Stuck in The Elevator...

Today has been one of those days... Seriously.

While running around doing errands at the Church Office Building, I was in one of the elevators going between the 21st and 27th floor and it started to act funny. Meaning...it wouldn't open the doors when I got to my floor. So I pushed the button for another floor, and it did the same thing. It would go the floor, but not open the door. I figured I'd take it down to the very bottom and see if I could figure something out there. Well...so at about the 18th floor it stopped suddenly and jolted a bit. I get this female recording telling me not to be alarmed. That didn't help. If anything...it made me more worried. It finally starts up again and I get to the bottom floor and pry the stupid doors open. It was a relief to get out of the dang thing. Glad I wasn't stuck for good. I've always wondered what that would be like....

I woke up to over 6 inches of snow. Luckily I took the bus today and got to sleep through all the nasty traffic. However, when I woke up when we got to Salt Lake it took me back because Salt Lake didn't get ANY snow. Ok...maybe a slight dusting on the benches, but nothing on the streets. Weird feeling to fall asleep with tons of snow and wake up and have it be a completely different world.

View from my Apartment

This would be what it looks like in Salt Lake in front of the Church Office Building. Green Grass, blooming flowers, etc... You'll notice the sidewalk isn't even wet... So strange...

Pictures from Belize

I got to go to Belize for a business trip. This was my first Official business trip. I was pretty excited about it.

These first couple of pictures are of some of the Mayan ruins found at a place called Altuna Ha about an hours drive from Belize City. These were amazing and the pictures just don't do them justice. Wikipedia does a pretty good job giving more detail found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altun_Ha

Instead of going with a tour guide, a few of the people that work for Maya Island Air said they would take us. Left to Right: Me, Ronica, Ronice, and Victor. Fun group for sure!On our way to the ruins we saw a man walking down the street with a huge boa constrictor around his neck. We stopped the truck and talked to him for awhile. He's American, but killed a guy and has been in Belize ever since. He catches snakes and knows quite a bit about them. He's a bit crazy, but a lot of fun to talk to. I was brave enough to hold the butt end of the snake. I was fine until he stuck the head end close to my face. The picture doesn't show it, but I was freaking out. You'll also notice he has 2 boas around his neck.

On Saturday we went to a place called Jaguar Paw and went ziplining through the jungle tree tops and also cave tubing. Here is us geared up ready to go.
Left to Right: David (coworker and cousin), Me, Cory (my boss)

I forgot my underwater camera, so I only have pictures of the caves at the end of the trip. We had headlamps and could see the stalactites and stalagmites in the caves. We even got lucky and saw a few bats. It was a beautiful warm day and the water was cool and refreshing. Tons of fun!

We had a bit of a hike through the jungle. We saw kahune nuts and termites. We taste tested both.

David and I got to fly around to some of the different Maya Island stations. I got to go to San Pedro in a little islander airplane. It seats 6. I got to sit right behind the pilot. Good motivation to get my pilot's license! :)

The white tips of waves are caused by the water hitting the reef that runs parallel to Belize. Not quitie as impressive as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, but a lot of scuba divers say it's close.

San Pedro is tiny. Mainly a tourist trap with beautiful beaches, gift shops, and dive boats. The roads are narrow and you'll see most people driving around on golf carts or bicycles.

Views of the beach.

San Pedro work traffic.

You'd better Belize it!!!

Ok...so I know the title is lame...but we see that all over the place here. It's kind of catchy really.

Here are a few pictures I wanted to post. I have more, but the internet has been off and on and it has been a busy business trip. We really have done quite a bit of work here.



This is a view from my hotel room window.



The plane I flew to Belize on. This is actually HUGE compared to the little caravan and islander planes we have been using since being here. Think 6 and 12 seater planes.


Sunrise as seen from my hotel window.



This is me at the Atlanta airport with a very long layover and almost no sleep for a very long time. It was good to finally make it to Belize.

I've got tons more pictures... so stay tuned! :)

Things to make you smile...

I wanted to post a few video clips that just make me smile. They're random, but funny, and tend to turn a bad day into a better one. So..hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Recent Designs

My younger brother Alan is a swim instructor and wanted to make up a business card to hand out to people. Thought it would help him earn some extra money. So... I came up with a few mockups for the card. I had a lot of fun designing them and wanted to show off what I'd done. :)

This first one is the one that we finally went with.

You'll notice that the other pictures have the nice little istockphoto watermark on them. They let you download a comp of the photo to do mockups and such, but not without the watermark. :(

It's been awhile since I've been able to just play and I must say I really did enjoy this. Sometimes when I'm trying to design for work, it takes the fun right out of it and it's a lot harder to be creative. Anyway...that's my show and tell for the week! ;)

Random Pictures

I was looking through my camera and found a few pictures I thought would be fun to post. So here are a few random pictures from the last month or two.

The one below is Christmas Eve this last year. We had all the kids sleeping in one room. It has to do with Christmas tradition and that's just how we do it. So..with a bunk bed, two inflatable full size beds and one kid on the floor it worked. 7 people in one room. Talk about cozy...
Left to Right: Me, Alan on the top bunk, my brother Judson and his wife, Michelle, my brother Kyle and his wife, EvaLyn, and Jason.

My friend Jennie lives just up the street from Temple Square in Salt Lake City. During the holidays they put up thousands of lights. She invited me to come see them with her this year.

This is the most random picture. I was at Costco and was getting into my car and I saw this dog with his head out the window. He was just hanging out catching all the sights and smells. It hit me kind of funny and I snapped a picture.

Brand New Year!

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times... It has been a long hard year, but at the same time, it's been one of my best. Just to recap...I hit an empty stroller on the freeway with my car, we had to put my favorite cat to sleep, I lived with a difficult roommate, was homeless for a bit, (but found many friends as a result of this), found an enormous cyst and had to have surgery and had the most difficult two semesters of my life.

On the bright side though....I've met some of my best friends this year, got to go Scuba diving in Catalina twice, had one of my all time favorite church callings, found a great new place to live with good roommates, got to travel to Africa, England, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C., I graduated with my BS degree from Utah Valley University and did so with a 4.0 and landed 2 really great jobs right after. So the good stuff definitely outweighs the more difficult stuff.

2009 is starting out looking pretty good. I'm 28 years old and feel like I'm in my prime. :) Here's what's on my horizon: I have my 10 year high school reunion, I am looking into getting my private pilot's license, I should finish up my training to be a Scuba Instructor, and I actually have time to date. ;) So things are definitely looking good.

Thanks again to my family and friends for your love, help, and support. You are all an answer to prayers and my guardian angels!