All Aboard!

This last weekend we had my sister's family over to watch The Polar Express. Her kids are too cute. They were mesmerized by the projector and the fact that for once in their lives they could touch the television screen (which is actually a wall) without being reprimanded. 

They sat down in their special chairs and my wonderful husband brought them each their own little popcorn. Though the adults were content to just sit and watch the entire movie, having two three year olds and a one year old as guests required us to have an intermission filled with yummy pizza. Oh the memories... not that I am the slightest bit confident that our house will sell, but just incase it does, if anyone would like to come and watch a movie as a final hoorah, please be our guest.

Too Soon?

Well, I couldn't help myself. Out of sheer boredom today, I decided to decorate for Christmas. It felt weird doing it before Thanksgiving, but at least it is done. Well, almost... our pre-lit tree needs some tweeking before we can decorate it. Anyhow, here's hoping that people coming to view our home will want to celebrate their future Christmases here. Knowing that Jordan doesn't deserve a lump of coal after all he has been through this year, I wrote good ol' St. Nick and asked that Jordan get a full-time job somewhere so we can get a better idea of where we should move to IF our house sells. We have so much to be thankful for and look forward to this holiday season. But don't let me forget... Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Just Another Day

Well, my actual "birth" day was just another day. Work, work, work (getting ready for Parent-Teacher Conferences). Talking to friends and family on the phone in attempt to fill the void of being home alone. Waiting up for my husband to get home after teaching, just to have him need to work on his calling, so I watched the depressing results of this election year. But enough with the pity party, on to the actual celebrating!

Scott and Suzy had us over for Sunday dinner, which was fabulous. I love lasagna! Then we had cake and ice cream followed by the spoiling of the year...presents! Let's just say I will be visiting some stores that have missed me immensely, and I will do so with a very fashionable purse to make my purchases! Thank you, thank you!

Then on Friday, we got to celebrate with my family. Bountiful is finally getting some new eating establishments, so we thought we could move away from the typical Robintino's gathering, and head to Texas Roadhouse. The food was amazing (thanks dad), but in order to keep my sanity, next year I have sworn that I just want Domino's pizza in the comfort of my own home. I don't do well with crowds (at all!) and in the end we had to be separated which made me sad since I rarely see my family altogether. That is one of our greatest reasons for moving, that and Jordan's hopeful future employment. But as many of you know, our house hasn't been showing lately. :( But back to the restaurant, they tried to embarrass me by making me sit on a saddle as they sang happy birthday, but instead I grabbed the nearest kid (sorry Will) and made him sit there instead. Then it was back to my parents' house for more presents, cake and ice cream. My mom and dad spoiled me by having my favorite cake (Baskin Robbins chocolate, peanut butter ice cream cake) and new clothes galore! I was also flooded with many cute birthday cards and singing from my nieces and nephews, which always makes me smile, no matter how old I'm turning.

Now on to party number three. I did turn 30, so shouldn't I have a party for each decade! Anyhow, Sunday evening we got together with our good neighbor friends. Sarah (a.ka. Suzy homemaker) made a birthday cake from scratch, and AnnMarie practically walked off the airplane to my party, always busy but making time for everyone else! Their husband's were of course in attendance, which was a nice reprieve for me, since Jord was able to talk their ears off about his new idea for a game called "Bushido" (patent pending). I sure have complained about my purse dilemma, so lucky for me not only did Beth save the day, but so did Sarah and AnnMarie. They gave me two cute purses with jewelry inside.

On to Jord's gift (delivery pending). I only write this due to the humor, not to make my husband feel bad. So on my birthday, Jordan left a voice mail telling me that he was going to buy me flowers. So when I arrived home from work, I was like a laboratory mouse racing to each room in order to find the cheese, I mean flowers. But there weren't any to be found. Instead, when he came home that night he had a pie in hand for someone else. Then the gift giving became even more humorous when we were both out on Monday doing our separate things, and yet Jordan turned down the same parking lot isle I was driving up at the District. We rolled down our windows and laughed at the coincidence of running into each other. Then from his car window, Jordan proceeded to hand me a memory card for my camera and said, "Happy birthday!" Feel the love! Meanwhile, I know that he is working on the most fabulous present, one that I have been asking for for years. He is organizing all of our photos into files that make sense and then burning them onto discs so that my ulcer will stop forming and I don't have to worry about them all being lost in cyberspace anymore!

Well, though I was extremely doubtful, this did end up being a wonderful birthday. Thanks for all the phone calls, cards, gifts, and especially hugs. I love you all!

And the runner up is...

Hopefully last night was not a premonition of what will happen on Election Day. Jordan and I dressed up as John McCain and Sarah Palin for our Ward Halloween party and took 2nd place in the costume competition. We were not at all heartbroken by our loss, because immediately after we were off to run Jordan's awesome spook alley that took up 4 classrooms in the basement of our ward house. Don't worry, Jordan will post some pictures of it soon along with a graphic description of each room. He claims that he only made a few kids cry this year. I beg to differ!

Professor Sorensen

My first term at Eagle Gate College is completed. Most of my students got "A's" and "B's" -- I'm a real toughy. I actually had to put the smack down on a student who wouldn't take my final. She said I'm going to the dean, and she did. She came back a half hour later and apologized. Drama!

Shannon says "Welcome to the world of teaching!"

So You Think You Can Dance

Thanks to my gracious parents who bought us tickets, Jordan and I were able to go see the show "So You Think You Can Dance" on tour.  It is our favorite show to watch in the summer time and always leads us to believe that we can dance as we frolic around our house trying to imitate their moves.  Rather than there just being 10 on the tour, they actually brought along 13, and of those we can't really say who our favorites were.  They were all wonderful.  However, we can say with conviction that Comfort nor Jessica ever received votes from us!

Moving

With our fingers crossed and lots of prayers, we hope to sell our house and move to Farmington. We have loved our house in Herriman, especially our newly finished basement, and we are amazed at all that is coming to our little town; The District, a temple, a hospital, etc. However, we feel it is time to be close to family. We would like to start our family and we hope Jordan will be able to keep teaching in Layton. Anyhow, our house has not sold yet, but we thought it would be fun to remember our lovely little house (especially while it is still clean). You can view pictures of our home at www.obeo.com/490153.