Game: Bohnanza

Ive been eyeing this card game for awhile. It has lots and lots and lots of good reviews. It is the #4 best selling game of all time. I finally broke down today and bought it. It was a little steep for a card game at $20, plus, the only place you can buy it is through the interdimensional portal into the board gaming sub-culture store known as Game Night Games in SLC.

But me and Ed went there today, and were instantly entranced at the piles of games that exist that you dont even know exist. The guy at the store was as nerdy as they come, but he knew everything about every game ever. But thats a story for a whole other topic. Lets suffice it to say that I had to remind Eddie of the world beyond the portal to break his daze and get us both out of that place.

So I broke open the game tonight and first did a run-through by myself, and then a partial game with Amy - and we LOVED it. It is fantastic. Its really made for 4-7 people, although it CAN be played with 2. But you notice immediately how much more fun it would be with more people.

The gist of the game is that you are a bean farmer. There are all sorts of beans to farm, soy beans, green beans, black-eyed beans, coffee beans, even stink beans, 11 varieties in all. You have 2 or 3 fields in which to plant them. The more you can plant before the harvest, the more money you make. But with 11 varieties of beans going in the market and only 3 fields, you are constantly faced with the decision to harvest immediately and plant a more lucrative bean or hold on and keep planting more of what you already got till they are worth more. Its basic supply and demand. The funnest part though, is during each persons turn, there is a trade and donate thing that goes on, where people are trying to dump their worthless beans and trade for better ones. It actually IS to your detriment to hold on to the worthless beans, as it forces you to harvest a more lucrative bean early to make way for the new inventory of worthless beans. So there actually is alot of donating going on, not just trading.

Anyway, we are bringing it out to Mom and Dads for the Halloween weekend (which by the way we are staying Fri through Sun). With my fam, Moms fam, and Eds fam all playing, its gonna make for a wild weekend of bean farming.

Yee Haw Amigos!

Disneyland 2008

Disneyland this year was excellent. I don't know if its my kids or my family or what, but I absolutely loved it.

Day 1 - Tuesday 10/14/08
We got on the airplane at SLC about 4pm-ish. The kids really enjoyed watching the plane lift off the ground. All my kids ordered tomatoe juice as their beverage. They played Nintendo DS and talked about princesses for the entire 2 hour flight. It was really fun. We landed and got to Disneyland about about 6pm. We IMMEDIATELY went to Downtown Disney, went swimming, ate something I cant remember, and watched Disney cartoons till we all fell asleep.

Day 2 - Wednesday 10/15/08
This day we spent in the Disneyland park. We started off with Star Tours, which is a fabulously realistic space ride to blow up the Deathstar. Crystal kept asking me if it was real. As soon as we entered the asteroid field, I hear Rooker yell "WO HO HO HO!". Then we did Buzz Lightyear and defeated Zerg. We did the Disneyland Train and saw the Dinosaurs, saw Billy Hill and the Hill Billies at the Golden Horseshoe Review, took a boat through the Pirates of the Caribbean, road a chair through the Haunted Mansion, got lost in the caves on Tom Sawyer Island, bought Crystal and Bailey some cute pink umbrellas with their names drawn all pretty all over them, and then 10 mintues later they were tired of carrying them. Rooker bought a Star Wars transformer, which I was so entranced with, I had to go back and buy my own. I got an AT-AT, those big walking machines, its freakin sweet.

Crystal eventually had to split from her boring parents and siblins and go on the big rides with Joseph and Ben. They did Splash Mountian, Space Mountain, and the Matterhorn.

And after ALL that, we went to the Rainforest Cafe and had a very expensive dinner in the jungle. Every 20 mins or so, the lights would dim and there would be a lightning storm.

THEN FINALLY, we went swimming and sat in the hot tub to wash away all the aches and pains of all the walking and spending. Phew!

Day 3 - Thursday 10/16/08
This day we spent in California Adventure. First we rode the Monorail into Disneyland (which is nice cause you get to skip all the lines to get in). We wanted to hit Finding Nemo submarine ride, but it was closed. They said they were finding Nemo...

