<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657</id><updated>2011-04-21T15:49:10.647-07:00</updated><title type='text'>writing is too much work...</title><subtitle type='html'>If you don't know a person named Nathan D, you are probably here by mistake...feel free to go now.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>17</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-8271890020804465458</id><published>2009-02-05T17:49:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2009-02-05T17:51:30.238-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Awwww yeah...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;color:#3333ff;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We are SO having a baby boy!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;The ultrasound was crystal clear.  We are SO excited for little Jackson Thomas.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;We will post some pics and the like soon.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-8271890020804465458?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/8271890020804465458/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=8271890020804465458' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/8271890020804465458'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/8271890020804465458'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2009/02/awwww-yeah.html' title='Awwww yeah...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-664518456793915253</id><published>2008-12-16T22:37:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-12-17T08:22:05.870-08:00</updated><title type='text'>8 Things...or any number that I can think of</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;8 TV shows I enjoy watching:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;1) &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;Sportscenter&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;2) The Office&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;3) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;4) The Colbert Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;5) Meet the Press&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;6) Seinfeld&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;...that's all I've got people.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;8 things that happened yesterday:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;1) Kaitlynn came into town&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;2) We all went to see "Forgotten Carols", and Jordan tore it up&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;3) worked&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;4) fell asleep to "Dave" as usual&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;5) Watched snow fall for like 5 hours IN &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;LAS&lt;/span&gt; VEGAS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;6) Shoveled snow off of my car...IN &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"&gt;LAS&lt;/span&gt; VEGAS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;7) Watched Nikki and &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"&gt;NashDee&lt;/span&gt; play in the snow covered back yard...IN &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"&gt;LAS&lt;/span&gt; VEGAS...weird!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280646119974530610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SUifqwWgbjI/AAAAAAAAAJk/A_UOMD6Y23c/s400/IMGP1749.JPG" border="0" /&gt; &lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280646471485326082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SUif_N1NgwI/AAAAAAAAAJs/mao-N-1eX9s/s400/IMGP1751.JPG" border="0" /&gt;8 things I'm looking forward to:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;1) A new baby come June 22. If it's a little girl, Georgia Lynn and if it's a little boy, Jackson Thomas.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;2) The second trimester&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;3) Christmas with the family&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;4) Family competitions while down in AZ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;5) Matt &amp;amp; Kelly getting married&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;6) The Christmas Story&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;7) Mom's crescent rolls...WOW&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;8) Watching nieces and nephews go ballistic when opening presents from Santa Clause&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;8 things I love about WINTER:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;1) Holidays&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;2) Great food&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;3) Looking forward to summer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;8 things on my wish list:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;1) A healthy and happy Nikki&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;2) A healthy baby&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;3) Lot's of books for Christmas&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;4) Jordan to move to Las Vegas&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;5) A 200 person group who wants me to be their broker&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;6) A golf membership at the &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"&gt;TPC&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;7) A house with a basement and home theater&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;8) Peace on Earth would be nice too&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-664518456793915253?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/664518456793915253/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=664518456793915253' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/664518456793915253'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/664518456793915253'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/12/8-thingsor-any-number-that-i-can-think.html' title='8 Things...or any number that I can think of'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SUifqwWgbjI/AAAAAAAAAJk/A_UOMD6Y23c/s72-c/IMGP1749.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-3002947277551236086</id><published>2008-12-06T10:06:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-12-06T10:11:20.444-08:00</updated><title type='text'>I'm sorry...SOO sorry</title><content type='html'>So last night I said something kinda mean to Nikki...she was sad and went to bed right after that and I never went up to apologize after that before she fell asleep for the night.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She told me this morning that I owe her an apology and that she actually checked my blog first thing this morning to see if I had made a public announcement out of my remorse last night and that is why I didn't come up to apologize.  What a goof ball!!  Obviously, since I am telling you this, I didn't get that part right either, but they say the only thing worse than being wrong, is staying wrong. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SO...Nikki, I'm sorry.  Please forgive me for being a meanie head to you last night about your blurking activities. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In other news, Nikki is pregnant.  Due date is June 22.  We are PUMPED!!  We don't know the gender yet, and you can read more about Nikki's adventures in baby making at her blog:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nikkidee1.blogspot.com/"&gt;www.nikkidee1.blogspot.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-3002947277551236086?