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.

TAGGED

I have been tagged by my sister Melinda to reveal 6 quirks about myself.

1: I shave my legs every day. I think it goes back to my childhood.

2: I hate gum as well (my sister hates gum). I use to love to chew it as a kid, but always hated seeing a chewed piece of gum. Gross!

3: I hate teeth, esp loose teeth. My sister has pulled more of my kids teeth than I have. That said, I have performed my fairy duties and have a baggy full of envelopes with kids teeth in my closet. What am I to do with all of these????

4: I love containers.

5: I love labeling things.

6: My dogs love my feet and often lick them, (and I like it.)

I tag Jeff

Witches and candy

I know I posted a little about Halloween. But I hadn't posted any pictures of the kids all dressed up. I think I told you about the ward Halloween party. These pictures are taken at the party. Cason is Ironman but couldn't wear his mask. Carissa was a witch and Samantha a cowgirl. You saw a little of that in the pumpkin patch pictures. Carissa and her friends won the mummy contest. I won the best adult costume contest. I was a marathon runner with an Afro. I know... you want a picture of that. Sorry, I was the photographer. Anyway I told Samantha and Cason they won the pumpkin carving contest (theirs was a combined effort), becuase we were about the only ones that brought them, and all of the kids didn't want to wait to go trick or treating. So I gave them my candybar that I had won and all of the friends piled in cars and met back at our house to start the candy fest. It was a great evening!

Enjoy.

Pumpkin hunt

I had promised my kids I would take them out to Lake View Farms on Halloween day. They had it off of school and every Sat before that had a soccer game in the morning and a football game in the afternoon, leaving little time for pumpkin hunting at our favorite farm. We had something come up in the morning and rushed out to the farm in the afternoon. Lake View Farms is at least 1/2 hour away. When we drove around the bend we saw no cars and things started looking suspicious. When we drove up to the lane, a sign was posted "closed for the season". After our shock that a Halloween place would close on Halloween we turned the jeep around and headed home to catch a party, and pick up pumpkins at Albertsons AND carve them. On the way home we spotted a country store on the side of the road that was selling pumpkins and pulled in. It had a little field full of pumpkins. Of course the kids went straight for the biggest ones. Everyone was happy and we got the carving done and kids to the party. Later we went to the ward Halloween party where everyone got together with friends. They all came over to our house where I took them around trick or treating. Afterward there was the candy trade phenonom that happens in every house like the stock market. It was great fun!!!

Brace yourself...

Samantha got braces yesterday! She was so excited! She looked in the mirror of the car visor and took pictures with my phone all the way home.












For some reason she loves the curled lip pose. She chose pink and turquoise bands. Her teeth didn't start to hurt until the end of Young Womens around 9.

Last gasp of summer

Jeff wrote this a few weeks ago and didn't post it. I thought you might enjoy it.

On September 1, Blake, Samantha, Casey and I took the Jeep out to Tillamook State Forest with Nathan Smith and one of his buddies. The only problem with Jeeping is that the Jeep isn't big enough so that everyone in the family can go. I guess this means we'll have to buy another one (just checking reading comprehension at home).

We bought the Jeep in the spring and Blake and I have been doing some work on it since then. He and I installed a lift kit. Then we found a stronger rear differential and had that put in and had both axles re-geared. We found a heavier duty bumper and some 33" tires on Craigslist.

Casey and I took it to the shop to have the new(er) rear axle installed. My timing was bad and I had my appointment for the day that Blake left for EFY and Rachael was at girls camp with the truck. I needed to get the Jeep and the new axle downtown and only had Casey to help with no other vehicle available to haul the axle in. I hurried home from work and only had a few minutes to figure out what to do, and I didn't know anyone that was home that had a truck. We stared at the problem for a minute and then he and I ratchet strapped the new axle to the rear bumper and headed down the road. I noticed nobody was following me very closely on that ride. When we got to the shop, the guy came out and looked a little confused. He said "I thought you were bringing an axle with you". We all had a good laugh when he saw how I got it there.

This was finally our first time takin it out. Nathan's friend Glenn captured some video and photos of a very fun day. Blake tried his hand at driving for a while and did great. I was a little worried he was going to leave paint and body parts on a few tight points on the trail, but he came through like a pro. In spite of our best efforts, we didn't break anything.

Jeff still needs to hook up to the video.