BGSU Recruiting Trip

This last weekend we took the opportunity to go up to Bowling Green, Ohio as a family while Mark was traveling on business. BGSU just started up a graduate program that looks like it could successfully meet the requirements that Eastman is looking for in some of their analytics groups. Since Mark was going to drive up (only one more hour to drive than to fly), we decided to go up as a whole family so Benjamin could visit his birth place and we could check out some old haunts. Unfortunately, most of our friends were out of town. I was able to hang out with Rebecca for several hours, but that was it. Benjamin had a great time playing at the Bowling Green Library in the children's section while Rebecca and I chatted and then also enjoyed playing with her children when we went over to her place for dinner. We ate at Naslada's Bistro, which turned out to be pretty delicious Greek food. Then next night we ate at Stone's Throw. I must say that I had no idea that Irish food could be so amazingly delicious. Because yeah. That happened.

We also took time while we were up there to go to the movies as a family to see Big Hero 6. I was pretty sure that it was going to be a lame movie from the previews, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was full of wonderfully strong characters (regardless of gender) with some great familial relationships. I loved that it featured a teen without the unnecessary angst and love interest that seem to drown every other movie with a teen protagonist. And the way it handled grief was also pretty moving. I cried so much in the movie and still had a great time. I've heard it's not really that faithful to the source material. But I've decided I'm okay with that as long as it tells it's own great story.

Halloween 2014

We kicked off the Halloween celebration on Tuesday a full two days early. I had to work since I was taking a course at BCTI on SQL Fundamentals. It was a very basic class considering what I've been doing at work lately, but I still learned several new things. But anyway. Jenny was super kind and took Benjamin to the library for their Halloween party including getting him dressed up in his costume. I'm so glad that he had such a blast.

On Wednesday we went to the ward Chili-Cookoff/Trunk-or-Treat. It was such a busy day and week for us that we didn't end up bringing any chili, but I didn't feel guilty since there were still plenty of leftovers. Benjamin had a great time going around to all of the cars, and we also enjoyed getting some pictures with wonderful friends and costume combos.

Separate from Halloween celebrations, Benjamin and I hosted pre-school for a day about "F" on Thursday morning. Only one other child came, but we still had a blast. We made Fuzzy F's, traced our fingers and wrote the numbers 1-5 along with tracing the letter F, had fruit for snack time, fed the fish four pieces of food, played the fishing number and color game, made funny faces on paper, fathered fall leaves and did an adding and subtracting number activity, colored and pasted farm animals, sang "F" songs like "The Farmer in the Dell" and "Five little cookies", drew pictures of our families, and read several stories (The Story of Ferdinand, The Spider and the Fly, To the Rescue, On the Farm, and Frog's Friends). Yup. We did a lot in three hours, and it was a blast!

Benjamin finished up his swim lessons for October on Thursday evening. He has two more skills he needs to work on, and then we'll be ready for the next level. Fortunately, his friend didn't pass either so they can retake the class together next month. I don't think we'll sign him up for swim lessons in December even if they have them just because of how unavailable I foresee us being.

Friday we celebrated Halloween for reals. For lunch we went to IHOP for a free scary face pancake for Benjamin. And Benjamin dressed up as Batman and took his Batman umbrella around with him when Mark took him trick-or-treating. With the cold and rainy weather, we set up the pavilion at the base of the driveway as well as some hot chocolate. There were a lot fewer trick-or-treaters basically everywhere, but we still had about half of the people that came by accept the hot chocolate offer. But we have soooo much candy left! I think I'm going to be bringing a lot of candy into the office on Monday to give out to people. Because we certainly have a surfeit here with some adults trying to lose weight.

With it being Halloween, we made our annual butternut squash soup but added in some pumpkin cheddar bread. Deliciousness indeed.

I love this family and this life. It's pretty awesome.

Side story: Benjamin also had his first primary program on Sunday his part was: "Jesus came to the Earth to be our example because he loves us. He also made the volcanoes on the Earth." He did a great job, and I was really happy to actually be there this year as the music leader.

The Importance of the Sacrament

I've been struggling with some negative feelings towards some individuals in my life lately that I know are really not okay. To try and overcome them, I've said a LOT of prayers lately. I've thought about the atonement and the divine nature of everyone I know. And today when I took the sacrament, I felt like I was using the sacrament more fully than I have before. I've been working really hard on repenting, and I was actually able to feel the greater significance of the sacrament as it helps us to understand and fully utilize the atonement. I loved the Spirit that I felt and how wonderful it was in general. I've never really thought about having a testimony of the sacrament in addition to the atonement, but I can now say that I do indeed have one. The sacrament is a beautiful ordinance that can provide us peace and refuge in times of trial and strife, and I am grateful for the opportunity to partake and participate weekly.

