Drake Family Diaries

Long time, no see...

2011-07-07T21:19:00.000-06:00

Hi there,

I know its been to long. I really haven't been very dedicated to this as I should have. So I'm going to try and be better. In the meantime, here are a few videos of what we've been up to.

In reverse chronological order: July 7th, went to Red Butte Gardens and saw Pink Martini.

On the 4th of July, we plain in the water...multiple times.

In May, we went to Moab with Erin and Zar and Ella. We had a blast!

This is just a fun video that I made with a Super 8 app on my iPhone.

I'll try and be better about little updates here and there. So many social media sites, I wish they all tied together somehow.

Cheer Me On!!!

2011-04-12T10:29:00.000-06:00

Hey all,

Sorry its been a while. I hope to post more often. So in case you haven't heard (or I haven't yak'd your ear off about it yet), I'm running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon this Saturday! I've trained hard and hope to finish in my goal time. Some of you have asked about when it is and where you can see me and cheer me on. Although you shouldn't feel required to come, it would be nice to see some familiar face when the going gets tough. You can find the map of the course HERE and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the course and mile markers. The gun blows promptly at 7 am. I had riginally planned to complete by 3 hrs, but have a lofty goal of 2:30:00. realistically, my average time should be around 2:45:00. That being said, here is a list of my average splits per mile for a 2:45:00 pace.

Splits		Times
1	Mile	00:12:35.72
2	Mile	00:25:11.45
3	Mile	00:37:47.17
4	Mile	00:50:22.90
5	Mile	01:02:58.62
6	Mile	01:15:34.35
7	Mile	01:28:10.07
8	Mile	01:40:45.80
9	Mile	01:53:21.52
10	Mile	02:05:57.25
11	Mile	02:18:32.97
12	Mile	02:31:08.70
13	Mile	02:43:44.42
13.1	Mile	02:45:00

So here comes the math part! If you want to plan on when and where you can cheer me on, find the place you want to wait for me on the map, make note of the distance in miles, find that distance on the split list, take that time, and add that time to the 7 am start time. that should give you an idea of what time I should be passing by that area, give or take 15 min just to be safe. So example, mile 10 is in liberty park. The split time for liberty park is 2:05:57, so I should be around the liberty park area between 8:45 and 9:15 am.

The Salt Lake City Marathon Official map shows a few good cheer locations HERE. I hope to see some familiar faces, big signs, balloons, cow bells, and gongs! But if I can't get that, at least a smile and yell would do. and If not that, feel free to log onto facebook and look for my 7:00 am post for starting the race and post comments and likes. My nike running app will give me cheers as well. It should be a fun time!

PS: Hopefully this wont be me!

Kayaking the Provo

2010-08-30T15:26:00.002-06:00

So Katie bought "tickets" for myself and her dad for us to float the Provo river for fathers day. We were finally able to use them this last weekend. The "tickets" counted toward either a large party raft or individual kayaks and we could either go guided or unguided. We opted for kayaks and to be guided, because we weren't familiar with the river, and guides can be cool and informative and give you the behind-the-scenes goodies. We had a blast even when the wind was strong enough to push us up river at times.

Above us Jarom, our guide, myself and Von, my father-in-law. Yeah I know I have a terrible farmers tan :-(

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Running on Vacation

2010-08-03T14:52:00.000-06:00

So this weekend, we have our annual family trip to Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival. Its going to be a whirlwind trip with 6 plays in 3 days, but that's what you do when your strapped for vacation time and you have a small kid (who we adore!) Any way, I'm training for a running race in September, and I need to run while I'm down there. I tried to map out a course in Google maps, and this is what I got.

View Larger Map
And that's when I realized that I'll be running around about 1/4 of the city. I know that its a small town, but it just seams so much bigger when your driving around it. Especially when you head North along Main Street. so wish me luck. Hopefully I don't die in the heat!

Learning to garden: green thumb 101

2010-07-31T23:38:00.001-06:00

So this I've written about our garden before, but tonight we have a first. Our very first vegetables of our labor, as it may be. I came home and noticed that one of the zucchinis was ready to pick.

This was what I saw when I started to look around and move the leaves.
This was our first pick from our garden.

But it's not the only growth we are having. If you look carefully, you can see some yellow squash in the massive over growth that is the summer squash bush. The leaves are the size of toilet seats!

We have a few tomatoes forming, but not as much as I'd like. We also have some peppers popping out. One head of lettuce is almost ready and our apricot tree is spewing fruit left and right, even though we've lost like 1/3 of the tree. We need to break out the canning hardware.

