Grrrr....

So, I had the most sickening sight as I pulled up to work this morning. The parking lot was essentially empty and the building looked dead. Somehow, I had forgotten that today was a holiday - and I showed up to work anyway. Because I was gone all last week, I feel obligated to sit here for a bit and catch-up on my work (amidst blogging). Grrr...

This reminds me of the time that I somehow didn't get the memo about Daylight Savings Time and showed up to church an hour early. I was angry for weeks afterward.

The Weirdos Out There

According to my hit-counter, our blog has been 'Googled' a number of times. The last searches that led weirdos to our blog were:

Nettie Sorensen (Google)
masonology (Google)
flaming gorge kayak camping (Google)
masonology (Google)
masonology (Google)
"change her own diapers" (Google)

Strange. This has led to some discussion about going private. We're not sure if we'll do it or not, but it might happen. If you want to make sure we add you to the list, post your email address here or send me an email: bmason@212resources.com

Worst...Golf Course...Ever...

Well, since my whale didn't spark any interest (you know, it really hurts my feelings when I don't get any comments on this stupid blog), I have decided to showcase my parents' adventures in retirement. They are currently living the dream as Sunbirds in Quartzite, AZ.

Ahhhh... the joys of RV Livin': The open road. Porta-potties. Swap-Meets. Cramming all of life's essentials into a rolling palace on wheels so you can park inches away from other people who share your same ambitions. This is what its all about, I guess.

The metropolis of Quartize, Arizona is a retirement haven (so I'm told). As proof to this, I offer exhibits A, B, and C. Eat your heart out, Pebble Beach...

Exhibit A. The high life.

Exhibit B. I'm thinking that the government must have tested some nukes here. If they didn't they should have.

Exhibit C. I think the bleachers are the remains of a planewreck.

Humpback

Did I ever share this picture I took when I was in Alaska?

(OK, I didn't take this picture, but I wished I did. I did witness this kind of stuff, however).

I know this post is dumb, I was just sick of looking at the Inauguration.

In-Awe-Guration

As most of you know, I attended President Obama's Inauguration. My friend and Neighbor, Cody Watson, got the tickets by emailing Senator Bennett shortly after the election. When his wife didn't want to go, I jumped in. Fortunately, I have a buddy who lives in DC who offered to let us stay with him. So, I used some of my hard-earned frequent flier miles and set off for quite the adventure. In an attempt to keep myself eligible for the family inheritance, I tried for as long as possible to keep this little trip secret from my mother-in-law, but she found out shortly before I left. Pictures below:

This is me with my ticket. I waited in this mob for about 3 hours just to get to the security checkpoint. There were no toilets at this part, and it was the single most people I've ever seen in my life. I was quite the hero to these people, because I was tall enough to look over the crowd and report to the masses what was going on. They called me 'Tall Man'. I was also loaded with a bunch of granola bars, which I gave to some weary people. I kept telling them how I was a boy scout. Little did they know how prepared I really was. I had an orange juice bottle in my pocket that I was going to pee in, if I didn't get to a restroom soon. Fortunately, I never had to use it.

Here is a shot I got of the Obamas.*

A few things became clear to me while attending this event. First of all, the Democratic Party is odd. The place was packed with a bunch of Hippies (you know, the kind of people who throw paint on you if you wear fur), as well as fur-wearing people who seemed to believe they were at a Baptist revival. They were swaying back-and-forth and shouting 'Amen' periodically. They tended to repeat the last 3 words of each stanza form Obama's speech. I can still hear it now, "Unclench Your Fists", etc, etc.

These guys were on top of most buildings. I felt very safe with them there.

The highlight of my trip was when Pres. Bush boarded Marine 1 and flew directly over my head. For some reason, this really touched me. I felt bad that there were people mocking him. Every time they would show him on the TV screen, they would start singing, "Sha-na-na-na. Hey-hey-hey. Goooooodbye." I haven't been entirely pleased with G.W. Bush the past 4 years either, but I hated to see disrespect for the president.

Did I mention that people were everywhere?

This was my view of the event. In a strange way, I felt like I was at Woodstock. It was a total 'Kum-bay-ya' moment. People were crying, kissing, and hugging. After Obama's speech, I saw this chubby Black lady next to me with tears rolling down her cheeks. She just really looked like she needed a hug, so I gave her one.

Emily pointed out to me that I had a bunch of photos of the same thing, so I changed this one. This is my brother and I at the Lincoln Memorial at night. At this point, I was exausted. I began standing at 5:30 in the morning on the subway, and the first time I got to sit down was around 3:30 pm in Senator Bennett's office.

This was my first view. When I first got on the Mall, I headed to the back, to have a little elbow room. Eventually, I realized I couldn't see very well, and there was something (like a stand for TV Cameras) blocking my view of the action - so I moved around a bit and got much closer.



