Just Like a Rainy Night in Portland

I have the best friends in the whole wide world. A few days, ago I got an invitation to accompany my friends Justin and Thomas to the Jazz/Blazers game at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City!

"I thought you guys were taking dates! You know? Girls?"
"Tom doesn't want the pressure of finding a girl by then..."
(Laughing) "Are you kidding me?"
"You want to go?"
"Are you kiddin' me? Course I do!"

They also invited good ol' cousin Travis. In case you didn't know, Travis and I look a little bit alike. Or at least we have been told we have the "Teuscher Gene".

Anyways, before I left I was making some Mexican food (chicken carnitas!) and it started to flash outside....1....2.....3....4....5....6...7....BOOM! Thunder and Lightning baby, THAT is how you know the Blazers are in town. They bring the rain from the sunny Pacific Northwest. And low and behold....a few minutes later....it started to rain....

We left, and they stopped at taco bell to get some food. Lucky for me I had already eaten. We drove for awhile until we got into Salt Lake and we looked around for some parking. Lucky for us we finally found a spot. Props to Thomas for driving in the rain and slick and into the heart of the dragon's nest that is Salt Lake City. Driving there is brutal. We got into the arena and looked for our seats. We had the best seats in the house! Row 22 of the upper bowl! We went to the very top and it only went to row 21. We looked above that and there were some folding chairs that made up row 22! Very top row! It was the best because we could stand and chant and cheer without getting in people's way! Here are some pictures from a very good game, that Portland won, of course.

Portland > Jazz. <-- Maybe some of you can understand that simple equation?

After the game we all got Deron Williams T-shirts from the Jazz store (they were only 3$ because he got traded, so we got it more to thank the Jazz for trading their best player than anything! It helped us win for sure!) Portland was up the entire game. It didn't even seem like a contest. We weren't even being that obnoxious as away supporters, and there were definitely other Portland fans in the barren arena. Man the Jazz fans aren't good at all! We had to live through an entire era of being terrible, one minute they are bad for a little bit and nobody goes to the Jazz games. Seriously like half the arena was empty, we could have sat courtside and nobody would have known the wiser. But we had the best seats ever.

Near the end of the game Thomas started clapping really loudly for quite awhile when one of the Jazz players was taking a free throw. There were these menacing looking people next to us and this younger adult guy just turns to him and cusses him out! He said something like, "you can cheer all you want, but you're still --cuss---- annoying!" or something along those lines. I wanted to just turn to him in the quietest voice and say, "congratulations, you have a wonderful vocabulary..". But I didn't. Justin made it a point to cheer even more obnoxiously after that point. Thomas would make all these hilarious remarks to me like, "You can probably tell, but the Jazz are just playing for a higher purpose than anyone else it seems like." "The Jazz just think they are so elevated." "Gordan Hayward was reported as being the best draft pick since Michael Jordan." "It's a good thing the Jazz are in the playoffs this year. Maybe the Blazers can come back in the post season.." (Of course, the Jazz aren't in the playoffs...but we are!)

Anways, it was a blazt. And I'm not just typing it like that because the first 4 letters are the same as in the word "Blazers". At halftime Thomas and I had to go to the bathroom and there was this restaurant at the top of the arena that we found was close to our seats. There was a pretty good view and we took some pictures in the hallway.

Justin had the apparel of the night though, sporting an Arvydas Sabonis jersey. That man is a legend in Portland, and Justin is the only person I know who has his jersey. He made some friends in the arena for sure for wearing that.

Here are some pictures of the night:

Thomas and I tried to do some jumping pictures...

I got it the first time.

He got it the second time...

 Third time's the charm!

Tom's "Arch-nemesis".

Look on the bright side Jazz fan's...at least if there is going to be anyone to fill your arena, Josh Groban can! Hahaha!! The Jazz certainly can't! 

Summer Days

Remember this?? Over the last three days it has been glorious outside. Unfortunately, I woke up early this morning to a bit of a shock surprise...

Remember this? A few days ago?

Aah, it's Utah. What can I expect? 