Comic Book TV Show Fall Premiers

For the most part, I've been pretty impressed with the comic book TV showing for this fall.

Arrow is as strong as last season with some fun interesting developments. Except for the fact that Laurel is playing a larger role. I really can't stand that actress in this role. Whiny and poor line delivery and waaay too skinny. Ick. Unfortunately it looks like she really is going to turn out to be Black Canary. Bummer. Plus side. Felicity's character is still a ton of fun to watch. And I do think that the actress playing Thea's character is really growing into herself. She has more speeds besides whiny and self-absorbed that she taps into. It's pretty fun.

Flash of course is lots of fun. Probably my favorite one right now. It's got an excellent blend of Flash humor and fun story lines along with some of the best acting for a first season comic book show that I've seen in a while. And the fact that they're pulling things so faithfully from the comics is a plus. I think one of my favorite characters in the show is actually Barry's father. He really is written well. It's easy to see how Barry can turn out the way he is given the major influences in his life. I look forward to watching all of the characters develop even further.

Gotham has the unfortunate timing of premiering so close to the Flash. The Flash is awesome. Gotham... is not. The acting is just a wooden as the first season of Arrow (if not more so) without the benefit of being the only comic book TV show we were watching at the time. The dialogue is uber campy. Too many villains that aren't really villains. And an ever-present feeling that there will be nothing but ineffective and pointless accomplishments during the entire series. Otherwise, wouldn't Batman be unnecessary. But what really kills the show for me is Alfred. While he may not have a consistent back story, who he is as a character is indeed consistent in the comic world. He is unfailingly loyal to the causes of Batman and Bruce Wayne with a dry wit almost breaching the fourth wall. He is not an almost abusive and inept father figure. Ick. Do NOT like this show.

And tonight we watched the series premier of Constantine. <Shiver> I know it's corny and cliche horror special effects, but there's a reason I don't watch horror movies. I am so going to have nightmares tonight. Plus side, dialogue was good, the pace was good, and it is clearly much more loyal to the source material than Gotham. We'll give it another episode to see if the SFX calm down due to budgetary restraints. Otherwise, this might end up just being a Mark show.

Crio Bru for the Win!

I'm sitting here drinking my Pumpkin Spice Winter Blend Crio Bru tonight. Boiled some water in the kettle and poured it into the French press with 3 T of the seasonal blend and let it sit for 20 minutes. After pouring some into a thermos for tomorrow morning, I filled up my big "Welcome to Eastman" mug and settled down on the couch to surf the net. I've been a little... I've been a LOT down lately because of family drama, a lingering cold, and then a nasty ovarian cyst. It was kind of awesome to almost melt into the warm taste and feel of the "hot chocolate" that leaves my mouth with a great taste afterwards. I think tomorrow I may have to even break out a legitimate book and read while I drink. Maybe wrap up in a blanket downstairs by the fire. Yummy.

Story Times

I'm so glad that the Kingsport Public Library has such a great set of programs for the children. Benjamin may drag his feet like he does for going just about anywhere, but he always gets such a kick out of the story times.

The two most recent story times were about Fall Colors and Pizza respectively. Benjamin got to wear his favorite color (green) to story time when we read about fall colors. For one of those books, the librarian threw out die cuts representing seasonal foliage on the different pages. Benjamin gathered all of the pieces up that fell near him, and we used them to decorate a seasons box and talk about patterns.

For the pizza story time, they read fun stories about pizza and then made themselves into a pizza (using die cuts and such again). Benjamin again gathered up the toppings so we'll be putting together a pizza later using what we brought home. And to top it all off, we had pizza for lunch at Johnny Brusco's with Grandma and Grandpa Shipley who were a town for the afternoon. Tuesday's rock!

Gaming, Gaming, and More Gaming

Benjamin was pretty excited about his new Batman costume for Halloween--he's worn it everyday!

We had a pretty fabulous weekend this last week. Friday, we started out strong playing our newly acquired Sentinels of the Multiverse expansions with Brendan and Carmen. I think I can definitely say that the two new heroes added a lot of enjoyment to the game, and I look forward to playing and exploring the game even more.

