the city that never sleeps...

my brother's pilot premiere was on thursday night. my dear mother was kind enough to offer to watch the children while we attended. and since we were unable to go cruising and our tenth anniversary year ends in a matter of days we were excited to take a few days in a city we both love.

we left wednesday after amy stayed up late packing and i worked through the night. hannah took the girls to violin and we dropped michael at school and ella at co-op. we rushed to the airport and flew off.

on the flight i met my favorite mormon (post-mormon) director--richard dutcher. i'm not in the habit of meeting famous people, so i asked, 'is your name richard?' 'yes' 'richard dutcher?' 'yes' 'hi my name is paul frandsen and i am a big fan of your work. god's army 2? great.'

and that was that. he was nice and the encounter was brief.

stephen and hillary picked us up from the airport--very kind of them to brave the traffic. amy and i were beat after sleeping so little so we went out for pizza and crashed at stevie's. stephen did not crash as he had a night's work ahead of him. he and the director of the pilot worked through much of the night on finishing the color etc...

thursday was the premiere so while he finished final preparations we went directly from the subway in brooklyn to the natural history museum off central park. i had never been and thoroughly enjoyed it. below are the pictures from the museum.


the natural history museum is impressive fare. favorites? the big whale and most of the ocean exhibit. the exhibit on evolution. meteor rocks. and the dinosaur bones! lots and lots of real-life bones with impressive evolutionary trees showing their progression and time-line. the earthquake-meter.

after spending several hours in the bowels of the museum we surfaced for air and realized we hadn't yet seen the city skyline in the light of day (the museum has an underground subway entrance.)

i love the new york skyline. the enormity of the city is astounding. its scale is grand but old, dirty and dilapidated at the same time. after seeing the skyline from the window of the museum i got the itch to strike out on the town. we headed out on the subway to rockefeller square and did the very touristy tour of nbc studios. the highlight was seeing diddy dirty money during his photo shoot for snl. we also saw jimmy fallon and toured his set. at the end, amy and i did our own faux news broadcast. i captured a shot of amy in front of the green screen, but the final product was $30 for the footage. amy is an adorable weathergirl. i would tune in :)



we rushed from the rockefeller tree to fontana's bar in chinatown near where some of the scenes from the pilot were shot. we stopped in for chinese dumplings with stephen and hillary where we met some friends of theirs (liz and brian) and joined them in a quick bite to eat. brian is a creative executive for AMC and liz teaches at a charter school in harlem.

the premiere was great. it was a fun melding of personal and professional acquaintances of stephen and hadley. the different groups melded well and there were a lot of hugs and smiles. there was cheering and clapping through the closing credits. it was fun to see stephen and hadley's relief build as they carried off the project well. they both looked ready for a long nap and relaxing weekend after staying up most nights all week in preparation for the premiere.

stephen did all the music for the project and it was a shining element of the show. there were multiple comments about how great the music was. the color was beautiful, suspense held the group's attention, and the violence etc was tasteful :) my favorite part was hanging out after the premiere with friends and co-workers of stephen's lingering. it was fun to hear them speak highly of stephen--including his professionalism, work ethic, convivial nature etc. etc. my favorite moments of the trip were the random relaxed moments with stephen, hillary, and amy...

we took pictures together near the impressive photo/poster that stephen and hadley produced.

adam and kellyn posing with us...

brothers...

stephen and hillary were our perfect hosts on the weekend...

friday was a day for more culture. we started out at the 'frick' museum (the best named institution we visited on the weekend.) it was a cool example of a private art collectors gallery turned museum. a little renior...

we left the 'frick' for the apple store with the floating apple and the burger joint (hidden in the parker-meridian hotel.) notice stephen's signature 'i love apple' salute.

then it was off to free MOMA night presented by target. i love the MOMA. highlights? the eye. starry night. picasso. the line exhibit.

my impressionist impression of the painting...

