~ 2008 ~

You've heard our run-down of the last half of 2007 after our wedding. 2008 wasn't any less exciting.

Blues Hockey - St. Louis is home to pro hockey, so we found a night the St. Louis Blues had discounts and hit our first pro game. We both love watching hockey, but know little about the rules other than goals are rare and fights will get you sent to "time-out." : )

Caving - Even though I'm not in Young Men's / Scouting anymore, I've still managed to be pretty involved in all the fun activities out here in our ward. I work with 2 of the young men's presidency, so we plot and plan a little over lunch what fun activities we could pull off. Last winter we decided to check out the Illinois Caverns, just across the Mississippi River near the po-dunk town of Red Bud, IL. We got lost along the way and had to ask directions from a thoroughbred hoosier. (redneck/hick in the Midwest-think farmer fran from the movie 'The Water Boy.") A YM's leader along on the trip who is a linguist was fascinated by how this man's dialect ever got to be the way it was. You sure don't have to drive too far from the city to find folk like this.

Illinois Caverns is one of hundreds of caves in the area. Once there we spent hours in the underground play-ground tromping through knee-high rivers, scrambling around stalagtites and stalagmites, looking for sleeping bats and salamanders. The cave was beautiful with all of it's waterfalls and formations, and we've been back again already, we had so much fun.

NCAA Wrestling Championships - I spent 9+ years of my life wrestling, starting as a 115 lb 7th grader until I graduated at Weber State as a member of the wrestling club weighing 190. (I've gone up since then...) Over the last two years, the national championships of college wrestling have been held in St. Louis and have been incredible. This year we watched a competitor from Arizona with only one leg make it to the semi's. It's amazing to see:


The talent these wrestlers have is amazing and it was cool to see some familiar faces competing for Idaho State, not to mention Utah's own Cael Sanderson. Cael won a gold medal in Athens, is the only wrestler in college to ever go undefeated (159-0) and now coaches for Iowa State. Even Michelle gets into the matches, having never been a fan until she fell in love with a wrestler.

Trip to Memphis - Over April Conference weekend we took a road-trip to Memphis with our friends the Pinkstons. We arrived on the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination, so we went to the Loraine motel (where it happened) first. Thousands had turned out for a memorial service, which was really neat. We saw everyone you'd expect to be there, Sharpton, Jackson, King's family, etc. It was about ten minutes into it when we looked around and realized we were probably only 4 of the 6 white people present in the crowd of thousands. What a unique experience.

Something that's been fascinating to me in visiting historical sites is the mood you get when you are there on an anniversary. We had the same experience visiting the Kennedy assassination site in Dallas. For me, it makes it all the more real when I can feel the weather, think about the proximity to holidays in the case of these families, etc.



Springfield, IL - My sister Kristen was our first visitor to come out and spend some time with us over her spring break last year. We had a great time checking out the free museums, free zoo, eating Gus's Pretzels and more. We also tool a little trip a couple hours north to Abe Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Illinois. There was lots to see and all really well done. Our favorite part was when an actor in period dress spoke to a few of us in a theater about Lincoln along the theme of "If the ghosts of those before us could speak." At the very end of his show he gradually started to disappear until he was gone. It had been a very realistic illusion all along! Two thumbs up for the Lincoln museum. Another thing that struck us in learning about Lincoln's life was just how much he was hated back then, but yet praised today. Reading what the media wrote about him sounded like our media at the time tearing our president apart.

We also took Kristen down to Southern Illinois to go rock climbing in Shawnee National Forest at Jackson Falls. It's a bit of a drive now for us to do a little climbing, but we climb in the most beautiful forests out here. Our favorite part is the old knotted rope left to lower yourself down the climbing area. It's a bit tricky climbing up with a loaded pack on. No casualties yet.

It sure is nice to have visitors!

(More coming...)

New Ride

For about a month Michelle and I have been down to one car as my poor sick Land Rover sat out front. It started as a fever and developed into something terminal. Carpooling was actually pretty nice for us however. Michelle enjoyed being dropped off and picked up at the front door, saving her the cold walk and long shuttle ride she usually takes. We both enjoyed the extra time together each day, so we didn't rush ourselves finding a new car.

Last Thursday, we finally bought. We always swore we'd never buy new and never buy from a dealer, but believe it or not, in our situation and with the motor industry the way it is right now, we came out on top. Oddly enough, 2008's are going for more than the 2009's right now with all the rebates and incentives. Our salesman was born to sell cars. "JT" was normal enough in person, but when on the phone he sounded like a commercial, volume and speed increasing the more he said. So here it is...

Happily Ever After... (part 1)

There's a bit to catch up on if you've been wondering what we've been up to since our wedding day when we set out together to face a whole lot of new. Since July 13th, 2007....

New Jobs - Michelle and I left the beautiful Wasatch front for me to pursue a career with a branch of the Department of Defense. Where my hiring was close to two-years long, Michelle's job was landed over the phone in two minutes. It's got to be a nice feeling to be in demand like that! I think we'll cover more of our jobs in another post as this one is bound to get a little lengthy.