So I'll let you know how out learning process continues and hopefully I don't screw it up too much.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Symphony, Disney & Discovery

2010-07-26T12:36:00.001-06:00

So this last weekend was full of family fun. Friday we went to Deer Valley and got to see the Utah Symphony perform Disney songs from classics such as Mary Poppins, Beauty & the Beast, It's a Small World, and many more. We had a blast.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, Zar was nice enough to share some tickets to the Discovery Gateway with us. Carrie loved it and had so much fun, but man what a madhouse. There were kids everywhere, and she had a few moments of poor sharing, and screams when we had to let someone else have a turn, or even just moving on to the next place. She's still a little young for a lot of the stuff, but we had fun anyway.

Carrie loved the farm section and really liked the horse, but freaked out when we let go of her.

I think the water feature made the biggest splash (see what I did there)!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm an idiot!

2010-07-10T11:46:00.001-06:00

So after a year-and-a-half of my photo blog being created, and 8-9 months of it not being updated, I just realized that I had misspelled the tittle, and the address! I had it as "Lense" instead of Lens. And since Seen Through The Lens has already been taken, I had to change it to Seen Through the Lenses. If you follow it, first thanks, I'm trying to update it and post some more pictures there. Second, please update your reader or link it to the new address of www.seenthroughthelenses.blogspot.com

Take a poll, please

2010-07-08T16:10:00.001-06:00

So with Bloggers new design features, I've also been playing around with some of the "gadgets" and among those, I've added a few polls to the side of the blog.
<---------------------
Please take a moment and share your answers to help me understand more of my audience and how you all interact with my blog. It'll help me create a more inviting and useful blog.

PS. Thanks for following our antics!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dawn

2010-07-08T15:06:00.003-06:00

Took this snapshot while out on an early morning run this morning. I'm training for a 5 man marathon relay in September. And since it's so hot in the evenings, vie had to start to exercise in the mornings, which for me is like 5:45.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dancing in the Fountain

2010-07-05T11:18:00.002-06:00

This last weekend, Caroline and I went for a play date with Chrysi and Clair down to the fountain at the Gateway. Caroline enjoyed it, and had fun, even though she was a little hesitant about getting wet and the water jets. But she really had a blast once the fountains special show happened. Music played, water sprayed, and the litle girl danced her heart out!

Bloggers new templates and designs

2010-07-01T13:55:00.001-06:00

I like that blogger has made the templates and design of blogs easier, cleaner, and more interesting. I look forward to trying out a few new designs. So expect a few posts with nothing but an announcement of a new blog layout.

Back to work, that is all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Belt Route,Salt Lake City,United States

The bouncy house

2010-06-30T22:38:00.002-06:00

Eat all your veggies!

2010-05-30T21:23:00.001-06:00

The garden is done being "constructed"! We've got the drip system compleated and connected to the timer so now it's worry free watering.

I've got all of our starts in the ground. They include tomatos, tomatillos, cucumbers, beets, lettuce, corn, asparigus, squash, zuchini, chilli peppers, and bell peppers.

I still have to plant some onions, garlic, carrots, spinach, peas, green beans, melons, and some cilantro. But the tough (ie. expensive) stuff is done. Now it's just playing the waiting game, especially with the asparigus!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Boxes ready for plants!

2010-05-29T15:03:00.000-06:00

Well, the boxes are finally done, and I'm just finishing up the drip system. I've got a few starts and seedligs going in the closest box, but the back three are waiting to be filled.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Family camping trip - base camp

2010-05-15T11:09:00.001-06:00

So we've gone camping with some friends. Were staying in Green River, and goingto visit and hike in Goblin Valley State Park. We set up camp last nightin the dark. Caroline slept really well after some appreihention.

Breakfast of champions!

Cooking area of champions!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W South Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

Pre-race

2010-05-08T08:19:00.001-06:00

Me before the race. Expect a post race shot of me laying in a pool of my own vomit!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W South Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

Race for the Cure

2010-04-27T11:50:00.002-06:00

So I'm running the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday, May 8th. I'm excited because I've been getting more fit and have set personal goals for myself. But there's a problem. I've set a goal of raising $200 in donations by race day. I figure if I can get $10 from 20 people by then, I'll be golden. There is nothing in it for me except the joy of helping out. So please help me an help those fighting everyday and those affected by those around them with cancer. Donate to a great cause and orginazation fighting to help make a difference.

Visit my personal Komen page to donate at www.komenslc.org/participant/AlexDrake to make a donation in my name and for all those that need the help. And remember to donate as much as you can. If we hit my $200 goal, that's great. But if we collect more, EVEN BETTER!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Working for your meals

2010-04-24T22:08:00.002-06:00

So I've had a pretty major project that I've been working on and have also put off since we bought our house in Sept. '08. The previous owners had a vegitable garden in the back yard. They worked it all right into the ground. I had hoped to keep it up and start my own above ground garden plots. But one thing after another, March turned to May, turned to July, turned to September. It wasn't gona happen in 09.

