Emissions and driver's licenses

I had to have emissions done on the 4Runner this past week so the registration could be renewed. We can simply renew registration and not register with Colorado since we are here as non-resident students. Colorado doesn't have a safety test and instead of allowing most car repair places perform the emissions test, they only have 8-ish locations around the entire state where emissions is tested. Fortunately for us, one is nearby. Unfortunately, they only have 1 testing hub for cars that are full time 4 wheel/all wheel drive. Seriously? Close to 25 cars were tested in the other 5 hubs before we got in. And I went at supposedly a slow time; not during lunch or first thing in the morning, not the first week or the last week of the month, nor right after a holiday. It was a Thursday. I guess 45 minutes really wasn't that bad and Ellie was good through it all.

Tell me if you think this is crazy. Most states, Utah and Colorado included, don't require you to have their state Driver's license if you are in the state as a non-resident student. But Utah law requires that you update your address within a certain amount of time after moving. The problem, they only accept Utah addresses as a residence. Although you can use an out of state mailing address.

Whats going on around here?

Around here, we've been enjoying some nice spring like weather. We went to the park the other day just so Ellie could run around, swing and go down the slides. Ellie and I take small walks almost every day but I don't know if they do me that much good other than being outside as Ellie is walking too and she doesn't move too fast. Although it does make me laugh to watch her try to run and keep up.  She also likes mimicking animal noises.  Every dog she sees, she barks at. The crows are coming back around so she caws back at them. She tried to chase a squirrel at the park and thought that was hilarious.

Ellie has managed to lose my old phone and she lost it good.  Last week, I could hear it beeping meaning the power was dying but more importantly that it was somewhere on the main floor and most likely not completely enclosed.  Well, I have looked everywhere Ellie can reach on the main floor. I removed all the couch cushions and felt in between the bottom and the back. Looked in every box, under and around all the couches, the TV, the kitchen table, in the kitchen, in the recycle container, around the water storage she tried to carry around, on the food storage shelves that she pulls the food off, next to the washer and dryer because she likes to pull out the broom to pretend to sweep, etc. Jake has helped look and nothing.

Ellie received her first big bump on her head this last week. She was running into the kitchen and tripped, smacking her head on a chair at the table and boy did she hit hard. It bumped rather quickly and was blue within minutes. Luckily it went down quickly as well and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. Add that bruise to the ones on her legs and it might look as though she is being abused. She sticks her legs between the slats on the crib, either on purpose or unknowingly while she sleeps, but her knees are a little chubby so her legs get stuck. Its hard to not laugh when she is stuck laying down or facing a certain direction right after waking up from a nap.

I was recently called as the Assistant Nursery Leader so now instead of worrying about who has to teach with Ellie in the class, she now comes and hangs out in the nursery. It's kind of fun but a little surprising as there are around 25 toddlers between 18 months and 3 years right now between the 2 wards with a good number more to join this year. Sadly although there are roughly 8 people called to the nursery, plenty of parents feel they need to hang out in there with the kids making the room a little crowded. There are some that come hang out just during play time and then take their kids out as soon as the lesson is starting.

Jake is still with the Young Men and still working hard at school. He studies his heart out.

Commercials that explain it all

I have seen both these commercials and thought they tell the real story well. 

The first I think is hilarious. It's the Vick's Dayquil Man Cold. I laugh hysterically every time it comes on and Jake just rolls his eyes at me.

The next is the Oscar Meyer Carving board turkey. Notice how the kids are acting up, the mom feeds the baby while on the phone and trying to get the boy to sit down.  My bet is that she set the table, did the shopping, and will be cleaning up also. After she will get the kids ready for bed and finally sit down with her husband. He will lean over, kiss her, thank her for being such a great wife and mother and she will forgive  him and continue loving him.

Thank you to all the wives, mothers, and caretakers out there who do seemly everything so that the lives of everyone around them is blessed.

I'm a Mormon

A couple of weeks ago, we were asked by our bishop and the missionaries to create a profile on Mormon.org to help people understand a little more about Mormons. This is a new effort by the church to show the world that Mormons come from all walks of life, have a variety of interests, and are like most people.

If you want to see my profile, click on the "I'm a Mormon" button on the side of the blog.  I encourage anyone reading this to check out the Mormon.org website, maybe my profile, and if you are a member, create your own profile to share with your friends and family.

