Bed

Finally!!! My bed arrived yesterday...frame, box spring, and mattress...and it all fit down into the basement. My old bed was in such terrible shape. I think it was a 6th generation hand me down. It was almost like sleeping on a tramp. Everything would just slide to the middle.
Last night was my first night on it and I slept so well. It is so comfortable. Everything worked out well.
In response to John's comment on my last mattress post regarding the problems with the satellite company, I got that all resolved and got an extra $40 bucks out of it. It just took 6 months.

Fitness

Thanks for creating the cool fitness challenge working our way to Disney World. That is really cool. Hopefully everyone will continue working out and LOGGING IT!!!! I have started running (which I absolutely hate) but I want to get into better shape. Intramural basketball has also started so I am playing 4 games a week, plus thursday night ball and saturday morning ball. Plus, I have been eating much healthier. I havent lost any weight yet, but I am much healthier.

Happy Birthday Amber

I knew I was in trouble when Amber said she really didn't "need" anything for her birthday and that gifts should not be the focus of the day. That always means extra work (and money) on my end.

Her simple birthday turned into a day off of work and tearing out the sliding doors in our master bathroom along with repainting and some minor redecorating in said room.

The kids were great through this whole ordeal. They woke up and immediately showered Amber with birthday greetings. We worked on the bathroom while the kids were at school. When they came home we had some Ice Cream Pie and then Amber and I finished off the last touches in the bathroom as kids did homework.

We ended the evening by going out to eat as a family. The kids were very well mannered and we had a great time together.

Just to recap Amber's simple birthday gift, I have created this video of me and her throughout the day:


(If you are reading this in email, you can get to the video by clicking HERE.)

Amber and I had a great time working side by side (or rather butt to butt) all day long. It was really a fun way to spend a birthday.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and gifts throughout the day!

A Dinner Creation

Johnathan found a recipe in the January 2008 issue of "The Friend" magazine and asked Amber if he could make it for dinner.

Amber and Johnathan worked together to prepare the creation for our dinner tonight. Not only was it fun for Johnathan to make and exciting for the kids to eat, but it was really pretty darn good. I loved it.

Here is the recipe for those that want to have as much fun as John did:

Cheesy Vegetable Snowman

6 cups cauliflower florets
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 small carrot
8 large black olives

1. Fill a saucepan with water and cook the cauliflower florets for about 6 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain and pour the florets into a 2-quart round baking dish.

2. In another saucepan, melt the butter or margarine and stir in the flour with a wire whisk. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until the mixture is smooth. Bring to a low boil, and then remove from heat. Stir in the cheese, salt, garlic salt, and pepper.

3. Pour the cheese mixture over the cauliflower. Bake uncovered at 350ºF (177ºC) for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

4. Cut off the lower half of the carrot and peel it. Place the carrot in the middle of the cauliflower dish to look like a snowman nose. Use olives for the eyes and mouth. Makes 6 servings.

A Chain of my Own

We all know that Amber is the Queen of making chains. Her love for countdown chains has been carried on by all of our children.

With some insistence of the kids, I came home from school last week to a paper chain hanging from the refrigerator. However, instead of counting down until Easter, someone's birthday, or a family vacation, this chain is for me! It is my countdown until I graduate from USU with my MBA.

Each link of this chain represents one weekend of classes. When I come home from my Saturday class, I rip off a link. That link tells me how many more weekends of class are ahead of me. It also has a family activity written on the paper link that we will do for that day to celebrate.

Last Saturday my link said I have 11 more weekends of school left and our family activity was a game of basketball in the driveway.

The kids all helped to write up the family activities, so they are all excited every time I rip off the link and read the activity for the day.

I am eager to watch my chain creep up the refrigerator door as my final day of class approaches in June!

Finding Hands

Over the past week, Jace has really progressed with his dexterity. His has a lot more control of his hands now. He will grab things quite often - he especially likes noses.

Jace likes to be at the dinner table with us. It is best to give him a spoon to hold on to or else he will start grabbing for your plate and food.

Jace also likes to have a cup put up to his mouth when you are holding him and take a drink. We don't really let him drink out of our cup yet, but he gets a proud look on his face if you just put the cup up to his lips. He figures he is doing something "big".

Workin' up in life

Aylee has sure been growing up lately. It has been fun to see all the things that she is increasingly able to do around the house.

Aylee has been making it a conscious effort to take on more responsibility in the home. In our last Father's Interview, she made some goals for changing Jace's diaper and getting him dressed. She has also been a great help when feeding time comes.

Aylee has been getting even better at babysitting. Amber and I went to the World Wide Leadership training on Saturday and Aylee watched the kids. When we came back, she had all the kids in bed and half of them were asleep already. We walked into a clean house with a box of homemade gifts with notes from all of the kids to me and Amber.

Before we know it, she will be graduating from high school and moving on to more challenging and independent things. I dread that day. I guess I will just have to treasure every day that I have with our oldest girl.

Alayna's "Personal" Video

To watch this video through an email notification, click here.

Amber caught Alayna making her first video. Watch this and then try to figure out what she is doing during her filming. Make sure your volume is up loud!

:-)

Here is the answer written backwords so that you don't accidentally read it: moorhtab eht ot gniog

Cause for Divorce

This was on the Call family Blog and I had to share it.

