Dreams...

So this is the story of a really weird dream...

The other night, I had a dream...in my dream, Dan and I were walking out of Smith's to his car. There weren't any other cars in the parking lot, just Dan's car. Dan opened my door and I sat in the passenger seat. Then Dan walked back into Smith's (I'm not sure why). As Dan was going into the store, Dan #2 appeared in the back seat of the car and this Dan started talking to me. I was really confused but I thought, just go with it. So I did. Dan #2 was getting bored waiting for Dan #1 to come out of the store so he suggested driving around the parking lot...which I did...from the passenger seat. Dan #2 stayed sitting in the back seat, while I sat in the passenger seat, with one foot on the driver side so I could control the gas pedal and the brakes. Then Dan #2 wanted to go for a drive. Dan #1 wouldn't be back for a while so we decided to go.

I drove over behind the stores between 400 North and 500 North and State Street. I was still sitting in the passenger seat. We had to drive through all of these small alleys. We'd been out for a while, and we decided that we'd better get back to Smith's before Dan #1 got back out of the store. At that point, we were no longer in Dan's car, we were on a bike and I was riding it. Also, Dan #2 was no longer an adult Dan, he was a baby Dan. We turned onto 400 North and from there, we made a left turn onto State Street. The light had just turned yellow so I sped up to try and make the turn. I flew nearly out of control around the turn. I was holding baby Dan on my back. As we were turning he said, "I'm falling off!" (He was a baby, but he still talked like an adult.) Somehow I managed to keep him from falling.

Then, out of no where, Dan's brother Tad showed up. He was driving to the Smith's parking lot because he had gone to pick up a pizza for Dan's Mom and she was in the Smith's parking lot. Tad saw my out of control turn and when he got to the parking lot, he told Dan's Mom about it and about how there was no way that Dan #2 and I should not have fallen off that bike. (They didn't know that he was Dan #2...I don't even think they knew that Dan #2 was a baby at that point.) Then they disappeared and Dan #2 and I were back in the car. Dan #2 turned back into an adult. Dan #1 came out of the store, got in the car, and all three of us drove away.

Next step...

So, now that Dan and I are finished with the announcements (with the exception of a few that still need addresses...) we have shifted our focus to the the next task at hand...the wedding cake. The only thing that I ever knew that I wanted to have when I got married was a blown glass statue of the temple that I got married in to be on the top of my wedding cake. Unfortunately that is no longer an option because the wonderful lady who made those beautiful temples has retired.

So, I am now trying to figure out what to do....any suggestions? I've thought about doing a cake with square layers...but the traditional round layers might be the way to go. Let me know what you guys think...I am looking for opinions.

Welcome Newcomers!

We mailed out our announcements on Saturday, so if this is your first time visiting our blog, we want to extend a special welcome to you. We try to update this blog on a regular basis, and we hope you find our posts amusing and enjoyable, and worth coming back to read. Comments are always appreciated and welcome. :)

If this is indeed your first time here, there are some earlier posts that may be of interest to you. You can read about how it all began, or the proposal story from Lisa's perspective or from my perspective. Also, lots of people seem to like this video I made for Lisa.

So, feel free to peruse around, and we hope you'll join us in a little part of our adventure together.

The Perfect Bathroom Trip

Not too much has been going on with us in the last few days, but it's time to be posting something here. Last week I saw a guy at work walk out of the bathroom with a paper towel. For the next couple of hours, I got the the Perfect Bathroom Trip song stuck in my head. What? You've never heard of this song? Well, allow me to enlighten you:



P.S. If you haven't seen any videos from Rhett and Link, you are really missing out. They have lots of great stuff.

