The Masterpiece in burger form

I now have a powerful reason to return to Chicago in October. It's called the Bluto Burger at Bulldogs and I must conquer it.


Who will join me this Fall. Brigham, you are in Chicago right? Maybe you should be my guinea pig. I would just like to point out that there are 12 pieces of bacon on this. Oh mama.

Fringe Benefits

There are certainly some selfish benefits of having grandma come in that involve her wanting every possible minute with Max to herself and us taking advantage of that to get away for a night and have some fun. So when we asked if we could take off for the evening to a BBQ with some friends, she and we jumped at the opportunity.


Caitlin with some of her bazzlitches. They look like they are so happy and smiley...that is because they were anxiously watching the BBQ for the food to be ready.


Master Chef Bubba owns the que. dude grills up some fat and sweaty wieners, no doubt. I guess they had a bunch of Hebrew wieners in the fridge that were going to waste...so they invited us Gentiles over to consume them up.


Caitlin went veggie of course, but she was happy to just be in tue sun and not chasing a baby. Also, she had to wear glasses cause she'd be getting LASIK in a few days!!!


The evening was one where precious photos could be taken of precious children that aren't ours.


Oh, precious Eli.


We could teach other kids about feeding ducks.


Or watch the turtles in the pond by the apartment.


And party in the pool playing with $2 lacrosse paddles and showing the world that my shoulder is getting better. Okay, foolin. That's not my bad shoulder. But still, this was some of my first rough housing since the operation.

More selfish partying thanks to grandma coming up!

Como Se Dice Gram Pam?

What what what??? Guess who was in town last week y'all!


Grandma Pam! Mimi! Grampees! Whatever Max decides to call her!


And she came with all her baby raising skills and bag of tricks. We have had a real tough time feeding Max recently. He literally won't eat anything except peanut butter, Mac 'n Cheese and juice. Oh, and only the yellow vegetable straws. La tricked him to eat some puffs by putting them in an Easter egg.


Having Pam in town allowed us to do lots of fun, fun things...like comfortably attend a homemade Mexican dinner at our favorite mexican's house - Alex and his wife Leslie. He owns a taco truck if that tells you how awesome this meal was. Steak and fish tacos and homemade guacamole. Unreal.


We weren't the only lucky couple. Mark and Bethany were there killin it as well. We may have bought this dinner at a service auction for the young women.


Gettin' these fish tacos done. Alex taught us the perfect mix for a fish taco...and honestly, he was right on.


Caitlin also enjoyed the sweet goodness.


Pam and Max caused all sorts of havoc while we ate. Alex and Leslie are about to have their first baby and Max was just helping them baby proof their home.


I basically loved my life that night. I couldn't stop eating food. Even drinking the sauce became tempting.


I wish this night could repeat itself like that groundhog day movie.


Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the master chef, but I did get one of Leslie and Caitlin. Any time I get a chance to eat their food, I will take it. Thanks guys!!

Breakin' the Law

I secretly love it when someone I know has a brother or cousin or friend or whatever serving a mission in my ward. Its like I have this power over them because I can contact their loved one any time I want, and they can't. Sometimes it is fun to flaunt it by HeyTellin' or texting their sibling in front of them or talking to them live. Then you try to get them to talk to their sibling on the phone and they freak out and don't know what to do with the moral dilemma. Classic.

Right now my dog Doug's bro E-Hall is in our ward serving. We try to not hassle him, but it is way too tempting. But then he got revenge and nabbed my last two cookies and I almost went ape on him.

I'll make sure Doug gives him a wedgie for it when he gets off his mission. SUCKA!