Valentines Day

I have never been big into Valentines Day. Of course I love it when someone does something nice for you but I kinds hate that there is a day that it is expected. Our Valentines was very low key (probably because I am a huge slacker). We went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse. Jake did buy me 2 Valentines day cards which were very sweet and he wrote some very nice things in them. (I love you babe.)  I do hope that as Ellie grows older I will be able to make Valentines special like my mom did for me.

Ellie did receive a card from Grandma Wendy and Poppy DeVon with a gift card to her favorite restaurant, Chik-a-fila. She loved the card because of the cute bug on the front but I know she will really love the gift card when we use it to buy chicky nuggets.

I was thinking about Valentines Day a bit this year, especially with that commercial that talked about Valentines Day and love. I don't remember the company so probably not the most effective commercial but I remember that it says Valentines Day isn't just for saying "I love you." It is about saying "I love us."  I really like that because you can love a person but not love who you are when your with them or who you are together and you can love being with a person but not love them. Love is about caring for another person as a person only and who they encourage you to be.

Also Valentines Day should be about ALL people you love, not just significant others. It has turned so much into a "couples" holiday which tends to leave out those without someone or who have lost someone. My goal is to keep Valentines Day about saying I love you and I love us to all those people I care about, not just Jake. If your single, I suggest you celebrate the loves you have and not the loves lost.

New Phones

Jake's phone has officially had it. It had died and somehow for about 2 weeks (or longer) he managed to resurrect it long enough to read a text or return a phone call but usually somewhere in the middle the screen would fade out and it would shut off. Luckily for us this place called Car Toys was having a huge sale. Free smartphones (after mail in rebate) so we drove down to take a look; or if this were Jake's story to buy phones.

Jake has already decided what phone he wanted, the HTC G2. It has a slide out keyboard which works great for him since he has "man sized" fingers.  (He tells me they are fat but then changes to man sized when I say something to someone else.)  I was debating between 2 phones and still not exactly sure I wanted a new phone. Don't get me wrong, I love having nice, new things especially when they are fun to play with. At the same time, I only really need phone calls and texts. My other phone has an awesome music player in it and it still works fine. I have survived in this world with out ever owning an i-pod. I ended up getting the Samsung Vibrant.

It has been fun trying to figure things out but here are a few pet peeves (if you know how to fix any of them, let me know):

1. Contacts cannot be placed into groups and given separate ring tones unless you move them off the SIM card and on the phone memory.
2. Although it syncs with facebook, you can't post stuff pictures or videos directly to facebook. And you are very limited on what you can look at on facebook.
3. More than half of the application pre-installed on the phone (the calendar) won't work unless you already have or sign up for a gmail account.
4. The users manual is the shortest I have ever seen and really doesn't have useful information, just the super basics of turning on and off the phone and moving, adding, or deleting apps.
5. At a pre-set time the screen turns off and the phone becomes locked. Extending this time drains the battery but to unlock the phone you have to press the power button and then either slide the screen or input a password.

I do like some of the features on the phone:

1. There is a 5mp camera and a postcard app that allows you to take funny pictures.
2. The camcorder is HD, but you do have to manually change a setting if you want to be able to send the video via message.
3. The swype texting feature is pretty cool. I just wish sometimes it had better guesses at which letters you were pushing.

Is having a smartphone really worth it?

Making cards

I have decided to start making cards again since I already have most of the stuff and then I don't have to spend hours in the store looking for the perfect funny card or search my house for all my old thank you cards. It is a little tricky to work on though because all the material is upstairs but the best/biggest work space is the kitchen table. Also, I can't have any of it out while Ellie is awake. She is coming into the drawing stage and I can only imagine what kind of damage she could do to herself and the place with scrapbook supplies.

Here's the first set of cards.

Jake says we should try making our own funny cards.  Who knows how well that will turn out? I mean, I can be funny but usually only at opportune times. Besides, with only me trying to think of funny stuff to say it might take a while. How many people do you think Hallmark has working to create their funny cards?

What kind of sausage?

I felt dinner was ruined last night. I wanted to make biscuits and gravy so I pulled out this package of "Country Style Sausage" from our freezer. Now I admit, this particular package was quite old but it had never been thawed.  I defrost it a little and then placed it in the pan to start browning it. After a bit, I thought it was giving off this weird smell. I asked Jake to come and see what he thought; had the meat gone bad? He said he thought it was alright so I continued to cook it.  The whole time I kept thinking, "This doesn't smell right. The smell is making me sick. How am I supposed to feed this to my family if I'm not sure I could eat it?"