I wasn't going to let that happen again. This year, with the mild winter we got, I was able to get an early jump on the garden. In late February, early March, I cleared out te weeds and rented a tiller. I didn't want to have to work in what may or may not be good, workable soil. I also REALLY REALLY didn't want to have to deal with the weeds. That why I wanted the above ground boxes.

(before the tilling)

(after the tilling)

(my dad helping construct the boxes)

Once I was able to till and flaten the soil, we laid down some weed guard, spiked it all down, and placed the boxes in their appropriet spots.

Today I spent all afternoon working the mix for the boxes. They are finally ready for the plants. I have started a few plants from seeds and they are almost ready for transplanting. But I'm going to have to take a trip to the nursery to get other starts.

(ready for plants)

What am I planting you ask? Tomatos, tomatillos, zuchini, cucumber, melons, corn, asparigus, onions, garlic, carrots, letuce, spinach, and I think that's it. I'll post a picture of my planting layout so that you can get an idea of what it's going to look like.

Want to learn more? Check out Square Foot Gardening for more info. If we all grew some of our own vegitable, the world would be a better place and world hunger would start to decrease!

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:E Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Old Spice Body Blocker Comercials

2010-04-23T19:37:00.003-06:00

These are some of the best, funniest comercials ever. Why can't multi-million dollar super bowl comercials be more like these?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7PD4f5uTOU&feature=youtube_gdata

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:S Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Opening night at the Bees!

2010-04-16T21:23:00.000-06:00

Good ties, great friends, and an all-American past time.

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:SW Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

I'm back and I'm packin' heat!

2010-04-15T23:58:00.001-06:00

So I realize that it's been forever and a year since I've posted anything here. I hope to change that and resume sharing tidbits from our lives.

I can hear you now, "Well what can we expect?" you say.

Well, you ready? I've got a sweet new iPhone app that let's me do mobile posts. So it's super easy f or me to add a small post, a few pictures, or even a video or two. Then, Caroline is groing so fast, I'm sure you'll be seeing a bunch of her shinanigans. Next up, I'm starting a vegitable garden in the back yard. Expect to see my dablings of the green thumb.

So to get you all excited for what's coming up, here is a great picture.

-- Post From My iPhone

Test post

2010-04-15T18:12:00.001-06:00

This is a test.

This is a test. :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Wasatch Blvd,Salt Lake City,United States

What the future holds

2009-07-16T07:47:00.003-06:00

I am a geek. That's right, you heard me. I am a total geek, and even a bit of a nerd. Ever since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated with all things space and science fiction. I grew up watching a bit of the old Star Trek, the newer creations of that show, Star Wars, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, and many others. In elementary school, I was part of a young astronomers and astronauts after school group. I was convinced that I was going to go on to NASA and wear one of those stylin' white space suites. Sadly, I soon realized that with my poor vision, that would never happen.

Anyway, today, it hasn't changed much, I still love sci-fi shows and movies, I love watching the space launches, and even got to see the space shuttle piggy backed on the 747 transport plane a few years back when it landed in Salt Lake. My heart was dropped when I saw the Columbia break up on re-entry in 2003. So when I woke up and saw this on the news, it makes me worried...

I grew up imagining, and even still today, hope that there is life somewhere out there, and that our human race will find a future in space. So when the Government said that they are cutting back and beginning to retire the space program, it starts to shatter some kids, and even adults, dreams. I hope that the future holds something for our children to aspire to. Our parents got to see the first men in space, and even the first moon landing. We've gone much farther, but we're still tethered here on earth. I will continue to look to the stars, even when our government doesn't.

P.S. I just found this great site wechoosethemoon.org that chronicles in real time the Apollo 11 moon landing mission. Its the 40th anniversary, and we should all remember that great moment. Especially those of us that weren't around.

Our favorite show

2009-07-09T23:38:00.002-06:00

So weve recently found this show to be one of the most entertaining shows on television. I dare you to watch this clip and try to not watch more. Once you see it, you'll be hooked.

Back from Cedar City

2009-07-09T22:23:00.004-06:00

Well, we've been back from Cedar city for about a week. And it just seems like we didn't have enough time there. So every year we make our yearly homage trek to pay respects to the king of theater.....Sir William Shakespeare.

Usually we try and spend a full week, see one play a day, and spread it out over time. We also try and stay there over a full weekend. Since there are no plays on Sunday, it gives us a full day to go to Zions, Bryce, Brian Head, or wherever we feel like.

