10.29.2011

Parachute, Panic, and Peter Pan

We can't sleep we blog, right? At least that's been my winning streak lately.  More on why I'm still up later. Today I got to go see Parachute basically all day.  I got to go to the meet and greet that started at 3 and then the concert started at 7. To be honest yesterday I really didn't want to go and kept asking myself why I was.  Well today rolled around and it was so much fun! It started out kinda hectic, between running late, picking up Mary, leaving my ticket at my parent's house and hitting every red light possible. Mary and I did fit in our epic car jam sesh of pre parachute madness throughout the chaos and we eventually made it to the venue.  Thank heavens for Garrett bringing me my ticket. 

Me and Mary waited in line and soon Kailey, one of Garrett's friends, showed up. She's such a doll- one of the nicest girls I've met. We finally got our "VIP" tags handed out and in we went. 

Not going to lie.  Will was the first thing my eye went to when we walked in.  He's basically gorgeous.




So they played "Kiss Me Slowly" for us first and then let the group of people there for  the meet and greet (which was around 30) pick the next one. We all decided on "Forever and Always" I was ecstatic we decided on this one because it's such an amazing song and it's not usually on their setlist.

Meet Nate. He's an amazing guitar player.  We were standing right below him while they played for the meet and greet group and he accidentally dropped his guitar pick.  I think I was the only one that saw it happen.  It fell in between this huge block/box thing and the front cover of the stage.  I wanted to get it but I could see how far back underneath the stage went and I didn't want to be digging around and have people looking at me like what the crap.  Well curiosity got the best of me and so I went and moved the big huge box thing and TA-DA I got me my own Parachute guitar pick! I was stoked! On one side it says Parachute and on the other it had Nate's autograph printed on it. 

So after they played, Will (gorgeous boy) came down and started to hand out our autographed posters.  I'm happy to say he handed me mine first haha. He finished handing them out and came back over by me to set them down. Then he came straight over to me and was like here let me personalize this for you and took my poster and wrote my name on it.  He talked to me for a few seconds and signed my badge and then it was free game to go "meet" the whole band. 



This is Johnny.  He plays drums.  He is also gorgeous. And Funny. He seriously just stared straight into the camera for pictures.  I think the fact that this picture is blurry makes it even better! 



This is Nate.  I basically love him.  He plays guitar.  He was probably the sweetest of them all. Will did come in with a close second in the sweetness department though. 


This is Kit. Yes, Kit. Like Kit-Kat-Bar. He's weird (I mean he's totally not even looking at the camera! haha). He has some made sax skills.  My cousin Paige kind of went crazy over such skills during their free summer concert. Even if she won't admit it. 


Meet Will.  He's a stud. He's super funny. Not to mention he has an INCREDIBLE voice. 

 This is our group shot.  Don't mind our freakishly zombie like eyes.  I don't know what my phone did. Mary's picture is better so I'll replace this one when I get a copy from her. 
(please notice how I put myself between Will and Nate) 

 I didn't get my picture with Alex. The bass player. He's on the very far left.  He is just super awkward and yeah. I wanted to go find Nate and Will. Hence, no picture. He still did sign my VIP card for me though. I'm a terrible person. 




Well after the meet and greet we got kicked out for a while so we went and grabbed some dinner and jammed out to Parachute some more in the car. We got back and headed for the line. It wasn't too bad waiting. We had an interesting lady in front of us that talked to us and it helped pass the time. She was telling us about a band called The Rebels that she had no clue who they were but she met and took pictures with them. (more on them later) At one point Mary and I were talking and all the sudden she just quietly says in her normal voice mid-sentence "Parachute's right behind you" I thought she was totally joking but I turned around anyways and yup. They were right behind me.  They were all getting in their van.  As they drove away I waved to Will, he was in the front seat and he waved back. No big deal. So eventually it was time for the concert and we went inside. 

