The blog Competition

After enlisting Carly to join our fantasy football league, I found that some intramarital competition can be fun. So in an effort to get Carly blogging more, I decided that I would create my own and then we can see just who can blog more, i.e. add pics, vids, keep up with family, etc.

So feel free to check it out and when we decide we have had enough we will make all of you the judges to see who of us has been the better blogger.

The address of my new blog is http://newtonandgalileo.blogspot.com/
It's under construction but feel free to check it out.

More Apollo

The video speaks for itself!

At the Park

Apollo loves playing at the park. It's very nice for us to just let him loose and relax on the sidelines.

Monkeys on the Bed!

Just a little video, Apollo loves playing around, he is such a monkey!

This Higley Family Blog

Hello everyone this is Brian. Carly and I have decided that we are awful at the blogging thing. It's not that we don't like it or don't like computers, but we just don't take the time to really ever post anything. So we decided that we should both try real hard to add something at least every two weeks for the rest of the year and if we keep our track record, we will abandon the blog. So wish us luck.
The most recent things we can tell you about is that Apollo got sick but is now feeling much better thanks to some sage advice from Melissa Higley. We are so lucky that she is as knowledgeable as she is and so willing to hear us out and tell us what to do.
We are both aching to go camping and hope to go this weekend with Andy, Cammi and their kids! I really miss the out of doors, especially with all the compute screen reading I've been doing!
My new job is going great, although we lost two bids we really wanted, one in SLC and one in St. George! We were really hoping to get the job in St. George so the company would move us there. In the meantime, we are working really hard on the I-15 CORE project. The budget is set at just over a billion dollars so the more scope we can get out of it the better off we will be.
I just took the GRE yesterday and I must say, after a long night with a screeching sick baby boy, I wasn't as prepared or alert as I should have been. Fortunately I still surpassed the requirements of the Civil Engineering department graduate school so I will be returning to classes this fall in pursuit of a Master's degree. I'm excited for the research I will be doing, but not so excited for the class work. And I am planning on working full time during school so it may be a stretch of long months ahead.
Carly is doing great at her job as a CNA. She works too many graveyards, in my opinion, and the scheduler seems to really take advantage of how willing Carly is to work. She is also going to be taking some classes this fall to up her chances at nursing school next year. She is very impatiently waiting for her natural hair color to return and keeps bugging me about it.
So that might be all for now but I will try to help Carly keep us more up to date on the blog.

Brian's New Job!

Congratulations Brian! Brian and I are so happy that he now works for Kiewit a company that large transportation projects and other side projects. Brian says they have a good reputation all over the country and that he feels it is a great fit for him. Way to go hubby! We are very blessed for his opportunity and we are excited for where it will take Brian. He will be doing geotechnical work for Kiewit as an intern until November, where he and Kiewit will reevaluate and then he hopes to be moved into a salaried position. We feel especially lucky given the economics and are of course happy for the added income.

My Ankle Story

Hello again, this is Brian. Do you like the pictures of my beautiful ankle? It really wasn't too bad, my pride was damaged much more than my body. I've decided to share the story of how I sprained my ankle with you all. The whole stupid thing is true and as it occurred I kept thinking it would be an even better story if I had gotten arrested. Well here it goes.

Some of you may know that that recently I have been working with one of the professors at the University of Utah doing some research. I was performing various tests on the bond strength of a material like shot-crete or stucco to a styrofoam that is used in road construction. The last of the tests that I had to perform was an impact test. Unfortunately the school does not have the apparatus to perform the test, but the company that produces the material does! They are located in Las Vegas. So it was decided that I should prepare my samples, haul them to Vegas and test them there. No big deal, right?

Things were going smoothly I had 24 six inch square samples and 8 one foot square samples all ready to go. I had planned on letting the product cure for at least 7 days (it gains strength as it cures) and this was not a problem either. I called up the company and they said I would be fine to use their equipment the day after Memorial Day. So, Carly and I planned to leave late the Sunday night before Memorial Day so that Apollo would sleep the entire trip. 

Things were on track and running smoothly until late Friday night when, just as I was falling asleep, I realized I had forgotten to load up my samples. Why was I alarmed? Well I have tried going into the civil engineering labs at school on Saturdays before and I knew the chances of anyone being there would be close to nil. Well there was nothing to be done but go and pray that something would work out.

