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Tom & Ali's First Home:

2010-02-15T19:14:00.022-07:00

So, for those of you who haven't already heard from us or through the grapevine, we bought our first home together in November and moved in Thanksgiving weekend (thanks to all of the help from our families & friends)! Yep, we are now officially real live adults, yay! Our new home consists of 3 bedrooms, a loft-style study, 2 full bathrooms, 1 half-bath, a two-car garage, a small fenced backyard, and an unfinished basement. It is a fairly new development (built in 2004), and for those of you that know Salt Lake Valley, it's located near Southtowne Mall and the Jordan River Temple. Here's some pictures to give a virtual tour of our new home to those of you who haven't had the opportunity to come see it in person yet. Woo hoo, we love it!

Front of our house

Living room - Angle 1

Living Room - Angle 2

Living Room - Angle 3

Kitchen

Dining Area

Half Bath

Study

Bedroom #1

Full Bathroom #1

Bedroom #2

Laundry Room

Master Bedroom - Angle #1

Master Bedroom - Angle #2

Master Bedroom - Angle #3

Master Bedroom - Angle #4

Master Bathroom - Angle 1 - Tub & Shower

Master Bathroom - Angle 2 - Vanity Area

Master Walk-In Closet - Alison's favorite feature of the House ; )

View out the back of our house - Angle 1 - Neighborhood Playground

View out the back of our house - Angle 2 - Neighborhood Pool

Our Backyard

Tom & Ali's Halloween 2009:

2009-12-16T14:32:00.006-07:00

So here's a few photos from our 2009 Halloween Festivities:

Tommy the Mad Hatter and Alison In Wonderland at the Forrest's Annual Halloween Shindig

Mad Tommy and Peter slow dancing

Ali and Rachel striking a pose

Tommy playing dress-up with Angus (the Forrest's dog)

Partial group photo - from left: Boy Scout, Tom, Peter, Ali, Scott, Rachel, Dan, Kasi, Angus (the dog), Sadie, Tony, & Zues

A Few More Things...

2009-09-24T11:31:00.025-06:00

So here's what we've been up to:

Tom decided to go to school in the summer for the first time in his life!

We had our 3 year wedding anniversary on June 3rd, 2009. <3<3<3

We went on a vacation (business and pleasure) to San Diego in August. We hung out at the beach and went body boarding, saw Wicked the play, hung out in the Gas Lamp district, went to Sea World, and Tom hung out with Nate, Erin, and their family there before Alison came to town! It was a fun trip.

Ali & Tom having a romantic waterside dinner

Ali in front of the map of Wonderland at Wicked

Dolphins doing some synchronized swimming at Sea World (taken by Ali)

A very cute dolphin (taken by Ali)

We've been looking for a home to buy - gotta beat the free money deadline (November 30)!!!

We started dating exactly 5 years ago, and met about 13 years ago this month (September) at Skyline High.

More to come if we think of anything... Maybe photos too.

By The Way... (An update on what we've been up to for the past 6 months or so):

2009-05-10T17:18:00.055-06:00

So we've done some fun things over the past few months:

September '08 - Went to Redfest at the U where Matisyahu performed.

Ali and Matisyahu striking a pose

October '08 - Went to a few Halloween Parties (Chris and Sharyn Stewart's house, Jason Miner's house (a former co-worker), and Scott and Rachel Forrest's house).

Tom (the Sumo Wrestler) and Ali (the Geisha)

A view from the rear

Tom and the other costume award-winners at Jason's (Tom won for funniest costume)

Rachel getting a bit feisty

Scott, Peggy, & Matt hangin' out

Dan & friend enjoying a classic campy Scott Forest style Halloween movie! = 0 (If you've ever been to the Forest's for their annual Halloween party, then you know what we mean)

December '08 - Went to a Neil Diamond concert.

He was bad-a & amazing as always!

December '08 - Went with my (Tom's) family to Miracle on 33rd Street at The Desert Star Playhouse.

December '08 - Had a fun Christmas with Family.

Ali, Tom, & Aaron (on phone)

Skyler - Ali's nephew - (talking to anyone besides his family - on his phone). It's cool thought, we don't take it personal since he's a teeny-bopper

Emily (Ali's sis) & Ali

Ali's mom & dad Carol & Rob

Jamie, Ryan, & Little Thor (still in Jamie's stomach)

December '08 - Went to a Bad-A New Year's party at Justnashers with the old crew.

