Joe and Whitney Hardie

Holly and I have been living in Wymount Terrace (BYU Married Student Housing if you don't know already) for quite some time. Sure, we took a brief hiatus to go and live in Grandma Chatfield's basement, but that was so short I sort of feel like I can count it as if I had just gone away for the summer for an internship in another state. Wymount has basically been our home since the day we got married and it looks to stay that way between now and when I graduate next spring.

We've had a couple great sets of friends while we living in our three different apartments, but I would have to say that the closest friends we found here are Joe and Whitney Hardie.

Joe is one of those guys who sort of always has his ducks in a row. He always seems to be on top of what he needs to get done and he always has a smile on his face for the people he meets during the day. There are a lot of times that I can remember thinking to myself, "If I can just make it through the day like Joe does," and then finding the strength to tackle whatever challenge had been thrown in my way.

He's a great friend. The kind you can count on to watch your back if you need them to, or the kind who will be over at the drop of a hat if you need a little extra help with something. Not to mention he'll let me talk his ear off about web programming whether or not he has a clue as to what I'm actually getting on about.

Then there is Joe's wife, Whitney. Ah, Whitney, my nemesis in all things. Not really of course, but it is sort of a standing joke that we likely have an opposite opinion on just about everything. I think there was a day once where we agreed on some rather large subject and then sort of sat there wondering what to do next because it had never happened before. Don't get me wrong though, Whitney and I are friends, good friends to be sure, we just happen to know how to push each other's buttons and do so often. It wouldn't be nearly as fun if the pseudo-conflict wasn't there.

Whitney is a hoot. My wife loves her and she loves my wife, so we've been exposed to the Hardies and awful lot and truth be told wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes I'll come home from work to Whitney sitting in our living room discussing some subject or another with Holly and I'll just sit back and watch. Pure entertainment.

Now for the bad news... Joe and Whitney left for the summer to fulfill some sort of internship that Joe needs for graduation. That means we are without them until somewhere in the beginning of August, which makes the summer a little less fun all of the sudden. Oh well, there isn't really anything I can do about it, but it does sort of suck.

In the end, they will be back, and we'll throw some sort of party to be sure. Now if only I can keep myself from counting the days.

Jack and Daddy Napping

I haven't posted a new picture of Jack recently so I think it is about time. Since I'm getting caught up on some backlogged blogging I thought I might share this one of Jack and I (along with Memphis) taking a nap a couple of days ago. I don't think that Holly realized were were in the bedroom sleeping and so when she discovered us she snapped this lovely picture to capture the moment. Enjoy!

A Couple Cute Pictures of Jack

The first one is easily in my top five favorite pictures of Jack so far. He is working so hard to give his friend Memphis a hug/kiss. Nowadays whenever we put Jack in his chair that Mom and Dad got for him when he was born we often hand him either Memphis or some other small toys to start getting him engaged with entertaining himself. Memphis is far and away his absolute favorite and he will go crazy trying to talk to him sometimes. If you put Jack on the floor on his back and put Memphis on his stomach Jack will wrap both his arms and legs around Memphis and try to roll over with him. It's pretty awesome.

Jack and Memphis: Friends Forever

The past couple of days Jack has been learning how to spend greater amounts of time in his fancy chair that my Mom and Dad bought for him when he was born. It's been great because now I can have him sitting next to me while I do some work, or Holly can put him down long enough to take a shower or do some dishes for more than five minutes at a time.

One day we decided to put Memphis in the chair with him and Jack promptly used his new skills of grabbing at things to pull Memphis to his face and give him kisses. Well, kisses is what Holly thought he was doing, but I'm pretty sure he is just trying to eat him.

Billy Duncan, the Hero

I don't remember if I ever posted about how the FoJ has been out of commission for a little over a week because something happened to the throttle and I was unable to get it to do anything but hover at 7,000 RPM, which isn't a good thing.

After calling the Scooter Lounge I needed to find someone with a truck to help me get the FoJ over to the shop and leave it for a couple of days while they figured out what had gone wrong and got it fixed. Luckily for me, Billy Duncan is around and has a truck, so we set up a time to meet at 3:00pm today and get the scooter loaded up and over to the shop to get fixed.

