Girl's Camp Part IV: The Finale

I was the first one up Friday morning and I think it was because I was a bit eager to get home. I was so eager (how eager were you?), I was so eager that I made three trips to the truck to load stuff up. I think I have reached my limit when it comes to camping and I hate packing up and trying to get out. It seemed like hours until the girls woke up and they didn't seem to eager to get packing either. But I made a couple more runs to the truck, I wanted to be ready to go right after breakfast.

The morning devotional was kinda sad. All of the girls were a little melancholy, they were excited to go home and they were sad to leave. I was feeling the same way but after using the portapotty that morning, I was really ready to come home. After the devotional we ate some cold cereal for breakfast and finished packing away our stuff. We brought all of our gear to the trailer and then we headed back to camp for one final walk through and to take a group picture of all of us.

And that was all that was left...  ...after a few hundred trips to the vehicles!

Can you tell we were ready to come home?

Then it was time to go home. I had a very nice time at Girl's Camp and I look forward to coming next year. It was nice to get away from all the bustle of life and away from distractions (both good and bad) and remember the true reason why we are on Earth. It was also nice to be with other people who desire the same thing. Aside from my family, I want to be with these people in Heaven. I am grateful that I was able to serve these Young Women.

Here is the No-Drama-Mama bracelet.

The Security Team. I really lucked out with my nickname of Dr. Pepper. Notice the funny placement of the word "dimples"?

This was our camp slogan. "We seek after these things"

We had a real beautiful song that was our camp song by Jenny Philips.

After we dropped off all the girls and gear, Kristy and I headed home to get cleaned up. We picked up Logan and got our car inspected and then in the evening we reunited with some of the leaders at Coasta Vida to grab some dinner and talk and laugh about camp.

We were going to get some ice cream afterwards but one of our tires had a different agenda. But that is for the blog tomorrow!

When we finally arrived home after the Tire Incident(tm) we found a plate of freshly made cookies from our neighbor Kara. What a sweet (pun fully intended) gesture that she would bake cookies for us so soon after returning from camp.

She also left both Kristy and I a personal note. And let me tell you, I needed that note after that long day.

The Torture Rack

It is no secret that I love professional wrestling.

This is no April Fool's Joke either. I really like wrestling. I like the story lines, I like the action, I just like the whole package. Yeah, I know it can be downright stupid and it can be cheesy too. But that is all part of the package.

That isn't a smile on her face. She is in a lot of pain!*

Here is picture of Kristy succumbing to the power of Lex Luger's Torture Rack.

Yeah, I want to be a wrestler too.

*that is an April Fool's Joke

Spelunking in Logan

Day 319

When Kristy and I went 4-wheeling with my sister we passed Logan Cave and it brought back a ton of memories. This well-known cave extends about 4,000 feet into the mountain, and is as high as 70 feet in some places. It was carved by water seeping along faults and joints in the limestone, which slowly dissolved the rock. The cave is 4,290 feet long and relatively narrow with no large rooms or caverns. Much of the floor of the cave is also a stream bed as water collects and makes its way to the mouth of the cave and then into the Logan River.

Now, Logan Cave is gated to protect Townsend’s big-eared bats that live there. The bats are being protected as a sensitive species because of their susceptibility to disturbance. Simply walking past a colony can cause them to permanently abandon their roost.

Which is interesting considering I have been in the cave personally twice and the bats are still there.

The first time I went through Logan Cave was right before my friend Joel left to serve his LDS mission to Taiwan. Joel, Lared and I went through during the dead of winter. Which is good because that means the water in the cave is low enough to wade through. But the water is extremely cold so you had to make sure you wore a lot of layers of clothing. I was a bit nervous going through but it was a lot of fun. That is until Joel dropped his large flashlight down a crevasse, about twenty feet down. I had my little Maglite which I held with my teeth most of the time and Lared had a small flashlight as well. But we made it out safe.

The trip takes about about 1-2 hours and if you are a little claustrophobic this is not the cave for you. It is really enclosed and only a few of the "rooms" were large enough that you could stand without hitting your head. And of course, being in a cave it is dark. I never imagined it could get that dark!

There are some hairy places that caused me to pause and rethink (and pray) what I was doing.

The first one was called The Wall. You get to a stage in the cave where there is a large gaping hole which goes down at least twenty feet (this is where Joel dropped his flashlight). On the two sides are these walls which are only 3-4 feet apart. To get further into the cave you have to prop your feet on one side of the cave walls and put your back (like in the sitting position) up against the other wall. You would push against each other and edge your way for about 10-15 feet.