January '09 - Saw a few films with friends at the Sundance Film Festival.

January/February '09 - Went on a trip to San Francisco (business and pleasure).

Ali's & Tommy out for a romantic dinner on the waterfront

Pic of Lombard St., Coit Tower, & Bay Bridge at night - Taken by Tom

Ali at the top of Lombard St. with Coit Tower & Bay Bridge in the background

Tommy eating Lobster Tail in his customary way

Ali The Daredevil hanging out the side of a moving Trolley

Valentine's day '09 - We went to Madame Butterfly the ballet, and Laughing Stock downtown the next night.

February '09 - Went to a play (American Fork Idol @ Desert Star Playhouse) for Tom's birthday (February 25).

April '09 - Went to Dial M for Murder (the play) for Alison's birthday (April 2).

April '09 - We hit our original down payment savings goal for a house (but we have now raised the goal by 50%).

As of this posting - I (Tom) still have a job (the same one).

Check back soon for more pictures and explanation.

My New Job As A Federal Agent With The Bureau:

2008-12-19T17:27:00.010-07:00

So a lot has happened since our last blog entry. I (Tom) accepted a position with the Bureau as a federal agent about 6 weeks ago. I will undergo intense training in San Francisco late next month, and learn to stand strong and fight against those who wish to resist truth and good. Alison will accompany me on the latter portion of this journey. I have learned that the all seeing eye of Uncle Sam (yes, he only has 1 eye - information only provided to government agents) will always find you, eventually, if you are doing wrong. I have posted 4 telling photos below:

This is my Building

My mortal enemy, the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations)

This image of my work station had to be obscured (blurred) for security purposes

As you can see, I only get a single sliver of outside light. Once I become a more senior agent I will be granted the privilege of 2 to 3 slivers.

Unimportant Details:
I work for the Bureau of Reclamation
I am a Contract Specialist (and being trained secondarily in Cost/Price analysis)
I mostly work with contractors and suppliers

Important Details:
I am a Federal Agent, similar to Agent Moulder of the X-Files
I work in a high security building
I have a government issued charge card
If you assassinate me while on government business, the penalty will be more severe

In order to become more familiar with everyday government business, Alison and I have watched seasons 1-7 of the X-files. Please refer to us a Agents Wully and Woulder.

Pictured above: high tech government computer programs allowed me to simulate our new role.

Tom & Ali's 24th of July Weekend '08 - Chapter 2 - Heber Creeper's Fiddlers 'N Fireworks:

2008-10-10T22:42:00.010-06:00

Also as part of our 24th of July (Pioneer Day) weekend festivities, we went on the Heber Creeper's Fiddlers 'N Fireworks Ride and then stayed up in Park City for a couple of nights. This is the second time we've gone and we highly recommend it! It's a ton of fun, especially if you can manage to finagle a spot on the outside car by the fiddlers and guitar players. They feed you pizza and the fresh air, scenery, live music, and fireworks are great! So here's some footage from our digital camera, as well as a few pictures from the train ride. Anyways, here you go and enjoy!

Make sure to pause the music at the bottom before starting the video. And as always, thanks to Peter for all of his help with editing.

Pictures of Our Adventure on Heber Creeper's Fiddlers 'N Fireworks

Us on the train's outside car with the lake behind us

Catching the train conductor by surprise

Some of the musicians jammin' out Bad-A Bluegrass music

The coolest guy ever! He sounds just like Johnny Cash and he can make a train whistle sound with his mouth somehow.

Yay for fireworks!

Ooohh aaaahh, more fireworks!

Ali with the enormous train looming over her

Yay that was a fun night!

Tom & Ali's 24th of July Weekend '08 - Chapter 1 - Days of '47 Rodeo - (Featuring a special appearance by David Boreanaz's head):

2008-09-10T02:45:00.023-06:00

As part of our 24th of July (Pioneer Day) weekend festivities, we went to the Days of '47 Rodeo. Ali shot some footage of it on our digital camera (see below), which has no sound, so we put some music in the background to make it more entertaining. It was really fun and David Boreanaz was even there, sitting just two rows in front of us. He really was, no joke. For those of you who may not know who he is, he played Angel on both the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" and is currently starring in the new TV series "Bones". If you still don't know who he is, we have put a "provocative" photo of him in his favorite bath tub that we found online below, along with a couple of photos we snapped ourselves of the rodeo. We didn't take any pictures of David Boreanaz though, Ali felt weird about taking his picture or video taping him. But we did notice that his head shows up in the bottom left corner of the video from time to time by accident, which are indicated in the video by some red writing and arrows every once in a while, except for one time which we missed until later. Anyways, here you go and enjoy!

