Night Games Extravaganza!!

On Friday, my best friend Brody and I organized a Night Games Extravaganza. We got all of our old High School friends (and their spouses) back together for a fun time of hanging out and Night Game action. It was such a fun night. It was really cool to reconnect with everyone after not seeing each other for a long time. Camille has a 7 month year old baby (Riley) and she is just so adorable, but it's so crazy to see your good friends with families now.



A few of us brought some treats to share. I had to bring something that didn't melt in my backpack on my way to Layton (I was on my motorcycle), so I brought Sweedish Fish (surprise surprise) and Starburst. Camille brought some really tasty cookies
Then there was Steve's treat....haha...it was pretty random if you ask me. He brought French Bread from Harmon's your neighborhood grocer, with Honey Butter to spread on top of it. He also brought Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins with Roasted Garlic Cheddar Cheese-Wiz to spray on top of it. It created some kind of interesting Speghetti dinner on a cracker....sick! haha

After hanging out at Brody's while we waited for it to get darker, we headed over to the Layton Park to get started playing. We decided to play Capture the Flag. It was fun times. There were a few other random people in the park as we were playing so it got a little confusing at times trying to know who was really from the other team, or just some random couple making out on the park bench. Haha unfortunately, that park bench was our teams "Prison" and Steve thought the two people making out on the bench were people captured from his team. So I ended up catching him when he tried to "save them."

We really only played one round of Capture the Flag (it lasted a while), and then some sprinklers turned on, so some smart person decided we should play "Shark" and run across a field back and forth as if we were in P.E. Class getting tested haha. We were all completely exhausted by the end of it haha. So we decided to head over to Denny's to get some food/beverages. That was fun.






We had a blast together. We decided to try to get together again monthly. So we'll get together around the same time in August for some Board Games and such at Brody's house :) Can't wait!!

A Moment of Silence for Estelle Getty: Thank you for Being a Friend!

Please take a moment of silence (maybe by eating some cheesecake while reminiscing about Sicily) for the passing of Ms. Sophia Patrillo.


Most of us grew up with the Golden Girls and were drawn in by Sophias razor-sharp wit, particularly when trading insults with her daughter Dorothy. I also remember her in great classics such as TOOTSIE and MANNEQUIN. She'll truly be missed and I'll always be a long time fan!

TREVOR'S PERSONAL ROAD TO AMERICAN IDOL
So once again, I've decided to compete in the Salt Lake Idol 08 sponsored by Fox 13 and 97.1 ZHT. Last year I competed, and made it to the Semi-Finals (Top 20). This year, I feel even better...more prepared and more on my game. This could be the year.

The process goes like this: You record a video of yourself singing about 1 minute of a song, and drop that off at Fox 13 Studios. Today a panel of Fox Employees watched all the videos and selected a Semi Final group of 13 people. They'll call the 13 people (including me hopefully) to let them know they have to compete in the Semi Finals on Saturday Morning at 8am! SUPER EARLY for singing...PERFECT.

So on Saturday the 13 people will compete for a spot in the Top 5 finals. Out of the top 5, TWO (2)Grand Prize winners will be selected. The Grand Prize is a guaranteed audition for the Producers of American Idol. That=no waiting in the long cattle call line that everyone else has to wait in. How great would that be to just surpass that?!

So now we wait....and hope they call tomorrow. If they don't call by Thursday night then I am not a finalist. I feel pretty great about my audition video though. I sang Stevie Wonder's "For Once in my Life!" It's powerful, upbeat, shows energy and range. I am still trying to come up with a group of additional songs to have ready to sing at any moment, just in case.



Only 5 More Days until the loss of another Hudson Roommate
Only 5 days remain until one other original Hudson roommate leaves us. Brooke will be leaving to perform on Holland America Cruise Lines for 6 months. It's sad to see all of her things packed and her room so empty. We've been through so much fun and good times together in the good old Hudson House. Our annual Hudson Family Vacations...random roadtrips...Sunday Guitar Sing-a-Longs in the living room...Christmas Caroling at christmas. The list goes on. Seth, another original Hudson roommate moved out last August, so only two original roommates remain (Andrew and Myself). I suppose I will be here for a while, but who knows how long Andrew will last. He has so many good things going for him, he could be gone really soon.

Anyway, i suppose that's enough for now. Time to sleep. More tomorrow!

T

Trevor's Really Big Vacation - Chapter 2

Ok, so first of all...can I just say that traveling back in time 4 hours, really messes up one's sleep. There are times I keep waking up at like 7am Utah time, which is only 3am in Hawaii. Luckily I've been able to fall back asleep for another hour or so before I finally just wake up and get my day started. But it's cool...I'm on vacation!

