Heading home

Yeah, Dad flew home because he had to work on Monday but I drove because I still had a few more days off. We decided to stop by Taki and Connie's new place in Denver on the way back. We drove 70 to Denver and found it to be a beautiful drive. I really enjoyed it until we began our descent into Denver and I had a hard time keeping the car from racing. I found out later that I should have been using the engine to break by shifting into a lower gear. I always wondered why they had those gears in automatics! Now I know. Well, we almost met the grim reaper but not quite and we did have a fun time with Taki and Connie. Their apartment is really nice and they have a new flat screened TV, a nice king size bed, and a giant sectional couch and an ottoman that is the size of a kitchen table. It was all beautiful and you can see us relaxing on it. The next day we went to Sacrament meeting in their new ward that is close by and then took off for our next adventure. Gen had heard that there was a giant Monet sunflower picture on the border of Kansas and wanted to see it. It was about 2 hours out of our way but we went anyway just to make her happy. Well, first of all, she didn't have correct directions but Net just happened to see it. Kansas proved to be a very windy state and our undercarriage was blowing onto the tire and making a scraping sound. Finally, Annette and I climbed under the car with duct tape and passed it back and forth through the wheel well until I had anchored it. If you want to have an exercise in frustration, try passing a piece of sticky duct tape through a hole from one person to another about 18 inches apart. We ended up laughing so hard that the tape shook and was even harder to grasp. This momentary mirth probably kept both of us from strangling Gen - who knew she was in trouble as soon as she saw the picture-and had made a few bad attempts at trying to justify her poorly researched decision. The state police stopped and the guy said "I saw dresses and legs" coming out from under your car and thought maybe I should stop and help. In no time we were back on the road and the problem was taken care of. We decided that duct tape should be an essential part of everyone's 72 hour kit.

Tad's place/ Education week... take 2

While we were in Utah I stayed in the dorms with Gen. We first had one extra roommate when Annette came to stay with us but before the week was over, Lori was with us too. Every night we met and had snacks that Lori came up with. She and Annette made a delicious cheesecake with an oreo crust for our anniversary and we savored that as well as a blueberry pie that I made with blueberries I brought from Michigan. Lori also had a recipe for a lime drink that was made with sweetened condensed milk. It was also delicious. We always had fun after classes snacking and talking. Since Tad was in Peru, dad stayed in his apartment and used it for his 'home base' as he made daily visits to the Provo temple, BYU football practices, and a few education week classes. On Wednesday dad drove to Salt Lake City with the Tom tom to pick up Tad. He panicked when the Tom tom took him in a direction that contradicted the freeway signs and got a little lost. But, he proved to himself that he could actually do it and got to the airport to pick Tad up on time. We all enjoyed seeing Tad later that night in a family get together. One night we heard some banging and laughing and then a big noise. Later we went out to see that the stairs had collapsed and it was a big mess. This photo was taken almost a week later to show how fast Tad's apartment complex gets on repairs. If you hadn't already figured it out, Tad's place is quite ghetto. Close to campus and cheap.

Education Week and Meat Fest

The first picture is us at Education Week, but that's just a side note. We did have fun every night just chillin

all together. The next like 5 pictures is of us at Tucanos. Can

there be anything more delicious than a meat fest filled with garlic sirloin. mmm....give me a sec to wipe the drool off

my face.

The next pictures are Tad and Annette eating chicken hearts. Though it looks like Annette's chicken heart is going to attack her

Well, you can see from our smiling faces that a good time was had by all. Mom and Annette were diligent education week goers, but Dad, Tad and I went to a BYU practice, lifted weights and played some racketball. And as for the racketball, I was #1 as usual. Ok, so I may have missed the ball about as many times as I hit it, but I had fun. No picture of the cheesecake or limeaide, but those memories are forever in our minds, hearts and bellies.

Found!! The dreaded culprit

I kept finding empty stems where tomatos should have been. Our home teacher pronounced the verdict... the dreaded tomato horn worm. I didn't really believe him because I planted the tomatos in containers on our hot deck and how would they crawl into the pots without sizzling? Well, as it turns out, a white butterfly lays eggs.... the rest is history but I caught this worm this morning and tried to get a good photo. I realize now that I should have elimated the background but you get the idea... note the little brown 'horn' and enjoy your gardening lesson for the day. I gave him to dad and now I am sure that he is in the 'horn worm spirit world'.

Tak's graduation - part 3!

I got your back mom. The video you've all been waiting for...

I cut the video short in hopes to snap a pic of him on stage as well, but my camera didn't switch over fast enough, so I ended up with this little bitlit and no picture :( Better than nothing!

Taki's graduation - take 2

Delicious!

Happy wife! On to a better life.

Here are the proud sib and parents!

The cookie photo was my favorite.

For some reason, none of the 3 videos I worked so hard to get would download onto the blog:(

Happy birthday little bro!

Well....shamefully I do not think I know Tad's e-mail address! And seeing as how he's currently in Peru, most likely getting some parasite, I thought I'd just post it up right here and hope he sees it!

Taddy boy, you are pretty much the bomb (and you know it...seriously). I'm so impressed by the man that you have become! You inspire me to follow my dreams and never give up. You are a great example of what hard work and patience can accomplish. Thanks for being such a great little brother! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!