What? No Shamu?

Although we spent the majority of our San Diego time in the gigantic conference center, we didn't take a single picture of it. This is probably because at that time we had one of those old nasty film-using camaras (primitive). We did, however, take a picture in front of the beautiful San Diego temple. Yeah, this is pretty much one of the prettiest temples ever. While Sara was in her convention I spent my time outside on the patio studying, and looking at the cool helicopters that flew by from the near-by naval base. We later participated in a way cool African themed party by the bay, which was a lot of fun and featured scary lookin' african idol guys on stilts scaring the living daylights out of passers by.

Lets see, we also went over this super long bridge out to Imperial Beach, which was pretty enough, but more noteworthy for being the land on which one of the most haunted buildings in the world stands. Or at least, we feel quite certain it was haunted, we were too scared to go close enough to investigate.

And how could I forget the hotel we stayed at, which was directly across the street from the Amtrak station. This led to many a curious conversations about where the outgoing train was going, especially at 3 in the morning. But of course, the best landmark next to our hotel was the final resting place of the USS Midway, which floats in the San Diego Bay and serves as the largest naval museum in the world, which you can tour for the low price of only nine gazillion dollars. Since we didn't have enough money to tour the museum and were unwilling to take out a loan, we were content to drive up close and gauk. Boy was it big. And she saw some action, too, namely the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. I must say it was cool to see a real aircraft carrier. Check out the picture of it against the San Diego skyline.

Ratland Turns Fifty

Ok ok, I'll admit it, I like Disneyland. Sara can make the same confession, having gone nearly yearly as she was growing up. There was a big GIS conference in San Diego the August after we got married, so Sara and I went, I on the premise of studying for the upcoming exam, and Sara on the premise of being an actual GIS Technician. We were clever enough to use the conference as an excuse to visit Disneyland on its 50th anniversary. We certainly weren't going to miss such an event. Since we both love long road trips we hopped in the ol' family truckster and with a three-day detour to visit Mickey the Rat.

Please notice Sara below, helping this poor cow to perform the every day tasks that his hoofs can no longer perform due to them being sculpted. Why am I here in the frozen tundra when such warm places exist in the world? Sara wanted me to put the picture of me picking the cow's nose and her at the front gate, but she looks so cute in this picture, I couldn't help but post it.

Ain't She Sweet!

These pictures are a touch random, but heck, what's a blog for anyway? This hot little mama is my sweet bride at the midnight buffet on our cruise ship. Sara's guilty passion (aside from Boys 2 Men songs) is her uncontrollable love of chocolate-covered strawberries. That tower behind her is chuck full of her favorite little treats, but was not soon after she discovered them. I, on the other hand, had my eyes (and my teeth) set on the enormous tray of shrimp just over the way. The best part is that you can fill up your plate and stuff your face in your cabin...provided you have the strength to haul that much weight to your room (and out of bed the following morning).

This picture of me was taken a few months after the cruise during a much hairier time of my life. This may actually be the only picture we have of our apartment in Draper, Utah. We lived at the intersection of I-15 and Bangerter...a great location, but so difficult to pull out of the driveway! It turned out being a great place to set up camp while I commuted to BYU and Sara drove back and forth to work at South Jordan City. It was a good year. Don't worry, I won't bore you with all the details. On to the next trip!

The Genesis of a Family Mascot

I've never realized how much armadillos look like potato bugs (pill bugs for those who don't speak Utah). This is exactly what gives this story the rugged, wild edge that has rendered the armadillo our official family mascot.


There at the resort in Puerto Vallarta we were pleased to find that the free lunch looked safe and clean so we sat down to eat, alfresco. We ate with a few of our assigned table mates from the ship dining room...its not like we had become best friends with them, they just ended up being the only ones from our table that were ever sober enough to remember our names. Anyhow, so there we were, eating our truly authentic mexican lunch when we had a truly authentic mexican armadillo waddle over our sandaled feet. What a great sensation! They should have these things installed in every mexican restraunt. Yes it felt just like it would feel to have a giant cock roach climb over your toes. I did enjoy watching all the guests and waiters in the path of the armadillo jump up in perfect succesion as the little bugger made his way across the restraunt.