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/3002947277551236086/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=3002947277551236086' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/3002947277551236086'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/3002947277551236086'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/12/im-sorrysoo-sorry.html' title='I&apos;m sorry...SOO sorry'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-559844623689217428</id><published>2008-10-01T16:07:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-01T16:08:42.252-07:00</updated><title type='text'>So true, so true...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;The reason so many people misunderstand so many issues is not that these issues are so complex, but that people do not want a factual or analytical explanation that leaves them emotionally unsatisfied. They want villains to hate and heroes to cheer— and they don't want explanations that do not give them that. --Thomas Sowell&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-559844623689217428?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/559844623689217428/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=559844623689217428' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/559844623689217428'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/559844623689217428'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/10/so-true-so-true.html' title='So true, so true...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-1785357668966579482</id><published>2008-09-25T20:30:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-09-26T07:53:56.062-07:00</updated><title type='text'>So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen WAMU...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;So, instead of taking care of business, our bank is out of business. It's kind of a weird thing to say that "our BANK was seized by the feds and basically auctioned off..."? Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how optomisitic or not you are, we were never in danger of losing our deposits to begin with as we didn't have in excess of $100,000 at our bank. PHEW!! Big sigh of relief there, right?? :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, probably not a lot of people can say that their bank failed. We are just lucky I guess. Bring on JP Morgan Chase.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-1785357668966579482?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/1785357668966579482/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=1785357668966579482' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/1785357668966579482'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/1785357668966579482'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/09/so-long-farewell-auf-wiedersehen-wamu.html' title='So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen WAMU...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-551021052837289604</id><published>2008-09-24T11:34:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-03T08:07:29.503-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Soloist</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.soloistmovie.com/"&gt;http://www.soloistmovie.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Here's hoping that this movie isn't R-rated, because it looks pretty good!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-551021052837289604?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/551021052837289604/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=551021052837289604' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/551021052837289604'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/551021052837289604'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/09/solist.html' title='The Soloist'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-6491591233080550029</id><published>2008-09-10T11:05:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-09-24T09:44:55.744-07:00</updated><title type='text'>A new post...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;So, the reality here people is that once you fall out of blogging regularly (which I managed to do about 3 blog posts in) it is difficult to get back into the habit. Even now, after having not blogged since July, I feel like I have NOTHING to write about. So, here is a few random pics to demonstrate what I have been up to in the recent past.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244496843101746594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SMgyF568taI/AAAAAAAAAF8/lOMpn4Cpb_E/s400/Phelps.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Ok, so for the most part I was completely addicted to the Olympics. It started with Nicole decorating the house with Chinese lanterns and ordering food from our favorite Chinese delivery place. How about that opening ceremony? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;We watched every single Michael Phelps event live, and considering how completely bizarre the NBC broadcasting schedule was, that was a serious endeavor. The 4x100 relay that we BARELY eeked out was the coolest sports moment I have ever seen. It was really cool to see athletes who compete for the love of their respective sports more than the love of glamour and money. The excitement of those 4 guys when they won that was fun to watch over and over again throughout the whole olympics.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244497225823649938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SMgycLq9gJI/AAAAAAAAAGE/iaNWgBVjpr0/s400/DSC02034.JPG" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;So, we went to Colorado with my family for a full week. I heard all the great stories from the family about last years trip (which Nikki and I could not attend) about reelin' in the trout faster than you could unhook 'em. So, in prep for this trip just about everyone in the whole fam buys new fly fishing gear. New rods and reels, waders...the whole 9 yards. We buy fishing licenses up there and everything. We were buying "flies" named things like "Reservoir Whore" and "River Hoochie"...apparently these inanimate flies made from feather and metal have a very loose moral code. Well, I think you may be picking up on where this is headed. WE GOT SKUNKED!! About the only people to catch fish were my nieces and nephews who used snoopy poles and power bait.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249619849038638658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SNplcGPJrkI/AAAAAAAAAGs/6WCWxiWI0Ao/s400/Ouray.jpg" border="0" /&gt;About midway through the week we found this beauty of a town called Ouray, Colorado. This place was really great. I was definitely yuppie, but it had a great downtown to check out and a few historic hotels including the Beaumont which is prominently feautured below.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249621545760244546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SNpm-3BGw0I/AAAAAAAAAG0/dF_VF6Wv0-U/s400/Beaumont+1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;The Hotel Exterior&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249621621031952738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SNpnDPbR4WI/AAAAAAAAAG8/lBMU0sdaDQ8/s400/Beaumont+2.