Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Rhyming 101

Has anyone else who serves in Primary been bothered by the song "Tell me the stories of Jesus"? I remember loving it when I was a kid, but then, I only knew the first verse. Now we are learning the 2nd and 3rd verses. Tell me please - when did the words 'kind' and 'wind' start to rhyme? Every time we sing:

And how the Master, ready and kind,
Chided the billows and hushed the wind.

I have to cringe. Sure, it looks nice on paper, but just because they are spelled similarly doesn't mean they sound the same! I don't even know what phonics would tell you. I just know that it sounds horrible. And it's the last line of the song, so it leaves you feeling unsettled. I almost can't sing it; it bothers me that much. But of course I've had it in my head all week, so I change the pronunciation so that it does rhyme, but makes no sense..."And hushed the whined." Our kids will know alternate versions to the primary songs!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Already 5 months

Hattie turned 5 months old today! And just as I was getting out the camera to document how old she's getting, she rolled over for the first time unassisted! Of course I tried to capture it on camera, but failed desperately. She sure looked cute, so I included it anyway! She successfully rolled over 4 times though.






Other progress...she has started to fall asleep by herself...no pacifiers at night anymore! So we are feeling pretty good. We also just moved her bed from the family room into the bathroom. Yes, that's right, the bathroom. We only have one bedroom, so she's been sleeping in the front room for the past for months because I can't sleep with her in the room with us. When she napped, I put her down on our bed so that I could do stuff in the kitchen and such. But now that she's rolling over, sleeping on the bed is not so safe. But we don't want her to be in the front room to sleep because then we are sequestered to our bedroom at 8:00 at night (as well as during nap time). So, gratefully we have a large closet in our bathroom that is just big enough for her crib. What will she think when she's 16 and we tell her that for the first year of her life she slept in the family room/kitchen, and then upgraded to the bathroom??

Sunday, February 24, 2008

A dream come true, perhaps

Today at church the bishopric announced that the stake is selling a piano for $100! I immediately ignored Hattie's squirming and listened up. They don't know what condition it is in, or even what kind it is, but anyone interested could give their name to the bishop, and their name would be entered into a drawing for the lucky winner (who still has to pay the dough). So we are crossing our fingers VERY tightly in hopes that we win. I just hope everyone else forgot about it by the time church was over so that the pool will be really small. Wish us luck!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

SnowFest Report

I think this video captures the essence of SnowFest...doing dumb stuff in the snow...and this was even before we got to Preston! Here's the link if you can't see YouTube.



I can't believe Christina starts walking AWAY from the cement when she gets up! Too funny. We had a great time, apart from Hattie not sleeping very well, but that's expected when traveling I have found. We had a good time snowmobiling, but I gave up quickly since I kept getting stuck and of course needed help digging out my machine while breathing in way too much exhaust. Sledding was probably the highlight...making strange formations of flying V's and pyramids as we sled down Uncle Kurt's ultimate sledding hill. We were surprised there were no broken bones and trips to the emergency room. And of course, just spending time talking and playing games as usual. Paul and I are sad that this will probably be our last SnowFest for a few years :(

One evening we stayed up late for another SnowFest tradition of "Whatcha Got Chocolate Ice Cream". Everyone brings an 'oblation' - any sort of chocolate they have lying around the house - and we melt it all together and make homemade chocolate ice cream. Some years definitely turn out better than other years, you can imagine. Last year, I think we mixed Butterfingers and Milky Ways....NOT very good. But this year, it wasn't too bad. We had M&M's, hot fudge, cinnamon, and Hershey's. It was a little less creative - probably why it was more successful! I doubt Dreyer's will be adding it to their menu, but it was at least edible.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Enjoy the long weekend

We certainly will...we are leaving tonight at 10:30 (yes, that's p.m.) to drive up to Preston, Idaho for the Iverson Family SnowFest. Hattie will meet her great-grandparents and many second cousins and many of her dad's cousins. But it'll be a real vacation, full of skiing, snowmobiling, sledding, board games, and the like. Both of Paul's parents are flying out for the event, which is a rarity since traveling with Daniel is difficult, so we are glad to be spoiled by them bringing him along. So happy President's Day to everyone!

Wait...I almost forgot Valentine's Day. Since we are leaving tonight for Preston, our Valentine's day will be pretty calm...I must say that leftovers are awesome - it's clean-out-the-fridge-before-vacation night at our house! How romantic...we'll be sure to light some candles.

Here are some highlights of our outing on Tuesday...we will miss skiing in Utah!

Am I really ready to live in FLAT Lubbock?

Probably not.




Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Dancing Queen



So Hattie LOVES bath time...we thought we'd share some of her cuteness.

On another note, we went skiing yesterday! We got some discount passes, so that we could justify paying an arm and a leg for daycare. But it was well worth it. The snow was great, nice sunny weather, alone time with Paul, and Hattie was a perfect angel for the sitters. Now I want to go again! I figure I should get my fill before the pending move to Texas, eh?

