Our Lake Utah

We love Lehi for one main reason. We are 15 min from the Lake.

Irena Sendler

Sorry...more politics.

The Georgia Russia Case Study

This has been brought out in many news sources (I first heard in listening to Bob Lonsberry), but I thought it was interesting enough to re-hash. I haven't posted much about politics because although I don't like Obama, I can't get too excited about McCain either....and to be honest, I think most of the anti-Obama stuff floating around is pretty superficial (in most cases, examples of the same offense could be dug up on the McCain side of things). In saying all of this, I do think the recent criticisms of Obama's response to the Georgia conflict is valid. Allow me to explain.

In school, we were often evaluated using case studies. Case studies were basically 10-20 page documents that presented a business scenario, but withheld the outcome or solution that was implemented. As students, we came to class each day prepared to argue how the company should respond. Fast forward a few months to full-time employment. My company, before interviewing potential employees, presents similar case studies related to our industry and asks the applicant to submit a formal report about how they would respond. I believe case studies are a great way of evaluating students, potential employees, and in this case presidential candidates, because they show how the candidates might respond when actually presented with similar situations.

On August 8, Russia invaded the country of Georgia. As can be seen in this article, the candidates had two slightly different responses. On the day that the conflict broke out, McCain immediately said that Russia "should withdraw their forces." Obama had a slightly different take. He "urged the two sides to show restraint."

This highlights the stark differences in foreign policy of the two candidates. McCain doesn't put up with crap. He has experienced the negative consequences of corrupt governments and jumps to stop them before they get too far down the road. Obama takes more of a touchy-feely (diplomatic) approach. His solution is to repeatedly urge corrupt governments to act properly while hesitating to identify the governments as corrupt in the first place. In his words, we cannot "bully the world into submission". I recognize that there are pros and cons to both approaches (you don't want to be weak, but you don't want to be a warmonger), and I am not thrilled about McCain's stances on many things...but all things considered, I do like McCain's stance on foreign policy.

Seriously So Blessed

Okay it is time to share the wealth of laughs that come with this great blog. You have got to check out this blog. It is hilarious and is a mock of Blogs. Especially the Utah blogs. Anyhow it will make you laugh
http://www.seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

Clap Your Hands

Last night, we went to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. It was free, so that was good; however, it seems that free concerts bring out a lot of yahoos. Moreover, it seems that it is extremely hip among those yahoos to tattoo a star on their wrist. Interesting. It is hard to explain, but the crowd made it somewhat difficult to concentrate on the music (not because of the said yahoos, but other factors such as people going in and out of the crowd, people more interested in each other than the band, etc.). Clap Your Hands was really good. Their music is especially good in a concert setting (great dance music). I did, however, find myself being one of those people that...well...is just anxious to hear the hits. I thought Satan Said Dance was the best song of the night.

Happy 27th Jon

Happy 27th Birthday Jon

Just because he thinks blogs that do this are soooo lame I thought what better way to celebrate than do something that he will despise. Oh well we love him and wanted to share a few reasons why we think he is so great!

Obviously he is a wonderful husband and a good dad.

Super Duper smart!!! Completed his Bachelors, Masters in Engineering as well as a MBA at BYU by the time he was 25 yrs old. That does not mean he know everything though. I at times am still very right.

Go Cougars!!! Don't worry Jon has quite a collection of very fashionable BYU gear.

Can fix anything he sets his mind too. Seriously he learns how to do so much on his own
it is amazing

Apparently Jon loves flowers as much as his son Beck.

Loves his cabin

Jon loves to fish especially Knotton or Alaska.

Jon is a hard worker. He never complains about going to spend his day away from his family at the office. Not to mention the work that awaits him at home.

Jon is a great water skier and learning to be a good wake skater. He has not had as much practice as he needs this summer. I guess that is what a home and yard does to you.

You will never ever, ever, ever catch Jon in a bad mood. He always has a smile for you.

