List-Mania: Childhood Toys

The last time I did one of these type of columns was back in October! After reading some of my cousin's blogs, I thought this would be a fun subject to cover. I could have just listed all the fun video games but I decided to go with actual toys. Here are my Top 5 Favorite Childhood Toys.

5) Cobra Rattler

After Star Wars I needed something else to play with and GI Joe fit the bill. They had cool action figures and vehicles and they also had some of the best villains. One of my favorite vehicles was the Cobra Rattler. It had a cool large Gatling gun and a ton of missiles and bombs. It also came with Wild Weasel (the pilot). I think the biggest reason why I loved this toy was because the first GI Joe comic (#34) featured this cool jet.

4) Space Legos

I loved Legos as a kid and I never thought anything could top that. Then Space Legos came around. Luckily I was a spoiled kid and I got a ton of these. I used to love to build my own ships. I still have them at my mom's house and one day I will get them and let Logan have them. The best part about Space Legos is that I was only limited by what I could think of. I would spend hours making ships.

3) Star Wars Blasters

I had two cool Star Wars guns. I had a Stormtrooper rifle and Han Solo's pistol. When we would get a ton of snow in Edmonton my friend Alvin and I would play outside with these guns all the time. I still have the rifle and I know I have the pistol somewhere. I was lucky to live in a day and age when toy guns could be all black.

2) AT-AT

This toy made all my friends jealous. This thing was so huge! You could place your hand inside of the AT-AT and manipulate its head to swivel around. I had a small die-cast snowspeeder that was a perfect size so I could re-enact the Hoth battle. And I did hundreds, perhaps thousands of times!

1) Secret Wars Wolverine

I remember the day I found this cool action figure. It was at this large toy store in Edmonton and I was browsing down the aisles. Marvel never had any action figures out and I was shocked to Wolverine (this was before he became big). He had a pair of silver claws that you could snap on the wrists. I had to have it. But right next to him was Spider-Man in his black costume. My parents would only allow me to get one (see? I am not that spoiled) so I grabbed Wolverine. I do not regret it even though I have never seen that black Spider-Man again. I still have this guy and his claws.

Honorable Mention:

Vic Hockey Stick

No matter what, if you were a kid growing up in Edmonton, you had a hockey stick. It didn't matter if you played on ice or on the road. You had a stick. Me and my friends used to play almost every Saturday during the winter. The roads were so icy that we could skate on them in just our shoes. We used a tennis ball as a puck and we would be out for hours. In our old house, I used to go downstairs and play hockey down there too. I would use the bottom of the stairs as the goal and I would take shots from all over the unfinished basement. If you were the right socks, you could skate around too. 

Go Blackhawks!

Day 218

Crap! I was just in the middle of writing today's blog when I thought maybe I should check to see if I already shared this story. And sure enough, I already have. RATS! Now I have to think of something else.

Kristy and Logan are out on vacation with her parents for the rest of the week and already I kinda miss them. I was going to go but I will be gone most of the week next week when I go to Girl's Camp and I didn't want to miss going to work two weeks in a row.

So you would think that with all the extra time on my hands and no interruptions while blogging that I could come up with some sort of topic. But it just ain't happening today.

So I think I am going to take the day off from having an official blog. Besides I have a ton of things that I need to do today. I just got back from a church meeting and I will have another one here in a half an hour. And then it is church where I am going to teach the primary (children) again. And then I will cook me a nice meal and watch the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight.

It's too bad that hockey is not that big here in the States. At least most of the Stanley Cup games are on TV. I wish I had the Versus Network, I would have been able to watch almost ALL of the playoff games. The Stanley Cup is between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers. Both teams have not won the Cup in at least 25 years. I am going with the Blackhawks only because I hate the Flyers and the reason why I hate the Flyers is because of one nasty player from years past. Yes, I still hold a grudge. I do admit that he was quite the goalie but he also was a bully. During the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals with my beloved Edmonton Oilers, he would slash and hit Oiler players on their legs leaving large welts and bruises. He also slashed one player so bad that he got an eight-game suspension for the start of the new season.



And that is why I am voting for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Yes, I am petty.

Logan and the Aggies

Day 153

Last night we went out as a family to the Future Aggie Athlete benefit dinner sponsored by Utah State University. This was aimed at kids in elementary school and get them to try out various sports taught by Aggie athletes.

Logan had a lot of fun trying out the different sports and did much better than I thought he would. He can be a shy kid and I was a little worried that he wouldn't participate as much as I wanted him to but he proved wrong.

The first station we went to was soccer. He was taught how to dribble and kick the ball but his favorite was using his head to score a goal. I think the girls that were running the station were having just as good of a time as the kids were. They were really cute with Logan, I overheard them say how cute he was. He must take after his dad.

The next station he had a choice of either gymnastics or hockey. I would have loved for him to try gymnastics but I was more proud that he chose hockey. There he learned how to handle the puck (it was a tennis ball) how to pass and of course how to shoot. The stick was a little big for him but that didn't stop him from doing slap shots.



