sweaters

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we've no place to be, wear your sweater that's ugly! 

(Google Image)

Everyone has atleast one sweater that just sits in their closet and they are too afraid to pull it out for fear of getting made fun of by their friends or getting their picture taken while shopping at Walmart and having it posted on the web.  There are those who get the strength to take the sweater out of the closet but only to throw it in a plastic bag and give it away to the D.I. or Savers, and those are the people we like!

(Google Image)

Thursday evening, Chelsey and I attended a local "Sweater Party" at my friend Jackie's house.  When I got the invite, I made a special trip to Savers to get some dang awesome Christmas sweaters.  The store workers were kind enough to seperate the awesome, ugly sweaters from the fashionable ones so my job was easy.  I first got one for Chelsey:

That was easy enough.  Now it was time for me to get one for myself.  This was kind of difficult because: 1. I had to find one that would look uglier than Chelsey's, and 2. I was shopping in the women's section.  This is what I found:

How'd I do?

Overall, it was a successful party full of many rejected ugly sweaters! I sure can't wait till next year's ugly sweater party!

Splendid Sunday

Today has been an eventful day. This morning I was given the privilege to speak with the Stake High Councilman in my old ward.  For some reason, I'm always nervous when I give talks, even though I've done it a million times.  When I get up to give my talk, my mind goes wild and I vomit words in a cluttered mess then try cleaning it up before I end.  I also get sick of hearing my voice so I end it early.  The bad thing about doing that is I have to listen to the High Councilman for a longer period of time, but that's not the worst part.  I'm on the stand so I can't sleep during his talk, well, atleast I'm not suppose to.  I'm not the only one that caught my head bobbing and my eyes rolling.  I noticed many people staring at me with little smirks on their face.  I know it was my old ward, and a lot of people recognized me, and the proper thing for me to do would be to say hi and be polite, but when the closing prayer was done I was gone.  It was an experience I'd like to forget.

To make things a bit better in my life, I went for a drive with Jacob after church.  On the way home, we decided to make a pit stop at an old time favorite hot spot.

Every weekend, the local Hostess store puts out some of their goods that will be expiring soon.  In an attempt to save on money, we help them clean out their dumpster by removing the delicious donuts.  We usually do this at night, but we couldn't wait that long!

We now have a large selection of desserts for tonight after dinner! 

Thanks Jake!!

Color Me Mine

In my opinion, one of the best places for a date is a little crafty shop called Color Me Mine.  It's great to be able to just sit down and talk while creating some tangible memories.  Chelsey and I were able to go there recently and enjoy of few hours of testing our creativity skills.

The way the game is run here at Color Me Mine is you choose from a variety of unglazed ceramics ranging from kitchen dishes to holiday decor.  After selecting your project, its time to turn on your creative cap.

Start designing by doodling on the paper provided on the table then transfer it to the cup with a No. 2 pencil.

Next comes the selection of glaze colors to bring the masterpiece to life.  Once the colors are selected and the design has been thought up, then the magic begins!

After spending hours on painting your piece, its now time to step back and look at what you've created.

Ahh, yes. Dang, we are good painters! 

After admiring your craftiness (or lack thereof), you leave the pieces in the shop for a few days so they can fire them in the kiln and in a couple days, you can pick up your new dishes and enjoy some delicious hot chocolate in a custom painted mug.

Mr. Kkool Kkat

My little brother, Jacob, is probably my most favorite little brother.  This morning he came to me with a smile on his face and posed the offer to me to take some sweet pictures of him doing awesome tricks on his new Haro bicycle.  Anytime this kid talks, I have to laugh.  I don't know if it's his monotone voice, the witty things he says, or the image I get of him picking his nose before we leave the parking stall at Macey's.  A lot of people don't know him and when they first meet him, they think he's a weird kid.  He is, in fact, a weird kid.  Check out the previous post about him to just get a taste of his kooky behavior.

Here are a few of the "awesome tricks" that were performed by Mr. Kkool Kkat himself!

Stall on the fridge.....

Jumping the windmill and....

Flyin' high over the pumpkin.

The pumpkin was too easy for this guy, so he needed to add some height.

That's better!

Wheelies down the driveway to end a wonderful ride session.

Until next time........ .. . .  .   .    .

NITRO CIRCUS

Nitro Circus is a television series featuring Travis Pastrana and his friends traveling the world and performing stunts on dirtbikes, biycles, big wheels and anything else that can have wheels attatched.  Some of the stunts which have been tested include: a big wheel backflip, skydiving without a parachute, grinding a rainbowrail with a 4-wheeler, and many more exciting things have been attempted by the fearless Nitro Circus crew.

The Nitro Circus crew has recently concluded filming in Utah for their soon to be released movie titled "Country Fried".  There was a movie premier on the 6th of November and I decided to attend to see more crazy antics and meet the gang first hand.  Chelsey and I arrived to the arena and picked up our tickets at the will call window.  As the man in the vest was looking for our tickets, we could over hear the uproar of others purchasing and even trying to return their tickets. I was befuddled by this act, but as I continued to eavesdrop, I heard that there was no way of even seeing the screen for the movie.  We still went in and found a place to stand where we could see the majority of the screen. 
I highly recommend the movie to anyone who loves to see some intense acrobatic and well thought out antics pulled off by professionals.  I wont say too much about what the movie contains but I will give you a sample of one of their tricks.  They built a tandem motorcycle and rode it around successfully.

All in all it was a good night.  We topped the trip off with some shirts and Chelsey got hers signed by a good chunk of the crew.  Travis Pastrana had to leave early so we didn't get to have him sign it, but a lot of other cool people did.

Good Times!

FREE!

Things always seem to be better when they are free. 

