It's All About Who You Play the Game With

A long while back, Tim and I played a game with some of his friends called Munchkin. I was assured that it was a fun game and that I should play. Not so. That game was the most unfun game of my life. I had never played before, so the rules had to be explained to me as I went along. In this game you have to battle monsters. If you are unable to defeat the monster by yourself, you can ask someone for help. Sounds easy enough. I'm pretty easy going when it comes to rules in games;expect for Parcheesi - don't try to cross me in that game. Anyway, I came to the point in the game when I couldn't defeat the monster by myself so I was told I could ask for help. I said, "Okay, I'll do that." The guy explaining the rule said, "No...you have to say, 'Ramon, will you help me.'" Really? I looked at him with the crustiest East Coast look I could muster and said, "Ramon, will you help me?"

Since that day, I have refused to play that game. Tim has tried to convince me to play it and even buy it. No way. But, this past weekend we went up to Bear Lake with some friends. They were talking about the games they brought up. Munchkin was among them. Oh no. Was I really going to have to play this game I swore I would never play again. The nice side of my East Coast me won out and I decided to play. But, I thought I'd better tell my little story from above so they wouldn't try to pull any of that lame, "Ramon, will you help me" crap. My story was told, the game was played and now Munchkin is on the list for the next game we will buy! So, thanks Brian for a fun weekend at Bear Lake and for helping me see that Munchkin really is a fun game. While some may say, "It's all about how you play the game," I beg to differ. It's all about who you play the game with.

ps - some names have been changed to protect the guilty

Trains, Trains and More Trains. By the way, did I mention trains?

Josh is a train freak. It started innocently enough with Thomas the Tank Engine. Our neighbor downstairs liked Thomas so I recorded a few episodes for when we watched him at our house. Well, Josh was hooked. We watched tons of Thomas after that. He then moved on to the train table. His doctor's office had a train table and Josh loved to go to the doctor just to get a chance to play on it. I had to plan an extra hour each visit. We decided to get Josh his own train table at home and it has been the best purchase ever. Josh plays with his trains at least an hour each day. But it's usually more like two or three hours a day. It's even better now that he can build his own tracks - I don't have to come up with new and exciting tracks everyday! He can also point out any train in any book or show, even if it's hidden in some obscure place. And he'll remember when it's coming up in a movie. He'll say, "A train's coming" and sure enough, a train will appear somewhere in the movie. Just like I said, he's a train freak. Here's a picture/video trip down memory lane featuring Josh and his trains.

Josh on Christmas morning playing with his train.

Trying out new train track designs.

Josh found a train at a park in New Mexico.


Josh riding the Front Runner, a commuter train in Salt Lake, holding a picture of said train.

Josh is getting better at setting up his own tracks.Here's a video of Josh when he got his train on Christmas morning. This is before he was a total train freak. He's pretty excited at first and then just wants a snack.

Christmas in August?

Last December, I bought about 4 bags of gingerbread cookie mix for school and for cookies for neighbor gifts. I only used one for school and was cookied out by the time it was time for the gingerbread. Well, Josh found the cookie mix a couple of months ago and started bugging me about making the cookies. But who wants gingerbread in May? I kept it hidden for a while, but while rearranging our pantry, to make room for food storage - we've been stocking up this summer - Josh found the cookie mix again. So this morning, we made gingerbread. Complete with stars, hearts, pumpkins and trees!And after all the effort, this is all he ate - one little part of a heart cookie. Oh well, we had fun.

Better Late Than Never

With a new baby here and a summer off of work, I thought it was time to do a little scrapbooking. I was really excited to do a book for Benjamin. But then I thought, Josh is old enough that he'll ask where his is. The answer to that is "non-existent". I figured I would start there. But I didn't have all the pictures I wanted yet. Most are still on the computer. So I decided to start where I should have started 6 years ago--with a scrapbook of Tim's and my first year of marriage. I found the scrapbookers new best friend. The one-hour album in a box from SEI. It is so reasonably priced at their outlet in Logan, I may never go back to figuring out my own layouts. It has everything you need to do an album - pre-cut paper, ribbons, buttons, tags, letter stickers, etc. You just assemble and add pictures. I put the album together yesterday while Benjamin was napping and added pictures today while he was playing next to me. I'm going to keep the directions with paper dimensions for another album. I'll just switch the order of the layouts and the paper so it looks at least a little different. Here's the finished product (minus some journaling).
Josh's and Benjamin's baby albums are put together. I just need to develop some pictures and then I'll post them!

Can You Say Repressed Aggression?

When Tim picked up Josh from Primary today, he happily showed him his picture. He pointed out daddy with the glasses and mommy with the big hair. (As well as other big things - we won't go there right now.) Tim says to Josh, "But where's Benjamin?" To which Josh replies, "I'm sitting on him and I'm sucking on his binkie." Oh boy.

Happy Pioneer Day

In honor of Pioneer Day, Josh, Benjamin and I went to This Is The Place Heritage Park along with my friend Lucinda and her two boys and nephew. She had a buy one, get one free deal so I figured I could handle it monetarily. We really lucked out though. Right as we got there, some lady asked us if we wanted to get in on her season pass. The people she had invited to come with her ended up not coming and her pass could get in up to 6 adults and 6 kids. Sweet!

They have it set up like Utah looked like back in Pioneer days, complete with volunteers dressed up in pioneers clothes working in the yard, shops, hotels, schools and stores. They would talk to you about what life was like for them as a pioneer. It was really cool. Josh went to a leather shop and was able to stamp out a piece of leather.

They also had a little pony ride. I was actually pretty surprised that Josh went on the pony all by himself.

Here is the baby animal area where you could pet the lambs and goats. Josh was all about the lambs. He wasn't too sure about the goats though. I think the horns scared him a little bit.

They also had a little play town the kids could play in. There was a big train as well. Of course, Josh spent most of his time there. It was pretty funny to listen to his story line as he was playing. I had to give back my nice phone so I didn't get a good video.

Outside of the pioneer area, they have a monument to different pioneer groups.

This is a picture of the statue honoring the handcart pioneers. We have ancestors that came across the plains in the Martin Handcart Company.

This is a picture of Bryant Stringham's name. He is my great-great-grandfather who came across the plains with the first group of pioneers and Brigham Young. He was there when Brigham Young said, "This is the right place, drive on."
Even with the heat and the major sunburn on my neck afterwards, it was such a fun day. It was great to think back on the pioneers and all that they did. We will definitely make this a tradition!

Super Yummy Brownies

I found a really good deal on brownie mixes so I bought a ton. Regular brownies are good, but I wanted something to make them even better. I got this recipe off the box and it gives your brownies a little extra kick to make them super yummy. So, here you go!

Make brownies according to directions on box. I usually make the "cake like" brownies. They call for one extra egg and don't come out as gooey as normal brownies.


Take out of the oven and top with two cups of mini marshmallows. Spread evenly over the pan. Return to the oven for an additional 3 minutes.

In the meantime, melt together 1 cup of chocolate chips and a 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter over medium-high heat. Stir often.


When chocolate and peanut butter are completely melted, turn off heat and stir in 1 cup of crisped rice cereal.

Remove the brownies topped with marshmallows from the oven. The marshmallows will get kind of puffy.


Spread melted mixture over marshmallows and chill for at least an hour.
Enjoy!