Keltose

wore em out.

2012-01-31T17:12:00.001-08:00

wore em out., originally uploaded by Keltose.

Back at it. Wore the trainers out today.

SLC Temple

2011-12-31T17:27:00.001-08:00

SLC Temple, originally uploaded by Keltose.

SLC Temple

JSMB

2011-12-31T17:26:00.001-08:00

JSMB, originally uploaded by Keltose.

JSMB

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T16:55:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve, originally uploaded by Keltose.

Merry Christmas Eve

The Bear River Valley

2011-12-24T11:07:00.001-08:00

The Bear River Valley, originally uploaded by Keltose.

The Bear River Valley

Bennett and I in the shark tunnel.

2011-12-10T13:07:00.001-08:00

Bennett and I in the shark tunnel., originally uploaded by Keltose.

Bennett and I in the shark tunnel.

The Birthday Girl

2011-11-19T13:39:00.001-08:00

The Birthday Girl, originally uploaded by Keltose.

Ava's 4th Birthday Party.

The personal trainers.

2011-10-18T17:14:00.001-07:00

The personal trainers., originally uploaded by Keltose.

Taking the personal trainers out for a run tonight.

Hey Look! A Tractor!

2011-09-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you enough at how much this kid loves tractors! At the mall the other night, there was one in the parking lot and Bennett couldn't resist paying it a visit.

Denali

2011-09-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

By far the worst part about pets is when they leave us. Denali was almost 15 years old and was a great dog. The vet went to my Dad's tonight and had to put her down. It's a sad day.

Taking herself for walks.

Denali and Buster when he was a puppy.

Denali camping.

San Francisco Marathon 2011

2011-09-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

On July 31st I ran my 8th marathon. It was my first time running the San Francisco and besides a minor injury the race went great and was an awesome course. It was fun having the family at the finish line. Thanks to Dad for driving me to the start line at 4:15 am!

Good Times in Carmel

2011-09-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

After the marathon, we went to Carmel for dinner on the beach. It was great to go their with the kids as I spent a lot of time on that beach growing up for vacation. Here are the pics, it was a great way to relax after the race that morning.

Lake Powell

2011-09-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Lake Powell this summer. Despite being a lot of work it was a ton of fun. Both kids tried the trainer ski and really liked it. We'll see how long it takes to for them to learn the real thing. It also gave them chance to work on their swimming skills. Check out the video of below of Ava doing the ski. She loved it.

Jelly Belly Factory

2011-09-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

With the Granparents here, we spent a morning at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. It was pretty cool. The kids had a hard time keeping the attention span together, but it was fun to see it taste the samples.

Visitors!

2011-09-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Back in July we had a visit from Dad and Robyn for Marathon weekend. The kids obviously loved having Grandpa and Grandma in town. We were able to squeeze in a ton of activities. More posts to come on that, but here are some of those pics from their visit.

House Sold...Now time for Kauai

2011-03-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy 8 months with our job relocation and our house for sale. That finally ended last month and to cap it all off before our move to California Jenn and I were able to get away with Ryan and Emily for a week in Kauai. That island is so cool. Everyone says it's their favorite and I can see why. It was definitely a nice time to relax after all the commuting and working we both have been doing.

A special thanks to Chris and Jed for taking on Ava and Bennett for a week--definitely a noteworthy task!

I uploaded the pics to Flickr and some vids to YouTube. Below are the highlights.

CES 2011

2011-03-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here it is; the almost annual (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010) post recapping our visit to Las Vegas for CES and to visit some family and friends! This year we had a full house visiting Vegas for the event and it turned out to be a lot of fun (a lot of good food too). Luckily we have good family and friends to put up with us and make it a good time. Here are some pics, I always regret not taking more of the kids and for the rest of the CES pics go to Flickr.

What a year!

2011-01-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

So much has happened! I am sure 2011 will be the same! Here are a few catch up pics as we ended out the year!

For Christmas Jenn had these taken for me. Her friend Brandy took them. They look great in the frame in my office.

Some Christmas morning PJ pics at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Hi Santa!

2010-12-11T13:44:00.001-08:00

Ava and Bennett sitting on Santa's lap for the first time. No crying!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Chicago

2010-12-11T13:42:00.001-08:00

The view from my hotel room a few weeks ago in Chicago. Such a cool city!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Happy Thanksgiving (The week late edition)

2010-11-29T18:51:00.000-08:00

A few pics from the day...

Happy Birthday Ava

2010-11-29T18:46:00.000-08:00

So Ava turned 3 last week. It was awesome.
Theme: Western/Cowgirl
Activity: Build-A-Barn

Thanks for all who came it was a good time!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ava was a University of Utah Cheerleader and Bennett was a Lion. If you can't tell from the pictures, he loved it.

This is a vacation!

2010-10-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

This year has been so busy with all the changes, that we really haven't been able to get in a solid vacation until now. So, thanks to Jenn's ever patient parents for watching the wild things. We took off for a week to the Bahamas on a cruise. In true Kelly and Jenn fashion, it was an adventure, and made for a hundred stories too involved for this post. But was a great time! Having only seen pictures of these islands, it was awesome to experience it first hand. Our cruise made three port of calls: Freeport, Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay. We ended doing a Jeep tour, experienced the water park at Atlantis, snorkeled, kayaked and enjoyed some great weather before coming home to snow and rain in Utah. As usual the story board is here.

1Year!!!

2010-10-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Bennett's 1 year birthday last weekend. He had a great time. I'm glad we took pictures so someday we can show him how much fun he had.

