"Who he was"

Before I married Pat I used to tell people : "I love him for who he was, who he is, and who he will become." That statement still holds true today, but this post is dedicated to that "who he was" part of him that I love so dearly.

It is 1am and I can't sleep. After I raided the fridge and still did not feel tired I turned to my obvious and always reliable midnight companion, my computer. I became sentimental (something I rarely am) when I came across Patrick's childhood photos.

I can only imagine the sweet and funny boy Pat must have been. I wish I could go back in time and watch him for just a day. I would love to see how he played with his friends and toys, what he played with, and to give him a big hug and kiss. He is just so cute to me!! Don't you agree!?

I can't wait until I can have little Patricks running around.

Michael Jackson—This is it.

Tonight Patrick and I saw the Michael Jackson movie "THIS IS IT". We were given the tickets by our friends Jake and Nicole, who had a ward Halloween Party to attend and a Costume Contest to win.

This movie is only in theaters for a limited time and show the behind the scenes of his tour he was set to perform this past summer.

I would not say that this film was life changing, as other reviewers have suggested. It was your "typical" behind the scenes footage; however, one can hardly suggest that Michael Jackson is typical. It was amazing to see the concert he had planned to perform. I have always wanted to go to a Michael Jackson concert, so I guess this is the closest I will ever get.

It was sad to see how sickly Michael looked. He could not have weighed over 120 lbs. As you probably know, I am a MJ fan and it was hard for me to watch knowing the fate that was ahead of him. The movie did not depict MJ's personal life, only the concert that would have redeemed him from the seemingly dead.

Besides the sadness I felt throughout the movie, thinking of the struggles Michael had faced and was going to face very soon, it was great to see a 50 year old man move amongst and show up his 20-something dancers.

Michael Jackson is a legend that will never die.

Halloween Costumes {Round 1}

This past Monday our new friends, Jake and Nicole, (we have become friends due to our common interests) invited us to go "Costume Bowling" at BYU. They told us to dress up, but we had not clue what that meant.

Pat and I arrived before them and waited amongst a sea of young (I swear they were all twelve) college students whose idea of a Halloween costume was anything that would make the girls look cute and sexy (some black cat ears glued onto a headband) or make the girls think they are funny (camera around the neck to be a tourist).

So there we are, standing in a long line of hormone-driven BYU college students, as a Falconer and a Baker named "Patty Cake." If I were at any other place than BYU I might have felt a bit awkward; however, it is customary and common on this campus for individuals to be seen wearing capes, riding unicycles, or wielding swords no where close to Halloween, so I felt right at home.

Just as I was getting a bit bored watching masses of FHE-goers flirt with no inhibition, Jake and Nicole arrived...

I died of laughter! Their costumes were extraordinary! Jake a personalized, paper mache, Wii character, and Nicole a giant, life-sized, walking, paper mache, Wii Control. As you can imagine they became an instant sensation throughout the alley.

Apparently every year for Halloween, Jake and Nicole go all out for their costumes. Spending the full week before Halloween paper mache-ing extraordinary costumes. They said this was the most un-elabrate costume they have ever made.

We felt a little sheepish standing next to them with our "thrown-together-last-mintue" costume. Pat with his marker-mustache and all. Although I do think the flour on the face is a nice touch.

Sadly, we did not bowl (there was a 2 hour wait). We left shortly after Jake and Nicole placed first in the costume contest, winning them 10 free bowling games. We did, however, end the night with ice cream at Baskin-Robins.

We have only known Jake and Nicole a short time but every time we get together with them we find out something that makes them by far the coolest people we have ever known.

Before and After: Clock

This morning I was sitting in my office wondering what I was going to do for the rest of the day. I saw my broken clock hanging on the wall, which I had been thinking was in need of a face lift.

I bought this clock on clearance at Kmart a while ago. It has broken since and was staying together with duct tape. I almost sold it at our recent yard sale but resisted with the intention of fixing it up.

I didn't want to spend any money, or go to the store, so I found the materials around the house: a bed sheet I bought at D.I. a while back, left over spray paint, Modge Podge, and cardboard.

The Process:
1. I cut out a piece of cardboard which would easily fit on top of the old clock face
2. Modge Podged the flower fabric onto the card board
3. Spray painted the circular frame
4. Place the now fabric cardboard piece in the clock, screwed the clock pieces in
5. Admired my zero-cash new clock on my wall

You tell me.

What do you think was happening here? Leave a comment telling your story.

"Stupid praying-mantis"

The other day Pat and I were headed out to our car. On the ground Pat saw a "praying" mantis. It was huge (about 6-7 inches). We wanted to move it out of harms way, it being in the parking lot and all, so we got it to climb up onto Pat's leg, placing it safely on a near by tree (we didn't know at the time that praying-mantis' are vicious and even eat MICE!) But Pat and I are like little kids—for several minutes we "ewwed and awwed" over our discovery (even snapped a few pictures).

