Baptizing Together in the Malaysian River

Friday, October 8, 2010

Our FAVORITE weather!


This Rainbow was soooooo bright and HUGE it went across the whole sky, it was a double rainbow too but i don't know if you can see it.

After the Big storm, it stayed overcast the rest of the day which is very rare for Arizona. Ben and I loved it!

This was the day before. The clouds were so huge and there was lightning flashing in those clouds. It was nice and cool with a breeze, it stormed later that night. This weather comes few and far between so Ben and I loved every minute of it.

The Dave Ramsey Show



Friday, September 3, 2010

Little Green Men

Lake Hava-Who?

On monday Stacy and I went with my parents (Stacy's parents in-law (yeah, that would make sense right?)) and Katie to Lake Havasu, Arizona. Located on the border of middle-of-nowhere and i'm-lost. Actually it's located in western Arizona, in fact, half of the lake sits in the state of California. We left early monday morning because Stacy and I actually had the same day off for a change...yeah, it was quite nice! We began our adventure with our family at around 8:45am. We were pulling out of the driveway as my mom said, "alright off we go" and my dad replied with "ok, I'll call OnStar" in which my mom responded, "WHY?" "I Don't Know, I thought it was a good idea..." "Not if we already know how to get there..." "..Ok...Can I still call OnStar??" HA. At about 8:48am the kidos in the back (by kidos in the back, I mean of course, Stacy and Katie.....ok and Ben) were getting antsy, so while we were fueling up at a gas station we made a purchase that changed the whole atmosphere of the trip, the movie Mars Attacks! For those of you who have seen this movie you know exactly what I am speaking of, for those of you who do not, I shall explain. Mars Attacks! is a movie about...yes...little green aliens with GIGANTIC brains who come to destroy the world as we know it!! Sadly but Amazingly this movie actually has a cast that is outta this world (no pun intended...ok maybe a little pun intended) Names such as:

Jack Nicholson (as two different characters!!), Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, and TOM JONES(as himself)!!!!!!!!!

I know, I know..try to contain yourself....yeah, it was hard for me to do also! And that is what makes this movie SO amazing, BECAUSE IT IS SO HORRIBLE! You know these actor knew it was a piece of poop when they read the screen play and yet they still jumped in to make it, and Thus, A Masterpiece.

So there we were, driving through some VERY ominous mountain views and as we stared out the window at those sinister peaks creeping into the sky all we heard was this strange music, that in writing I can best describe as sounding like the letter W. Kinda like...wwwWWWwwwWWWWwwwwooooo. (AT THIS TIME, PLEASE FOLLOW THE YOUTUBE LINK ATTACHED.) Okay now you have a slightly better idea of what I was just trying to describe ha! As sci-fi (strange, this seems to be a reoccurring theme here in AZ.) as the scenes may have been the pictures that they were painting were non-the-less BEAUTIFUL! Especially when we came upon the Colorado River rushing at the feet of the gargantuan mountains. It's moments like that where you feel like if you reach out your hand and your finger tips would cause a ripple in the plain between you and the vision of Heaven.

We were getting close to the lake but the heat ended up being too much for our GPS to handle so she (she because it's a woman's voice) just gave up on us and told us to go on solo. Without a single lament my dad continued by saying, "OnStar?" and that was enough to resurrect our GPS. I think she was a little insulted to be replaced so easily, because once we had finally made it to the city of Havasu and were driving towards the lake she made us take every left and right turn possible so to make the last leg of the trip as long as possible. After about the sixth weave and wind away from our objective conclusion, we turned her off and just figured if we drive towards the lake, we'll be okay. Two minutes later we arrived at the lake.

