"There's No Place Like Home"

No, we didn't go to our respective "homes" for Thanksgiving this year. We stayed in our home in Albuquerque and celebrated with our friends, the Alders. After dinner and a movie (Be Kind, Rewind- loved it), we settled down for a game of Trivial Pursuit. I used to hate this game when I was a kid, but it was so fun last night! On a pivotal pie moment in the game, Christian and I missed the question, "What does Dorothy say in the Wizard of Oz to get "home?" Ahhh! The sad thing is that Christian went on to answer some real doozies that only contestants on Jeopardy should know. Such as, "What is the name of the tent-like structure that nomadic people in Eastern Asia use?" Answer: yurt. What the???!!! Anyway, we beat the Alders- soundly. And if it weren't for the sports questions in the game, we would have beat them even more soundly. :) Thanksgiving was great this year and so cozy. Eric did the most beautiful carving job on a turkey I have ever seen, Rachel made the yummiest stuffing and 7-layer jello, and we even had some banana cream pie to top it off!

Pre-dinner play. It was a cold, rainy Thanksgiving day.

Eric getting ready to carve the bird.

Rachel set this beautiful table and even made the adorable place cards.

Worn out after a stunning victory at Trivial Pursuit.:)

"Handsome Outfit!"

Christian got Oliver dressed for church this morning and after he finished, he pulled Oliver off his changing table and said, "Handsome outfit!" So, for the next 30 minutes before we left, Oliver was running around the house repeating, "Handsome outfit!" Well, the first time he ran past me I said, "Handsome boy!" He stopped right there and very seriously said, (I can't recall now if he was wagging his finger at me or not.) "No, it's not a handsome boy, Momma, it's a handsome outfit." And he was off again. So, in tribute to his Sunday outfit this morning and some other gems this week, here goes:

We got him a potty this week and though we are not yet "training" him, he is VERY excited about it and is always asking to go to the bathroom. I guess I should take that as a sign???

Ready to brave the cold...

He kept bringing me his jammies and asking me to put them on him.

Tag-riffic!

Here we go again! I love reading these, and since I seriously lack in the creativity department, I thought instead of sorting through my mind to figure out another post, I'd let the tag template do the work for me. Here goes:

What is your husbands name? Christian, though family and friends pre-college know him as Chris, which I think is a rather unattractive alternative to Christian. So, I've stood my ground and when we are with his family, I am still the ONLY one to refer to him as "Christian."

How long have you been married? 3 1/2 years

How long did you date? Almost 6 months. I know- embarrassing.

How old is he? 28, almost 29

Who eats more sweets? Me. Though pregnancy has kind of flipped that for us and he has had quite a few notable binges.

Who said I love you first? Christian

Who is taller? Christian- by almost a whole foot

Who can sing the best? This is a tough one. I used to think I could sing fairly well, but I'm realizing that I have a hard time remembering a tune, for which I attract constant laughs. Christian has an incredible voice and could totally moonlight as a lounge singer.

Who is smarter? Christian. He's one of the smartest people I know and he is always eager to learn new things.

Who does the laundry? Funny. Do I want to be able to find my clothes? I do it.

Who pays the bills? Moi.

Who mows the lawn? Christian. I kind of can't stand the smell of freshly cut grass.

Who cooks dinner? If you'd like a mean grilled cheese: Christian. I actually LOVE to cook, it's one of my favorite things.

Who drives? Christian.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Christian. I think he would say that I'm getting better at this, though.

Who kissed who first? This is how it went down. Christian and I were chatting in my car at the end of the night one night and all the sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see him coming towards me. It was so unexpected and quick that he literally had me pinned against the window of my car before I realized what was happening. Needless to say, it wasn't the greatest kiss, but it has made for some good storytelling.

Who asked who out first? Christian. We met in a tanning salon. I was working and he was, well...stuff that you do in a tanning salon.:) J/K. He was buying books there (long story).

Who wears the pants? This is a tough one b/c it depends and we are both pretty stubborn. But, if I had to answer, I would say Christian.

Need your digits

My phone drown, so all my contact info was lost.

So if you would all (except for Jewkes people. I have yours through Reba) please leave a comment (or email me, if you want to keep things on the down low, sharkmanbell@gmail.com) with your home and cell numbers, I'd be grateful.


Christian

Girls Night Out, Crafty Style

I was majorly hustling that night b/c I was the only one to decide to make two boards. And all this in under 4 hours!

Last week, we had a little craft night for just the girls at my friend, Jill's house. Tara, the resident craft person extraordinare taught us all how to make these fall boards ad I must say, I was pretty impressed with how they turned out, especially considering my lack of artistic ability. Tara was an awesome teacher and helper. It is so much fun to get out with just girls. Next GNO: TWILIGHT!!!:)

On Oprah...

