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Fun on Photoshop

Glowing eye (If anyone thinks I'm trying to look evil I'm not, I was just having fun on photoshop to see what I could do, lol)
Jawas!! I was trying desperately to look like one of the Jawas in Star Wars and I think I had a success!

Christmas fun

Gramps againHolding the Sun!

Last but not least one more Darth Vader pic...I labeled this pic, "Rock Star", haha.

The Funniest TRUE Story Ever!

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One of Tim's friends (Katie) told him a story about her cousin the other day that made him crack up, here it is.

Katie's cousin was dog sitting for a friend of hers in downtown Boston. Unfortunately, the dog died during one of the days she was sitting it so she called up the owners of the dog and said, "Hi, I'm so sorry but your dog died last night." Surprisingly the owners weren't shocked and replied saying that they had been sort of expecting it since he was so old. Katie's cousin was shocked at their reply and then asked relieved, "Oh, well ok, umm, what do I do with the body?" The owners instructed her to take it down to the pound and that they would get rid of it. Well, Katie's cousin didn't have a car so she couldn't drive down.

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What she is about to do is hilarious!

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So she stuffed the dead dog into a suitcase!

She approached a bus with her extremely heavy suitcase and when she tried to get up the stairs and into the bus she found that the suitcase was way to heavy for her to drag up the stairs. A man came over to her and asked if she needed help and she excepted it gratefully. The big man dragged it up into the bus and asked,

"Wow, that is heavy, what do you have in there?" Katie's cousin wasn't about to tell him that a dead dog was in it so she replied,

"Oh, umm, computers and computer parts I'm going to meet a client right now actually." The man kindly said,

"Please take my seat, with that heavy a suitcase it will drag you to the floor if we stop short."

"Why thank you sir." she replied.

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You won't believe what happens next

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It turns out that at the next stop the the same man who had helped her pull her suitcase up the steep stairs and offered her his seat suddenly turned around, punched her in the stomach, grabbed her suitcase and took off down the street!!!!! Can you imagine the guy's face when he opened the suitcase!!! I wasn't told anything else but I don't think she was hurt at all. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Pretty priceless!

My Trip to NYC

I'm not going to kill myself and write an essay on our time down in Manhattan, but I will give you a quick (but nice) run through and show you some AMAZING pictures of the one and only...New York City!

The whole reason we went down there is because we wanted to go to Bodies Exhibition. I know it sounds weird but it really wasn't. It was a museum that displayed preserved cadavers (a dead body, lol). It also their veins, nervous system, brain, muscles, heart, liver, lungs and more out in the open without skin covering them! IT WAS AMAZING!! You name it they had it. It was mind blowing! It was amazing to see what goes on inside of us! Its name said it all. I don't know how you could go there and yet still not believe there is a God!!!!! Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow me to take pictures while we were in the museum, but obviously I snapped plenty while we walked around the city with Collin and Bradleigh Riddle who were our prize guests for the trip.

After we found a parking a place we pretty much just walked around the seaport and then we wondered down Broadway (I WALKED PASSED TRINITY CHURCH!!!! BTW Trinity Church was where they found the treasure in National Treasure) and went to Ground Zero and saw the memorial that had been put up (that was impacting, you'll see pictures of them below) and then we went to Chinatown and then headed back towards the car and met more friends at the Body Museum. Sounds like a short time but we really spent 3 or 4 hours just roaming around...It was awesome!!

Here are some pics I know you'll love.

What a sky!

Having fun with mirrors

That's a better one

I took this one and think it looks so cool with the American flag and then the building in the background

George staring into the distance at the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange)

TRINITY CHURCH!!!!

I love this photo! I took this one through a fence in front of some church cemetery. In the top picture, as you can see, Dad is in it, but thanks to Ryan he took Dad out of the pic below and I think with just one person it makes everything look more mysterious. I like to call it, "The Mystery Man"

Ground Zero...

This is one of the many pictures that they had up in memory of 9/11

This flute player was apparently there when it happened

TIM'S LEVITATING!!

NOT MOM TOO!!

Hahaha (Above and Below)

So much for "Raining Cats and Dogs"

I thought this was a really cool pic

Time for a ladder, I love the sky in this pic!

The Never Ending Bridge

Almost dark

I thought it would be nice to end on this one. I caught a glimpse of the Empire State Building!

Even though it was busy and crowded, I loved it and am definitely going back there again!

I was just looking at my blog and wondering what was missing or what else I could write about, and then the thought came to my mind of Christmas! I had such a fun time, why not write about it. Don't worry it's just gonna be a little walk through my Christmas...so it'll be shorter than my Cape Cod story, haha.

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The Life of a Chimney in Winter

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Here I am, up in the sky huffing and puffing
To keep my house dry.
It is winter now and all I can see
Is a layer of white all around me.
Children are romping outside in the snow

Sliping and sliding oh look how they go

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Christmas at my Grandparents

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"Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!" greeted Grandpa, who was wearing a red and white Santa hat. I laughed and made sure to comment on his awesome hat. I reached into the back of the car and began pulling out gifts, which were for our cousins and of course, our grandparents too. I added one after another onto my arms and stacked them like I would stack wood and then headed for the house. After bringing all the gifts in from the car, I said hello to everyone and passed hugs all around. I was extremely excited to see my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Henry and cousin, Ben Utter, who I rarely get to see. Most of you probably know a little bit about them just because of Cragged Mt Farm. In case you don't or just forget, they own Cragged and are the ones who are kind enough to let us go up there and have fun with the church group. Our other cousins weren't there yet but I was also excited to see them too.

