Happy Birthday Chase!

I took this picture of Chase at my surprise party. I really like playing with him. He is about the same age as Carter was when we lived in Arizona. I was talking about it with Kelly and Melinda the other day; It is so fun when little babies start to be aware of their surroundings and recognize their influence on things, like when they know they are makeing you laugh. They are getting experienced enough to really communicate but not so much that they start to cry or complain. It is a lot of fun.

We love these boys.

!!!SURPRISE!!!

As most of you know, Kelly threw a surprise birthday party for me and I was very surprised and clueless to the end. She contacted every family member in the Utah valley area and even some friends. She had it in the works for a few weeks or more. Even some cousins I haven't seen much were there and we all had fun playing games like psychiatrist and a few others. Jaren and Melinda were in on it and "trapped" me at their house to help watch the kids while she did some mid-terms and to this day I don't know how much of that was true... they were all sly. So Jarendrove me back to my place to get Kelly to go to Red Robin and I walked in and "SURPRISE" my house was full of people and people and more people. Jaren, Melinda, JJ, Ryan, Chase, Kelly, Emily, David, Dad Clark, Jenny, Sarah, Amy, Aunt Angie, Lacy, Haylie, Jason, Steve, Erica, Benjamin (their boy), Kaylie, Mindy, Dani, Sam, Ryan, and Jennifer were there... Theyapparently helped Kelly decorate with balloons and crepe paper. We had pizza and lots of candy and ice cream. It was so much fun and it meant so much to me that so many people came even if we hadn't seen each other much over the past 20 years. It was fun. Thank you all for coming and for the enjoyable gifts. Thanks for helping Kelly and keeping it a secret. Here are a few pictures, some might make you laugh a little (there are few guys who like to make funny faces). 

I am so grateful for my wonderful wife, she always amazes me and has the greatest influence on me. She is too wonderful and fun to describe, I wish I could describe it cuz then you would all ooh! and aah! and even laugh a bit, cuz she is funny. She is my key to happiness and joy. 

SPEED SHAPE

I have spent the last 8 weeks working on my shiny Baltic Blue Speed Shape. All the labor and frustrations paid off because I learned alot and was ranked in the top 5. It is all about smooth shiny surface finish and speed. I loved the project so much I want to do it again but make some improvements in the form and painting finish. You can't seem them but there are a few imperfections. Here are a few shots of it, I have several more so I will see if I can find any better ones and photo shop out any distractions in the mirror. It is so fun to feel how smooth it is and follow the highlights and reflections with your eyes. When you all come to UT you can feel it. It is very very satisfying to know that I started with absolutly nothing then ended up with this, the concept I started with was a tear drop.

I love that little light white line (highlight) that flows across the surface. 

Notice the lines traveling to the back on this one!

You can even see Kelly and the photographer!

A Quarter of a Century Old Today!

Yep! I turned 25 today. Kelly made it such a wonderful day, she made me yummy french toast with real french bread. She picked me up between my classes and we had a picknick at the park it was a wopping 59 degrees! Mom and Dad sent me a nice package with Cars toys and a cool shirt.

Thanks to all of those who called me today, I loved every rendition of Happy Birthday. It really means alot to me that you remembered my birthday, thank you for your interest and love. Well...Kelly had a class in SLC tonight and I go up with her and do homework while I wait. Emily and David were there and after we picked Kelly up they whipped out a nice yummy cake that Kelly made and we ate it right there in the car because it got too cold. Kelly gave me a wonderful little gift that means so much to me. It is a photo album of all the temples we have served in together. I love it. Thank you all for a wonderful day.

V-Day

From Kelly:  

For Valentine's Day we made sugar cookies and decorated them with the help of Emily (sister) and David (now future brother-in-law).  While I have adopted this Ford tradition of baking sugar cookies for most special occasions and state holidays, I've tweaked the classic Ford recipe a little.  Actually, I used sister-in-law Kristen's recipe which is basically half of Mom Ford's recipe plus almond flavoring and baking soda.  But instead of using all shortening, I used a combo of butter, cream cheese, and Crisco.  They turned out pretty well, but I don't think I've perfected the recipe to my liking.  Not that I have anything against these recipes.  I just have this thing about adjusting and readjusting any recipe I find to suit my taste.  It's a curse.  It means I have to remake the same thing over and over until I can find no flaws.  I did the same thing with a banana bread recipe.  I have bought many bananas over the past few weeks.

