Friday, December 10, 2010

Saint Petersburg

Time for a new tourney. Dan wins if he gets 11 out of 20 wins. Let the games begin. The reward: 10 cents and bragging rights.

Game 1: Sep 1st. Michelle wins by 12. woot!
Game 2: Sep 7th. Dan wins by 20. Booo!
Game 3: Sep 10th. Dan wins by 17 points despite Michelle playing REALLY WELL.
Game 4: Sep 11th. Dan wins by 10. Somehow, neither of us realized that the game was over until it was.
Game 5: Sep 24. Michelle wins by 5. Close game the whole way. I got up by 3 greens early on, but Dan almost pulled it off. Dan was short by 3 rubles to make it a tie.
Game 6: Oct 19 Michelle wins by 13. Michelle buys lots of blues early on while Dan stocks up on oranges. (And Dan points out, I did get the Judge the first round.) Dan gets both observatories and both pubs, but trails by 20-30 points most of the game. Dan ends with 10 oranges, and since he can't end the game early, Michelle manages to get 8 by spending her very last ruble.
Game 7: Nov 2 Michelle wins by 4.
Game 8: Nov 5 Dan wins by 15
Game 9: Nov 20 Dan wins by 17. Sigh.
Game 10: Nov 26 Michelle wins by 28. Dan never had the opportunity to buy an orange higher than 12 the whole game. Michelle got the judge on the first round. 'nuff said.
Game 11: Nov 30 Dan wins by 14.
Game 12: Dec 4 Dan wins by 34.
Game 13: Dec 6 Dan wins by 18. Ok, this is not looking so good.
Game 14: Dec 10 Michelle wins by 44. Oh yeah, you read that right. 44! (Just 44, not 44 factorial)
Game 15: Dec 18 Dan wins by 15.
Game 16: Jan 3 Dan wins by 22. This is not going well, folks.
Game 17: Jan 11. Dan wins by 28.

Total so far: Michelle-6 Dan-11

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Various photos and videos for mom and dad

Thurman and Anna:



Here is dapper little Caleb ready for church:




Here is a video of the kids ready to go to church:










Here is a video of Auntie Em with the kids:




Here is a video of Anna playing the piano:


Saturday, November 6, 2010

Disney

If you love Disneyland, I mean really love it, then you probably shouldn't read this blog. I actually don't have anything against Disneyland. Maybe it's like in high school when I didn't want to like U2 because everyone liked U2. At least in California, Disneyland is pervasive. Billboards, tv ads, radio ads, etc. Many of my friends and acquaintances often make the drive down there as some sort of pilgrimage.

A pilgrimage is in fact the exact word I'm looking for. Disneyland is set up in these ads as a pseudo-religious experience. Magic in place of priesthood, thrilling rides in place of religious fervor, abject consumerism in place of holy offerings. Mind you, I'm not describing the experience of being there, just the experience of the ads. There are in some ads the girl who has not yet seen Mickey Mouse and perhaps is in danger of not "believing in magic", but then just as they are leaving she sees him- it's a miracle! There are even the evangelists - the girl in the elevator chatting on and on about Disneyland to perfect strangers and the parents laughingly explain that they went a year ago, apparently quite happy that their daughter has become some sort of religious fanatic.

Then again, I haven't been to Disneyland since I was fourteen. I probably would love it. Maybe I'm just jealous.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Anna vs the Bug House ... Part II

I am reposting this blog from July 2008 because of an interesting conversation I had with Anna a month ago. We were at the zoo and heading for the Bug House when I told her that she used to be scared to go in there. She thought about that for a minute and said, "Yes, I remember. I was scared because I thought all the bugs were crawling around all over the place inside," meaning that they were not contained in any way.

Yikes.

Now I don't wonder why she didn't go in. I wonder why she ever DID. She must trust us a lot.

Here is the original post:

We got a membership to the Oakland Zoo a few months ago. The first time we went, Anna asked the whole time if we could see a caterpillar. None of the large mammals that you would associate with a zoo (elephants, tigers, chimpanzees) could interest her as much as the prospect of seeing a small insect that she could find in our backyard. Obligingly, we tromped over to the Bug House and Anna refused to go in. The Bug House has a set of double doors, and something about that setup really scared Anna. After trying for several minutes to change her mind, we gave up and moved onto other things. As soon as we were in the car going home, Anna started talking about how she would go in the Bug House the next time we went to the zoo.

