A Great Man

I really need to study this morning. But, I can't seem to get my mind off the passing of Elder Wirthlin. So, I'm hoping this post will help me unload my feelings and that I will then find the will power to focus on finals (oh joy).

Elder Wirthlin was my good friend's granddad. And, perhaps not surprisingly because I've noticed this trait runs through all of the great people I know, Elder Wirthlin considered his familial responsibilities (in this case as granddad) paramount. So much so that through my interactions with him I didn't think of him as an Apostle or a great church leader (although he was both of those), but rather as a superb granddad.

I remember mowing his lawn, drinking his ice water, hearing him set-a-part my good friend for his mission, delivering him prescriptions, and many other interactions. Through them all he exuded kindness, love, generosity, and genuine concern. He was a great man. A great granddad. An apostle of the Lord. He will be missed.

But, thankfully for him, Sunday has come.

Top Ten Utah Moments

Well, it's here. Rivalry week. Most people know I (Dave) am a Utah fan. Some would describe me as a "big" Utah fan, others don't know the extent of my fandom. Suffice it to say, I like the Utes.

In commemoration of the big game I thought I'd list my top ten Utah moments / Utah related memories - some are for the sports folks out there, others are more general in nature.

(10) Pulling in front of Kristin's house for the first time only to be greeted by a giant lit U in the upper window. Love at first sight (that refers to Kristin, of course).

(9) As a 12 year old, sitting in the BYU season ticket holder section while Yergensen nailed a 55 yard field goal to beat the Zoobs.

(8) Eating Christmas (or was it Christmas Eve) dinner, again as a young tike, with Phil Dixon (Ute basketball player) at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Having Phil Dixon, at the same dinner, give me two tickets to the Utah Wyoming basketball game. Also, and this may be my own addition (just ask Kristin about my bad memory), having Phil Dixon point / wave / come up / something to my dad and I at the game.

(7) Getting kicked out of Rice Eccles stadium while watching a closed-to-the-public spring practice in preparation for the magical 2004 season. In 2004 I worked night shifts (5 - 9) on campus. I often took a break from school by spending my afternoons watching the Utes practice. On one particular day the Utes practiced in Rice Eccles. I made my way up into the stands and watched about 30 minutes of practice. I found it odd that I was the only spectator in the stadium. I soon knew why. To my surprise, don't ask me how I didn't see him coming, a large man barked at me from the portal "get outta here before I call the cops, this practice is closed." I left.

(6) Fracturing my ankle on the morning of the Utah BYU game in 2004. Greg Condie, Nate McConkie and I ventured down to the ESPN Game Day set to watch Game Day that morning. Before the darn thing even started ESPN threw out Home Depot shirts to the fans. I jumped up to grab one, fell awkwardly, and fractured my ankle. Despite the intense pain, I couldn't miss Game Day. So, I had Greg and Nate drop me off at Scott Jacobsen's where he and I watched the show. I then went to the Instacare, got a brace, learned it was fractured, etc. That night I attended the game on crutches.

(5) Singing the Utah fight song with Dan Hinckley and Byron Burkhart in front of our Fluid Hydraulics class in return for my teacher moving our homework assignment due date from Friday to Monday (the new date allowed us to see the Utes' Thursday night game).

(4) Hearing Grandma say "Fred and I are going to the ball-game on Saturday." There's something special about Grandma, Grandpa, and the "ball-game."

(3) Standing under the basket as a ballboy when the Utes' Byron Wilson threw in a halfcourt shot to beat UTEP. Seeing myself on the news that night as the ballboy standing under the basket in which the game winning shot was made.

(2) Walking through Times Square on New Years Day 2005. The Utes thrashed Pittsburgh later that night, and my brother, Dave Hansen, and I watched the thrashing from the Vincents home in Delaware. But we had spent New Years Eve in NYC and accordingly found ourselves in Times Square on New Years morning. Some guy, from across the street, noticed my Utah gear and yelled out "Go Utes." I whipped around and yelled the same back to him. It was great to feel the Utah fever in the heart of New York City.

(1) Maintaing my position as the only one (out of 14 who have attended some form of college) of Grandpa Fred's grandchildren to remain true to his school (Lindsey Homer, I hope you'll join me).

