Weekend with Mads

Rachael and I traveled to Salt Lake this weekend for the baptism of our niece, Madalynn. Mads is the oldest daughter of my brother Gary, the closet rock-star. Gary is a trial attorney by day, closet rock-star by night. I call him a closet rock-star because he actually records music in his closet. You can download his album here (seriously, give it a try, you'll be amazed at what one guy can accomplish with a computer, a drum set, a very good-natured wife, and a closet with good accoustics).

We started the weekend with a trip to Famous Dave's, where my brother who professes to not enjoy meat that much consumed an ultimate burger (A juicy ground beef patty beneath a pile of Georgia chopped pork, two strips of jalapeño bacon, melted Cheddar cheese, and Dave's signature Beam & Cola sauce). I definitely fall on the carnivore side of the line, but I wasn't man enough for the ultimate burger and opted for bbq pork. We won't discuss what Rachael ordered in a place famous for its bbq because that of course would lead to a fiery debate in the comments section, so please, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT ASKING.


I only took one picture of Gary's wife, Amanda, on this trip. This excellent shot of her eyebrow is all I could manage, along with a big hint for those still wondering what to get their husbands for Christmas.

After we returned from Famous Dave's, Gary (the one who doesn't really like meat) and I set about solving this problem:


In case you can't tell, that is 15 pounds of brisket that is supposed to cook in a 4 quart crock pot. We went over to Gary's friend's place to borrow theirs, and they produced what may actually be the smallest crock pot I have ever seen. It would have been perfect if we wanted to spend 18 hours slow cooking a single mug of hot chocolate. We passed it over and found another 4 quart version. By the way, the cutey in the background is my Mother. The other cutey in the background is my niece, Brooke. Can you see why I like to visit my brother the closet rock-star?

After we found and borrowed enough crock pots to cook the brisket, we played guitar hero. What else do you do when visiting closet rock-stars? Mads and Brooke thrashed grandpa and I on guitar hero. Here is a shot of Brooke showing off her winning form:


You can see how much effort she had to put into thrashing grandpa and I.

We spent the next morning with Rach's parents. We went over to temple square and saw the movie about Joseph Smith. I've seen it twice now and it is fantastic. If you are in SLC you should definitely make a hole in your schedule so you can go see this movie. We made another trip to temple square at night to see the lights and it was wonderful.

We wandered around SLC for a bit, then headed to Layton for the baptism. Everything went very well at the baptismal service. I don't have any pictures of Mads, Rachael will have to fill in the gaps. I guess I was overwhelmed by the brisket and used all of my phone memory taking pictures of a piece of beef.

We retired to Gary's house for a party, and of course, the brisket. It was a good thing we had 15 pounds of brisket because I think Gary and I ate 7 pounds all by ourselves.

We went to church the next day with Rachael's folks. We visited a ward in Kaysville that had just gone on an excursion to Tijuana with the service organization that Rachael's dad runs, Charity Anywhere. It was great to hear the testimonies from the kids and adults that had the chance to go give service. We really enjoyed spending some time with Rachael's parents and appreciate them feeding us, touring us around Salt Lake, giving us a place to stay, and letting us use their car.