So the first place we went at Cali Adv is Soaring Over California. This is the greatest ride in all of history forever and ever period. You sit in these ski-lift type things, and they bring your right in front of this giant screen and you literally feel like you are flying right over California. They release smells for the forests, orange orchards, ski mountains, raging rivers. At the end you fly over Disneyland and there is a fireworks show. FANTASTIC!

Then we went to "Its Tough to be a Bug". Which is a 3d show where Flick from Bugs Life attempts to show you what its like to be a bug. You even get introduced to the stink bug, who accidentally shoots the audience, P-U. Then Hopped (the bad guy, grasshopper) takes over and is ticked that humans always kill bugs, so he decides to attack us. These HUGE Black Widows drop down the cieling, and there is fog and its dark, and Bailey literally started shaking she was so scared. Then some other bugs decide to sting you, and the chairs have these pokey things that poke you in the back and in the legs. Finally, when everything is over, they let the little bugs out first, and little puffs of air shoot at your legs and the chairs feel like there are bugs running behind you. Awesome!

We made our way over to Tower of Terror, where you get to enter the Twilight Zone in a haunted hotel. Its actually an elevator ride that continually drops you from the 13th floor. Rooker and Crystal loved it, Bailey was too scared to ride it, although she was tall enough.

We did the worlds longest roller coaster, the new Toy Story ride, and then at 3pm, we had dinner with Ariels Grotto.

Ariels Grotto is super expensive. More expensive than even the expensive restaurants. Its because every 20 minutes a new princess enters the restaurant and talks with the kids. We saw Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Snow White. Rooker always has the cheesiest look when they are around. We got pictures with all of them.

After all that, we went swimming, did the hot tub, walked around Downtown Disney, and watched cartoons till we fell asleep.

Day 4 - Friday 10/17/08
This is really my favorite day. Cause this is the last day of our 3 day pass, and you can do whatever you want. We FINALLY got to go on Finding Nemo, which by the way was absolutely fabulous. The barracudas attack the submarine, you see the sharks, and at the end you finally find Nemo. Its also a fairly long ride.

We also made our way over to Adventureland and did the Jungle Cruise, which is famous for the most cheesy jokes EVER. I just laugh the whole time. We visited the Tiki Room where all the birds and flowers and totem poles sing for like 20 minutes. The kids think it is sooo awesome. The problem is that about 15 minutes into it, the whole room is going nuts, and it angers the gods and brings in a giant lightning and rain storm. Rooker kept hoping it would go away before we went back outside. But little did he know, the entire storm was contained right there in the Tiki Room. Awesome.

We also climbed Tarzans Treehouse, and rode through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye with Indiana Jones. You get lots of warnings not to look in the eye of the Sphinx before you go in. Crystal was scared enough to close her eyes and look down so she didnt accidentally do it.

We spent some time during the middle of the day swimming and watching cartoons. Our feet needed a rest big time.

Then for dinner we had reservations at The Jazz Kitchen. Its a very fancy restaurant in Downtown Disney. Im sure the bill was huge. I got chicken fried pork which was out of this world.

We got back to the park in time to see the Disneyland Parade at 7pm. Lots of princesses and other characters dancing around and singing. Our kids loved it and tried to wave to all the characters. It was really fun.

Day 5 - Saturday 10/18/08
At 7am, we had reservations for Goofy's Kitchen. Awesome. Its a breakfast buffet (which actually was very good) and then Disney characters come around and take pictures and sign their autographs and stuff. Even Captain Hook came out. Rooker was like "OH MAN!". He would reach out to shake your hand, and when you'd go to grab it, he would get you with his hook. The kids loved it.

Eventually, we packed everything up, and dropped all our crap off to the Bellhop place and went back to Downtown Disney for lunch and to waste time while we waited for our van to take us to the airport at 3pm.

