wordless wednesday

change should be in my pocket

Some days I wake up and think, what the hell is happening? Most of the time this is because my almost one-year old son is kicking me in the back. A lot has changed since I stopped updating this blog. One thing blogs have kind of died. They're not as popular as they were five or ten years ago. I guess for one thing, who wants to read these random mumbling? Serious? Why are you reading my blog? What do you hope to learn? How not to mess up? I'm not sure I can teach you that. Being the biggest mess up I know, I really should have some knowledge on this subject. I guess number one thing you should never do is move to Indiana and take a job in retail. I digress. A lot has changed in my life but things still get worse. Yes they don't get better. Lets count how my life has changed...

1. We had our first daughter almost four years ago.
2. I became a stay at home dad (who still works part-time).
3. We bought a house (were never leaving Indiana now).
4. We bought a new car (no longer worrying about it breaking down).
5. We bought a wii u (yes a wii u, this was two years before the switch)
6. We left our church (because our church leaders are bigots).
7. We had out second child, first son about a year ago.

Life has changed a lot. Okay my kids are awesome. That's the one good thing in my life. Actually if you look at the list it's all good things. The one thing I wish that was on the list was that we moved closer to family. So I guess life is actually good. Things do get better. Thanks for listening and here's an inkotber about my family being whales.

wordless wednesday

don't you wish you were hardcore?

Hanging out with the in-laws may seem not hardcore, but when you eat at a pizza place with graffiti on it, it's hardcore. Plus you go to the art museum and what do you see? Edward Hopper! Now that's hardcore at it's best.

Just when you think you can't get any crazier. Who shows up? Why Frank Lloyd Wright. He's pimping his stain glass windows up in the art museum. Yeah, its that crazy where I live.

Plus, my wife is super awesome. She rolls harder than any girl I know. She rocks cool Batman shirts. Does your wife rock a killer Batman shirt? I don't think so. Your wife isn't as cool as my wife.

So, that's my July 4th weekend. What did you do that was awesome?

it's christmas time again

It's Christmas time again. We've seen snow fall from the sky already out here in Idaho. Thanksgiving is over, even if it's just a few days out. With the end of Thanksgiving it is time to put up the Christmas Tree. Luckily this is the first Christmas I have with my wife. We decide that it was time to buy a tree yesterday. We got a small four ft. tree from walmart and then decorated it last night.


Here we are getting ready to put the ornaments on:

I was lucky this year. I got to put the star on top of the tree. I've never got to do that before.

Unfortunately the first try was not the best. Poor little tree didn't like the weight of the star.

Luckily we finally got it all together and Allison was able to light the tree! Now that is just awesome.

Look it's the McLean's in front of their very first Christmas Tree! How awesome is that.

Christmas has come to the McLean home a little early in my opinion, but it's still the best thing ever. Merry Christmas to everyone.

a new mclean

There is a new McLean in my family, no I’m not talking about Hattie (although I can’t wait to meet her). I’m talking about my new wife. This last weekend I was married to my love. It was one long weekend with so many things that needed to be done, but it’s over now. I am a married man and I happy. I never thought I could be this happy for this long. I’ve never felt such joy and love in my life. I love that I have a wife. Someone I can talk to and just be with. Life is excellent. She makes everything better. I’ve know this for awhile now. That is actually why I decide to marry my wife. When I am with her she makes me feel a hundred times better than I had ever felt before. I knew she did this to me long before we got married or even dated. Insert awesome story now: I remember last October she got my full attention for the first time. I had known her for about a year before that, but didn’t really have an interest in dating her. Like people say it wasn’t the right time yet. We were at this church Halloween dance. I was rolling (rolling means to go with as a friend) with Dan to this dance. I was trying to help hook him up with this a girl he liked. At this dance was my (future) wife. My wife was amazing that night. She dress up as a gypsy and was looking pretty hot. She kept getting close to me, even though I wasn’t dress up at all. I dance at least three slow songs with her. If you’ve been to a church dance during this period you would know that they only play about six slow songs the whole night, if you’re lucky. I danced every slow song I heard with her (oh yes I was lucky). Then during fast songs I was working to help Dan out and she still ended up near me. At one point she got really hot and took off one of her million layers she was wearing. After doing this she came up to me and said I just took off my jacket (or something like that), what else should I take off? That comment made me think this is the girl for me. At the same time, I was like no way, this girl is way out of my normal league of dating. She was so beautiful and fun. That dance is what started a one year quest that made her my wife. I didn’t start out with that in mind. I was just looking for a girl to date. I didn’t start dating her till January, but I started to talk to her at church and school. I started to get to know the most amazing person I’ve ever met in my life. To think it all started because she kept standing next to me at a Halloween dance and ask me to dance. Now there’s a new McLean that is way awesome. No offense to the pervious McLean women in my life, but I love my wife. I love the fact that it took me a year to realize she was awesome and then another few months to even get the courage to ask her out. As Mary Jane Watson says, “You hit the Jackpot, Tiger.” Oh, I hit it hard.

