Just A LIttle Update.

Josh and I are back from Memphis, Tn. Hurray!!!! The downside....We are homeless. Before we moved to Memphis we put everything in storage. We are staying with my parents in West Valley and we are commuting everyday to Utah Valley (Pleasant Grove ant Provo). We feel very displaced. Our things are scattered between my parent's house and our storage unit. The house hunt has begun but it is a lot harder than we thought it would be. We want to buy something in Pleasant Grove, American Fork, or Lehi. We just haven't found the right one yet. Wish us luck!!

Madea Goes To Church?

Ok so her name wasn't Madea, it was "Apostle Shockie D. Weathington," pastor and overseer of New Hope Ministries in Memphis, Tn, but what a resemblance to Madea on left. And the similarities weren't in appeance only. The woman will tell you where to go and how to get there be it Heaven or Hell! I first met Ms. Weathington about a month and a half ago when I installed an alarm in her home. While there we struck up a conversation on religion and she invited me to her church. I didn't think much of it until about a week and half ago when I showed up to an install and it was her little church. So, today we visited their Sunday Services, and it was all i'd imagined and then some.

While the congregation was a bit taken back when five white people walked in they were extremely welcoming. Their choir of 4 women could outsing three LDS ward choirs, and there was less false doctrine than in our ward's Sunday School. Though the delivery was very different! After all it was an Apostolic church, and they don't exactly whisper in there congregations. There was lots of Praising(Yelling). It was quite the experience and before the end of the service I was called up to sing"Amazing Grace" and all of us shared our testimonies. All of which were confirmed by applause and "praise God" and "amens" galore!

It was really a fantastic experience which will not soon be forgotten, and we made some great friends!

Dr. King

Last week, Josh and I went to the Lorranie Motel. It is the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot. The motel has been turned into a museum about the history of African Americans. Before you enter the museum they have you watch a documentary on Dr. King. It was really good and has won a few academy awards.

One of my favorite things in the museum was a bus that was similar to the bus Rosa Parks was on when she refused to give up her seat. If you sat at the front of the bus the bus driver would ask you to move to the back. The warnings got more and more harsh. After all the warnings it was explained that if you hadn't moved to the back of the bus you would have been arrested.

The museum has renovated the rooms that Dr. King was in before he was shot in exact replicas. They have coffee sitting on the nights stands, shaving supplies in the bathroom, shoes on the floor, etc. While the motel has had to make some updates they have kept a small part of the original concrete with Martin Luther King's blood on it.

The motel/museum also owns the building across the street from the motel. It is in that, building they believe, James Earl Ray shot Dr. King. This part of the museum talks about the actual murder of Dr. King. It has the gun and other evidence on display.

The museum made us appreciate Martin Luther King's life and what he stood for. I hope his dream will continue to push forward.

Shitty Shitty Bang Bang!

Ok, so I apologize for the mild vulgarity, but those were the words and that was the sound as all 200+ pounds of me came crashing through an unsuspecting customers ceiling. Yes, that's right, laugh it up, I was the doofus everyone makes fun of because he mis-stepped. Well in my case I slipped, but either way it kind of sucks. I did catch myself so really it was just my legs that came through, but oh the gasps I heard in the living room below. You know, the worst part is really the half second after it happens when you realize what just happened and the fact that you have to deal with the aftermath. Yes, it's true, vulgarities did escape my lips, but can you blame me really? Long story short, it wasn't beyond my skill set to repair the ceiling rather swiftly.

Now, i'm pretty sure we've all had one of those "Oh Sh*t!" moments whether it be wrecking a car, starting something on fire, spilling grape juice on moms white carpet, etc., etc..... So, I'd like to here about them. Comment away!

Kix on Beale

Last Thursday I went to Kix on Beale with Kelly.  Every Thursday night Kix 106, a local radio station, puts on a free concert on Beale Street's Handy Park.  Last Thursday Heidi Newfield preformed.  It was a great concert but not a great crowd.  A large portion of the people there were smoking and almost all of them were drinking.  By the time Heidi had finished her set Kelly and I were ready to go.  We didn't stay around for the other performer and went and got ice cream instead.  It had been a long day.   

