Waking up with the King!

For People that follow that dont know my family Blog

2010-01-06T20:32:00.002-07:00

This is where you can catchup on us

http://amberandtravisasianlove.blogspot.com/

uPDATE

2009-05-13T22:05:00.001-06:00

A lot of things have been going on since I last wrote. It seems to me that every time that I write a blog entry it’s about me getting a new job. Well since I’m writing an entry I must have another job. I gave my two weeks notice to Watson Pharma and told them that I accepted a job as a Chemist working for BD Medical. I started about 3 weeks ago and its going great. I work in the Quality department and its going well. I have been working with the HPLC and getting ready to work with the Gel permeation Chromatograph (GPC). The GPC is used in determining molar mass and size information of polymers or biopolymers by light scattering. I will provide anyone with more information if that are interested.
We have been doing a lot of yard work lately. We decided to take out the tree in front of the house and plant a Japans Maples to represent Amber’s heritage. I guess we now need to find a Korean Maple or something for my half. We spent the whole weekend outside and the following week we put together a new dinner table. We had to put everything together and when we were almost finished I was screwing in the last screw and snap went the chair. I screwed it in too tight and split the chair now Amber is worried that if someone sits on it its going to crack even more. I apologized and everything is fine.

For mothers day we went over to my brothers house for Mothers day. Lindsay my sister in law prepared a wonderful dinner and Amber prepared the steaks. After we left Shawns mom wanted to come over and see the new arranged front yard. I will try to add a picture. As you can tell not too much has been going on.

Happenigs 2009

2009-02-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since we posted. A lot has been going on in our lives but we have great news to report. Don’t get too excited I’m not Prego and Amber isn’t either. In November ZARS Pharma layed off 80% of the work force and I was part of the 80%. I have been trying to be a stay at home dad while Amber worked but that didn’t work out so well. A few weeks ago my old Supervisor from ZARS called me up and asked me if I had a job yet.

My supervisor had gone back to his old job at Watson Pharma and wanted me to apply for a position in his Research group. Before I went to the University of Utah Parade I stopped in at Watson and talked to Pete my supervisor and the Director about the position. The next week I got an offer to work as a Temporary employee for 6 months and I accepted the offer. I have been there at week and really enjoy it a lot. This week to my surprise I noticed that I was working in the Organic Synthesis Research Lab. Anyone from school knows that the Advanced Organic lab wasn’t my best subject but I have been keeping up at work and learning a lot.

Steve and Clarice came to Utah for a few days to take care of the kids down in Pleasant Grove and they spent a little time with us here in Salt Lake. Steve asked me what I did at work and I tried to explain but he just kind of stared at me and said “I don’t think explaining to me what you do will help me understand what you do.” I just tell him that I do Chemistry because it’s just easier.

Last week we went to Jenny and Jeremy’s house to spend some time with her family and I got to play with the kids. Every time that I see the kids I take them a treat and that just makes them love Uncle Trav even more. This week I didn’t go to the Maverick gas station and went to the Cheveron and they didn’t have the candy necklaces that the kids love but I thought that ring pops would be better. I get to the house and everyone is ready for dinner so I take out the ring pops and put them where no one can see them but Hudson wanted someone to “hold you” and they lifted him up and he saw the candy. Well in short Hudson and Avery were unable to finish all their diner and had to have the candy. Amber said that I will have to hide the candy in the car until after dinner. I know a lot has been going on since December but I think that you know the University of Utah beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and we have enjoyed a few gymnastics meets this year. I had posted a picture of Matt Asiata, Shawn and I. He always looked so big on the field but Shawn and I are even bigger.

Nothing new

2008-09-28T22:25:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I last told you what was going on so I thought that I would update you. For the last couple of week I have been playing on my companies softball team and we are not too good. We were able to win a total of 2 games so we are not that bad. The one thing that has hurt our team is me playing out field, 3rd base and right center. The coach decided to let me pitch because he didn't think that I could drop too many balls. I pitched on Thursday and we were able to win. I struck out the same girl about 3 times and a few other girls but no guys. This is slow pitch so its kind of hard to strike people out. I think that I pitched about 5 innings and I was super tired and stressed out because I always thought that the ball was going to hit me in the face. The final score was 6-5. We were last place playing the first place unbeaten team and we won. Well thats about it for now. I'm sure that Amber will be posting the other stuff that has been going around here at the house. Thanks for reading.

