Wii Challenge

Alright, time for truth. My soccer score was 376. Post your scores please.

Wii FIT!!!

This is my early Christmas present(really early actually, I got it Thanksgiving weekend). I LOVE it. Not only is it fun, but I actually do get a workout. That will probably change once I am actually in shape more, but for now it works wonderfully.
I have a Wii challenge to you who have wii fit. Lets see who can get the best score on the soccer ball game. One week from today, I will post my score, and you post yours. Just for fun, k?
Let us begin!!

Wow, and again, Wow!

These guys are so fun to watch! Make sure you look at their other videos. I loved "Rachmoninov has big hands".

This is for you Texans

Snow Snow Snow!!!!!

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

Have you ever been to a Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband concert? They are loads of fun to watch! Ryan and I have been to two of their concerts and they always surprise us with something we have never seen before. This last time was the whole band playing Low rider on one bass! This video is from someone elses concert(they played it better at ours). It doesn't start at the beginning. What they did is one person started just playing around, and then they gradually came up and took over a string to play and finally the drummer joined in. Enjoy!

Health

When you get the desire to be more healthy, especially in terms of food, what do you do? Do you go to a library and look at books? Or search the internet? If so, do you follow the advice of "the China Study" and stay away from all animal protein especially milk? Or do you follow the many books on the benefits of milk. Or do you follow the food pyramid? Is organic really organic? Are we all going to die because of our greasy food? Are we going to have health problems because we eat vegetables sprayed with pesticide? Are we going to die of malnutrition if we become animal friendly and thus vegetarian? Or should I go the Atkins way and eat all the meat and fat I want?
Seriously, I have found only contradicting articles and books on healthy eating and I am at a complete loss on what is good for me and what isn't! Each person has also backed up their information with research to "prove" they are right, but they can't all be right!
The most I can do, is compare them to the Word of Wisdom and go from there.
Anyone have any tips?

Takamine

As funny as I found those pictures(see previous post), I admit it scared me a bit every time I would go to my blog. They are rather startling pictures, so I decided I better post again so that I can have relief to my eyes.
Ryan and I have a guitar that we REALLY like and are going to sell our two old guitars and buy this new one (eventually). It is a Takamine. Surprisingly, it is even a fairly low price. We looked at some $2000 guitars that we didn't like nearly as much! It is like candy to our fingers! So sweet and tasty. Wonderful sounds that can be made, freedom of expression and imagination, what could be better? The picture makes it look purple but it is black. Here it is:

6 String Acoustic / Electric

Body Shape:	NEX C/A
Rosette:	Concentric Rings
Top:	Quilt Maple
Inlays:	Abalone Dots
Back:	Quilt Maple
Sides:	Quilt Maple
Fingerboard:	Rosewood
Electronics:	TP4T Preamp
Tuners:	Chrome

Fun with the new MACBOOK!!!

Ryan got a new toy! We found a gently used macbook for $550! Ryan has been wanting one for a looonnnngggg time and we lucked out at finally finding one that was affordable!
We found some new tricks on it as shown above.

This is my personal favorite!

Definition: Frogger

A frogger is a painful torture popular with brothers(shall we name names?). The process is as follows: The abuser uses their knuckle to quickly punch the victims forearm, resulting in horrible pain and swelling.
If this definition causes you to desire to change your poll vote, feel free to do so.

Something to do

List of things I have done

I got this from Lonna's, Meg's, and Mom's blogs and I liked it so much I am doing it myself. The highlighted items are things I have done. Copy and paste and highlight it yourself if you want!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (pretty close)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching-Unintentionally, we saw them from the shore.
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible-I am working on it!
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Videogame veggies

I was at my in-laws yesterday for Ross's birthday(Ryan's brother) and Ryan and Ross were playing Ross's new video game. I was watching and realized not for the first time how much Ross looks like Ryan. In fact, the first time I met Ross, I thought of him as just a mini Ryan.

I love watching them play because they have the same expressions and intensity.
This one was my favorite. They both had their mouths hanging open and they get so into it.

Pearls Before Swine

I liked this comic. Sorry it is so small.

My new want

Sony - Cyber-shot 10.1-Megapixel Digital Camera

Model: DSCT700/N

Isn't it beautiful? I need a camera, and I saw this one in Best Buy. It is all touch screen, great picture, and it is only about a 1/4 inch thick! However, I will definitely have to save up since it is over $300.

Goo Balls

You are right! A Liripoop is a smart trick or stratagem. There is another definition of the word which I love. A liripoop is also a silly person!
Ryan downloaded a new game for the Wii called World of Goo. Anyone heard of it? The game is really cool, especially if you like a challenge. You have build the goo balls to get to certain spots but physics is in play and so you have to build without it falling! The music is cool, the graphics a bit weird, and it was created by only two guys (there was a third for part of it).

