Orem Summerfest 2007

I kinda got persueded into going to Orem's Summerfest 2007 with Melissa tonight. She promised me that it would be a grand ole fireworks show, and I gotta admit....it was pretty fun to go people watch!! Here's some pics!

Here's the amazing fireworks!! Not too shabby for our little city!

Missy and I on Center St. in Orem

Uncle Carl would definitely say the fireworks were a ten, cause pieces of the mortor shells were falling down on us the whole show!!! Made for a good laugh, but hard to look into the sky without some safety goggles!!

Chris and Jen have a baby!!!

A long time ago, I set my good friend Chris Cameron up with my good friend Jennifer Coates, and they've lived happily ever after!! They got married a few years ago, and last night they welcomed a 7lb 9oz baby boy to the world!! His name shoulda been Cody!!,,, but they went with Chase Victor Cameron instead. Here is a few pics of my visit to the hospital today. I told them that my only request is that he call me Uncle Cody! He is a cute little sucker and definitely has the Coates cheeks and chin!

Recent Works

I guess I just wanted to show a couple of recent photo shoots that I have done. The brides name is Kristi Moysh. She is the sister of a mission friend of mine, Nikki Moysh. They are from good ole Blackfoot! The other girl is Leah Chambers. These are a few of her Senior Portraits that I did. She is Courtney's sister. They're open for critique!!!

Motorcycle Season!!!

The weather has warmed up and that could only mean one thing...................SUNDAY AFTERNOON MOTORCYCLE RIDES!!!!!!!! I have been so excited this year to get back into riding with the guys. We've all enjoyed some fun rides already this season with many, many more to come!! The first week we met at Steve Wiser's home, the father of a friend Justin, and he made us breakfast before our ride. We then rode south to Nephi, up and over the Mt. Nebo loop. That puts you out in Payson, and then back to Orem. This last week was a much shorter ride, up and over the Mt Timpanogos Alpine loop. Good times had by all. We figure we all gotta get a little time in the saddle before our big trip at the end of July!! Too bad padre isn't here to ride with me!! Here's some pics I took on my camera phone.

Bonneville Speedway

Last weekend my mission buddy Luke Isley and I went out on another photo adventure! We went out to western Utah to the Bonneville Salt Flats and Speedway. Not only is this a mecca for speed records to be made, but its a great place to shoot photographs as well. And if any of you have seen the new Pirates movie, when Jack Sparrow is introduced into the movie, the scene was shot out there on the flats!! Anyhow, it was a lot of fun, and we stayed out there about four hours so we could be there for sunset. Here is some stuff I came home with!

Lukester and I on the Speedway!

This one's for the ladies!!!

This is where the speedway starts. The straigtaway drag strip is 10 miles in length. The current speed record for this track is 630.389 mph in a rocket powered car!!!

Here is a photo of the surface of the Salt Flats at sunset. I was facing north. It looks like it would be extremely dry and hard, but it is actually fairly soft underneath your feet, and when I laid down to take this shot, I found out it was pretty darn wet too!!

It was pretty fun to see the moon start creeping out. It was kinda cool to see the moon come through the clouds, and the colors left over from sunset. This is facing South.

And finally, the stars came out and I took this last shot before we packed up and went home. This was a 3 minute exposure! Good times!

Bye Bye BMW!!

I definitely think its time for an update! A few weeks ago I said goodbye to a very fun and favorite toy I had been borrowing from my dad!


I had planned on leaving my house about 3:30 in hopes to miss the worst of the SLC traffic. I ended up getting roped into helping my boss and didn't end up leaving Orem until about 5pm. It was a friday night, so you can only imagine what traffic was like!! YUK!! Worst part is, that put me in gridlocked traffic from north salt lake to Ogden...my least favorite stretch of I-15 for several reasons!! Once North of Ogden I was able to kick it up to about 80mph and kept it there for the rest of the trip. The sunset was beautiful, and I made it to Boise safe and sound at about 11pm. I met dad at the airport the next morning and had breakfast with him and flew home. His return trip was not so enjoyable....but for the sake of stirring the pile with mom, I think i'll leave it at that! (email richard.oram@grange.com for details!!)





For those of you who have not experienced a sunset on a motorcycle on a 85 degree night, I tried to capture what is so great about it!! Kinda crummy pics, but I think you get the picture!!

No wait.......that's baby dookie!!

So tonight Nalani and I went to dinner at Shoots with the couple that lives below us. Their names are Cade and Carrian. They have a little 1 year old daughter named Peyton. About half way through dinner Carrian dropped something below Peyton's seat and when we all looked down to get it, we saw a huge ole pile of baby dukie on the floor! Peyton had total explosive doo doo and it was all over the place.......SICK!!!! haha! Cade and I had a good laugh, but Carrian gave some good scowls and it took her and Nalani to finish the clean up! How fun for them! Hope Carrian can laugh about it soon! They are moving Thursday to Las Vegas for the summer. We're gonna miss them tons. They're real fun people. Here's a pic of Cade and I that Nalani took at dinner.

Meet The Parents!!!

Today I made it through another "meet the parents" session! I went up to Salt Lake to the Cottonwood Heights area and met Courtney's family. It was a lot of fun, and I'm happy to report there were no crazy mishaps! I think I even managed to make it through without sticking my foot in my mouth! Pretty good accomplishment for me I think! Courtney has 5 siblings and the group tonight included 2 spouses, 2 fiance's and 1 boyfriend! It was a houseful. They are quite the group and it was fun to see them tease each other like we do in our family! They even told family stories that I could best equate to the Cheetos story!! We also played Rummy and even though I've never played it before I still won! I hope that didn't put me on anyones bad side!! They are a fun bunch of people and it was good to get to know them.

