Our Eventful Thanksgiving

We were able to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with an interesting turn of events.

We spent the day at an aunt's house in Spanish Fork (15 min from Provo). We enjoyed our time with the family eating dinner and pies , playing games, and watching movies. We were really fortunate to have family close by since I didn't have much time off from work. I was more tired than usual that day, but wrote it off to my weird hours at the hospital. We ended up heading home around 10 pm.

When we got home I started to have stomach pains and thought I was just getting hungry again since it had been several hours since dinner. I ate some leftovers we had taken home and we got ready for bed. At 11pm the pain got much worse and I started to wonder if I had gotten some sort of food poisoning even though Skyler had eaten everything I had and felt fine. I tried everything I could think of to relieve the pain without any success. By 1 am I was really hurting, started vomiting, and was curled up in a ball crying. That continued for the next 3 hours and we were starting to get pretty worried. Around 4 am we weren't sure what to do next. I had gone through all the possible scenarios in my head of what it could be, but was sure it wasn't my appendix. We decided to go into the Emergency Room.
We got there at 5 am and it was pretty slow for a holiday weekend. We got admitted right away and the nurse started an IV, took some blood, gave me some anti-nausea medication and morphine while the doctor came in for the exam. By then the pain had localized in my lower abdomen and the doctor decided to run some tests and do a CT scan. Around an hour later he came back to tell us I had Appendicitis and would be having surgery that morning. I started crying immediately! Even with all that nursing knowledge I was completely scared. I know I'll walk away from this experience a more compassionate nurse having been on the other end of things. Skyler signed the consent for the surgery and we waited for the surgeon. Skyler gave me a kiss and then I didn't remember much after that. I remember waking up in recovery and crying because something in my stomach hurt. I also remember complaining about my oxygen being in my nose and my compression boots being twisted. I'm sure my nurses earned their salary that night. :) Skyler came in and slept in a recliner next to me for the next 4 hours
until I woke up hungry and sore.













The recovery process began that night with walking laps around the hospital and trying to eat anything I could keep down. Skyler kept talking about how this must be preparation for the future event of kids with all the nausea, pain, and walking laps. :) He was so helpful that whole hospital stay running on no sleep. I'm not sure what I would have done without him. We ended up getting discharged the next day. The last few days have been a challenge, but if anything good came out of it I've learned how lucky I am to be married to someone who can still tell me I'm beautiful when I haven't showered, can't keep my food down, and I delirious because of pain meds. :) I am so glad I have him.

Power of the Wasatch

As the football season draws to a close, here is a little about my adventure as a Drum Major for the BYU Cougar Marching Band. This all began back in April as I considered my future with the Marching Band. This would be my 5th year in the Band. Two of which as a regular member, two as Saxophone Section Leader and this year an old dream of mine resurfaced. Back in high school I auditioned for Drum Major for my senior year but was passed by. As I considered my options I remembered how I always wanted to be Drum Major and the time seemed opportune to give it one more go. I got all the audition materials and did my best to prepare. Day of the auditions came and through it all, including some rather intense interviews, in the end I was proud to be one of the newest Drum Majors for the BYU Marching Band. This would be the first time in several years that there would be all male Drum Majors as well as some married Drum Majors. Thus began the exciting adventure of the 2009 Marching Band Season.

The months as Drum Major brought many challenges, new experiences and frustrations. Never have my arms been as tired and sore as the first week of band camp when we worked on two songs I was to conduct. We had to learn the marching drill and I was lucky enough to have to direct the whole time. I thought my arms were going to fall off. Luckily they didn't. The season had a lot in store for us. We did the most exciting show I have ever been a part of here at BYU. Great drill and great music, Malaguena and Spanish Fantasy. It made me a little jealous that I wasn't marching the drill.

We were also able to be part of some memorable events. As tragedy struck the American Fork marching band on a trip back from a competition in Idaho we were able to offer our solace with a rendition of Amazing Grace which we had prepared for a previous show. We were also given the honor of an invitation to perform in exhibition at Bands of American regional competition in St. George. That was a fun quick day trip on the bus and it brought back memories of competitions in high school.


















While we had a couple disappointments with the football team it was great to be part of another exciting nail-biter against Utah that ended in their defeat as Andrew George broke a tackle and ran in the winning touchdown in overtime. The year is coming to a close now with just a bowl game left against Oregon State in Las Vegas. It's time to show the Pac-10 again what we're made of. It will be a great close to a very exciting year as Drum Major of the BYU Cougar Marching Band. It has been a lot of fun to be up there directing the band and doing what I can to represent the university. I definitely have not done everything right and even got yelled at a few times by our director but it has been a great year. Being at the front of a 225 piece ensemble will always be one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done.

Pumpkins!

So I claim sole responsibility for the tardiness of our posts. It has been a rather busy couple of months between Tiffany and her work as well as all the stuff I have been doing for school. Here is a quick recap of some of the things we have been up to and Tiffany will be filling in on the rest of our exciting lives.