If you didn't have the chance to hear Oprah's comments on ABC's election coverage last night with Robin Roberts, you need to hear it. You can watch it here:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6184594

If you can't access it there, just go to abcnews.com and look up Oprah, "I've been vibrating all night", and/or interview with Robin Roberts. I only saw until the last 1:25. It's too bad, too, b/c there were some real gems after that minute that I wish I would have seen.
I am not a hugely political person- I leave that up to Christian, but I could not help myself. On a side note, while I am not disappointed or excited about the presidential elections last night (though it was a HORRIBLE night for New Mexican politics in my opinion) the good news is- no, the GREAT news is that Prop 8 passed in California. I salute all those people that worked so incredibly hard and even endured persecution to get that passed.

Halloween Extravaganza!

Our Halloween was underrated I think, after reading everyone's posts about how they took their kids trick-or-treating 4 times, to neighborhood parties, and on hay rides. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat and then went trick-or-treating on Halloween. And I still felt like that was a bit over the top! It was so fun, though to get Oliver all dressed up in his froggy outfit. We also made it out to our pumpkin patch, which turned out to be really fun. We babysat for a family in our old ward this weekend, which meant that we took Oliver, along with their 4-year-old and 2-year-old out on the actual night. It was fun to take the three little guys in their costumes.

This is Oliver at our ward trunk-or-treat with one of his little "girlfriends," Makenna.

Playing in the cornbox (?) at the pumpkin patch

This ride lasted about 2 seconds...

Oliver just learned how to say "cheese" when we take a pic, hence the staged smile. Posing in front of the pumpkin that I carved all by myself (Oliver was too grossed out and Christian needed to rest his wrist.)

Joseph, Henry, and Oliver on Halloween night. Oliver loved playing with these guys. Can you guess who Henry is for Halloween? I'll give you a clue. It's the main character in the worst movie this year, possibly in the last 5 years. (That thing in his right hand is a whip.)

Frustration with (and without) Representation

I just got back from voting and I can’t shake a feeling of anger and frustration. I feel angry that these four jokers are the best we can do. Seriously? This is the best we can do? The mightiest, wealthiest, and arguably most egalitarian nation in the ENTIRE history of the world, and these are our options? I feel like a Scandinavian prince who, in the land of beautiful women, sends official word that I will be holding auditions to pick my princess, and, inexplicably, the only two candidates who show up on the appointed day are my grandma’s best friend and a dude. And the dude isn’t even handsome or pleasant. WTH (“h” for hud)?????

Back to the Future president:

On the one hand I can pick a total rookie who has chosen as his successor the biggest goofball we have seen in public life since Jerry Lewis retired (the latter of who, to his credit, was actually trying to be laughed at). Now this rookie has an obviously high IQ, is possessed of an admirable degree of intellectual honesty (for a politician) and curiosity, has a gift for social inspiration, and is apparently adept at political strategy and organization. Then you have his many liabilities, the captain of which is his HAVING DONE NOTHING OF HIGH-LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE EVER IN HIS LIFE! Nothing. We’re going to elect him because he’s young, charismatic, eloquent, and very originally wants change. And the fact that he’s black doesn’t hurt. He could turn out, like almost all other dem presidents since Truman, to be a more conservative executive in this center-right country than his past experience indicates. Or, he could turn out to be what the Hannity/Coulter bodagets would have us fear; a couple clicks away from a European neosocialist. Honestly, either is absolutely plausible and we just can’t tell because, for the average voter, 1. There is very little Obama history to look to as precedent, and 2. what record and personal history there is has been largely obfuscated or totally ignored by a mainstream media that seems to have decided that suspending their jobs as dispassionate journalists for a time in order to achieve the greater good of getting this demigod elected, is more than justified. Billy C. was right. This is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.

Or we can pick a very obnoxious, immature, emotionally unstable , vindictive, arrogant septuagenarian who has made one of the stupidest, pandering, political, short-sighted VP picks in American history. This man has run a deplorable, shameless, disorganized, “erratic,” and often blatantly dishonest general election campaign. He is known for letting his anger and spite take control at a significant political cost. I don't trust this guy with the nukes key. Don't trust him with the most powerful military in history. Don't trust him to be open minded and smart and calm. He has recently shattered the only two reasons I used to like him (1. acting out his conscience independently, with comparatively little regard for political consequences, and 2. decent, steady judgment) by displaying a disingenuous willingness to do and say anything to get elected, and by picking the aforementioned vapid, uninformed, right-wing-pandering, stuttering, anti-intellectual S.P. as his number 2. If Sarah Palin is the future of the party, I’m moving to Somalia. I’m so sick of the conservative ideology and Republican Party being too greatly influenced/tainted by the uneducated, reactionary, largely evangelical right wing of the party. I’m sick of our coonskin cap-clad political cousin Jethro speaking for the whole family. It irks me to no end that these people sank Romney—by far the best chance this country had at some stability, constructive change, and intelligent policy—for no other reason than that they are staggeringly ignorant and contemptuous of other.

In other words, there is a 100% chance that I will wake up November 5^th, learn who won, and be depressed. That sucks. How I long for the good ol’ days of Hoover and Carter.

Christian