Hiking Mt. Deweyville

2010-10-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Right out front of Jenn's parents house in Deweyville, UT are some small mountains which are part of the Cache National Forest. Last weekend my brothers and I did a little overnight back packing trip. For October 1st, we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Here are the pics:

Into The Void...Climbing Mt. St. Helen's

2010-09-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember my epic fail of an attempt to climb Mt. St. Helen's last year. It was the result not being prepared and not expecting the worst. So when the opportunity came around to climb it a second time, I was much more prepared (except the part about not bringing the tent poles the night prior).

Anyways, as suspected, the weather on this day was not great. It was rainy and windy. The 8 hour round trip hike and climb allowed us about 5 minutes at the top of the crater. The only real satisfaction for this day was saying I made it to the top. Below are the best pics. And Here are the rest of them Flickr.

Bennett

2010-09-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

At the park with Ava

2010-08-31T19:08:00.001-07:00

Vegas Weekend

2010-08-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately we barely had time to squeeze in some much needed R&R in Las Vegas last weekend. Despite being a quick stay it was really fun seeing family, friends and enjoying Vegas. Here are a couple pics.

*This is what happens when you ask random people to take your picture-very blurry.

Cooling off up the Canyon

2010-07-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well in my absence this last weekend, the family took a little stroll up Big Cottonwood Canyon and my Dad being the photog he is, took a bunch of photos. Here are some of my favorites that I stole from his Flickr page. For the whole rundown of the shots head here.

And last but not least, my cute wife.

Weekend Pics

2010-07-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from last weekend in Utah. It was a busy weekend, but we managed to get a lot in.

Bennett

Ava

Jenn and I at Rodizo for our 6th Anniversary

Guarana!

Bennett at the Treehouse Museum

Deweyville Sunset

Rosa Lee M. Parkin

2010-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

My Grandmother passed away last week. She was a great woman. Many people don't know this, but both my Grandpa and Grandma were deaf. Obviously, this made communicating difficult, but her love and example said more than any other form of communication could have conveyed. I can't even imagine living in this world without sound, but despite her handicap, my Grandma brought so much joy and love to everyone she came in contact with.

The funeral service was beautiful on a beautiful sunny July day. Below is her Obituary from the Ogden Standard Examiner:

Rosa Lee M. Parkin - Rosa Lee M. Parkin, 85, died July 14, 2010 at her home.

She was born October 18, 1924 to Guy and La Rena Caraveau, in Garden City, Kansas. When she was three years old she and her brother lost their hearing due to scarlet fever. She attended the Colorado School for the Deaf in Colorado Springs, and graduated from the Utah School for the Deaf.

She joined the LDS church in 1947 and married Gilbert Jay Don Parkin on May 28, 1949, in Ogden. Their family was sealed in the Ogden LDS Temple on April 10, 1982. Her husband of 52 years died Oct. 31, 2001.

She retired from the Internal Revenue Service after 15 years, prior to that she worked for Kiddie Ville Clothing and Sierra Lingerie.

Her interest included traveling with her family and husband, camping in her motor home, fishing, family history work, quilting, crocheting, card games and sewing. She is an active member of the Ogden Deaf Branch LDS church.

Surviving are her children; Dennis Parkin, Riverdale, Patricia (Stephen) Felsted, Salt Lake City, Susan Grant, Salt Lake City, Brent (Georgiann) Parkin, North Ogden, 14 grandchildren and nine great/grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held Monday, July 19, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at the Grandview Ward Chapel, 3680 Eccles Ave., Ogden, with LDS Deaf Branch, President Mark Erwin officiating. Friends and family may call on Sunday, July 18, 2010 at the Grandview Ward Building from 6:7:30 p.m. and on July 19, 2010 from 10am to 10:45 am.

Interment, Leavitt's Aultorest Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations may be given to benefit the Utah Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, 5709 south 1550 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84123. Please make checks payable to : UCCD Trust Fund.

Fun Times [Lagoon]

2010-07-15T10:58:00.001-07:00

This picture doesn't really show it, but Ava absolutely loved Lagoon. She loved the rides and wanted to go faster on many of them. At the end of the day she was asleep by the time we got back to the car.

Bennett couldn't go on any rides but he enjoyed the people watching.

Lagoon, originally uploaded by Keltose.

Me and Jenn at the haunted house ride. That stupid horn and light at the end still gets me.

The Drive Down

2010-07-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to the Bay Area and documented my little journey with a few pics. Here are the highlights. The rest are over here on Flickr. I really wish I would have had more time to take PCH or even more of the 101 because that part of the country has so much to see, but I guess I'll have to do that another time. It was still a cool drive. Which reminds me, it has been a really long time since I did any kind of a road trip.

Anyways, it's good to be here. I've only been here for a couple days, so naturally there isn't much to report. Follow the twitter feed for some randomness though. I'll post more when I can.

Mt. Shasta

Sundial Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge

Downtown San Francisco

Seaside Saturday

2010-06-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

Finally the terrible rainy weather passed and the northwest was blessed with a beautiful sunny Saturday. We decided to join our friend's on nice day trip to Seaside Beach. It was a little windy, but definitely worth taking. Here are a few pics.

Astoria

2010-05-30T00:34:00.000-07:00

Took a drive to Astoria today. Luckily it wasn't raining.

Here are some pics from the Astoria Column.

Kids

2010-05-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Our friend Pam took some great pictures of the kids a couple weeks and I wanted to post some of our favorites. She did a great job, Thanks Pam!

