Survey Says: X-Men Omnibus Vol 2

It finally came!

A few months ago I blogged about this survey place and was able to do some surveys to earn the Claremont/Lee X-Men Omnibus 2. Months passed and I finally got this book in my grubby hands!

So giddy...

List-Mania: Music from Musicals

Two List-Manias in one week? I have always wanted to do this one during my 365 Challenge but I never got around to it. I found these type of columns to be the most taxing but now since I am well-rested, I have the energy to put this one together.

5) My Friends (from Sweeney Todd)

I don't think I was prepared when I first listened to Sweeney Todd and even that didn't prepare me to seeing it live. Sweeney Todd himself is such a tragic figure, here you have a cold-blooded killer and yet you feel for the man. This song is just so haunting and yet beautiful as well. And I love the line "And we'll do wonders, won't we?"

4) Skid Row (from Little Shop of Horrors)

I remember seeing this movie with my family in the movie theaters. This was the first time I was exposed to musicals that went to the beat of a different drum. And I knew I loved it as soon as this song was finished. Playing Seymour would be my dream acting job.

3) Quartet (from Secret Garden)

I had never heard of the Secret Garden before I went and saw it. This musical surprised me in its dark tone. All of the songs had a hint of sadness and this one really hit me. Archibald is one of those characters that steals the show to me and he is the most human out of all of them. Can you really blame him for acting the way he does?

2) One Day More! (from Les Miserables)

I get goosebumps every time I hear this song. It makes me want to stand up for something and fight.

1) Pity the Child (from Chess)

Again, the bad guys win out again. Three of the songs I have picked are sung by those that are villainous or have some hidden agenda. One Night in Bangkok made me pick this CD up but this song is what won me over. The audience is made to hate this guy but he bears his soul in this song and you can see why he is the way he is. I remember watching a girl cry outright when this song was performed when I was apart of this musical. I love this rendition the best although the rocking guitar solo at the end was cut dramatically short.

Who Wants To Live Forever?

For the last few years one of my New Year's Resolutions was to do some Queen art. Now I have always wanted to do a Queen/art blog and I even developed a blog (which is now deactivated) called Sheer Art Attack. (a play on Queen's Sheer Heart Attack album) 

It was supposed to be a bi-weekly art celebration of the songs of Queen. Every two weeks a new song is chosen and posted on Mondays and then participants/followers are invited during the two week period to illustrate their own interpretation of the song chosen. I had this idea in high school and I did some basic doodles of Queen songs but that is about as far as I have got. This quote from Freddie is what motivates me to try this out.

"That's what the song is about, though I'd prefer people to put their interpretation upon it - to read into it what they like."
-Freddie Mercury

This is the picture that started it all. I drew this picture representing the beautiful song Who Wants To Live Forever?

It was based off the video and this picture in particular:

I got the effect that I wanted but I would love to do this all over again. I will have to post some of the doodles/rough sketched I did as well.

So when is dinner?

We took this picture years and years ago and it is still one of my favorites. We were at my sister's house for dinner and we were patiently waiting.

Brian and Makenzie's Wedding

A few months ago my family and I had the great privilege to travel down south to attend my cousin Brian's wedding down at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple down in South Jordan. And we almost didn't make it!

Originally I was going to travel to the early morning wedding that Saturday morning and Kristy and Logan were going to leave the night before with Lynn so they could attend a Girl's Night Out Party. But the weather was once again not cooperating with us. The snow came down fast and was piling up quickly and I thought it would be better to have a bad night's sleep than to have to travel through the snow in the canyon so early in the morning. So Lynn and her daughter Jessica came over and I drove them all down to Kristy's parents home. 

The drive was harrowing to say the least. The snow was coming in hard and fast and the roads were not clear at all. And it was worse driving through Logan Canyon. I could barely see the road from all the snow and to make matters worse our heater was not working. The stupid thing only blows out the front and you cannot turn it on to other places, like the windows, to help clear them up. So I could not see out my window either! I had a small space to see through and unfortunately for everyone else, I was forced to roll down the window to help clear the window up.