and for the grand finale that night? the new neil la bute play, 'the break of noon.' neil is a former mormon and renowned modern playwright. he attended byu with aaron eckhart.

the play was provocative. we went not knowing exactly what to expect. la bute is a former mormon who converted to mormonism at BYU and is known for his portrayals of evil/badly behaving men. his play in the late 90's of lds people doing violent things lead to him ultimately parting amicably with the church. he has developed into one of the more renowned modern american playwrights. his play, 'the break of noon' premiered off-broadway 2 weeks ago with david duchovny as the lead.

the play chronicles the story of 'john smith' who survives an office massacre where the gunman shoots 37 people and then himself. smith claims to have had a vision of god wherein he spared john's life. he then interacts with police, ex-wife, lover, stranger and detective. each interaction shows the duality of duchovny's nature as he is both good and evil in turn. mormon undertones include 'john smith' as modern day prophet (joseph smith), mutiple versions of his vision--each more elaborate than the last, and 'jesus wants me for a sunbeam' was played at one break between scenes. pretty veiled mormon ties i know. duchovny is on stage the entire play and acts opposite 3 other actors who play dual roles. the play had a lot of language and john smith is not a 'good guy' per se.

it was interesting watching the play with a presumably secular new york audience for whom it seemed very natural to laugh at the man's shortcomings and brush off his religious ministrations and manipulations. i also felt that as a believing mormon the play took on greater depth as i was asked to confront this man's shortcomings in the context of joseph's shortcomings. all the while asking me to maintain my belief in both.

the play ultimately asks the audience to accept an imperfect man as a prophet. the final scene ***plot spoiler***involves duchovny speaking in church before an audience in a sort of evangelist setting. he levitates in the final moments of his monologue and la bute asks the audience to accept that this man is what he claims.

we went for eggs benedict after the play (divine) and headed home for a movie at stephen's apartment.

oh, and on the way out of the play i met mr. michael moore and had my picture taken with him...

the next day was broadway day. we stood in line for cancellation tickets to lion king (while a scalper tried to hustle me into some 2nd row tickets that i turned down after he walked me around times square introducing me to his scalper buddies.)

amy loved the show. i thought it was so so. beautiful lighting, costumes, vocals, but still the same lion king plot-line i've seen 20+ times on tv. i would however love to take the kids someday...

times square from the minskoff theatre.



in between broadway shows amy speed shopped at H&M and we met stephen and hillary at the temple/stake center before his performance for the stake christmas concert
the final show of the evening was billy elliot. i loved it. the dancing was breathtaking, the musical numbers were powerful and the message of hardship, sacrifice and committing to yourself were motivating. the 11 year lead was an amazing dancer and brought incredible suspense at times.

that night we went 80's dancing. great times...

church was inspiring in stephen's brooklyn branch.

a relaxing sunday and waffles topped off the trip.

thank you so much stephen and hillary! congratulations on the successful premiere...

dance party...

guess who's here from new york!?

the night before hillary and stephen arrived michael kept waking and coming to the top of the stairs to ask if they were here...what we didn't tell him is that after he ultimately fell asleep granpatty came by the house (thanks mom!) so that amy could pick me up from work enroute to the airport. we then attended the 12:45 am harry potter premiere! i love the books, but my brother refuses to read them. it was definitely a coup that he accepted our invitation! i dressed up and there were not as many people dressed up as when i went to the star wars premiere as darth vader. but, what would life be without the people that dress up for movie premieres?

oh, and stephen loved it...

friday was the main event--andrew wright's wedding--congratulations andrew!

when the wedding festivities finished, the nyc hipsters made their way again to our house and the kids were able to bask in their energy as you can tell from the dance party photos and video!



we are dancing to bekah's latest favorite song...

the call of the pheasant...