Here are some other pictures that Jenn and I took one sunny Mother's Day afternoon.

This is the weather we have had up here lately

2010-05-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Downpour.

Down By The Bay

2010-05-21T14:53:00.001-07:00

Photo originally uploaded by Februum.

Well it is pretty much official now. And many of you reading this may or not already know, but the next chapter in our lives will take place in California! I am relocating within my company to manage a mall in the Bay Area-Fremont to be exact. We don't know where we will be living yet, as this is all starting to figure itself out. But needless to say we are really excited! I start my new position in the beginning of July, so safe to say June will be a busy month.

Stay tuned...

PS-This is a call out to anybody who has friends or family there, I am interested in networking with them as I search for housing and expand my professional network. I have already gotten a few contacts from some and I thank you for that.

Finally....

2010-05-16T18:33:00.001-07:00

You may remember back in March, I had aspirations of painting the house while Jenn was traveling. Well, that didn't happen because of weather limitations. You may have even voted on what color you liked best at the time. And out of the initial colors we ended up not going with any, but chose a variation of green, "smoked olive" to be exact. Here is the finished product.

The before:

Trip to New Mexico

2010-03-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have never been to New Mexico before last weekend. So, it was fun to check that state off my list and more importantly see Jenn, Ava and Bennett, whom I haven't seen in a couple weeks as they continue their 5 state tour visiting family. Ava is, of course, a wild thing and Bennett is growing like crazy and turning out to be an all-around good guy. Grandpa JR likes to call him his "All-American".

Anyways, being a short trip and having little time to play. We took advantage of the great south-west weather and visited White Sands National Park. This place was absolutely amazing! Ava was not a fan of the sand at first. She wanted nothing to do with it, then after getting used to it, she couldn't get enough. She walked and climbed everywhere. Needless to say, she crashed asleep as soon as she got in the car to head home.
Not knowing if and when I will ever return there, I took a bunch of pictures. The best ones, I have uploaded to Flickr, so feel free to check them out.

I wanted to upload some video too, but I left the Flip Cam with Jenn, so I will update this post later.
For now, I posted my few favorites here.

This guy!

2010-03-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

With Jenn and the kids gone to New Mexico, Jenn has been sending me pictures from her phone of the kids for my daily enjoyment. Here is today's of Bennett. Just thought I would post it up for the world to see.

happy daylight savings time

2010-03-14T14:47:00.001-07:00

A couple years when I first moved to Washington, my Dad came up the first week I was in the house to help with the remodel project. One Saturday night we stayed up late working on something and then eventually sat down drinking a coke and talking. The next thing we know, it was 5 minutes to 2:00 am on Daylight Savings time! We both mentioned that we have never seen the digital clocks of our day skip that 2:00 am hour and go straight to 3:00. We ended up watching it and decided that News Years Eve has nothing on Day Light Savings Time for a couple reasons:

1. You stay up until 02:00 instead of midnight.
2. It happens twice a year.

Since that time, my Dad is the first and only person to text me at 3:00 am and 1:00 am (the fall one). To wish me a Happy DLST.

This year he decided to memorialize it for me and the internet. You can tell by the video that Daisy (The Golden Retriever) isn't too happy to be celebrating this event.

Thanks for vid Dad and Happy Daylight Savings Time to everyone else.

Little Frequent Flyer

2010-03-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

Jenn picked up a new suitcase for Ava for all her travels. She loves it, she even hates putting it through the x-ray machine at security.

So, while they are out of town, I have the task of painting the house as indicated in the prior post. And as for the paint colors??? Well, thanks to everyone's input, we actually decided on none of the colors that are posted.
I'll post the color we decided on as soon as I finish the front of the house (assuming I get some decent weather soon).

Valentines Day Dinner = Home Made Pizza!

2010-02-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

For Valentines Day this year, I decided to try my hand at making a pizza. It wasn't exactly homemade, as I mostly just put things together that I bought at the store, but it was fun having Ava help spread the cheese and Jenn test tasting it. To my surprise it actually turned out pretty good, so I may be making more of these in the future-which I will try to do more and more from scratch. We'll see...

To top this night off, we all watched the movie 'UP!', which was great-Ava loved it!
I'm a pretty lucky guy to have two great Valentines!

LOVE

2010-02-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

As promised and as many of you know by now. Angels And Airwaves released their third album over the weekend, appropriately named: LOVE. Even better is that they released it as a free digital album without the help of any record label! It's a great listen and in a lot ways very different from the earlier albums.

Go here for the free download and play it loud, enjoy: http://modlife.com/angelsandairwaves/love

There is also a movie coming out in a few months which should be exciting. The trailer is below. Another trailer which was released about a year ago is here.

CES 2010

2010-01-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

Well, just like in 2006, 2007, and 2008 (I traded CES 2009 for this), Brandon and I hit up CES 2010 and it was eventful and promising in the world of gadgets for the upcoming year.

The highlights?

To sum it up briefly it was:

3D-TV

Really thin TVs

Open Source platforms like Boxee, Android and Moblin.

A lot of E-readers

And cars

The one downside was the apparent lack of SWAG, but I guess that's the first to go when companies are watching their dollar more closely. We never found the Creative booth which usually ends up in a few good stories, but it was probably for our best. We spent an entire day roaming the convention floor checking out the latest and greatest, and the show was a little smaller than in years past as one would expect.

