United 390

This Christmas break has been full of tons of great adventures. I will start with our last: our flight from Tulsa to Denver.

Everything was great, we got to the airport in time, no problems going through security, our flight was on time.
We boarded the plane.
We sat in our seats. I was next to the window and Danny was in the middle. There was a man (named Josh as it turns out) sitting on the aisle seat in our row. He was extremely outgoing and seemed a little odd. I speculated that he was on some kind of drugs. He was really friendly.
It started snowing basically as soon as we boarded the plane... not a commonality for Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Our plane was delayed while the airport crew tried to de-ice the wings.
Then, the pump no the de-icer broke.
Then, they had to wash off the de-icing fluid because it was not compatible with another de ice machine's fluid that they would use.
Then, they de-iced it with another machine.
All in all, it translated to about 3 hours of sitting in a plane not going anywhere.
Meanwhile, the lady in front of us was practicing her opera music at a deafening volume (with her head phones in and sheet music spread out in front of her). Fancy pants sitting next to Danny was commenting as loudly as possible how annoying she was.
Kinda felt like I was in a twilight zone.
Finally, to the delight of all passengers aboard, the plane was ready for take off. All those with connecting flights out of Denver had missed our connecting flights since it was now around 11 pm (which was when we were suppose to arrive in Salt Lake).
After about an hour and a half of flight time, fancy pants next to Danny started acting weirdy. The flight attendant was standing right next to us, handing me a delicious thirst quenching Diet Coke, when fancy pants hastily reached into her ice container, grabbed a handful of ice, and threw it all over his face.
Less than one minute later, he was green faced, frozen, and passed out basically on Danny's shoulder.
He came to pretty quickly, but everyone on the plane was turned staring, flight attendants were running around, people were shouting for doctors or nurses, and me and Danny were just kind of staring with our teeth in our heads.
Luckily, things turned out good for the dude. When we landed, the paramedics helped him off the plane and he seeme alright.

And fortunately, we were the recipients of:
a free night at this mega sweet hotel
$30 for food
$300 towards future air fare.

So, thank you United airlines. For a night of sheer entertainment, free food, free accomodations, and free airfare. Cheers and Happy New Year.

Christmas Pageant

The Brown family Christmas play tradition. For your viewing pleasure.

Cast: (in order of appearance)
Archie Sessions: Chris Kringle
Amber Masters: Candy (Mrs.) Clause
Danny Masters: Rudy
Bryce Brown: Ralphie
Derek Brown: lady lamp
Chelice Flieshacker, Amber M, Pepper Sessions: ladies of the choir
Evan Fleishacker: Oral Roberts (preacher)

Enjoy.

Christmas Play from danny b on Vimeo.

Mini Wheats: Not for those under age 3, over 75, and those who do not chew.

Your alarm clock goes off. You hit snooze. It's Saturday! You sleep a little longer. When you feel like it, you finally stand up. You are even feeling ambitious so you reach your hands up high for a deep morning stretch.You slowly wake up by going to the bathroom, checking your email, heck,even turning on some Saturday morning cartoons. And when I say "you" I obviously mean me.

Once, as a freshmen at BYUI, I happily awoke later than normal because none of my roommates were home. It was peaceful.

It was clean.

All was calm.

What's that? A cry from my stomach?

A rumble from my tummy?

Time for breakfast.

I lazily waddled toward the kitchen and poured myself a nice delicious generous sized bowl of Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats.

I am not even sure if my eyes were opened yet at this point. I continued my waddle to sit right in front of the TV. I flipped on some Saturday morning cartoons to start the day out right.

And i began consumption of my scrumptious cereal.

When all of the sudden...

upon inhalation (drawing air into the lungs by breathing, not rapidly or eagerly devouring) one of the frosted fellows became lodged quite tightly in my esophagus.

Woops. Forgot to chew.

My eyes quickly popped open and I jumped up.

I tried swallowing hard.

My chest and throat were burning like the devil.

What should I do? No one is home.

I should probably frantically run around in circles.

I'm going to die I'm doing to die. Oh my gosh am I seriosuly going to die because I am a fatty and couldn't chew my food before swallowing it?

Maybe if I just keep trying to swallow it will eventually become saturated with my saliva and go down....

Nope. BURNING my chest and throat to death.

I sprinted into the kitchen. I really don't think I have ever moved so swiftly in all mine days. I made fists out of both my hands and lay one on top of the other-- all a top of the counter towards the kitchen sink. I hoisted myself upwards and backwards and tried to land underneath my ribcage onto my hands. Some would call this giving yourself the heimlich manuever.

after several attempts, one burning chest,  two watery eyes (not tears seeing as how i do not cry), and one very red face, the mini wheat flew out of my throat and into the sink.