However, Billy, being the automotive genius that he is, wanted to take a quick look and see if he could deduce the problem before we spent all our time loading it into the truck. As it turns out, the problem was something rather small, but deceptive and with the help of a screwdriver and a little of Billy's knowledge the FoJ is back in working order.

I couldn't be happier as it easily saved me about a hundred bucks to not have to take it into the shop and get it fixed by them. They always charge a ton of money for the smallest of things.

Also, because of Billy's area of academic study, we decided he could make a sweet looking nameplate for the FoJ to cover up an empty hole in the dashboard. I can't wait!!

Jack and Memphis #2

The day or so after Jack first came home from the hospital we decided to take a picture of him next to his friend Memphis so we could see how big he was in comparison. Well, Jack is not a couple of days past one month old, and he has certainly grown quite a bit so I figured I better make sure and take the "1 month" picture of Jack and Memphis so we can keep track of how things are going.

I think the angle might have messed up my efforts a little bit because you can't see exactly how much longer Jack is now in comparison to how he looked next to Memphis the first time, but I'll get a better shot at the two month mark I guess.

Say Hello to Memphis

We are under 40 days until Jack arrives in our home, and Holly recently had her baby shower over at Shyla's house. Apparently when the family was in Tennessee they made a visit to the Memphis Zoo, and Dad came across this hippo that he decided Jack must have according to what Mom told me on the phone a few days ago before the baby shower.

It looks like there is a decent chance that Jack's animal will be the hippo, since if you want to get technical about it, my animal is the frog, even if I have a soft spot for hippos anyways. I'm okay with that because it gives me an excuse to keep Gunner nearby even if Holly refuses to let me put Gunner in the crib with Jack. I think that is ridiculous, and that Jack needs to have friends too, but Holly won't hear of it.

Anyways, Holly asked me a day or two after the baby shower if I was going to name the new hippo or if we were going to wait and let Jack pick a name at some point. I figure it doesn't make much sense to wait for Jack because he won't be able to talk until this time next year likely, and I need a way to refer to the hippo until then.

So, much like Cymbre's Louie was named for the zoo he came from, I have decided that this hippo shall be named Memphis because he came from the Memphis zoo. I think it is a pretty good fit, and now he is just waiting for us to get a crib or cradle or something for him to hang out in while he waits for Jack to arrive. I think we might go and do that this weekend if things work out nicely.

Paul and Molly Burkinshaw

Last night Holly and I had the chance to go over to visit Paul and Molly Burkinshaw for a nice little dinner of some delicious chicken and vegetables. I mention the food because it was completely delicious and I want to eat it again today, unfortunately I don't have the means to do so.

Anyways, Holly was ecstatic to see the little twin girls, Aislee and Olivia, and she made sure to get some good, quality snuggling in while we were there. I think that Paul and Molly were only too happy to let her hold Olivia for a while as it freed their hands up, something I'm sure doesn't happen a whole lot nowadays.

I enjoyed the chance to catch up, share a few stories, and see how each other were doing, and now I think it is our turn to have the two of them over. Get them out of the house for a change and all that.

A Visitor: Dave Buck

Several of you know who Dave Buck is. I like the guy quite a bit as he's always got something interesting to say, and has that rare ability to talk for at least a little while on just about everything to a point where the conversation never has to lag or get dull.

Apparently, he's going to Air Assault school soon, which must easily rank as far cooler than anything I'll be doing in the next 6 months. I guess it is where you learn how to drop from large helicopters from incredibly heights on ropes and such.

Entertainment personified = Dave Buck

The Halloween of 1000 Miles

Happy Halloween! It's a day that I don't really do much different than any other day, except answer the door more often during the evening hours, but it's fun nonetheless I suppose. Holly is dressed up like the character Juno from one of her favorite movies, which works out perfectly since that character is pregnant in the movie and so is Holly. Me, I don't really like to dress up for Halloween, as I think I've sort of grown out of that excitement. Holly really like Halloween though, so I let her do her thing.

Today was a milestone day for the scooter as well. On the way to campus I rolled the odometer over to 1,000 total miles. That's pretty impressive for only owning the thing for 3 months. I've certainly gotten a lot of use out of it, and I think I can make it at least another week or two before I'll have to switch back to the car for the winter cold. We'll see though, I've gotten pretty good at finding ways to stay warm when the air is cold outside, so maybe I can use the scooter longer than I had originally planned.