At Long Last

Thanks to a timely Christmas present (yeah - 2 months early - so what?!?) from Kristin, our family once again has the ability to put pictures on our blog. We are way behind. So, instead of giving long descriptions - we'll just give each picture a title.

Smiling Patten in a red striped shirt


Sand-focused Patten

Patten and the red plunger

Momma and Patten (in his yellow pajamas)

Good friend Melaine, future girlfriend Hannah (pink hat), and Patten

Aunt Kimberlee and Patten

Argyle Patten playing the piano

Patten and future girlfriend Aggie (don't worry Hannah, he's not cheating on you)

Patten and dad with Patten's birthday cake

No explanation needed
Patten wearing momma's ankle socks while getting ready for Halloween

Dalmatian Patten and Professional DodgeBall Playing mom


Dalmatian Patten

You Better Believe It

I don't particularly like baseball. I don't know how any individual can follow the regular season - all 160-some-odd games.

BUT - when it comes to the World Series - I am a true fan. My friend said it well the other day, "I hate baseball, but I could watch the World Series - all day - everyday."

And, when you add the Phillies to the equation, my interest level goes through the roof. In fact even Kristin, who I would wager had earnestly watched perhaps 1 combined hour of baseball in her life, LOVED the world series.

We fell in love with Brad Lidge (whom we referred to as the ugly man - sorry Brad, but you have lots of funny markings on your face), and Ryan Howard, and that Blanton pitcher, and the manager, and everyone else.

And as proof that parents' habits influence their children.... Last night we went for a walk, we grabbed Patten's Phillies blanket (which some good friends of ours from Delaware gave him last year) to keep him warm. Patten has a lot of blankets and is not partial to one or the other. But he smiled as wide as ever when we placed the Phillies blanket on his little legs. He loved it, wouldn't let it go. Way to go son.

Go Phillies!

Sno-Cone

We never knew our son liked sno-cones. But, apparently, he does. After church yesterday we had a linger longer and the activities committee provided sno-cones.

The kid wouldn't let the cone go. Notice the redness of his facial cavity (and the how his blue eyes match his blue shirt).

*Please note - after reading the first four comments associated with this post I decided I should clarify something. Patten is eating a Pina Colada sno-cone. Do you know what that means? The red on his face is not from cherry or some other flavor - its from burying his face in the freezing ice.



Can't I have another?

Ladybird

It's not everyday that you see this beast on your wall.


We didn't know what to make of a black-tar-looking blob on the wall. Kristin thought it was tar growing out of our cinderblock. However, on further inspection, we saw two little red dots on the side of the creature.

Turns out we had a ladybird living in our apartment. A sister to the ladybug, ladybirds are usually found in Britain - but occasionally here in the US.

That's all.

For My Aunt

Happy Birthday Aunt Missy!

And again...

Today is Missy's birthday. Happy Birthday from Dave, Kristin, and Patten.

In other news.

Patten plays twice a week with Michael from downstairs. They like each other (we think - how can you really tell)? Here is a picture of the rascals - notice the belly - gotta love it.

I want to be in the Saucer - Michael, can you share?

On another note. Looks like all y'all made the right choice by NOT going to law / business school. If it weren't for the sympathetic face-saving comment from Dan (thanks, by the way) - my little experiment (see the next post down) would have gone nearly two weeks without a single comment. Your reluctance doesn't change the fact that I liked the class / material / etc.

This Should Be Fun

I took a week-long class taught by one law and one business professor the other week. The business professor was exceptional. I won't bore you with the details - just trust me, he taught exceptionally well.

He presented a thought experiment that made me think (looks like it worked). I thought y'all would enjoy. I can't remember the problem's details (they filled 8 or so single spaced sheets of paper), but I can remember enough to give you an idea. Leave your answer, what you would do in the situation, in the comments. As per the instructions in class, you must give an initial yes or no answer with no strings attached - then you may support that answer. Also, don't assume any facts not given in the problem.

The Problem:

You make business decisions for a refrigerator manufacturing company. Your scientistists recently invented a new cooling mechanism, way-cool gas, for the latest refrigerator model. The way-cool cooling system uses much less energy and keeps food cool for much longer than your competitors models. For some time your company has actively pursued opportunities to expand outside of the United State of America. You know capitalist America largely dictates prices in less affluent areas and that the stockholders of your company desperately want big returns this year.

