As of late...

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great week. We both went to school and work Monday through Wednesday. On Thursday, I made crescent rolls, candied yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and a vegetable tray. We ate Thanksgiving with our friends the LaBau’s. They made turkey and rotisserie chicken, more potatoes and rolls, green salad, pomegranate salad, chocolate pie, and pecan pie. We ate and then played Cities and Knights. Ethan (almost 2) provided most of the entertainment and wore Brandon out.

On Friday we went to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. They had Harry S. Truman’s coin collection, random bits of information, we saw Huey, Dewey, and Louie (unmanned, yellow, robotic trucks) moving the money from room to room since they don’t want people to move the money. On the way out they gave us $165 in shredded US currency. It wasn’t the most exciting museum but it was free and a place to go that wasn’t full of holiday shoppers.

Improving leaps and bounds from our tree last year, we also set up the Christmas tree that we bought after Christmas last year. Since we bought it in an after-Christmas sale, it has just been sitting in our storage for nearly a year building suspense, and this was the first time we saw it out of the box. It is a 6.5 foot pre-lit tree. We have silver tinsel and silver and blue ornaments.

On Saturday we had beautiful weather so we ate a picnic lunch and walked around our favorite park. The weather was so nice that we were comfortable in short sleeve tee-shirts. That won't last long, no doubt. We also spent our free time reading The Giver by Lois Lowry to each other. Neither of us had read the book in school so it was an interesting short read for our vacation time.

Also, on November 16th we went to AMF bowling lanes with Alec, Amber, and Ethan. We bowled for 2 hours and had a lot of fun. My legs were sore for days. We didn't get our best bowling scores ever, but we were sure happy to get out of the house for a bit.

Halloween

We have more to pictures to show everyone from our Halloween festivities. It seems like it is always feast or famine when it comes to updating this blog; hopefully no one minds. We tried to get a couple of pictures of us playing in front of the black-light but, as you can imagine, they didn't turn out so well, so all we have to show for the holiday is pumpkin carving.

I really think I've found my calling in life with this. It's too bad they don't have professional pumpkin carvers, because if it could support a family I just might drop out of medical school to go to pumpkin carving school. Too bad. It might not look like much this year, but give me a few more years and I'll be a natural.

More Church History

We had another great weekend. Brandon's Institute teacher offered to take his class and their families on a tour of Church history sites in the area. It was great to have a guided tour because we had a car to follow to the sites so we didn't get lost and he gave us background and stories as we went along.

We met at the Liberty Stake Center and found out that most of the senior missionary couples serving in our Riverview Ward were also coming on the tour. He headed to Hiram Page's grave site. It's a strange grave, because it is just on the side of a dirt road between two farms. We then hit a couple of cemeteries and saw the grave sites of David and John Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, etc.

We stopped at the Far West Temple Site. The first time we went there it was for a ward activity. This time it was much more peaceful. It really is a beautiful temple site. We then drove on to Adam-ondi-Ahman. The valley is beautiful and the fall colors were amazing. We also saw a few other sites along the way which you can see in the picture slide show.

Nauvoo

We decided to take a mini vacation this weekend since Brandon finished his Neuro section and I still have a few more vacation days this year. We decided to go to Nauvoo since Brandon has never been there and I haven't been there in years. We made a quick stop in Hannibal, MO to see the hometown of Mark Twain. We were impressed that even the pop machines boasted pictures of Mark Twain.

Next we stopped at Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois. It was nice to go on the tour with just a few people and have plenty of time to take pictures. I was impressed at the kindness of the jailer in letting the men stay where it was more comfortable or safe depending on the day. As we were talking the the Sister missionary afterward we found out she is distantly related through the Roberts family. I thought that only happened at BYU but I guess it stands for all Church history sights.

We made our final stop at Nauvoo. On our first night we had time to check out the visitor's center, go to the temple, and see a show called "Rendezvous" at the Cultural Hall, put on by the missionaries in the area. The temple is BEAUTIFUL. It has exquisite murals, lots of wood work, and spiral stair cases.