Call Family

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Cause for Divorce

So my mom, Connie, had a very interesting story for me when I went over to work last night after working all day in Surgery then going to dance. She started with "do you think this is good cause for divorce?" Of course I was quickly frightened! She said that she had gone out in the hall about 11pm on Sunday night to see if the water problem upstairs had been resolved yet or not. When she returned home the door was locked, so she knocked, no answer. She went to the front entry way to call in, no answer. So I asked why she didn't call a friend in the apartments, or even me. She said it was too late and too cold out. I felt really bad. So then I kinda giggled and said well then how long before dad finally heard you and you got in? She looked at me and started laughing so hard that she had to hold onto the dresser to stand. I didn't know what to think. She said she didn't get in until 7am the next morning. I guess that dad went to bed early, she said he never goes to bed that early, and for some reason locked the door thinking he was closing up for the night. She called every hour to try to get him to answer. But the most she got out of him was, "Connie the phone is ringing!" He said he would say that then it would stop, he thought she answered it. He said she is usually in and out so much he just thought she was wandering around, Anways, I guess day usually wakes up about 4-5am, but yesterday he didn't get up till 7am. Finally she heard him making breakfast and knocked on the door. He opened it and I guess they just stared at one another for a second, then he asked "well what are you doing out there so early?" I guess they just both busted up laughing. She said everytime she thought about it, she could only laugh. I personally would've been so very mad. I cannot believe she waited all day to tell me. I had to tease dad about it. He said that once he puts his sleep apnea mask on, he cannot hardly hear anything...worse than without it. I guess its a good thing I know he is being good and actually following doctors orders wearing it. But I still think it is funny. Mom says she will never leave the apartment again without a key around her neck. I think she is a very good sport about the whole thing, and I love hearing her laugh when she talks about it!

Posted by Carina at 1:57 AM 2 comments

Our New church has been broken in to the winters out here

Lynn wanted to get some pictures to send to the PM group, so we went over and Lynn took these.


This was on our way home and it looked so beautiful looking on to the west of us that I unrolled my window and snapped a shot.


MOM

Down South

Lynn and I went for a drive on south past Wards.
These are pictures of the county line sign, & down by the gravel pit.
Mom

Mattress Woes

As some of you know, I purchased a new mattress back in November. It took 6 weeks to get the mattress ready and delivered. They use a moving company to actually deliver the mattress and only come up to Idaho every 2 weeks. The first time that they came was the 22nd of December. So I broke down my bed, took off the bedding and the mattresses and moved them all out. The first problem arose when they couldn't get the box spring into my apartment because I live in a basement. We ended up trying to bring it through the upstairs apartment (which is currently vacant) and then down the stairs into my apartment but the box spring was just a tiny bit too big. I ended up having to refuse the shipment.
After talking to the mattress company, they said they could send a split box spring and it would be here right away. (during my christmas break from school). So I told them to deliver it to me on Jan 14th or as soon after that date. I guess that they misunderstood and didnt ship it until after the 14th. Because they didnt ship it until after the 14th, it missed the 2 week window and I had to wait another 2 weeks. Finally they came last wednesday to deliver the mattress. I took all the bedding off my old bed, took the mattress off, broke down the frame and headboard, moved all the stuff out of the furnace room (most of which is Nae's stuff and I have no idea how it got there) so that they could bring it through the back door. When the delivery guy got to my house he said that he had a mattress set for me, except that it was weird that he only had one box for me. They ended up just having the split box spring and nothing else. They didnt know where the rest of it was. So again, I had to refuse the order, put all the boxes away, put up the bed frame, mattresses and bedding. So now they say it should be here next week. Who knows. Who ever thought that buying a mattress would be so difficult.

Five Year Old Wisdom

During my lunch time break at home today, Aliece astounded me with her insight and wisdom on the Female psyche. She had spilled some stickers and paper on the floor and was busy cleaning it up. I was heading out the door to go back to work when I stopped to offer her some positive reinforcement for picking up the mess that she had created.

I touched her arm and said, "Aliece, you are such a responsible girl!"

To my surprise, Aliece responded, "No, Dad, I'm not responsible -- I'm a woman!"

Next time Amber does something irresponsible, I'll just have to shake my head and say to myself, "She is a woman". :-)

Join the Disneyworld-A-Thon

We all know that the Groundhog is predicting six more weeks of winter. While blizzards and ice-ponds are fun, I would like to challenge everyone to come with me to Walt Disney World in Sunny Florida!

You heard it! You are cordially invited to exercise your way to Lake Buena Vista, Florida on an exercise trek sure to keep you lean and fit!

We are going to make our way from snowy Arbon Valley to the ever-warm Florida theme park.

For every minute you exercise, you'll be traveling down the highway to the distance of one mile. Along the way you'll stop in different cities on the route.

Your current location will be shown on our newly created family workout page.

This fitness challenge has actually already started (Feb 1st) and will continue through the end of April. Just remember to log your workouts on Jake's Family Workout website each day. Then go to our family fitness page to see where you (and everyone else) are currently located.

The list is automatically ordered by the person who is closest to Disney World. This way you can see where you stand compared to everyone else.

Wait! There's more. You can even click on a link next to your current destination to see on a map the route you have taken from Arbon Valley.

Let's help each other skip the snow and enjoy theme park thrills and warm rays of sun before the winter is out!

And the Winners Are....

I wanted to give everyone a little time to enter in their results before I posted the winners of our Nov-Jan Fitness Challenge. Here are the results...

The Cardio Leader: Joe with 1,815 minutes
The Weight Lifting Queen: Amber with 665 minutes
The Biggest Loser: Janae with 4.5% weight loss

Congratulations to our club members:

500 Minute Club:
Shantell - 970 Minutes
Jenny - 810 Minutes
Jacob - 710 Minutes
Janae - 680 Minutes

1000 Minute Club:
Amber - 1,195 Minutes

1500 Minute Club:
Joe - 1,915 Minutes
John - 1,550 Minutes

We'll have to get together to divvy out some fun little awards. Anyone interested in a "2008 Meltdown" fitness challenge?? If so, post your ideas for time periods, measures, etc.

I really enjoyed having this challenge. It really pushed me each week to work out!

Lynn plowed out the yard today.

Feb. 4th
My sweet husband plowed the yard today. He sure keeps busy with that job this winter.
It has been wonderful not having any wind with this last couple of storms that we've had. It has made the now look so beautiful actually sitting on the ground.
We are suppose to receive another storm on Tues. night or Wed.
So I went outside on this beautiful bright sunny day & took some more pictures today.
ENJOY!