You have an opportunity to sell 1.5 million refrigerators to the United Nations this month, with a net profit of $10 million - a substantial return. You must make the decision today. The UN will distribute your refrigerators to individuals in third world countries who currently do not have refrigerators. Your energy-efficient longer-cooling fridges are the only fridges these individuals can use because all other fridges cost too much money and don't keep food cool long enough. You know that many of these people have never even seen a fridge in their lives. You also know your fridges will save the lives of people who would otherwise die from malnutrition / starvation - but you don't know how many lives your fridges will save.

Yesterday your scientists informed you your fridge has a defect. Out of the 1.5 million fridges you plan to sell, roughly 125 of them will leek free-on gas through a defective tube - killing any person within a 20-foot radius. Your scientists predict 500 people will die from the cumulative effect of these gas leaks (in fact the lead scientist, in a fit of rage, informed you "signing that contract is like signing 500 people's death sentences"). Your legal counsel assures you that because your daughter company will sign the official contract, the deaths will not tarnish your company's name. In fact, it is most likely even you will never hear of the 500 deaths. You could fix the problem, however doing so would take 30 days and you would miss this golden contract opportunity.

To complicate matters even more your competitor is waiting in line for this UN contract - hence if you don't take it today you will lose it. Your competitor does not have the energy-efficient longer-cooling fridges you do - but his fridges also (you assume) do not have the defect yours do.

Do you sign the contract with the UN? Yes or no.

Why?

A Little Help

Okay - I know there are hundreds of people who read this blog.

That being the case, I have a request. Patten is teething, has been for awhile, and I'm sure will continue for awhile.

While Kristin and I don't exactly enjoy Patten's screaming at night, and while we feel badly for the poor kid, we REALLY feel badly our extended family.

Why you may ask? Because this weekend we have a family reunion and 37 of our family members will be staying in the same house. The last few weeks Patten has consistently cried from about midnight until we get him back to sleep at 2 a.m. We don't want to keep all 37 of our extended family members awake during those hours.

Soooooo - if you have a remedy for a teething baby, please share. I don't care if it is natural, non-natural, expensive, inexpensive, etc.

Oh yeah - you only have one day to give us your insight because we leave for the reunion on Thursday evening.

Patten Shenanigans

A smattering of Patten sightings:

* Patten's canine teeth appeared the other week. Cool, huh.

* Patten has learned the art of shrieking (yelling, screaming, grunting, etc.) Most comically, in my mind, is what must be going on in his brain when people react to his noises. Patten thinks, "I think I will yell now." [Yells]. Some bystander, directly following the yell, says "Dave and Kristin - what is wrong with Patten - why is he so cranky?" Or "Patten - be quiet." To which Patten thinks "hmmm, my noise made them make noises (although I don't have a clue what "be quiet" means) - I think I'll make another noise and see if they make more noises." The cycle continues. He's outsmarted us all.

* Patten lost his first major amount of blood the other day. While walking around a picnic table he slipped and hit his head on the seat. Kristin picked him up. He screamed - a lot. Next thing I know I hear "Dave..." And what to my wondering eyes should appear (name that song) but a whole lot of blood all over Kristin's shoulder and Patten's face. We cleaned him up (are wipes toxic? - if so we probably did more damage than good because he sucked on a few of the wipes we had used to clean his face) and realized he had cut his bottom lip on his teeth. He's fine. It was dramatic. Thanks to Adam and Melaine for calmly guiding us through our first child injury.

Summer 2006

Aren't we cute? My old work-colleague sent my dad this picture which comes from a work picnic 2 years ago.

Bear Lake

We just returned from Bear Lake. I have no pictures (we lost the cord for our camera). But we had a blast.

We air-chaired, skiied, surfed, rode horseback, four-wheeled, played basketball (not competitively for those of you who know my shoulders), ate at the LakeTown Chuck Wagon Breakfast (and learned Brigham Young visited LakeTown back in the day and prophesied of its growth), ate food, ate more food, etc.

We had a blast.

Patten is growing. He's almost 10 months. He can pull himself up on anything. He bounces to music, and sometimes leads it.

