DK

Last November Nintendo released a retro-remake game for the Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, emulating the style and format of the original SNES game DK Country.  Sadly then (and now) I did not have the funds to purchase brand new wii games, but I did have in my possession a N64 and the interesting title of Donkey Kong 64.  Being curious about the DK franchise I decided that before I would allow myself to buy the new DK game, I would play through the old DK game.

Sadly DK 64 is one of the worst platform games ever created.  The controls are glitchy, the levels are expansive and the goals are obscure.  I never would have made it past the first hour of playing if I hadn't found a very thorough game guide online.  Of course I, being a perfectionist, could not settle for merely beating the final boss, I had to go through every level, collecting every banana medal, finding every banana fairy, and of course getting every last golden banana (not to mention the battle crowns, blueprints, and boss keys).  The guide I found was very useful in aiding my quest, but as you can see here, it still took me 46 HOURS!!  (that's right, all 101% - the 201st banana is a 'secret')

And happily for my birthday this week, I was rewarded with the next installment.  I now consider myself a DK enthusiast... for the most part.

60D

After all the cerimonial graduation garbage (putting on robes, walking in lines, shaking hands of people you don't actually know...) we had a proper family & friends all out party!!  

Murray Parents supplied delicious food, Cafe Rio-style burritos (on my recommendation) and ice cream, and then we played some fun games and the graduates got a few gifts.

It was at this moment that we received the title of this post:

 (that's me reading the card that came with it.  And if you can't see what Steph is holding behind the card....)

An amazing digital SLR camera, the Cannon 60D!

And as we played games we just had to test out our new toy:

We played the Bryan Murray trademarked BYU Taboo.

I like to make faces when Steph uses the camera..

Stephanie's Family

The next day we spent time around BYU with the above pictured family, and I took what is my favorite picture yet on our camera:

taken infront of the parabolic mirror in the ESC lobby

To see more of our new photography hobby go check out our pictures on facebook.

Graduation

April 22, 2011 aprox. 12:15 pm:

Stephanie and I graduated from Brigham Young University.  The weekend was filled with fun, family, and celebrations.  Both of our families were in town, a party was held for the graduates (including Erin), and we began the strange goodbyes to 'college life,' the only life we've know outside of home.

It really was an exciting weekend, but the full force of it didn't come until the next week when we slept in as long as we wanted, then did nothing all day except apply to jobs.  We now enter quite the strange unknown world of 'real life.'