Grandma Time!

Grandma Frost came to visit last weekend, and she always has fun ideas and games for her grandchildren. After we woke up and had breakfast, she made a huge tent in the living room where they could play with cars and read books.



We had to keep Dane from jumping onto the top of the tent, but he got the hang of it after a while. Grandma also read him the book she got him for Christmas.

Then we went shopping at Super China Market and joined Meghan, Lauren, and Molly for a yummy lunch.
The next day, we planned to meet them all at the park, so Dane, who loves shoes, got all suited up.

But he found he wasn't as mobile as he'd like to be in Mommy's yellow rain boots, so we switched to something more manageable and joined everyone at Gardner Village. After Dane figured out that the stale bread wasn't for him, he did a great job throwing it to the ducks.


Then on to the park!
Dane swung in the swings,

Rode on the pony,

Climbed on the car,

Jumped off the car,

Went through the tunnel,

Snuggled with Mommy,

And snuggled with Aunt Meghan and Cousin Molly.

We also noticed this little typo as we drove into the park.

Oops.
It was a grand day out, finished off with a yummy Asian dinner and German Chocolate cake. We're glad Grandma came to visit; we miss her already!

* * * * * * * *

In other news, Joel and I recently finished watching the HBO miniseries of John Adams, based on the book by David McCullough.

It is fantastic. We definitely recommend it to everyone. It is an in-depth, singular look at the founding of our country and the key players who made it all happen. I gained greater respect for all of the founding fathers, especially John Adams, who often seems to be overshadowed by other, more charismatic men. Plus, seeing his relationship with his wife, Abigail, was a touching reminder of the importance of good relationships and the depth of human love. I have not read the book, but I have started it. Again, we highly recommend it.
On a lighter note, I have a crush on Thomas Jefferson.

Heeheehee!
I had a friend who told me that he and his wife have a Celebrity Clause in their No-crushes-on-other-people-after-you're-married contract because, hey, there's no chance. Joel has never gone for that clause. So I'd like to propose a Founding Fathers Clause, although it may be more aptly named the Thomas Jefferson Clause because I think every girl who has ever learned about the founding fathers since kindergarten chooses Jefferson for her affections.
All in favor of the Founding Fathers Clause?

Valentines, Presidents, Etc.

First, here's a list of the lucky winners of my giveaway!

Lizzy
Joanna
Stacey
Koni
Laurie Jayne

I pretty much have no idea what I'll make for you, so I'm open to ideas. If there's something I've made in the past that you're interested in, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just have to resort to brainstorming with people who may come up with crazy ideas (i.e., Joel). Something crafty? Something yummy? Something sewy? We'll see!

Next up, Valentine's Day. We had a fun day. Someone had given Joel these coupons for free Chick-fil-A breakfast sandwiches, so we went and enjoyed those. Then they messed up our order so we ended up with a free extra sandwich! Triple free! Dane had a fun time playing in the play place, although he was too small for much of it. I took a few pictures with my phone, but I don't know how to upload them yet so we'll have to wait.
Then I went to a baby shower for my good friend Mirjam. It was fun to see her and worth the drive to Payson. When I came home, Joel had completed several little fixit projects around the house. Now our bedroom door closes all the way! And doesn't make a loud sticking sound! And the medicine cabinet is silent and close with magnets! And now I have a place to put my brush and the toothpaste where Dane can't get to it! They were all little changes but have made life much more enjoyable. Then it was time for presents. Things were pretty low-key in the present department. One thing I got for Joel was these little chocolate biscuits:

For those of you who don't know, "kancho" means "enema" in Japanese. These little treats are from Hong Kong and have nothing to do with enemas, but it made us laugh.
Then Joel fulfilled my wildest Valentine's dream by getting me something even better than what I wanted: A Dustbuster!

