Google Today, SkyNet Tomorrow: My Birthday Edition

I was surprised to see this when I fired up the ol' Lappy 486 yesterday:

Yes, it's probably just based on a simple date in my Google+ profile (yes, I have one. no, I don't use it. yes, I'm still ashamed to have one), but it's nonetheless indicative of the coming SkyNet takeover.

And yet, I still like that it was a screen just for me.

So thanks, Google, for personalizing my internet experience yesterday.
And even more, thanks to all of you who made it a great day by wishing me a happy birthday through calls, texts, in-person greetings, and Facebook wall posts!

I'm who I am today because of all of you! Muchas gracias!

This Year's Pie Night and Thanksgiving

Another amazing week of Pie Night and Thanksgiving festivities. And too much to write, so I'll sum it up mainly with pictures.

For another great recap of these lovely holiday events, see my sister's blogpost about them.

Pie Night Prep

You can't have a good Pie Night if you don't prepare properly.

So we made a few pies (a chocolate pecan and a cranberry-ginger pear).

Doesn't this chocolate pecan look amazing?!

Pie Night

I think our chocolate pecan and cranberry-ginger pear made their first flavor appearances at this year's Pie Night.
Both did well (meaning they got eaten quickly), but the chocolate pecan was the first gone, and I'm not surprised, because it was absolutely delicious.

Smyth boys (minus dad)

We even had gluten-free pie (thanks, Danny!)

The first round of options

The night "Cup o' Pie" was invented

Thanksgiving

With our pie lust satisfied (as much as is reasonably possible) the previous night, we were ready for turkey and all the rest of the Thanksgiving goods. And I definitely had plenty, though my favorite part was and is and likely always will be the spending time with family, immediate as well as extended.

Siblings gotta snuggle a lil bit, right?

These gals have style

After this point, all I could think of was eating and socializing, so the camera got put away.

Thanks for a great holiday, family and friends. Hope yours was just as wonderful!

What Would Your Baseball Intro Song Be?

During the MLB playoffs, I started thinking about the players' "walk-up songs".
That's the song played by the ballpark while a player is walking to the plate or the pitcher's mound, and I believe each guy gets to pick their own tune.

Some current players have pretty awesome songs, as shown in this BleacherReport list.
Pretty cool that James Shields had Rammstein and then went to Kid Cudi, and Nyjer Morgan uses a Michael Jackson song, and Lance Berkman has Johnny Cash to get amped up.
Closers appear to have the best selections, including Mariano Rivera with Metallica's "Enter Sandman".

With the World Series starting tonight between the St Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox, we'll get to hear on the biggest stage which songs the players on this year's two best teams choose.

So I started wondering, which song would I select for myself?
And what song would my friends and family choose?

I had to go with "Fuel" by Metallica. Such a good pump-up song!

Here are some of the responses I got from friends when I asked on a Facebook post:

Heidi: 
Led Zeppelin - Rock and Roll

Stanley:
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower

Laurie:
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup

Everybody sing along!

Dan:
Chumbawumba - Tubthumping

Maybe Dan gets hit by a lot of pitches?

Lucy:
Mary J. Blige - Work That

Jody:
Mary J. Blige - Grown Woman

Bringing her big-girl bat to the plate.
Note: I incorrectly had Beyonce's 'Grown Woman' here before. My bad.

Scott:
AC/DC - Thunderstruck

Does this remind anyone else of the start of Jazz games?

Alison:
The Killers - Move Away

Troy:
Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand - You Don't Bring Me Flowers

Troy specializes in power bunting.

Blythe:
Guns 'n' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle

Like a wild beast in the batter's box.

And last but certainly not least,

Tommy:
Lion King - Circle of Life

Pretty sure the crowd would always go wild for this one.

I think some of these suggestions were in jest, but I had to share them anyway since they're funny.

Most of them would certainly be good walk-up songs, and they'd get the batter pumped up.
And I love seeing the personality of the person reflected in what they chose.

What song would you pick?

So let's play ball! Batter up!

Delightful Disneyland and Dodger Days

Disneyland. It's the happiest place on earth.

So we took our family vacation on the road to Anaheim, CA, for a couple days of fun.

Once again, this post will be mostly pictures. Hope you're ok with that.

Day 1: Disneyland

Breezy's first roller coaster ride. Like a champ!

Zonks' first roller coaster ride. Like a boss!

Meeting the big cheese.

With the first lady.

G-unit is an official Jedi padawan. Even defeated Darth Maul.

So excited to meet their favorite!

They tried so hard. Guess they're princesses, not kings.

Day 2: (Mostly) California Adventure

My #carouselfie shot. Yep, that's a thing now.

Day 3: Both parks

A Mickey beignet? Yes, please!

My sister's friend Jillian was super cool, and doesn't she look like Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones?

Cruella de Vil was a total crack-up.

Caught up with some friends in Downtown Disney.

Day 4: Huntington Beach and the Dodgers game

Our hardcore surfer dudes.

Great game! Dodgers beat the Giants in extra innings.

After such an action-packed adventure, I only have one question:
Is it too early to start planning our next family trip?

Puzzle Me This

Hmm, guess there's a reason the Batman franchise went with "the Riddler" instead of "the Puzzler", eh?

Lately some of my friends and I have been working on puzzles, and I'm loving it.

Such a great way to spend time together, catch up on conversation, and have some laughs.

Plus I imagine it's probably good for our brains to be analytic and figuring out how the pieces connect.
But that is just me spitballing on bonus effects of our fun nights around a table.

This 1,000-piecer took several evenings of effort:


Always fun and satisfying putting in the last piece.
I'm pretty sure Ryan hid this one so he could "find" it right at the end.


This little guy was only 500 pieces, and we hammered through it in a couple hours with the help of a few more friends than on the last one.

My family does puzzles at Christmas, and that's a tradition we've done ever since back when my grandma lived in Montana and we'd drive up to spend the holiday at her house.

I'm happy to start a new tradition of puzzling with some friends here in SLC.

Who else wants to join in the rip-roaring fun?

S.O.F.T. Unites Fireworks, Family, and Friends

A couple weekends ago, my cousin Bryce hosted an amazing night to end the Utah fireworks season.

And because any great party needs a great name, and this was the third year, his was called:

Sidewalk of Fire Three

or S.O.F.T. for short.

The family that lights things on fire together, stays together

We are patriots, so the main event had to start with an epic national anthem performance.

You're seeing it right. Those are gloves with sparklers attached to the fingers.

And then we set off a whole lotta fireworks.

Some went high in the air.
Some stayed low to the ground.
And some fell over and shot all over the neighborhood, into yards and bouncing off cars.
(The rest of these pictures are courtesy of Xan's Eye Photography. She's great, check her out)

But the spectators enjoyed the excitement of watching these bombs bursting in air and all around them.
Fearing for your life just adds to the experience, right?

After the big show, everyone was able to get involved by playing with sparklers.

Many thanks to Bryce and his housemates for a fun night and the opportunity to semi-safely act out our primal urge to blow stuff up in honor of our great country!