Mini-Golfing, Not a Winter Activity

Last weekend we decided to go mini-golfing to put the "pass of all passes" we bought to good use. When we arrived Trafalga was packed with kids ten and under. There was a line into the arcade for indoor mini-golfing. However, the outside course was empty!  Yes, I know it is winter, but we had jackets and were over the age of ten so I thought we would be fine. I was wrong. We lasted about six holes and then went running for the heated car. However, I did have fun drawing pictures on the frozen pond and Brady got a whole in one, which he was extremely happy about (see picture below).

Near Death Experience

The combination of these boots:

And this hill:

Almost took my life. 

Story: I got out of class at 6:30 on January 22, 2012. When I walked outside I found snow now covered the sidewalk, grass, everything (background: the bottom of my boots are as smooth as silk, there is literally zero tred). As I started walking I carefully would place each foot firmly in front of the other to keep the chances of slipping to a minimum. Everything was going pretty smoothly until I reached THE HILL (obviously the hill right by the Clyde Building). I began to slip the second I started down the hill. Every time I put my foot down it would immediately move somewhere else. Then I saw someone walking next to the sidewalk. For some reason I thought that it looked like a good idea. My train of thought went something like this: they aren't slipping (well neither were all of the normal people walking on the sidewalk), maybe the snow covered grass provides more traction? This was a bad train of thought...As I began walking next to the sidewalk (on a slope) I immediately just began slipping right back towards the sidewalk. By this point the people around me were not even concealing their laughter, and i cannot blame them. My next idea was to walk close to the fence so if I needed to I could grab on to prevent myself from actually falling down. This idea idea just gave me whiplash. I decided to go back to my original plan, firmly placing one foot in front of the other (kind of shuffling). At this poing I have made it about tenish feet down the hill. Then, I lose all control. I slide down the remaining tenish feet. I get to the end of the hill and can't stop. This is an even bigger problem because there is a construction zone at the bottom of the hill, marked off my yellow construction tape. As I approach the tape I realize that the only way I am going to stay on my feet is if I lift up the tape and slide under, so that is just what I did. I went under the tape, off the curb, and into the street. Since the street was not as snowy I FINALLY came to a stop. Everyone around me began clapping (I mean I did stay on my feet the whole time, quite impressive). It was humiliating. Those boots are officially retired until the snow is gone.

THE END.

Settlers of Catan

(Picture taken from Google)

This game has taken over our weekends lately. For some reason I always thought I hated this game, apparently Brady felt the same way. However, neither one of us had ever really played it.  We found out a couple of weeks ago that we actually love it. Brady's cousin Skyler and his wife Jocelyn recently purchased it with some left over Christmas money and we haven't stopped playing since. We usually get about four games in a weekend. During the week Brady and I talk strategy to prepare (mostly Brady talks). Although we love it, this game is also very frustrating and can cause contention in a marriage. Especially if your husband puts the knight on your numbers EVERY TIME (true story). We have made rules concerning this game to avoid fights that seem really important at the time, but we later come to our senses and realize that we are fighting about a board game. The main rule is: do not take this game personally, just because the knight is put on your number a lot does not mean that the other person hates you, it probably means that you are just built on good numbers (this was mostly for my benefit). Anyways, I started out strong with the 3 out of 4 of the first wins, but I have hit a wall. If any one has Catan strategy tips, please share!

The winning totals are:

Jessica (Orange): 4

Brady (Red): 4

Jocelyn (White): 2

Skyler (Red): 1

My Favorite Children

I am new to this whole blogging thing.. So i decided to look through my iphoto for some inspiration. My iphoto is pretty much filled with pictures of my five favorite children: Josh, Anna, Max, Becca, and Natalie. I decided that I love them so much that they deserve a blog post (I am also obviously campaigning for the favorite aunt title).

Meet Josh:

He is the first born, my sister nicole's oldest child. He is the sweetest little boy around. One day, shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, I answered the phone and it was Josh. He was calling to tell me he was doing a read-a-thon and wanted to know if I would donate money for every book that he read. When I asked him what it was for he told me that there was an earthquake in Haiti and they needed money so "Bob the Builder could build them new houses, because they didn't have a T.V. or anything!"  It melted my heart.

Meet Natalie:

She is my sister Amy's oldest. Natalie is the smartest girl I know. Over Christmas break we did puzzles and played a lot of memory. When we were putting together a puzzle of the Nauvoo Temple (a 100 piece puzzle, she is four) she would laugh at me when I would try and put two pieces together and say, "NO! Jessie, it goes over HERE!" She was always right, I was always wrong. She also had to help me when we were playing memory, but even with her help she would still crush me.

Meet Anna:

Another one of Nicole's great children. She is so happy, and can make everyone around her happy. She also LOVES babies. There is one specific baby that she likes to play with at my mom's house. Brady and I convinced her to name that baby Sandy (my mom's name). When she is over playing she will randomly say "I am going to put Sandy to sleep" or " Sandy is so sad, I better feed her." My mom hates it, I think it is hilarious. Love her.

Meet Becca:

Amy's youngest child. She is just perfect, and she definitely knows it. She calls me "Jess-Jess" and I think it is darling. She is also the only one that might like me better then my mom. I deserve it though, I would do whatever she told me to do all of Christmas Break to earn her love. Including chasing her around the mall, spinning her around over and over, and taking her outside for countless hours.  She has me wrapped around her finger and that is okay with me.

Meet Max:

Last but not least, Baby Max is the newest addition and he is just darling. I could hold him for hours. He has the best new baby smell, tons of dark hair, and the cutest little noes. I heard he can smile and laugh now too, but I have not witnessed it yet.  He is just perfect.

Here are a few more pictures that I just could not leave out.

Dates

September 2006: met in front of my aunts house

October 2006: first kiss, in Brady's basement... super romantic

November 2006: first date, Dixie's Senior Ball

June 2007: Fell in love

May 2008: Broke up... we don't like to talk about it

May 2008 (about 24 hours later): got back together

June 2008: said goodbye

June 2010: after two long years, we said hello again

November 2010: engaged

May 7, 2011: married

Blogging, Round Two

I have tried this whole blogging thing once before, but I forgot both the email and password I used when I made it. I decided it was time for round two because it is a new year and I decided to make blogging one of my new years resolutions. This blog might not be the most exciting blog because Brady and I have only been married 9ish months, don't have any kids, and our life is consumed with school and work. However, I decided this would be a good way to keep track of our life (since  I am a terrible journal writer), and I promise I will try my hardest to make it somewhat amusing. Here goes nothing!