So let's start with the early years. David was born in Nogales (on the US side) and grew up in Snowflake before moving to Utah when he was 12. This is the house he lived in in Snowflake.
In Utah he met his best friend Matt Pyne. You'll see a lot of Matt in the following pictures.
David was super active and he LOVES the outdoors. As you can see from the following pictures he loves to hike, ski, mountain climb, mountain bike, camp, golf and fish.
It was a good thing that David was an outdoors sort of person because he was called to serve a mission in Honduras.
David and I were married in February of 2002, during the Salt Lake Olympics. We were married in the Manti Utah temple. Isn't he a total cutie?
Let's talk about talents now. The man I'm married to is so crazy talented! First let's talk about musically. David has a beautiful voice though he will often bemoan the fact of his "limited" range. This despite the fact that he can, and will, sing all 4 parts in sacrament meeting. Ward choir directors start panting when they hear him sing and will often try to recruit me (I am not so musically inclined) hoping he will come too. David sang in the BYU Men's Chorus and I hope someday he will have the opportunity to follow his mom into the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
But the musical talent does not end there! David plays both the piano and the accordian very well. He serenaded me with the accordian on our first date, playing songs from Lady and the Tramp.
Also he can literally pick up any musical instruments and play music. I have seen him play classical music on a slide whistle. It truly is a gift and one that has blessed our family.
On top of being musically brilliant David is also a good cook, he did most of the cooking our first year of marriage and taught me the joy of cooking without a recipe.
He also enjoys target shooting and hunting when given the chance. I love this picture of us shooting together.
David also loves photography and has overloaded our computer with pictures of plants, flowers, trees, and bugs. When he was younger he did some painting and I think there's an artists soul inside him waiting for a time to break free.
He is also, as most of you know, a total computer geek! He spends a lot of time on the phone walking other people through their computer difficulties. He has a gift for explaining things in a clear, concise way that is easy to understand.
One of the quirky things about David is his viewpoint on sports. He enjoys all of them, especially football but he's never been able to justify sitting down and watching sports for 3 hours. After about an hour he's fidgeting to get up and do something. This picture is from when we were engaged after a BYU football game.
I can't talk about David without mentioning what a great Dad he is. Each time I've told him I was pregnant it makes him very nervous. He worries about supporting our family. But by the time that baby is born he's mad in love and never looks back.
This is one of my favorite pictures of David. It's in the hospital after our daughter Daisy was stillborn. I'll never forget being in that room with him and crying together for the daughter we had to say goodbye too. His presence was such a strength to me and his tears, so seldom seen, were a beautiful tribute to our child.
David graduated from ASU in 2007 with a degree is Civil Engineering. He got a job with Standage & Associates. I don't understand a whole lot of what he does, but sometimes we drive to remote places like this and take pictures of dirt.
David is an extremely dedicated worker. He pours everything he has into what he's working on. He always wants to present himself and the business he works for in the best, professional light. He's truly a team player, not looking for glory or credit but trying to help out as much as he can. He's been like this in every job he's had, from delivery to the Engineering company he works for.
You'll notice that none of these pictures are recent. That's because I have basically no recent pictures of him. For 6 months now David has been working 70-80 hours a week to support our family. 6 months ago David started working a second job at Wal-Mart so that we could pay off debt and build up our food storage. Then there were some salary cuts at work and all of the sudden we are very grateful for our second job which helps us to make ends meet.
I have never heard David complain about his work schedule although he is only getting 5 hours of sleep a night. In fact he's often saying that it's not that hard and that I have the harder job. I feel so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man, who is willing to do whatever it takes to support our family. A righteous priesthood holder who has been my rock through all our trials and continues to be a calming influence in my life. We are truly soul mates and my marriage is the only thing in my life that is never a trial.
David, I love you. You are still my hero.