What made the trip to Las Vegas even more memorable was staying with family and celebrating Jenn's 30th Birthday in style at the M Casino, which is awesome, not the roulette tables, but the buffet. Thanks to Brandon and Kiley for going and recommending that place for dinner.

While we there we visited the newly opened City Center and was completely blown away at the architecture and finishes

that place has. It was pretty wild.

All in all, a great time, to which I am already looking forward to next year.

The Flickr Page

Family...Isn't it about time?

2010-01-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

This is Ava showing me some much needed cooperation.

Ginger Bread Christmas Party

2009-12-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

A couple years my Mom put on a great Chris tmas party for our family and it involved making Ginger Bread Houses. It was a lot of fun. Jenn thought it would be fun to do that with some friends and neighbors this year and we had a blast. Ava in particular really enjoyed making her creations and was a big helper in building my Frank Lloyd Wright style ginger bread house. Here are some pics from the evening and the full story board on Flickr.

Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

In keeping with tradition, (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) we had a beautiful clear day a couple weeks ago to go up with The Tenbusch's for the second year in a row to cut down our Christmas Tree. My camera battery died, so Libby took more pictures as you'll see on her blog.
Permits this year were $5 through the forest service (Thanks Brian for snagging) and we went up in the mountains just south of Mt. St. Helens. I can honestly say it wasn't the best Christmas Tree I have cut down, but as they say it always looks different in the forest.
Ava sure had a fun time playing in the snow and decorating our tree. She was really worried we were going to leave the tree in the woods.

Here are some pics from the days adventure:

Thanks again for Brian, Libby and Evie for going and making it a blast!

Bennett - 6 Weeks Old

2009-12-16T17:33:00.000-08:00

We recently had some photos taken of Bennett when he was 6 weeks old. Had we waited any longer we were afraid he would be too big for half of the props. We also had a few with Ava too, and they turned out really good. I have uploaded the best ones on Flickr, so feel free to check them out.

This is how I roll...(Spoiler: nerd alert)

2009-11-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like the holiday season is the ideal time to fix your relative's and friend's PC/Tech related problems. Being an early adopter of technology, I usually have a story about something.

So, in an effort to archive some of my favorite tools and insights I am listing my favorite apps, websites and tools that I use throughout my day, which involves a bike commute, office and school. I hope you haven't heard of some of these things and you can find them useful in your routine. If I have missed something put it in the comments.

The Work Office

Some of the key elements of the office at work are the dual floating monitors, wireless keyboard and mouse. The rest is your basic office, and I won't bore you with my filing habits and methods. Here are the websites, software and things that are useful between the hours of 8am 5pm:

XMarks -This is a nice little plug-in for FireFox that syncs and saves your bookmarks between various computers. Comes in really handy.
Reader - Some people read the newspaper every morning, I scroll through my favorite sites for news and info. Plus its much quicker to read. Reader also has a great search feature to find past articles.
Evernote (Tip) - I am still working with Evernote and haven't fully incorporated it, but have found it can be useful depending on your
Chrome - Most companies have online expense reporting, AP, etc. websites that you need to go through and using IE is way slower. I find Google Chrome to be the best way to speed through this process. That is, if you can install it past the corporate firewall.

Portable Apps- Apps for USB drive. This can be a nice little work around when I need an app, that I am unable to download through the evil corporate firewall, nor do I have the time to call IT and explain my situation.

The Home Office

My home-office, again is nothing special but it works for school, work and fun. The main points of this room are multiple CAT 6e, COAX and Electrical plugs. Which I thought of while wiring this room. Dual-Monitor Linux and Windows set-ups, and a nicely organized cable cluster.

The Web

Here are my most used apps and websites that usually turn to when helping someone out with a project or problem. If you haven't heard of them, check them out. They are all free too!
Firefox-Customizable browser
XMarks-Firefox plug in for bookmark sync
Gmail Notifier-Firefox plugin
AVG or Avast-Antivirus
Twitter-no explanation nessecary
Pidgin-Open source IM

LogMeIn-Remote PC log in (Great for tech support)

Lifehacker - Great website for a lot of stuff. The name sums it up.

Google
YouTube-Video Sharing
Google Docs-A nice place to back up documents.
SketchUp Example Design you house remodel
Picasa-Quick Photo editor and manager

WAVE- The future in collaboration?

Apps
OpenOffice -Free alternative to Microsoft
VLC -Media Player
Evernote -Document manager Tip

Cloud
DropBox- (Cloud back up and sync)
2GDocs -Open Office extension
Flickr -(Photo sharing and back up)

Mobility
IronKey -If James Bond had a USB drive it would be this one.
PenDrive Linux - Linux for USB sticks.

YouMail- Customize and manage your Voice Mail.

Google Voice- Like YouMail, but tied to Google. I ended going back to YouMail for now.

Not as customizable as YouMail, but also easier in some ways.

Linux/OpenSource
Ubuntu- My personal favorite Linux version.
GIMP- Photo Shop alternative

61 Apps We are Thankful For (Lifehacker)

The Bag
This doesn't really have anything to do with the post, but it's a part of my commute and what I tote along for little fixes, in a bind. I am not sure this bag is fully considered my man purse, but it definitely goes with me wherever I go. I decided to layout everything I had in it, mainly to see what I was carrying around, and to show some of the things I can't leave home without. These items are also a definition of my nerd-ness.

The items:

Camera Case

MP3 Player

Tripod

BA-II Plus

Check Book - Who uses these things these days?

