Meeting Nie

This past Friday night, I took advantage of a night to myself and headed out shopping (Josh was at an MMA event with his friends). I spent some quality alone time at the Gateway outdoor mall. It is lovely there this time of year, I suggest you go if you live in the area. I was on a quest to find some digs to wear for our family photo for this year's Christmas card.

As I walked into J Crew who was I to see other than the popular Stephanie and Christian Nielson. If you don't know who Stephanie is, I highly recommend you start reading her blog. It is my favorite daily read. If you do choose to read, you will see why everyone loves her. She is one of my heroes and I adore her completely. I noticed both Stephanie and Christian right as I walked in the store. For several minutes I debated whether or not I should tell her how inspirational she is and how much I love her. I decided against it, thinking that living in UT where everyone knows who she is, she must get that a lot. I figured she would probably appreciate a more normal, uninterrupted shopping experience. So instead, I decided as we were standing across from each other at a display table, I would compliment her on her fabulous sweater, tell her she looked beautiful in it and be on my merry way. And that's exactly what I did. She was sweet and very gracious. Maybe one day I will write her a letter telling her how excited I was to see her. For now, I will just enjoy my matching Anthro sweater and think of her every time I wear it or step foot in a J Crew.

Calling all girls!

My best friend Ashley Howard is a health and fitness guru. She is a nutrition expert and a fantastic personal trainer. I have trained with her, taken her classes, and respected her healthy life style for years. She has the most amazing body I have ever seen. Ash just had a baby August 27 of this year (not even 3 months ago) and she already has her pre-baby body back. I know, gag. She is gorgeous, driven, a great wife, mom, and is sweet to boot.

Anyway, she will be teaching new boot camp and cardio pilates classes at the beginning of the year. The classes will run for 5 weeks and are only $75! I know they will be incredible. The classes will start in January, just in time for everyone to recommit and make New Year's resolutions. They will be held in the Valencia, CA area. Spots are limited so book asap. Get ready to learn about fitness and nutrition on a level you never have before. She will push you, teach you, inspire you, and help you reach your health and fitness goals. I guarantee you will see and feel results if you take these classes. Visit her site for more information.

Ladies, meet your new personal trainer, Ashley. I know you will love her instantly.

Boo!

Halloween week was a busy one for us. We hit it off with our annual pumpkin carving night with Matt and Brooke, which is always fun.

Josh carved a very intricate design into his pumpkin. To see the final result you'll have to enlarge the very last picture of this post. We were all quite proud of it.

The final results (Josh's wasn't quite done yet)

The night before Halloween we hosted a very thrown-together-at-the-last-minute party. It was still fun to see all of our friends and eat yummy fall food.

Joe and Tori definitely took the cake for having the funniest costumes of the night. They came as me and Josh and they nailed it. Tori said they studied pictures for weeks in order to get it right.

They had everything from our accessories to our hobbies right.

When we answered the door this is what we saw. She was on her knees being short and everything. It was pretty hilarious.

We had Mario and Princess Peach,

Risky Business Tom Cruise,

two bunches of grapes,

Wesley and Buttercup,

Carly and Dustin as Dustin and Carly,

Kanye West and Taylor Swift,

and Dr. Brock was even able to come for a bit, in his work ensemble.

We played a couple of games and hung out most of the night.

Oh Halloween my brothers came up for the night. We were entertained when the two of them got into our costume box. This is what they came up with:

Russian ballerina with basketball goggles guy

Luke and I carved pumpkins.

and sparkly purple shirt guy with a uni-brow, and a work out dude.

We spent the night watching a movie and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. I LOVED having trick-or-treaters. This was our first year in a house so it was especially fun, because it was our first year getting them. The little boys had about 20 friends over and they went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. It was a fun and easy day.

So I cropped this picture so it would just show Josh's pumpkin but for some reason it isn't uploading the cropped, saved version. You'll just have to click on it to see his Ron Burgundy. It's quite good.

27 and counting...

Today is Joshua's birthday. In order to properly celebrate this special occasion we both felt the need to take the day off from work. We did only what he wanted to do and it was awesome. Breakfast was spent eating at Eggs in the City. It was delicious as always. The rest of our day we shopped, sharing our time between downtown Salt Lake and Park City. The Mr. got some much needed athletic wear, new shoes, and some football cleats. We also selected new hardware for our master bathroom (finally!) from none other than Anthropologie. We shared a milkshake, and refinished a chandelier which is now dangling above out dining room table. We enjoyed Josh's new favorite meal over Monday night football, and he blew out a candle on his birthday cake. It was a splendid day.

Here are some pictures of Josh over the years.

He is cute even when he dresses up and makes spaztastic faces.

This year in celebration of Josh's life, I had some of his closest family members and friends write him notes filled with memories and things they admire him for. I made a big card for him and filled it with all of the letters he received from his loved ones. Here are only a few of letters people wrote him:

Given the opportunity to talk about Josh, I will have to tie the stories into something about me, naturally. I always remember Josh being really good at building things. Once, when I was about 11-12 (Josh 8-9), I was of the age when it was really cool to build a fort in your yard, to do awesome boy-stuff in. I was fairly proud of my two-story fort i had made from salvaged ply-wood from neighboring construction zones. A few weeks later, I noticed Josh caught on to the manly idea and began a similar project. To my dismay, he went to the hardware store and bought much more expensive, stronger, and better-looking wood than I had. Josh's construction was constructed better, and more esthetically pleasing than my gradually-disappointing attempt. His probably could have held Oprah Winfrey, in all of her fat-glory, while mine probably ended up falling down. Of course, I attribute Josh's superiority in this sense, to myself. He probably wanted to show me up in everything, because of that time he tried to enter a different fort I'd built, but was frustrated by about four mousetraps I had strategically set for his little hands and feet. Ha! It was totally worth having a crappier fort Josh.
-Dan

I like Josh mainly for his lifting abilities. It's nice to have a 
friend that used to move piano's for a living. I guess I also like him 
for how genuine he is. I think a lot of people put on a phony front 
but if he is your friend it is because he truly is. I respect him for 
his desire to not speak badly about others. Those who do speak badly 
about others do it to boost their own self image (me included). I 
respect him for that quality and it he helps me want to improve and 
speak only kind words about others.