The Irony

Lisa and I just finished putting all the announcements together!!! Super Hooray! You should be receiving yours in 1-2 weeks (Assuming you provided us with your address, and we do actually know you. :)) Anyway, Lisa and I were out buying some stuff for them on Saturday, including postage stamps. The stamps that came out of the machine have the Liberty Bell on them. Anyone else find that ironic? :)

Provo Canyon Trail

So last night Dan and I decided to walk down part of the bike path that leads up to Vivian Park in Provo Canyon. We were on the part just north of Riverwoods and south of mouth of the canyon. We were walking along, chatting pleasantly, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dead furry thing. Because I am who I am, I jumped and gave a startled gasp. I couldn't tell what it was at first. The possibility that entered into my head was that it was some sort of dog. Then I realized it was a very large deer. Poor Dan had no idea what had startled me so he started looking around really quickly to see what could be wrong. I pointed out the dead deer right by the side of the path. We commented on how sad that was and about where the deer may have been headed when it was hit, and we kept walking.

A minute or two later, I jumped again. (That shouldn't surprise those of you who know me, I jump a lot.) I saw another dead deer. Again, I managed to startle Dan because he didn't know what had made me jump. That deer was smaller and it looked young. It was also very sad. After that I told Dan that he needed to spot them before I did so that he could warn me so I wouldn't jump. Sure enough, a minute later Dan saw another dead deer. A few minutes after that we saw a fourth dead deer. That one was just a little baby deer. It was so small.

All in all, we saw 4 dead deer in less than a quarter of a mile. It was sad to see so many dead deer. They didn't look like they had been laying there for long. I guess the moral of this story is, be careful and watch for deer when you are driving....and if you ever see me jump, don't be too surprised because that happens a lot.

The Mountain - Worst Sports Channel in the History of the Universe

Let me preface my post by saying that I'm already in somewhat of a bad mood right now due to the fact that my city league basketball team was robbed of a victory tonight by the officials. But I won't go into that. I just want to vent a little bit about how absolutely terrible the Mountain is run. For those of you who follow teams in the Mountain West Conference, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

First of all, who picks the games they show? I mean seriously. Case and point tonight. You've got two teams playing tonight (UNLV and New Mexico) who are tied for 1st place in the conference and both are nationally ranked. Clearly this is the marquee matchup of the night, so it would make sense to show that game, right? Wait.... This is the Mountain we're talking about. Let's show the 5th and 8th place teams for all to see. I understand maybe they need to show all the teams an equal amount, but they've got to be able to shuffle broadcasts around to accommodate this. We want to see the big games!

Ok, now let's talk about the conference tournament broadcasts. This is something that has gotten on my nerves for a long time. They always show the semifinals of the conference tournament on CSTV (now CBS C). How do you figure that people? There's hardly any packages that include CBS C. I'm probably just bitter because my basic Comcast package doesn't include it, but seriously, it would make sense to show conference tournament games on the channel that's supposed to be dedicated to the conference, right? Wait.... This is the Mountain we're talking about. Let's show these crucial games on the channel with the smallest audience!

Now, I can't be venting about the Mountain and not mention their amateur camera work and bewildering commentators. Again, if you've ever watched anything on the channel, you know exactly what I'm talking about. When watching a football game, I can't begin to count how many times the camera is 2-3 seconds behind the play, resulting in not even getting to see the play. Basketball is a little better, but there seems to be a glaring lack of replays. There's so many times when there's a controversial call and I would like to review it myself. It would make sense to show replays of these for the viewers to see again, right? Wait.... This is the Mountain we're talking about. Why would anyone want to see replays?

And the commentators... Oh the commentators.... Do they have anyone who knows anything about what they're talking about? There was this play tonight where a guy is going in for a layup and a guy from the other team hustles back and blocks it out of bounds. It was a very good defensive play. The commentator says something like, "That was a good play, but I'd like to see him tip it back to a teammate." Excuse me?! How exactly do you tip it back to a teammate when you're flying back on defense trying to prevent a score? I've been perplexed by so many comments they make.

I could go on, but I'm sure I'm just preaching to the choir. I feel much better having said all that. While it's probably not likely to happen, maybe we can hope for BYU to join the Pac-10 if for no other reason than to get off of the excuse of a network that is the Mountain.

