Snowball the First

In fall of 2005 Josh and I started dating. But more importantly we started the epic battle of "who threw it first: the first snowball of the year" he wins WAY more often than I do. Mostly because he has better aim and the ability to dodge when we're both playing and he makes me feel guilty when I sneak attack him in bed. But when I win? It is with grace and beauty and exceptional planning and sneakiness. 

And since I know you're Team Amy (or you're a traitor!) I know you'll be thrilled to know that even in my "too pregnant and sick to cook or clean or shop or stay our of the ER" I THREW IT FIRST THIS YEAR!!! In my bathrobe. While Josh sat on the sofa staring out the window at the beauty of freshly fallen snow - like a chump. I threw the most perfectly packed snowball across the house up the stairs and pegged him right in the chest.

Then I threw my hands up in the air and did a little victory dance (waddle) and whisper-shouted "2015 is MINE baby!" and Josh laughed the "I can't believe I'm married to the coolest person on the planet" laugh and we all lived happily ever after. (And the effort of it all didn't even send me into labor.) 

Last year I couldn't find the score and was too embarrassed to look hard for it. I'm pretty sure that this year, on the 10th anniversary of the Greatest Snowball Fight Ever, the score is 

Amy: 4 

Josh: 7. 

(Unless I get double points for the first ever EVER from 2005. Or triple points for "pregnant while balling". Both of which I think are totally legit bonus points. And would make it a tie this year.) 

Snowball Score

I hardly want to tell this story because now it's just embarrassing.

I had been planning the trip up the canyon for weeks. And in my early e-mails to Aundrea I even mentioned specifically how I would use this trip to even the score for the epic first snowball of the season battle.

I thought about it all morning.

I thought about if I should get the kids out of the car first so I could use them as sheilds, or if I should play offensive and just go for the kill as soon as the car slowed to an almost stop. I was glad he was driving because obviously that would give me the advantage. And as we drove up the canyon I made sure to discuss the beautiful snow just the right amount. Cooly and nonchallantly so he wouldn't know I was avoiding it, but also wouldn't have his attention drawn to it so much that he remembered. Because clearly I was the only one who could remember something like this. 

So you see, this is a cautionary tale of pride.

Because sometime after entering the parking lot and Josh stopping the car I totally forgot about the snow, the snowballs, the contest, the strategy, the planning and all of the other things.

And that's why I was still sitting the car, like a sucker, seat belted and everything when he pegged me with the first snowball of the year.

But the worst part is, when I got him back (within 2 minutes, because of my exceptional speed and excessive skill) John was standing right under him and the breakaway snow from my perfectly formed ball showered John all the way down and he cried and now he hates me.

I think Josh won this year. Again. I wish I could post the score (no I don't) but I can't seem to find last year's post, which I probably skipped, because now this is just plain embarrassing.

Date of the Month Club: April

For our April date, we went to Mulligan's.

Batting cages + mini golf = a reminder of my serious lack of coordination.

But it was WAY fun! I made Josh go first in the batting cages because neither of us have ever done it and I'm more prone to embarrassment after doing something stupid.

His machine was a little messed up, so he spent plenty of time standing around waiting for the yellow balls to come FLYING at his face.

While I took a picture of my shoes.

He told me no less than 10 times just to put the coin in and step up to the plate, but I was convinced the machine was going to kill me.

Lucky man isn't he? Ba ha ha ha!

Next up we went mini golfing. But Josh (apparently) still wanted to be batting.

I don't know very many people who can get the ball "in the rough" while mini golfing - but I am gifted and I did it MORE than once. I have a small collection of photos of my ball in the dirt, gravel, water, and sand surrounding the putting green. And when I did manage to keep the ball on the green, it was often buried under pine trees.

It was quite the lovely day. Plus the sun hadn't even gone down yet. See?

And here is the primary difference between Josh and Me. I saw this tree and said "oooh. Tommy would love that popcorn tree" and started singing and doing the actions. Josh looked around a bit and said "buhhh....."

After all that wandering around in the heat, we decided to eat some good food.

This Date of the Month club is sortof awesome. I think it might become a traditional Christmas Gift because I love it so much. 

Bowling

Over the weekend we decided it was high time we went out to do something fun. And Josh had a slow afternoon at work, so we "hurried to beat the crowd" and 1.5 hours later we were exactly 10 minutes from our house at the bowling alley!

