Ride it....my pony...my saddle's waiting...Come and jump on it

This is why I love Emily... I can point at anything and say "you know I'm getting a picture of you on that..." and she is always down to sacrifice herself for a photo-op.






p.s. My thoughts on Neil Diamond night for American Idol:

David C. : loved. He really did make the songs sound current. Although I consider myself a Neil Diamond fan, I was surprised that I hadn't heard either of these songs before.

David A. : I really liked both songs, but I could have used a little more synthesizer on "America".

Brooke: 1st song was a little cheesy, but I'm sorry I loved her version of "I am...I said".

Jason: Although the judges were right that Jason really didn't stretch himself at all with these songs (i think he's ready to go home) I thought his version of "forever in blue jeans" did justice to the original.

Syesha: she may have some singing talent, but I just can't get past the fake smile and over acting. Why was she smiling during "hello again"? I always thought that song was a little melancholy.... And what's up with her not wearing shoes two weeks in a row? is she retaining water?

hands touching hands...reaching out...

I love me some Neil Diamond! I do. His music just makes me smile, and I can't help but sing along. And Neil in concert.....oh it's exciting folks....especially when he breaks out into "america" and the american flag comes down from the ceiling....love it. Every cheesy sway of his hips, every sparkly unbuttoned shirt, every scarf around his neck, every beat of the drums and strum of the guitar....I love it all.
So you can imagine how excited I am for "neil diamond week" on american idol tonight. The man is one of the greatest singer/songwriters of our time and his songs have been sung by the monkees, barbara streisand, johnny cash, and UB40, and I think his songs offer up a good chance for each of the idols to shine tonight....but so help me if one of them f's up a neil diamond song....I just won't stand for it.

One music critic has said, "Every Neil Diamond song is a jewel: beautifully crafted, honed, designed to deliver a knockout emotional punch while you sing along", and I totally agree. I love his music, but to me there are some personal favorites that I can't get enough of....and thus here are my...

TOP 5 MOST FAVORITE NEIL DIAMOND GEMS:

1. "You don't bring me flowers": Neil Diamond alone is amazing, but add in a duet with Barbara Streisand and you got yourself a hit. When Neil comes in with "...you hardly talk to me anymore..." my heart leaps.

2. "Sweet Caroline": Such a great song to sing in a room full of people. It's just so happy.

3. "Soolaimon": Try not getting jazzed when those drums start pounding and Neil sings "..god of my days days days, lord of my nights..."

4. "Love on the Rocks": Every time I hear this song I picture him at his piano with a glass of vodka, wearing a sparkly half unbuttoned shirt and scarf around his neck playing this song.....in the dark.

5. "I am, I said": Neil, with his guitar singing about his loneliness and the pains of being caught between two worlds.

Everybody's working for the weekend...

The girls, my mom, elsie (first 1/2), kimmie (second 1/2), and I headed up to Lake Chelan for a girl's weekend away. It was so fabulous. We couldn't have asked for better weather, and it was so nice to just relax. We played games, took walks, sat in the sun, talked, ate, did some karaoke with the locals, swam, watched movies, and played some "goofy golf".....good times.

LAKE CHELAN-IGANS 2008!

So on the way up to lake chelan we decided to take a "shorter route" sure it was through the middle of nowhere Washington, and was ridiculously boring but it shaved off like 30 minutes....then we hit this little roadblock. Not awesome....not even a deteor given. Luckily we saw one of the workers getting off work, and with a look of despair in our eyes we asked him what we should do. He told us to just continue on the road, but turn our hazards on and drive slow.... He forgot to mention that I would be putting my 4X drive to good use...what a scary scary road...I felt like I was in a "built ford tough" commercial...But we made it through. Needless to say we took the other way home...



the first group to arrive...getting to know the place...



I swear elsie was loving the swing...until I got out the camera to take a picture....


Karaoke with the locals...and by locals I mean the owner and only other person to sing that night...