Very politically savvy. He spends a lot of time listening to talk radio as well as reading articles. He knows a lot about this country and is well informed voter. So beware if you ask he may a few strong political opinions.

Jon loves being able to play volleyball with his high school pals once a week.

Jon has good taste in music. He likes most bands until they become popular. Tonight Clap Your Hands and Say Yah are giving a free concert in honor of his birth.

As much as he does not believe, I am sure his Young Men think he is pretty cool.

Jon has a good sense of humor, although he does not think I am all that funny so his humor may be in question.

He is younger than I but I am very grateful that he just looks old for his age. I am sure many of you have noticed this.

He had begun his 2nd season of golf. Just one more step into the boring life of a business man.

Can I just say Ruben and Ed.

Enjoys traveling and fortunately is pretty willing to go often. We all loved going back to the DR with him and to see the excitement on his face as he showed us all around the amazing place. Not to mention his Spanish sounds great.

Beck and Ira think he is awesome. Beck told me on Dad’s birthday he will tell him “Happy Birthday”. So there you have it Jon.. Happy Birthday! We love you dearly.

Salim Haman

Today, I read the news about Salim Haman, Bin Laden's driver, being found guilty of providing material support to al Qaeda. It was not the verdict that peaked my interest, but rather an awesome quote mid-way through the CNN article:

"He was taken into custody in southern Afghanistan in November 2001. Though the car he was driving contained missiles, he said from the beginning the car was borrowed and the missiles weren't his. He repeated his assertions Thursday."

So there you have it...if you ever get caught with a few missiles in your trunk, just use the classic pothead excuse. Hey man, this isn't my car...and I don't know how that pot - errrrrrrr - those missiles got in there.

Lake Powell

I thought I would never see the day that my husband Jon would pass up any amount of time at Lake Powell. I guess old age has begun to get the best of him. He was not up for another quick vacation even if it was to Lake Powell. Beck and I headed down for a few days with my family while Ira stayed home with Dad. Beck Loooves Lake Powell and was so sad to leave. He was very brave and would dip his face under the water. Sometimes I wonder what our family did without Beck for entertainment.

Alright Shipley family it is time for a trip to the Lake.

Signs that Your Wife Goes to Costco Too Much

Jess: Beckham, guess what tomorrow is?
--Silence--
Jess: Tomorrow is church-day.
Beckham: Tomorrow isn't Costco-day?

The Aquabats

Best Friends

I am grateful everyday for my two little buddies who absolutely adore one another. Having them this close in age was one of the best things I have ever done. It is beginning to pay off.

Memories of Yosemite

Yosemite

My brother Matt convinced Jess and me to drop by Yosemite on the way home from Newport. The thought of driving 6-7 extra hours with the kids made us think twice (or about 30 times to be honest) about committing to the stop, but it ended up being well worth it. We pulled in late Friday night and set up the tent. I awoke at 3:45 Saturday morning and Matt and I headed up the mountain to begin a 14 mile (round-trip) hike to the top of half dome. The hike was incredible - one of the coolest things I have ever done (although it kicked my butt...but we will get to that later). The hike begins with a 2.5 mile ascent up Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. This first 2.5 miles is brutal - you basically climb straight up the steep hills/cliffs surrounding the waterfalls using thousands of granite stairs. The next 4.5 miles is a beautiful hike through some groves and up a hill covered with huge pines and redwoods. After 7 miles, you reach another set of brutal granite steps to reach the backside of the dome. The backside of the dome is extremely steep, but doable. They have two cables going up the dome that help you not die (although as you can imagine, some have...9 according to the authoritative wikipedia). The way up was difficult, but we managed to do it relatively fast - 3 hours, 45 minutes. I was fine the entire way up. The way down killed me. By the time we reached Vernal Falls, I was dreading the last 1.5 mile or so. My knees decided that they were done for the day. In that last 1.5 mile, I decided that I would never do the hike again. A few hours later, I was already thinking about coming back and going back up. It was such an awesome experience. I'm glad Matt convinced us to come.