Random

Does anyone else find it ironic that eyelashes get in your eyes, when they are the very things there to stop things getting in your eyes?
Is anyone excited about November 4th?
Today's post is a mixture of my thoughts this week. I don't have pictures so I have to make up something. Although, I should have had Halloween pictures but I forgot to take some. Ryan and I went to a party at an old coworkers house. Ryan was a karate guy, and I was a french runway model. You will have to use your imagination.
Church was pretty good today. I have been trying to thing about Christ more during the sacrament and today I finally did. I was thinking about the basics, what it represents and so forth, and as I was thinking about why Christ died for us (because he loves us) I also thought, he did it so we could be happy. I think too many times we are unhappy with our life or situation, but I have found you can find joy in anything and I would much rather live that way than to be miserable in my complaints. I also thought about this subject the past two weeks as I have been reading the story of Nephi and Laman and Lemuel. Man, Nephi was an amazing guy, huh? I knew it before, but I never really KNEW it. And, Laman and Lemuel make me want to scream. Can you be any dumber? I found a common theme however, with the bad people, they are the murmurers. They are the ones who even though they repent, they soon find some part of their situation to complain about, and fall away again. And the common theme with the good people, is they have really hard trials, but they are always praising God and giving thanks. When I read this story, it literally scared me out of my complaints because I finally realized exactly where they were leading me. To failure. I don't want to be a Laman and Lemuel.
Thanks for listening folks.

haircut

I don't know what it is about pictures, but they always look so much different than things really are. Anyway, this is my new haircut that looks better in real life(I hope). The first picture is my attempt at making a model face like they have in the hair magazines. I love having short hair! My long hair was just in the way all the time, and short hair is so freeing.

Job

It is about time I updated my blog. I just have been so busy getting used to my new schedule and Ryan uses the computer for homework so I don't get to use it much :)
I know most of you know already, but I got a new job. I work in the Interlibrary Services department at the USU library. It is a great job for me, and it has a few nice perks. Take for instance, the fact that I now have access to a very large faculty/staff lunchroom that has a kitchen so I don't have to each sandwiches for lunch everyday anymore!!!!! I get to wear my wedding ring now, which I couldn't before at the UPS store because I kept catching the prongs on things and almost loosing my diamond. Also, I get to wear real clothes again! It is like I got my personality back or something. I no longer have to wear a uniform. I also get to eat lunch with Ryan M,W,F, and we carpool each day. I have access to a gym. Ryan gets half tuition next semester. I don't have to stand all day. I don't have to deal with customers, especially the grumpy ones. I love the campus atmosphere and it is fun to be around it again. Our insurance is better and WAY cheaper. Besides these added benefits, I like the job, I like the people, and all in all, it is a much better suited job for me.

The coolest music video ever

Ode to Kia

Oh my Kia, the days have far gone
when we zipped around Logan
and loved all things sawn.

We spent two years or more
getting used to our kinks,
the only car I adore.

Your parts are now old
my bank account shrinks,
I hate to leave you in the cold.

I have no choice but this
to make farewells and
give you a last kiss.

I'll miss you Kia

Work

Well, today was my last day at the UPS store. It hasn't really hit home yet. I am sad though to leave my boss, coworkers, and a few regular customers. Sometimes I really hate getting attached to people because eventually you have to say goodbye. I wont miss the grumpy customers though. Let me tell you, there are plenty of those. I discovered there are many people out there who are onery complainers and I don't like them. I know, I am an onery complainer, but at least I am only like that with people who know me and can just ignore me or get onery back without getting in trouble, and not to innocent workers who are just doing their job and have no escape. Well there was a vent I wasn't really planning on posting but I did. Anyway, back to happier things, my new job, for those of you who have not heard, is as a librarian assistant in inter-library loans at the USU library. It is a salary job, and a job that I want and don't just need! I have wanted to work in a library again and I absolutely love the library on campus so it is a double scoop of goodness. I start Monday. I am nervous. I am also happy that I can see Ryan at lunch and we can carpool. I get to wear real clothes(no uniform) and have an identity again. And, I get to wear my wedding ring!!!!! I kept bending the prongs on it at my old job so I could only wear it on weekends.
Well, Brad, Candice, Heath, Kody, Aubree, and you nice customers, I will miss you a lot. You have been great, and have become my friends. Thanks for everything.

Long, long time ago...

