July 4th Arizona Adventure

Still hanging out on a Sunday morning catching up on blog posts. I have made my way through time and space to our most recent adventure: Arizona 4th of July Trip!

We stayed at Tim and Christy's new house, so totally awesome! I can't wait 'till we can settle in and have a house of our own. Anyways we drove to Arizona to see family and participate in the baby blessing for Daisy, our newest niece. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was just nice being with family. 

Grandpa :)

 Here is David and Amanda's great hall. With Clark and Parker zooming along! I can't wait till they get older so that I can watch their football games (I think they'll be linebackers) and track meets (Clarke, Parker, and Tingen all love running!).

 The family playing Imagine If.

 

Quick, attack Grandpa! Oh also, f you lay down on the ground you are fair game for kids to play with. I was the sleeping dragon! :)

 So there really wasn't a whole lot to do that was both inside (because it was blazing hot in the Arizona heat) and kid friendly. So we went to Ikea. I will say that they had pretty decent food there, but that's how they sucker you in right?

On the road again back to Cali. Funny, we go to visit for the 4th, but that is actually the day that we drove back on. We did see some fireworks along the way which was cool. 

Well, until the next adventure or quiet Sunday when I post again.

-BM

It's fun being a Marine

So it was my turn to give the Sunday School lesson on the 26th of June. I love participation, so I told the kids that if they answer the question correctly they get to wear my kevlar. :) They thought it was so cool. Needless to say it was a success! SEMPER FI!

The Ending of an Era

America, we are in a sad state of affairs... I mean, I know that we call the redistribution of wealth "Quantitative Easing," we call taxes "fees," and that fiscal responsibility is synonymous with increasing your credit limit (raising the debt ceiling), but LOOK AT THIS!!!

So we're at Walmart the other day and this is what we found... evidence of a failed education system. That red box is look'n awfully blue to me; just say'n.

-BM

Disneyland!

Disneyland... what more is there to say right? It pretty much speaks for itself. We (Doug, Mandy, Tiff, and myself) went on the day after I got back from my trip to Nevada. We had a wonderful time. The last time Tiff and I were here was on Christmas Day last year. It was crowded beyond belief. Well, I guess it wasn't all that surprising that the park reached capacity that day, but it wasn't nearly as fun as this most recent trip. We even had a chance to explore California Adventure.

For those that haven't been recently, Soaring over California was by far the coolest ride they have there. You sit in this bench-seat-harness thing then you are elevated into a dome-shaped screen that totally envelops you! the dome shaped screen gives it a 3d effect without the headache, they include smells, and wind, it's just AWESOME!

 I really like this forced perspective painting behind them. When you are at the end of the street looking at it, it presents a pretty fun optical illusion.

 Cruis'n the park

This is what I feel and look like every Monday morning.

This is Tiffany being taken up in a pillar of light.

 Featuring Toy Story's new action figure: Sgt Markus... the zeal of Capt America combined with the Indiana Jones style.

 

Beautiful Wifie

Mr. Incredible has nothing on Sgt Markus. 

 

For as many trips as we go on. Tiff and I rarely have pictures of both of us. I really like this one.

-BM

Adventures

Well it's a nice Sunday morning and I haven't much to do, so I figured that I'd blog some of the happenings of the last few weeks that I haven't had a chance to post yet.

One of the simple pleasures that I've found to enjoy in life is the aspect of what I call "Adventures. " An adventure is simply one or more fun experiences that you couldn't otherwise have if you didn't get out of the house to do it. And the more you can cram into one extended adventure, the better! For example the Zogi Clan gathering was only the second phase of my most recent "adventure."

I recount my latest adventure as follows (I guess it's a good thing that I work logistics by trade huh?) :

Day 1 (prior to departure): Ultimate Frisbee at the park. I never played it before, and boy was it fun.

Day 2: Church in the morning then drive up to Zogistan Central Command

Day 3-8: Recorded in posts of the clan gathering, but included cutt'n firewood in the mornings, rock climbing, bbq's, camp fire breakfasts, a little bit of shooting, card games (this is sounding like a wild west story!), and it ended with the Grand 'Ol Push Ma!

Day 9: Depart for Pahrump, NV for Handgun Training. Pass by Lake Tahoe and pass through Death Valley.

