I Survived My Family Reunion!

I know I'm way behind on posting, sorry for being so lame.

Last weekend we packed the car up and headed north to Koosharem, Utah for a Kendrick Family Reunion. Where the Hell is that, you ask. Exactly, in the middle of F-ing no where! My father, not my dad (stepdad) but my DNA sharing Father recently finished building his legacy. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with giant loft and garage vacation house with wrap-a-round deck. Apparently he bought either 700 or 7000 acres on top of this mountain above Koosharem, UT so he could build his Dream Home in the woods. Shane (my brother with the same father) and I are very excited to one day inherit this "legacy" and pass it on to our future child/ren.

We were entering the mountains north of Phoenix when we realized we'd forgot the camera! I'm sure everyone knows how much we love our camera and how many damn photos we take everywhere we go. So this was huge. I actually thought for a full minute about turning around to get it but if we did, we'd hit rush hour and that adds hours on to the commute north out of Phx. It already takes 45 minutes to drive through Phx, add rush hour to that and you're in for an additional hour.

Anway...this is the first time we have forgot our camera on any trip. It makes it almost pointless to post about the trip because I don't have photographs to share with you, so you can "see" what I'm talking about. However, I will share a few things that happened on our adventure.

This is the first time we have driven through the Reservation and into Page, AZ during sunset. It's beautiful during the day, but at sunset it's gorgeous! Plus because of the fire burning in south of the Grand Canyon the smoke was creating the craziest clouds and at one point covered the sun so you could stare directly into it and it was Blood Red. The clouds moved just enough to make it look like the sun was bleeding! This was the beginning of "I can't believe we forgot the camera" moments! Blood Red Sun that you could stare directly at. When is that EVER going to happen again?

We thought about buying a cheap digital camera at Walmart in Page but I couldn't picture myself purchasing a cheap camera, even that would have been the point. I would have had to buy a decent camera and a decent camera isn't going to be cheap.

To be continued on July 10th.

You're FIRED!

Remember my "Separation of Church and State?" post. The Mormons fired Jeffrey Nielsen, BYU Professor for speaking out publicly against the gay marriage amendment in the SLC Tribune.

"A letter dated June 8 from BYU Department of Philosophy Chairman Daniel Graham. "In accordance with the order of the church, we do not consider it our responsibility to correct, contradict or dismiss official pronouncements of the church," the letter reads. "Since you have chosen to contradict and oppose the church in an area of great concern to church leaders, and to do so in a public forum, we will not rehire you after the current term is over."

I'm not surprised one bit. I feel for the guy, but he had to know that was coming. I was a little shocked to read his response; "I have no desire to be anything but a member of the church," he said.

I can’t quite wrap my head around wanting to be part of a church whose power structure would actively harm me for publicly stating a belief.

Blurfing Again

Found BushYoga.com...so funny! For a good hardy laugh, click on the different yoga poses at the top. It's a pretty small site, but full of shrubbery goodness. I've never seen this video before; another example of Shrub's lack of intelligence. Wait here's another one! Then there's this hilariously (edited for your entertainment) movie created by Chris Morris. I've seen that one before, but wanted to share it with all of you!

You might be a child of the 80's if...

I'm sure you have all seen these before, but this is a detailed list and made me miss my Wonder Woman Underoos!

