Seattle Nutcracker 2009

The Gamblin Family at the Nutcracker

Some of my earliest Christmas memories are going to the Nutcracker.  I remember I had to dress up along with being painfully bored in clothes that were so uncomfortable.  The worse part as a little demon child was watching people dance, ugh so boring!

The only parts of the Nutcracker that remained with me was when the cannons went off and the big creature came out dancing in the second act.  Now at age 25 the whole Gamblin family went to the Nutcracker.  It was Hillary and Andrew’s first Nutcracker I somewhat feel like I am to blame for my families absence at the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Nutcracker.

It has been quite some time since I was last at the Nutcracker and of course the things I looked forward to again where the cannons going off and the dancing monster in the second half.  As a kid the Nutcracker painfully went slow but as an adult it was not that long at all.  YES for being a grown up!

For Christmas all of the Gamblin kids and their significant others are home for the holidays.  It was a lot of fun to have the whole Gamblin crew together in Seattle and go to the Nutcracker together.  Of course there was some drama where my mom thought the Nutcracker was at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall instead of McCaw Hall on Mercer Street by the Space Needle. So we had 15 minutes to get our car out of the parking garage and across downtown Seattle to McCaw hall, someone we made it.

A day in Seattle would not be complete without shopping but since Sophia and I already had our shopping done it was fun to walk around Seattle at night to see all the Christmas decorations.

At the Nutcracker

Mustaches are sexy

2 Kings and No Queens

My little brother Andrew Gamblin is a senior at Enumclaw High School. He was nominated by his peers to be on Homecoming Court. EHS has a unique way in crowning its King and Queen. The school brings in a panel of judges, the 5 senior boys and girls have a sit down dinner with the judges. After dinner they come into the gym and walk down an aisle while their biographies are being read. As there biography comes to a close they are asked a question. Yes this is like a full on beauty pageant. Andrew carries on the tradition, well not much of one as I was Homecoming as well. My mom said, “2 Kings and No Queens.” My sisters did not win Homecoming Queen. Here is Andrew’s biography that was read at the ceremony. Thank you to Hillary for posting it on her blog so I could steal it!

Amongst the frantic and worried doctors and nurses, Andrew Gamblin barely made it into the world on December 9th 1991. The miracle baby joined the Gamblin family as the youngest of five children. And while he proved to be the easiest baby out of his five siblings, he also was the homeliest with his bald head, big ears and wrinkled face. He also had the nasty habit of drooling uncontrollably; even for a child he possessed minimal control over his saliva. An-drool – as his family calls him – still shows signs of his condition today if you get him to laugh hard enough.
Andrew’s sweet disposition as a baby continued as he grew older. His mother refers to him as her most tender hearted child because Andrew shows empathetic kindness towards others around him. Because of his kindness he was doted on by his elder siblings, teachers and friends who thought, and still think, he is the “sweetest boy”.
Family members and friends do not only love Andrew for his sweetness, but for his unique conversation skills. Andrew acquired the nick name “Captain Random” for his off-topic comments and his ability to continue conversations even when no one is listening. One of our family’s favorite stories is how while vacationing in Hawaii, he interrupted the lunch conversation to say “Mom ask me what my favorite part of Ocean’s Eleven is.” The table curiously looked at him and his mother indulged him by asking and he quickly replied “I don’t know. Let me think about it”.
Besides his peculiar conversations, Andrew also possesses a unique athletic talent which he likes to refer to “stupid human tricks”. Andrew’s body is similar to a contortionist: he can wrap his body into awkward positions and has several double jointed body parts. He dubbed his moves names such as the “sling shot”, the “barrel roll” and the “Barbie”. Andrew’s keen sense of business and opportunity led him to perform these tricks at his brothers sporting events and charge viewers a dollar.
Andrew’s body also naturally developed more quickly than his friends. He came home one afternoon in sixth grade and told his mother with pride that he was the “only sixth grader with muscles”. Thus began Andrew’s life long love affair with his body. As a sixth grader he gloried in the fact that he had a six pack. His family still sees him looking in the mirror and flexing with satisfaction.
With such a muscular body, Andrew has found a knack for playing sports. He comes from a genetic gene pool of outstanding athletes and is the third generation of Enumclaw High school sports. In his high school career he has played football, basketball and run track. Some of his greatest friendships have been formed on summer leagues and Wolverine football. His teammates enjoy the talent he brings to his team as well as his leadership skills on and off the pitch and court.
Andrew has always been an example to his peers through his kindness towards everyone, work ethic and high standards. Andrew’s upbringing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taught him to abstain from things that could be harmful to him and those around him. Through his church he has also participated in numerous service projects – culminating into hundreds of hours of service. He is even an Eagle Scout – for his Eagle Scout Project he worked with the City of Enumclaw in furnishing apartments for transitional housing.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Picking Wedding Music

This quite be my favorite blog that I will write.  I know this is going to be very time consuming.  I love music.  When Napster first came about when I was in High School I downloaded so much music I crahsed the Gamblin Family computer.  One of my favorite things to do related to music is to find obscure bands.  Unlike my sister Hillary once a band becomes popular and in the main stream music scene she decides they are not longer cool for her.