Wet Ones

Cellphone Case and phone

change

Bike tool

USB drives

Cat 5e, USB, Audio

Sewing Kit

Camera Charger
Flickr Moo Cards

Chapstick

Plastic

Mints

Glasses

Keys

A/V Cable

Wallet

Business cards

Pens

hand gel

cuff links

Spare phone battery

nail clippers

power adapters

MP3 charger

Name Sakes

2009-11-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

Last night at a dinner party, a friend told Jenn and I that they had some good friends in San Diego whose last name is Kelly, but even more funny is the fact that they have a daughter and son named Ava and Bennett. While Ava has been a rather popular name over the last few years, Bennett has never been in the top 300. So the coincidence of the same two names in the same family is pretty rare.

**Popularity of the female name Ava**
Year of birth	Rank
2008	5
2007	4
2006	5
2005	9
2004	25
2003	39
2002	82
2001	133
2000	180

**Popularity of the male name Bennett**
Year of birth	Rank
2008	361
2007	372
2006	368
2005	391
2004	404
2003	430
2002	445
2001	471
2000	441

I have always been interested in names and the externalities they bring to people; that interest peaked even more after I read Freakoniomics and the analysis and insight that they offered. I recommend the book to anyone who is interested or will be naming a child soon. It is also interesting to see how name trends can change according to our current events in the world. A classic example of that is 'Katrina' who was trending toward higher rankings until 2005.

Here is another recent post from the Freakonomics blog regarding names, that I thought was pretty funny.

And for the official Social Security Name Rankings go here.

In Honor of our Veterans

2009-11-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

My grandfather, Kelly Gardner, whom I was named after was a C-47 pilot and flew 'The Hump' in WWII in 1945. At the time he was deployed he was engaged to be married to my Grandma. While flying one of his mission's his plane went down from a lightning storm in Burma and was MIA for several weeks. Being the pilot of the plane he was the last one to jump, his chute barely opened in time before he hit the ground, but the impact was still severe. He spent time at an Army hospital in Germany and later in Logan Utah. To this day he still battles the pain from those injuries.

He is truly an amazing man.

I am sure there are a million other stories like this of our awesome Veterans. A special thanks goes out to all of them.

Here are a couple pictures that my dad scanned and another that he took of my Grandpa at an air show this year.

Our Little Soybean

2009-11-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

Couldn't resist The Office reference...

Here are a couple pics with Bennett's eyes open.
As I take more shots, I will be sure to post the good ones,
but the rest I will upload here.
He's a good little baby.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ava got this whole Halloween thing down last night. She had a great time being a Lady Bug and getting candy from the neighbors. We made an attempt to dress Buster up as a Squirrel and put Bennett in a Pumpkin costume. It was quite a feat to get the pictures I got, but it was a fun night for all of us!

Bennett J. Gardner

2009-10-14T22:39:00.000-07:00

Born Oct. 13, 2009. 8lbs 2oz.

Here are some first photos of our little guy. He is sleeping a lot and I just hope he brings that habit home with him. It was pretty funny, when we brought Ava in to see him, I think she thought he was a fake doll or something. We had Bennett 'give' her an Elmo Doll as a little present, she loved it. More pics to come.
Thanks for all the kind texts, e-mails and prayers.

Pumpkins and Fishing

2009-10-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had a Grandparents visit, from my Dad and Robyn. They made the drive up to see Ava (and us) and then Dad and I went fishing on the Lewis River for Salmon. It was a great weekend and Ava had an absolute blast with the added attention. Thanks again for the visit guys. The photographed highlights are here and here with some favorites below.

At the Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the Pumpkin Patch tonight. More pics to come.

Nesting

2009-09-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

When Jenn told me she is nesting. My first question was "Is it curable?" And after more research on Google/WebMD and observation, I found out that 'nesting' isn't really curable or isn't really even a condition, but a *syndrome* that pregnant women invented as an excuse to redesign parts of the house, get new rugs, bedding, furniture and even con husbands and fathers into finally completing 'to-do' lists that have been getting put-off for months.
Well, despite the headaches involved with acting excited about a new comforter, rugs, pillows, etc. and 'completely redesigned play room' (the old layout just wasn't working out for some reason).
Anyways, it is nice to have finally gotten some things on my list done, and the end result, as you can see in the pictures, turned out nicely. In all fairness, though I guess we all go through these phases, mine are just in the form of fishing trips, bike parts, gadgets and concerts. So, next time I bring home a new phone or computer, I just say I was nesting.

Man Overboard

2009-09-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

A little late on this post, but Labor Day weekend was pretty awesome.
I went to Salt Lake for a weekend and had every minute jam packed with adventure.
From the moment I landed my brothers were already planning a kayak/rafting excursion on the Weber River. I had never done this one before, Hayden was our 'river guide' and failed to provide the rest of us with helmets and life jackets, which could have come in handy, especially when Bryan and I got hung up in the raft and kayak and he ended up going overboard down a chute. It was pretty scary, but he popped up immediately and quickly got turned around and on the kayak that I had lost earlier. I ended up jumping on his raft. It happened pretty quick, but was a pretty wild moment. I wish I had it on video.
Hayden, was a good guide though and he can rip it up on his kayak. (See video below).

The next day was an ATV ride with Nick, where we went up Farmington Canyon to Francis Peak, it was about 35 miles round trip and a great time!

After the ATV ride it was the reason I had come back to SLC to begin with and that was the Blink 182 show. My brother Brad was with me and it was an awesome show. It was good seeing the band back on stage. I am looking forward to their album later next year. It was a pretty exhausting weekend, but a lot of fun. I am glad I was able to do it all. Enjoy the pics.