You wanted to be on Star Search.
You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off. Also when he had those freaky eyes in "Thriller" at the end of the video.
You wore a banana clip or one of those slap on wrist bands at some point during your youth.
You wore rolls on the bottom of your splatter painted jeans.
You had slouch socks, and puff painted your own shirt at least once.
You owned a doll with 'Xavier Roberts' signed on it's butt.
You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."
You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off."
You can name at least half of the members of the elite "Brat Pack."
You can remember watching Full House and Saved by the Bell for endless hours.
You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer."
You'll always hold a special place in your heart for "Back to the Future."
You know where to go if you "wanna go where everybody knows your name."
You thought Molly Ringwald was REALLY cool.
You know what "psych" means.
You fell victim to 80's fashion: big hair, crimped, combed over to the side, and you wore spandex pants.
You wanted to be a Goonie ("Goonies never say die.")
You knew "The Artist" when he was humbly called "Prince."
You ever wore fluorescent—neon if you will—clothing...
You could breakdance, or wished you could.
You know who Max Headroom is.
You know, by heart, the words to any "Weird" Al Yankovic song.
You remember when ATARI was a state-of-the-art video gaming system.
You own any cassettes or albums.
You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.
You remember and/or own any of the Care Bear glass collection from Pizza Hut.
"Poltergeist" totally freaked you out.
You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins or an ET lunchbox.
You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female Smurf.
You wanted to communicate with Synergy, or you wanted green hair like that lead singer of the Misfits. See Jem.
You inserted the word "like" into, like, every sentence.
You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.
You ever had a Swatch Watch.
You actually spent countless hours trying to perfect the Care-Bear Stare.
You had a crush on one of the Coreys (Haim or Feldman).
You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.
You had Wonder Woman or Superman Underoos.
You actually thought "Dirty Dancing" was a REALLY good movie.
You have heard of "Garbage Pail Kids" (and perhaps still have a collection of them).
Extra point You have seen the Garbage Pail Kids TV show. (Only one episode was aired.)
You had a crush on Bo Derek.
Punks actually "shocked" people.
You wanted to be The Hulk or Rainbow Brite for Halloween.
You believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"
You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
You know what a "Whammy" is. ("No Whammy, no whammy, stop!")
Partying "like its 1999" seemed SO far away.
Songs by Debbie Gibson still haunt you to this day.
3 words: "Atari" "IntelliVision" and "Coleco". Sound familiar?
You remember the days that hooking your computer into your TV wasn't an expensive option that required gadgets - it was the ONLY WAY to use your computer!
You remember "Friday Night Videos" before the days of MTV.
You ever owned a pair of "Pop-Wheels"—that handy little combination of shoe and roller skate that lasted about a year on the open market.
You're PO'd that you couldn't really participate in the 60's, pissed that you were a part of the 70's, think you wasted too much time doing stupid, meaningless things in the 80's, and still have no clue what the 90's were all about.
While in high school, you and all your friends discussed elaborate plans to get together again at the end of the century and play "1999" by Prince over and over again.
You remember when music that was labeled "alternative" really was.
You were shocked and horrified at the Challenger explosion (which you were probably watching in school at the time).
You watched HR Puffenstuff as a child, but now that you're older, you really understand that it would have been much better had you known about drugs at the time.
You've recently horrified yourself by using any one of the following phrases:
"When I was younger"
"When I was your age"
"You know, back when..."
"Because I SAID so, that's why"
"What the HECK is this noise on the radio?"
"Just can't (fill in the blank) like I used to"
You can't remember a time when "going out for coffee" DIDN'T involve 49,000 selections to choose from.
Schoolhouse Rock played a HUGE part in how you actually learned the English language.
You ever dressed to emulate a person you saw in either a Duran Duran, Madonna, or Cyndi Lauper video.
At one point during your teenage years, you walked with a noticeable tilt to one side due to the number of plastic rings on that arm.
"Celebration" by Kool & the Gang was one of the hot new songs when you first heard it at a school dance.
The first time you ever kissed someone at a dance fell during "Crazy for You" by Madonna.
You ever owned one of those embarrassing crimping irons.
You used to hold in your head the thought that all those gold chains on Mr. T actually looked kinda cool and the thought that Mr. T made millions seemed rational to you at the time.
You remember with pain the sad day when the Green Machine hit the streets and made your old big wheel quite obsolete.
You've gotten this far on the list and aren't totally confused.
The phrase "Where's the beef?" still doubles you over with laughter.
You read the "Hot Video Games Player's Secrets" guide for Mortal Kombat just so you could find the hidden screen, and play Pong again for old time's sake
You're starting to believe that maybe 30 isn't so old after all, and it's those people over 40 you have to look out for.
Your hair, at some point in time in the 80's, became something which can only be described by the phrase "I was experimenting."
You've ever shopped at a Banana Republic or Benetton, but not in the last five years, okay?
You're starting to get that "why aren't you married yet" spiel, not just from parents, but now from friends that are married.
You ever wanted to be gagged with a spoon.
When someone mentions two consecutive days of the week, the Happy Days theme is stuck in your head for hours on end.
You remember "Hey, let's be careful out there."
You're parents wanted you to attend medical school, but you decided it was pointless since Quincy got all the babes, anyway.
You had a crush on Jon Bon Jovi, or knew someone who did.
You thought eating Reese's Pieces would attract your own Alien.
Your name is Jennifer or Jason.
You have ever called 867-5309.
You had a poster of Rob Lowe, Kirk Cameron, or Michael J. Fox on your wall.
You held the top score on Pac-Man.
You owned a t-shirt that said, "I shot J.R." or know someone who did.
This rings a bell: "and my name, is Charlie. They work for me."
You HAD to have your MTV.
You know what a "burnout" is.
You owned a Jordache anything, or you remember when Jordache jeans were cool.
You remember when Madonna was just hitting the scene.
You remember the original version of Windows: Macintosh.
You thought "Weird Science" was a masterpiece.
You remember any or all of the following: Echo & the Bunnymen, Cutting Crew, Scritti Politti, or Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.
Chevy Chase was really funny in those vacation movies.
You actually know who Rick Springfield is.
You remember when film critics raved that no movie could ever possibly get better special effects than those in the movie TRON.
You jammed to the Miami Vice theme and thought Jan Hammer was cool.
Guys: You remember when a guy piercing his ear was radical to the max, but did it anyhow.

Blogger is being weird today so some of my links may or may not work and some of them are listed funny. For example Wonder Woman Underoos!

Lucy was spared!

We had quite the Monsoon rainstorm today. I missed it, because I was stuck inside working. But I had a coworker of mine come in from a smoke break and tell me I was lucky.

Why, I asked. He then proceeded to tell me that the left side of the tree I'm parked under has broke and fallen on 2 parking spaces. I'm parked to the right of the tree. THANK GAWD!