I had a really great day yesterday! Conference is always as exciting as ever, and it is even better when your friend Justin invites you over to get some AMAZING banana pancakes. Honestly, they were so good I probably had about eight good sized pancakes. Justin, you are the man. We watched the first session of conference. Ian, Justin's friend from Brazil kept dozing off/trying to put his feet up on Justin. I for one thought it was funny. After the session we went over to Noodles and I got some Wisconsin Macaroni and Cheese with Meatballs and a Ciabatta roll. I was so stuffed. Then I went with my sister to TJ Max and got a new pair of Jeans for $70 off and a new tie that is pink. We came back to Justin's for the second session as well and some old friends came over. Blaine Garner from back home and his wife Jessica popped in, along with good old cousin Travis. Good old Travis. Haha. We had some laughs and some funny moments, including us all trying to get Justin to drink a tiny amount of fish tank water. He said if we got up to $4.50 he would have done it, but Travis was being too much of a cheapskate and wouldn't cough up any money. He said he would give only give a dollar if Justin drank 2 cups...which wasn't going to happen. After conference I went to the priesthood session in Salt Lake with Brenton, Collin, and Wade. I had a blast going. Hearing from Uchtdorf, Eyring, Anderson, and the Prophet was so great. Lots of their talks really spoke to me. Later last night I went over to Tiana's, we got some blizzards, and I collapsed and fell asleep on her couch with a pillow over my face while they watched the Mary Tyler Moore show. Random, I know.

This is my friend Justin. He is the bezt.

I am sooo excited for this summer. I have never before been as excited for a Summer to start than this one. There are so many things that I am looking forward to.

SUMMER ASPIRATIONS/TRADITIONS
By: Carson Teuscher

- Being around my family and enjoying their company
- Spending time with my friends - Tripper, Justin, Braydon, Travis, Jeff Garbarinho, everyone!
- Learning Portuguese with Justin, he said he'll teach me everything he knows
- Reading the Scriptures and praying in Portuguese
- Going to my home ward and seeing everyone
- Early morning soccer games and pancrack breakfasts
- Playing soccer at Nautilus until the sun goes down
- Shooting hoops in my front yard
- Having so many pets to play with
- Going to Multinomah falls
- The fair
- Going to the beach!!! I miss the Oregon coast so much. Its been oh so long.
- Playing Pool at Tripper's house, and catching up on old times
- Going to a Seattle Sounder's/Mariners game
- Otter pops on hot days
- 7/11 Slurpies with the metal straws
- Bike rides in the sun
- Maybe seeing the Portland Timbers live!!
- The garage sales on our street
- Learning more about Brasil
- CYCLONE WATER SLIDE!! Gemma and Chloe, you better watch out..
- Badminton - a summer staple around the Teuscher home
- Lack of mosquitoes? Did Vancouver pony up enough money to actually spray Government Island this year?? I am praying so.
- Taking a temple prep class/getting my Endowments taken out
- TRIP GETTING HIS MISSION CALL <-- SAY WHAT???!?
- Seeing my Nana (Please come and stay with us!)
- Building an awesome treehouse for our backyard.
- Swimming
- Working in the yard and spitting out sunflower seeds
- Cleaning the skylights
- Powerwashing (These are all fun summer jobs for me)
- Being able to drive again!
- No homework or papers to write! Booya!
- Playing my Dad and Gitta in H-O-R-S-E
- Hearing Gemma tell me about her latest video game endeavors
- Watching movies on our projector
- Falling asleep on the couch on Sunday afternoons
- Making lots and lots of food with my new cooking skills!
- Hearing Cappy's collar jingle whenever you call him and he come's running
- Eating fruit outside on our back porch
- Green grass and water balloons
- Trip and I pulling pranks on Brigitta like scaring her with an accordion when she comes out of her room
- Fushigi <-- haha just kidding
- Going camping with my Dad and the young men
- Seeing the Hartups and having little parties with them
- Drawing on my desk
- Having my own room
- Waking up early and playing xbox with Gemma who woke up even earlier to play because she is the bomb.
- Making little movies of me trying to throw a basketball in our hoop from the street and Gemma always missing it and filming the time when you miss completely
- Justin's Mom being so hospitable whenever we come over at 6:30 AM for pancakes
- Planning an awesome vacation back to Brazil in 2014 with my Dad for the world cup (I'm hoping!)
- Tripper's parents - they are so nice whenever I come over
- Seeing Maverick and Sawyer, Trip's niece and nephew who are adorable (UNCLE TWIPPER UNCLE TWIPPER!!)
- Giving Maverick one of my silly bands and seeing his face light up
- Drinking ice cold water after being outside in the sun
- Having a refridgerator that has the ability to dispel ice cold water
- Waking up Gitta from a nap and hearing her grumble, "Whharhht...sisi did I...wherhhhfg??" and telling her to go to bed and seeing her stand up, fold her arms, walk into the next room, and collapse on that couch
- Lazy evenings after eating one of Dad's meals where nobody wants to do anything but lay on Mom and Dad's bed and watch an old TV show
- My Dad's SALMON! mmmmmmmmhmmmm..
- 4th of July fireworks and pyrotechnic shows by Carson and Tripper
- My Mom's, Dad's, and Gemma's birthday
- My birthday and getting everything for my mission
- Golf on Green Mountain even though I am not good
- Going to the driving range
- Seeing old friends from the soccer glory days
- Going to Mountain View with Tripper and pushing the goals close together and trying to score on each other in the hot sun
- Playing Tripper's original Xbox and hearing him try to tell me about how his level 14 mage can actually fly because the magic he has is so intense it makes him float above the ground. Me just nodding and saying, "That's nice."
- Playing FIFA!
- Watching the Blazers in the playoffs
- The Hartups Cajachina Barbeque (I know I spelled that wrong)
- Not being white as snow!
- Throwing a baseball in the culdesac or kicking a soccer ball off Trip's retaining wall and potentially hitting his house several times
- Playing the garage door game Gemma and I invented (No going in the square! You can only his this door!)
- Me having a bookshelf and books to read at leisure
- Watching my favorite old shows like Combat! early when nobody else is up
- Playing court soccer with Trip in a room like this at the Vancouver Tennis Center, just with a huge tennis ball the size of a soccer ball and only using feet, no raquets.

