Yesterday...

…we woke up to 6” of snow at our house! Luckily a mystery man shoveled most of the driveway with a four wheeler/snow plow machine. Brett when out to assist with a snow shovel and discovered this gentleman’s true identity.


…the power went out for 6 hours! Ever since we moved into our new house, we knew sooner or later we would get the “welcome to our ward – now you get to speak” call. Sure enough, we were asked to speak on Sunday, December 14th. Since our church didn’t start until 11:30, we figured we had plenty of time to finish our talks on Sunday morning before church. At 10:30 a.m., as I was typing away on the computer, zap – the power goes out. We started getting suspicious when it didn’t come on after a minute or two, and once we reached the half hour mark we were hopeful it wouldn’t come back on for a couple more hours yet. Sure enough, about 10 minutes before church we got a call saying that church was canceled for the day! No surprise that our talks were rescheduled for January.



…Penny the dog rode in the back of a truck the first time without injury! We tried that a while ago and she was terrified, jumped out of the truck, and cut her head open. She must have learned her lesson, because this time she performed brilliantly.


…we put up our Christmas tree! Pictures to follow of all the holiday spirit at our house.

Mount Timpanogos

Nate and I went hiking up Mount Timpanogos. Good times. Here are some photos.

Waterfalls on the way up

The final hike to the top.

A goat near the peak.

Nate looking up at me on the way down.

I'm happy because I'm on my way down.

I'm even happier because there is a heard of goats behind me. Joy.

2 years down

On Monday Brett and I celebrated our two year anniversary by signing on our first home. After figuring out all of the details of a down payment, home owners insurance, inpections, brokers, bankers, and signing two inches of paperwork, we are officially new homeowners!

The house is in Coalville and comes complete with a fenced backyard for Penny and a nice view of Echo Reservoir. When we get moved in, hopefully around the first part of September, we would be happy to take anyone who wants to on a tour!

Regrets

My brother, Ryan, told me about this inspirational/motivational poster. It cracked me up.

The Dog Days of Summer

Penny continues to delight and entertain us as she grows up. Here are some snapshots from the summer (Brett will add the photos):


We came home from church one Sunday to find the newspaper torn to shreds on the front porch. Not even the Sunday comics were spared! Jenn had beaten us inside, and her first words when we stepped through the door were, “It wasn’t me, I promise. It was Penny.” Right….like we believe that. So we went to ask Penny if this was her doing, but she just sat on her pillow with her puppy dog eyes that clearly said she wouldn’t even think of tearing up the paper, like she did her pillow, the hedgehog toy, the stuffed animal that got left in the garage, and the plants. Don’t worry Penny, we know you didn’t do it.


One of my favorite things about summer time is the cold treats like ice cream and popsicles. I was eating a grape popsicle (on a stick, not an Otter Pop), and I went outside to see what Brett and Penny were doing. Immediately after I sat down Penny bounded over and licked my popsicle! I wasn’t about to throw away a perfectly good popsicle, so I ate the top half where she hadn’t licked and gave her the rest. So Penny sat on my lab and licked away her half of the popsicle. She is doing just fine, so I figure we will do it again sometime.

One of Penny’s favorite things is the sprinkler system. Every time the sprinklers come on she runs from one to the next, slurping up the water while practically getting blown away by the force. Sometimes she will run around one sprinkler two or three times, drink, and then move onto the next one. Brett and I watched her do this one night for at least a half an hour, and she never slowed down. Penny is so into the sprinklers, I don’t think anything could pull her away. We tried to call for her to come into the garage, but whether she heard us or not she did not even think about leaving those sprinklers!


Penny’s latest accomplishment is “Puppy Pushups.” Brett and I got a book on positive dog training, and the first weeks tasks include responding to her name, sitting, lying down, and standing by the owner. Puppy pushups are a combo where the dog sits, then lies down, then sits, then lies down. Every time Penny does something right (“Sit”), we are supposed to click this little clicker device and give her a treat. Then we tell her “Down” and do the same thing. I am proud to say Penny can pushup with the best of ‘em!

4th of July

Brett and I didn't have to work on Friday, so the weekend officially started on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. when we decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Wendover. We booked a night at the Rainbow Casino and took off after work with nothing but the clothes on our backs and a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups. We walked around the casino and paid too much for a buffet that can only be described as "okay", drove the length of the main street (not much there besides hotels), and spent all night watching TV. We finally got to sleep in, and then moseyed along back to Henefer to watch the annual Potato Races.

