Sorry!

January 29, 2012
Pearl is really into games lately. She loves all the classics. Candy Land. Chutes and Ladders. Trouble. Memory. Cooties. And of course, Sorry! And she usually wins every single time.

Swap party

January 28, 2012
Each January, my friend Libbey has a swap party.

Here's the rules. Each guest brings up to 10 items to swap. Anything goes... household stuff, books, clothing, toys, jewelry, purses, shoes, anything. Each guest then gets 10 stickers to put on items you want. If more than one person puts a sticker on the same thing, names are drawn for the winner. Once you've won something, you can't win again until everyone has had a chance to win.

Everyone leaves happy because you have a chance to de-junk your own house, but go "shopping" for free stuff! I took Pearl to the swap party last year and she had so much fun that I took her again. It's good bargaining power because she has to bring at least one thing she doesn't want/play with anymore in order to come. We "shop" together and she usually leaves with more loot than me. This year she came home with some animal-shaped paper plates, bracelets, two books, and this canopy thing you put over your bed. I scored this amazing pink knee-length coat and a necklace.

I sure hope Libbey doesn't care if I steal her idea and do a summer swap party! Maybe by then we will have cleaned out our storage room.

4 of our favorite people

January 27, 2012
We got a visit from 4 of our favorite people today! My cousin Bryan, his hilarious and sassy wife Chandi, and their two pipsqueaks, Andlie (3 years old) and Haze (7 months) were up for the weekend for a couple of job interviews. They live in Cedar City so we don't see them as much as we want, but it's pathetic that it's been TWO years since our get-together! Especially because we love hanging out with them!

When we were first married, Bryan was going to USU and living with my Grandparents for a year before his mission. Since I worked nights, Bry-guy became Jeff's basketball buddy. Little did Bryan know, dinner and basketball games would eventually turn into "moving buddy." More specifically, moving my 1-ton cedar chest moving buddy. Bryan has NEVER let me forget THAT move. Phfff... so what if the stairs were tiny and narrow? think it pert-near killed him... until he mentioned tonight he wanted to do a weigh-off between my cedar chest and Chandi's. Ha!

Bryan has always the "cool" cousin. Everybody loved being with him! Chandi is so hilarious!!! I love her. Andlie is so well-behaved, I couldn't believe it! We didn't have a single fight between her and Pearl. And oh my gads, and they have the cutest baby Haze ever, with his chunky thighs and chubby cheeks! I couldn't get enough of him!

We ordered pizza, made cupcakes for Kimmy's 24th birthday (sheesh when did my sister get so old?), and just hung out. It was so much fun and I was really sad to see them leave. So if anyone out there has any spare prayers you need to use up, pray Bryan gets a job offer and moves closer to us!

Aggie beanie

January 26, 2012
Seeing as how Cole has yet to remove this beanie today, it seemed only fitting that we take him to the basketball game tonight.

I'm serious. The kid put his "haa haa" (think long a sound here) on first thing this morning and wore it all day.

He did amazing at the game! I was bracing myself to not watch any of the action because I figured he'd be running up and down the stairs, whining, and bored. But Cole has more of his Dad in him than I want to admit. He happily munched away popcorn and stared wide-eyed at the basketball court for all but the last five minutes or so of the game. And had it not been for the little girl behind us who gave him a sucker and thought it hilarious that Cole copied everything she did, I think he would have made it the entire game on our laps.

I'm resigned to the fact that we're going to be getting three season tickets next year or I'll never get to go to a game again.

Late night

January 25, 2012
It was a very long day at work today. Too long. I barely got the kids from daycare before they start charging you $1 a minute per kid. In cash.

Too many meetings. Too many "emergency fires" to put out - thank you 2012 Legislative Session. Too many things to get done and not enough time to do it.

And I'm only supposed to be part-time. Apparently not this week.

Something has got to give. It doesn't seem to matter that I have my calendar blocked off from 3:30 on, somehow I always get pulled into a meeting, get a call from a reporter who needs data yesterday, or someone drops by needing help. I really need help learning how to say "no" which also includes leaving when I'm supposed to.

Otherwise my family might not ever eat a homemade meal again.

State of the Union

January 24, 2012
I did my part tonight as an American and watched Pres. Barack Obama give the State of the Union address.

My family (and sadly, the majority of Utahns) think I'm some crazy left-winged liberal. I assure you I'm not. Is it so crazy to want policies and funding to actually support education, public health, and social services? And to feel that government is a good thing, both at the federal and state levels? I mean, who doesn't want clean water, health insurance, public schools, roads to drive on, military defenses, National Parks, abuse and addiction help, medical research, and on and on and on.

But, I will say this. I can't stand the Tea Party. I can't stand most of Utah's ultra-conservative views. I can't stand the legislative session going on right now in our state... for many reasons. And I absolutely can not stand people who bash our President. I don't care what political views you have, what political party you may or may not support, no American citizen should EVER disrespect the office of the President of the United States. I may not agree with everything our President does, but I sure will respect the position and power that comes with it.

Now Congress, that's a whole other ball game!

All about me

January 23, 2012
Tonight's FHE was about writing your own history with journals. I'm seriously loving the A Year of FHE blog! We've been simplifying the lesson plans way down but they still work great! Pearl had some interesting ideas about what a journal is and what you should do with it. I think she just wanted to get down to business and start coloring, cutting, and taping. I showed her some of my "journals" (blog and photo books) then let her make her own "journal" using the All About Me book download. I even found a couple spare Christmas cards that she used to cut out a family picture of us. The books were filled with all kinds of interesting facts and favorites. I'm sure someday we'll get a kick out of reading them.