Yesterday was my friend Paul's birthday. He and his roommate Derek are great friends, former missionary companions (served in Tucson, AZ), and current home teaching companions (they teach me and my roommates). One thing they share in common is a love of puns.

I have always liked puns, but being around these guys has made me really love puns. So...for Paul's birthday, I decided to make him a card based on a pun and give him a list of puns I found on the internet.

The card went something like this (with illistrations and fun lettering Ü):
So it was my birthday. I had a big party, and my friend made me a birhtday cake. He brought it out, and it was a savory cake. It had a doughy base with cheese and all sorts of toppings sprinkled on top. I said, "That must have taken a lot of effort to make." And he said...

(then on the inside...)
... "No, it was a pizza cake."

Heee heeee heeee! Ü

A couple of my favorites:
* A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
* He said I was average - but he was just being mean.
* When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U C L A.

If you want to read some more fun ones, check out http://www.punoftheday.com/

I was looking at some books online the other day (big surprise there, I know Ü), and I found this excerpt from a book that looks really great... Dad: The Man Who Lied to Save the Planet, 12 Timeless Virtues Handed Down to a Son by an Everyday Dad (by James Michael Pratt). The excerpt was printed in Mormon Life in an article entitled "It's Better to Be Kind Than to Be Right." I really enjoyed reading it, and it shares a great message. If you would like to read it too, just click on the link below.



"It's Better to Be Kind Than to Be Right"

Diana and I went to the moutains (See Canyon Trailhead near Christopher Creek) for our 23rd Anniversary celebration. We left early Friday morning and had camp setup by about 10:30am and a fish on the line a few minutes later. We ended up keeping four fish on ice for dinner then took off for a hike to the Spring. Most of these pictures come from the hike. I got up early Saturday and drove in to Payson to get the latest Harry Potter book. Then we spent most of the day reading it together. Very fun time, we'd like to go again soon!

Mike and I received shirts for our birthday and had a request to post them. So here they are. Mike with his Wisconsin Sponge Bob and me with Napoleon Dynamite's shirt. Let me just add that "Pedro offers you his protection"!

For the month of February, my ward was combined with another ward for FHE activities. Each group from my ward was paired up with group from the other ward, and together we were to create a movie. Each group was given a different genre of movie to make, and my group ended up with WESTERN. I think we totally lucked out with that! On the 26th of Feb, we got together for a combined ward party and had an “Academy Awards” of sorts. We had dinner (sub sandwiches) and watched all of the 5-7 min videos and then had popcorn and played a trivia game while the judges made their decisions. Oh, yeah, there was a list of about 15 things that if included in your movie would give you extra points. We got all but 3-4 of them. Anyway, our movie ended up turning out really great and we tied for BEST PICTURE! (I think we won because they asked the audience to vote between the two and there were more votes for our film…but the person in charge didn’t want to announce one way or the other and told us to fight it out.) We also won BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS & EDITING. Anyway, I have a copy of the DVD we made (see pict of it with its cool label and everything) which has the option of playing it “Old Western” style (sepia tone) or in regular color. By the way, it is a silent movie with cool saloon/cowboy music in the background. Too fun!

I have posted most of the cruise pictures now.

For anyone wondering about whether a cruise is a great deal or not...talk to us. It was great, mostly because there were so many that helped us get out there. But it was really wonderful. What is better than spending 24 hours a day for an entire week with your sweetheart! That is not counting all the adventure, food, new people and places.

It was great, the benefits to us and our frame of mind are beyond our expectations! Thanks to all that helped!

Well, we are nearly packed, it's after midnight and we need to leave for the airport at about 4am! We are excited about the cruise. The best part is Diana actually bought her some clothes. Rebecca was great to help her decide all the combinations and to give a good review of Diana's choices.

I have made a little web page that shows the webcams from the Grand Princess. It also has our itinerary. I'm not sure whether I will be able to get web access or not. If I can then we will try to update the blog if we can find the time. Thanks for all the well wishing.

We are very excited to relax...hope we can!

Here is the page.

Here is the gang that were rarin' to go trick-or-treating. Actually they ended up going trunk-or-treating at our church and then Becca and Daniel went to another church too. Doesn't it look like they are ready to go?

On Nov 13th, Becca and her Dad went on a Father/Daughter Outing. In addition to a great campfire, "inside/outs" (the new s'mores), javelina and coyotes, there was rappelling. She was excited to get up there and do it...look at that smile.