Sniffy, stuffy, sneezy, sleepy....

Sniffy, stuffy, sneezy, sleepy just about describe this last week. It's definitely cold season again, and it sure has hit us good this year... Earlier this week I got sick and it was pretty rough, but unfortunately Jess got sick right after. I think it hit her a little harder than it hit me. Definitely not a fan of this cold thing...

Jess is going to NYC (again and again...)

So it looks like Jess's trip to NYC to visit L'Óreal paid off... Today she got a call from them to say that she totally got the internship for this summer! Since we just barely found out about we still are going to need to work out a lot of the details, but we are crazy excited and looking forward to our next big adventure. Congratulations Jess!

San Francisco, we already miss you.

What does my birthday + long president's day weekend + no missionaries for me at the MTC equal? A road trip out to San Francisco of course! Wahoo... Sarah and Christian were kind enough to let us stay with them over the weekend and it was way fun.

The first day of our trip was spent driving until we got to Reno, NV were we spent the night. When we walked into the hotel we were staying at we were put off a little at first by the purple rainbow carpeting in the lobby area, but fortunately it didn't match what was in our room. Our room was way nice and it was nice to just get to relax.

The next day we got onto the road again, fortunately for us it wasn't snowing and we made it through Donner Pass just fine, though the snow banks on the side of the road were absolutely huge! We made it to Christian and Sarah's house in the afternoon.

It was way exciting to see Anna, Kate, and Blaine! The girls were running around for about the first hour or so we were there showing us EVERYTHING and we loved it...

After just a little break at Christian and Sarah's house, we all rode the train into town to meet up with Christian after work. Here's Jess and my niece Anna riding the BART (I definitely think Jess is the favorite of us two).

We picked up Christian from work and made our way through the city until we got to Chinatown. I thought it was so cool. We went to a chinese restaurant there to celebrate Chinese New Year (it was a couple days early, but this year Chinese New Year fell on both Valentine's Day and a Sunday). I thought the food was excellent and I felt quite at home in the restaurant. I even did my best Chinese grin while I was there.

Saturday was just as exciting as Friday. We drove into SF on Saturday to see a few of the sights. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, and Lombard Street (which was CRAZY steep, I totally thought we were going to roll backwards in our car every time we had to stop). Pier 39 was a lot of fun I ate Clam Chowder and I actually liked it. That night we babysat so Christian and Sarah could have a night out.

Sunday was Valentine's Day and we celebrated with some delicious french toast that Christian made from his home-made sourdough bread. It was amazing. We went to church and I got to hang out with Blaine throughout the meetings. He was super good the whole time and went to me without hesitating, at least with him I was still the favorite.

One of our favorite things about Christian and Sarah's house was the lemon tree in the backyard. It was soo cool! We even had fresh lemonade for dinner on Sunday.

It was so much fun to get to go out to SF to hangout a bit with Christian and his family and we were really sad to leave. Anna and Kate were so funny and we loved hanging out with them. Christian and Sarah were the best hosts and I would highly recommend going out to visit them if any of you get the chance :).. Thanks Christian and Sarah!

Seven Days without Jess...

(I know this is a little late in coming, but I've been planning on writing this blog for a while, bear with me now because a lot has happened in the last 2 or 3 weeks and I have a lot more blog posts coming.)

For those of you that don't know (which is probably few), Jess went to New York. A few months ago she won a marketing competition called Brandstorm at BYU which is sponsored by L'Óreal and passed on to the national round of the international competition. As a part of the competition L'Óreal flew Jess out to New York to meet with a marketing team/advertising agency to work on their project and to meet with L'Óreal in a recruiting trip. This was the first of two trips out to NYC (the second will be the actual competition in April).

Jess had an absolute blast, visiting stores, eating at fancy restaurants, getting blisters from walking around the city all day etc... I'm super proud of her and think she is absolutely amazing.

Now, for me, I wasn't quite as busy as she was. I didn't realize how long 7 days was until this last week (mind you before this the longest I have been a part from Jess since we've known each other was about 3 days, being married I've never been away from her for even a day)...

So just for your information 7 days is exactly 168 hours, 10,080 minutes, or 604,800 seconds. Here are 7 of the things that I did during that time:

1. Went to school

2. Slept

3. Went snowboarding

4. Beat like 3 iPod games

5. Watched 3 1/2 seasons of 30 Rock

6. Thought about Jess all the time

7. Sent Jess a million texts

That's really about it and needless to say I was very, very happy when she finally came home. Seven days is a really long time, something I had never realized before...

