Time in the Sun

We're a little late posting this update, but last weekend we went to California to visit Austin and Sarah. We hadn't seen them in a year so, like all good twins, we decided to get together for some fun in the sun. Luckily the trip coincided with Celeste and my anniversary. So it was a big 3 year celebration for us, and we celebrated by going to Celeste's favorite place: Disneyland.

Disneyland is for kids. That's my take on it. But after the trip I realized it's still for the kid at heart. Celeste fits into that category. She absolutely LOVED it. She is quite amazing. A very incredible woman. She can still get excited about even the lamest rides. As an example, we went to Star Tours. If you don't know, Star Tours is a Star Wars ride where a big group of people get seated in a "moving" room. They play this video on a big screen in the front and can shift the room up and down and sideways to make it feel like you are actually moving along with the movie that's playing. She went nuts! The rest of us came out with yawns, or a couple of fond memories of younger days when that ride seemed so cool. Not Celeste. She actually yelled out during the ride because she got so into it. And this happened all day long. All day and a half actually, since we went to California Adventures as well.

So I am grateful for a wife that is young at heart, and who will inspire mystery and awe in our kids as they grow up that Disneyland really is the place where dreams come true.

---

OK. Now on with the program. Here are some favorite moments of the trip captured on film.
First off, the best picture of all: A sleeping beauty!


And then the real one:


Other notable characters:



Since it was 95+ degrees when we were there, we all agreed that getting wet meant staying cool.
Splash Mountain:

Brooklyn is our water baby:




A trip to California wouldn't be complete without a day at the beach.



It was a fabulous getaway from the grind of the semester!

1st Birthday

Brooklyn had her first birthday this weekend.

It was lots of fun. Grandma Baillio gave her some fun books and a "see and say". Man those things are so advanced now! Mom got her a cute play stroller. She loved it. Dad got her some board books which we read together at night. Her friends got her more books, a chair, bubbles, and other fun stuff. It was a fun party and we're so happy that everyone could make it, despite the weather. It has been an exciting year for us as a fledgling family. We're excited for the next one.

A Dream is a wish....

It's always been my dream to be a princess. What girl wouldn't? Your job is to wear fancy dresses, be admired and sing to animals. Well, my dream came true! A friend asked me to be her daughters favorite princess, Cinderella, at her birthday party. So a few additions to my wedding dress, fake eyelashes and some magic dust! And Wha La!



The gig didn't require any singing to animals, so I made up for it on the walk home.

Colorado/Las Vegas Trip

Brooklyn eating toast in the Chicago Airport


Welcome home Tiana from the mission and Don from Iraq. Thanks Melinda and Afton for visiting!


Ahhh, sisters that don't look anything like each other.


Brooklyns favorite delicacy- dirt.


Cousins


more cousins


and more cousins.



and some more cousins.



My best friend from college, Erin, getting married!


Brooklyn eating BBQ with pirates.(There was alot of cleavage there.)

Home Improvements

Celeste has been a busy bee updating the house. Take a gander.


And a couple videos of Brooklyn.

Good Reads

*** Must Read
** Take a peek
* Don't think about it


*** Filled with some great algorithms/techniques and backed by the theory needed to understand the content. Pick it up if you want to do some planning.









*** A great book to get your fill of probabilistic techniques. Lacks some of the theory, but has plenty of references to point you in the right direction.









** This book fits all your Basic Control Theory needs. It only gets two ** because some of the book is boring and unhelpful. The state estimation and tracking/rejection part was pretty good. The introduction to matlab commands to calculate some of the hard matrix math was fabulous. But it could have been better.







*** Great book for Robust Control. The authors give very rigorous proofs of most of the material. They also leave a good portion up for exercises for the reader. As a student, this is wonderful because it helps you to dig into the material and really understand it. As a student, this is awful because it makes you dig into the material and proofs are never easy.



Ok. On a more serious note...

*** I really loved this book. It is basically a never-ending story. The main character begins telling a story. Along the way, whenever a new character in the story is introduced, they start telling a story (usually about who they are/why they're there, etc.) So you have these cascading stories within stories and most of the characters lives are inter-related in some way. It was a feast to read. The sequel is out and I'm going to read as soon as school is out.

















** Both fun comic books. I've been craving these for a while. They are the Marvel world drawn Manga style. Introducing the Marvel Mangaverse, the writers got to start the characters all over again. They made new storylines and new plots/villains. And since it was a limited time deal, they had no reservations in off-ing a hero or a baddie. Curious? Then check it out.

Book Update

***Must Read
** Pretty Good
* Skip It








**Neverwhere- Very strange, "Alice and Wonderland" on acid

***The Road- Wow! Post-apocalyptic journey of a father and son, that makes you want to work on your food storage.








***The Other Boleyn Girl- Now I'm obsessed with this time period. I've watched tons of documentaries, and spent alot of time on wikipedia. Since the entire book is focused on getting a male heir, its not for the prudish.








* The Ultimate Gift- Just watch the movie, a feel gooder.









* Stardust- Just watch the movie, the book is horrible.






*** The Boleyn Inheritance. Henry the 8th's, 4th and 5th wife, extremely interesting. Again not for the prudish.









* Lovely Bones- I heard so many good things about this book, but I only made it half way, skipped the rest and read the last chapter. Sorry!








