livin up to the blog queen

so i have officially created a monster folks. a while back i decided to do this whole blog thing, cuz..well, why not? my two sisters jumped on the blog train, and I guess I hopped off somewhere and have been periodically been hitch hiking for about a year. Miq, my biggest sis, is now a machine. her blog is pretty sweet, man. i supposed if i had as cool of kids as her, i would be just as proud and anxious to show them off to the world. not only does she have great kids, she has pretty amazing insights too. growing up with Miq, i just remember drama and often wondered why she was so annoying. she is 5 yrs older, so we were never really close and i never really understood her. looking back now, i went through the same crap, and gave my parents the same attitude. its been said that i can get away with a lot more, and give a lot more sass cuz i am the baby. this may seem like a full on Mique-bash...but just wait folks.

Mr lokestroke is a sensitive, calm and laid back kinda guy. what i am REALLY tryin to say is that over the years, as i have matured (much to my sisters disbelief and doubts) i have seen what kind of an amazing person the infamous Miq-a-Liq has become. an amazing mother of three adorable kids, a fighter and advocate for her special needs child with autism, a creative and talented photographer and scrapbooker. who knows how she does it all, how she has time to juggle all that stuff and still come out on top. i know she has her days, as she says, but who doesn't? and if anyone can have her days, its her. not only is she a fabulous mother, but she is also a die-hard and loyal friend that anyone and everyone would love to have. her personal creativity and thought that she puts into everything she does leaves us all amazed and surprised and speechless; or if you are my mom, she makes you cry. she is person who will do anything for family, and definitely knows how to treat me and jess and our spouses. as a brother i feel lucky to have her as an example and i am glad that we have grown closer over the years. one thing about Miq is that she rarely gets the credit she deserves. a guess that goes with the territory of motherhood- so many unseen and unmentioned acts of service and selfless sacrifice. well Muq, in my small way i thank you and applaud you for being who you are. i thank you as a brother and a friend and am proud of how you handle your daily adventures with the Provosts.

if you wanna see what i am talking about, just click to see her blog on my links!

the apt

so for a lil while there we were living with the folks when we first moved back. first of all, let me just say how much we appreciated the hospitality of my parents. they made life really easy for us, and were so generous and cool about everything. as much as we appreciated the nice digs and constant hook up, there comes a time when a man has to get a place to call his very own.
So we got this lil place in Carlsbad-well, i suppose its San Elijo Hills. regardless of what zip code we have, we love our lil place and feel lucky to be living in a new-brand spankin new crib. check it out:






of course the pics don't do it justice, you have to come out and see it for yourself. for those of you who haven't seen and experienced casa lokestroke, consider this an invitation! mi casa es su casa

one month in the ENC

Over the past month a lot of crap has gone down.i pretty much suck at keeping this blog updated...sorry to loke stroke fans out there. i could throw out yet again another list of this and that, highlight shot-outs, etc...but alas, i don't have the energy nor the memory to put it all down. i suppose i will let my brain spill a bit, and my thoughts fly out freely and uninterrupted.

I have now been working at Aquatic Design Group for a month now, and learning a ton about the business, design, architecture and life working 40 hours a week. Before working full time me and the mrs. were able to enjoy the good life, vacationing and jet setting around the country. We went up to Lake Havasu for a weekend, where we basked in the the hot AZ sun, and dominated wakeboarding.Thanks Jon and Mary for hooking us up!!













Something that also happened was my nephew Drew turned one. Like the amazing mother that she is, Miq threw a birthday bash for the little tyke. its been said that Drewl is a spittin image of yours truly when I was his age. Quite freaky it is, because its true. For loke stroke fans out there, here ya go- me 24 years ago:


Another trip I got to take was out to Washington DC for G-rides wedding. I had never been out to DC and to be perfectly honest, never really wanted or thought to go out there. our nation's capital, the land of politics and political people--if anyone knows me, they know that politics are not my forte or my cup o tea. However, I loved goin out back east! I met up with friends till the end Chris and Sarita and we definitely bonded since we only knew each other during the festivities. The DC temple was beautiful and so was the Maryland countryside. I felt like I was in a movie most of the time. Its so quaint, green and the people in MD are so nice. Here are a couple shots of the bride and groom, Mr and Mrs. Garrett Giles-












More updates of life back in the ENC is in the works. hasta la proxima

"a lot of people go to college for 7 years."

i have reached a another milestone kids.crazy as it may seem, and much to everyone's disbelief and faith in my academic skills, i have walked the walk and moved on out of the p-town bubble as a cougar grad. back in the day i was anti walking in graduation...i preferred to leave the bubble early and not mess with the crowds, the utahrded drivers etc., etc. however, i am glad that i was persuaded to walk at graduation(thanks for making me do it mom). it was a really weird feeling to be "one of those people" graduating from BYU. it has always seemed so far off, or just kind of something never quite in my grasp.

It didn't take me as long as anticipated- once i got a fire lit under my butt.(i have the etrain and mom to thank for that) Considering my leave of absence for 2 years to serve the gente in Spain, it only took one year longer than scheduled. Actually, i planned on staying in college for as long as possible...livin the college lifestyle and avoiding "the real world," so technically i am ahead of schedule.So it is on to bigger and better things.

one thing that i have been missing though is the bubble- as lame as it may sound, and for as much as i wanted to fight it, provo was a cool place to be for the past five years. let me explain for all those haters out there...p-town was a place where i feel like i truly came into my own. I grew up a lot while i was there, and think that i owe all of my growth from my amazing friends. i have said it before, and i will never tire of saying it again, but my friends were the greatest. that's what provo is to me.
Its a place where you can meet so many people, and spend so much time with those great people. i don't wanna get too sappy here. sorry. seriously though, from the cooners to the brittany 190 adventure squad its been a trip. it truly is an end of an era. in true loke stroke fashion (and Leno i suppose) i will bust out a couple of top 10 lists for P-town.

