family time

peter and i have had a fun couple of weeks in utah and california with our families. here are some pictures from the last two weeks:

swimming with peter's sister and nieces and nephews in utah





in park city and watching "Up" in 3D




visiting my aunt juanita and uncle scotty



my niece, kate, and me eating some yummy oatmeal



the other night, peter and i went to an iranian vigil at santa monica beach in memory of neda and the other iranian reformists that have been killed during the protests. there were about 100 people there (mostly middle-aged iranians now living in LA) wearing green and sitting in quiet respect with lighted candles. it was a really neat experience.





and then of course we had to go to a dodgers game! unfortunately they lost against the mariner's, but with peter's military discount, we got $60 tickets for $20! we had great seats, ate dodger dogs, cotton candy, and had lots of fun. the first picture is of ken griffey, jr. right before he hit a home run.




if you noticed, in the last picture, peter has quite a short haircut . . . he left on the redeye flight sunday night to head down to montgomery, alabama for officer's training camp (boot camp). he'll be there for 5 weeks, running, marching, saluting, waking up at 4:30am, and learning what it means to be a part of the "most lethal air force in the world." yikes. to say the least, he's not too excited about being there and i'm not too excited about having him gone :( it's going to be a long month . . .

our trip to gunnison

my dad was born and raised in a small farming town in central utah named, gunnison. since emily and i started dating and since we've been married, we haven't had a chance to go down there to visit my grandma and grandpa.

gunnison is a little boy's dream land. lots of 4-wheelers, motorcycles, vermin hunting, open fields, and for me, a lot of boy cousins the same age as me. so i have lots of great memories of gunnison as a kid. so i wanted to take emily down there to get a feel for herself. plus, we would get to visit G&G frandsen in their element.

grandma and grandpa love their combo garden/park out behind their house, so each visit begins with a tour complete with an explanation of the different flowers and trees they planted.

then grandpa wanted us to take his rhino out for a ride to the farm. pictured below. it's sorta like a cross breed between an ATV and a suped up golf-cart.

so grandpa (remember he turns 90 later this summer) pulled it out, fixed the tire, and told us to take it out along the clarion road (expecting me to know exactly what and where that was) to show her where my dad used to do his farm chores.

well, we dutifully took it out for a little spin. but emily wasn't feeling super hot, so we didn't go that far before we turned around and came back. well, right as we turned back off the farm road into their neighborhood, the rhino sputtered and died. emily jumped over to the driver's seat and i went to push this beast in my work clothes of shorts and flip-flops the extra two blocks back home. after about ten yards, i was like: ok, pull it over, let's walk back and i'll bring some gas back.

let's just say, my mechanic diagnostic skills aren't that fine tuned. any boy who grows up in the suburbs, learns the basics about fixing things, like: lawn mowers, weed whackers, bicycles, car tires, etc. but i never learned much more than that about engines and such. so i just figured it was out of gas and the gas sensor must be on the blink. well, grandpa was much smarter than i.

he had me drive him out there in his classic ford festiva. pictured below.

we got out there, he took one look and told me to go back to the shed and get a chain. i did. and returned. first we hooked the chain up to the rhino. no problem. it has a giant brush guard off the front. then we looked for a place to chain the festiva. not a simple task. it's not really a towing vehicle. after kneeling on the dirt and gravel road and looking around for good place, i suggested the latch from the rear-hatch. the chain hook fit. and we got lucky. lucky as well that the latch didn't pop off because the festiva would have been doomed to a permanently opened rear hatch door.

anyway. we somehow towed the rhino with the festiva back to their house. grandpa started dissembling the rhino, taking out seats, removing the center console, etc. finally we got down to the engine. grandpa looks at me and asks an innocently emasculating question: do you see the spark plugs over there on your side? not wanting to disappoint my rough and tumble, can do, fix-anything, 90 yr old grandpa, i was like: uh, i don't really see it over here. in my head, i was like: uh, i have no idea what you're looking for.

long story short. he found it (on his side, luckily), plugged in the wire, and the rhino fired up right away without problems. i was so proud and not that surprised that grandpa's diagnostic skills were like a well-trained physician and he didn't flinch at all until the work was done. so awesome.