Pow Pow-erful Last Hoorah

The fact is, Briggie wrote an extremely fulfilling review of not only LCD Soundsystem's final concert at Madison Square Gardens. It captured his experience living out what was a wonderful era of exciting music and even more exciting concert experiences. So why would you read this blog when you can read his post at THIS LINK RIGHT HERE? I guess I'll briefly share with you my experience with LCD Soundsystem. I was sitting at my desk in New York in 2005, reading a copy of SPIN magazine. I was about to take a trip to Utah to visit my brother Mike and as is customary, I needed to buy a new CD for my flight. I have been doing this since I was 14. I read a very small and almost unnoticeable review for an album by a band called LCD Soundsystem. The short review was glowing and the music sounded intriguing - and it had come out THAT DAY! What fortune! I took the train after work to Virgin Records in Times Square and purchased my copy of their self titled album. That started my love for James Murphy and the fun that he brought to great music. Mike and I loved it all during my visit. Later I found out that Briggie had gone to their concert in both Chicago and NYC. I know I was out of town for that first NYC show - or maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention to Time Out. Either way, I was miffed. So when they returned to play again later that summer, I was there. Brigham's glowing review had sparked my interest. When I get asked what are three of my top favorite concert moments of my life my response will always include watching LCD Soundsystem perform "Yeah" (both 2005 and 2006). It is the most amazing experience to have a thousand of your closest friend lose themselves completely for 9 minutes of coordinated and loving mayhem. I saw them again with my girlfriend Caitlin in 2006. I had introduced her to the band and she was loving their new album Sounds of Silver - particularly All My Friends and Someone Great. I won't go into the near disaster of leaving her ID at home (my fault, 100%), but it was an amazing night and our love grew. When we heard that LCD was playing their final show in NYC, we jumped on it immediately. It was the greatest excuse we could ever think of to fly up and visit. The day of the show I went and had a t-shirt made: Fitting - and it matched the black and white theme LCD had requested for the evening.

Lovers - joined by their love for LCD. Also, their love for each other.

But how could we not bring friends? Brigham was of course there - he is a mandatory person when I'm watching LCD perform. No question. Tracy, Cat and Julie were there as well.

The concert? Exactly what it needed to be. It was an opportunity for us to sit and honor a group of people that had given so much to us. We heard our favorite songs. We heard songs that we had never heard but obviously excited the band. Mostly, we just got caught up in the reality that this was it. This was the last time we would be together watching James and crew perform. And it was okay. A lot had changed since 2005 in our lives...but we'll always have those experiences to turn back to.

Thanks Brigham and Tracy and Caitlin for getting caught up in all that with me.

If you can get through mine and Caitlins overly excited and slightly annoying voices, then you can watch Mittoo walk for the first time. If you know us, then you know this moment has been a long time in waiting. Recently, doctors have been suggesting he might not walk until he gets some corrective braces for his ankle and neck.

Suck on this!

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged Max to take these first steps against whatever odds might be against him. Every hand hold helped.

Why We Keep Coming Back For More

We were in New York City for another weekend. You may wonder why we return to visit so much. "Didn't you guys see pretty much everything when you lived there for five years? Geez." Well, it isn't always about seeing something new as it is seeing what you miss every day you aren't there. It is also about introducing Max to things we love. Like walks through Central Park on a quiet morning.

Amazing food like Big Nick's whole wheat pizza, Levain Bakery cookies, banana pudding, and a few meals we have never had.

It's about spending lunch and the early afternoon with Unky Feef.

Its about giving Max the chance to destroy Tracy's house over, and over, and over until she probably wanted to pull her hair out. But she was a gracious hostess (yes, even with the mostess).

Its about giving Max a new environment to practice his walking skills and hoping, hoping, hoping that he'll take those much anticipated first few steps without holding on to our hands.

And it certainly is about additional encouragement from Unky Feef and having him encourage us when parenting gets hard. Its also about brother's nights that involve huge burgers and insanely delicious fries in Queens.

Its about spending Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn Heights and thinking about how this all started.

And meals at Joya that we wish would never, ever end because we love them so much.

Its about getting in tune with the "Hottest Hip Hop"

And introducing Max to a new park every single day.

Its about trying to get Max to not lick the subway windows as he watches the underground paths fly by.

Its about reuniting Max with his girlfriend Gwen and letting them play around in the buff and take baths together.

Its about the worst nightmares coming true.

And dreams as well in a gigantic playland.

Its about hugs from Max's super buddy Davis.

And Carousal rides with mama.

Its about reuniting with Asian A and Ryan.

Aunty Mals!

And so many other cherished and seldom-seen friends.

Its about sleeping in cause you are so tired from the constant partying.

And waking up to new surprises every single day - never knowing what the day might bring.

Like playing with straws at a donut shop or local cafe.

And most importantly, its about being excited to come home to dad who had to go back to work a few days early.

That's why we go back over and over and over again. There are too many reasons that we can't ignore.