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;The Lobby&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249621690509847586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SNpnHSQGbCI/AAAAAAAAAHE/4iJRRzcybcE/s400/Beaumont+3.jpg" border="0" /&gt;A Guest Room &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244501171382115314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SMg2B2BZ2_I/AAAAAAAAAGM/wKG5-ryLarM/s400/delmonico_restaurant.jpg" border="0" /&gt;A few weeks ago Nicole's aunt Bonnie was in town. When someone comes in from out of town, Tim, Nicole's dad likes to take everyone for a nice dinner. This restaurant is Delmonico's in the Venetian I believe. It's an Emerill Legasse(spelling) restaurant. It was really great. I had a nice big juicy steak, and then a banana cream pie that looked so good I didn't even want to eat it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244502129464201282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SMg25nJ-UEI/AAAAAAAAAGU/lAodIgkw8FQ/s400/Cabin.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;We also managed to squeeze in a long weekend with my folks and brother and sister in law from Utah at Nicole's folks cabin up in Brian Head, UT. We had a great time seeing the sights and enjoying the cool weather at 10,000 feet. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244502648452187778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SMg3X0iWhoI/AAAAAAAAAGc/NQ79Bgoa5bU/s400/Superstition+Springs.jpg" border="0" /&gt;So, I love golf. I love it more than I should. That love does not translate into playing frequently or playing well for that matter, but recently while down in AZ to see my family and get some business done, I played golf 3 days in a row, once at the course pictured above. There was an insane amount of water on the course, and I don't just mean the lakes. AZ had a heavy monsoon season and the course was literally under water. You had to wear snorkeling gear when you left your golf cart. At one point, I hit into a lake right up next to a green, or so I thought because of the splash. I was shocked b/c where I hit my ball from, I didn't think the lake came that close to the green. When I got to the green I discovered that I was a good 20 yards away from any lake, and that the 3 or 4 foott deep SAND bunker had completely flooded. I couldn't even get my ball out of the bunker...it was under 3 feet of water. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244505148277900258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SMg5pVHPw-I/AAAAAAAAAGk/vFhqivnnYaA/s400/Jordan.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;This is my last picture. This is my best buddy Jordan Bluth. This is Jordan performing in an obviously very serious dramatic opera. OR, this is Jordan in Forever Plaid. I post this b/c I am going to AZ this weekend to see Jordania in a new original musical entitled "Blackbeard". I had to use this pic and not one from the show website b/c I couldn't find one of Jordan on there. Weird since he is one of the leading men. Not cool! Anyway, you can check out the website at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.blackbeardthemusical.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;www.blackbeardthemusical.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt; Good luck J-Dizzle, I am sure that show is going to be awesome.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;That's a wrap people. Stay tuned and I am sure I will update again in about 4 or 5 months. :)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-6491591233080550029?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/6491591233080550029/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=6491591233080550029' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/6491591233080550029'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/6491591233080550029'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-post.html' title='A new post...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SMgyF568taI/AAAAAAAAAF8/lOMpn4Cpb_E/s72-c/Phelps.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-3436832549594688634</id><published>2008-06-20T09:12:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-06-20T09:24:35.469-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Vacation Time...</title><content type='html'>We are going on family vacation today and I am pretty excited about it. We are going to Montrose, CO. We are going to do a lot of fly fishing, some golfing, hiking, kayaking (maybe), and a LOT of just hanging around as a family.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are camping it up at the Pa Ko Chu Puk Campground. Seriously, that's the name. Nicole and I got a bunch of camping equipment from my folks a few years ago for Christmas. We have NEVER used it...not once. Of course, Nicole blames me for this, which is probably true. She has never really been camping before...LITERALLY never been camping. Now we are going for 10 days.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She has been asking me "Are there going to be bugs for real?" and "How do we make sure that NO bugs get in our tent?". Also she needs to know very important things like, "Are there mirrors in the bathrooms at the campground?" Gotta be doing your makeup while camping for a week and a half. :o)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So our trip takes us from Las Vegas to Beaver, UT tonight. We are staying at the KOA campground there in one of the cabins/igloo things. Saturday morning it is up early and on to Montrose. Our doggies are going to LOVE this trip!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On another note, Nikki got a haircut last night. It looks really good. She is a nervous recipient of haircuts as she is sure that some 9 month pregnant lady will be doing the job, go into labor and pretty much shave her bald. So it didn't help last night when her lady at the salon was 2 cm dialated. In any case, she made it through without error and looks more beautiful than ever.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-3436832549594688634?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/3436832549594688634/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=3436832549594688634' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/3436832549594688634'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/3436832549594688634'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/06/vacation-time.html' title='Vacation Time...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-628361397072171268</id><published>2008-06-09T09:10:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-06-09T09:11:11.193-07:00</updated><title type='text'>he says he has no time...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;I don't have a lot of time to blog...which is not true, I have plenty of time, but why have 2 blogs really, especially when one is way better. That being said, go check out Nikki's blog and get the update on our very exciting life...VERY EXCITING!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;"&gt;nikkidee1.blogspot.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-628361397072171268?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/628361397072171268/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=628361397072171268' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/628361397072171268'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/628361397072171268'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/06/he-says-he-has-no-time_09.html' title='he says he has no time...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-4819001253619526065</id><published>2008-04-30T22:10:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-05-14T20:37:35.530-07:00</updated><title type='text'>A new post...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Here is to proving Nikki wrong, who thought I would never blog again. :o) BUT b/c I don't want to be mean spirited, I am blogging about my wonderful little &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;wifey&lt;/span&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;p.s.  I totally stole this from our friend Annie and Talon.  So, you know...thanks guys.