Today we put our expansion to Suburbia to the test with Mark, Benjamin, and me playing. I think with this particular one I'll try a full fledged review of the game:

Overview
Suburbia is a tile laying game that excellently balances both theme and mechanisms. It supports up to four players with each person attempting to build the largest (specifically the largest population) borough. There are 5 rotating tiles available for each player with exactly one being purchased and replaced each turn, which puts a hard cap on the length of the game except for one twist. The "last round" tile's location is randomly somewhere in the last stack. So while everyone has a pretty good idea of about how the game is progressing time wise, there's still an element of chance to the whole thing for exactly when it will end.

Components
Each player has a starting board that can be placed in two different orientations depending on player preference as well as three meeple markers. One cylinder marks the income track, one rectangular prism marks the reputation track, and the final meeple marks the population in that player's borough. The first two tracks are on the players' starting boards while the final one is placed on a communal tracker.

There are also reversible and staged (i.e. A, B, C) building tiles that can be used as commercial, industrial, residential, civic, or lake tiles (the final one is one the reverse side). These tiles each have names and thematically appropriate instantaneous or ongoing effects on income, reputation, money, and/or population. These effects can be influenced by both what is just in your borough and the borough's of other people, which is where a lot of the player interaction and interest in what everyone else is building comes into the game.

Other components include goal tiles, money pips, and set up boards.

The expansion adds both some fun new building and goal tiles that go into the mix as well as an entirely new type of tile called "borders". Borders are fun because even though they act much like other tiles, the more directly impact the shape that your city can take and are always available unless they run out. More in line with the other tiles, there are also challenge and bonus tiles that everyone can see coming and plan for and that everyone can get.

While the backs of the expansion tiles are just barely off color, it doesn't really matter since you don't see everything that is coming all laid out but rather just one at a time. All of the components (new and old) have a very nice and solid quality to them with nice vibrant colors. And the artwork, while basic, feels highly appropriate rather than excessively stylized.

Gameplay
At the start of each turn, a new building tile is added to the line-up. Older building tiles become less expensive the longer they stay out. The person taking the turn buys exactly one tile and either adds it to their borough or reverses it to make a lake. Tiles can either be purchased from the line up or from the always (unless they run out) available border or basic tiles. After purchase, a tile is placed and then the player receives the immediate and any ongoing effects. A player may also choose to invest in a previously placed tile by paying the cost of the tile again and treating the tile as if there were two of them. If she did not purchase a tile from the line up, the player then trashes a tile from the line up and replaces it allowing the game to progress at a constant pace. Play proceeds until the "last round" tile appears at which point there is one more full round remaining in the game. At the conclusion of the game, everyone adds any additional points (population) from private and public goals achieved and the winner is declared base on the largest population.

Overall: 10/10 (because actually I can't think of anything wrong with this game)

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In addition to the two board games, we also had some great family time playing Mario Kart and Mario 3D World as a family of 3. Benjamin gets really into the games, which is pretty great. I love that he can actually play the games at all.  We even managed to get in our first game of War Machine. While it's true that the game is pretty complicated, it turns out that the rules are fairly intuitive. Mark won handily, and we both had a great time.

We had some pretty delicious meals this weekend as well. We moved our weekly grilled cheese from Sunday to Saturday and had chicken parmesan grilled cheese. As it turns out, one of the better sandwiches. Probably helped that we used pretzel buns. Sunday we had butternut squash macaroni and cheese. Amazing! Some of the better leftovers we've ever had (which I say the night after while writing this). And on another fun food note, I ate at a Waffle House for the first time on Saturday morning. Actually had a pretty great time and was impressed with the service, food, and atmosphere. Probably will not be my last time eating there.

And of course, it was General Conference weekend. I caught about half of the Saturday morning and all of the Sunday sessions. Even though I was really tired, I did cross-stitch the whole time to keep me awake. Benjamin's stocking may actually be stitched by Christmas this year!

I particularly enjoyed the talks in the Saturday morning sessions that I got to hear concerning real truth and gaining a testimony. I really look forward to studying them more thoroughly as they become available in the next few days. And here's two of my favorite memes from conference:

I really have felt the Spirit witness to me the truthfulness of the gospel, the divinity of Christ, and the authority of the leaders of the Church. And I need to remember and foster these memories and moments.