I just realized that I like blogging about food.

Here's the recipe if you wish:

1/3 c. shortening

1/2 c. soft butter

1/2 c. soft cream cheese

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 c. milk

2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 t. almond extract

6-7 c. flour

3 t. baking powder

3 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

Beat the shortening, butter and cream cheese together until smooth.  Beat in sugar until smooth, then eggs.  Add milk and extracts and blend till creamy.  Slowly beat in flour, baking powder, soda and salt; you may have to stir by hand at the end.  Roll out dough about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and cut out with big cookie cutters.  Bake at 350 F for about 8 minutes, depending on how brown you like the bottoms.  Cool and cover with cream cheese frosting or a simple powdered sugar glaze.

Also for V-Day we got a wonderful heart-y package from Cupid (a.k.a. Mom) with lots of goodies.  That evening, we went on a double date with Em and David to a FANTASTIC Italian restaurant in downtown Provo, Gloria's Little Italy.  I loooooove Italian food!

New additions to the mountain bike

Since the weather has been snowy and icy here in Utah, I decided to improve traction. I have known that studded tires are available for bikes and I also knew that I had no money for them, so I figured I would wait and get some later when I purchase my commuter bike (3 or 4 years down the road). Well, I decided to see what I could find on the internet about winter riding. I found a few really good sites that talk about different winter conditions and how to handle them. While taking in such great information I stumbled upon "do it yourself studded tires" instructions. At first I was kind of wary, after confirming the genius idea with other sites I decided to stud the extra set of tires I had in the shed. I have been very pleased and quite surprised with how they turned out. Since they clear the roads quickly I decided to only but 136 studs on each tire ( I could put at least another 136 on each) but that would make it really heavy. I also thought they were sticking out way too far but it still handles okay on pavement.

The other neat addition are these breaks that light up when I apply the rear breaks. The design has not yet been perfected so they seem to not work periodically and I doubt many will recognize them as break lights, but it is a little extra light for visibility and the idea is just fun in itself.

If your interested, check out Ice Biking and the Dirt Rag Blog which is the 5th part out of five about cold weather riding (the links to parts 1-4 are at the bottom of the post). If you ride, have fun and be safe.

P.S. For me the funnest part about riding in the snow and ice is learning how to handle the bike in adverse conditions. I do fall every once and a while and I often step out of the pedal because I don't want to fall. But I have realized that if I am confident and pedal through the slips and slides I usually come out victorious, which is my goal.

Holiday fun from Utah to Washington

Our Holiday Break in snap shots!

Kelly and J.J. built little forts and had a snowball fight.

This is Emily and David on her birthday. David took her to dinner then Kelly made a yummy peppermint cake and took her to a comedy show.

We were privileged to see Santa Clause with JJ, Ryan, and Chase. It is always fun to experience Christmas with children. It is so magical to them, and it made it more so for us.

The highlight of Christmas Eve was the visit from President Monson to my Great Grandmother and Grandparents. I loved watching him interact in a personal familiar setting. He is a wonderful example to follow because he loves others as our Savior does.

Christmas morning Kelly and I were so tired we could barely unload our stockings ;)

We were also lucky enough to spend time with Mom and Dad this season. Not only did we taxi them around but we spent quality time together showing our love with Christmas gifts.

At the end of the day on Christmas, we sledded down the hills in the park behind Grandma and Grandpa Sperry's house. Though it is blurry, I like this picture because it represents the velocity of racing down the slopes. Kelly loved the darkness lit up by Christmas lights and the reflection off the snow.

The day before we went to the airport on the 27th, we stayed a night with Jenny and helped paint and set up some wall- mounted TVs.

Dinner at the Hart residence is always fun, until the left overs are dumped on my plate to finish there on the spot.... just kidding.

Three years ago Washington Rock (Kelly's father's company) sold rock to Seattle which was transported by barge then dropped in the water to secure the foundation of the Seattle Sculpture Park. Most of it is under the water but we still enjoyed visiting the park.

This is the side of mom and dad's house. Kelly liked to look of the stones in the snow so much she captured it in an image.

We made pizza and watched the movie about President Hinckley for New Years with Mom and Dad then returned to watch the Spaceneedle with Kelly's family.

Just enough snow fell the day before we left to make Mom a snowman which she hopes for each winter. She was so excited that she kept her vintage snowman kit by the door, which had real coal and huge mittens and hat for a snowman. It was fun building him and even more fun to see that it made Mom happy.