As the meat finished cooking, it hadn't browned any and there was no grease at the bottom to use for the gravy. I again had Jake come look at it. He asked if it was turkey or something else. I had to look all over the package and finally the only place that said what kind of meat that was used was the ingredients list. First ingredient: Chicken. So unknowingly I had purchase Country Style Chicken Sausage. Isn't that about the grossest thing you have heard of?

More Teeth

Sunday night we were sitting around as a family, Ellie was sitting on my lap and jabbering away. While she was talking, I thought I saw something white on her gums. I put my finger in there and felt around.  That's how I found that she has 2 of 4 molars poking through, with one super close to follow. The last one is not as close but you can still feel it through her gums.

She just let me feel them and then giggled when I talked to her about the teeth.  We then had Jake feel them. She laughed some more. Then more jabbering almost like she was talking with us about how excited she was for us to find her teeth.

This explains her runny nose and why she has been sitting around with her fingers in her mouth. Not just one or two fingers, but 2 from one hand and 4 from the other. That girl.

Breckenridge, CO and the International Snow Sculpture Championships

Breckenridge, CO- A small mountain ski town very similar to Park City, Utah only it was an hour and a half drive from our place.  The main street is full of fun little shops; some what you would expect and others a novelty type store. Some of the ones that stick out in my mind; the O2 bar, the Joy of Sox (entire store dedicated to almost any type of sock imaginable), the Photo Shop (store owner is photographer David Pfau and a member of Team Breck for the snow sculpture), and Peak-a-boo Toys (they had a kids play area in the back).



Carriage rides up main street but there are also sleigh rides closer to the slopes.



A view of what the street looks like.

I was slightly shocked because they were saying that the mountains here have been having some massive amounts of snow fall this year. If this is big for them, then Utah definitely gets more and better snow. 

 It was a little chilly outside but not bad. We did manage to show Ellie that gloves are beneficial and she wore them most of the time outside the stores.


Budweiser horse at the entrance to the area where the competition took place.

I want to know, who craved the stuff out front that wasn't part of the competition; like the horses pictured above? 

The ice sculptures showing the sponsors of the Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championship.



A sculpted fort also outside the competition. Good thing too.

The sculptures were amazing.  We didn't take pictures of all of them and I didn't post all the pictures I took of them on here. That would make this a really long post (cause everyone knows my posts are super short already.)  Maybe if I get bored later this week, I will add an addition post with the other pictures.  

Team Breckenridge, 3rd place and kids choice



 



Team Canada-Yukon, 2nd place, Artists choice, and people's choice.

We didn't take a picture of the first place winner because part of it had fallen off by the time we stopped by.  They were sculpted from Jan 25th until the 29th when they were judged. So the fact that only 2 had major collapses by Feb 5th was actually probably extremely lucky. 

If you would like to see the first place sculpture and more professional photos of the winners, click here. They really were amazing to see. It would be fun to be able to spend time watching the sculpting and then see the finished product.  Maybe that's why there are some many shows and documentaries on cable, because it's more interesting to watch thing develop over an hour instead of 5 days.

Today's music

I don't know how many of you listen to new music but I am just about done even though I really like r&b and hip hop. Well, I actually love any music that has a great beat you can dance to.  The problem with hip hop and r&b are the lyrics. I just about choked the other day. Here are a few songs or lyrics that I have heard recently. (And people wonder why STD's and STI's have high prevalence rates.)

I think it's Rihanna who sings "S & M" that has a chorus of "Sticks and stones may break my bones but whips and chains excite me." There's also the backseat song that talks about kicking it in the back seat of a car.

But what do you expect when the song "Too close" was so popular back when I was in high school and slightly more recently the Pussy cat Dolls had a hit with "Buttons".

Maybe I'll have to switch to Country full time or even worse, talk radio (but I wouldn't want to hear myself after listening to talk radio.)

Little everyday things with Ellie

Just a few things that are going on around our house.  Ellie is not only walking but running. She thinks she can jump but then again she also thinks she is a monkey because she climbs on anything and everything; diaper boxes, kitchen chairs, rocking chairs, Tupperware totes, etc. Sometimes she is successful and sometimes she isn't. 

She is also starting to talk. Mostly its stuff that only parents understand because of how and when the word is used. She says "cheese" which means please, normally she is pointing to crackers or sippy cups. She says "yes" and shakes her head no.  When she is getting in trouble and she doesn't want to be (usually because she has put her hand into the garbage after I threw something away), she will tell me "baa" for stopping her. One that is hard to decipher is "dow" which either means down or done. When it is time for bed, she tells us "nigh, nigh". Every other time she talks, she will just ramble any combination of what she thinks are words.