Anyway, while we were hiking, Jess and Becky were hanging out at the camp spot...which, by all that I saw, was the best one in the valley. Matt booked a sweet spot that abutted the forest and a small creek. Beck and Ben (Matt's kid) loved playing in the water. Matt and I got back around 1:30 and shortly after that we headed up to Mariposa Grove to see the sequoias. It was a bit of a drive (about an hour), but I am also glad we did that. Those trees are awesome - out of this world.

The rest of the trip was occupied by a bear, a bear cub (which was rad), some waterfalls, and El Capitan. If you can't already tell, I loved Yosemite. I really can't describe how amazing that place is. I can't wait to go back. In some other life, I will have to turn into a hippie and spend a few years hanging out in Yosemite.

On other thing of note...if you ever go to Yosemite from Utah, take the 6 rather than I-15 or I-80. We took the 6 all the way from California to Santiquin, Utah. It turns out that nobody uses that highway...the speed limit is 70 most of the way and it is pretty much an open, straight, highway with no cops. We honestly went about 35 - 50 miles at one point without seeing another car. You could probably do the trip in just over 10 hours.

Newport Beach

I strongly believe that I am a Southern California girl at heart. I love the beach and no beach in Cali is better to me than Newport. We had a great trip with the family. We spent a lot of days digging in the sand, Skim boarding, and soaking up the rays. Beck loved the beach and was happy to drag his boogie board along, looking for shells with his GG, and playing in the sand. It was fun to be with my whole family. Especially for Jon and I because it turns into a nice kid break with all the great help that we receive. We all have a great time together. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great trip. I think Beck will remember this trip for a while because he has me keep playing the O.C theme song California. I tried to change it to Utah but he did not like that too much.

Magic Mountain

Magic Mountain is my Magic Kingdom. I love the thrill rides. Beck may be taking after me because he loves the rides and likes to go on roller coasters. Although one log ride was enough for him. We forced him to go twice and that pretty much did him in. They have the best rides.

Home At Last

Baby I recovering from his Vacationing.

Companies - Bad and Good

Here is my experience:

The Bad
Citi
I have held a lot of credit card throughout the years, but Citi has definitely been the worst. Their customer service is horrible. Last August, our family was on a cruise and we missed our scuba booking with Blue Island Divers in St. Thomas (another horrible company). Despite MasterCard regulations that say a merchant cannot charge a cardholder until a service has been provided, Blue Island Divers charged us full price for each one of our bookings. I disputed the charge through Citi, and learned just how terrible their customer service is in the process. I will never do business with Citi in any form again.

GE
We have a gas oven from GE installed in our home. It is one of their higher-end models and only a couple years old. A few months ago, Jess was playing with the kids in the other room while something was cooking in the oven and she heard a loud explosion. She ran into the kitchen to find that the oven glass had shattered into a thousand pieces. We called GE and they refused to do anything about it because the warranty was only for 1 year. I understand that it is out of warranty, but this type of failure seems like a manufacturers defect to me. Given the nature of the failure, I thought GE would respond...but they pretty much just washed their hands.

The Good
American Express
Let me be the first to say that I don't think any credit card company should necessarily be classified as "good;" however, if there is one, it would be American Express in my opinion. When Jess and I were first married, we splurged our savings on a red recliner that we found at Costco. We probably should not have bought it given our situation, but we did it anyway. The day we decided to buy it, Jess and I went to the Orem store and some lady had the last one on a cart and she was deciding whether to buy it. Jess and I literally followed her around the store for over an hour hoping that she would decide against buying it. The funny thing is that after about a half hour, we noticed there were 2 or 3 other people doing the same thing. Anyway, the lady ended up buying it and Jess called every Costco in Utah trying to find the recliner in stock. The only one we could find was in St. George. Jess had her Grandpa go pick it up and her cousin Travis brought it home the next weekend. The only problem was that Travis didn't tie the chair down. He didn't make it to Leeds before the chair flew out onto the highway. Jess was devastated. Here we had spent our life's savings on a chair and it was in pieces. I think she just cried on her bed for a day straight. Anyway, a day or two later, one of Jess's coworkers suggested that she call American Express to see if they would replace it. We figured we had nothing to lose, so she called. Sure enough, American Express gave us the money without any problem. They even let us keep the damaged chair (which we pieced together and still have sitting in our family room today...just don't look at the back of it). Awesome customer service.

