Stud of the Month - July 2014

 

On my way to court this morning, I saw this guy chatting with other lawyers.  I was surprised to see him as I thought he had already moved to Arizona.  He joined me in court when he got there and we chatted through the docket.  I got the update on his 8 children and life in general. 

 

 

By the time I left we were all caught up. It was sad to think that this was probably the last time I'd ever see him in person.  It made me somewhat wistful. 

 

I met Mark in law school.  He was LDS so when we started the J. Reuben Clark Society he was really helpful in getting it up and running.  At the beginning of law school I didn't know of any other LDS students.  By the end, there was a group of us that studied in the same row in the library.  It was nice to feel some solidarity despite the isolation of endless reading and studying. (I have the perfect picture of our group, but I cannot find it!!) 

 

Mark also worked at the library, so he would often catch me in there on a Friday night during my second year, and remind me, only half joking, that I'd never get married if I kept this up.  We both graduated in 2008 and were in the same bar prep class.  EVERYTIME I would talk with a guy, and return to my seat when class started up again, he'd always be like -

 

"So, I saw you just made a new friend.  It's a guy!!" 

 

"Yeah, Mark, he just got married." 

 

"Oh, never mind."

 

Mark amazed me in a lot of respects, he was elders quorum president, while managing law school and a masters in health law...and had three children while he was in school.  I got one degree, had no children, and barely came out unscathed.

 

Buried somewhere in my journals from law school is a story about Mark.  I had gotten up that morning and I had no food left to eat.  I had given everything I had to this degree.  I exhausted every last savings account; even my 401(k) was drained to pay for the bar.  I had nothing left to give, and that day, I was completely out of food.  I got on my knees that morning and prayed for food.  I knew it would come, I just didn't know how.

 

A little later that day I got a call from Mark. 

 

"Hey, are you home?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Good, Juliette (his wife) and I will be stopping by later today." 

 

He hung up, and didn't say why he would be stopping by.  True to his word, he came by later that day.  He and Juliette brought with them bags of groceries.  Keep in mind that he was in a similar spot to me, but even more difficult.  He was graduating with six children in tow. 

 

I'll admit that I cried as I put the groceries away. 

 

When I started taking my own cases and meeting with clients on the side, Mark used to let me borrow his office and refused payment.  It took quite a while before I could convince him to let me pay.  He finally relented.  This picture of him above is from one of the offices he used to let me borrow. 

 

Though I don't see him often, I will miss this guy, and his wife and kids, for his humor, goodness, but most of all, for unknowingly being the answer to my prayer the day that I had nothing left to eat.   



What's Up? Nothing much, you?

 

My Nothing Much

 

(I hate it when people pull out their photo albums and subject you to all of their stories.  The beauty here is that you don't have to read on.)

 

Cardinals Game. I've been to two so far this year.  Perfect weather, but mostly, it's always about the company for me.  Great fun.  Didn't get pictures of my company. 

We took a road trip to Lamberts.  Fun trip.  Again, didn't take pictures of my company.  Here you can see my friend Cara and the back of Rose's head. 

Bryan and Carlos needed new couches so we went couch shopping. (I just noticed Carlos is in this picture.)  I really hate shopping, but they wanted help and I enjoy their company.  Not sure I was much help though. 

Bryan is terrified of chiggers.  He went all out on the bug spray.  I should have borrowed it for Girls Camp.

Carlos, Bryan and I set out on a camping trip to try to catch what was supposed to be the best meteor shower of our lives; a meteor STORM, they said.  What actually happened is we stayed up until 2 am staring at the dark sky until we got to the point that we were so tired we were just laughing so hard at everything.  We had so, so much fun.  Oh, and we did see a few AmaZinG shooting stars. 

This is Tom wearing a 'What makes me so comfortable?' sash from Bryan's new couch while he assembles Bryan's grill.  This was Memorial Day weekend.  This guy is so, so funny. 