Simple Pleasures

We have a hallway - blessed day.

That's all.

P.S. Oh yeah, and our kitchen is no longer connected to our living room.

For What It's Worth

With some hesitation, this post will deviate from our general "here's the latest trip" or "time for Patten pictures" blog theme. After reading a few thought provoking posts from my good friend Daniel Wayne, I decided it's high-time I add something other than pictures to the blogosphere.

So, here you go.

I spent the last year in law school. Joy. I have two pieces of advice: (1) find a good wife; and (2) serve in the church.

#1 - Find a good wife. Kristin supported me like you can't believe. I never heard a word of complaint. In fact, she somehow convinced me she enjoyed my daily rundown of "listen to this crazy Torts case" and "can you believe the Justices interpreted the Constitution this way," so much so that I often spent the 5 minutes walking from the shuttle to our apartment anticipating sharing info with her.

We experienced much of the first year together - phone calls almost every day at lunch, parties at law school friend's houses, reading my memo / brief to her (which she did NOT edit - for you Nazi law school students out there), her edits on my resume (which she did edit - obviously), practice interviews with Kristin acting as the stern interviewer, her calm reassurance when I woke up in a sweat at 2 in the morning before my first exam in the fall, delicious homemade lunches, her acceptance / friendship / admiration of my good law school buddies' cultures and belief systems, and the list goes on and on. I could not have survived without her.

So, first piece of advice - find a good spouse.

#2 - Serve in the church. We moved into our current ward, a married student ward, during the second week of law school. I had heard stories of graduate programs swallowing students to the point the students had no time to attend, let alone serve, in the church. However, I also knew of graduate students who did serve (Tyler is a fitting example - I even got to see him teach the genius of a compass to his concrete-trapped-Philadelphian scouts when Kristin and I visited - one of my favorite memories of that trip). So, from the beginning I knew I had a choice to make - serve, or use school as an excuse.

After only a few weeks in the ward I received my favorite calling to date - ward organist. I think I surprised a few people with my choice of stops, and I know Kristin patiently endured a few awkward moments in sacrament meeting, but I loved playing the organ and I loved the convenience of magnifying my calling during the same time period I would have been attending church anyway. I hoped to remain ward organist for all three years of law school - I even got organ shoes for Christmas.

I did well in school my first semester. Not as well as I hoped (but who does?), but okay. I planned to devote even more time to my studies my second semester and hopefully improve my performance. The Lord had other plans (at least on the time front). Mid-February I received a call which (gasp?) required time outside of church hours (as most do). Kristin and I knew the right thing to do, accept the call, but it scared us (or at least me - Kristin possesses [I'm not kidding here] unshakable faith). How could I improve my performance in less time? Shortly after retiring my organ shoes my dad gave me a blessing and I went to work.

Guess what, it all worked out. Second semester went well, I served in the church and enjoyed myself all the while. Looking back it seems so simple. Yet at various times I had to make difficult choices; like whether to study the day before my Con Law exam or do church stuff, or whether to attend another study group or do church stuff.

Perhaps my dad described my experience best. After all was said and done he noted in an email, "what can we say about you having accepted a time-consuming calling and still seen the increase that you did other than, hard as you work, the Lord's hand is in this too." Amen.

So just remember - find a good spouse and serve in the church. Everything else will take care of itself.

Alene's Heart

We spent the last week in Couer d'Alene with Kristin's and her dad's best friend's families.

What a blast.

Conveniently, Wayne (the best friend) owns the MasterCraft boat dealerships in SLC, Spokane, and Seattle - as well as a lake house on the shores of Hayden Lake in Couer d'Alene. We definitely used and abused all his toys - here is the run down:

The trip began with an eleven and a half hour drive from SLC to Couer d'Alene. Kristin, Patten, and I squeezed into the back of a four-door sedan for the majority of the ride. To his credit, Patten acted like an angel the majority of the ride (see below).


We arrived at the lake house on Friday night. Sadly, the rain and clouds hung around for most of our trip. But that didn't stop Bubba (my brother-in-law) and I from exploring in the kayak on Saturday night. The lake actually seemed even more majestic with rain falling and steam rising.