Sunday off

I wrote the other blog this morning telling that we didn't have church again.
After that, I read the 3 comments on my last blog. I thought Ok, I'll add a picture.
The only problem is that everything is so white and these cars are the only thing where we can get any kind of contrast of the snow to show how deep it is.
Lynn said we actually have about a foot of new snow. We have gotten about 2 feet out of these 2 last storms.

ANOTHER SUNDAY OFF

Well, they called church off again today.
We just got another 8-10 inches of snow.
No wind however. But Steve L. said they were not running the plows today.
It has been costing them abt. 2,000 a day in gas, besides the fact that they have had 16 hour days for quite a awhile. Lynn went over this morning in the tractor abt. 6:00 am & plowed out the church parking lot.
He said it was so bad then he could hardly see the road and just about went off.
Well, I am sitting back and working on my Hinckley challenge.

Freshman Roomate

Last time we were up in Idaho, Mom found a letter that I had written to them while I was attending college my freshman year.

I took it home to read and found out that it was near the beginning of my second semester. I wrote about my new roommate, Dalan Moss, that I moved in with that semester.



It was kind of fun to read about the first experiences with Dalan. He sure was a great roommate - we had a good time together. Dalan and Heather currently live in Oregon. I follow their blogs and their family website all of the time. It is fun to see their family grow.

On a similar bit of nostalgia, the place where Dalan and I lived is now a demolished heap as of 2007. Deseret Towers: Q-Hall was demolished with the rest of the DT complex to make room for new, updated housing options for BYU Students. I really must be getting old!

Helpful Manufacturer Recipes

Yesterday, Amber and I took the kids to do some of our monthly shopping. Part of our monthly food consumption consists of peanuts.

Well, I guess with this batch of peanuts, the Planter's company also attached a helpful recipe. Amber took a look at the recipe and started laughing. She brought it in to me. We thought this was a pretty good recipe. We were impressed that it came with Oven, Large Batch, and Microwave directions!

A recipe for warm peanuts, wow!

The Power of a Responsibility

It is uncanny how Aliece has this innate ability to sense the day of the week while she is sound asleep.

Aliece is the first child in our family to have a hard time waking up in the morning for school. We can't wait until she is a teenager when getting kids up is ten times worse. You can go and try to wake her up and she will say OK and stand up. You can come back ten minutes later and she is either sound asleep on the floor or sitting next to her clothes in a dazed state.

However you turn the calendar to a Saturday and she beats the rooster up. On Saturdays, Aliece is often up a half an hour to an hour before her normal school-wake-up-time. She is wide awake and ready for the day. It is truly uncanny.

Anyway, not to get off track here, but Amber has intelligently found a way that helps Aliece get up in the morning. Granted, it is not fool proof, but it has helped immensely. No, we don't try to trick her call upstairs, "Come and get your Saturday Cereal and watch cartoons," rather Amber has given her a very important leadership role in the morning school routine.

Aliece is our new designated person for waking up her older siblings for school. Aliece takes this responsibility on religiously - for we all know that Amber's daughters love to be in charge! It is much easier now to get Aliece up out of bed. We simply sit her up on her mattress and say, "Aliece, can you get Aylee and Johnathan up?". Up she goes as she fulfills her task!

I knew I made a smart bet when I married Amber!

Aliece's Teacher in the Paper

Aliece's teacher (the one that Becky Stewart works with) was in the paper yesterday. She has been a teacher for 30 years. She is awesome and we love her - she is perfect for Aliece.

It snowed all day yesterday (Feb. 31st) Nice big flakes all day & we haven't had much wind yet to throw it all over the place. We got about 10" of snow.

I'm not sure if you can see the depth of it, but look in the right hand corner.
I know I am getting carried away with pictures but the weather has been so strange this year.
mom

Eating Healthy or Well?

Aliece came home from school today. Upon asking her what she learned in class, she exclaimed that they learned about eating good food. She ran to her back pack to pull out a poster that they made in class. As she was bringing it over, she explained that they were supposed to cut out things that represented good food.

I responded, "So you learned how to eat healthy things?" Amber responded, "No, I think Aliece was thinking about 'Good' things to eat."

Aliece opened her poster...

Notice her title is indeed, "I like to eat good food".

I wonder what her grade was on the poster?

Meating Miss Stewert

Today I was in the library doing math.
A lady came up to me and said "Do you know who I am?" My response was "no."
She said she was Miss Stewert.
She told me that she and Janae were good friends and she would say hi to Joe and played with Jake.

I was so amazed!

Jace rolles over

Today I was practicing the piano and mom said "who moved Jace onto his back?"(He was on his tummy before.)

We put him on his tummy again. We watched him. He was on his side. He rolled over!!!!!


Go Jace!!! Go Jace!!! Go Jace!!!

Last night we were awaken to a howling wind.
Yes another blizzard.
It was another NASTY ONE.
We had planned on going to town today. OH well, so much for that.
When the blizzard settled down, Lynn opened the south door & there was
patches begging Lynn to come out & play (feed.)

BYU Video of President Hinckley

Amber came across this cool video regarding President Hinckley. It was created by BYU. There are two versions:

Low Resolution

and

High Resolution

The 1000 Minute Club is HOT!

Well, it is official. We now have the hottest 1000 minute club with Amber Andersen joining in today with a total of 1005 minutes!

I also hit a milestone today making a smooth total of 1500 minutes - bumping me into the ultra-elite 1500 Minute Club.

We have two more days of this madness, so get your feet moving and your heart pumping!

Who needs a microphone anyway?

On Sunday, Aliece was supposed to give a talk in Primary. However, when the time came for the Primary to start, the presidency had troubles getting the microphone hooked up to the podium. After a few struggling minutes, the Primary President announced that the meeting would be microphone-less.