THE AMAZING SHOWER
The Hilton has amazing guestrooms. I took THE best shower. It's so crazy how amazing a shower can be. But the showerhead distributed such an even flow of water. The temperature was so perfect. The shampoo had this amazing aroma to it. Then when I got out to dry off, the fresh, nicely folded towel did me so much justice. It was amazing soft....*sigh*. Haha ok, enough of the shower, but it was great!

BREAKFAST AT THE PALM TERRACE
The Waikoloa Village Resort is split into like 3 or 4 different lodging Towers. I am in the Lagoon Tower which is the furthest West. I decided to have breakfast at the Palm Terrace which is in the Ocean Towerw (complete opposite side). So I walk down to catch the Tram ride over. Of course it is BARELY leaving as I walk up. So I decided it would be nice to just walk down and catch it at another stop. Well, apparently I was barely walking too slow. I kept missing it by a tiny bit. So I ended up walking the entire way down there. But it was a nice walk. Took pictures of things on my way down.

So I get there. I check in and get my name on the list. It was a crazy 30 minute wait, even for just myself. So I sat down and watched people for a bit until they were able to seat me. I ran into the family I sat next to on the Airplane ride here, so I said hi to them for a bit.

It was finally my turn to be seated (after only about 15 minutes). They sat me RIGHT infront of the buffet, which was perfect. The buffet wasn't anything too special. Just your typical Hilton Breakfast Buffet. My property offers the same style, but it was definitely good. The annoying part of breakfast was the crazy birds that were EVERYWHERE. These little...sparrow's? were just begging for food and flying all over the place. It was funny...the table next to me had their coffee served and then got up to get food from the buffet. While they were gone, a sparrow? decided to bathe in his coffee haha. Another lady sitting across from where I was really froke out (there's that froke word again) and she froke out loud when a sparrow? frightened her. haha

The Buffet was so good, I decided to get up for seconds. I made my rounds and then I stopped by the omlette station to get some Maple Syrup for my French Toast. While I was doing so, the chef attendant there looked at me and said "Sir, here is the omlette you ordered." I had a very confused look on my face.

"Um, I didn't order an omlette."
"You didn't?" She replied
I quickly responded sarcasticly, "I think you have me confused with the OTHER black guy getting breakfast."

The OTHER black guy happened to be like 50 years old and balding and had some greyish hair...another account of how some people think we black folk look alike haha.

THE DAY'S OUTDOOR ADVENTURES!
After breakfast, I thought it would be good to walk off all of that food, so I went on a little hike for a bit. It was a nice hike along the shore line. The waves were great! I got pictures of some fun little creatures and the beautiful water. It was nice and soothing.

My friend Kristine called (she took the day off to spend time with me! How nice of her!!!) and we arranged to meet at 11:30am to head over to the beach together. I was excited. So I made my way back to the hotel, took a little nap (because I was already a little tired haha). And then made my way downstairs to the lobby to meet her. We stopped by Angie's office (Angie is the hotel's director of Events and Catering) so Kristine could get her bonus check. While in Angie's office, I met Jeanette - The Healthy Non-Religious Female who's main excuse for not being mormon is because she wouldn't be able to drink wine!!! She has this great Brittish accent, and the personality to go with it. She is HILARIOUS!!! I think we are planning to meet up with her on the 4th of July (but while we are with her, we won't be celebrating the 4th of July because she is from Brittain) haha.

We said our good-byes and headed up to the beach. It was Spencer Beach and it was about 15-20 minutes up the road. By the time we got there it was a little overcast and not so sunny....dang it!! But that's ok. We set up camp on the beach. We had our little beach chairs, and our cooler full of snacks. We must have stayed at the beach for like 4 hours. Played in the water....I played in the Sand a little bit. We sat and just talked. It was nice and laid back. My favorite thing about this whole trip.

After the beach, we headed up north some more and went to Parker Ranch in Waimea (Parker Ranch is more "Cowboy" country of the island.) They had a few little shops that we went into. Then we stopped by this little restaurant that Kristine had read about. It's called "Pau" which means "Finished...or over". So almost like it was place for people to go when the day was done and work was finished or something. Anyway, I had this amazing pizza and salad. It was sooooo yummy. I really want to go back there once more before I'm gone.