Make sure to pause the music at the bottom before starting the video. And as always, thanks to Peter for all of his help with editing.

Pictures from the Rodeo and of David Boreanaz

A provocative and alluring photo of David in the tub. (Tom kept raving about how buff he thought David was through the entire rodeo, no lie.)

A pretty cool mid-air shot. Yee Haaa! Ride 'em cowboy!

A cowboy showing off his lassoing and roping skills.

Some guy forcing himself on a poor defenseless cow. What a sicko cowaphile! =-)

Another guy swing-dancing with a cow. Poor cows, what are wrong with these people?!

Will work, or do anything for money!

2008-09-07T14:54:00.011-06:00

So, as some of you know, I've been out of work for a while now. I got laid off, along with a number of other people at my company. I'm actually getting really good at putting together a fairly impressive resume packet and learning things I never would have if this hadn't happened (such as how to desperately look for a job). Hah. Actually, it has been somewhat of an adventure coming up with alternative ways to make money on the side while out of work. Here are a couple of the schemes I've tired up to this point:

Hanging off of a 420' building:

A view of the building from the side

Ok, I'm about to start off the edge...

I'm about half way down, looking up at the already-cleaned windows

Donating blood plasma at Life Sera:

This is one of the plasma-sucking vampires, holding a big gulp full of my plasma

But it could be worse:

At least I'm not this guy... Crazy guy and the Real Girl.

By the way, check out my new BrightFuse profile:

http://www.brightfuse.com/tom-worthington

Tom & Ali's Florida Trip-Chapter 6-Key Biscayne (Near Miami Beach)-Hanging Out On The Beach:

2008-08-31T00:42:00.030-06:00

So here's the sixth & final installment of the video of our Florida trip. As the title states, this part of the video is footage from our time spent up in the Miami area, specifically of us hanging out on the beach in Key Biscayne. Thanks again to Peter for all his help with editing this video, he did an awesome job (he edits videos for his real job too, so he's really good)! Also, we put some picturesque photos of Miami and Key Biscayne and some of their points of interest that we found online as well as a few of the one's we took ourselves below the video for your viewing pleasure. So, here you go and enjoy! =-)

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting the video.

Pictures of Miami and Key Biscayne and some of their points of interest:

Aerial shot of Miami Beach & South Beach

Sunset shot of Ocean Drive (a.k.a. the Art Deco District) South Beach (seen in Chapter 5 of video)

Sunset shot of the Miami Skyline as viewed from the island of Miami Beach

Shot of the beach we hung out on in Key Biscayne, near Miami (as seen in video-picture taken by Tom)

Us hanging out on a beach in Key Biscayne (taken by Tom)

Shot of Ali looking pretty catching some sun on the beach in Key Biscayne, while I'm out in the water frolicking (as seen in video-taken by Tom as well)

Us hanging out on the beach in Key Biscayne (taken by Tom as well, obviously)

Lighthouse on Key Biscayne (as seen in video-kind of)

Cool shot of Pelicans (we saw these birds everywhere we went in Florida)

Another pretty shot of the same lighthouse on Key Biscayne (just from another angle-the opposite side of it-and at a time when the white wash was worn off)

Pretty sunset shot as viewed from a beach on Key Biscayne

Tom & Ali's Florida Trip Video-Ch. 5-Miami Beach-Ocean Drive (a.k.a. Art Deco District)-(& more picturesque photos of Miami & its points of interest):

2008-08-24T01:28:00.037-06:00

So here's the fifth installment of the video of our Florida trip. As the title states, this part of the video is footage from our time spent in Miami Beach, mostly of Ocean Drive. Thanks again to Peter for all his help with editing this video, he did an awesome job (he edits videos for his real job too, so he's really good)! Also, we put some picturesque photos of Miami and some of its points of interest that we found online as well as a couple of the one's we took ourselves below the video for your viewing pleasure. So, here you go and enjoy! =-)

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting the video.

