Two Great Photographers

Photographer(s) #1: Kelly and Stacey - We had some close friends take our engagement pictures and even some family pictures on the same day.  It was really kind of them and we really appreciate it.  Not only do they do photography, but they do wedding videos as well.  They were even kind enough to shoot our pictures a second time for us (because of how we looked, not because of how they took the pictures).  We will definitely hire them in the future to take more family and individual pictures.  They did an awesome job.  As great as they are as photographers/videographers, we are even more grateful to call them our friends.  Check out their great skills at Stacey Jewkes Photography.

Photographer #2: Justin Hackworth – We certainly did not want our good friends working on our wedding day.  We wanted them to spend the time with us and be relaxed.  So, Ashley found a great photographer by the name of Justin Hackworth.  He seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.  When I wasn’t paying attention, I never noticed him.  When I looked to see if he was around, I thought his camera was going to catch on fire.  He did a great job for us.  I won’t post any of the pictures that he took; I am sure Ashley is going to do a wedding post complete with pictures.  You can view his work, or even order pictures, at Justin Hackworth Photography.

Unscripted and Unplugged

Out-take Pictures Part One

I try to make a habit of writing down most of the funny things the kids say. Often times I will also write down some of the sweet things they say as well. Here are some of the things they have said in the last couple of months:

• The kids were playing in the house in a place I could hear them, but not see them. I heard Trev teasing Ado by saying "I am a princess" (he LOVES to tease). Ado eventually got upset and said, "TREV, I AM THE REAL PRINCESS! I have both grace and beauty!"
• We got talking about wedding stuff just weeks before the wedding. Ado asked Grandma to show her their wedding album. My Mom got it down and showed her the pictures. She was so excited and wanted Trev to see. He wasn't really interested. Ado said, "Trev, you have to see it, Grandma and Grandpa were so young and beautiful!" My parents smiled and Grandma walked over to show Trev the picture. Trev glanced up, and with a bit of surprise and complete innocence, he said, "wow, you guys were young, beautiful, and handsome......and skinny too." All of us, including my parents had a good laugh at that.
• The kids came with me to run an errand. We went into an office building with stairs. The kids seemed somewhat enamoured with the protective plastic covering over the carpeting on the stairs. They kept asking me all about it, and what it was for. I kept wondering if this could really be the first time in their six years that they have seen such a thing. Finally Trev asked, "I mean, who lives here, the Queen or something?"
• I retold the above story to Ashley in front of Trev and Ado. Ashley said, "Trev, I would love to be inside of your head for just one day." Trev sweetly responded, "well guess what, you are in my mind everyday."
• I had every intention of literally taking my wife to the temple. Since I was coming to her house anyway, she wanted to do Ado's hair. When she got done, she turned Ado towards the mirror and asked, "well, what do you think?" Ado responded, "OH Ashley this is how I have always dreamed I would look!"
• A week or two after we were married, we went to Idaho for our nephew's baby blessing. The kids were so excited by our mini vacation. They especially LOVED the hotel. We had told the kids a lot about Cancun, and how they spoke Spanish there. On our way to Idaho, Trev asked, "do they speak English in Idaho?" He also could not quite grasp that we were not leaving the country, just the state. Both kids wanted to know when we had crossed from Utah to Idaho on the way there, and Idaho to Utah on the way back. Trev kept asking if we had left America yet, or if we were back in America yet. We worked really hard with him one time and explained the difference between a state and a country. We asked him if he now understood. He said he did. The very next thing out of his mouth, 20 minutes later was, "are we back in America yet?"

Our cute new nephew

• The first week in our new ward was a fast and testimony meeting. A little girl no older then 9 got up and related her testimony. She told how she was playing in a spot and something told her she needed to move. A few seconds later a large rock feel right where she was playing. When she finished, Trev (who we didn't even think was paying attention) said, "nice story little lady."