This is our self-portrait after

we gorded ourselves at dinner!

Richies New Ride

So over the last few months dad and I have been looking for a new bike for him. He had outgrown his V-Star and was ready for a touring bike. With our yearly motorcycle trip coming up, we figured now was as good a time as any. Last week I saw an ad on KSL for what I thought was the perfect deal at the perfect price. The next day I ran up to Syracuse with Chris Cameron and after some wheelin and dealin we were able to bring her home! I've pretty pretty stoked this last week riding the bike around. I'm only riding it of course to make sure its road worthy before I ride it up to Seattle in a few weeks!!! Anyhow, for the guys, here's the specs!!!:

2000 BMW K1200LT

Electronically Controlled Fuel injected 1200cc Engine

Heated Handgrips

Trip computer with Outside Temp, miles to empty, and Avg Speed

AM/FM Stereo with 6 Disc CD Changer and both Driver and Passenger Controls

Power adjustable Windshield

Locking Trunk and side bags

And on and on!!!!

Guitar Hero!!!

So, if you havn't been anywhere near the coolest game on earth its time!! The game is Guitar Hero and its about the coolest game ever. You hold a guitar that is hooked up to the Xbox 360, and play the notes as they come on the screen. Then you are awarded points based on accuracy. Saturday night Courtney and I went out with Chris and Jen Cameron to dinner and then back to their place for a BATTLE ROYALE!! Okay, so mostly Chris and I played while Courtney and Jen laughed at us, but who cares...a good time was had by all!! So if you haven't played it, call me, I'll hook ya up!!!

First Date!

I was going through my pics tonight and I found this pic of Courtney and I on the night we met. It was a fun night so I thought I'd post it!!

Chapter closed!

So...first off, let me say, I decided to delete my last post because although it was meant as a joke, I kept hearing from some that it was a bit racey! Also, I want to say to the family that I am as of today, officially closing the Karena chapter in my book of life. I learned alot in those 4 and a half years, and experienced many emotions that have changed my life forever...some good, and some I wish to never experience again. However, my life is now moving on and I wish to open a new chapter. Looking back, I hope that I learn from what I've experienced and hope to not make the same mistakes. I'm so glad to have such rad family and friends. Thanks again for all you've done for me over the last several months. Now lets move on!!

Could it really be???...A BLOG UPDATE????!!!!

Holy smokes, believe it or not, i was finally herassed enough this weekend that i've decided to update my blog!! Okay, first of all, let me introduce myself





I'M CODY, I'M A COUSIN...........shhhhhh......time to pray!!!!!





If you were in Seattle this weekend, what i said is freakin hilarious...if not...you missed out big time! Thanks Carrie for the new way to pick on you for years to come!





So many of you met a new "Friend" this weekend! Here we are:

Yeah, its true, Courtney is officially a trooper! She came in, dove right in, helped out, and even helped us clean up, all weekend. Here's a 10 rad things about Courtney that I like already...

1. She doesn't sit in the corner and moap

2. She asked my mom for cold cereal at dinner time and then laughed when mom didn't know what to say!

3. She hates cats

4. I left her in a room and she functioned socially.....whoa nelly!!

5. She laughed when we retold the cheetos story!!!!!

6. She got Quinn ready for bed and sang songs to him. Hmmm, impressive!

7. She still hates cats!

8. She's stoked about trying spending time with friends and family

9. She really doesn't like respiratory therapists!!! HAHA, had to throw that in!

10. She knows the proper pronounciation of the words: JEWELRY, SUPPOSED TO, And EDUCATION!!!!!

I'd have to say, all in all, we're off to a good start with that list of qualities! We have a lot of fun together and i'm excited to get to know her more...okay, enough said about that!

To all that couldn't be there, we missed ya! And i'm not sure the next time we will all be in Seattle together, if ever again, but it sure was a ton of fun. Thanks to all that helped out with the wedding and clean up, we appreciated it. Next cousins dinner i vote we take a second to get to know each other a little better....we'll go around the room and introduce ourselves....Carrie can start!!! HAha, i love it!

In the words of my favorite uncle Carl....DAMN DOG!!

Could somebody please tell me the difference between these two pictures?

If you answered "Maddy" you'd be wrong!!! The correct answer is a $35 donation to the Utah county animal shelter! Okay, I know I won't get any sympathy from Curtis and Shandy, but everyone else laugh it up!!

So it takes a little over a month of whining to Jed to finally convince him that its in Maddy's best interest to be here at our house instead of being lonely up in Cedar Hills. I finally move her here to the side of our house and the very next morning came out to an empty Kennel!! Long story short, she ended up wandering around at the grocery store around the corner where a conerned citizen opted to take her to the pound instead of reading her tag and calling the number! So $35 later I have my dog back. Thus the title.."DAMN DOG"!!

The best part of the story was having Nalani and Jed laugh at me that night when I told them that my life had turned into a big old Country song.......Lost my wife, lost my house, my dog ran away, and I aint got no job!!!! Good grief!!

All the worry, training, feeding, cleaning up poop, walking, and affection, all for this........

I'm not always convinced it's worth it!!