Fabulous banana splits

This past weekend I told Nate to get stuff for banana splits because I had invited my friend Shari and her boyfriend over to hangout and play games. We had tons of fun with them playing wiffle ball in the park and playing our Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Treasure Hunt game. After we played, we had banana splits and then they headed home. Well now that we have stuff for banana splits, we've had one every day since. Not so good for our butts and bellies, but oh so good for our tastebuds! Nate went crazy on this one yesterday and we had to take a picture of it. Yum!



This is a picture of the baby bird that happened to be right outside our front door two nights ago. We were watching a movie on TV, kind of a suspenseful one, and I heard strange noises coming from outside. It was like a plop and a high pitched screech. I told Nate the mute the TV and we opened the door and found the little thing just sitting there, almost looking dead. We also saw a cat just about to pounce. Nate scared it away for while so we watched the bird just hop around (it couldn't fly yet). It was so sad! We had seen a nest of baby birds in the tree close by so we figured it was from that. I guess it got kicked out or something. Well anyways, we decided to let it be and went back to our movie, but I kept peeking out the window at it. We saw the cat come back again and I, yes I, decided to let nature take its course. We totally saw the whole thing and watched the cat carry the baby bird away in its mouth screeching for help. It was sad, but oh so cool to watch - yes I know it's bit morbid. Too bad we didn't get a picture of that.



The last things I'll share that we did this weekend was the Patriotic Service at the Marriott Center at BYU tonight. It's part of the events of the Freedom Festival in Provo. It was amazing! Glenn Beck was the keynote speaker and Michael Ballum sang. There was also a brass band that was awesome that was made up of mostly BYU faculty. Seriously, it made me realize that there is something we can do as a people to make America strong and to fix the problems we are seeing. Glenn Beck used the words of the hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" to parallel our journey, and at times fight, to keep the wonderful freedoms and blessings we have. They were words of hope. America isn't a failure yet and there is so much we can do to make sure that doesn't happen. Right now my brother is part of that in a specific way. He's over in Kuwait or somewhere close serving as a dentist for the army. He'll be there for a while. His little contribution, when combined with the little contributions of others, makes one big, unbeatable contribution. That is why we must keep contributing. Vote for those things and people we know to be right and good. It is our right and blessing to do so. Help out, speak out in our communities. Be a part of celebrating freedom. I love it! We are so blessed! And we can keep it that way if we humble ourselves, remember that God is our Father and leader, and adhere to the gospel principles and family values that we know to be true. God bless America, my home sweet home!

Weekend of adventure

Ok so it wasn't that adventuresome but I had a hard time trying to come up with a different title. Yesterday we had a father's day activity with Amy's parents in Salt Lake City at the Gateway mall. We were running a little late so we rushed to find a parking spot. Of course I had to hit every red light and then drove around in circles to try to find a spot in the parking garage. Eventually there was parking available on the bottom floor (3 stories under ground). Then the elevator was acting broken (it was just sitting there with the doors open making the 'warning' sound) so we opted to take the stairs. We made it into the theater several minutes after the movie was supposed to start and met Phil out front. We then had to find the right room. Fortunately for us, the show started right as we sat in our seats so no previews for us!! One thing that was cool with the theater was that they had assigned seating-- but you could choose your seats on a screen and get tickets for those seats. Kung-Fu Panda was just as good the second time around!

After the movie, we went to the California Pizza Kitchen to do some eating. And eat we did! Everybody got pizza, except for me... I got the BBQ chicken salad. Amy and I split the pizza and salad. It was all pretty good. We got some of the details of mom and dad's mission and they seemed to be loving it! After leaving the restaurant, we ran into Dennis, the caterer at our wedding reception! It was good to see him again too.

Everybody piled into my car and we had fun going around in circles again trying to find mom and dad's car. We searched the entire garage (literally) before finding it on an aisle that I had skipped before (they thought it was on a different floor). So that was pretty funny!!

Amy and I then came home so I could write my talk for today. Amy had already written hers and was bored so I kicked her out and told her to go to the mall so that I could write mine in peace. :-) Ok, so she wanted to go to the mall anyway but I got a lot done when she was gone. I put the finishing touches on it this morning and then printed out hers and mine.

Amy got really nervous and nearly pooped her pants before she gave her talk. (j/k -- Amy told me to write that) Its a good thing she didn't though because that would have been a really crappy talk. She did well and then I gave my talk. She says that I did amazing but that is only because I'm really turning her on right now (she told me to write that too). We're just glad that it is over and we don't have to worry about it anymore. We do have to worry about a musical number though coming up in July.

Still waiting....

We still are waiting for our wedding pictures from our photographer. Amy has left numerous messages on his answering machine which have gone unanswered. Maybe we need to either pay him a visit or just get our money back...

Happy Father's Day!

Here we post a tribute to our fathers. Our dads have been so wonderful to us throughout the years. They have fed us, clothed us, gotten mad at us, and taught us life long lessons. They slaved through our homework...oh I mean helped us with our homework. They have even willfully paid for us to do all the things we wanted to do (i.e. movies, theme parks, vacations, mini golf, etc.) Here's to you fathers!! Thanks for all you've done!!





Amy's favorite memories about her dad:

I loved the time we went on a road trip through Arizona and saw all the places my dad grew up. It was really cool to see the schools he went to and the house he lived in. It really helped me get to know my dad a little better. I absolutely loved road trips with my dad. He would always let us eat junk food in the car and we played a lot of fun games as well as read a lot of good books together as a family. Dad's a great dramatic reader and it was always fun to listen to him read. Dad was also always so great for doing most of the driving, even though it was miserable for him. I also loved the traditions we had for Christmas, doing the 12 Days of Christmas for other people and Dad making his fudge. I loved our family Christmas programs too! Another thing I remember about Dad is that he was the best cheerleader I ever had. Thanks for always being there!! Love you Dad!