Something that drives me bonkers but Ellie loves to do is lick everything. I really mean everything, especially the oven when it is warm. She doesn't lick as much when she kisses anymore which is nice.

She loves the water, whether she is taking a bath or just standing in the shower with me while I shower. She also loves to dance and put on my clothes. This happens the most after we have finished showering.

No matter where I am or what I am doing, she wants to be in the immediate vicinity. She won't play in her room if I am in my room doing my hair or getting dressed. She won't play in the front room with her toys if I am in the kitchen. She has to stand close by and pretend to help; by walking away with the potatoes, putting her hand in the garbage can, or pulling all the saran wrap, tin foil, or sandwich bags out of their boxes.

But no matter she is doing or has done, she loves giving kisses and hugs and trying to cheese one of us into letting her continue with what she is doing. I love that little girl.

Back to School

Jake is back in school but I am not sure if he is back into the swing of things yet. Classes were only the last 3 days of the week his first week back. The next week was Civil Rights day so only 4 days of classes. He finally had a full week of class but on Friday the 2nd of 2 classes was cancelled so it was only a half of a half day. This week would have been a full week except Denver University (specifically the Law School) closed down on Tuesday because of the cold temps. His last class on Monday was cancelled so when a professor walked in to inform the class some of the students, mostly those from Utah or Wyoming asked why if there wasn't that much snow (less than 2 inches). They were told because the school doesn't need any law suits, especially from law students who have recently learned about negligence, prudent care, etc. 

He seems to be handling the time off alright. He spends quite a bit of time (what I really mean is at least 40 hours a week) at the school, whether there are classes or not. He and some friends from his classes study together and work on outlines in study rooms on campus. Though Ellie and I would love to have him here more, it's probably best since we can be very distracting. Well, mostly Ellie because she wants his highlighters, tries to read his books which usually means torn pages or lost spots, wants to type on the laptop, etc. She is a big help with studying.

We are proud of how hard he is working and we hope that he does well this semester. We were proud of how well he did his first semester even though he is being hard on himself. ;) Love you Jake. Keep up the good work and remember to back up your hard drive.

It's FWEEZING!!! or It's Frickn' Freezing in here, Mr. Bigglesworth.

Why is it when there are big weather stories, they really don't ever mention mountainous areas?  The week of Thanksgiving some places in Utah received 2 feet of snow, but there was nothing on google about it. The past week, this arctic freeze that came through topped news stories but only local news said anything about Denver's weather. Instead google had a story that mentioned places back east shutting down for inches of snow and freezing rain. While I have never been around freezing rain, I have driving through Parley's Canyon and Sardine Canyon during snowstorm that dropped 2+ feet. I also lived in Logan one winter where the temperature wasn't in the positives for over 30 days.

Anyway, with this deep freeze Jake and I realized how poorly insulated our windows are. We placed duct tape around the edges of the windows to keep drafts from coming through at the beginning of winter but I guess that doesn't have any effect if the quality of window is terrible. Tuesday when we woke up, the news was saying the actual temperature was -12 degrees but with the wind chill it felt -33.



This is a south facing window on our stairs landing.

This is the west facing window in our bedroom. Note the ice on the duct tape.

This is a bigger shot of the same bedroom window.

Every window and sliding glass door in the house looked like this. What temp was the inside of the house? Well that's a little hard to determine. The furnace thermostat is one of the old ones. During the day we set the mark to 72 and at night drop it to 68. The problem is there is a cheap plastic thermometer about 6 inches away from the furnace thermostat. It says the house is around 74 during the day and 70 at night. Ellie's baby monitor has an electronic temp gauge that would say 66 during the day and 60 at night. In reality, who knows but if you ask me, I would bet on the baby monitor because I feel like the house is always cold.

Side note; half the city of Denver was shut down on Tuesday. Jake's Monday night class and Tuesday classes were cancelled by 4:00 on Monday. I actually don't think there was a school open on Tuesday. I think I'm ready for summer after being 70 on Friday to negatives by Monday.

Kids Fair and Bass Pro

As I was searching around for more things to do, I found out that there was a baby and kids fair taking place over the weekend. After a little more searching I found some discount coupons so I thought is would be nice to go walk around and look for deals. I have found you can buy stuff at better deals than they sell at their online stores so if you luck out things work out great.