Another hairy place is called The Razor's Edge. You get to a stretch to where the only thing in your path is a long pointy rock (hence the name) and the cave walls are not in reach and there is a 10-15 foot drop off on each side. So you straddle the rock and ease your way down the path.

And I saved the best for last, The Toilet Bowl. And I don't think it is called that because it could cause you to drop bricks (even though that is entirely possible). Basically you have to squeeze through a hole (going up) through a hole that is the size of a toilet bowl. It is a little bigger than a toilet seat (and no I haven't actually tested that) but it is really small. The trick it to out your arms all the way up through and grab the sides and push up with your face right in the rocks.

If you wanted to go through Logan Cave you would need to know your toilet's dimensions.

I have been though Logan Cave twice. The second time I took Kristy through on a date. It was right before Joel and I went to New York. We had to be careful going in because they were going to close the cave down and they were not allowing people in so we had to go late at night. Joel had a date and we went through the cave only this time it was in the summer and the water was pretty high. There were parts where you could swim under the rocks but we wouldn't let Joel do that. Kristy was pretty brave about the whole thing. What made me laugh through the whole adventure was Kristy's reaction to everything. We would get to a point in the cave (like at the Razor's Edge) and Kristy would claim that she couldn't do it and suddenly she would disappear. Where did she disappear to? She was already on the other side of any given task. She did this for every single hard part. It was like her mind told her not to but her body said go right on ahead!

I know the picture is fuzzy but I wanted you to see the large amount of water that comes from the cave.

I think it is a shame that Logan Cave is gated and closed down. I understand that we want to protect species of animals but if they found the bats after I have been through, I don't think they were disturbed enough to leave the cave.

The Tonya Papers: Solar Smiles

Day 262

A few days ago I had an experience which instantly took me back many, many years ago before I was married and beginning to attend college. It took me back to the time when my friend Lared and I co-authored the Tonya Papers.

This experience made me seek out that old book of wisdom and I thought it would be fun to share this on the blog. Let me give you a little bit of history of what the Tonya Papers are and how they came to be. After high school and before serving my LDS mission I hung out with some great friends and one of my best friends at the time was Lared. We did everything together. We made it a point before our missions to have as much fun as we could and to date/hang out with the womenfolk as much as we could. We then would record our observations and our experiences down and that is what the Tonya Papers were. We were also like Seinfeld, we had a name for everything and everybody.

A rare glimpse into a section of the Tonya Papers

We named the Tonya Papers after a girl named Tonya. (Surprise! Surprise!) Damond introduced us to her and her roommates and we hung out with them almost exclusively until either we left on our missions or they left after school was out at Utah State. Lared liked Tonya and we thought she liked him too but we could never figure it out. It was very confusing to us and Lared wanted to figure it all out. So Lared and I would get together and talk about it all and write stuff down. And thus the Tonya Papers were born.

Yes, one of those girls is THE Tonya. But I am not going to point her out. How young does Lared and I look in this pic? In case you didn't know, we are the bottom two guys from the left starting with me.

One of the things we that we discovered and wrote about was what we called Solar Smiles. A Solar Smile was a smile that basically melts you. At the time and under normal situations, Solar Smiles typically came from cute single ladies but they can come from any girl, as long as it warms you soul. Lared and I recorded the following incident:

Lared caught a huge Solar Smile today while walking through the Institute. His legs became jelly, his heart began to beat faster and he melted to the core. I witnessed the smile myself and even though the smile was not directed or intended for me I caught the effect leaving me with a bad case of goosebumps. Nothing like receiving a Solar Smile to make your day much more brighter and warmer.

Lared and I were quite the poets and romantics back in the day. At least we thought we were. Looking back at this I am both happy that I kept such a record and I am also a little embarrassed since we were quite cheesy. Anyway, Lared and I would meet together often and talk about any Solar Smiles we had received since the last time we spoke.

My wife Kristy has a great Solar Smile. That was one of the biggest things that attracted me to her.

Solar Smiles still happen even though they do not occur as often as they did during my single college days for obvious reasons. But a few days ago I was outside and I looked over and saw one of our neighbors out walking. She noticed me but didn't say anything, she simply smiled and waved. Her smile made me feel good and brightened my day.   I look forward to the next one.

Wow. What a cheesy post!

A Couple of Evenings with Bon Jovi

Day 247

I never went to concerts when I was a teenager. The only concert that I had went to was when the Beach Boys came to Logan. They played after the Utah State/Hawaii football game. It was a great concert only it was so hot! You could tell who was at the concert, half of them were sunburned.

It was many years after that I went to my next concert and that was on a whim. Kristy's friend Kristi Pixton, whom she taught P.E. with at South Hills Middle School down in Riverton wanted to go and we all thought that sounded fun. So I bought tickets off the Internet and off we went.

