Art Post

Jenner has asked me to write a post about my art - so here I am honoring his request. :) I had a lot of fun painting over the summer, and I've tried to keep painting since the school year's started. So here's some of what I've been working on:

       

This one was fun because it was my first time painting on a black canvas.  I also found out today that this won 2nd place at the Murray art show.

 Over the summer, I practiced painting people from life.

 My favorite statue is Nike of Samothrace, so I decided to paint it (with a few added touches like arms and a head).

 Jenner likes ducks, so I thought'd I'd do a duck painting.

Sometimes I like to paint my feelings.  That day I was feeling very impatient...

 One day my mom sent me flowers because she knew I was having a hard week.  I painted the flowers and then gave her the painting.

 This was Jenner's request - a picture from his mission.

 "Breathe Out the Bad"

"Breathe in the Good"

This painting won 1st place at the Midvale show.

I also got a ribbon at the state fair!  

We are two!

We recently celebrated our 2nd anniversary! We can't believe that its been 2 years already, yet at the same time it feels like this is how it has always been, us together. It's about to get mushy, so if you are not into that thing just skip this post.  I have the best wife in the entire world! She is my biggest fan, strongest supporter, spiritual booster, and even a great fashion coach.  Over the past two years we have grown in many ways as we continue to work together as team. We started off our blog as Team Bate and we still are very much a team. Our teamwork has gotten much better, and we still have lots to learn but we are happy.  We are excited what adventures we face in the next year, but we wouldn't go anywhere unless it's together. 

This year we went down memory lane and had dinner at restaurant we went to on our honeymoon, The Mustang. It sadly was not quite as good as the first time, but we had an enjoyable night out.

We also decided to go to The Chocolate to grab a piece of the type of cake we had at out wedding. It was quite delicious!  

Connect Pass Adventure #6 and Bre's Wedding

We love our Connect Pass! It has been fun to be able have a good variety for our date nights.  We were able to go to the Red Butte Gardens for this Connect Pass Adventure. The gardens were very fun and had lots of things for kids to do in the gardens and since I am kid like I also enjoyed it. The gardens had various plants that used the different senses including feeling different plants, plants that had different smells and labeling which ones were edible. The gardens also had a great view of the valley and we were there around sunset so it was beautiful!

This was our second garden that we went to on our connect pass. The Thanksgiving Point gardens were manicured while the Red Butte gardens wanted to have a more natural look. If we had to choose between the two, we would pick the Thanksgiving Point gardens.

We were also able to attend the wedding of my cousin Breanne in the first part of August. The wedding was held among the backdrop of the beautiful mountains of Colorado. The wedding was held on a secluded property that included a fishing pond, and cabins for family to stay. We were able to spend some time with my extended family, and we really enjoyed building our relationships with them. We also played quite a bit of Farkle, an easy but fun dice game,  as we chatted. The wedding was a beautiful and we were glad to see Bre so happy. We were glad that we were able to be a part of her special day.

The beautiful surroundings for the wedding

 

The Quest for Pork chops and family time

Over the July 4th weekend we were able to go to Dallas,Texas with Angela's parents to visit her two brothers and their families. Lucky enough, that week the weather was very overcast making it easier to endure the outdoors in a Texas summer. It was still hot mind you, but more bearable. It was very fun to see Travis' kids. They are both young and they had gotten so big since the last time we saw them. Jimmy, who is 2, really enjoyed all the attention he was getting. He called us "nener" and "Elmo." Angela's nickname is Banjo and anytime Jimmy said it it sounded like Elmo, however since everyone kept laughing at it after a while he stopped calling Angela Elmo resorting to just saying "hey" to her.

While we were there we did some "Top Golf." None of were golfers so we had fun attempting to golf together. We also went to Medieval Times. It was a fun show that they put on, and we had an awesome knight that was representing us. He had some sweet moves and the best style/swag, but unfortunately he lost the last match.  We also ate really well. I had the best meat I have ever had. We went to this place called "Perry's." The atmosphere of the whole restaurant was very fun because it was very classy. Like a restaurant you would see people in a 1940's movie attend.  These guys also had a serious pork chop that was AMAZING. My mouth is currently watering just thinking about it. MMM...If there was one close by me I'd be going all the time. It really is that good.

Angela's brother Nate suggested we watch this reality TV show called "The Quest." Now, I am usually not a reality TV person, but this show was great. The reality show is about contestants who are brought into a fantasy land that is under siege by a bad guy, and the contestant have to save the kingdom. So basically, the TV show is for nerds. I will say that it was nice that the show is more wholesome and family friendly than pretty much any other reality competition show. Go watch it. Continue the Quest. Anyways. We started the show at home, and while we were there Nate insisted that we needed to finish it. We totally agreed. So, we enjoyed watching several episodes.

We also enjoyed going to one of Jimmy's favorite spots, the duck pond. I'll admit I was also very excited because I love ducks, and we even got to feed the ducks. I had what Angela calls my duck face on. I love ducks.  I even got to feed some friendly squirrels, and the pond also had lots of fish that thoroughly enjoyed our bread.  It seemed that a few birds were waiting for people like us to lure the fish to the surface because a few birds also ended up with lunch.

Even though we did a lot of fun things, Angela and I agreed that our favorite part was just being around the family. This was especially true because it is going to be a while before we are all together again. We were able to build our relationships with each other, and have some good laughs.  We even took the time to have a great family counsel. We really couldn't think of anything better that we could have been doing on our vacation then just being together. There is something powerful about a family that is united.

Medieval Times!