Then, I laid on the kitchen floor and stared at the ceiling for a good hour.

Good times.

P.S. On 2 other occasions besides this, I have had to un-choke myself from mini wheats. Buyers beware.

Let it snow: Let it snow: Let it snow!

Sunday morning I awoke to a heaping of bright glistening powdery snow. And... it has been snowing ever since. Besides all the bundling up like Randy from Christmas Story... and walking to campus, it sure does make me giddy!

Yesterday on campus, in a total of about 11 seconds, I saw at least 3 people fall. Haha. That in and of itself is enough reason for me to enjoy snow. But here are some more reasons

The scenery....

.

Snow shoeing

Snow boarding

Snow men (see both pictures below)

Snow related injuries i.e. sledding

Snow drives

Getting Sun in the Snow

Sledding

Snow cones

And.....

Snow ball fights.

Christmas Time is Here!

We made a gingerbread house for FHE this week. Let's hear it for Christmas time! Wooo

Come to Zion

Took a weekend trip to Zion Ntl Park with some old pals.

Observation Point. To my bottom left is Angels Landing.

On our way up Hidden Canyon

Danny faced his fear of heights by scooting along the edge of this windy cliff for a good 200 yards.

A good time for sure. Now... on to Thanksgiving!

Poppa Brown!

Monday is my dads birthday. So here are a few facts you may or may not know about Duaine.


He used to make me oatmeal for breakfast every morning at 5 am and put it in a styrofoam (sp?) cup every morning so I could eat in on my way to seminary.
He ran 6 minute miles in 50 MILE marathons. And took 3rd place in one.
He has lost 25 lbs this last month and is going strong. He is the most tough minded person I know. If he sets his mind to it, he WILL do it.
He drives 1 1/2-2 hours (so techinically 3-4 hours total) every Saturday to work at the temple.

I have never once heard him complain. I know he has bad hips, knees, etc. and he has plenty to complain about, but I have honestly never heard him complain once in my whole life. about anything.

He is incapable of lying. For example, if he does not like your outfit, he will make sure you are aware.

He bakes bread every Saturday for the Sacrament and another loaf for us. And its the most delicious bread you will ever partake of.

He makes some seriously tasty roast, grilled chicken, delictable Christmas turkey's and hams. And periodically throughout the year, he will make a delicious Christmas turkey just because he wants it.

He is 73 and still has an amazing head of hair. And its pretty much all brown.

He has a twin brother and they have the funniest adventures from their child hood. Trouble makers.

He takes good care of people. He mows lawns & various other tasks for people who can't do those things for themselves. Even though he is always busy, he is always looking out for the needs of other people. Honestly, I think he is the most selfless person I can think of. He actively seeks ways he can serve others. He has been that way my whole life and I think that is what he will always be remembered for.
Did I mention he is high-larious?? The other day (this story related to me via Chelice) he came in and kicked his leg high in the air and said "that was my axe kick" and then walked out of the room. Also he recently accused my brother in law of wearing "fruit boots" because of some purple vans he was wearing.

He taught his kids the importance of work. I recall picking many weeds and Saturday chores all growing up, which wasn't necessarily fun, but I am grateful for that now.

He is witty and has a keen intellect. He often says things that are not only funny, but brilliant. He reads every morning (I am pretty sure starting at like 4 am)
He is very optimistic. Also... very realistic.

He loves his "buzzards", "turkeys" (all names for the various birds (which are actually sparrows, robins, cardinals, etc) and takes good care of them with the bird feeder.
He keeps a BB gun by the back door so that when the squirrel comes to get in his bird feeder, he can shoot it. He frequently catches the squirrel at opportune moments like Sunday dinner and is able to wail on the poor creature.
He has a great relationship with his mother and takes good care of her.
I want to be like him when I grow up.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDDDA! You are the beeeeest!!

Happy Halloween

wolverine + storm <3

Popeye the Sailor Man?

Tuesday's are light days as far as classes go for me and Danny, so, we are often both home studying or working during the day.

We have both been trying to eat healthier and include more vegetables and protein in our diet. Vegetables can be tough to eat, especially for people like us with huge sweet tooths (refer to previous post)

This morning, just a little before lunch time, Danny went for a snack. He knew he should eat some vegetables, but was feeling to lazy to make a salad.

So, as you might expect, He reached for the bag of fresh spinach...

pulled out a huge handful, and stuck it in his mouth.

BAHAHAHA.

His guilty expression afterwards was the best part. I literally fell down on the kitchen floor because i was laughing so hard. He wasn't trying to be funny, for him, it was a logical solution to quickly consuming some greens.

