Parentheticals

Tuesday we celebrated Alison's birthday. We had a great party with Sushi for dinner (we went to the sushi place at fort union near the thai food place (Itto Sushi, the one that has really good nigiri)). We opened Alison's presents (the kids helped open them), and did the "Heavy Hangover game", and also the balloon game. For those not initiated in the "Heavy Hangover" game, don't feel left out. I had never heard of it until I married Alison. It involved chanting a poem and bonking the gift recipient on the head with your present. A scouring of the internet only came up with the following scholarly quote: I believe the custom died out in affluent countries when the size and weight of gifts increased and the custom was found to cause unacceptable collateral damage to the upcoming generation of gift recipients. It did, however, have a Darwinian purpose in prehistoric times, when clubs and similar weapons were handed out as gifts and the thin skulls of th...

This week has been much less busy. We didn't have plans most evenings and, although Alison and the kids met Grandma Julie and Cousin Ellie at City Creek and the zoo on Monday and Tuesday, Timmy was sick with a cold for the second half of the week so not much happened. Timmy points to anyone with a beard and says "Ho, Ho, Ho!" meaning Santa Claus. This is ironic when it's actually a picture of Jesus. His speaking is improving every day. He now makes 2 word sentences. He also says "Daddy" instead of "Dada" Hurray! On Friday we were invited to a Financial Fitness class with some other couples in our neighborhood. We are more financially fit than many people, but we still got some good advice and enjoyed the time with friends. We are slowly working through the homework, which is very detailed and takes a while but has some good discussion questions. Mike has been spending a decent amount of time preparing for his Ion Award presentations. This nex...