Wonderful Christmas!

We had a great Christmas! It was a white, white, white Christmas and we were warm and happy and enjoyed our little family.

Because of the snow, none of the family was able to make it to our house for Eva's famous turkey. And, yes, it WAS as good as last year. (Spiced Brine for the win!!!) So we enjoyed turkey, rolls, pear/ginger cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and peas all by ourselves. I hear some of our family had a meal of roasted beets and pumpkin soup, while others had stuffing. I think we got the better deal.

We were all spoiled and enjoyed wearing new robes, playing Rock Band 2 together and watching Quinn and Kallen shoot each other with their new laser tag rifles among many other awesome Christmas moments.

Happy Holiday to everyone!! Click here for more pictures.

Some Christmas pics

We had a nice icy snow this weekend (no school on Monday, Dec 15) and the boys made some snowmen.  I took pictures of their creations and some other cool stuff (our tree and Quinn's holiday program at school) and loaded them up to smugmug.  Check them out!

 

Cool pictures from the company party

Eva and I had a great time at my group's company party last Saturday (Dec 6).  I posted some pictures on my facebook account:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=647934808&ref=profile

 

Thanks to the Perry's for watching the boys!  :)

Cool and funky music game

Weird, but fun.  Check it out.

 

http://www.playauditorium.com/

Pictures of Thanksgiving

Surprise!  I actually loaded up a bunch of pictures on Jeff and Jill's smugmug site.  We had a wonderful time, and the food was awesome!

Check 'em out!   Can't wait for Christmas dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is the day.  Eva hasn't been sleeping well for the past few nights because she is all worked up about getting things ready.  She does this every time, but it ALWAYS comes out wonderfully!  (I am always so proud of her).  Today we are splitting main dish with Prime Rib (cooked by Eva) and some wonderful vegetarian dishes from Jeff and Jill.  Everyone is contributing something, I can't wait to chow down!  We will have a full house, and I will post pictures when I get them.  Here is the expected roll call:

Noel

Eva

Quinn

Kallen

Jeff

Jill

Clara

Emmett

Mom

Layne

GiGi

Emily

Linda (Emily's mom)

Kadi Davis (family friend - schoolmate of Ryan's at Seattle U)

Friend of Kadi

-WOWEE!  Should be awesome!  :)

Home Repair the Redneck Way

Neither one of us is very handy when it comes to home repair...here is our attempt to reattach the linoleum to the subfloor outside our tub.  Lots of adhesive, masking tape, lysol wipes (to wipe up the mass of extra adhesive) and books to hold the linoleum down.  Keep your fingers crossed... (note: the large yellow text book on the left is a home repair book...at least we are using it).

Mayk shur you can spel

So you aren't like this guy.  (FUNNY!)

 

Can he be stopped?

Well, my fantasy football teams have come back down to earth.  I am 3 - 4 in one league, 6 - 1 in another (in 1st place) but have dropped to 4 - 3 in my league with Ryan.  Ryan, however, is 7 - 0!!!  He is dominant!  2nd place is a group of teams at 5 - 2.  There is still a lot of season left, but Ryan is definitely the one to beat.  It's only a few weeks left until he comes home, too!  Sweet!

Pictures for GG

Here are some pictures for GGs frame.  Enjoy, everyone!

Parties and Pumpkins

We had a family gathering today!  Mom, Layne, Gigi, Jeff, Jill, Clara and Emmett all came down to watch Kal's flag football game.  It was their first loss (although it was close) so none of them are invited back (ha ha).  Then they all came over for some yummy Fry-bread tacos and birthday cheesecake for Layne's birthday.  MmmMmmmmmMm.  After the festivities, we went to a pumpkin patch to pick up some orange for the holidays.  Yay!

Jill and Emmett on the couch

Clara giving grampa a nice poke in the face

Quinn the ghost and Kallen the pumpkin

Quinn the pumpkin ninja

Getting ready for a hayride

Oh, and our neighbors gave Kasey a new bone

Sometimes it just takes luck

I had a fantastic fantasy football week.  All 3 of my teams were near the top score in their leagues.  Ryan's team, however, was not near the top, YET he still wins.  Wow.  Maybe it is the good karma from his new team logo:

Ya.  I think that is it.

Football and hair

Kallen played an awesome game last weekend.  It was two undefeated teams, playing in the storm of the century. :) It was a very close game, and Kallen's team ended up winning by only a couple of points.  Here are some great pictures of Kallen making an end-around run in to the end zone for one of their touchdowns:

The handoff

Around the left side (the turquoise team is the opponent)

And leaping in to the end zone

And to prove that it was a rainy day, here is a pic of Quinn on the sideline (after playing catch with his friends)

...that was Saturday.  On Sunday, Eva decided to have some fun with her hair.  She walked to the local stylist (Janet's Shear Genius) and got some fun blonde streaks.  Super cute!!!

