Games and Tantrums

I realize this is a random title and topic for a blog, but these were the first two pictures I had from the month of May.

A game of DND

And a self-inflicted bruise from a tantrum.

 So it got me thinking.
1. I'm getting back my tantrums in spades
2. My opinions on video games and nerd-dom

Since tantrums was number one, here it goes!

When I was little, I threw epic tantrums. I knew how to do it. I knew how to get the attention I needed/wanted and I knew how to do it comfortably. Apparently there's a video of me out there throwing a tantrum on the hardwood. I then stop and move to the carpet.

Comfort first, of course…

Yesterday, we were talking about tantrums. Apparently my 19 year old brother in law had some nasty tantrums when he was little. I know, the sweet, awesome Ty had terrible tantrums?

Yeah. It was hard for me to believe. 

When Ty was little, his uncle was over at their house during a tantrum. He said he remembered throwing tantrums like this (what? Who remembers tantrums??) and predicted when Ty would stop and ask to come out saying he was sorry and what would happen if mommy said no. He was right.

C knows how to throw tantrums. When he was smaller, he would throw his head back and land on the floor in an angry fury. It was hilarious. Sometimes his tantrums are still hilarious. 

I am glad that I'm able to laugh through most of them, because I would really be a crazy woman if I didn't.

He throws tantrums for silly things. I love that link that I've seen floating around that says why the kid is crying. things like "I can't find my toy" which is sitting right next to him.

Half of the time, I forget why C is crying when I see the picture later. :)

The picture of him in his swimsuit is from a few weeks ago. He was crying because the water was too cold in his kiddy pool and I put his toys in there. He had to save every last one of them. And then cried and cried. It was rather comical.

 I'm not quite sure why he was crying here. I do remember that I took off his pants so he wouldn't die of heat because crying is a warm affair.

These two are when my mom was in town and we went to Texas Roadhouse. 

He wanted to see the stuffed moose head instead of eating.

Love it.

After that lovely display of the fact that every kid throws tantrums… ;)

I'll go on to number 2.

I'm a nerd. 

I've talked about it before on here, but it's just a fact now.

Growing up, I loved Star Wars. Mostly because my hero brother loved it, too, but really, I went to Episode I 8 times in the theater.

8

Some might have been cheap theater and it was back when tickets only cost $5, but still. That's quite a bit, since most people hate number one the most.

Anyway, I love geeking out about things.

I started reading Harry Potter when I was about 10/11. I remember reading Goblet of Fire in my room on the bottom bunk listening to violin music through my first summer in Arkansas.

I then went to the book premier for the last three books. Yes, they have book premiers. I went to Barnes & Noble for the 5th and 6th and then went to Walmart where the lines were smaller so I could read 7 right there in the store. I have a wand (made of wood, my brother made it), a cloak, a tie (I made it!), a sheath for my wand…

I've been Hermione for Halloween more than once. I love the books, I love the movies…I go to those midnight premiers, too. And I dress up. My favorite person to dress up as is Tonks. She's kind of awesome. I love being able to wear pink hair for a night.

I even dressed up as "Nikki Fury" for the midnight showing of the Avengers. It was so fun. I even bought an eye patch. 

I've been to all of the Lord of the Rings movies in the theater. I haven't read the books, but I think that's ok, since they're reeeeeeaaaaaaaaalyyyyyyyyy long. :)

And then, as you know, I also like Dungeons and Dragons. I enjoy pretending to be awesome. If you want to know what it feels like in the slightest, play a Munchkin game or Lego Heroica or Star Wars Minis. They're all quite similar. 

I like that in Dungeons and Dragons, you get to become whoever you want. Not even a set perameter, really.

And I think that's ok. If it overcomes your world like that one show, I think, called the Guild, then it's not really ok. Obviously. :)

I also like video games. My little brother got an xbox when I was in my preteens. 

I think. 

12? 13? somewhere around there.

We played Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk, Amped, Rock Band, and Battlefront the most. 

As a teenager, I decided I'd never play Halo or rated M games.

Then I met J. He was wonderful. He was perfect. We got engaged and I knew he played Halo, but I had decided I wouldn't play, so he could play sometimes on his own.

Once we were engaged and back at school together, he told me something that kind of determined how our relationship would look in the future. He told me he really likes Halo. He loves it, truthfully. He told me that it was his release from a stressful, long day. It was also so important to him that he wanted me to be a part of it.

Gulp.

I told him I'd think about it and figure out what I wanted to do. If it was that important to him that his wife play (and fail MISERABLY, as I was sure would happen), then maybe I should just play.

Looking back, I'm glad I decided to give it a try. I like sharing things with him. I love having similar hobbies and passions. I think it's important to do things that both of you like to do.

So I gave it a try. Oh my goodness, I hated it. I died all the time, I never got the aliens in time… it was rough! And then, when we were married, we would also play online with his friends, Tyson, Emily, and Brady. 

I stunk.

So baaaaaaaad!!!

I was horrible!

We would even play games against each other sometimes and I would always be the fodder. I'd die the most, never win, and never really succeed. My greatest triumphs-with a winning score or, more often, not- were when I killed Tyson or Brady. Oh man, those gave me great pride and happiness. And J loved that. lol

Don't get me wrong, Tyson and Brady were great friends and I enjoyed their company, but I didn't really enjoy Halo and definitely didn't like how they played Halo when I was against them. :)

So then, as my desire to beat Tyson and Brady got bigger, so did my abilities. I got better!

As I got better, I enjoyed it more. -Who doesn't enjoy something if they are good at it?-

Now?

Well, I've played Halo Reach, 1, 2, 3, 4, and ODST. I love playing it now. It's a fun outlet and I like getting better at something-even though it's imaginary. I'm thinking critically so I think it's better than some things I could be into… :)

This is a picture of my character when she dies. I have hearts that float up. Love it. I wear red and black and my tag is SWAK-Sealed With A Kiss. I've kind of modeled it after Kissin Kate Barlow from Holes. :)

I really enjoy video games. I like playing with my husband and understanding what he's saying when he does play by himself and he does something awesome and can't wait to tell me about it.

I love that when my mom was here and J and I played late one evening while she snoozed a bit on the couch, an alien got blown up by a big rocket and it was impressive, so I asked J, "did you do that?" and mom answered, "uh huh." hahahaha Made me laugh.

I LOVE playing with my nephews. I didn't really like that they played Borderlands (sorry, I play it sometimes, too, but I think it's more M than Halo is), but I LOVE playing Halo with them! We play every few weeks and get through 2-3 levels together. One night, J went to pick up dirt for our garden with his friend (ironically, it was Brady) and I played Halo with my nephews (13 & 11).

My brother joined in and we played a few games against each other-zombies, mostly. I loved it!

What was funny is that when J got home, he then sat in Brady's truck and chatted while I was inside playing Halo. Complete role-reversal. It was funny.

So. Long long blog later, I'm comfortable in my nerd-dom. I like being a nerd.

I like that it is fun to dress up and be someone else for an evening. 

I like that it brings my hubby and me closer.

I like that it is a conversation starter.

I like that it makes others smile when they hear just how nerdy I am.

I'm a nerd.

A band nerd.

A choir nerd.

A game nerd.

A book nerd.

A movie nerd.

But really, I'm a nerd. 

:)

The end of April

We're going to finish up April real quick here…

C massaging my back with the hand massager he uses as a toy. :) 

Recently, J asked me if we should worry that C reads more than he plays and interacts…

Some might worry. I am just thrilled. I have a book worm. My boy LOVES books!!! His shelf of cardboard books is now all the way full!!! 

Not only is he a book worm, but a goober… :) 

He put all of his stuffed animals next to me and on me and then when I got up a little later, he sat with them. So cute. 

Tami and I went to the mall to wander around. It was a nice hangout and lovely to get away from the house for a bit of girl time! We tried on some very expensive lip gloss and got See's Candy, had some McDonald's, and saw some cool things. It was fun. :) 

My boy likes cuddles sometimes. I love those times. 

Flying cars? Unheard of! 

I like breakfast burritos. When I was little, my dad brought home breakfast burritos from McDonald's and I fell in love. In college, I put together eggs, salsa, cheese and put it on a tortilla. 

Most of the time, J will eat it, but doesn't ever seek it out.

So I got inventive this time.

I got breakfast sausage and green pepper and cooked those up. Then added eggs, salsa and cheese. It was really yummy.

That reminds me. 

That night, I was so busy/stressed/working hard, that I got too much pressure behind my eyes. 

I was making a dinner for someone in the ward who'd just had a baby and it was my first time. I was also making the breakfast burritos for the first time and then something was going on after all of that. I was stressed. 

So during dinner, my vision started to go away. I thought it was the brightness of the outside reflecting in my glasses. But then it persisted. It looked like the fuzzy screen on a tv was creeping in through my vision. I felt extremely vulnerable. And terrified. I thought I was going blind!! 

J said he had asked the eye dr once about it and was told it was just blood pressure in the veins behind his eyes and to just relax. That was hard since I was panicking!! :)

When I dropped off the meal, I could barely see. It was frightening. I felt all drugged up since I couldn't see. Kind of like how you feel weirdly drugged up when you get your eyes dilated. 

Vulnerable and weird.

It went away by the time we got to our next event though. So strange. (don't worry, J drove)

C likes shoes. He likes to put them away for us. It's pretty cute. He also likes to put them on, of course. So here he is putting on Daddy's shoes.

I got splashed a bit during this bath-time! 

 He also loves to color. Oh my goodness does he love to color! (gets it from  his mommy)

I LOVE coloring. It is a way to be creative without it looking stupid. I love being creative, but I can't draw worth squat. C loves his crayons and coloring and asks to color almost every day. This day, he asked me to color with him. I got out my special crayons and joined him. It was fun.

I had one of my Mia Maids babysit for us while we performed in our Spring Concert. 

When it was time to pay her, I offered to go to her Dance Recital instead. She jumped on it! She was so happy to have someone else come to it! 

So I brought my little date.

He was amazing.

He sat quietly (much better than the 3month-older girls in front of us…) and clapped when the songs were over. If someone taller sat in front of him, he would climb onto my lap to see better. It was adorable. I loved it so much.

 By the end of April, my garden had finally been warm and watered enough to get weeded and cleaned up a little. It was fun to see what came back in the spring!

I had ranunculus come back too! They usually don't, so that was really cool!

April was a good month! On to May!

Wicked With the Young Women

Our Young Women were given the AMAZING opportunity to see the Wicked Broadway Play here in Boise in April 2014.

Every. Single. Young. Woman. and Leader was invited.

Wow.

Such a blessing!!!

We had 35 seats to ourselves. 

I got to take my hubby with me!

Hehe She would probably kill me for this picture... 

 During intermission, J and I went down to the very front (one day I am GOING to see a broadway play from down here!!) and took a few pictures. You know what is really cool?? The pit!!

That ^ is the conductor's stand. Wow. I could feel the power emanating from it!!! 

(geeking out over here…)

Afterwards, Kiki and I realized we were matching. Same colored shirt, black pants and black shoes.

And Stormi is adorable, so she joined our picture. :)

Giving Sis Hyer a hug to say THANK YOU!!

The beautiful Young Women I get to work with. Love these girls so much!