Week in NY

2008-08-01T21:20:00.014-06:00

Well it has been a while since I wrote last but I have been a little buzzed from the beer commercial. Many of you know that Amber and I were going to go to New York for our Birthday and our Anniversary. We had a wonderful Birthday and the Anniversary will be great to especially since we will be moving into our house on our Anniversary.
We left for our NY trip on Sunday morning and my wonderful sister in law Lindsay took us to the airport. We arrived on time and was getting ready to board when the Delta guy at the desk ask if 6 volunteers would like to offer their seats so that they could put other people on. Well they were giving out free money so we decided to take the later flight that was only 2 hrs later then our original flight. We wait and board another flight which has a stop in Cincinnati and then off to NY. We arrived in Cincinnati/Kentucky and our flight got canceled. We tried everything that we could be we had to stay in Kentucky for one night. The next morning we flew out of Cincinnati and arrived at JFK airport just in time. I took my first Cab ride to Grand Central Station to check into our hotel.
We went directly to The Late Show with David Letterman. It was a great show with really loud music and it was kind of a small studio but we both had fun.

After the show we hurried to Yankee Stadium to see Ambers brother pitch. We arrived with ample time to get our tickets and get our seats. We arrive at the Will call and the attendant cant find the tickets under Ambers name or my name so we start to freak out but before we can ask another question the attendant starts to say “Next” over and over again until we leave. We go to customer service and tell the guy that Ambers brother is pitching and that he left us tickets. The guy goes back and in 10 seconds he is able to find them. We finally get inside and we have Row 1 tickets. We were up close and personal to the game. I’m sure that you saw us on MLB.tv or Sports Center because we were on the TV the whole game. Please refer to Pics.

After the game we went and did a little touring wither Jeremy. We went to time square and other sights around there. After the little tour we got back to our hotel and its almost 2 in the morning and we are tired.

We woke up the next morning to go see the Today show. We were able to make it on TV but no one was able to see us but I promise I was there. Refer to Pics. After that we just toured around all day looking at stuff and following Jeremy around he was an excellent tour guide.

We arrived at central park and enjoyed the huge park. We walked around for a while and then Jeremy decided to take on the locals at the Chess and Checkers house so we went and rented some bikes and rode them around the park. I never knew that the park was that big. We were riding around it and noticed that we only have 15 min to get the bikes back so we had to hustle to get them back in time. We did miss a lot of the park but we saw it all eventually except for that bridge. We were also part of a daytime soap that was filming too.

While we were walking they had all these fountains and Amber decided to fill up her water bottle. Right after she filled up her water bottle this homeless man came over and decided to wash his clothes in the drinking fountain.

Tuesday was filled with more walking and standing around. We went to the Metropolitan museum and looked at all the stuff. I couldn’t believe that they had that much stuff in there. We had to power walk around the museum to see it all. We then went to the Canal street to look for bags for Amber. We had a wonderful lunch at Little Italy and the food reminded me of my mission.

We returned home and enjoyed a night at a Broadway play. We went and saw Phantom of the Opera. The play was not very exciting because I had no idea what the play was about and I couldn’t understand the actors because all they did was sing the words. Amber felt bad for me because I asked her what it was about at the start of the play but she thought that I was quizzing her so she gave me a short answer. She finally figured out at intermission that I had no clue of what was going on. We then went to Johns pizza across the street from the play house.

Wednesday we went to the baseball field in the morning and took some pictures and had the tour. We were able to go on the field and also where the players sit during the game. Jeremy got some dirt from the infield for Shawn. We then spent the rest of the day shopping and wondering around the town.
I know that this is very long and I should put this in my journal but I think that more people will enjoy it now then later. Plus you can see my amazing pictures.
Thursday we went to the Empire state building which was alright. The skys were not too clear and you couldn’t see that far but, I think that it was worth it going up. We arrived later that night in Salt Lake and my buddy came and picked us up. We are all back and the vacation was great. Amber was able to get her shopping and stuff while I was able to get some autograph jerseys from Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

If you want to see more of my pictures check them out on my facebook page.

Beer Me RM!

2008-06-14T00:42:00.003-06:00

Orioles Magic feel it happen 2008

2008-06-14T00:20:00.004-06:00

Who made it to second base yeah Jeremy did, and the Orioles beat the Pirates 9 to 6.

It has been a year since my last post

2008-06-11T21:42:00.001-06:00

Well a lot has been going on since I last reported. It was kind of weird to see that the last time I posted a comment was a year ago today. I will try not to disappoint you. Ok I think that I just might because I’m tired and its only 9:44 pm. Thank you to everyone that has been writing on my blog and giving me comments I really do appreciate them.