But I was really proud of Logan when they announced the next station, football. I looked over and he pumped his fist and said YES! There he learned how to carry the ball, throw a spiral, run a route and catch the ball and defend. Logan has never been one to catch the ball (think of George Michael on Arrested Development) but he tried his hardest to catch the ball and caught it a couple of times. He even scored a touchdown with a little girl hanging on to him trying to bring him down. He didn't stiff arm her he just twirled his way into the end zone.

The next station was his favorite. He loved volleyball which took Kristy and I by surprise. He did very well bumping the ball in the air. It was cute to see him beam when the girl he was working with gave him five for doing it right.

The last station was basketball. I felt bad for Logan since the ball is so big and heavy but he really tried hard to shoot the ball. He did make a basket (where he gave a double fist pump) against one of the Aggie girls. He asked them to show him an alley-oop and they did just for him.

Afterwards we had a dinner catered by Cafe Sabor (tasty) and had a raffle. Kristy won a $20 gift certificate so she could buy some Aggie gear. He also got his own t-shirt. He had a fantastic and fun night. The Aggie athletes really made a positive impact on him and I thought they did very well.

Logan pumping his fist having a good time.

Hockey Night in Canada

Day 100!

Did you see that I got Blognapped yesterday?

My wife did a guest spot on my blog yesterday and what a good day to do it on since I was so busy with Super Bowl Sunday. Next time I will make sure that I am all logged out of everything!



Many people assume that the NFL and football is my all-time favorite sport but that was not always the case. When I grew up it was all about the NHL and my hometown heroes, the Edmonton Oilers. I was lucky to be born in Edmonton in 1974. During my youth the Edmonton Oilers RULED the hockey world. I was there with future Hall-of-Famers, Glenn Anderson (my sister LOVED him), Paul Coffey (my favorite player), Grant Fuhr, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier. And there never has been a team like this since. They still own a ton of records and will go down in NHL history as one of the greatest dynasties of all time. Some of my favorite memories is watching Hockey Night in Canada a few times a week to watch them play. We'd drink Slurpee's and sometimes eat out and watch the game. I really miss those days.


When I loved to the United States sadly the NHL was just not big enough here that I could follow my team. Games were rarely played on the television and eventually I lost interest because I couldn't pick the scores and headlines.


But I still loved hockey. In fact I had the opportunity to see the hated Calgary Flames (Edmonton's archenemy) play the US Olympic Team here in Salt Lake back in 1992. Between the 2nd and 3rd periods I ran down to watch the Flames get off the ice and enter their locker room. I yelled and screamed at them and proudly showed them my old Edmonton Oiler jersey that I was wearing. Boy they didn't appreciate that. One player said, "those ******* are everywhere!" and another one banged his stick on the glass and pointed it right at me and hurled every profanity-laced insult my way! It was awesome, I HATE the Flames!

I don't follow hockey as much as I used to but I will catch highlights on ESPN and will watch a few games when I can. I will always watch the playoffs when they come on even if my team isn't in them.


A few years ago during the 2002 Olympics here in Salt Lake City, the NHL had an exhibit of all the NHL trophies and the Stanley Cup. Kristy and I drove to the E-Center and walked around and looked at all the trophies. The NHL has the best trophies in all sports. I was able to touch and locate the Oilers on the Cup. I was going to lift it above my head but they has a sign warning us not too. Take a look at these cool trophies.


And one of these days I will get me a new Oilers jersey.

Christmas Memories: In Pictures

Day 51

With Logan's birthday tomorrow and Christmas coming up, my time for blogging is getting shorter and shorter. Today is just a collection of Christmas pictures from my past.


Decorating the Christmas tree was one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid. That has certainly changed, I am not a fan of it now. We always had a real tree when I was young, we would buy the spray cans of snow and blast the tree full of snow. We then would put our homemade ornaments (I had this duck I made when I was two) and we would put tinsel over it carefully to make it look like icicles. It took us hours to get our tree up and decorated.


My first Christmas when I was married was certainly a fun and unique Christmas. We lived in a trailer on the campus of Utah State University. We barely had room for us and we knew that a tree would be impossible. I came home from work one night and found that Kristy had taken our garland we used for our wedding reception and fashioned it into a Christmas tree that she put in the corner. It was so cute. Looking back, it was fun to be poor students.


One of the best Christmas mornings ever! As far as gifts go. This was the year I got a ton of hockey stuff. I got my first hockey stick, an Edmonton Oiler jersey (see? my jersey-wearing days started early!) and this cool hockey game. It was like a foozball game only it had hockey players. You can also see in this picture that I got a Super Merlin and a metal cast Star Destroyer (my favorite Star Wars ship) which I still have today.


Another fantastic Christmas morning. I was certainly spoiled. This was the Christmas when I got the Atari 2600 and some games. I was so excited! You can also see on the right that I got a ton of Return of the Jedi action figures and in my hands is a ton of hockey stickers. I couldn't wait to tear into the Atari.


We brought Logan home on Christmas Eve from the hospital. My dad was on the road (he was a trucker) and he came by on his way home for Christmas to see Logan. It was so nice to have my dad drop in on Christmas to see his first grandson.


Logan didn't want to sit on Santa's lap this year. He seems to be wishy-washy when it comes to this. But one year he surprised us all when he said he would sit on his lap. And we have photographic proof of it!