We walked into the playroom and flicked on the T.V. An NBA basketball game was on so we watched that for a little while and then Ben and I made a bet.

The Miami Heat were playing the Los Angeles Lakers and then Ben suddenly announced that Jason Kapono (who used to be on the college team UCLA) was on the Miami Heat and was one of the new leaders on the team. On the other hand I was quite sure (even though I had never heard or seen Kapono) that Kapono was on the Lakers. So we made a bet and a little bit of gambling broke out. I had brought my battery eating, little Canon Powershot along and just in case I ran out, I had brought 4 extra batteries which laid in my pocket. So I decided to give Ben my 4 extra batteries if he won the bet and he would give me 5 dollars if I won. Sounded like a good deal to me so we watched closely and listened to see if the commentators would use the mystery players name. A commercial break came and during it Ben and I went back and forth saying things like:

"You're going down big boy," or "You might as well give me those 5 dollars now." Before the break ended my other cousins came walking in and after the hugs, of course, we announced to them what was going on and who we thought was going to win. After literally 15 minutes the moment came. Suddenly the room light up with roars saying,

Sam, you got owned!", "Sam lost!" or "Ben wins, Ben wins!" My heart sank like an anchor, I had lost. But I suddenly remembered that the person I thought was Kapono (who was actually a guy called Jordan Farmar) had also used to play on UCLA! Everyone somewhat eased up on me since they found out that Farmar had also played on UCLA but still I had lost the bet but Ben being the 25 year old that he is was kind enough to let the bet go and NOT take my 4 batteries. What a nice guy, haha. After the bet all the kids headed outside to the front yard to play some football. That was a fun time! Probably my favorite football game of all time and one of the reasons why is because we were delivered food while playing! My Uncle Henry is an amazing cook! So while we were playing out came Uncle Henry with a platter of the most delicious chicken I have ever tasted! It seemed as if it melted in my mouth. My team won and I felt as if I had somewhat redeemed myself, haha just kidding. While we were outside playing football the parents and grandparents were inside opening their gifts before ours because every year it is crazy trying to open all the gifts at once! So by the time we finished the game and walked back inside, they were almost done with their gifts, so in the meantime we just sat around and talked while watching a football game.

Supper was soon announced and everyone gathered into Grandma's beautifully decorated eating room. After a prayer, the ladies grabbed plates and started the line around the large eating room table. My plate was piled high with tasty delicacies. It was so long ago that I forget all the delicious meals, unfortunately, so you ladies won't be getting any recipes, sorry, haha. I found a comfortable spot in the T.V room where all the kids were and just had a good time talking, joking, watching some football, and most of all, eating.

Here are some pics of my awesome Christmas:

Uncle Henry posses for a pic over his AMAZING deserts

Randy Da Man & me...funny pic

Hahaha, Me and Ben joking around Me, Grandpa, and Charlie

Another great pic with Ben, Gramps, and Me

Mom & Grandma

Chelly Bell (Chelsea) & Tim

Randy & Stevie

Uncle Bill doing his classic laugh

Aunt Nancy & Aunt Kerry (You can tell Nancy is Mom's sister. Nancy looks just like Mom doesn't she?)

Couldn't leave Tim out

Say "cheese"

Ben took this one. Great shot of the entire family!

Sorry I kinda cut the story short but basically the rest of the night was a ball. I LOVE MY COUSINS, AUNTS, UNCLES, GRANDPARENTS, BRO'S AND PARENTS!

IS THAT MY BROTHER?!?!?

Well, on one lonely, December night, my brother, Charlie, at the age of two, jumped out of his cradle, grabbed some of his belongings, and then vanished. He’s been missing for fourteen years now and still no one knows where he went. Some say he couldn't have survived the harsh winter, but deep down inside I knew he was still out there...somewhere.

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“Mom, can I check the channels?” I asked.
“Sure, but make it quick.”
I grabbed the clicker and pressed Power. I raddled of the numbers as they went by.
“Two, three, four, five, six, seven…” I stopped on seven and listened.
“Hi, I’m Josh Dollen on ABC News and I just got word that a near catastrophe happened on Route 6 in Newtown, Connecticut.”

My heart skipped a beat; our house was just off Route 6.
“The person to blame is a bizarre looking young boy who ran out of the woods and was nearly hit while crossing the road! He was hunched over like an ape and covered in mud from head to toe; all he wore was an old pair of jeans and brown sneakers. But after crossing he made his way into someone’s front yard where he posed for pictures before scurrying into the underbrush. We got an interview with the man who was lucky enough to get the photos. He said he believed it was the legendary ape man who had been sighted twice in the mid nineties and now in 2007 has resurfaced.”
By now the entire family was in front of the T.V, and listening carefully. The newscaster continued, “Here are the photos of the ape-like creature.”

I looked at the odd looking creature with a mixture of fear and excitement.

“And that will be all for tonight, this was ABC News with Josh Dollen, thanks for watching.”
As I turned off the TV I turned to Tim and asked,
“WAS THAT OUR BROTHER?!?”

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To be continued...

I had a good long laugh after writing this. If you didn’t know, my real brother’s name is Charlie, and one day he decided to jump into a mud puddle (as you can see above). This was one big joke on Charlie. The story was “made up”, so don't worry about seeing him in your backyard anytime soon.