Ships and Cherry Blossoms at UW.

Click on this first picture is it worth seeing blown up.

I'm coming off the high of spring break to face the reality that there are only a few weeks left in the semester. The pace / feeling at the law school has definitely shifted. I have a feeling my next few weeks will be rather void of interesting stories. Fortunately, the last couple of months have provided plenty of material for this blog.

After church last Sunday, Noah and I took advantage of a beautiful day and went exploring around Seattle. Our first interesting find was the fisherman's terminal. I've always wanted to be a merchant marine, so, this was a fun side trip.

The ships varied from the enormous utility boats to small skiffs. They also varied in level of decay. Some of the boats seemed to be nothing more than scrap rust. (Brenna has a boat too)

Some of the residents of the harbor were living on their boats, which made me wonder what it would cost to buy a big boat and turn it into a floating house.

Our next stop was the cherry blossoms at UW. This was way cool. I don't think I've live in an area with a big cherry blossom bloom, so, this was a new experience. The plaza was pretty busy with people this afternoon. But it was a conspicuously an Asian affair, I seemed like 9/10 of people was Asian. Go figure. Maybe we don't like to get out and look at flowers.

Anyways, we took some brilliant photos of the square that I hope you'll enjoy. 

Fortunately, Noah is very good model. 

Kylee's Wedding

~ Congratulations Kylee and Jeremy ~

I hope they name their future son - Adam West.

So, two weeks ago, I traveled to Boise to attend my little sister's wedding. I've been holding off posting this because I wanted more pictures from the reception, but since I have yet to receive them, I'll post what I have.

It was a very long day for me. My flight left at 7:05, so, I had to get up at 4:20 to catch the first light rail to the airport with enough time to check in my bags. Unfortunately because I travel with a 30 lbs of textbooks, I have to check bag when I fly. For some reason the airport was really busy at 6 in the morning, I usually don't have to wait in security for more than 5 minutes, that morning it was close to 30 min.

I landed in Boise with beautiful weather. It was a crystal clear winter day. Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy it and I spent the entire day at the Boise Library working on my Memo. After six straight our in the cramped study room in the library I was finally able to escape and go to the wedding.

Before the ceremony, we had a nice dinner at the Cottonwood Grille with the two families. My Uncle DuBose, my dad's older brother, and family.  I hadn't seen them for a very long time. I don't have a picture of the dinner, but this a good one of the family at dinner the following night. I think dad should join, with Uncle Rusty and I, in the beard club.

-Onto Kylee's Wedding -

She had the ceremony at Bishop Bates's house. He used to be my young men's counselor, so, it was really fun to see him again. They live up on top of the foothills in Boise, which gave us a beautiful view of the night skyline and valley.

Bishop Bates gave a very nice sermon on building on a marriage on the principles of the gospel followed by the actual vows, rings and kiss. We had a good time after that crowding around for pictures, toasting the happy couple, and cake.

As they left, Kylee tossed her bouquet which Brenna caught. I thought this was amusing because Kylee was the one who caught the bouquet at my wedding. So, maybe Brenna will be the next one to fall :-p.

Andrew's Wedding + Snowshoeing

There have been so many events over the last couple of weeks that I'll need to spread out the blog posts.

This one will be picture heavy.

The other big perk of going to the JRCLS was that I got to spend Valentines Day, Chinese New Year, and President's Day with Noah. On Valentines Day, we met up with the family at Grandma and Grandpa's House. We had a nice dinner and then made treats for Kylee's wedding reception.

The following day Noah and I wandered back up the canyon and spent the afternoon snowshoeing.

JRCLS Annual Meeting

Steven Pynes and his wife were very nice friends I made at the conference. 

What do people think about UU's take on service? 

My experience at the JRCLS Annual Meeting. Short answer - It was good time and worth the "break" from school. 

The sessions were hit or miss. I didn't like the keynote speakers. Here is an article about Elder Wittman's talk, which wasn't too amazing. It seemed like retelling of Elder Oak's BYU talk from last year.  http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58808/Religious-liberty-is-being-challenged-worldwide.html

Steven Covy was the Keynote on Friday night. I thought he sounded like a snake oil salesman. He could have titled the talk "The Platitudes of Steven Covy". 