This is Reed. He doesn't smile in the car, rather just stares into your soul. 

Angela brought a book for Jimmy and they loved reading it!

 

Annual outing (Connect Pass #5)

Every year there is a tradition for my birthday, and that tradition is still going strong. We go to the zoo. It is a must. We can't miss it. We just can't.  I really love the zoo. This year we were able to go as soon as the zoo opened at 9. That is the time to go! There were not many people there, the animals seemed more lively,  I didn't have to wait in line to drink from the fountain in the lion's head and we didn't have to fight the kids for a good spot to see the animals.  Also, no zoo trip is complete without riding the train. It is really one of the best parts of the zoo. Since the crowds were sparse that morning we walked right on the train and we were even able to sit at the very front. Nailed it.

Just cuddling with the lions. 

The train!!!

Angela got a close view of the lions from the train. 

This is my "I'm happy I'm at the zoo and riding the train" face.

They also had a Jurassic Park theme going this year, and it was especially fun since we had just seen Jurassic World the night before. We really enjoyed the movie btw. 

I can do this too, but I might have gotten sprayed in the face with water. 

Everybody Talks and Raising the Roof

A friend of mine gave us some tickets she couldn't use to the Neon Trees concert at UVU. We grabbed dinner on the way at Wendy's, I love me some frosty. We set up camp on the baseball field where the concert was being held, and sat back on our blanket ready to jam. We were a little unaware that there was not one, but several opening bands.  We enjoyed the Fictionist, and Big Data which were right before Neon Trees. The other bands...well, they just made it a long wait to see Neon Trees.  Finally, the band came on and put on a great rockin' show. Unfortunately, we were a little worn out by the time Neon Trees came on having sat in the sun for a couple hours (that makes me sound old), but we had a really great time and really enjoyed when Neon Trees preformed.

Angela and I have been wanting to go on a fancy date night for a while, but it never has been able to come together. I have recently been offered a new position, and I got a great deal for it being my birthday month, so we decided that we would go to the Roof. It was amazing! There were so many tasty things there, and by the time we were done we felt like we needed to be rolled out of the restaurant! 

So on the car ride home we decided to jam out to some 90's tunes. Ok, it was more like I jammed out to the tunes, and Angela took pictures. 

Connect Pass Adventure #4

On my first day of summer break, Jenner and I decided to go to the planetarium.  I'd been earlier in the year on a field trip, and it was CRAZY.  It was nice just to have a relaxed fun time exploring the planetarium.  We also saw a movie in their dome theater, which was big and cool.  We had a good time!

 I think this exhibit was supposed to be about clouds or something - but Jenner didn't see it that way...

 I took a trip to the moon!

 Taking a selfie on Mars, nbd.

 Jenner pondering life, the universe, and everything - on Mars.

Thermal heat scanner

I guess I'm trying to be like Michael Vey or something.

Connect Pass Adventure #3

We spent a beautiful spring day at the Thanksgiving Point gardens.

The gardens were be-a-utiful!

 It's hard to see, but Jenner is happy because there are ducks out there. 

 I don't know what to say about this one..

 Jenner in the "secret garden."

 Doorway to the secret garden

 The Italian garden

We had a lot of fun!

10 years since high school...wow.

I just had my 10 year high school reunion.  (Yes, I am aware that I am old.)  I wasn't sure how it would go since I wasn't very social in high school...but I had a great time! It was held at the BYU Skyroom, which was a fun location.  We ate dinner and did lots of mingling, and it was so good to catch up with people.  I'm really glad I went, and I'm grateful for the people who put it together, because it was a great evening.

Unfortunately, the only pictures I took were in the car on the way home...

And one more random thing...I'm not quite 30 yet, but this is how I feel sometimes:

Goblins, Painting, and Books

Angela recently had her spring break and was sooo happy to take some time to relax. She spent most of the week painting, and she also read about 5 books.  Here is some of the great paintings she worked on during spring break and in the past few weeks.

This one was for a contest with Michael's with a theme of "Dreaming of Paris" and they even asked to feature it on their site!  

Mr. Turtle 

While she has been painting she has been watching Star Trek Voyager. I've never seen the show before but I was pleasantly surprised how fun it is. I've always been a Star Wars guy but enjoyed the dark side.  I think its a breath of fresh air from the current shows because its funny, has action, and drama without being dirty,crude, or full of sexual themes. So if you are wondering what to watch on Netflix this Voyager could be great choice for you. 

We decided that one day during Angela's spring break that we would take a day trip to Goblin Valley. I've never been there before so I was excited about the adventure. We were facing a decision a while ago about moving out of state and we talked about all the fun things we could possible do in this new location. It then dawned on us that here we were talking about all the things in this new location and we haven't even explored all of what Utah has to offer. The moving situation fell through, but we now have made it a goal to visit more parts of our state. 

This adventure was strangely enough the longest car journey that we have ever taken as couple. Maybe we were becoming hermits, but at any rate we broke out to hit the open road!  Goblin Valley was such a fun place. The "goblins" are fun to climb on and it feels like you have almost stepped on another world. (Fun fact they filmed scenes from Galaxy Quest at Goblin Valley) The weather couldn't have been more perfect and we were pleasantly surprised to see a fair amount of people enjoying the park as well. We adventured around for a few hours and took the trip back home. Angela decided that on the back she would read to me to past the time. She read aloud Treasure Island, one of her favorites, to which I have previously not read. It made the ride home fly by and got me hooked on the book. Our next trip we think will be a visit to Moab. 

I wanted to play hide and seek. Angela...not so much.