Monday, February 11, 2008

And the winner is...Texas Tech??

Is anything ever certain in life? It seems that people never want you to feel at ease and prepared, so we are in a perpetual state of uncertainty. We were informed via email that Paul is on the alternate list for Southwestern, our #1 choice. So, their class is currently full, but any of those kids could still withdraw and choose to go to superior schools like Harvard or something, thus creating a vacancy for Southwestern. Only 8 students "matched" into Southwestern on match day last week.

Here's one of my favorite lines from the email:

"What should you expect? You can expect an email from us in late February with updates about our alternate list. We will do our utmost to make the message as specific as possible knowing it will never be as specific as you would like."

At least they are honest. That last sentence kind of sums it up. Should I even get my hopes up? Probably not.

Grrr.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

What once was lost now is found

Here's one of the highlights of the week:

On Wednesday, Josiah informed us that his car had been stolen. (Josiah is our neighbor...he and his wife Robyn live upstairs and they manage the storage units with us.) Yup, right off BYU campus in broad daylight, his car turned up missing...well, actually, one block south of campus. He called the University Police and filled a report, and, dejected, road the bus back to Spanish Fork. I must admit I was a bit skeptical...who would steal their old Camry with an oil leak, broken rear view mirror, and a car seat holder in the back seat? Why not an Audi, or at least a car few years newer? But he assured us that he parked next to the greenhouse, and that it was gone.

I felt horrible all night, imagining what it would be like without a car...no emergency trips to the grocery store, no way to pick Paul up from the bus, having to bum rides off of everybody. And I also thought of how violated they must feel - knowing that some punk was cruising around in their car. It just made me sad and angry.

I dropped both Paul and Josiah off at the bus station in the morning. He was going to call his insurance company and see exactly what coverage they had. The police also told him that this kind of thing happens a lot - some guy needs to get to the other side of town, so they take a car and it winds up abandoned in a parking lot later in the month. In the meantime, his mom was going to take him to the rental car agency in the afternoon.

So around 5:00, I was going to pick Paul up from school to go climbing. I was a few minutes early, so I thought I'd zig zag up the streets south of campus, just in case. I figured it was a nice gesture. I turned off my regular route onto 7th North, and, looking off onto the first street on the right, I saw a red car that somewhat resembled their car. Upon further inspection, I discovered it was indeed the "stolen" car. Trying not to laugh too hard and amazed that I found it only seconds after beginning my search, I called Robyn, and then Paul. Paul of course couldn't stop laughing at Josiah, thinking that he'll never live down the time when their car was stolen.

Moral of the story: Next time your car turns up missing, make sure that it really is before you call the police.


And here's a great clip that a friend had on her blog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjrDs_DaocA

Saturday, February 2, 2008

On Marrying a Dame

So, inspired by Melanie's "On becoming an Iverson" and knowingly risking the reader's exposure to just how weird I really am, I share the following:

Since getting married...

1. I have learned to ski - I know that many of our readers don't know this but my skiing prowess is impressive. My skill progression followed something along the lines of these pictures.

Day 1: The "snow plow"


Day 2: "Parallel"


Day 3: Minuscule 250 ft. cliffs while doing back flips...I am awesome!


As you can clearly see from the pictures, my skiing is improving. I may be exaggerating but the jury is still out on that.


2. My inner child has been unleashed - I don't know where or when it happened, but I lost my adult self. I don't know what happened to him. One day he just up and left.

So, since I have lost my adult self, I have no recourse but to allow my inner child free reign on my personality. One word...Scary! To give you a glimpse, I believe that a good representation of my inner child is something like this guy...


I don't know what that means. I can't even whistle!

And they're going to let me be a doctor?


3. I have become a board game fanatic! Melanie introduced me to the wonderful world of foreign-made games with Settlers of Catan. She didn't realize what she had done. I am now a member of the BoardGameGeek community and, although she sometimes rolls her eyes, Melanie has been pulled in as well. We have almost had to contemplate working boardgames into our budget.

My current game collection is composed of the following:

Settlers of Catan
Cities and Knights
Munchkin
Mille Bornes
Killer Bunnies
War of the Ring
The Pillars of the Earth
The Farming Game
Imperial
Citadels
Space Dealer
A Game of Thrones
Alhambra
Bang!
San Juan
Puerto Rico
Goa

Many of these games we have received as gifts and the rest we have purchased. Believe it or not, we actually do play all of them. Next on the wish list: Shogun and Twilight Imperium.


4.

This is a Finger-Jointed Cruiser!


Friday, February 1, 2008

And the winner is...



Texas Tech! So it's off to Lubbock, an hour and half from the New Mexico border. I'm thrilled just knowing where we'll live, and Paul really loved the city when he visited it, saying it was a great place for families. I'm starting my search of the best places to live and fun things to do. We'll be just 5 1/2 hours from Dallas, so it'll be an easy trip home for the holidays. Living in Lubbock seems less intimidating than Dallas and the Metroplex, so my small-town roots will be happy.

Go Red Raiders!