What we lacked in costumes for Halloween we made up in carving pumpkins. Tiffany looks rather intense in this one as she carves out her masterpiece. I went for the "traditional" approach and expressed my fidelity to BYU and the Cougars. We went to all the hard work of scooping out the seeds, then we dried them out for several days. Sadly however, on Halloween night I made the mistake of leaving them in a little too long and they burned. It was a tragic event. Luckily I love being with my wife and I still enjoyed the evening with her while watching "The ghost and Mr. Chicken." It was a cute little movie. Next year for sure we'll have to get some matching costumes and crash lots of parties. Any ideas?

One Month and Counting....Our Adventures

After our trip to Sun Valley we headed home to move out of our apartments, open gifts, and clean checks. We appreciated the many friends and family that were so generous to us as we are starting our life together. The next couple days were spent moving into our new apartment, cleaning, organizing, and unpacking. Here are pictures from that memorable experience! :) These also give everyone a couple pictures of what our apartment looks like. (A messier version anyway.)














































During our unpacking adventure we had our first married life mishap. :) We decided to use our dishwasher for the first time while unpacking and arranging everything. Skyler, being the good husband he is, loaded the dishwasher with some detergent donated by the previous tenants. We went back to unpacking and about 10 minutes later went to the kitchen to find the whole floor covered in bubbles! We surveyed the situation and found a leak in the dishwasher door. Skyler figured he had just put too much in. We mopped up the floor with several towels and didn't try it again until a couple days later when we got a new dishwasher. (Several in the apartment complex had to be replaced.)
Skyler again loaded the dishwasher, waited 10 minutes, and again we found the floor completely covered in white. Finally, we decided to check the label on the soap and found out it was "dishwashing soap" and "not for use in automatic dishwashers." We had a good laugh about it. Here is Skyler after we cleaned up the mess all over the floor. Just imagine all those bubbles all over the floor! :)

The Honeymoon-The First Week

The first week of being married led us to Sun Valley, Idaho for our honeymoon. We stayed in a lodge in Ketchum which is just outside of Sun Valley. We went shopping, paddleboating, and relaxing. One of the best activities of the week was riding ski lift in the mountains. We went up about 11,000 feet above sea level. The scenery was beautiful. Here are some pictures from the trip.

















We also rode horses up a trail in the mountains. Our tour guide was great and we got some good pictures.




























Overall the honeymoon was great. It gave us a nice chance to relax away from school and work. We loved every minute of it.

The Wedding

July 25th has come and gone and we are officially married!
Our pre-wedding activities began on Friday when Skyler and I met some old roommates from BYUI in Boise to do lunch and some shopping. It was nice to catch up and relax before the busy events of the weekend.
After the shopping I met Skyler and his family to go to dinner at a fondue restaurant in downtown Boise. The waitress brought out different trays with food for meat, cheese, and chocolate fondue. It was nice to have some time to get to know Skyler's family better. Skyler and I also had the opportunity to be interviewed/interrogated by Skyler's family. :) They got all the details about our first date, kiss, and i love you. Even with all the embarrassing stories it was nice to spend time with "my new family." They definitely made me feel welcome and I am greatful for them.













After dinner I drove home and tried to sleep with all the wedding jitters in my system. :) My morning started at 6:30 am with a hair appointment and getting ready. My mom and I met Skyler and his parents at the temple at 11 am to get everything settled for the ceremony at noon. This was definitely the most special part of the day. Our families, extended family, and several close friends were there for the ceremony. I am really greatful for the opportunity I had to be married in the temple to someone I have grown to love so much in the past couple of months. It is an amazing feeling to know that you will be with that person forever.
There were several special moments and a peaceful feeling that we won't be able to forget.













Then we went outside for the adventurous picture taking in 100 degree weather. We headed back to Mountain Home for the luncheon and the reception. We were definitely exhausted after 2 hours of smiling, shaking hands, and hugging several individuals that came. The reception featured a performance by Skyler on the saxphone while everyone danced. After it was over we headed outside to find the "first" car decorated. We had previously arranged for my parents to let us borrow my old car from high school so my new car wouldn't get decorated. We cleaned up a few minor decorations on the geo metro and then headed to find our car that we had hid. A few of our family and friends were more dedicated to finding and decorating the car than we had imagined. We drove up to find our car decorated 5 times the amount of the old geo.














We are both greatful for the efforts of our families and friends to make it a special day. There were several that traveled great distances to attend the sealing and enjoy the luncheon/reception. We are so lucky to have great family and friends.

One Month Left!

As of the 25th of June we have one month until we will be married. The last month has been fun, but at the same time we are not fans of waiting another month.

The first week of June found us traveling to Charlotte, NC to visit my family. We had a lot of fun with all my nieces and nephews who are the cutest thing ever. Tiffany did not seem to mind all that much that she is inheriting 4 nieces and 4 nephews. The humidity was a bit of a shock but we had fun anyways. We went out with the SeaDoo one day and Tiffany wasn't a huge fan of my driving on that but since I like dangerous things and she doesn't it is understandable.