Yesterday I got a phone call from Paul Burkinshaw. He had borrowed one of my books a few weeks ago and wanted to make sure I got it back before he forgot again. I stopped by his place on the way home from working on some stuff for Russell's class and picked the book up. The twins were there, and as I walked in the door Paul said, "Hey, wanna hold a baby?" I thought that was pretty funny and proceeded to hold Aislee (sp?) for a few minutes while Paul did something, although I'm not sure what. They are pretty cute kids, but had just had their first shots earlier that day, so they were crying in a kind of start and stop fashion. Nothing too bad though.

I had the chance to catch up with Paul and Molly, which is always good, and we set up a dinner date for a week from Sunday. That should be fun. It was last time and there weren't twins around to play with then.

Nighttime Friend Adventures

Most of you know, or at least I think most of you know that I have a very healthy attachment to a few stuffed animals in my life. There is Squishy Friend, the giant green frog that Holly bought me for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple; Moxy, the soft pink hippo that I bought for her on the same day; Doodle, the turtle from Build-a-Bear; and Gunner, the giant hippo from IKEA.

I'm pretty certain that my level of attachment comes from the fact that my father has a tendency to make stuffed animals come to life and did so throughout my childhood. Every kid in my family has an animal and a large collection of stuffed versions of that animal.

Anyways, my four "friends" as they are referred to at home spend their time next to the bed. Sometimes one of them joins me in the night to make things more comfortable, sometimes Roxy or Shelley or Julie will grab Gunner and snuggle him while watching television at our house, or sometimes they are used for makeshift pillows.

However, two night ago, something very strange happened...

I went to bed as I usually do, and is my wont, I had gunner in the bed with me because I was waiting for Holly to join me. Doodle, Moxy, and Squishy Friend were all lined up next to the side of the bed on the floor like they always are, and that's the last thing I remember.

Fast forward to the next morning however, and we find Doodle in the laundry basket, Moxy in the corner of the bedroom closet, Squishy Friend underneath my desk, and Gunner lying on the floor in front of the couch. I'm still in bed of course, and Holly swears that she didn't have anything to do with it which I'm inclined to believe because she rarely, if ever sleeps with any of the friends.

So, they all wound up in various locations throughout the house, I don't remember ever waking up last night, and I'm positive they were all next to the bed when I went to sleep.

Perhaps they really are alive like Dad thinks... spooky.

Evening of a Friend and Softball

Last night Holly and I got the chance to spend some time with a good friend of ours, Shawn Saunders. I've known him since my freshman year here at BYU, and we've always been good friends. He was the only person I lived with between returning home from my mission and getting married to Holly, and living with him was a blast. Ever since we got married, Holly has wanted to make sure he was okay, and so last night he took us out to dinner and Holly grilled him about his family, work, friends, health, car, love interests, you name it, she asked him about it. And guess what? Shawn didn't care in the slightest, he was more than happy to just chat away with her for several hours. I did interject things as necessary though.

After dinner at the Brick Oven with Shawn, I had an intramural softball game at 9:00pm for the second game of the season. We played a lot better this time around both in the field and in the batter's circle, but let it slip away from us right at the end 9-8. We had been up 8-4 at one point, but then managed to walk in 2 or 3 runs before the end of the inning. They scored on an overthrow to win the game at the last possible moment.

We shall try again on July 9th I do believe.

Hometown Surprise

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from my good friend Joe Powell who currently goes to school up in Rexburg, Idaho at BYU-Idaho. He had decided to make a surprise trip down to Provo for the weekend because his former roommate is giving his talk in church tomorrow after getting home from his mission this week and Joe wanted to surprise him by showing up.

Well, he needed a place to stay so he wanted to know if he could crash here at Holly and I's apartment for the two nights he was going to be in town. Naturally I said yes, and had a great time catching up with him for a couple of hours before going to sleep last night. He brought his girlfriend, Denise, with him to meet me, and she's really nice, so I'm glad he's got her around these days.

I haven't seen Joe yet today though as he had early morning plans with some other folks, but I expect I'll see him walking through the door again in not too much longer as he is sleeping here tonight.