But all of that is secondary to the fact I can call him to help me 
move something heavy.
-Matt

A couple of my favorite stories of Josh involve sports. He was I think eleven years old and making the transition in Little League from the minors to the majors and thought he would like to be a pitcher. So we took our gloves and headed to Anzak Park for some practice, we hadn,t been there very long before a struggling Josh bounced one in the dirt and right under my glove to where a gentlemen does not want to be hit. After rolling on the ground for a couple of minutes and watching Josh trying not to laugh, I suggested that maybe we should work on his hitting. By convincing Josh to hold his bat higher he quickly turned into one of the best power hitters on the team culminating in a two homerun game and a spot on the All-Star team.
-Sam Sr.

Josh is the golden child. He is every parent's dream kid. He has a sweet and tender
personality, a good sense of humor, is smart as the dickens, is ambitious and successful
at whatever he attempts, and has a great moral character as well. What's not to like?
I love being around Josh. I love his Scooby-Doo laugh. He's always up for a good time
or an intelligent discussion. I love that he's a worthy contender at Boggle and
Scramble. Probably THE most worthy that I know of!

I have lots of fond memories of Josh. One of my favorites is going mountain biking
with him up to Dog Lake before my mission. He totally kicked my trash, but it was so
fun to spend some quality brother/sister time together before life got too crazy.

When we were quite young (probably 12 and 18), I'll always remember being in Mexico
with our family and my mom putting Josh and I in a taxi BY OURSELVES to go cave diving
in a cenote. It was quite the adventure and Josh was such a little trooper.

I love you, little brother! Happy Birthday!!!!

Rachel

I simply love everything about Josh! It seems he is the perfect man! A great husband to you, humble, smart, adorable, funny, ambitious, honorable, kind....I could go on and on. But,a silly memory and also sweet memory of Josh is when we were in Utah visiting all of you for Christmas and I mentioned I loved Godiva chocolate Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory . A couple of hours later...... who brings me cheesecake??? My man JOSH!! He is the best. It just shows how thoughtful he is! I look forward to many years of hanging out with Josh in the future. (maybe more cheesecake??heehee)

Happy Birthday to you!!! I love you.

Aunt Pammy

I sincerely think Josh is great because when goofiness and brilliance meet, they create a perfect storm. The name of that storm? "Asher Brown."
Regards,
Mike Henriksen (AKA "Crazy")

My favorite thing about Josh is that he dreams about me. I know creepy. But don't worry, it gets even creepier. Not only does he dream about me, he dreams about my body. Allow me to explain.

The other morning I awake to a text from Josh. In this text he explains that dreamt that we were together for thanksgiving. Being thanksgiving, we decided to play football. In his dream, he then notices that I am blessed with a god like body. My muscles are large, yet lean. The sun makes the sweat on my chest glisten. He stands in amazement admiring the physical specimen I have become. And not only do I look great, but I embarrass him on the field. I single handedly defeat josh's team.

Josh promply wakes up, a bit aroused, but disappointed that the dream is over. He texts me his dream and i reassure him that his dream is an accurate depiction of reality So yes, this is my favorite memory of Josh. i admire that he is man enough to admit that he has the hots for me.

I also like Josh because he smart. He is good at things that I am not, like numbers and making things.
-Chris

I like josh for his smart aleck comments... also cause he's my punching bag
-Luke

HAPPY 27th BIRTHDAY JOSH!

I was 27 when I gave birth to you - it's a good age to be! And I'm so grateful to be your Mom! You have always brought me great happiness, and I thank you for that. It's a big deal to a Mom - how her children turn out - and you are exceptional in every way. You were a gorgeous baby and even in a city with extraordinarily beautiful children, you were a standout. People would stop me wherever I went to look at you and admire your dimples and curly dark hair. And you're still pretty good looking. Much more importantly, you have always been good. You were an angel of a baby - slept through the night at two weeks, and rarely cried. You were happy and healthy and fun to raise. You have a strongly developed sense of right and wrong, you have common sense, and you have chosen to honor God with your life. That means everything to me. You have been the son every parent longs to have - kind, thoughtful, smart, hard working, honest, and funny. Besides all that, you are an amazing handyman. You have a gift for understanding how things work and how to fix them. But enough - I don't want you to get a big head. Oh wait, you do have a big head - you get that from me! Holds all those brains!

The best decision you ever made was to marry the right girl. Courtney is a dream of a wife, and I am so glad you have her. I like to take a little of the credit - I prayed so hard for you to meet her that day! She asked us to remember funny stories. My favorite is when we were on the airplane going to Hawaii. You were six years old, and had a great curiosity about everything. You went to the bathroom and were in there for the longest time! I knew you were pushing every button, looking into every cupboard, playing with the water. Eventually you came walking down the aisle with a kotex in your hand, and announced loudly "Look Mommy - they have little pillows that stick to your seat!"Funny boy!

I love you with all my heart - thank you for being a wonderful son, a great husband, and a sweet brother. I know you'll be the best Dad in the world. Hint, hint.

ALL MY LOVE - MOM

I would love to list them all but this post would be about 4 pages long. As you can tell, Josh is admired by everyone who knows him. He is smart, kind, funny, handsome, and just about the coolest cat in town. I am lucky to call him my husband.

Happy 27th Joshua Ray!