The High Mountain Variety

2009-09-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last month my neighbors invited me on a hike to Coldwater Peak up near Mt. St. Helens. It was a steep climb, 12 miles round trip, but definitely worth the effort. Besides the amazing views and scenery, I was introduced to the art of gathering Huckleberries. I have never really eaten Huckleberries before and found them to be very tasty, especially the "high mountain variety" as my friend Chris likes to call them.
Enjoy the pics-my camera was lost at the time of this hike, so the credit goes to Chris for the great shots. Flickr

What I Learned Tonight...

2009-08-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

I enjoy watching Documentary's and with Jenn being gone and nearly every Documentary on Netflix having the the watch now feature, I decided to dedicate a night to watching some in my queue. The ones I watched were:

King of Kong
Helvetica
Cocaine Cowboys
King Corn

They were all really interesting. King of Kong was interesting at how much people can love and obsess about old-school arcade games. Helvetica (I wanted to do this post in Helvetica, but it wasn't an option in the Blogger editor) was pretty cool, and interesting in the history behind the most widely used type-faces of the last 50 years. Cocaine Cowboys showed that you can make a lot of money in the drug business, but also go to prison and die. King Corn made me start wondering about the negative affects of High-Fructose Corn Syrup and it also made me happy that I just bought my next year and half supply of meat from a small private ranch that doesn't feed the cow on corn in a stall the whole time.

I have a few more in my queue that I need to get to and plan doing so before school starts. I would also recommend all of these as well. If you know of any that are worth watching let me know.

Study Abroad-Marseille, France 2009

2009-07-16T23:12:00.000-07:00

To answer the question I have been getting all last week...France was awesome. The three weeks spent were incredible. Judging by the pictures, one would guess that it was pure vacation, and when we weren't in class from 9am-5pm, it was. However, it was an experience that was definitely worth doing. The entire three weeks was an intense session of school and culture. I also met some really cool people, class mates and the French alike. I could make this post go on for pages, but instead I'll give the 30 second version and if anyone is interested in anything further, let me know.

The highlights of the schooling were:
A visit to Eurome diterranee Marseille where we learned about one of the largest urban renewal projects in Eur ope.
Had guest lectures and visits from some multi-national companies located in Marseille.
Eurocopter
Gemalto
CMA CGM
L'Occitane

Saw one of the largest nuclear power sites in the world (Didn't really see it--it is getting built still)
Had classes at the EuroMed School of Management on Global Capital Markets, International Management, and guest lectures from Prof.'s from all over Europe on a variety of topics.

The tourist stuff included, the beach, food, concerts, St. Tropez, Cannes, Monaco, hiking and swimming.

I feel very lucky to have gone and fortunate enough to have a supportive family to allow me to do this. I have narrowed down the 818 pictures I took to about 390 and uploaded them to my Flickr page. I hope you enjoy them.

Marseille

2009-06-13T13:43:00.001-07:00

For those that don't know; I am in Marseille France for the next three weeks. Here is a picture that I took. A full write up will be coming when I return, but in the mean time. Follow me on Twitter/Facebook for updates on what's going on over here. You can also check my Flickr page for almost daily uploads of my pics.

The Coast

2009-06-13T13:30:00.001-07:00

Lighthouse, originally uploaded by Keltose.

This post is a little late, but I had to get it up before it gets too late. Dad, Robyn and Hayden came up for a week and Hayden for weekend. It was a fun time of fishing, chilling and the beach. The pictures say all the other thousands of words so check it out. here.

Good Times in the Northwest

2009-05-26T23:45:00.000-07:00

As usual, a little late on this post.
I realize its tough for all of my friends to make the trip and spend some time with us here in the Northwest, but some serious props go to Jake and Ryan for taking the time and money to spend an awesome weekend with me. It was a blast. They even managed to come on one of the 15 nice weather weekends we get a year. The weather couldn't have been better. So,while I am still perfecting the art of tour guide, I tried to plan some cool places that would be worthwhile, it was pretty much a 'we came, we saw, we conquered' tour. I am sure I missed plenty of other cool places, but we'll save those for next time. The main points of attraction were:
Multnomah Falls
Peruvian Restaurant in Portland
Mt. St. Helens
Cannon Beach
Cage Fight (no pics, but a random and long story)

I am guessing those two had a good time, because every night I tried to show a movie, they managed to stay awake for about 3 minutes in.
So, for all you people's out there that are on the fence (*my brothers*) about visiting the Gardner Family, hopefully this post made your decision. And, while I am on the subject, we actually have other visitors with us this week too! Check back for those adventures.

Also, as usual...The Storyboard

My Day

2009-05-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Remember when I dazzled you all with my "Bike Ride Home" video last year? Well, I have done it again, with an 18 hour day highlighted in 3 minutes. I know this sounds nerdy, but to my defense, I definitely did not come with it as noted here.

Anyways, it was kinda cool to watch it back and realize that my average day is just that--average. But I am okay with that. It was fun to watch the family's reaction when I get home from work. That's always a good part of the day! Enjoy the clip. If anyone else has done this or does do it, please share.

Another Ava and Buster moment...

2009-04-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

If you have a 1 minute and 30 seconds to spare, this is an enlightening video about the relationship that Buster and Ava have. The whole feeding process actually took about 5 minutes. Notice how Buster will only eat his food on the rug. I don't get it.