It wasn't too bad when there weren't that many people but by the middle of the first opening act (The Rebels- the ones the lady told us about) I had no room to even breathe. Not to mention the JERK and his girlfriend that insisted on ramming into me on purpose.  I could have decked them! It was Mary, Kailey, and I.  Garrett and his other friends hadn't shown up yet we were still waiting for them.  By the time Mitch, Kylie, and Michael got there it was packed and Mitch pushed his way through to get to us.  I still couldn't find Garrett and was worried about that and the walls of people kept building. It was worse than a mosh pit. It was totally sold out and there were way too many people for the space. Mitch finally located Garrett for me since I myself am quite height challenged.  We spent what felt like 10 minutes (probably 2 in reality) deciding whether to go back to where he was or not.  Mary and I finally decided to go and we started pushing our way through people which was extremely hard. No one would move and it was at this point I started freaking out bad. People wouldn't let us go anywhere.  Mitch yells and says Garrett came to them and so we then had to work our way back to them.  Impossible. I made it about 4 feet away from Garrett and told him I needed to get out, I was having a panic attack, a bad one. Garrett tried to tell Mitch where we were going but the same guy that kept pushing me pushed him too so I guess Garrett grabbed his arm pretty hard and told him to chill.  I proceeded to push my way out through people and it was way hard.  I was in tears at this point and could not stop.  I finally made it to the back and went around to the other side where Garrett originally was. It took a few minutes for the hyperventilating and crying to stop but I eventually calmed down enough.  Thank heavens there was a little bit of space in the back.  I have never had a panic attack as bad as that one. 

The second opening act played for a good hour which helped give me time to chill.  At one point Garrett and I decided to head to the merch table to check out the shirts.  Mary came with us.  One of the guys from the first opening act was behind the table and I told him they did really great and he gave me a high five and told us thanks.  Well seconds after that, the lead singer of the same group walked by Mary and she said "Hey, that was a great set list" he then asked her name and totally kissed her! haha it was pretty great. 

Parachute finally came out and it was a totally great concert! I had a lot of fun. 





When we finally got back, we were just hanging out in my room when someone knocked on our apartment door. We were kinda confused as to who it could be so we all take off seriously running to the door.  Well Jess opens it a crack and sticks her head out.  Wanting to know who it was I pulled the door back and it was Ryan! Our lovely neighbor.  He's super nice and totally hilarious. He was dressed as Peter Pan. The first thing he says to us is "hey since I'm a guy and I don't know how bobby pins work could you put this in my hair?" It was a feather.  Jess so kindly puts it in for him and we talked for a little while.  Peter, our RA, came walking down the hall so we said hi to him.  He came over for a minute.  He was wearing a really nice button up black winter coat, sweats, and the shoes that look like toe socks. I don't know how else to describe them.  Ryan (who I am pretty sure is openly gay) says to Peter "You look nice." and then like 7 seconds later adds "from the waist up" It was pretty dang hilarious. Shortly after that we all went our separate ways.  Less than 5 minutes later, we hear another knock on our door and all decide to book it out there again.  It was Ryan. Again. He says "Hey can you fix this? It looks a little... happy." haha so Jess put the feather in again, this time at a proper angle.

We all called it a night and headed to bed.  Well we all know how well I sleep during the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. basically I don't.  So around 2:30 a.m. I hear a knock on our door.  I thought it was pretty weird and then I knew Iris (whom I absolutely adore. Not.) wasn't home and maybe she locked herself out. So I drag my butt out of bed to go see who it is. I look through the peep hole and it's Ryan. I knew he saw me look through the peep hole so I couldn't not answer it.  I pull the door open and try to hide behind it while I'm wearing a tank top, and purple pj bottoms with white hearts all over them and a big ol' "LOVE" on the butt. He looks and me and says confused "are you guys asleep?" I must have looked AWESOME! The first thought that popped into my head was "it's a good thing he's gay." Apparently our light in the front hall was on so he assumed we were still up.  Relevant assumption, I mean we are in college. Well I don't think I could tell you what all happened in our 5 second conversation. I think I told him to come over tomorrow and he was like, I need your number. I gave him what I thought was my number at the time. I'm not really sure if it was accurate or not. He said he'd text us to hang out tomorrow which I guess would now be today, so we'll see. 

So there you have it. Parachute. Panic. Peter Pan. And another insanely long blog post from yours truly. Would you believe I left stuff out? Like a skunk, an awkward run in with a guy I went on a few dates with, a bathroom adventure, a homeless man, and a really really drunk guy. I really should try to make these shorter. And I thought my life wasn't eventful! Maybe I should head to bed now. Seeing as I have to get up in 3 and a half hours. Go me. 

10.27.2011

Halloween Hits Home


Halloween isn't my favorite holiday.  I actually kind of hate it. Masks, eek! Grandma's cookies are the only good thing about it. 
This year my mom found a "haunted" tour of SLC.  Those of you who know me know I'm big into haunted stuff. Weird since I don't like halloween. So we went, and this time we actually went on the right day!!! Jess came with us too. 