Pictures of Miami and some of its points of interest:

Old Eastern Airlines art-deco style Miami Beach poster

Aerial shot of Miami Beach & Downtown Miami

Wide shot of a beach in Miami Beach & it's numerous sunbathers

Art-deco style lifeguard station on the beach in South Beach

Sunrise as viewed from the beach in South Beach

Ocean Drive (a.k.a. the Art Deco District) South Beach (as seen in video)

Night shot of Downtown Miami

Shot of the beach we hung out on in Key Biscayne, near Miami (as seen in Chapter 6 of video-taken by Tom)

Shot of us hanging out on a beach in Key Biscyane (taken by Tom)

Tom & Ali's Florida Trip Video-Chapter 4-Key West-Hard Rock Cafe (& the friend we made while eating there)-Crabby Dick's-7 Mile Bridge-(& more pics.):

2008-08-16T04:28:00.023-06:00

So here's the fourth installment of the video of our Florida trip. As the title states, this part of the video is footage from our time spent in Key West, mostly of us at Hard Rock Cafe (& of the friend we made while eating there-pretty funny but kind of mean) & of us having lunch at Crabby Dick's (both are on Duval Street). Then, there is a quick blip of us driving north up the coast back to Miami (specifically while on Seven Mile Bridge, or not). Another special thanks to Peter for all his help with editing this video, he did a spectacular job (he edits videos for his real job too, so he's really good)! Also, we put some more picturesque photos of Key West and some of its points of interest that we found online below the video for your viewing pleasure. So, here you go and enjoy! =-)

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting the video.

Pictures of Key West and some of its points of interest:

Another shot of Duval Street (the calmer end)

The home of Ernest Hemmingway, one of the popular tourist attractions in Key West

A shot of another pretty beach in Key West

Another cool shot of a ship at sunset. We ate at the cafe on the waterfront seen in this picture at sunset and it was a gorgeous view. Tons of sail boats and ships went floating by as we ate. Also, there were several street performers entertaining the crowds (such as a guy juggling an assortment of flaming objects). So, the waterfront is definitely a cool place to go hang out & eat at around sunset if you're ever down there.

Sunset shot of another pretty beach in Key West

Tom & Ali's Florida Trip Video-Ch. 3-Key West-Other (Party) End of Duval St.-(And more picturesque photos of Key West & its points of interest):

2008-08-10T18:23:00.021-06:00

So here's the third installment of the video of our Florida trip. As the title states, this part of the video is footage from our time spent in Key West (mostly of Duval Street on the other/party end of it). A special thanks again to Peter for all his help with editing this video, he did a spectacular job (he edits videos for his real job too, so he's really good)! Also, we put a few picturesque photos of Key West and some of its points of interest that we found online below the video for your viewing pleasure. So, here you go and enjoy! =-)

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting the video.

Pictures of Key West and some of its points of interest:

Shot Of the Episcopal Church on Duval Street as seen in our video

Shot of Key West's Lighthouse. They intentionally built it short to increase the likelihood of ships crashing on the reefs here. Ship salvaging was one of the first and primary sources of revenue and job/economy growth in Key West. That's why so many movies like Fools Gold are shot here, because there really are several shipwrecks still out in the ocean to discover and scavenge.

Another beautiful sunny day on a beach in Key West

Another beautiful shot of a sailboat at sunset

Tom & Ali's Florida Trip Video - Chapter 2 - Key West - Duval Street - (Also some picturesque photos of Key West and some of its points of interest):

2008-08-03T18:52:00.035-06:00

So here's the second installment of the video of our Florida trip. As the title states, this part of the video is footage from our time spent in Key West (mostly of Duval Street). A special thanks again to Peter for all his help with editing this video, he did a spectacular job (he edits videos for his real job too, so he's really good)! Also, we put a few picturesque photos of Key West and some of its points of interest that we found online below the video for your viewing pleasure. So, here you go and enjoy! =-)

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting the video.

Pictures of Key West and some of its points of interest:

The Southernmost Point Monument. Only 90 Miles to Cuba! Woo Hoo!

A beautiful sunny day on a beach in Key West

An aerial shot of Key West and Duval Street during their "Pride Festival"

Shot of a sailboat at sunset

Tom & Ali's Florida Trip Video - Chapter 1 - Dry Tortugas - (Also some picturesque photos of Dry Tortugas and some of its points of interest):

2008-07-28T00:29:00.046-06:00

So here's the first installment of the long-anticipated video of our Florida trip. As the title states, this part of the video is footage from our boat trip out to, and tour of, Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson (which is on Dry Tortugas). A special thanks to Peter for all his help with editing this video, he did a spectacular job (he edits videos for his real job too, so he's really good)! Also, we put a few picturesque photos of Dry Tortugas and some of its points of interest that we found online as well as the one picture we had taken of ourselves below the video for your viewing pleasure. So, here you go and enjoy!