The opening prayer and first talk were hardly audible in the large, highly occupied primary room. However, when Aliece got up to speak, she needed no microphone. Her voice carries so well, her talk was very well done and easily heard throughout the room.

After her delightful talk, the primary chorister stood up and said that one thing she and Aliece had in common was that neither one of them needed a microphone.

It has always amazed me how Aliece's voice has been able to carry so easily. Often times she is not being "loud" but you hear her over everyone else. That happens also to be a challenge in our home. Man, I sure wish I had that talent!

Farewell, President Hinckley

Last night I went to my Missionary Correlation meeting about 8:20pm and walking in to the foyer of the church. President Packer's son is one of our ward mission leaders. He was on the phone when I got in there. When he got off, he asked if I had heard the news. I said I had not. He then told me that President Hinckley had passed away the previous hour.

I figured I had inside information on the situation because of Brother Packer's family connections, but while we were speaking, some members of my ward walked by from attending a "New Beginnings" event and asked us if we had heard.

I guess while I was at the meeting, about the same time, Amber's parents called to tell her. I can't believe how fast the news flies.

President Hinckley will definitely be missed by all. We told the kids this morning and then mentioned that he is the only Prophet they have had in their lifetime.

Rice cereal for Jace?

Today (1-27-07) Jace ate cereal!!!!!!!!!!!!
He loved it!(Probably.) :)

Dinner with Jake and Shan

Jake and I almost always have school on Friday nights. With Jake's new job, it has been hard for him to go all the way home to have dinner and then turn back and drive all the way back to UVSC for our class.

Tonight, Amber invited Jake and Shan to just meet at our house for dinner before running off to school. It sure was fun to see Jake and Shan for those few short minutes before our class started. It has actually been a while since we have been with both Jake and Shan together. I hope we repent of that terrible absence and see each other a little more.

Thanks Jake and Shan for putting up with a crazily quick dinner amid five children clamoring for attention at the dinner table. You are great sports!

Where did Jen come from?

I just checked out the family workout stats and saw that Jen has been in the 500 Minute Club for at least a few days now! Way to go Jen!

Time is running out folks! Less than one more week to get those workouts in and those pounds lost!

You've Got Mail!

Yesterday, Aylee helped Alayna make her very own mailbox out of yellow paper. Amber said that Alayna kept checking her personal mailbox all day long for some mail.

This morning, Amber drew a quick little picture and wrote an "I love Alayna" note and put it in her mailbox.

Needless to say, Alayna was pretty darn excited!

Bill Needs to Take Lessons from Me

To see this video in an email message, you will need to click on this link.

The above video was of former President Bill Clinton's nap during a speech given by Martin Luther King Jr's son during the recent holiday.

Not that I think Bill Clinton is a lesser man or disrespectful for falling asleep during the speech - I myself am a terrible offender, even during things that are very important to me.

I think I'll write the man a letter and see if he will pay me some outrageous consulting fees to show him how to sleep incognito during such events. I'll offer courses such as "The Pensive Pose" and "Agreeable Nods". I think I may have just found my niche in society!

Our Dryer Hates Me

I have this thing about washing brand new clothes for the first time. Why is it that you can have a pair of pants, underwear, socks, or a shirt that runs through the wash hundreds of times without any incident. However, when you get a brand new article of clothing, the washing process becomes a dangerous gamble?

I remember several years ago, Amber got me my first real pair of sports/exercise shorts for my Birthday. Up until that time I had never had real exercise shorts - you know the slick mesh types of shorts often seen on tall, skillful basketball players. I had always used old cloth $3.00 kmart shorts that were really for who know's what.

Before I even wore my new shorts, Amber put them in the wash. When they came out, the bottom area of the red, white, and blue shorts were burnt brownish black right over my rear end. I had not even worn the shorts in public, and now they had this embarrassing burnt stain. With my pride hurt a bit, I still wear those burnt shorts to this day.

Well, for Christmas this year, Amber spent 40+ dollars from Lands End catalog and purchased a very nice, wrinkle free, white dress shirt. We had to return it due to incorrect sizing, but this week I finally received my brand new shirt in the mail. Not wanting to wear the shirt with the just-out-of-the-packaging wrinkles and pinholes, we tossed the shirt into the laundry.

When I came home from work, I ran upstairs to put on my newly washed dress shirt for a Church training I was to give. A cry left my lips as I donned the shirt and went to button up the collar.



To my dismay, that rascally dryer had burned the collar of my shirt. Never do we have clothing articles burned in the dryer....in fact the last time the dryer burned anything to my knowledge was my aforementioned sports shorts from four years ago. That dryer has something against me and I don't know what it is!

Aliece with Becky Stewart

I finally got a quick snapshot of Becky Stewart with Aliece. As you recall, Becky is Aliece's new Student Teacher. It was great to see Becky - she sure looks happy and great.

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Wow! I can't believe our baby is now 1 year old! The year has flown by so fast. It's been fun to think back a year ago and what our life was like. . . to think about Labor and our first hours and days with Chloe. She has blessed our lives so much.

We had a fun day. I sang birthday songs to her throughout the day and she seemed to enjoy that. I also tended Holly's baby so Chloe had her little friend over to play and they brought her a gift. At dinner time, we let her feed herself and she really enjoyed making a huge mess, but she was happy. I made some muffins tonight so we stuck a candle in it and sang songs to her and let her blow it out. Dave's practice time paid off and she was able to blow out her own candle 4 times!

Janae came over and brought her a couple of balloons and stayed for a while. Thanks for the calls and the wonderful singing to wish Chloe a Happy Day! We actually even got a call from our Insurance agent to wish her a happy birthday also. Kinda cool I guess.

Dave had school tonight so we thought we would celebrate again maybe this weekend in Arbon with a few more family members.

Happy Birthday Chloe!

P.S. I have a picture to post but I'm getting an error so I'll send it later!