I think next trip I'm going to go out with her...

My favorite iPod touch/iPhone games...

After many hours of research and over a year with my iPod touch I've come to a somewhat definitive list of my 10 favorite iPod/iPhone games. You will notice in my list that I favor the puzzle/strategy games heavily so if thats your style maybe you'll want to check these out: (in no particular order and listed with the current price)

Angry Birds - $.99

This one has been one of my more recent favorites. While the premise of this game is rather strange it is still rather entertaining. The whole point is to launch birds to try and kill pigs. I know weird. I like it though. The graphics are kind of funny too...

Implode! - $1.99

This game is very very simple but still rather addicting. The point of the game is to try and make a building collapse to a certain height by strategically placing dynamite throughout it. It seems a little basic but its enough to keep you entertained for a bit.

Lux DLX - $4.99

Ever wanted to play a game of Risk that doesn't end after 8 hours when one person gets upset and gives up, ruining it for the other players? Me too. Lux DLX is perfect for you. This is one of my oldest and most favorite of the bunch. If you are only interested in the most basic play there is a free version of this game called "Lux Touch" which is also very good. I am a big fan of the paid version however because it allows for multiple players, additional maps and a lot more customized options. Definitely worth a look at if you are a fan of the classic Risk board game.

Catan $4.99

Another board game turned iPod touch style with the game of Settlers of Catan. I was rather impressed with the implementation of this game, it works rather well and it always leads to an interesting game. My only complaint is that it can tend to take a while to get through a game, that said it still is a heck of a lot quicker than pulling out the full board game. Once again if you like the board game Settlers of Catan you will have fun with this one.

Jelly Car/Jelly Car 2 - Free/$.99

I'm grouping these two games in the same vein because the games are nearly identical with the exception of a few new features in the latter. The whole point of this game is to drive your car through obstacles to reach an end point. What makes it exciting is the physics of the world. The jelly objects give you some bounce and some give which makes it a little more challenging. It's totally worth it to at least try the free version (which it wasn't when I originally downloaded) and then decide if you want to throw down the dollar to get the sequel.

Finger Physics - $.99

Another dollar app that will give you a pretty good deal for the content. This one is filled with a variety of puzzles with varying degrees of difficulty from getting an egg into a basket (like pictured above) to building an underwater structure. It does provide for some entertainment at least for a little while.

Crazy Machines - $2.99

I vaguely remember this or a similar game being available years ago on my computer growing up. So perhaps it is just nostalgia that drew me to this game but I rather enjoyed it. It has been quite a while that there have been updates to the game and having finished all the levels I haven't played it for a while.

Geared - $2.99

Another rather simple puzzle game that can be a bit addicting. This isn't the type of game that will remain fun forever, but it does provide some entertainment initially. The levels can be challenging though often times they are more annoying trying to get the gears to align just right. Not my very favorite, but it's definitely not the worst game out there either.

and finally...

Fantastic Contraption - $4.99

The last of my games is a pretty good one. It takes some creativity to figure out how to build a machine that will transport a pink box into its final resting place. I love this one because there isn't a "right" answer there is simply a problem and however you are able to solve it is a good enough answer. Bonus points are given for not using any moving parts or having the pink box stay in the end point. While I've had this game for a while I still enjoy it (though I definitely would play it more if there were some updates). If you like creative puzzle solving (and don't mind spending 5 bucks...) you just might enjoy this game.

Now that I've given my list I want to hear about any other games that you have enjoyed. I am always open to new possibilities (especially with the iTunes gift card I got for christmas). So, what games are your favorites?

Now that Christmas break is over, I think it's time for a break.

Well, Christmas break is officially over and there is nothing less for us to do but to take down the tree (something we probably should have done last week). Honestly after all we had going on I am ready for a break. I worked double shifts most days at work and the second week of the break I got a little sick, but don't worry we managed to have some fun too :) Ok so it was pretty much the best Christmas ever since it was the first time me and Jess got to spend Christmas together...

Here are just a few of the highlights from the break (though if memory serves me there were definitely many more things that went on that were fun and interesting).

