Katasha Cox

I'm Engaged!

So I know this is old news for most of you but I have not had the time to blog in a long time and I did not want to just throw something like this into the "overall" post.

I am engaged to Katasha Cox. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She is an amazing woman who is defiantly worth the long wait I have endured to find her. I love her more than life itself.

We met and dated here in Boston. She attended the same photography school that brought me to Boston.

There are two questions that you ask and answer to every new person you meet in Boston. They are:
1) What are you doing here?
2) Where did you come from?

I literally heard about Katasha a month before she moved here and within minutes of her looking at the apartment she would ultimately live in.

The awesome part about this story is that I am literally the ONE person, by name, her mother warned her about...

Katasha heard over and over that she "has to meet Tim Connor" as she told people she was here doing photography school. I think by the time we actually met, she was so tiered of hearing about me, she was just glad she could finally tell people...yeah yeah I know him, we've met.

We started out acquaintances that bumped into each other from time to time. Eventually we became friends. Then after about 5 months of friendship we started dating. We dated off and on for about a year (but mostly on).

I asked her to marry me on March 15th on the cliffs overlooking Crystal Cove in Southern California. I was spending spring break there with her and her family.

She knew the ring was coming that week and had previously said to me that "I had a job cut out for me," because she knew the ring was coming and it wasn't going to be a surprise.

Because of that I had planned on taking her to romantic dinners followed by long walks on the beach and create all kinds of perfect opportunities all week long to torture her with anticipation.

But , being near her makes me take on some of the qualities that I love about her. She makes me kinder, softer, and more compassionate (even when I don't really want to be).

So I woke up early, because I can't sleep when it's light, and went down to the beach to read my scriptures on that Sunday morning while everyone else slept. As I was reading I realized that my only chance of surprise was right then. So I went back and woke her up and dragged her down to the beach to "photograph the morning light on the beach cliffs" with me.

I hid the ring in the lens cap of one of my lenses. We went down to the beach and started shooting. As I knelt down and started shooting under the guard rail I asked Katasha to hand me the lens that had the ring in it. She saw the ring and I asked her to marry me.

She said Yes!

I am a lucky man!



Here are some pics of us.















These were taken by Seth Wood




















These were taken by Mark Mercer

Special Thanks to Seth and Mark for taking our pictures!

We really appreciate it!

The Overall

since I have not blogged in such a long time let me give you a snapshot of what my life is all about right now.

I am very busy with school. I have a terrible schedule with terrible teachers(mostly).

The good part about this past school year, so far, is that I started a photography club at school. We had a big show last month that was extended until the end of this month. That is really good for the club. It was the first time showing for a lot of the members. It is fun to be involved with photography again. It really is a passion in my life.

I am also the Budget and Finance Chair of the Undergraduate Student Senate. I manage the $600K activities trust fund . I lead a 7 person committee who hears special requests from students who request money from our carry forward account. The really crappy part is that I have to write the budget for next year. I have been asked to write three budgets; one at the current funding levels, one reflecting a 6% budget cut and a 9% budget cut. Needless to say-I don't have many friends at school these days.

I volunteer with a non-profit organization called MicroLoan Foundation. We provide funding for women in Africa to start their own business. It's a very small amount; under $100. They also receive business training and counseling. Right now we have operations in Zambia and Malawi. It's a great organization that is making a difference in the lives who are involved.

The Sacred Grove

This is a series of pictures I took in Palmyra this past spring that I combined to form this image. I learned a lot about light that afternoon. Maybe more than I did the entire year at photography school.
I was pleased to see that stripe of rainbow on the ground. That is not superimposed or manipulated. Though we don't see it with our eyes, it's a natural effect of looking at the light. It is to me, symbolic of God's love for us and represents a covenant He made with us via Noah. The Earth had just been completely cleansed of wickedness. It was a fresh start, a new beginning. The Lord gave Noah a sign, or reminder, of the covenant He made. The sign helped Noah remember how merciful the Lord was to him. (Genesis 9:11-17)
In the Sacred Grove on that spring morning of 1820, the God of the Old Testament, even Jesus Christ, again showed us great mercy as he appeared with his father to the boy Joseph Smith and opened this new dispensation. (read the whole story here)
The rainbow is a symbol to me, that through the Atonement of Christ, EVERYONE, not just Joseph Smith, has the opportunity to partake in a new beginning; a fresh start. First through baptism and then through the renewing of that covenant by partaking of the sacrament.
God's covenant is for all and It is real.

Last of summer

Here are a few more pics from the summer that I should have put in the last post.

Jeff, Jen, Katelyn, and Cody came down right before I left. It was so great to see them. Katelyn taught me how to ride the Ripstick (it's the new skateboard with two wheels instead of four). It is really fun. If only there were any roads in Mass. that were in good enough shape to ride one.


