Dalmutti / Scum

Tonight the kids wanted to play a game we learned with the Reed family and played this past weekend. The game is called Dalmutti (aka Scum). It is a fun party game that can have any number of players. I liked it so much that I thought I would record a quick rundown of the game (since I often forget how to play certain games after a month or so).

The Cards
You can take any playing cards or regular cards that can have representations of 1 - 12. For example with playing cards, A would be 1 and K would be 13.

The ideal deck would be one 1's card, two 2's card, three 3's card, etc all the way up to the 13. You could also have 2 wilds (Joker or other Wild card).

Initial Rank
Players draw cards to determine their initial rank, and therefore their seat. Each seat is also designated a creative hat (see our picture with our hats on - in my picture, the cowboy hat was Dalmutti.) Ties are broken by a redraw between the tying players. The person who wins this draw is the Dalmutti and gets the first position. The second-to-winner of the draw sits to the Dalmutti's left. Seating continues clockwise around the table to the loser of the draw who is the Scum of the Earth.


Shuffling and Dealing
The Scum of the Earth shuffles the cards and deals one at a time around the table, starting with the Scum of the Earth. It doesn't matter if some players get more cards than others.

Bonuses
This takes place before the first trick of a hand. The Scum of the Earth gives the Dalmutti his best two cards and the Dalmutti gives the Scum, any two cards. Likewise the second ranked player and the second-to-Scum exchange only one card.

Leading
The Dalmutti leads to the first trick. The winner of one trick leads the next trick. The lead player plays any number of matching cards, such as four 11's.

Continuing a Trick
After the lead, play passes clockwise around the table. To play to a trick a player must play the same number of a lower denomination than the current lowest. For example, if the lead the was four 11's, the next player must play four of any lower denomination or pass. As you might guess, a WILD! card can be used as any other card ranked 1-13. In response to a lead of four 11's, a player could play three 8's and a WILD!. A WILD! card may not be used as either 0 or Infinity.

Passing
If a player cannot or chooses not to play to a trick, she passes. Once a player passes she may resume playing if the trick gets back around to her.

When all players pass in response to a play, the trick is over. The Scum of the Earth then collects the cards played. The player who played last to one trick leads to the next trick. There's no need to keep track of who won which tricks.

Going Out
As soon as a player plays his last card he is out for the current hand. No need to wait and see who wins the trick -- play it and you're out. If a player goes out and ends up being the last person to play to the trick, the first person to that player's left who is still in leads to the next trick. Play for a hand continues until all players are out of cards.

The first person to go out for one hand gets to be the Dalmutti for the next hand. The second person to go out is the second in line next hand, etc. The last person to go out becomes the Scum of the Earth for the next hand. Between hands, everyone moves to their new seating position and wears the hat designated for that seat. The new Scum of the Earth shuffles and deals, and the whole thing starts all over again.

Winter Break 2008

I had a 3 week break between semesters so I decided to make the most of it. I spent 10 days in Arbon snowmobiling, hanging out with John and Amber and their kids, mom and dad, Jen and Dave, Jake and Shan and Nae. We played a lot of Xbox too.
After that, I took a trip to Southern California. Spent time in the sun swimming, reading by the pool. I also drove out to the coast but it was really rainy. I rented an atv and spend a day out in the desert. Desert riding is a lot of fun. It is higher speeds, more exciting and easier than trail riding.
After I got back to Pocatello, we had made plans for a family ski day but Nae was sick earlier in the week and John hurt his back so we opted not to ski at Sundance. The next day I went down with some friends and their family to Park City. We did some skiing in the best snow that I have ever been on. It was perfect skiing snow. I got back on sunday morning and got ready to start school the next day.
I am now fully back in school. I have 2 night classes, one of them is in Idaho Falls. I took advantage of being there yesterday and spent some time with Nae, Jen and Chloe. We had a great time hanging out.
By the way mom, great pictures.

Bathroom Break

As many of you might know, we went up to visit Amber's family for the past four or five days. We often enjoy traveling through the night because the kids sleep, it is peaceful, and there is no traffic. So, on Monday night around 9pm, we said our good-byes to everyone and headed down the road.

As part of our routine, just before the kids load up into the car they are required to go to the bathroom. We followed the routine before leaving.

We needed to get Gas in the van, but there is a cheaper gas station about 15 miles from Liberty Lake on the route home. So, we got everyone in the car and headed for the gas station. We got to the gas station fifteen minutes later. I got out and filled the car up with Gas {I am using capital letters for Gas since it has become so expensive :) }. As I went to get into the van, Alayna cried out that she had to go potty. I was bound and determined to be nice on this trip and not yell, so I used my nice voice in instructing her to hop out - also asking Aylee to go in with her.

After several minutes, they returned and I hopped into the van to go. However, just as Alayna was getting into the van, Aliece said that she had to go. Finally, I commanded (in not such as nice a voice as before) and lectured at the same time instructing everyone else to get out of the car and to go to the bathroom because we weren't going to do this again...and that we just went potty at Grandma and Grandpa's house...and what in the heck are you doing that makes you go potty every 15 minutes...and hurry up because we were supposed to leave 10 minutes ago...etc, etc.

Finally, the bathrooms were visited and used. Kids were shuffled into the car in a huff, and I cranked up the music and drove off toward Utah.

I guess I can't be too angry about it. No one woke up to complain that they had to used the bathroom until our gas stop in Pocatello at 6:00 AM.

25 Bellow

I know this picture looks a lot like the last picture I sent, but it is
different. This is a sunny day, the other was a blizzard.
Same scene, different weather.


Hello everyone,
Just wanted to let you know how things are going here.
Tues. morning we woke up to a whopping 25 BELOW ZERO.
Wow it was cold.
It has always been so interesting to me that after a rip roaring blizzard, the sun would shine brilliantly. That is what happened in this case as well. After the -25, it warmed up, well maybe 15 - 20 degrees but, it was the most beautiful day. The sun shone as if it were 70 degrees.
This morning it was only 18 below.
Yesterday Lynn, Ken Campbell & Stew Adams loaded up their horse trailers with our calves & hauled them off to Blackfoot to a buyer we have been working with there.
The steers averaged 800 lbs. & the heifers 750 lbs. We did pretty good.
The buyer dropped down the price per pound, but you still make more because they weigh more. ?We're HAPPY.
We love you all. MOM

Who moved Jace? Oh, he did.