Unfortunately, we could only bee there for about 3.5 days. Luckily, Von and Marianne (Katie's parents) were there with us and they were nice enough to watch Caroline while we saw 1 or 2 plays a day from Thursday Night to Saturday night. The shows were great, we loved them all, and they always do such a great, professional job there.

Seeing as we were there over the 4th of July, we thought it was fitting that we should participate in some of the local activities. During the day, at the local park, there was a great party with food booths, blow up bouncy house slides, and craft tents to tantalizing the inner kids in us all. Unfortunately it was a little too much fun for one little girl. (See above).

The other "must see and do" at the fest is the Green Show. Its an old-timey entertainment show with dancing, singing, comedy, live music, and fun for all ages. Caroline really enjoyed seeing the dancers and listening to the music. But mostly, she enjoyed playing with the grass.

On Sunday, before our sad trip home, Von and I decided to go on a photo-hike. I probably took more than 3 gigs of pictures, and we had a blast. i love hiking in southern Utah. It started out as a dry hike up a mountainside. Then it turned into a hike in a shaded valley. Then became a meandering trail that crossed a stream many times. Then transmorphed magically right before our eyes into a beautiful narrow riverbed. It really is a great, short hike. If your interested in it, google "Kanarra Creek Canyon Hike". I highly recommend it.

So until next year, "parting is such sweet sorrow, hasta el proximo ano"

Whirl-wind Week

2009-07-03T08:49:00.010-06:00

Wow, what a week its been. Where do I start.....

So Katie's sister heather is leaving on a mission. She was called to the Santa Maria, Brazil mission. But instead of going to the MTC here in Provo, she was sent to the MTC in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its been a very emotional week filled with lots of family time spent together doing pretty much nothing. Just being together. I know that means a lot to Katie to be able to be there for Heather. Heather left on Tuesday morning.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. So to be able to spend as much time as we can with Heather before she left, two weeks ago, we all went up and spent the weekend in Park City with Katie's Family. We stayed practically right above the ticket sales booth at the foot of the lifts. It was a quite rainy, but we made the most of it. We rode the Mountain Coaster twice and just hung out around town. We had a blast and got to spend oodles of time with heather, and most importantly, Heather got to spend oodles of time with Caroline.

Then on Wednesday the 24th, we had a BBQ over at Uncle Max and Aunt Sue's house. They were leaving for a 2 week tour of Italy, so they would be missing Heathers farewell. They enjoyed seeing her, and she had so much fun over there....even if big ol Max looks scary, hes just a big softy on the inside. Hes great with kids too.

But the cutest thing was while we were over at Max and Sue's, Caroline was really interested in a little water fountain in their backyard. She really enjoyed splashing in it, and playing with the water. As Katie was holding her, I told Katie to let go of her. Katie was was like "what? are you mad?" I said just let go and see what happens. She held herself up so well like a big girl. We were all so proud.

Then she had her farewell in her ward and we had a goodbye party at their house. Lots of people showed up and we all had fun.

Then the morning of Tuesday, Katie Caroline and I went over to their house to have one more breakfast with Heather and the fam be fore she was off. It kind of reminded us of the months before our wedding. Every sunday, we'de gather at their house for either a sunday breakfast, or brunch and then discuss wedding plans. I really enjoyed it.

Then we were off to the airport. It was a very hard time for everyone. We found 4 other missionaries going to the Sao Paulo MTC, but none of them were going to the Santa Maria mission. There was one sister there that was going to the Sao Paulo East mission, and her younger brother was heading off to Australia 2 weeks later. Crazy!

On Wednesday, We celebrated what would have been Charlotte's 4th birthday. We had friends and family there. It was at Shannon's house and we had a little BBQ. Katie and were in charge of the meat. We decided to use Suzi's Kalbi BBQ recipet for chicken and flank steak. Katie was up late Tuesday night preparing it and we let it marinate overnight and all day Wednesday. Then I cooked it on their grill. Unfortunatley the recipet is a very inexact science (ie, some of this, a little of that, enough of this other ingredient to make it sweeter, and a dash of some more stuff). I think it turned out well, but it could have been a bit sweeter. I also think that I might have overcooked it all just a bit. The chicken wasn't as juicy as it could have been, and the flank steak was medium well to almost well done/chared. I know that thats how Katie likes her meat, but I preffere mine to still have some pink in it.

We are now up down in Cedar City enjoying the Shakespearean Festival. We are having a blast and never want it to end. Sadly, we'll have to come home on Sunday. Until then though, we'll enjoy celebrating our independence by seen some old English plays!