The Honeymoon-"Tips not Included"

We went to Cancun, Mexico for our honeymoon. It was a great time. While Ashley is a world traveler, this was my first time out of the United States (not counting Tijuana). We spent Saturday and Sunday night in hotels around Salt Lake. Then, on Monday, we flew out bright and early (at 6AM) to Denver. All of our flights were on United Airlines. The service was great, but the jet was tiny. This thing probably only carried 26 passengers. I swear if this thing were any smaller, it would have propellers instead of jets. In Denver, we didn't even go to a regular gate, we actually had to walk in from outside. Once there, we hopped on a much larger plane and headed to Cancun. We spent the next seven days and nights exploring all over the Cancun area and having the time of our lives. It was gorgeous down there. Here are some things that we saw and did:

In Mexico, they are apparently VERY proud of their tequila. It seemed funny to me, because while I have never drank, I have heard that tequila is like the worst drink ever. That suddenly made sense when they explained that it is made from cactus plants.
On Thursday, March 4th, we went on a day-long tour of the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. It got annoying to pronounce, so I just started referring to it as Itchy Chicken. It even made the pictures more entertaining when we told the kids about our honeymoon. Our tour guide cautioned us to make sure to get back on the right bus at the end of the evening. He explained that if we got on the wrong one, we could very literally end up in Guatemala or Belize. When I looked at our globe at home, I realized just how close we were to both of those countries. We both loved seeing the ruins and would definitely love to spend more time there. We were able to see only about 4 of the 17 miles that are encompassed in Chichen Itza. Sadly, we were only able to spend about 3 or 4 hours there. The rest of our time was spent traveling on the bus, going to a modern Mayan reservation for lunch and shopping, and swimming in a cave full of water that some claim is a fountain of youth. Don't worry, we made sure to swim in it. While we had a great time, we would have loved to spend more time exploring Chichen Itza. If we get the opportunity again, we will probably just rent a car with a GPS and drive ourselves there so that we could have the entire day.
On Friday the 5th, this sweet bus picked us up at our hotel and took us to a cool place called Xcaret (pronounced more like "es-car-et). It was a ton of fun and had a ton of things you could do. You could swim with dolphins or sharks, watch sea turtles (of literally every size) swim around, swim in an hour-long underground river, see wildlife, enjoy a great cultural show at the end of the evening, hang out on the beach or in hammocks, get massages, eat, shop, and much more. It was a lot of fun to spend the entire day there.

Down there, Iguanas seem to have the same population as squirrels do in the United States. They are EVERYWHERE and they are LOUD! The amount of noise they make as they go through forested areas would make you think an alligator was in the trees rather then an Iguana.

Hanging on (barely) to a giant hammock, while posing for a picture that another nice couple offered to take for us.

Just one of the many, many sea turtles swimming around down there.

Just a beautiful place to hang out. Even though it looks incredible, the picture just does not do it justice.

There are two things that I thought were very peculiar down in Cancun. The first one was that the speed limit meant NOTHING!! We would be on a city bus doing double the posted speed limit, pass a cop, and nothing would happen. That says nothing of how fast some of our cab drivers got going. Despite it all, it seems to work. We didn't see one accident while we were down there. It is like organized chaos. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The second thing, I found slightly more annoying as time went on. EVERYONE down there expects a tip! I have no problem tipping when it is customary to do so. In fact, I consider myself to give tips that are above average. The problem I had was that there were signs everywhere saying "tip not included." It was never, "we appreciate your tips," "tipping is appreciated," "thank you for your tips," or anything like it. It was as if it were written in red ink "TIP NOT INCLUDED!" As if that weren't bad enough, the people then all made a point of telling you that the tip was not included as well. Also, some of the things they expected a tip for were ridiculous. I have no problem tipping for good service and I usually give a decent tip for bad service as well, the part I didn't like was the demanding (and somewhat demeaning) nature of it all. I nearly had a nervous breakdown when the sign above was displayed just before exiting a STORE! Seriously, you expect people to tip you for browsing or purchasing something in your store?!! The only thing that kept me sane, and made me laugh and take a picture instead, was that it was the first sign that said "thanks" on it. Ashley and I still joke about "tips not included" a month later.

The rest of our days and time was spent out on the beach, body boarding, hanging out, sleeping in, shopping the malls and flea markets, and exploring around Cancun. On our way to the airport, I tried to strike up a conversation with our taxi driver. I asked her "habla ingles?" She responded "no, habla espanol?" I responded, "muy, muy poco." It was only after Ashley corrected me by saying "pocito" that I realized I had said "very, very slow" instead of "very very little." We all had a good laugh as I wondered if she thought I talked slow or if she just thought that I am slow. Our honeymoon was great, we loved just being able to be together and to relax. Life continually seems so busy, it was nice to have nine days together to just relax, have fun, and hang out. Did I mention that this was the first real vacation I have taken since before the kids were born? At the beginning of this year, they turned six. I loved hanging out with my best friend on our nine day vacation. We had a great time and hope to make it back there again one day. For now, we are happy to be together and see each other every day. We are slowly settling in and love being together as a family.