Band Photos

Last night we went to Steeleville, Illinois for a gig at a church carnival. In case you didn't know, Chase is in a band, but not just any band- Aaron R. Smith and the Reformation Band. Here are the band pics to prove it:

Aaron R. Smith and the Reformation Band

Aaron R. Smith (or if you're a Polish middle schooler, Akon)

Jason on guitar

Chase playing bass barefoot

Brad on guitar

Jermaine on drums

And here is the band's fan club. This band is so good that the kids were asking for autographs before they even started playing.

Photography is pretty fun. Since all the band members were there, we took a few band photos:

And just for fun, here's one of Chase and Bekah:


Oh, and be sure to ask Chase about what happened on the way up to Steeleville.

I'm a Hedge-trimming Machine

So Chase had this BCM workday scheduled for Saturday and two people showed up, including Chase and myself. I did some hedge trimming using the new HedgeHog. It was pretty fun, but it made me sore. My nose felt like I'd been punched in the face from where the protective goggles had been sitting, vibrating and having debris hit. My back was sore and my arms still hurt, but it was still pretty cool.

We've gotten into a movie kick lately. We watched all the Harry Potter movies and then this weekend we rented Everything Is Illuminated and The Last Mimzy. We both really liked Everything Is Illuminated. That movie stars Frodo (yes, I know his name, but I've decided that I will forever refer to him as Frodo or maybe The Good Son). Illuminated really captures the characture of an American culture-loving Eastern European. Plus, there's a dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.

Chase fell asleep during Mimzy, but Chase falling asleep during a movie has nothing to do with whether or not it's good. I really liked Mimzy. I thought it was interesting and sci-fi-tastic. The worst part of the movie was the unnecessary shot of Dwight's butt. Yeah, this is the movie that has Dwight from The Office (yes, I know his name, too, but he will forever be Dwight Schrute). I mean, the movie was marketed to kids, so why show Dwight's butt? I don't get it. Other than that, I liked it. I wouldn't necessarily call Mimzy a kids' movie, but I think a lot of kids would like it.

This weekend we also watched an old rerun of Soul Train on TV. Now, that's a great comedy!

Fiction

So, a couple weeks ago I finished reading the Harry Potter series. Those books are incredible. The story is so well written and easy to get into. J.K. Rowling is so creative and was able to invent a whole other world, and I'm so amazed with that.

I love reading fiction, but whenever I finish a great story, I start feeling a bit depressed. Books like the Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings are so jam-packed with action, excitement, friendship and fighting evil that my life seems pretty lame compared to it. I want to go on an adventure and fight against evil or something! Or maybe write my own story....

And actually, I have sorta started writing my own story. The idea came to me last night. There's no magic or wizards like in LOTR or Harry Potter, but I do think it could be an interesting tale. I kind of got the idea of how to go about writing from Chase. He was wondering if all writers go into as much depth and background of their characters as Rowling does, so I want to develop characters and their personalities and back-stories before writing the plot.

So there ya have it, I'm writing a book!