Tilling the Earth

So I rented a tractor for $300 a day to till my backyard. Soon as I completed tilling the yard, a bolt that helps run the tine broke. So I was lucky there. So I spent another hour or so pushing the dirt around in an attempt to smooth it out. I did a pretty good job I think.

But good heavens there are a ton of rocks. TONS!!! This is going to take WAY longer than I thought. Blah on everything!

Completely New Website - COMPLETELY

As you have noticed by now, I have COMPLETELY redone my website. How many times have I done this now? Probably in the 20s by now.

Anyway, Im tired of writing all the software that displays my blogs etc and Im not going to do it anymore. Im trying to reduce and simplify my life.

My home site is now lymanite.com and not shnee.com anymore. Also, as you can see, I just have links at the top of the page that take you to the different parts of my website, such as this blog, which is now at blogger.com. Took me awhile to get all my old blogs moved over, but its done now. I should be able to get everything else back up here pretty quick.

And yes I know my pics page isnt very user-friendly. Im getting to it.

Anyway, we will see how this works out.

Shmaumau.com Pics

Amy is working on a new Photo Album for all our pictures. So the pics link on her website doesnt work yet again. She has found some software that makes really nice looking photo albums that you can then publish to your website. It will look really nice when it is done.

Kindergarten Graduation

Crystal graduated from Kindergarten. I think the whole graduation ceremony is a waste of time, but I could tell Crystal was glad I was there, and I guess thats what really matters anyway.

Carcassone

Ok, so I bought this game called Carcassone. Its a board game... kind of. Its a tile game I guess. You lay tiles to create the board as you go along.

Basically you are creating the township of Carcassone in France. You lay tiles that have roads, cities, farmland, rivers, inns, towers, and some other things. Every tile has to match all its surrounding tiles so you create a nice map of the area. Then you can claim 1 thing on your tile, like the city, farm, or road. When something you have claimed gets completed, you get points for it.

It was a blast. Its like a really fun version of chess.

There are 5 expansions to it that I have all of also. Me and Ed tried a game with every single expansion. Wow! It was sooo much fun. It takes about 1.5 hours with all the expansions, but it was the most awesome game. With the expansions you can add pigs to your farms, build towers to take prisoners, there is a dragon that roams around and eats others, even giant rivers, and tunnels under the cities. It seriously is a blast! I am soooooo glad I bought it. I got mine from a local place for around $70, but I saw it on Amazon for $48. I bought the Carcassone Big Box, which has all the expansions included.

Seriously, best board, er, tile game, EVER!

MDB 36

Just got back from the 36th annual Memorial Day Breakfast. It was really fun this year. I went down Thursday evening and took all the kids to give Amy some time alone to do whatever. She did ALOT of clearning and the basement looks awesome!

Thursday we just hung out and did nothing. Lavelle cooked some Ribs, TBones, Corn, and stuff and it was DELICIOUS!!! I was loving it.

Friday ppl started showing up. We just hung out some more, ate a TON of food, me and mom played a game called Tikal alot, it is pretty fun. Then that night me and Ed figured out how to play Carcassone which is a FANTASTIC game, so fantastic in fact, that I will start a blog just for that game.

Saturday morning was the golf tournament. I stayed home cause I had the kids and Amy showed up about 11ish. At 12 we all went to Delta to eat hot dogs. I had a really bad headache cause I stayed up so late playing Carcassone and Killer Bunnies with Ed. So I didnt participate much with the Hot Dogs till the end when my headache subsided. Then we went swimming. Crystal just went off all by herself all over the pool. I kept an eye on her MOST of the time, but she seems to have grown so fast its scary. She is her own person. Rooker and Bailey stayed pretty close to me.

After swimming we all went back to Oak City, did alot of visiting, made fun or Shay cause of his giant motor home, then played some softball and went to the Oak City Dance that night. They had an AMAZING fiddler there. And the music was of course fantastic. Crystal just kept going and wouldnt stop. Rooker and Bailey both crashed and I took them home sometime during the dance. Crystal did the Bunny Hop and Hokey Pokey too. She had WAY more endurance than me.