On Saturday we had a great time visiting many of the sights. We were able to go on the wagon ride by horse through town and later by ox. We also were able to see the brickyard, Lucy Mack Smith's home, the school house, the post office, John Taylor's home, the print shop, the Browning Home and Gunsmith Shop, the Webb Brothers' Blacksmith shop, the Seventies Hall, the Trail of Tears, the Scovil Bakery, the Family Living Center, Heber C. Kimball's home, and the graves of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith. At that point we were exhausted! Luckily the drive home only took about five hours.

We had a great time and recommend a visit to anyone who hasn't been there recently. You can come visit us while you're at it.

26 Things You Might Not Know About Melody

These lists are usually a big hit. I wanted to try and pull one together before Melody get's too old and the list gets too long to be interesting. This list comes pre-approved by Melody herself, though she didn't want me to put in anything too sweet or romantic.

As you can see, the cake didn't even last long enough for the candle lighting or picture taking.

Now on to the main event:

1. Melody would spend more hours of the day asleep than awake if people would let her.
2. Melody wears shoe size nine, most of the time.
3. Melody hates buying clothes for herself, but loves window shopping.
4. When Melody does manage to buy herself new clothes, they usually sit in the closet for two or more weeks before she decides that she really does like them.
5. Melody loves watching sappy, girly movies, but can’t stand to be sappy or girly in real life.
6. Melody is almost certifiably mysophobic (germophobic). Hand-washing is the transition between any two activities of the day.
7. Melody stacks the pillows flat against the wall when she makes the bed. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that’s strange.
8. Melody has a built in neurological reflex to mute or change the station whenever a TV or radio commercial comes on. This is even to the point that if a real show or song even sounds like a commercial, she can’t listen to it.
9. Melody hates spending money, no matter whose money it is.
10. Melody loves anything with peanut butter (literally anything, but mostly chocolate).
11. Melody is the world’s best side-seat google map reader, except that she always seems to forget the difference between right and left…
12. Melody has 12 nieces and nephews all under the age of four. She loves all of them.
13. Melody and I have played Yahtzee 19 times since we’ve been married. Melody won 18 of those games (and I think that one time she just let me win to make me feel better). We don’t play that game much anymore.
14. Melody’s life is not complete unless she has four or five stashes of notes around the apartment.
15. Melody loves to keep the apartment clean, but hates decorating.
16. Melody eats cereal for breakfast, pancakes or waffles for dinner, then cereal again as a pre-going-to-bed snack.
17. Melody eats her pre-going-to-bed cereal out of a cup to try and convince herself that it is only a snack. By the third or fourth cup she’s not fooling anyone.
18. Melody scrunches her eyebrows together whenever I’m doing something strange or embarrassing.
19. Melody always said, before three years ago, that she would never marry a doctor or someone she’d have to put through school.
20. Melody parts her hair on the right side of her head.
21. Melody is a crack shot at clay pigeon shooting. She also hates guns.
22. Melody can make any recipe taste good.
23. Melody refuses to use our dishwasher, no matter how large the pile of dishes has gotten. In her defense, she washes dishes most of the time in our family.
24. Melody has a hypersensitive sense of smell. Though more acute to foul odors, she can detect any smell within several hundred yards.
25. Melody has a very low tolerance for the cold. Hypothermia sets in at room temperatures below 80°.
26. Melody is a sucker for a head scratch.


Happy Birthday Melody. I Love You.

Meet our new plant

This is our new plant. We haven't given it a name yet, but we are open to suggestions if you have any.

We took care a of a friend's plant for a week while he was on vacation and we decided that greenery is very soothing.

If we're able to keep this plant alive for any extended period of time we might upgrade to a fish or a gerbil. We'll see where this new responsibility takes us.