HAPPY EASTER

2009-04-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

Something you don't see everyday

2009-04-06T22:42:00.001-07:00

Rainbow, originally uploaded by Keltose.

On my bike ride home the other day, I had to stop and pull the camera out for the shot of the full rainbow. It had been raining for a long time, and when the sun finally broke through, this is what happened. The rainbow was so big, I had to take three pictures and stitch them together.

I loved this book when I was little...

2009-03-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

And am super stoked for this to come out this year. According to IMDB it comes out October 16th. So, I have a little while. I enjoyed this trailer though.

Now, Here is some really good news!!!

2009-03-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the card Jenn gives me.
Classic.

More news to come, but it looks like Ava will be a big sister come October 20th!

Buster being Buster

2009-03-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

Not much happening, so I thought I would post this video of Buster. One night when I was at my desk he had to spend about a minute digging for the perfect spot on the couch in my pile of clothes. The best is his little 180-jump at :35 seconds.

Raccoon

2009-03-09T23:00:00.001-07:00

Raccoon, originally uploaded by Keltose.

Just saw this guy on the fence near the house driving home tonight. I don't think he liked the flash very much,but it was the first time I have seen a raccoon since being in the Northwest.

Stay warm little buddy!

I am eskimo

2009-02-28T17:58:00.000-08:00

A few of us went near Mt. St. Helens last night and made an igloo. It was the first time I have ever made one and it was pretty awesome. It took us a little longer than we had expected, but it turned out to be a fine snow structure. Saturday morning we had breakfast and did some snowshoeing, it was a lot of fun. Head on over to here, for the the full story board.

Bring on the Cuteness

2009-02-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

The title is about as good a job as I could describe the pictures and the nice frame that Jenn surprised me with on Valentines Day. Our friend Jess took the photos when they were hanging out in Olympia a few weeks ago. The frame is now in my office, but I thought I would post a few of my favorite digital ones.
The rest are over here.

The best news I've had in awhile...They're back!!!

2009-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

For the original readers and followers of this blog, you may remember my disappointment of the 'indefinite hiatus' that Blink 182 took in Feb. of 2004. You may also remember my ~~obsession~~ excitement when +44 and Angels And Airwaves came out because of that tragedy. Well now my excitement is rekindled once again. And for those who saw the Grammy's, it's official, "Blink 182 is back!" So, according to the Internets, Blink is recording and album now and getting ready to tour this summer. And as Mark posted on his blog, they already have some material for the new album, apparently one song could be titled "Monitor Station".

What all this means for Angels and Airwaves now, no one knows at this point. All I have to say is, if all the economists and analysts are right about this recession and that 2009 is going to suck, then at least I will have some awesome music to listen to during it.

Welcome to my Friday

2009-01-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

I promise my desk doesn't always look like this. But hey, at least I am drinking some water.

Hawaiian Cruise...Not a bad start for 2009

2009-01-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Well, the much anticipated Hawaiian Cruise came and went, but it was a blast. I still can't believe we did and saw so much. We went with Jenn's parents, and they kept saying we make them feel young again, which means we wore them out each day, but we had a great time and were glad they let us join in on their vacation. The only mishap was me putting my phone in my swimsuit pocket and then going out in the ocean. I guess I deserve it for reading e-mails on the beach.

Ava was hilarious with everybody on the ship. I think every person got a wave or two from her. She had a great time until we set her down on the sand at the beach. Apparently if it's not soft and fluffy, it isn't for her.

I tried to take a lot of pictures, so I hope they tell a good story. Here a few favorites and the storyboard here.

Yeah...Maui is nice.

2009-01-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

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Sent on the GO from my Moto Q

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2008-12-29T23:17:00.001-08:00

Ava's Christmas, originally uploaded by Keltose.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas vacation! Ours was filled with snow and some good times with friends. We finally made it back to Utah today, after the weather took its toll on the Northwest last week. Our real vacation starts Wednesday! Jenn, Ava (at least we think she is) and I are really stoked for it. I'll post more details later when we get there!

I still can't believe this year is gone.
Here are some highlights of 2008 in chronological order:

1. New Job

2. CES '08

3. Olivia Bae Gardner

4. Flip This House

5. Lake Powell

6. Ava's First Steps

7. St. George Marathon

8. Ava turns 1

9. Keepin tradtion

Our Street

2008-12-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

From this to this to this...

Keepin Tradition

2008-12-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well as in years past in Utah we really enjoyed getting our own Christmas tree luckily this year being in tree country we had the chance (thanks to our friends/neighbors) to get one of our own! I know this post is a few weeks late, but oh well. Judging from years past, this year's tree is definitely our best. The trip of getting it was a lot of fun and some great weather (almost too good). Check out the st oryboard below.

Merry Christmas from Ava & Buster

2008-12-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, being the amateur photog that I am. Here is my best attempt at a little Christmas shoot with Ava and Buster. Here are the best shots, even though I had to take about 50 to get these.

Flat tire...almost!

2008-12-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

What you see above is a broken piece of chain that was stuck in my tire tonight. Luckily, the Sear's Auto was open to fix it. Every where else was closed tonight with the bad weather we are having.

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Sent on the GO from my Moto Q

Happy Birthday

2008-12-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Ava's first birthday a little late, so my Mom and Craig would be there during Thanksgiving. It was pretty much your average one-year old birthday party--A bunch of adults with cameras watching a baby destroy a piece of cake. Anyways here are the pics:

Northern Downpour

2008-11-26T15:33:00.000-08:00

If you don't already know this, the Pacific North West receives rain. As we enter the rainy season here, I thought I would post a few shots of a more recent storm and the water it left in the mall parking lot the next morning. Apparently, this was not even a big storm (It only rained for 3 days). Here's to rain.

