Happy Birthday!!!!

For those who don't know, Brittany is now 25 today! We'll see how long it takes her to see this post. I don't really show or express my love for my wife publicly too often but I figured this would be a good place. Here's just a few reasons why I love her sooo much.

I love her because....

-She is older than me.....hahaha, she's a cougar
-She lets me go snowboarding at 10:30 at night, only to return after midnight and she's a good sport about it.
-She can have such a little attitude with me sometimes, its classic.
-She is the most responsible person ever ever ever. Which I tend to not be.
-She supports me in all that I do.
-She always finds the good in others and looks past the negative.
-She is shy around those she does not know, and its hilarious.
-She is so humble, and keeps my feet on the ground. She knows how to put me in check.
-She can be so stubborn, and as annoying as it is sometimes, I secretly think its hot but don't tell her.
-I think she likes cleaning.
-She is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. She is so passionate about Nordstrom (don't call it nordstroms around her, she'll bite your head off), and when she gets around other Nordy girls, she won't stop talking about it. I think she wants to be buried there. I love the passion she has.
-She is so caring and compassionate.
-She knows every single word to Salt n Pepa's song "Shoop."
-She told everyone she was going to "play" me before I played her, because she was told that I was a "player." It ended up taking us almost a month to kiss.
-She was the first girl that I was intimidated to ask for her number, so the dork that I was, I got it from a mutual friend, I am so smooth.
-She does the BEST and most amazing robot ever. Seriously, I am going to video it one day and post it for all to see. You will all be impressed.
-Along with the robot, she is an amazing car dancer. I enjoy our drives listening to the good ole 80s songs and watching her car dance, if you could call it dancing. It reminds me of that kid in your eighth grade class, that killed it at math, wore those sweet goggle glasses during PE, and weighed maybe 75lbs, dancing in the corner by himself at the school dances. Its pretty comical.
-She has a strong testimony, even though she would rather die, than get up to the pulpit. I love nudging her during fast Sundays just to see the reaction I get from her.
-She has such a strong sense of faith in the gospel.
-She has a beautiful smile.
-She is really tough, surprisingly. That doesn't mean she isn't a girly girl, but I think she is one of the toughest girls I know, she just likes to whine sometimes.
-She is one of the most loyal persons you will ever meet. She gets pretty gnarly when someone says anything bad about those she cares about. Its intense sometimes.
-She is a control freak and a perfectionist, which can be a really good or bad thing sometimes. She will never ask for help, because she is afraid that something will not get done right.
-She makes me laugh real;y hard, especially when she gets mad at me. I will start laughing so she gets more angry, which makes me laugh harder. Its a vicious cycle.
-She has the softest most amazing lips, I lover her kisses.
-She is awesome at laundry, shes got sweet laundry skills.
-She is the only person that has feet that don't freak or gross me out.
-Our hand lines/wrinkles are almost identical, hers are smaller proportion. It makes us wonder if our kids will have the same hands.
-Last, She is my bestest friend in the world. She knows all my secrets.
I love you sooo much Brit. Thank you sooo much for all that you do. I am such a lucky guy to have such a beautiful wife like you. You are amazing. Happy Birthday!
p.s. please don't kill me for the pics, I love them.

ok julie! I think i could kill you for tagging me! It's really hard to try and think about anything i could say about myself, especially 6 things! But i love you, so i'll try... here are 6 things you may or may not know about me!

1. Probably my favorite treat in the whole world is popcorn with peanut M&M's mixed in it! I know some people think it's weird or that it might taste gross, but it's the perfect blend of sweet and salty and when the warmth of the popcorn melts the outer shell of the M&M's, it's the taste of perfection in my mouth! I crave this treat ALL the time and probably treat myself to it a few times a week!

2. If you can't tell by what i just said I LOVE FOOD! I wish i could be a professional eater, i would be really good at it! The problem with this is that i don't have a STOP EATING button, my brain tells me that i'm getting full most of the time but i choose to ignore it because food is just so good, and so i eat until i'm in pain and i have to curl into a ball and wait for the pain to surpass! But it's worth it to me, i just really appreciate good food!

3. Since i'm already on the topic of food, as you can tell i love it, another wierd and strange thing i do is that when i'm eating something really really yummy i tend to rock or swaying is more like it back and forth in my seat and i make different 'Mmm' sounds with my mouth! I do it without even noticing it, it just naturally happens when i love what i'm eating and i'm pretty sure people around me might get a little bothered by it from time to time!

4. Ok so i'm a control freak! I'm a stubborn perfectionist and i think i know how to do everything right. Because of that i don't know how to delegate and i end up doing everything myself because i'm afraid it won't get done 'right' or my way! It's really silly, because then i just stress myself out for no reason! I graduated with my degree in Sociology, i think most of what i learned was for my own benefit. Now that i know i'm a control freak, i'm trying to learn to let those little things go!

