In Memory of Ryan Casper

This week an old friend of mine lost her dear sweet husband. I never got to meet Ryan and I never spent time with them as a couple. But just knowing the kind of person Sheri is automatically let's me know that Ryan was a very special man. Rather than writing about this myself, I'd like to pass it off to one of Sheri Casper's best childhood friends, Kina Scott. The following is a post that she put together that really touched my heart.

To my childhood best friend, Sheri Nelson Casper, I love you and my heart aches for your loss. My family's prayers go out to you. Ryan is one of a kind, and the other side of the veil is so lucky to have him home.

Sheri and I were best friends way back when we were 4 and our moms had us go to playgroup together in California. We schemed plans to get the boys we wanted, sang pop songs together, painted each others toenails, and even had a secret notebook we passed letters back and forth in. When we went to college we both moved to Utah, and lived together in an apartment in Orem for a summer. She was engaged to Ryan Casper, and married him that September of 2007. He was so smitten by her, you knew he'd jump in front of a bullet for her without taking a second thought. They moved back to California, and I am so sad to say we lost touch. Until this morning, when I learned Ryan passed away yesterday. A blood clot traveled to his brain and exploded, collapsing his brain. He's now on life support, but has no brain activity, and Sheri is pulling him off the machines in two days. Ryan is 27, much too young for someone as smart, loving, and hard working as he is. I could not even imagine losing my husband (Sheri is only 22), and I am heartbroken for her. I am so thankful they were sealed for eternity, so that she will be with her sweetheart again. I love you two, and Ryan, rest in beautiful peace.
 
My heart goes out to Sheri. That post was written 3 days ago and Ryan has since passed away. I now have something to ask of you, dear reader. Sheri is now left as a young widow to bear the burden of a funeral and the building up of a new life. They did not have life insurance. My heart breaks that in the midst of this tragedy, Sheri would be forced to deal with the reality of her situation. Knowing the little I do about Ryan, this is a gift I hope we can give to him--peace of mind.  

The Ryan Casper Benefit Memorial Fund has been opened on his behalf at Wells Fargo. It is a donations-only account and is currently active.  The account number is 2528170810.  People have already begun to go above and beyond in their generosity and we cannot thank them enough.
 
Please, consider contributing whatever you can. We hope to at least help Sheri to be able to cover funeral costs. She is one of us. In the Casper family's time of need, let us all pull together.  Together, we can help.
 
With all sincerity of heart, thank you.
 
Love,
 Kasaundra
 
 
P.S. JT set up the account yesterday but has heard that some people have had difficulty locating it. The account number should be under "Ryan Casper" or "Sheri Casper". If those do not work yet though, "Jonathan Trout" will at least pull up the account since he set it up. Thank you again.

Hooray for JT!

JT got promoted! I am so happy for him. I'm serious when I say that there doesn't seem to be anything JT can't accomplish. I'm amazed when I sit here and think that he has gotten 3 promotions in under a year and a half.

Ahhh! Way to go babe! This new promotion puts him at Service Manager 2, and puts us at one step away from moving back to California.

Yes, our end goal is California. As much as we adore living in Utah and all the friends we've made here, home is where our family is. Now if both sides of our family decide to up and move to Utah then hey....the more the merrier!

In the meantime, we will bask in JT's enormous accomplishments. He has worked so hard and worked so many hours. This is his success and I couldn't be prouder of him. I love you baby!

Calling Suze Orman!

It's been an exciting (albeit newly stressful) week at the Trout house! I'll give you a bit of the backstory to it first though.

When JT and I got married (almost 3 years ago!), we sat down and asked who would be in charge of the finances. JT offered and I had NO problemo with that! Well, as the years have passed by we have noticed that JT's dance card seems more than a little full these days. There's really no need for him to stress about something I can easily do from home during the days. School & work are more than enough to occupy his mind.

So.....drumroll please....I am now taking over the finances! I am SUPER excited to be able to help out my hubby with this. I'm up for the challenge and already have made it through my first pay and billing cycle. However, I want to make sure that we stay on track.

Dear readers, do you have any tips for this financial novice? This is for those of you laughing your pants off thinking "she's just a baby!" Go ahead! Share your wisdom with me. I couldn't be more grateful. :) Really.

The Golden State

We spent Christmas and New Year's in California hoping to catch a little of that California sunshine. Apparently we missed the memo where the state was set to be wholly submerged during the month of December. Oops.

As per usual, JT had to work on Christmas Eve. That usually puts a total damper on my Christmas spirit. I adore family and hate having to spend holidays away from them. However, we got to spend it with JT's aunt, uncle, and cousins! Our FIRST Christmas Eve with family!!!!! It was so nice to spend time with them and even get a chance to see Brandon and Anna! We enjoyed Christmas morning breakfast with them and were joined by JT's grandparents. Grandpa came this year dressed to the nines! I've never seen a Marines Corps Santa Clause before. :)

We drove into California that afternoon and got to spend time with both sides of our families. It was a quiet holiday with a lot of family time. It was absolutely perfect!

That Sunday we held the twins' one year-old birthday paty. I know, I know...it's a bit early. But we really wanted their first birthday to have both sets of grandparents there. It turned out really nice. The kids were showered with attention and gifts. It was wonderful to have so much family there.

New Year's Eve was another relatively quiet day for us. We went out to dinner with Nathan & Katie, celebrated the Mexican New Year with my family (gotta say, I LOVED not having to wait until midnight), and played the wii with JT's family until midnight.  Well, correction: everyone else played the wii until midnight while I tucked myself right into bed. 5 minutes to midnight I came out. Hey, I think it counts.

I'm sorry I don't have a lot of pictures to go along with this post. Our camera was mostly MIA during the holidays. However, I did see a MILLION camera flashes going off during the birthday party. I'm sure someone must have a picture or two they wouldn't mind sending me. *wink wink*

All things considered, this vacation was the best one EVER. No stress + lots of family = actual rest and relaxation!
I know! Completely unheard of.

My apologies

I'm so sorry I've taken such a long hiatus from the blogging wold! I'm seriously beginning to wonder if I don't need a motivational poster or something. You know, like those "Family, isn't it about time?" ones. Except mine would read "Blogging, isn't it about time?" Yes. Maybe I'll just have to come up with something along those lines for my office/craft room.  :)

YES. You read that correctly! I am getting a new craft room....sort of. You'll see. This and many more updates are going to be hitting the good ol' Trout blog in the coming days. Stay tuned and see what we've been up to!