A few weeks later we went back. Anna was very excited to go in the Bug House until we got there, and once again would not go in. The third time, she finally went in and was (understandably) very proud of herself. The funny thing was that I went in with her and I was the one that got scared. Those millipedes are freaky!

We went to the zoo today again and Anna went in with no problem.

Anna is requesting to tell the story in her own words (Anna loves little else in the world more than typing on the computer):

HWEEEY3YE4332WQWSGWRFIRFXDCEDERGR55U6DDGRR5TRYRHERYRRJTIGIRTORTFOTGT[Y[TY

Addendum: The other funny thing about the zoo is that Anna always thinks it's necessary to bring the zoo a present. Today she brought a birthday candle carefully wrapped in wrapping paper. Luckily there are many large green bins around the zoo where people can deposit such presents. We worry that one of these days Anna will figure out that the green bins are trash cans.

TRFYT5TTJREURFTRETERTURTIYTITREETTGJYHTYHHUIIRY;TGTRFJRUTRTYGYHUUYUHUUHYYUH

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween 2010





Here is a video I made of our photos and videos of Halloween.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Brontosaurus and the T-Rex 3: Friends at Last

We made yet another B & T-R movie tonight. Anna sure gets a kick out of these!




Sunday, September 19, 2010

SuperAnna 5!

Anna's been asking for almost a year to make a new SuperAnna movie. Here it is!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

A Portrait of the Walker as a Young Man

Dan hated that book, which is why I used it as a title. Hah! Anyway, here is a video documenting the ambulatory capacity of our youngest offspring. Enjoy!


Saturday, August 21, 2010

Modes of Transportation





Several times a week, we go to the church gym to improve on our transportation skills: Caleb - walking, Rachel - tricycle, Anna - new bike. Me - ummm, ok I guess I don't. Rachel is great at peddling her tricycle now, she only recently grew big enough to reach the pedals! Caleb has taken one or two steps and can stand for 5-6 seconds when he wants to. And Anna loves her new bike. She loves the streamers and the "purse" and her new helmet. She can go very fast!


Friday, August 20, 2010

Caleb's birthday


I can't believe it's been a whole year since my little guy was born! We are so happy to have him in our family and we sure love him! His favorite food: pasta. His favorite activities: pulling Rachel's hair and baths. Least favorite activity: diaper changes. We had a very little family party for him yesterday. He was tired and it was almost past his bedtime when we got started, so it was short and sweet. Here is a little video I made.




Sunday, April 25, 2010

Happy Birthday, Grace!

This is a video to say Happy Birthday to you, Grace!



Saturday, April 24, 2010

Also Sprach Calebthustra

Here's a short video I made of my little man that shows his progression in learning to crawl. Watch out world, here he comes!


Thursday, April 22, 2010

Anna's newest movie: The Video of Little People

Hello, everybody! Um, um, this video is Little People movie. I hope you guys like it! The only people that were making it was Anna and Michelle. Um, um, um, (giggle giggle) some parts of the movie have my skin in them in pajamas like just my hand and my arm with pajamas on it. Um, (giggle giggle giggle) and the barn closes all by itself! It's magic!


Monday, April 12, 2010

6 Year Anniversary




Thanks Dad for taking the pictures!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

The Karate Kid




Here is a compiled video I took of Anna's karate class today for my father-in-law (others are also welcome to view it):



Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spring 2010

Our most recent family picture:

Friday, March 19, 2010

Daffodils

Here is a time lapse video Anna and I made of some daffodils blooming. You can probably guess where we took a 8 hour break to sleep :)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Anna talk

This past week I wrote down some of the things that Anna has said that I thought were interesting or cute:

Mommy, can we go visit the polar bears sometime? I have an idea so they won't eat us. We will put on polar bear costumes and masks on our faces and make "Rooooar" sounds so they won't know that we are persons.

Mommy, why don't people fall off when they're on the other side of the world?

Mommy, how do animals who just make noises understand each other?

Well, well, well, Mommy? Do you know what the problem is when I try to eat beans? It makes my tongue itchy.

Alyssa and I were making jokes in the car, like this: "Trees grow on cars". Hahahahaha!