Tommy thought it was awesome. He pushed the ball down the thing and excitedly shouted "Yes!!!!" as soon as he was done every time.

We shared a seating area with one of the office people from Dr. Man's office while we were there, and she was kind enough to take a picture of "all" of us. I'm only now realizing that John (who slept in the carseat the entire time) was over by our seats making this not exactly a picture of "all" of us. Bad mom!

Tommy's shoes were at least 3 sizes too big, but he proudly wore them anyway. Cutest thing I've ever seen.

Tommy was surprisingly good at pushing the hot pink ball down the ramp.

So good that he nearly beat me! 

Tommy loved it, Daddy loved it, Mommy loved it, Little John napped through it, so we're calling it a smashing success!

Bowling is definitely a family outing we'll do again soon.

snowball battle

Cheap shot.

That's how the annual First Snowball of the Year Battle ended this year.

We're counting it only because, as we determined last year, it's impossible for me to win without the benefit of a cheap shot.

Remember how I just had a baby and my sense of modesty is long long gone?

Well, there I was using the restroom, which is now a 10 minute process, when Josh barged back into the house after rushing out the door to his racquetball class clearly having forgotten something important.

Something important = literally catching me with my pants down and throwing a snowball at me. TMI? Sorry.

In his defense, he didn't do it 4 days ago when it really was the first snow of the year and I wasn't even 24 hours into my maternity leave. Probably because he was scared of all the nurses.....but maybe because he didn't wanna hear about the Cheapest of all Shots for the rest of his life.

2011 score:
Josh: 4 Amy: 3

Games People Play

One of the highlights of the annual trip to Midway is the constant gaming.

Someone is always playing something, and if they're not it's because it's your turn to pick the game and they're waiting on you.

Sometimes the game is "snap the M&M out of my hand!"

Sarah feeding Tommy.

The Dr.'s office toy was a big hit- I promise he's happier than he looks. Just stunned by the incessant flashing of the camera.

Taege

And sometimes "we're playing house. This is the bed - we gotta get some sleep because we're extra tired today."

Ryann

Randy, Tyler, Ryann

Other times (and more often) the game is "belly flop on the mostly deflated air mattress!"

Tommy

 But most often it's a full-blown "jumping contest on the mostly deflated air mattress!"

Ty-Guy

Other people prefer the less-physical game of "where's your belly button?"

Logan

But then they get bored and decide that a little "king of the mountain" is in order.

Tyler and Logan

When the limbs freeze, it's time for this game that has to do with an elephant ride, but I can't remember what it's called. Anybody? Anybody?

Ty-guy and Ry swinging Lucy

Of course the adults play regular old boring card games.

Lucy, Kate, Rand

with babies on their laps.

Amy, Josh, Tommy

and snacks in their mouths.

Clint and Sarah

A Puzzle

Here's what happened:

December 30th I opened The puzzle and started sorting. Josh helped by mixing the previously sorted border pieces with the middles. 

December 31st the missionaries came over and completed the border and got all excited when I told them they couldn't have dinner until they found THAT piece. Before the border was even complete I was positive THAT piece was missing. Positive. 

The missionaries didn't find it, but I let them eat anyway. Lucky missionaries. 

All night long we worked on the puzzle, and put a tablecloth over it to play real games, then worked on it again. 

January 1 - 7 Amy tells Josh he can't go to school until the puzzle was done. She threatens him with his life and forces him to work on it against his will. She forces her to work on it against his will too. And I sortof neglected my child - but in my defense, he's really bad at puzzles! THAT piece has become the running joke. "They puzzle factory probably pulled it out so we would hate them." "The putrid feds took it. They take all the best stuff." 

January 8 Amy completes the puzzle at 11:30pm while Josh falls asleep in the bathtub. 

 Are you thinking "why didn't you put in THAT last piece?"? Well, look closer.

Singing "one of these things is not like the other....one of these things just isn't the same...."

The bonus piece is a duplicate from the other side of the puzzle.

I think that Wanda, a linewoman at the puzzle factory, gets bored on Thursday afternoons, so she randomly pulls two pieces from the same print, but different puzzles and switches them before the box is sealed. Wanda is livin' on the edge.

Ringing in the New Year

We stayed up all night long playing games.

No really.

All.

Night.

