Syd-O

Visiting my former roommates while in Provo was definitely a highlight of mine and Rob's recent road trip. Paramount to that, however, was hanging out with their kiddos. I told them that I get to see them on the computer all the time (on Liv and Es's blogs), but that I was so happy to play with them at their houses. I don't have any here with Quatro, but we were chill. Berto really didn't want anything to do with me, but I understand. And then there's Sydney...

Happy Face
Zombie Face

Surprise Face

Mad Face

Pirate Face

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Generic Funny Face

Sleepy Face

Friday Night Lights

Anyone else watch this? We are three episodes into the first season. That brings the total of crying spells also up to three for me.

I. love. it.

Dear James (the little one),

We thought that you hid our shoes.

Well, one from each pair.

We looked in the dryer, in the toilet, in the bushes, under the bed, and in the trash can. We accused you and when we interrogated you, you threw a fit. We thought that they were gone for good.

Grandpa found them an hour after we left (not in any of those places) and Grandma mailed them.

We love you.

(Do you forgive us for making you look in bushes for them?)

ps. one day we'll have a toddler too.

four days

We had a really great Memorial Day weekend consisting of...

Bike rides in Granite Falls

Camping, just the two of us, for the first time

Goober hotdog (cheese, mayo, pb) at Cranky J's Soda Shoppe

hiking Old Robe Trail

new niece

lazy Sunday evening

Not pictured: movie night w/ Scott and Arren, more morning bike rides with my dad, Monday bbq with friends and their brand new baby boy, Angels and Demons, watching movies on the couch, Old fashion soda (chocolate rootbeer was one out of the 4 we tried!), lounging at the pool, wearing flipflops all weekend long...

summer is only 2 months away!

How sad is that. While everyone in Utah blogs about the summer goings-on, we still have 2 more months. But boy, are we geared up.

Rob made plans to get our $5 bikes ready for riding when we found out that my dad beat us to it! He surprised us by taking them in to his favorite bike shop. Now they have new seats, tires, even handle bars. I'm just happy that some experts were able to replace the rusty chain and assure me that it was safe to ride. I rode a bike about 9 months ago, and before that it was about 19 years ago, so I may be just a little apprehensive.
It's too bad you can't see Rob's bike too well in this picture. It's the cooler one of the two. It's also the cushy-seat one, old-school ten-speed one, and rust-free one of the two. There will be many more pictures of these bikes once the weather turns nice, and maybe by that time I'll have convinced someone to spray paint my bike. I'm not good at spray painting. I didn't know it was hard to do until I tried to spray paint some poles we used at our reception.

The other sign of the upcoming summer is my attempt to grow living plants. For Family Night (we're going to start calling it Nyland Night) we bought a few plants: (L to R) Lavendar, Geranium, Rosemary, Sweet Basil, and Cherry tomato. This is basically my first attempt to grow anything. I tried to choose the varieties that are a little more forgiving of rookie gardening. I am most doubtful about the tomatoes, and we'll see how the rest do.

(ha, I just mentioned the poles at our reception - those poles went into these pots.)

PS. Crap Fest:

crafty weekend visitors

To thank us for letting them crash at our place for the weekend, Lynette let me choose one of the beautiful bags that she crafts and sells. I was pretty excited, because I had my eye on one of the clutches during her husband's concert where she was selling some of her collection. Isn't it lovely?


Check out how talented she is by visiting her etsy shop. You'll wonder how I ever made a choice!

Weekend Visitors

This weekend we had a few visitors in town. Our friend Drew was in Seattle with his wife on tour. I first met Drew in a beginning video production class at BYU, and I can honestly say that he is one of the friendliest people that I know. He is also an extremely talented performer who has crafted his art over many years of touring.

Here is a video that I took of Drew during his set. I used the opportunity to test out our new cameras at school -- I really like the images on these Canon HV30's:


Drew Danburry -- "Nirvana by Kurt Cobain" from gentle rob on Vimeo.

Drew also brought along with him Kyle from the band Desert Noises. The whole band was supposed to come but couldn't because they were still in high school. Kyle, however did a fantastic job of playing by himself. Here is a taste of what that kid has to offer:



Drew, Lynette, Kyle and Melissa (Kyle's girlfriend) all crashed at our house after a long night of jump starting a car across the entire eastside. Our guests made us feel a little bit like rock stars (especially after drew's story of how Nico gave Ziggy Pop the clap -- ewww) and we were glad to have them.

Now I am trying to convince Steph to start a band with me so we can go on tour this summer -- Everytime I suggest it, however, she just gives me this look.