As we got close to the water we were welcomed by a very famous bridge but not for domestic reasons, it was more well know as the bridge leading into the great city of London, England. Before the bridge was brought to America by a rich entrepreneur (Robert Paxton McCulloch) in 1911-77, its stones were best known for the blood that stained them. Back in 1577, to deter treason, the English patrons would display several impaled heads, sticking up off the sides of the bridge and at the city's gate. They would dip the heads in tar so to preserve the heads for long term exhibition. Specific heads belonged to well know people such as: William Wallace, Thomas More, and Thomas Cromwell! So you can imagine our intrigue when we were crossing that very same bridge hundreds of years later. You know sometimes I wish Stacy and I could have that much money, (rich snotty accent) "Stacy my dear, I'm Bored, Perhaps I'll Buy the London Bridge and Reconstruct it in the Middle of the Desert somewhere." -Ok, maybe not.

Finally we made it to the lake and we were in search for the best tool in which to take the most advantage of this wondrous puddle. So we walked down the dirt sidewalk that followed the exterior of the lake until we came across a spate of booths renting out skidoos and boats. So of course, we checked one of them out, and then another, and then another. My dad has this strange delusion the he is Monty Hall from "Let's Make a Deal" and that when given the opportunity he can get a better deal, or just make the situation so convoluted that when he is finished, the sales person is yelling, "I JUST WANT TO STAY WITH DOOR ONE!" (FUN FACT: if you are ever given three doors to choose from, one having a great prize like a Jet Airplane and the other two have donkeys (which I think would also be a COOL prize!)one is opened to reveal one ass excuse-me donkey and you are presented with the opportunity to switch or stay, you should ALWAYS switch...you instantly trade in a 1/3 chance of being right to a 2/3 chance of being correct...and them odds, I like!) Anyways, so my dad went to one booth sent me to the next booth to do a little reconnaissance and Katie to the next, so to make sure we got THE BEST DEAL POSSIBLE. Come to find out they all charge the same...and they don't like 1960's game shows! So to the pain of my father's bargaining philosophies we rented a boat for the price on the board, but to be fair he did get us an extra hour and a wake board...so I guess he DID do prutty good.

So we headed out onto the high seas....OH YEAH.....WAIT...back it up!

I GOT STUNG BY A BEE!

HA, YEEEAH I KNOW, LAME. So we were standing at one of the boat booths and talking to the man about how cheep we could get a boat for the most hours possible when I heard, and felt, this buzzing inside my shirt. Anxious, I realized it was a BEE! Calmly, I lifted the sleeve of my shirt to let it fly out.

Anxious Calmly Raced to Pang. The little bugger STUNG ME! So I was super excited about this omen presented over my day! Stacy was a really good nurse though, with a little kiss to my arm instant healing fell over my body; I swear, She is not Human...I honestly believe she is an Angel..My Angel.

There I was, sitting behind the boat my board perpendicular to the watercraft waiting for the throttle to be kicked into gear. First attempt, I move my board into position, keeping my tips up, then I slowly sank strait into the water. Second attempt, again up on the board, standing in accordance to the physical laws of the sport, and again sank faster than a chicago mobster with bricks tied to his ankles. I yelled up to my dad, "Hey, go faster!" he yelled back, "Um that's almost full throttle!" I then replied, "So go full throttle!" HA! Third attempt, my arms were yanked out of their sockets as I shot up to my feet and skimmed across the top of the water almost as if I were not even touching the surface. The boat was so old and SO awful that literally a millimeter was all that separated the boat from being a sloth, like an actually sloth (the animal), or from being Sloth, the character for the movie The Goonies. It was either this creature that had no aspirations or consideration to use more energy than it had to, or it was this beast that had no self control at all using raw power to propel me through the water with such force as to taunt my ability to stay on my feet for more than 30 seconds. As long as you were tethered behind Sloth you wanted to do your best not to fall because if you had the unfortunate opportunity to experience your foredooming death it would have come on your back...while skipping across the waves of the lake...at 70 miles an hour. The oman of the Bee visited when I fell for the first time and realized the water we were skimming over was only 3 feet deep, SERIOUSLY, and I slammed into the solid bottom straight on my head. I came up saying, "Uuuuuh ooooohh uuuuuuh rrrrrrmmmmrmr" (those are pain groans.) I then climbed into the boat and gave someone else the chance to see a glimpse of the afterlife.