Long.

My sister and her family came over, to keep us entertained.

Also Josh invited the missionaries over for dinner on his way home from work. We had about 45 minutes' notice, but they hung out for quite a while, and made some serious progress on the puzzle, which is great news.

Logan kept busy jumping back and forth.

The older boys were thoroughly entertained with the Wii.

And the old boring ones played words games because we're cool like that.

After our husbands went to bed, Sarah and I stayed up talking until 4am.

That's not me next to Sarah, that's her husband Clint.

When Tommy woke up the next morning, everybody was asleep on the living room floor so we hid in our room trying to be quiet and not wake everyone else.

It was probably the best New Year's Eve we've had in a looong time. I'm so glad the Hunters braved the storm to play with us!

Who threw it first?

The first "who threw the first snowball of the season" post was dated September 25.

In 2008 it was October 13.

Last year, we had to wait until October 27 for me to take a commanding lead.

Today is November 9th.

Are we sensing a horribly painful pattern? Yes.

We used to drive up the canyon to meet the first snowfall halfway.

Then we had a baby.

And now we sit around in our living room, waiting on our derrières (don't google that - your eyes will burn out of your skull....) for the snow to fall just outside our house. So although the rest of the state celebrated their first snowfall weeks ago. We just barely got ours today.

Here's what happened:

I woke up to go running and when I opened the door to be greeted by the beauty of snow falling in the dark, the most genuine smile I've had in months crossed my face.

Since Josh spent all of last year whining about how last year's victory was "cheating", I opted to work out first and settle the score when I returned.

By the time I got back the sun had come up and I plotted my revenge the whole way home. I began to form my snowball along the way.

The blinds on the big window were already open indicating that Josh had already showered and started Tommy's breakfast. Most likely he was still in the living room.

So I stood in the driveway and packed more snow on the first snowball and threw it up to the window hoping to catch his attention.

Side note: I throw like a girl. That's only one reason this tradition is so fun. Really I have no chance of winning a "fair" fight because I can't aim. So generally "cheating" is my only option.

Miraculously my first toss was dead on. In fact I'm still looking at the snow-blob it left on the window. He didn't come, so I threw another (and missed), and another (and missed) and another (and missed) before I gave up and started to think of another plan.

Suddenly he was sneaking around the corner, barefooted, half-naked and with a snowball in his hand cocked and ready to throw. I ducked behind the car and prepared my next ball.

Although I can't throw worth anything, my ducking/dodging abilities are sound.

So we chased each other around the front "yard" (driveway....) throwing snowballs for quite a few minutes before he finally retreated to the entryway. I hid behind the car, he hid just inside the front door. I threw snowballs at the window in front of him and hit him right in the face more than once through the window. But, no contact = no point.

Finally his bare toes thawed enough that he came back outside and finished me off for good. He nailed me. With a real snowball. In a fair fight. And I conceded defeat.

So this year, we're all tied up: Amy - 3, Josh - 3.

Did you know?

Did you know that it's pumpkin bread season? Josh and Tommy couldn't be more thrilled.

Did you know that my dinner of salad and popcorn last night might have been my favorite dinner of the week? It just tasted so dang good!

Did you know that one single 30 minute nap is enough on the Sabbath? That's Tommy's theory anyway....he's currently testing that theory and I'm trying desperately to prove to him that it isn't true.

Did you know that I go to the post office every single month? It's still odd to me to see how many people still use a post office. I'm just one of many.

Did you know that I really really don't speak Spanish? I took the class in Jr. High. I learned the alphabet and the days of the week. My parents always spoke a lot of Spanish to each other around Christmas time (they both learned the language while living in South America before they were married) so I know important words like "Santa Claus" and "Dinero" but when it comes right down to it. I know nothing. And I can't read it either.

Did you know that I still cringe every time I have to say my name? In Junior High I had some really horrible allergies and I always sounded like the guy on that allergy medicine commercial. So when people would ask my name, I'd tell them. "Abe-ee". (Abe like Lincoln and ee like Eeyore.) And they'd say "Abe-ee?" And I'd say "No, Abe-ee, I mean Abe-ee, argh. I have a cold. I can't say it." And then they'd say "ooooohhhh! Amy!" and I'd say "yes. Abe-ee." To this day I hate to introduce myself.

