You can read more about the kid’s Box Car Drive in adventure on Fran’s Blog (and see more pictures too). Fran did a great job on these little cars. I hope one day our kids realize how lucky they were/are to have their mom. I did help paint the cars after the kids went to bed. The kids are kind of lucky to have me too.
Posted November 14, 2010
Right before Disney Land we participated in our annual tradition of going to ConrBelly’s . We hit up this Thanksgiving Point attraction every October with a group of our friends.
Our agenda is eerily similar each year. Run around for a bit, go through the “no left turn” mazes, pretend we’re going to play dodge ball, go through the corn maze, start throwing corn at each other, make bad corn jokes/puns (it’s a salt and buttery on the ears), give up and cheat our way out of the maze, go on a hay ride, play on the slides, and then curl up in the fetal position.
I confess that sometimes it seems like going will get old, but once I get there I have a great time. Sure, there’s some stalking and the conversation gets a bit corny. And someone always tries to cob a feel in the maize, but the corn jokes get butter and butter each ear. Good friends and corn… that’s all a man really needs to be happy. Shucks.
Posted November 09, 2010
I swore I wouldn’t do it. But I did. I went on a vacation. As Fran likes to point out, it’s our first “real” vacation in over six years (a “real” vacation is a trip where we’re gone longer than overnight- seems fair). The destination? Disney Land. We felt like the kids were all finally big enough to enjoy it. We went six years ago with my parents. This time my Dad decided to come with us which worked out really well; three kids and three adults.
We decided to drive there this time around (my Dad drove separate do do some sight seeing). We broke the drive up over two days each way. On the first night we swung through Las Vegas and ate at the Rainforest cafe at the MGM Grand Casino. The food was okay and the atmosphere was exceptional. I have to confess that it was a little weird walking though the casino with our kids. Despite their protests I didn’t let them gamble.
The drive went really well and our kids were great (my mom had prepared little game bags which really helped). We rolled into Disney Land Tuesday evening. We had reservations at Disney’s Paradise Pier. We’ve stayed previously at the Grand Californian hotel. Paradise Pier isn’t as luxurious, but it’s definitely more kid friendly and still very nice. The next morning we were off for days of fun and adventure in Disney Land and California Adventure Land.
My Dad has his birthday while were at Disney Land. He wore his “It’s my Birthday” pin most of the time and used his clout to score several pictures with celebrity ducks.
I think it’s fair to say that the six of us had a great time. It was a little harder than I expected with three kids. I was very grateful that my dad had come with us. The kids constantly wanted to be carried, couldn’t agree on rides, argued about who would sit with who on the rides, obsessed over churros and relentlessly overpriced imports but it couldn’t overshadow the magic of the Disney Land park.
We ate in the park. This is astronomically expensive, but if you let cognitive dissonance do it’s job you can escape with the illusion that somehow it was better and/or worth it. Red’s Rocket Port has some great salad and pasta. It was as good as I had remembered.
Old favorites like Space Mountain, Splash Mountainm, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Indiana Jones still delivered all the thrills I remembered from six years ago (our last visit). Since we opted to go during school, the crowds were nearly non-existent. Most of the rides we walked right onto and worst case we waited about 15-20 mins. There were several new attractions, but nothing really stuck out over the classics.
We also ate the the French Market (and here’s a photo of all of us). Fran was disappointed and I’m pretty sure I got food poisoning there (chills, headache and vomiting ensued). Being sick put a damper on the trip, but I recovered quickly enough .
After spending a day in Disney Land we headed over to California Adventure Land. They had pulled out a couple of rides to make room for a new attraction based on Cars (they’re basically building out a Radiator Springs). California Adventure isn’t quite as magical as Disney but it’s still got some fun rides like Screaming, Soaring over California, Tower of Terror and the 3D shows.
There’s my dad with the Ferris Wheel of death behind him. Some of the cars on the Ferris wheel slide along rails. It made my Dad and me really sick. As I get older motion sickness isn’t fun like it used to be. California Adventure is a blast, but with thin crowds there’s not quite a day’s worth of stuff to do and so we headed back to Disney Land. Just to prove how tough we were my Dad and I rode the teacups.