While heading back to the car Pat said with wonder:

"A praying-mantis—today's going to be a GREAT day."

Later on that day Pat's computer broke. Among Pat's ranting and ravings over his frustrations with another thing breaking, (we have a had A LOT of bad luck in that area recently) I laughed when I heard him saying underneath his breath:

"STUPID praying-mantis."

So the moral of the story is: If you ever see a praying-mantis....stay away.

Before and After: Chair

So, I am jobless. This leaves me with a lot of free time. However, you think with all this free time on my hands I would be pulling out my hair (as I have not had a job since April), but sadly enough for my husband Pat, I never really get bored. I always have a project on the horizon. This was my latest project.

I bought this chair a while back at D.I. because:

A. I needed a chair
B. It was cheap
C. I thought it had potential

This was a super fast and easy project. I simply unscrewed the cushions of the seat, tore off the sick, brown ,vinyl covering, spray painted the frame, and stapled on new fabric! It was tons easier than I anticipated and only took me a few hours. Now I am ready for a more difficult challenge—I am addicted.

p.s. NEVER PAY FULL PRICE! For all my supplies I bought (staple gun, fabric, and spray paint) where I used a 40% off coupon at Joanns Fabric and Roberts Craft that you print off online. You can only use it for one item so I had Pat purchase one item and then I went back get the other item.

Here is a story.

This photograph has great significance to me.

In 2007, when I was dating Patrick, I took an intro to photography class. I learned the basics of photography and loved every bit of it; however, I didn't know if I had the talent necessary to pursue it any further.

For our final we needed to submit a final photo, applying everything we learned—what pressure.

One night Pat and I were studying in the library (this was not a rare occurrence; we were both swamped with school). Pat was exhausted. He worked full-time, went to school full-time, and had a girlfriend that made him stay up with her into the wee-hours of the night. Poor guy.

I decided that I wanted to capture this moment and his situation for my final photograph. I started writing all his worries, responsibilities, and concerns on the white board behind him. I set up some books to represent the endless school work he has to accomplish.

I took a lot of shots, but this picture was the first. It was the shot where I was trying to get all the settings right and Pat was just waiting, very tired.

When my photography final arrived everyone set their photographs on a table to be critiqued. I was really nervous and a little embarrassed. It seemed like everyone else had such amazing pictures—mine didn't seem compare to theirs.

Each student took their turn. The teacher and class critiqued each photo individually. According to the teacher and class each photograph had something wrong with it that could be better, some more than others.

My turn came. The teacher pick up my picture. Held it up, and looked at it in silence. He asked:

"Whose is this?"

"Oh geeze." I thought. I meekly answered him.

"This photograph does not belong here." The teacher said.

I thought to myself: "Oh no! My photograph is so horrible that it doesn't belong with my other classmates pictures! How embarrassing!"

The teacher saw my mortified face and quickly clarified himself: "That's a good thing. This does not belong in a beginning photography class. It is something that would come from my advanced photography students."

I smiled with relief but then felt a embarrassed as the class stared at me when he moved onto the next student without letting the class critique my picture.

That day I was on cloud 9. Art critiques can be pretty brutal. In all my time at BYU I had never had a positive critique of any of my artwork. I was so proud of that picture. It is framed in our house today as a reminder of my one perfect art critique at BYU.

That one experience help me once again get into photography this past summer. I had forgotten everything I learned from that class, but I still held onto the ounce of confidence I gained that day as I bought my cheap little Canon Rebel and started taking pictures.

A thing I miss about NYC

I have been going through my pictures a lot recently. I found this picture I never posted. Love this guy.

How to find happiness

Many search for happiness all their lives.
I found the formula for it this past week:

A husband that cooks
+
Thai Food
+
Diet Dr. Pepper
+
Mint Chip Ice Cream
=
HAPPINESS

The Alpine Loop

Last weekend Pat and I went on our favorite motorcycle trip of the year—the Alpine Loop.




We love taking a ride during this time when the leaves are changing and the air is crisp. The Alpine Loop is especially fun with its windy roads and beautiful aspen trees.




This ride came at an especially hard time with our insurance company (concerning the flood), but once we were in the canyon enjoying the breath-taking view, all those worries faded away. I was so grateful for God's creations that day.

Poor Man Photography

My wedding ring

I found these pictures on my computer the other day and thought I would share them. During the summer I made my own "homemade Microlens." It was pretty cool because all you do it take your lens off your SLR camera, turn it around, hold the lens as steady as possible and shoot! And there you have it....your own microlens!

{As for other news}
We moved back into our apartment last Saturday. They still need to clean our carpets, put baseboards down and patch up spots on the walls. It seems like this nightmare will never end. But I cannot tell you how happy I am to have a home again. We don't have jobs, but we have our apartment back and that makes everything else okay.

I have been unpacking our storage unit for the past week. I just finished today. It feels so good to be organized and back to normal (almost).