everybody's working for the weekend

Logan Summerfest

+

Super 8

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Gardener's Market

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Pet Adoption Booths @ petsmart

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Sam's Club free samples and demonstration

= the perfect weekend

Wish I had taken the camera everywhere!

Summer Sun-days

I love Sundays in the summer. After we enjoy church in our fun ward we get to spend our afternoons soaking up the sun. Here are pics from the last two Sundays. Since I am taking a full load of courses this summer we do not see each other as much as we'd like. So Sundays are Brent and Katie days. :) Enjoy lots of pics!

Here we are in Merlin Olsen Park

Brent reading his totally un-nerdy book

Re-reading the hunger games. wow my legs are white.

My sad face when I realize my legs are the same color as the pages of my book.

Brent looking at something.

Just laying in the sun.

Love relaxing in the park!

Sitting on a bench outside the temple.

The view from our bench. <3 Cache Valley

π

This is Brent, and I thought that I'd get on here and post a quick update on the things bouncing around in my head........

1. In the spirit of Ashely Reeves' blog, here's a flawed but fabulous story... though it is certainly leaning towards the flawed side of the scale. We need a moral judgment here, because I think that we may be "scum of the earth"-type people. We were on our way to a church activity last night and on the way we passed aKool-Aid stand manned by a group of 11 year-old neighborhood girls. We pulled up, rolled down the window, and told them that we would take one glass of whatever they have. Instead of having the Kool-Aid in pitchers, they had the idea to do glasses of the sugary elixir one by one, made-to-order style. I thought it a great idea; however, complications soon arose. In the interest of teamwork, one girl poured the water, one dumped in the Kool-Aid packet, and one dumped in the sugar. However, they had not quite figured out who would be doing which job, and the proportions of each ingredient were.... let's say.... a bit off. They handed us the cup of Fruit Punch Kool-Aid and Katie took the first sip, which she did a good job of "enjoying" and then asked for a bit more sugar. The little girls kindly added a little bit more (emphasis on the little) and handed it back with a huge smile on her face. Knowing that we didn't actually stop for a cup of Kool-Aid, we smiled back, thanked them for their service, and even left them a 25 cent tip. As we drove off, we started to "critique" their business plan of serving Kool-Aid in a roadside stand in made-to-order glasses. About 200 yards down the road, I hit the brakes, looked at Katie and said, "Are we really critiquing the business plan of a group of 3 11 year-old girls and their lemonade stand? We might be the worst people alive." I don't know if that officially qualifies, but please weigh in. I think that I may very well have lost my mind. Legit shout out to the group of girls; keep that entrepreneurial spirit alive. Lesson learned? Certainly. Life is too short! Stop and smell the roses.
2. Katie and I entered into a debate, and if you feel so inclined, please weigh in. (Note: there are some young boys playing outside our window right now. They appeared to be stacking some stuff to see how high it would get. I didn't actually see it happen, but I just heard a crash and heard the older one yelling angrily at his younger brother as he ran inside to tell his Mom.... this ought to be interesting.)
   
   
   A few nights ago as we were about to go to sleep, a question with enormous implications entered into my mind, and I simply could not rest until I got it resolved. Naturally, I turned to my moral compass in life, Katie, and asked her what she thought. The question is the following: Who would win in an epic battle duel of honor: Albus Dumbledore or Jedi Master Yoda? (I tell you that I get worried sometimes about the absolute idiocy of the things that are bouncing around my cerebral cortex.) Katie sided with Dumbledore, while I loyally stuck to Yoda. I won't get into a full breakdown here, but I need to know what America thinks. Who would win? I think the answer falls into the "obvious" category, with questions like: "What happens if I stick a fork in an electrical outlet?"; "Did Al Gore really invent the internet?"; and "Should we watch this new Nicolas Cage movie?"
   
   

vs.

I mean, I think the answer is clear. It'd be like LeBron James playing 1-on-1 vs. Nancy Pulosi.

gratitude

As many of you know the past week has been a difficult one for us. We appreciate everyone's love and support. We are still heartbroken, but we are starting to get back to life. I debated how much to share on here and because our blog is public I've decided to leave out the details, but if you are a family member/friend that would like to know what is going on feel free to message me.

