The Photography Site!!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!!
Behold the photography website of Tyler Neal is now in existence!! Go henceforth to it and enjoy the visual splendor!! And spread the news like wild fire among the provinces of your lives.

Disclaimer, the site is still in a very rough outlive version, there are still quite of few glitches to work out and many more photos to come. Be patient, check often and you will see the growing work of me!

Thanks, yer all the best.

The Address-www.tylerparrisphotography.com

RollerCoaster of Emotion

Transient, wanderer, vagabond, hitchhiker, one who moves from one place of residence to another in a matter of weeks. That has been my life the past few months. Since November 22, 2008 I have lived in three different homes, some less permanent than others. I think that I might be done moving for the next 2 months, which for me is stable and I'm enjoying not living out of my backpack's and boxes.

I moved from Driggs, Idaho to Logan, Utah for about a week. Mostly sleeping on my friends couches, I did find a new place to live, a couple roommates, and a job at Cafe Sabor. Then the bigger better deal came up in Heber City Utah. You might be thinking the only redeeming quality of Heber is Dairy Keen, and what a joint it is. Smashing good shakes. I got a job at the Zermatt Resort in Midway. When I say I got a job I really mean they offered me a job, and then a month long ordeal ensued of actually trying to get the job and start working instead of living of my savings account. During this ordeal I also pursued other possibilities for employment and luckily I was hired in Park City at the restaurant Maxwell's East Coast Eatery. Long story short the Zermatt lasted about 5 working shifts and it was time to be done. Scheduling conflicts and poor managament made me decide to just stick with the job at Maxwell's. I commuted to Park City every day and then extenuating circumstances at my residence in Heber created the need to find another place to lay my weary head. This was four weeks after I had moved in. I never really moved in, the boxes were still full, the clothes still in suitcases and backpack's were still full. I somehow felt that I wasn't supposed to be in Heber.

I found a new place in Salt Lake right at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, the moment I checked out the property I felt at home. This is the place!!!! At least for another couple weeks. Well my contract is until June, so I'm here till then. Who knows what will happen after that. California, Colorado, Oregon, New Zealand. The options are endless really. Any input will be accepted with an open heart and arms. I'm still working up in Park City as a waiter at the Maxwell's restaurant, come in for some amazing pizza if you so desire. I feel somewhat stable in knowing the plan of my life for the next 5 months. Thats as far as I can think ahead. I will be traveling back to Rwanda in May, if I can raise the fundage, upon my return I will be working in the wonderful world of Especially For Youth, as a Building Counselor. This will be taking place in Salt Lake and in Logan. After the joy of EFY I have volunteered my body to science and will be traveling to Guatemala to test a new patch that is supposed to prevent a common travel aliment, diarrehea, I'm sure you all wanted to know that so I felt inclined to tell you.

I have been working alot lately with my friend and master web designer, Katrina, on my photography website. The goal is to have it up and running my the beginning of April, once that is ready I'll be more diligent in posting my photos up on that website, and I'll post here to let the 4 of you that read this in on the secret web address so you can spread the news like wildfire.

Pre-Emptive Powder

So yesterday, Thursday, whilst my kiddies were in Anthropology I went skiing. Its true, on November 6th, its a little early you might be saying, but you forgot I live in the arctic tundra of Idaho. The resort Grand Targhee, the locals mountain, won't be open for business till the day of Thanksgiving, but there is snow on the mountains and plenty of it. I drove to Targhee, about 20 minutes from my cabin, packed the skis on my back, donned my ski boots, walked right in front of all the employees preparing the resort for opening day and hiked up the mountain. I'd say "ok, when I get to the top of this little hill, I'll ski down" then I would get to the top of that little hill and see another little hill, so I'd climb to the top of that one. Come to find, I went all the way to the top of the mountain. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top, a 7 minute chair lift ride. Who needs chair lifts when you have legs? Well the ride down was about 14 minutes, but man was it worth it. The powder was up to my knees, not much base, which means I scraped quite a few rocks, but nothing too damaging. I got back to the ranch after my euphoric experience, and the kids were still in class. Poor saps! Its just the first of many good powder days to come this winter.

The Abode, an Insiders look!

The Desk and Stairs

The Stairs going up to the two guest bedrooms, come visit!

One of the guest rooms.

My Room, queen size bed, of course I don't own the right size sheets, I'm a bachelor.

Looking out of my room into the hall

The bathroom

The Kitchen, and the view right as you walk in the front doorThe Living room

The Dining room and front door.

Real Life-its not that rough!