That experience totally made me a fan of going to concerts. I didn't think it would have been that cool but it was. Bon Jovi was also Kristy's first concert too. I was really impressed with how the band energized us all and they gave it everything they had to make sure we all had a good time watching the show. One of the best parts of concert-going is also one of my favorite past times. I love to people watch and the people that came to the Bon Jovi concert didn't disappoint. We spotted a daughter, mother and grandmother all dressed in the same slutty outfit. I would have loved to have snapped a picture of that, it was a sight to behold.

The first time Kristy and I saw Bon Jovi was on the Wild Night Tour at the Delta Center on April 28th, 2001. The band SR-71 opened for them and they were alright. I always feel bad for the opening act, rarely I want to see them and nowhere near the amount I want to see the main event band.

I was familiar with most of the setlist.

One Wild Night

You Give Love A Bad Name

It's My Life

Keep the Faith (Sympathy for the Devil)

Livin' On A Prayer

Born To Be My Baby

Mystery Train

Blaze of Glory

Someday I'll Be Saturday Night

In These Arms

Just Older

Blood On Blood

I'll Be There For You

Lay Your Hands on Me

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Bad Medicine (Shout)

ENCORE

I Got the Girl

Wanted Dead or Alive

SECOND ENCORE

Tequila

Twist and Shout

I was taken surprise by their second encore. They said that if the audience is really into it they will keep coming out. I would totally see them live again.

In fact, I did.

Pixton told us that Bon Jovi was coming only this time our brother-in-law Eric and Terry (another teacher at their school) came. We met at Applebees and grabbed some food and then rode the train up to the Energy Solutions Arena and waited for them to take the stage. The Goo Goo Dolls was the opening band and I thought they did a solid job but we were all excited for Bon Jovi.

I am not a huge fan of Bon Jovi. I like their music and I have a couple of albums but I would consider myself a casual fan. But I was way excited to see them come out! They had a pretty cool stage, they had these three large satellite dishes (like on the album cover) and they were just TV screens.

Setlist:

Bounce

You Give Love A Bad Name

Wild In the Streets

Livin' On A Prayer

Everyday

Undivided

Runaway

Just Older

Wanted Dead Or Alive

The Distance

It's My Life

Misunderstood

Right Side of Wrong

I'll Be There For You

Blaze of Glory

Someday I'll Be Saturday Night

Born To Be My Baby

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Raise Your Hands

ENCORE:

Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars

Bad Medicine (Shout)

Sadly no second encore. But I was really happy that they included Runaway, one of my favorite songs of theirs. It was a good show and I would go see them again.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Day 240

Happy Birthday to me!

Yup, it is my birthday and I am already feeling much better than yesterday and the day before. Eventually I will blog about what happened but right now I would rather dwell on the positive and kick the negative to the curb.

I would like to give a special shout-out to all those that called, e-mailed, Facebooked and contacted me wishing me a happy birthday. I appreciate it all. I have a fantastic set of family and friends.

My Aunt Margo always sends a homemade card with her artwork.

My day started like it has for the last couple of days. I have woken up all hot and muggy, not my favorite thing to wake up too. And it is not hot flashes like some might think, I just am not friends with the heat like I am with the cold. I was happy for the cool morning and I took off to go work at my Dad's. My dad wished me a Happy Birthday and gave me one of the greatest birthday cards you can get. He went to the store and was looking all over for a perfect card and just couldn't find one. Then he found one but was taken back by how much it cost. It was around $4 and my dad thought that money would be better spent. So he bought me these two HUGE boxes of Junior Mints (larger than the ones you get at the movies) and put a note in between. He said he would rather have four dollars worth of Junior Mints than a four dollar card! I am finding out that my dad and I are a lot alike. We ate some cinnamon rolls and I was only there for a few hours. He gave me a few hours off for my birthday!

I came home and promptly went out for a run. It was already getting warm but I wanted to take advantage of the coolness of the morning. So I went out thinking I would have a terrible time running. I was already very tired (I didn't sleep all that good because of the heat) and I have not been out since last Thursday. Surprisingly, my run went very well and I lasted a lot longer than I thought I would.

My mom came over later in the evening to watch Logan (he wanted to spend time with Grandma Platis instead of going out to eat as a family) and she got me a wonderful gift. An autobiography on Larry H. Miller, a prominent Utah businessman and former owner of the Utah Jazz. We managed to convince Logan to go out to eat and we all went to the Beehive Grill. We came home and Kristy and I went out birthday shopping. I couldn't decide what to get but I did manage to come home with a box of Otter Pops. Man, I have been craving those like nothing else. We ate cake and ice cream and Kristy and Logan got me a neat birthday gift. Something I never thought I would be happy to get and something I am sure Kristy never thought she would get me.