Ryan is still winning

Update on Fantasy Football:  I have lost one, but am 3 - 1

Ryan is the only team left that is 4 - 0

I don't play him until week 8, when 3 of my players are on a bye...  That will be a gooooood game.  :):)

Speaking of undefeated, Kallen's flag football team is undefeated, and Kallen has run for 2 touchdowns.  Pretty cool.

Random thoughts

One of my friends is a part-time writer.  He was just published in a short-story collection called 'Ransom: the anthology'.  I read his story before he submitted it, and it is pretty good!  I just got the book in the mail yesterday, and can't wait to read it!

My favorite Facebook game is called Packrat.  If you have a Facebook account, try out this game and let me know you are playing it so I can give you cards!

 

I have been in touch with an old friend from Orem, Paul Diamond, through Facebook.  He is serving in Afghanistan and it is great to hear from him.  He may even come to Ft Lewis on his trip home in Feb, and we can have dinner!

Isn't this just UNCOMFORTABLE?  (See 50 seconds in to it...)  This isn't a political statement, just an 'ouch'...

Pokemon

Quinn and Kallen play a lot of Pokemon.  I play the Pokemon DS game, but they also play the card game and Wii version.  I thought I would show you their favorite Pokemon (just to have something to post):

Kal's favorite

and Quinn's favorite

I don't have a favorite.  No, really.  :)

A good fantasy football week

Well, Ryan and I play fantasy football.  We are on our 8th year, and we have each won at least one season, and are usually pretty competitive.  This year is no exception.  We are both 2-0 this far, and are looking good.  Here is Ryan's team from week 2 (Iraq West):

And here is my team (An Adventurer Is Me):

Next year, Matt and Jeff should join us, and I still don't know why dad (John) doesn't play, I know he is a football fan.  Maybe we can get mom and Layne to play, too!  LOL.

A little catch up

Well, I agree with mom. I need to be a 'better' blogger. Not that the quality of posts are going to get better (that would be asking too much) but just more often. Fingers crossed, eh?

Well a few more days of school left for me this quarter. I teach at City University of Seattle and had two courses (one online, and one in class). I just have a few more papers to grade before I have a few weeks rest before next quarter. :)

Grading papers is tough. Some students can write well, and others... well here is an example of one MBA student paper (cut and pasted directly):

"I think with these recommendations that I have suggested to the Adam ‘s Company, a Sole Proprietorship, I will call or write to the company for their actions taking against these limitations such as; lack of education, poor supervision, stealing is rampant, needs other professional skills and lack of system networking for the business. "

What? Any way, this student was a great guy from Africa, and tried hard, but just didn't have the English skills for writing a good paper. And then when I gave him a low grade on this paper, he told me I need to be more lenient with my grading. Hmmm...

---

Kallen is playing flag football. Here is a great picture of him taking a snap:

As you can probably guess, the kid behind him is ready for a hand off. Any way, Kallen generally plays running back or defense. He doesn't have big enough hands to throw the ball well, but he sure tries hard and it has been gorgeous weather for him to play in. Quinn isn't playing any sports right now (and I will be darned if I call this a sport) but we play a lot of catch on the sidelines and he thinks he wants to try flag football next year

so we will see.

Labor Day Sale on MSN Games

I know I haven't posted for a while, but I want to make sure to let you all know we are having another sale.  Enjoy!  :)

 

Between now and Sept 1^st visitors to MSN Games can purchase all full version download titles at 50% off!  Enter the discount code LABORDAY08 during checkout to get 50% off of your favorite PC Download games from MSN Games!

We all do work so very hard, so during this long weekend, relax, play and have fun (and save some coin)!

http://zone.msn.com/en/general/article/labordaygames.htm?intgid=hp_sblip_1_zone

Pics of Zoo and Cousins

While Matt and Karen were hanging out in Hawaii, their kids were staying with Mom in Seattle.  Eva and the boys went up to visit the Woodland Park Zoo with them during the week and took some GREAT pictures!  She loaded them up to Jeff and Jill's smugmug page.

Quinn Bday pics

I know, I know, late.  But better late than never?  :)

Quinn and his buddies at the softball park

On a scavenger hunt

 

Yay! Presents!

Playing Sharks and Minnows

Fun with the family

Matt and Karen and the kids were in town and came over to our house for some BBQ and fun!  We all enjoyed awesome burgers and played some Guitar Hero to pass the time!  Here are some great pics:

Matt and Ella

Gavin eating lunch

Karen hanging out

Matt rocking out!!!

Jeff's turn with the axe

Clara and uncle Noel

Kallen showing his chops

Emmitt telling GG what is going on