Logan: "It's cold in here!"
Me: "Well, you can either freeze or die."

It was horrible. We got up this huge hill and we saw this semi in the middle of the road and it didn't look like it was moving very fast. We realized that the semi was actually backing up down the hill. We decided to follow the car in front of us and pass it on the left but as we headed that way, the semi was backing right into us! And we could not get any traction and I couldn't move further away since I was so close to the median-blocks that I could touch them. Thankfully, we managed to swing around. We made it through the canyon and stopped at a gas station to clean the windows up and the thankfully the rest of the drive went normally. 

The next morning we awoke early and went to the beautiful Oquirrh Mountain Temple and it was a joy to see my aunts and uncles and cousins. The ceremony was awesome, both the groom and bride were stunning and the officiator had a fantastic sense of humor. After the wedding we hung around and chatted and went back to Kristy's home and got Logan and took him over to Renae's. Then we cruised down to Orem to meet the family again for lunch. We had a fun time killing ourselves with food and also with laughter. We then went back to Kristy's home to grab Logan and then head back down to the reception.

The reception was very nice. The food was good (I cannot believe I ate more food) and the company was great. My mom and sister came down for the reception and we all hung around the Anhder table. That is until it was time to decorate the car. And Logan was way excited to see and to participate. My cousin Kari asked Logan to come along and of course, I had to see what was going on. I only wish I had some lunch meat to stuff under the door handles. Logan was quite proud of himself that he showed everyone that he could.

Brian's sisters getting revenge.

We are so thankful that we were invited to the wedding and to hang out with my family. I appreciate my Uncle Mark and his neat family for allowing my family to attend. And a special thanks to Brian and his cool new wife Makenzie for inviting my wife and I to the wedding ceremony, that meant a lot to us. 

The drive home was a lot better than the drive down thankfully. It was worth it almost being squished by a semi in a blizzard!

The Breinholt Family Christmas Party 2011

Every year, the weekend before Christmas we gather at the Breinholt's for the annual Christmas party. Sadly, two of the families were unable to attend and their presence was missed. 

Logan and Kristy left the night before hitching a ride with Lynn and I left the morning of. I had a big choir practice that I needed to be at. Funny thing is even though I was running late and leaving from Logan, I still managed to beat most of the family to the party. And what was really strange is that the weather was perfect! In fact, driving through the canyon was the best part since it was so sunny and clear! That was definitely out of the ordinary.

Logan doing his best elephant impression.

Zade just lost his cookie.

The party was very nice with a ton of great food. After stuffing ourselves silly we went and played some Minute-To-Win-It games. We divided ourselves into four groups and played. The games were a lot of fun and it was nice to be in each other's company.

After the party. Kristy, Logan and I gave Steve a ride home since we were leaving for Logan. We were going to take off after but we decided to go and get some ice cream at this new Sub Zero place. It was some of the best ice cream I have ever had. It was Dr. Pepper flavored with bits of Twix and cherries in it. It was nice to spend a little time with Steve and his family. His little girls are just the sweetest. I wish I would have gotten some pictures while we were there. 

All in all I had a very nice time seeing my family. 

Been Caught Stealin'

A few days ago I said that I was cleaning out some of my old stuff and I came across a box with old VHS tapes. Now we don't have a VHS player, ours died a couple of years ago so I have no idea why I was keeping them. I honestly thought I threw them out a long time ago.

What I found were mostly old Church tapes along with a WCW event (the one that I attended live) and my Missionary Moments tape that I made on my mission. I didn't throw those out since I still want them and I will find a way to transfer those to DVD. As I chucked out the other tapes, I opened one of the tape cases and peered inside and found this:

Now I do remember taking this tape home from my mission but I thought I had bought my own. Guess not.

For those that have seen the video, On The Way Home, the kid who plays basketball served in the New York New York North Mission (I was in the South at the same time) and he really wasn't that good at playing basketball.