St. Louis - One Last Trip

We took one last trip before Brandon starts school again. We went to St. Louis and, after a trip to the temple, we visited the famous Science Center. Famous for what, you ask? We're not sure, either. Over-rated might be a better description. We were not impressed, but that might be because we are not seven years old. We did stop to take a picture so that we would know how much it would cost if we were going to go to space. You can just tack sum on to our tuition loans. We probably wouldn't notice anyway. And, yes, we know we look like goons.


We also stopped by the zoo for a few minutes and then made a quick trip to the Des Peres hospital, which is a consideration for where we might end up for the last two years of Brandon's school. We will see...

Far West, Missouri

We had a ward activity at the Far West temple site. The Bishop asked us bring our 72-hour kits (which we managed to pull together the week before) as part of an emergency preparedness activity. We spent the afternoon running around doing activities reminding us how important our 72-hour kits are.

The day was beautiful. There isn't much at the temple site, except for a small monument, but the area is very lush, for those of you who have not been there.

Aunt Melody

Vacation

We went to Utah on our vacation this summer: July 3rd through the 11th. We were able to see all of our parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. We had a great time with everyone. Check out the pictures, they tell the story a little better.

President Harry S. Truman's House

One Saturday morning we woke up and found out on the news that it was free National Park day. The only national park near us is the house of the former president of the United States, Harry S. Truman. Not really what we had in mind when they said "parks" but we certainly couldn't pass up anything for free. We were impressed at how frugally they lived, even though they were so well known.

Brandon's Summer

So many of you may ask what Brandon did with his summer. Well, I guess I don't really know what he did, since I was at work, but here's what I found when I got home one day.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went to Denver over memorial day weekend. Some of our favorites parts of Denver were being able to see our nieces and nephews, holding tarantulas, butterflies, and eating very well.

Happy Mother's Day

For Mothers' Day this year we gave our mothers a tour of our little piece of Kansas City. If you want to see where we hang out every day, take a look.

Long nights, little sleep... and we don't even have kids yet

Brandon and I haven't been sleeping very well lately. We have both been waking up in the middle of the night and rolling over which wakes the other person up. It has been a long few days. Well, last Tuesday we both went to bed around 10:30pm. I luckily stayed asleep until 4:30am when I woke up and saw Brandon sitting on his side of the bed fiddling with his phone (alarm clock). I rolled over towards him and asked if he was okay. He said, "I just want to be asleep." I told him to lay back down and then I fell back asleep. When I finally woke up for the day (7:00 am), Brandon was awake and ready to leave for school when I rolled out of bed. I opened the bedroom door so he would know I was awake. He came in and I gave him a hug and the dialog below followed:

Melody: So you didn't sleep very well last night?
Brandon: Well, actually, I was sleeping fine until you woke me up.
Melody: I didn't wake you up, you were already awake sitting on the side of the bed.
Brandon: I was sitting on the side of the bed because I was coming back from sleeping on the couch.
Melody: You slept on the couch? Why did you sleep on the couch?
Brandon: Oh (glare), you're in so much trouble. I slept on the couch because you told me to!
Melody: (Realization sets in) Oh...

I suddenly remembered a weird dream I had and someone (I thought Brandon) said something about sleeping on the couch. I guess I was the one who said it.

What really happened was that, around midnight, I shook Brandon until he woke up and I said, "Someone needs to sleep on the couch." My husband being such a sweet and tired guy didn't argue or even ask why he just picked up his pillow, unplugged his phone and slept on our love seat (we don't really have a couch). At around 4:30 am he gave up and came back to bed. As he was plugging in his phone, I woke up and told him to come back to bed.

The funny thing is I have NEVER told him to sleep on the couch and he never has before this week. I think it is funny that he didn't argue with me about sleeping on the couch but I guess he decided in his tired mind that if I woke him up, then the "someone" who needed to sleep on the couch was him and there must be some reason why. And whether that reason was valid or not should not be discussed in the middle of the night.

As if that wasn't enough Thursday night I woke us both up yelling "ow!...ow!!...OW!!!" I had a charlie horse in my calf. That's always exciting at 2:00am.