I don't know what happened, but somehow I forgot to post pictures on my Thanksgiving point trip!!! Ryan and I met Mom and Dad and Jen, Garrett, and kids there. It was a lot of fun! I am missing some pictures so I will have to just describe some things. One thing was a pond full of Coy. There were so many that they were up against each other. Some of them were over a foot long! Another fun feature there is the waterfall. It is a VERY tall man made waterfall. I love water. The picture above is a pathway that goes around the rose garden. Garrett rented a golf cart so we got to take turns riding and resting because it was so hot! It was an enjoyable day!

Art

I was sent an e-mail a while back that had some cool photoshop pictures done. Here is my favorite.
I am trying to work on my art skills, so if any of you artists out there have any suggestions on how to do this, I welcome the help.

New desk

Ryan and I built a new computer desk(which you have seen from Mom's blog) and it works perfect! We love the size. We got to unclutter some of our living room and rearrange it. It is much more open now, especially by the door. We still need to put pictures up though.

BOWDLERISE

The Answer is:
BOWDLERISE: To remove material that is considered improper or offensive.

I liked the origin story of the word so here it is:

This advertisement appeared on the front page of the Times of London on 15 December 1818, to announce the publication of a new work:

Bowdler, a man of independent means, had trained as a doctor but following a breakdown in his health spent the rest of his life in charitable undertakings, such as continuing the work of the prison reformer John Howard. Though it was once thought that the Family Shakespeare was his idea, it is now known that his sister Henrietta (also called Harriet), had previously published expurgated versions of 20 of Shakespeare's plays anonymously in 1807 under the same title and that her efforts formed the core of the later publication.

Both Harriet and Thomas were concerned that in Shakespeare’s works, as he put it in the introduction to the 1818 work: “Many words and expressions occur which are of so indecent a nature as to render it highly desirable that they should be erased.” He also complained about the unnecessary and frivolous allusions to Scripture, which “call imperiously for their erasement”. Alas, the Bowdlers’ attempts to sanitise the works of the master played sad havoc with their quality and Thomas was bitterly criticised for his prudery and heavy-handed editing (though the ten-volume work went through five editions by the 1860s). He died in 1825, having done much the same job on Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

The verb is recorded as first used by General Perronet Thompson in 1836, in his Letters of a Representative to his Constituents during the session of 1836. Though the Family Shakespeare has long since vanished from booksellers’ shelves, the name of its editor (or editors) lives on as a byword for prissy censorship.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bow1.htm

Facts of Life

Several people have answered these on their blog and I liked the idea so I am joining in.

I know: that there is so much to learn and I forget it anyway.

I have: dance dance revolutions waiting for me to play

I wish: I had tried harder to learn while in school

I smell: bad when I don't shower :)

I miss: the piano department

I hate: rude people. They infuriate me

I fear: people, they intimidate me

I crave: sleep and peace

I search: the scriptures

I regret: not practicing my piano more

I love: being with Ryan and having a day off with nothing planned to do

I always: read a book

I believe: people shouldn't be so stupid.

I dance: the cha cha, my favorite!

I sing: when no one is around

I don't always: use my brain

I am not: social, but sometimes I wish I knew how to be.

I write: beginnings of stories a lot, but never finish them

I lose: my train of thought a lot

I win: Egyptian Rat Screw, the best card game in the world.

I never: try hard enough

I listen: to classical music, and lately opera.

I am scared: of people dying

I am happy about: my life. I have a great husband, and I still have lots of time to keep working on things.

Appendix

Well I have to do a post about my appendix because I got a lot of cool stuff from it! So, short story version: I woke up at 5:00 am on Friday the 22nd with a pain in the center of my torso. I decided to wait it out. About 9:00 I started throwing up too, and then an hour or so later I decided it really wasn't a normal pain and had Ryan take me to the doctor. I have to say, I definitely wasn't expecting him to say it was my appendix. Anyway, they did surgery, but just the kind where they make small holes to get in, not one big cut, so I have three small incisions. And now I feel better! Tada!
So, I have to say, the hospital experience wasn't as bad as I thought. I had to spend the night and I thought I would get really bored or something but I just got to sleep all the time and get taken care of and I didn't really want to go home.

Mom and Dad came up, and they got me the flowers shown above, and a chocolate cake(for my birthday)! I really have enjoyed both so much! Dad the handyman saw our pathetic hose shower and decided to make us a real one. It works so nice! I love to shower now! Thanks Dad.
I got to take home this cool water bottle and booties! I love free stuff.I have also gotten free food from people in my ward which has been really helpful. Thanks everyone who helped us out!