From then until now, every time we go on vacation we go looking for armadillo souvenirs. This ends up to be a very easy collection to accumulate as armadillos make very infrequent visitations to non-mexican tourist shops. Oh, by the way, during the depression armadillos were known as "Hoover Hogs" by those who had to eat them in substitution of the chickens promised in their pots by President Herbert Hoover.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Stop the search!! Sara and I have found the world's best water slide! No, it's not because of its wild twists or break-neck turns, its simply because it is fashioned in the shape of a giant alligator. Or is it a crocodile? The idea here is that you exit through his toothy mouth, and you enter through his tail. As if that weren't enough, there is a scary rope bridge spanning the gap from the alligator slide to the diving board. All this pool splendor is located in our final port of call, Puerto Vallarta. He who pronounces this "Porto Vallarta" should be drug out into the road and fed to an alligator.

After our hard work lounging about on the beach in Mazatlan, we figured we would take it easier in Puerto Vallarta. We went to a little resort hotel in the area and sat about by the pool and the beach for the entire day. It was great. The landscaping was fabulous, and the hotel of the resort was built to resemble an ancient Mayan temple. Cool, eh? The beach adjacent to the resort was beautiful, but the water was super muddy and gross.

So what do you harvest from a palm tree plantation?

Our next port of call was Mazatlan, Mexico. I'd heard a lot of stories about how beautiful of a place Mazatlan is, and I was in no way disappointed. We spent all day doing an area tour, including a boat guide of the local foul (it sounds boring, but was actually super awesome) We got to float about among the mangroves trying to differentiate the colorful birds from the colorful rocks (in most instances the rocks did less flying).

The next bit of our excursion was a "hay rack" ride around a Mazatlan beach and palm tree plantation. The Mexican version of a hay rack ride is very similar to our fall-time jaunts of yesteryear. Of course, instead of being driven by a pick up truck, we were hauled about by a tractor made in the '20s and pieced back together in the '50s, '80s and '90s. There was also much less hay and a lot more Japanese tourists. It was absolutely gorgeous, quite possibly the prettiest tropical scene my eyes have ever feasted upon. Check out that picture up there! That horizon on the right is the ocean. Don't you all wish you were there right now?

I must also say how cool I thought it was that Sara had a little Mexican lady put her hair in braids while we were laying about on the beach. They were coming around offering it and Sara got sooooo excited (a similar thing happened in Cozumel last month, more on that later). You can see how pretty her braids are in the picture. While she was getting her hair done up, I had a chance to blow the dust off my Spanish and chat it up with the locals. It was so much fun! By the way, Mexican Pepsi is incredible. I like imports.

The Love Boat

Sara and I decided to spend the nine months between engagement and wedding saving our pennines in order to go on a great honeymoon. If we were going to ever accomplish our lifetime dream of going everywhere in the world, we'd have to get a good start on it from day one. The day after the wedding we hopped on an airplane to Los Angeles and soon thereafter boarded Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas for a seven day cruise through the Mexican Riviera. Man was it awesome!! If anyone out there in cyber land is trying to think of a good honeymoon destination, there is nothing better than a cruise. Don't even let the word "camping" or "cabin" cross your mind! We did a lot of eating and loafing; best vacation ever.

Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas, and I loved it! We decided to go a la carte with our excursion that day and hired our own little taxi boat driver. He tried his best to throw a bit of a tour in the trip, but mostly he just repeated over and over again, "And thees eez where da ocean pacifico meets weet da Sea ahv Cortez". And then we got to the beach right there at Land's End and I successfully dropped our camara into the pacific ocean (or was it the Sea of Cortez?) Fortunately, my camara was worth a few pesos less than the name-brand Oakey sun glasses that Sara purchased only moments before. I loved Cabo!!

This here picture is of Sara and I a few yards away from the yacht we were going to buy. They said it actually belonged to Cortez!

And they're off!

