A Christmas Miracle!

Over the weekend we attended our Ward Christmas party. And let me just say, the Newport Second Ward knows how to party. The spread was amazing, and there were a ton of desserts; including this awesome raspberry jello thing. Amazing! But that wasn't the Christmas miracle.
Scheduled at the end of the party was a traditional White Elephant gift exchange. Those who are unfamiliar, this is how the legend and game goes. It gets it's name from an old Indian story about a prince(or King) who received a huge gift. It was a live white elephant. To look at the thing was extraordinary, but it wasn't suitable for battle or anything else. It was amazing, but basically useless. Now we use the term to mean just that, an amazing gift that has no value, and perhaps takes up a lot of space. For the game, everyone brings a wrapped gift they either paid a little for or found around their house (or a re-gift, as was both of our gifts). Then each person gets to open one random gift. Someone else who doesn't have a gift yet can either open a new gift or steal one that's been opened. A gift can be stolen 3 times.
My eyes burst wide open with excitement when I saw among the wrapped gifts a magnificent unwrapped painting of a white elephant.


Isn't it amazing?!

So our plan started to formulate. I wanted that painting. Numbers were handed out to select order, and we got really high numbers, but luckily the numbers were selected randomly.
About five people in, someone snagged the painting and she bolted back to her seat with it. I was having second thoughts. I didn't want to steal it from a lady who looked so happy getting it. But Betsy said if her number came up she would do it for me. But alas, someone stole it from the first lady. And my mind was open to the thought of taking it. Surely, I could steal from a thief. That wasn't as bad as taking from someone who honestly acquired the painting.
But then people kept getting called and it wasn't Betsy or I and we started to worry. Or I started to worry, Betsy didn't care so much. But then we formulated a new plan. If either of our numbers came up, either of us would steal the painting, then when the next one of us is chosen, we'd steal the painting and it would close it off from being stolen again.
The plan was set, the only catch was that our numbers would have to be called close together. Betsy got called! Without delay she walked over and stole the painting. And it was okay, everyone was all smiles. (Which means they didn't want it that bad, so nuts to them.) She sat down next to me and we waited and hoped that no one else eyed our prize.
And then, as luck would have it, four or five people later my number was called. It was a miracle. A Christmas miracle! I stood up boldly. I reached over my beloved wife and picked up the painting and raised it over my head to show everyone in the large room that I was stealing it from Betsy and that it was over. Then I sat down and admired the painting in front of me.

Since I stole Betsy's gift, she was free to choose something else. We had thought of this as an opportunity to relieve ourselves from some "stuff" so we decided if we would get anything, it would be little. So Betsy walked over and found a tiny little wrapped box. Inside was a fancy pen box entitled Parker Pens. After opening she discovered a note reading "Parker Pens: The Early Years." Inside was a used number 2 pencil and an old Marriot Hotel ballpoint pen. A gag gift. And a decent one at that. Supposedly the guy who gifted it gives gag gifts every year. It was reported that last year he gave a pillow case with his face on it.

We snagged this photo for posterity sake. The gift and the giver.




Merry Christmas!
And God bless us, everyone!

Karl Hite: Brother, Ninja, Actuary

My brother Karl is a ninja. And an actuary. Yesterday he passed the actuarial exam which has a pass rate of 38% (lower than the Bar and CPA exams). Let the celebrating commence!

Nike+ Human Race at USC

At midnight on October 21, 2009 my BFFF Mandy and I ran the Nike+ Human Race up at USC. Nick, Mandy and I drove up to LA around 8pm, got some yummy dinner with Ted at Swinger's, then headed off to the starting line. Here are a few shots of us getting ready for the race.
Mandy ran the 10K and I did the 5K. There were 8000 runners there, so the starting line was crowded with tons of the red shirts. In this race you had to wear the race shirt as it had your number printed right on it (no bib). It was a sight! Anyway, because there were so many runners taking off from the starting line at once we got a really slow start. At about 1/4 or 1/2 mile the crowd dispersed a little bit and Mandy took off. I kept a slow and steady pace. I had to stop and walk quite a bit, but even so I finished the race in about 41 minutes. Mandy finished her race in just over an hour. Nick and Ted were waiting at the finish line for us. Yay! It was fun to run in the streets of Los Angeles in the middle of the night. There were also some bands, but the 5K only ran by an a cappella group (really?!?) so I can't really be a judge of the entertainment. Regardless, Mandy and I had fun. Plus we helped raise a little money for A Better LA. Bonus.Mandy decided to pass on the post-race-sweaty-awesomeness photo-op. Sorry, kids.

Mormon Night at Angels Stadium

Back on August 7th Nick and I went to Mormon Night at Angels Stadium. They played the Texas Rangers, and sadly lost 6 to 11.

Here's Nick enjoying the game.

The Stake had purchased a bunch of seats together so we got to see some of our friends from the South Coast Ward and the Singles Ward including my BFFF Mandy who is a big MLB fan.

And here we are right after the game ended. Don't let this picture deceive you - we were seated literally in the top/back row, we just snuck down to a lower lever to watch the fireworks before heading home.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the amazing parking that Nick got. We parked in one of the lots across the street and walked over. It cost only $5 instead of $10 and we got out sooner than those that parked in the regular lot because we didn't have to fight the huge crowd leaving at the same time. Yay! Oh, also a big thanks to Goldie for the Angels gift card that she gave me at my bridal shower. We were able to get some yummy stadium food for dinner and a cool Angels magnet to commemorate the occasion.