I was right about no one being there. I walked around the building and nothing seemed to be open. On a second round I did notice that one window was open and I remembered that the mens' bathroom window was usually open as well. The only trick would be to scale at least one floor of the building and crawl along the roof to next section of the building where I could get in one of the buildings. I grabbed the only thing I saw that I could use as a makeshift ladder, a short two by four. 

Standing on the two by four and using some electrical conduits on the side of the building I eased up to the side of the building. I could just barely get the tips of my fingers on the roof. It was worth a try I took a breathe and pulled. And fell. And rolled my ankle on the two by four which fell underneath me... I just hoped that no one saw. It hurt but I have had worse, so I tied my shoe real tight and started walking it off. 

On yet another trip around the building I noticed that a door was propped open leading to the boiler room. I decided to investigate since this was surely the same boiler that heated the entire building. It was freakishly hot but I needed to get the samples, so it was worth some looking around. I discovered one set of double doors up some stairs that would lead into the labs I needed to enter, but they were emergency exits and I couldn't tell if they were wired to set off an alarm. I kept looking. I finally came to some tunnels that allowed access to the pipes from the rooms of the building to the boiler room. At this point I was glad for the free time I used as a janitor to explore similar rooms at Provost Elementary. I even noticed that there was indeed a tunnel going in the direction that I thought would lead me to the labs. There was even a small light for the first few feet. 

The tunnel was about 50 feet long and was dark as can be for the majority of it. It was also only about 4 feet tall and filled with hot stale air. The lack of good air made it so that I could waddle a few feet than stop to breathe. But finally I got to the end where there was a small door with light behind it. I pushed it and it opened into another mechanical room. Going up a short set of steps I was so glad to see I reached my goal! 

I was thanking the Man Upstairs the entire time I loaded my samples into our car. Despite my ankle, I was thrilled at having "broken" into the lab to get my samples and not been arrested. Just as I was finishing up, a dark car pulled into the lot and some guy got out. He approached the building at a different door. I just watched wondering if this was someone else coming to try and study or something and getting ready to tell him that I could not let him in through the lab. Then he pulled out a key and went straight in! If only I had waited 20 minutes! Oh well, it was fun and adventurous. It reminded me of some of missions of Goldeneye, the James Bond video game.

The end.

  

ARCHES!!

Guess where we went? Arches National Park! It was the first time that I have ever been and Brian's first since he was a little boy. It was beautiful! It was windy and sprinkled on us on our hike to Delicate Arch, but other than that the weather was great if a little hot. We each picked out a favorite arch and Brian picked one for Apollo. Apollo got Delicate Arch because it kind of looks like an A. Brian picked Double O Arch because it slightly looks like a B and I picked Broken Arch. We had a great time hiking together and getting away from the city. It was a bit stressful packing up everything but I was already planning our next trip down on our way home.

Brian always makes me climb off trail!

Apollo "hiking". He really loved the sandy areas and he is getting better at climbing rocks.

ARCHES

The campsites where we stayed were a bit cramped but they had bathrooms, showers, a small pool, and even a little swing set/playground

Balanced Rock

Apollo is hiding but he did really well in the backpack. Delicate Arch is one of Brian's favorite, he said its the Angels Landing of Arches.

PICTURES

Brian didn't add any pictures of his graduation and I thought I should! So, here are some that I had on my camera.

From left to right: Ted (my sister Katie's husband), Apollo and Brian, Nate (my brother), and Richard (my sister Rachael's husband)

Happy to have finished a tough degree

Brian and his parents

GRADUATION!

Yo all, this is Brian. I want to thank everyone out there who helped me through the last couple of years so here it goes:

1. My wife, without Carly I would never know what I could be or what I want to do

2. My parents for telling me to go after what interests me

3. My father in law for all the support while I concentrated on school

4. My son, Apollo, for smiling and running around excitedly when I got home after long days at school

5. Dr.s Chambers, Bartlett, Burian, Lawton and Wong -- some of the best and most challenging professors I have ever met

6. T.J. Gillespie and Jason Jensen -- two very smart fellow students, we spent a lot of time studying for the same classes and competing against each other.

7. Anyone who pretended to think that what I was studying was not boring!

8. 4 problem, two hour finals

9. 15 page homework assignments

10. 75 page lab write ups

I could go on and on but I am very grateful for the education that I have. It took me so long to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life, I think I ended up with 250 credit hours. I changed majors four times and finally found my "calling". I'm glad this step is over with and although its a horrible time to be looking for a job, I am excited for the future. Again, thanks to everyone who supported and helped.

