Camel Burgers

Over the years, I've eaten many different kinds of meat: chicken, turkey, lamb, hamburgers, hot dogs, cow tongue, cow stomach, shark, crocodile . . . and now, camel.

Some of the guys from the troupe and I drove up to the Burger Bar in Roy last week to try them out. I would say that they taste more like venison than like chicken. Rather than ketchup or mustard, they were also served in a mild curry sauce.

Beatles Fountain Show

I finally made it out to see Meet the Mormons last Thursday. It's a fantastic movie. You should all go and see it.

That's not a request.

However, that's not the whole point of today's post. After the show, my date and I strolled through Station Park, which is a lovely little shopping center/hangout spot in Farmington. On a cool, autumn evening, we sat down and enjoyed this colorful water fountain display, choreographed to the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun":

My Dinner with Kira

My six-year-old niece Kira's birthday falls just three days after mine. For b-day #6, I took her out for her birthday dinner to Chick-Fil-A, which was her place of choosing.

I had a great night out with this cute, intelligent, funny, talkative kid. Glad to have spent some one-on-one time with my amazing niece.

Taking the Cake

I had a birthday a few weeks back (getting caught up again tonight). It happens every year.

My thoughtful sister bought me this cake for the occasion.

Mommy Is a Mummy

On Wednesday afternoon, Mom was out for a walk with Dad when she tripped over some wire or twine near a neighbor's home. In the resulting fall, she broke both elbows and suffered a number of cuts and bruises in the process. She sees an orthopaedic doctor tomorrow, but we're optimistic that she won't require surgery.

 

 

In the meantime, she's been in a lot of pain. In Dad's terms, her arms and elbows are wrapped up so that "mommy looks like a mummy." Someone also needs to be with her at all times to help her eat, brush her teeth, and do many of the other tasks that you and I use our hands for and take for granted on a daily basis. In spite of it all, she's being her usual good-tempered and optimistic self.

IOMT SEQ BBQ

The boys in my elders quorum, the South Quorum of the still-relatively new Island of Misfit Toys (aka the Bountiful 8th [Mid-Singles] Ward), gathered recently at our quorum president's home in Farmington for a barbecue, which featured BBQ bratwurst, chicken, and steak, as well as other delicious dishes.

Good people, good food, and a big-screen viewing of Remember the Titans combined for a great evening on an unseasonably cool August night.

Deep Breath

Over the past year or so, I've really gotten into the BBC TV show "Doctor Who," which has been around for more than 51 years now.

Well, better late than never.

Last week, some friends and I went to a Salt Lake City theater to watch a broadcast of the Season 8 premiere episode, which also features a new (the 12th) Doctor, played by actor Peter Capaldi. So far, so good for Mr. Capaldi!

Ice Bucket Challenge #2

Last weekend, I completed not one but TWO ALS Ice Bucket Challenges. Friday night's troupe challenge was posted here on The Gobblewonker already, and today, I'm sharing my individual Ice Bucket Challenge, given to me by my friend Lauri Brown in my ward.

Ice Bucket Challenge #1

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past couple of weeks, then by now you've probably heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It is a way to both raise funds for and awareness of ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease. It's also one of those bandwagoning things to do that you do, by dumping ice water over your head, and then challenge at least three of your friends to then go and do.

Like you do.

Last week, my improv troupe—not certain members of the troupe, but the entire troupe—was challenged to do the Ice Bucket Challenge by one of our fans, and we responded by tweaking our "Oxygen Deprivation" game and using ice water instead of regular water.

It's a lot harder than it looks. Trust me.

See the result here, with yours truly, Keenan, Ryan, and Scott taking the challenge live on stage:

Ogden Temple Open House

The Ogden LDS temple has been renovated, and it looks absolutely beautiful (not that it was "ugly," per se, before). Last Wednesday night, some friends from my singles ward and I ventured up to take a tour of the building.

Following our tour, we snapped this photo outside, by the fountain on the east side:

Good times were had by all.

Shakespearean Festival 2014

Last weekend, Mom and Dad; Ben, Adi, and Christian; Steve and Summer; and Biz and Jeff, along with yours truly, traveled down to Cedar City to attend the Shakespearean Festival, which has been a family tradition for many summers now. We saw two very entertaining plays: The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night.

We also spent part of the day Saturday at the Cedar City Park on Main Street, which is where I snapped this photo of Ben and one-year-old Christian enjoying a piggy-back ride together:

The Neverending Tree

 

Yours truly didn't appear in this show, but I had a front-row seat for last week's Friday-night Improvables performance in Centerville. It featured the musical "The Neverending Tree," as suggested by an audience member.

Ricky donned a unique-looking costume for a game of "Oscar-Winning Moment":

. . . and later belted out the title tune in the musical:

Keenan also chimed in with a bittersweet lament to wrap up the night's presentation:

Sometimes, we even amaze ourselves.

"Saints and Soldiers: The Void"

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel down to Jordan Commons with some people in my ward to catch a pre-screening of the new Saints and Soldiers movie, subtitled The Void. Like the other two films in the series, it is a compelling, thought-provoking tale about those who sacrificed so much during World War II.

Afterward, we had the opportunity to meet several cast members who were in attendance at the screening. Among them was my family's friend and LDS singer Alex Boyé, who graciously posed for this picture with me.

Thomas the Cake Engine

In this video from Christian's recent first birthday party, he looks in amazement at his Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake . . . and isn't quite sure how to react.

Strangers in the Night

At Chantel's and Jordan's wedding last Friday, I was able to capture this video of cousins McKenna and Jake slow dancing:

This one pretty well speaks for itself.

Chantel's and Jordan's Wedding

There's a whole lot of Jordans in the family: my first cousin Jared's boy Jordan, who is currently serving a mission in Hermosillo, Mexico; my second cousin Sydney's husband, Jordan; and even my one-year-old nephew, Christian Jordan. Well, another Jordan was added Friday when my second cousin Chantel married a Jordan of her own.

I was rather sick the night before and the morning of the wedding, which was held at the Draper LDS temple. Later that afternoon, however, I was feeling somewhat better, and I ventured down to Provo for the reception. It was good to finally meet my new cousin Jordan, who is a great guy and is obviously well loved by Scott and Claudia and the rest of their family.

I was able to snap a photo of Chantel and Jordan cutting their cake:

Jenna and McKenna, often seen hanging out together at our various family functions, enjoyed some of the refreshments:

. . . while Dave entertained everyone with a story:

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.