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting the video.

Pictures of Dry Tortugas and some of its points of interest:

A shot of us at the main entrance of Fort Jefferson

Wide aerial shot of Dry Tortugas and the surrounding coral reefs

An aerial long-angle shot of the group of islands that make up Dry Tortugas

A shot from on top of the wall of Fort Jefferson facing the lighthouse and out towards the water

Shot of the beach we hung out on (as seen on the video) and snorkeled off of

Shot of fort Jefferson from the water

Wide shot of Loggerhead Key (part of the Dry Tortugas) from the water

Close-up shot of the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key

"Fun With Sparklers For Alison & Olivia-July 5th"-Plus photos of family get-together:

2008-07-19T20:50:00.022-06:00

On the night of Saturday, July 5th, Alison's brother and his family came in to town. This included Aaron (Alison's brother), Chalesse (Alison's sister-in-law), Olivia, and Vivian (our nieces/their daughter's). We went over to Alison's parent's house after Nate and Erin's goodbye party and met up with the fam. So here is a video of Alison and Olivia playing with Sparklers (Olivia's first experience with sparklers). In the video you'll see glances of Chalesse, Carol (Alison's mom), Aaron, Rob (Alison's step-dad), and Hannah (our niece through Alison's step-sister, Laura). Tom was filming but you'll hear his valuable input via voice (lol). Also, here are some various pictures that were taken by Tom while they were in town.

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting the video. Enjoy! 8-)

Photos of the family

Alison showing Olivia how the art of sparklers is done

Olivia showing off her talents, she's a quick study

Alison still enjoying sparklers long after Olivia has lost interest

Alison chatting with Chalesse (who appears to be deep in thought)

Aaron watching over Olivia while she dips her piggies in the water

Cheeesse!!!

Picture of the fam. (from left: Skyler (Alison's nephew), Hannah, Emily (Alison's sister), Alison, Ryan (Alison's brother), Jamie (Alison's sister-in-law), Vivian, Chalesse, Olivia, Aaron, Jim (Alison's uncle), Rob & Carol) - Taken by Tom

If you look in the bottom right corner of this photo you will notice this is supposed to be another picture of the Family (just kidding mom) (from left: Tom, Alison, Ryan, Jamie, Hannah, Skyler, Emily, Jim, Rob, bottom row: top of Vivian's head, Chalesse's head, top of Olivia's head, Aaron's head)

-Taken by Carol (not Tom) (just kidding again mom) 8-)

Olivia, Hannah, and Skyler having a blast on the swings in "the shed" (just kidding mom) they're in Carol's "garden pavilion"

Olivia showing off her acrobatic abilities on the swing, Hannah (in the background) is amazed

New and improved version (and newly added photos) of "Farewell BBQ for the Steenbliks (featuring special cameo appearance by Sarah)-July 5th"

2008-07-12T17:52:00.029-06:00

On Saturday, July 5th Erin's parents threw a goodbye party for Erin, Nate and family. They will be going to Buffalo, New York (near Niagara Falls) for Nate's Nurse Anesthetist schooling. Nate promised to anesthetize me any time I want one he comes back (I have trouble sleeping). Even Justin joined us (he was on break from his military intelligence/spy training in Arizona). But, you may notice that Jake is strangely not in attendance (apparently he had better things to do than see the Steenblik's for the last time ever! j/k) Loni also came with her dreamboat boyfriend, who is in school to become a PhD/MD (I guess it's better to be both). Anyway, it was cool to see everyone; the number of children keeps growing and growing..! This video was updated on July 15th, new and improved! Enjoy!

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the page before you start the video.

Photos of "The Crew"

Partial group photo - from left: Heather, Ali, Tom, Sarah - Front row from left: Jeff, Erin, Nate, Justin, Ashley

Nate flirtatiously peering at Jeff

Jeff looking back at Nate, panicked and confused, wondering how to respond without hurting Nate or Heather's feelings...