CHI EPSILON

CONGRATULATIONS BRIAN!!! Last night Brian was inducted into Chi Epsilon, the honor society for civil engineering students. Its pretty much the all stars for them. There were only 10 students inducted this year out of at least 200 students so I am very proud of my husband. It was quite the induction ceremony, the inductees were blindfolded and read the rights and statutes to which they would be held as members. After that they took off the blindfolds, said they accepted, and were recorded as lifelong members. It was fun and since Chris came up to babysit for us, it was pretty close to a date. They even served us dinner. They also had a guest speaker who talked about traffic engineering and Brian was the only student to ask a question at the end. It was funny to see him excited about something that can put most of us to sleep! I love you Brian, way to study and work hard!

Karma to the Rescue

Sometimes the golden rule turns out to bite us in the backside, but last week Karma, good fortune, or whatever you want to call it, helped us out. Brian went for a run last Wednesday and told me he saw a wallet in the gutter. At first he thought that tossing it onto the curb would be good enough for whoever lost it, to find it. But he noticed it was in front of some apartments and thought it would be nicer to nock some doors and see if he could locate the owner. He peaked at the drivers' license inside and started asking anyone who answered if they new the person. He finally found someone who said he was the father. So Brian handed him the wallet and off he went. Anyways, I lost Brian's wallet (I took it to buy us some groceries and he had the cards). We were just getting stressed out and about to start calling to stop any transactions on our cards when someone pulled up looking for a Higley! They had found the wallet and brought it to us! What cool people. They didn't even want any reward but Brian insisted they take a few bucks. We know we were very fortunate and I am grateful for the small things that people go out of their way to do. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLY!!!!!!

Here's to my beautiful wife! Happy birthday pretty lady! I am so lucky to have this pretty woman in my life. Since its her birthday I thought I would share 20 things that you might not know about this lady that I adore.

1. She is a great writer and has written reviews on plays and biographies for journals/magazines

2. She has an amazing voice but is really shy and so she doesn't show it off too much

3. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dixie State College

4. She is very well read and finishes books before I can finish a sentence!

5. She loves Indian food

6. She has competed in 3 triathlons and took second place in one as part of a relay team

7. She has been to: China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Cook Islands, Canada and the Bahamas

8. Carly is the health nut and can tell you the grams of sugar in just about anything

9. Carly loves to go for long walks

10. Carly swam with dolphins

11. Carly is a great swimmer

12. Carly loved being pregnant

13. Carly overthinks things, she is analytical to the point of being illogical

14. Carly has to be on a couch when she is sick, the bed doesn't cut it

15. She puts on her shoes before her pants, its one of the wierdest things I have ever seen!

16. She walked away from a crash with on coming traffic on the freeway

17. She fell in love with me at first sight (her words, I swear) in a summer time institute class. She was wearing running shoes and shorts and a tee shirt!

18. She went on a helicopter ride in the 3rd grade for having the best anti-drug slogan: "I would rather eat poo than do drugs with you"!

19. She wanted to be a veterinarian when she was a little girl, she tried saving a little bird that fell from a tree and even chopped up worms with scissors for it... the bird later died

20. She loves daffodils and the smell of gardenias.

My wife is simply amazing and by far the most incredible part of my life. I couldn't live without her and I grow more aware of my love for every day. Carly I love you and you deserve a better birthday than I will ever be able to give you.

GAS ALERT!

Brian surprised me by coming home extra early today! Woo hoo! There was a big gas leak at the University and they evacuated the campus! Brian said he was glad to take off and walk straight home! I am too! I love little surprises! Want to check out the gas story? Try ksl.com.

SPRING BREAK IN ST. GEORGE!

We had a great week and a half in St. George visiting family and taking a break. We loved the weather, Brian took advantage and went golfing a couple of times while Apollo demanded to play outside, look at the stars, and point to the blue sky.

We stayed at my mom's house where Apollo found my giant teddy bear and had fun wrestling him! I of course love spending time with my parents and relaxing in their homes.

Apollo helping pack clothes.

My gorgeous boys!

Apollo playing in the Higley's backyard and me with my ultra blonde hair! Its now a red-brown that I really like. Thank you mom and dad Higley for letting come and stay with you! We had a blast and can't wait to see you soon. 

