Sunday, December 17, 2006

provo snow pics

I took these pics after I finished my Chinese final Saturday morning. There was no snow the prior night when we went to bed so I was surprised when I woke up- it was about 6 inches. Today (Sunday), about another 7 inches were dropped! I always seem to forget how beautiful the snow can be. I was reminded of the excitement I felt after a big storm as a kid in Minnesota.


Ellie in the snow

Ellie loves playing in the snow, especially with her snow manatee that Mish, Joe, and Christie made for her. This was Ellie's first time in the snow. She didn't have any waterproof boots, so we wrapped plastic bags around her legs with a rubberband.
Ellie riding the Snow Manatee.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Together we can save the world and help us all survive.

There's nothing more motivating than a Choir of Sweedish 80s Metal Rockers trying to save the world. There are a few in here who don't belong- see if you can find them.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

"Week-Before-Finals Week" Conspiracy

Finals start this Saturday- No problem. The problem is the "week-before-finals week." That's when teachers of every department get in cahoots to try to "break you" before finals. That's when you feel like pulling out your hair and forsaking your degree to live in the mountains away from the impending certainty of utter educational failure.

The "week-before-finals week" is, of course, when all of your final projects and papers are due on top of all the normal homework and expectations. Also, our so-called "professors" always find a way to add additional little assignments (too "petty" to break students' silence in class) and cram in the uncovered material in the name of "caring about our educational growth." Well, I don't buy it- You're just trying to break me, in which you find joy.

On top of it all, within a week of "the week-before-finals week," the teachers in at least half of your classes decide to put the final exam on the last day of class (often by a teacher-led class vote when unsuspecting freshmen vote for the affirmative) in order to "ease the burden of finals week," leaving no study time at all. I WANT MY FINALS WEEK BACK!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Bryce Canyon


Here are some awesome pics of Tiff and Mish in Bryce Canyon earlier this semester.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Ellie dress-up


Today, Ellie was being super-cute--she went crazy covering herself with clean clothes from the hamper. It's just that she doesn't know how to put the clothes on the correct way... We'll get to that someday soon.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

It's Christmas Time!

Last week, we put up the fake Christmas tree we got last June for three dollars at a garage sale. Ellie loves to pull the ornaments and/or branches off, so we wrapped some presents as a barrier to the tree. We love Christmas time! We are anxious for finals to be done on the 22nd of this month!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Eternal Families Sealed in Polyethylene

Stretch wrap not only protects our families from University of Utah vandals (as was this family's main intention during our biggest rivalry game), but also offers protection from the elements. Today's weather has boasted sporadic snow/ wind storms in the valley for our first real snowfall of the year! As you can see, stretch wrap clearly helps families bond.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

中国 will have to wait!

New news!

Tiff and I have decided that we will not be giving birth in China next year, mainly because of insurance reasons. Instead of leaving in January, we will go this fall after I graduate to teach English and improve our Chinese and nunchuck skills. We have made some good email friends in Tianjin who have been so helpful in helping us come to this decision. Now, it will be so much easier for you all to come and see the new baby when it is born, and much less expensive! We will learn the gender of the baby in about a month.

Thanksgiving Rules!

This Thanksgiving weekend was great! We had extra family members here with us to make it magical! On Thanksgiving evening, soon after Scott flew in, we had an extremely wonderful dinner as unexpected pie continued to somehow appear in the kitchen. We all shared three things we are thankful for, including: family, the gospel, Mr. T, and indoor plumbing. Needless to say, it was a very memorable evening, even without a dinner table.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Ellie's Birthday Video

Here is a cute video of the Cute's first year being alive. It features her first birthday on Oct 6, 2005 to her waving bye-bye on Oct 6, 2006. It was shown at her first birthday party last month.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Al-Queda Recruit Mormon Style

Funny video about Al-Queda knocking doors like Mormon missionaries

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Mr. T- Treat Your Mother Right

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Am I in college?