The other day, we went and checked on Jace. He was under his toy. But he wasn't in the same position he was in when we last saw him. We asked everyone if they moved Jace everyone said nope. Well it just so happend that Jace had moved himself by scooting.

Well, thats all folks!!:-)
Bye!!!!!

Were's the fire?!

What is worse than spam?
Noisy kids? No!!
Crying baby's? No!!
The fire alarm going of seven or eight times at school? Yes!!

At school they had a problem with the fire alarm.
Once we were at P.E. (Phissicle edgucation) and it went of. So we didn't have coats.

Just bewere of broken fire alarms!!

Three Pals

Last night Amber and I played Aylee and Johnathan on our new "Ticket to Ride" board game that Joe gave to us for Christmas.

Aliece, Alayna, and Jace all chilled together to watch Scooby-Dooby-Doo!

Flying Roof

I snapped a picture of Lynn as he came by carrying the roof of the well house.
It had blown off during our west blizzard on Tuesday.
I'm glad that I wasn't out in that storm as it blew by.

Practicing for the Big Day

I walked in the kitchen to see Dave giving Chloe a lesson on blowing out a candle. He said that she needed to be ready for her birthday. She loved the candle but hasn't quite gotten the action of blowing it out yet. Hopefully she will be ready in 8 days! Aaagh!

1,500 Minute Club Member

It is official! Joe is the first member of the 1500 Minute club - ringing in at 1,545 minutes! Way to go Joe.

For the latest stats in our fitness challenge be sure to visit:

Family Fitness Challenge

New Scripture Reader

The holidays kind of threw our family off track with our family scripture reading. Today we started up our reading program once again.

During our scripture reading we have everyone take turns reading. The littler kids just repeat the words as Amber and I read the verse that they are assigned.

This morning, Aliece was able to read her verse on her own with some limited help from Dad on the bigger words. She did remarkably well.

Way to go Aliece!

wind, wind, wind

All last week we had one blizzard after another. I never made it to town once.
Yesterday was finally a beautiful day and I got to town and got some groceries.
Early this morning we woke up to another blizzard. A good old west blizzard.
They called school off here in the valley and the Malad bus was stuck up on Shawn's lane so I guess they had school off also. they have called the marriage class off once again for tonight.
2nd Tuesday in a row. I guess it's more important for us married couples to stay home, snowed in together where neither of us can get away from the other...
There was a break in the wind and I went out and took a picture. Should have taken a picture earlier today.
The break didn't last long, but all is well.

Laying Out Clothes for the Absent Minded

Amber has the kids set out their school clothes when they go to bed at night so that they can quickly get dressed and off to catch the bus.

We all know that Johnathan is a bit absent minded and would easily be thinking about other things while he would be trying to fit his head through his pant leg.

He must be getting old enough to realize his tendency for scaterbrainedness, because last night he set out his clothes exactly as he would be wearing them the next day. Notice the underwear even in the right place. Sure enough, he came downstairs this morning with clothes put on in the correct direction and over the proper body parts. -We're so proud of you Johnathan!

She's Definitely a Girl

As I was sitting at the computer blogging tonight, Chloe was playing in some of our plastic bins that have a bunch of odds and ends. I turned just in time to see her pull out an old black rubber mouse. She held it in her hand for a few seconds and stared at it as the tail bobbed up and down. Then she dropped it and had a horrified look on her face and stood there as if she were frozen. She just stood there, started at it on the floor . . . and winced . . . trying to figure out if she was going to cry or not. I laughed at her . . then reassured her that I understood and that it would be alright.

Awesome Whole Wheat Belgian Waffles

Amber and I purchased a wheat grinder for our food storage. I have been craving whole wheat pancakes and waffles for months. The other day I found this recipe for Whole Wheat Belgian Waffles. They were so good I thought I would share it with you all!

Whole Wheat Belgian Waffles

16 servings

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Add milk, eggs and oil to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
3. Use approximately 1/3 cup of batter per waffle.
4. Bake on waffle iron as per manufacturers instructions.

Sudoku Fun

Last night, Dave and I decided we needed a bit of excitement and started a competition of who could do Sudoku puzzles the fastest. So, we put Chloe to bed and the race was on!

Well, I'm not really competitive, but after the first couple of defeats, I began to get a bit upset. As I demanded we continue this contest, I got more and more upset . . . and Dave got more and more nervous that he would be sleeping out in the snow drift. After about 10 puzzles, we decided we had better get to bed so we could get up this morning. I was totally defeated and it was a sad sad night for me.

So needless to say, Chloe and I have been in our PJ's all day and Dave came home to a saggy diaper, an unkempt wife and no dinner on the table. But I'm ready for him! All I've done is practice Sudoku all day and am ready for a rematch . . . if he agrees to one!

Posing

We've got Chloe trained so when she sees a camera, she will usually smile. She was crying the other day so I decided I would take a picture of her because I didn't think we had too many of her upset or crying. I thought it would be fun to have. So I sat her on the bed and held up the camera. She instantly stopped crying! I took 4 shots in a matter of seconds and by the 4th one she wasn't quite smiling but was on the road there. I thought it was pretty funny.

Preparing for the Big Day

Tonight Johnathan had a Stake Baptism Fireside since he will be turning 8 years old this year. He has been pretty excited about this upcoming milestone and the fireside. Amber and I took him (with Jace in tow) to the fireside. He was able to answer a lot of the questions that the speakers put out to the kids. Johnathan has been trying to prepare by reading the Book of Mormon before his baptism. He is already in Alma and moving along quite well.