Yay! New shoes!

I got a new pair of running shoes! And they look killer and feel so light. I cannot wait to try them out. I am sure Kristy is on cloud nine, finally after a decade of trying, she has got me running. I still don't like it all that much but I see the benefit.

Now you can see how big of box those Junior Mints are!

I also got a nice unexpected message from a friend of mine from long, long ago. A couple of days ago I blogged about my 5th grade and I mentioned another blog I wrote about a certain experience that I regret. This person sent me a message telling me not to worry about. She didn't remember the incident at all. It was nice to have that burden lifted.

So all in all I had a nice day. Again, I appreciate the kind words and birthday wishes.

Huckleberry Eats

Day 229

Logan and Kristy filled me in on all the details of their fun trip to Glacier National Park and they got me a surprise souvenir.

They know me so well that they got me a bottle of Huckleberry Creme Soda made right in Missoula. They also got me a Huckleberry Chocolate Bar and some Huckleberry Fudge. I am guessing huckleberries are all the rage up their in Montana.

The soda was fantastic. It had a very sweet flavor and was very mellow. The fudge was great too but I thought that chocolate was too strong. Eating and drinking all this huckleberry stuff made me curious so I was looking up some information about the huckleberry and this quote on Wikimedia made me laugh.

"Huckleberries are enjoyed by many mammals, including grizzly bears and humans."

Good thing Logan is a mammal. He might not have enjoyed the fudge.

This Is It

Day 228

This may be the last blog. I am off to Girl's Camp in a few hours and I may not make it back.

For those that don't know, our church every year has all the young girls (12-18) go on a camp with some leaders (like Kristy) for a couple of days. They need a couple of fellas up there in case something goes wrong and since Kristy was going I thought I would volunteer Logan and I. There at Girl's Camp the girls... they... uh... I think they...

I have NO idea what to expect being at Girl's Camp.

Now I have been at Scout Camp and I sure this will be a completely different experience. I am used to fist fights, lots of belching and farting and general laziness with a ton of eating. And burning stuff and trying to burn others.

Is this going to happen to Logan and I? Are we going to be forced to wear a dress and wear makeup?

Am I to expect finger nail polishes, pillow fights, gossiping and talking about boys? Seriously, I have no idea what goes on up there. At least I will have Logan to back me up and we have already made a pact. I will watch his back as long as he watches mine.

We are not going very far at all, just up the canyon. I hear that the girls have some talks planned and I know we are going on a hike later that day and then play around and hopefully eat smores. The next day we are going to Bear Lake and play on the beach. But aside from that I have no clue what else is going to happen. But I did hear a rumor that pedicures are going to take place some time.

So if you don't hear from me tomorrow, I am somewhere up in Logan Canyon apparently biting off more than I can chew. Any assistance will be appreciated.

Random Ramblings

Day 224

I was reading my cousin Jaimee's blog yesterday (Thoughts of the Day) and I was thinking about how much I like reading these columns. And like a good fellow blogger should, I am totally going to steal this idea.

Are you ready to take a peek at what I am thinking? I keep thinking about that Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George sit down and talk about their feelings.

George: So, that's it. All of my darkest fears, and... everything I'm capable of. That's me.

Jerry: Yikes. Well, good luck with all that.

George: Where you going? I-I thought I could count on you for a little compassion.

Jerry: I think you scared me straight.

So here goes....

- Blog Redesign
It has been a long time coming and I finally dug into it yesterday. I have always wanted to change up the look because I felt mine was so boring looking. Blogger also has some new design templates and I was fooling around with them yesterday and got a design I wanted. The background and the main banner were created by me and my feeble Photoshop skills (I am getting better) and that took most of the bulk of the time. I wanted to create a collage of things that make me ME. I designed the picture before I put it into the blog design and I am pretty happy with how it went. It does make me giggle that Princess Leia is so prominent on the side. I didn't intend for that but I am not complaining. I will continue to tweak some of the colors and fonts but most of the work is out of the way. I appreciate all the compliments too.

-V for Vendetta
I watched V for Vendetta last night while eating some Bottlecaps and it got me thinking. I find the graphic novel much more compelling and fantastic but I have to admit that the movie is pretty good on its own. I know that the movie rattled a few cages with some of my friends but I think the overall message of the movie was poignant and clear. "People should not fear their government, the government should fear the people." I personally think that both democrats and republicans fear the same thing. They fear that the government will take control of everything. In the worst case scenario, republicans believe that it can turn into Socialism while democrats believe that it can turn into Totalitarianism.