An New Tale From India

Ok, now that you know about my experience in India, I can now tell the tale from last Thursday night. It may be a little anti-climatic, but here we go.

I was just watching some late-night TV on the Discovery channel while I was unwinding from my basketball game. While I was watching this one show, a little thing showed up on the bottom the screen basically saying "On Next: Impaled." I saw that and thought to myself, "Impaled? What kind of show is that?" I thought maybe it would be some documentary about the history of impaling or about some guy that impaled people or something like that. My curiosity forced me to stay tuned and see what it was.

Well, at the very beginning of the show it had a warning about disturbing images and what not. It was this show about these people who had somehow survived being impaled. It was pretty crazy some of the stuff that happened to these people. Well, one was about this guy in India. He took a taxi to work everyday, and he usually snoozed on the way to work. Well, one day he was snoozing and he was jolted awake after the car had gone over these big potholes. He found that the driver had fallen asleep. As soon as it mentioned the driver falling asleep in the show, my first thought was, "That could have been me!!!" The car crashes into this debris on the side of the road, and the guy gets impaled by this big metal rod. It just barely misses his heart. It just showed me how fortunate and blessed we were that our driver never fully fell asleep. Being impaled is not on my list of things to do in my lifetime.

Strange Bedfellow

Before I tell the new tale of India, I want to share a short experience from last night. I was about to go to bed, and sat on the side of my bed. I then layed straight back from there and just started thinking about things. You know, just unraveling some of the mysteries of the universe. Anyway, I sat back up, and then I noticed a black spec just to the right of me. My first thought was that it was some black lint or something, but I wasn't sure. I kind of moved it, and then I noticed it had little legs, and a pair of wings. Yup, there was a dead fly accompanying me on my bed. Needless to say I was a little grossed out by that. I'm really hoping he found his final resting place after I had gotten up yesterday. I don't want to think about how long I could have been sleeping with the fellow. So, now it makes me really paranoid about what other friends I could find sleeping with me. Not exactly the thoughts I like having when going to sleep. Oh well, at least I haven't woken up to a horse head yet (Viewer Discretion Advised).

An Old Tale From India

Lisa and I are trying to write fun and amusing stuff that happens to us on here on a regular basis. However, in the last few days, there really hasn't been anything worthy of writing about. There was something kind of funny I saw on TV Thursday night, but for it to be funny, you would have to know another story of mine. So Lisa told me I should write that story on here. It is a story that comes from a trip my brother and I took Asia back in September of 2008. We had quite the adventure in our one day in India. Many of you probably already know this story, but for those of you that don't know it, it is definitely worth repeating.

For India, we found a tour that would pick us up at the airport in New Delhi, drive us down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, and then drive us back to the airport. When we landed we found our driver sure enough. He looked like a stereotypical Indian. Lots of facial hair, curly mustache, turban, you get the idea.

Well, we wanted to go to an ATM so we could pay for the tour, so we asked him if we should get the money now, or if there would be places in Agra. That's when caught the first glimpse of his difficulty in understanding English. After unsuccessfully communicating this question, we were finally able to get him to agree to stop by an ATM there in New Delhi.

As part of the tour, we were supposed to have a free lunch included. On our way to the bank, my brother (Tad) and I were discussing if we thought it would be in New Delhi or later in Agra. We tried asking this question to the driver, and again had difficulty communicating. However, he said something about stopping some place for lunch, so we thought we were good on that.

So, we began our 4 hour drive out to Agra. As we made our way through the city, the driver would point out some places in his memorized English. Our attempts at some simple follow up questions were in vain. At this point we became pretty wary of asking him any more questions, since we had little hope he would understand us.