5. I love shopping! I also wish i could be a professional shopper! I used to be pretty good at shopping but then i got married and broke!! So now i'm not so good at shopping! It's tragic, i know! But because of this i've learned to be a great window shopper, and i think i'm alot smarter with the money that i have! If i buy something now it has to be a great deal or really worth it because thier's no extra to spare! I have to say being poor has been a good learning experience for me, and fun at times to try and think of ways to be cheap! But hopefully one day i can become a great shopper once again! Some of my favorite stores are of course Nordstrom, Anthropologie, and for the home... Home Again, Anthropologie, Target, Ikea, Crate and Barrel, etc. etc. etc.

6. I'm kind of socially awkward! I always have been! I've always been kinda shy and insecure! I'm not about going out of my way to say Hi to people! Actually i don't really talk to people unless they talk to me first! I just don't dare talk to someone because who am i to think that that person would want to talk to me! I just get really nervous and don't know what to do! Although i've gotten better over the years, it's still hard for me! So if you ever see me and think i'm being stuck up or rude because i'm not talking to you, it's not that at all, i'm just socially awkward! Sorry! It helps alot that i'm married to the most friendly, outgoing person i know! Clay becomes best friends anyone and everyone the even the weird guy in the elevator! He can strike up a conversation with anyone, it's really impressive, i wish i had that talent!

Well, there's 6 things, now that i've started i feel like i could go on forever! Now i have to tag 6 people, right, here it goes! Kelsey, Jaime, Teresa, Nicole, Jenny, and Jill! (If you havn't already had to go this!)

Its Official!!

I received my official letter from the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy yesterday. I start January 3rd. I am really stoked, all thats left to do is pass my EMT test and my physical test. I was wishing so badly that I had my Fire certifications done while all those fires were scorching my hometown in California. I had many friends evacuated and one friend lost everything on his property but his house, thanks to fire fighters fighting the flames all night to keep it from burning down. I can't tell you how nice it is to actually be 100% positive and really excited about a career. It's a huge relief off my shoulders. I guess I am finally facing the facts that I am all grown up or at least getting there, married, mortgage, career, etc. I always be a big kid at heart though.

Lake Powell pics

Brit doesn't know how to post pics yet.

Big thanks to Cory for bringing his boat and to Kelsey for letting him come along while she worked.
Oh and notice my sweet stache.

we are bad at this!!

Ok, ok, ok! So keeping our blog updated is alot harder than i thought! Since i'm technologically challenged i thought for sure it would be Clay's job to keep the blog updated and running, but apparently i was wrong and it's my job! So you will all have to bare with me! We went to Lake Powell the first of October and that was a lot of fun, we will post some pictures so you all can see! The weather was a little up and down and the house boat almost blew off the shore a few times, but it was a blast, and we all got a few last runs in before winter! What else? I'm still at Nordy's, yeah! And Clay started a new job, working for my uncle doing wood work! He really likes it, and now thinks he is an expert and has all sorts of plans for our house! Clay is almost done with his EMT certification and is loving every minute of it! He has been able to ride along on the fire truck a few times these last couple weeks and he thinks it's the coolest! When he tells me stories about what they run into like, a broken arm, a car accident, our a house that could blow up any second from a gas leak, he sounds like a 10 year old boy FULL of excitement!!! I guess that means he's going into the right field! So all is well with the Starnes family, and again, we promise to be better about updating!!

So Recap the last couple days...

Alright so we are getting better at this, I promise. So since returning from Hawaii, which was so hard to leave, a lot has gone on. On Friday we spent most of the day out on Corey Sistrunk's boat wakesurfing with Corey, Pike, and Lauren. We had the best wake/wave I have been on. It was so fun. Saturday, I went out on the boat again up at Deer Creek. Afterwards I headed over to Thanksgiving point to see Brittany's cousin's band, the aquabats, play. Christian got us a couple tickets to the jamboree they were playing and unfortunately Brit had to work, so Tobler joined me. When we got there, we found out they were backstage passes and we even joined the band on-stage. I was amazed at the power Christian had over the crowd. They put on an amazing show and if I could be anything in life, I would be a rockstar, everyone listens to what you say and follows you. After, The Format played and Kobe Callait did as well. I really enjoyed The Formats performance a lot. After the show, Tobler, his girlfriend Kristen Owens and I met up with Brit and went to the malt shoppe. Shakes were alright, I got Marshmallow chocolate, and was dissappointed. We did our normal sunday routine, church and dinner with our families and then I went on a bike ride. Yesterday was a great day. Started it out with skating Draper skatepark with Tim Vidmar, Tito, and Pike. Afterwards I went to an interview for a job at The Happy Sumo, and got the job. So that will be fun, since we loooove sushi. Then Brittany's cousin surprised us with such a great gift. Matt Costa and Rilo Kiley were playing with Modest Mouse and she somehow got us tickets for free. So we went to that with the Sistrunks, which was fun. Although I wasn't impressed with the McKay events center as a venue. Sound just bounced everywhere, and Modest Mouse was decent. Matt played a bunch of new songs and I can't wait for him to release them on CD. And Rilo has an amazing voice live. All in all some pretty fun days.

