There go the training wheels!

Well last Thursday was a big day for me. My flying lessons have been progressing quite nicely, if I do say so myself, and during my last lesson it was the first time that I flew SOLO!! I showed up for my normal lesson knowing that there was a good chance I would be doing my solo that day because we've been talking about it the last few weeks. Well the plan was that we would go up in the plane together, do a few touch and go landings, and if he felt that I was up to snuff he would get out and let me do the same thing (2 touch and goes and 1 final landing where I just parked by the hanger). Well, I'll tell you what, it was quite the nerve racking experience. The second you take off for the first time by yourself you think, "holy crap what did I just do! Now you have to land this thing!" I am happy to report that it all went very well. The only part that was scary was the traffic that showed up right after I took off. To name a few: I had to land right after another plane, I had to rush one of my touch and goes cause a 727 was about to land right behind me, and to top it all off the ground crew was painting lines on the runway so the tower kept chirping in and telling me to land past certain points. "LOOK GUYS, I JUST WANT TO LAND PERIOD!" Anyway again everything went great. here are a few photos of me after I landed my third time.




NO, you're seeing right. The tail of my shirt is gone. This is a time old tradition that takes place after your very first solo. The two stories that I've heard, as to why this tradition takes place go like this. 1)back in the olden times the planes you would train in were set up so the student and the teacher would sit tandem. When the student was doing something wrong or the teacher just needed to tell you something they would tug on the back of your shirt tail. After you solo for the first time you no longer need the back of your shirt because the teacher no longer needs to teach you anything. 2) After you solo for the first time you get out of the plane only to find that the tail of your shirt is soaked in sweat! They cut this part of the shirt off and stick it on the wall for all to see the stress you put into your first flight by yourself. (Its true though, my teacher does put all his students shirt tails that hes cut off onto his wall)

My best friends wedding. (not a chick flick)

We haven't forgotten about you our good blogging buddies, I promise!! Its just nothing too exciting has happened lately in our little world. Having a blog is kind of like when you get a pet fish and you know your supposed to take care of it, but you just don't, so the fish ends up dying... We know we are supposed to add a post, but we just haven't. There is just that constant guilt hanging overhead... sorry. Therefore, I sat down tonight with a mission to write about something! Here is what I came up with.

My best friend Brian got married a few weeks ago. We, of course, wouldn't miss Brian getting married for anything in the world, so Kimmi and I drove to SLC to attend all the fun wedding festivities. Now with the knowledge that we were invited to the wedding dinner, I planned what I might say about Brian just in case it was one of those open mics where people tell funny stories about the bride and groom. Not wanting to be unprepared like I have at previous weddings where I drew a blank I put some time into thinking of a dozy...however once again I came up with nothing... all I could think of were good things!.... Lame I know! I guess what it came down to was one fact: that Brian, out of everyone I knew, probably had the greatest influence on my life (except my parents of course since they gave me life and a roof over my head but thats an obvious) ... This was hard to swallow seeing I, of course, wanted to put Kimmi in that classification. But I couldn't...if it wasn't for Brian, I would have never met Kimmi. He didn't introduce us or anything, but I'll try to explain. Brian and I have been friends for a long time. It's probably my longest continuous friendship that I've had. Brian and his family moved into my family's ward back when we were in about 5th grade. We quickly became friends and we spent pretty much all our social time together from then on. As most of you know I come from a family of Poogers (grads of the BYU) and its safe to say that the way I was going I would have most likely gone to the school down south. The Davis clan are die hard Utes and when Brian and I hung out we began going to the U of U games. My eyes soon opened and I quickly fell in love with the school of the prophets. (Sorry I'll stop with the BYU jabs). Anyway it didn't take long before I decided I was destined to attend the University of Utah. To make a long story short it was there at the U of U in my freshman year that I met and fell in love with the girl that is now my wife. So as you can see, I owe who I am and what I have to Brian Davis.... (p.s. there wasn't an open mic thank goodness so I wasn't a failure in coming up with a funny story to tell). Anyway, it was a great wedding. Brian married a great girl, and here are a few photos from the event.