After dinner, it was finally about 7:30 pm and Kristine drove me back down to the Hotel and dropped me off. I came back and got in the Hot Tub down by the pool and sat there for about 45 minutes. Made friends with this couple (Tyson and Sarah) they just got married and are on their honeymoon. They are from Arizona. Very fun. Then I went back up to my room and just lounged around. With it being after 8pm in Hawaii it was after 12am in Utah. So my body had began to shut down. I lounged around on the Balcony for a little bit with a glass of wine, watched the dolphins play. They are cute. I came inside got in bed and started watching some TV and was out within probably 5 minutes haha. SUCH A NICE DAY!!

NEXT ON TREVOR'S REALLY BIG VACATION: Trevor heads to Honolulu to meet up with THE Jennifer Stapley, and his roommate Andrew. Stay tuned for all the juicy details of this crazy adventure! :)

Trevor's Really Big Vacation - Chapter 1

That's right folks, I'm on VACATION!!!!! This will be the daily blog about my adventure to the crazy big island of Hawaii. I know most of you are having a hard time continuing on with your daily life in the lovely career/school world, while I enjoy mai tai's and get my tan on while sitting on the beach. Hard life :)

My trip began on Monday morning. Amazingly the packing went very well...TOO well. I managed to fit everything into one suit case (for 7 days). I'm just waiting for the moment to discover that I forgot something. I loaded the car and was on the way to the airport...called my mom to let her know I was leaving ok and to say aloha for the week. I parked in the economy parking lot and hopped on the shuttle to the Delta Terminal (time now is about 10:25).

I had the instinct to pull out my flight itinerary just to double check. In my head I'm thinking, "I'm fine. I have over an hour until my flight. I'm making great time." Then I look at the itinerary..."DEP: 1100am." AHHHHHHHHHHHH! haha I froke out big time (and yes I said FROKE!) I rushed to the Delta desk to check in...they lectured me about being late (I hate when they do that) and checked my bag. I am totally great at getting through security really fast...usually...I totally picked the slow line, and then I forgot to take my laptop out of the bag so that slowed me down a bit too...LAME! *sigh* oh well. I got to the gate, and people were still in line waiting to get on so I made it *phew*

My first flight was to L.A. where I would connect to my flight to Kona. The flight to Hawaii is so long!!! UGH!! haha Thank goodness for first class and In Flight movies...not to mention alcohol! The movie the plane played was Fools Gold with Matthew McConaughey!!! OMG!! Why!? Why must he have such a good body. One day Trev. One day. Then on my laptop, I watched August Rush!!! WHY!? Why must someone be soooo genius with music. One day Trev. One day! haha so my flight there turned into this crazy time of jealousy haha. But I am going to Hawaii and many people are jealous of me. All better.

I landed...FINALLY about (8:30pm Utah time). I have never been on a flight where you exit off of the plane on to the tarmac. It was kind of fun...definitely and indication of SMALL airport. I walked towards the baggage claim. There were some people waiting for family with their cameras ready, and I finally found my two friends who came to pick me up. Angie and Kristine. They greeted me with a fresh, and real Hawaian lei! It was so awesome....I got "leied" We got onto the "freeway" which was really just a bigger version of 7th South haha (Definitely indication of Small town). As we drove towards the resort, the landscape is pretty much lava rock on the right, and ocean on the left. No trees...wait...there was one random tree that I remember seeing. Still pretty.

We finally arrived to the resort and it is SOOOO beautiful. I went to the front desk and checked in, and was just so ecstatic to be here. After checking in we walked down to where my room was: The Lagoon Tower. We took the elevator up the 5th Floor and came into a room that Angie told me she had upgraded for me. She opened the curtain to show me the AMAZING OCEAN VIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in complete heaven!! I could also look down from my Balcony to see the cool Dolphin show that takes place at the resort. ANGIE IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I also found a lovely welcome amenity of Fruit and Water prepared for me. I have great friends.

Kristine and I then proceeded to go to dinner. The resort is so large you can either get around by a little boat, or the tram. So we took the boat to dinner, and road the tram back. It was fun. It was such a long day for me. It gets dark here about 8pm. So my body shifted back to Utah time at that point (which was about 12pm Utah time) and I started getting really sleepy haha. Sat on the balcony and listend to the waves a little bit, called my mom to let her know I got here safe, and put on some TV and fell asleep.) Good day it was.

NEXT ON TREVOR'S REALLY BIG VACATION: Trevor and Kristine take a trip to the beach. Will Trevor overcome his ancestors struggle of not knowing how to swim? Will he brave the huge waves and the scary sharks? Tune in to tomorrow's blog!!!