Nate's favorite memories about his dad:

When I was younger, my dad and I would always go fishing on the first day of the fishing season. We would wake up (I would wake up at 4am like he told me to and he would get up at 6) and then load the boat up and go to one of the lakes in the area. It was always quiet, dark, and cold. We would usually stop to get some worms for fishing and some doughnuts/juice for breakfast. Then we would get the boat in the water and start fishing. I was always the one to catch the first fish (and the most fish). My dad would pretend he was happy, but I knew he was jealous.... so I rubbed it in as much as I could.

As a side note, today was Nate's first day to play the organ for the congregation as ward organist. He blew the place out of the water...lol. The closing hymn was "God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand" and by the last verse Nate had pulled all the stops and changed a few of the chords to more dramatic ones. It was intense and we all sang like it too. The Spirit was really strong. It was awesome! The bishopric turned around to him afterwards and were just showering him with compliments. A lot of the congregation did too. It was so much fun! Also, I got to be primary pianist today and they threw a bunch of new songs at me so I was practically sight reading the whole time. That was also a lot of fun...lol. Then we came home, ate pizza, and then had some apple pie with whipped topping that Nate wanted so badly. Good day!

Skadoooosh!

Amy and I went to "Kung Fu Panda" on Saturday. It is a funny movie and very well done. Before the movie started, Amy and I were listening in on the conversations of the families around us. The theater was packed with kids! Some of the things we heard were:

• "Dad! You ate your hotdog already!!??? You ate it already?"
• "Dad don't eat all the popcorn!"
• "Can I have some more candy?" "You already ate all your candy? No more candy, just eat your popcorn."
• "Daddy why are you so bald?" "I used to shave my head. Do you want to be bald like Daddy?"

It was well worth the money. It is a movie I would consider buying and will likely get when it comes out on DVD. If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly recommend that you do!!

Our Ward Wastes No Time

One thing we have learned this week is that when you're needed you are put to work...lol. That is what our new ward has done for us this week. They know we will only be here until mid-July, but that hasn't stopped them from using us. This past week both the Relief Society Presidency and the Bishopric came to meet us on different days. The ladies in the RS were so sweet and so cute! It seems we've already clicked as friends. It's actually kind of sad that we are leaving so soon because this ward has been so welcoming and I haven't felt this at home in a ward since I lived in Colorado. The Bishopric members were also very friendly and also funny. As we were telling them about us, I mentioned that if they needed a substitute organist they could use Nate. As soon as they heard that, they all looked at each other with big eyes and said to Nate "Would you like to be ward organist??" It was so funny. I guess they've been looking for another one so they're going to use Nate while he's here. He just got set apart today...lol. At least he'll be able to practice now, which is something he's been wanting to do. Then after that they asked us to speak in a couple weeks and then wanted us to do a musical number between now and when we move. Bishop also mentioned that my name was on a list the RS had for primary or something. So yesterday I got a call from the primary pres. and she asked me to substitute for the CTR 7 class today. We felt very much a part of the ward today! It's funny but it's nice to be busy...no matter how restless those kids got. I guess if you don't want to be put to work in a ward, don't make your presence as obvious as we did...lol.

Casey is Born!!

So it's official! Stacey had her baby and thankfully they are both doing fine. The little bugger didn't want to come out so they had to perform a c-section, but at least it is over with. Amy and I are looking forward to actually getting to see them in person next month!! See the Imblers blog for more photos and information. I'm sure that Stacey will update her blog as soon as she can.

A new nephew is on the way!

So this morning I took my car back into the dealership to have them replace a seat sensor in the passenger seat for the airbag system. For the past 8 months, I've had an annoying red light flashing at me saying something is wrong with my airbag system. The car has been to the dealership over 10 times and finally Nissan flew a "guru" out to look specifically at my car. Long story short, after a full day of inspecting my car, he came to the conclusion that the sensor in the passenger seat was defective. If this is the problem, it will be ironic since I suggested that they replace the sensors somewhere around the 3rd or 4th time I took it in. So now we play the waiting game to see if the light comes back to haunt me again.

Amy took me to work from the dealership and on the way, I got a call from my dad saying that Stacey is in the hospital since her water broke this morning. We are excited for her and Landis and hope that everything goes smoothly for them! This will be the first nephew for us on the Jackson side of the family!! Congrats Stacey and Landis!

FHE

Last night, Amy and I had Family Home Evening. We pretty much have it every night since we are always are home together in the evenings. However, yesterday was especially cool since we built a fortress using blankets, a love-sac, chairs, and the futon in the front room.

We started a budget and so we'll see how that turns out. It is kind of hard to estimate our expenses since we don't know what we should expect. I hope it will get easier and more stable after the move to Seattle.

PCC Fire dancers

Here is one of the cooler things we saw at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. This guy is either amazing or absolutely crazy! You choose....

New Beginnings

Well, Amy and I have been married for 1 month tomorrow. The time has blown by incredibly fast and it is still weird to think that we are married. Amy has her blog at http://strawbabe.blogspot.com/ and I figured that we should probably make a new blog for us. So this is a new adventure for me. I've always tried to keep my life personal and not out there on the web. I don't have a choice now since I'm on that blog. We'll try to keep this thing updated and I'm sure Amy will be doing the most blogging on this thing so you can thank her for that.