Patten enjoyed the lake house even more than the car ride (can you imagine that)? Here he is showing off with a little patty-cake (I think he learned the focused-tongue approach from Greg Condie).


On Sunday we ventured to Spokane (half-hour from Couer d'Alene) to see waterfalls. The picture below was actually taken at Post Falls, halfway between Couer d'Alene and Spokane, but you get the idea. It looks like Patten is even more excited about the falls than the lake house OR the car.
We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday relaxing at the house and waterskiing. We learned how to wake-surf (newer boats can create a four-foot wake which you then surf on with a surfboard - you can even throw the rope in and surf behind the boat with no rope). Surfing came naturally to Kristin, she excels at watersports, I had a harder time (but braved the 50 degree water and air more frequently) and in the end found my wake-surfing capabilities.

We also went on many walks on our trip. Patten and I particularly enjoyed a stroll during which Patten happily mumbled and grumbled (as he tends to do) enough to attract multiple dogs out to the street. One heavy-set beagle howled in response to Patten's noises - it startled Patten - he didn't make a peep the rest of the way home.


Finally, on Thursday, Grandpa Kent helped Patten find his inner-gymnast. The picture below shows Patten hanging from a chair - no help from Grandpa and feet not touching the ground. He hung in that position for eight to ten seconds before falling to the ground. Much crying ensued. Regardless, the picture is pretty cool.


Oh yeah, one more thing. On the drive home, just before Roy, Patten executed the blow-out of all blow-outs. Dirtiness extended to his socks, so much so that we had to pull over at Roy and change him. None of the food establishments had adequate changing facilities so we did what any good parent would do - changed him on the grass next to a six-lane highway. Surprisingly, no one honked or hooted or hollered. I think I used fifteen wipes when all was said and done.

"Philadelphia, not LA..."

If you don't recognize the title of this post it is from a song Dave and Stu made up as missionaries (I mainly put it on because it talks about Philly). Well, I would have finished our Philadelphia posts on this post however, the blog sight decided that it could no longer download pictures so I just took what I could and I will have to write more later. Sorry to drag it on :)

On the Saturday before we left we went with Tyler and Becca to a Cuban Restaurant in downtown Philly. It was called Alma de Cuba and it was a really nice restaurant. When our server came to take our order he first tried to get us to order some cocktails etc. and we all asked for water. It was like a switched flipped and we were no longer of interest to him, kind of like he was thinking "Let's get this over with."

When he came back for our actual food order I proceeded to only want to order some rolls because I had been sick (you don't want to know the details) which made him even less happy. He tried to offer other dishes that he thought would be good on a weak stomach such as - a sandwich with Di Jon mustard? Um... that doesn't work for me. But he did suggest tapioca pudding. So I thought that if I couldn't order liquor to appease him I could order some tapioca pudding. Below is a picture of said tapioca pudding.

Oh, did I fail to mention that this restaurant is kind of fancy? That coconut shell right there, that is my tapioca pudding. Because the coconut is still in it there was not much room for the tapioca, maybe three bites. On the leaf next to it are some mango bars. Mmm... they were actually pretty good. And both of these food items are served on top of ice. I'm sure you are wondering what the brown flakes are, they are shaved coconut. Talk about presentation.

After we ate at the restaurant we went over to the tourist area of Philadelphia, I wanted to see the mint but sadly the mint is not open on Saturdays. We took a picture in front of Independence Hall. You can barely see it in the background there between the quote rock and us.

While on our excursion that day Dave and I had a wonderful time trying to feed Patten lunch. It was pineapple and ham which I though was pretty good but Patten didn't take to it too well. Since we've come home he has learned to like it.

On Sunday we went to church with Becca and Ty. That was definitely different compared to church in Salt Lake. It was a fun experience. It was mothers day and the Primary kids sang in sacrament meeting. There was a great spirit there. After sacrament meeting I went with Becca to her Sunday school class. The kids she teaches are great. They were practicing a play of one of the members favorite scripture stories for a "going away" celebration because a lot of the members were leaving soon because school was out and a bunch of people had graduated. Her class was doing the story of Abanadi. Becca asked if they remembered the story from a few weeks ago and one of the kids, name Surprise, piped right up and new every part of the story. It was awesome, Becca was beaming (and rightfully so) because he remembered what she had taught. I had to leave her class a little early because Patten was having a hard time. I ended up in the mothers room and met some sisters from there. They were all really sweet. After I finally calmed Patten down. I went into the Primary room where Dave, Ty and Becca were. The kids were making flowers for their mothers. But sadly not all of the kids had mothers. One of Becca's girls said this to Dave and Dave said " You can give it to my wife." And she beamed. I have the flower sitting on my dresser drawers right now.

