31 Is the New 30

Ha ha, that's one of my favorite birthday jokes this year.

So!  A couple of weeks ago I had a birthday!  I turned 31.  It seemed like a little less of a milestone, though I guess it IS the actual start of a new decade.  In any case, I was looking forward to it, and it turned out to be quite an exciting and drawn-out celebration indeed.

First things first, as a sort of early present to myself, I finally paid off my one and only student loan.  Story time: Once upon a time I graduated from BYU with zero debt. Then for some ridiculous reason(s) I decided to go back to school for another year, thus acquiring my first-ever student loan. And then, one glorious day of days, days and months and years later, my unnecessary extra year of college and one and only student loan was paid off. A happy ending!

On my actual birthday (excluding the workday formalities), The Wife and I were able to revel in birthday festivities, which included surprise presents throughout the day.  Julie started off the day by giving me the boxed set of The Hunger Games, complete with two tickets to the movie on opening night!  (So that's why she was so insistent we go that night instead of the day before or the day after...  And I don't know why it didn't occur to me that we hadn't bought tickets yet.)  There were lots of Facebook messages (Facebook birthday parties are the best!) and this remarkable little number from Elise:

And this epic piece from my co-worker, Matt:

There were a few other surprises throughout the day, and the Wife's thoughtful and creative theme of paper presents was revealed: books, printed out coupons for movie tickets and a weekend getaway in SLC, and even a paper crown!

I am da king today.

That night we went to dinner at Brick Oven (where they have finally provided bigger plates at the salad bar... this may seem silly, but trust me, it's a big deal), and then had a double feature of new movies about old movies -- We saw The Artist at the Thanksgiving Point theaters, which was really quite good and not at all the artsy, pretentious snoozefest I was for whatever reason expecting (I blame it on its popularity at the Oscars this year), and then watched Hugo from the Redbox, which kind of WAS the artsy, pretentious snoozefest I expected, though there were some things I liked about it (but was it better than Harry Potter, which DIDN'T get a hefty handful of nominations?  No way).

Yes, the Chicken Al Forno was probably the best thing I've ever had there, and I have had MANY things there.

This is Julie's best picture face, I tend to think.

We were planning on a family party later in the weekend, so Julie made me a mini cake of Oreos to tide me over until then.  It was delicious.

 

 

The excitement about next day was that we finally conquered Donkey Kong Country Returns (the origin of which we are still unaware, but for which we are still grateful).  We have been stuck on the last boss for pretty much three months, just because we were too scared to go back and try to beat him.  But beat him we did!  I promise we only looked at YouTube walkthroughs once or twice.  I'm not ashamed.  It must have been the luck o' the Irish.

BLEARGH, beware the hands.  They will slice you!  And they don't play fair!

The Sunday following we had a fun family get-together for me and Jonny, whose birthday is the day before mine), which included lasagna and lots of other likewise yummy food and one of Julie's exquisite cakes, which was a huge hit, and a nice round of arm- and leg-wrestling (I was the champion at leg-wrestling for a minute until Jake dethroned me), the effects of which I felt in my neck for the next few days.

We didn't get a picture of the full cake, but here's the remains.  It was strawberry chocolate, and it was very popular.

It was a great weekend, and each day had its delights.  So by the time we went back to work, I pretty much thought the fun was done.  We went about our daily lives, and my supply of birthday cereal of Lucky Charms slowly diminished.

BUT, fast-forward to last Friday night, when we had our big Hunger Games night.  I was actually really excited for the movie, though it's been a couple of years since I read the books, and even then I only liked them pretty well, not like they were the BEST BOOKS EVER to me or anything (though I still avoided spoilers, and wish to this day those dumb girls at that wedding reception hadn't been blathering about the ending of the third book SO loudly when it had just come out like two days before).  Anyway, apparently in this case, time and hype have worked some wonders, and I was very much looking forward to what looked so amazing from the trailers.  Julie surprised me with some magical shirts that combined two of our favorite book/movie series, and then off we went to the movie theater.  Imagine my surprise when I saw appear, one by one, my very best friends in the lobby!  At first I thought it was some kind of amazing coincidence, but then I realized that couldn't possibly be the case, especially as more and more appeared, and then of course my parents of all people.  What a clever and resourceful and thoughtful (and secretive!) wife I have!  She really knows how to plan a surprise!  Besides how well she pulled off the weeks-long plan, my evident inability to catch on to major hints and spoilers by unwitting friends and family helped.   Seriously, a couple of people basically said things right out, and I still somehow didn't get it.  I like to think I'm marginally clever myself, but when it comes to surprise parties, I guess I'm a good guy to throw one for.