Week of Jacob, Angie, and Andrew

This last week had a special visit from Jacob, Angie, and Andrew. Because that many people under one roof could have been more than we could handle, Brendan and Carmen spent the week at Grandma and Grandpa Shipley's in the country.

We started out our visit with some catching up on Monday evening when they arrived. And then we just dove straight into things on Tuesday with a wonderful family trip to Dollywood. Benjamin is finally big enough to ride at least one roller coaster with adults. They have a new roller coaster there called the FireChaser Express. The fact that it's firefighter themed just makes it that much more awesome for Benjamin since he can enjoy the story and the ride at the same time. Also, it's pretty cool that it can go both forwards and backwards!

The whole Dollywood trip was a blast in general. Andrew is big enough to go on some of the small rides, and we managed to break things up so that everyone was able to ride everything that they wanted to ride and no one got stuck babysitting the whole day. And because it was a Tuesday during the school year, the park was pretty empty. About half of the rides we were able to just stay on the ride for another go around... or two! I'm pretty excited for next year when we buy season passes since Benjamin should be big enough to be able to ride even more things so we don't have to split up as a family.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were considerably more laid back. We ate at a lot of fun places in the Kinsport area (i.e. Cookout, Bagel Exchange, Little Cake, Braeden's BBQ, Edo, and maybe some other places that I've forgotten about). And when we weren't eating out, we were cooking delicious food. Of course we made spicy beef, which is kind of our signature dish, but we also made some cinnamon pie to eat while we watched the "Dual Spires" episode of Psych. The episode prominently features cinnamon pie so we couldn't not.  Actually we did so much eating that I think I gained five pounds this last week. Hello gym!

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Saturday, the Washington Ewings headed out so we caught up on all of our errands and some family time. We took advantage of the last day of the outdoor aquatic center being open this year to have a great time at the pool. Unfortunately, the 80 degree whether still wasn't enough to compensate for the colder weather earlier in the week, and the water in the pool was freezing. We had to leave earlier than we would have liked so that Benjamin could stop shivering. Even though he told us, "B-b-but I'm not sh-sh-shivvvvvvering!"

Last night, I went to the second semi-annual Relief Society Broadcast with Carmen. We were able to socialize with members of both the Kingsport and Rotherwood Wards before moving into the chapel for the broadcast. Once again, it was wonderful and really lifted my spirits. I love the feeling that can come over me whenever an apostle comes to the stand. The Spirit testified to me last night in no uncertain terms that Pres. Uchtdorf is a special witness of Christ. And I loved his talk, too.

Looking forward to a wonderful week enjoying family, work, and the gospel.

Home Improvement in Orange

Well, we finally finished up with getting the guest bedroom looking nice. We haven't purchased new furniture yet or finished up with the artwork, but the barebones of the room are all done. We put up the crown molding and chair railing today and did all of the touch up paint including around the baseboards. This was absolutely the best job that Mark had done on the caulking for the crown molding and chair railing yet.

And one of the best parts yet was of course how much Benjamin always wants to help out with home improvement. He decided that today he was the "Wall Emergency Finder" with the stud finder. Whenever he wasn't helping Mark with the stud finder, he went around the house looking for wall emergencies. It was pretty awesome.

Story Time at the Kingsport Library

One of the things about living here in Kingsport with Benjamin as a toddler is the Story Times at the Kingsport Library. They always have a great theme and do such a great job of connecting with the kids. Today the theme was "Splish! Splash! I was taking a bath!" Benjamin brought his blue whale bath tub toy along with a towel. He finally seemed to be really getting into story time. He gets into singing the songs, talking with the other children, and listening to the books themselves.

Projects at Work

Coming up on my second month of employment at Eastman. Boy has it been an adventure! It really isn't at all like what I thought it would be. Fortunately, it's a mixture of both positive and negative ways that it's different. Really the only negative is that I'm spending a little less time with Benjamin than I thought I would. But I'm gradually starting to get some more work done from home so that's transitioning into what I would really like it to be.

But the positives are pretty awesome. Turns out that this has been way more intellectually challenging than I thought it would be. And I love the challenge! I love how much I get to learn and explore. I've gotten experience with Tableau, SQL, SSIS, and Excel. And I've taken the opportunity to also start learning some Python and PHP on my own on Codecademy.

I also really like the environment and people I work with as compared to being a teacher. Before I felt like I spent at least 80% of my energy convincing students that what I was doing was worth their time. But now I don't really have to do any of that and people actually really appreciate what I do!

