Mayan Adventure

Hello everyone,

So with school starting, we've pretty much been doing eat, sleep, library, study, and the occasional late night movie. But, last weekend we went out to eat with the Padres and Kelby & Michelle. All of you from Utah will laugh, but we went to the Mayan Adventure. It was awesome...and the food wasn't really that bad.






For those of you who have never heard of the place, the coolest part is that they have a diving show where these "tropical" looking people jump off olympic meter height rocks. It was totally fun.

Oh - By the Way - WE'RE HAVING A BOY!!! Looks like it's gonna be a Jr. So bring on the baby blue clothes.

Back to School!

Here are some videos that will take the pain away from those late night sessions at the library cramming.

This first one is a synopsis of why education is very important, for about five years...



This video highlights the importance of gaining an education about pricing models...



Lastly, don't drop out and be dumb like this guy...



Hope you enjoyed them!

Grassroots: Our Trip to Mesa

Hi all. This past weekend we drove down to Mesa to feel the wonderful warmth of friends and 109 weather. Lets start with the drive down.

This was on a gas pump.


Here's the good ol' "Dolphin House." That's the same hoop we put up!

To educate Katie in the Traditions of Mesa, we went to the MHS Traditions Assembly. It brought back some great memories. Here's the football team doing the Haka

We attended the Mesa Temple too. The cactus garden was beautiful

Afterwards we went with Jake to Mangos. Apparently, he likes it.



Later that night, we went to a D-Backs game. Sadly they lost, but since Randy Johnson threw 13 strike outs, we got a coupon for a free thirstbuster!

After the game, they opened the roof and shot off fireworks. Not quite the Beijing Opening or Closing ceremonies, but it was still pretty good

The next morning we went to the Lake with the Bowles and Richardsons.

There is your classic Jake.

Here is Brad getting some sick air.

Katie blew us all away when she got up on her FIRST time! Impressive!

This was also the First time she totally ate it.

The fish at work

Katie riding the surf skate. hard core.

Ridin




Here is some footage of Brad clearing the wake.




Here's some footage of me on a little jump. "Pride goeth before the fall"

Later that night we hung out with tons of other friends at Alisse and Scott Baldwin's house. Thanks guys for allowing us to raid your home!

Oh yeah, can't forget an essential stop to Jack in the Box.

We had such a fun time and hope to see everyone soon enough again. Rock the Mesa!

Updatimus Maximus

Hi all - The adventures continue, so make sure to check out our pictures of what has happened in these past few weeks.

1 - Olympic Beijing Fever

Here is our lovely Asian Katie. We had an Olympic opening ceremonies party and had home-made fortune cookies. Way to go Phelps!


2 - Trip to Lava Hot Springs Idaho Diving Platforms

After jumping off of these olympic sytle platforms, I gained a new appreciation for just what Guo Jing Jing does. Derek, Jeff, and Tyler S. all got sick air. Way fun.


3 - Eating our 1 year old wedding cake. Much thanks to the Bakers: Greg & Co.

4 - Paul's Wedding

Here you'll see Stephen du Toit, Paul Piennette, and me. Paul was an awesome guy we taught in Nashville. He and his wife Karli Osborn were married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was so neat to see him progress so far.

5 - Visit to Park City, Utah

We visited the Olympic Park it Park City where there are training grounds for skiers and sledders. These guys were jumping off of their ramps into a pool. Mad air.

We also went to a MoTab concert in the great outdoors. Also, we went on the alpine slide and we did some fun biking.

6 - We've finally found a place in Provo (actually south orem). It is a great fit and we're excited to be back in good ol happy valley.

7 - oh yeah, and WE'RE EXPECTING!!!!!!

Before we left for Europe we went found out and wanted to keep it secret for a while. Katie is now about 3.5 months pregnant. We still don't know the gender yet, but will find out in a couple of weeks. We are so excited and can't believe it. The baby should come sometime between January 30-Feb 6. We'll keep you posted with the progress and standard pictures of Katie's belly. If you get a chance, ask Katie about being a pregnant european backpacker. Cool. Party on!

Barton Bro's Unite!!!

After 6 long years, it has finally happened. The planets have aligned and made is possible for Derek, Kurt , and Jeff to be together again. We had a great night sharing some good memories.

And yes, I now am officially the smallest of the three... but I think I still weigh most.

Europe #3 - Firenze and Roma

Next we visit Florence, the home of the works of the Medici. So there was this mega powerful and rich family that gathered some of the greatest minds and art from Western Europe. The result, a great vacation spot.

We made our way to church there and it was really fun. Spanish and Itialian are very similar, so it wasn't too hard to understand the talks (one talk paralleled the holy ghost to a car GPS - clever)

David at the Accademia was too cool! He totally lived up to the hype and our expectations. Michelangelo was the man!

Here was a huge plaza that had some cool art in it.

To all the ice cream lovers of the world, feast your eyes upon the Gelato capitol of the world! Gelato truly is an edible art form given to man for pure gluttany.

Here is Katie over the South Florentine River.

**We now enter Roma**

This is just inside St. Peter's Basilica. Just as you enter and you turn to the right, you get to behold was Katie considers Michelangelo's greatest work, his Pietá. Bellisimo!

Here is Piaza de San Pietro right in front of the Vatican / St. Peter's.

Next we made our way to the Spanish steps. They had these corny gladiator dudes that would take pictures for a price. Luckily, we snagged a pic and walked away without him noticing.

At the Trevi Fountain

At the Colesseum.

This was the saddest part of our Europe trip. We found a cool restaurant by the Pantheon and it served great food. I got a Pepper pasta. It had the most intense flavor, so much that I couldn't finish the dish. This would be the only time that I left food on my plate. Sad day.

Now we're at the Vatican Museum. "Something in this picture doesn't belong..." We later saw the Sistine Chapel. Stunning!

Here we are at Piazza Navona. Tons of street artists and performers and gelato.

Well, we did a lot of other stuff and saw some great art, but we can't post it all. Rome was so much fun, but our favorite destination is coming up next - Cinque Terra...

Europe #4 - Cinque Terra

Here is the last leg of our Trip - Cinque Terra (=Five Lands). It is a series of 5 small towns that are on the western coast of Italy. They are part of a National Park, so there are no cars, and no craziness. This is the place we were at on July 27 for our 1 year anniversary!

We bought snorkling gear for way cheap and went swimming in the pebbly coast. We met a cool family from Holland and went diving with them.

Here is the town of Vernazza, where we stayed for 2 nights.

Here is our 1 year anniversary dinner. We had some great pasta and salads.

Katie's chowing down the gelato.

That evening we took a walk from one town to another - it was called the "Via del Amore".

Every day we had pasteries with jogurt. Delish!!

Snorkling Garb.

Behold the Foccacia and Calzone!

Here's Ms. Hotness herself.

Here's the second town we stayed at called Manarola.

After staying there, we took a train to Paris and then flew home, to where we are today. All in all, Europe was too cool! It was so much fun and it helped us appreciate the US, carpet, and standard air conditioning. If anyone is up for doing the same kind of trip, don't hesitiate to call us cause we'd love to talk about it. Party on!