Sunday was church, bunko, the pig finals, and the program. Ed was sick or something so I did the Bunko game. It was actually funny to watch everyone yelling and getting all excited about winning. Sadie won the pig contest against Mason which was fantastic. She kinda smoked him. Everyone was cheering super loud, and she had one of those super happy yet somewhat embarrased smiles. I was laughing. Then we had the program and red velvet cake. After all that I had a billion little girls helping me stir 17 buckets of pancake batter. It took about 1 hour and was very tiring, but I still enjoy it. I actually dont mind the smell of the sourdough either.

Monday was the big breakfast. I showed up at 6, had some helpers do the butter, eggs, salt, sugar, and yeast and added all that to each of the buckets. The dough turned out really good. We did HEAPING scoops of sugar and it made a huge difference. The pancakes were soooo good. Yummy! After that was all prepared I went back and got Amy and the kids and we came back and ate. It was delicious.

Amy took off soon after that with the baby and Bailey, so me and Crystal and Rooker went to the cemetary for the program. They had full size flags at all the veterans graves, it was really cool. Rooker and Crystal were only there for the shooting of the rifles, which was really loud and made Rooker jump.

Then we just hung out, cleaned up moms house, and then eventually went home.

All in all it was a really nice weekend. I think the secret is to go to bed early enough (10-11pm) so that you feel good and refreshed for the next day's activities. Otherwise it makes it hard to enjoy them.

I feel bad for those who couldnt make it. There were soo many new kids and babies, there is no way you could keep track of all them without coming to the family get togethers.

My Adventure into the Boardgaming Subculture

I bought Carcassone and Tikal today. They look really fun. Carcassone has been around forever, and it is still one of the #1 rated board games of all time. And Tikal... well, let me tell you the whole story.

So I ended up at a board/card game store today at 21st south and 900 east. Its called Game Night Games. It is AMAZING!!! They have every type of board and card game you could possibly imagine. I was surprised to find they didnt sell any Dungeons and Dragons games. They just sell "family-type" games. I was impressed. Anyway, the guy who was in the shop was an overweight late 30s, hadnt showered type, who looked like his whole life was games of every kind. I talked with him a little about all the games and what his favorites were, and what would I like based on what Im looking for and have enjoyed in the past blah blah blah blah blah. He only recently started working there. He said he has been travelling the world going to gaming conventions, participating in gaming tournaments, and he knew just about every single game on the market and in the store. I even mentioned Stock Market, Scotland Yard, Go for Broke, PayDay, and any other "old" game I could think of, and he had played them all. He was an amazing resource for all things games.

He showed me games set in Egypt where you have to impress the Queen by building her buildings to her honor. There was a game where you chose to either be 1 of 4 different mobs or join the police force. Then as the mobs you battle each other for control of clubs and drug trafficking using boats, helicopters, cars, subways, etc to move aroudn the board all the while avoiding the cops who are also other players. That looked awesome! There was a game where you were Columbus trying to settle America and the other players were the natives and you had to bargain and fight your way to settle it or return to England empty handed. Seriously, he walked me through so many really cool games. I just couldnt figure out where ppl got such amazing imaginations to think up such things!

So anyway, I had already pre-chosen Carcassone as my game of choice just simply from reveiws and videos I had watched online. It looked amazing. He highly recommended it. But then he showed me Tikal and said of all the games he has ever played, that one was his favorite. Its got a great theme, quality parts, and twists and turns at every turn. He walked me through all the rules and some of his strategies and some of the twists to expect. So I had to buy it. There were some other ones too, some that took alot of thought, and some that were just quick and fun. We talked awhile about a card game called Killer Bunnies that has only been out a few months. He said it is one of the most exciting and fun card games in existence. Its so popular he said that they have monthly tournaments at the store and you almost cant get in anymore.

That was another thing, every Wednesday evening starting at 6:30, they have a gaming night where ppl bring new games that they just bought, or the store will pop one open that no one has ever played and they just have a great time playing board games. He said you have to come early cause by about 7ish the place is packed. Then every friday night they have a card tournament of some kind, including Rook tournaments. Then every Saturday is Killer Bunnies night for now. Man I was sorely tempted to buy that game. He said there is no other game in existence where you can stick it to the other player like you can in Killer Bunnies.

So it was quite an adventure for me, and I got a glimpse into a whole other world of boardgaming that I didnt even know existed, almost like a whole secret subculture right in the middle of Salt Lake. I think it would be kinda fun to show up to one of the game nights and see what it is like, but I doubt I ever will.