At night, they lit up the skies with these lights. It was obvious that they were Masonic symbols.



The White House. Notice the guards on top.


The place was a disaster. There were no garbage cans anywhere. Trash was piled ankle-high. Miraculously, I went back the next day and it was mostly cleaned up.

I took this picture for my buddy Tom Ferguson who seems to have a fixation on local TV reporters. I pushed Senator Chaffetz out of the way so I could meet this guy. I lied and told him I was a big fan. But I'm pretty sure he knew I was lying when I called him 'John Hollenhorst'. He corrected me and told me his name was 'Richard Piatt'. Meh.

Speaking of second-rate celebrities, here is Don King. It was SUCH an honor. I think he thinks he is a civil rights hero. He is really just an idiot.

Most of you know that if there is anything I love, it is mass-hysteria. I need little motivation to join in on any given craze. So, I had to jump in and buy some buttons. Believe it or not, I even paid full price for them. These kinds of guys were ALL OVER THE PLACE selling anything Obama-ish. I saw Obama shoes, Obama hot sauce, Obama incense and depictions of Obama hugging Martin Luther King, Jr. The craziest of the T-Shirts had Obama in a white robe singing Gospel, and depicted him as some kind of singing Messiah.

While there, we also visited 2 Smithsonian Museums and Manassas (aka Bull Run, the battlefield where the Civil War began). However, Emily dislikes my long posts, so I'll have to skip the pictures. i will leave with one more, as it shows the 4 of us who endured the Inaugural craziness.

Clockwise from left is me, Dan Webber (mission companion and DC resident), Cody Watson (neighbor with the tix and speed-walker extraordinaire) and my brother Trent. Trent drove down from Pittsburgh when he heard I was in town. For some reason, he wore camouflage pants and a hooded sweatshirt, and looked very much like either a uni bomber-type figure or someone looking to distribute religious material.

* OK, as you may have guessed, these guys were Barack and Michelle look-alikes.

Breakfast in the buff

This morning Mylie ate her breakfast nude. I was on the other side of the bar so I didn't realize she was completely naked until she was almost finished. She was supposed to put on a pull-up on (you know, since she changes he own diapers now) and get dressed. When I saw her sitting there without a shirt on I thought to myself, at least her shirt will stay clean.

Still Alive

Here is a little picture summary of what's been going on in our lives for the past 2-3 months

Thanksgiving in Fallon with all the cousins except Morgan, Calvin, Piper and Oakley (not pictured, but enjoyed his first trip on the farm: Oskar).

Christmas

This is Mylie on Christmas morning with a reindeer milk mustache. Reindeer milk tastes a lot like egg nog only its red. The girls left a note for Santa asking for some reindeer milk preferably from Rudolf (because it's red). Some of the other reindeer give green or maybe yellow milk. But all reindeer milk leaves great milk mustaches that last all morning.

Stockings!

Playing in the snow with James and Aunt Ashley

Abbey lost her first 2 teeth. She was really excited after losing her first tooth for about a half hour. Then she got really sad, I found her hiding in her room crying because she missed her tooth.

Cuddling with Oskar.

Painting nails.

New Post

There you go. Are you all happy now?

Saturday Night's All Right For...

By the way, we called 911 3 times on Saturday. I think this has to be some kind of record. Along with my 3 calls to 911, I filled out 2 police reports.

Happy Birthday to Abbey

Yesterday was Abbey's Birthday. I told her I would make what ever she wanted for dinner or we could go out to eat anywhere she wanted. I figured we would be going to McDonalds, but she chose to go to Rumbi. We've only been there a couple time and I don't think she really cares too much for the food, but every time we go she likes to call it Ru Ru Rumbi and she repeats it over and over and over. So when asked what she wanted to do for her birthday dinner she said Ru Ru Rumbi.

On Saturday we had a birthday party for her. This was her first "friends" birthday party. The theme was a pretend sleep-over (thanks to Kim for the great idea) the girls wore their pajamas and brought their sleeping bags. Itwas so much fun!



When everyone got there we watched a movie and ate popcorn.





They played musical sleeping bags. This game was a hit. Mylie was the very first person out, which didn't go over too well.


Music stopped, everyone in a sleeping bag.




This was supposed to be a balloon relay where you have two teams and you run to the other end of the room and sit on the balloon to pop it, run back tag the next person on your team. Repeat. So on and so forth. Balloons these days are a lot stronger than they used to be so we ended up having everyone bounce on their balloon and the first to pop wins. It went on for nearly five minutes. It was funny to watch. Notice some girls are plugging their ears.

Balloon pop video



I made journals and the girls decorated them with foam stickers and jewels.

This is the little kid table.

Opening of the presents. Can they get any closer?


Singing Happy Birthday. Abbey was funny to watch while we sang, I could tell she was embarrassed. (you can kinda tell in this picture)

Happy Birthday Abbey!