Goofs and Fun

Well today is Brittany's B-day and I've tried to make it fun for her so far. I gave her her first gift when she woke up this morning to get ready for work. I then gave her the second gift when I picked her up for lunch. Did I mention that I actually had a day off today so that I could celebrate today with the Love of My Life?
I then took her to a small restuarant that we both enjoy.
Then when she got home she got her gift from Luke and Leona, and my last few gifts. We then went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens and walked the gardens looking at the tulips for their tulip festival. I then took the Squirt over to her favorite Italian restuarant and then we stopped by the cemetary to visit her grandparents.
Hopefully this is going to be a better Birthday celebration for her than the weak attempt of last year.
Matt

Ode to our Mom's!

For Mother's Day this year Matt and I had the opportunity to take some time to celebrate our amazing mom's (both in person and over the phone) and let them know how much we think of them! Both of our mom's are amazing, strong, independent ladies who have taught us so much about family, faith, and unconditional love. Whenever times get tough or we struggle with either mundane or significant things they are both there to helps us, support us and I don't know what we would do with out them. We love you both so much and hope you had an spectacular Mother's Day!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Not only did I have the opportunity to celebrate Mother's Day yesterday with my mom but it also (coincidentally enough) was her birthday! We celebrated the fun day down at my mom's house with a BBQ and evening outside, we had a blast!

My mom requested Chocolate Chip Cookies instead of birthday cake...

...so I added a couple of candles and it turned out pretty cute!

Mom blowing out the candles!

All mom's presents...I think she got a tad spoiled!

My lil brother Ryan and mom

Ryan and my sister Chelsie

Me and my siblings...Matt had to work so unfortunately he wasn't able to come down

Wes and Chelsie with their puppy Ressie

Me and the birthday girl...I love you Mom!

After dinner and opening presents we went outside to pay a little badminton. Austin and I were on one team....

And Wes and Chelsie were on the other.

Killer serve!

We had an amazing day celebrating my mom's birthday and all she does for us!

Welcome to the Tragic Kingdom...

For those who aren't as obsessed with a certain female fronted 90's ska/pop band (aka No Doubt) the title for this post might leave you scratching your head and saying "huh"?! "Welcome to the Tragic Kingdom" was the first line of No Doubt's greatest album (in my opinion) Tragic Kingdom by which I feel in love with from the moment I put the CD in my dinky bombox and listened to non-stop for over 10 years. This was the essential, pure No Doubt amazingness...the early stuff that kicked a&% and took names! I don't know exactly what it was about Gwen's emotional heart-wrenching lyrics in "Don't Speak" or the upbeat sarcastic girl anthem of "Just a Girl" or how the words of "Hey You" or "Sunday Morning" got stuck in my head for years...all I know is that I was completely engulfed in this music and I couldn't get enough.

For those not lucky enough to know me during my No Doubt mania days (eh...about 7-8 years ago) you could just walk into my room and see I was a little obsessed. I had posters all over my walls, magazine articles of band interviews, recordings of "Behind the Music: No Doubt", "MTV's Fanatic" (remember that one?), heck I even made a little miniature Gwen, Tony, Tom, and Adrian out of clay with microphone, guitars, and drums included!

For my sixteenth birthday my sister took me to my first No Doubt concert at the McKay Events Center in Orem and witnessing them live is more then words can explain! Their later stuff never hit me the same as their Tragic Kingdom days. In my humble opinion nothing will compare and will ever come close.

The band members started dong their own thing and when I thought all was lost No Doubt announced they are going on tour...how sick is that?! Well drum roll please...I am completely ECSTATIC because today I just purchased 2 tickets to their upcoming May 25th concert in West Valley and I can't wait!!! My amazing and equally excited brother Ryan will be joining me for the concert of the century (hehe) and it doesn't seem like May 25th will get here fast enough! It was eight years ago that I went to my first No Doubt concert and to get to go back to watch one of my all-time favorite bands kick a%$ brings tears to my eyes...lol! I might be a huge dork but it's truly a monumental occasion for me and I couldn't be more pumped up!

If you know Matt...

...then this will make perfect sense! (Oh and Formaggio is the Italian word for cheese)