four years in provo and four years in new york city. 8 years from doing real man work in the yard or with machines. needless to say, my limited skills have slipped quite a bit.

anyway, we spent the rest of the day relaxing and listening to grandma tell us stories about different relatives and even some stories about our great-great-polygamous-grandfather and the neighborhoods he settled in salt lake.

it was awesome. i love gunnison.

we finished the day with more family fun. stevey's mom, my aunt pat, threw emily a really fun baby shower at her home in spanish fork with all the women on the frandsen side, plus steven my sister's husband, my dad and me. it was great to see everybody. the last time we all got together like that was when patty hosted our wedding shower at her house last christmas. yet, i don't think we'll have another reason for a shower at our next visit to utah.

we got this cute quilt that the shower attendees tied for us.

a week in paradise.

since peter has whet your appetites with his st. kitts preview, i'm sure that you all have been anxiously awaiting our full post on our week in paradise. so here it is!

st. kitts is a small 6 mile by 6 mile island in the west indies. on one side lies the atlantic ocean, the other side is bordered by the beautiful caribbean, with its turquoise, clear waters. the island felt deserted--it's hardly been developed, but what has, shows great disparity. the main city, basseterre, appears third world with door to door shanties and islanders speeding by in make shift mini van-taxis named things like "hakuna matata" and "big playa." the coastline, however, is full of rich foreigners' mansions. the streets are lined with monkey-filled trees, and goats roam to and fro all over the island, only to be summoned by their owners at night. st. kitts is definitely a majestic island full of culture and "peace and love." it's all about the island way of life--relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery. so that is exactly what we did!

this is the view from a hill nearby our hotel. the caribbean on the right and the atlantic on the left.




turtle beach. beautiful and secluded. we ate at a really cute little restaurant called the beach house, which has no walls and looks right out over the water. there are also big gorgeous homes and little bungalows that are only for rent to "serious real estate buyers." they plan on building a port for the private yachts of those buyers. anyway, the food was pretty good at the beach house, but the view was even better.



one day we went up to a fort built at the top of a mountain on the island that was built in the 1600s by the british. the fort was built to defend the island from the french who were trying to overtake it from them. the british hired the african slaves that were working in the sugar cane fields to build the fort. they carved lime stone from the mountain and carried it to build the massive walls of the fort. the fort itself is surrounded by cannons to protect the island. it was really incredible to see such a big and sturdy fortress still standing strong hundreds of years later.





the rest of the week we just spent relaxing at the pool and beach. the weather was perfect--high 80s the whole time and nice and sunny to give us (well, more so peter than me) our first tans of the summer!





we also played croquet and flew our groovy new kite from the beach.






and this last shot is of us on the tarmac boarding our plane and saying good-bye to breathtaking st. kitts! it was the perfect post-graduation and pre-baby getaway!

st. kitts preview...

so. we've only been in kitts for a couple days, but it has been perfect. the weather is perfect. 85 degrees, hot sun, cool ocean breeze, easy access to coladas, etc, etc.

i'm not going to take the time for a full post. but here is one to whet your caribbean appetite...



also. if you've ever been half-asian and wondered what your eyes would look like if they weren't so slanty, then take a pair of new goggles and try this... i was astonished.

m.i.s.s.i.s.s.i.p.p.i.

so we're in mississippi.

i would write and brag about all the cool things we've done since the last post as is customary.

but, we're in mississippi.

we're presently waiting for our movers to deliver all of our stuff from brooklyn, which means in the meantime, we've spent the whole weekend in our brand new empty apartment.

luckily, someone who named their wireless network motorola hasn't password protected their network, so at least we have the internet. between that, iPhone games, and chain restaurants we have survived our first weekend in D'Iberville, MS.

i'd post some sweet pictures, but we haven't taken any.

well, at least it's warm. it was 80 degrees at like 8:30 this morning. so maybe we'll go hit the pool(s) at our apartment complex...

stay tuned for equally exciting updates throughout the next twelve months in Biloxi, Mississippi...!