Happy birthday, Parker!

Since I was a child, I’ve wanted a train or marble set that let me build cool tracks and just watch the train or marble go. (I once had a marble clock and that was the closest thing I ever got to having one.)

On Saturday, Corey showed me the Magnetix iCoaster and I so want one! I told him I wanted it for Christmas since there’s really nothing else I want that’s within our price range. (My preferred gift is a white MacBook; but like I said, within our price range. ) You can build pre-designed tracks or your own tracks and you can even hook it up to your iPod so the marbles roll/bounce/jump to a beat. How awesome is that!

Happy birthday, Karen and Noah!

I finished reading the Red Prophet.  It’s the second book in The Tales of Alvin Maker series. I enjoyed this book just as much as I enjoyed the Seventh Son. It continues the story of Alvin Miller Jr. and his quest against the Unmaker.

Alvin grows up a lot in this book, even though he’s only eleven by the time the story ends. He learns to use his “knacks” to the greatest potential he can at this age. Although, I’m sure we’ll see much more of his abilities in the sequels and he’ll keep surpassing his expectations of what he can do.

The first part of the book takes place during the same time frame as the Seventh Son. However, most of it deals with characters that didn’t interact with Alvin or his family in the Seventh Son until the middle to end of the book. One scene is the exact same, but from another character’s point of view, which I really enjoyed because it added more depth to the story.

It’s a great sequel and is just as intriguing as the Seventh Son. I can’t really say much more about the book. Otherwise, I’ll give it away and that’d be doing you an injustice. Just know, I highly recommend this series and I can’t wait until I finish the other four books.

My rating:

Happy birthday, Dad!

I’m not much of a football fan or follower. In fact, I really don’t like sports that much at all, but I thought I’d write about the BYU/U of U game since my co-workers and I have been guessing the scores for each of the BYU games during this season. I must say I’ve been doing really well, which is quite surprising since I normally take the average of everyone’s scores because I know nothing about football.

However, this week, I lost my chance at some points and I went from second to third place! Whenever BYU and U of U play each other, I always guess that the score will be 31/34 because two or three of their games have turned out with that score. This season both teams had won the past seven games, BYU being 8/2 and U of U being 8/3. One of my co-workers told me that U of U had won against better teams, so I went with the U. (I think he tricked me, so he could take second since we were tied.) My dad got a pretty good birthday present today since BYU won the rivalry game. The score was 17/10.

Other than the game, we had a fun day yesterday because our friends’ son, Jack, came over to visit. Ali and Tyler had tickets to the game and at the last minute found out they needed a ticket for Jack if they were going to take him. They asked us if we’d watch him. Of course! When would we ever turn down time to spend with Jack?

While Jack was over at our house, we read stories, played with blocks, played with the kitties, watched some of the Pixar shorts (his favorite was Knick Knack), and talked up a storm. For example, while I was reading Hansel and Gretel to Jack, he said the funniest thing. We got to the part where Gretel pushes the witch into the oven and Jack noticed that the door was closed in the picture. He pointed to the door and said, “that’s a safety violation.” It’s amazing what a three year old will say.

There were two other things of note that Jack said yesterday that made me laugh and realize why I love him so much. First, after he ate lunch, he wanted to wash his hands and his face. We went upstairs to the bathroom. Our bathroom has two sinks, whereas, his doesn’t. As we walked in, he held his hands out in surprise and said, “which sink will I use to wash my hands and my face?”

Finally, it was time for Jack to take a nap. Corey asked him if he was ready for one and his reply was, “but I’m still awake!” He said this with a stern look on his face and his hands on his waist.

Happy belated birthday, Beck!

Last year, Corey and I started the tradition of spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with only ourselves and we thoroughly enjoyed it. No hectic family drama to endure; just a nice, relaxing day of whatever we want.

We were planning on doing the same thing for Thanksgiving this year, but our friends invited us over to their place for Thanksgiving. We’d never pass up an opportunity to spend time with Ali, Tyler, and the kids, so we went over to their house.