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is her name? Nicole Lynn Dee&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who eats more? &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;Hmm&lt;/span&gt;...probably me, though Nikki can pound it when she needs to. She eats WAY faster.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who said I love you first? I honestly don't know, but I gotta guess it was her. She was kind of &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"&gt;aggressive&lt;/span&gt; ya' know.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who is taller? Me...barely!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who is smarter? Pretty much Nikki is smarter than everyone. Seriously, I don't know anyone smarter than Nikki. I mean some people are like genius smart, but those people mostly know a bunch of stuff that no one cares about and that is kind of, well useless. Nikki is smart at all the important stuff. I, on the other hand I am dense as a brick.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who is more sensitive? Uh let's think about this. I have choked up one time in the past 6 years. Nicole has probably choked up 6 times today. One time, she walked in a room at the VERY end of a move called "Homeward Bound"...you know the dogs and cat that get lost? All she saw was some old dog come over a hill on his way home...started SOBBING! :) You want to see a spectacle, come to our house on Sunday evenings and try to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Nikki can't see straight for hours. HA! She is so cute. Crying for Nikki is like breathing or blinking for most people. It just happens...it HAS to happen...she can't go on without it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who does the laundry? Pretty much Nikki. I don't mind putting the stuff in. Moving it, not so great. Folding isn't my strong suit. BUT let's be honest, our family owns a dry cleaner. We pretty much wash underwear and jeans.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who pays the bills? Nicole pays them mostly. I pay the car payment and the current rent, soon to be mortgage, WHAT WHAT!! &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"&gt;Yesssss&lt;/span&gt;!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who cooks more? Nikki fa &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"&gt;sho&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What meals do you cook together? Hm, we cook spaghetti together, like twice a year. Or when we BBQ usually Nicole will make brownies or something.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who is more stubborn? NICOLE!! Ha. Nicole is about as stubborn as they come. I am probably pretty stubborn too, but I like to believe it isn't true.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who is the first to admit they're wrong? In spite of the fact that I think it is me, it is probably Nicole really. Maybe that means she is just wrong more. &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"&gt;LOL&lt;/span&gt;! :) Kidding, she is just a lot nicer than me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who is more clean? We are both kind of procrastinators on the clean thing. Although she is a much better cleaner than me. She is like greased lightning, especially when she is upset about something. Woman can clean the house in about 10 &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"&gt;mins&lt;/span&gt; flat when I do something that upsets her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who has more siblings? I do...6 brothers. I know, I know, my poor Mom.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who wears the pants in the relationship? You know, all jokes aside, I think Nicole and I have a really open and great relationship. I think we both compromise really well. I know what she loves and vice &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"&gt;versa&lt;/span&gt;. We really try to take care of &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"&gt;each other&lt;/span&gt;. Of course, all of this just means Nicole wears the pants.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What do you like to do together? We basically do everything together. We have moved a few times since getting married. Never made friends really. Very sad, but we plan to change that in our new house. Nicole is basically my only friend within 5 hours. Good thing we love to be together. What we do not like to do together is shop for house stuff. Can you say "Argument waiting to happen"?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who eats more sweets? Probably me. Nicole is a salty person more than sweets.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guilty pleasures? &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"&gt;TMZ&lt;/span&gt;!! Loves celeb gossip. She can tell you any celebs second cousin's pets names. No seriously, she can.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How did you meet? Through a good friend. Nicole and I actually met on &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"&gt;LDS&lt;/span&gt; Singles. Seriously. Took me a very long time to be &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"&gt;ok&lt;/span&gt; with saying that. Probably still am not totally &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"&gt;ok&lt;/span&gt; with it actually. But it is what it is. We are happily married and I wouldn't change anything about how it all went down...yeah, went down, like a drug bust or something.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who kissed who first? As I said before, Nicole was kind of aggressive in her "pursuit". She bugged and bugged for like 3 hours one day, and so I plopped a Dee smooch right on her. Once she was on the train, there was NO getting off. Ha! :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who proposed? I did. I thought it was pretty romantic, but some things are only meant to be shared with a limited audience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Her best features? Nicole is magically babe-a-&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"&gt;licious&lt;/span&gt;. I will leave it at that in an effort to stay PG in this blog.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is her greatest quality? Nicole is a lover. She loves the people, she loves the animals, she loves the planet.  We are opposite in a lot of ways. We love to talk about stuff b/c of that. We like to kind of "debate" &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"&gt;each other&lt;/span&gt;. I can't possibly win these debates, b/c I don't want Nicole to be mad at me all night, but we still just love to talk, especially on road trips to AZ when the talks usually turn to politics.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;LOVE YOU HONEY PUMPKIN LOVER!!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-4819001253619526065?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/4819001253619526065/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=4819001253619526065' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/4819001253619526065'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/4819001253619526065'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-post.html' title='A new post...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-4944911983694217477</id><published>2008-04-29T20:57:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-04-29T20:58:46.575-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Update</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Nikki said I was NEVER going to update again...SO, here ya go.  UPDATE.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;No but seriously folks, more coming very soon.  