Bright Bright Bright

I have been loving Dark Dark Dark for about a year now.  I feel so touched by this song.  Their music has a way of stirring up strong emotions, that's for sure. 

Jacob Walking

A Tear Jerker

LUCK - NYC Wedding Proposal from Aria Melody DJ on Vimeo.

I got this video link from my friend Kenna. It was truly adorable!

Dead American Poets by Tired Ponys

I heard this song playing in the background and Whole Foods. Never knew they had such a rockin' soundtrack. So I looked it up and this video cracks me up every time. Not sure if it's the guy's facial expressions, or the fact that he just sits there and occasionally acts like he's singing (more like mumbling), the way he looks bored, or....I don't know. It's just funny to me. I must be easily amused. At any rate, it is a great song, in my opinion. If you like Snow Patrol, you might like this band, since Gary, is the front man for both.

Cute Boys

A short video of the boys doing what they do best: being cute. This was taken in early December.

Jacob Laughing

This video was taken in early December.

Christmas Stroll

Friday night a dear friend of ours offered to watch the boy child so that Mike and I could go out and enjoy the GF Christmas Stroll and parade. Basically the town blocks off the main street going through downtown and vendors set up shops and there is a big parade of lights and Santa lights the big tree at the Civic Center. So anyway, it was colder than I would've liked, but it was still pretty fun. Okay, it was kind of lame, but at least we ran into some good friends of ours who made it fun!

Here I shake the hand of this random wooden statue that the store dressed in a Santa suit. And Mike cops a feel.

Yet another sexy pose from us with this Santa wanna-be.

Rachel and I sit on "Nibbles" the dinosaur, a monumental statue in GF. Sorry it looks like I'm pulling a Michael Jackson in this picture. Didn't intend for it to look that way...

More pictures with "Nibbles" only this time Giordano gets involved and Rachel gives the little gal a drink. (p.s. I never get "red-eye" in pictures, so that's neat-o)

These broads were singing carols on the street corner. Eh, good times were had by all.

Here we witnessed a group of senior citizens practicing their ho-down skills in this vacant building.

Later we went to Mike's place of business for some free cookies and hot cocoa, only we were deceived as there was no hot cocoa. So then we went to Hardee's, which is the Carl's Jr. of Montana. The best part was the comment cards Rachel and Giordano filled out. And as always, our conversations were fun and entertaining. I learned what "teabagging" meant, so not only was it an entertaining conversation, but an educational one at that. Then we went into a toy store that was packed full of people and G and R (not the band) played with puppets and then we went browsing for a Christmas present for the boy child. Rachel fell in love with the little animals dressed in clothes. :) After nearly 3 hours of strolling down the street in the cold we finally went home. The only regret of the night is that I wasn't able to partake of the famous deep-fried Anaheim pepper. The fire department had a little shop set up where they took peppers and stuffed them with a sausage-y, cheesy, spicy concoction and then battered them and deep fried them. I was the only one who thought it sounded delicious. So nobody wanted to wait in line with me. Psh, I should've just stood in line by myself, am I right?

I LOVE this song!!!

*YouTube wouldn't let me post it, so you might have to endure a short advertisement before seeing the video. The song is totally worth it though, okay?

Today's Special Intro

Yeah, this was like my favorite show when I was just a young lad. I can't find anyone that remembers it, though! Does anyone out there in internet land remember????

Shippy

Here is a video of Vessel at 21 months old. I made it primarily for the grandparents and other relatives since they don't get to see Vess very often. It's about 5 minutes long so I figure nobody but grandparents and other close family will even find it interesting anyway. :) Mostly I was trying to get Vessel to smile or point out different parts of his face but he seemed more concerned with drawing. He's really good at it though, as you'll find out. He can color in the lines pretty well and hold a pen like an adult. (something he's done since he was about 14 months old.) Oh, but there is a part where he picks a booger out of his nose, which I thought was pretty darn funny, but maybe some of you will be grossed out by it. :) He bonked his head pretty hard a few days before I made the video so he's got a bruise on his forehead...just so you don't think we abuse him or something. :( Anyway, here is the video. Sorry if it's really choppy. Gotta love the digital camera video functions, right? Oh, and sorry you have to sit though my stupid voice for most of the video. :( Otherwise, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Stop Hitting Yourself

Hi boys & girls. Your good friend Mike here, just sharing another retarded video with you. Yes, you can thank me later. I seriously watch all kinds of videos by these comedians called "Blame Society Productions" and you should too! Give 'em a shot. Come on, have I ever done ya wrong???

I Love Myself

Here is a sweet picture of Vessel giving himself some lovin'. But let's be honest, who could resist that dead sexy baby body? He was smooching up a storm for about 15 minutes before I decided to take some video footage and by that point he lost most of his interest and saw something new to play with. But I caught him kissing himself a couple of times at least.

