I may have created a monster:-))

We went for a walk at Nunn's park in Provo Canyon today and of course we were taking some pictures. Well Griffin walks toward this tree and says, "Dad, take a picture of this" and proceeds to throw his Blue Steel at me - on his own, with no prodding. The camera does love him! :-D

Griff and his Legos

Griff has a pretty good imagination when it comes to building things with Legos. And he's pretty detail oriented (look at the landscaping of the front yard of his Lego house!) However, on this house, somehow the diving board ended up on the wrong side of the house (yes, it's coming off the roof of the house - he's a boy - that sounds awesome!!!) Otherwise the design is pretty solid. The Airplane is amphibious - thus the propeller on the back of the vehicle as well.

The Lone Star State

I got to spend a few days back in the old stomping grounds of Dallas Texas. It's always kinda weird going back places I've lived and checking things out - what's new, what's the same, etc. Dallas was especially interesting for me this time because I actually stayed in the same hotel I basically lived in when I was working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers back in the day. It's in the same location, but is completely updated, it was actually pretty nice! I did have to drive a ways to get to the gym - back in the day they had a deal with the LA Fitness right next door instead of a workout room. And I'm not a fan of hotel workout rooms, so I went and found the nearest Lifetime and went there. I also had to hit some of my favorite restaurants, of course:

Pappasito's is actually not a place I'd ever been but Curt raves about it. I'd been to Pappadeaux's before, which is also really good (those Pappas Bros know how to cook!!! Their Steak house is really great too.) So I went and got the chicken and shrimp fajitas - PHENOMENAL! The grilled veggies they serve with it are SO good!!! It was worth it smelling like fajitas the rest of the day! The mexican butter sauce you see in the little dish (forgot what they call those???) is pure evil it's so good! Definitely 2 thumbs up!

Sonny Bryan's was a favorite when I worked and lived in Dallas. I went a LOT. Their brisket is as good as anywhere I've ever been. However, I seem to remember their sauce being a LOT better than it was this time??? I think maybe I got the wrong stuff, but I didn't see any other options. It was like spicy ketchup. So I just ate the food without so much sauce. The sides there are really good and the roll was very tasty. (yes, I spent an extra 30 min at the gym after this! :-D )

Dallas from the 35. It took me - no lie - an hour to go MAYBE 15 miles. There were 4 wrecks, one of which I'm pretty sure had been a car fire earlier judging from all the fire retardant material on the freeway. This is one thing that never ceased to amaze me about Dallas. People here drive SLOW and yet there are ALWAYS wrecks on the freeway!

Me, stuck in traffic. One good thing about Texas being SO flat, the radio stations work for a LONG way away from the source. So, I didn't go completely crazy.


Recognizable Dallas landmark. I could Google it and find out what it is, but I don't care that much :-)


American Airlines Arena where the Mavericks play. Cool arena...for the Jazz to win in!!!!

I then got to drive down to Waco, TX for a presentation there. In the few minutes I had to look around I found this:
That's right! The Home of Dr Pepper! They make it with real sugar here instead of corn syrup, it is AWESOME!!!!

I'd post all the pics of the sites I saw on my drive...but there weren't any. Not even any Longhorns. I did see some on the way back, but I was so mesmerized by the road by that time that I couldn't get the RiPhone out in time to take any pics. Sorry.

I always liked Dallas just fine, and this trip didn't do anything to change that. I still like it. (the stupid "Never Lost" in my rental car did get me lost before I even left the airport, but that's not Dallas' fault :-D )