So its been awhile...

So, it's been a while since we last wrote... and so much has happened! So i'll try to fill you in! I came back to Utah, from Denver on Aug. 12th (by the way this is Brittany writing) and on the 13th went to California with my mom and sister's for a friend's wedding (Matt Wares and Brette Andrews), we had a great time, went to Disneyland with my cousins, spend some time at the beach and alot of time with family and friends! It was awesome! We came back to Utah on the 19th and that same day Clay drove back to Utah from Denver! I started work back at Nordstrom in Orem and Clay figured everything out for school, Finally! He'll finish up with his associates in Fire Science this semester and then start Fire Academy in January, so he's really excited! Then last friday Clay and I flew out to Hawaii with my whole family, kind a last hurrah before my little bro leaves for the mission(Tampico, Mex)! We spent a week in Oahu! We stayed on a beautiful resort in Ko'olina! We spent lots of time at the beach, of course, we snorkeled, scuba dived, hiked, surfed, we went to Pearl Harbor,we went to the laie temple, we spent alot of time on the north shore, Clay met up with his longtime friend Chris gardner, who is out there for school and surfed with him, He also went on a dive to a World War 2 ship, needless to say. we had a blast!!! Now we are finally back in Utah and ready to get back into somewhat of a normal routine!!!! And we promise to be better about updating our blog more often!! P.s. if you didn't notice i chopped like 8 inches off my hair!!! Clay's been begging me to forever, so i finally took the plunge! And we will add more pics later.

Scuba Clay

On the Boat

This is were we stayed

Waikiki Beach

The paddle back in.

Porter Family at the Laie Temple

Brittany being Brittany

Alone again....

I skid stopped all the way down this parking structure twirly doo thing.

Probably one of the coolest pics i have ever taken.

Ginormous Bear.

Okay, so it seems Brittany and I are pulled apart from each other due to work a lot. When we first started dating, she had to go back to Utah to manage her department at Nordstrom. Last summer, right after getting married, I went to Wisconsin to nanny and she stayed in Utah to help manage. This year, she stayed in Utah to finish school while I headed out here to Denver. Now she headed back to Utah and I am stuck here as a bachelor again. Its not that bad the first couple of days, but sleeping in a bed by yourself just isn't fun. And coming home from a long day of work to no one is just really sad. I don't know how people live by themselves. I would go nuts from boredom. Luckily last night I went downtown with a buddy and we rode our fixies around. It was mega cool and downtown here is amazing. If I ever have to live in denver, I will definitely live close to downtown.

Our bikes

My centurion fixie.

For those of you who don't know, I am in a bike gang. We ride fixies and its mega cool. A fixie is a bike in which you have no brakes, and a single cog on the back that is not a free-wheel, its completely stationary so the only way of stopping is a controlled skid. I picked up this frame one day when I was knocking doors in ghetto Aurora CO. This old man was sitting out on his driveway and I start talking to him. He tells me his whole life story of owning a bike shop and that he has warehouses full of bikes. I kinda laughed cause he seemed to be senile but then he opened up his garage, which was a two car wide, but like 6 car long garage. At first it looked really dark but after my eyes adjusted, I could see why it was so dark, a mountain of bikes that spread from front to back and side to side. There had to be at least six or seven hundred bikes in there. So I started rummaging through and found four or five really good frames for fixed gears. I also picked up Brits bike from a garage sale, its a '72 panasonic, pretty sweet for $5.

First post....

Ok so everyone and their mom is doing this blog stuff so we decided to jump on the bandwagon and join in on the fun.

Well a little update on the Starnes family, those of you that don't know, we added a new addition to our family in february by adopting a beautiful 1-year old. She is white with brown eyes. Fluffy and soft. She is our Shih-poo, named Coco. She was given to us by our friends Johnny and Marsha Clayton, well Marsha's family and its been fun having a little dog around our house. I thought it might keep Brit from being baby hungry and it worked for about 6 months but the pressure is back on. Our friends out here Wyatt and Jenny have an adorable 5-month old boy Crew, and I don't think that has helped out one bit. last night at dinner everyone was planning when we should start having a kid except for me. It was pretty funny. Colorado has been a good experience for the two of us. Definitely a difficult but growing experience, and we are excited to get back home next month to see our families and be back in our condo!!

LaLa came to visit us for a short bit.

Our friends, Corsey and Keley