The rain never stopped

After walking around a day and the rain not stopping the second day we came to accept that it wasn't leaving anytime soon, so onward we went not to be slowed down.

We walked up to the Superdome and the whole time I asked myself if I could've done this after Hurricane Katrina...my thoughts are I would have walked to Houston if I had stuck around, anyways it was interesting to try and place everything into what I remembered seeing on the news and then actually being there. We didn't see the ninth ward where they are still building but downtown and the French Quarter are very much looking like they should, only with a few empty buildings from businesses that couldn't come back and the economic downturn of recent.

We decided to go cheap and check out the college game instead of the NFL Saints game. Coincidentally Tulane was playing BYU that weekend so we were always surrounded by a bunch of Mormons, weird considering it was the Big Easy and even on Bourbon Street it was a version of drunk, drunk, Mormon.

Since we went with college we got great seats, the front row, however they really could have used some more body heat in here. We were soaked from the walk and they had the AC cranked for the Sunday crowd so it was about 60 degrees in there. Yes we cheered for both teams, which quickly turned into a route by the Cougars.

New Orleans

For our big trip this year we had to choose where to fly to use our Southwest flights that we had earned so we spun the globe and landed on New Orleans, yes it was almost that scientific. We both thought that it would be a fun place to go see and someplace that we wouldnt have to spend too much money, thank you free flights and priceline for a great deal at the JW Marriot

We checked out the Audubon Aquarium to stay out of the rain, of course that was paradoxical as we then entered an indoors rain forest that was dry while outside was drizzling.

I'm hiding from all of the scary fish and birds.

Photographic evidence that she at least got close, this was a lot more successful than the Stingray pool.

I wanted to touch the scorpion but instead I touched some stinky slimy bug.

Summer of Concerts

We got our rock on several times this Summer during several concerts. The first was Aerosmith/ZZ Top which we won tickets on KOMP. The next week Mike went to CrueFest to watch Godsmack and Motley Crue. Then the finale of the summer was Nickelback's Tour. One of the greatest things to do at a concert of course is to people watch and we are pros at that so it was a great time, even when Aerosmith took a whole hour to come out after ZZ Top.

My favorites were 1. Godsmack 2. Papa Roach 3. Drowning Pool 4. Nickelback 5. Aerosmith

More Sedona

The trail ahead.

Sedona is an interesting little vacation town, if you can picture the red rocks of Moab and the people of Park City you can easily figure out what Sedona is all about.

This church was really cool to go and see, it is built right out on the rocks and made pretty much out of concrete and glass jutting from the rocks. It was a cool spot to stop on the way out of town.

Sedona Trip

In July we had a fun trip to Sedona with some friends, thanks Angela and BJ, we stayed the weekend in a nice condo, went swimming a bunch, especially since it was about 105 degrees. One desert to another isn't too bad I guess. Besides relaxing, eating, shopping we did some four-wheeling in Angela's Toyota Avalon, not the best for off-road use, hiking, actual four-wheeling and some sight seeing. We didn't get into the whole paranormal activity or sweat lodges that the area is known for so we will have to go back sometime.

Becky and Angela on top of Devil's Bridge


From the bottom, staring at the sun


BJ, Angela, Becky, Mike (I'm in awe of driving the four-wheelers a maximum 20 MPH, so fast)

Since we were the most "advanced" riders we took up the rear of the tour, our tour guide read my mind and said I couldn't fall back and then speed to catch up, she kept a pretty good eye on us, fortunately there were a few blind corners to have some fun. Our excuse was that we were just keeping out of the dust. Notice how by this time I had mastered the "smile" to avoid eating too many bugs and dust. We became trail veterans in a short time at the back of the pack. We had a good time and were shown some cool backcountry by our tour guide, Arizona ATV Adventures.

Summer Happenings #3

So this is how I thought I was going to spend the Saturday before my big birthday, golfing 18 holes at the Red Rock Country Club for free, thanks to my friend Michael. Well that didn't quite turn out that way because on hole number 14 he returned a call from his wife who was nine months pregnant to find out that her "water" broke.....so we drove off and rushed home, I was pretty excited for him and thought I should tell Becky............


Surprise!!!!!

She had gotten me and caught me off guard, and had invited a ton of friends over, we definitely had a full house and a great time celebrating and eating and playing Rockband.

And I got two cakes, I guess one for each fifteen years, luckily I didn't have to blow out thirty candles.

And since Kaelli and Michael lied they had to wait until the day their baby was due for her to make an appearance, too bad it wasn't a day earlier then in thirty years she would be celebrating the big 3-0 and I would be....dead :)

Summer Happenings #2

My coworkers talked me into trying the Blazin' Challenge at Buffalo Wild Wings, so one Friday to qualify we had to eat 12 Wings smothered in Blazin' Sauce. I had never tried to tempt fate by eating such a stomach turner and up to three weeks prior to this I didn't even dare go beyond Hot. Well I decided to see how well I could do and qualified in 2:15, not bad considering the grease was so hot that I ended up with a blister on my thumb. The competition was the very next day so I had to get my game face on quick, which almost didn't happen because signing the papers on the car took a long time. I was in heat number three and the first two times were 1:01 and 1:05 so I didn't really think that I had a chance. Thanks to my coworkers we got Johnny Cash singing "Ring of Fire" and them cheering me on I stood up a split second after the first guy did but he still had a mouthful of chicken and mine was empty so it was on to the finals in 1:09. Of course there was a few sodas to try and cool the fire around the lips. The Finals we had four of us that wanted to combine the prizes and split them up equally but the fifth guy was in it to win it, and so I embarqued on my third dozen of Blazin' Wings in 24 hours. I managed to get them down in about 0:58 which was good enough for third place, $100 in gift certificates to BWWs. I also managed to win one of the drawings for 6 wings a week for a year.....giddy up!

Here I am recapping the successful adventure afterwards, not really wanting to move, but having plenty to brag about.

Summer Adventures #1

The time has finally come to get a new vehicle for the family, unfortunately it was at a time that we needed to because the Jeep Wrangler was broken and has been getting a lot of miles on it, so our new vehicle is........

Wouldn't that have been hilarious, my shoulders literally went from window to the passenger seat, however there was a nice little back bench for Max that would have been perfect for long, or short trips around town that seemed long. Just had a little problem getting the feet from under the steering wheel. Actually we bought a 2007 Nissan Maxima, it is super nice and we have both enjoyed driving it so far.

Even Max likes to ride in the back seat because the vents blow right at him and he gets nice and cool.