Call us what you will (white trash, rednecks, hicks, etc.) but X and I love demolition derbies! We jump at every opportunity to go, and have been to four different derbies in the last two years! We even have been to a derby where they competed with trucks and suburbans (instead of cars) - that one was intense, and definitely our favorite!
If you've never been to a demolition derby, or don't know what it is, here's a basic run-through of how it works: It is a motorsport event where a bunch of drivers compete in separate "heats" by deliberately ramming their vehicles into one another. Each car is required to hit another car at least once every two minutes or they are considered "out". The last two or three drivers in each heat whose vehicles are still operational move on to the next round. The last driver standing in the final round is declared the winner. It's mindless & raw automobile carnage, but its still a lot of fun to see cars running into each other at high speeds in a semi-controlled environment.
Cars lined up at the start of the first heat at the Weber County Fair.
A car smashes into the back of a station wagon. Most drivers try to ram with the back side of their car to prevent damage to the engine, but the red car decided not to use this tactic and crushed his front-end.
It's not uncommon to get splattered with dirt, mud, or car parts if you sit in the first couple of rows at the derby.
Sometimes cars are hit so hard they end up stuck on the side of the arena and can't get down to hit anyone else so they are deemed "out".
Trucks & Suburbans are lined up to start the final heat at the Cache Valley Demolition Derby.
A three-vehicle pileup at the truck & suburban derby.
It was hard to catch some of the bigger crashes on video because you never knew where to look since so many things were going on at once, but this one is a good shot of three trucks teaming up on someone in the middle.
With all the destruction that happens to the cars, fires are also a common occurrence at a derby.
I hope we see you all at the next derby!
We are headed to the Mexican Riviera on the Carnival Splendor cruise ship. We'll spend two "fun days" at sea, then visit Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas the next three days, and then another "fun day" at sea on our way back to port.
We'll be sailing over the week of our anniversary, which is right before I start work in Nevada. We've heard nothing but excellent reviews from our friends about cruises, so we are excited for our first cruise and first anniversary.
This is a Christmas count-down that my cousin Robin gave us for our wedding. When I was growing up we always did a Christmas countdown by adding cotton balls to Santa's beard, so I thought this was a fun tradition that we will be able to add to our Christmas decorations. While we had fun doing it together this year, I think it will be more fun for us later on when we have kids.
The glass block in the back was a gift from our close friend Allison last year for Christmas. X was excited to incorporate it into our decorations this year, along with a miniature Nativity set that we got from my mom. In this picture you'll also note our two Betta fish - this is the last picture of either of them alive.
And this is our miniature Christmas tree - Charlie Brown style. We actually inherited a full-size, artificial tree from my mom when she upgraded her tree, but it was too big for our apartment in its full size. So we just took off the top-most part of the tree and used that for our whole tree. It works just fine. We had a hard time choosing which ornaments to put on the tree (can you find the Christmas Pickle on our tree?) since we have so many - I grew up giving/receiving ornaments with my cousins every year - but I thought it all looked nice for the size of tree we had.
Cars lined up at the start of the first heat at the Weber County Fair.
A car smashes into the back of a station wagon. Most drivers try to ram with the back side of their car to prevent damage to the engine, but the red car decided not to use this tactic and crushed his front-end.
It's not uncommon to get splattered with dirt, mud, or car parts if you sit in the first couple of rows at the derby.
Sometimes cars are hit so hard they end up stuck on the side of the arena and can't get down to hit anyone else so they are deemed "out".
A three-vehicle pileup at the truck & suburban derby.
With all the destruction that happens to the cars, fires are also a common occurrence at a derby.
This is what happens when you throw your phone repeatedly on the ground and run over it with your car.
If you have ever had a problem with your cell phone, I highly recommend the cell phone revenge therapy. It is DEEPLY satisfying!
When we weren't in the water, we spent our time building sand castles, flying kites, and throwing frisbees.
My brother Landon, X, and I spent one afternoon building this sand castle. We built our own walls, moat, and even added a gravel drawbridge out front!