(Any more suggestions?)

I honestly could probably go all day. I am just so excited for things to do this Summer. It is the summer before my mission, I gotta live it up the best that I can! So snow go away and bring on the sun!!

I Have The Worst Luck!!

Well, I was walking down some stairs and fell really bad today.Long story short I had my friend drive me to the medical center and my left patella is broken. Why do I always get all the worst luck?! Can someone explain this to me? I can't walk to go take my Book of Mormon test, and now I have to apply to get a wheelchair. I have been having the most stressful week of my life. Stupid stupid law library stairs...







































































































April Fools.

My Mission Call

I am hereby called to serve in the Brazil Ribeirao Preto mission. It is anticipated that I will serve for a period of 24 months. I will report to the Brazil Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, August 17th, 2011. I Will prepare to preach the gospel in the Portuguese language. My assignment may be modified to the needs of the mission president. 

Wow. Brazil?! I can't believe it. Honestly, I knew that everyone I know from Washington has been called there so far this year, but I never saw myself going there. The more I think about it and read up on this little place near Sao Paolo (I don't know how to do the cool accent marks yet - Portuguese is not something I have an inkling about) the more I feel like this is perfect for me. According to Wikipedia, its the California of Brazil. I'll let you guys read up on it yourselves. 

But I had my call in my backpack all day, just pondering where I was going. This made it impossible for me to focus on things like schoolwork, but thats just a little side effect. I am so excited that I have my mission call. I am so excited to serve the lord. I took my mission call with my sister up to the Provo Temple and opened it up there, and it was perfect. The people who guessed correctly were my Nana, and Gemma. I can't remember if anyone else guessed Brazil.

This is when my call came...

Took it up to the temple around 7:30 PM my time. 

 You don't get a letter signed by good old Tom Monson every day. 

The Perfect Backdrop to a perfect day. 

Rebeirao Preto, Brazil

My mission president and his wife.

\

Overall, I am extremely excited. Unfortunately, schoolwork beckons!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHhh.

Whoopsie Daisy

Darn. Sometimes you look at your planner one day and say, "This is good...this week won't be too bad..."






Then you look at it again and realize...."Darn. What was I thinking? These things are going to take a lot more work than I originally thought..." and your week is devoured by school work.





Yeah. That just happened.

Happy Sunday

This morning was really stunning outside! The sun was shining again after two or three days of overcast gloomy weather. Unfortunately it didn't stay for too long, but I got  to make a nice phone call home in the sunshine before elders quorum choir and what not. And low and behold, I've been REALLY homesick today!! The sunny weather makes me think of the brief span that it is sunny in Washington. Because when it is, it is soo nice! I was looking through my cell phone pictures from the beginning of the year and was remembering how unbearable hot it was outside all the time here in Provo, and really missing that as well. The scenery and sky was unbeatable earlier in the year. It would be nice to have that little river/pond back again! Some good news though: The ducks are returning. 

