Professor Babe and Procrastination Queen

Did I tell you that Zeke is teaching a class at the University this semester? I am SO proud of him and excited for him. The class is called: "Real Time Systems" and it has something to do with robotics and computers and that's about all I know about that... something something UML... sorry, honey, my mind just can't quite grasp it.

He's really great in front of people. (I'm not) He's one of those people that actually feels comfortable and even enjoys speaking in public. He's very articulate and funny and interesting to listen to. But I am his wife...

Anyway, he's always wanted to do this and a great friend of his asked him to teach the class with him. Good Luck, Babe! Can I call you Professor Babe? And Professor Babe gets paid too :)

I love this picture of him with Caspian and Pippin. He tries to pretend he doesn't like the cats, but he DOES. And the shirt. He loves this shirt! Oh boy, last weekend my Mom and I made the mistake of asking him what it means... yeah, our eyes glazed over in no time. Sorry, babe.

Here's Zeke playing Guitar Hero during Christmas:

And then there's me: I've had a sinus/ear infection thingy all week and I haven't felt very good. When I have been feeling good, I haven't been cleaning... check out my kitchen :( Blah...
Some days, I feel like a little kid playing house... all I want to do is play with the cats and my kids and bake cookies and make stuff. When I have been feeling good, I've been working on my Primary lesson. I love my little CTR 5 class! And I've been playing "Just Dance" on the Wii. It is so much fun! Good times :)

My brother, Jody, gave me a can of Green Curry sauce when we visited him on Monday. How cute is that? We both LOVE Thai food and he made sure I took it home with me. I can't wait to use it. Thanks, Jode, I love ya! Growing up, I remember watching Jody cook and tasting many of his creations. We always had a lot of fun together.

One of my most favorite quotes of all time is: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." ~ Albert Einstein

Really if you think about it... this quote is very profound. It applies to almost anything and has seriously changed my life. I've been feeling kinda bummed out this week and I know being sick doesn't help, but I thought about this quote and thought about something I should change.

Since school started in August, I've been getting up at 6:30 to get the kids ready and Beck wakes up too and I pretty much hit the ground running. I say a quick prayer while I'm in the shower trying to keep Beck from poking me with his toys and I try my best to get through the day. At night after the kids are in bed, I curl up in my bed with Zeke and attempt to read my scriptures for at least 10 minutes. Well, once my body is holding still and the house is quiet... I fall asleep in 2.7 minutes... so yeah, I'm not really getting enough personal scripture study.

By some miracle, Beck slept until 8:15 this morning. Today as soon as I got the kids off to school, I went upstairs in my room, knelt down and said my prayers and read my scriptures until Beck woke up. It was wonderful. I needed it.

I changed how I was doing things and I know I'll get a different result. I'm going to try my best to start the day off with my scriptures.

2 Nephi 32: 3-4 "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark."

Wonderful "Wii"-kend

We went to visit my parents over the weekend. It was really fun, but as usual, just as CRAZY! We adopted Noira on Thursday and I was worried she would run away since she doesn't really know us yet, so we took her with us! Yeah, have you ever traveled with a cat? Nope, we haven't either. But there was no way I was waiting any longer to see my Mom! Noira was actually really good and it ended up being a lot of fun to have her there.

My Dad really enjoyed Noira:

We finally exchanged Christmas presents:

The much awaited Pillow Pets!!

Ecclesiastes 3:4 "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to DANCE..." (Thank you, Kevin Bacon!)

My parents got us "Just Dance" for our Wii. We "just happened" to bring our Wii with us. It is REALLY fun. My Mom was even doing it, but she refused to hold a controller. How funny! Zoe was doing better than anyone. Zeke took some pictures of us while we were dancing to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. Yeah, I'm a nerd, but it was awesome:

The kids always love doing crafts at Grandma's House.

Thanks to my niece, Angee, for the great presents!

I love Zoe's tongue in this picture:
The boys had to engage in their traditional wrestling match
(or two or three):
What is it about wrestling at Grandma's house?

We watched the movie "Despicable Me" with Steve Carell. I have to tell you, I didn't think I would like it. Zeke and the kids really wanted to see it. My Mom got the DVD from my brother, Brady, for Christmas. Guess what? "Light bulb!" I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! Really, it was that good to warrant 9 exclamation points. It made me cry and laugh and feel all warm and fuzzy inside (the best kind of movies). I am definitely going to watch it again:

(photo from Internet Movie Database)

On the way home, we stopped at Jody's house (my brother). He and his wife, Kiersten, fed us some yummy dinner and we laughed so hard I thought I would choke. They are so fun! I'm just a sappy little sister I'm sure, but my brothers are SO cool. I just think they are AWESOME! Jody reminds me a lot of Zeke (and vice versa). They are so kind-hearted and generous. They're always making jokes and impersonating voices and not being too serious. It's so good for me. Kiersten is so spunky, I think she's the only person who could put up with Jody. I mean, Jody is great, but he and Zeke can be so exhausting with their silliness sometimes. Gabe thinks Jody is the coolest guy ever. Jody gave Gabe his old amp "just in case" Gabe gets an electric guitar for his birthday. Their kids are SO cute. And well, I left my camera in the car :(

But this is Oskar, Beck, Max, and Kaia when we visited them in August
(I could NOT get them to hold still!):

Here's my wonderful brother, Jody, with baby Samantha
(she's just 4 days old in this picture):