This is what has been going on in the Stephens family. I worked at ZARS Pharma until December 2007. Yeah they decided to keep me on for a few more months because they were so impressed with my Technical Writing ability, good thing that I’m studying Chemistry. Amber started a new job working at an insurance company doing insurance thing like HAS and HDHP. Yeah I have asked her like ten times what that means and I always forget so if you really are interested check out her blog and ask.

For Spring Semester 2008 I took 19 credit hours that consisted of 5 upper division labs, so Amber allowed me to go to school full time while she worked full time. I can say that I did work 3 hrs a week at the HPER as the building manager. On May 2^nd I was able to graduate from the University of Utah in Chemistry. I will try to figure out how to post some pictures for all to see. My brother Shawn was able to get his Masters the same day too. The following day we went to Hawaii to visit her grandmother and family for two weeks. It was a good mother’s day for all.

I have since returned and am aggressively pursuing a job and Amber is making sure that I am. I have applied for jobs in Hawaii, Utah, Oregon, Colorado and even Boston Massachusetts. I will be sure to tell you if get a job. Hope that I didn’t disappoint but that is what has been going on. My next blog will be about my day golfing with Lon I’m sure you will enjoy.

Summer has officially started

2007-05-11T00:29:00.000-06:00

I am done with school until August. I have about 3 more semesters left before I get my degree. I know that it has taken me a long time and I hope that it’s worth it when I am done. I have been attending the University of Utah for 3 years now so I am right on schedule. These last few semesters have been really hard for me because I have never had a real summer to myself. I have been taking summer classes for the last 3 summers without any breaks. This summer I decided to take a break and just work full time.

I interview for the Technical Writer Summer internship last week and they gave me an offer and I accepted. I will be starting my new job on Monday. I will be writing Standard Operating Procedures for the whole summer. The group that I am in is a wonderful group and I am very excited to work with them.

The wedding plans are going great according to Amber. In less than three months I will be married to Amber. I hope that I have all of your address so I can send you an invitation. Well that is all that has been going on for me these past few weeks. Right now I am working out and playing with my friends.

Sorry

2007-04-17T16:23:00.000-06:00

I have been super busy with Finals so I haven’t been able to write. I will tell you how finals go when they are over. I should be done on May 1st. Good Luck with your finals!!!!

Our Courtship

2007-04-05T14:12:00.000-06:00

I have had a lot of individuals ask me about Amber and how we met. I would love to email all of you and tell you how everything went down but, I thought that I could get a few more hits on my blog so I am going to do it this way.
Amber and I meet on July 9th at my apartment during Ward Prayer. Ward Prayer has many different names so some of you might know it by its different name. Thanks to Jake T. I have the most common names for Ward Prayer. I have only heard a few of these but you might recognize it as ward stare, pray-n-stay, scope-n-hope, have-a-cookie-and-take-a-lookie. I think that Amber was having a cookie and taking a lookie when I meet her.
I had just moved into the ward so I thought that it would be a great idea to have the whole ward over to meet our apartment. Amber was one of the first people to come over that night. I think that she wanted to take a lookie at the new Asian in the ward. I was able to talk to her for a little bit but, I had to start get the meeting started because it seems that every ward wherever you go Ward Prayer has members stay longer then you expect or the rest of the night. I was in charge of the meeting so I did all of the introductions of my roommates. While I was doing introductions a circle began to form around me and no one was standing next to me. Bishop Jones asked if I was going to do a dance for everyone and I responded without thinking and said, “No but I can be the pole.” No one knew what to do so I just pretended that it didn’t happen.
After that day Amber would come over and get our pool key every day hoping that she would get to see me. We would start to hangout at the pool together and just talk. The day I caught her eye was the 24th of July. I was with all of my roommates and just playing with a Rugby ball in the pool. We also discovered that we have the same birthday day and year. I must have done something right because she gave me her phone number. The thing was that I forgot it right after she told me but the good thing is that we had the ward directory online.
A few weeks later the ward had planned a Temple trip to Logan and I invited her to attend. Lon, Jamiee, Amber and I decided to go up with the ward to Logan. When we arrived at the temple they didn’t have enough Priesthood so Lon and I decided to help out in the Baptistery. We all got dressed and everyone is looking great. We all got baptized and we were waiting to get confirmed and I leaned over to Amber and said “you look really good in white hopefully I can see you again in here.” I said it jokingly but I guess it’s really going to happen.
We would continue to date and hangout for the rest of the summer. I started up school in the fall so I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I wanted to with her. A few weeks before I left for Hawaii we decided to be exclusive. You can read the other blog to see how the rest of the dating went. Thanks for reading.