*** Ptolemy's Gate- 3rd book in the Batimaeus trilogy. It was my favorite. Magicians meet a Genie.








*** Complications- I'm so proud of myself I read a non-fiction book! Ok, I had to read it for book club, but I'm sooo glad that I did. It reads like fiction and opens your eyes to the world of doctors. And I'm not talking about watching Jack on "Lost."









** Tuesdays with Morrie- Again, heard so much about the book, but to tedious for me.








**The Sweet Far Thing- 3rd book after "Great and Terrible Beauty" and "Rebel Angels". Loved the first two, but this was a disappointing conclusion. Could have done with only 350 pages not 700.








* Silas Marner- Tried to pick up a classic. Only read 3 pages and decided I'm not a literary enough. Thanks though!

More Sun

It's so nice to be able to go outside and not just tolerate the weather, but enjoy it! We spent some time gardening, weeding and playing outside. This was a beautiful weekend. It was quite enjoyable just working the land, so to speak. There was no pressure to make it better than someone else. No competition, no judgment from others, no hustle and bustle. Just quiet, hard work to pour yourself into for a few hours. It was blissful.
Listening to the 178th Annual General Conference of the Church also added to the beauty of the weekend. It was an interesting conference for me, since President Hinckley wasn't there. He's been the prophet for most of my formative years. He was the prophet of my youth. When the new prophet, President Monson, spoke, I almost expected him to sound like Pres. Hinckley or give a talk patterned like he used to give. But it when Pres. Monson spoke, he was still just Elder Monson. He told stories in his usual way, and had the usual inflections to his voice and animations in his face. He was the same man, he just carries a new mantle of power and responsibility. I am so glad there is a prophet on the earth today. Someone who can number himself among Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Peter, and Paul. Someone to lead and guide us in these crazy times. That was what I loved the most about this conference.

As for other news, my Qualifying Exam has been delayed which is fine, but a bit of an annoyance. I was so ready to take it and get it out of the way. I haven't been as attentive to my other classes because I've been so worried about this Exam. Hopefully I can take it soon. The other pressing concern on the family has been finding an apartment in Boston for the summer. Celeste has been glued to craigslist every day scouring the listings. We've found a few great places but the people are slow to respond. Maybe they're just not as anxious to make a decision as we are.

Celeste is super excited about seeing her soon-to-be returned missionary sister. Just two weeks and she'll be living it up in Colorado and Nevada, leaving me at home alone.

Brooklyn is walking! She is so cute as she patiently learns to walk around the house. She is a bright ray of joy in our lives.

The Birthday, The Birthday

After a crazy week back from Spring Break (Spring What? What's a b-r-e-a-k?) full of devastating test scores, debilitating sicknesses, and the never-ending grind of school, it was time for a birthday bash.

And boy did we bash it! The partying was non-stop this weekend and celebrations arose at every level. There were
Friends Galore:


Secret Trysts:

Wounded Warriors:(picture a dramatization of actual events)

And Happy Families.

All in all a great birthday party. I scored on the loot this year as well.

From my twin bro: More Heroscape stuff! The best is the Lexan map. We used it this weekend and it adds so much more to the board-building process. Gives me more to work with.

From the wife: A sweet new laptop-carrying backpack, new khaki pants, and pajama pants. Always the practical, essential gifts. (She knows I'll never buy them for myself, even though I need them).

From myself: Just like any other self-respecting husband, I had to spend money on myself for my birthday. So using my REI dividend, I picked up an ultimate frisbee and a Kleen Kanteen, for all that healthy livin'. (Thanks Snows for the tip.) I also purchased some comic books....yes, comic books...that I've been craving for a while.

From the parents: Cold, hard cash! And a shirt!

Not. too. shabby.

Here's a conversation Austin and I had about our 27th birthday...
Austin: happy birthday foo
me: happy birthday yourself
way to be 27
Austin: crazy huh
i feel so old!
me: i only feel kinda old. i still love kid stuff so much, that it's hard to feel old
like comic books, video games, and candy
Austin: that's true ;)
although I feel like a bum since I am 27 and still in school....
with no career and no house
me: meh

And that pretty much sums up how I felt about the big 2-7.

"Springtime the Only Pretty Ring Time"

Brooklyn is now enthralled with the outside world after a cold harsh winter.

Brooklyn checking out the squirrels and birds eating


Brooklyn enjoying the strolling for the first time.


Lookin out the front window with daddy.

New Hairs

Last Saturday, we got our hairs done. Brad is sporting the new sexy look- the fauxhawk.
And Celeste with a more mysterious looking brown. Brooklyn is just growing longer hairs.

Brooklyn Ambulating

Geeking Out

I've said it before in previous posts, but Heroscape has become my new official hobby. I like the game so much. It's not just a fun game to play with the family and friends, but a creative outlet away from the stressful semester responsibilities.

This weekend, to quote a friend, I completely crossed the line into nerd-dom. I went online to HSCodex.com and found some sweet instructions on how to build your own custom bridge. The creator's original design was a samurai bridge, which looked amazing. My craft skills aren't up to par, so I just went with the basics. Still, I thought it turned out pretty well, and I can't wait to use it.

My next project will have to be either homemade trees, derelict buildings, or some other line-of-sight blocker.

Enjoy the pics!