Firsts

A weekend of firsts--our first trip to an air show. Jaydn's first time riding his bike without training wheels! And my first full-out run (in church clothes) home from church next to Jaydn while he gets more riding experience. And, accordingly, my first heavy Idaho sweat after attending church meetings.

My first trimming of the edges on the grass in the front yard on our new house. My first use of almost all of the trimming cord in one day of trimming.

Like you really wanted to know all that.

Trunk Monkey

If you've already seen these, just humor me and watch them again. They're hilarious.

Fishing

On Saturday we went to the free fishing day at Freeman Park with Grandpa Grigg.

It was cold, and no fish were caught, but we had a good time.

What is up with this crazy Idaho June anyway? Will we ever have summer?

I'm spoiled from living a year in AS.

They're Engaged!

Angela and Jey are engaged!!!

Baby Names

OK, we're not thinking about them yet, and have no reason to think yet (so don't get any ideas), but I thought these real Samoan names placed on Markus and Liz's blog were just priceless.

29
Abcde
Aetalo - means eat taro
Afasene (half-a-cent)
Alcapone
Anewvision
Army and Navy (Brothers)
Baby
Batchlor (spelled like that)
Bear
Beaver Ho Ching
Billclinton
Boyblue
California
Christmas
Cinderella
Clever
Conference
Dynamite
Eddie & Edwin (Two brothers, possibly twins)
Fa'afetai (thank you)
Fa'afetai Fa'afetai Jr.
Fabulous
Fantastic
Fiapapalagi
Gasoliga (remember the g=n)
Hail-Mary
Han Solo
Happy
Hurricane
Kirisimasi (Christmas)
Kuwait
Larrybird
LBJ (The hospital is named LBJ)
Lima (5 or hand in Samoan, was probably the fifth kid)
Marie Antoinette Resurrected
Moonstar
Muliei
New Year
Nixon
Omaha
Oti (dead)
Pago Pago
Pluto
Ponce de Leon
Popeye
Poti (Male Sex Organ)
PrettyPrincess
Pu'u Brown
Queen
Rainmaker
Rapture
Rectal
Rocky and Rambo (brothers)
Roketi (Rocket---tons of those)
Saddam
Salvation
Samoa
Shaqkobe or Kobeshaq
Socrates
Souvenir
Sterchicht
Superbowl
Tajmahal
Tutuila (The name of the island)
Ultimate Warrior
United States of America
United States of Samoa

I personally enjoyed seeing "Helicopter" for a name when I was there.

So, if any of you are expecting...

Yellowstone, Part Deux

We went back to Yellowstone over Memorial Day weekend, hoping it would be sunny. It pretty much rained the whole time.

Here's the whole gang:

We stopped at Old Faithful, of course.

Yellowstone Lake was still frozen!

Angela is seriously dating a guy named Jey. He's from Sri Lanka, and I can't for the life of me ever remember how to spell his full name. He's really a great guy for Angela.


We forgot Jaydn's coat! So he had to wear Angela's:


Buffalo (I mean, ahem, "Bison") were prevalent in Yellowstone.


This bison is "bound for the promised land:"

There's even a "Bison Lane" on the road.

Just kidding, but they did get very close. Check out the baby bison. There were a lot of them.
What does this mean? I had a hard time imagining how I could walk "slippery." Of course, I could only do so when I was "wet." Maybe it applies if you get doused by a geyser. Jaydn made his best "I Love Yellowstone" face:

Going back home, we stopped by the IMAX and watched a show. People in the car got a little crazy when I turned on Abba:

Wow

http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmsshare/BloggerAssets/2008-05/05140810405920080514_CaptHall_audio.mp3

Here's a link to a long interview of Captain Trevor Hall discussing his recent flight into Myannmar (Burma) to deliver relief supplies to the survivors of the recent storm there. I graduated high school with Trevor and was his trainer in the mission field in Seoul, Korea. He is a good friend. His adventures with the military are amazing!

Mark and Andrea Hales' Wedding

On Friday we drove down to Utah to attend Mark and Andrea's wedding. We drove down with Jessi's high school friend, Kalana. In Centerville, we picked up Ali Pili, a friend from American Samoa.

On Saturday morning we drove down to Manti, Utah. I hadn't taken that trip for some time, and I only had a vague memory of the canyon we drove through from when I lived in Price, Utah (a LONG time ago). I didn't remember it (Spanish Fork Canyon?) being so beautiful. Manti was also very nice.