Well I got a job! As a successful college graduate I feel blessed and I have pretty much the sweetest jobs in the world. I am the Quest Director at Badger Creek, BYU-Idaho's Outdoor Learning Center. This lovely ranch is located near the town of Tetonia and Driggs Idaho. If you haven't heard of them, I'm not surprised and all I can tell you is Google Map it. Here is my cabin, the school provides it for me, it has all the amenities, I also get fed three meals a day. Mom, I'm eating, and its free! I call it thrifty, not cheap! My job consists of teaching Recreation Management 123 Basic Outdoor Skills to BYU-Idaho freshman students, taking them hiking on mountains of my choice, rafting down the Snake River near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and their final exam is a three day backpacking trip. Tough life I know, but someone has to teach these little kids how to go to the bathroom in the woods. The job really was a blessing thoughh , after applying for 62 ( I looked up all the jobs I'd applied for) jobs this summer Josh Benson called me and offered me this dream set-up. The way the program works is with two groups of 30 students each, Quest A and Quest B. Quest A came to the ranch for two weeks and took only my class in outdoor skills, then returned to Rexburg for 6 weeks of on campus classes. Upon their departure Quest B came to the ranch and will stay for 6 weeks straight. They are taking my class as well as 4 other classes, with BYU-I professors coming to the ranch to teach. The ranch is 40 minutes from Rexburg straight to the east. After Quest B is finished Quest A returns for 4 more weeks of my class and others. I take each group on one backpacking trip each somewhere around the Tetons and Targhee National Forest. Last week I lead my group up Big Elk Creek near the Palisades in Idaho for a beautiful 3 day backpack trip. Many of them have never been backpacking and its quite humorous to watch them learn. One example for I do not want to mock too much. Big family size cans of Ravioli are not the best backpacking food, both in taste after 3 days and in weight! I could go on but won't. I obviously didn't teach them very well. So yeah, that is the update on my job, we've been canoeing down Teton Creek, hiked to a lake called Pack Saddle Lake with a sweet rope swing, I cringed each time the kids went off because I'd be the one carrying them out if something tragic were to happen, luckily we escaped injury free! Quest B got here on Monday and we've been having a grand ol time. Tomorrow is the Hoback Junction Float of the Snake River, this will be my first guiding experience, I'm not going to tell my students that though! Should be an adventure!To rewind, this summer I had the opportunity to go to Rwanda in the heart of Africa right after my USU graduation. It was another incredible blessing which has blossomed into another amazing opportunity to be part of the creation of a non-profit foundation,the Ungana Foundation, that will be making frequent trips to Rwanda and hopefully beyond to create better opportunities for farmers in rural areas, university students here and there, truly the sky is the limit in terms of this foundation. A record of our May research trip can be found at www.unganaproject.blogspot.com. After the Africa trip I stayed in Logan for one last summer hurrah, and what a summer it was. Very relaxing, not much productivity, but that's what summer is for right? I figured it would be my last chance to be carefree before the "real world" hit me. I went wakeboarding alot, did another week as an EFY counselor, went to many weddings and actually got the ground work set for my own photography business. So some productivity! I'll post some of the pictures of the wedding that I did in a bit! I have alot more free time on my hands so we'll see if I'm better at updating this blog.

Recap, just a little taste!

I have more pictures on my hard drive which is packed right now, so I'll add more pictures of the Hawaii journey in a bit.
The senior year of college was a grand one, as I mentioned, and it was of adventure. I was a bad son and asked my mom if I could miss Thanksgiving at home because I found a killer deal to go to Hawaii. In hindsight, Hawaii can wait, family never comes last. I still had a stellar time for 13 days in paradise, hitchhiking around the North Shore, sleeping on my friends couch two blocks from the temple and body surfing on a daily basis!
I went skidiving, hiking to tropical waterfalls, looking for turtles (didn't find them), ate famous shaved ice and Ted's Bakery, longboarded around BYU-Hawaii and met the entire student body , there aren't that many people therefore it didn't take much effort. My brother was on medivac alert in Japan and had to fly to Honolulu for a day so we hung out and got to eat some real ahi tuna. Seeing Derek was one of the highlights to the trip, a familiar face and similar sense of adventure, even though he was dead tired, I still loved it!
I definately learned I'm a mountain boy, I love the tropical paradise don't get me wrong, but I need my seasons and my skiing. Hawaii has not seen the last of me, I left my footprints there!

Hey Friends and Family!
I have been a major slacker on this blog thing. It's kind of like a journal, which I'm amazing at! Not really, but I hope I can be better at both. I have had quite the year since I last posted, so it may take a few blogs to update you all on the senior year of my student career at Utah State. That is right, I graduated in May with the big Bachelor of Science in Recreation Resource Management. Mom and Dad came out to Utah for the occasion and it was a lovely time. It has finally set in that school is over, at least until I go for my Masters which won't happen anytime soon. I need a break. The reality of real life is setting in and I'm in diligent job search mode. I am working in Logan for the summer as a waiter still at my little pizza place Firehouse as well as selling food storage door to door. Thats exciting, let me tell ya! If anyone is interested in getting their food storage set, this is actually a great system so let me know. Enough sales pitches. I am currently very single and every church meeting and friends wedding reception makes that all the more evident. I'm in no rush to get married, but I would like to at least know who she is! Is that too much to ask for?
I recently went to Africa, to the beautiful country of Rwanda for a research trip and we have a blog dedicated to that trip if you would like to check that out, it is www.unganaproject.blogspot.com. I'll be working on the last year update for awhile so check back and see the good times I've had!