While you may not agree with this, I do have something that we can all agree on. I think Natalie Portman is an attractive woman.

But that completely changes when this girl cries. It is so hard to watch her cry (in any film) because she is a terrible cryer. I looked all over the net for a good picture of her crying and (luckily) I couldn't find any. I even tried searching for "Natalie Portman ugly disturbing crying" and nothing came up. At one of the most crucial and beautiful moments in the book is when Evey is out in the rain (I won't ruin the reason why here in case you have not seen or read the book) but when she does it in the movie I cringe.

-I Got Mail!
I got a postcard in the mail yesterday from Kristy and Logan. I have not heard from them for at least a week now so it was nice to hear from them.

Just where is that glacier again?

I bet Kristy asked Logan if he was homesick and he said he was "almost" homesick. I am looking forward to seeing my family tonight.

The Dew Off

Day 178

I gave my fellow blogger Andrea a mission a week ago and like an awesome soldier she is, she and her husband came through. As you know, I am a big soda drinker with Mountain Dew being my favorite. Recently Mountain Dew came out with 3 new flavors but Cache Valley has yet to get the flavors. So I asked Andrea and Steve to find me some of the new Dew. Smith's had a great sale and she was able to pick up the new flavors along with Mountain Dew LiveWire (another Mountain Dew flavor not available in Logan). So I was one happy camper! So we met at Red Robin in Layton for dinner and to drop off the goods. And a big thanks to Steve for introducing me to that wrap!

Last night for a family activity we decided (well, I was in charge) to have a Mountain Dew Taste-Off. I had all the other flavors at my house except for the two game flavors that are still available. But I didn't like those all that much anyway. So we each tasted one of the seven Dews and ranked them.

Here are the flavors we tested:

Logan can't keep his Dew. All the caffiene and carbination made him burp.

Kristy and Logan couldn't decide without testing them again and again and again.

Ranking these Dews is like ranking my children. I love them all so much!

But after a few rounds we made our decisions. It might had to do with our tummies feeling a little sick and bloated. But here are the results!

Logan's Winners:

1st Distortion (lime)

2nd Whiteout (citrus)

3rd Code Red (cherry)

4th Voltage (raspberry)

5th LiveWire (orange)

6th Typhoon (tropical)

7th Classic

Kristy's Winners:

1st Voltage (raspberry)

2nd Typhoon (tropical)

3rd Distortion (lime)

4th LiveWire (orange)

5th Code Red (cherry)

6th Whiteout (citrus)

7th Classic

Matt Winners:

1st LiveWire (orange)

- I could drink a ton of this stuff. Good thing it is not readily available here.

2nd Classic

- You just can't go wrong with the Classic hard stuff. None of that Diet crap either.

3rd Voltage (raspberry)

- It tastes just like raspberry lemonade only with a kicker.

4th Typhoon (tropical)

I used to love the Tropical Punch Gatorade and this tastes just like it.

5th Whiteout (citrus)

It is like Fresca and Mountain Dew.

6th Distortion (lime)

I was so disappointed in this. I was hoping for more sweet like Lime Crush but got that hard lime flavor that the Lime Coke used to have.

7th Code Red (cherry)

I still like this and will drink it once in awhile but it gives me major heartburn.

Logan and I were almost exact opposites. My bottom 3 were in his top 3. After we finished I could swear that you can hear all the Dew swishing around in my gut. Logan was so full, I don't think has drank that much soda in one sitting. Suddenly he yells out "I'm going to get some out!" At first I couldn't understand what he was saying but then I saw that he was heading to the bathroom. Kid can't handle his Dew!

Voltage (raspberry) was the family favorite while the vote for the least favorite Dew was the Classic. Kids just don't have any respect for the classics.

This might have cured me of my Mountain Dew addiction. Drinking a Dew right not does not sound so good.

An Evening With Queen

Day 173


After 173 days it is getting hard to remember what I have blogged about. I am sure that I have mentioned before that Queen is my all-time favorite band before but I am too lazy to check. One day I will blog about how I discovered them but for this column I am going to cover the time I was able to see them in concert.

I saw them a few years ago in Las Vegas and let me say, it was the best concert I have been to. Vegas is a special place for Queen since that is the place where they debuted their musical We Will Rock You.

With the unfortunate passing of Freddie Mercury back in 1991 I thought that I had missed the boat in seeing Queen in person. But I was lucky that they formed a partnership with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company fame to tour the US and also release an album together. I didn't even know that they were touring at the time and I was surfing the net and found that they were touring and better yet, they were coming to Las Vegas!

