Primary Party

This past Saturday we had our primary class and some of their siblings over for a water party near our apartment. We have to thank Christy, a professional kid rustler/elementary teacher for coming down and helping out.

We played six games:

1. Fill the empty bottle on someones head relay
2. Water balloon toss.
3. Over/under with a sponge and fill up the bucket relay
4. Hole in the cup on your head relay
5. Shaving Cream spray off contest
6.Water jump rope

After that we had Pizza and Popsicles. At that point all of the kids decided to chase after the male authority figure. I was able to get some pretty good water balloon hits on some of the kids, but I think the fact that I had no dry part left on my body afterwards means they won.

Here are three videos we took. I apologize now for my loud laughing.

Blogs We Heart

We've had our Blog for a while now and I have to say I like writing and sharing pictures and such, but I love reading all of our friends and families blogs. We set up a Google Reader and I (Ryan) am always checking the haps on all of you soon after you write it. If I comment too much, I apologize, but I sure do like checking in on all of you and let you know that we are thinking of you.

I want to post on some of our Blog friends and what they are all about. These are all the blogs we link to on here. Lots of fun topics are addressed and lots of great friends let you know whats going on with them. So hopefully this post will give you readers something fun to look at if you feel like browsing co-friends, acquaintances, or strangers.

LA Connected Bloggers:
Cathrine is Cheyn's former roommate and is in LA and substitutes in the ghetto while she also works doing creative LA type stuff.

Courtney is living the bohemian life in San Fransisco now and writes about how lovely life is when she does post.

Dora hasn't written as much as she should since returning from France, but her recent blog recommendations gave me the idea for this post.

Shaun loves old people. I mean really loves old people. He lives in a rest home.

Jbeany has more friends than anyone with her humble and fun personality.

La Dolce Vespa is the adventures of high powered lawyer and her scooter in LA. Her wit and erudition is legendary.

Paul and Rachel got married on the same day as we did and are moving to the Northeast. They are taking time off right now to travel everywhere. Paul was my old tennis partner in LA, but has moved on to a better partner.

Sara loves trees, splits her time in India and LA and just took some pretty pictures of the motherland.

Renee is a force of nature. She's up in Portland now and everyone loves her and can't wait for her next post (she has the most subscribers of anyone persons blog we subscribe to.)

Paternity Pants blogs about politics, his noble battle with obesity, and the culture shock of moving to Waco,Texas.

These folks all started New Blogs recently and are worth a look:
Ann and Darrin Cheyney's friends (and now mine too, hopefully) from College.

Christine, my old boss and friend just got married to Bob and they are on a summer odyssey thought the US. I love keeping up on their travels. They just hit Carlesbad Caverns and the best water park in the world.

Suzanna is a friend we met in Raleigh. Please post again!

Cheyn and Jamie are long time friends since Cheyn started going out to Utah.

These folks are Invitation Only. And You're missing out.
The Rich Family blog is wonderful. Mrs. Rich is always writing sweet and thoughtful things about her family. Both she and her husband were awesome missionaries that I taught at the MTC before they went to Fiji. They have been great friends to me since then.

Brett and Jessica are Cheyney's family and I don't have access, so your guess is as good as mine about what theirs is about. What are they hiding?

Emily's Adventures as a camp counselor in Maine have just begun. Rumor is she'll stop by here on her way back to LA.

Southern Bloggers:
Christy grew up with Cheyney and they reunited in Raleigh. She blogs on the baby in her belly, Cheyney, Her Husband, and Filipino prisoners.

The Harpers just started blogging and seem to be as great in the virtual world as they are in real life. Cheyn grew up with Mrs. Harper and we took a vacation to Charleston with them a few months back. What a wonderful family and fun to get updates on Ridge's loves

Justin and Wendy have been in the South long enough to be true southerners right? BBQ, keeping up with their kids or pictures from trips to the beach or elsewhere can be found on their sites. Also blogging helps Wendy get some of the attention she could never get as a middle child growing up in the Lindgren household.

Bloggers I met in School:
Nathan and Lindi are big in Japan. They need to move back here sometime. Nate is my old roommate from the Y. The video of the super slide they found is one of my favorite postings ever.

Chelsy is a friend from Ricks, the Y, and work (at the nursing home). See has excellent art and music and often posts about her children and Mom stuff among other things.

Jame is a cherished friend of ours that I met at BYU who has two cute kids and blogs sometimes when I demand her to.

Emily and Boyd are raising a family on New York's Upper West Side. Lately they are trying to get back in touch with their country upbringing. Em and I moved from Provo to New York about the same time.

Laura was my next door neighbor at the Y. The AP of her dreams is in Law School and she's raising a happy family.

Sarah is a friend from Columbia whose now saving children lives in San Fransisco instead of New York, Romania, or Africa.

