You can see all the pictures here.

 
Fri, 31 Oct 2008

Dia de los Muertos

I got into work early today and was greeted with the following.

Halloween is probably the only commercialized holiday that I like. I like to go "somewhat" out in my decorations for Halloween. I say go "somewhat" out because whatever I do would pale in comparison to this house that is about 8 blocks away.

I left work early to watch T-y and Brielle in the school Halloween parade. T-y was some zombie and Brielle was a Power Ranger. My parents showed up last minute and surprise the kids.

After the parade I went home and started setting up my yard for the seekers of corn syrup. I try not to make it to scary. I don't like to scare the kids, or let anyone else scare the kids at my place. I like to keep my house a scare free zone. Why? Cause I was scared poopless when I was a young candy seeker. That night at the Castleton's will always be etched in my memory. Frankenstein popped out a their bushes and chased me down the street. I never went back to the house and always walked on the opposite side of the street from their house. I have since taken up a solemn oath with the Great Pumpkin to always make my house a scare free zone; but only on Halloween. Every other day of the year is "scare" play.

I don't have any pictures of Amanda cause I left before she got up, and she came home after I had gone to bed. I think she was "Sexy" Mini Mouse. She says that her friends took some pictures of her, so I will post them if I ever get a copy of them.

 
Sun, 19 Oct 2008

Welcome to Colorful Colorado!

We took a trip to see my grandmother in Colorado over the UEA break. Shantell and Amanda haven't seen Grandma K since her stroke. We left Wednesday night around 4 and got there around 10. The kids spent most of the 6 hour drive glued to the DVD screens watching movies. That is until Amanda broke one of the screens. Good thing there were two other screens to watch movies on. Otherwise the 6 hour drive would have seem like 87 hours.

T-y and I are early risers, so we were up at the crack of dawn, 6:00, and went out exploring the ranch. We saw a beautiful sunrise, countless wild ducks, a fox, some pheasants, two bucks, an eagle, and three does. The only thing that we didn't see was a partridge in a pear tree.

Grandma K wasn't aware that we were coming, so it was fun surprising her at breakfast. She still doesn't have the use of her right side, but her mind is as sharp as ever. We talked about a lot of things, especially of my childhood memories at the ranch. It boosted my spirits to talk to her and to see that she is doing better then the last time that I saw her.

After breakfast the kids and I went exploring the ranch. Amanda didn't want me taking any pictures of her because she didn't have her makeup on. I told her Max Factor doesn't make her pretty. Needless to say, I was only allowed to post this one picture.

The kids were going a little stir crazy after lunch, so we took them to the city park. Amanda was content sitting on the park bench checking out a number of boys that were playing at the park.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset.

The next day I had to take my Aunt and Uncle Galbraith to the airport in Montrose. On my way home I stopped at a yard sale and found a very nice orange jump suit. An orange jump suit that prisoners wear in jail. So I bought it. I bought it with one mission in mind; To wear it while hitchhiking. I knew the perfect spot to wear it. More on that latter....

The gentlemen that rents out grandmas pasture let us use his four wheeler to ride around in grandmas pastures. It was a hit. I think the kids and I spent just under 2 hours riding around on it. The only mistake I made was to let Bre, aka "Speed Deamon", drive. I don't think it went fast enough for her. T-y now wants to buy some and keep them at the ranch so we can ride them when we go over there. He figures that he will inherit the ranch when I die. Here is a blurb of the conversation we had about it.

T-y: Who gets the ranch when Grandma K dies?
Me: Probably Grandma Berrett
T-y: So that means that I will get it when you die.
Me: Huh?
T-y: You will inherit the ranch when Grandma Berrett dies and I will inherent the ranch when you die.
Me: How do you figure?
T-y: Rus won't want the ranch cause he loves living in Washington, so you will inherit it cause you are the second oldest. Then I will inherit it from you when you die.
Amanda: Um, T-y I am the oldest so I would inherit it.>
T-y: You wouldn't want it cause you couldn't live without the big city. Plus, you have cow crap on your pants.

That was the end of the conversation.

Later that night we went out to dinner at Aspen Trails. The food isn't anything fancy, but they have a "Tony Scoop". Grandma and I talked while we were waiting for the food. During the course of the conversation Grandma smiled and laughed out loud. This nearly made me cry. I was able to catch a fleeting moment of what she used to be like before her stroke. According to mom, getting her to laugh was a rare treat. In fact, my mom couldn't remember the last time that she heard her mother laugh.

A Tony Scoop is a quart of ice cream packed on a cone. After dinner I got the family single and double scoop cones, and I ordered the Tony Scoop. There are about 15 giant scoops of ice cream on a itty bitty ice cream cone. T-y wanted one, but I think the cone weighs more then him.

We had a great time at Grandma K's. On the way home I stopped the car, put on the orange jump suit and snapped the following picture. The faces of of the people driving by were priceless.

 
Sat, 11 Oct 2008

BYU Game

Johnny had 4 tickets to the BYU game today. Only Reese wanted to go with him, so he asked T-y and I if we would like to go. Being that it was such a beautiful day, T-y and I decided to go. The game was fantastically boring. We sat on the 50 yard line in section 105 Row 10. Pretty decent seats. The score at halftime was BYU 7 New Mexico 3. The score at the end of the game was BYU 21 New Mexico 3. The temperature at the end of the game was 39. T-y had a good old time and didn't complain about how cold it was.

 
Thu, 09 Oct 2008

'Cause this Is Thriller, Diller Night

For Thursday Stretch Your Legs Night, we took the family to see Odyssey Dance Theatre Thriller show. The Owens and us have seen at Kingsbury Hall in SLC. Ever since we saw it, we have been wanting to take the kids to the show. I was reading the newspaper this morning and noticed that they are performing at the Covey Center for the Arts October 9th-11th. Shantell just about jumped out of her skin when I told her this. She called Andrea and they had purchased the tickets by 8:30am.

Some of the members of the cast were dressed as zombies and wandered throughout the auditorium before and after the show. These zombies would do their darnedest to scare the digested food waste out of you. This is something that Brielle really didn't like.

I was sitting next to Johnny and kept telling him that I was going to scream my lungs out if one came up behind me. Shantell was a zombie magnet, so Brielle sat on my lap; that is until a zombie came up behind me. My blood curdling scream brought Brielle (sorry Brielle) to tears and made the people in front me jump out of their seats. It was way funny. (sorry Brielle)

The stage wasn't as big as the one in Kingsbury Hall, so they weren't able to use some of their props. The lack of props is probably my only complaint about the show. My favorite dace was "Dem Bones". In the dance, the stage is lit up by black lights and the dancers, dressed in black jumpsuits and maskes, dance around the stage in white shoes. Some of the shoes even appear to be dancing in the air. After a bit, the dancers take off the jumpsuits which reveals their skeleton costume. So now it appears as if skeletons are dancing on the stage. It is very cool. Brielle liked the "River Dance of Blood" and T-y liked the "Sugar Plum Fairy" dance. I can't remember what dance Amanda and Shantell said they liked. The only dance that wasn't well liked by any of us was "Lost Boys".

Don't waste your money on haunted houses this Halloween; waste it on Thriller!!!

P.S. Amanda is available to babysit for those that want to go see this without your kids.

 
Sun, 14 Sep 2008

Hangover Pills

I heard a commercial for a hangover pill while driving to church today. It made me chuckle when I heard it. Apparently the company that makes the pill figures that there are a lot of people with hangovers driving to church listening to FM 102.7.