Now let me say this. Paul Rodgers can never replace Freddie Mercury. No one can replace Freddie Mercury. But I thought Paul did a good job meshing well with Queen's music. I am not a Rodgers hater at all, I appreciate the stuff that he brought to the table. I got Return of the Champions Live CD by Queen and Paul Rodgers and I will admit that I was surprised by his vocals. He didn't try to imitate Freddie, he took Queen's songs and put his own style on them.

I looked them up to see if they were touring and was so excited that they were coming shortly in concert to Vegas. I got two tickets (for me and my wife) and we made plans to stay the weekend in Vegas. Kristy and I left Logan here with Lynn, Jennifer and Mom and we took off Thursday morning. The drive was horrible, it was snowing so bad all through Salt Lake and Provo, the roads were full of ice and snow but once we got past Provo, the weather improved and it got warm. We got to Vegas in pretty good time and we stayed at the Tropicana hotel.

The hotel was right across the street from the MGM (where Queen was playing) and right off the strip. Friday we went out and ate at the ESPN Zone for lunch and went shopping. We went the M&M store and bought some stuff for Logan and then we rested and then went the concert.

I was pretty excited. We first got in line so I can buy a Queen t-shirt and the lines somehow blurred together and we got to the merchandise booth at the same time as this fat lady and her daughter. I had no problem letting them go first and thought that would be the right thing to do when suddenly she looks at me and yells out "We were here first! Not you!" I thought about letting her have it but I smiled nicely and let her go first. Geez, what an extremely rude lady.

I bought a real cool "retro" brown Queen shirt and then we ran off to find our seats. There was no opening act. Then the lights dimmed and the concert began. It started with this cool remix of It’s a Beautiful Day and then the members of Queen came out and rocked it!

LAS VEGAS - Fri 07/04/06 SET LIST

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY

REACHING OUT

TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN

FAT BOTTOMED GIRLS

CAN'T GET ENOUGH

TAKE LOVE

CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

LOVE OF MY LIFE

HAMMER TO FALL

FEEL LIKE MAKING LOVE

I'M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR

LAST HORIZON

BAD COMPANY

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

DRAGON ATTACK

THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES

RADIO GA GA

UNDER PRESSURE

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

WE WILL ROCK YOU

ALL RIGHT NOW

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

It was SO worth the money and the drive to see them. During the song These are the Days of Our Lives they flashed images of Freddie on the large screen to the cheers of the crowd. I think I was the only HUGE Queen fan sitting on our row. I knew all the typical Queen concert things to do and yelled and sang them out.

I was hoping they would sing I Want It All but I was extremely glad for the inclusion of Under Pressure. When Brian May introduced that song he said that we should all be familiar with that song because they stole it from some "white boy". I was not a huge fan of the song Dragon Attack until I heard it live. The bass line was so awesome live. It vibrated your whole body. Now that song is one of my favorites.

Like I said before, Queen just isn't Queen without Freddie but I thought Paul did a fantastic job. And it was fun to hear some of his Bad Company songs live as well. When they exited off stage I tried to get everyone clapping the beat to We Will Rock You but it didn't catch on until another section started it. And then they came back and finished the show. Sure I am biased but I think this was the best concert I have been too.

The next day we went shopping and browsed the sights of Las Vegas. We also went and walked around the LDS temple in Las Vegas too. The next day we returned home to Mom and Logan. The trip was nice and relaxing and was extremely happy that I was able to see my favorite band of all-time and share that with Kristy. I would do it again in a flash.

Pun FULLY intended! FLASH! AHHHHAHHHHH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE!

List-Mania: Simpson Episodes

Day 152

I love the Simpsons. Anybody that knows me knows that I love the Simpsons. I quote the Simpsons so many times a day that it edges on pathetic. Kristy knows the Simpsons extremely well too, we can look at something that reminds us of the Simpsons and we both will quote it.

In fact we own at least seven different Simpson games including Simpsons Chess which is something I will introduce to Logan on Spring Break.

Back in the day, I made about twenty volumes of VHS tapes that I called the Simpsons Masters. I would record the Simpsons off of TV and cut out the commercials as much as I could. Kristy and I would watch them for hours and hours. Then when DVD's hit the market, I purchased Season One even before I owned a DVD player! Now they have reached the twelfth season on DVD and I am proud to say that I own each one of them. The Simpsons were gold in those early seasons but lost most of their magic in later seasons even though their still were a few hidden gems to be found. So here are my Top 5 Favorite Simpson Episodes of all-time from Seasons 1-12.