Did you know that of the 15 decks of cards we own, only 3 of them have Jokers? That's because we didn't know any games with Jokers so we threw them away and let Tommy play with them. Now we know games with Jokers and we always make our friends bring their own cards to game night.

Did you know that there was no major sunburn this year? That is the first time since I had to be a grownup and work inside all summer long. Nice huh?

Anti-sheepdogging.

On Thursday Josh called me and asked if we had plans he didn't know about for the Holiday weekend.

Given that my version of "making plans" these days has more to do with napping and eating than.....well anything else, he would've been safe betting that my answer was a slightly hysterical "You actually think I'm going to initiate either one of us getting off the couch this weekend? Good try babe, but you'll have to drag me kicking and screaming from my very comfy couch."

But Josh is a Mormon, so he doesn't bet.
Also he's a good husband so he pretends I'm still fun even though I'm not.

I (very hesitantly) told him we had no plans, and asked what he was thinking.

**********RRRRCCCHHHHH********** (that's the sound of a tape rewinding....how do you spell that sound?)

Just kidding, that was last year when we went to the International Sheepdog Festival - which was fun. But certainly not an annual event. 

This year we really did have plans (hey! check that out, I'm fun again!) to go for a hike up Adams canyon with the Medinas. 

And then we made plans to celebrate Meleta's 50th birthday with a surprise lunch party.

And then we made plans for Josh to give somebody a massage in the morning before the lunch party. 

And since the rest of the day was sortof busy anyway, I made plans to go running like normal in the morning. 

And since I was going running, Josh checked on work.

Which is why he worked for 3.5 hours before coming back to get us at 10. 

Which is why after the massage, the birthday lunch, and one more hour of work he was so tired. 

Which is why we didn't hike. 

Instead we opted for a short bike ride and homemade ice cream with the Medinas and Jensens. And since we were already sitting in the same room, we thought we may as well play a few games. 

No sheep. No dogs. No sheepdogs. No sunburns.

What a lovely Labor Day. 

While we waited for the birthday girl to get to the lunch party, Tommy helped blow up balloons.

Josh was in the charge of the cake. 

Which made its mark.

And we came home and got ready to go on the bike ride with the Medinas which was (as always) lovely.

Maybe Josh is a crazy driver. 

But it's all good. We're still happy.

Did you know?

Did you know that Tommy sits in a high chair for meals now? He picks up his food, puts in his mouth, and grins.

Did you know that the average person laughs 15 times per day? I think I'm way WAY above average in this respect and here's why:

• Aundrea and I are convinced that we're employing a team at Miriam Webster's who reads our e-mails for new words that really ought to be in the dictionary. Words like four-fer (what's better than a two-fer?), up-in-the-air-ness, and disintegretous are common among people of our intelligence. 
• Josh calls and sings on my voice mail when any good song comes on the radio. Sometimes I cry, but usually I laugh.
• Tommy gut laughs with me. And if you're not gonna laugh at your kid, you're probably not gonna laugh at anything.
• I read a lotta blogs. And some of them link to funny videos like this:
  

Did you know that we will be going camping this weekend for the first time of the season, also for the first time with Tommy? I blame the weather. And the racing. And the family events. And the schooling. And the jobs. And the general busyness of life for the fact that we completely missed out on the two best months of camping this year. Lame sauce. 

Did you know that my older brother can beat Super Mario Brothers? The whole game. On the old school Nintendo. I'm not sure I ever fully appreciated what a work of art that truly was. That was way back in the day before you could save the game and come back later. The kid was dedicated.

Did you know that Josh is trying to beat the whole game? Fortunately for him you can save now. Because if you couldn't I would probably kill him.

Did you know that all of you summer-lovers finally won? I just want to take a minute to remind you that you win EVERY year. July always comes, and we all want to die because of the heat. So, next April when it snows.....just don't forget this feeling of being baked alive OK? 

Sunday not at temple square

Josh fell asleep within 30 minutes of returning home. And that's only because it took him 29 minutes to eat everything he could see.

After I put Thomas to bed I woke Josh up and forced him to play with me.

And then I fell asleep within 30 minutes of getting my trash kicked at Rummikub. But only because it took me 29 minutes to clean up enough to have a place to lay down.

Not quite the "lovely Sabbath afternoon" I envisioned.....but not bad either.

Did you know?

