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Qualtrics Family BBQ

August 7, 2010 By Tom Leave a Comment

So Qualtrics hosted its first annual family BBQ on Saturday, and it had a great turnout. The recipe for success included:

  1. Catering by J-Dawgs
  2. Massive kickball tournament
  3. Karaoke contest with four pairs of U2 tickets to winners
  4. A bicycle obstacle course with prize money
  5. The opportunity to finally debut Lilah’s Qualtrics onesie

Our kickball team came in close 2nd out of four, and I got beat for first in the obstacle course by 2-tenths of a second. Still mad about that. Otherwise, it was a great party.

Filed Under: family, food, fun things, work

Qutie

June 18, 2010 By Tom 3 Comments

So I get in to work at Qualtrics this morning and find this on my chair:

My co-workers are possibly the coolest people in the world. The first little package I opened had onesie in it–but this was no ordinary baby gear–Jill sewed a Qualtrics Q on it!! I really cannot wait for her to show up at the company BBQ in August sporting this…it’s so awesome.

The bigger box had a huge package of Huggies diapers–which is perfect, since we have lots of newborn ones, but none for the 1-2 size.

I showed it off the Q onesie at the company meeting today and everyone loved it. I think they’re gonna want it incorporated into our company clothing line.

Filed Under: fun things, work

Lilah’s First Package

May 26, 2010 By Tom 1 Comment

This arrived on our doorstep today from “Grumpy and Nana” McConnon:

Inside was an incredible decorative/functional gift, known as a “diaper cake.” The three-layer masterpiece is composed of around 160(?) newborn diapers, a few receiving blankets, beaded headband clips and an assortment of other practical items.

It’s so cool-looking that I think we’ll have a hard time taking it apart to use it. Thanks Nana and Grumpy!

Filed Under: fun things

New Grill!

May 16, 2010 By Tom Leave a Comment

Over the last couple weeks we’ve been receiving accessories and parts to brand-new Weber grill, an extraordinarily generous housewarming gift from my Auntie Cathy in Philadelphia. BBQ season is upon us and we can’t WAIT to get grilling!!

4-Piece Grilling Set:

Grill Cover (to make it last!)

Pre-assembly:

In the thick of it:

Post-assembly — looking slick!

We now have a summer full of BBQ’s to look forward to. You’re too kind, Auntie Cathy…thank you!! XOXO

Filed Under: family, food, fun things

Robbie’s Birthday with Cosmo

April 2, 2010 By Tom 2 Comments

We got invited to our our little buddy Robbie’s birthday party (son of Esther and Rob). What made it extra cool was that Cosmo showed up unexpectedly for the second year running. Robbie was a little afraid of Cosmo, but still said it was the best part of his birthday. The little guy is more Cougar pride per square inch than anyone else I know.

Filed Under: fun things Tagged With: birthday, byu, cosmo

Canyon View Hiking

June 6, 2009 By Tom 1 Comment

So lately I’ve taken up trail running because I find it infinitely more enjoyable than pounding the pavement. It feels like hiking, just twice as fast. So while the hills are killer, the views and the escape make it one of my new favorite pasttimes (thanks to Nathan for re-igniting this fire).

Anyways, I recently discovered a loop above Canyon View Park that I absolutely love. So this morning, Kristie suggested that we go hike it and do a little additional exploring.We ended up spending all morning (and a good portion of the afternoon) discovering what the canyon had to offer.

On our way home, we invited Leah and Jonny to return with us later that night for a double date. We packed up Cafe Rio, a laptop, a movie and blankets galore just in time to catch the sunset. It turned out to be quite a fun little adventure (which was cut a bit short by passing showers)…but really memorable nonetheless. Here’s a couple shots of us up on top. They got the better lighting, but we got the valley in the background:

Filed Under: entertainment, exercise/sport, food, friends, fun things Tagged With: canyon view park

Tom’s New Bike

May 2, 2009 By Tom Leave a Comment

So this morning I bought an awesome, used road/multisport bike from Craigslist. I rarely make purchases like this, s it’s kind of a big deal for me. Nathan, having recently been appointed to my cabinet as ‘department of cycling’, volunteered to come along with me to lend his expert opinion. The bike checked out, so I’m now a very proud owner of a Cannondale Multisport 800. This will allow me to accomplish two big goals this summer:

  1. To bike to work in order to get more exercise and save money on gas, and
  2. To train for, and compete in, a triathlon. At the moment, I’ve got my sights on this one:

Now I just need to decide whether I’ll have enough time to train for the Sprint (swim .5 mile, bike 12 miles, run 3.1 ), or Olympic (swim 1 mile, bike 24.9 miles, run 6.2 miles) version of the race. According to the countdown timer on the ProvoTri website I’ve got 48 days, 16 hours, 46 minutes, 22 seconds and counting till raceday. I guess it’s high-time to get saddle sore and find a pool..

Filed Under: exercise/sport, fun things, mobile updates Tagged With: bike, cannondale, triathlon

Mobile blogging

January 24, 2009 By Tom 1 Comment

I just got an iPhone and I love it. Since it has a WordPress app, I can take pictures on the go and post them from anywhere. Here’s my first test, along with a goofy picture of me being happy about my new toy serious-business-tool:

Filed Under: fun things, mobile updates, news Tagged With: iphone

Tom’s Birthday!

May 9, 2008 By Tom 4 Comments

My birthday was on Friday, May 9th–and it was awesome from start to finish.

It began with an killer homestyle breakfast in bed (muchas gracias to my lovely wife) and a couple of really thoughtful gifts presented on my way to work. Then, when I got to the office, I found my desk totally decked out with decorations and food–a special thanks to fabulous friends at work, Charlene and Katie. I even got a “birthday boy” ribbon that I wore almost the entire day.

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After work, I picked up Kristie and we headed up to Park City for the weekend. For dinner we hit up Bangkok Thai on Main, the same restaurant we went to the night we got engaged. The food, as always, was amazing. I ordered a curry hot enough to kill us both, but loved it nonetheless.

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To top it off, we stayed at a nice hotel with an outdoor hot tub to die for. Oh and Kristie got me the coolest present, the hands-down best pull-up bar known to man. I’ve wanted it ever since my good buddy Michael Davis reclaimed the one he let us borrow for months.

It’s too bad birthdays only come annually. Thanks to all the friends and family that sent their love and best wishes. Love you guys too!

Filed Under: fun things, holidays, out of town

Reading Rainbow

May 2, 2008 By Tom 4 Comments

It’s been a while, but I finally got back into the habit of reading good books in my leisure time. Bless those public libraries. Kristie isn’t getting jealous cause she finally picked up the last Harry Potter book and has been pretty wrapped up herself. Over the last couple weeks I read John Steinbeck’s classic East of Eden and loved it. This week I’ve jumped into Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude. Marquez’s book was originally written in Spanish, which makes me feel like I’m missing out a little, but it’s been great so far.

But don’t take my word for it. (queue Reading Rainbow theme song)

Anyone else reading something good?

Filed Under: books, fun things
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