After Jeff decided to go for it, Justin tried to intervene (out of jealously) - he was ultimately unsuccessful

New and improved version of "BBQ On Our Patio Video-May 30th":

2008-07-11T00:15:00.019-06:00

On June 30th we had a small get-together with some friends since Seth and Jenn were in town from Florida. Nate, Erin, Jeff, Heather, Sarah, Jake, Seth, Jenn, Pete, Ashley, and some random children were there (and of course Alison and I). We had a fun time, and it was good to see Seth and Jenn after such a long time. We broke out the sugar gliders (Sugar and Baby) for everyone - they seemed to enjoy the company and just hopped around from person to person. Enjoy the video (quite short), and be sure to pause the music at the bottom of our blog when you watch it. Anyway, we hope everyone had a great Independence Day, and will have an awesome Pioneer Day!! This video was updated on July 13th - new and improved!

Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the page before you start the video. Jack Johnson, take it away!!!

Sightseeing Pics., Kauai '06

2008-07-04T02:29:00.062-06:00

While we were in Kauai Alison took some photos of the island, and since we haven't posted anything for a while, we thought we'd throw these out there. I think she did a great job on these photos, they are really nice.

This is a view of Wailua Falls, which was portrayed on the opening credits of Fantasy Island.

A view of the back country of the "Garden Island", and one of its many waterfalls from the air. A shot taken while on our helicoptor tour of the island.

Another shot from our helicopter tour; Honopu Beach on the Na Pali Coast. You may recognize this area as "Bali Hai" from the movie South Pacific.

A photo of the Awaawapuhi Valley from the helicopter. The valley is located on Kauai's Na Pali Coast.

A wide, aerial view of the Na Pali Coast.

Ke'E Beach on the Na Pali Coast in the Ha'ena State Park.

A shot of the peak of Mount Wai'ale'ale - averaging over 460 inches of rain each year, it is considered the wettest spot on earth. It is also the second highest peak in the Hawaiian islands.

Kalalau Beach with The Cathedrals towering over it located on the Na Pali Coast. This shot was taken while on the catamaran tour we took.

A Kauain sunset, as viewed from Tunnels Beach on the North Shore.

The Beach at Allerton Garden and Estates, South Shore. A lot of the footage in Jurrasic Park 1-3 was shot here.

Some type of Zingiberales flower in Allerton Garden.

A Garden Pavillion and a cascading Fountain and Pond at Allerton Garden. This property was once owned by Robert Allerton who cultivated and developed the area into what it is today.

Mr. Allerton loved his fountains! Another curious fountain in Allerton Garden.

Bird of Paradise and some other type Zingiberales flower in Allerton Garden.

A Mermaid statue (part of a fountain) in Allerton Garden.

An Asian Fish Statue in Allerton Garden, located near the house.

Water Lilly, Allerton Garden

Orchid Plant, Allerton Garden.

Flashback-Our Honeymoon-June '06-Kauai, Hawaii

2008-06-26T00:59:00.014-06:00

Many of you haven't seen our honeymoon photos yet, so here are a few for your viewing pleasure. If you are interested in seeing more of our honeymoon pics., we will be posting more of them on our slideshow soon, so keep an eye out for them. Aloha! 8-).

Aloha! Fresh off the plane, taking our first look at the beach.

Ali and the Strangler Fig tree - one of the most massive trees we've ever seen!

Tom, Ali, and Magnum P.I., our super suave pilot for our helicopter tour.

Ali snorkeling with the fishies.

Horseback riding in the back country of the mountains.

Eating breakfast on the beach, our morning ritual.

Pretty girl on a pretty beach!

Pretty boy in a pretty Asian garden! ;-)

Ali and a Monk Seal at Tunnels Beach, North Shore.

Sunset at Tunnels Beach, North Shore.

Labyrinth - best movie of 1986, and of all time!

2008-06-15T13:00:00.025-06:00

On Friday night we went to see the movie Labyrinth on the big screen at the Sugarhouse dollar movies (Starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly). They are starting to play old movies there every Friday night, kind of like Tower does. Anyways, it was totally awesome!!!! It's one of Alison’s favorite movies from her childhood, David Bowie was her first movie star crush. Songs 3-5 on our play list right now are from the movie soundtrack, and here are some photos and the trailer from the movie, enjoy!