This is this morning here outside my dorm. I went behind that building straight ahead called the "central building" and went on those benches to call my family. It was nice, Gemma answered and was just getting ready for church. Brigitta call me!

 In other news, I got some new scripture markers that I was so desperately needing. I got 5 colors and splurged, what the heck I'm gonna need them for the years to come haha. These look EXACTLY like highliters on paper, but feel like crayon so they don't bleed through my scriptures. I love how bright and vivid they are. They make the words pop off the page. 

I started going through the pictures I had taken on my cell phone again that I had recently uploaded on my computer. This is arguable the BEST one I have taken from the rooftop of the JFSB.

Lately we had a lot of rainy weather. I found this picture that made me smile because I was caught in shorts one day when a flash rain started up suddenly and everyone was bolting for shelter because of the intensity of it! I personally didn't exactly make it out safely. 

Once my sister and I went to Olive Garden after seeing Despicable Me. There was this Russian guy behind me with the perfect accent like Gru in the movie, and his hands were creeping on me. The hair on these things were amazing! See for yourself! 

Sometimes when I got to the Taco Bell in the student center I like to pretend I am somebody that I really am not. So far I have been "Hans Solo" (she didn't know it was just 'Han'), Chewbacca, Colonel Mustard, and Luke Skywalker. 

This is my friend Karsten. Pretty much the coolest kid ever. Too bad he is moving down to Utah right when I am moving back up to Vancouver!? What are the odds! Smiths! I urge you to reconsider your move until I leave on my mission, then conveniently move back in two-three years :)

Sometimes people do funny things to the statues around campus...

Once I found out that somebody had stolen my car from my garage. I soon found it later on and now my baby is back with me safe and sound. The guy had put it on display in Brigham Square! Of all places?!?! The audacity...of course I am going to find it there...

VENNE MY BAY BOOCHAY

So I'm sure that everyone has flashbulb memories sometimes when a song comes up of a time in your youth where the exact place and time of where you were and what you were doing will come into your mind. Well, that just happened to me when a song by Paul Simon came on called You Can Call Me Al. From nowhere suddenly the memory of me being upstairs in my bedroom of our old house in 105th Court, came into my mind. Downstairs the 2000 Athens Olympics are playing on our old TV and swimming is going on, and my parents are watching it. It is a glorious sunny day outside, the trees and grass in our backyard is green. Our trampoline above all that ivy is beckoning to me. I was 7 or 8 years old at this point in my life. And I just remember this song playing for no apparent reason, I think it must have been from a tape player, and loving the chorus where he says, "If you'd be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal. If I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me you can calllll meeee Alllll." Except ever since I was little I thought - and this is literally a revelation I just had when I looked up the lyrics to this song - that he always said "If I can call you Daddy, Daddy when you call me you can calllll meeee Allll..." That is quite hilarious how just doing this post can reveal certain things that I would have never known.




A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo-opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Don't want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard
Bonedigger Bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away my well-lit door
Mr. Beerbelly Beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty  <---- I seriously always thought he was saying "Daddy" up until like 5 minutes ago
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al

A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And wo my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family
What if I die here
Who'll be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone Gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al

A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen and Hallelujah!

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al

Another song of such nature is the song "Medicine Man" by Bobby McFerrin. We had this CD that my sister and I would always pop into our living room CD player (man, so many memories of that living room in the old house), and as it would play we would just walk around in circles (I would follow her) and just bob up and down like a bunch of Indian tribals...actually a lot like how he looks on the cover in the video. Listen to the song, and you can probably understand how we being so young just thought it was a hilariously funny sounding song. Probably the part that sticks out in my mind is that we would always shout, "VENNE MY BAY BOOCHAY!!! UHH UHHH!!!" at the beginning because that is what he said. And to this day I can picture us perfectly walking around in circles singing "I am a medicine man....I am a medicine man..." Tiana can attest to this.




Listening to good music from childhood can bring back some great memories. That much I can say with certainty.

WHOA.

Step in front of this shot and the ball will most likely go straight through you. I was astounded when I saw this goal. So much swerve! Dani Alves is the man.

Now This Made Me Happy

My Uncle sent me a link to this video, and it was such a great one. It really cheered me up when I wasn't having the best day. I will always love soccer.