     Earlier that day Josh dropped us off downtown on his way to work.  We had to find stuff to do before the concert so we went to the oldest store on Beale Street called A. Schwab's.   It was built in 1897 and was suppose to be really cool with old nickel candy and a museum upstairs.  The store was in bad shape.  It could have been really cool but was really ghetto.  There was stuff everywhere.  It felt kind of like a dollar store and stunk really bad.  We went up stairs to see the museum and it was a small little room with stuff just piled in it.  There was a hand written sign that said

"Look and touch but items not for sale."  The items had definitely been touched.  There were old cash registers, type writers, old billing records that were falling apart, antique glass bottles, clothes, etc.  The stuff was really cool but was  getting destroyed because everyone was allowed to touch everything.  After being a little depressed about the whole thing we thought at least we can buy some old fashion candy.  Well they didn't even have that.  We left feeling really sorry for the store and went to find something else to do.  

     We went to the Peabody Hotel to see the famous Peabody Ducks.  These ducks are trained to march on a red carpet from their "Pent House" on top of the building down the elevator to the lobby and to the fountain in the center of the lobby every day at 11:00 am.  At 5:00 pm. the whole process is reversed.  It was really cute.    

After we went to the Peabody we got something to eat ad then wen to the concert.  It was a long day but we had a good time.  

All Fireworks are Legal in Mississippi

This 4th of July Josh and I experienced lighting off illegal fireworks.  The only thing is they were all legal here in Mississippi.  Our whole group combined efforts and between all of us we had about fifty mortars, 20 roman candles, 300 bottle rockets, a few fountains, sparklers (for sparkle bombs), and a few other things.  The guys put all of their launchers together and were able to launch 6 mortars at a time.  It was really cool.  We put on a really great show for each other.  After our fun little experience I know why these fireworks are illegal in Utah.  We set our fireworks off in a street by a fields which we caught on fire about five times.  If it had been a field in Utah it would have been bad news.  It was a great 4th of July with a BBQ, fireworks, and friends.  The only thing we missed was family.  Love you guys.             

Mud Island

On Sunday, Josh and I went downtown with a bunch of friends and rode the trolley.  The trolleys in downtown Memphis are over a hundred years old.  Ours was 103 years old.  It was fun getting to see the city that way.  After the trolley ride we walked over to Mud Island.    Mud Island has a scale model of the Mississippi river starting at Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans.  I never realized how long and big the Mississippi was.  I now have a better understanding of why they call it the "Big River".   

 We had fun playing in the water and being with friends.

Announcement!!

Yesterday my younger sister Karen called me and told me that my mom was going to be a grandparent.  It took me a while to register that.  I then realized that she was pregnant.  Before Karen and James even got married she kept telling me how she was going to have the first grandbaby.  Well now she is.  I guess if I really cared about having the first grandchild Josh and I could have done something about it, but we didn't.  I figure all of the grandchildren will be loved the same.  Well Congrats Karen!!!!  Thanks for taking the pressure off.  

A Much Needed Break!

Last week Josh had his first day off sense we have been out here.  (He always has Sunday off but works Monday through Saturday the rest of the week.)  We decided to take full advantage of the two day weekend and we went to Nashville.  Lucky for us it happened to be Country Music Fest.  We bought some last minute tickets that happened to be pretty good seats and found our way to the L.P. field in Nashville with help from our GPS.  The concert was star filled with performances from Jack Inram, Heidi Newfield, Montgomery Gentry, Miranda Lambert, John Rich, Taylor Swift, Sugar Land, and Kenny Chesney.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The funny thing about concerts are they can make or break an artist for you.  Seeing some of the artist live are completely different from just listening to them on the radio.  We ended up loving all of the artist more as we left except for one, Taylor Swift.  Now don't get me wrong I love Taylor's music but it is a good thing that I don't have to watch her flip her hair fifty million times while she sings her songs.  I think she has been taking too many lessons from Miley Cyrus.  Apart from Taylor, who is more suited for a teenaged crowd, we loved all the other performers.  The concert was really long and after being there for over five hours we decided we had enjoyed ourselves enough and left early to avoid driving home with all the drunk people.  We spent the night at one of our friends homes and left for Memphis the next day after stopping at some of Josh's favorite places in Nashville.   It was my first time visiting Nashville and I loved it. 

   

We ended the weekend by going to a Memphis RedBirds game with a bunch of friends.  My favorite part of baseball games is always during the seventh inning stretch were the crowd sings "Take Me Out to The Ball Game".  I always sing it at the top of my lungs and I was really embarrassed when I saw Josh out of the corner of my eye video taping me.  It was a great weekend and it was fun for Josh to do something other than work.

My First Tornado Adventure

 Yesterday a EF2 tornado caused damage in Desoto County.  That is where I live now.  Josh called me yesterday afternoon and told me that a tornado touched down a few miles away from where we live.  I immediately turned on my computer and looked up weather.  I put in my zip code and sure enough I was in a severe thunder storm with severe tornado warnings.  I guess all I really needed to do was look out my window and see massive amount of rain pouring  down with the trees almost sideways because of the wind.  I spent the next two hours cautiously away from my windows and without power.  I found a cosy spot to hang out and read a book while I watched the storm pass.  The storm gradually eased up but that didn't mean our power came back on.  The worst of the damage in Desoto County is that 50,000 people are without power.  Last night almost our whole apartment complex left in search of a place to eat.  (All of our utilities are electric.)  Luckily our power came back on this afternoon.  The total damages we have are our meal from last night $25.00, a few spoiled items in our fridge estimating around $20.00, a restless nights sleep because of no A/C, and my first tornado adventure Priceless.

 

The Memphis Botanic Gardens

 

Yesterday I went to the Memphis Botanic Gardens.  I went with a bunch of the wives and kids of the husbands that are working for Pinnacle out here.  We had a great time.  To our good fortune ever Wednesday the Botanic Gardens houses a farmers market.  It was fun looking at all the different booths.  They even had peaches for sale.  Can you believe it.  Peaches in June???  It was a fun day.  

The Dixon Gallery and Gardens

 

Yesterday I went to the Dixon Gallery and Gardens.  They had a good collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings and I throughly enjoyed walking the halls taking in the masterpieces.  The gardens were just as magnificent as the paintings.  I don't know what I liked more...the Gallery or the Gardens???  They were both beautiful.  I was only able to take pictures of the gardens because they wouldn't let us take pictures in the gallery.   

The Pink Palace

The Pink Palace is a historical museum ranging from archeology to chemistry and is based around the history of memphis.  The Pink Palace was a house built out of Georgian Pink Granite for the founder of The Piggly Wiggly, Clarence Saunders.  Clarence Saunders built the house for his personal residence in 1923 but lost the home because financial troubles.  It became a museum in 1930.

Apparently this Polar Bear is really Popular.  

These dresses where worn by the queens at the Cotton Carnival.

This is a picture of a typical kitchen.  I just thought is was really cute.

This is a picture of the ceiling in one of the rooms.  I thought it was really pretty but the picture doesn't do it justice.  

National Donut Day

National Donut Day is the first Friday in June of every year.  If you did not know about this glorious day you sorely missed out.  Krispy  Kreme was giving away free donuts all day.  I first went into the Krispy Kreme to claim my free donut and I must confess I also went through the drive through to claim another one.  The first one was just so good I really wanted another one.  

A little bit of history about National Donut Day...  It was created in honor of the Salvation Army Women who served donuts to the soldiers during WWI.  The salvation army set up huts close to training camps in France.  The donuts became an instant hit with the soldiers. On one of the busiest days Margaret Sheldon wrote "Today I made 22 pies, 300 doughnuts, 700 cups of coffee."  

Race For The Cure Slideshow

Race for the Cure

Today I ran in the Race for the Cure.  I ran in celebration of Pat Redmond and my mother-in-law Dorothy Rich. My mother-in-law is a survivor of breast cancer and Pat is my cousins Grandma.   