St. Louis, Again

In a stunningly uncharacteristic deviation from our normal bi-monthly-blog-updating schedule we actually have a few interesting things to write about again today. We took another trip to St. Louis to visit the temple on Saturday. We couldn't resist a short side trip while we were there, so Melody's coworkers suggested a few places for us to visit: the zoo, the science museum, and the Budweiser brewery. Maybe next time we'll hit up the science museum. The weather threatened to ruin our plans and, as you can see from the pictures, it did rain a little, but it wasn't anything that a few umbrellas and a good attitude couldn't overcome. The pictures do a better job cataloging our adventure, so here are the rest of them:

Cub Scout Career Day

We were invited to help at the cub scout career fair this last week.

Brandon obviously presented on being a doctor. The first question the kids asked was "are you a real doctor?" Not yet, I have to finish school and then I'll be a doctor. "How long before you finish school?" Um, like 10 years, but thanks for asking... He made his presentation interesting by bringing bones to pass around (they were actually fake plastic ones, but don't tell the kids). They came up with crazy questions all the way through the presentation. One boy, out of the blue, asked, "What does the liver do?" What seven year old even knows what a liver is anyway? Brandon did his best to explain blood detoxification, glycogen storage, and lipid-digesting bile production in as simple terms as possible. The presentation ended with Brandon checking all the boys' reflexes. Most of them worked, if he distracted them well enough to relax their leg.

Melody presented on accounting. She worked so hard to come up with an interesting presentation (despite the subject matter) including the game of life, fake money, and role playing. Melody explained where all the money goes when you buy the game of life from Wal-mart. It was actually a great idea and she did a good job, but there's no fooling little children. During questions at the end one boy asked "Do accountants do anything fun?" I guess not. Melody's coworkers in the accounting department got a kick out of that the next day, though.

Food, more food, a little exercise, and congratulations

I guess that we've been a little busy lately. Some people were getting grumpy that we hadn't written anything in a while. Well, now we are coming to the end of spring break so the "busy" excuse doesn't apply much any more. We decided to check the camera for a few things we've done in the last months, and here's what we found.

This is Melody's Valentine's day treat for Brandon: Scotcheroos, or peanut butter rice crispies, or whatever you call them. They were delicious, in case you haven't ever tried them.

Speaking of Melody's good food, we finally made a Lion House roll mix that we were given for our wedding. It only expired in November of 2008. The next two pictures are the results of that mix: Dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls. They were delicious too...

Most everyone knows that our Kansas City neighborhood is less than hospitable for taking walks, especially later in the evening. Thanks to a tip from some of Melody's co-workers, we found a pretty cool park just north of the river called Macken park. We're particularly fond of park's walking/running track and a flat trail for bikes and rollerblades. We took this picture a couple of weeks ago just before the weather went sour.

One more quick thought, though we don't have any pictures for it. Congratulations to Neal, Katrina, and Daniel for the most recent addition to their family, Anna Renée. We wish we lived closer and could visit. And another congratulations to Jared, Mikail, and William for their most recent announcement too.

Just a couple of pictures, is all.

You might recognize this park from a from a few months ago.

Holiday Break (Mostly Pictured Here)

We had a great holiday break.

Christmas morning we slept in and leisurely opened our gifts (pictured here). Thank you to everyone who contributed. The important part of the morning for me was getting some exercise at the apartment gym (not pictured here). The important part of the morning for Brandon was the amazing breakfast, complete with orange juice and bacon (pictured here). Most of you know about the breakfast already because he's told practically everyone about how exciting it was to eat bacon again.

On Friday, the day after Christmas, we drove to St. Louis and back again. We attended the St. Louis temple (pictured here). Later, after a long detour and lots of traffic, we made it to the famous St. Louis Gateway Arch (pictured here).

The rest of our holiday break (mostly not pictured here) was spent celebrating our second anniversary, celebrating the New Year by playing games with the LaBou family, frequenting the nearest RedBox, and playing Carcassonne, a late Christmas gift.

Work and classes start again tomorrow morning, regrettably. Hope you all have a great year.