5) Three Men and a Comic Book (Season 2)
The comic book collector in me geeks out with this episode. In this episode, Bart finds an original issue of Radioactive Man #1 for sale at a comic book store. He convinces Martin and Milhouse to combine their money to buy the comic, only to lose it due to their selfishness and inability to share. Being a comic book collector I really appreciated what they did here. The Wonder Years parody they did here was classic.

4) Mayored to the Mob (Season 10)
This episode also has a comic book connection as Homer protects Mark Hamil from a vicious mob at a comic book convention. Homer is then appointed to become Mayor Quimby's bodyguard. Homer then discovers that the mob is selling rat's milk to the town's schools and the mayor's life is placed in jeopardy. Luke be a Jedi tonight! makes me laugh every time.

3) Behind the Laughter (Season 11)
This is a direct ripoff (homage) to another favorite television show, VH1's Behind the Music and they did it perfectly. You get to see the real Simpsons family and how fame almost destroyed the family. The whole episode is just perfect.


2) Treehouse of Horror V (Season 6)
Every Halloween Kristy and I try to watch all of the Treehouse of Horror episodes. Each one of them is just so fantastic but this one stands out the most. So much that I love about this episode. All of Season Six is exceptional but this episode is the most memorable. From the The Shinning to Time And Punishment to Nightmare Cafeteria they are all gold. I laugh loudly every time I see Homer scare himself in the mirror in The Shinning.

1) Last Exit to Springfield (Season 4)
Dental Plan! This to me is the perfect Simpsons episode. Homer becomes the new union leader at the Nuclear Power Plant after disputing Burn's new contract. And they go on strike. I quote this all the time and I have been known to suddenly yell out Dental Plan! That and the Mr. Burns/Grinch moments are my favorites. Ooh and the Beatles-esque trip Lisa takes. And oh yeah, when Homer thinks Mr. Burns is coming on to him and... ...trust me, this episode is awesome.

Now I want to go watch the Simpsons.

Sunday Confessional: Trailer Trash

Day 127

I have not done a Sunday Confessional for a long time. I am not counting the last one that was posted since that was when Kristy blognapped my blog. In all honesty she did do a pretty good job.

I lived in a trailer.

When Kristy and I were to be married we had to decide where we should live. We both wanted to live either on campus (we were both attending Utah State University) or close by it. My mom suggested that we purchase a trailer from the USU Trailer Park. My mom had five good reasons.

1) It was cheap.

2) It was on campus.

3) She knew someone that was selling one.

4) It would look good on our credit.

5) Deep down inside she always wanted to live in one.

Kristy's sister was living in a nice trailer so I was not opposed to living in one. We had enough money and I was making barely enough to cover the monthly pad and loan bill. My mom called her friend (it was her daughter's trailer) and we went and saw it. The only thing that I remember was how SMALL it was. But it was cute and it fit all the reasons above so we bought it and moved in after we were married.

Here is the outside of our trailer. We lived on the each of a block so we really only had one neighbor. The porch was awesome and was almost bigger than our living room.
This is the front of the trailer so now you get an idea of how wide it was. *Sigh* Such simpler times. Don't we look so young?
It was so small (how small was it?) it was so small that our double-sized bed took up 88% of our bedroom. In fact when we put our bed in that bedroom, we had to bend the walls to squeeze it through!

This is a picture of our kitchen taken from our living room.
This is a picture of our living room taken from our kitchen.
Both of those pictures were taken from the exact same spot.
That was our hallway. Behind me was our larger bedroom which we used as our computer room. I am standing right beside the entrance to our bathroom and the dark shadow on the right was our bedroom. It didn't have a door so we bought some beads instead.
Sadly, just a few weeks after we had redecorated it to our liking, Kristy got her first teaching job at South Hills Middle School down south and we had to sell our first home. Selling it was a horrible experience. We still had to pay for our pad fees even though we were not living there. And USU sent us a letter threatening to evict us if we couldn't prove that we were students at USU. Of course we weren't current students! We were not even living there! Finally we found someone to purchase our trailer and we made the deal at a McDonalds. How trailer trash did that sound?

I'll drive by the old trailer every once in a while. I really liked living there, I had some good neighbors and it was a great experience. I remember one time the wind was blowing so hard that you could feel it through the trailer. The wind would gust and our walls would move. Interestingly enough, I learned that during a terrible wind storm over thirty years ago, the trailer that was in my spot (#130) tipped over during a wind storm.

Another time our pipes froze. I sent Kristy to Lynn and Roger's to sleep and I called my dad and we hooked up an extension cord and a blow dryer and cradled it under a wooden box so the pipes would thaw out. We went and got some awesome hot chocolate and waited all through the night for the pipes to unthaw.

Good times.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Day 52

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!

