Trip to Washington DC Supreme Court

So on Monday and Tuesday of this week Steph flew to DC and was able to watch the case that she has been working on be presented to the U.S. Supreme Court. I am very proud of her. Luv ya honey!

Halloween Fun!

Despite this being a crazy busy week for both Doug and I (Doug just finished a huge assignment for his job doing the company-wide budget AND had a presentation where he taught all of the top managers in the company how to use excel - yes I'm pretty proud of him :), we managed to squeeze in some Halloween fun with some great friends.

Earlier in the week we had a Pumpkin carving/seed roasting family home evening with our friends Danica and Shiloh Flake, and and McKelle and Trustin Anderson.

Pretty good finished product eh?

I have to admit that Doug's pumpkin was my favorite. It made me smile every time I looked at it!


Then later on Halloween evening we got together with our good friends Ruth and Jake Bigler and some other couples to have a little party. We ate a pumpkin dinner (mmmm), bobbed for apples (gross but so fun), had a donut-on-a-string eating contest, and made caramel apples. Then we watched a scariish movie (okay, it was a very not scary movie, but as much as Ruth and I could handle) to finish of the night.

Doug and I look pretty intimidating in with our D.I water guns, don't you think?

Doug and I were trying to sabotage each other's bobbing efforts...okay maybe I was trying to sabotage Doug's bobbing efforts...but he still won :)

Overall, it was a great week. I think this Sunday we're going to put up our Christmas tree. Yay for the holiday season!

Steph and "THE" Supreme Court :)

http://www.law2.byu.edu/news/item.php?num=531

The below article is on the BYU website. I just wanted to post this and show Steph how proud I am of her! She has been working very hard and her teacher noticed her strong work ethic and quality of work and that is why Professor Jones asked her to help on this Supreme Court case. I am very proud of you Steph!

BYU Law students work on case to be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court

BYU Law students work on case to be argued at the nation’s highest court

A group of second- and third-year law students at BYU are getting the rare opportunity to participate in litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States after their professor was appointed by the Court to be the attorney in a case to be argued this fall.

Professor RonNell Andersen Jones, who clerked at the Court for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, is co-counsel in the case of Kucana v. Holder. The Court agreed to hear the case last spring, and Professor Jones has joined with Professor Amanda Leiter—another former Supreme Court clerk who is now at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.—to litigate the case.

“Because both of the attorneys acting as counsel in the case are legal academics, it presented the unique and exciting chance for law students to serve as the equivalent of junior associates in the matter,” Jones said. “It was an absolute win-win situation. This is the sort of experience I would have loved to have had when I was a law student, so I felt like I was giving them something quite amazing. But I also have been very lucky to have such high-quality students to help with the work. ”

Jones says that over the course of the last two months, a total of seven students have assisted her in preparing the merits brief that was just filed with the Court.

“These students were involved in every stage of the process,” Jones said. “They performed invaluable research, digging into the history of several legislative enactments, finding cases in support of arguments, and editing the brief for style and substance. They were hard-working and incredibly dedicated to thinking through the issues and contributing meaningfully to the case. There are arguments in this brief that are entirely attributable to the great work of BYU students.”

One student who worked on the project, Stephanie Barclay, found the research demanding, but was delighted to see how it all came together—her own contributions included.

“The most rewarding part of the process was getting to read the finished product of the brief,” Barclay said. “It was exciting to see every now and again a quote I had found or an argument I had helped with mixed in with the incredible work of Professor Jones and Professor Leiter.”

Jones said she was pleased to see the ways in which the work on the case overlapped with students’ educational experiences at law school.

“The issue in this case is one of statutory interpretation,” she said. “The Supreme Court is being asked to decide between two readings of a particular piece of legislative text. Many of the students who have been serving as research assistants on the case are enrolled in my Legislation class this semester, and I think they are seeing the ways in which the legal principles that we are studying in class play out in the real world. It’s very exciting as a teacher to be able to put meat on the bones of the doctrine in that way.”

Megan Grant, one of Professor Jones’s students and research assistants, said that doing research and coming up with arguments in this case gave her a better understanding of the judicial process and of the breadth of information courts take into consideration when deciding a case.

“This really helped me understand better not only the legislative process itself,” Grant said, “but what courts take into account when they are faced with a statutory interpretation.”

This Friday, October 16, the students will join Professors Jones and Leiter for a moot court in preparation for the oral argument in the case. Nine former law clerks from the United States Supreme Court will play the roles of the nine Justices of the Court and offer feedback in a practice argument setting. It will begin at 3pm in JRCB 303, and faculty and student ID will be required and will be checked at the door. The argument itself will be in the second week of November, and Jones said a few of the students are making the trip to Washington, D.C. to watch as the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court hear the case on which they worked.

“I’m so proud of their accomplishments on this case,” Jones said. “They have done something few lawyers get to do in all their years of practice, and have done a splendid job of it.”

Family Trip to Zions

My family all met up in Zions National Park for my Grammy's 70th birthday and we had a great time!

We all went for a horseback ride around the canyon

Mel & Spence playing in the river




Mom and Dad on the park bus
Little monkeys!


Spencer was obsessed with catching frogs and lizards. He got pretty good at it!



Doug climbed into the tree and tied a swing, and my siblings had a ball playing on it..although I think my Dad may have had even more fun :)

Family birthday dinner by the trailor

Sitting around the campfire on our last evening

Emily and Jordan's Wedding!

Coming out of the temple

Cool shoes!

There is something irresistibly fun about jumping pictures

These are some fun pictures from the reception (including Jordan and Emily's cake fight :) I put them in a collage because it takes me too long to keep posting 4 pictures at a time (plus there were a ton). If someone knows how to post pictures faster I would love some suggestions.