One of the trip highlights was the Wold of Color, in California Adventure. We went to the show on Friday night (and by Friday the crowds had increased exponentially). The show consists of water, lights, projected images, lasers and music. My picture doesn’t do it any kind of justice (you can find the show on You Tube).
And then it was time to head home. We briefly considered hitting Lego Land or the San Diego Zoo, but we were pretty exhausted (I would say the recovery time for me personally, once we got home, was about a week). The only real casualty of our trip was the mini-van. Our kids have a gift for making messes. Here’s the back of the car by the time we got home.
Overall a great trip. Looking back we might have waited one more year to go, and we may have flown. But hopefully we built some good memories and the kids will look back with fondness on our trip. I’ll be ready to go on another vacation in about six years.
Posted November 7th, 2010
4/30/2017 – This post is part of a large release of “DRAFT” entries. Many of these these entries were never finished (and may still not be) or were composed but never published for one reason or another. If you run across one of of these in a strange spot or out of chronological order that may be one reason.
Fran and the kids went to see her parents. That’s a big deal since they are in Reunion. That’s two eleven hour plane trips. When you travel that far you’re gone for a few weeks. And your husband gets to paaaarrrtyyyy! Alright, so I didn’t do that much partying, but I’ve gotten a lot done.
I eat when I get stressed. That’s how I cope (emotional eating). With the family gone, as much as I hate to say it, it knocks out a big chunk of my stress. It I can keep my stress under control then control my eating. 1600 calories a day (give or take a hundred) for over XXXX weeks now! This is a fun little calorie calculator. It shows roughly the same thing I found out in a nurition class at BYU. Given my stats (m, 32, 280 lbs, 6’3″- that’s where I started) & being alsmot complety sedentary (10 resting, 10 very light & 2 light- I think I underestimated) means that I burn a little more than 3500 calories a day. Throw in one super workout every day (moderate cardio & weight training for a couple of hours) and you can burn another 400-500 calories. That means I run a calorie defecit of about 2400 a day. The result is weight loss.
So how has 1600 calories a day been? Honestly, not too bad. The trick is, of course, to eat the right things. You can’t feel hungry. I cut out nearly all candy (I find that gum & a piece of hard candy can really help, but things like peanut butter cups, Twix, donughts and the like just don’t work). No sugar soda. I try to eat three small means and then have snacks in between (fruit, nuts, juice, etc). You have to make sure that you still give you body what it needs though- fiber, sugars, protein, etc. You can’t just drink apple juice the whole time (well, you can- but it won’t end well). I can still eat at In-n-Out: two Protein Style cheesburgers with a total of 680 calories. I’m eating like a king and losing weight!
The best part- I can run a mile in X minutes now instead of 13 (took me a little over a month to get there, but it happens).
For Mother’s Day I put up Fran’s laundy room cabinet! I also installed a new stereo in her mini van! She wanted a way to listed to her iPhone while on the road. Now she’s got it.
What’s that? Why yes, I do have over 700 wheel horsepower! Thank you for noticing.
My car had been getting really crankey (idling issue, suring problems, boost pressue malfunctions) and driving it was kind of a downer. I had finally gotten the wideband (esential if you’re going to try to tune the car) installed so I took it over to the fine folks at STS (Squire Turbo Systems) in Orem. Marc M. was kind enough to be an HP Tuner expert. He fixed the wastegate reference hoses, upgraded the car’s OS, switched to a 2-bar system, and reworked the tune. And since the car was there I had them put in a methanol system. Normally the car runs six pounds of boost but when the methanol is on it boosts to 8 pounds (courtesy of an electronic boost controller) and this is what creates the whopping 700 whp and 680 pound of torque (easily a “10 second car“). Marc did a great job with the tune and if anyone in Utah has an a Chevy that needs a tune he’s your man. The car drives like a dream now and the power on tap is unreal. Now it just needs to make it through the summer!
Thought I’d descend from my lofty perch and let you mortals know what I’ve been up to. I get a real kick out of doing mortal stuff so…
We celebrated the 4th of July with the Browns (T&A). The best part about the 4th for me is watching the kids light the fireworks. They get pretty excited. Typically they try to keep the old firework hulls. I did that as a kid too; I would fill them up with baking soda, food coloring and vinegar and have the 5th of July. My father was a very patient man.