Weekend Warriors-SLC and back

2008-11-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we had a quick visit in Salt Lake for the weekend. As usual it was busy and good to see everyone we were able to. Thanks for Nick finally getting married, so I had an excuse to take work for a day. Anyways, one of the unplanned highlights was going up and waiting in line for a Christmas Tree Permit with my Dad. Some of you know this is somewhat of an annual tradition as you will see here and here. Unfortunately I won't be around to go chop one down, but hopefully we will be able to do it here in Washington seeing how there is no shortage for trees up here. Anyways, here are a couple pics from that morning.

The Seattle Underground

2008-11-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we met Marianne and Ike in Seattle for the day. It was a lot of fun with those two. We hit up the Seattle Underground Tour and then had dinner at the Melting Pot. Too bad it was a short trip, but if you are ever up that way the underground tour is pretty interesting.
More pics here.

Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases

2008-11-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

I thought this was pretty interesting. How often do we find ourselves saying these phrases?

The top ten most irritating phrases:

1 - At the end of the day

2 - Fairly unique

3 - I personally

4 - At this moment in time

5 - With all due respect

6 - Absolutely

7 - It's a nightmare

8 - Shouldn't of

9 - 24/7

10 - It's not rocket science

This will make the grandparents happy

2008-10-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Caption this...

2008-10-27T22:18:00.001-07:00

Ava Growl, originally uploaded by Keltose.

St. George Marathon 2008

2008-10-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

Its been one week since the race and I am finally feeling whole again. It took me a couple days before I could ride my bike to work, but by Wednesday I was feeling okay. For those that don't know, the St. George Marathon has about a 99% chance of being sunny. So, of course it had to rain on race day. Luckily, I had a great support team and really appreciate them coming out and waiting in the rain. The last time it rained on the marathon was 25 years ago! This made the shoes a little heavier and the muscles a little stiffer, but I finished. This marathon marks number 7 for me and number 5 for my mom. Despite our more relaxed training program it ended being a decent race. I was shooting for a 4 hour time, but instead came in at 4:21, so it 'wasn't my worse-wasn't my best'......That's what she said.

Coke and Red Bull at Mile 16! I didn't drink all of it, but my mom finished them up when she came through.

The Finish!

It's GO TIME!

2008-10-03T20:03:00.001-07:00

The pre-race jitters have just set in.

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Sent on the GO from my Moto Q!

anima sana in corpore sano

2008-10-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

What can I say? This weekend has crept up on me pretty quickly. Its one of those events where you are okay if it takes a long time to arrive, but inevitably comes quick! I got into SLC this afternoon and met up with Jenn and Ava after not seeing them for a few weeks. Jenn has been helping her sister out in New Mexico. And then we head for St. George in the morning. My mom and I have had to a lot of our training apart with me living out state now, and this has definitely hurt our training. When we lived close by it made for training together easier. But its too late to worry about that now. I feel good about the race, I just don't think I will be gunnin for a personal best. Unfortuanetly my time has vanished with work and house remodels this past summer. Not to mention this will probably be my last marathon for a few years, with MBA school starting, I just won't have the time to commit. Anyways, the weather doesn't look that great, but I'll cross my fingers. it will be nice seeing friends and family. Wish me luck!

Shake it off!

2008-09-28T19:12:00.001-07:00

Shake it off! , originally uploaded by Keltose.

I took my camera to the park the other day with Buster. He never gets in the water, but since his friend Ali did, I guess he felt he should. I captured this when he got out and did the obligatory shake. Notice how his nose and feet are the only thing in focus.

Another mobile post from a phone that should probably be in the 'off' position...

2008-09-13T20:25:00.001-07:00

Well today was a day where I was able to squeeze every minute out of it. It started with an alarm at 4am, a drive to the Portland Airport, landing in Salt Lake, running 20 miles, drinking lots of gatorade, dinner at cafe rio, back to the Salt Lake Airport, landing in Portland at 9pm. All this, cause my Mom (nor I) wanted to do our longest training run alone. Doing the big one by yourself just isn't fun, and since Jenn and Ava were already in Utah-- It was a win, win and really good to see them! I really miss running everyday with my Mom so I am glad I was able to come back and do this run before the race. We were both a little nervous for our 20 miler today, because our training this summer hasn't been the same caliber as the past, but we got through it without any problem and now I'm feeling pretty good for the St. George Marathon in 3 weeks!

And to top off the day I scored a first class seat on the flight home. This is especially nice for my legs!

Oh yeah, and sorry for no pictures-there wasn't anytime. Maybe Jenn will have some good ones of New Mexico when her and Ava return next week. In the meantime maybe I'll post a picture of Buster...he hasn't had a cameo on the blog in a little while.

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Sent on the GO from my Moto Q!

Day in PDX

2008-09-07T09:55:00.001-07:00

Day in PDX, originally uploaded by Keltose.

A couple weeks ago we went to Portland for the day and rode the Portland Tram at OHSU. It was a little shorter than we were expecting. (Nothing like the Snowbird tram) But it still provided a great view of the city and took us to the longest air-conditioned sky bridge in North America at the VA Hospital which was cool. After that we rode the street car into the Pearl District for lunch. Ava was a trooper and made everybody laugh on the street car. She's a crowd pleaser.