http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/ thesimonfamily.org/arizona en-us Nucleus CMS v3.50 � Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/ http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=35 When I was about six years old, my family loaded up the big brown station wagon and drove from Utah to North Carolina where my dad grew up.

One thing that I remember about this trip is the two-player game of "Turkey!" Here's how it's played (Just remember we're in North Carolina here, so you must use a southern drawl):

One cousin would say to the other, "Turkey!"
The other would reply, "Turkey Farmer!"
"Turkey!"
"Turkey Farmer!"
They would then proceed to volley the name-calling back and forth.

When I told Mike about this memory, he immediately wanted to play. However, over the years it's evolved into a game where the winner is the first to call the other "Turkey!"My sister and her family came down for Thanksgiving! It was fun!



We played "pin the feather on the turkey"



but it got a little silly after a while.



At least I'm not the only one who thinks Mikey's a great "Turkey!"



On Thanksgiving day, we had a "mixed up holiday" activity.



Then the kids helped prepare deviled eggs for the Thanksgiving Feast:



We also took the kids camping over the weekend:



and fishing:



and "hunting":





we even made our own constellations with the "Light Brite"





It was a really fun weekend! Thanks for coming down guys! :)

----------------------------------------------------

Oh! and in response to Velda's comment, Mary actually helped too:

]]> Arizona http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=35 Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:09:01 -0600 http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=31 Why do Halloween just once a year when you can celebrate it year round?When Mike was in the military, beards were forbidden. It wasn't until he got out of the Navy that I realized how much liberty he likes to take with his hair.

Not long ago, we had a friend call us on the phone requesting to speak with "Abraham Lincoln."

Another time we were walking down the hall at church when another friend mistook Mike for "Grizzly Adams."

Let's not forget the time the teacher called on "Brigham Young" during Sunday School!

The Master of disguise is here! Mike sure has a talent for masking his identity! :)

I thought these pictures fitting for today! I only wish that I'd taken advantage of more Kodak moments--they've been pretty wild!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

]]> Arizona http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=31 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:00:00 -0500 http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=24 Most parents like to tell on their kids when they do something funny or say something cute; my parents are no exception to this rule. Even though we're pretty much all grown up, one ancient dialogue my mom still likes to quote goes something like this: "I want a blue one!", "I want a red one!", "I want a green one!", "I didn't get one!"

Now I bet you're wondering what kind of daft children could grow up to be such amazing adults, right? :) Or perhaps you're questioning my mom's sanity in hanging on to such a ridiculous conversation. However, the thing that makes this dialogue so funny is the fact that we were all sound asleep.

Mom and Dad like to tell all sorts of stories of their sleep-talking children. Apparently we wouldn't just talk in our sleep; we would chat, discuss, and even debate with each other. With all of us kids talking amongst ourselves day and night, I seriously wonder how my parents ever got any sleep! Last night I had a hard time sleeping, so what did I do? I got up and had a couple pieces of Halloween candy. (And I wonder why I'm not losing any weight!) Anyways, when I came back to bed, Mike had all the blankets wrapped around him. When I finally got back my share of them, I noticed that they were all sweaty.

I mentioned something about the dampness of the blanket and Mike replied, "That's because I was eating everyone's food"

hehe.. realizing that he was asleep, and not wanting to let the opportunity pass, I asked, "Yeah? Is that how these blankets got so wet?"

"No. It's because of the race"

"What race?"

"The horse race."

"Are you in the race?"

"No"

"Who's winning?"

"Um" he paused, "It's too early to tell yet"

Too funny! When I told Mike about the race this morning, he didn't remember any of it. Given last night's conversation and my own extensive history of sleep talking, it makes me wonder how many other forgotten discussions Mike and I have had. :)]]> Arizona http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=24 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:09:59 -0500 http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=7 Every year residents of Bisbee host a fundraiser called the Bisbee 1000 Participants climb nine staircases totaling one thousand uphill stairs in all. Proceeds of the event are used to help repair and restore the hundreds of staircases so unique to this small Arizona town. Mike and I wanted to participate in the official climb next week, but unfortunately due to a scheduling conflict we're unable to do so. Instead we decided to tour it on our own; we printed up the map and hiked around the town yesterday.

