My friends, this blog is dead.

Every time I post it tells me that I wrote in November 2009.
This is not the case.
I know I redirect you all the time, but please see my other blog (and follow it).

It's calvinvsworld.blogspot.com
Again calvinVSworld not calvin's world not calvin world Calvin vs World (no caps or spaces)
I love you all.


--CALVIN

1. Picked up all three girls at various Provo locations.
2. Lunch at Diego's.
3. Hit the road.
4. Stopped last-second in a place called Beaver for frosties.
5. Got to Sarah's. Her house is beautiful, her family is wicked awesome.
6. Ate free BBQ (chalk one of many awesome points up for the Shepherds)
7. Laser Tag. We got owned collectively, but I spent most of my time aiming for eyes.
8. Tour of historic St. George, tour guide Sarah.
9. Frisbee and bonding time at a random park.
10. More ice cream at Iceberg.
11. Mini hike to see the "St. George Ocean." Freaking sweet.





12. Sleepover on the trampoline.
13. Sleep in.
14. Breakfast. Crepes. Chef Calvin.
15. Drive to Veyo, UT for a freshwater outdoor pool and some picnicking.
16. Got settled and kinda took a nap at the Shepherds' cabin in Pine Valley.
17. Fishing at Pine Valley Reservoir. (Free fish day in Utah).
18. Calvin caught one rainbow trout with a spinner.
19. CJ didn't believe it was dead. It was dead.
20. Dinner at the Brandin' Iron Steakhouse. On Sarah's dad (more awesome points).




21. Movie and S'mores at the cabin.
22. Sleep.
23. Church at the Pine Valley Chapel, oldest still-used chapel in the Church.
24. Played Clue. Sarah won. I took second. Didn't wanna win anyways.
25. Back to St. George for dinner with the Shepherds.
26. Played "Scene it: Squabble." Boys vs girls. 2 boys defeat 5 girls.
27. Hit the road.
28. Gorgeous sunset and an awesome lightning storm on the way home.
29. Dropped the girls off.
30. Wanted to go back. Still wanting to go back.

It's a pretty basic outline, but it was so much fun. Great start to my summer and I didn't even mind the 100 degree weather. Huge thanks to the Shepherds.

I have to share something that I just found. It's an interview of Sesame Street's Cookie Monster that was done on NPR. You can find it at

http://www.npr.org/blogs/incharacter/2008/02/cookie_monster_comes_to_npr.html

I'm not even kidding when I tell you that this almost made me cry. (PS - I don't cry. Seriously.) The second I heard Cookie Monster speak, I was four years old. I was in front of the brown box TV back at 2155 Monaco, the setting of all of my earliest memories that remain. I don't know where Mom was, and Chad was probably asleep on the couch, propped up by a pillow so he wouldn't roll onto the floor. But I was there, watching cookie monster introduce the letter C--the letter that started my name, his name, and our mutually preferred dessert. It was almost like having an out of body experience.

I can't really explain the feeling. I had no idea that there was a space inside of me that there was a cookie-monster shaped hole inside of me. I honestly can't comprehend what went through my mind right now, whether it's a longing to go back to the past or a firing of a nerve in my mind that brings back a happy memory I had no idea was there. I wish I knew more about psychology so I could delve into my own inability to explain myself.

I'm grabbing for a point that I don't think I'll get to. I love cookie monster. And it's a love that truly is perfect in its own sense, because it is the love of a child. I can't think of anything in my life, outside of my family, that I have the same kind of love for. Whether there's a real-life connection here or not, it's real to me.

Like I said, I don't know where I'm going with this. Maybe this happened so I'll give my kids these kinds of memories. Maybe it happened so that you'll be reminded of someone or something that you love without precedent. Whatever my reason for writing this, Cookie Monster made a difference in my life. As stupid as that sounds to you, I love it.

I gotta go find a cookie.