So, feel free to call him Popeye from this day forward. Cheers.

Treeeats!

smores brownies... yummm. You are now fatter having looked at this photo.

Smack That

Upon being seated for my first class of the day, I could not help but notice an overpowering yet disturbing fragrance consuming the air around me. It wasn't long before I noticed the source of the smell.
Disgusting blueberry pastry.
Even an individual who is not horrified of the trans fats, sugar, and calorie content of such an item (Really though. It is the equivalent of eating a piece of cardboard. It is simply not food! how can you put that into your body) would have still gagged on the stale aroma. Probably it was due to this kids's lack of a shower, brushing his teeth, and overall hygiene combined with blueberry.
If this was where the trauma ended, it would have been endurable. However, hygiene boy had the consumption manners of a rabid starved hyena.
Mind you, this boy appeared normal. He was dressed in nice jeans and a t shirt. He was probably an average height, average weight for a 22-25 year old male.

I have never heard anything in my life that sounded the way this kid chewed. The word smacking simply doesn't do it justice. He was breathingly heavily through his nose, clicking his tongue, and smacking his chops all simultaneously. Mercy. I thought I would die.

I texted my brother Derek because I knew of all people, he would understand. He hates smacking more passionately than anyone I know.

This is a texting conversation that we had later that day.

"So as to avoid assault charges, I swiftly exited the computer lab a while ago when a female (approximately age 18-21 years of age) entered and proceeded to sit at the computer directly across from me, whilst smacking her gum like a camel. The fact that food costs money and i have therefore not eaten today probably contributed to the immense and immediate rage that consumed my body. Were it not for the existence of law and a justice system to implement and enforce this idea of law, said female would no longer have any teeth left in her head with which to chew."

"I do find it bothersome that our present judicial system and officials find it just to let individuals, such as aforementioned female, reside in public settings. Whatever happened to autonomy? Freedom? Liberty? The pursuit of happiness? I for one, am rather inclined to round up all of said individuals and let them proceed to smack their ears off how they may. Which actually... may include dad. Oops"

"It seems to me there exists a gap betwen justice and our so called justice system. Allow me to defend my statement: Said female certainly caused physical harm to my ears and emotional and psychological harm as well. Would it not be just for her to receive equal treatment? Why should she be allowed to cause such agonizing pain to others, while we, the victims, would face legal charges for exercising true justice via a karate chop to the face and a kung fu grip to the throat?"

Thankful for brother.
Now everyone else, close your mouth when you chew.

Yesterday Rules

Yesterday after a long day of work, school, paper writing, and studying, I came home to:
A home makeover!

Danny pulled out a bunch of plants that had overgrown our sidewalk (before we moved in, obviously) & swept of the walk way to our door

Scrubbed our screen door until it looked brand new

Scrubbed and cleaned all of the windows and window sills

vacuumed

did a bunch of dishes (and we don't have a dishwasher so that is a big thumbs up)

fixed our bed that keeps falling down

took out all the trash

cleaned all the counter tops

cleaned the bathroom

organized the laundry hamper

and organized all of our school stuff, back packs books etc.

What a doll!

Good Grief

Tried to take quiz at home. "Submit" button doesn't exist. Email professor. He is nice. He resets quiz. Must retake by 2 pm. Only have 20 minutes. Scurry to the building my class is in. Get out lap top. Internet not working. Try to connect. Still not working. 8 minutes left. Run upstairs of building. Lap top battery dead. Find outlet to plug into. Load computer. Stupid updates begin. Tell updates to suck it. 4 minutes left. Connect to internet succesful. Load blackboard. Load quiz. 3 minutes. Still haven't STARTED quiz. Quiz loads. 10 questions. Good think I did reading. Zip through questions in 1 minute 41 seconds. Scroll down.

NO SUBMIT BUTTON.

Cry daily.

Go to class. Professor pat on head and say computers are hard. Retake hard copy of quiz. Don't fail 5% of grade.

Good day.

25 Facts for 25 Years of Life

Happy 25th Birthday Danny!!

Here are 25 facts that you may not know about Dan:

1. He makes the bed almost every day

2. He LOVES cheesecake. If you don't know that about him, you probably should.

3. I often call him my garbage disposal. He is absolutely the least picky eater in the world.

4. He is quite the singer.

5. He swims like Flipper.

6. He is artistic

7. He now owns his first pair of skinny jeans.

8. Out of any meal he could choose in the whole entire world, he would choose spaghetti from the old spaghetti factory.

9. He is what you might call fashionable.

10. His closest friends are probably his family members.

11. He is always ready for a little adventure.

12. He is arguably the smartest person in the world.

13. He enjoys a tidy home.

14. He won 2nd place in his age division in the first triathlon he ever did.

15. He knows any "Office" quote at the drop of a hat.

16. He's pretty dreamy to watch slalom ski. Is that how you spell slalom?

17. He served his mission in Chile.

18. He helps translate (into Spanish) for Utah County

19. He basically single handedly put on Utah County Health Fair last year

20. He is in the presidency of the Dental Club at BYU.

21. He can walk a tight rope.

22. He is about the most helpful person I know.

23. He would rather be at Lake Powell than anywhere on earth.

24. He likes to go fast.

25. He is now a quarter of a century old!!

Happy Bday Dan the Man!