One of the things I learned in college from my freshman roommate was to become a fan of artists and their albums.  It is so easy to have a favorite song but it is another to have a favorite album.  So my Ipod is filled of music almost 10,000 songs.  Majority of which are full complete albums of bands.  I will admit I do like to just listen to a song here or there but nothing is better then a full album (guilty pleasure Lady Gaga song Just Dance).  The most recent album I purchased is the Kings of Leon, “Only by the Night.” Fantastic album.

What Sophia put me in charge of for the wedding was music.  I was suppose to give Ian Bran(our DJ at the wedding) our play list.  This was no easy task and of course I procrastinated till the week of the wedding to get my play list in order.  While at dinner my family discussed some music that we should have played at the wedding.  I have always thought that my CD mixes were great as I put thought in how each song would flow into the other.  So a play list for a wedding was no easy task.  Picking music to dance to is always so difficult.  You end up going back to the classics and avoiding the Macarena at all costs.

Yes I just put a youtube video of the Macarena!  Here is a list of some of the songs that made the cut and did not.

I will not have the YMCA played at my wedding only if Wayne and Garth from Waynes World 2 come dressed up like in the movie

I also will not have the chicken dance, the electric slide, nor the Cha Cha Slide. The hard part for me is the music I would love to listen to is stuff that not everyone will be willing to dance to. So here are some songs that definitely made the cut and are playing at the wedding. I gave the DJ 300 songs on a play list that could be played at the wedding.  I must warn you, I am a huge fan of 80’s music and have hosted many 80’s dance parties in my day.  Majority of the 300 songs that were on the list were from artisit either populare during the 80’s or a hit song during the 80’s.  Here are some of the songs that the Tyson and Sophia must play list. 

Rocking out in 80's gear! Hair and All!

Footloose
Purple Rain
I Want To Dance With Somebody
Man in the Mirror
Billy Jean
Shook Me All Night Long
Don’t Stop Believing
Hey Ya
I’ll be There
Brown Eye Girl
Twist and Shout
Shout
Final Countdown
With or Without You
This Years Love
The Way You Look Tonight
Your Song

COLDPLAY CONCERT

On Saturday July 11, 2009 I made the trek over to the Gorge Amphitheatre in Eastern Washington for the Coldplay concert. I bought tickets months ago for Andrew and myself. Those who made the journey over the mountains were myself, Sophia, Hillary, Andrew, TJ and Jordan. The concert started at 7 as it is always so difficult to pick a time when a band is going to be on stage. With no idea when doors opened or if the opening bands started at 7 we decided to get there early.

We drove over and stopped in Ellensburg for some dinner. Campus U Tote Em is one of the best burger and milkshake spots in town. To say it was warm that afternoon was an understatement. While driving we all watched the thermometer gauge crawling up as it was about 95 when we arrived at the Gorge.

It was the first time to the Gorge for everyone except Sophia and myself. It was a beautiful evening. We arrived just in time to get a nice stretch of lawn on the upper part of the lawn. As the sun was setting everyone waited patiently for Coldplay to come out.

It was a fabulous show! The band set up 2 mini stages on the left and right sections of the reserved seating area. Some of the highlights of the show was when the band sang Yellow and they had giant yellow balls flying throughout the crowd. They also did a cover of Billie Jean in tribute to Michael Jackson.

One of the coolest parts of the show was the stage and the use of these 4 giant balls. They would be spinning above the band and have writing on them, then they would change the effects and have them project pictures and even just change random colors.

Coldplay as on stage for about 2 hours and played a good range of old music and new! We had a great time and I definitely recommend seeing Coldplay live!

Transformers 2 Review

I saw Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen.  Chevrolet had a special previewing on Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 7:30PM.  It was a lot of fun to be in the theater with family, friends and the employees from Art Gamblin Motors.

Transformers 2 Movie Ticket

Me and Sophia at Transformers 2

Transformers 2 Movie Ticket

The question everyone asked right when the lights came on after the movie, “did you like it?”  After a great movie no one even asks if you like it, you just say, “that movie was great” or “that movie was sweet.”  So you heard a lot of did you like it.  My little sister Hillary said, “worse movie I have ever seen” and my good friend Mike saying “that movie was awesome and better than the first.”

Did I like Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen?

Yes, but I did not love it like I did the first Transformers.  I saw the original 5 times in the theater (yes I am a huge loser at times) but I plan on seeing Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen maybe a second time.

Instead of writing a long epistle of what I liked and disliked I will make it simple and make a top 10 list of what I liked and what I did not like.

Top 10 Things I liked:

10.  The Corvette Transformer – The new Transformer corvette was a concept Corvette that made the big screen and it sure looked good

9.  The Transformer Military team was a nice touch to incorporate them from the first movie

8.  The fight scene with Optimus Prime in the woods was the best fight scene of the movie

7.  The mom when on drugs randomly tackling the guy with the Frisbee, probably the funniest part of the movie.

6.  The Corvette chasing down the Audi and sawing it in half in the opening

5.  When Sam screams when the girl Transformer turns from human to Transformer.  Then having him explain it.

4.  Optimus Prime actually finally shows that he can fight compared to the first one where he gets his butt kicked most of the time.