We then were out of the city, and making our way through the countryside. Tad and I were trying to soak up as much of the scenery as we could. After a while, I noticed myself starting to get a little tired. It was a very straight and smooth drive. I looked over and Tad looked to be feeling a bit of the same. Then Tad mentioned that the driver was also looking very sleepy. I looked at his eyes in the rear view mirror, and they were just barely open. And when he would blink, it would take two or three very long seconds for them to open again. This is when we started to get scared. If there was ever a drowsy driver, this was it. Every once in a while you could feel the gas let up, and we would start to drift some. Then he'd open his eyes, honk the horn a couple times, and get the car back up to speed. Tad and I were sitting in the back, trying to think of something we could talk to him about. We couldn't think of anything to say that he would understand. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we had to stop, and he had to go into some building and fill out some papers or something.

Tad and I were still a little shaken up at this point, and we were just hoping his walking around some would wake him up. As we're talking, this guy comes right up to my window with these trinkets to sell. I try ignoring him, and keep talking to Tad. That's when I notice that at Tad's window, there is a guy with a monkey. So, after our attempts to ignore them were futile, we tried shaking our heads and telling him no and everything. Tad's monkey friend was showing Tad how the monkey would go on his head, and motioned for Tad to come out so the monkey could go on his head. Tad shook his head and discretely locked the door.

After our genuine freak out from our drowsy driver, Tad and I started a game that became very popular this day: "What if...?" The car was still running with us sitting in there. We started saying, "what if someone just jumped in here, and drove off?" Just as we were discussing this, the driver-side door swung open. We both jumped, but it was the driver.

We continued on our way. Tad, in a probable attempt to keep the driver awake, then asked him, "So, how many kids do you have?" To which the driver responded, "Uh...... 15...... 20........ more minutes." We both looked at each other with that expression that says, "okaaaaaaaaaay...." In a moment that desperately needed humor, Tad replied in a voice only I would hear, "Oh. I have two....."

So, 15....... 20......... minutes after that, the driver pulls off the road and parks at this building. It looks like a restaurant, so we figure we're stopping for lunch. We expect the driver to lead us in and explain to the people that we're from the tour and all that. Well, we wait for his lead, and he motions us in. We don't know what's going on, so we just walk in there. We sit down, and Tad asks the waiter about the tour and a free lunch, and he has no idea what we're talking about. So, looks like we're paying for lunch. Good thing we took out a little extra money at the ATM.

We get our menus, and they're in English. However, we have no idea what any of the dishes are. Tad asks for something that's not spicy, and ends up getting "boneless chicken." I try asking the waiter what some different things are, but he's not understanding me, and I'm not understanding him. At this point, I've had enough of failed communication, so I decide to roll the dice and just pick something at random. While we wait for our food, we play the "what if" game again, and ask the question, "What if we eat, and then our driver is nowhere to be found?" We started discussing what we would even do in a case like that. After a while, we get our food, and the first thing I notice is that mine has a giant boiled egg in it. Interesting...... Tad tries his, and it is very spicy. He eats some more of it and finds that it's "mostly" boneless chicken. In the little bit that he actually ate, he found several bones. Mine wasn't too bad. I cut the egg in half, and the yolk was a nice dark shade of green. I quickly decided that there was no way I was eating that thing. So, I cut it up into a whole bunch of little pieces, hoping it would look like I ate some. After some meager attempts of getting a lot of this food in us, we drink all our water (a liter bottle) in hopes to give something to our bodies. All that water would rear it's head later.

After finishing the water, we leave the restaurant and are very happy to see our driver still there. We continue on our journey. At this time, we are really hoping the driver took a power nap or something while we were eating. As we continue our trip, it looks like the driver is going to stay awake, and we won't have to die out in the middle of India.

We start getting close to Agra, and we start feeling the effects of all the water we had during lunch. I have to pee, but I'm thinking I can hold it. Tad feels the same, but as time goes on, I can tell it's becoming quite the struggle for him. He could probably tell this part of the story better since he was the one who suffered through it. We pull into the city of Agra and Tad is really struggling. We make our way towards the Taj Mahal, and the quality of the roads begins to lessen. We begin bumping around some, and Tad is not enjoying himself. Tad asks the driver about a bathroom, and again, the driver had no idea what Tad said. So, we drive more and more, and Tad can't take it any more. With much urgency, Tad tells the driver to pull over and signals with his hands and does whatever he needs to for the driver to get to the side of the road and stop. I'm on the side closest to the shoulder, so I was going to get out so Tad could get out. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting the seat belt undone. I wasn't even joking around either. I could tell from Tad's face that this was no time for jokes. Tad can't wait for me to get it undone, so he just climbs right over me, and runs out to the wall by the road. There we wait, as Tad relieves himself.