The theme of this year's conference was "Service for Good through the Law." There were session on pro-bono work, professional courtesy, mentoring and the importance of serving in the community. In the afternoon, there were breakout sessions on various practices. I attended the immigration law session, which was very interesting. Immigration law provides a great opportuinty for pro bono service. The session outlined the resources avaliable to non-immigration attorneys who want to take up a pro-bono case. The Utah Association of the Immigration Attorneys provides pro bono attorneys  free access to local immigration attorneys for guidance and information on how to proceed in difficult immigration cases. 

The other panel which I found interesting was the opening session on Friday morning. The President of BYU and the President of the University of Utah spoke. The U of U president spoke about the qualities of leadership. He poked fun at the slew of "leadership books" which fill the racks at Barnes and Noble. With all the leadership books,  there should be many more great leaders. He stated that the best leaders, specifically from the scriptures, never read leadership books, rather they had certain qualities that made them great. King Benjamin was an example of service. He related a story about a meeting of general authorities with a stake president. As the meeting was supposed to start, the Stake President had not arrived. On inquiry, the General Authorities found out that he was in the gym setting up chairs for the Sunday Meeting. They remarked, "If the stake president is in the gym doing the work of a deacon, who is doing the work of a Stake President." He analogized this to the law practice. It is very easy to go to a soup kitchen and get the immediate satisfaction of service> However, is the best way we can give service? It is much better for us to spend our time fighting the legal battles in the courts. We may not get the immediate satisfaction or public notice of service, but we will have a greater impact in the long run. One quote a I particularly liked was, "Aritifice in service is an anathema to progress". 

Amber Fullwood and her classmate from Creighton School of Law in Omaha, NE.

So, outside of the meetings, this was a very good conference for a student. I met lawyers from all around the world. I sat next the General Counsel for the Church in Asia, and the chief litigator for the largest insurance company in Utah. I met judges in Arizona and California. Also, the food was very good. They reserved the conference center lobby on Friday night and set up a united nations of buffets, each table had a selection of favorite foods from a country - england, italy, brazil, greece, ect. 

Wedding Bells for Andrew

 I guess we didn't ring bells, but whatever. 

Last weekend was a great trip to SLC for Andrew's wedding. He was married in the SLC Temple with a really nice reception next door at the Joseph Smith Building. So, I asked for pictures of the event from Noah, but I only ended up with pictures of her and I. Ooh well, I bet I"ll put up some in my next post.

I'm flying to SLC again today for the JRCLS Annual Conference. http://www.jrclsconference.com/ The theme for the conference is "Service for Good Through the Law". I should be good times, but it looks like I'll beb spending all my time on buses between Utah county and SLC.

The more important thing about this weekend is I get to spend Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year's, and, uh, President's Day with my wonderful wife.

Outside the Temple

Always fun to see Matt, who flew in from Hong Kong for the wedding. I'm excited to hang out with him in HK this summer.

Andrew's reception was in the Provo Courthouse. 

I got to see my cute little cousin. 

Busy weeks ahead

Today, I am hanging out in the UW Law Library. What are my impressions? The study area better lit, larger, and more comfortable. They also have access to the Chinese statute database that I need for my research assignment. One the other hand, it has stinky bathrooms with bad toilet paper, and the coffee bar "The Supreme Cup" pales in comparison to our "Sidebar." But enough of the rivalry, because the nice librarians have been a lot of help with my research.

Today was also my first day at work as a Westlaw rep. It was particularly uneventful, but I did get to answer a couple of questions. I was hesitant to take this second job, but it does looks like it won't be very intense. I can spend the slow time at the table studying. That is luxury I do not have with my research position, where all my time is on a task.

Over the next month, I will travel to Utah twice and Boise once. I really hope my contracts textbook will fit on the little airline trays, because I'll need to use every spare moment to study and work.

My usual Monday night ritual is to make spaghetti and watch House. However, last night was a special treat and a nice break from the pain of a memo-writing little-sleeping weekend. I went to Twilight mustache party with my friends Rebecca, Chrissy, Nathan, and Randy. Chrissy, who is the consummate gourmet of the group, directed us as we made (from scratch) pasta sauce, meatballs, garlic bread, and the noodles.

I was in charge of the pasta maker. :-) 

I was the only one who didn't need to wear a 'stache. (Nathan took the picture)

Back at it.

The best thing that happened this week was I got to go flying. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera, so, no pictures of the affair. However, there was an MD-80 on the ramp, which someone took a picture of. That baby takes up a lot of space on GA ramp at PWT.

Over the break, Noah and I met up with our good friends Derrick and Mandy. I was mission companions with Derrick. We walked through Temple Square, though they had already turned off the lights. I guess the church is trying to save on the electric bills.