I'm happy to be working at Eastman and also happy that I'm just working part-time and still getting to be a mom.

Eastman Road Race 3K Run

This year Mark and I ran the 3K together for Eastman Road Race. I was pretty excited that for the first time I managed to run the entire way without stopping while still being able to kick up the pace at the end and have a pretty substantial kick at the end as well. The plan is to be rockin' awesome next year when we get to new age group.

The rest of the day was pretty great. After the road race, we headed over to Bagel Exchange before picking Benjamin up from Mariah's. Benjamin is always begging to see Kristi so any excuse to get them together is a good thing.

After picking Benjamin up (and getting in some much needed showers), we headed out to Target and took advantage of some pretty nice sales on toiletries. It's sad that I find that exciting. But I do. Anyway, after Target we went next door to Michael's just to see if they had a volcano kit to make this whole thing easier with Benjamin's volcano unit for school time. What we ended up finding was a 6 piece science experiment kit from the Smithsonian. Benjamin is super excited to construct it as soon as possible.

We also managed to pick up 20 new expansion packs for Marvel Dice Masters including our first super rare! I love that Benjamin enjoys playing that game so much with Mark. Even though he basically never wins, he has a ton of fun playing.

For our evening entertainment, we had fun playing some Divinity as a couple. Making some serious headway in that game and also really enjoying having another co-op game to enjoy together.

Eastman Road Race Youth Runs

Finally got the Yaris back today! Sadly, it looks like there may be something wrong with my windshield wiper fluid container, but we'll see over long term how that works out. Mostly I'm just happy to have my car back after the accident instead of driving the rental around.  I just hope that my car is just as reliable as it was pre-accident.

Just after we picked up the car, we headed straight over to pick up our race packets for the Eastman Road Race. Yup, it's that time of year again. Benjamin was involved in the Youth Runs tonight so we walked over to the fields just in time for the races to get started. Happily this year the event color is green (Benjamin's favorite color) so we should be seeing a lot of this shirt in the future. Even though he initially really didn't want to do it, he was super excited by the time the races got started. He ran his hardest and without an adult the whole time. I was so proud of him and the improvement he's had since the last race. And he's pretty proud of his ribbon this year, too.

An Attitude of Gratitude

I had the wonderful experience of listening to a talk from General Conference on the way into work today that touched me even more so maybe than the first time I heard it. It was "Grateful in Any Circumstances" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The wonderful thing about listening to this talk again was how I was able to experience it. Just like the first time I heard it, I was confused when he said "I'm suggesting that instead of being thankful for things..." about any other way of being thankful until he finished with "...we focus on being thankful in our circumstances--whatever they may be."

Wow. So true. It indeed really is easier to be thankful for things when life seems to be going our way, but the Lord does not command us to only be thankful then. Rather to always be thankful. I love that. I try sometimes to remember to be thankful for my trials as they are frequently blessings in a form I might not have otherwise chosen, but I should also be thankful in my trials. Man I love that.

I basically just want to reword and write everything from that talk because it meant so much to me, but instead I will focus on one other thing.

Especially as of late as my faith has been tested, I have obsessed over and feared death more than ever before in my life. But this quote addresses this and deserves to be put here in it's entirety.

"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.

"Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Ends are not our destiny.

"The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions--temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.

"How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."

We are loved. We are eternal. When people say death is only the beginning, really death was never the beginning or end. It is merely a step along our eternal path that gives us pause.

Swim Lessons Part II

Tonight Benjamin had his second swim lesson, and he loved it! Part of the swim lesson tonight involved jumping from the side into the pool, going all the way under the water, and then being pulled up by the instructor. Benjamin had so much fun doing this that each time he was waiting for his turn he would be standing by the pool with his toes hanging over the edge. It was pretty adorable.

The other cool thing about tonight's lesson was finding out that the Bertassos have a son in the same swim class as Benjamin. Andrew Bertasso works in Pricing at Eastman so we've already met before, but it was the first time that I'd met Jessica Bertasso. They were friends of our family while they lived in New Jersey so we have a previous connection to build off of. Phone numbers were exchanged with promises of play dates so I'm pretty excited.

And on the way to swim lessons (totally telling this story in reverse order), we saw the most gorgeous double/light triple rainbow. I kept on worrying it mind end up distracting me while driving it was so beautiful. I snapped a picture once we arrived at the Y but didn't really have time to make it look awesome. But it certainly made me thankful for the beautiful things that Heavenly Father has blessed us with as well as our ability to appreciate them.