Well, that is about the end of the trip. We'll tell you more about the middle of the trip later when we can get the pictures to upload.

Buggies and Stuff (Philly continued)

Kristin and I spent Thursday in beautiful Amish country.

On Ty and Becca's recommendation, we took off Thursday morning to visit a portion of PA I had never seen. We took the 76 to the 202 to the 30 and ended up in Lancaster county - home of the Amish.

Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of our Amish visit. The Amish are partly to blame because they don't allow pictures - however our own forgetfulness played a large role as well.

First, we visited an Amish furniture store. Everything was hand crafted - and most things custom built. A nice Amish man ran the cash register (??). We loved this store - perhaps in ten years we will buy something from it.

Next, we visited the town of Intercourse, PA. We ate lunch at Plain and Fancy. For those with deep pockets Plain and Fancy offers an all-you-can-eat Amish buffet full of everything Amish. We went for the regular menu - Kristin partook of the best Homemade Pot Pie she has ever tasted, and I enjoyed a roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes. So good.

Following Plain and Fancy we ventured to the Kitchen Kettle Village. A small Amish strip mall. There we ate wonderful fudge (although a 1/2 lb. cost $5!!), watched Amish woman make jam, ate lots of said jam (over 100 flavors all with one open bottle for sampling), and visited a handicraft type store full of wooden stars (you know those trendy wooden stars folks in Sandy, South Jordan, Salt Lake, Daybreak - okay everywhere - have hanging on their walls?) - which made me wonder if the stars originated with the Amish or with the trendy...

Finally, we enjoyed our ride home through the Amish country side. The highlight of the day happened on our drive. We saw three children, all under the age of 10, riding in a horse-drawn-box (the horse looked the size of a pony). The box had two plastic wheels, perfect for trudging over rocks and such, and barely fit the three children. A blonde haired 9-or-so old boy held on to two reins serving as the driver. They flew around a corner, almost knocking out all three children, smiling all the time. It reminded me how I often disregard life's simple joys. Those three children looked content to ride around in their box all day long.

Great fun. If you ever have the chance, make sure to visit Amish country in PA - unlike anywhere I've ever been.

Our Second Home

Last week Kristin, Patten and I ventured to the City of Brotherly Love to visit my brother Ty and his wife Becca. The trip was so much fun we cannot possibly fit it into one single post. Therefore (doesn't that word sound official?) we will explain our travels in multiple posts. I (Dave) will handle this first installment - and Kristin will contribute down the line.

We began our adventures on Tuesday May 6. After arriving in Philly at 4:30 we went to Ty and Becca's house and shared a Hawaiian pizza from the local Pasqualli's (sp?) pizzeria. It was great. The picture below shows how happy that pizza made us after a full day of flying (especially since we are too cheap to buy airplane / airport food and thus were STARVING!) (in the interest of full disclosure, this particular picture was not taken on that particular night - but it still gets the point across).

On Wednesday the 7th Kristin and I tromped around Philadelphia while Ty spent the day in his cardiology rotation and Becca watched the General. First, we visited Penn's campus. We were happy to see our good friend Ben there to greet us. He and Kristin bonded instantly.

Next we ventured to Drexel University's campus. Becca will attend Drexel this fall for nursing school. While no dignitaries on par with Ben Franklin showed up for us in Drexel, I did convince the local dragon to pose for a shot with me.

After Drexel we marched on to my old mission stomping grounds. I served in the Singles Ward, twice, on my mission and we covered Penn, Drexel, and many other campuses. The picture below shows Kristin outside of my apartment on 36th and Powelton. The complex serves mostly students but somehow we missionaries infiltrated the premises back in the day. Kristin even got to see the local elementary school (which sits across the street from shown apartments) on recess - quite a sight.