I celebrated my 9th anniversary with my lovely mortal wife, Fran. Time has only deepened my love for her. Once I tried to make a list of the things that were wrong with her. The list only had one thing on it… and that was her husband. Given the hugeness of my love I thought it only fitting that we eat a meal of proportional deliciousness. We headed over to Ruth’s Chris. They recently reopened the location in Salt Lake City. As far as I’m concerned there is no better steak anywhere. I went with the Ribeye (my favorite cut).
Since it was our 9th year of passion we splurged and and got sauteed scallops and a lobster tail. Everything was cooked very well. The only part of the meal I didn’t care for was the free dessert. It was a cheesecake, but it had way to much crust and very little flavor. Still, overall the meal was fabulous. I’d recommend Ruth’s Chris to anyone looking for great steak.
And speaking of things that are great. One of my favorite mortal treats is ice cream. It was a sad day when the Leatherby’s in Provo closed down. Lately we’ve been making the trek up to Taylorsville to eat there. Their sundaes are just as great as I remember them. If anyone wants to go eat there holler. I’m always up for a Tracy’s Peanut Butter Cup.
And speaking of Sundaes. On Sunday (who is the segway king? You know it) Fran makes us breakfast for lunch. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit, orange juice, and tons of toppings. This has become one of our favorite traditions. And did I mention that everything is delicious. I have a sneaky suspicion that part of the pancakes might be whole wheat though…
I actually took a day off of work this year (is that a joke… I don’t even know) so we could go up to Lagoon as a family.
Lagoon has a bad rap, but it was actually pretty fun. Mike and I went on all the roller coasters (Wicked is very cool), but the other kids were a little too short for some of the rides. I think everyone had a good time though. By the way- I don’t recommend the Wild Mouse. It’s just a thrash-a-thon. It bruised my arms up (when in mortal form I am susceptible to mortal injury).
In other news, American Fork has a Chick-Fil-A now. Before it opened there were tons of people camped out. I took a picture so I could make fun of them later. It turns out the first 100 people to eat at the restaurant got free meals for a year. That’s not really very funny. I went and ate there the first week it was opened. They come around to your table and ask if they can “refresh your beverage.” Awesome.
Fran has launched a new blog effort. She was irritated with the lack of features that WordPress provided so she migrated over to BlogSpot. I can’t really blame her. WordPress can be very irritating at times when it comes to adding features you want. Anyway- be sure to check out her new blog!
And what post would be complete without talking about cars? I went to Rocky Mountain Raceway last Friday to watch some friends race in the midnight drags. I’m hoping I can go next week, but I have a problem. I burned out my old clutch. I ordered this beautiful yellow thing (ACT T1S-G01 twin disk clutch rated to 850 lbs of torque! Plus it’s lighter that the stock assembly) but I have to get it installed and broken in by next Friday. The clock is ticking…
So that’s it. A quick overview of things from the past few months. I always mean to maintain my blog better. I’m just so darn busy living my life. Well, back I go (you know, back up).
Each year INC. Magazine creates a list of the fastest growing private companies in the US. In the past they listed the 500 fastest growing, but recently expanded the list to include the fastest growing 5000. The rank is based on the rate of revenue increase for a company over a period of three years (not total revenue, not profit, just growth).
We made it last year and I’m pleased to report we made it again this year (number 1584). We dropped a little from last year (1234), but I still think that 180% growth during a major recession is pretty good. We’re on track to rank quite a bit higher next year as well. We’re not huge by any means, but it’s great to think that we made a company from scratch, we provide jobs, stimulate the economy and our community, make a living, and even have a few fans here and there. Owning a company can be incredibly stressful, but it’s very rewarding as well.
First off, I’ve been busy. Really busy. Not kinda busy. Not sorta busy. Really really busy. However, all this time I’ve been secretly working on a slew of blog posts. I haven’t had the time to write out literary masterpieces for each one, but I’ve decided they must finally see the light of day (or whatever blog posts see). So, here they are!
