So Sweet

19 years ago today, I was involved in a very serious car accident.

(19 years? Really? Man, I'm old!)

I'll post more about the accident another time.

My favorite little brother sent me the sweetest text tonight:

Isn't he the best?

So Cute I Can't Stand It

My neighbors got a new puppy.

I seriously can't handle all the cuteness.

Too bad she'll grow up to be a smelly old dog.

And this is their sweet little girl.

Seriously one of the most adorable little girls I have ever seen.


Too bad she'll grow up to be a smelly old teenager.

iOS 6 Update

A new operating system was released today for the iPhone.

The panorama update for the camera is by far my favorite feature.

I need to get to a beach ASAP to really take advantage of it. :)

one of my favorite quotes

Crash Update

Here are the newest photos of my Dad's wounds.

(Warning: the last photo may cause you to barf).

I cannot believe the second picture. I don't think I've ever seen anything so disturbingly awful.

He said that he's feeling great. I sure hope so.

I also hope he doesn't wear a halter top in public for a while - or ever, actually.

You Should See The Other Guy

Yesterday, I got one of the worst phone calls of my life.

My mom called me mid-afternoon and said the following:

"Your dad wrecked his motorcycle and is hurt but I don't have any other information."

Um, ok. Thanks for the call.

It was really short as she was making her way down the list of children (I have 5 siblings) and she said she would call back when she had more information.

I was doing home inspections when she called and was sitting in my car in front of a home filling out the inspection report. Thankfully, I only had one more home to inspect, so I didn't have to hold off the meltdown for very long.

I hate motorcycles. I know that they're fun and exciting and all that, but they terrify me. And I hate that all 3 males in my immediate family eat, drink and breathe Harley Davidson. I mean, birthday and Christmas gifts pretty much take care of themselves because they love everything Harley, but the costs far outweigh the benefits. 

Motorcycles freak me out and I'm definitely not ready to live without my dad - or my brothers (not that I ever plan to be).

As I was driving home after my last inspection, I let myself freak out a little, but never really got super upset. I mean, when is a motorcycle accident no big deal? Hardly ever, but I felt pretty calm and just knew deep down that he'd be okay.

My mom called me back a little while later and said that Dad was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Boise. He had been on his way to my uncle's house to hang out with him and ride motorcycles when he wrecked. My mom was at home which is 2.5 hours away from Boise and she was really sick with a cold so wasn't having the best day anyway. She was packing up to head to Boise and I headed home to do the same.

She told me to hold off before leaving for Idaho because she had actually spoken to him and he was pretty banged up, but - thankfully - it was nothing too serious. He was taken to the ER where he had a CAT scan and an MRI on his head and upper body. Miraculously, aside from a concussion, some pretty serious road rash and a few enormous bruises, he was fine.

A definite miracle because his bike is a total loss.

When I finally got to talk to him, in typical Owen fashion, he was like, "It's no big deal! I'm fine!" When I told him that I'm super glad that his bike is totaled and that I hope it ends his infatuation with this dangerous hobby, he just laughed and said, "Well, the insurance money will be a nice down payment for a new bike."

Awesome.

This is what my dad looks like on a normal day (one that doesn't involve crashing into a fence):

(not the best photo, but it's the most recent I have)

And, here's what the Harley looked like in better days:

And, here are some photos of the aftermath...

(He looks so tired and beat up. Poor guy!)

(He got this huge bruise with a helmet. So crazy!!)

 (This is today's shiner. I think he's pretty proud of it.)

My dad is one tough guy. I am so, so thankful he's okay. It was such scary news to receive, but such a great outcome. I just talked to him and he said that he's not even that sore today.

My dad could totally beat up your dad!

Graphic Design

At one point in my college carrier, I wanted to be a graphic designer.

However, my dreams were quickly crushed by a graduate school prick (excuse the french) who taught my first design class at Utah State. He was so awful. I was fresh off my mission and had just moved to Logan to go to school.

Also, that was the year that it was 30 below.

30 degrees below zero!!

I had just come from the tropical climate of the Canary Islands and I pretty much wanted to die each time I trudged my way across campus.

Anyhoo, I was really excited to take this class. But the wind quickly left my sails when I realized I was way out of my comfort zone. Starting with the fact that the class was taught using Mac computers, which I had never ever used before (also, please remember that I had had very minimal contact with anything technological for the prior 18+ months). But everyone else had plenty of experience with Macs, so they were off running and I couldn't even figure out how to turn the dumb thing on (did I mention that it was a 7 a.m. class? Yep, 7 in the morning).

Not sure why I thought that was a good idea.

So, one particular day during the first week of school, Mr Big Shot Grad Student announced the daily project and told everyone to get to work. I tried to figure it out for a few minutes, but was completely lost. So, I raised my hand and he came over. When I told him I was completely lost and tried to form intelligent questions, he said nothing. He backed away and announced in a loud voice: "Listen up class. When I explain the project at the beginning of class, I expect everyone to listen." Then he went on to the next person and didn't even come back to help me.

Seriously? I could not believe that happened. I could not pack up my stuff and get out of there fast enough. I marched straight to the registration office and dropped the class.

So, he basically ruined my life. If not for him, I'm pretty positive I would be a world famous graphic designer.

Ok, just kidding. That wasn't the full story of why I didn't major in graphic design, but it was definitely the start.

At this point in life, I wish I had worked harder to pursue what I love doing, but I don't have to have a degree to design stuff, so I do it on my own. Here are a couple of little things (super easy) that I've done lately.

Yeah, they're just posters, but it's fun to learn and figure out how to design them. I just found out that a local print shop will print them for $1 to $5 depending on the size so I'm so excited to make posters for every single event in my life. I also did my blog header last night that I'm pretty excited about. There are a lot of things you have to figure out like dimensions and image quality and stuff. So exciting and fun!

So the last one, Jake's 40th, was super fun. Nikki's husband Jake turned 36 on Saturday and I thought it would be really funny the stick this poster announcing that he's turning 40 on his front lawn for all of his friends and neighbors to see. So, I woke up super early on Saturday (it was still dark, seriously) to make it happen. 

He was a good sport and didn't get too mad. He did say that he'll get me back though. 



Bring it on Jake.