The only part of the tree left in the air, was right above my car! Seriously, lucky!

This was the other tree that apparently fell on a VW Jetta. They hooked up a rope to a truck and lifted it upright long enough for the Jetta to pull out, surprisingly unharmed!

I went home on lunch and grabbed our real camera, came back and took better pictures, it's obvious which one's are which. The shitty ones are from my cell phone.

People's Most Beautiful Baby?

Click on pic for the source.

larger view

It's Your Birthday 6.6.6!

HAPPY evil BIRTHDAY DAD!

666

I call for Double Castration!

So you've probably heard about the couple who are accused of selling their 2 youngest children in Mexico, Jessica Karin Heird and Edward Henry Leader. I Googled her name to find a picture of this crazy bitch and found some interesting information. Jessica ran away at 16, a year later she kidnapped her children (Eric Kent Heird and Matthew Sean Leader) whom she had lost custody of. They found her 3 year old son, but have yet to find her 18 month old daughter. AND The Bitch is currently 6 months pregnant! Not to mention Edward has a 16 year old daughter, Jenny Leader that is currently missing. Police assume she runaway because her father, The Bastard tried to force her into prostitution.

I call for Double Castration!

Separation of Church and State?

I got into an argument with a friend who is (on again, off again Mormon) right before Bush stole his 2nd election, about her bishop telling the ward to remember to get out and vote for Bush. Not just get out a vote, which I fully support, but get out and vote for Bush. So if you're a good little church going member, wouldn't you feel like you're going Against your Bishop's orders if you were to vote for anyone other than Bush? It's ridiculous...how do these psychos get away with this shit? Oh wait...It's the same reason why there are so many children who fall prey to their bishop/father/priest/pastor/chaplain/padre/holy man/friar/preacher/rabbi/vicar's sexual abuse.

One of the many reasons I hated living in Utah, there is no separation of Church and State. At church services last week, the priesthood read this letter from the First Presidency. It's a letter about the United States Senate who will vote on 06/06/06 on an amendment to protect the traditional institution of marriage. They are urging their members to contact their senators to express their support of banning gay marriage.

In BYU Philosophy Professor Jeffrey Nielsen's article in today's Salt Lake Tribune he brought up a point I've questioned many times. How can they possibly support marriage between a man and a woman if LDS women are not allowed Temple divorces, therefore living a polygamist life after death?

But...My favorite part of his article was this:

"Ultimately, any appeal to religious authority to create law is misplaced. Our Founding Fathers were inspired by their study of history to separate constitutional authority from religious belief, recognizing as they did the potential for tyranny in unchecked religious influence. In our pluralistic democracy, attempting to restrict an individual's rights and privileges based upon a religious claim is a dangerous rejection of our Founding Fathers' wise insight, and it should be unacceptable to all Americans."

Nuff said.

On A Lighter Note...Baby names

For those of you who don't read Jory's Blog (Shame on you!) He recently blogged about how I asked him to come up with some names for our possible adopted baby that is due in November. I'm trying to get him to come up with names now, because by November he may come up with some serious ones within all the crazy ones.

Here is the NOT GOING TO HAPPEN list so far....
Jesus
Satan
Jehovah
Moses
Harlot
Jezebel
Babylon
Samson
Goliath
76214
Osiris
Anubis
Zod
Superman
Jory v.2.0 (My favorite he came up with, but it's not going to happen!)
Anton
Aleister
Lucifer
Buddha
Hades
Hermes
Joo
Golden Child
Seven of Nine
or any name of a planet.

His friends(actually Our friends, but I'm saying their His friends, because my friends would never suggest such Cruel names) have suggested such names as:
Lucifer
Snake
Homer
Billy Joe
Billy Bob
Bobby Sue
Bubba
balthasar
abner
man at arms
cyrus
cyclops
mulva
Shaneekwa
Ree Ree
John Boy and replace the John with a name of your choice

There were only TWO decent suggestions: Thank you Athena!
Atreyu but some band stole it
Mary Jayne but then everyone just assumes the kid's parents are big stoners. ;)

My suggestions he's said NO to (boys and girls):
Sparrow
Drew
Ocean
River
Orion
London
Cairo
Isreal
India
Indio
Zoe
Zara
JorDan (to be named after their papa...even though Jordan is such a popular name)
JorDanah
Skye/Skylar/Skylan/Skyla
Rayn/Rayna/Rayana
Taro

If the baby is a girl, I think we have enough good ideas, so really we're just asking for boy names because they are the hardest to come up with. But feel free to suggest girl names as well, maybe there's one we haven't thought of and would love to use!

So far our Potential list of names are:(boys and girls)
Jack
Lennon (even though Jory wants to spell it Lenin...EVIL Jory EVIL!)
Evan (boy or girl)
Charlotte
Isabel/Isabell/Isabella (after his grandma I met once, middle name only because it's so popular)
...and a secret girl name I refuse to publish until we know what we're having so no one can steal it.

Please submit your suggestions!

Happy Birthday Jua May!

Where would I be today, without you?

Thanks for being the Best Friend a girl could have!

Here's to another 16 years...CHEERS!