find a more permanent career.

St. Maarten

2007-11-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

So we have been in St. Maarten for 2 months and I haven't posted a blog yet. It's funny because the reason I started this blog was for the fact that we came here. We are always pretty busy at work, which is why I haven't posted anything yet, but we also have a lot of fun too. We go to the beach almost any day we have off. As you can probably imagine, the beaches on this island are amazing! We also like to go snorkeling with our friends from the ward. There are a few other married couples in our ward from the states. They are here to attend medical school for 2 years. All of them have children, which makes Brittany extremely baby hungry. We don't have any set plans for having a baby yet, but I'm sure when we do I will post it on here. It's great to have people to hang out with because in Hyannis, MA there was nobody. I love my wife more than anything in the world, but it's always nice to have people to hang out with.

Besides Brittany and I, there are two other interns that are here to manage the other Del Sol store we just opened about 3 weeks ago. I was in charge of almost everything that had to do with opening the second store. Also, when the new interns arrived I had to train them on all the store operations. I really enjoy my job, but sometimes it can be stressful, just like any other job. The other two interns are single LDS guys. One of them is a returned missionary, Seth and the other has yet to go, Brandon. We live in the same complex as them, and our stores are very close together. Because of this, we share a car, which is good because then the cost is divided between the four of us. Also gas is more than $4 a gallon here, so we share that cost as well. The two guys have been here a month and our arrangement with the car seems to be working out alright.

To wrap it up, we are enjoying our stay here on the beautiful caribbean island of St. Maarten. We have played with the idea of staying for another 4 months, but for right now that thought is gone and we are planning on coming home in January. This way Brittany can finish her last semester at SUU, then we can move up to Salt Lake where I can find a permanent job, Britt can do her student teaching and we can start having kids. This is our plan, but the way things have been going in our lives, it can change at any time.

Kyle and Whit's Wedding

2007-08-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

So Kyle and Whitney are married. It's crazy that it has already been almost a year and a half since we got hitched. Time flies when you're having fun. We have already had quite a few adventures in the short time that we have been married, and we have many more to come. When we get back from the Caribbean, Brittany has one more semester at SUU, which she will do from January 08 until May 08. After that comes student teaching, which will either be in the summer or the fall. As for me, I hope to get a permanent job at Del Sol headquarters in Sandy. If that doesn't work out, we were still able to have these amazing adventures and memories.

Fenway Park

2007-07-20T16:27:00.001-07:00

Fenway Park is unbelieveable. Just being in the stadium sends chills up your back. I think even if you weren't a Red Sox fan, you would think this park was great. This was the one thing I had to make sure to do while I was here. I am so glad I was able to see a game there.
We had to wait in line for 3 hours before the game even started to get tickets. Then when we got to the ticket office, they told us all they had left was seats behind home plate for $205 or they had standing tickets for $20. So obviously we took the standing ones. We were in a really good spot to see the game, but we had to stand the whole time. By the end of the day we were exhausted, but it was worth it and I'd do it again anyday.

Caribbean!!!

2007-07-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

So we just found out that we are going to the Caribbean for 4 months to manage a Del Sol store. We are really excited and since we won't have our phones this will be a great way to let you know about our adventures. This is the first blog just to test it out. I think I will write more about our adventures so far. That way, if nothing else, we will have a record for ourself of what we did while we were young and without little chilins.