My goal of this post was to update everyone but also to express my gratitude for the gospel. We have felt a strong feeling of peace this past week and for that I am so grateful. The following verses of scripture have been on my mind.

17Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are ^alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

18And ye cannot ^abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good^bcheer, for I will ^clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the ^driches of ^eeternity are yours.

19And he who receiveth all things with ^athankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an ^bhundred fold, yea, more.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. It has made a difference for us, and we appreciate you.

Rebuttal: The Truth Exposed

This is Brent, and I am going to take advantage of this forum, that for one reason or another, has chosen to post scathing slander regarding my trustworthiness with electronic items.

The prosecution calls Katie Pickett to the stand.

Me (in a very official sounding, lawyer-like voice): Is it not true that it was in fact YOU that were in charge of the original Ipod in question when it was originally lost?

Katie: Why yes, I do believe that it was.

Me: Indeed it was. Is the person that found the originally lost Ipod here in the courtroom?

Katie: Yes, he is.

Me: Would you point him out for me, please?

Katie: Certainly. (she points to ME)

Me: Let the record show that the defendant pointed to the prosecuting attorney!

(general rustling from the peanuts gallery)

Judge: There will be order or I will have all of you thrown out and held in contempt of court!

Me: Ms. Pickett....

Katie: It's Mrs. Pickett.

Me: Mrs. Pickett? Oh, well... my (blushing) your husband must be a VERY lucky man.

Katie: He most certainly is.

Me: Yes I am. Mrs. Pickett, after the new Ipod Nano was found, who was it that located the item in question?

Katie: Why, it was the same dashing Zeus-like hunk of a man that found the first Ipod! This man has the sleuthing instincts of Sherlock Holmes himself!

Me: So it was your husband, or as you put it, this "dashing Zeus-like hunk of a man" that found BOTH lost Ipods in question.

Katie: Yes, I believe that it was. He did find BOTH Ipods and I did not find any lost Ipods. If there were a contest for finding lost Ipods, I would be down 2-0.

Me: Let the record show that the defendant is ogling the prosecuting attorney.

Judge: Noted. Can you blame her?

Me: Not at all. The defense rests.

Note: this actually DID happen and Katie DID actually admit this. Once again, the prosecution (or in this case, the defense) rests.

lost and found

Sometimes you just have to laugh, because is life is funny. And today's funny story really had me rolling.

This story starts last summer on our last day of the after school program. Immediately following work we hopped in our car and headed for Yellowstone to go camping with my family. We made a quick stop at our apartment and that is when the trouble started...

I had been playing with our ipod trying to get the right song ready to start our road trip. We ran in the house made a couple of quick trips and when we sat back down the ipod was nowhere to be seen.

We looked everywhere. Our car was stuffed and I was sure it had fallen between our seats. We kept digging in the car and looked all over the house. No luck. We left without the pod. We got back from Yellowstone and cleaned out the car. STILL no luck. We looked everywhere and finally gave up hope. Brent was convinced it fell out of the car and I was convinced it was still stuck underneath one of the seats in some tiny nook.

Fast forward 5 months and it is Christmas time. I decided to splurge and get Brent a new ipod because-- depending on how you look at it, it might have been... maybe just a little bit, my fault that our old pod was gone. So I got him a new nano. It was risky because it was even smaller and our record at losing things is high. But we thought we'd give it a shot.

Brent definitely did not expect it, but really liked having an ipod again. Especially as he started running it was great to have some tunes. All went well at first, we managed to keep it safe, until this week. It was lost, nowhere to be found. Brent tore apart the house with no luck. Then he took the car and cleaned it out (which I was thrilled about) but instead of finding the new ipod he found THE OLD POD! hidden in a tiny crevice underneath his seat! (LIKE I SAID ALL ALONG!!)

He came in and we laughed and laughed. We still couldn't find the new pod but we figured it would turn up, and sure enough he dropped his pen in between couch cushions tonight and pulled out the pod.

So now we have two ipods and both are in my sight. Let's just hope we can hold on to them a bit longer this time :)

finals week

It's

almost

OVER

just

a

few

more

tests/projects

We promise to blog at the end of this week, when finals are over and hopefully I am not sick anymore. In the meantime, enjoy these dancing penguins: