Pearl Harbor

This morning Ben, Dad, Nate, Quinn, and I all went to Pearl Harbor. We all got headphones and were able to do a self guided tour through the museum, the grounds, and eventually to the USS Arizona monument. It was extrememly humbling to listen to the stories, and take in the sights of those events that transpired Dec. 7, 1941. The highlight was definitely taking the Navy boat across the Harbor to the USS Arizona Memorial spot. Here are a few photos of the things we saw.

Padre and I

This is looking out across the Harbor where all the Naval ships were attacked.

Santa stopped by to remeber the fallen servicemen!

This surface to air anti-aircraft gun shoots 120 two pound shells a minute!!

A one man suicide torpedo used by the Japanese. They carried a 3000lb warhead, and although there was an escape hatch in the top, of the 114 of these used, not a single pilot is known to have used the escape hatch. Crazy a** Japanese!! Nate and I came to the conclusion that you could never talk an american into this type of warfare!!

This is the Anchor to the USS Arizona. It weighs over 20,000lbs, and because of the explosion of the armor piercing bomb dropped on the Arizona's deck, this anchor was blown more than 200 feet from the destroyer!!

This is the 3rd Gun Turret of the sunken USS Arizona

The names of the servicemen that lost their lives onboard the Arizona.

I'm not sure if Quinn even understood anything that they were talking about on his headset, but he sure seemed to be having a good time playing on all the decomissioned equipment!

All the boys getting ready to go to the USS Arizona memorial.

Flip Flop Winter

Okay, let it be said....I have been here since Thursday, and I have worn shoes about 3 hours since arriving. The rest of the time its just been me and my trusty flip flops!!

Its a Hawaiian Christmas!!

Its hard to feel bad about leaving sub-freezing weather when you realize that in just a few short hours you will be basking on an 84 degree island!! The only care of Utah that I brought with me was the Pneumonia I picked up in Morgan the week prior to my arrival to Oahu! The last week and a half at home were spent in weather that ranged from -2 to 14 degrees. It was bitter cold, but now I'm in Sunny Oahu and I couldn't feel better! The day I arrived, Kami and Ben greeted me at the airport with this beautiful Lei!

It was really fun to see them again, and I was glad she brought me the flowers, cause I felt so ripped off when I got off the plane and there were no hot hula girls putting flowers on us!!

The first night I stayed with my mom at the J.W. Marriott Ihilani Resort. Yeah, it was pretty ghetto! Our Lanai faced the ocean, and my mom woke me up at 6am so I could enjoy the Sunrise with her. We sat and chatted for about an hour as the sun rose, and I'd have to say, it was a lot of fun spending that time with her. She's pretty rad! Here's a few pics I snapped from our Lanai.

The tree in the Lobby was amazing! Here it is!

The other day Ben came home from work, and they had given him 2 tickets to the Hawaii Bowl. So today, he and I went over to the UH stadium and watched East Carolina humiliate Boise State. Our seats were kind of crappy, so we just walked down front like we knew what we were doing, and ended up sitting on the 40 yard line of Boise States side, 16 rows off the field! It was a lot of fun, and the half time show was complete with Hula and Fire dancers!!

These are my adventures thus far! I have taken some landscape photos, but I didn't bring my memory card reader for my other camera, so I'll probably just post all my "artsy" shots when I get home in a week. I'm pretty ready to quit my job and move over here though! Aloha, and Mele Kalikimaka!!

Catching up........

Okay, so its been almost two months since my last post so I thought I'd take a quick moment to spotlight some things that have been going on! First of all, a few months ago I went and saw one of my favorite singers Aaron Lewis from a band called Staind. He played an all acoustic show and covered several bands like Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc. He was freaking amazing, and my buddy Clancy and I that went together have already bought tickets to go see him again in Reno in January!! Its gonna kick some serious butt!

I also forgot to blog in September the fact that Amy invited me to go to a music festival at Thanksgiving Point. We saw several bands play, and the Headliner was another of my favorite bands called Dashboard Confessional. Below is the only shot I could get to turn out! Another band that played that night is called The Format, and they have become a favorite of mine as well. The song that plays on my blog is a Format song called Dog Problems!

And last, I went home to Seattle for Thanksgiving this last week. It was really nice and sunny the whole time I was home which is very unusual for this time of year! But it was only in the upper 30's the whole weekend, and with the humidity, it was stinking cold! Here's some travelogue pics!

This was taken from Kerrey Park on Queen Anne Hill. This is my favorite vantage point of Seattle!!

Just bein a dork as always!!

Down at the Pier

Watching the Bainbridge Fairy coming in.

I've been herassesd by several people now that I am past due for a blog update! I've had a fun and crazy month. School has started back, and I'm excited to get through this year, cause then I will be eligible to get my Residential Journeyman license! The biggest event of this month however has been my little fender bender in my truck! The picture may not look like much damage happened, but the estimate for repair was over $10,000!!!! Between the airbags deploying, and the cracked engine block, the old Ford is done for. I must however admit that it didn't really break my heart.....first......its a Ford!!....second, it was expensive to insure, and third, and most important, at 13 miles a gallon, I was on first name basis with several gas station attendants.....argggghhhh!!!! So after much deliberation and consideration, I went with a bright, shiny 1992 Toyota Camry!! Haha, Come on now....I think nothing screams family man like a good old 4 door sedan!! I've decided my new pick up line for Happy Valley girls is going to be, "Hey baby, I got room for a couple car seats in this bad boy"!!! Let me tell you some of my favorite features of my fine new automobile!....First, no A/C....okay, no problem..its getting kind of cold here....but wait, .....no Heater...hmmm, that could get old quick this time of year...also, It has a sunroof that doesn't open, and my window switch is falling out of my door, which is to be expected since I paid extra for that feature!!, but dont worry, cause it has a fresh Maaco paint job on it!!! Its a tight ride, i'm here to tell ya! But the insurance is cheap, its paid for, and It gets 24-30 miles per gallon.....So between my new ride and my new no Mt. Dew diet, Maverik is really feeling an economic impact!! Okay, enough of that, here's the pics!

Before

After!!

A New Companion.........

Okay, enough already, I'm not posting another picture of another random date!...although I did trade in my old flame for a newer, sexier, younger model!! Do you hear that sound thats playing?? Thats the sound of young love!! This weekend, Chris found a smokin deal on a 2004 Honda VTX 1300C, and when I saw it, it was love at first sight! So after some finageling, I talked it out of him, and now I have a new leading lady! The color is a Burnt Orange with metallic in it. I'll have to take some pics during the day when I get it all shined up, but I couldn't wait to post it, so thus, the night shots! Last night when Tiffany and I went for a ride she said to me, "What girl in her right mind wouldn't want her man to have a bike?" Good question Tiffany, and......what do ya say to that??

Heeellllloooo sexy new machine!!

The old 2001 Suzuki Volusia 800

Maddy's New Home!

Okay, I think I'm over it enough to finally talk about it! About a month ago I came to the realization that my dog Maddy just wasn't living the life that she deserved. I have become extremely preoccupied with living life and not spending enough time with her. When I was married it was really easy cause Karena worked all the time, and when I came home from work or school, I could just play with her and spend time with her. But I have come to the realization that I wasn't spending any time with her, and she lived her life cooped up in her kennel. So I decided that as friendly as she is, it was time to find her a home with plenty of children to play with, and a yard to run around in. So I posted an add on KSL.com and about a half hour later I had found a family to take her!! She now lives in Spanish Fork with a great family of 3 children and a big fenced yard. It was bitter-sweet, but I know she's much happier! So here's to Maddy!!

I'm a model ya know what i mean.............

So my cousin Kim brought this picture to the reunion and gave it to me, and I thought I was going to die laughing! So here's the setup.....It was 1985, White Nike's were still cool, as were Wranglers (In Idaho anyway!).....or maybe they were Sears "Toughskins" jeans......oh, but wait, at least the popped collar has made its way back!! So my cousin Kim worked at one of the stores in the mall, and they were doing a back to school fashion show...so at the ripe age of 7, I began my modeling career! But havn't been able to book a gig since!!...alright peeps...laugh it up!!!

Grandpa Oram turns 89!

Just got back from a short weekend trip to Idaho to have a small family reunion and to celebrate Grandpa Oram's 89th B-Day!! It was so much fun to see the family again. Although I must admit, that the older I get, it seems the less I know who belongs to who! In fact, my Cousin Kathy totally busted me out on it, cause I was trying to get some little kid out of a photo I was trying to shoot, and she told me, "ya know, Cody, If you knew their names it would make it a lot easier!" Oh well, what do ya do, right?! Anyhow, we had a great time, and I was able to get family pics of I think every family there....so here are some highlight of the weekend.....

Okay, first things first.....Jed and I never know when to quit teasing each other.....but I'll admit, it usually ends by me burning Jed so bad all he can do is smack me around a little!!

Grandpa is quite the character!!...Dude, you gotta expand this one and check out his nifty napkin holder!!! Believe it or not, he may be old, but he can sure still bark orders from this position!!

I love the look in Jed's face!!!

I sure love my little nephew Quinn...he's such a cute kid!

Here's the whole fam damily!! Our family now spans 5 generations!!

Us kids with mom and dad.

The two that started it all. Happy 89th Grandpa Oram!

A night at the mall

Monday night, Tiffany, Gavin, and I met up with Nalani & Jed, and our friends Cade & Carriann, and their daughter Peyton. We ate at the good old California Pizza Kitchen! (Thanks for the hookup Shandi!!) After dinner, Tiffany and I took Gavin down to the play area. They have a big treehouse playground in the middle of the mall, and Gavin sure did eat it up! I loved a few of the pics I took! I had a funny experience carrying Gavin back to the car... Tiffany ordered him a kids root beer, most of which ended up on my shirt via a soaked diaper. As I carried him back to the car I kept thinking to myself...my stomach feels wet.....hmmmmm....what can ya do but laugh!

It took some careful study from the bottom of the slide for Gavin to get his courage up to go all the way to the top and try what the other little kids were doing!

One foot at a time....slowly but surely....you can do it kiddo!!!

Okay....he finally has the courage.......

Whew....we made if safe and sound!! I was really getting a chuckle out of this whole sequence of events, and I guess I had forgotten how intimidating something like this can be to a kid! Its been so fun though to be around this little guy. He's really opened my eyes and brought a lot of perspective to many things. Crazy how that works!.....oh yeah.....and just for good measure, ...........Tiffany got ahold of my camera and just had to show off her amazing pedicure!!

Squaw Peak

Today I went over to Tiffany's house after church for dinner. She had made Cincinnati Chili, and it was freakin tasty! She also makes some dang good peach cobbler! Anyhow, we played some cards with her parents. They are great people, and a lot of fun. Her dad is an Athletic Director at BYU and her mom is an MA at a Doctors office. Tiffany's little boy Gavin is 1 1/2 and he is sooo into climbing anything and everything! I got a good chuckle watching him climb all over everything and getting into everything! Definitely mischievous! Anyhow, later on we went for a ride up Squaw Peak to watch the sunset. It was tons of fun, and she hasn't told me to stop calling her, so I guess our "friendship" is still progressing!!

Looks like she chopped her hair, but its just in a pony tail!

The Sunset was amazing tonight! Looking West over Utah Lake.

Silver Lake Creek

This afternoon Luke Isley and I drove up American Fork Canyon, up Tibble Fork, and eventually to Silver Lake. A mile or so past Silver Lake is the creek that feeds silver lake. We got out of my truck and hiked through the brush to get to the creek, and into some spots to take some photos. We hiked maybe a quarter mile up the creek bed photographing. We gave ourselfves the assignment of water. It was really pretty up there, and I'd love to go back up both in fall for the color, and in spring to get more water! Anyhow, these are a few images I captured.

Luke and I in the Creek Bed.