Anyway, Congratulations Jordan and Emily!!!

Doug's Birthday! (finally :)

I am way late on posting this birthday post for Doug (mostly because right after that was Emily's wedding and then school started and life has only just recently started to settle into a routine), but even though it's not Doug's birthday any more I still wanted to give some highlights from his birthday.

Doug and I have a tradition of doing breakfast in bed on birthdays. (Can you tell how old he is? ;)

Later that evening, this is Doug's face right when he walked into his surprise party. Thanks to all his friends who helped with the party and joined in for the fun!

Blowing out the birthday candles (I cheated and got the numbered candles rather than 25 sticks :)

Playing an intense game of mafia (Doug can never lie but we didn't kill him because he was the birthday boy :)

And of course Doug couldn't resist winding up the streamers that I had taped from the fan to corners of the ceiling

The happy birthday boy!

I also want to take a minute to celebrate Doug and list some of the things that I absolutely love about him.

1. He is increadibly unselfish. I have seen Doug put his needs aside for family, friends, and even strangers on countless occasions, and he is such an example to me. He is also increadibly unselfish in how much he helps out around the house and works hard to provide for us.
2. He is such a hard worker, and a way more determined problem solver than I am. The other day we were fixing a plumbing fixture and I was totally ready to just call a plumber, but Doug kept at it (even though he had never fixed this type of thing before) and he figure it out and saved us hundreds of dollars! Good thing he didn't listen to me :)
3. He is so loving and supportive of me. When Doug and I started dating, it blew me away that he could be so unconditionally loving even though he knew me better than any mortal on the planet and thus was aware of many of my shortcomings. Through Doug's love I gained a greater understanding of the unconditional love my Father in Heaven has for me.
4. He is so much fun! I often get bogged down and stressed with law school, and Doug will often wisk me off on a surprise date to remind me how good life is. (Case in point, the other night he checked on the internet to see exactly when the sun would be setting, blind folded me when I got home from school, took me up the mountains (by Provo) and unvelied my blindfold to display a rock with chips and salsa waiting (my favorite snack!) right in the perfect location to view the sunset together. Then after that we went to get icecream for dessert. It was a pretty cute date).
5. He is such a good listener, and always helps me feel better just by talking to him.
6. He is a fantastic dancer! (for those of you who don't know, we actually met in ballroom dance)
7. He is an honorable priesthood holder, and it is increadible to feel the strenght of his spirit and testimony in our home. (Also, he recently became an ordinance worker at the Provo temple, and I LOVE the spirit that his temple work brings into our home).
8. He is so thoughtful, and always trying to come up with ways to make me happy (like two weeks ago when life was crazy and he snuck to the law school and left beautiful flowers on my desk, or the other day when he came home from work a bit early and surprised me by cleaning the house before I got home).
9. He makes me laugh more than anyone I know
10. He's my best friend

So happy belated birthday thoughts honey! I sure love you

Sisters by Chance; Friends by Choice!

My little sister Melanie took a week off to fly out and visit Doug and I in Utah. We had sooo much fun, and it was great to just spend a week having quality time together. I can't believe how much she's growing up! At the end of the week we all drove down to AZ to spend the 24th of July with my family.

We spent a day at temple square right after Melanie flew in to Salt Lake, and this is in front of the Lion House, which I had never been to before.

We took Melanie to see East High (the school where High School Musical was filmed) and of course we had to take some jumping in the air pictures

This pose was a bit unconventional :)

Having a blast together! I Can't believe that she's taller than me :( Seven years younger and two inches taller.


Melanie and I made these cake balls for our our brother Josh who is serving his mission right now in Washington DC.

On Sunday we had a nice picnic/nap at the park

Mel and I went shopping and we had some fun dressing up...

...and so did Doug :)


We took Melanie bowling on the first day she got here, and it was really fun, even though I threw a gutter ball every other time, and Doug totally kicked our trash (even bowling granny style)!

Taking Mel out to dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory

At the end of the week we went down to AZ to spend the 24th with my family. I didn't take many pictures, but here are some of us swimming in the lake.

Mel and I were the only ones brave enough to stay in the cold water.

Kloepfer Family Reunion Pictures

Europe Part 5: Visiting Regh relatives (Kloepfer Roots) in Germany

So, while we were in Germany I wanted to see some of our relatives. I had called Craig Turner, a second cousin of the family, but was unable to get a hold of him. One day I decided that I would just go on an adventure and try to find them. I knew their names and the town that they were from through an email from Craig, but that was about it. Four trains and three hours after leaving Frankfurt I arrived at the town of Kirchheim an der Weinstrasse. After asking different people for help, one person knew of our relatives and led me right to one. It was an amazing experience. After that visit Steph and I returned to Kirchheim an der Weinstrasse and they were so open and friendly. They gave us a tour of the Kloepfer roots and the buildings and towns that relate to our ancestors. We thoroughly enjoyed it!

Europe Part 4: Business Trip to Romania

The Church surprised us and sent us on a business trip to Romania, of all places, because I was assigned to work on a project dealing with the Church's legal entity in Romania. It was nice because they paid for our hotel and my plane ticket. Anyway, we decided that Romania was an interesting mix of Paris and Mexico, because it's beautiful and filled with rich culture and the people were so nice, but there is tons of poverty and crime since it was so recently a communist country.

We saw the opera Don Pasqual while in town, and it was dirt cheap!

Mexicoish, right?

Apartment buildings from the communist era

Look at all these power lines!

Cool Romanian church

Romanian Parliment, the biggest government administration building in the world EXCEPT for the Pentagon

My honey is a hunk!