michael went on his inaugural pheasant hunt this month! this is a tradition that i've gladly been a part of since i was 8 years old and trudging up the main ditch-line on grandpa's farm with my dad, cousins and uncles. michael was a bit hesitant at first as you can tell from the picture above. he walked five or six steps behind me as we walked in line with other hunters. however, after i shot the first bird and told him if the bird had flown out behind us he would have been in the line of fire he stayed right near me or whichever hunter he accompanied.

we all enjoyed ourselves. back in the day there were enough native birds in the area that we could hunt freely and have enough for all. however, as the years have gone on and the fox population had increased it is rare to see a native pheasant on grandpa's property.

and there is the dilemma. how to continue a great family tradition without anything left to shoot? we purchase birds from a pheasant farm, twirl them around till their too dizzy to fly and let them free in the brush to play the game of life and death (we let the dizziness wear off before we hunt them.)


this year's hunt was much more like prior year's hunts as we had cousins jeff, brian, darin, ryan, cutler and my brother jonny. uncles doug, kelly and my dad were there as was grandpa. the big difference was that jeff, darin, jonny and myself all brought kids! (where have the years gone?)

all the younger hunters got a bird and here is michael fulfilling the duty of a ditch trudger--carrying the pheasant back to the cars.

it was great to see everyone this year!

this tradition would not be complete without driving from gunnison to cougartown for a byu football game. here you see four generations of frandsens (grandpa frandsen's hand can be seen holding the binoculars behind my pops.) enjoying a traditional byu trouncing of unlv.

it is our final year in the MWC and after some of the things coaches and school presidents from the MWC have said about us it has been nice to beat every team in the conference to this point aside from TCU and Air Force (and this in a re-building year:)

some of that sentiment can be seen in michael's take on the game below...

definitely NOT cruisin'...

yes, these are images of the boat we were to board yesterday for our dream cruise for our 10th anniversary to the mexican riviera. but it was not meant to be. we've had several moments of disappointment as we've passed dates and events that we were to have missed.

we had each picked out several books to read poolside, we'd booked glass bottom kayaking, snorkeling, canopy tours, rappelling, city tours, massages (just to list a few of the items we'd been looking forward to for months...) on tuesday morning when i started following the news and twitter feeds about a fire in the splendor's engine room the pit in my stomach started to grow...

while the pit in my stomach was growing, the uss ronald reagan was packaging spam and sending it to the stranded passengers aboard the cruise-liner.

tugboats took three days to get to the boat and pull it to san diego.


so yes, we'll live to cruise another day.

meanwhile, we are here in the snowy cold and loving it. the girls built this snowman on october 28th, but this morning we built another (mickey mouse style) and then headed over for the first sledding of the year before the snow melted and before they headed off to school. they loved it. (ella tried to come out in her dress and flip-flops but mom put a stop to that.)

soon after realizing our hopes had been dashed by the fiery fiasco i sent a plea for shifts and my colleagues graciously offered me some work this week.

my mom offered to give us a night in SLC over the weekend at the gateway and crystal inn where we luxuriated for one night rather than seven.

we were here to see byu clobber csu and notre dame decimate utah.

we were here to see michael's 'great to be eight' program at the church. when one of the leaders announced that when a boy turns eight he can start cub scouts michael called out an audible, 'yesssss.' people laughed and we were proud of our eager soon to be eight-year-old.

michael's thanksgiving choir concert will be tuesday night as is the evening in excellence amy is in charge of. the first thing michael said when i told him our cruise was cancelled was, 'now you can come to my christmas concert!'

plans began to emerge for the week as we will be here for the byu vs. utah state basketball game.

i had been lamenting missing the opening of harry potter while floating somewhere off the coast of mexico and since stevie's coming into town we purchased tickets to see it with hillary and him!

the biggest event of the week by far (in close running with the wedding of andrew wright) is the birth by melinda of baby jared scheduled for friday morning!

so in reality. we are excited to be around and will certainly find our way back into the day to day. all the while wistfully thinking of what might have been...

in limbo...

check out the trailer for my brother's pilot premier in new york on december 2nd at 8pm...