Tiff and I are in this "History of Creativity" class to fulfill our early civilization requirement to graduate from college. The take-home portion of the last exam was to create a mosaic out of any medium we wanted which depicted the concept of faith. So for hours of our valuable, and expensive, college study time, we cut up paper, marshmallows, and candy, and glued them to a big piece of paper. I really learned a lot of great life skills and knowledge, like making sure that the glue cap is on properly so the glue won't pour out like milk.
Above is Tiff's masterpiece "Consider the Lillies" made from sweedish fish, sweettarts, sunflower seeds, and gummy bears.

Below is Kyle's masterpiece "Nauvoo Temple" made from paper, pretzels, chocolate chips, and marshmallows.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Hop on Pop

Ellie started to do a new trick. When I say "Hop on Pop" while laying on the ground, Ellie runs over and jumps on my back while giggling. She is now starting to understand some things that we say like: "Will you bring me a book?" "Will you bring this to mommy?" and "where's Elmo?" (referring to the Tickle Me Elmo toy she was recently given).

Happy Birthday Noelani!

She's done it! Noelani successfully became one year older than me in a single day. We wanted to take her to play laser tag, but she wanted to play "Pit" instead... For those of you who may not know what Pit is, it is an extremely competitive game where the players trade cards and eventually lose their voice after yelling strategic numbers. Unfortunately, last night, I (Kyle) was the only one who lost my voice because then it was easy for everyone to ignore me like normal (my voice isn't back yet and I'm still being ignored). She also decided that soon she would throw a Willow party and today I collected some acorns for the acorn toss game. Overall, it was a fun evening.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Ellie had a Cookie Monster Birthday!

Tiffany got the idea of a cookie monster cake while getting our weekly free brownie samples at the local grocery store. She saw a cake similar to this and said I can make a cake like that! When she said "I" she meant "Christie, Michelle, and I."
Ellie took a handful of the cake after blowing her candle out. She was so cute and charming. Later birthday events included match the baby picture with the adult in the room, and pin the binkie on the Ellie (paper binkies and a big drawing of Ellie- no pins or real Ellies).

Sunday, November 12, 2006

My Addictive Primary Popcorn Problem

Today was the primary program at church, so we had a party afterwards! In my few years of memory, there seems to be a consistent chaos that has always correlated with the program every year. This time, nothing totally "absoludicrus" happened in the program, which was good. The real chaos happened during the post-program party. Kids running around, screaming, throwing things, making popcorn angels in the carpet, and trying to push thumb tacks in each other's legs all played an important part of today's activities.

While watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas, they dished out huge bags of popcorn, which was extremely delicious. It didn't take long before the floor was blanketed with ridiculously buttery and salty popcorn (which worked out for my benefit when I was the first to finish my bag...). OHHH! That popcorn was so good! When the popcorn was gone from my immediate area, I found the last kernel stuck to this one kid's back... he didn't even feel popcorn thief acting again in desperation. Ari (age 4) hung from my tie and nearly choked me to death soon after she was doing the unspeakable in her nose and without any shame. It was a memorable day, especially that popcorn. I would do pretty much ANYTHING to get more and began to scare Tiff... I also realized that it's a good thing I don't do drugs.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Corn Maze Champs???















Tiff and I raced her sister and friend through this maze. I talked a lot of trash and even gave them a head start.

















Forty-five minutes of running through the maze, the sweet buscuits of victory ran through my bones. Then we realized Christie had been outside for a good 15 minutes. My sweet buscuits turned to bitter shame.

We're cool by association!

Noelani rocked us like a hurricane at the BYU Dancesport competition. It was really fun to go and cheer her on; she's really good!

We were going to get up and dance but then I remembered that I only know how to dance like David Bowie.

She took 5th place, and really boogied!!!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Ellie Khan

Earlier this month, Ellie won her first baby pageant! She took first place in the "Blast from the Past" category soon after her first birthday. She was so stoic in "Khan character."