I Scream! You Scream! We can't see our Ice Cream!

007 here again! Em's gone bloggin' AWOL!!! :) So I have taken over... well for at least this post.
Last night we had our Family Home Evening Activity and being the big kid I am, I thought we should play:

I Scream! You Scream! We Can't see our Ice Cream!TM

It's a fantastic game where two teams compete against each other to see how much ice cream they can eat in 90 seconds... However, neither the person eating the ice cream nor the person standing behind them feeding them the ice cream can see! They are completely blind! It's absolute genuis!

Alyssa attempting to feed Alex and the end result below:

So we had Alyssa and Alex against Kate and M, and then Grandpa and Nanny against Sara and Em. Yes, that's Alex feeding Alyssa's neck.

In the end all the teams ended up winning a round before we played put the ice cream in 007's mouth (based on the popular kids party game pin the tale on the donkey)... mmm interesting that Em had me in the role of the Donkey????



The above photo was taken by M. She aimed a little low, which was exactly what Cathy was doing too! She was sure she was aiming this spoonful at my mouth and kept trying to feed my shoulder!

While there were a lot of tears and many moments were we thought we were either going to choke from the spoon being too far in our mouths or from not being able to breath as we were laughing too hard, in the end we had a great time. However, it did become a bit messy and I have been banned from playing it until summer when we can play it outside.

Enjoy the video below....

Culture Shock, by 007

You would think being an international man of mystery (actually, I think that was Austin Powers), I would be use to traveling and assimilating into different cultures. Well, that is in fact false! Adjusting to my new home has had its ups and downs, the last 48 hours really has been an eye opening experience.

On Friday night we headed down to the University of Utah for a gymnastics meet against the University of Florida and it wasn't like anything I expected. To begin with, everyone is very passionate (a stronger adjective may have been even more appropriate) about their university so everyone who went was wearing the university colours, with the glow sticks/swords and it was held in their indoor sports stadium... yes, I said stadium. They also have a huge outdoor stadium for football etc. I really felt ripped off by UWS where we were lucky just to have fans in our classrooms.

Then the evening started, the lights go down and the lasers and fireworks begin! Seriously, I was waiting for Madonna or someone famous to come out, but no this was all to introduce their university team! And the crowd went wild!!

It really was like how it is in the movies.... the university band was in the audience and would break out in songs to supprt the team and during the breaks they had the boogie competition where they went around the audience and put the camera on people up on the big screens and then someone won a prize for being the best dancer. And then in the next break there was the kissing comp, where they did the same thing putting the camera on couples who would then have to kiss. You would just hope you werent sitting next to your brother or sister!


Over all it was a great night and quite a cultural experience. So whenever anyone comes over from Australia, I will definately try to see if something similar is on so I can take you, as it will flip you out!

Emma was especially proud, because she went to the "U" & they are currently ranked No. 2 in the US for gymnastics.


The other cultural experience I had was on Saturday morning, when we traveled into Salt Lake to watch M and her cousin march in the St Patricks Day Parade with the Girl Scouts Brownies troop that she joined.

Em and Sara warned me on the way down that Americans love their parades and after experiencing the parade, I can assure you that this is true. I am sure that the vast majority of people in the parade weren't even Irish, but found a reason to be in the parade.

M and Kate dressed in green in the St Patricks Day Parade.

I am finding these new experiences ulterly hilarious and I am looking forward to more mind-blowing cultural experiences.

First Two Weeks

We arrived in the US 2 weeks ago today. Here is a little of what we've been up to.

M's first day of school. She goes to the same school as Kate but she is the grade above her. They do get to play together during recess/lunch and they walk home together. M thinks the school lunches are a novelty and said she enjoyed them until yesterday's lunch which was fish shapes and she said it wasn't good. Josh also thinks school lunch is a novelty and he is interested to see what is on the menu each day. Parents can go and eat lunch with their child any time they like, so Josh and I are going to go down and do that someday soon. It will be fun for Josh to get to see what an American school lunch time is like.
We had some snow yesterday, which M went out to play in after school. On Monday nights we have games and treats as a family. Last night it was a tie between M's team (with Kate and Sara) and Mum and Dad.Josh was pleased to have received his social security card on Saturday which gives him his SS# that he needs for a bunch of things, like getting a driver's license or opening a bank account. He also got his green card yesterday which we both thought was very quick processing!

Our New Car

A post by 007...
One of our first items on our agenda for when we arrived in the US was buying a car. So after searching online and a full-on day of visiting car dealers, we bought a car! We bought a 2005 Suburu Forester. We are happy with our new car and independance to ensure I can get to all my upcoming job interviews!

Goodbye and Hello

I was debating putting these photos up because it makes me a sad to look at the goodbye photos. We miss you all already.

Flying premium economy made leaving a little less painful. We loved the big seats and extra leg room. Our flight went smoothly and we were surprised to see Sara, Alex and Kate at the airport because we thought they would be meeting us at home.

Baptism

I know it's been a while now, but here a few photos we took on M's baptism day.We were happy to share this day with all of the family and friends who could make it.