Wearing Clothes

2007-03-29T12:14:00.000-06:00

Tuesday I received a Wheaties shirt from Julian (the coordinator of intramurals). It’s big and orange just like a box of Wheaties. I decided to wear it yesterday because it’s an original shirt and no one has one yet.
This is how my morning went. I woke up around 4:00 am and couldn’t go back to sleep because I had some acid reflux. I tried everything to get rid of the taste but I couldn’t. I tried to lie down but nothing worked. I headed to work around 5:15am to check in, unlock the doors and then come right back home. I unlocked the doors in record time and hurried back home. I went straight to bed and slept for a couple hrs. I woke up at 11 and went to the gym. I returned form the gym and did some homework and played around the house until I had to go to class. I decided to put my Wheaties shirt on to show it off.
In class we always have to get into groups and discuss what we read the week before. I had a few people in the group comment on my shirt and they wanted to know where they could get one. I told them that I got it from intramurals they only have so many shirts. I got done with class and Amber wanted me to go check out her gym in Sugar House. The total time of wearing the shirt was 3 hrs. I did my workout and come back home.
The dilemma that I faced this morning was if I should wear the Wheaties shirt or should I hold off for a few days. I kept telling myself that it was alright and no one would notice because, I wouldn’t see anyone form my class. I been caught a few times wearing the same thing the next day and it always gets weird. I don’t know if I am the only one that does this but I tend to think that I am not alone. I do it mostly with clothes that I wear on Sunday afternoon. Everyone at ward prayer sees me in it that night at 9:00 pm but I don’t see anyone at school. I wear the same clothes to school that I wore Sunday night but, I have to remember to change it again before FHE. I assume that everyone does it because I have caught a few of you doing it but you wont admit it.

March 17th 2007

2007-03-26T18:12:00.000-06:00

I know that today is the 26th of March but I thought that it would nice to tell everyone how I got engaged. Many of you know that Amber and I have been dating for a while and that we have been looking for a ring. Well the ring finally came in on Thursday the 15th of March. I tried to keep everything a secret from Amber but she is like one of those Elders on your mission that has all of his Christmas presents open the day he gets them. I think that she called everyone that I knew to ask if the ring had come in. I had the lady from the ring shop call her up and tell her that the ring wasn’t going to come in until next week. Bad choice because Amber figured out that she could have never had her number unless I gave it to her. Just a little heads up. I was able to cover it up with my wit, but I don’t think that it worked.
I knew that I was getting the ring that week but I didn’t know when exactly. I called The Roof and made reservations for Saturday night just in case. Teresa from the ring shop called me and told me to pick up the ring. I had everything set except, I didn’t know how to propose to her. I called everyone I knew and asked them for advice. I asked her roommate and she helped me out a lot. I was going to do something random and make it funny but Shawn said otherwise. Shawn and Lindsay finally gave me the idea of going to the airport and asking her there. Before you think that the airport is random I will explain. This summer I went to Hawaii with my family. My family left a week before I arrived, so Amber gave me a ride to the airport. We had been dating for a few months and that is where I told her that I loved her for the first time.
I had the plan and everything was ready except I had to figure out how to get Amber to the airport and out of the truck to propose to her. My buddy Julian was in San Francisco for the week and he was going to come back that week. I told Amber that I needed to pick him up because he didn’t have anyone home to get him. That worked out great and she said that she would come. I had everything planned now it was just getting her out of the car.
We arrive at the airport and I have Julian call me to tell me where he was at. I pretended to talk to J and I drove over to where I told her that I loved her. When we got to the spot Amber said, “Isn’t this where you said you love me” I pretended not to hear her and hopped out. I answered my phone again and told Amber that I needed to help J with his luggage. I was in a hurry so I asked her to open the trunk and she hopped out. I walked a little ways down the track and then I turned around and proposed to her. I was so nervous that I really didn’t know what I was saying but she did. She did say yes. Later that night we went to The Roof and had a wonderful night. We are getting married August 7th 2007 in the Mount Timpanogos Temple.

Fresh from the Oven

2007-03-23T17:12:00.000-06:00

This is my first blog so don't worry there will be more.