Ryan is great

Ryan and I had our one year anniversary on Sunday! Yay! Ryan is such a wonderful guy. He is funny and makes me happy. He is also very good to me and supportive. I have written things about Ryan before so I wont really go on about specifics but I am really grateful to have him and couldn't have picked a better person to spend eternity with.

For our anniversary(ok, it was really an excuse) we put some money into a few computer parts to upgrade our current two. We are combining to make one really nice computer. I had to take a picture of Ryan with the new parts because he was so excited it was like Christmas! I thought it was funny.

Back to kids

Ryan and I decided to be kids again and build a fort out of couch cusions and chairs and blankets. We then spent the next few hours reading inside.

Cool work fact: On Tuesday, I shipped a live tarantula. I had to pack it and everything! Crazy huh? I would have included a picture but I don't have access to the ones we took at work(I know some of you are happy about that). I hope it got there ok, we were a little bit worried about it.

Mom

Thanks to the helpful hint from Mom, I am posting a blog even though I don't really have much to say. Oh, I can post on Twilight. Everyone I know has read or is reading this series. I finally caved in and am on the 4th one. I have mixed feelings on this book series though. It definitely caught me and I was trapped into being a book zombie, but man, it really brings back those silly high school hormones that I prefer not to remember. I did like that the writing was in a different style than I am used to. I am not even sure how to describe the style, but it was a different point of view or something. It was a refresher.

Oh, one more bit of my life, my tomato plant produced its first tomato!!!! That is very exciting to me because my plants usually(or actually always) die on me. I was gone a week though and so I think it is dying on me now. At least I got one morsel from it.

Cheesy Facts

I finished reading all my books, and have nothing to do. Ryan suggested I do a blog entry and when I told him I didn't have anything to blog about, he suggested I blog on cheese. I took the challenge, and by the end of this post....You will wish I hadn't. Enough said.

Below is a picture of Wisconsin something or other. Something about sports. Either way, interesting use of cheese.
Ah, Cheddar Cheese. The cheese we all eat. Did you know: "The origin of cheddar comes from 'cheddaring', a cheese making method that originated in the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England during the 12th Century..." Source: www.kidairy.com.au/styles.aspx?category=4
How about that?Some interesting cheeses I didn't know about: Caravane(shown below) is a cheese made from Camel's milk and is low in Lactose. Airag is from Horse milk and originates in Turkey.

Well, that's it I guess. Time for bed.

Yum!!!!!!

Ryan and I went and picked raspberries at our neighbors and got a bunch for a dollar! Of course we had to get some half and half to go on it...We went berry crazy today. We had already gotten strawberries, and then we got vanilla ice cream and yogurt to make fruit smoothies. It is going to be a good day of yumness.

Bugs

I got more "Yes" answers on my poll then I thought I would. I am really interested to hear the story behind them! I will start with my story. Post a comment with yours, if you would!
About 2 years ago, I woke up to a NASTY taste in my mouth. You know how a stink bug smells? It tasted like that smell. I went in the bathroom and rinsed my mouth out and all this black stuff came out! It was so gross! Then, only a month or so later while I was in Germany, the same thing happened!!

Speaking of bugs, Ryan and I found a huge spider in our house (2 inches across) and we spent a while on the internet determining for sure what kind it was. It was a wolf spider like we thought, but we learned about several other types of spiders that are really cool! Anyone who is interested should look up fishing spiders. They are big! Ryan put the spider in the freezer so we could study it without it moving around so much. He left it in longer than we meant too... Oh well. It looks small in this picture but that is because half of it is on the side of the cup. It could have spanned the whole cup.

Hiking part 1

Ryan and I decided to hike to the wind caves. Pretty much everyone here has done so and we figured we should too. Ryan thought it was cool to the the mountains shadow on the other mountain.
More mountains
This is to show the road below us.
These are smaller caves we saw on the way up.
We ran into a rattler though! I was in front and was within 6 inch- 1 foot of this snake before I saw it, and I saw it moving and backed up before I knew what kind it was. It was rattling but it took a bit to realize it because I was shocked. I think we scared it more cause we were walking really fast and were loud. Anyway, no harm done, we scared it more so it would get away from the trail and continued on.

Hiking part 2

Here is us at the cave. It was really cool looking!
View of the mountains from the cave.

See the hole at the top? You can climb to the top of the cave and look down through it.

24th of July

I got the 24th off of work, and it turned out to be an awesome day! I had everything I needed to be done, done by 10:00 am. Then I decided to do some sewing. I am afraid the pictures don't show it well, but I took this shirt I got from David which is almost a dress on me, and altered it to be my size. It was actually fun! We also got to go on a hike of which I will post pictures later.