The trip really wasn't bad at all actually, I'm just over dramatizing it for the sake of the blog. We had a GREAT time! Stacy, Katie and I tubed a lot. My dad like a REEEETARD jumped behind the Sloth waring water skis and wouldn't get out of the water until I took him for a ride or two. I hear what your thinking, AND I AGREE, OF COURSE THAT WAS A BAD IDEA! But he seemed to enjoy it even though he might have regretted it afterwards. On our approach to the boat ramp to drop off the boat we all fell forward as the boat came to a sudden stop and we heard what sounded like a can of green beans going through the garbage disposal. The trim got into a fight with some rocks and the rocks won. We were freaking out as we were getting pulled out of the water and the man looked at the propeller and saw that it looked like an alligator came and bit a chunk out of the metal, sadly there were no alligators in this lake that we could blame. The man looked at the trim then looked at us then back at the trim, my dad was in a cold sweat knowing that the sucker cost $800 dollars to replace as they made us so aware at the beginning of the trip. The man then proceeded to say, "Hey Jason (his partner) come over hear at take a look at what we didn't see here today." Jason looked and said, "D*** that blade really got chewed up! No worries sir we'll go ahead a change that out before we get back to the boat house." We were relived to find out the two men who took us out that day were the chief mechanics of the boats and were two men we had really befriended earlier, so they went ahead and fixed the problem for us so not to keep us sweating.

Needless to say it was an eventful trip. As we pulled off into the sunset my dad said, "Onstar?" My mom quickly replied, "Please!" and we were off for a quiet ride home.


Monday, August 2, 2010

"God Help us all"


Every once in a while every body in this world has a moment of, "God Help Us All!" But if you have ever worked in the food service industry (or coffee service industry for that matter) you have experienced this moment more often than not. A moment where you look at someone and listen to their demands and all you are thinking in your head is "really?"..."REALLY?" The fact that you thought, No one could possible get more selfish than the last person I helped. And then you realize you were wrong, dead wrong. Point in case, Stacy had a "God help us all" moment today when a customer complained to the manager about having to wait for a table for four minutes...yes FOUR WHOLE MINUTES! OOOOH THE ATROCITY!! Stacy (and this is extremely humorous if you know my Stacy) in her anger and desire to blow up took her rage to a piece paper rather than blowing up at the customer and really putting them into their place (where i think they belong anyways, In Their Place.) And so the picture attached to this blog is evidence of Stacy's thoughts on how sad this country has gotten. Something as simple enough as food and people can't help but whine about having to wait a few measly minutes to receive their opportunity to eat! And as she states in her letter to God, there are people in the majority this world who wont even get the opportunity to eat today and in most cases this whole week! How sick are we? If you make a Latte with 2% rather than Non-Fat milk, the person will ask you to pour out their drink and make another one, and they expect you to give them a free coffee for their trouble! Who are these people!? Are They Serious?? When did we get SO inconsiderate?? One last instance, as if we need it, At Starbucks we have a Collection Box for non-perishable food to help support the Phoenix Rescue Mission, we've been collecting for 3 weeks and we only have 2 weeks left to collect food and do you know what all we have sitting inside the box? Wadded up receipt paper and several straw wrappers!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!?!?! Come On People, REALLY??

"God Help Us ALL!!"

So if you are reading this blog, Stacy and I challenge You, Show someone, today, some compassion. Whether it's at a T.G.I.Fridays, Starbucks or even at a local grocery store...you know what, maybe, just on a sidewalk somewhere when you see someone drop some change, take every moment you have to brighten up someone's day. Really it's as simple as eye contact, a smile, and gentle words in response. I promise that's all it takes and it makes the WORLD a difference to us "minimum wage" folks. And if you see someone in need don't hesitate to jump in and touch a life. Pay-It-Forward it such a wonderful model on how to make a difference. Someone is just short in their wallet to pay for their groceries, step up and act, help them out. If every one practiced that way of life one day it will come back to you, but don't do it for that reason.

