I think it appropriate that I introduce myself to those of you on the Rachel side of aisle who don't really know who I am and are wondering if she's marrying a total weirdo. I assure you, she's marrying someone who is only mildy weird. That being said, let me commence.
Let's start from the beginning, shall we? Here I am as a small child. It is still fairly common to see me with this look on my face:
It's mostly due the general attitude of awe and wonderment of everything going on around me.
I was born and raised in Southern California and spent most of my formidable years on the mean streets of Moreno Valley. That's near Riverside, for those of you unfamiliar with the area, smack dab in the center of what was once the fabled "909." It still takes an amazing amount of restraint to not get a full sleeve tatooed on my arm and keep from pulling up my black socks to my knees under my Dickies brand shorts that are 3 sizes too big. But somehow I manage.
During High School my family moved to Carlsbad, CA, as seen here:
Some like to call it paradise, but for a short time I called it home. My parents still do. I consider myself quite lucky to always have a place to stay when I head back to the beach.
Most people are pretty surprised to find out that I'm an only child, and the first thing they usually ask is, "What was that like?" to which I generally one of two replies: " I dunno, it was fine... What's having siblings like?" or "Christmases were always pretty awesome..."
But I think that instead I'm going to start saying that I'm the sole heir of a wonderful home in beautiful Carlsbad, CA, assuming my parents don't sell the place and decide to start touring the world... which wouldn't surprise me too much, so I guess it's pretty great... But seriously though, what is it like having brothers and sisters?
When I was 19, I got the call to be a missionary and spent a couple years getting preachy to the Mexican Nation. Monterrey North, to be exact.
Here I am standing in front of the Monterrey Temple (see.. same face, told you...)
I also apparently forgot to shave this day, which is a pretty common occurrence now. I typically forget to shave for at least a week or more. I kind of deeply hate it.
I spent a couple great years here, met some wonderful people, and learned a lot about myself and the gospel. All-in-all, I'd say it was one of the better choices I've made in my life. Lots of hard work though.
By the way, Mexico is awesome. I'm super pumped my new family vacations there every year. Can't wait to go.
Fast-forwarding a few years, I met Rachel one day on campus at BYU, and found out that we lived in the same condo complex, and the rest is history. I think we'll leave the details for another post.
Currently I work for a watch brand called Rockwell. We're an actions-sports brand and if you haven't heard of us yet, you probably will soon. Things are going CRAZY right now, in a good way. I oversee all the product and graphic design for the company, which keeps me super busy. It really is my dream job and I feel so lucky to actually be able to look forward to going to work every day.
But as if things couldn't get any better, I'm finally getting to get married to the girl that I've been madly in love with for quite some time now. If you're not familiar with our story, well that's a whole different post (or novel) in and of itself, so you'll have to wait. If you're not into reading (which is strange since you've gotten this far in the worlds longest blog post) you'll just have to wait for the movie to come out. It's going to be a good one. But until then, just look at how cute we are...
This is us at Rainbow Bridge Nation Monument at Lake Powell. You may notice that I'm still making the same face. It's kind of a problem.