I can't believe that this is coming up so quickly. It seems like just a few months ago we were baptizing Aylee.

Pillow Fight?

A couple of days ago Aliece and I had a pillow fight. Too bad her small pillows were no match for the bean bag I threw at her! (lol...just kidding).

This is really a picture of the way that Amber and I found Aliece one night. She buried herself under this big bean bag that she stored in her room. The only two things poking out from under the humongous pillow was this arm and a bit of her foot! It is amazing that she could still breath!

It's a Small World After All

Every Thursday morning John works from home for several hours while I (Amber)volunteer at the kids' school. I play the piano for the school choir, then spend 1/2 hour to an hour in each of their classrooms. I love going in, not only because I get to see the kids in their school environment, but it also gives me a chance to get acquainted with their class mates and teachers. Two days ago I went into Aliece's classroom after choir. I was busy helping her teacher and noticed that their was a young, college-aged girl observing us. She had a sweet smile and a familiar looking face. It wasn't until the teacher introduced us, that I realized that I do know her. Aliece's student teacher is Arbon's own Becky Stewart!

Don't eat the Marshmellows!

Today I was cleaning the kitchen and Alayna came walking by a previously opened bag of marshmallows. Amber had let her have some as a treat a few hours earlier and we hadn't put them away.

I asked Alayna not to eat them and to put the bag away.

In a big grown up voice, she said, "Yes, Dad, we can't eat the marshmellows. Too many of them will make us sick!"

I agreed with a, "you are right" comment which then kept her going.

She continued as she carried the bag to the pantry, "Yes, if we eat too many, we will get sick, and Die!"

Computer Geek?

Chloe has found that she really enjoys the computer this week and it's been difficult to keep her off of it. She loves to sit in the chair up to the computer and push the buttons. Thanks to Jake's "My Kid Browser", we can let her on without worrying about what she may do to our computer.

We took a video of her at the computer that we want to show but it's pretty dark and a bit lengthy. So grab your popcorn and kick back and enjoy . . . .ok . .it's not really that long :)

Oh yeah . . . she's also in her skibbies. She has discovered that she thoroughly enjoys being naked, so everytime we try to change her diaper or clothes, she runs off and just enjoys running around the house. When we finally catch her, we practically have to hold her down to dress the very unhappy girl.

Sledding!

Thanks Aylee for your blog with the summaries of the number of posts for 2007. That was pretty sad and I am trying to be more motivated to do more this year. I'll see if I can beat last years posts in just one month!

Well, today has been a fun day of relaxation and fun. We went sledding (and invited Nae also), did some good reading, played Sudoku, played on the computer, went to lunch and we also have a movie to watch tonight!

We decided to take advantage of all the wonderful snow we have . . .we have quite a lot and it's been fun to have it stay for a month. I've included a couple pics of our sledding fun today. Chloe seemed to really enjoy it, however, it took a while to warm her up afterward. It was a pretty cold day but we were all plenty warm after hiking up the hill a few times :) . . . especially whoever had to carry Chloe!

New Year's Resolution!

Since the holidays we are trying to get back in the habit (or into the habit) of eating a little better. So we have decided that at least two nights a week we will just have a (no sugar added) fruit smoothie and maybe a vegetable on the side. Chloe has been very excited about the smoothies too, she loves cold treats. This was the first week that we tried it and I think it went well. We love the smoothies, but usually have them more as a desert after dinner or a late night treat.

Also this week Jen was very good about planning a menu for the other days and we had some very delicious and healthy meals all week long.

I started getting a little scared when I got on the scales at mom and dad's and found out that I was a bout 8 lbs away from my post mission weight (the most that I've ever weighed). Thanks to Nae we now have our own scales and can monitor ourselves better.

Once there was a Snowman

This morning we woke up to about three or four inches of snow. By the end of the day we had about six new inches of snow blanketing our neighborhood.

Amber and Alayna took advantage of the snow and the absence of the older kids by tumbling in the snow and making a Snowman. They decorated it all nice and fancy.

Alayna says the snowman has "hugging arms".

When I drove home for lunch, I was greeted by Mr. Snowman. It was a fun sight to see.

MY MAN and my treadmill

Hello family,
When I so loudly bragged the other day that I was starting the ex cerise club, I started my treadmill and it wasn't working. I was so frustrated.
But this afternoon, my dear, sweet, HUNK OF A MAN fixed my treadmill. He put in a new fuse & it fixed the problem.
I don't know what I would do without his wonderful fix-it hands. He has blessed our lives so many times with them. No to mention the money it has saved.
So sometime today I can start walking.
We woke up to 6 new inches of snow this morning & of course the wind really blew and we had a blizzard again.
Oh, I realized that the other day I made a comment on Aylee's blog.
The one where she tells us---"How many blog posts for 2007". I hope everyone will read my comment.
I should have blogged it.
I always start out great in Jan. on writing posts and then I cool off & don't write any for a long time. Help me do better.
mom

Welcome to the 500 Club - Amber Andersen!

Today's hour long exercise regime brought Amber into the 500 Minute club with a cool 540 Minutes.

She joins the following members:

Joseph with 1445 total minutes
john with 1050 total minutes
shano with 735 total minutes
and03016 with 680 total minutes
jacob with 620 total minutes

Keep it up everyone!

Aylee Learns Raquetball

Today for our date, Aylee and I went to the Fitness Center raquetball courts. I gave Aylee a lesson on the basic rules of raquetball. She spent most of the time working on her serve. At the end of the practice, we played a short game and I won her 15-0. Hmm...I am not heartless, she asked for it :-).

After that we went swimming for about 15 minutes in the pool. We worked on floating on our backs a bit.

Go Aylee!!!

John Enters the 1000 Minute Club

Today's exercising events brought me up into the 1000 Minute Club. WooHoo! Now, Joe is not the only one in that club. However, he is about to move on and graduate to the 1500 Minute Club.