Day 10 & 11: Shoot paper bad guys (GET SUM!) and depart for Anaheim, CA for Disneyland trip with Tiff and respective Bro and Sis in law.

Day 12: Disneyland

Day 13: Clean up from trip. Work on Sunday School lesson.

Day 14: Sleep In, get hair cut, and go back to the Ant Farm (Work). How convenient Day 14 was a Friday, (like that wasn't planned out).

Day 15: Trip to the San Diego Temple, board games, and dinner at a local Mexican eatery.

Day 16: Church and board games with the in-laws.

(Pictures & Story from 19-21 June)

 

People always say they want to visit other countries. That's fine. But I would encourage them to take the time and view the beautiful country we have here at home.

  

Did I mention that I stopped by Iraq on the way to Front Sight? Just Kidding, but if someone were to ask what it looked like... yeah this is pretty close.

 

Funny story while on the road. When I was passing through Death Valley I looked at my gas tank and thought hmmm.... I probably don't want to run out of gas here. So I look for the nearest gas station to put a couple of gallons in just to be safe. $10 got me 1.7 Gallons. I know that there wasn't a station for miles, but WOW!

 

Well here's a couple of photos from my training at Front Sight. This is actually my second course here and the training is TOP NOTCH! The instructor that you see with the sunglasses is Mr. Koop former Marine who actually instructed my 4 day tactical shotgun class.

 

A brief period of instruction... bottom line pistols aren't as powerful as long guns (duh)... solution: shoot him again. Two to the chest, and one to the head. :) I love solutions.

 

 This was controlled pair from the 7yd line and then head-shots at the command of the instructor. Not too bad for my first time I guess. If it matters to anyone I was shooting my Springfield XDm 40.

 

Same drill again, form the 3,7,10, & 15.

Same drill again, form the 3,7,10, & 15. 

If anyone ever gets a chance to receive training from Front Sight. I would highly recommend it! I know that I can effectively employ my M4 all the way out to 500 yrds, but low if I need to use a pistol or a shotgun in home defense situations, I am just that more prepared. I intend to go on to there advanced courses and I'll blog those as I get to them.

- Brown Man (BM)

The Grand 'Ol PushMa

Behold, the grand finale for the 2011 Zogi gathering... The Grand and Glorious PushMa (Held 18 June 2011)! After a fun week of cutt'n firewood in the mornings and various activities in the afternoons, we wanted to do something that Grandma would enjoy. So it was decided that a PushMa would be in fine order. For those that are unfamiliar, PushMa is a term allegedly coined by Uncle Steve for just as it implies; Pushing Ma (or the youngsters like me Grandma) around in her wheel chair. So we took her to a local Green Way and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

 

Pa, Sam, Ian, and Grandma preparing to embark on our journey.

That's strange... why isn't her Manservant (GrandPa) pushing? Guess, we have to give him a break every once in a while. 

 

Now here's a novel idea (evil grin). What we really need is to add some dog harnesses to Grandma's wheel chair and hook them up to these guys! A future Z.I.T. project perhaps?

The PushMa lasted about an hour and everyone had a great time, especially Grandma. 

Well, that concludes this years clan gathering. Next year will be interesting, with Sam heading off to bootcamp soon and I myself may be finishing off the Taliban in Afghanistan (Can that be done with paperwork?) Anyways, I'm sure that things will work out one way or another. 

Mark
Reporting from Zogi Southern Command

Boys will be boys

Yesterday was actually a pretty busy day. Unfortunately we didn't take that many pictures because we had our hands full, but I will recount the day's activities none the less.

In the morning Pa and I ran over to Uncle Steve's house and assisted with the harvesting of a very large oak tree that fell on the North side of his property. To put this into perspective, Steve took a 32in saw and it failed to cut all the way through it in some spots, and it was solid most of the way through. So as Pa and Steve played with the gigantor pieces, Sam, Ian, Bill, Beth, and I worked on collecting all of the firewood sized pieces and hauled them up the hill. At the end I even got to play with the chain saw, which I haven't done in a few years (a nice reprieve from pushing paperwork).

Anyways after a few hours of slaving away with that we reached a stopping point and proceeded with souping up my ride. About a year ago a Jeep got in a fight with the tail end of my pickup. Considering the condition of the rest of the truck I just took the money and never fixed the mutilated bumper and trailer hitch assembly. So we took it over to Steve's chop shop and here is some of his body work... excellent if I may say so myself. 