Family Portraits

2009-06-23T12:35:00.008-06:00

So back at the end of May, we decided to get some family portraits done. Katie's friend Erin had used a professional photographer to do some portraits of Ella, so Katie decided to use her also. Being an avid yet novice photographer myself, I tried to not interject with "well I can just do it and save us some money."

We just got the disk of images the other day, and I'm so glad the went with the professional because they turned out great. I really couldn't have done any better. Her Name is Kathrine Wallin and she was a great photographer. You can find her blog HERE.
She did such a great job with Caroline and was very nice. Caroline had such a great time in the park and loved all the flowers around her. Unfortunately, it was during her morning nap time, so she didn't last very long. Towards the end of the photo shoot, we could all tell that she was getting quite tired and done with being posed and having the camera in her face. Fortunately, I've trained her well for that!
I hope that you all enjoy these images as much as we enjoyed having them taken. Kathrine Wallin gave us the rights to the pictures so if any of you want any copies, just let us know. These are just a smattering of the better ones.
This was over at the stream coming out of Memory Grove. The water was so cold that morning. We tried to get all of our feet in it, but it was running a bit to fast to stand in and I could barely stand to have my feet in it for more than a few minutes.
Caroline has the most beautiful eyes. She looked at me like this when she was born, and I never get tired of looking into her eyes and wondering what is going on in her little mind.

Dance like no body is watching!

2009-06-01T09:54:00.004-06:00

Last Wednesday, we had the great opportunity to see my younger cousin Macenzie in her annual dance recital. She had been working so hard all year on getting all the steps down, and perfecting her techniques. I think that that she did a great job.
She has struggled a bit with what the doctors have determined to be muscular dystrophy. Ever since I knew her, she has had a bit of trouble walking and running without tripping over, or keeping her balance. I think that the dance classes have really helped her to over come those physical obsticals.
Seeing younger girls dance though is just good fun. There's always one or two that know the routine pretty well, then half of them have trouble following the teachers that are performing it in the wing away from view of the audience, and then there's one or two that either don't dance and look for their family in the audience and just wave, or sit down, or get scared and run off stage. Great fun!
Macenzie looked great in all of her dances, and in all of her outfits.

My new photoblog

2009-05-27T23:17:00.004-06:00

So I've decided to take my amateur photography to the next step. I've created my own photography blog. I have asperations to fill it with more of my own works as an excuse to take more artistic pictures, but I'll also add in some great sources on the web that I've enjoyed. Feel free to check it out here.

Sand Diego Sunshine

2009-05-26T16:54:00.013-06:00

So last week, we went down to San Diego. Katie, Caroline and me. But we didn't go alone. Erin, Zar and Ella came with us. We had decided to go a while ago. Actually it was after Charlotte past away. It was so much fun to get away, and even better to get away with such great friends. We were afraid that we would get to fed up with them, or vice versa, but we didn't, we all had a blast.
We got to go to the beach at one of the best beaches in San Diego. Its the beach just behind the Hotel Del Coronado. Its the best beach, and one of the best locations for a great sunset. Caroline and Ella got to play on the beach, and felt the ocean around their feet for the first time.

Caroline was so cute. We went to the Zoo, Sea World, and the Wild Animal Park. She and Ella loved seeing all the animals. Caroline REALLY liked the Monkeys. Every time she saw the monkeys, she spit up all over whoever was carrying her. It was such nice weather, we had to put hats on Carrie and she didn't fight it. I was amazed that she didn't reach up and pull it off. In fact, she loved it so much that she tried to eat it.
The Queen of the jungle!
Come on, how can you not love that adorable face!
We're not having any fun at all.
Here's Katie and Carrie in front of Shamu. Carrie loved the shows........when she was awake for them.
The best girls in my life. I love them so. I'm glad that we have such good friends and we had such a good time. I hope that we can continue our friendship and go on more trips with them, and many of our other great friends.

Being even more connected to the world wide web.....

2009-05-12T10:45:00.002-06:00

So Katie is not as technologically minded as I am. And even I am not that much. But come July, our cell phone contract is up and we're eligible for upgrades. I think that we are both going to get iPhones. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. You'd all probably laugh if you knew how closely I've been following new iPhone news, rumors, and blogs.

Anyway, I think that this is going to help me and my electronic social life, which is a conundrum in itself. I have a facebook account, and this blog, and a flicker account, and other photo sharing websites. However, I haven't logged onto Facebook, or updates it or anything in about 3-4 months. I'm sure I have about 50 friend requests, useless widget requests, and other junk in there waiting for me. I kind of feel that about 90% of facebook is pretty much worthless, so I choose not to use it. However............there is a small part of me that knows that once I get my iPhone, I'll be using it more and more often.