But one thing is for sure, I wouldnt go anywhere else to buy a board game. That place has everything, and knows everything about everything boardgaming.

Shrek the Third

We took all the kids, including the baby, to see Shrek 3 last night. It was alot of fun, I really enjoyed the show. The kids loved it too. They needed a break about 1.5 hours into it, so I took them out, got some drinks from the drinking fountain, then went back in. They finished the rest of the show no problem. We got popcorn too. There was a part where Shrek has a dream about all these baby ogres, and Crystal could not stop laughing. It was funny.

Now I just need to figure out how I can get me an Amy to Pirates 3.

Oh, and the preview to Transformers, which comes out July 4th, LOOKS AMAZING!!!

Busy Weekend

Phew its been a busy 2 days. Kids have all been in Idaho with Grandma Jan, so we been working our tails off on the yard. We just barely finished putting 4 trees in and putting lots and lots of white rock on the west side of the house to make a giant parking lot. It looks really really really nice. The trees really add life and variety to the front yard. We still have one more locust tree coming in this next week that we have to put in. We bought a bigger River Birch that was $149, but when we tried to put it in, it kinda fell apart - really fell apart.....ok, the entire root casing COMPLETELY fell apart. But I did my best to set the root, and pack soil around everything and I used water to make sure there were no holes or empty places etc. Its look good now....but we shall see. Amy thinks it will die, but I like the quote from Jurassic Park "life finds a way". We should know in the next few weeks. Otherwise its $149 down the drain. It sure is a pretty tree though.

I also added some shelves to the basement for storage. And of course the garage looks fantastic now. So all in all it was an amazing weekend. An expensive one, but well worth it.

Garage

Well, I have finally caved. Ive decided Ive lamented about my garage being too small for long enough. Its time I face the fact that I will never park a car in there, and only use it for storage. So today I went to Home Depot, spent a million billion dollars and got lots and lots and lots of shelves and tool organizers and shtuff. I spent about 6 hours putting everything together, and the result is wonderful. Almost everything that has been sitting on my garage floor is up on shelves and out of the way. There is actually room to walk around in the garage. The only things on the garage floor are the kids bikes and the freezer. Thats it. I got clamp things that grab your big tools like shovels and rakes and stuff and hold them against the wall. I got soooo many shelves. But the garage looks great, best its ever looked.

Feels good to finally move on with my life.

Tomorrow Im hoping to plant 6 trees in the front yard. Just having trouble finding the ones I want. But I still have one more place to look, the local Hogan Tree Farm just up the street from us. I guess its good to support the local economy anyway.

Crocs and Pics

First of all, Im almost done with updating our pictures page. It will look pretty close to the old page, but we will have all the pictures updated. Maybe by end of this week, or maybe next week. Depends on how much time I spend working on the yard this weekend.

Also, I bought some Crocs. They are shoes? sandals? made out of foam. They probably cost 50 cents to make. They cost $30.00 to buy. But they are worth every penny. I see alot of ppl with em now. Mom and Amy came home with a pair each last weekend, and I walked around in Amy's for a few mins to see how they felt. They felt really nice. Nice and light and fluffy. So yesterday I bought my own pair.


Holy Macrel they are soooooo nice!!! I just love em to pieces. I get chills just walking around in them cause they are so comfortable. It is like walking on marshmallows. I may never ever wear another shoe again in my life!

Sprinkler Problem

Ive got sprinkler problems. But Im happy.

3 of my sprinkler valves are leaking, so I spent yesterday evening digging them all up, and I made a trip to Home Depot to look at some new automatic valves and everything. It was really fun. I always get excited about yard work in the Spring, then it seems to wear off as the weather gets hotter throughout the summer. Im gonna try and make it last longer this year, cause there is alot of shtuff to do. I wanna plant 10 or 11 trees, put in a back lawn with sprinklers, bury some railroad ties, fix my current sprinkler problem, put up alot of fence, get some animals, install a drinking fountain out back, and buy and build a play place for the kids with swings and stuff.

So see, I have lots of cool stuff to do. I guess I better get it all done before I max out on the weather.

Independance Day

May 9th is officially 'Mark & Amy Lyman Family Independance Day'

Or just MAALFID for short.