Lets hear it for summer time!

My First Post... A Day to Remember

This is Danny...
So today I found a few interesting ladies. The first one was a lady on her driveway and as I approachedd her and said, hey mam, how ya doin, my boss just sent me around to talk w/ some of the homeowners", she said right away, "not interested"… well, she had no idea what I was actually doing, as is the case many times, so I said,"well, just so you know…" and continued on w/ my approach, well when I had completed a few sentences she said, pointing to her home, "I've got a german shepard in there that will tear your face off, no thank you." that last part was said while not looking at me and walking up to her house… haha… she was like 60 years old… telling me her dog is going to rip my face off… haha, so I told her to have a good afternoon and continued on my way.
Latter on that evening, after getting a sale and meeting some nice people, I met the second fun lady of the day… As I was approaching a house these two kids, around 5-6 came out of the side door to the house followed by an older lady- the grandma. So I began walking up the driveway as they started walking down, and I said "hey mam, how ya doin?" she said nothing, so I assumed she just hadn't heard me yet and walked a few more steps as she came further down the driveway, and said it again… to this she quickly said, "not interested" in her light german/austrian accent. Again, like with the previously lady, I said "well, just so you know what I'm doing-" but she cut me off and said "ok, you can skip this house and move on" I was like "oh, ok, well have a good evening" to which she didn't even make eye contact nor say anything all while holding the hand of each of her grandchildren. Well, I wanted her to tell me bye, or to have a nice evening… you know, just be polite… so I said it again "have a good one, enjoy your evening" … silently she walked away from me… wow, she's not like my grandmas! As I left I kind of hoped I would cross her path while she was out on her little strole, so I saw her go into a little circle across the street and figured she would just make her way around it and come out, so I knocked a few more doors on her side and then went in the side that she would be coming out on… hehe… and sure enough, there she came. I put a big smile on my face as I we got closer, and in the most cheerful voice I could, I said, "oh, hey it's you again, hi!" she just glared at me… so as we were almost passing I continued to smile at her, and said, "you can smile ya know!" (in a very friendly voice), to that her response was priceless… remember she had her two grandkids in each hand… she looked at me, scrunched up her face a bit and gave out what I think was supposed to be a condesending snicker/fake laugh… HAHAHA! I almost burst out laughing. She was so unfriendly! And yet SO humerous, she has no idea! She must have detested me or something. I was just trying to get her to smile and be happy… it was a really nice evening out. Oh, the people I've met out here...

Skim Boarding, Body Surfing, and a new hair do!

m

our pals the Nethercotts

the street that the church is on is named after us

Things I've Learned to Love about Virginia

• Fireflies- its a big deal between me and Danny to call the first fire fly of the night (like shot gun) winner gets bragging rights.


• Dough rises amazingly here! We have enjoyed some delicious treats and pizzas due to this.
  
• If sweating is really good for you... we are a couple of healthy horses. Today t is 97% humidity and 97 degrees.
  
• We live close to SO much history. 10 miles down the road from downtown DC.
  
• We've made some really great friends out here.


• Everything is so green! There are so many trees and shrubbery. And it rained probably 85% of May and June. I feel like I am in the northwest. I am always afraid that Edward Cullen is going to pop out and bite me.


• the beach is just as fun out here as it is on the west coast.
  
• There is the greatest VAST diversity of people from all over the world with all different ideas, beliefs, and vocations here. Quite the contrast from good ol Provo.


• We have a brand new, sanitary apartment... also quite the contrast from good ol Provo.


• There is always something to explore here. It has been such an adventure.


• We've learned some great skills out here including but not limited to: selling, rigging up things, mastering the art of resourcefullness (i.e. figuring out how to get away with not having plates, bowls, or any kitchen utensils for 3 months), memorization (i think i have every episode of the Office memorized...), self reliance, dependence on each other, etc.

It has been a really great experience.

We are excited to come home next week!!!

A Few Highlights

I was able to snag a few photos from our photographer from the reception and a little photo shoot, I don't have any from the temple yet but those will be coming soon.