I stumbled across this little tidbit and am not sure what to say about it - except for "I wonder if they are giving out free samples, I'd take one!"
Full Story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1269781/Scientists-develop-spray-make-men-affectionate-using-cuddle-hormone-oxytocin.html
For St. Patrick's Day I've composed a limerick in honor of my brother (whose birthday is this week as well).
It goes like this:
There once was a lad named Riley
His family called him Guy Smiley.
He's serving a mission
to teach exaltation
so he's happy all the time-y.
Thank you.
Last week the movie City of Angels was on tv so Mike and I decided to watch it. You remember, that Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage movie from the 90's that no one ever really saw but everyone had the soundtrack CD?
Anyway watching it made me wonder - do you think Stephenie Meyer is a Nicholas Cage fan?
*disclamer: I have many friends on both sides of the "Twilight" mania issue. The purpose of this post is not to discuss that. Any one who wants to know my opinion on the saga can call me and we'll talk.
Think about the similarities between the stories:
- Boy meets average, slightly quirky girl and falls in love
- Boy happens to be immortal and unhuman
- The only way they can be together is for one of them to sacrifice the life they know and join the world of the other.
- There is a more human competitor for Girl's affection and she must choose between the two
- Large portion of the movie is Boy feeling sad for the awful prediciment he is in
And in casting:
- Neither Robert Pattinson or Nicholas Cage are very attractive, but somehow they make women swoon for them. I don't get it.
I guess it's true that there are no real original stories left. Oh well. At the least the soundtracks rock.
What's happening in this picture?
Romantic surprise from Mike? No.
Early Valentines Day Celebration? No.
Someone forgot to pay the electricity bill? No.
This could have been just a regular Sunday night dinner with the family around the kitchen table. But my brother was over an hour late bringing his "friend" to dinner. So the family decided to help their "friendship" along. Then we sat in the other room and eavesdropped as best we could.
Awkward.... for them
Funny .... for us.
One of the greatest blessings of having sisters is the extra wardrobe options.
But what happens when you get black paint on the white sweater you "borrowed" from your sister while she was out of town?
You find your inner crafter and turn it into a travel pillow of course!
What stain?
I decided to start the year off responsibly and took my car in for a long overdue oil change on Saturday.
The nice people at Jiffy Lube changed the oil, washed the windows, and presented me with a list of things wrong with my car that should be fixed immediately, if not sooner.
At the top of the list was a new belt. The old one, they told me, had cracks in it and from the impression I got from the mechanic it could snap AT ANY MOMENT which would ruin my car and maybe even be a danger to my LIFE! But they could fix it for a mere $80.
Unfortunately, I hadn't planned on paying more than the $30 for the oil change. So, reckless as it was, I just drove home, cracked belt and all.
For 3 days I put myself at risk every time I got behind the wheel.
Eventually, Mike and my dad had time to replace the part that was such an endangerment.
They opened the hood and would you believe: the belt was in great condition! No crack. No split. No chance of it snapping and causing havoc without notice.
It was a 2010 miracle!
It was a magical Christmas at our house this year as 3 of the wishes on our list were fulfilled!
* A dozen cakeballs - Mike's sister made cakeballs and brownie bits galore and we gorged on them for days on end as we spent a few days with her family as well as his brother's family who came down from Denver just for the cakeballs.
* A taste of Ireland - My sister gave us hot chocolate with Irish Cream, a homemade Irish candy she found on the internet, and the movie The Secret of Roan Inish. The movie was ok, the candy was pretty good, and I LOVED the hot chocolate (see here if you don't believe me).
* The performance of a song - this was a family event, although arranged by my sister. She had re-written the words of "The 12 Days of Christmas" and had everyone perform it together with actions. It went something like this :
(go ahead, sing it out loud)
On the 12th day of Christmas with the Groves Family (there were):
Twelve Noise Complaints
Eleven DP’s Gulping
Ten Decks a shuffling
Nine Attacking Marleys
Eight Shows Rehearsing
Seven Licks from Brindle
Six Missionaries
Five Poker Tournament Braclet Games!
