Hot Mama (to be)

REMEMBER WHEN?

I've seen this on a few friends blogs so I thought I'd play too...

1. Add a comment on our blog, leave one memory that you and I (you and I includes myself OR Hallie if you're leaving one for Hallie) had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. I can't wait to see what people remember!

Cabin Time

This last weekend a group of us (yes, all dudes) made the journey to the hollowed ground of Island Park, ID. Over the years our friend Curtis and his family have shared their beloved cabin with many friends, allowing us to create some of the most epic memories our minds are capable of storing.
Cabin trips have always meant a lot of things. Some of which include:
*Good old fashioned chill time with friends
*Epic rides on snowmobiles
*Wakeboarding/water skiing
*Ridiculous amounts of Mt. Dew
*Fires/fire stories
*Jumping off the garage into the massive amounts of snow
*Ernies/West Yellowstone
*Games
*Laughing
*Competition
The most important part of the cabin trips to me have always been the friendships that were made and/or solidified and the lasting effect and influence they have had.
In a form of nostalgic blowout, we had our last hurrah at the cabin in the foreseeable future. You see, our good friends Curtis and Ali will be making the move to D.C. early next month and so Curtis gathered some of the best together (though all were not able to come unfortunately) for one last trip before the big move.
As we made the drive up I thought to myself that the first time I went to the cabin I was only 15 or 16 and how much has happened in my life and the lives of my friends in that amount of time. We've all grown up so much and have become the adults, that in many ways, we never thought we could or would, yet here we are. But over this last weekend we were the same ridiculous teenagers we used to be and still are in some ways. It was an awesome time to be able to forget our present responsibilities and be renewed again-though I'm not sure any of us handled the lack of sleep, mass amounts of Mt. Dew, etc. the way we once could!
Thank you Curtis and thank you Smith family for all the memories!
-I didn't take too many pictures with my new D300, as I spent most of my free time reading the inch-thick manual. I did take some however and plan on posting them shortly, but in the meantime, Brad took a lot of awesome shots, has posted them and plans to post more here. Keep checking Brad's blog for great picture updates!

IF MY LIFE WERE AN 80s MOVIE IT WOULD BE:

Got this idea from an awesome post by Jesse.

Here's what to do:
Think of all the totally rad 80s movies and pick one that suits you best. For example: If MY life were an 80s movie, it would be National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase playing me.

If YOUR life were an 80s movie, what would it be and who would play you?

Do tell.

Under Pressure

When I first returned home from my mission and started my life in Logan at the glorious Utah State University, I was constantly encouraged to begin listening to certain bands. I'd been away for two years without hearing any new music or and newly discovered music and it seemed to be many people's top priority to show me what to like. I thought it was funny and mostly shrugged it off and stuck to what I had previously known pre-mission and began my own musical journey alone...for a time.

I still remember people being like, "You don't like this band? Well, you've got to, they're amazing-seriously. Here, listen to this song. Or what about this one," etc. Some bands were pushed on me worse than others-and if they weren't always directly pushed, it felt like they were because everywhere I went everyone was listening to them; cars, houses, headphones, etc and this only took me farther away from wanting to even try to listen to them because I was already tired of listening to them everywhere I went and hearing about them from everyone. ENOUGH ALREADY!

One of these bands at the forefront of it all was Modest Mouse. I honestly couldn't even start listening to them of my own free will until after I had graduated and moved down to SLC from Logan. And of course I loved them and can never get enough (yes, I even love the new stuff...I know, they sold out, their sound sucks now and is too polished...blah, blah, blah).

Why do I write this? Well, really because I wished I could have enjoyed them much sooner, but feeling forced into something isn't the way to start anything and no I'm not trying to point fingers...because I know I'm probably guilty of this too (without a doubt I'm sure).

What I'm curious to find out is what band(s) have you realized you loved after you could get outside of the pressure to like them and listen for yourself?

"g" Diapers

Has any one heard about these diapers or used them?

1, 2, 3...SMILE!

I did a photo job in Park City last weekend and when I realized how much money would come from this job it made me think of where the money should go. I came up with several places for it to be used:

*Saved and to pay bills
*New 160 gb iPod+other stuff I don't really need, but want
*A new tripod
*New camera

Obviously I chose the last option. I had to have it make sense in order to make this kind of a purchase since I don't have a couple thousand dollars to throw around like parade candy (which they don't throw anymore-have you noticed?). I figured that if I put the money from the PC job toward the camera, sold an old camera or two and other things that are just sitting around collecting dust...then it's practically no money out of pocket. Besides, this camera and my trusty D80 can make it for quite a long time and I don't see myself needing a new camera for a long time after this. So it's more of an investment really.

Anyone want to buy or know someone who wants to buy a Pentax film camera, several lenses, a flash, cable release, etc. -or- a Nikon D70 digital camera (body only)?

Belly's

A few weeks ago we ventured to Logan and got to see some pretty rad friends. Tyler or Blake (I can't tell for sure), Austin and Dusty thought we should see who has the biggest belly. Looks like I win and I'm pretty sure they can't keep up with my growth, but thanks for trying! Thanks guys for helping me feel included since I can't participate in all the fun stuff like bridge boarding with this other human hanging around in my belly!(ps. I stole this picture from Dusty...sorry)



On another note,

Yes I am going to try going at this birth thing naturally! I know most of you think I'm crazy but I've always wanted to try it naturally. I also understand that I might not be able to so I am going to go into this totally open to whatever may happen. Good luck to us!

Breathe In...Breathe Out-Oh, And Don't Have A Nervous Breakdown.

Last night marked a first for both Hallie and I as we attended the first session of our natural child birthing class. As I walked in the room, I got an erie feeling that reminded me of walking into a college classroom on the first day of the semester. The class itself wasn't all that bad, lots of information, some interesting and a lot of no-brainer info, buy hey, it was only the first class.

By the end, we were on the floor listening to a recording of either the most calm human to ever live or some form of human-simulated cyborg voice tell us how to breath and relax. Looking past how absurd some of it sounded as we listened, it actually seemed to work for most. I, however, was having my own issues with fighting a disastrous diarrhea attack brought on by eating dinner in three minutes in order to make it to class on time. Excuse my honesty.

Intermittently throughout the class the severity of being in charge of a human's life hit me and hit hard. I've never understood the whole mid-life crisis frame of mind, but I think last night I had the surest glimpse yet of what a mid-life crisis feels like. Don't misunderstand, I'm excited to be a dad and have this new part of our life begin, but that doesn't mean it comes easy, at least not for me and I think not for most. On one hand, you're gaining something so great you can't really comprehend it-at least not yet-and on the other hand, you're losing part of yourself in order to gain this priceless addition. For those who know me, I've always been one to gather friends for totally awesome events, create a reason for hanging out-no matter what it was, do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to do it. College taught me a lot about academia and gaining useful knowledge, but also that I could survive on three hours of sleep or less a night-until you pass out from exhaustion that is, which I did once. Basically, with the new responsibility of a baby, the part of me that yearns to chill whenever I have a free second will have to take a backseat to my family. Coming to terms with this is both easy at times, while life-altering hard at others. Thankfully, over the last two years I've done a lot of growing up (though Hallie may not agree due to my acting like a 13-year-old 90% of the time) and many things have happened to help me to do so, inevitably moving me closer to the frame of mind I need to be a good father and a better husband, but that doesn't mean it has come/will come easy. In the end, hopefully we can all embrace the life we have been blessed with and that we have created. So far I've learned that faith, hope and love make it easier...oh and some good music and a diet beverage of choice doesn't hurt either.