Also, in preperation for the iPhone conversion/assimilation, I have also made myself a Twitter account, so now you can follow me there as well. My screen name there is "AXDRAKE". Feel freet o follow me there. Remember, resistance is futile!!!

So I'm sure that in the next few months, I'll be becoming more and more of a web socialite. should be interesting.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T20:20:00.004-06:00

Easter is a great time. Especially if you are a kid. Now that I'm a grown up (yikes...), Its more a spiritual, recognition holiday. But its great to see all the kids enjoy it like I once did. For Caroline, it was kind of uneventful since she's still pretty young. She can't find eggs, she doesn't care whats in her basket, and she can't color any eggs. But it sure is cute to dress her up. She wore a great yellow Easter dress that her aunt Sue gave her. Thanks Sue!

Last night, we went to a friends Easter party. Caroline got a great basket from Shannon (thanks Shannon) and she loved it (at least I think she did). But she got a great picture with some of her bestest friends. Ella (left) and Eli. They were so cute together.

Then we went to a family Easter lunch. Caroline is about to start easting solid foods soon (we hope). Lately she's been quite distracted by all of the normal food that surrounds her. Of course, she takes after her mom with the Coke.

Just thinking that 4 months ago, she was just a little helpless bundle of cute goo. Shes growing up so fast.

Caroline has also started to love to play with her mouth. She has been learning how to blow raspberries.

2009-04-11T23:25:00.003-06:00

So I know its been a while. I've been really bad about keeping this up to date, or at adding posts. So here's my attempt at reviving this.

I work with a coworker who is a very good photographer. He and his wife put together a photo workshop/walk every month or so. Today we went down to Temple square to get some good shoots of the flowers and the scenery.

Enjoy the photos!

Cultural Fair

2009-03-10T23:06:00.001-06:00

Since Katie and I moved into our new house, we’ve really enjoyed our neighborhood, and more importantly, our new ward. it is full of great people of all ages, colors and cultures.

And like all great wards……we were immediately given callings. *insert dramatic music here* It has actually been pretty good. I was called to be a ward missionary, and Katie was called to be the “Relief Society Emergency preparedness committee representative” (we’re still trying to figure out what that means). I was put to work immediately, while Katie hasn’t had a single person tell her what she needs to do.

Anyway, for the last month and a half, the ward missionaries have been working hard in organizing a Neighborhood Cultural Fair. Its a great opportunity for the neighbors of all types to come together and share a little bit about themselves.

Since Katie and I are as white as they come……..we shared pictures from our trip to Istanbul last year. Here’s the slideshow that I put together.

Thanks for voting!!

2009-03-10T22:45:00.001-06:00

To all of you who voted, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Who knows if she'll win. *crosses fingers*

VOTE FOR KATIE!!!!!

2009-03-09T12:24:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone, today is the last day to vote for City Weekly's Best Of 2009. I'm writing to ask you to vote for Katie Drake as best Newspaper Reporter. Please follow the link below, register on the site to vote, then vote for Katie Drake as Best Newspaper Reporter. If you want to fill out and vote for other things, that fine, but just make sure you vote for Katie Drake. I believe that its about the 7th or 8th slot from the top in Section (1) Media.

Also, feel free to forward this to all your friends and vote for her. She helps bring the good, happy, local news to your doorstep, or computer screen.

REMEMBER: TODAY, MARCH 9TH, IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE SO GET IT DONE NOW!!!

http://ballots.cityweekly.net

Random Pics

2009-03-01T22:54:00.010-07:00

Weeks of emotions

2009-03-01T21:19:00.006-07:00

Wow, what a couple of weeks its been. This is a picture of Charlotte. She was a cute little spirit that we like to think of as trapped in a broken body. She's a great friend of the family and one of the sweetest spirits that I knew. Last week, she caught some of the RSV that is going around and was in the hospital for almost a week, before her body gave up. She will be missed. Our hearts go out to the Enslin family.

We are good friends with her parents Erin and Zar and we are lucky that we got to be a part of her life, and we hope to continue to be a part of their life also. They have another daughter named Ela that is healthy and also very cute. She and Caroline like to hang out. hopefully life will see fit to let them be friends for a long time.

On the lighter side, today was the day that we blessed Caroline. it was a very special moment for me personally. Its not every day that I get to exercise the priesthood. It was a proud moment to be able to bless m wonderful daughter. It made me an even prouder father. Katie picked out a very cute little white sweater dress. Grandma Marianne was nice enough to pay for it. It came with a little bonnet type hat that just totally completed the outfit. She was so very cute, but then again, I'm quite biased in that subject. We had our family and friends over after for a little get together afterwords. We are lucky to have so many people to be a part of Caroline's life.