Other Great Blogs
I have met Laurel and Traci a few times in Utah they grew up near Cheyney.

The Extended Lindgren family keeps a blog where new cousins, nephews or nieces an other relatives are reported bimonthly. And this is also where my Clogging Grandmother Blogs.

Matt tolerated me as a companion and has been rewarded with a happy family and life in Texas.

So thats our Blog roll. Hopefully we didn't miss anybody. Thanks everyone for letting us keep up with you and your lives!

Part II "Crack head"

To get another perspective of My First Bike Ride click here.

My first bike ride

I am no Tour de France biker. In fact, my bike has pretty much been on the back porch under a tarp for a whole year. Ryan got up early and took his new mountain bike out for a spin last Saturday. When I finally got up I felt that my bike had been neglected long enough. I thought it would be FUN to go to a "near by" lake. I would like to pretend that I didn't know that it was down a dangerous road with no bike lane and 10 miles away, but I knew and continued. It was freakin' hot and I was without water and cell phone and about to be run over by a semi any minute. Once I reached the point of no return, I kept biking to Christy's house in Creedmoor (over 20 miles away). Cute Christy thought that I was the neighborhood children she appropriately calls Children of the Corn banging on her door, so she refrained from opening it. Thank heavens she finally realized that it was just an idiot that over estimates her abilities and takes little regard for safety. Even though she is great with child, she helped me throw the bike in the back of the jeep, took me home, and jumped in the pool with me.

Dont worry I got chastized by Ryan upon my return. He told co-workers about my adventure and they thought he was talking about one of his patients.

Southern Magnolias

Keeping up with my reputation of posting about trees, I took these pictures of magnolia blossoms on my lunch break today and wanted to share them. Hard to get some good pictures from the ground, but here are three. I enjoy walking past them on my way into the hospital. I read on Wikipedia that magnolia trees came into existence before bees started to pollinate flowers and so they formed with beetle pollination in mind (I guess they eat the petals).

This is just to say...

Yesterday, I was frantically searching our freezer for the yummy tamales that I bought from Trader Joe's. I bought two packages (one for me and one for Ryan) for us to take for lunch. Normally Ryan is so considerate, but apparently not with tamales; he ate them both. I made a little pouting scene about how I would have no lunch and how I was looking forward to a yummy tamale. To finish my dramatic interpretation of a spoiled brat wife, I stomped out the door.

Upon my return from work were two packages of tamales, flowers and a poem. It was a "This is just to say" poem. You may have heard of this type of poem. It was featured on This American Life. It is a way of asking forgiveness without ever saying your sorry. Ryan did a fabulous job of utilizing it.

This is Just to Say
by Ryan Lindgren

I have eaten
the tamales
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for lunch.

Forgive me.
They were delicious,
so warm
and so Mexican.

Nixon's Nixon

One big reason we went to D.C. last weekend was to see my uncle's play, Nixon's Nixon. He wrote it over a decade ago and it has been off-off Broadway, London, Hong Kong and everywhere else. It is a brilliant play showing at the Roundhouse Theatre with great reviews. It was so cool to see "written by Russell Lees" in lights on the marquee and all over the program. It is a play with Nixon and Kissinger and their conversation the night before Nixon resigned. Of course, it got a standing ovation. While soaking in the clever lines and extreme emotions, I thought of how proud I am to have an extremely talented uncle.

God Bless America

We had a great weekend trip to D.C. Brady is there doing a journalism internship. His girlfriend, Meg, flew out for the weekend AND Brad and Ashley (my cousins) were there for a weekend vacation sponsored by Brad's work. It was all too good to be true. A super nice perk was Brad and Ash were put up in the Marriott 2 blocks from the White House that they graciously let us stay in with them. It was a million degrees out side with 200% humidity so we tried to spend a lot of time indoors in museums. It was so great to be with family. I already miss Brad's sense of humor and that Ashley is my twin separated at birth.


I am so proud of Brady living in D.C. What a smart cookie! He has already been published. I am jealous of his D.C. life, public transportation, and ghetto apartment.
This is Brady's apartment, almost as bad as mine in L.A. He sleeps in the living room on the floor. Does this sound like someone else we know? We have to plan another trip to visit him before he leaves in August. Anyone want to come with?

Koo Koo Loo Loo

McKay drove down from Rexburg (BYU Idaho) to hang out for a day. What a great sis. She is loving school, making A's, and on 2 soccer teams. Of course, she goes on dates every other day. I didn't go on a single date during my 2 years at BYU. It is fun to see our differences and similarities. Mostly, she is just better.

