Pioneer Day 2014

The family and I celebrated Pioneer Day, a Utah state holiday, a day late last Friday. As always, we had a wonderful time together.

Kira, Jake, Jenna, and McKenna posed for this photo on Grandma's and Grandpa's couch:

Following a delicious barbecue, we adjourned to the street to set off a few fireworks. In this shot, Jake enjoys watching a sparkler burn:

There were many more where that came from.

Omelette

Last night, the Improvables experienced both a first and a last. It was our first-ever long-form performance, for which we performed a Shakespearean-themed play titled Omelette, which was suggested by an audience member and somewhat based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Two of the featured characters included the rednecks Rosenstern and Guildencrantz, played by Parker and Ryan:

Yours truly played the princess (yes, really), Keenan played Prince Gobot, Scott was the king, Bryan was the archnemesis, Cameron was the elderly mentor, and Ian starred in the title role as aspiring chef Omelette. It was a very fun and memorable evening, and we along with our audience had a great time.

It was also a night of lasts in that it was Ian's final performance with the troupe. Ian has been a good friend and colleague for nearly the entire existence of the Improvables, and he will be moving on to big and better things, as his new job will be making him travel more, and he will also be spending more family time.

Christian's First Birthday

Ben's and Adi's little boy Christian turned one year old Friday, and much of the family (and some friends) turned up to help my nephew celebrate the big occasion.

He really enjoyed his Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake.

Five-year-old Kira was among those present, seen here eating a cupcake:

The Gong Show

One of my favorite local hangouts, the Karaoke Café, hosted a "Gong Show" Night last week. Some good friends and I took part together and had a great time stepping up to the mic to sing songs hand-picked by the K.J. randomly as "challenge" songs. If anyone in the audience didn't like what they were hearing, they could "gong" you, and if you received three "gongs" during a song, you had to quit singing.

If you, however, made it through the song before being "gonged" out, you won a prize. I was challenged to Prince's "Purple Rain" and made it through without being "gonged" to win a free dessert. I later was challenged to the Barenaked Ladies' "One Week," a real tongue twister, and was "gonged" twice during the first voice but somehow made it through the rest of the song to win a toy . . . which will be given out to some lucky niece or nephew.

Sopa de Chorros

I stopped by the local Peruvian restaurant the other day for a delicious and nostalgic meal, which included sopa de chorros, or "oyster soup" in English.

It's a bit of an acquired taste, and one that I acquired many years ago.