Pat is currently fighting breast cancer.  My aunt Annie put a team together to celebrate Pat's fight against this disease.  Even though Pat is in the middle of chemo therapy she did walk part of the race.  She was surround by most of her Grandchildren and a lot of friends.  We hope this race brought her some encouragement and faith that she can win this battle.
   .   Today we saw many slogans about breast.  Here were some of my favorites.

Save Second Base (I had to explain that one to my Grandma.)

Save the Boobs

Save the Man Boobs (for men that get breast cancer)

Chesticals

Boobs or Bust

Christina's Rack Pack

Tiny Tits   

Holy **it save the Tits

That’s What She Said

Show Your Support

My mom said Save the Earth phooey Save the Boobs.  They feed the children.  Give Joy. Make this earth a happy place.  Boobs or Bust.  Hopefully someday we can find a way to save the boobs.  

Goodbye Old Friend. Hello New Adventure!

It's a little hard to believe this day has come, but it has.  After a couple months shy of three years in the beloved Provo house we have moved out.  It was hard for us do, due to the fact that I largely remodeled the home in and out, but adventured called and it was time to answer.  So, you are probably now asking yourself, "What adventure?" So i'll try my best to give the nutshell version.  

I am currently living at the place to the right called The Hamilton in Horn Lake, MS located just outside Memphis, TN. Lindsey, on the other hand, has returned to live with her parents.  Oh, easy now! Don't worry! Lindsey and I are doing just fine, she just has to finish teaching school before she can join me for the rest of the summer.

While Horn Lake is beautiful my original plan was to be living in Nashville, TN, which we will, but not for a couple of months.  For those of you who may not know I am a musician/singer/songwriter/whatever, and an opportunity arose to do a summer job that would allow me to be in Nashville with some time to pursue my music career goals.  Yes folks, I'm installing security systems for the summer. Unfortunately some plans changed after signing on and we are spending the first two months in Memphis instead of Nashville, but since I have to be away from Lindsey for 6 weeks I should have plenty of time for songwriting.  While in Nashville I hope to get more songs written, network, and look into the possibility of a more long term move to Music City in the future.  However, Lindsey is committed to teach kindergarten again next year and I have voice students awaiting my return.  To some degree our lives seem a bit like a suspenseful "To be continued. . . ."  Well, when we know what's gonna happen we'll let you know.

Since the theme of this summer seems to be "change"(not inspired or affiliated in any way with Pres. Obama) I decided to change my image a bit as well.  Those who know me know I've had facial hair for about a year now.  Well. . . .

it's all gone.  Of course there's a pretty good chance it will be coming back before too long.  

I also bought myself a new guitar to keep me company while I am without wife.  It is an Epiphone Dove and while it may not be the most expensive guitar money can buy, it's pretty good and I quite like it. Now I just have to learn to play it:)

Well folks, that's about it for now, but I'm sure our summer adventures in the deep south will produce many a great story to blog about in the future, but until then I'm signing off.  Talk to ya'll later.

Color Me MIne

Josh and I went on a double date last Thursday with our friends Ian and Chelsea.  We went to Color Me Mine.  Josh and I had never been and had a great time.  We were able to pick up our bowls tonight.  We think they look great.  Thank you Ian and Chelsea for a great time.  

Ian and Chelsea busy at work.

The Finished Product.   

Rock Climbing in Moab

Josh and I went with our friends, Peter and Katelyn Lowe, down to Moab for the weekend.  It was Josh's first time to Moab so we decided that he had to see Delicate Arch.  We woke up early Saturday morning and set out for the hike.    We were the only people up there.  It was amazing to hike around the arch all by ourselves.  After we hiked Delicate Arch we hiked Double Arch.  We went back to our campsite and made breakfast, showered and took a rest. Later that day we went rock climbing for the first time.  It was a great trip.  

Josh, Lindsey, Peter, and Katelyn at Double Arch.

Josh and Peter being Macho, Macho, Men

Before and After!

So, this summer I took on a rather large project with my friend Craig.  It was the project of repairing and painting my 1987 Chevy Scottsdale Pickup.  It ended up being a much larger project than either of us anticipated and I would never do it again, but I was very pleased with the results!  So without further ado here are some before and after pics. CLICK ON THE PICS TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE.  Let me know what you think:)