Happy Fourth Of July!

As a kid, whenever anybody would ask me what my favorite holiday was, the answer was obviously Christmas.  After all, what kid doesn’t like Christmas?  Free toys, lots of candy stuffed into clothing designed for feet, and did I mention free toys?

Now that I’m a bit older, I still love Christmas (I think it’s the free toys thing), but I’ve developed a deep appreciation for other holidays.  Thanksgiving is awesome but the Fourth of July holds a special place in my heart.  There’s something about seeing an American flag flying as a wing of F-16s fly overhead that makes me extremely grateful to live in this wonderful country.  Add to the the fact that we’ve developed some really fun family traditions, and you have a day that we all look forward to each year.

An Amazing Artist

Last night we had a get together with some of our friends. One of these friends, Lisa, is four months pregnant and was wearing a very cool, yet somewhat disturbing shirt. It had a picture of a fetus on it. Yeah, a fetus. It’s a very realistic rendition of and eight-month-old fetus that her husband, Mike, drew. I gotta say that the reason that I found it so disturbing is because it was so well done. It looked just like a fetus!

I was discussing the shirt with Mike and he mentioned that he has started taking his amazing artistic ability and using it to develop a line of clothing. His business is starting to do fairly well and seems to be keeping him busy. Personally, I never envisioned that he would become a fashion mogul but it appears that he’s heading down that road. In a few years, when people say the name “Calvin Klein”, the response will be something along the line of “Oh yeah, he was that guy that people liked before Mike Phipps came along.” Mark my words, it’ll happen.

6 0 Days Since Last Accident

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m finishing our basement. I have the building permit and construction has started.

Last Saturday, my friends, Garth and John came over to help. We were able to get quite a bit of the framing done. Holly assumed that I just sat around watching everybody else work since I’m not known for my hammer-smith skills but I actually did a lot. Nearly every stud that was put in place was cut by me. I also helped place and measure the walls. I was working and having fun doing so. It was an accident-free evening full of sawdust and loud noises.

Hunting Mishaps

Yesterday I went out rabbit hunting with some friends. I know that when you read that sentence, combined with the title of this post, you thought to yourself “That dummy, Jeremiah shot himself in the leg.” If that was your first thought, you are wrong. I did hurt my leg but that’s a different story for another time. Maybe later in the post.

Anyways, we took my friend John’s red tailed hawk out to try and catch a few rabbits. It was snowing with a very cold wind so we wondered if we’d even see any rabbits. There were lots of tracks in the snow and after about an hour of walking around a huge field, our friend Adam saw one. He pointed it out to John but the bird saw it, and before anybody else knew what was happening, she was chasing down the bunny. She swooped down and missed. That, my friends, is where the fun began.

Bird Hunting

Today I took the kids out with some friends and we went bird hunting. We weren’t trying to kill birds though. We were trying to catch them. Specifically, we were trying to catch a red-tailed hawk. My friend John just got his falconers license and would like to have a hawk.

The day was pretty good even though we didn’t catch a bird. The kids enjoyed themselves and we were able to see a lot of birds. We also learned that juvenile mice can fit out of the holes in the bird trap. Surprisingly though, they don’t tend to wander far from the trap and are relatively easy to catch again. We also learned that hawks are scared by dogs, joggers, and cars. Hopefully we’ll have better luck next week when we go out again.

Fall Is In The Air

I love autumn. The nights are getting cooler and the leaves are changing colors. Plus, I don’t have to mow my lawn every week in sweltering heat or shovel snow so it’s a good time of year for me.

Down the road from our house lies Black Island Farms. This is a huge, 400+ acre farm that turns into Utah’s largest corn maze once October rolls around. In addition to the maze(s), they also have tractor rides through the farm, stopping at the pumpkin patch where everybody gets to pick the largest pumpkin they can find. Once the sun goes down, the Field of Screams begins. There’s also numerous activities for smaller kids including slides and a bounce house.

Our Mountain-Con III Experience

Those who know me know that I am a big geek. I’m especially a big geek when it comes to Star Wars. For years I have had aspirations of attending Star Wars Celebration in one of the various cities in which it was held. This year was no different. Celebration IV was held in Los Angeles last spring. It would have been perfect for me to go to except for the fact that I couldn’t convince myself that the $2,000 it probably would have cost to go was money well spent. I was bummed by the conflict within myself until Holly told me that I could go to Mountain-Con instead. This seemed to satisfy my inner geek.

Mountain-Con III took place this weekend at the University Park Marriott. Holly and I decided that since they have activities for children, and since ours seem to enjoy sci-fi, we would take the whole family. This was an excellent decision because everyone had a great time.

Dweller Fun

Last night was so much fun! We had the Backoom Dwellers over for one of our monthly gatherings. This time, it was our turn to host everyone but since everybody doesn’t fit in our house anymore, we took the party to the park near our home.

For dinner, we broke out the Dutch ovens. I made chicken and wild rice, our friends Dan and Joy made breakfast consisting of eggs, sausage, hash browns, and biscuits, and our friends John and Dana made some apple crisp. Everything was so delicious! I love Dutch oven cooking!

In addition to eating, we also spent some time breaking in our new volleyball on the sand court and played a bit of croquet. I think that everybody enjoyed the volleyball better than the croquet. It was a nice change since we always play croquet.

Let’s Play

A few years ago, our friends John and Dana introduced us to a board game called Ticket To Ride. This has since become our very favorite game to play with anybody who comes to our home.

The point of the game is to claim railway routes. There are boards with European destinations but we like the North American board the best.

It’s a fairly simple game but people seem to get very competitive when playing. One time when Holly blocked our friend John, he slammed his hand down on the table, shaking all of the trains everywhere, and nearly giving Holly and Dana heart attacks in the process. Another time when my sister Chelsea and I were severely beating Holly, she flipped the game board over, scattering pieces everywhere. I personally like to talk trash at the people that I’m destroying. This isn’t normal behavior for us. We’re usually a mild mannered bunch of people but there is something about this game that brings out the competitive side in us. Maybe it’s because we are all somewhat good and know it.

It Was A Gathering

Yesterday, Holly, the kids, and I went to our friend Dan’s parent’s home for a little bit of swimming and a bar-b-que. Well, that’s not entirely true. Holly had to work but she managed to get off way early and show up at the party. So the kids and I went, Holly arrived later. But she was there. That’s the important thing.

I have briefly mentioned the Backroom Dwellers in the past but there are many who are unfamiliar with this band of hooligans. When I worked at the Church Office Building, there were a few of us who were banished to the stock rooms. Well, we weren’t really banished but that’s where we primarily worked. Jokes were made about how we just kind of lurked, or dwelt if you will, in our respective areas. Eventually we started referring to ourselves as the Backroom Dwellers.