Who Knew Wyoming Was So Scenic?

My architecture studio recently visited the Round House train station in Evanston, Wyoming, where they're rehabilitating the interior and exterior of several historic buildings. It totally reminded me of the movie "Cars" because the place looks nearly deserted at first, until you walk through some of the rebuilt structures and realize they're alive as ever. Totally cool. I'll take quality historic preservation any day over new construction, whenever it's reasonable/feasible.

The following are some photographs I took of the existing site. If you haven't seen photographs like these, they are known as HDRI (high definition resolution image) photographs, where the image you see is actually three or more layered images ranging from very little allowed light to long exposure (near white) photographs. Yes, school has turned me into a graphics nerd, but I wanted to share some of my latest artwork with you. Enjoy!

Hoping a move isn't in our near future...

It's on my mind all the time now. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much, but I'm really really hoping I get into the Masters program at the University of Utah next year. I'm starting to prepare (studying for the GRE, compiling images and info for my portfolio, etc) to apply this fall/winter in hopes that Michelle and I will be able to stay where we are (geographically) for another couple years. Tuition is a whole other story...out of state tuition (non-resident tuition) for Masters programs is around 3 times as much as resident tuition.

We'll do whatever feels right to both of us, of course, but Michelle and I are both hoping and praying that we can stay under the radar of coming out of graduate school with $50,000 in student loan debt. The sound of that just hurts! No, thanks, American collegiate school system. I'll pay you for resident tuition if I have to, but I don't want to pay you the equivalent of 1/4 of a home for 2 years of graduate education. There's got to be another way for grad students to go to an out-of-state school without forking over that much $$$

Besides, I LOVE school at the U of U! (Only a true Ute would wear a U of U shirt in the company of three BYU Cougars in his own family during a family vacation to CA - see picture above)

The song I can't get outta my head right now...

If you haven't heard it yet, go listen to "21 Guns" by Green Day. It's part of their latest "punk rock opera" album "21st Century Breakdown". The song also appears on the Transformers 2 soundtrack. It's catchy, it's clean, and Billie Joe Armstrong did an awesome job mixing acoustic guitar with electric guitars throughout the song (reminiscent of their song "Wake Me Up When September Ends").
Dang, this song is good!!

My dad's exciting new business!!

(This is Scotty) My dad just opened up shop on a new business he's calling Foothill RV Rentals (as you can see by the fancy logo). I'm excited for him, because our family absolutely loves to go camping, especially if we go with a tent trailer. I still love tent camping, but you can't beat taking a tent trailer for family camping if you like comfortable camping! He's been working really hard to get a group of trailers to rent out for this business, and now he's ready and renting them out. The sweet part is, all his trailers are brand new, so now's the best time to rent one out for your next trip! Thought I'd share his website with everyone so you can check it out.

Visit www.foothillrvrentals.com for more details.

Wyoming is a special place...

Only in Torrington, Wyoming can you find such treasures as The Rock Shop (Yep, a shop where you can buy rocks - they're really cool!), a RadioShack that has an ice cream counter right when you walk in, a Mexican-Italian-American restaurant, and........

A what?....

Oh!

Yep. That's a drive-thru bar. The folks in Torrington don't consider it an "open container" if the paper is left on the top of the straw. True story. I wish I were kidding.

I wish I were kidding about this one, too. Self-explanatory.

Sometimes It Still Hits Me Like A Ton Of Bricks

I don't know why, but every now and then it hits me... I've been married for over two years already! One of these days I'm sure I'll remember writing this entry and think, "Man, I was young back then..." but nonetheless, it still surprises me. How in the world does time go by so fast?!?

And yet, here I am. I couldn't be happier, and it's really awkward to me to think I was ever single at all. I love that feeling. It's a simple, constant reminder that I know I'm in the right place at the right time with the right person. If everyone could feel that even for a small while in their lifetime, the world would look a lot different.

I feel pretty lucky... but I don't really believe in luck. I believe in being rewarded for your life's littlest choices - the ones that all add up to the big rewards we look forward to in life. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse... your life is a public reflection of those small choices only you can make, when no one else is watching.

P.S. I miss my Mustang. (R.I.P.)

