Dad is a BYU Alum!

In an effort to prove to all that Dad has secretly been awarded an honorary degree from BYU, I'm posting some of the screen shots from the Alumni database. I'll point out again, I am NOT in the database, but Heather and Dad are.


If you were supposed to keep this a surprise until the actual ceremony in April, Dad, sorry for blowing your cover.

PCH 2008

I thought i'd throw a few pictures of the CA trip up during CPA study breaks. This first one is in Muir Woods, 30 mins outside of SF. It is in a ravine just inside the bay, making it act like a rain forest with all the collected fog. The scenes rivaled Brazil or Costa Rica. This was part of a trail we were taking.

Here's another picture from the same hike. It was a 9-mile round trip trail, and the entire thing looked like this. Funny thing, the day we went was the 100 year anniversary of the parks creation. There was a ceremony with media, and we didn't have to pay to get in.


This is at the east peak of Mt. Talmapias. It is about 2500ft (Boise's elevation), but looks at both the Pacific Ocean and the SF Bay. The clouds were high enough to cover the Golden Gate bridge, but its in there somewhere.


Another view from the peak


This is the dinning hall at Hearst Castle, the mountain retreat for newspaper mogul Hearst. It sits on a peak aside the ocean, almost half-way between LA and SF. It is unbelieveable how gaudy and beatiful it is- with the property covering 35 miles inland. It's now a state park, and costs $25 to take one of 4 mutually exclusive tours. Kind of like something from Harry Potter, huh Mom?

This is the front entrance to the house. He modeled it after a spanish cathedral, and many of the inside celiengs were extracted from european churches.

And the pool-it's even heated, and has an outstanding view of the pacific ocean 2 miles away.

Beautiful! Probably 2hrs south of Monterrey. I kind of felt like James Bond driving along this road.




We didn't take many pictures of all of us together- these were the guys. Andrew, my buddy from Philadelphia is in front, then me, then Andrew's cousin Eric. Eric is 18 yrs old, 8-9 yrs younger than the rest of us, but seemed to fit in just fine. Ann, the only girl who came with us, is taking the picture. The picture was near the top of a 4000ft hike in the Big Sur region, just south of Pebble Beach.

Sea Lions- that's a ugly creature. This beach, 2-3 hrs south of Monterrey, was covered with them. They're big, fat, and loud.

I love chain saws

In a little over 2 hours, the tree is history, and all we have left is a little stump that will need to be dug out. Then comes the replacement; what do we put in its place? We will look around at other locations, and check out some nurserys to see what there is to offer. I am sure the cat will be a little upset, since he used that tree to scratch and to climb, but I think he will get over it soon enough.

I love wind

Welcome to the windy part of the city. I am not sure whether to cry [because now I have to dig out a stump], or to laugh [now we can get a new tree]. I laughed.

The house sure looks naked though....