Me, Amy, Crystal, Rooker, and Bailey all headed to the Build-a-Bear workshop for Crystal and Bailey to make their own teddy bears. Crystal chose a cat and Bailey chose a bunny. First you pick up their skins (which means they dont have any stuffing yet) and you take them to the stuffing machine. A person helps you stuff your friend, and then you get a heart to put in them. First you wave it up in the air so they arent afraid of heights, then you rub in by your head so they are smart, then you hold by your heart so they know you love them, then you give it a kiss. Then you place it inside your animal and they help you sew it up. After that is complete, you take it to the washing station, which looks like a little tub with a shower. When you press on the pedal, the shower thing blows air out, and you use a brush to wipe down your new friend and get all the dirt ouf of their fur. Bailey was absolutely giddy during this part. Everything in here is designed to get you to have a personal relationship with the animal, and they do a fabulous job. Then you head to clothing section, and this is where the real cost of the animal comes in. You first choose some underwear (for $3), then a dress (for $7-$11). They have everything, astronaught outfits, princess, elvis, skater, techie, singer, cowboy/girl, etc. Of course you gotta buy shoes and a headpiece too. When its all said and done, your about $40 per animal. Crystal and Bailey absolutely love their animals.

Rooker instead wanted these swords from the Lego Store. We let him get 2 of them. He basically fought everything he could think up for the rest of the day. Eating and sitting was a burden to him. We had pigs in a blanket and cinnamon pretzels till it was finally time to go.

We got on the plane, and got hime at like 9:30pm-ish. We all crashed.

Wow what a week. It was really the most fun I have ever had at Disneyland. I think you need at least 2 or maybe 3 years in between visits, but Im sure we will definitely go again.

You have to be careful with Google Maps

General Conference / Funeral / Oak City

The weekend started off with Uncle Jack's funeral. There were ALOT of cousins there that I hadn't seen in a very long time. It was nice to see them all again. The one thing I really got out of the funeral was stated by Uncle Rick's talk. He said "Learn to quietly accept injustice". What an earth-shaking idea. Key word is QUIETLY.

Then we all went to Oak City for the burial and for the rest of the weekend. After a few sessions of Conference, I made sure Jake and Bryan knew that I truly felt that everything I had heard that day really applied to them.

The Priesthood Session is about the only time I can truly listen and ponder what is being said. Im fairly certain this is why we even have a Priesthood Session. And of course, it was excellent. I really really enjoyed Elder Scott's and Elder Uchtdorf's talks. Even Joe was entranced enough to stay awake the whole time. Way to go Joe!

And Oak City in general was perfect. We played some Rook, we talked about who is dumb enough to name their product Grey Poupon, we marveled at Phil's beard, I got to ride on Jake's dirtbike and in his nice truck, Aunt Lisa made the most amazing homemade bread, Mom brought mouth-watering homemade salsa, the kids played in the freezing ditch, the little girls had tea-parties with Addy and Meg, Rooker showed the girls the wonders of worms, the kids got paid to pick up walnuts - and then we ran to the Oak City store to spend it immediately, Uncle Jeff had a foosball tournament, Joe showed everyone the wonders of his iPhone, Lavelle showed us the 5 or 6 places to instantly kill a man, Cody complained about the internet, Jenna found out that Amy is pregnant, everyone got a turn riding the new zero-turn lawn-mower, and eventually we all said good-bye to a wonderful weekend.

If you weren't there, you missed alot of good stuff. Maybe next time.

National Debt Clock

This is the US National Debt. The amount changes as interest accumulates.

From what I can tell right now, it accumulates about $100,000 every 5 seconds in interest.

The Gross National Debt

Sure is fun to watch huh?.......

If the interest rate drops 1/10th of a percent, it saves the government $32 every second, thats $1,920 a minute.

Crystal's Note to the World

Crystal left this note in the Kitchen. I have not altered its spelling or grammar in any way.

Im late for the bus. So I think I'll miss it. but my mom says I wont miss it. I sayd to myself, I will miss it! I just will and I did miss it. the next day mom sayd, I will miss it. but I just dident. my mom gets everytitg rong! dont beleev my mom!