Costco
Costco is awesome. Great customer service...great store.

Baby I

Our little angel boy who is always happy to go with the flow. We love his sweet personality and his darling smile. Baby I we love you!

The Big Apple and New England

All I can say is that I have a wonderful husband, sister-in-laws, brother, and
grandma who worked it all out with my boys so that I could go back east on a trip. My mom and Candice and I went to NY, Boston, and Salem for a few days. We took in all the sites and ate all the good food. We walked and walked and did not miss a thing or waste a minute of our time there.

A Birthday Bonus

Dad, Limited Too sent you this birthday card. It looks like you get 25% off during your birthday month!

Happy Birthday Dad

As family tradition would dictate, we will start with this...Dad was born at a very young age. For every one of our birthdays, without fail, that would be the first one liner that Dad would pull out at the family dinner. There are a few more one-liners, but I am drawing a blank right now...I'm sure my brothers and sisters can comment with the others.

Dad was born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If I remember right, he was born in an old brick hospital on Main Street that is now a restaurant. I tried to find a picture of it, but unfortunately a general picture of Main Street was about the best I could do. Dad has done a lot of incredible things in his life...he was the Chief of Staff in the Department of Interior under Jim Watt. After his experience in D.C., he went to work for a consulting firm in California...I'm not sure of the details, but all I know is that he quit his job in California because of a difference in opinion about an ethical situation. I have never asked him much about this, but it has always served as an example to me (maybe I'll find out that I had this all wrong). After he quit his job in California (without another lined up), he started a shaved ice shack on Oceanside Pier and at the Carlsbad mall to bridge the gap between jobs. The family ran it for about a year before we moved to Utah where he started working at Shipley Associates. Years later, he accomplished one of my dreams...he, along with some partners, bought Shipley Associates back from Franklin Covey and ran it as their own. This is just the tip of the iceberg of his accomplished life, but it gives you a taste.

Now he is in Ghana as the Executive Secretary to the Area President of West Africa. He has done some tremendous things in his life, and this just adds to the list. He has been a great example to his six kids. We have all turned out well and he now has 17 grandchildren (if I am counting right). He has always put family first.

Wow...this is not supposed to sound like a eulogy, but Dad is an incredible person that I will always look up to. Happy birthday Dad! I hope the Ghanaians are throwing a huge celebration for you. We look forward to seeing you in a little over a year and we love you very much. Beck looked at this picture today and said, "that's Grandpa...he's in Africa."

Festival Days

We went to Strawberry Days in PG a few days ago with our pals. They fill a field with water and throw fish in and let the kids fish and catch them in nets. The boys had a blast running free through the water. Also Beck was brave and got his face painted. Unfortunately we got a beginning painter who started drawing a dragon then turned it to a bee and in the end it was a black blob also made his basketball look like a tic-tac-toe board. She tried hard and Beck was more than pleased. He spent several days in in face paint until I forced him to wash his face. I am having a hard time keeping up with Beck's demanding social life:)

Uncle Drew

We love our Uncle Drew. He came up to the cabin with us this weekend. Beckham thinks he is about the coolest thing around and followed Drew everywhere. Drew gave Beck lots of rides on the 4-wheelers sparing Jon and I. He is a great kid that we love very much!!

Carnival

We went with the Nielsen's to the Sprigville carnival last night. I thought Beck would not be into riding the rides but first of we hit up the roller coaster. He has spent a lot of time with his uncle Drew watching roller coaster rides on You Tube. He loved it and every other ride he went on.


