April/May Wrap-Up!

Yet again, I’ve fallen behind in maintaining my blog. So… what happened in April/May?

April 25, 2008 – Mike’s B-Day Party: We celebrated Mike’s birthday in the Crown Royal room at club Allure. The Hard Rockin Johnsons played a good show. Mike’s cake… how should I put it, was absolutely crazy/amazing/graphic… there really are no words for it!

Birthday Boy!

Kandi, Ken, and Michael.

April 26, 2008 – Backyard Clean-Up: We had so many dead weeds in the backyard that they filled-up the back of the blue truck and we hauled them off to the Trans-Jordan Landfill.

WEEDS!!!

More WEEDS!!!

April 26, 2008 – Bryon’s B-Day Party: We celebrated Bryon’s birthday with dee-lic-ious hamburgers, a cleverly done and yummy graveyard cake, and ROCK BAND!!!! It is hard to say if I want to hear the song “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi again.

Basement Band.

Me and Michelle rocking out!

April 27, 2008 – Snowbasin MINI Rally: It was a sad day since our MINI rally leader, Karen (a.k.a. the Self Appointed MINI Queen), stepped down from being the club organizer. The drive to Snowbasin Resort and brunch at the Gray Cliff Lodge helped lift spirits; however, our fast and fun leader will be missed.

MINI cookies I made for Karen.

The drive.

MINIs at Snowbasin.

May 05, 2008 – Geocaching in Heber: We went geocaching with the folks in Heber Valley; the geocaching involved off-roading, hiking, and even a cache in the hot springs!

The four of us!

Mom and Dad heading up the hill.

May 09, 2008 – Local Wildlife: Deer, which were in the yard of a house in our neighborhood, were picked up by the Mini’s headlights. We were unable to get a good picture and I think the deer were freaked out by the Mini Cooper chasing them around the neighborhood. The next day we saw three deer trotting along the sidewalk, behind the house… here’s the kicker… in the afternoon – Huh? I thought deer bedded down during the day.

Fuzzy deer picture.

May 11, 2008 – Mother’s Day: It was a day of geocaching with Ma & Pa. Our goal was to find two puzzle caches located somewhere on the UofU campus. Both puzzles were based off of photographs taken on the campus. We were successful at solving and finding the final container of GC10TY0 – “University of Utah Photo Mystery”. Even after spending years on the UofU campus, the other puzzle turned out to be too difficult and we could not discern where the photographs were taken.

Ma and Pa figuring out the puzzle.

May 17, 2008 – International Gator Day: Marion invited us to join-in and become pseudo-Gators for the day. May 17^th was designed as a day when Florida Gators worldwide come together to volunteer and help out the community. The organization we helped out was Habitat for Humanity of the Salt Lake Valley. The organization helps homeowner families build homes, which are then sold to the families. The house we volunteered at was a duplex located in Salt Lake City. The building use to be a drug house, so it was razed and completely rebuilt. Our job was to paint and painting is what we did from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.!!!! Our foreman, Mike, informed us early on that his pet peeve was being asked: “What is next?” We met and worked with some great people. We even worked with two individuals who were going to be homeowners of homes build by Habitat for Humanity. These homeowners put in many hours of work on various Habitat for Humanity houses before they are told which house will be theirs. We hope that we will be able to help out next year!

The duplex.

Me and Marion.

Ken and Ryk.

Hard at work.

May 24, 2008 – Hornbeams and the Blaze:

“(Hooh! aah!) (Hooh! aah!)
(Hooh! aah!) (Hooh! aah!)
(Hooh! aah!) (Hooh! aah!)

(Well, don’t you know)
That’s the sound of the men working on the chain gang
That’s the sound of the men working on the chain gang”

We dug 9-foot diameter holes to plant four European Hornbeam trees. Our backyard should be deemed “the quarry”; rocks, rocks, and more rocks… Ken had purchased a pickaxe from IFA and it came in real handy for breaking up the ground to move. About half-way through digging the third hole, I told Ken, “This one doesn’t have any gold in it either!!! How are we going to pay for this house?!” Through the help of friends (and two weekends) we were able to dig four holes and plant two trees. Two? – sadly, two of the four trees are firewood. We are babying the two planted trees, hoping they will pull through. After some hard work and for the first time, we attended a Blaze game with friends, Ryk and Marion. The Blaze is Utah’s Arena Football League Team. That night they played the Chicago Rush and the final score was 51 to 48, with the win going to the Blaze. It was an exciting and crazy game; a front row fan was struck with the ball and had to be carried out on a stretcher!!!

The backyard...

Yep, they are heavy.

Yahoo! One planted!

End of game picture.

May 29, 2008 – Chelada anyone?: We attended the City Weekly Chelada Party at Port O’ Call with friends Michael and Kandi. Do I like cheladas? No… and, yes, I have tried one. The mariachi band was wonderful and it was the first time Ken and I have heard one live!

Michael and Ken with some dressed-up Coronas.

A Chelada.

The Mariachi Band.