The dinner was awesome! Ali did a wonderful job on the turkey, dressing, yams, mashed potatoes, and green beans. (I’m sure she also did a great job on the homemade cranberry sauce and gravy, but I don’t like cranberry sauce or gravy.) Normally, I hate yams, but I absolutely loved hers! I think I had three helpings because they were so good! Corey and I were in charge of rolls and pies. Our rolls were just store bought, so they didn’t even compare to Ali’s wonderful dinner!

Corey made a pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust, which ended up being really good. I hate regular pie crust because it always burns around the edge of the pie, so I was willing to try something new. He also made a fantastic blackberry pie.

We spent the entire day with them. Jack was so excited to hang out with us. We played with his cool garbage truck and his awesome Geo Trax train set. When I finished building the track, he told me, “Aunt Jenni, you’re such a wonderful, good girl.” (The above picture was actually taken at our house; we were having too much fun and we forgot to take a picture of Jack!)

Sheridan’s a tank! She sees something she wants and nothing can get in her way. In fact, what she wanted in this picture was Corey’s cell phone. That’s why she pulled herself up to see him. She crawls so well, pulling herself up on things, and even kneeling. She also loves to dance and can stand for about 10 – 15 seconds on her own. She ate mashed potatoes for the first time, which she liked. And, she ate pumpkin pie for the first time, which she loved!

After the kids went to bed, the adults talked and played a couple games of Hoopla. Hoopla’s a watered-down version of Cranium. It’s a lot of fun and it’s only supposed to take about 20 minutes to play. We ended up playing two rounds in about an hour and a half!

One of the categories is Tongue-Tied. You describe the clue using words that start with the same letter. You can choose the letter, but once you choose it, all other descriptions must use that letter. Corey got the clue, Transylvania. These are the words he used, “Vi vant vo vrink vour vlood!” Can you say cheater?

Another one of the categories is called Tweener. You describe the clue with the following pattern, “It’s larger than a ____, but smaller than a ____.” For example, if you had the clue handcuffs, you might say, “It’s larger than a bracelet, but smaller than a jail.” Well, my clue was the Great Barrier Reef. This was one of my descriptions: “It’s larger than an anemone, but smaller than some really large water plant.” Wait! What? Say that again! Yeah, so I had a really hard time coming up with something, but Tyler still got it.

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with the Vigues. I honestly don’t think we could’ve had a better day.

Thanksgiving’s one of my favorite holidays and not just because of all the yummy food. I love that there’s a day set aside for us to be thankful. Too bad Thanksgiving isn’t a day that’s celebrated more than once a year and too bad it’s often overshadowed by Christmas.

I’m thankful for:

1. My Savior, Jesus Christ
2. My husband and kitties
3. My family and friends
4. My education
5. My talents and abilities
6. My freedoms
7. My possessions (e.g. home, car, books)
8. My job, even though I hate it sometimes
9. Organizations that help families in need
10. The Earth

What are you thankful for?

Happy birthday, Meagan!

I’m not one for politics. In fact, I usually avoid them like the plague because I don’t like the conflict that ensues from discussing differences in opinion about the needs of the citizens of the United States. However, I really like this ad for Ron Paul in USA Today because it expresses the reasons why I support him for president.

Happy birthday, Honey!

Today’s Corey’s birthday. Most of you know, Corey doesn’t like a big deal being made about it. I got him a birthday card and gave it to him last night just to tell him I loved him and I was thinking about him. Then, I told him I’d make his favorite dish for dinner and the rest was up to him.

He enjoyed the card, which I was thrilled about. Today, he decided he wanted to see Beowulf and just eat at the mall. (I’ll make his favorite dish tomorrow or Sunday. )

He really enjoyed Beowulf, whereas, I’m still uncertain about it. Most of the reason I’m uncertain about it is because I didn’t understand it very well. Maybe if I see it again, I’ll like it more.