Our Trip to Florida

2008-06-04T21:14:00.013-06:00

The long promised photos are now available... actually, after we looked at the photos there really weren't many of them. We will publish more photo and a video later, but here are a few of them:

We arrived at Fort Jefferson - a really cool place. Fort Jefferson takes up almost all of Key Dry Tortugas, and is a 2 hour boat ride from the civilization. Cuban refugees land on this island almost daily (although I was not fortunate enough to see a landing myself):

Alison looking sexy on Key Biscayne:

Both of us hanging out on the beach:

A picture of me (Tom) looking super tan, flexing all of my muscles and trying to look cool (and probably succeeding, probably):

~Glamour shot removed due to popular outrage~

The trip was great, and a great deal for us. We had a really fun time. Check out the slide show for additional photos.

Precious Moments With Our Children

2008-06-01T18:36:00.018-06:00

A Sugar Glider with its membrane fully extended, gliding from one tree to another:

These are our 2 beast-daughters, Sugar and Baby the Sugar Gliders (See pictures below). They are both just over 1 year old, and we've had them for a year this May, since they were about 1 month old. They can live up to 15 years, but on average the captive glider lives about 12-13 years. They come from Australia, New Zealand and parts of Indonesia. Due to the coloring of ours we know they are from Southern Australia (the ones from more Northern areas are brown in color and larger in size).

Sugar Gliders are arboreal (tree dwellers) and nocturnal (the sleep all day and get up around 10 PM). They are also Marsupials which means that the carry their babies around in a pouch. The name "Sugar Glider" was given to them because they eat (in the wild) the sugary sap of a certain tree indigenous to the area; and the glider part of the name comes from their gliding membrane that runs along the sides of their body from their wrists to their ankles. They use this to glide from tree to tree in the wild (and here in our house they use it to glide from the coat rack to the bed). Because they are arboreal they have very sharp claws that enable them to climb absolutely everything, including our textured walls (we have to clip them about once a month to keep them from tearing up our skin too badly).

When it comes to their diet they are opportunists, and omnivores, meaning that they will practically eat anything. In the wild they eat bugs, small rodents, vegetation, etc. We feed them fruits and veggies along with special pellets to ensure they get the nutrients they need. We also feed them a piece of meat once in a while, and on Youtube we've seen people feed them lizards and pinkie mice, but we don't do that because we think that's messy and disgusting. Anyway, they have big personalities and are very gregarious and curious (they love to get into everything and tear it up), but somewhat shy with new people and are afraid of other animals, and their smells (because they know their world through smell, which helps them avoid predators in the wild). But they are fun to take out on adventures (like grocery shopping or on an errand) in their carry pouches. Since they are so curious they have a lot of fun. One last strange thing about them, around midnight they often start barking, and it sounds like a little dog.

The natural born killers on the prowl:

Sugar attacking her prey, the crunch berry:

Sugar's adorable pathetic look that she uses to get our sympathy:

Tommy and his favorite daughter:

The deer caught in the headlights look:

Wedding Nostalgia On Our Two Year Anniversary!

2008-05-24T19:00:00.014-06:00

So we were looking through our photos and we found some more that we really like, this time we picked them together (Alison pointed out that we have some that are better than others...):

In anticipation of the upcoming wedding:

Flirty bridal pic taken for Tom:

Alison daydreaming about marrying Tom:

The happy couple in front of the temple starting their eternity together!

Tom getting a little overly excited for the wedding night:

The CURE!

2008-05-24T16:07:00.033-06:00

Last night Alison and I went to see The Cure at the E center - totally awesome. Our 2 year anniversary is on June 3rd, so this was part of the celebration.

The opening band was 65 Days of Static (http://www.65daysofstatic.com/wordpress/), who reminded me a lot of one of my favorite bands Mogwai (http://www.mogwai.co.uk/). Anyway, 65 Days was way cool, right up my alley. Alison and I both really liked them. They played from about 7:30 to 8:15 or so.

Finally, the lights dimmed, lazers fired off everywhere, mystical smoke spewed forth (probably caused by Wikka magic), and Robert Smith and his crew came out. I have to say, they were an interesting bunch; the bassist looked like a classic rocker (right), the lead guitarist wore platform high heels and skin tight shiny leather (left), the drummer's hair took up most of the stage, and Robert Smith wore classic punk garb and lots of eye liner (center).

The amazing thing was that they played for over 3 hours! They had 3 encores, and he only stopped because he lost his voice (I think they had planned one more song, but during the last song he wasn't really singing, more screaching).

Our Vacation

2008-05-12T10:38:00.012-06:00

Well, no photos yet. But the trip was great. Besides having both of our flights cancelled, both ways, we managed to get there and back pretty much on schedule. Photos and a video to come!

