Favorites For 2008

A quick list off the top of my head of highlights for the year 2008.

11. Playing on a soccer team comprised with a lot of my best friends from growing up. (James, Chad, Scott, Tony)
10. Trip to Disneyland with James, Dede, Tiff, Ryan, Christian, and Max. Seems like it was so long ago. Anyways, it was so dang fun. I forgot what a cool place it is.
9. Almost seeing Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, and their kid exiting Space Mountain. It was consolation that everyone who was with me got to see them, and I think I saw the back of his Harrison's head just before he went out the door.
8. Serving in scouts and Deacon's Quorum has been fun, challenging, and interesting. Some highlights and some frustrations.
7. Watching RSL games at Rio Tinto Stadium was so incredible. The place is beautiful, and the atmosphere is great. If you haven't been you need to go in 2009.
6. Jumping into James and Tony's arms when Yura Movsysian scored in the last minute vs. Colorado to put RSL into the playoffs.
5. The Dark Knight. Intense, disturbing, philosophical, and in the end somewhat uplifting. I love a movie that keeps you thinking long after the credits have rolled. It is extremely rare in an action movie where the action is clearly secondary to the themes, stellar performances, and character and plot development. Not for kids.
4. Some new bands I got into this year: Arcade Fire, Band of Annuals, Dustin Kensrue, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, The Gaslight Anthem, and Spoon. I know most have been around for a while, but these are bands that I started to listen to and enjoy this year. I highly recommend all of them.
3. Summer trip up to the Northwest with Natalie and her family. We even made it up into Victoria for a day. It was a good time.
2. Roofing my Dad's garage with the dudes. I'm not sure about the place in the list, but it was actually a really fun experience to do some manual labor along side my Dad, brothers, and nephews. We were sure we would be done in 45 minutes or so. 6 hours later, we all had a lot more respect for roofers. It was worth it to see how delighted Dad was with his new roof.
1. Welcoming my Abby into the world. She has lit up our home with her smiles and her sweet spirit, and has brought Natalie and I that much closer together.

Christmas Card

So, we didn't actually get around to printing and mailing one, but if you are reading my blog you deserve a Chistmas card from the Crowley family.

Randomness

Does anyone else have a standard microwave time for warming up food? I almost always set it to One minute and forty seconds. It works out pretty well for me.

I started mixing a teaspoon of Pero into my cup of Stephens Cinnamon Hot Chocolate. Dang, that is a a good combo.

I try to bring leftovers to work for lunch as much as I can. Today it is Pizza from Carino's. It felt a little soggy, so we'll see how it goes.

I really love Christmas time. I love the music. I love seeing family and friends more often than usual. I love giving and receiving thoughtful gifts.

We haven't been singing carols in our ward in Sacrament meeting. What the heck? It's a borderline travesty.

My carol singing experiments went pretty well, but I think I will change some things for next year.

My indoor soccer league has given our team byes every other week for the last two months. It's like there's some plot to keep us out of shape, out of sync, and out of touch with the ball. Needless to say, this session has not gone too well for us.

Ode to My Better Half

Natalie turned 26 years old this morning. I was asleep when it happened. In fact, we all were. The lights were all off and Abby was asleep in her crib. I have decided that to commemorate this momentous occasion, I will give her an ode:

Good Natalie,

O Natalie, thou child of the festive season
How I love thee and thy gentle ways.
Beauty and pure love flow from thee as
The garden hose used to water thy beloved begonias.
Thou art loved more soundly and deeply
Than any Gilmore or Gossip Girl could imagine.

I am the Dwight to thy Michael Scott,
The Buddy to thy Jovie.
Thou art the Ketchup to my fries,
The talk button on my cell phone,
And the sustain in my guitar.
Life is easier, more functional,
and more enjoyable with thee.

From the depths of the Wendy's
to the tolerability of Convergys,
My life improved as I moved closer to thee.
Once, twice, thrice was the charm,
I dared to persist, persisted to dare.
The maid with the blue ribbon
Consented to hang out with me.

Hang the Holly

A Christmas song I wrote last year.

If I Die Trying

When we were in Boise for Thanksgiving, we had arranged for a portrait of all the grandkids on Natalie's side. We went to Target's photo place because our sister in law had had some good luck with them in the past. Well, we went on black Friday, and it was kind of a mad house. When we got the kids all dressed up and arranged some of them just couldn't handle the immense pressure of being cute on demand. It turned into quite a cryfest, and the photographer was less than amused. After about 5 minutes, she pretty much kicked us out of the studio. We circled the wagons (shopping carts) outside the portrait studio, and took a deep breath as we tried to decide what the next course of action would be. As we were discussing and reminiscing the mini-nightmare we had just encountered, somebody noticed that the two grandchildren who had been the most upset in the studio were now happy as larks standing up in the shopping cart as we talked. Somebody suggested going to the Christmas isle and attempting our own portrait with the kids in the shopping cart. We all chuckled and then made a bee-line for the holiday isle. We were determined to get a good photo of the kids from our trip to Target. We knew the staff would probably not be too into what we were doing so we posted a couple of lookouts, tried to avoid eye contact with fellow Target patrons, and snapped a few photos. This is the result.

The Darndest Things

I'm a Deacons adviser in our ward. This is a conversation that took place yesterday between me and one of the boys, we will call him Rupert.

Rupert: "What's with the sideburns?"

me: (very maturely) "What's with your sideburns?"

Rupert: "Well mine are up here," he said pointing to where his left sideburn drops a quarter inch below the point his ear and his head connect. "And yours are way down here," he explained pointing much further down the side of his chubby face, "you look like a bald elvis."