We have lots of nicknames for each other.
McKay.............................Cheyney
Kay Kay..........................Chey Choo
Koo Koo Loo Loo............ Choo Choo Loo Loo
Crooked Tooth............... Hit the Floor
Kazie Daze

The Wedding

The main reason why we went to SLC was for Josh's wedding. When Josh was 14, he was my favorite patient when I worked at Primary Children's. He has always been stronger and wiser beyond his years and a great example to me. Now he is a return missionary, 21 and MARRIED. Congrats to the happy couple.
Roger and Kaylee


Ammon and Jacob made it RAIN at their reception (rain money)!

Alright, I will tell the embarassing story. I was sure that the wedding was NOT at the Salt Lake temple. So, I told Ryan to go to Jordan River. No one was there, and the temple worker told us the wedding was in SLC. I refused to believe her and had Ryan drive all the way to Timpanogas. In Lehi, I got a hold of the Timp Temple and they said they were closed for cleaning. So, it was in SL. I am so recalcitrant (there is the word for the day for Emily). Luckily, I made it for exchanging of the rings and hugs. Too many temples or I am losing my mind.

The other embarrassing thing was.... I forgot to wear a bra. I wasn't rushed in the morning. I even put on eye shadow and ate breakfast. I didn't even notice it was missing until I was running around. It totally slipped my mind. I did probably the two worst things possible when attending a wedding (late and no bra). Needless to say, I spent the whole day with my arms crossed over my chest.

Jaime Girl is a MOM

What a fun stage of life when lots of friends are having little ones. Actually, Zachary is not so little. He has already tripled his weight at 6 months. I got to feed him and I couldn't get the food in his mouth fast enough. Jaime and I became friends at Zach's age. What a CUTE kid.

Poppy and Bick and kids

This is Madaleine, Rusty's youngest, and Bick. Bick must burn 1000 calories when the kids come to visit. She pushes, holds, runs and even has water gun fights. She also does a great job spoiling the girls. She bought Charlotte a motorized children's VESPA. I wish we had a picture in honor of THE GREAT BLOG. Who gets a Vespa at age 4?


This is Ryan playing cards with Poppy. She is a true card shark. You always know where you are when you enter Poppy's house because you hear cards shuffling. She beat Ryan twice. It was so great to spend time with my grandma. She is so upbeat.
This is Charlotte at 4 1/2 years old. Basically grown up. I remember babysitting her in Los Angeles and hearing her first word, hat. Ryan and I took her to Disneyland before she turned 3. She claims she still remembers it. Hopefully she doesn't remember how we took her on the Haunted House ride. (Not very good parents/babysitters)

Monica and Ruth's Diner

We met Monica at Ruth's Diner. Ryan met Monica at BYU and she is a true inspiration! It is great when you love your spouse's friends. Ryan has a great judge of character. First of all, she completed a masters in Social Work and worked for a while in NYC. After deciding she wanted more than social work, she has started medical school at the U. She is probably the most well traveled person I know. I really could listen to stories for EVER about her trips all over the world. Now we just have to get her to visit North Carolina.

Hangin' with the Gunnells

Right after we flew into SLC, we met Anne, Hannah and Isaac at Hogle Zoo. Zoos are much more fun with kids. It was cute how the kids were scared of the larger than life plastic elephant that made recorded burping and pooting noises.


Ryan HAD to get a cougar shot in honor of BYU and his older wife (by 19 days).


An albino alligator.

It is hard to be so far away from dear friends. Anne and I were joined at the hip all through Westminster. I remember every detail of her courtship with husband Darrin almost better than my own. Now with two kids, she is such a great mom. We had a great time catching up, going out to eat, and taking the kids to Cherry Hill Waterpark.
What great smiles!

Saturday Hiking and Bowling with the Folks

Picture of Salt Lake City from Ensign Peak

We were in Utah this past week and so we will post a bit about that in the next few posts.

This past Saturday Cheyn went up to Cherry Hill and I had time to bond with my parents individually. I went on a little hike up to Ensign Peak with my Dad in the morning. Ensign peak has a great view and is the basis of of the LDS hymn "High on the Mountain Top." The first Mormon Pioneers to reach the Salt Lake Valley hiked this prominent peak shortly after arriving and put up the US flag and a blue and white stripped and starred "Flag of the Kingdom." I am amazed how much Salt Lake is developing right now. It seems to be changing fast with commuter rail, new shops and malls in development everywhere on the East Side. Here is a pictures of my dad on Ensign peak facing the mountain range:

Later that day I went bowling with my Mom at Olympus Lanes, the bowling alley that I used to frequent when I was sluffing (Utah term for cutting class) in high school.

It was fun to see my Mom bowl. After she bowled she would jump up and down and try to steer the bowling ball with her will.





I think it worked. We bowled three games and guess who came out with the high score? In spite of one of the best bowling games of my life, My Mom beat me by two points.


So visitors to our blog, here is a question. Have any of you ever bowled higher than my Mom? Pretty impressive eh?