Jessi, Ali and I stopped to take pictures before the wedding ceremony.

The Manti Temple has a lot of history. It is one of the first (perhaps even the first?) Temple built by the Latter-Day Saints once the pioneers came to Utah. So it is really old, but so beautiful.

This view makes it look like a castle.After the ceremony, we all came up and congratulated and hugged Mark and Andrea. It was beautiful, and they were (are) so happy. Jessi and I are so happy for them.

Pictures aren't taken of the actual wedding ceremony inside the Temple. But I did get a whole bunch of candid shots of Mark and Andrea as they exited the Temple.

Later that afternoon we went to their barbeque in Murray, Utah.

Mark wore the "Groom" shirt with a ball and chain for the "o"s. Andrea's shirt had a whip on it.

Right before we left, we took a picture with Mark and Andrea and all of our friends from American Samoa who came to the barbeque. From left to right, (Elder) Brandon Owens, Mark and Andrea, Jessi, Ali Pili, me, (front row) Pyper Jones, Caroline Carter, Jaydn.

Mark and Andrea are now on their way to the Carribean.

I can't think of a better way to spend your weekend than to see your good friends get married.

Do You have a Spouse Like This?

I was in court on Thursday morning. When I came back, two of the secretaries in my firm confronted me with grins on their faces and asked me if Jessi likes to call in to radio shows. I said that she did, but only if it was a contest. Their grins got bigger, and I said that if they knew something they should spill the beans.

Well, they explained that Jessi had called in on a contest where you had to "brag" on your man or otherwise explain what you wanted to change about him. The conversation must have gone something like this:

Host: "Hi, who is this?"

Jessi: "Jessi."

Host: "Jessi, where are you calling from?"

Jessi: "Ammon."

Host: "OK Jessi, now what is your husband's name?"

Jessi: "His name is Sean."

Host: "What does Sean do that you like or dislike?"

Jessi: "Well, right before he falls asleep at night, his legs start to shake and twitch really fast and the covers start moving. That's when I know he's really asleep."

Host: "That's funny. You must really love him, then. I know that would certainly be a turn-on for me. (Exhaggerating here, mind you)."

Jessi: "Yeah, I do, and it is."

OK, so while I know the general gist of what was said, I elaborated on it a little. I didn't actually HEAR it, so I don't know exactly what was said.

But this is the point to be made--there is probably only one Jessi, who lives in Ammon, who is married to Sean. That means that everyone who knew Jessi or me now knows that I shake my legs before I fall asleep.

Is it good to be known for this?

A Grand-Mother's Day

This blog entry is a little old, but I just wanted to say how much I loved Mother's Day this year. There is nothing better than being able to spend Mother's Day with all of the "mothers" in your life. Last year we treated Jessi, but this year we had Jessi, my mom, Jessi's mom, and my grandmother.

The Saturday before Mother's Day we took my grandmother out to eat and then fed the ducks at the Falls. It was a nice day, but still kind of cold.

The Falls will always have a special fondness for me. I asked Jessi to marry me here.

Jaydn's Song and Dance

Here's a vid from Jaydn's school singing class performance. Watch him boogie. I especially like the eyebrow move.

Watch Dad Hit the Ball

He's still got it in him to play ball. Much better hitter than I ever was.

Awesome Story

I don't know if you have seen this, but it's pretty cool. Amazing moment in sports history.

HOLY Papayas

I saw this picture on the Temple's blog, and thought it deserved special attention because of this blog's name.


Where the heck did you find such huge papayas, Ephraim and Melinda?

Witness to a Killing

On Saturday Jaydn and I, as well as Les, Chandler and my Dad went down to the Utah Jazz basketball game. We had dinner at the Olive Garden, and then walked over to the game.

We stopped for a moment at the collection of Ford Mustangs out in front of the arena. Then Chandler's eye caught sight of something even better.

A Ferarri.

See the smile on his face?

Jaydn looks like he's thinking, "oh, the power!! Yes!!!"

We had great seats at the game.

I mean, here's the view from our upper bowl seats. The pictures above were captured with my zoom lens.

Go forth thou bald head, you're too bright!

Jaydn had a blast, but only when he wasn't whacking me in the head with his blow-up noisemakers.

I'm not sure what "A pa mini" means.

The Jazz won, 124-97. A killing. And we loved every minute of it.