3. Bumble Bee – I love the 2010 Camaro – It just looks good!

2.  The Action Scenes I felt were much better than the first movie.

1. Megan Fox – I was not much of a Megan Fox fan even after the Transformers 1 movie, I am now a changed man.

Megan Fox

Top 10 Things I did not like:

10.  No real car chase – I felt like with all the cool vehicles in the movie they could have had a really cool car chase.  Like the Corvette vs.  Audi instead of 30 seconds and done.

9.   The twin Transformers were the Jar Jar Binks of Transformers 2

8.  Sam Witwicky’s attitude – In the first movie Sam was the dork and you sort of felt bad for him.  In the 2^nd one he acted all tough and he had the hot girlfriend, he lost that appeal of relating to him.

7.  There were a lot of Transformers without knowing anything about them.  You did not know what they were good at or anything like that.

6.  The movie was a little drawn on out and very long

5.  A lot of fart/sex jokes – Do not get me wrong I am a huge fan of this type of humor but I felt it was a little over done and not really good fits for this type of movie.  Since when do robots find humans attractive and want to hump Megan Fox on the leg?

4.  Megan Fox acting like she is the damsel in distress – In the first movie she was tough and independent.  In the first one you would put money down that she could be Sam Witwicky in a fight!  Not in the second one and do not get me started on the sappy cheesy love lines!

3.  Sam Witwicky’s parents – They were more annoying in Transformers 2 than Transformers 1.  Since when does weed make you act like that!?

2.  Human weapons now hurt Transformers?  In the first movie it was pretty clear that Human weapons could not hurt Transformers but in the final hour long battle scene in the dessert

1. The Story Line – OK the story line was not terrible but the way it was delivered I felt could have been much better which totally affected the whole movie.  They could have stolen the idea from Lord of the Rings where in the first 10 minutes it went over the history of things.  The whole time there was something new added to the story without much clarification.

Overall I would recommend seeing the movie while in the theaters.  If I see it again I will probably see it at the Imax.

First Post – Ward’s Visit

Sophia and Me @ Pike Place Market

Heads up “FLYING FISH”

Overlooking Puget Sound

Me and Hillary at the Seattle Sounders FC Game

Daylon, Sophia, Me and Hillary

Sophia and the flowers at Pike Place Market

This is my first attempt to post something on my blog so we will see how it goes. 

I really am interested to see how I like blogging.  I have read so much about it and many of my friends and family have blogs.  I hope that what I write or blog about may be worth the time of those who read it.  What I really plan on using this blog for is to keep people up to date with things I am up to or things I have recently done.  I will also throw in a random article of what I do at work and also I will use this blog to post things about EHS Football.

Ryan Ward and his wife Megan came up and visited the weekend of April 25 and 26.  Although Megan was not feeling well (it was not the swine flu) she battled through it.  We had a large list of things to accomplish while they visited.  Friday night on their arrival we had a big barbecue and lounged in the hot tub. 

Saturday we drove into downtown Seattle and we went to our wedding cake taste testing at Seattle Dessert Works.  All I have to say is wow.  It was the best way to start off a day.  The cakes are amazing and we are very excited to share them with you on our wedding day.  

I have forgotten how much I love downtown Seattle.  The new stores they have added are great like my favorite H&M.   Hillary my little sister says their is just a huge difference between the stores in Europe and here in America and I will have to agree with her.  I think it is comforting that you are buying a t-shirt for 7 pounds and you think you are getting a great deal because you are like hey it is 7 pounds but really it is like $14.  

I love walking through Pike Place Market.  Even as a local and visiting the market is a blast.  With so many restaurants downtown and great new places to try I still keep on going to Cheesecake Factory.

I remember a couple of years ago when I first went to Cheesecake Factory thinking it was the greatest place on earth, literally.  I think part of the excitement was there were not that many around.  This same concept was true when I was a little kid and I went to Red Robin every year for my big birthday dinner (there were not that many around).  I feel like the Cheesecake Factory is now becoming the next Red Robin to me.  I think I need to stop going so often and start venturing to other places to eat (but Cheesecake is so good and I can’t stop!). 

To cap off the day and the Ward’s visit we went to the Seattle Sounders game.  Since the NBA ripped the Sonics away from us (David Stern can suck it).  I must admit I am now a huge MLS fan.  I love our Sounders team.   The game was another sold out venue.  It was great!  The atmosphere was full of electricity.  Although the fans do need to work on getting some good chants beside sounders…sounders…sounders.  I thought I would hear a really weak rendition of ole ole ole.  I was highly disappointed.  I guess American’s are not as clever in chants or being good spectators (I think I might blog about that next).  The highlight of the night was when Ryan finally told Megan that Sounder FC did not stand for Sounder Foster Child but Sounder Football Club.  

It has been very busy for myself of late with being engaged, planning a wedding, spring football starting and work.  Until next time you stay classy my blog readers (haha, I love it)