 

So excited for the movie!

This is Julie the Hostess being pleased that I'm surprised, and me the Birthday Boy actually being surprised.

Most of us made it into the same theater and the movie was marvelous.  I actually haven't stopped thinking about it since, and I can't wait to see it again.  It has so much happening on so many layers and levels, and it was just fantastic.  And if one more person compares it in any way to Twilight (except that they're both books that were made into movies), I may throw a fit.  After the movie everyone came to our apartment for root beer floats and cookies and hilarious conversation, the hilarity level of which may or may not have taken our neighbors a little by surprise.  (Believe it or not, I took not a single photo of this after-party event, but believe me when I say it was really fun and funny and lasted until it was no longer PM.)

So that was it!  Birthdays have always been fun, but as the years go by and one enters one's adult years the excitement kind of wears off, but ever since I had a Wife, they have been really fun again!  I can't wait until my next one. :D

80Y 5K

A few weeks ago several dozen family met up at Logan for an epic surprise party for my Grandma Julie's 80th birthday.  She's an avid runner, has run almost 150 marathons in her adult life, and continues to run 5Ks and 10Ks regularly.  We will often go up to stay with her for the weekend and run a race, or she'll sometimes come down and join us for a local race.  My sisters had a brilliant idea to organize a fun, casual family 5K in her honor and for all of us to just show up and spring it on her.  Elise designed a great t-shirt, and Amber had them printed for everyone who participated.  Mom and Dad went up the night before and actually ran a morning race that had already been planned, and then on their way home they came across all of us in matching shirts and race number bibs, all ready to celebrate.  Grandma was beside herself with delight, and I was really amazed that the surprise was never spoiled.  (Mom had a hard time "lying" to her mother for so long.)

Waiting for the birthday girl.

While we were there we decided we had to have a good jumping photo shoot.  The first one is a classic Britney/Elise shot.  It's some kind of amazing or something.

We're all in this together!

I know this one is almost the same, but just LOOK at Penny!!!

Nice Ben, way to ruin the effect.

As a race, it was pretty casual, everyone went their own pace, some walked and pushed strollers, some of the kids rode scooters or bikes, and the 5K distance was approximate.  The course started at an elementary school near Grandma's house, then went to a local park and back.  It ended a little before 3.1 miles, so I went a little farther to Grandma's house (which ended up being a little longer than 3.1) and then back to the school.  My total approximate distance was 4 miles (~36:12).  Incidentally, I started to notice this sort of swelling in one of my knees after running for a couple days before and then right after this race, which kind of concerned me...  Turns out some thorough stretching and giving it a weekend off seemed to have done the trick.  When everyone made it back to the park, there was an abundance of great post-race treats for all to enjoy and everyone was a winner, though Grandma was the real champion of the day.  What an inspiration!

Here's Elise's great t-shirt design.  The main graphic was on front, and the bottom tagline was printed along the bottom left of the shirt.

This is just the Graham side, there were several more of Grandma's other kids and grandkids represented.  A great turnout!

Thanks for organizing a great race, everyone!  There was an awesome turnout and we all had a great time.  And thanks for having a birthday so we could throw you a surprise party, Grandma!  We love you so!  See you at the next race, if not hopefully sooner.

A Most Unexpected Surprise

Ha ha, as if there's any such thing as an "expected surprise"?...

A few weeks ago as The Wife and I were sitting at home waiting for friends Lacie and Leland to come over to watch one of our shows, Lacie called saying maybe The Wife and I should head up to my home neighborhood to watch it at her parents' house instead.  Our initial thought was that it was getting a little late, and we should just watch it separately and get together to catch up next week.  Then she said she really thought we should just make the 25-minute trip up to watch it with them, and it took me just a few seconds to even realize that the phone had been handed to someone else...

It was my own little sister and longtime BFF Elise!!!

It was such a huge surprise, I really have no idea how anyone was able to keep it a secret from the most of us, especially the aforementioned friends who we see quite regularly!  She had been planning a trip back home with her little poopsie (though not quite so little as when I last saw her!) to visit and just so happen to be in town for a beloved cousin's wedding day.  She had a great time revealing herself to everyone in the family, sometimes by leaving her baby on the doorstep of someone's house and calling from the nearby bushes, saying she had sent a package that had arrived and should be picked up, and sometimes by Mom just walking into a relative's house holding the visiting little one.  Everyone was completely surprised.  We had such a nice long visit with her, and we spent a lot of time up at Mom and Dad's house hanging out with her and Penny, watching movies, going out to favorite restaurants, getting in a small but intense game of laser tag, and even visiting Grandma in Logan (more details on that event to follow).

