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.