Every child has an awkward period.

It looks like mine was somewhere in between the ages of 5 and 10. And then again sometime in high school once acne kicked in.

My grandpa

My aunt Emma's unofficial role in the family is to catalog the existing photos of our extended family. She has scanned just about every photo album that belongs to my grandparents and is therefore a great source for old, rare photographs.
Yesterday I called her up and asked if she had any old photographs of little Tybot. When I opened my inbox this morning I saw this photo of me and my grandpa sitting together on the brick fence that surrounds his home. I must have been about 5 or 6 years old at the time it was taken. This was the first time in my life that I had ever seen this photo.
I really love this photo, if for no other reason than it depicts my grandfather who is one of my absolute heroes. He fought in WWII, which in my opinion was one of the last really noble wars that the U.S. can be said to have fought in. He went toe to toe with Nazi troops in Europe and he lived to tell about it. When he came home he helped his wife raise 10 children, including my mother (and aunt Emma). All of the his children were raised in the LDS church. I believe each of his 4 sons went on missions to various parts of the world. 9 of his children went on to be married--6 of them sealed in the Temple. He taught his children what it meant to put in an honest day's work.
He has suffered stroke, heart attack, grenade shrapnel to the face, infectious diseases, and a broken and fused ankle--all of if with minor complaints. I am proud to call him my grandfather.
When I arrive in Arizona for the wedding reception in a few weeks, I can not wait to introduce him to my new wife and vice versa.

welcome to the interweb

You may have heard rumors.



They are all true. Babetron and I have decided to start a blog. I mean, our faces are practically smeared all over the internet as it is. Our engagement was mentioned in a Chicago Sun Times article. And our engagement photos are accessible online as well. It's like the world wide web can't get enough of us.
I mean, pretty soon we're not even going to be able to walk down the street with out some paparazzi popping out of some bushes and taking our photo, only to have it end up next to Britney on the cover of The National Enquirer.
So rather than fight the inevitable, we have decided to post a blog in order to give the public more of what they really want--us. Because that's all the world really needs, one more self-centered blogger clogging up the internet tubes.