The fair was a lot smaller than I expected. I guessed it would be big like most of the ones in Utah. This was tiny, like the chocolate show I went to a while back. It had great potential. There was a small petting zoo and mini horse rides. My only problem was that you paid to enter and then they wanted an extra $2 a person to enter the petting zoo and $5 a ride for the horses. Sorry Ellie, maybe next time. Oddly enough, DirecTV was there so we were able to negotiate some contract/pricing changes. We were also able to collect a little information about health care and daycare as we may be looking into both these areas in the near future. Needless to say, it was a complete waste.

Since we were out in the area, we decided to head to Bass Pro Shops. If you know anything about the Watterson family, you understand that trips to Bass Pro and Cabelas are big deals. In addition to looking for those items you didn't know about before but after seeing them you can't live without them, we also spend time walking around looking at the decor (mounted items and fish tanks).

Ellie, my little shopper, didn't mind as she loves shopping.


Can I help push the cart?

What? I didn't do anything. I'm just pushing.

I liked being out to see about a new shopping center to see if there were interesting looking shops or possible future restaurants to try out. Driving around some of these areas I'm not sure if Denver is a big city, a growing city, or a blimp in the middle of nowhere. 

Butterfly Pavilion and Flatiron Crossing

Friday's trip was to the Butterfly Pavilion and it was a good day to go. As we pulled up and unloaded from the car, I took off my jacket because it was so warm outside.  Inside the building there are several exhibits to see. You start off with the bugs and insects. This is a room filled with cages of roaches, beetles, spiders, scorpions, bees, and ants. On each cage is a plaque with the name and some information about the creature. Ellie loves looking at this stuff. I don't know how she would react to touching because mommy doesn't touch them.

 

Jake's picture of some beetles.

   

The other guys call him "coach".



   

A huge tarantula as compared to Jake's hand

 

I can't remember what this bug was called but it had something to do with mask.



Here's daddy holding Rosie, the tarantula and an Ellie bug.

After you walk through this room, there is another room where you can look at and touch a horseshoe crab and starfish. This is a small exhibit but with some fun information and games for elementary age kids.

After this, you enter the "Wings of the Tropics" exhibit. This is a room that is mostly sealed off and very humid, like the tropics. Butterflies fly freely around the room. Food is provided as well as plenty of plants that the butterflies would be used to. 

 Anytime a butterfly would pass or we would point one out to Ellie, she "oohed" and "aahed" or "wowed".


Ellie bug with the butterflies.

Some of the butterflies just sitting on some flowers.



Ellie did like walking around in here. As you can tell by my hair, it was very humid.

Of course, after spending enough time in there that our skin felt lovingly refreshed we walked out of the room. You have to exit through 2 sets of doors. In between each set is a small area that has a strong gust blowing back into the tropics and mirrors on each side. The signs inform you to check for hitchhiking butterflies.

Before you exit the building, there is always the gift shop. I always look around even though we rarely buy anything. I almost bought this though.

100% recycled and odorless products made from elephant poo. Now that's recycling.

 The pavilion was a little fun and potentially interesting. It would definitely be better with an older child that questions or at least understands what the bugs were. They have mini programs throughout the day but we weren't there during any of the times. The descriptions of them were quite interesting.

Since the day was still young, we decided to go check out yet another mall, Flatiron Crossing. Denver's newer malls have been designed to bring people in and let them stay all day. This was just outside the entrance we walked in. In the middle there were lounge chairs in sand. Parents were relaxing in the sun (remember is was about 70 outside) and kids playing in this giant sandbox.

Great motivation for parents to hang out by the mall.

Most of the malls I have been to so far are really trying to incorporate ideas or activities that invite parents to bring the kids to so they are out of the house, which is genius because if your already at the mall most people can't help but walk inside to see about any sales going on.

I just enjoy walking around and seeing what crazy ideas and clothing people come up with. We stopped by Fuzziwigs candy store. Soon Jake and I realized we have a potential problem child.

Ellie trying to sneak candy out of the bins.

After we left the store (no she didn't manage to actually steal or eat any of the candy), we walked through a few other stores.  At one point, I was going to put Ellie back into the stroller when I saw 2 packs of markers on the seat. Upon inspection, they had Fuzziwig tags on them. Neither Jake nor I know how they made it into the stroller. Neither of us saw Ellie even touch markers. So we had to head back and Jake returned them to the store.



Flatiron is a nice mall. A new retro type look on the inside. All around the mall are small strip malls with almost any store imaginable and plenty of restaurants within a 5 minute drive. That's how quite a few of the shopping districts are around here. At least I know I have options when I want to go shopping.