Katie goes back to work tomorrow. To put it lightly, she's not to excited. While Katie was pregnant, she thought that being at home with Caroline would send her dangerously close to the line between sane and insane. But once she got to be at home with her and snuggle with her, she found her self struggling to let her go......literally. SIDE STORY: The night of Charlotte's funeral, Katie stayed up with Caroline till 2:30 asleep in her arms. She couldn't bare to be without her, so she put her in a co-sleeper that lays between us in bed. She hasn't slept in that in about 1 1/2 months. I was a little irritated, but rolled back over and went to sleep. BACK TO MAIN STORY: Now Katie will be working from home 2 days a week, and then in the office the other three. I know that its going to be hard for her, not only to tear her self away from her, but to get stuff done when she's at home. Hopefully she can handle it.

Caroline's Blessing

2009-02-26T08:08:00.003-07:00

Hello all. I'm sorry that its been a while since my last post. Things have been kind of crazy around the Drake household. I just wanted to take this moment to send out an open invitation to everyone.

I know that this is kind of last minute and I should have done this weeks ago. We are going to be blessing Caroline this Sunday, March 1st at the Winder 5th ward. The map is below. The meeting starts around 10:50 or so. we are also going to be having refreshments at our house afterward, so feel free to show up to one or the other or both. We hope to see you all there and be with us for this special time.

On another note, I've got some great pictures of Caroline that I need to post. I vow to post them in the next few days.... so stay tuned!

View Larger Map

2009-02-03T20:46:00.004-07:00

This is the first video that I'm posting to the blog. I just hope that I'm doing it right.

As a great and wonderful surprise, Katie, for Christmas, got me a cool new camcorder. Since then, I've been playing around with it taking small short recordings of whom else but our sweet Caroline. Whenever she does something very cute, I try and grab it. Most of the time she anticipates my desire to capture it, then the part of here that takes after Katie takes over. She stops doing it and becomes totally camera shy.

But luckily I got a few cute shots. The start out from early on when she was just a few weeks old. The latest were just last week. My favorite though is when we're playing Rock Band 2 together. We got a Baby Bjorn for her and found out recently that she kinda likes it. It makes it nice to put her in it and then get some house chores done. But after I'm done with house chores, we like to play video games together.

I should probably get something like this for Caroline. We'll be playing many more in the future. That's how we roll!

2009-01-25T16:31:00.006-07:00

So I've been a little busy this last week. Work had been keeping me so busy I wasn't able to update the blog last week. So here I am trying to think about what interesting things have happened to us.

Caroline has been sleeping a lot better. The last few nights, she has gone to bed with little fight, and has slept through most of the night, which has been great. There were even a few where I thought she had slept through the night, but Katie had pointed out that she was up with her a few times in the night and that Katie had a hard time getting to sleep. I'm just lucky that Katie didn't throttle me right then and there for my ignorance of her suffering. But all in all, Caroline is doing much better.

This morning, I was holding her and she was doing so well and so happy. I would do quick little blow-fish sounds on her cheek and she was actually laughing at it. It was so cute. I tried to get katie to start the camcorder to record it, but the second she got it out, Caroline decided that she had had enough fun and started to cry. We have tried since then to get her to do it again, but have been less than successful. Hopefully we can catch her in the act and post it.

Last weekend, I took my old playstation 2 and all the games that I had for it and traded them in and got RockBand 2 for the XBOX 360. It has been a blast to play with friends and family. We even lugged it all over to the inlaws house on Friday night and played with them. They really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. I just can't get enough of it. I also love that its a fun solo game, but an even better group activity game. And with all the downloadable songs that they have, theres something for everyone.

Yesterday, we went to pioneer memorail theater to see The Golden Leaf. Its an original play wirten by someone that works at the theater. It tells the story of Mary Shelly and how she came to write Frankenstien. At least thats what the synopsus lead us to believe. It actually tells little about "how and why" she wrote it and more about the people around her in her life at the time that she wrote it. I thought that it was ok and might suggest it to others, except that we went to the last showing. We left Caroline with the grandparents, but were eager to get back to her, because the play had a lot of references to the low mortality rate of infants at that time. It was nice to come home and hold her in our arms.

I hope to be better about keeping this updated. Also, feel free to subscribe to the RSS Feeds and become a follower of the blog, and leave comments. Its nice to see friends and family arounds here.

Till Next Time!