I wish I could have captured her mullet and wolf/bear tee-shirt she was wearing.





apparently emily said something really funny...and caused the dj to fall to the ground laughing...i think perhaps she was just a little tipsy.


I can't remember if this is a picture of us singing "any dream will do" or "I wanna know what love is"...but either way we brought down the house!


I've been practicing my neil diamond for years....and finally I showed off with my version of "sweet caroline"



Elsie was very easy to entertain....turns out you don't need toys...just a spoon, cup, or toothbrush....awesome.




Elsie gave us all an early morning wake-up call...good thing I had my camera out to caption the beauty of these girls first thing in the morning...



We took a walk around Wapato Point one morning...it was glorious.

here is emily with her Moses Staff...what a great find!




here are the girls just goofing around....





The weather was so nice that after lunch, a nap, and a movie we headed outside to lay on the blanket, listen to music, and play some games.





The final morning the resorts' put put golf course was having an activity called "goofy golf"...you know we had to hit that up! basically you could use anything but a putter....I wish I could have captured the hilarity that ensued...






A couple group shots before we left

We talk about your work, how your boss is a jerk...

TOP 5 FAVORITE QUOTES FROM THE OFFICE:

1. michael scott: "...it's not the horniness, ok? It's the loneliness..."

2. jim halpert: (on the phone) "Hey... Chief. This is uh, Jim Halpert from, um, where you work. [staggered] You are the guy who sits behind the desk, you're- you're the a-African American guy. I mean you're uhh-- Who have I got here?"

3. michael scott: "Like a famous person once said, boys on the side. But I don't. I disagree. I say, let's hear it for the boys."

4. dwight schrute: "No no no, not a wizard, a hobbit."

5. michael scott: "I, um, thought about getting a tattoo on my back as well at one point. I was thinking about getting Back to the Future. Back, because it's on my back; and future because I'm the kind of guy who likes to look ahead, into the future. I just think a tattoo should mean something, you know? And it's my second favorite movie."

But a room is not a house and a house is not a home...

Often times when I am in the Seattle area I like to do what I call the "Bates history tour", and drive past old houses, old schools, old friends homes, and other "childhood memory" spots. When em and I went over to see the tulips, she graciously went along with my trip down memory lane and helped take pictures.

So in honor of my walk down memory lane here are my...

TOP 5 (or more) MEMORIES ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD HOMES:

9326 (ages 1-7 years old)

1. Jared and I riding around on our trolleys with buckets on our heads and star wars figures in our mouths....I promise we weren't "special".

2. The rope swing in the garage. Oh that thing was so awesome!

3. Playing the "birdie" game with Jared on the bunk beds....it was a stupid game but it made us laugh so hard.

4. Wrapping my first lost tooth in a kleenex and having it get thrown away...I was devastated. The tooth fairy was nice enough to leave me money anyway though...so no permanent harm done.

5. Kim being attacked by the huge neighbor dog "Freida" while Jared and the boy cousins watched and did nothing....not traumatic at all...


9536 (ages 7-13 years old)

1. Playing "ice climber" on the steep staircase. Put multiple mattresses down covering the stairs, sheet side up, and try to climb up them while Jared throws pillows at you.

2. Choreographing dances in our huge kitchen. Kim and I still determine size of rooms by "could we choreograph a dance in here"...if yes, then it's a big room.

3. Our huge huge huge toy area. Rollerskating, trampoline gymnastics, playing office and school with our real sized chalkboard.....what wasn't awesome was the row of nails/tacks that were not so efficiently covered with ducktape and caused a huge cut on my leg when I slid into them while playing.

4. Spying on Jared and his friends through his "cork wall".

5. Our cool single bedrooms (I had to share with Kim alot through the years). My rainbow themed room with pig collectibles and teen beat posters on the walls, kim's cat collection and "poison" poster, jared's penquin collection and massive amounts of odd random posters (church lady, inxs, dead milkman, buckwheat, etc...), mitch's tent bed...I was jealous of that thing.