As Jacob and I were going to buy some oil for the car, we noticed a sign that caught Jacob's eye with two of his most favorite words: "FREE KITTENS".

Ever since he was a little boy, Jacob had a fetish for cats.  Sometimes he would tell the family cats about his love for them, and he would even show it, on occasion, by nibbling on the poor things ear.

A couple summers ago, the family had a Family Home Evening where everyone came up with goals for the rest of the year.  As each member of the family took their turn saying what their goal was, it was then Jacob's turn.  He stated that he wanted to touch as many cats as he could for the year.

So, after seeing that sign for free kittens, he decided he needed a cat.  We walked over to give them a test drive and see which one deserves to live at the Langston home.  The first cat scratched Jacob's burn on his arm and that was it for him.  He didn't want a cat that hurts him like that, so he tried out a gray cat that snuggled right in his arm.  There was an immediate connection between man and beast.  After buying some cat food and kitty litter, we got the newest member to the Langston family and went home.  Jacob quickly made a comfortable home for his kitten, which he named Henry.
As we did some yard work, Jacob would take little breaks to check on his little friend. During one of his breaks, he was laying on the trampoline and having a conversation with Henry ane the cat realized this was his chance to break free.  Henry got his ear out of Jacobs mouth and jumped the fence.  Jacob let out a cry for his new love hoping Henry would change his mind. After putting some food out on the back porch to lure the cat back, Jacob continued working.  He must have been saying his prayers because not even ten minutes later, the soggy eared cat was brought back home by our neighbors.  The cat is now home and well and lost somewhere in the garage.

After getting the "free" kitten, I remembered a comic strip that I read last Sunday and love the reality of it. Beware the catchy word "free" and notice the strings attatched!

Pure Rock Fury

Clutch, one of my most favorite rock bands! Since 1990, these guys have been adding new dimensions to rock music.  With Neil's unique voice and their catchy riffs, Clutch has just recently released their ninth studio album, "Strange Cousins from the West", and are now on tour to rock the socks off of all who enjoy good rock music.  I was one of the lucky ones to lose my socks last night.

I was a little hesitant to go because of the sun burn that was covering almost my whole body and that had not fully healed. Dave, my older brother, assured me that it would be more chill there then at other concerts and I wouldn't have to worry about getting bumped on my burn. Being comforted from his words and wanting to see Clutch live, I tied my shoes and put on a shirt and joined Dave and Roach on their quest to Salt Lake City. Sure enough, no one to touch me and disturb my itchy, burnt body, atleast for a time.  While looking over the edge of the second story loft to watch the band members come out one by one, Dave came back from the bathroom.  Sometimes, Dave gets a little too excited when he sees people he likes.  He came up behind me and with his left hand on my crisped left shoulder, he gave me a few hits on the back out of excitment.  After seeing me cringe and arch my back like high jumper, he then remembered my only concern about going to the concert.  Needless to say he apologized and we are still friends.

Performing at The Depot in Salt Lake City, Clutch got every drunk head under that roof bobbin' to their unforgettable songs.  Some heads got too crazy and caused the body attatched to fall the the ground.

The life of the show was, of course, Neil Fallon, the lead singer.  This man sings with his hands half the time and when he's not singing, his mouth is still moving.  Though he doesn't do anything totally awesome, like other rockstars do, he is still great to watch.  I could just sit and watch him all day.  Whether he's drunk or high, I really don't know, nor do I care because this man has an amazing voice and performs wonderfully.

We got the hookups from a family friend who knows the bassist's wife and we were able to go "backstage".  The whole concert long we were psyching ourselves out and thinking of questions to ask Neil.  After waiting for close to an hour just off the stage, we were then escorted to the basement to meet the band.  Butterflies were hatching in our stomachs and smiles were getting bigger with each step we took down the stairs to, what we would soon find out, was our next waiting area.  Long story short, we waited another hour or so and only saw Tim, the lead guitarist, but he just passed us, not noticing the "all access" band we were wearing.  The main man we wanted to see had already gone to the bus and it was only the drummer we were waiting for. We decided against waiting for much longer and finally hit the road around 1:30 this morning. 

Overall, great show, a little painful, but well worth the back pain and broken "meet the band" pass!

FLOW RIDING!

The Flow Rider

Saturday morning, my friend, Dustyn, invited my little brother and I to participate in a newly loved sport called Flow Riding.  I'd heard a lot about this ride and decided to take him up on his offer.  After being there a while and only stickin' to the body board, I decided to take it like a man and get on the "surf board".

I wasn't doing so good on the "surf board", nevertheless, I kept trying.  After I would get a mouthful of water from falling face first in the water, I'd get back in the long line, to the right of the picture, and wait my turn while the sun beat down on my white body.  Not thinking of the length of time we were spending there, and the fact that I haven't had any sun on my shoulders in two years, I failed to apply sun block to my pasty white body.

As a result, both me and my brother got fried...

..front and back.

We sure are a couple of idiots! Now we are paying the price with sleepless nights and itchy, painful bodies.

Do yourself a favor, and always have protection on, no matter what, or you, too, will be feeling the consequences that come with it!

First Timer

My name is Jordan. I am, what some folks call, a "noob" at this blogging thing. I have another blog page that my Mom has kept going for me while I was serving my mission in South Africa. If you want to check out my blog, feel free to browse that page and see how I lived for two years and the wonderful people I was with. It was the best time of my life!

Now that I am home from my mission, life is a lot different than what it was for the past two years: I don't have a friend to always be with me to keep me in line when I start to get off the right path, I don't have someone taking care of the bills and my monthly allowance, and I don't have a daily schedule to follow and guide me through the weeks. I am on my own now, and I'm taking it "One Step at a Time". On this blog, I will post the "stumbles" that I go through and the "steps" that are achieved for a post mission young man.

Enjoy!