Maybe.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-4944911983694217477?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/4944911983694217477/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=4944911983694217477' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/4944911983694217477'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/4944911983694217477'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2008/04/update.html' title='Update'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-7868019827189532020</id><published>2007-12-11T15:45:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-12-12T08:50:19.142-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Catching Up...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Okay blog, it has been like 3 weeks since my last post.  Basically I went to AZ for a week to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and never posted again.  I am always so bad at keeping up with this kind of thing.  I am going to try harder though.  Blogging is kind of fun.&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;SO, that being the case, how about we play the catch up game?  Let's do it...&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;So, like I said we went to AZ for a week to be with my family to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was so much fun.  I just love spending time with my family.  It's kind of a funny thing actually.  You see, I have 5 older brothers.  I really was only ever "close" to one of the five when it came to having a relationship.  My 4 oldest brothers are quite a bit older than me.  Basically I never was "friends" with all of them until about a year or two ago, after I got married, moved away to Utah and then moved back closer to Las Vegas.  I am just starting to realize now how much fun it is to be a part of a big family.  As we all get a little older and start to&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt; have so many things in common, we just really enjoy spending time together.&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;So, while I was down in AZ here is a list of some of the fun we had:&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;ul style="font-family: arial;"&gt;&lt;li&gt;Went with my brother just older than me and saw the Bourne Ultimatum at the dollar theater&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul style="font-family: arial;"&gt;&lt;li&gt;Had a family bowling tournament, complete with a real bowling pin give away to the winner...it's a good thing my beautiful and talented bowler wife Nikki wasn't in town at that point b/c she would have cleaned up and walked away with the pin.  We are going to make this a family tradition over the Holiday's and go every year, and pass the pin along to whoever wins.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Thanksgiving day we of course ate our brains out.  We had massive amounts of turkey, honey baked ham, and even prime rib.  BUT, even better was that we had our traditional stickball game before dinner.  We were short on time this year and had more players than usual, but it was a lot of fun.  My team won...WHAT WHAT!!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;After dinner on Thanksgiving day we decided to have a Nintendo Wii tennis tournament...with the entire family.  Nicole and I brought our Wii down and everyone got a chance to know how fun a Wii really is, so we broke the family into brackets and teams of 2.  Needless to say, my brother Mike, who organized the tourney tried to rig the outcome by giving himself a very good team and very easy competition.  They didn't play a team with a member over 8 until they got to the finals, which was against me and my niece Kirsten.  Unfortunately, I did have to down my little wifey Nikki along the way, but it was necessary so that me and Kirsten could put the hurt on my brother Mike and cousin Mitch.  And oh, WE DID!  The game went the distance though, being best of 3 sets with best of 5 games per set.  In the end, cheaters never prosper and in this case they don't even win as Kirsten and I reigned victorious and captured the first WimbleDeen title.  BOOYA!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;On Saturday, my Dad and all brothers but one who had gone home to Utah went out golfing.  This is always one of my favorite events when we go down to Phoenix.  I and my brothers are all terrible at golf, but we love going out to knock it around every now and then.  I usually suck the least and come out with a "W" but the last 2 times that hasn't been the case.  I started off slow as usual, being down by 3 or 4 shots by the time we finished the second hole.  My Dad, who was driving in my cart with me but not playing was getting noticeably worried.  I kept on telling him that I always pull it together after 4 or 5 holes and then stay pretty consistent which gives me plenty of time to watch everyone else fall apart.  He wasn't convinced but nonetheless, things progressed according to my evil plot.  I like telling this story as though I am the Emperor from Star Wars.  So, in the end, I played like I do, terribly... and everyone else played a little worse and I ended up being able to come out of the a big winner.  Who cares right, I just really enjoy being with my family.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Work is busy as usual.  I am doing a lot of things right now to get ready for big changes that need to be ready by the end of the year.  Tell you what, trying to get people to do things on a tight time table this time of year is like pulling teeth.&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R2APXyOxNBI/AAAAAAAAAE8/DOaxidMIvsE/s1600-h/img057.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R2APXyOxNBI/AAAAAAAAAE8/DOaxidMIvsE/s400/img057.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143127675752231954" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;I traveled to Minnesota last week to enroll a company in a new 401(k) plan.  All I have to say is that MN is CHILLY this time of year.  Apparently everyone thought I brought the warm weather with me though b/c it was practically 20 degrees the day I was there, where as the night I left it was supposed to be 20 BELOW!  I got a pic of the flight departures while in MN.  My flight was the one at the very top of the list.  Exciting stuff...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R2AP9yOxNCI/AAAAAAAAAFE/q3oadXQb9qQ/s1600-h/img059.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R2AP9yOxNCI/AAAAAAAAAFE/q3oadXQb9qQ/s400/img059.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143128328587260962" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;One last thing, we got a new car on Saturday.   I took a quick photo a few days ago but there will be more to come later.  We are pretty excited.  It is very fun. A Cadillac CTS.  Thanks to the help of family we were able to get the car for a very reasonable price.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;MORE PHOTOS to come of all the festivities in AZ.  We got a lot of really fun photos.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, and I almost forgot, my Sis. in law Rachel who goes to school at Ole Miss found out yesterday that she did very well in all of her classes in her first semester at college.  Congratulations Rachel!!  We took her out for Sushi last night to celebrate.  It was a lot of fun.  She is great. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-7868019827189532020?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/7868019827189532020/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=7868019827189532020' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/7868019827189532020'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/7868019827189532020'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2007/12/catching-up.html' title='Catching Up...