Now whatever you are imagining these Potato Races to be, unless you are from Henefer, I can guarantee that you are wrong. The potato races are a strange mix of polo and capture the flag complete with willow sticks and war cries. Basically, there are two teams with five members each, and each person has a 6 foot long willow branch that is sharpened on one end. There is a giant tire in the center of the arena filled with raw potatoes, and an empty tire for each team. Three offensive players on each team ride the horses to the center tire, spear a potato, and try to get the potato into the other teams tire. There are two defenders on the other team that try to prevent them from scoring by trying to knock the potato off of the stick. When Brett described this to me, I expected more of a gladiator type event where the players practically fought to the death, whacking the player or horse to get to the tire. To my relief, it wasn’t quite this violent but still exciting.

Saturday was the 4th of July. We were with Brett’s family most of the day, but my sister Casey came down in the afternoon to join in the fun as well. We started the day out with breakfast at the Henefer park followed by booth visiting, necklace buying, 3-on-3 basketball watching, ice cream eating, and parade attending. Joyce/Rex and Syd/Clif got to ride their Harley motorcycles in the parade, but we got all the candy. We finished the night out with dinner and a concert at the pack, and fireworks (of course). We came back to the house before the real fireworks started and Penny was so scared from the street fireworks she was standing on top of her little igloo barking and shaking. After a lot of tugging we put her into the garage and enjoyed the fireworks. Good times.

A Home

Well, as many of you know, Lindsay and I are building a home in Wanship. As far as I can tell it is going to be a long and tedious process. The house is going to be 1300 sq ft on a 3/4 acre lot. While the rates are down and we are both employed, we decided to get a home that we will stay in for a while.



Lindsay and I will make an effort to keep this updated and let everyone know how the home is coming. We are currently working with the bank to get our construction loan so that our builder/contractor, Cade Sergeant, can go wild. Soon we will have the go and then we will see more action than just a well in a field.

College Graduation

On Saturday, Sydnee, Clif and I graduated from Utah State University. It is good to be done. Now work is my only obligation. On Sundays I don’t have to worry about getting in some last minute studying. School has been fun and educational, but it feels good to not need to worry about school.

I’m planning on going back to school soon. I would like to get my Masters in Environmental Engineering / Project Management or my MBA. I’m not sure what will happen yet, I’m going to take some time off until Fall 2010 at the earliest.

Future Plans

For Senior Design, I had to write a little essay about my future educational plans. I sat down to type and more came out than planned. I thought I would share what came out.

After a little research, I determined that an essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. I am going to focus on an observation of daily life and future plans, along with a little reflection. I also found that the definition of an essay is vague, overlapping with those of an article and a short story, so it will be written like a short story.

I have been studying environmental engineering at Utah State University for five years. When I started as a freshman, I had no idea what to go into. After much thought and consideration, I determined that I was either going to become an electrical engineer or a computer scientist. After a year of taking classes that I disliked, I determined to take a two year leave of absence. While I was away from school I put some more thought into my education and future career decision. I resolved to become an environmental engineer for two purposes. I loved math in high school. I helped teach geometry and substituted taught for our calculus and algebra teacher when he took time off. I also loved the environment. I grew up on a farm raising beef and riding horses. Needless to say, I didn’t understand completely what I was getting into.

As I took classes, I enjoyed it more and more. I developed a circle of friends that will all graduate as civil engineers. When the split came from civil and environmental, I determined that I have made the right move. I enjoyed my classes to a point that I wanted to find out what an engineer actually did outside the classroom. The fall of my fourth year (it will take me five years to graduate); I went to the tech expo to support my wife as she was looking for some potential employers to start her journey along a career path the leads to an enjoyable future. She graduated the following spring with her bachelors in the field of biological engineering. As I searched around, half-heartedly, I found a professional engineer that was enthusiastic about meeting others. As we talked, he told me he was the vice-president of Westech Engineering Inc, a water quality equipment manufacturing company. He told me there were some openings for summer internships. I didn’t have a resume, so I had him write my personal information on a paper and didn't think much else of it. Afterwards, he had me introduce him to Lindsay. They talked, interviewed and then they offered her a job around Christmas time; she took it. Around that same time, they called me and made me an official offer as a summer intern. I accepted.