While we tromped around Philly, Becca played with Patten. They had a great time. I'm not clever enough to include a link to Ty and Becca's post - but if you look over to the left, yea right there, you'll see a link - "Ty and Becca," and if you click on it you will see (about 4 posts down) some darling pictures of Patten. Thanks to Becca for watching him so Kristin and I could see the city.

Tune in next time for more Philadelphia adventures.

Alive

Say goodbye to yet another semester. Monday, April 28, I took my last final. After finishing that last test I realized I need to develop a "finals are over" tradition. I know Ty and his friends watched a movie following each semester, other friends go out to lunch, or golfing, or some other such fun event. I need to get on the ball and figure that out.

But, in the meantime, I'm just glad to be done. I spent Tuesday, all of Tuesday mind you, with Kristin and Patten. We visited my family's Millcreek cabin (only looked at it though due to snow), ate 3 (count 'em) meals together, and Patten and I changed the headlight on Maxi (our Nissan Maxima). He played more of a minor role in the actual light change but I greatly appreciated his moral support.

I hope other folks get to experience this feeling of freedom. I've decided semesters exist simply so they can be finished.

We are excited to visit Ty and Becca in Philly next week, followed by the start of my new job and a summer full of no school (other than counter-terrorism research for my professor). Should be a good few months.

Patten's Many Faces

What a month. As you will see, our family had lots of fun in March.

First - Rolling Patten. Patten decided he was sick of laying on his back / stomach. So, he set out to roll over. Here he is following rolling from his back to his stomach. You can see him thinking, "hmm... that darned arm... what am I going to do about that."
And so Patten decides "aha! I'll shift my weight to the pelvic region and remove my arm." Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for his parents, it took him a good 20 minutes to pull out his arm. But eventually...
He did it! Victory! Rolling over is now common-place. In fact, if we put him on the floor and mind our business for 2 or 3 minutes he undoubtedly changes orientation and position by the time we return.
In addition to Patten's rolling antics, we celebrated Kristin's birthday in March. We got together with a few good friends (from left to right - Scott, Henry (or Henrizzle), Jake, Jacy, Lex, Kristin, Patten, and Mikea - I know our friends have cool names) - we played games, ate food, and had an altogether great time.
Next - Moose Stroller Patten. That moose outfit is his most expensive and prized outfit - it comes from some fancy store (naartje?) and supposedly is fine clothing for youngins.
Ahhh, Mischievous Patten. I don't quite know what to make of this picture - other than the fact that it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the 800 blankets Kristin stuffed in the contraption to make him fit in it. Way to go Kris!
And here we see Easter Patten. A charming young man dressed in sky blue and donning a killer smile. Disregard his dad, please.
More Easter Patten. But, luckily for him, his mother matches his beauty in this picture (unlike his dad in the last). Didn't I get lucky?
Hang with me - we're almost done. Here we see Reading Patten. I came home from meetings last night to find my adorable wife having a Read-a-thon with our beautiful son. I doubt he got much out of the reading aspect, but man he sat right up and hit that book with his fist over and over again. Perhaps he gained some knowledge of Persuasion via osmosis... either way it was about the cutest thing I have ever seen.
And finally - Smiling Patten. Patten sure loves his mom - this picture proves it.

A Utah Man Is He

Can you believe it took me this long to get him in a Utah shirt? And the best part is, I did not even put him in the shirt. I walked out of our bedroom one day and Kristin had slipped him into her MUSS shirt. I definitely married the right girl.
Here is a picture with Uncle Ty. I mostly post this so Becca can have a copy (your welcome, Becca). But also to say it was fun to have Ty around this weekend. He got Patten ready for bed, wrapped him in the magic blanket, and even checked on him after he feel asleep.


This just might be my favorite picture of all time. I believe those are my hands helping him stand - I don't know what I did to get him to smile like this, but it sure is cute. He loves to stand, just loves it. In fact, he often refuses to sit because he'd rather stand.
And finally, Patten's first walk. Kristin and I love going for walks. Unfortunately the General joined us during cold weather and we haven't been able to take him for a walk. So, the first halfway bearable day (all of you RSV-fearing mothers would have vetoed this) Kris and I took him out for a stroll. You can see from his outfit that it really was too cold for a 4 month old to be on a walk.