This was the Bachelor party we threw the night before the wedding. I've never learned how to play poker so Herscher and I played Halo the whole time. We got our butts kicked by a bunch of 12 year olds on X-Box live. I felt my age for once and it was quite embarrassing.


The big day


This is me, Brian, and Brian. The three of us did just about everything together throughout Jr. High and High School. They both have some serious dirt on yours truely!


My cute wife and I during one of the few chances we got to spend together over the two days. Kimmi was quite the champ through the whole thing. As Brian's sister told Kimmi during one of their many chats to keep Kimmi occupied while I was mingling, "best friend weddings are the worst!" Poor Kimmi was husband-less the entire night. As I put it: "Brian invited almost all the same people that we invited to our wedding except this time I have a chance to actually talk to them all."


Now what kind of best men would we be if we didn't decorate the car!!....especially since Brian specifically asked me not to! Who asks that?!! Getting married = getting your car trashed! Its expected.

Labor day fun

I have very fond memories of Labor day weekend growing up. It was one of the few weekends of the year where the entire Monson side extended family would all drive to Midway, Utah (where my grandfather has a home) and hang out together. The big draw of Midway this time of year is Swiss days. I of course have NO Swiss blood in me what so ever. In fact, because a lot of our family is Swedish, we will often raise the Swedish flag on the flag poll during the weekend... kind of an odd tradition. Anyway, for those unfamiliar with the event, it can be summed up by simply calling it the crafty woman's dream! Its an arts and crafts festival on steroids! Hundreds of booths are set up filled with wreaths, flower arrangements, paintings, jewelery, ect. You can also sit and enjoy a little yodeling or bluegrass.

The biggest draw for men is the food. The longest food line by far is for the scones. For good reason too! They are delicious and about the size of your head! This is also where I first tasted and fell in love with the Ruben sandwich. Great stuff. Other then that you usually see the men following the women through the throngs of people carrying around an arm load of wooden signs or some other crafty items. Midway also hosts a marathon during the weekend in which I have never participated or EVER PLAN on participating.

Sadly as the years have passed and we have all grown older and moved away the family gathering has dwindled. We do however try our hardest to attend Swiss Days. Its been especially hard the past two years because one of the few downfalls with my work is that it's like pulling teeth to get a weekend off. Especially a Holiday weekend! Luckily I had some stuff to pick up around SLC for work so I was fortunate to get Saturday off. Kimmi was antsy and wanted to get to Swiss Days before the crowds and before all the good stuff was gone. She took a flight down to SLC early Friday morning (Kimmi's dad used to work for Delta so she can still get really cheep flights). She met up with her mom and started shopping while I worked the morning and drove down in the afternoon. She was smart to do what she did because this is a common sight: Actually this picture doesn't do the amount of people justice. IT'S BUSY!! We had a great weekend. We slept at the cabin Friday night. Went to Swiss days again Saturday morning, enjoyed our massive scones, watched the UofU game in the afternoon (GO UTES)and went to see Kimmis family at their cabin up in Oakley.

Anyway here are a few other photos from the weekend:

We finally got to the new Cheesecake factory in SLC. We went with our bestest of friends Tim and Ashley. Sure it was an hour and a half wait to get seated but it was totally worth it, the food is awesome. This is a photo I tried to stick on the edge of the booth and take of the four of us but I wasn't too successful. Actually, its funny because I took this photo 3 times and this was the best of the 3 in which I cut Kimmi and I out the least... oh well.


These are the delicious scones I was telling you about. I recommend pouring both the honey and the raspberry jam they provide all over it. SOOOOO tasty.

My grandpas neighbor in Midway has some horses that roam around in the field behind the house. Beatrice doesn't really know what to think about these horses. Every time they moved or made a sound she freaked out and started howling. Its nice to know that if our house is ever attacked by killer horses we will be amply warned.


This is however, a lot more brave of Beatrice compared to last year. The picture below is of her last time we took her to midway and she saw horses... she wouldn't even get close!