Homeless Productions Makes its Debut - Click to See!

2008-04-22T09:59:00.013-06:00

This video is a classic, a compilation of confusing clips that Jeff, Peter, Seth, some other friends and I filmed, edited, and produced; circa 1997. Actually, this is the only Homeless Productions video to be broadcast, anywhere, ever. It was on SHS News (a weekly production put on by the AV club at Skyline High). They were so impressed with our work that we were never asked to make another video for them again. I know that Chris Carlston (the AV club president and full ride video production scholarship recipient) was just threatened by the quality of our work.

!!!BE SURE TO PAUSE THE MUSIC AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE BEFORE YOU START THE VIDEO!!!

From Crush to Marriage

2008-04-16T19:09:00.010-06:00

Alison and I started dating in the Fall of 2004. We took it slow by local standards, but I think we both knew pretty early on that we had something special going on. We were married on June 3rd, 2006 (coming up on 2 years!) It's been a great 3 1/2 years! Here are a few photos (this website didn't like our high-def HUGE photos, so I could only insert 5...

A downtown kiss:

Just Married--right out the temple!

Our camera man was TALL!

Pretty Alison ;-)

An engagement photo:

Hope to have some more photos sometime soon!

A Brief Glimpse of Heaven

2008-04-11T15:01:00.016-06:00

Jeff and Seth may remember the test we took in high school that told us whether we were “left brained” (analytical), or “right brained” (creative). According to the test I (Tom) had virtually no left brain qualities. In 9th grade the career placement program told me that my 2 best career paths would be a lumberjack or a forest ranger. Somehow, I ended up in commercial mortgage banking… But, as you can see by my crooked bamboo plant, I still have an interest in the outdoors.

I also have a pretty nice view of Big Cottonwood Canyon from my desk.

I actually like my job though—so much for career placement tests! Although being a lumberjack sounds exciting…

This American Marriage

2008-04-09T10:36:00.006-06:00

So I haven't yet posted any photos of us yet... that is soon to come. I'll be posting some photos of our wedding, our sugar gliders, and our life pretty soon here.

Anyway, over the last 3 years or so I've been listening to a radio program called "This American Life" - pretty much the coolest radio show ever made (check it out at http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx, you can listen to any past episode; let me know if you are interested and I'll direct you to some of my favorite episodes). If you ever have an hour to blow, or just want to have something interesting to listen to while cleaning, I for sure recommend it. But anyway, the host of that show is Ira Glass.

I was looking at Jeff and Heather's blog yesterday, and I decided to follow some of the links they had going to other people's blogs, thinking that I might recognize some of the people in the other blogs. I was surprised to find that Ashley Bullough is getting married on May 9th - congratulations to Ashley! However, I was even more surprised to find that she is secretly marrying Ira Glass, from This American Life! Although they claim his name is Cade (the name alone was an obvious alert to me, he should have chosen a more normal name like Chris or Ricky), he is obviously Ira Glass. I have posted Ira and "Cade"s photos on this blog.

Our Trip

2008-04-07T13:20:00.015-06:00

So - we'll be off to Miami and the Keys this month. We are leaving on the 26th and coming back May 4th. You can all stop worrying about the sugar gliders - My mom Pam will be taking care of them. Anyway, we'll be spending the first part of our trip in the Keys, staying in Key west. We are actually going to be arriving on the day before they re-join the Union (they ritualistically break away from the US for a few days each year, declare war, then re-join and demand aid). So, pretty much the coolest building ever lies on the last key in the archipelago - it's called Fort Jefferson... it was a fort built on a super remote, super small island called "Dry Tortugas"--it's purpose was to fight pirates (I hope they don't try to fight me because I pirated the images used in this blog entry...) We have to take a 2 hr. boat ride, then we can snorkel, tour the building... stuff like that. Dr. Mudd (who was prosecuted as a conspirator to assassinate President Lincoln) spent some time there after it was converted into a prison... If I am sent to prison for disobeying copyright laws and posting these photos to our blog, then send me there please!! Anyway, we are both pretty excited.. I'll post the video when we are back.

Lucky..

2008-04-07T12:09:00.005-06:00

This guy has 2 faces! I feel like a loser with only 1...

Our Blog

2008-04-04T17:24:00.003-06:00

It has begun... and probably ended in a single entry. I hope to get some things posted shortly, all is well for us though. Stay tuned for more exciting posts.