Utah Time, Summer 2016 — Steadily Mobbing

So from Chicago I headed over to Utah to see what was up and to be there for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary celebration.

Wednesday evening I met up with Andrew for tacos, it was my first time trying the new, giant Don Joaquin's on Bulldog. They've transitioned their Provo operations from their weekend presence at Salon Eclipse to this every-day-of-the-week establishment. While I'll definitely miss the ambiance of Salon Eclipse, I am glad that these finest tacos imaginable are now always available to the good people of Provo.

Andrew was trying out a mustache for the day

I've missed you guys

That's not a bike rack, it's a pop up house.

Former New Yorker Sam's band was playing in Salt Lake that night so I was like "That sounds fun" and I went.

This is another band, a different band.

Thursday I had lunch at Bam Bam's BBQ there in Provo. Or Orem. Sometimes it's hard to tell. Either way, I was shocked by how good it was. Stunned. Picture doesn't look like much, but it was absolutely delicious, world class stuff. Enough to make you wonder if Provo might secretly be one of the great food cities of the world whatwith their having the best tacos, best Indian, and so good barbecue.

1/4 lb ribs (that would be two ribs), 1/4lb fatty brisket, nice potato salad. One quibble: Pickles are just standard grocery store variety. Make your own delicious pickles, Bam Bam! I'll come do it for you if you need me to.

When I saw that Chris Harrison had been there I began to suspect it might be the real deal

Greg's celebrity hook-ups hooked him up with some tickets for all the kids to a Studio C rehearsal. I've maybe watched two Studio C sketches before, but it was fun being there with all the absolutely thrilled 9 year olds and their parents. Definitely got the feeling that this outing was making it into more than a few Christmas letters.

After the taping we decided to keep partying and went to 7-11 for Slurpees. The machine was much more powerful than I expected and I experienced an incredible high pressure Slurpee explosion that got all over Rachel. So glad I ruined her clothes and not a stranger's!

Then I went up to Midway to get Andrew down to the airport. He's been living at our friend Calder's house while he works with Calder fixing up his boat. When I got to Calder's I was like "He lives in a cabin?" and then discovered "Oh, he lives in a cabin with an awesome modern house added on to the back."

Inside the boat, talking portholes

That's the barn where the boat lives. And there's the family zipline. I had a fun and exciting zipline ride from the top of a tree to the barn. No photo, no video.

Friday morning I went and picked up Mom and Dad and Emily from the airport (yes, it was a very airport-oriented trip). Before returning to Highland we stopped at the Church History Building. I found this story in a collection of Brigham Young anectdotes

The big thing about Friday was celebrating Mom and Dad's anniversary. They cut a carrot cake, same cake they had for their wedding. Well, not the SAME, you know.

Friday for dinner we had chicken tostadas with these beans Kristen made that drove me nuts. I woke up thinking about them so I went down to the kitchen and made myself huevos rancheros. Look at the fry on that egg! So proud.

Saturday was a special day because it was the day of the neighborhood block party. They got me out of the house to see the slip n slide.

But the main attraction was that Ricardo, Mr. Tacos Don Joaquin, was in charge of lunch. ("Tacos Tarricaso" is his new catering/food-truck venture)

Whole family hooked up with Tacos Tarricaso gear. The line for food got kinda out of control, glad we all knew to get in line right away.

I'm telling you this block party was full on.

Another key attraction? The dump tank. Kids acted like it was an execution. Would ask specific people to hit the button and drop them in or say they just wanted to slide in off the seat themselves. The kids waiting for an actual chance to throw a ball at the target probably had a longer wait than the taco hopefuls.

(Check out the ball rebounding off the target there in the background!)

Dad and Owen and I took a little break from the party to go see Star Trek and came back to find the neighborhood dinner in full swing in Kristen and Cory's back yard.

And after dinner...Neighborhood Dance Party. The dj was like the babysitter that shows up with a bunch of games. People had to play a lot of dance games or follow a lot of dance instructions before she finally did what everyone wanted, which was play the Whip/Nae Nae song.

A note about these limbo pictures: Rachel has a sense of humor. She's proud of these faces. Or that's how it seems to me, the uncle.