We Find Joy in Our Kid's Displeasure :)

After our unsuccessful attempt at finding a toy box for Ves, we saw this little ride near the exit of the store. Vessel was very excited at first. A bright yellow boat with a cartoon tiger inside...I mean if this doesn't catch a kid's eye, I don't know what will. And he was determined to sit up there and spin the steering wheel, which we let him do. Then we decided to break a dollar in order to feed the machine some quarters thinking Vessel would surely have a more enjoyable time if it came to life! Well, the boat began to rock and Tigger began to bellow something in his annoyingly jolly tone and Vessel freaked. So, you might think we are bad parents for torturing our kid like this, but I couldn't help it. It was the funniest thing I'd seen all day!

Pretty Sweet Zombie Cover by Miser

I heard this cover on the radio the other day and thought it sounded really good. Maybe it was just memories of jr. high coming back...

Anyhoo, you can ignore the anti-war pictures if that's not what you're into (psh! I didn't make the video). I'll totally be friends with you whether you're pro or anti violence!

The Grand Kerfuffle

Before the end of the semester the University of Utah threw one last hoop-lah referred to as The Grand Kerfuffle. Mike and I aren't much for getting involved in college events but we decided to go to this one, and it turned out to be one helluva time. There was a live concert featuring Shiny Toy Guns, Hellogoodbye, Augustana, and some local SLC band. It was flip'm freezing outside, but once we got engulfed by a sea of moshing, body surfing, pushing, screaming, sweaty fellow concert goers, we became quite warm. Yeah, any of you who know these bands also know that they don't really play "moshing" music (at least to me.) But the crowd was all about going nutso. Gina and I got separated from Gavin and Mike at one point because they decided to rush the stage. So Gina and I basically got swayed to and fro by the crowd. Gina fell down, lost her shoe and we both endured a lot of body funk. But, I gotta be honest and say that it was totally fun! It's been a few years since I've been to a concert like that and I had a blast jumping and throwing my fists in the air and screaming and wooting and being pushed around. The bands all played great live, and I think my favorite was when Shiny Toy Guns covered a Depeche Mode song called "stripped." It freaking rocked. There was an after party from 10 until 2 for all graduating seniors so we decided to stick around for that. They fed us free food and there were all kinds of things to do. We watched some break dancing, played "Rock Band" (I was lead singer! woot woot,) got free T-shirts and other swag, and watched a group of skanky broads walk around in there barely there shorts and one girl was wearing nothing but a corset for a top. We got a good laugh. Anyway, below are some pictures from our night.

Augustana

The crowd

Me and Teddy (I know what you're thinking, and yes, that is his real hair.)

Mike, Jamie, Gina, and Gavin

Self taken picture

One of these doo-dads would've been helpful for the last picture, don't you think?
There was a face painting booth and her I am getting my face painted by Fi-Fi
I wasn't feeling creative enough to tell her anything cool to paint on my face so I told her to surprise me. She ended up painting a beach sunset. It matched my shirt!

Me with Fi-Fi
Mike's face art was way cooler. He asked her to paint a crime scene on his face.
And Gavin asked for Spider Man.

There was another booth called "Wacky Wax" where you could get a wax molding of your hand. I made the "I Love You" sign but after I dipped my hand in the wax my fingers moved a little out of position but it still turned out okay. Mike made a power fist and asked the guy to put a rose in it. We gave our wax hands to each other. Isn't that sweet?
Below is a video of Mike trying to get us some moolah from the money machine. They had some $20 and $1 bills and coupons for free food at nice restaurants. Both Mike and I tried it and only ended up with $1.00 each! Rip off! It's harder than it looks. Gavin ended up with 8 bucks, that lucky scumbag. :)

Cute Boy

Mike got a cute video of Vessel eating with a fork. He's been able to do it for awhile, but I rarely let him use a fork because most of the stuff I feed him doesn't require one. But he certainly likes it. He was stabbing food like a pro for about 10 minutes until I finally told Mike he better grab the camera. So here he is eating some coleslaw we made for our "diet."

Architect or Artist?

A few days ago when I got home from class, I walked in the door and there was Vessel in the kitchen building a tower out of cans he found in the lazy susan. I called to Mike who was in the other room and asked him if he had helped Vessel and he said "no." So Mike grabbed the camera and snapped some photos of our little architect. He was occupied with this activity for at least an hour. It was so cute. And then a few days ago while I was doing my homework, Vessel saw me taking notes on a piece of paper and decided he wanted to do it too. So I let him hold the pen and practice writing. He's wanted to do that everyday since. So today we got him his own doodling pad, coloring book and crayons to color his little heart out. We just have to supervise our little artist to make sure he doesn't color all over the house or attempt to eat the crayons.