Sweet little Ira is happy going along in his stroller.




We dropped Jon off at the office last night to get his car and I noticed they updated his parking spot. This spot alone was well worth the time and money spent on his MBA. Way to to go Jon after 2 years they added your name. I guess they plan to keep you for a while longer.

Edit - Picture Removed - That is embarrassing.

Good Old Days

Jon and I helped Alex and Kelsey find a place to live in Provo the other night. As we drove around we got a bit nostalgic remembering how much fun we had living there and how lucky we were to get to live in the Shipley duplex. Those years were really great and now we have a great appreciation for them as we are living in the real world. I am just grateful that we found them a place in a nice neighborhood where they have a good judicial system and people don't take advantage of each other physically. All this good insight we received from our pal William a drunk down the street. Thanks William! -Jess

Bud

By popular demand, I am posting again. This post is brought to you by people who call you bud and sales people that network through their friends and family. First, let's address people that call you bud. There are many other equivalent terms to bud (for example boss), but for some reason, bud is the worst to me. In my experience, "bud people" are most often found at the workplace. It is hard to talk to a person that calls you bud and not think he/she is the most condescending person in the world. The other problem with "bud" people is that even if you tell them not to call you bud, they usually slip back into the habit within 2 - 3 days. Bud is their cigarette.

The second most awesome person in the world is sales person who networks through his/her friends and family. Okay...I know that some of you may fit into this category, so don't get offended...just learn that nobody wants to hear about your awesome insurance rates, your financial plan, or you jedi real-estate skills. People that are close enough for you to approach know what you are doing and will approach you if they want your service. We all know how it goes...you get a call from somebody you knew in high school and at first you think it is cool...after five minutes of meaningful conversation, everything sours when he/she drops, "I've been selling insurance for the past few months." If you currently sell me insurance, don't worry...I'm not talking about you...just the other kooks that want to ruin relationships in the name of a commission. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh, but you get the point. I know what you are peddling and if I ever want an insurance quote from you, I'll come knocking. -Jon

Family Fun

I love going to St. George. I don't think Jon shares the same enthusiasm as I do. I love escaping for the weekend and just relaxing and having fun with our family. Our friends Cassie and Dave and their little girl Eisley came with us so it made our trip a lot of fun. Cassie and I went on a killer tandom bike ride that did us in. I am sure I was doing all the work. We also got to see the Carr's who were in town from Arizona. Jessica my good friend gave Jon some golf swing lessons that he desperately needed!!! haha Jon. She is a awesome golfer and golfed for BYU in college. So we need to take advantage of her help any chance we can get. Thank heavens for good food, fun and friends.

Death Cab

We went and saw Death Cab on Memorial Day at Thanksgiving Point. We drove over at 7:00 thinking that we might be able to buy some tickets from people desperate to offload them (since doors were supposed to open at 5:00). When we got there, they still had not opened the doors and there was an incredible line weaving around the parking lots. It didn't look like we were going to have luck buying tickets, so we decided to just come back and park outside the fence and listen to the concert.

Our plan worked out better than we had thought it would; we spent some of the concert about 50 yards behind the stage...where the sound was great, however you couldn't see the band (they played Why You'd Want To Live Here while we were in that spot...it was really good). Soon after that song, security asked us to move to the front-side of the facility, so we moved to a place where you could see the stage, but the sound wasn't perfect (but still pretty good). I took this picture from the second spot; my eyes are bad, so this was about all I could see. Jess says she could see everyone on stage pretty well. I decided my favorite Death Cab song is Marching Bands Of Manhattan...it was awesome. Jess really liked their new song, I Will Possess Your Heart. Their last song of the encore, Transatlanticism was also really strong.

Anyway, we are hoping they continue to book good bands at Thanksgiving Point so that we can take the kids and listen to some good music in the summer air.