Seven years ago today my little buddy was born. He has been such a blessing in this household, he has such a keen sense of humor, a helping hand and a cute smile. He is always wanting to play with me and cuddle with me when I need it.


So what exactly happened seven years ago?

DISCLAIMER: First time pregnant ladies should not read this or those with weak stomachs. This does get pretty graphic even without pictures.

Why is it that when we hear that a lady is pregnant we tell her all the awful things that happen at birth? Survivor's guilt perhaps? Because when people tell you how beautiful it is and how grand they are really lying? Okay, that is not totally true.

Kristy was due with Logan on Christmas. My mom and sister's family came down to see us (we were living in Salt Lake at the time) before Christmas since we were probably not going to venture up north to Logan (about 2 hours by car) with Logan coming anytime. Kristy was complaining of pain but it seemed like it was not serious. After a nice visit with them, Kristy went to bed early. The next day was Sunday, she was still in some pain but we went to Church anyway. Kristy must have been feeling a bit sick since she came home halfway through the services. I told our Bishop that I should go home to make sure she is okay and they said they would cover teaching my class. I came home and Kristy was really feeling it. We had our annual family Christmas party so we packed up our food and headed to her mom's house. I thought I should bring our hospital stuff "just because". Kristy was really in pain, she could barely breath and she couldn't even get her shoes on.

We hopped in the car and went to her mom's house. We get out there and I could tell that she was in labor. Her sister Sherry came out and saw Kristy's face and body language and immediately knew that she was in labor. We still went inside and we delivered our food all the while both Sherry and Kristy's mom were yelling at us to leave to the hospital. I felt bad for Kristy's other sister Ranae and her husband Gregg. She was pregnant with her first and they were pale as ghosts when they saw Kristy.

The hospital was about twenty minutes away but luckily traffic was good and we made it. We walked in and I told the lady that Kristy was in labor. The nurse took her to the first room to examine her. The nurse peered down there and quickly looked again. Then she grabbed another nurse for a quick second opinion. The second nurse yelled out "We better get her in a delivery room before she gives birth!" Both Kristy and I were shocked. Apparently she had already dilated to a '7'. I asked the nurse if I should grab our stuff and she said "You better just get your camera now if you have it! And hurry!" I ran back to the car and got on my cell and called Kristy's mom and told her. I then called my mom to pass the news.

By the time I got back, Kristy was already having hard labor. The nurses didn't have time to hook her up to any machines. Our doctor came in (he was the one on call) and saw and he was still in his suit. He peered in and suddenly the water broke and he gets up and smiles "I better get my stuff on!" Kristy did get hooked up to the machine that tracks the contractions and in between one we drew her blood, but only barely. The doctor came back and we were on our way. We were at the point of no return. Kristy had no time to get the epidural, there would not be enough time to get it working before she would deliver.

Now let me give you my opinion on being there for a birth. I don't want to see it. Not at all. I don't care about seeing the 'miracle of life', I just have absolutely no interest in it. I will be there supporting my wife but that doesn't mean I have to watch it.

Everything was progressing really well. We were a few contractions away from the birth of our child. Suddenly our doctor yells out "It's crowning! Wow!" Now what would any person do after hearing that? You would want to take a peek at what he is amazed at right? So I forgot what I was doing and I looked. What I saw only last a second. No, I didn't faint. I got squirted. Yes, you heard me. SQUIRTED. The baby shot right out and I got hit in the hair, all down my face, on my shirt, on my pants and on my shoes. I was covered with baby juice! I about hurled. The nurses were all excited and wiping the baby off but what about me?! I wiped myself (as much as I could) on Kristy's hospital gown sleeve. It got me in the crevice of my mouth!


(That is how I felt after I was squirted upon with Baby Juice!)

Kristy and I decided not to find out the baby's sex. The doctor announced it was a boy but neither of us were surprised. We knew it was Logan.

They gave me the baby and they had to assist Kristy. Unfortunately for her, she had quite a rip and she had lost a lot of blood. She was close to having a blood transfusion. I remember seeing Logan and his big eyes. I welcomed him into my family and I looked up and I saw Kristy's sister Sherry and her kids. I motioned them NOT to come in just yet. I didn't want her kids to see the buckets of blood all over.

They finally came in with the rest of her family. It was convenient for the Christmas party right? I let her parents hold Logan while I called my family. Kristy recovered and finally I came home. It was strange to come home all by myself. The first thing I did? I took those jeans off and washed them. I threw out the shirt and socks. I couldn't sleep that night so I put together our new entertainment center that Jennifer and Justin got for us.



It was worth the squirting to get Logan. That doesn't mean I liked it, it just means it was worth it.