House sitting - In the short time we had once we found out I'd landed my job to my start date, we had a lot to plan, our wedding included. A miracle fell into our laps as I attended a conference in San Diego that eased our transition into life in St. Louis. I met a soon-to-be coworker who was in need of a house-sitter during the first month we'd be living there. We had been planning to move into whatever we could find online without ever setting foot in the state, but this blessing gave us time to find a good place.

New Apartment - We moved in to our apartment on a hot Missouri August day with the help of one member from the ward in the city of O'Fallon, we briefly called home. If our prayers of gratitude were answered, this man had his calling and election made sure in that one act of service. We're in a cozy one-bedroom apartment about 15 minutes from down-town St. Louis in the "Village" of Malrborough; one of 93 municipalities that make up St. Louis. We boast a population of 2,152 and yes, I have already thought about running for mayor.

Webster Groves Ward - We've loved attending church in our new ward, made up mostly of others in our same situation. Medical and law students make up the majority of our ward with their young families. This means we have four nurseries and three primaries. Michelle has been teaching a lively class of 6 to 7 year-olds while I've been keeping track of the membership records, quite a task in such a transient ward, yet nothing compared to the "herding cats" that Michelle does.

New Friends - We're grateful for all the amazing friends we've made in the short time we've been here. Between friend-making at work and church, we've had a lot of fun and enjoy the blessing of having people we can count on to help us out of tight situations and who we can be there for as well. All the couples that don't have kids yet have become a sort of a family. We get together quite often to play games, double-date, go on trips and all sorts of other activities.

Cardinals Baseball - One of the best things about moving to St. Louis is living in a city with a major league baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals. With the exception of one miserably hot game, we've enjoyed going to see the Cards play ball at Busch stadium with the unique backdrop of the famous St. Louis Gateway Arch. (I'm still very much a Dodger's fan and Michelle roots on the Red Sox.)

Nauvoo - Taking advantage of the close proximity of all the historical sites of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we took a weekend trip up to Nauvoo, IL our first October here. The fall colors were beautiful, and the autumn time was a very peaceful time to see the sites in Carthage, and Nauvoo. The highlight was the musical production put on by all the sr. missionaries in the evening that had both Michelle and I sore from smiling and laughing by the end of the evening. Nauvoo, and the other early church history sites truly are a special places where you can feel that something great once happened there.

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch - Two weeks into life in our new ward and we'd already met rock-climbing friends. Too bad there isn't much in the way of vertical rock in the midwest! Chris and Jessica Pinkston told us about a place in the Ozark Mountains (NW Arkansas) where there was great climbing and we all took a weekend trip down to go climbing. Climbing in the Ozark forests has it's own kind of beauty, under the green canopies of tall oak trees, waterfalls and confederate flags.

Chicago - Just for fun, Michelle and I decided to drive up to Normal/Bloomington, IL to see the yearly Warren Miller Ski film and continue on to Chicago for a long weekend. We had a great time in the windy city seeing the sites such as the Sears Tower, Navy Pier, Wrigley Field, cool museums, the busy down-town, theater district, eating Chicago-style pizza, and Garrett's famous popcorn. One weekend was way too short, but our feet were ready to come home after so much walking.

Rams Football - A friend at work gave us expensive pre-season tickets he couldn't use to see (sadly) one of the NFL's worst teams... on the back row of the Edward Jones Dome. Our take...? We were thrilled for the chance to see a Thursday night game for free and grateful for the tickets, but NFL fans are ripped off with how much they pay and the views they get. We'll stick to college. Go Cougars, Go Utes!

Thanksgiving in Dallas - We had the funnest time in Dallas visiting Michelle's Aunt Corinne and Uncle Jerry. From murder mystery dinners, wearing football helmets watching college games, to seeing the JFK assassination site on the anniversary of that assassination was a surreal experience. Corrine's cooking was fantastic, and seeing aunt Diane was fun, but the best part was the Michelle's parents, Clair and Dennis drove out from Utah to join us.

Michelle's New Bike - Michelle has got herself a new set of wheels and they are stylin'! We've been doing a lot of biking on the trails around St. Louis and in the giant "Forest Park." The trail by our house we ride most often cuts through the plantation of former President and Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant. (home of the Budweiser Clydesdale horses) There are, surprisingly, some great off-road trails here to get in some (not)mountain biking in.

Trip Home - In early December (still 2007) we flew home for the first time to have a late Thanksgiving and early Christmas with friends and family. We had a great time seeing our new niece Jaylee, how much Garret and Tyler had grown, and just being home with everyone! We went almost-skiing up at Brighton. (dang!) Having an early Christmas and then coming home to the real thing is definitely the way to go.

Christmas in Minneapolis - Living in the midwest, we love being closer to family who have been so far away in the past. We headed north to the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul to spend Christmas with Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Utley. We had such a wonderful time at the Joseph and the Amazing Tech. Dreamcoat, midnight mass at the Basilica, shopping at the Mall of America, freezing our kiesters off anytime we stepped outdoors, and Christmas with family. Driving home was a little scary as the snow was flying, but taking it slow we drove right on past the 20 other cars spun out on the side of the road.

That was 2007... stay tuned for the highlights of 2008... (some photos borrowed from Kristen!)