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R2APXyOxNBI/AAAAAAAAAE8/DOaxidMIvsE/s72-c/img057.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-3104532910643278354</id><published>2007-11-18T08:15:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-11-18T09:34:12.090-08:00</updated><title type='text'>A fun filled Saturday...</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;So, yesterday was a pretty good day. For starters, anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a huge Phoenix Suns fan. I mean, I am border lining obsession. No matter where I live, the Suns will always be my team. I mean, how can you not love the following: Amare Soudemire (STAT), Shawn Marion (The Matrix), Steve Nash (The Nash Rambler), Grant Hill, Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, and my personal favorite Leandro Barbosa (The Brazilian Sensation. or Brazilian Blur depending on who you talk to). Also, let us not forget Marcus Banks, who is Nicole's favorite.&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0B1Cawm19I/AAAAAAAAAE0/T0KLRLbG8So/s1600-h/SteveShawnAmare.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0B1Cawm19I/AAAAAAAAAE0/T0KLRLbG8So/s400/SteveShawnAmare.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134232259605747666" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Anyway, back to yesterday, first of all the Suns smacked the Houston Rockets around. BUT, even more exciting is that while I went to bed very early on Friday night with a major headache, my little wifey, who happens to be an artist extraordinaire stayed up until nearly 5 am making a painting for me, as an ode to the Phoenix Suns. Dead serious!! She took the Suns colors and made me a totally unique and awesome art piece to hang in my office at work, which was until now, admittedly dull and colorless. Now, I can have an office worth being proud of...THANKS HONEY! Following are pics of the art piece Nicole made for me, as well as a few pics of her other stuff hanging in our house. Enjoy!!&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bwcawm11I/AAAAAAAAAD0/hH-KFyuZlOY/s1600-h/IMGP0605.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bwcawm11I/AAAAAAAAAD0/hH-KFyuZlOY/s400/IMGP0605.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134227208724207442" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;So, the colors are obviously those of the Phoenix Suns.&lt;br /&gt;The winding lines are the road to the championship.&lt;br /&gt;On the right you have a basketball, headed for the very hard to see hoop below.&lt;br /&gt;On the left she painted in what looks like a big foam #1 hand. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0ByLKwm18I/AAAAAAAAAEs/_-j23AIRqMQ/s1600-h/IMGP0623.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0ByLKwm18I/AAAAAAAAAEs/_-j23AIRqMQ/s400/IMGP0623.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134229111394719682" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;This is the artist herself.  The art piece on the right is nicer&lt;br /&gt;then the one on the left.  WINK!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bwuqwm13I/AAAAAAAAAEE/cn3sSx31P04/s1600-h/IMGP0619.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bwuqwm13I/AAAAAAAAAEE/cn3sSx31P04/s400/IMGP0619.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134227522256820082" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;This is me and my mad hoop skills.  Steve Nash better watch&lt;br /&gt;his spot in the starting 5.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bw4qwm14I/AAAAAAAAAEM/O3Nr-Vfp3-8/s1600-h/IMGP0625.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bw4qwm14I/AAAAAAAAAEM/O3Nr-Vfp3-8/s400/IMGP0625.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134227694055511938" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;This is my office now looking much more lively with the  colorful&lt;br /&gt;addition.  The room now bursts with Suns pride.&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0BxG6wm15I/AAAAAAAAAEU/CelQLrkIhqk/s1600-h/IMGP0658.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0BxG6wm15I/AAAAAAAAAEU/CelQLrkIhqk/s400/IMGP0658.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134227938868647826" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Okay, so this is another of Nicole's art pieces.  She painted this&lt;br /&gt;back before she was LDS, but had read this part of the Book of Mormon.&lt;br /&gt;Pretty cool thing for a convert to have painted before even being converted.&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0BxU6wm16I/AAAAAAAAAEc/7Uv-k7o9BUg/s1600-h/IMGP0659.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0BxU6wm16I/AAAAAAAAAEc/7Uv-k7o9BUg/s400/IMGP0659.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134228179386816418" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I am pretty sure Nikki calls this one "Bombs over Baghdad".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bxh6wm17I/AAAAAAAAAEk/ljuILF_2JOY/s1600-h/IMGP0660.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0Bxh6wm17I/AAAAAAAAAEk/ljuILF_2JOY/s400/IMGP0660.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134228402725115826" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I don't know that this one has a name, but I sure do like it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-3104532910643278354?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/3104532910643278354/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=3104532910643278354' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/3104532910643278354'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/3104532910643278354'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2007/11/fun-filled-saturday.html' title='A fun filled Saturday...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/R0B1Cawm19I/AAAAAAAAAE0/T0KLRLbG8So/s72-c/SteveShawnAmare.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-2936340067769536463</id><published>2007-11-15T19:10:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-11-15T19:40:23.842-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Roughing it in Brianhead...</title><content type='html'>Nicole's parents have a cabin in Brianhead, UT.  It is really beautiful up there, and I always look forward to going up.  We went up over Labor day, or something like that, back in September.  I took some photos with our new camera while there, and thought I would post them for everyone to enjoy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0Kw6wm1kI/AAAAAAAAABs/N3-nnswSUhA/s1600-h/IMGP0388.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0Kw6wm1kI/AAAAAAAAABs/N3-nnswSUhA/s320/IMGP0388.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133270985795360322" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Cabin Front&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0MTKwm1mI/AAAAAAAAAB8/waKCSRp-kAg/s1600-h/IMGP0373.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0MTKwm1mI/AAAAAAAAAB8/waKCSRp-kAg/s320/IMGP0373.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133272673717507682" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Great Room&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0Nlqwm1oI/AAAAAAAAACM/jedoj9QDtz4/s1600-h/IMGP0255.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0Nlqwm1oI/AAAAAAAAACM/jedoj9QDtz4/s320/IMGP0255.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133274091056715394" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;View from back balcony&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0PWKwm1qI/AAAAAAAAACc/zBUoYPVcQzY/s1600-h/IMGP0234.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0PWKwm1qI/AAAAAAAAACc/zBUoYPVcQzY/s320/IMGP0234.