IN LIMBO TRAILER from In Limbo on Vimeo.

traversing timp...live!

this is a five minute video of the hike described in the post below...

traversing timp...

michael and i hiked timp!

michael is seven and usually up for an adventure. he is, however, very deliberate in his decision making. monday before the hike (last thursday) i asked if he'd be interested in hiking mount timpanogos. it was after school and the summit is visible from his school. he looked up at the mountain for 30 seconds or so and said, 'yeah'. we didn't talk a lot about it before the day of the hike. mostly because i worked late the night before the planned hike-date and i was worried i might not be up for it. however, the weather was going to turn soon and i figured it was now or next year so decided i'd better man up and sleep some other time.

it was busy in the ER the night before the hike, so i got home and was in bed by 3 am after setting out our gear. i had hoped to start at 5am, but couldn't drag myself out of bed till 6:15. i awoke michael, we each had a bowl of cereal and headed out. luckily i'd been reading accounts of the hike on the internet the day before and threw some gloves and fleece jackets into the car for the hike.

michael was bright eyed after our bowl of cereal and neither of us knew quite what to expect from the day. i'd only hiked timp once back in junior high and did so from the sundance side. we chose to hike from the AF side and we knew very little about the trail, the difficulty and how long it might take us. time wasn't on our side as i had to be back for our double date with mom and dad at hale center theater (the drowsy chaperone and a great time..:)

we were hiking by 7:20 am. there was little light as we started and it was chilly. low 40's? i brought my REI hiking poles i'd purchased for mount whitney and asked michael if he wanted to use one. he definitely did so we adjusted the size for him and headed out. i brought my camelback--100 oz--and cycling goo, crackers and my phone with tunes. we wore orange in case there were any elk hunters out.

the first part of the hike was taken up with discussions of college football, byu's woes, current college FB rankings, oregon football etc. etc. then we moved onto math problems. michael has always loved story problems and he was a good sport on this trip.

the summit of mount timp is 11,749'--second highest in the wasatch mountains. the summit is 7.5 miles one-way. emerald lake is 6.5 miles one-way with an elevation gain of 3210. we spoke with one group who said they plan 8 hours round trip to the saddle (the point where you can see out over the valley) and 12 hours round trip to summit. i've read accounts by avid hikers who made the summit round trip in 6.5 hours.

at hour two (and maybe 1000 vertical feet gain) michael seemed to be waning in his interest. we'd exhausted the limits of my college football conversation. he had found plants and rocks that reminded him of his sisters (we collected them to take to the girls on the way home) and he was getting plain bored. it wasn't so much he was tired, it just seemed like the task at hand wasn't holding his attention. i will say that we saw some amazing views as we hiked with the sun coming up over the 'valley' of AF canyon and the peaks opposite us.

at this point i resorted to the one thing i figured could save us from boredom and failure--broadway show tunes. on a recent trip home from granpatty's for dinner we broke out les miserables for the kids and explained the story as we listened to the songs. they loved it! michael in particular was enthralled by the characters, the songs etc. so i fired up my phone and we started listening to big river. big river is much more accessible to a seven year old than les miserables. there are quite a few love songs, but by and large we were able to have some good discussions about the musical. we talked about civil rights, slavery, mistreatment of others. we talked about school, huck's misbehavior and his struggle to find the moral good. we talked of trust in authority and misplaced trust in 'authority'. i always love talking to michael. by the time huck and company were waiting for the light to shine for the final time we were almost of the final climb up the plateau where emerald lake awaited.

during the time we listened to big river we'd shed our coats, taken several potty breaks, hiked the steepest and most sheer sections of the hike, and replaced coats when we hit the shade with a biting wind coming down the canyon. michael asked when we could turn around when the wind became really cold and before we began les miserables. we took plenty of drink breaks from the camelbak and hiked and hiked and hiked.

michael was the pacemaker for the majority of the hike. he would walk out in front of me and rarely strayed from the path. we hiked side by side at the steepest points as my spidey sense said i needed to shield him from the sheer faces to our left as we hiked.

