Andrew's 31st Birthday

As it usually happens I had another birthday and when from being just 30 to being 31.  When we woke up Michelle asked me when I wanted to open my gifts.  It sounded like she wanted me to say right then so I did.  We went down stairs and Drew helped me open up my present which was in a very lovely Winnie the Pooh bag.  Drew pulled out the full 8 DVD set of Harry Potter.  I hadn't seen the last one yet and hoped to barrow it from Michelle's mom, but hadn't gotten the chance.

My plan is to have a Harry Potter marathon and watch all of them in order within a two day period on my next week off.

Since we had set a budget for birthday gifts I wasn't expecting much else, so when Michelle told me I needed to go to the garage and then open the trunk of the car I was a little confused.

It turned out to be a 47 in flat screen.  When I first opened it I just saw part of the box and thought it was just a small flat screen and was surprised by it, but when I finally noticed that it filled up the whole back trunk and seat of the car I was really surprised.  It was the best gift and most surprising gift I had ever gotten for my birthday.

When I went to set it up I thought the box was missing a part for the base of the TV so since we were going to return it I started looking for other TV options since Michelle didn't do a lot of research before purchasing it and I  decided on a different brand which was better, bigger, and cheaper than the original.  We did discover the missing part was just hiding in some styrofoam, but it made us get a better deal.  For the rest of the day I wanted to hang out with my family.  We went out to eat together and then we went up to watch our friends perform Christmas music in Kaysville.  It was a great way to spend my birthday and start the holiday season.  Thanks Michelle, Drew, and Braeden for the great day and the wonderful gifts.

Thanksgiving With the Martin Family

For the past few years the Martin family has made it a tradition to do a little serve to begin our Thanksgiving holiday feast.  We go around to several peoples homes, usually older couples or widows, and rake their leaves and clean up their yards a little.  This year was no different, but one of the homes we were going to do had been cleaned up  in the day between the time Michelle's mom had chosen the houses and when we were doing the project.  It cut our service project down a little, but when we returned to the Martin yard we found plenty of leaves to rake so we did them a little service.

One of the things we looked forward to when we have holiday parties at the Martin home are all of the games that Michelle's mom thinks of to play before we eat.  We started off with the traditional pin the gobble on the turkey, but rather than use our chewing gum as the gobble we just used paper which takes all the fun, and disgust, out of it.

After the grand kids had their turn with grandma Martin it was time for the adults to give it a try and everyone had to participate.  Perhaps the best part is watching everyone make a fool of themselves as they try and find where to put the gobble.  Some people did OK and others were way off.

Drew tried his best to help people out by pounding on the garage door and yelling, but for some there just wasn't any hope of getting it in the right spot.

Michelle was really sad when she found that she wasn't going to win the first place prize of choosing a soda from the garage of your liking.

Our second game was like frisbee golf except we used a bow and arrow instead of the frisbee.  Carol had placed hula hoops in various places in the yard and we had to see how many tries it would take us to finish the course.  I almost tied for first with two others, but I missed it by one.

Our third game was throwing the large arrows through the hoop.  These pool noodles turned arrows were harder to get through the hoop than expected, but a few of us got the hang of it, while the others kept on trying.  It really came down to technique, but there was a little argument about which method was better and which one was harder.

The best part about the giant arrow game was that the noodles had words like idiot written on them.  I assume they are for a lesson about how name calling is like throwing an arrow at someone, it hurts, or something like that. Who knows.

Our third game was drop the ball in the elephant poop.  I know it sounds really weird and it was, but it was also a lot of fun.  the purpose of the game was  to get the ball in each of the three poops and then pass them to your next team mate until your team had cycled through.

The last game had something to do with a safari and hunting, but I was inside helping get things together for dinner.   Either way the yard looked fun with all the animals and plants making it look like the plains of Africa.  Drew loved the lion heads.  When it was over we were all ready to eat and enjoy some good conversation.

It was another wonderful Thanksgiving at the Martin home full of fun, family, and food.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the eating part, but the games and service were the best part of the day.