Parenting with the Right Reasons

I was reading this article on the website for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was particularly struck by this quote:

"Children can sense--even if they can't articulate it--whether a parent is motivated by selfishness or by what the parent believes is best for the child."

We should remember to encourage and push children because it is good for them rather than out of motivation to make ourselves look good to other parents.

"We can help our children see the long view in their own lives. Possibly, the most powerful way to do this is by being the type of people we want them to become. ... If they see us trying to be Christlike, they will be more likely to try to emulate Him too."

I bare my testimony to Benjamin as close to every night as I can so that he knows that I have one and that it is important to me. Even if I don't do anything else for his Night-Night routine, I share my testimony or have someone else share a "guest" testimony. Now I need to lead the rest of my life the way that I want him to lead his own.

"We need to help our youth understand the Atonement and what it personally means to each of them. Teach them that because of the Atonement there is hope in this life and in the life to come. Somehow, we need to help our youth see how relevant this is to their everyday lives, their happiness, and their eternal salvation."

I love the Atonement. Studying it, thinking about it, seeking to apply it to my life. I hope that I am able to help Benjamin gain an even greater appreciation of this principle and event.

Even though I sometimes forget it, I do have a testimony of the Atonement and the love of the Savior for me and all of Heavenly Father's children.

Swim Lessons

Tonight Benjamin had his first ever swim lessons at the Aquatic Center. He's in the Guppy Class, which focusses on making sure that children are comfortable being in the water without freaking out. I was so proud of him. He's not amazing or ahead of the curve or anything, but he should be able to graduate to the next level at the conclusion of this class.

There were three children there tonight with one of them having serious separation anxiety issues so I felt better about the fact that Benjamin seemed very hesitant to leave me at first. But he did have a great time once everything got going. It was great to watch him from across the way.

Labor Day Weekend

This last weekend was both really eventful and not at all. Mark and I managed to paint three rooms in just over 24 hours. This is more impressive when you understand that the two bedrooms we painted were each two colors since Mark is a little obsessed with having lots of bright colors around the house. Fortunately this is an obsession which I can appreciate. I particularly love how the happy oranges in the guest bedroom add so much light. I keep on having to check to make sure that we haven't left the light on in there because with the curtains open it's a super bright room right now. I'm also really happy that we let Benjamin pick out the colors for his bedroom. No surprise. He picked out green--his favorite color. And it actually looks pretty awesome. We even decided that we would rearrange his bedroom so that we could make it more of a little boy room instead of having a nursery feel to it. It made me happy when two nights in a row he said he was thankful for his different room that he painted. We actually let him help with painting both of the bedrooms with a little brush before we went over it with the roller. Now we just have to wait until a new home improvement budget (next month) so that we can add the crown molding and chair railing. Then I think all of the rooms will look totally awesome.

Sunday was a pretty laid back day. Since we recently acquired 20 expansions for Marvel Dice Masters (Dewayne's World limited us to ten a piece), we played that game for our Sunday game fun. I can't believe how quickly Benjamin is growing up. He may not get all of the card text, but he understands the basics of the rules (even "mana" type) and loves playing that game with us. Probably more impressive is the fact that we can enjoy playing Diablo III as an entire family with everyone pulling their weight. Also another activity for yesterday.

And today we enjoyed a visit from Mom and Dad White including grilled burgers and a game of Zombicide. We lost the game of course. Our second time playing a full game, and we still haven't beat it. I'm this close to going online to look up strategy guides. But then again, it is nice to have a cooperative game actually be this challenging. I'm pretty excited about actually beating it sometime.

After the visit, the three of us enjoyed a few hours in the lazy river at the Aquatic Center. Maybe it was just because it was so late in the day on a holiday, but it really wasn't that crowded. The more independent Benjamin becomes, the more we enjoy family time at the pool. Hopefully the swim lessons that we've signed him up for this month will facilitate that even further.

With a pretty great weekend behind us, I'm excited about the prospects of a great week to come.

What This Blog is About

I decided I wanted to keep a journal but just can't bring myself to write in a physical one anymore. I love writing in cursive so much and making it look so nice that it just ends up taking an obscene amount of time. Plus autocorrect/spell check is really nice. So this blog will be my thoughts just out there in the ether. And if my past experiences with blogging are any indication, no one will ever be interested in this unless they specifically go looking for it so it will essentially be my own private journal.