After that, I could tell Tad was in a much more pleasant mood. We drive a little further, and pick up our tour guide. He spoke and understood English very well. We then went to the Taj Mahal, and it was awesome. After successfully making it to the Taj Mahal, we really enjoyed ourselves. Everything worked out in the end, but it was quite the adventure getting there.

And to finish, a couple of pictures for your enjoyment.

Here's me "enjoying" my wonderful mystery lunch:

Can you spot the giant egg? :)

And here I am alive at the Taj Mahal. It was very awesome:

Essentials Skills

Over the past month, I have spent a lot of time teasing my little sister about her tendency to lose things. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I lost something...I lost my work keys. Overall this wouldn't have been too bad, except that I also lost the key to my desk drawers at work. This is a very big problem...I have a lot of responsibilities at work and that includes writing checks and handling the personal information for several of the people that I work with. I keep all the checks for the company in my desk drawer and I have...well had...the only key. Losing that key is a big deal.

I have some important checks that I need to write tomorrow and Friday and I had to get access to that drawer. I was talking to Dan and I told him that tomorrow morning, that drawer was going to be opened, key or no key. I had tested it out a little...pulling on it to see how strong it was....and I was fairly confident that I could break it open if I had to. (That doesn't say much for the security of that drawer.) Dan suggested that I learn how to pick a lock. I laughed because I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do that.

I went about the rest of my day at work, wondering where my keys could be. I didn't know what I was going to do about losing those keys. Then I saw this little paper clip on my desk. It wasn't a normal paper clip...it was one of the black ones that looks like a clamp type thing. I thought, "Hmmm....I wonder if I could pick that..." And so, I decided to give it a try. I took off one of the little ends of that paper clip and stuck it into the hole. Less than thirty seconds later, my drawer was open!

I was very excited and a little surprised at how easy that was. I became even less confident in the security of those drawers, but I was grateful that I was able to get the door open. I sent Dan a message and told him about my success. Later, when my sister got to work, I told her about how I had picked the lock. She told me that she had a drawer that she had lost her key to, so I thought, "Hey, I can pick that lock too." I tried...and tried...and tried some more. I failed. So I have come to the conclusion that I was very blessed to be able to get that drawer open, and that while lock picking could be an essential skill, it is not one of my skills. Next time, I'll call my Coca-Cola friend, he has a lock pick kit.

Just a dream

So last night I had a dream that Dan and I went to church in the new ward that we will go to when we get married. Some of the people that are in our current ward were there too. After church we were invited to go back to the Sunday School room for lunch with some of people in our new ward. On our way to that room, I got caught by the ward activities committee members. They wanted to talk to me about an upcoming activity. We were right outside the door that we needed to go in so Dan went in and started helping with the tablecloth and what not. The table was short, like one of those nursery tables with the adjustable legs. And the chairs were the small nursery chairs. But when everyone sat at them, it was like they were normal size.

There was this girl that was hitting on him and trying to flirt with him. I could see everything because I was standing in the hall. Dan was standing by a chair on one side of the table, with his hand on the chair. The chair was in the middle of the table. He kept glancing back at me, waiting for me to come. The girl sat down directly opposite from where Dan was going to sit and she continued to try and flirt and to get him to sit down. I was mad at her, and jealous. I must admit, I was not being very attentive to the meeting I had been dragged into. Finally they stopped talking and I went in the room, just as Dan sat down in a chair that was as far away from that girl as possible and he motioned for me to come and sit by him. That made me a lot happier.