6. The houseguests that lived with us for periods of time. The Woodruffs and of course my Minnesota cousin Julie. Such good times.

7. The ridiculously steep hills that surrounded our area. Try biking up or down those babies. One time, while trying to bike up it (I should have just walked it up like usual) I paused for a split second causing my bike to go backward at a very fast speed down the hill. I had to thrown myself off of it, and hit my head on the concrete. not awesome. Or the other time when Jared was sledding down the hill, lost control cause of the fast speed, and went under a car....the gash on his head caused me to give up sledding.

8. The time Mitch, as a baby, decided to swim in a puddle of Ammonia he had spilled over from the cleaning products under the kitchen sink. Sure, me and kim were supposed to be watching him...but that's beside the point...right? I think Mitch has forgiven us. Although I will never forget that horrible smell, the blue face on Mitch, or the multiple ambulances that surrounded our house when Mom called 911.

4925 (aka: the House of Roy) (ages 13-20)

1. Watching Douglas walk around in his blue terry cloth wrap around towel...that, let's be honest....was a little too short.

2. Living in a place that had rooms called
-the club room (the family room)
-the wine cellar (empty room for christmas storage)
-the gym (a room with a mirrored wall, tanning bed, and a solo flex)
-the office (just a couple of desks....but it could officially be called an office because he did have a "Lord Nickson" nameplate on his desk)
-the library (to be honest this room did have a lot of books, but I doubt he ever read half of them and we were more fascinated with the african penis cover anyway....)

3. The whiteboard in the kitchen that was often used to diagram stories or write messages about friends calling (even though the names were never spelled correctly...ever).

4. The hot tub. Which was pretty sweet especially in the winter, but the best thing about it was the "House of Roy" hot tub cover....priceless.

5. Both Mitch and Kim knocking over the Urn that held a certain dead mother and having to vacuum and sweep up the remains....don't think he ever found out about that.

6. Dead Misty. Even the thought of peach air freshener makes me want to vomit. so disgusting.


Believe me there are so so much more I could add to this list....

If you have any...please tell me....

I'm so cold I'm so cold I'm so cold....

What is with this ridiculously cold weather? Monday night the singles ward had an outdoor activity (not unusual for April right?) but man....it was freezing. Luckily me and em had blankets and treats to keep us warm. Oh good times!



true the cookies probably aren't good for the weight watchers diet thing...but i'm pretty sure the calories burned in eating with no hands evened it out....right em?

tip toe through the tulips....

This saturday my friend emily and I headed over to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. When I was younger my mom used to take my sister and I almost every year up to see the rows and rows of tulips...and I started that tradition again a few years ago with my friends. This year, with kim back in the area, she and her daughter elsie were going to join us, but last minute she decided that she needed to stay home...so off went me and em. The weather was so crazy on the drive over, that we began to re-think our plans for the day. The pass was absolutely ridiculous, and with no windshield washer fluid in my car, it was a miracle we made it out of there alive....I think peeking out of the small clearing in my windshield and singing as loud as I could to the broadway mix playing on my ipod, helped us forget about the fact that our light jackets, flip-flops, and outdoor plans looked kind of ridiculous at that point. With little traffic we arrived at the tulip festival and the moment we stepped out of the car the rain/hail/snow ceased and we were able to enjoy the outdoors...it was a miracle. Emily had never seen the tulips so I was excited to have her along. So here our some pictures of our little adventure.


I pretty much need these tulips in my life...


My friends and I are suckers for any sort of cutout you can put your head through and take a picture....



Only a few tulips were harmed in the taking of this shot...



and as always we headed to the Snow Goose produce stand to get our hands on those "immodest ice cream cones"....delicious. Emily, like aubrey last year, was a champ and went for the double scoop....and finished it all...I was impressed.





We hit up a late lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory then hopped in the car, put on the new "remakes mix" I made on my ipod and came home...it was long day but completely worth it. :)