So we basically got on a "LE BUS" and drove around listening to stories about the "haunted" places around SLC.  It was pretty cool and I enjoyed it.  


By the time Jess and I got home it was pretty late and Jess needed to finish scraping part of her pumpkin for work.  Well what else are best friends for? We got out some metal measuring spoons and away we went. Only true friends will stay up late with you and help you scrape a freaken pumpkin. 




This was the finished product.  It looks way good if you ask me.  She ended up winning 2nd place too! Jess has mad carving skills!



Well yesterday was basically, well perfect.  It was a lot of fun.  We went grocery shopping and on our way home I got my first 7-11 hot chocolate of the season. Pumpkin spice, it was SO good!


We decided to make little halloween gifts for our 2 roommates but then decided why not do some for the boys next door too and while we're at it our RA. So away we went... 




 They just had candy in each jack-o-lantern cup plus a super cute tag made by yours truly. 
We put the left over candy in an orange mixing bowl and left it out.  I figure if it's out for everybody I'll eat less, right? At least that's how it should work in theory. 


Then that night Jess, Leina, and I carved pumpkins! 
It was probably the first time I'd carved a pumpkin since I was like 8. 

Leina and Me. She's from Korea. 

Gutting the pumpkins


It was a lot of fun.  Here's our finished products. . .  

Leina's pumpkin

Jess' PUNKIN

Mine wasn't quite done yet but we had to take a break and take Mary to the store to get some medicine. Leina came with us and I'm pretty sure she is convinced we are crazy.  Mary full on convinced her that "car dancing" is a huge past time in America haha.  Poor Leina. She totally bought it. While we were rocking out, of course I had to put on my latest jam "Moves Like Jagger." The second it came on Leina goes, "wait, wait, who is this... uhh... Jagger?" haha it was so great! 




Me and Frankenfurt. My new BF. 

Isn't he so cute!?!?! 

Jess being.... well, Jess 

Me and Jess 

This is all of our pumpkins lit up.  They turned out so cute! 



We stashed them under our window to spice up our humble abode. 


Now our house has been taken over by fruit flies.  We're not sure where they came from though. Hmm.

 All in all it's been a successful Halloween season around here. 

10.23.2011

Maxfield Mania


If you know the Maxfields you know nothing is ever as simple as it seems. 
Enter the annual Maxfield camping trip. 
Here we go! 

(*name has been changed for protection of the writer of this blog)


So never mind that his father-in-law had surgery 2 days ago Mr. Bea A. Mann* insisted he go so that his beloved family could sleep in a motorhome. Bea A. Mann said he'd drive the motorhome the whole way because "it can't be any different than a car" 
Talk about a disaster waiting to happen + six kids. Basically my family decided to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to avoid driving on the road with Bea A. Mann. 

partial view of our "camp" 

Well believe it or not we made it there. Alive. 
The White Wash Sand Dunes. 
It's absolutely beautiful. There's something about the red rock and sand against a bright blue sky that gets me every time. 



You'd think we'd learn from previous years that when you go on a "short ride" with the Maxfields you're basically in for at least a 6 hour ordeal but nope, we don't. 
After we set up camp we decided to go for a "short" ride with the majority of everyone. We were trying to go down into one of the canyons from the wash. Well it was closed so we just kinda made it up as we went. We drove through the wash for quite some time until we came around a corner and were basically dumped into the Green River. 







We turned around, but instead of going back the way we came (the safe decision) we decided we'd be fine going this other way.  Well  to make a long story shorter after many dusty long boring roads and 3 hours, we made it back to camp.


That night we did have a fire and played what I guess you could call the animal noise game. It was great and I dominated. Me and Jake made it more fun by targeting those specifically in-between us so we could sit by each other and come up with ridiculous ideas of how to win.  



Jared brought his dog Benny. Jared is hilarious and one time picked up his "puppy" and walked around with him. 


Shortly after this Jared was sitting in his chair with Benny on his leash.  I look over and see Benny start to run away and hear Jared going "whoa, whoooaaaa" Jared was holding on the leash and with Benny running away he had no where to go but down. Poor Jared. I still laugh out loud every time I replay this in my head. 



Hunter is spoiled and got a four-wheeler and was basically on it anytime he was allowed. 
This is what it usually looked like, Hunter driving crazily and my dad chasing after him on foot. 