I originally wanted a Kone just because they look cool, but we found out that they don't really serve their function of dustbusting very well. So Joel researched good hand vacs and came up with this one. It reminds me of an elephant and makes me smile. The little nozzle part pivots up and down to help you reach on top of tall shelves or under couches. It even pivots all they way down so it sits compactly in its charger. I am very happy with it.
Then we went to the capitol of romance: Chuck-A-Rama. Since Joel and I tied on our DMV test scores, we kept trying other methods of determining a winner. Bananagrams, Street Fighter, etc. We seriously kept tying. Then we figured out that we both wanted to go to Chuck-A-Rama. The fates knew our true desires before even we did. I thought maybe the restaurant wouldn't be too crowded since most people don't go to a buffet for a romantic evening, but I was wrong. It was really crowded. But we had a good time even though Dane was pretty restless from all the noise.

P.S. He was extra sensitive to the noise because he got tympanostomy tubes put in the day before. He was a great little trooper and did well in surgery, and I didn't freak out too much. It all went down at Primary Children's Medical Center, so we felt like we were in good hands. Hopefully this will prevent him from getting more ear infections and also help him hear better so maybe he'll start talking. A couple of nights since the surgery, he has awakened in the middle of the night with a terrified sounding wail. He just sounds so sad. I am wondering if he is having bad dreams about the surgery. But I just go in and rock him for a few minutes until he points to his crib to tell me he's ready to go back. He is a brave, sweet boy.

Anyway, then on to President's Day. We spent most of the day doing some cleaning and what not but finished up by going bowling, getting overpriced pizza, and enjoying delectable Maggie Moo's. Let's just say that it's a good thing we didn't use bowling as our contest to see who would choose our Valentine's restaurant. For our first game, Joel scored 104, I scored 72, and Dane scored 76. That's right. Dane used the little track so he can push the ball down onto the lane, and he still beat me. At first, Dane did everything he could to run away from us so he could chase the ball down the lane. He even got about five feet in and Joel had to chase him (they didn't slip and fall). But eventually he entertained himself by hugging and "bonking" the balls sitting in an unused ball return. Anyway, I am a terrible bowler. For the second game, Joel scored 101 and I scored 74. At least we're consistent. I am way better at Wii Bowling.

To round things off, we played a few arcade games so Dane could push some buttons. We played the Deal or No Deal game, where you had a chance to win 200 tickets, and I won four. Yes, I am one of those people you think is a total idiot for recklessly deciding No Deal. But I won enough tickets from the various games to appropriately celebrate Presidents' Day by cashing in my tickets for an oversized, plastic penny, which Dane promptly chewed on. Then I sang my presidents song where I list all the U.S. Presidents in order, except that I learned it in elementary school, so it ends with "Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, now George Bu-ush!" Then Joel recited what he could remember of the Gettysburg Address. Chief Executives, we salute you.

Giveaway!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may create you a blog header or paint something for you with my food. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

DMV

Joel and I woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning to go to the DMV and get our Utah drivers licenses. Apparently, Utah has no grace period for people who moved from out of state, and we have been driving illegally for a while now. I suppose we probably had some leeway while we were students, but I have not truly lived in Oklahoma for 8 years now; Joel hasn't lived in Arizona for 10. LAWBREAKERS! Luckily, neither of us have ever been pulled over since we've been committing this crime, so we were never caught. So we don't break too many laws. Only the ones that require standing in line at the DMV to abide them.
Anyway, since we had to take a written test on driving rules, we made a little wager that whoever got the higher score would choose where we went to eat on Valentine's day. We had Dane with us, so we took turns taking the test. Joel went first, and the man who processed the test results informed me of the score to beat, and Joel filled him in on our wager. Meanwhile, I took the test (which was open book, by the way) amidst conflicting feelings of wanting to beat Joel and not wanting to make him late for work.

We tied.

The DMV man shook his head and laughed. Then it became obvious that he had shared our story with several other workers because a woman told me she was disappointed in me for not beating Joel. And we don't even get our licenses yet; we just get these lame temporary paper ones until the real one comes in two to six weeks. How lame is that? In Oklahoma, they give it to you right then and there.
But the point is, we need another wager to determine who will choose our Valentine's restaurant. Suggestions are appreciated.

Here are a few pictures of Dane enraptured by a balloon: