Test

I'm just testing to see if I can put videos on blogger easily.
Here's a video of a game we all play with baby Tommy.



While I've got your attention, here are some funny kid Quotes:

Kate: "Hilary, have you ever cut your finger nails?"

Later Justin asked his kids what they though our(Hilary's and my) kids would be like.

Lucy said, "If they are cute they will look like Hilary, if they are not cute, they'll look like Brian"

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Hilary and I celebrated part of Christmas at our house on the 23rd. Later we celebrated for real in Colorado with most of our family.



I rediscovered this year that the problem with getting presents for your wife is that those are the presents your wife can't wrap for you. Each attempt just got worse.







In keeping with Christmas traditions we built towers with kapla blocks. Both Lucy and Kate got turns being "mummyized". Building a tower around Kate took every single block in the house.








Martins have had lots of cat issues in Sicily. Here is my holiday suggestion. Enjoy.

Thanksgiving

We did thanksgiving in South Jordan. It was fun. I didn't do any homework. We did eat lots of Mommy Hart food which made Hilary happy as can be. We also did lots of drawing. My four year old nephew, Connor, loves having us draw with him. The pics below are inspired by our trip.

VEGAS
What you think it's like


What it's REALLY like.






UTAH

What you Think it's like



Yeah Utah is cold.

Besides being cold and eating lots of food and doing lots of coloring we visited the Allens. Hyrum put on a karate demonstration that was most impressive. Like really impressive. I'm excited to play fruit ninja with him over Christmas. Meanwhile since I didn't get a video of him here's another pretty descent kung fu video although these kids are not as good as Hyrum.

I Won

So you know how every candy package says to check the wrapper cause you might win 10,000 dollars? If they were honest they would say, "you might win 10,000 dollars, but the chances are unlikely seeing as our largest prize is one dollar." Anyway I opened up some M&M's and the package said I won. I called in that they sent me this. cool huh?

My Date with Justin

Kim and Justin H. visited us shortly before she entered the MTC. We took Kim and Justin to Smashburger only partly to see if Justin really would get a blackbean burger instead of meat. We had a jolly ole time and Justin loved his blackbean thing. Afterwards we had greasy saucy fingers so while Kim and Hil watched the table, Justin and I went to go wash our hands. It was one of those bathrooms with only one toilet and a sink, so we both went in to wash our hands.

I finished washing my hands first having a lesser desire for cleanliness. As I walked away from the bathroom a man approached. Upon seeing me exit the bathroom, he logically concluded that the lavatory was now vacant and he could enter at his leisure. Imagine his surprise when he finds another male yet inside the bathroom. Why in the world would two males be sneaking together into the bathroom? I was slightly embarrassed.

So then Hil and Kim go to the girls room to wash the greasy goodness from their hands. Justin joins me at the table and I inform him why a man entered into the bathroom while he was still in there and why the man wore a surprised and disgusted expression. Justin laughed it off easily. Being a resident of the doll house he is by no means a stranger to strangers thinking he is (as they say in Spain) a butterfly. According to Justin, the doll house always has at least one, with several potentials. Anyway the point of the story is some dude thought we snuck off to the bathroom together. While we were laughing it up I tempted fate and said, "Imagine if he came out of the bathroom right now? Hil and Kim are gone so it'll look like the same two guys laughing together alone at a restaurant. He'd totally think we're on a date...... and that one of us has a purse."

Cue the man walking out of the bathroom. The look on his face confirmed my suspicions.

And that's the story of my date with Justin. But I figure if you've got to go on a date with a dude, it might as well be to Smashburger. Just don't wash your hands.

Cub Scouts

So we have been Wolf Leaders for a while. We found out today that we will probably be released. We'll keep our primary calling but no more wolves. Today was the last Sunday teaching this group of kids (we'll get new kids in January)(I mean they're not new as in brand new to the earth. Just new to us). One student summarized our teaching credentials with these words, "You weren't terrible teachers. You were hilarious."

Anyway one of the last cub scout meetings we did was have them paint frames to give to their mothers. We took pictures of them painting so that they would have something to put in the frames. We didn't really think about the background until afterwards. I'm guessing the mothers may be amused. (actions have been taken to protect the identity of children)



Oops.

Fortune Cookie

Yesterday we ate at a Hawaiian restaurant. Hilary is crazy about four things.
1 Any thing Polynesian (especially New Zealand)
2 Moon phases
3 Trampolines
4 Purple

Well that's why we were eating Hawaiian food. Afterwards we got fortune cookies. This was Hilary's fortune.



Sorta defeats the purpose of "fortune cookie" when it tells us something we already know.

Mine was similarly revelatory. Something like "one person is thinking positive thoughts about you." Just one...

I've still got it!

My Sweet Wife

We were assigned to do group research projects in my tax class. My group decided we would do separate research and pool our results. When we got together, the three of them had researched but I had slacked off. I volunteered to tweak our notes and turn it into a final draft to promote some semblance of contribution. Last night Hilary finished writing it for me.


I don't know how I got anything done before I had a wife to do everything for me. She's just so wonderful.

Halloween

We didn't get a single trick-or-treater on Halloween night. This might have had something to do with our porch light being off. Oops. So now we have a Costco bag of candy to eat up before next Halloween. And maybe we'll learn and not buy so much candy next year. (I think we had 3 trick-or-treaters last year... I wonder how many years we will feel the need to be prepared, you know, "just in case" a lot of kids come this year.)

We went to a Halloween party a few days before Halloween. We spent a total of $5.50 on our costumes. If you can't tell, we were Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.

KimBurley turns 22

Happy Birthday Kim,

We dedicate this blog to you. Well actually only this entry, which puts you at one entry less important to us than San Diego.

Speaking of San Diego we thought of you while at the zoo. Behold:

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We know you are going to Ukraine soon. We’ll miss you but we know you’ll be a fantastic missionary. Probably better than all your brothers combined. I’m actually an expert on Ukrainian customs and thought I’d give you some hints and general knowledge before you go.

When you see sausages on the ground do not eat them. They are not free food. (Think Elf) The sausages are poisoned. They leave them lying in the streets. They are actually an innovative method of eradicating the wild dog population. Now that’s using Ur Kranium. The sausages remind me of the spirit of Elias. Preparing the way, clearing the dogs away so that you can bring forth the gospel to their streets. Lest you think I’m making any of this stuff up I’ve provided evidence to back up my knowledge.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_DOG_KILLING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-24-06-37-27

Before you animal right activists get in a fit I have another story. I’ve mentioned this before but you thought I was making it up. A popular Ukrainian custom is to chain up bears and force them to drink vodka for the amusement of the patrons. At least it was a popular custom. Many restaurants and bars had their own respective vodka drinking bear, but no more. New legislation will prohibit said activities and as many as 80 bears will be freed from captivity. This move effectively eliminated the freeloading bears’ burden on society. Bears will now be expected to buy their own vodka “just like everyone else.”

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/weird/Bears-Forced-to-Chug-Vodka-For-Laughs-in-Ukraine-126707053.html

Now we’ll move on to the topic of famous Ukrainians. After extensive research I was able to recognize a few names.

Milla Jovovich. She is famous for her ability to shoot zombies with guns and more recently kill people with swords while wearing a princess dress. (Hilary refers to the new Muskateer movie as the princess dress movie thanks to her)

Mila Kunis. She is famous for proving that America is not the only country dumb enough to think that it is cool to give someone a common name and then misspell it. Also famous for being on TV.

Upon further analysis every famous Ukrainian has one thing in common. Namely they live in the United States.

Now there is one “famous” Ukrainian who does not live in the United States. I hesitate to say she is famous but her hair is well known for its resemblance to a film character from the 70’s. Meet prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

I have no way of proving this but I’m fairly confident she wears her hair like that every single day. Evidence suggests she was born that way.

She served several terms but was ousted in the 2010 election. I wouldn’t say that necessarily reflects anything on her job performance. In Ukraine some people publicly advertise they will vote for whoever pays them the most.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/12/ukraine-election-internet-idUSLDE60B0N020100112?type=marketsNews

I guess some dude took advantage of these votes for sale and outfoxed Yulia. He used his Kranium. You can use Ur kranium too.

We love you Kim. I know this information will help you in your mission success.

San Diego Trip

This is us at the Mormon Battalion museum. They took this picture for free. Cool little museum.



We spent some time at the beach after the zoo and before the battalion museum. I figured we'd put the zoo pictures last. It's not as if you couldn't just find better blurry pictures of animals with a google search.


We had a great time at the zoo.



Sad. Saggy hump.

Looks like Hilary kung fu'd them.




We got some up close and personal shots.






There were lots of animals I'd never heard of. The Bearcat was an interesting animal. We still don't know what this one is.


Walking through the zoo put lots of children's songs in my head that I hadn't heard in years.
"Alice the camel has 3 humps"
"Kuckabura sits in the old gum tree"
"Wilaby Wallaby Woo, An elephant sat on you"
"Joshua giraffe, lived in a zoo, what could he do?"

That's all for now.

San Diego Temple

I don't know what Heaven looks like, or even if they have buildings, but I'm guessing it looks a lot like this.