This must have been the next weekend.  I was really surprised these guys were willing to go to the renaissance fair.  But they did.  This is them eating their meat, in really manly ways.   

I'm not sure who won this fight, Tom or Carlos. I think Tom is taking it much more seriously than Carlos.

Emily Gertch came to visit.  I was supposed to visit her, but instead she visited me. 

I can never stop gushing over her amazingness. She is SO amazing.

I went hiking with the young women.  I had no idea this little hiking spot was so close.  It is so pretty.

Bryan eating ice cream at one of my favorite ice cream joints, Fountain on Locust.  Love the style, love the ice cream.  I think I first was introduced to this on a double date a few years back.

I had a case in Kansas City.  I stayed with my friend, Paige.  This is her view.  Cute, huh?  She made me a delicious dinner and we chatted the evening away. Again, I should have taken a picture with her.

I made this fire all by myself.  One of the girls at girls camp was like - 'Isn't it great to learn how to make a fire from another girl?'  Um, I think this may have been the first fire I made by myself because the guys always do it. 

Service Project at camp. 

The girls in their air conditioned cabins.

Me in the air conditioned cabin.

 

 

I went straight from girls camp to a road trip from Missouri to South Carolina.  Oh my goodness, such a fun little trip. 

I love trees.  I love tree covered mountains.  I traveled with my tried and true travel buddy, Carlos.  How he tolerates me I don't know.  But he just laughs at me when I get ridiculous.

 

We went to Nashville and stayed at my old coworker, Sandy's place.  I wish I had taken a picture of her.  I LOVE catching up with her so very much.

 

 

Then we visited the Confederate War Museum in South Carolina.  It was so very fascinating, and I'm totally a Yankee.

 

 

Yankee by the confederate flag.

 

   I look ridiculous with this gun.

 

Liz, on the other hand, looks awesome. 

 

(I went to S.C. to visit Liz and check of S.C.  She is a friend from Salt Lake.  A like-minded soul.  Sooo much fun.  So insightful.  Just love her.) 

 

 

This was our tour guide.  Yes, he is wearing a kilt.  Spoke with an awesome southern accent.  Speaks of the South as "we" and the United States as "you." He was the south personified.

 

As me about this some time with the key word - Ferragut.

Oh, my new boyfriend.  He's super smart.  He doesn't listen to a word I say, but you'll never hear an unkind word come out of his mouth.

Me trying to take a picture of my college friend, Jake, at the stand.  He is in the bishopric now!  Crazy.

Here is a picture of Jake and his family.  Aren't they so cute?  He is such an adoring dad.

Me with the Sauers in Nashville.

Outdoor concerts.  Again, neglected to take pictures of my company.

Me and my niece, Lily! She is even more adorable in person that in the picture.  She has long eye lashes and chubby little cheeks.  I just adore babies.  Wish her brother was still this little, too.

The little family at the zoo.

Love this.  I had just been out to lunch with an older friend of mine who was saying that romance doesn't matter.  Maybe one day it doesn't, but it's nice to see that after four years of marriage, it still matters to them.

 

 Besides, if it helps them make more of these adorable little things, keep right on going.

 

4th of July in Forest Park

 

This was one of those perfect days you want to freeze and go back to visit again later.

 

Check out my 4th of July pants!!

Mindball!!  I saw people playing this while I was rushing through the science museum back in April. I was so intrigued.  Finally got to try it. I blew my brother out of the water on this game. 

My redheads!!

Then Andrea (college friend, worked with her for 2.5 years after college in SLC) came to St. Louis!  I love this girl so much.

This is from yesterday.  Silly moments with friends I love so much.  Clinton, Candace laughing away.  I love her wit and playful nature. 

I love this awesome picture of my roommate, Audra.  She is one of the sweetest people I know.  I cannot get over sometimes how fortunate I am in the roommate department.  Silly picture of me.