Life - Jake's first blog post.

I read this article today and found it rather insightful: http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2008/04/29/your-job-as-your-identity-not-for-me-thanks/

For those of you who come to this blog to look at pictures, I'm sorry that you will be smattered with a philosophical ditty.

What is life really? I think about this too much and realize I should just sit back and enjoy the ride. But the question of what life is still haunts me, and sometimes it seems that all I can do is figure out what life is not.
I've discovered life is not your career. That's what the article above explains. However, it seems like an incredibly important part of living - especially when you are a sole provider for your family.
I've discovered life is not sports. Otherwise I would be classified either as mediocre or a loser - and I don't like that discovery, so I will assume that it is wrong. But even when I declare that life is not sports, when I want to relax and enjoy an hour or two, I go to espn.

I can think of far too many quotes about what life is about. Religion teaches us the purpose of life. I'm in favor of helping people, following my dreams, loving my family, working hard, etc. but the question that seems unanswered for me goes deeper. In the grand scheme of things, with 100 billion people having walked the face of the earth, it seems creating one's understanding of what life is rests upon creating a sense of importance to one's self.
A person is taught that there is a God who loves each one of us. That creates meaning and brings importance.
A person becomes self absorbed and thinks everybody wants to see them. Self-Purpose fulfilled - if they aren't important, they at least think they are.
A person may develop meaning from achieving a personal goal. Meaning fulfilled, and self importance achieved, albeit temporary.

But what happens if a person believes he is one in a trillion, easily replaceable, and can't figure out what life is. How does that person develop an understanding of what life is and why does that person wake up in the morning?

Harold Crick in Stranger than Fiction must think like this. He creates meaning when he distances himself from work. He begins to discover why his life is being narrated and how it will effect his final outcome. He finds companionship and pursues it spontaneously. In the end, his life is almost ended when saving a boy on a bike. He was living today, not concerned for tomorrow.

And while tomorrow will define our next today, I think living in the now is more important and will be my goal. (Unfortunately there might not be a lot of tomorrows without a career). I'll make living in the now give my life meaning now and tomorrow. Perhaps that is life. Life is what is happening now.

By the way, I think I kind of like writing, so you might have to get used to this.

Springtime in good ol' Provo

These pictures are a little old but they were too cute not to post.
I love this picture of our cute, little Sophie in her Easter dress. She wouldn't wear her sweater with her dress because she said it was scratchy, so she looks pretty tough with her muscles showing.

Congrats to Ali and Vance! They both just graduated from BYU, Ali in Advertising and Vance in German. They are headed to Illinois for Medical School in July. We will miss you guys like crazy. I'm glad your apartment will have two bedrooms because we are going to be regular visitors.

Sophie and her Dado

Sophie and Ellie.
Cousins and best buddies.
They love each other one second and beat each other up the next.

Sophie's pirate smile. She has a pretty sweet fake smile when we take pictures of her. What a character. Sophie thought Easter egg hunts and baskets were amazing. She thought the eggs were so cool and it blew her away when she realized they not only looked cool but had candy in them.

Hiking the Y

Sophie, Jake, some of our family and I all hiked the Y last week. I've hiked all over but this was my first time hiking the Y. It was also Jake and Sophie's first time so we all enjoyed ourselves and it was great to be outside. Sophie loved every second and has talked about our hike every day since then. She gets excited and says "Y" whenever she sees the Y on the mountain. She had fun riding in her backpack most of the way and even fell asleep on the way down. We are excited to take Sophie hiking and camping a lot this summer so it was just the first of many more adventures to come.

Sophie and her cousin, Ellie, had fun hiking together

Sophie looked extremely cute with her hat and ponytail sticking through.

Sweet Home Alabama

Congratulations to Jake!! He has been accepted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Doctorate of Physical Therapy program! We are still waiting to hear from a couple of other schools but we will most likely be moving to Alabama in January 2010. I always thought it would be cool to live in the south and now I may have that chance. We are excited for our next adventure, wherever that may be.

Go Cougs

I am a BYU fan and Jake is a U of U fan, so he claims that I am brainwashing Sophie. I wouldn't call it brainwashing when it is so cute. Jake even wants to join in the cheer when Sophie does it. Go Cougars!

Christmas Update

Sophie thought Christmas was great. She enjoyed opening presents and playing with everyone's toys, she said "ho ho ho" whenever she saw Santa and loved undecorating the lower half of our tree. Christmas was a hit with Sophie. We had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed many festivities with our families in Salt Lake and Provo.

Sophie is 16 months old now and is so much fun. She talks all the time and loves to sing, dance, read books, play, watch Sesame Street, be outside, and help mom and dad. She says hello to everyone at the store and makes friends wherever we go. Lately she's thought it is so funny to say "boo" to everyone. She yells our name until she gets our attention and then yells "boo" at us and laughs like crazy. She is quite a character and we love life with Sophie.

Enjoying the lights at Temple Square.

Sophie and Jake decorating our Christmas tree that we went into the forest and cut down for only $5. We had to cut off about 5 feet to fit it in the house and it was still about 8 feet tall. It was a spectacular Christmas tree.

Christmas Tree hunting

Sophers

Here are some of Sophie's 1-year-old pictures. She is a character and so much fun. She is a talker and says new words every day. I am very grateful to be her mom.