This is Wyatt and Lori watching Mom and Dad drive away from their home in Cali. for the last time.

Tuacahn

It was a warm summer night in Southern Utah. My G-Ma was in town visiting my parents in Mesquite from the back woods of Texas. We went to see The Sound of Music at Tuacahn (which was awsome). It was my Mom, my G-Ma, Kevin and me. My G-Ma has a little trouble walking around and by the end of the night she was spent. We happened to go on senior citizen night and there were bus loads of old people. After the show, we walked to the shuttle stop to go to the parking lot. There were so many old people there was a huge line. The worker made an announcement that there was an elevator in the next building, if anyone could walk or had a wheelchair they could use the elevator and it would be much faster. We had seen an unused wheelchair at one of the gates, so I went and grabed the wheelchair to push my G-Ma to the car and avoid the long wait. It was perfect we avoided the line and we had a wheelchair. I thought G-Ma might like to spice life up a bit and I decided to give her a little taste of my recent motto-"Drive it like you stole it." We did some wheelies, doughnuts, went off a curb, and got some good speed on the downhill slope as I jumped on the back. We had a great time. I think she liked the joy ride more than she'd admit. After we Got her to the car and got her settled, I started to take the wheel chair back to the front. I was met half way by an anxious employee running at me who said "I'll take that! This belongs to a patron who is freaking out up there!". We drove it like we stole it and as it turns out...we did! ooops.

Summer

Blogging has been overwhelming to me because it has been so long and so much has happened that I don't want to skip it but because I keep putting it off more and more keeps slipping by, so......... A quick recap;

I went to Cali. helped pack up my parents and moved them to Mesquite Nv.

It was a strange feeling pulling out of town. I felt like I was pulling out of a life I had tried desperately to forget for the past three years. Then suddenly I felt free from that life. Free to embrace it and let it sit where it is… in the rear view mirror. It is there if I choose to look back at it, to examine it for lessons I should have learned but completely missed, for what ever reason.

I then went back to Cali. to spend some time with Lori and her family on the beach at the Carlsbad Campground.

It was a bit nastalgic to go back there. I had spent so many days with my friend Skip and his family there, when we were too young to appreciate long summer days with nothing to do but hang out on the beach.

Then I did some good manual labor and was able to sweat for a little bit. I never tire of good ol’ fashion hard work and sweat. I do love to sweat. A good family friend hired me to put in a sprinkler system, sod and spread a couple ton of gravel for rv parking spot at a home she had purchased to rent out.

I got to spend a little bit of time with Katasha in her home town and see her in her element, so-to-speak. It was great to have that time with her. It was monumental for us.

And I finaly got to do a photo session with her.

Kevin and his family took me out on their boat and I did a little cliff jumping. It had been more than 10 years since I had done that.

It was so much fun to spend time with them.

I hiked the Narrows in Zion with Kevin and some of his buddies from work. It started raining and lightning just before we got there. They closed the narrows due to flash flood warnings. We decided we were going to be stupid and go anyway. It turned out to be an incredible experience. We had the whole place to ourselves. It was amazing. Because of the flash flood warnings I didn’t dare take my good camera in case I had swim for my life. So these pictures aren’t very good but it was so much fun.

I love a good excuse to show some man thigh.

There is more but this will have to due for now. I do promise to tell you my favorite story of the summer in the next post.

The Format - On Your Porch

I was driving out to Walden Pond last night to do a little night swimming.

There was this moment that I will never forget. Similar to the slow motion moments but better. A song came on that I have never heard before and it felt so personal that it scared me. It was the kind of feeling that makes you look over your shoulder to see if someone is watching. I was getting on Route 2 from Park street driving past the Boston Temple.

I was driving Katasha's car, she was riding shotgun and we had friends in the back seat. It was a dark, moonless sky with a few clouds, a few stars and perfect temperature with a bit of the New England summer humidity. The song "On Your Porch" by The Format came on and I immediately knew that it would define an era of my life. (This has happend once before with the song "Boston" by Agustana.) It describes such a big and defining portion of my past mingled with current life. Especially as I am about to go move my parents from California to Nevada; putting the nails in the coffin of a past and closing the door of a large portion of my life. It has forced me to look back at these 3 years I've been in Boston. I am so grateful to be here and for the changes in my life. I am so thankful for the example of strength my parents have shown through their trials because it has given me faith and courage to move forward in my own life; even when it involves moving to a city you have never been to and don't know anyone or even know anyone who knows anyone there.


These are important songs for me and stir strong emotion.

Both songs are in a player on the right. If you have not heard them.... Enjoy!