How much snow is there when it snows? (It depends, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.) No, I mean how many snowflakes are there when it snows. (Uh ... a billion!) Wow!

Which one is the boy in Adamandeve? Was Adam a prophet? How can he be a prophet if he did something bad? Are only boys prophets, or girls?

Do you want to hear a song? "Happy Valentines, Happy Valentines, Happy Valentines, ..." All the verses are the same - it goes forever!

Do you know another way you can tell the difference between boys and girls? How they talk.

Is Caleb bigger or the tv? (the tv). But Caleb is a rectangle and the tv is a square, so Caleb is bigger!

What's the germ called that's on sugar? Is vacteria (bacteria) smaller than air?

Rachel, I need to go potty - do you want to come with me?

Mommy, can we go to the circus sometime? We've never been to a circus before.

Mommy, I think that when two people, if they want the same thing, they should take turns if they are wanting to play together.

Is the girl on the raisin box real or pretend? How do you make raisins? Do you need a machine to dry the grapes? Are farmers boys or girls?

(While eating fettuccine) I said to myself: that is some kind of pasta, but it's not spaghetti because it's a rectangle!

Can we sometimes go on an airplane to visit Chinese? I think we should bring pillows and blankets and lots and lots and lots of snacks.

What happens if a train goes off a track?

Why does Daddy like if people call him Dan and not Daniel?

I think there will be lions at the circus, but I think they won't hurt us. We should do tricks at the circus, like stand on a ball and not fall over.

If you can balance on two hands and then balance on one hand, you can walk on your hands!

(Re: the food processor) I think it gets more gooder every day because every day it tries something harder!

Why sometimes when you are happy you cry?

(Anna telling Rachel about the earthquake in Haiti) Well, Rachel, it was a very sad time. It wasn't great. I am sad for them. It was really bad, it knocked down people. About a thousand people died. We're going to send them some money to make them feel better. It was just a really sad time. We're going to do that so they can buy clothes, food and water and band-aids.

Mommy, do you know what? I traded with Rachel for what I wanted and do you know what? She wanted to trade! I think she thought how I feel and so she wanted me to be happy!

Mommy, did you throw away your shirt? (my favorite shirt that was chewed to pieces by the washing machine) Well, I have an idea! You could go to the same store where you bought it and go inside and see if they have one just like it! And buy it! When I was at Austin's house, do you know what? Well, the balloon popped and I said to her (Austin's mom, presumably) that she could go to the same store and buy some more and she said it to her kids! So, it's the same. Except for different things.

Mommy, do you know what? I'm a polar bear. This is how I jump - whoa! I keep my front claws on the ground.

Are there any dust up there, you know, where the stars are? How much?

Is there any giants on the earth now? I know a true story about a giant. Do you know what it is? Was Goliath bad? How bad was he? Did he want to kill people?

I have never met any bad guys before in real life. Have you met any bad guys before?

Mommy, what kind of birthday party do you want, like Spiderman or flowers or Dora?

Mommy, now Caleb understands about grabbing! If I give him something he sticks his little hand out and grabs it!

When is Heavenly Father's birthday? Is it Valentine's Day?

What would we do if a bad guy tried to buy our house and we didn't want him to?

Mommy, you should run with your toes first instead of the back of your foot so your back doesn't hurt. That's what I do.

How can Kermit and Miss Piggy be a mommy and daddy if they're not the same animal?

Do mommies and daddies live together even if they don't have kids?

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Birthday in San Francisco

We went to San Francisco Friday and Saturday for my birthday - here are some pictures of the fam. We went to the Aquarium by the bay - awesome!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Brontosaurus and the T-Rex II

Anna made ANOTHER dinosaur movie - can you believe it? She is going to be a famous movie producer someday. In this one, you can't see her hands. It's magic! Anna says, "Hope you enjoy my movie and you can say if you liked the movie or not and if you want to watch the movie again or not."

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Brontosaurus and the T-Rex

Anna has been asking me for days to help her make a movie. She thought of the plot, the scenery and the title by herself. We made it last night. "Mommy helped me. I hope all of you like the movie that watch the movie. It was hard work," says Anna.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Anna's birthday present

When Anna is lucky, she gets to play with it. Dan and I have been having fun with it, too :)