First big news was that Jessica got me a shiny new digital camera, so I will finally be able to include some photos with this whole blog deal. We spent Christmas Eve and day with my family then Christmas Day with Jess's family. Here is the traditional pajama Christmas Eve shot with my fam:

Christmas morning was pretty exciting. It's always a lot more fun to have little kids on Christmas morning, here are a few of the shots from Christmas morning:

Afterwards we headed up to Jess's house and had some fun celebrations there:

(I think Nik was the most excited for her present...)

We also got to go to the Romney's house for Baby Ada's blessing and some wonderful food as well.

And finally we spent one day tubing with the Blacks. It was way fun.

I also got to go boarding with my bro's but unfortunately not many pictures got taken there. Oh and finally this game dominated nearly every visit we spent at the Blacks (I even won one of the times...):

And that kids, was basically my break, now I guess its back to the real world of school and such... (Speaking of which you'll now be able to tune into my blog at least once a week and find something new, since it will be an assignment for my writing class.)

Oh and I loved my break and getting to spend some extra time with Jess, which always makes me happy.

In-N-Out of my life

A few months ago I stepped into the Five Guys for the first time and ate my first heavenly bacon cheeseburger (actually that is a fairly accurate vision of what I believe heaven to be) and super fresh and delicious fries. My life had been forever changed. At the same time I was surprised to find myself caught in the middle of an intense debate. Five Guys or In-N-Out? With nearly every visit to Five Guys I made, inevitably whoever I was with would bring up In-N-Out. It got to the point where I would even express my opinion on the subject even though I had never even tried In-N-Out. Even with my opinions I felt like I would be forever on the fringe of that eternal question.

Until now.

Just recently an In-N-Out was opened nearby, and quite honestly I was intrigued. I figured I would wait a week or so for the lines to die down then I would swoop in and finally be an active participant in the debate. My curiosity got the best of me however and just a day or two after the grand opening I found myself with some friends waiting in line.

The line moved surprisingly fast and everybody seemed excited. I could feel the anticipation building up. I was a little disappointed to find out that In-N-Out does not have bacon cheeseburgers but it wasn't that big of a deal. However when I asked the cashier if they had them she looked at me incredulously and asked if this was my first time eating at In-N-Out. When I replied that it was my first she seemed even more shocked, as if somehow I had never done anything that any reasonable human being does in life like eat, sleep, breathe. She asked me if I had never been on a road trip to California or even Las Vegas (which of course I have, I just never stopped at In-N-Out). She promised me that my life would be forever changed.

The moment of truth arrived and I tried my first combo at In-N-Out. I grabbed a fry and it quite honestly was not what I expected at all. Though I heard they were made fresh from potatoes in the back, it was quite honestly not even better than the fries at McDonalds or Wendy's. I had been anticipating an experience much closer to that offered by Five Guys (who also make their fries fresh from potatoes in front of you) but was sorely disappointed.

I moved onto the burger. There was nothing that special about it. I mean, it was good, but not rave-to-your-friends-and-tell-everyone-it-was-the-best-thing-ever good. I would rank it quite a bit higher than Wendy's but not even close to Five Guys. Finally as I moved onto the shake I thought to myself "Surely this must be why everyone seems to love In-N-Out." Once again disappointment struck it tasted rather syrupy and was not even close to what I anticipated.

While I am grateful I can finally step into the great debate, I find myself more confused than ever, not so much over which is better, but why does this question even exist in the first place? I stepped away from In-N-Out amazed that it could garner so much fanfare. It wasn't awful food, but it definitely does not even compete with Five Guys. How is it even possible then for there to be cars looped around waiting their turn and long lines of people stretching way past the entrance? I was reminded of Krispy Kreme's opening days in Utah. At the time, I thought, "surely they cannot make a doughnut that is THAT good," but found myself pleasantly surprised when I finally tried one. Only with In-N-Out there really was nothing special. I feel like maybe it is a big joke like the Emperor's New clothes, but when will it finally be revealed that it is one?

After the whole ordeal In-N-Out Burger does deserve some recognition. Its like one of those moments when you see an ugly guy with a very attractive girl. I mean the guy deserves a congratulations for whatever he did just as In-N-Out deserves some credit for garnering such large crowds with such mediocre food. So, I guess here's to you In-N-Out Burger!