*. A Tribute to Thomas S. Monson .*

For most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Thomas S. Monson has been a role model, a hero and (undoubtedly) a prophet, seer and revelator. I came across these photos today and wanted to share. This is a photo tribute to the Prophet of the Lord.

Voice: the faculty or power of expressing opinion or choice.

I've recently been thinking about my voice. Not by audible voice that comes from a "a little box inside my throat," but my opinions, beliefs and thoughts. Is it wrong to have an opinion about a subject or controversy that doesn't involve me in the least? Should I be actively voicing my concerns and opinions about the government and the direction in which they are headed to my colleagues ? Should I be publishing my religious expectations and beliefs on facebook? Should I argue about the economy and hard times on my blog? It is my right. Is it my duty?

The first amendment to the constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." and they haven't (for which I am grateful), but it seems to me that more and more people are using their online activities such as facebook, twitter, and blogger to shout their opinions and beliefs louder than their network. Far be it from me to take away anyone's rights, especially the first amendment, but do my friends and family want to see fun and cute pictures of me and the wife or would they rather debate whether Mitt Romney is campaigning for 2012 or if the recession is coming to an end? Would you rather hear about our recent trip to the Logan Temple or hear my opinion about BYU's newspaper's (The Daily Universe) flawed caption that accidently read "The Twelve Apostates" instead of "The Twelve Apostles" under a picture of the brethren? Would my (very small) audience rather see pictures from my intramural football game or highlights from the latest headline crashing sporting event from the NCAA and NFL? Should my voice be about me or about my opinions?

Well...I guess that depends on what you want to hear.

Color Fest!

Spring Break

Ever notice how Spring Break is never long enough? We do.

First things first. The Tuesday before we left (we took of on Wednesday morning) we went to pick my brother, Marc, up at the airport. I was teaching a seminary class that day, so Katie and I saw him at the airport, and then we had to make our way back down to Orem.

This is the whole crew that was at the airport when Marc came down that looooooong escalator!

Marc was a little awkward at first. He really didn't know what to do with himself, but he's gotten over that rather quickly. (not knowing what to do, he's still a little awkward--that may never go away!)

This is Mom and Katie at the airport. The two most important women in my life!

For Spring Break we went down to moab. We decided to tag along with Eric and Stacy Newren and we took Lizzie with us. It was way nice to get out in the sun and use our dormant muscles after a long cold (and more or less inactive) winter. Here are a few pictures from the trip:

We feel very blessed to be in a location where we can travel a short distance to see such wonderful geography. We can't wait for summer -although we're both taking summer classes - and the warm sunshine. And don't worry - Jake is working on that gut!!

Many Missed Moments

We've had a lot of special moments recently, but we couldn't find the cord that connects our camera to our computer, so we havent been able to upload many pictures. I was asked to teach the photography merit badge at the Spanish Fork PowWow for the third year straight and so I started digging through all my old photography equipment and found the cord. Here are a few of our recent memories:

Katie was endowed in the Salt Lake Temple on December 30, 2008. It was another cold yet beautiful day. It was a marvelous and sacred experience to be able to go with my bride to the house of the Lord and bask in the peace of the Temple. We ate afterword at the Macaroni Grill in Salt Lake. I had never ate there before, but it was really good food.

For our wedding present, Jordan took me (I know, its not fair to Katie) pheasant hunting with some of his relatives. They bought 60 birds! We ended up only getting about half, but it was still a great day.

Cross Country Skiing!!

I've grown up on the slopes. All through high school my friends and I bought season passes to The Canyons and skiied (or snowboarded) every day we could. Every Saturday you could find us racing down Ninety-Nine 90 or stuck in some poweder. However, I had never been cross country skiing. I had always seen cross country skiiers on flat terrain on the way to and from Park City and thought, "poor guys, that must be painful." As it turns out, cross country skiing is actually a very relaxing and enjoyable sport. It's not an adrenaline rush or a competitive feat, but I had fun. It's a sport where you can talk and enjoy the company of others. I don't think it could ever take over a thrilling flash of muscle-straining kamikaze downward motion, but I enjoyed it.

We had an awesome Valentine's day!

Since it was our first Valentine's day together, we both wanted to make it a memorial one. I did the 14 days of Valentine's with a present and a flower for every day of February leading up until the 14th. The vegetable basket was the 5th day. I had a really fun poem all about veggies. It was a five stanza poem, hence the 5th day. Breakfast in bed was another day. When I was little, my dad used to cut out the middle of our toast and fry an egg in the center. I thought it might be fun to do the same for Katie. (I had to throw in a banana to make it healthy!)

We hope you enjoyed the update. Now that we can upload our pictures, we'll try to keep you updated on our many adventures!

I love Veggies!

Most of you are going to think, by the title, that this is Katie's post, but guess what...It's not! This might be hard for some of you to believe and Mom probably won't believe it, but I love veggies!! Since Katie and I have gotten married I've put on a little weight and in an effort to get in shape for football, I've been munching on vegetables. My wonderful and healthy wife has been helping me (and at first --- strongly encouraging me) to eat better. She cuts me up a baggie full of vegetables to take to work. At first I would grimace when eating them, but I've come to like them. I really like the peppers. They're a little sweeter then the others. (Too bad we ran out of peppers this morning.) I love this! I feel like I am experiencing something completely new. Don't get me wrong, they're not as delicious as brownies or ice-cream, but I really enjoy munching on them. Now...here's the part that Mom won't believe...Katie had to run to the grocery store yesterday to buy more...get this....GREEN BEANS!! That's right, I like them. For the better part of my life I have claimed that green beans were my worse enemy and now I eat a healthy portion of them everyday. I still don't know if I like the cooked mushy version of my enemy, but I definitely like them raw and uncooked. In fact, I'm eating one as we speak and I'm smiling while I do it!! HA HA HA!! I've overcome my enemy! I win!! (cheesy, I know). Other veggies that I've come to like are carrots and, yep, even the most bitter of them all..Celery! Anyway, I think this veggie post has gone on long enough. Suffice to say that I've recently added a few years on to my sweet chocolaty life! I hope this confession hasn't inspired mine or Katie's mom to stop cooking delicious unhealthy desserts and start preparing steamed vegetables to eat after Sunday dinner. That would be an undeserving punishment for a changed and repentant man. All I'm saying is that my wife has helped me to become a healthier man and I thank her for that.

hhhmm...I wonder what I'll do with those few extra years that have just been added onto the end of my life.... any ideas?