Wow, look at all these people who came to our wedding. I'm pretty sure I know all of them. Yep, it was a great day of temple-going and reception-having, and a million thanks go to all the people who spent months and miles to make it happen. I've probably been to around nine thousand wedding receptions, and I've always liked them. Even the ones that were boring were great because there's always good food. Our reception was no exception. As you can tell by the picture below, Sara and I were chomping at the bit to get out of there and begin the honeymoon festivities. For some reason I'm a big fan of this picture, probably because the looks on our faces epitomize our personalities.

Our Temple

I was looking at the wedding pictures and I couldn't help but throw in a quick entry here about how cool the Salt Lake Temple is. Its one of those buildings that never ceases to amaze even the local onlooker. Isn't it great that both Sara and I always wanted to get married there?

The forty five minutes that Sara and I were able to wait in the Celestial room before we got married were among the best minutes of my life. The emotions ran strong as we held each others' hand and pondered together the eternity of companionship that awaited us. It was hard to see Sara's face through the tears in my eyes as we were sealed together for time and all eternity. Friends in the room still joke about how in all previous weddings the husband would bring the box of tissues for the sobbing wife, whereas, in our wedding it was I doing the crying. How could I not?

By the way, 39 years after construction of the temple began, the capstone of the temple was laid by Wilford Woodruf himself, using a pully system ran by a motor and a switch. One year later the interior was completed and as such it has stood for 116 years.

Here Comes the Pride!

Let me just stop the presses and tell you all how much I love my darling Sara!! She is the most beautiful and caring woman I've ever met, or will ever meet, and I am so proud to say that she is mine forever. To steal a line from As Good As it Gets, she makes me want to be a better man. Because of her, I'm happy to wake up in the morning, and without her I wouldn't know who I am. These pictures were taken two years and eight months ago, and I've grown to love her even more now than I did then.

But enough of this love business, I've got a wedding to talk about. Somewhat akin to my proposal experience, I had two mishaps on the day of the wedding:

Somewhere among the, ninety times you have to change your clothes when you get married, I left my wallet in the locker room at the temple. I didn't discover walletlessness until a few minutes before the reception. Oye! You know that sick feeling you get when you discover that you've lost something very important? Add wedding jitters to that, and you get a stressed out groom and a sobbing bride. But all was remedied by the daring and courageous voyage back to the temple made by Uncle Larry and Aunt Janet, who safely brought back my wayward wallet.

Immediately after unknowingly leaving my wallet in the locker at the temple dressing room, I was escorted by a super old man to a small room where I was to anxiously wait the arrival of my new little wife. Now I knew that girls take a long time to get ready, but after waiting for forty five minutes, I began to wonder if I had been stood up. Finally my mother-in-law showed up telling me that I had been left to wait in the wrong room. Oops! She came just in time, I had bitten off all ten fingernails and was about to start on the toes.

Beyond my absent-minded mishaps, it was a beautiful wedding. If only I could relive that day every month.

Just in case you didn't get an ivitation:

Before I met Sara I prided myself in being an anti-picturite. I think I could count on one hand the amount of pictures I had personally taken (mission aside of course). Saddly enough, Sara had a similar song to sing, so some of the first pictures we have together are these. This was the official kick-off of the grand wedding extravaganza. From the day I proposed to Sara we were sure we wanted to get married in the Salt Lake Temple in the spring time. These engagement pictures were taken around the temple about eight months before we got married...I guess you could call it wedding practice. Aren't they beautiful though? Our good friend Wendi is the best photographer in the world! My Sara is a good lookin' lady. It was preceding this photo shoot that I began to grasp the true scope of what planning for a wedding would be. Lets just say that it took hours to decide what shirt I was going to wear; I spent less time deciding what college to go to.

I must share with the world how I made a complete fool of myself on the day I proposed to Sara. It was an event I had planned out for days. After all the wining and dining had been done, we were at "inspiration point" overlooking the valley. After asking her to marry me, and getting the "yes" I had hoped for, we went up to my car to drive back home and show off the ring. With all my nerves and worries I managed to lock the keys in the trunk. Yep, smooth, Casanova. An hour later I found myself with my new fiance getting a ride home in my sister's car. I apologize to my posterity now, you're all doomed!! I remember telling myself how I'd look back and laugh at this experience in the future. I guess I was right.