A January Meeting in August

You know how there are people that run in similar friend circles as you, and you've heard all sorts of stories about how awesome they are, but you've never actually met them, and so you start to wonder if they're made up and photoshopped into pics on Facebook?

Or maybe that just happens to me.

Anyway, this was the case for me with a girl named January.

And I finally got to meet her now that both of us have moved back to the Salt Lake area, and she hosted a BBQ and movie night a few weekends back.

Popcorn of various flavors is a must for movie night

The food was delicious, the movie was entertaining, and the company was superb.

Thanks for hosting, January, and I'm glad to know that you're not a figment of my friends' imaginations!

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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?

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Never Too Old for Prom

My last prom was 14-ish years ago.

I had a great time that evening, I really did.
But I'd figured that would be my last prom (unless I chaperone future kids' proms).

Not so, Aaron. Not so.

My friend Melinda invited me to be her date for a prom-themed birthday in the Bay Area, and there is no way I could pass up such a fun opportunity.

So I took TRAX out to the SLC airport, and flew to Oakland.
Sidenote: It's super awesome that mass transit has reached the airport, but UTA needs to extend the weekend hours.

We had a tasty tapas-style lunch on the patio at a beautiful winery, and then practiced a prom pose for later that evening. What do you think? Don't worry, we had a couple other poses in mind for picture time.

After eating, it was time to start prepping for the big night.
So Melinda got her hair did.

She maybe didn't love how tight it was, so her roommate Sarah saved the day by taking out the 'do and replacing it with a loose, fun sort of ponytail.

Next was makeup, and I sat in a park and listened to some local bands while Melinda got this done:
Hubba hubba, am I right?! Yes, I was lucky to be on her arm all night.

We headed into the city, and the party was just getting going when we arrived.
In fact, we arrived just in time for Melinda to help the birthday girl with her grand entrance.

The ladies "brunch bunch", minus one member who was out of town

We did a whole lotta socializing and a whole lotta dancing, and apparently we also picked a great color to match each other as well as other couples at the party.

Our twin couple (he is also named Aaron, and they're rocking the teal too)

And no prom night would be quite fulfilled if we didn't do some prom posing.
Here are a couple classic poses. Which do you like more?
The trip was a short one, but we had so much fun celebrating and rockin' our fancy outfits.

I had to take a pic on the flight back to SLC

Who knows when I'll have another chance to wear a tuxedo and dance the night away, but I hope it's as entertaining as this prom-themed birthday. Thanks again for such a fun time, Melinda!

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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!

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Such a Clever Futbol vs Football Commercial

I'm a sports fan, and I grew up playing just about every sport available in the US.

Which is how I came to appreciate both futbol and football, because I have played and watched both.
A lot.
Probably more than I should admit, really.

And that's also why I got such a kick (pun semi-intentional) out of this NBC Sports commercial:

"We're gonna beat the Cowboys, and the Cowboys, and Jennifer Lawrence."
"How many countries are in this country?" "Four."

Genius.

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