Not to pat ourselves on the back, but more so as an example of how awesome this girl was and how people respond to a good and genuine attitude: Stacy and I drove up to a Taco Bell (our first treat to ourselves in the month and a half of our marriage lol) at midnight to find a drive-thru line wrapping around the building. Knowing that this particular Taco Bell closes at 1:00 am we pulled up to the talk box expecting to hear a dry, unpleased voice on the other side more eager to leave than to take our order, but it was quite on the contrary. This bubbly and excited voice came from the other side with no purpose at that time other than to serve us a delicious and over priced Quesadilla. We pulled up to the window to find this girl rocking out to Lady GaGa and enjoying her job regardless of the fact that she was closing in 45 minutes and had a line around the building (and I didn't ignore the math, I know 12-1 isn't 45 minutes but by the time we got to the window she only had 45 minutes left on her shift.) Because she was as happy as millionaire but only making minimum wage Stacy and I decided we ought to make her night by tipping her. You tip at Starbucks for someone to push a button to get a single espresso so why not tip someone when they actually deserve it and are expressing a Genuinely Kind and Loving Attitude? Because that girl didn't get frustrated or treat her customers like robots rather than fellow human beings she left with a few more dollars in her pocket that hour.

So why can't we take "God Help Us All" to "Thank You Lord, For All Our Blessings!"?

We CAN! But it starts with YOU! I think Stacy and I have 6 people following this blog total, but you know what, that's plenty! If the six reading this blog right now pass on Love to six who in turn pass on Love to six, can you imagine the power that concept TRUELY has!?!? It's Unbelievable! So please, Stacy and I make you This Promise, We will take every opportunity we receive to show Love to the People we usually overlook, But we want you to make that same Promise. Love the Un-Lovable. Touch a Life. Live with Purpose. Make a Difference. And if you see a box asking for non-perishables, go one step further, take the initiative and go cook a meal for those in need.
We Love You All.
Remember, God Is Love.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010





A Good Case of the Munchies

After the tour ended Stacy, Kris and I were extremely hungry. So we drove back into Tucson, the city that houses the "Great" college of Jew of A, I mean U of A, we at a little burger joint on 4th Avenue called Lindy's. Literally a whole in the wall! We drove past it twice because we completely missed it the first two times. And once we had located it we were not totally sure we wanted to risk eating there for fear of leaving with a staff infection! The place was surrounded by tattoo & piercing parlors and the people drunk homeless guy selling used t-shirts at the door step wasn't exactly the invitation to our appetite either. But we figured you only live once right? And hoping this wasn't the end of our only lives we stepped inside and order ourselves a burger, You know what, Burger is an understatement, we had ordered an experience! Because those burgers were sure worth the trip! Which is exactly what the person that created that burger restaurant was having, a trip! Stacy and Kris ordered the Mac&Cheese Burger, and I ordered the Potato Salad Burger, sounds like cute names for burgers, but they were not just name for the burgers, they were the burgers! 1/4 Pound beef patties serve with mac&cheese and potato salad between two perfectly toasted buns. THE MAC&CHEESE WAS IN THE BURGER! and there we have it, that kinda Genius is only attainable during the use of particular illicit drug usage!


And You Know What? After eating that burger, their illicit drug use was A OK with me!


& Even More Sci-Fi




More Sci-Fi Pictures





Sci-Fi Pictures





Nuclear Fallout

So it has been a little while since our last post, but not for lack of interesting stories. (HA THAT'S FOR SURE!)
Well Last week Stacy and I went with our brother Kris out to Tucson to visit a Titan missile silo. Yep, you read that correctly...a Missile Silo...and not just any Missile Silo but a Nuclear Missile Silo!!