Can I get to the 1500 Minute Club before the end of the month???? We'll see.

Can't wait to see everyone else's totals. The end is nigh!!!

Is this Your Church Music Director?

To see the video through an email message you will need to click on the video link: Here

Can you imagine this as your Church's music director? Aliece really was getting into leading the music tonight in FHE.

I was going to mute all the background noise, but Amber got a kick out of us singing "Love is Spoken Here" with the crying and noise of the family.

FHE Lesson Brings Kids to Tears

For our Family Home Evening Lesson tonight, Amber presented a moving lesson that brought all of the kids (except for Alayna) to tears.

She started the lesson with a compassionate explanation of Orphans and their poor lot in life. She asked the kids how they would feel if they did not know their Mom and Dad. She continued teaching them the type of compassion and service we should render them. The kids were all riveted in agreement.

Amber continued her lesson by talking about how our Stake President would be heading to Morocco to perform some humanitarian dental services in a couple of months.

Now that she had the kids' attention, she revealed to the kids that our Stake President was gathering gently used stuffed animals to take with him to give to the orphan children during his interim of service. She asked each one of the kids to find a stuffed animal that they would be willing to donate to the cause.

The children went upstairs to scavenge all of the stuffed animals laying around our house. By the time they came back downstairs they were all weeping and wailing at the thought of parting with even ONE of their beloved teddies.

Amber's lesson ended with a heartfelt testimony from the matriarch and loud, wet weeping from her offspring. Not quite the reaction she had planned on.

In the end, the kids have a few days to decide which (if any) of their stuffed animals will go to comfort an orphan in need on the other side of the world.

Our Aching Backs

Following Mom's advice about writing about ourselves...

This week both Amber and I (along with Aliece) have been sick. It has mostly been cold-like symptoms where your body aches and your muscles just don't work right.

A few days ago, Amber and I were moving somethings in the garage to clean it up again and to get ready to spruce up our food storage. Well, wouldn't you know it, we both hurt our backs in the process. Every time either one of us bends over or turns we gasp as we lose our breath temporarily.

I need to get my back feeling better so that I can go skiing with Joe and Janae on Thursday!

Hopefully as these colds go away, our back muscles will return to their proper place and elasticity!

I, choose to remain anonymous.
But I will be starting tomorrow on the "family exercise program".
I am including a picture of myself. I will only be able to start out very small as it has been a long time since I have exercised.
Be careful however because I could sneak up on you pretty quickly.
I will reveal my face when I have transformed myself into the body in which I desire.
You will never guess my identity.
HAPPY EXERCISING!

How many blog posts for the year 2007

John Sr. posted 180 blogs. Dave posted 2 blogs.
Wow! Awesome!
Joann posted 30 blogs. Aylee posted 5 blogs.
Sweet! On fire!
Lynn posted 6 blogs.
Nice!
Jacob posed 12 blogs.
Fantastic!
Joe posted 4 blogs.
Perfect!
Jen posted 12 blogs.
Fabulous!
Janae posted 4 blogs.
Holly cow!

The 43,800 Hour Kit

For the last little while Amber has been begging me to work with her on updating our 72-hour kit. It didn't seem like a long time ago since we last did the kits, so, since I have had school, I have kept putting her off.

However, with my Christmas break from school, and also with a disaster experience from my friends, the Moss family (see: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, & Aftermath blog entries from moss-grove.blogspot.com) I relented and we worked on our food storage this week.

Well, when we dove into the dusty old suit cases that contained our disaster supplies, we found some very interesting things. First of all, where I thought we had recently updated our kits, I realized that time flies faster that I expected. Everything in the kit had expiration dates of 2005, 2006, and some lucky items expired early 2007. Our fruit cups had brown fruit in a milky juice. The fruit snacks were as hard (and about as large) as popcorn kernels. The cup of noodles were pretty tasteless and bland. Although they had expired a year earlier, I made the kids eat them for lunch thinking that dried cup of noodles didn't really go bad. Note to self, cup of noodles do go bad. The kids and I couldn't stomach the aged noodly lunch and so our sink got piled up with five containers of Lipton Cup O' Noodle Soup.


My favorite find in the 72 hour kit was a decayed and petrified (another sign of the age of the kits) mouse corpse halfway inside a chewed up bag of now-hardened moldy Jerky. (Note: this is a doctored picture as I couldn't get Amber to hold the real bag for the camera!)

The emergency candle we packed had melted all over the bag that it was stored in. There were even some items for which we couldn't remember their purpose - like a baggy full of bullion cubes.

I really can't imagine what are faces would have looked like if we truly had an emergency and we grabbed our 72 hour kits and went to a refuge with the children. Hungry and thirsty from trekking over flooded roads or broken power poles, we would sit down and open our bags for our first emergency meal to find...THAT. Hmm...pretty sobering.

We only had two 2-liter bottles of water in the kit. That would hardly sustain 7 people - let alone hydrate our 200 calorie cups of noodles and our 20 packages of hot cocoa mix. (I still have no clue what we would have prepared and consumed our hot-cocoa with as there were no cups or containers for the drink).

One comforting thing is that we would had plenty of candy as we had 15 large king-sized Spree Candy sticks and a baggie full of hard candy - that never goes bad!

Night light for Jace

Hi ya all!
we have learned something about Jace.
He only can fall asleep the light on.
So John and I (and Jace), have to sleep with ether the bathroom light on or Johns lava lamp on.
I hope this dosn't become a habbit!:)
Bye.
A's

New 500 Minute Club Members

Welcome to Janae and Jacob for entering the 500 Minute club on their workouts. Janae has 680 minutes and Jake slides in with 500 minutes exactly.

This is our last month. Let's make it count. I know that as for me, I have plenty of holiday reminders hanging off my flabby body from two weeks of uninhibited indulgence.

You can check out the latest stats at: Andersen Fitness Summary Page