Why i will miss p-town
10. J-dawgs
9. Rio and Bajio
8.the perch
7. 3 girl blanket
6.whiffle ball--short lived, but amazing
5.park city snowboarding trips
4.3 tacos and fries for $2.14
3.the homies
2.bidnay sessions
1.cheap gas

why i WON'T miss the bubble
10.zoobies and utah jazz fans
9.provo burn outs...there comes a time where everyone needs to move on
8.provo police
7.p-town acronyms...pda, dtr,dt..
6.snow...the weather in general is whack
5.loud,annoying neighbors who constantly sing opera
4.no parking anywhere
3.the soapbox and tools playing guitars/ukuleles to impress chicks.
2.people that refer to california as "cali"
1.utahrd drivers

it was a fun run while it lasted provo! to all those who are still there: "God speed brethren!"

2 words: whiffle ball

so let me tell you about a little thing i like to refer as "going back to my glory days." as many of you may know, i was once a talented young baseball player. i started playing baseball at the wee age of 4 and was immediately hooked. from t-ball to pony leagues, i lived for the game. i was considered a top draft pick during try-outs, proved my worth during the season and usually ended as a key element and clutch performer to my team. with a career high batting average of .720 and having pitched several no-hitters and one nearly perfect game (i beaned a friend), its safe to say that they truly were glory days.

my baseball ended though as i discovered skateboarding. at times i reflect and wonder "what could have been" if i had stuck with the sport that my father taught me. would i be playing for the cougs right now? who would my friends be? would i have ever picked up my true passion today: surfing? so many questions so little time. where would i be?

the answer doesn't matter. WHY? because the glory days are back. thats right. this past friday was introduced to america's past time once again. In a very Sandlot-esque way. Melzer invited me out to play a game with some of his cronies. i use cronies with the utmost respect. Joel Baer, Nate Barnes, Sean Heatherington, Jake Smart to name a few...allowed me to step on that hallowed ground known as a baseball diamond. and boy was it sweet. i started off a little slow. mainly just enjoyed the wisecracks of the people there. than i got into it, and started to come alive.

i don't wanna toot my own horn or anything....ok, maybe just a little. the kids started calling me "automatic" and i was the new force to reckon with. i was put into 3rd base on defense-my old stomping grounds- and loved every second of it. the "hot corner" was in full effect. i reached base on every attempt, and was a homerun short of hitting for the cycle. i help my team come back from a 14-6 deficit and win. (Joel hit for the cycle on saturday. it was awesome.) but the whiffle ball game definitely rekindled an old flame for me. Who knew whiffle ball could be so amazing?

i'll be home for easter

me and the mrs. came home for this past weekend and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. it defintely was fun to stay home at both our parents' houses and see the fams. I woke up early on thursday morning and enjoyed the first surf sesh in about 6 months. i think the last time i surfed was in November! the surf was really good, pretty glassy, firing lefts and waist to head high sets. because it was pretty good, the joint was packed (i went to Beacons)which made for some interesting situations. one of my favorites was old man withers trying to fight a dude for "snaking" his wave. its really annoying when you have to battle for waves, especially with old locals who think they are local gods, with the right to every good wave. the greatest thing about the surf sessions was listening to my ipod in the water!
it was really good to go home, even if it was a quick trip. It was kind of a teaser, because we knew that we would be comin back in just a couple weeks for good. the best part about goin home was kickin it with the fam. We got to spend a lot of quality time with both families- even if some members were missing-John and Jeff in Moab destroying rental jeeps, Jose in NYC and Miq and the gang with the Provosts. The count down has officially begun though- i think it began lke 3 months ago actually- but time is really coming to an end in p-town. april is half over and we move down to SD on the 28! loco, ese loco.

quarter of a century?

so i realize that it has been quite some time since i have updated anyone on the infamous blog. my apologies. i am sure there are fans out there waiting to hear something new in the wonderful world of mr. lokestrokestroke. the biggest news- I turned 25 last tuesday. yup, the big 2-5. its kinda weird to think that i am now 25, but i am enjoyin it. the big day was pretty sweet, i must admit. if there was one thing missing that day it would have to be a sweet cake by Duff from Ace of Cakes.

etrain's cake was more than enough for me and my closest friends. I was spoiled week by Mama lokestroke. my mom came out ib ny b-day and spen the rest of the week taking care of me and erika. she's the best. the day itself was pretty low key. i was actually suffering from some sort of head cold, so i spent most of the day sleeping. NICE!! when i was awake, i enjoyed the compay of my beautiful wife, my closest friends, and my great mother. I guess you can say that i got really spoiled this year, and got hooked up presents-wise. thank you all, those of you who gave me monetary gifts and those who gave me your time and company. i feel your love. one of the sweetest things that i scored was a water-proof housing for my ipod so i can surf with some tunes. aww yeah. can't wait to try it out. also my new system for the tacoma with the ipod adapter-it rocks my world. new clothes and gift certificates, a sweet watch...man, i am one lucky lil' mexican. here is a few thangs that i am lovin these days:


now all these things are dope as all get out, but more important are the people who gave them to me. i consider myself extremely lucky, and i am grateful for an amazing in every way wife, a wonderful family, amazing in-laws, and the best friends anyone could imagine.

what has changed since i have turned 25? not much really. i certainly don't feel any older or any more mature. especially now that i picked up Guitar Hero II with the cash grandma sent. thanks grandma!!

serioulsy though, i think 25 will be a good year. graduating from BYU, moving back to San Diego, starting grad school at NSAD to work on a masters in architecture, working side by side with papa lokestroke at Aquatic Design Group.... its gunna be a hard one to beat.