Four Howling Werewolves
Three Allan Tanglers
Two Brothers in law
And
An Awesome song written by Elise
I hope everyone else had as wonderful a Christmas as we did!
Recently I was part of organizing a multi-University event held on BYU Campus that my work was sponsoring.
Here are a few of the thoughts I had as I walked around campus and watched the event:
- I wonder if the people I walk past know that I'm here on serious business or do they think I'm a student? I better make as many important phone calls and send emails from my blackberry while they're looking just in case.
- It is so hard to explain to someone who just moved to Utah why it's normal for some young student to bring his wife and crying baby to a professional business school event. I guess you can say it's just a culture thing. Now that I think of it though, it is kinda weird, huh?
- Oh man do I love BYU chocolate milk. Even if I have to race up all three zillion stairs in the Tanner Building and almost lose it ... I still love BYU chocolate milk.
- I just wished a team from the U of U to win. That felt wierd.
- I have to admit that I like the feeling of telling students I work on the recruiting team and seeing the "better kiss up to her" looks
Our Halloween Party this year was great! Even though what I cooked for dinner didn't really look like I wanted it to, didn't really taste that good, no one got our costume unless we explained it to them, and I didn't get around to posting the pictures until almost 2 weeks later. Oh well, gotta let other people shine once in a while too! Enjoy the show:
It's 2 weeks before Halloween. My husband is out of town and I'm watching my niece and nephews. Soon the house is quiet as the kids are tucked into bed, and I've turned on my computer to dive into some overdue work. Suddenly, the power goes out. I look to the door - it sounds like someone is trying to get it in. I grab my phone, but the battery is dead. The door slowly creaks open....
True story - except that the power didn't go out, I always keep my phone charged, and the door was closed and locked the whole time.
But I'm watching the kids again next week, just days before Halloween...
Good thing I took that babysitting course as a beehive, I'm pretty sure they covered dealing with psycos, zombies, and vampires.
*P.S. I never have and never will watch the movie "Babysitter Wanted." My imagination has enough to feed off of as it is, thank you.
Our adoring fans (Mike's Mom) have been asking for pictures of the inside of our house. So, here are a few highlights:
Front room - our rug passed my "pretty to the eyes" and Mike's "soft for the feet" tests, the couches need to be experienced in person.
Master bathroom - 2 sinks, in the words of Mike "sooo luxurious!
The fun bathroom 
Grammy's room. She said other people can borrow it when she's not here.
Kitchen with built-in dishwasher!
Yesterday my company announced they have agreed to be acquired by Adobe (the Acrobat, Illustrator, Reader people).
Shortly after the CEO made the announcement, and just minutes before a team meeting with our department to discuss the changes that will be taking place, this showed up on my computer:
*Click on the picture to get a bigger view.
While hiking The Narrows at Zions National Park
Mike decided to brave the deep and dangerous waters and forge ahead despite the obsticles:
In a fateful moment he lost his balance, and quickly tried to save himself from certain doom:
But the log proved to be too slippery, or his supplies or too heavy. No matter the reason, Mike just could not hold on any longer and plunged in to the icy, rushing, 
Knee deep waters?
Our house
In the middle of our street
If you want to see the inside you'll have to come visit us.
I thought our game nights were intense, but at least when we are sore losers we just go to another room and pout - nothing like this. Sheesh!
ksl.com - 2 men arrested following separate game incidents
Right now would be the appropriate time to post the obligitory travel report from our family vacation last week with my extended family.
But we were too busy doing these things
that I forgot to take pictures. Do I feel bad? Nope.
Over the 4th of July we took a little weekend trip to see Mike's family. Besides eating lots of good food, eating lots of junk food, playing indoor games, and playing outdoor games - we decided it would be fun to take the kids (Mike's brother, sister, and her family were also visiting) to the Crayola Crayon Factory.
Turns out you don't actually get to see the factory, but you see a demonstration of how crayons are made and then spend the rest of the time walking around trying out all of Crayola's different products.
The "kids" had a great time with all of the art projects they made!