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133276023791998626" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A tree carving Nicole and I made back in 2005&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0Pzawm1rI/AAAAAAAAACk/wztnt0aV4yw/s1600-h/IMGP0385.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0Pzawm1rI/AAAAAAAAACk/wztnt0aV4yw/s320/IMGP0385.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133276526303172274" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The off-roaders.  These are such a good time.  I could spend all my time at the cabin just to ride these things.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-2936340067769536463?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/2936340067769536463/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=2936340067769536463' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/2936340067769536463'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/2936340067769536463'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2007/11/roughing-it-in-brianhead.html' title='Roughing it in Brianhead...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp0.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0Kw6wm1kI/AAAAAAAAABs/N3-nnswSUhA/s72-c/IMGP0388.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-6660406352799912897</id><published>2007-11-15T18:37:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-11-15T19:41:41.127-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Living Las Vegas...</title><content type='html'>So, my little wifey Nikki wanted me to post a blogarythim with her blog address on it.  So, for all the peeps who come through here be sure to check out:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;nikkidee1.blogspot.com&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She is way funnier than me.  She is like Jerry Seinfeld, but a woman, and w/o a syndicated TV show and movies and stuff.  Anyway, no matter, she is WAY more babe-a-licious than Jerry anyway.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, I got to go down to the Bellagio today for a business meeting.  For those of you who haven't been here, this is what I am talking about...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0F7awm1hI/AAAAAAAAABU/00rSzlkFWMk/s1600-h/Bellagio.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0F7awm1hI/AAAAAAAAABU/00rSzlkFWMk/s320/Bellagio.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133265668625847826" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pretty Cool, huh?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0GJawm1iI/AAAAAAAAABc/-DFrKpM9QqI/s1600-h/Glass+Art.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0GJawm1iI/AAAAAAAAABc/-DFrKpM9QqI/s320/Glass+Art.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133265909144016418" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This isn't too shabby either.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0H0Kwm1jI/AAAAAAAAABk/KaFz0MMpNvQ/s1600-h/IMGP0392.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0H0Kwm1jI/AAAAAAAAABk/KaFz0MMpNvQ/s320/IMGP0392.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133267743095051826" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This guy resides in the botanical gardens, which are changed seasonally to coordinate with the time of year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's funny, but when you live here you really start to take things like this for granted.  There is a lot of ugly things about the Strip, but some things are just plain nice.  I really like living in Las Vegas.  It's not perfect, but no place is.  There are a lot of things to love about this place, and I am glad that we have ended up here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In other news, I found a few other pics that I am going to post, but in separate postings, so that way there is some semblance of order on here, unlike in my brain.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-6660406352799912897?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/6660406352799912897/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=6660406352799912897' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/6660406352799912897'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/6660406352799912897'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2007/11/so-my-little-wifey-nikki-wanted-me-to.html' title='Living Las Vegas...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rz0F7awm1hI/AAAAAAAAABU/00rSzlkFWMk/s72-c/Bellagio.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-1879540921736772726</id><published>2007-11-13T16:23:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-11-13T17:06:26.254-08:00</updated><title type='text'>It's never as good as it seems, and it's never as bad as it seems...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;So generally I think that my blog will be pretty happy and fun.  BUT, today I wanted to write about something that is a bit of a downer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You ever have a few things happen in a row that just get you a little down?  You almost can't help but say to yourself, "Geez, it would be nice if something went my way here!!"  Well, the last few weeks have been like that for me, and Nicole too I think.  Allow me to explain...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A little background on what I am talking about here.  When we moved from Utah to Las Vegas, Nicole has this job all lined up that was supposedly a sure thing.  It was with the company she used to work for in Vegas, they loved her, and it was basically her old job again.  Well, at the last minute it fell through and she was jobless.  She really likes the company she used to work for, so she took what she could get as soon as we got here, a.k.a. a job a customer service.  So then, her old job for a different boss became available again a few weeks ago.  She interviewed, they loved her of&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt; course...all is well, right.  Wrong, they passed on her b/c the person who had left that same job about a year earlier wanted to come back to it.  BAM!  Shut down again, on what was supposed to be a done deal, doing a job she is already way too qualified for.  It kind of hurts though you know.  Like, "Geez, what is my problem?  Does everyone I thought liked me, actually hate me?  Am I just plain not good enough to get hired."  Of course, none of that is true, especially about Nicole, but you just can't help but feel that way it seems.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;So, now onto me...I have been working for several months now on a deal at work.  (I sell 401k plans to small and medium sized businesses by the way)  This was my first "big deal".  Everything looked so good.  We were saving them a LOT of money, nearly 85% of what they currently spend on their plan.  We were increasing their benefits substantially.  We absolutely knocked the presentation out of the park.  My boss, who is also my father in law, was genuinely impressed with the work I had done.  After we left the big presentation he said, "That was great.  If we don't get this deal, I will honestly have no idea what to say to you.  You just gave the best presentation on this stuff I have ever seen."  We are good, right?  Wrong.  We didn't get the deal.  They stayed with the company they already have, and all for really bad reasons.  And to top it all off, we could have resolved every concern, but we never had the chance to do it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, I just found all of this out yesterday.  I am sitting in my office; our building is empty b/c we were closed for Veteran's Day.  