My, how you've grown!  We took these pictures while we were waiting for our newlywed cousin to emerge from the temple.

We take a picture like this at every wedding lately (our own or someone else's, apparently).

Sisters do as sisters should.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a glamorous photo with my exquisite wife.

But perhaps the most remarkable byproduct of Elise's visit back home was this incredible music video.  The whole thing started out as an attempted reunion of the talents behind the now famous One Day More music video made some five years ago (I was involved in a directorial and cinematic capacity, not as one of the actors), and a recreation of it.  It was decided that rather than just remaking the old music video, especially since not all original parties were present, we should do something completely new.  After a quick vote, we decided on Mika's poptastic Grace Kelly, and the rest, as they say, is history.  You can see the result below.  My nephew was really excited to report that he watched it twice and that it already had close to 100 views (this milestone has now been reached!).

I love how the still preview photo is of me and Leland flexing.  We are so manly!  Much thanks to Elise, the true mastermind behind this project, for her direction and inspiration.  This is definitely her brainchild, and we were so glad to see it uploaded ever so quickly.  (By the way, her latest cinematic masterpiece can be seen here.  Oh those babies!!!)  Oh yes, and we certainly missed Jeff.  The music video (and visit) could only have been improved by your involvement.

 

We had a great time, Elise!  Hopefully we'll be able to make a trip back east to visit our various family there sometime soon, but we family here at home are always ever so glad to welcome visitors (especially if they bring their wee ones...).

A Surprising Turn of Events

Wow. My life as an R.M. has taken an unexpected turn. I feel like my standards and principles have remained largely unchanged since I left, except maybe being a little more solidified and centered on the love of God and Jesus Christ and the changing, enabling power of the Atonement, since that has been the focus of my life for the last 24 months. Imagine my surprise, then, when those who I had considered my friends and allies, those who I was so grateful thought like I did on these important and relevant issues, suddenly turned on me! I am totally used to being harassed and called names by the "other side" (who, ironically, exhibit prime examples of the same unsavory adjectives of which they accuse me), but to be turned on like this by people who wrote me and supported me, literally, for years, people who have read my story and know better than most why I feel the way I do is a huge surprise. I am fine with people differing in opinions, though naturally I wish people would think more the way I do on certain key issues (who doesn't?), but there are some I just thought, after all they've told me and shown me, were a little more solid than they now appear to be. I guess times change, and so do people, but some of this is so bizarre. It would be unrealistic to say I'm not just a little bit hurt, but I'm more just sad that they have been taken in by the lies that society continues to feed us. It becomes increasingly difficult to be IN the world, as we are instructed, but not OF the world. Life is so hard and confusing, the only thing to really rely on is Jesus Christ and His Gospel, which I strive to do. It's easy to label my beliefs and behavior as "intolerant" and "bigoted" (oh, how cliche!), but so it is for the entire Christian mindset, if you really want to. There are those who think frowning on any kind of sinful or harmful behavior is "narrow-minded" and "unchristian." (Since, some argue, it is forcing beliefs on people and taking away agency...) So, what is it? What do we do? Do we stand for truth and righteousness or not? Do we argue for the weakness, or do we argue for the strength of the Atonement? (...Referring, of course, to the power of the Priesthood, repenting and changing through the proper channels, process and so on, and not just "saved by faith", which camp I have been accused of subscribing to) Christ may have dined with the publicans and the sinners, but he commanded people to forsake their sinful behavior! He was the perfect example of loving the sinner and hating the sin. He commanded us to judge righteously! He said He would save us FROM, not IN our sins (Helaman 5:10)! As of now, not even a month back into the game and I've already been the target of many hateful attacks and name-calling! And not only from people I barely remember from my past, but good friends as well! I'm only trying to protect the innocent and educate those who just are unaware of the dangers that are out there, based on the things I have learned from the hard times I've been through. And how is this received? With hatred and intolerance! Amazing! It's times like this that verses such as Matthew 5:10-12 mean a lot more to me.

Since when is it weak to argue in favor of the Atonement?

Anyway, just a minor rant for the moment. Of course I forgive these people. Perhaps things like this happen in the heat of the moment? It would be stupid of me to choose to take offense. I'm still just bewildered at this startling turn of events! There are those who turn tail at the first sign of conflict, but just like David (continuing with the earlier analogy, to which I will stick), we who believe in this have to stand firm. Be loving, but unrelenting. Be innocent, but not naive.

Like the Alexander Pope verse says:

"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
we first endure, then pity, then embrace."

I would venture to add "then endorse" at the end. All that is required for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.

... And, for those who are truly interested in why I am so invested in this issue, I might as well tell. Click here for a glimpse at my story.