The Nickel Cave

A couple summers back I was spending a bit of time in Utah. It was my first summer in Idaho after my mission and I really didn’t have anything going for me in Idaho. I was in-between jobs and I didn’t have any close friends at the time. Plus I was living with my sister and her three kids who were very young at the time (she still has a lot of young kids). I decide to take a couple trips down to Utah while I had the time off. You know, get away from the one of my sister’s kids to see my other sister and her three kids. Those trips were fun. I really just need a change of scenery and my oldest sister’s house helped me out with that. One of those times when I went down, her youngest keep talking about going to Nickel Arcade. I couldn’t understand what he was talking about at all. I thought he kept saying nickel cave. I couldn’t figure out why the three boys were so excited to go to a cave. I was on vacation so I decide to go even though I didn’t really have any clothes to go caving in, plus I hate to be enclosed in caves. I’ve got fears of everything. It should really make my life unlivable, but I still do some pretty awesome things. On the way to the Nickel Arcade I still had no clue what my sister and her kids were talking about. We drove up to Provo and I was still confused when we got there. After walking into the Arcade I figure it out. I felt really silly at the time thinking we were going caving.

On that trip to the Nickel Arcade I got to play some of the classic arcade games. The best was the fact that they had the original Mortal Kombat. I loved that game when I was a kid. I would always go over to my friend’s house and play with him. We would play on his Sega Genesis for hours. I missed that game. My nephew Calvin was there with me and I’m not sure if he had ever played Mortal Kombat before, but he played with me. It was great to be the guy who actually knew what he was doing for once. I’m that kid that can’t do the finish him moves. I totally wasted Calvin four or five times in a row before he got sick of playing me. That was one awesome trip to Utah. I loved playing Mortal Kombat with my nephews. I think I’m going to have to get it for my X-Box and start inviting my nephews over to beat them some more. Of course I have to be careful; some of my nephews are pretty good with a control. Some probably have more hours logged in on them then me.

Update on the David Cross incident. I told some of my co-workers and they decide that I do look like David Cross. They won’t say that I’m funny like him though. They think that I just look like him. So I guess I’m a balding guy with glasses, thanks everyone. On a side note, Nickelback is a horrible band. So if you thought about them when you saw this title I hope you hate them too. I know I thought about how I’d like to beat them as if I was Subzero from Mortal Kombat.

point blank

Family is a key element to my life. I love my family in the good times and in the bad times. Now is a time to remember, which is the worst skill I have. I have the worst memory of anyone I’ve ever met, which is sad because I’ve met some pretty big time stoners. Reflection is not my strong key, but at times even I must do it.

Calvin was my first nephew. I don’t remember much around his yearly years as I was still just a kid too. I remember more from the last few years than anything else. The second Christmas back from my mission the entire McLean Clan spent it in Utah at my sister’s enormous house. One night all the cousins were running around the house like chickens with their heads cut off. Calvin had his soft-air pistol out. I’m not sure if he actually was shooting some of his cousin or not, but some of the girl cousins complained of being hit. They were crying like they had been shot with a real gun. Now if anyone has ever been shot with a soft-air pistol you know the tiny yellow pellets don’t really hurt much. I use to get shot on my mission all the time by other missionaries. Me, being the evil uncle that I am decide to take matters into my own hands. I was able to wrestle the gun from him with little trouble. All of a sudden I was the terror. I don’t think Calvin feared me much, none of the nieces and nephews fear me. I don’t know why? Calvin started to egg me on, daring me to shot him, probably thinking that I would never do it. That kid did not know the crazy that his uncle was. I pulled the gun up and fired one right into his chest at almost point blank range. Next thing I know he was running to his mother crying about how Uncle Mikey shot him. His mother, my sister, told him tough. It was a Christmas miracle. I got off with shooting my nephew with no punishment and spent Christmas with my family.

Calvin will always hold a special place in my mind and heart. He was my first nephew. My love goes out to all those who miss him as I do, especially his family.