Not being able to post

2009-01-20T14:41:00.003-07:00

So, I got thinking about how great today is. Our first African American President was just sworn in and it was such an amazing event to watch. But I can't post about that. Because Katie can't be affiliated with any politics, I can't say how proud I am of our country for electing Barack Obama. I can't say that I have high hopes for him. I can't express the excitment for the change that is coming. I can't say that I know that he will be a great leader and fix a lot of things wrong in the system now. I can't say that it was an inspirational ceremony. I can't express gratitude that my daughter will hopefully grow up in a world that is more tolerable to people of all races and regions and religions. I can't hope that she will grow wondering how the world would be like if this hadn't happened. All of these things I can't write about. In fact, this entire post is just a figure of your imagination.

Deleted Post

2009-01-14T19:30:00.003-07:00

If you were quick enough to see my post about a Steven Colbert video about him leg wrestling Jason Chaffetz, you were lucky. I just got home tonight and told Katie about it. Well, there are some drawbacks from working in the media. She cannot have any ties, allegiances, support for or against, or even opinions about any politicians.

I had to take it down "just to be safe". I'll have to replace it with another post sometime soon.

Sorry.

Caroline the Cutie!

2009-01-09T18:07:00.004-07:00

College Football

2009-01-09T17:34:00.005-07:00

Last week, we gathered with some friends to watch what, at the time, we thought was going to be Utah's first loss of the year. Little did we know that it was going to be the upset of a lifetime, and probably the biggest reviewed win in the history of Utah college football.

Number 6 ranked Utes were the underdog to the number 4 ranked Alabama. In all accounts, the Utes were not supposed to win. Alabama plays in a much tougher conference, has more funding, and has a school history much more glamorous than Utah. But that doesn't mean that the Utes didn't deserve to win more than Alabama, or that the Utes didn't come better prepared and more ready to play that Alabama.

After three touchdowns for the Utes in the first quarter and holding back a scoreless Alabama, Everyone in the living room was on their feet cheering on the Utes saying that we could seriously win this game. It was a great feeling when the final seconds ticked of the clock and Utah won with a score of 31 to 17. We were glad that we could share that once in a lifetime experience with some friends.

It was also great to read how a lot of the press thought that the Utes should be the national champs. (Link) Hopefully this will give the Mountain West Conference the respect that it deserves. I look forward to seeing what President-Elect Obama will do to change the money grubbing, elite-school pocketting, make-the-rich-team-richer-and-the-poor-team-poorer ways. I myself think that the CS should go the way of the dodo and make way for a playoff series. But all in good time I guess.

The Science of Sleep

2009-01-09T17:24:00.002-07:00

Being a new parent is like walking into a chemical factory on the first day and being required to make a new batch of super formula to cure cancer.

Ok, maybe not quite so stressfull....but close. Katie and I have been very lucky in that up until recently, Caroline has been able to fall asleep about the time we go to bed and sleep through the night with maybe 1 or 2 wake-ups through the night. Sometimes we were even lucky enough to sleep a full night. But this past week, its been nothing but sonstant crying (from everyone), needyness, and rockying from about 10 till 2 or 3. It hasn't been easy, but we made it through one week of this. Hopefully we can get her back on schedule and mae sure she's gettng enough sleep during the day so that she's not so tired at night that she can't go to sleep.

Alex's 10 great 2008 Experiences

2009-01-01T11:37:00.003-07:00

The birth of my beautiful baby girl. She already has me wrapped around her cute little fingers.
Getting a great new job and really starting in on my career.
Buying a great house for our family and moving into a great neighborhood.
Spending our 5th Anniversary in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.
Traveling to Istanbul with Katie and her family.
Spending Christmas with my new daughter.
Running a great 5k in June and feeling really good about it.
Getting to see the US Rugby Team play at the new Rio Tinto Stadium.
Seeing my daughter on the ultrasound for the first time. That was such a magical moment.
Seeing the Utah football beat Oregon St in the last seconds. That had to be the best game of the season. Not to mention the sever wooping they gave to BYU.
Ringing in the new year with my wonderful wife and beautiful little baby girl.

The Beginning of the.......Start?

2008-12-30T22:07:00.001-07:00

I'm not much of a writer. That I try and leave to my wonderful wife, Katie. But I thought that I might try my hand at this blogging thing. Mainly, I want a place where I can share my thoughts, feelings, and mostly my pics of the family.

Just 3 weeks ago, Katie gave birth to our first child. Our beautiful baby girl, Caroline Sophia Drake was just 6lb 8oz, and only 19.5 inches. it was quite a struggle, but she was worth every minute of pushing. She has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives, and we've fully embraced her into our lives. I like to joke and say that when she came into the world, I was kind of like the Grinch..."his heart grew 3 sizes that day!"

Since then Caroline has grown so much and is changing so fast. Luckily she has taken to sleeping well, and, thankfully, letting us sleep. She likes to visit the family and spend time with the grandparents. We hope that she can spend more time with those that love her as much as we do.