After a lot of thinking... I've made the decision to increase the frequency of my blogging. Since coming home from my mission, I've been terrible at writing in a journal. In fact, my mission was the only time in my entire life I've been completely dedicated to documenting any sort of journal. I didn't miss a day while in the MTC or in Mongolia. It's fun looking back through it and reading about my successes and struggles. I wish I was always that dedicated to documenting. In an effort to become more committed, I'll start with the blog.
I'll also be posting a "photo of the day". Some days this will a picture taken that very day... and others it will be something from an "archived collection". Either way, it should give me more reason to take pictures. If a picture is really worth a thousand years words, that can't be a bad thing, right?
Baby Kelsie was born Friday, February 27th in the afternoon. She weighed 5 lbs 6 0z and was 20 inches long. Trent & I visited her for the first time two days later. By that time, she weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 2 oz. The blankets wrapped around her seemed to weigh more than she did. Big sisters Morgan and Maddie are very happy about their new addition. Morgan is often heard saying "Kelsie is my best best friend!!" When others ask if they can be her friend too, she says "No, Kelsie is my friend". Congratulations to Justin & Alaris.
This video is from last season. We did a little hiking... and needed a break to rest. Trent didn't want to take a break... so he occupied himself doing other things.
Tomorrow, I will begin my new job. I'm extremely excited for it as I've been looking forward to starting over the past month. I'll be working in the "Client Retention & Growth Group". I'm looking forward to helping construct the overall vision and direction of the group. It is a very needed element the company. I believe the formation of this group will help facilitate increased client satisfaction and provide many opportunities to grow our current client base.
A long time ago, my grandpa told me if you work hard... focusing on your responsibilities... while not letting the "politics" of a situation affect you, you will always be recognized and rewarded for your efforts. I've tried to apply his advice and it has paid dividends for me. While I will likely miss certain elements of working in finance (mostly the people I worked so closely with), I'm looking forward to growing my own abilities and working in a more "client facing" department. I'll have opportunities to dabble in all sorts of different organizations (sales, marketing, client services, product management, etc). Tomorrow is day one... of many many more days to come.
I just returned from an "all girls" cruise adventure. I went with my mom, Grandma, two of my mom's sisters (Colleen and Juanita), my grandma's sister (Linda) and her daughter (Michelle). We had all sorts of fun adventures on the cruise.
I will likely post more on our trip later but to start off, I wanted to highlight Jamaica. We loved Jamaica. Grandma & Aunt Linda wanted to shop in Jamaica and Michelle wanted to work on her tan. The rest of us wanted to see a little of the culture. We hired a "tour guide", Jeff, to drive us around and tell us about his country.
While there may have been a little skepticism about getting in a complete strangers car in a foreign place... especially when some people associate "dangerous" with it... Jeff was incredible and definitely a highlight of the trip.
Jeff drove us all over... to the jungle, to the beach, he drove us through a small city, we saw the falls (with some nice "Rasta" guys), we ate jerk, and then we shopped. The people were very laid back and kind. Jeff's favorite thing to say (from my viewpoint b/c he said it in nearly every sentence) was "I understand... no problem mon". Jeff is 62 years old and has never left Jamaica. He said that people come from all over the world to Jamaica and tell him how beautiful it is... so what reason does he have to leave? Jamaica has some of the most beautiful horticulture I've ever seen. Crazy flowers were growing everywhere.
The weather was fantastic and by the end of the day, I felt like I could live there.
I'm very convinced that I live in the coldest place in all of Utah. While I'm sure the folks up in Logan might have an argument against this, I'm willing to venture that Lehi is worse.
I have "proof" from my drive this morning. Two degrees??? Are you kidding me? Who lives in a place that's two degrees? Are we in Mongolia? This morning it sure did feel like it. The most amazing part of my morning commute is that as soon as I go over the Point of the Mountain, it's at least 15 degrees warmer.
Here's your proof:
Two freaking degrees... brrrr!
A driver's view of Thanksgiving Point. Cold and Foggy...
Four minutes later... over the point, the temperature jumped to 19. It must be nice to live in Salt Lake Valley
I realize that I have done a very poor job updating the blog. There is a legitimate excuse though. Shortly after Halloween, my computer hard drive decided to die. With no warning, I was out a computer. The screen on Trent's laptop doesn't work either. This predicament left any sort of blogging out of the question. I have since purchased a new computer so we should be good to go :)
We survived our first Christmas together (just barely, according to Trent). I think he's very happy it is over. I suppose I put a lot of pressure on him to make sure I got a lot of presents (and good ones at that). What can I say, my parents always got me everything I wanted. I suppose that makes me a little demanding and a little spoiled.
Regardless, it was a good Christmas. I'm already looking forward to Christmas 2009. Trent's excited for springtime so we can "get rid of this crappy weather". Our house seems to have more snow than Park City Mountain Resort. We thought Lehi didn't get much snow. I guess we were wrong. Trent is great at shoveling the driveway. He was really motivated to shovel it after his truck got stuck one morning and it took over a half hour to get it out. The fact that we got it out at all was a Christmas miracle.
Here are a couple pictures from the holiday. Enjoy!!
Thanks to Aunt Camille for the Christmas ornaments. Even though Katelyn says they're "old lady" ornaments, I thought they looked great and I love the concept of "free".
Trent admiring one of his many Christmas presents.
A local Utah Native... born and raised full of all sorts of opinions. That's doesn't mean they're always right, but they're certain to be entertaining.
We went hiking with Jamie and Jeff. We didn't bring hardly any water b/c we thought it would be a short little walk... and five hours later, we made it back to our cars
Longboarding
Our first date in March '07 was going longboarding... after all this time, we should probably buy our own longboards
Khailaast Branch... one of the very best.
While there may have been a little skepticism about getting in a complete strangers car in a foreign place... especially when some people associate "dangerous" with it... Jeff was incredible and definitely a highlight of the trip.
The weather was fantastic and by the end of the day, I felt like I could live there.
Two freaking degrees... brrrr!
A driver's view of Thanksgiving Point. Cold and Foggy...
Four minutes later... over the point, the temperature jumped to 19. It must be nice to live in Salt Lake Valley
Thanks to Aunt Camille for the Christmas ornaments. Even though Katelyn says they're "old lady" ornaments, I thought they looked great and I love the concept of "free".
Trent admiring one of his many Christmas presents.