2009 Has come and gone. All in all, a mighty fine year.
The Hughes Family 2009 Report: Nothing too major here. Everyone got a year older. Mike is now in school. He reads pretty well, he’s very good at math and he loves video games. Claire is taking gymnastics, she’s learning to read and she’s a little crazy. Gabe is a good natured, fun loving and I can almost understand him now. Fran holds down the fort with finesse and dedication. She’s been hard at work doing digital scrapbooking, home improvement projects and accounting for our company.
The Cam Report: 2009 was a good year for my health. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve been doing much better (only a couple colds and a 24 hour flu). I found a little more balance last year (and it’s going even better this year). Not much progress on the weightloss front (I just love ice cream… so much… so much), but I have high hopes for ’10. Nothing of statistical significance is coming to mind. Another year down.
The BladeHQ 2009 Report: My company has gotten larger that I ever dreamed possible (don’t get me wrong, it’s still small, but I never thought I could make a living selling knives). I am especially grateful that, for the most part, it seems nearly unfazed by the recession. We moved into a new facility this past year which has allowed us to continue our growth.
2010 has started off strong with a series of room modifications. I don’t know why, but I get obsessed with projects from time to time. Almost like I need to have more than I can do on my plate. My first goal was to finish up my office at work:
It’s still not quite done, but it’s come a long way. I have my toy filled curio next to the love seat. I found a gorgeous picture of the Justice League by Alex Ross (great artist, by the way). And I rounded out the decor with a matching desk & shelf set. I have a sweet Transformer poster that’s in the process of being framed too. Maybe one day I’ll get to use all this cool stuff (right now I work downstairs).
I don’t know how many people were familiar with my “man room.” It was a closest sized room in the basement where I went to relax. It had my piano, guitar, lazy boy, a television/dvd combo, books and miscellaneous hobby items. I would retreat there when the world encroached on me. In a nutshell, it was cool. But I gave it up for love…
Fran has long extolled the virtues of a mud room. A place where the kids can take off their shoes, hang their jackets and stow their crap. With the washer and dryer, our main floor laundry room was too small for much of anything besides laundry. But without the washer and dryer the room would be a perfect mud room. Where to put the laundry room then? Why in my old man room! And so…
I moved everything out of the man room and into the main floor office. Just like the man room, but more open, more convenient, and much classier. So… not like the man room. I’ve got half of the office and Fran has the other half. Truthfully this is a better set up. And then…
The old man room became our new laundry room. Not an easy process. We had a plumber run water lines into the room for the washer hookup. We had Holmes install a dryer vent run. My brother in law, Vard, came and added a 220v outlet. I laid floor tile (to replace the carpet) and Fran and I created a blue accent wall. Everything turned out excellent. In fact, things were going so well that we decided to carry the washing machine downstairs ourselves. Tip: Don’t turn a front loading machine upside down. The drum is often suspended by two heavy duty coil springs. Your drum will come of these springs. It took us about two hours take the washer apart and reseat the drum. All’s well that ends well though.
We now have a downstairs laundry room. That’s where they all used to be, right? Maybe we can rekindle the trend. The new laundry room and the old one are identical in size, but we utilized the space a lot better than before. We still have some work left (cabinets & organizing) but we’re super happy with the result. And now we have a mudroom upstairs too.
This past Friday Fran and I took Claire to see Disney on Ice (Worlds of Fantasy) at the Energy Solutions Arena. We decided that she needed some alone time with just the two of us, so we left the boys with my parents (we’ll take them to a monster truck rally or something another time). We sat right up in the front so she’d have a good view (having learned a lesson from our trip to the circus).
The show was pretty fun. First the gang from Cars drove around on the ice. Then we were treated to numbers from The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and finished with a Fairy finale. The choreography and costumes were all very good and I think it’s safe to say that we enjoyed the show more than the circus.
Our refusal to buy $11 ice cream cones and $10 lemonade and cotton candy resulted in tears (much like the circus). As we left the show Claire announced “It’s not a good day!” Maybe we’re doing it all wrong- maybe part of the show is buying overpriced food and merchandise. But I’m not giving in just yet! We did stop for ice cream on the way home. Thanksgiving Point has a nice little ice cream parlor and even on Friday night there’s never a long line.
As the kids get older it gets easier to go to events like these. We’ve got a few more planned in the next couple of months and we’re looking forward to them. We may even attempt some movies. Oh yeah- it’s crazy time.