You thought the first day of adventure and getting lost was all did you? Wrong. Not with the Maxfields. The real adventure is yet to come.  Like I said, you think we'd learn. Nope. Here we go again.
 "Hey everyone, let's go see Crystal Geyser. It's like 25 miles round trip, it won't take that long"
Well Jake and Jared (who are both in good shape) decide to ride their bikes there. Well Mr. Bea A. Mann and his son, Hawthorne N. Yercyde* decide to tag along. So 4 bikers, tons of four-wheelers and dirt bikes, and 2 cars set out on this adventure. I rode in a car with my mom, Cherie, Amanda, and her 3 kiddos. We decided to take the lead. We did pretty good until we missed a turn due to passing another group.  This put us on a trail that I'm not sure any car should be on but we made it there.  It was way gorgeous and the colors were amazing. 




Well we hung out there for a while waiting for the other car, the rest of the four wheelers, and of course the bikers.  Everyone showed up minus the bikers. We stayed around for quite a while to just see if they'd show up but they never did.  We then had to form a "plan" to go and pick them up, but with multiple ways to get to the geyser we weren't sure where they'd be. So us, being the geniuses that we are, sent one group one way and another group another way.  




Our group headed back the way we came and less than a mile away we found the 4 guys. They looked exhausted and had come 18 miles by Jake's measurements.  We get out of the car and the first thing Jake and Jared say is "well we were waiting here for like 20 minutes, no offense" (looking at Bea A. Mann and Hawthorne N. Yercyde)  Jake and Jared totally could have made it to the geyser. 
After that we had to figure out how to put 4 bikes in the back of our truck with Benny. We sent Aaron flying to catch the other group so we could put the bikes in their car too but they were long gone.  We had to shift people around on 4 wheelers too in order for everyone to have a ride back. After all that got situated we decide let's go back this other way instead of the way we came. Okay well after about 5 minutes we had already taken a wrong turn. At this point we had 3 different groups spread out going who knows where. Brent and Garrett had gone back the way we came, the other car had gone the opposite way of where we came into the geyser and then there was our group, basically just driving. 






We get going on what appears to be the right road and just start driving.  Pretty soon we see Andrew and Jesse come flying back on their dirt bikes telling us that that was not the way and the other car was lost. We all had to turn around and found a tiny bumpy road which was the right one. At this point the sun was going down and we just wanted to be back at camp. Mr. Bea A. Mann wanted the truck to go back the forever long way and just get on the highway so his precious bike would not be "destroyed" haha yeah right, should have thought about that before deciding to bike to the geyser. Needless to say we went on the little road. At some point that road connected with the one we came on and so we were sort of back on track. Also during the last leg of our journey the four-wheelers and dirt bikes split from the cars.  The 2 cars stuck together.  My mom was leading and we came to a point where we weren't sure which road to take. While looking around our car basically drove into a ditch. A HUGE ditch! Cherie was in the front seat and after we realized we were stuck she goes "it's okay, I'll get a rock" she the opens her door to get out and the door has to scrap the ground in order for her to get out. That's how deep the ditch was. I have never seen Cherie laugh so hard. It was great! Then Mrs. Lou Slips*, the driver of the other car, gets out and comes up to our stuck truck. She says "of course something like this would happen. Your car is full of girls, our car is full of girls and there's not a damn man around!" 
My mom being the pro driver that she is did get the truck out so we were stuck about a grand total of 3 minutes but it was hilarious. 

My mom trying to figure out which way to go after getting stuck. 
We finally made it back to camp with about 10 minutes of light left in the day.  Garrett and Brent had been there for about an hour.  Lesson learned. If you're lost, go back the way you came. The four-wheelers and dirt bikes pulled into camp 3 minutes after the cars. Apparently the other way they tried didn't work out so well either.  

Jake, Amanda, and me

Well a few years ago when we went camping, Ben Around* was in the middle of a divorce and he came camping with us. We found an old tire and we ended up putting it in his tent. 

Well this year we found another old tire and some of us went and got it. We stashed it that afternoon, picked it up that night, decided to wait till tomorrow and stashed it again.  Well the next day everyone left and somehow that tire made it on the roof of Ben Around and his wife, Lee Mealone's* trailor. Weird. 



The inside was also toilet papered. 




please note the tire on the roof in the background.




I never thought 3 days of camping would lead to such a long blog post. But like I said, with the Maxfields, it's never as simple as it seems. 
It was a crazy trip but overall pretty entertaining. 


Leaving the sand dunes


Trip complete.