3.5 hours later after we'd begun we arrived at the turn-off to emerald lake at 10:50 am. michael was a good sport to go that far as he would have gladly turned around 30 minutes prior. both of us were happy to make it to that point though as the view of timp summit was grand and the views of the valley below were stunning. we stopped to eat our PBJ's. they tasted outstanding and gave us a second wind--ready to conquer the hike downward.

because neither of us had done the hike from this side and we hadn't really discussed a specific goal, not summiting didn't seem a disappointment. in fact, reaching emerald lake the way michael did for his age was a great accomplishment and one to build on for future hikes and adventures.

way to go michael!


at 11:20 am we headed down the mountain to the sounds of poor fontaine's tragic life. our discussions down the canyon were more diverse as we discussed the french revolution, life's disappointments, hardship, and evil. les miserables ended and we had several hours more to hike. i tried playing hairspray, but decided it is meant for a more mature audience. we didn't turn it off before we had the chance to discuss what a 'double meaning' is. specifically in hairspray, tracy sings, 'mama i'm a big girl now' we talked about how she meant she was 'big' meaning old and 'big' meaning fat. michael laughed and referred to this double meaning later when we heard elphaba sing, 'i've been changed for good.'

anyway. we were broadway'd out by mile 11 and turned back to BYU football. as we came closer and closer to the car michael became more and more giddy. we started a rhyming game where would try to use words that rhyme with you. he loved it and we laughed often as we found new phrases to use.

we arrrived at the car at 1:50 pm and were happy to be back. when i asked michael what his favorite part was he said, 'goo breaks.'

it was a great day. when we do it again we'll definitely talk about our goals for the hike, get more sleep the night before and possibly train a bit in the lead-up...

another day, another game...

good clean fun over the weekend.

mom, dad, jonny, lafe and aaron met the kids and i at the field near the creamery for some tailgating... we had bratwursts, hot dogs, a vegetable tray and my favorite--black cherry fresca. we played football, talked football, cleaned up after the kids spills and enjoyed good company. from the field we walked down to the stadium.

this was the first time for abby and bekah to attend a football game and they were pretty excited! i had all the kids for the weekend, so mom took ella home with aaron. i had them get baths and did their hair myself in preparation for the big day at lavell edwards stadium. they were on cloud nine on the way to the game and for the first 5-10 minutes. luckily dad required everyone at least enter the bathroom prior to the game. it paid off for the girls. all my kids made it to half-time with reasonable amounts of squirming and boredom intermixed with fun and great-grandpa frandsen doing the cat and dog for bekah...

we spent the whole halftime on the lower concourse. my kids would run from me to the other side of the walkway dodging people and then returning for another bite of popcorn and another drink of sprite. even after 20 minutes it didn't get old, but i persuaded them to head back in to watch the remaining two quarters.

having the kids there brought back so many memories of going to games with dad, friends, amy and michael. what a great place with many traditions and memories contained...



thanks for coming to the game girls (and michael.)

before the game, michael predicted a win by 3 points for BYU. nice work buddy.

our exploits can be seen here:



and if you missed the game you can see what we saw to music here:

BYU vs San Diego State 2010 from Furious Monkey on Vimeo.

byu home opener...

michael and i went to the home opener with jonny and dad for his special day.

we met jonny, mom and aaron (after purchasing a portable grill from sears) for a tailgate party before the game. we grilled some bratwurst and played some football on the field near deseret towers. aaron and michael had an intense football game on the grass before the food was cooked.

in my heart of hearts i was expecting a loss from the cougs and was pleasantly surprised at their performance.