So Stacy and I get a call from Kris,
"Hey, come over and bring the CR-V."
"Sounds good, Why?"
"Don't worry about it, we're going on an adventure."
"...Okay."
And so we were off. For Stacy and I adventure is the only word you have to use and we are fully on board. We itch to experience new things, and on this trip, boy did we! So we went and picked up Kris from my parents house and 30 minutes later we were headed east on Highway 10 for a 2 hour trip to Tucson.
Not much needed:
Beautiful wife - Check
A.C. on Full Blast - Check
IPod loaded with Pearl Jam, MGMT, Temper Trap and Gorillaz - Check IN deed.
After a seemingly 5 minute drive we had arrived at our destination. You know when you watch Sci-Fi Movies and there is this strange tone to it's visuals, always slightly eerie, and kinda puts you on the edge of your seat in anticipation, this trip was slightly like that. The scenes that we were traveling through were identical to almost any 1950's Sci-Fi movie you would choose; the thinly painted clouds (although in Most 1950's movies they were still painted in B&W) were brushing the peaks of the towering mountains off in the distance. Even though we were experiencing the scenery in person it was still as though we were still watching it through a warped wide angle lens. It was strange. The mountains were so far off in the distance, but so tall that they seemed almost touchable, and yet because they were so far away we could see the desert stretch for miles until it was intercepted by a super green, oasis like, plain leading up to the base of the mountain. I say leading up to the base because the plain (and yes I understand this is a contradiction to the word in meaning (but hey isn't that what Sci-Fis are all about?)) warped, curved up towards the sky as it met the mountain where it seemed to turn to stone instantly. It was hard to walk while looking off at the horizon; it would almost make you lose your balance, feeling as though you were walking around with a tilt. The silo was surrounded by desert and copper mines. The heat that massaged our shoulders until raw was rather hospitable and made sure to welcome us to the desert with fervent joy. I guess something about the word Desert on the map should have given us some idea of what to expect, but again when you are a character in a 1950's Sci-Fi movie, you never know WHAT to expect.
We made it to the silo just in time to catch the last tour. As we were standing in the lobby reading information plaques talking about the cold war and how at any given moment either country could have destroyed the world with the twist of a key, hmmm comforting, we were met by two gentlemen easily in their 80's. One was a slim fellow about 6 feet 2 inches tall and the other was a little more round and walked with a cane. The man with the cane lead the tour and was a rather humorous fellow, which I guess is an important quality to have out in that unbelievable heat! The man led us around explaining some of the security features for the missile that were visible top side. As we followed him through a narrow door and down some flights of stairs he explained a few things about the Titan Missile Program,
And this is where it gets interesting!!

The Titan Missile Program was the replacement for the Atlas Missile Program, The first family of successful ballistic missiles. The Titan missile had three launch cities from which it launched from: Tucson AZ, Little Rock AK, and the last in which I currently cannot recall. Each city had something like 16 launch sites surrounding the city. THAT's 48 Missiles! Oh yeah...did i mention they were each armed with a Nuclear Warhead!!!! Yeah, N-U-CLEAR! HA! Here is what we learned about ballistic missile armed with nuclear warheads...That one warhead is packed with 13 Megatons of explosive power. What ever does that mean, a Megaton? Well let me put it into prospective, kinda. This is what the tour guide it telling us mind you. If you can imagine a stick of dynamite and its blast power, something like one stick could blow up your car with extreme bias, and apply that to the idea of having a freight train pulling 150 cars of dynamite and then you have a closer idea of what a megaton is and ONE nuclear warhead contains 13 of them!! The tour guide explained that a Titan missile, after launched, would rocket 50 miles into the air, calculate it coordinates and free fall down to its final resting place. A Titan missile is accurate enough to free fall toward its given point and crash into the ground within a ONE mile radius of its target. 13 megatons of destruction is enough to immediately incinerate e-v-e-r-ything within a 500 mile radius!! If it fails to burn you alive with in that radius it has another trick up its sleeve; the warhead also inhales all the oxygen in that 500 mile radius leaving any oxygen breathing being incapable of receiving that gas that further sustains their life.