Brian's turn!

ATTENTION!!

Apollo and I have taken control of the blog and the computer! We called our operation the annexation of ga ga ga LIGHT! I have decided to help Carly in her quest to have more posts and take more pictures! We almost nearly just about adjacently barely casi forget our camera every time we go to do something, like our recent trip (or trips for me) to St. George. I missed Carly so much! We drove back late Sunday night and we listened to a book on cd. It was fun but I am tired! I missed Apollo too, he is growing and learning so fast, it is really fun to watch. I am a lucky man to have such a great family. These are some pictures we already had on the computer and I don't think they have been part of the blog yet. 

On a hike with Kate, Ted, Marco and Isabel (Marco and Isabel are borzois). Thanks Kate and Ted for the fun!

Apollo and his best friend, next to his parents, BLANKIE!

Snow, Sun, Snow, Sun. The Weather toys with us!

It is probably the one thing that gets said the most on this blog, "well its been a while". Even though it is true whenever it is said, Brian and I have made it a goal not to have a reason to say it, write it, whatever. For the last week and a half I was down in St. George visiting family and I must say, I miss the warmth of southern Utah. Brian was so nice to drive down with me, but he had to get back for school. Just last weekend he came to pick me up and take me home, thanks for bringing me back to snow Bri! At least I have your warm hugs too! Over the weekend Apollo's grandparents babysat him and we were able to go out on our first date in months! It was so fun. We went golfing with my sister Rachael and her husband Richard. It was a beautiful day and great to be out walking around. Brian did really well and the rest of us were glad when the ball got off the ground! We then went to a new sports grill called The Players Grill and it was great food and didn't take very long to get the food we ordered either, we recommend it to any visiting St. George. The day was so much fun and we are so grateful to John and Pat for giving us that break from our hyperactive child. 

Apollo is now 19 months old and learning tons of words, even though he doesn't pronounce them all perfectly. His favorite word, and object, of late is LIGHT! Brian says its a sign that he will be a physicist. Apollo loves being outside too, and is having a hard time adjusting to cold again. He recently had his 18 month check up and he is still skinny and tall. He skinned his nose while in St. George playing in my mom's back yard and he looks so cute, even though I now it must have hurt.

Brian's spring break is coming up and we are excited for a break and time together. Now the question is if we can afford to go back to St. George! I say the weather is one of those "priceless" things from the credit card commercials. Brian says the boring drive is as well. I say a happy wife is! I win! Plus, I can persuade him with the chance to golf! See ladies! Sometimes our husbands' obsessions with sports can work in our favor! Ha Ha Ha!

THE 13-0 UTES!! A SUGAR HIGH for all Utah fans

Number 7 Utah beats number 4 Alabama! In your face Saban! Next time do the talking on the field! (This is Brian) I had a great time watching the Utes take a first quarter 21-0 lead over the tide, come up with 8 sacks and serve a good helping of humble pie to Alabama. Not only is it great for the school but the whole conference. If you didn't watch it and you live in Utah, shame on you!! Hopefully this will wake the folks in the BCS and maybe in a couple of years the MWC will be the new BCS conference. 

Hoover DAM

What did the fish say when it ran into the concrete wall? DAM! (This is Brian writing) As part of my birthday/Christmas present, my parents watched Apollo while Carly and I went to Hoover Dam. This was Carly's first time there and I really wanted to see the bridge that is being built to allow traffic to bypass the dam. Hoover dam is an amazing engineering feat. It's named after our 31st president, Herbert Hoover, who was an engineer himself.  

The winged angels, they were probably meant for surveillance when Megatron was kept there.

 
My angel is wearing purple!

Overlooking Lake Mead.

Apollo Drumming Away

Looks like I may have given birth to a percussionist.

Vacation Fun

Thanks Candi and Matt for the awesome gifts. The blanket will match the shirt you made for Apollo. You guys are awesome!

Apollo loved playing my brother Nick's drums at my mom's house. Ted tried teaching him a few things but Apollo just loved making noise.

Christmas Eve Day in Zions

Brian went with his parents and brother Chris to Zions national park for a short hike on Christmas Eve. As a tradition they have a snowball throwing contest at the end of the hike to see who can hit the river that lies hundreds of yards below. The winner... MOM! Way to represent the ladies mom! Brian says this is the most snow he has ever seen in Zions.