Yes, I'm one of those moms who posts their kids art on the fridge. Here's Vessel's first masterpiece!

A short clip of Vessel working on a second picture.

Spot Me

When we work-out it's a family event. Vessel really likes to participate. He bounces around and tries to copy the moves or he'll sit on Daddy's lap while he's on the rowing machine. And when I'm doing crunches (or at least pretending to) he'll come over and sit on my tummy. This time when he came over and sat on me I picked him up and started bench pressing him. Yah, he didn't seem all that happy about it.

Tori Concert

Do you think just like that
You can divide
This
You as yours
Me as mine
to before we were Us
if the rain
Has to separate from Itself
does it say "pick out your cloud?"

---Tori Amos from “Your Cloud”

Last night we attended the Tori Amos concert here in Salt Lake. Mike willingly went with me even though he had no idea who Tori was or what her music was like. To prepare him for the concert I played a few of her CDs beforehand. After popping in the CD Under the Pink, I was immediately taken back to 7^th grade when I first heard the album. Strange how, with each album we listened to, a scene from my life played out in my memory. I remember many a day going home after a bad day at school, putting on one of her albums and laying on my bed just listening to her and that piano. I believe many of her songs literally got me through some of the most turbulent times of adolescence. I admired how fearless she seemed, exposing so much of her life through her music and lyrics. I adored her words and her talent. But I was a different person then. After listening back on her old music this week, I felt that perhaps I had outgrown it or that I had outgrown her. My taste in music has changed over time, just as my life has. I started to get the feeling that maybe her concert wouldn’t be as momentous as I had hoped. But as soon as the opening song reached my ear, I knew that her music, and yes, even her idiosyncrasies, still had a place in my heart. I may not agree with a lot of her ideas anymore, but I still appreciate her talent, because she undoubtedly has a rare gift. And the fact that Tori’s music has secured a spot on my life’s soundtrack won’t ever change.

So, the concert was amazing. It was my first Tori concert and she puts on an excellent show full of intense energy and fierceness. Her opening act was a solo guitarist by the name of Yoav, who had a remarkable sound. I told Mike that we needed to buy his E.P. and we had just enough cash to purchase it. I am eagerly looking forward to his upcoming album. Tori opened her show with Cruel from the album From the Choirgirl Hotel. After a few numbers in a silky green dress and dark hair (not sure if it was a wig) she went and changed into the most hideous silky, full-body, animal print get-up and orange hair. But I couldn’t hold it against her, because I mean, come on, she IS Tori Amos afterall, and she can get away with wearing just about anything. So, needless to say, I forgave her quickly and enjoyed the show. She played a lot of her old stuff, which made the crowd go crazy. She performed many of my personal favs, including Mother, Caught a Lite Sneeze, Cornflake Girl, and Precious Things. I also remember her playing Crucify, Pretty Good Year, Amber Waves, and Smoky Joe. She ended the night with Hey Jupiter, after a second encore. It was awesome to watch her play her “baby,” (her grand piano) as if it had been attached to her since birth. On some occasions she straddled the piano bench with one hand on the grand piano and the other on the keyboard behind her. Even Mike couldn’t disagree with her astonishing musical ability. We both had a great night….

Which is more than I can say for Conor and Jessica, our lovely downstairs neighbors who offered to watch Vessel for us. Apparently Vessel was quite the beast last night. According to Jessica, he was fine until he started to get tired, but he just wouldn’t go to sleep. He fought and fought to stay awake which made him downright angry I guess, and the exhaustion finally took over and he had a melt down. He cried and cried for nearly 2 hours until Jessica decided to take him up to our apartment and put him in his own familiar bed. He sobbed for about 5 minutes and then he magically fell asleep. We happened to walk in the door not more than 5 minutes after he eventually crashed. We met a frazzled Jessica sitting on our couch where she told us the story. This is a first for Vessel, so I feel very sorry that it had to happen to our friends. Lately Vessel has developed separation anxiety and has become very apprehensive towards strangers. My little boy is changing so rapidly. But it’s times like last night that I think we scare our childless friends from ever wanting to have children of their own. Sorry guys.

Anyway, here are some pictures and videos from the concert. Enjoy!

Hooray for Dan! (UPDATED)

*UPDATE*---Here is a video David put together for those who could not be there. Good times, good times.


Last night we went to the Bates' house because Danny wanted all the family to be there when he opened his mission letter. He has been called to serve in the Guatemala, Guatemala City North Mission! He will report to the Guatemala MTC on February 27th. Mike and I are very happy and excited for him and also very proud.