We ended the evening by heading over to Yogurtland for some yogurty goodness to console ourselves. I don't know about Nick, but I pretty much always feel better at the mere mention of froyo.

Commute

So I have a wicked awesome commute. I travel from Newport Beach to Burbank every morning and back the other way every evening. It takes about two hours give or take, both ways. So in plain English that's 4 hours a day. I love it. And I hate it. But I do like it.

So here's the rundown. I leave the beautiful city of Newport Beach(and my beautiful wife, who's usually still asleep because she likes sleeping in) at no later than 7am. (7:05 is pushing it, but I can still make it.) I drive up the 405 to Long Beach and get on the Blue Line.

I try to catch the 7:32 or 7:37 which will get me to Burbank on time, but if not, I can catch the 7:42, which if it's running smoothly will get me there. Any train after that, and I'll be late 10 minutes to work.

At 7:30 in the morning most riders are business people and a few student types.
This guy is reading the newspaper. He has glasses.

I travel through the amazing city of Compton. This city is so proud of itself. The train passes right through it's civic center and there are tons of murals and statues, like one of a dog. The picture I took is super blurry, so it didn't make the cut, but if anyone decides to visit Compton on vacation it's a must-see.
Check this mural out, painted on the outside of their city hall; it shows all the wonderful things that Compton has to offer. Look closely at the sign all the way on the left where it shows the symbols of Best Buy, Home Depot and a few other big box stores. Compton has come a long way.















This shows Compton's tall City Hall building, and of course the world famous Tom's Jr Burgers.
































From Compton I travel through the infamous Watts. Known for two things: rioting and weird towers that were built by some weird guy. I haven't experienced a riot, so no pics of that, but I was able to snap this shot of the Watts Towers. (They're poking up in the background behind the urban clutter.)



Here are some of the other things I see from the train as it travels north to Downtown LA:





And of course the Staples Center...


And then I get to Downtown LA. The Blue Line ends up underground, where it meets the Red Line, which travels from Union Station to North Hollywood.

Here's the rush of the 7th Street Station where people scramble to catch the next Red Line downstairs.



The Red Line is pretty boring. The only thing interesting is the people on the Subway.
This guy is wearing a hat over his dew rag. What a Silly-Billy.



Once the train arrives in North Hollywood, it's back to surface. I love taking the escalator up to the ground level. It's the Valley, but I'd rather be on the surface of the Valley than stuck somewhere underground.



From North Hollywood, I take a Burbank bus to the Wonderful Disney Lot. Where I see squirrels.



This bus hits up all the sites.



And this is where I work. My building is actually in the background there.


And then in the evening I do it all backwards. Only on the way back there are a lot weirder people and different beggers asking for money. And this lady, selling treats. (And by treats I mean candy.)


I saw this guy while waiting for the Blue Line to leave. He kept grabbing the air in front of him and shaking. Poor guy must have gotten lost from the institution.




This guy started yelling a really loud prayer. I thought that would be the end of it, but then he started lecturing us about Jesus! We all know about him, Buddy, this is America!












This guy was singing in Spanish or some junk like that. I would have tipped him, but me no speaka.














And that's what I do five days a week, except when I sleep in and have to drive, which ironically takes way less time, despite having to sit in traffic.

I love Betsy, everyone!

By Popular Demand

Here are some wedding pictures finally. Nick and I got married at the Old Santa Ana Courthouse on June 25th, 2009 at 10:45 am after a delectable breakfast at Norm's. We kept the crowd to an absolute minimum with only family and our surrogate siblings in attendance. We hope to celebrate with a much larger crowd when we are sealed (we'll keep you posted on the details as they become available). For now we're happy to be able to share some pictures from the happy day Nitsy became legal. Enjoy!

Before going into the courthouse to be married.

On our way into the courthouse. Brandon is in the foreground taking a picture.

Nick looked so handsome. I guess I was grooming him or something.

The adorable couple.

I loved the exposed heater in the old courthouse. We were waiting in the hall for our appointment to get hitched.

Brandon, Nick and Brian.

Handsome fellows.

Sisters.

Gabi, Malia, me and Caitlin

Signing the marriage license.

Brian and Malia were the witnesses. Here they are signing the documents.

Walking into the little room that the marriage ceremony took place in.

There was a little bench with these SWEET heart shaped pillows. We had to pose for a few shots with these bad-boys.

Total awesomeness.

It was probably at this point that Malia started the timer. We were told that the marriage ceremony would take 8 minutes, and no, we could not forgo the ceremony and just sign papers (who would even suggest such a horror?!?!)

My favorite wedding picture.

Right after we were pronounced man and wife. We didn't get a really good kissing picture because we were hardly able to kiss due to our laughing.

See what I mean? Complete chuckle-heads.

Man and Wife. All in all the ceremony was about 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Give or take a few seconds. Not shabby.

Newlyweds outside the courthouse.

Everyone - Front Row: Gabi, Caitlin, Nick, Betsy, Mom Hite, Malia. Back Row: Grandma Neal, Brian, Aunt Charlotte, Mandy, Dad Hite, Brandon

Everyone again.

Nitsy (and Dad Hite in the background)

Nitsy's official wedding picture.

Leaving the courthouse. You can't tell from the picture, but Nick had a definite spring in his step as we sauntered off to the honeymoon.

This is the surprise that awaited me at the hotel. Nick is so super adorable and I can't help but love him, and I know that he loves me like crazy.