Last summer was a great opportunity to see what goes on in the engineering field outside the classroom. I worked on a research and development project involving a counter current ion exchange process. It was enjoyable to work with some very distinguished individuals in the water field. Namely, Don Burns, he has a PhD in chemistry and has worked in the water field for 35+ years, and also Terry Sherman, he developed the patented process of counter current ion exchange and owned his own company. From that summer on, I was (and still am) determined to get my PE license.

I returned to school for my senior and last year as an undergraduate. Two months into the semester, I realized that classes would be very relaxed the spring before I graduated, so I determined to find an engineering job. I sent out my resume to ten different companies (civil and environmental consulting firms) in Salt Lake City. I also let Westech know that I was looking for a job. Within a month, I had two interviews set up; one with Westech and the other with Forsgren. I went in and talked to Vince Hamilton and Dave Fisher and Westech. Everything went very well, at the end they told me that I had the job if I wanted it. Later I went and interviewed with Travis Higby and Kirsten Hines. At the end of the interview, Travis asked, “What do I need to do to get you to come and work for us?” By then I knew I was in. After a long decision with my wife, I decided to go with Forsgren Associates. I told them I would work part time (30 to 34 hours a week) from January until April, and then start full time in May.

Kirsten, my direct boss/mentor at Forsgren, just received her license in Nevada and Wyoming. I am planning to do the same that she has been doing. It is just a coincidence that she happened to pick the same career and future education path as me; she is just four or five years ahead. Let me explain. Kirsten spent some time at an equipment manufacturing facility after graduating and I spent a summer at Westech. She work at Forsgren until she received her PE license, and I plan on doing the same. Now, she is going to school again to receive her MBA. Those are my exact plans.

I believe that education should never stop. I spent over twelve years going to elementary and high school; there I learned the basics of life. Then I spent two years abroad in Brazil. There it opened up my eyes to see how life is outside of Utah. I studied at Utah State for five years to receive my bachelors in environmental engineering and now I’m working at a consulting firm in Salt Lake City. I plan on taking and passing the Professional Engineers exam to receive my PE license in many western states, including; Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and California (the list is long, I’m sure it will be shorter around test time). Around the same time, I plan on attending the University of Utah (or any other school that accepts me) to receive my Masters in Business Administration. From here on out I plan on progressing within my field and growing the company that I work for to become a successful and predominant engineering firm in the western United States.

Other than growing in my career, like I have mainly pointed out in this essay, I also plan on growing socially, mentally, physically and spiritually. Most of this work I plan on doing within the walls of my own home. Here I will grow with Lindsay to become a loving father and husband.

Syd and Clif

Because of popular demand, Sydnee and Clif decided to start up a blog and tell their story. Many of you know my sister, Syd. She is a great girl and she found someone who will truly love her for who she is.

Syd is working on her student teaching at an elementary school in Centerville. This is required to complete her elementary education degree at Utah State. She lives at home in Henefer with our parents. Syd has been through many tribulations, more than a bunch of lucky people that live in Utah. She has had a tough life, but because of it she is only stronger. She takes time out of her day to make everyone happy. Whenever she is around, she just makes everyone feel better. I strive to become like her in that way.


Clifton has fallen for Syd. Clif goes out of his way to see Sydnee and does what he can to make her happy. It is good for Syd to have somebody love her like that. She hasn’t had anyone love her like that before, besides her family. Because of his undying love for her, Clif proposed to Sydnee on the 7th of March. They are going to tie the knot on the 24th of June in Logan. We are looking forward to adding Clifton to our family tree. Clif is an international business in agriculture major at Utah State. Clif, Syd and I are all going to walk together at the commencement for the engineering department.

Syd is planning on telling her story on how she fell in love. Get to know them both in her new blog. Enjoy.

More Photos of Penny

Best dog ever!

Find a Penny, Pick it Up, and All Day Long You'll Have Good Luck

Brett and I are proud to announce the newest addition to our family...our puppy named Penny! Penny is a 2 month old, short haired border collie that like to sleep and sit in the flower bed. Her full name is Penelope Housley, but she prefers Penny for short. Penny will reside at the Henefer Housley's for now until Brett and I find a real house to move into with a backyard.

Pictures tell it better than words:

This is Penny! Isn't she adorable?

When we first brought Penny over to the Housley's house she sniffed around and then settled right down into the flower bed. This is now her favorite spot to go and sit.

Penny loves Brett

Our little family

We were in Henefer last Sunday and we picked up Penny to play with. She didn't want to run around but instead went to her flower bed spot and started dosing off. So I picked her up and put her in my lab. She sat right there, put her head on my lap, and fell right to sleep. It was so cute!