Some Did-You-Know's About Me

I'm currently 26 - I'm finally able to admit I'm in the 2nd quarter of my life.

My wife Michelle is 8 months older than me.

I took three years of German in high school, but because I didn't use it, I can't remember 90% of what I learned - which taught me if you don't use your talents, you definitely lose them.

Of all the things I've learned up to this point in life, I love music the most. I can play the guitar, bass, and the drums, and I'd really like to learn piano.

My mom volunteered to teach me to play piano when I was in elementary school, but I told her I thought piano was for girls (my dad doesn't play piano, and I have all sisters... to me, at the time, my response made sense). I wish I would've just said, "yes". Yet another lesson learned - don't always say "no" in life.

I served a mission for two years in the Rochester, New York mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At first I thought those two years would never end. Now, I wish I could be there another ten years. I did about 90% of my growing up during those 24 months, and wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm studying Architecture at the University of Utah, and my dream job would be to work with Ty Pennington and the design/build team for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. If anyone has ANY connections to those guys - PLEASE let me know!!

My biggest heroes in life are all either related to me or my wife.

I love my friends like family - I would do anything for them. That's always been my personality.

I didn't really talk much until my Senior year in High School. I've always been quiet. I guess I just love to listen to people.

I naturally internalize anything I hear and try to learn something from it.

I love the smell of the ocean, and the smell outside right after a good rainstorm.

I'm completely an optimist. I love to smile, and I try to laugh every day.

My favorite cities in the U.S. (that I've seen so far) are... in no particular order: Seattle, Washington - Capitola, California - and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Other people may not see it, but I'm harder on myself than I am on anyone else. I love the feeling of defeating doubt and showing myself that anything is possible if I set my mind to it and focus.

I love to write. Perhaps it comes from my love to compose music, but I love to compose stories, articles, and papers. I have a love for knowledge. At one time, I considered becoming a journalist, a columnist, or a writer for a living. Who knows?...If the economy doesn't allow me a career in architecture, I may pursue writing as a side career. I may do so anyway.

I love the feeling of cruising down streets on a longboard, crouched as low as I can get, going as fast as I can. I've never felt so close to flying as when I used to fly down Mountain Road at night with the guys up in Kaysville, Utah.

My wife is my better half, and I'll be the first to admit it. I married her both because of the similarities we have to one another as people, and because of the differences we have in our mannerisms and tastes. I love the way life bridges those differences, and the way that her mannerisms become mine as well over time. She humbles me, keeps me headed in the right direction, and most important, she loves me for me. That's priceless. I feel blessed to have that aspect as a part of my everyday life.

A good movie... and an even greater lesson.

I didn't think it would be upon first hearing the name of the movie, but "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" is one of my top 3 favorite movies of all time. If you've never seen it, you're totally missing out. It's a movie I can't get tired of watching because it lets me see how life can be when you let go of being strictly an adult, and you allow yourself to have a little fun in life.

I learned a valuable lesson today; Life isn't about how it goes for you... it's about how your life affects the lives around you, and the ripple effect that creates which becomes your legacy.

Life is what we make it. I hope we'll all learn, myself included, to think first, listen more, and talk less. A good friend of mine once told me that we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Let us reach out to others the way we would want others to reach out to us. The answer to the world's social problems could all be solved if we simply view each other as brothers and sisters, and act on it, instead of seeing another person as a stranger or an outsider. Kids do that every day, and make instant friends - no questions asked, no judgements, no differences.

...A big "thank you" to Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Zach Mills, and Jason Bateman for reminding me that life is too short not to keep a smile on my face, a positive outlook, and to always have a little fun in everything I do.

Money ain't what it used'ta be

This is about 85 bucks worth of groceries. You know what 85 bucks used to buy 100 years ago? 50 years ago? 20 years ago? ...I don't even want to think about it anymore.

(This is how a man carries in groceries) :)

I'm starting to like country.... What's happening to me?

...It's true. I don't know when the switch was flipped, but I'm getting into stuff like Carrie Underwood (I like about 50% of her songs), Keith Urban (I like about 75% of his songs), and Taylor Swift (I like about 98% of her songs). I'd like to thank my wife Michelle and my dad, though. Without them, I don't think I would ever have listened to any of it. Anberlin is still my favorite band, though.