While in Charlotte we went to Men's Wearhouse to get me outfitted for the wedding. They had a great sale going on and since we aren't doing tuxes at the wedding my mom said they'll buy me a suit as a wedding present. We were there for probably 2-3 hours and in the end left with two suits, four shirts, two pairs of shoes, and five ties. Not that bad of a trip. Tiffany was getting bored though, and as she said "Shopping for guys isn't all that much fun." She said the same thing when we picked out a ring for me. I'll admit that shopping for men's rings is not the most entertaining thing in the world, but finding suits is plenty fun. Probably though cause it was for me. :D

A couple weeks ago found us back in Mountain Home for Tiffany's bridal shower. Before that though we made a trip to the sand dunes, just south of Mountain Home. Those were soooooooo much fun. Why had no one ever told me about such things? We took a lot of pictures and had a lot of fun. The only annoying part was the mosquitos, and the sand that I spilled into Tiffany's car, but we won't mention that again.

Tiffany thoroughly enjoyed her bridal shower. But before I get into that I have to say how I spent those few hours. I drove to Boise to spend time with Ken, Tiffany's dad, and we went down to 8th street to get dinner. We found the greatest sushi place! It's in the same building as Cold Stone. Don't let the name discourage you, cause it almost did, but we tried it anyway. Super Sushi. What we got though was the biggest portions of great tasting sushi ever. I reccomend the Atomic Sushi, but I am a wasabi junkie.

Anyways, Tiffany had a lot of fun at the bridal shower. When I got there she had one of those smiles on her face that never go away and means she is very very very happy. It was rather similar to the one she had on her face when I proposed. They played the usual games; guessing our age in various pictures from childhood and up (some of which sparked some contention from the ladies and almost got Tiffany's mom in trouble), they did the story while passing around presents (one lady got frustrated with not being able to focus on the story and threw hers), and other games. Tiffany got a lot of great things and we're both very grateful for everyone's generosity who came. A few things she wouldn't show me and said I had to wait till we get married ;). In all though she said she wasn't too embarrased, though the best present which made her the most embarrased was a box. The card on the outside said "This is all you need for your first night together..." The box was empty.

Last night found us back at Johnny Carino's in Salt Lake, the place I proposed to Tiffany. The food was excellent. We tried to take a picture outside but Tiffany's camera wouldn't cooperate. So we will just have to remember it in our memories. Anyways, I think my novel must come to a close and hopefully it doesn't take us another month to post here.

Survived!

Just under two months left till we get married. It's all very exciting. The last three weeks have been rather hard since I was gone in Korea and Japan with the BYU Wind Symphony. We toured there and performed in a lot of different halls and ended up playing for over 8000 people spread across 11 concerts. The people there are great and very loving. I got to see Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines as well as some very neat castles in Japan (they really know how to build them there).

Here's me at the Golden Pagoda in Kyoto, Japan.














This is outside the building that houses a 50 ft. Buddha Statue.
The building itself is 160ft. tall! Nara, Japan















The people there are great and
were very generous to us. Being away from Tiffany for so long was hard but we made it through. I am glad to be back with her again.

Engaged!!

Ever since we announced our engagement several people have called or asked for the story. I figured it was a good way to begin the blog so here it is:

Skyler came over with the plan that we were going on a date. When I asked what we were doing he told me I couldn't know. We got in the car and he told me to get on the freeway and drive North. I kept expecting him to tell me to get off the road until we passed several towns in Utah County. By then I had figured out we were headed to Salt Lake.

Several weeks before I had mentioned that my favorite restaurant was an Italian Restaurant in Salt Lake City called Johnny Carinos. We took the backway into the parking lot and I was really excited when I found out where we were going. I knew the proposal was coming soon, but figured it wouldn't happen that day or that he was trying to throw me off.
We sat down to eat and were talking when he jumped up from the table and said he had to go to the bathroom. Having been to the restaurant before I knew he was headed the wrong direction, but I figured he'd find his way and didn't think too much of it.

A few minutes into dinner the waiters and waitresses started bringing out flowers and saying things like "this is so you have a good night" and "you guys are a cute couple." Each one had a cute note from Skyler saying how much he loved me. As the roses started to pile up I was told my smile got bigger. During the dinner people kept looking over at my stack of roses and smiling. I was a little embarrassed with all the attention. :)

After dinner was over I asked what we were doing next. Skyler told me it was my choice which confused me a little. While we were talking he said that he had something new that he picked up that day and wanted to show me. I started to get a little anxious until he pulled out an ipod touch he'd bought that day. I tried to force excitement even though I was slightly disappointed. I noticed the ipod had a playlist that had my name on it. The only song on it was Michael Buble's song "You and I". That referred back to a conversation we had on our way home about us needing to have a song. He told me that it reminded him of me and started talking about our relationship and how much he loved me. He definitely said "all the right things.":)

Afterward he told me he had something to show me, but I refused to get too excited. He reached into his pocket and couldn't find the ring. He pulled out everything out of his pocket, found it, and then got down on one knee. He asked me to marry him and I tried to mumble out the word yes without trying to cry. He got back up and gave me a kiss. I had wondered for a long time what the ring would look like and just sat and stared at it for a while. After dinner we called our parents and then headed back to Provo.

It was perfect. :) We are both looking forward to July 25th and everything that comes with it.