Did you know that Josh has been doing the bedtime routine with Thomas for almost two weeks now? Every single night. On one hand I'm a little jealous - bedtime really is a great time of day. On the other hand I REALLY appreciate that Josh takes care of it for me and I only feel a little bad about making him do it every day.

Did you know that this weekend we were having so much fun playing games, that we stayed up until 4 in the morning playing? And we still woke up the next day. Awesome.


Did you know that Josh doesn't eat stacks of pancakes? He only likes pancakes 1 deep. If you go to a restaurant with him, and he orders pancakes and they bring them stacked 3 high and on a plate the size of the pancakes, he'll move them all to the other plate so he can eat them one at a time.

Did you know that over 5 billion crayons are produced each year? There are also 5 billion cell phone subscribers as of February of this year.

Did you know that I played the clarinet in Jr. High? Don't you wish we were friends back then? I was cool. [insert hysterical laughter here]

Josh's Birthday

For Josh's birthday I spent the entire day not blogging. And not reading your blogs.

He was totally satisfied with that as a gift.

He didn't want a cake.

He didn't want presents.

He didn't want a parade in his honor.

He just wanted me not to blog. And to play raquetball with his brother-in-law. And to play games at night. And to have "a happy family".

Because it was his birthday and all, he got all of those things. Lucky boy.

And just like that, my husband is 26 years old.

Friday the 13th.....or why I hate Risk

I went to geek school starting in 5th grade. The program was called A.L.L. and I don't remember what it stood for. Something about Learning.

A lot of people (the cool kids) made fun of us (the geeks) and they called us the "All Lindon Losers". 11 year olds are very creative when they need to be.

But mostly I didn't care because I made some awesome friends from that class. And we (the geeks) all liked us.

Annette, Joanna, and I were totally inseperable. We played together at recess, worked on group projects together, and Annette was my companion for my very first "just drop us off at the mall and pick us up in a few hours" trip. I heard that they had cameras behind the mirrors in clothing store dressing rooms, so I made sure to turn backwards when I was changing so nobody could see my nakeds.

One of our favorite traditions was a sleepover on Friday the 13th. We always got together for the 13th. We watched movies, played games, ate pizza and did normal sleepover stuff.

But the night I remember best is the night we played Risk. Rather they played Risk and I watched....because I'm such a loser.

I had never played before (which was unheard of in a geek class full of 11 year olds who cared about politics and were into strategy-take-over-the-world games) so they kindly agreed to teach me.

I remember struggling to figure out why it mattered if you rolled the red dice or the white ones. I remember not knowing where to invade first and trying to kill off my friends with one little man when they had a whole cannon in their country. I couldn't figure out where all of the countries were (Geography still isn't my strength.) and I couldn't see how they could go clear across the board in one turn. The worst was that I had to decide when I was done with my turn. How was I supposed to know whether I should stop or keep going?

With their careful advice and my uncanny ability to roll 19 1's in a row, I was out after the first hour of the game. The two of them continued to play....for 5 more hours.

I'm sure I was a very gracious loser and didn't pout at all. But I've been pouting ever since. Josh constantly tries to get me to play, I constantly refuse. Maybe that's why we have so many games - so I can distract him from Risk. And that weekend is why I hate Risk.

On the flip side I love Friday the 13th. It's not a real Holiday and it hapens all the time so nobody does anything big, but somehow I was ALWAYS allowed my traditional sleepover "because it's tradition!"

We haven't celebrated Friday the 13th together in years....but I still always think about Annette and Joanna when it comes around.

Summer's End

It's kinda been the greatest summer of all time.

As a general rule I don't love summer. It's hot, and sticky. The days are too long. The nights are too short (and hot). The weekends are too busy. The family reunions are too abundant. The holidays too close together and not long enough (I'm more of a take a whole week off every 3 months kind of girl...not so much for taking 1 day here and 1 day there.).

However, there are a few things I love about summer and this year the weather wasn't so bad and we're having a baby and the whole summer was nice and relaxing and fun.

Now that tomorrow is officially fall, I thought I'd remember why I liked summer this year.

Camping.

Barbecues (games, swinging, jumping & BOLT are necessary parts to a perfect barbecue.)

Swimming

Babies.

Vacation.

Sheepdogging.

That is why this summer has been better than any other. Ever.

And I'm thrilled it's over and we get to have fall now.