My father in law had just broken the news to me, and I couldn't help it.  I thought to myself, "How can all of this keep happening?  What are we doing wrong here?  We're trying so hard.  How can all of these failures be a part of the plan?"  Oh, I know, it's so dramatic isn't it?  :)  Sometimes that is just how you feel though.  This frownie face below is meant to illustrate what I mean.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/RzpIrkTQTDI/AAAAAAAAABM/6eZhBLrCDuo/s1600-h/Frown.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/RzpIrkTQTDI/AAAAAAAAABM/6eZhBLrCDuo/s320/Frown.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132494638658112562" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Anyway, I wallowed in pity for a few hours.  Feeling like "the wind had really been taken out of my sails", or I had been "kicked while I was down", or whatever else.  And I mean that.  Yesterday was the worst feeling I have had about things in a long time.  I'm a pretty happy guy.  I can't remember the last time I felt depressed.  I sat here in my dark office just feeling really alone and pitiful, reflecting on all the "misfortune" that has come our way the past month.  And then I thought,  "You know, I have felt this way for 3-4 hours now, and it is time to move on, get back to work and get over it.  Things are what they are, and you can't always change that."  And then I thought, man what about those people who feel like this all the time or most of the time anyway?  You know?  People who are really sad and depressed and lonely, and just feel like nothing is right, and everyday they just mess it up worse.  They feel like things really aren't going to get better.  And it made me sad.  I guess I haven't felt down enough about something in a very long time, and I have kind of forgotten how it feels.  It made me realize that I am probably a callous jerk a lot of the time b/c I just don't relate well to people who just feel down-trodden.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, my point is I am going to work harder at this kind of thing.  People struggle sometimes with things and feelings that I don't understand.  That doesn't make them not real though.  It just means I need to wake up and think about others more and myself less. That's it really.  Like I said, this blog is really for me, not anyone else.  It just makes me feel better to write some of this down and get it  out.  The end...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-1879540921736772726?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/1879540921736772726/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=1879540921736772726' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/1879540921736772726'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/1879540921736772726'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-never-as-good-as-it-seems-and-its.html' title='It&apos;s never as good as it seems, and it&apos;s never as bad as it seems...'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp2.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/RzpIrkTQTDI/AAAAAAAAABM/6eZhBLrCDuo/s72-c/Frown.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757676398830585657.post-1924101895579909433</id><published>2007-11-12T21:07:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-11-13T15:40:27.735-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Taking a look-see</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;So here I am. Blogging. Always have thought this is kind of a goofy concept, but recently I have been thinking it would be nice to start "writing" down some of the happenings. My wifey, Nicole is currently searching diligently for a photo to be used on my blog, which if we uploaded it correctly should be there now. That is a pic of me at Disneyland!! We went this past month to celebrate Nikki's birthday. How about another snapshot or two of our adventure? Ok!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132198414763707410" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rzk7RETQTBI/AAAAAAAAAA8/ZyXJGR65M3g/s320/bringithulk.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;So, while seeing the see's and doing the do's of Universal Studios, we ran across home boy here who was clearly starting something. Thankfully for Hulk, Nicole was able to calm me down. More photos you say...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132194828466015218" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rzk4AUTQS_I/AAAAAAAAAAs/NMyTCCWVYUw/s320/Indianman" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;Okay, apparently this Native American was also picking a fight with me. Oddly enough, this pic was taken during our honeymoon trip to Disneyland nearly 3 years ago. Apparently my sense of humor hasn't eveolved much since then. That's ok, what was funny then, is still funny now.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132195597265161218" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rzk4tETQTAI/AAAAAAAAAA0/fOFGwAt1NF0/s320/genielamp" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;Alright, one last photo of Disneyland...until I can download more that is. Nicole and I don't really believe in going on vacation unless it is to Disneyland. I tried to take Nicole to Laughlin once a few months ago for a weekend (you know, so we didn't wear out our welcome at the Happiest Place on Earth)...anyway, it ended up being a total bust. Our hotel was shaped like a giant steamboat, which sounds cool, but when it comes at a staggering cost of $49/night...well let's just say you get what you pay for. Anyway, long story short, I learned my lesson, mended my ways, and have accepted that I will never see another vacation destination as long as I live, or at least as long as Nicole lives. :o) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132199209332657186" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rzk7_UTQTCI/AAAAAAAAABE/J01xa8-Y2Ss/s320/nateandjordan.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: arial;"&gt;This is me and my boy Jordan down at the Bellagio fountains. The fountains are like the White House of Las Vegas. Now, what I mean by that is that in my brain, if you live in D.C. then when people come to visit you, they ALWAYS want to see the White House. I don't know if that is true or not, I just like to pretend that it is. Anyway, if you haven't connected the dots yet, my point is that we make our way down to see the dancing water anytime we have visitors. Good times though. Nothing like the old h2O ballet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" &gt;Anyway, that should do it for now I think. This entry really doesn't have a point. Just getting things started&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/757676398830585657-1924101895579909433?l=natedee.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/feeds/1924101895579909433/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=757676398830585657&amp;postID=1924101895579909433' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/1924101895579909433'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/757676398830585657/posts/default/1924101895579909433'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://natedee.blogspot.com/2007/11/taking-look-see.html' title='Taking a look-see'/><author><name>NateDee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08139399767910093928</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='22' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/SkWS9K1KRWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/5DnKb1aeDcI/S220/IMGP0323+-+Crop.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp3.blogger.com/_EpGThYjy9CU/Rzk7RETQTBI/AAAAAAAAAA8/ZyXJGR65M3g/s72-c/bringithulk.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry></feed>