As we are hearing all this, Stacy and I look at each other and we started to do the math. The first Titan missile was created in 1951 and we wrestled with the cold war from the late 40's to the early 90's and this missile silo was decommissioned to meet the demands of the Soviet Union in hopes of ending the cold war in 1982. And these guys (our tour guides) are still hanging out in a missile silo......could it be? And our assumptions were correct. Our tour guides were the same two guys who had the power to put their hands on the two keys in that tiny room, turn them and ignite a warhead bearing ballistic missile towards another country!! A missile I might add that would justify, after its launch, the launch of every other nuclear missile in the U.S. and Soviet Union's arsenal! And between the two countries, it only took one country to fire all that they had to kill the entire earth and all its inhabitants from the Nuclear Fallout.
AND WHO THE CRAP THOUGHT TO STICK THESE GUYS IN TUCSON!?!?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

More Ghost Town Pictures






The Wild West


An Old Wild West Ghost Town that
Stacy and I visited on our
way out to Superstition Mountain.























































Taking a "Prospective Day"




Miles in every direction, nothing but beauty. There were no building, streetlights or even streets for that matter, no cars whizzing by, or sirens crying out in the distance and the only light pollution visible was that of the natural sun. It was just Stacy and I, for miles, just us. After a trek up a shingly section of the Apache Trail we made it to the top of an elevated peak. We stood in silence for a moment listening to the complete calm. The only sound we heard was the holler of a screeching hawk flying over head (not that there was much more air above us for him to fly) and the faint sizzling sound of the sweltering heat beaming over our glistening skin. We then proceeded to holler along with our winged friend, making conversations with the engrossed mountains.
There's something to be said about being all alone with miles separating you and the nearest medical and social assistance. For a brief moment your prospective aligns itself no longer with current events, the latest facebook status, or even a single possession you own, but rather it is focused on survival, adventure, and peace. Survival only because you know that for any given reason at any given moment something might not go as planned and in the event that, that happens you have absolutely nothing to depend on but a set skills that are innate, or perhaps learned from Man vs. Wild. There is something about the thought of being stranded miles deep into a desolate mountain range that sets you nerves onto full throttle excitement mode. You know there's a danger of getting lost that far out, yet there is a small piece of you that wouldn't mind it. To get lost. To depend on Nature and God to guide you out. The freedom of being lost is unimaginable. It's only a misconception to think that we are bound by our sense of direction. Sometimes getting lost is the only true way to be found.
Adventure is easy to find, it comes whenever you simply leave the four walls of your home and meet with the fresh air, dirt and big sky. Adventure is the heart of Stacy and my relationship. She thrives off adventure. The thing I love the most about her is her ability to have an adventure with me on any given whim, and it does not have to be anything to outdoor or elaborate it could be somewhere as commonplace as wal-mart and we will find a way to make it interesting and different. It's not just about getting groceries but more so about escaping to a world where shopping carts are race cars and the aisles are our strip of road stretched out a quarter mile for a race waiting to happen. Imagination is the spirit of our love and God made it extra special for the two of us to enjoy in any and every situation.
Peace comes when you mate survival and adventure together. To survive is to have a desire for adventure, to be lost without any sense of adventure means you will fear the idea of venturing forward until you find what you are looking for and adventure remains only as long as you can survive because if you venture out without the will to live, unfortunately that is always met by a dead end. But if you are able to lose yourself with the desire of adventure and the will to survive, well, that is when you achieve peace and peace is where you are found. When you have peace there is no goal that will be left unmatched and there will be no obstacles in your path that can't be overtaken.
Stacy and I decided to take a prospective day. And the Superstition Mountain Range is where we went to do so.
It was wonderful.
If you can, take a day to get lost, and hopefully you get the same sensation we did from the excursion.
: D
God is Great.

Fun Pictures from Fashion Square




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Crate& Barrel Adventure Pictures