Here's what she looks like now. (This picture was actually taken at Grandpa's house this morning.)

Now, that license plate, let me tell you! That is a fine piece of engineering from the Herzog Institute of Technology (H.I.T.)

As mentioned before, this is "ghetto rigged." We drilled a couple of holes in the license plate to mount screws in order to fasten it to the sheet metal, used a zip tie to help stabilize it and mounted the license plate light on the right hand side. (you can't see the hot glue and electrical tape holding that part together, it's rather commical.) Bottom line is this: It works and it was free! Kudos to Uncle Steve and Dad for their help on that project.

Well, after all that the kids went to the fair while Dad and I went gold prospecting. But before going it seems that everyone felt inclined to have a nap attack. The below picture is Grandma sneaking in for the kill, needless to say she had mercy and let her man servant live. After all, she needs someone to take care of the house chores.

Once we made our way on the trail Dad used is metal detector for a while on the way down until we made our way down to the stream an then started panning for gold and being eaten by mosquitoes. They didn't seem to bother dad as much, but both of my arms feel like bumpy, itchy roads from all the bites. Anyways, we didn't find much; all unrecoverable flakes, too small to bother with. We both had a good time, aside from the mosquitoes. After a few hours of being eaten we called it quits and trudged our way back through the forest of poison oak and got cleaned up for dinner.

Grandma and Grandpa are regulars at Jessie's and Friday is Taco night. So Steve and Michelle met up with us and we all enjoyed a evening of fine dining. It was all topped off with some strawberry cake, which was exceptionally good! In fact Steve, Michell, and I ordered a slice and once Pa caught sight of it felt compelled to order one too.

The evening was quietly ended with a game of chess between Pa and I. And let it be known that I defeated him! Sure, he beat me on the next game, but I finally beat my old man at chess and that's all I need. Haha, it was a real good time. Anyways, things are coming to a close (still one more day) for the 2011 Clan Gathering, but it has been a grand adventure that shall be continued for many years to come.

-Markus Out



Rock & Roll!

ROLLer Coasters
The last two days have been quite the adventure. Yesterday we went to 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom (formally known as Marine World). We started off with a healthy breakfast at a local eatery known as Jessie's, I haven't eaten there since I was about Bill's age. The food was excellent and then we made the trip up to Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Lee's place and carpooled to the park. Here are a few photo's of the days activities.

Here's everyone, rolling in like Top Gun.

Look at these schmucks... would you trust them?! Uhhh.. NO.

 I think we are only missing Sonja and Jason.

I don't know if you'll be able to see them in the top left, but I didn't feel like going on this particular ride. Good thing too because they ended up being stuck for the better part of 15 min. It was quite funny to see the spoiled kids in the front rows throw a fit. :)

ROCK climbing

Today's activity was rock climbing. Uncle Steve was our instructor and everyone had a turn both climbing the rocks and repelling down them.

The ants go marching one-by-one HOORAHH!!!

What you don't see is the potential fall to your death right behind all of us. It's rather impressive, and you most certainly don't want to head down that way.

What's funny about where we climbed to day is that it very closely resembles the rockwall you'd find at a gym or fitness center. Oh and I believe that's Ian up on the slopes and Dad's finger causing the eclipse.

Uncle Steve even taught us how to the anchor which I really enjoyed, but boy is it a shoulder workout!

Look at that animal (Sam)

I think I can! I think I can! Ooooffff. This is Uncle Steve working his way up, despite the picture he made it over that ledge on the first try.

There are still two more days of fun-filled Herzog festivities. More to come later.... -OUT!



Live from Zogistan Central Command

Well the Zogis have arrived and festivities are in full swing at this year's Clan... I mean family gathering. Thus far, it has been helping Grandpa with various tree clearing and firewood gathering chores around the property followed by delicious BBQ delights in the afternoon. The above picture is my old man and it seems that he is about to go into a comatose after the Boulgogi (Korean BBQ and boy is it good!)

What you see here is the younger Zogi crowd playing our nationally adopted card game, BS. As it turns out Sam (the closest to the camera) is a is a lying scallywag!

More to come later - Out.