michael loves BYU football as much as ever. before the game he was mulling over the match-up and announced that the game would be the battle of the jakes (jake heaps and jake locker.) he cheered, watched the field, watched the jumbotron, used jonny's binoculars and generally was a joy to be with. after the game ended and we were walking out with jonny he says, 'dad, that was a huge win for us...'

video evidence of good times...



he loved it and so did i.

camping with cuties...

we live near an amazing alpine canyon but it took me a year to get up there in a tent. luckily i had two great reasons to head up--my girls.

we have a tradition of 'special days' with the kids. a special day can be with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, an aunt or uncle. a few years back i had an experience with michael in joshua tree that remains a highlight of my relationship with him. i figured it was time to get out one on one with the girls and get to know them a little better.

we loved it.

the trips were two weeks apart. abby went first. it was mid-week and the we almost had the canyon to ourselves. we started at walmart and wendys. she loved picking out the items we would eat on the trip and directing me to the different items. with drinks and food in hand we headed up the canyon. out first stop was the scout/church campground where we ate by the river to eat our food and she played on the slide. there were young men/ young women events planned for the evening so i figured life would be peaceful further up the canyon.

you can see abby here after her wendy's...

after that we headed up the road to one of my favorite spots in the canyon. the lookout point here makes me feel like i'm on a european alpine slope. as you can tell from my dancing abby, this is a spot she enjoyed as well.


after the look-out point we headed up to salamander flat, went hiking (which i mostly just have video of) and then set up our camp. my dad would have been proud of how interested abby was in helping set up the camp. i put our bags in the tent and went back to the car. when i returned, abby had unpacked our foam mattresses. when she heard me returning she announced that my shoes needed to stay out at the 'shoe spot'.

she loved the headlamp (as all my kids have so far.) one sweet moment of the trip was after we were ready for bed and turned out all the lights. we were about to lie down for the night and abby looked out the tent plastic and said, 'the stars!' i couldn't help but pull open the tent flap and lie under the stars with her. she was in awe. she looked and looked and even starting singing for a while. it was probably 45 minutes later before we went to sleep--45 minutes very well spent...

the next morning, my battery went dead, so i have no proof of our ramen noodle breakfast, our hiking expedition through the creek. both were lots of fun with my sweet abby.

after the trip i feel like our relationship is better. she is more verbal with me and i feel like we connect better when i speak with her. what a great time.

in the following weeks, bekah alluded often to her upcoming 'special day' in the mountains. it hadn't been officially planned that i would take them both camping separately, but with bekah referring to her coming camping trip i knew i'd better get it planned and done before snowfall (so i'm a cold wimp...)

when the day came bekah was excited. she was definitely anxious to prove she was a good hiker, climber and camper. we stopped by walmart, roxberry and little caesars for our pre-camping meal. we headed directly to the reservoir and headed out on a hike. unlike with abby, the leaves had turned and were colors everywhere. both my girls love to run along the trail (but that has been the case since the moment we took them out in public together--they like to run everywhere.)

bekah has several favorite colors--chief of which is orange. she was in heaven with the colorful leaves and much of our discussion revolved around that. i would point out mount timpanogos every time it came into view. several times after pointing out mount timp she would say, 'it's too bad she died.' apparently the story of princess timpanogos made an impression on her...

we found a log that crossed the creek en route to our hike. bekah loved it. she crossed it over and over. at one point she was instructing me how to start, how to walk across etc. our last trip across as the sun was setting she lost her balance and as she fell she took the initiative, jumped in feet first, landed on her bum and hopped back up and scampered up the rocks to safety. very proficient. she was tearful and shocked by the cold.


however, she loved hanging out near the fire in her blanket after the fact. we cooked on the new grill, ate oreos, warmed up and talked. bekah was in a silly mood and was glad to be on her special day.

i worked earlier in the day the next day and the gear was wet so we broke camp early and headed home to set it out in the sun.

overall, it was great times all around. i would love to make trips like this at least a yearly event with each kiddo. it means a lot to them and it means a lot to me.