We actually got lost a few times. Thus, our tour of the town ended up being more than 1000 uphill steps--but that's ok. It was lots of fun, and there were so many things to see:

Staircase Going Up
We just walked by this one-- I thought it was kinda cool.. The pic doesn't really do it justice, but I couldn't even see where the stairs ended!

Stairs Going Down
This is view looking down from what we'd just climbed.

Colorful House
There were a bunch of colorful houses. It reminded me of my Russia days!

Cool Wall
There was a cool wall with all sorts of things in it. The eyes on this face followed us as we walked by.

Colorful Grasshopper
Cool bug, huh? It kept trying to hop away, so it was hard to get a good picture.. I loved the colors though!

Interesting Door
I thought this was a clever use of a car door. ;) We found this at the top of one of the staircases we climbed.
]]> Arizona http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=7 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:58:15 -0500 http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=5 For those who don't know us, we love games! We've been asked by various gift-givers to make a list of all the games we own. We'll try to keep it updated as we add to our collection: Kids games
20 Questions Puzzle 100 Everyday Objects
Alphabet Animal Bingo
Chomp
City Go
Go Fish
Hiss
Hungry Hippos
K-9 Capers
Let's Go Fishing
Memory
The Happy Birthday Game
Stare Jr
Apples to Apples Jr
Book of Mormon WHO?


Card Games
Phase 10
Flip Flop shaped deck of face cards
Slamwich
Normal card deck
Rook
Split the Ward
Uno
Magic The Gathering Portal Starter set

Other card-type games
Rivers, Roads, and Rails
Snorta
Pit
Man Bites Dog
Set
In a Pickle
Apples to Apples
Loaded Questions
Stare
Buzz Word
Last Word

Travel Versions of Games
Mastermind travel version
Connect 4 travel version
Yatzee travel version

Puzzles/One Person Games
Fit to a Tee
Drive ya Nuts
Lights out
Rush Hour Jr.
River Crossing

Other Board Games
Scotland Yard
Settlers
Ticket to Ride
10 Days in the USA
the aMAZEing Labyrinth
Mancala
Family 12 Game Center (Chess, Checkers, etc)
Blokus (regular)
Cranium
Upwords
Yatzee (regular version)
Yatzee Free For All
Risk
Taboo (electronic)
Scattergories
Battleship
Simon the electronic memory game
Sequence
Zobmondo
Whoonu

Wii Games:
Sports
Wii Fit Plus
Jillian Michaels 2010
]]> About Us http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=5 Tue, 7 Oct 2008 23:09:34 -0500 http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=4 I love games, but this last month I think I've been a little gamed out. Mike found a free gaming website a little over a month ago which hosts several fun online games. They are a blast from the past as far as graphics go, but most of them are actually quite fun and very addictive.

One of my favorites is called Imperial Conflict (IC) -- which is pretty much an online version of Risk. One major difference is that every player has up to 24 hours to make their move. Thus turning an already long game into one that could potentially last a month or more unless you're playing real time. In a real time game everyone playing agrees in advance to stay online and play the game live rather than taking 24 hours to make his or her move.

Anyway, the Global Gaming Network put on an IC tournament during the month of September and they promised a t-shirt to the winner. Mike REALLY wanted that t-shirt, so he had several games going at the same time in addition to real time games here and there.

I must admit that I too got pretty wrapped up in helping strategize; it got pretty intense at times. Mike did pretty well, but sadly he didn't win his t-shirt. However, I think it's safe to say that he's almost as glad as I am that the tournament has finally come to an end. :)

So until the next tournament comes around, here are a couple of classic memoirs:

Gamer
]]> Arizona http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=4 Tue, 7 Oct 2008 23:07:24 -0500 http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=3 This recipe was surprisingly easy. :)Ingredients
½ of a 2 liter bottle of Rootbeer (frozen)
¼ head of cabbage
3-4 cups of water
2 scoops of icecream
salt and pepper to taste
1 big pot

Directions
Bring the cabbage to a boil in the big pot. Decide you would like to have some rootbeer float. Realize that the rootbeer is frozen solid. Decide you can't wait for the rootbeer to thaw out naturally. Put the rootbeer (bottle and all) into the boiling cabbage. (Be sure that the lid is on tight or you may not get the results this recipe calls for) Just forget about it and go about doing what you need to do. Trust me-- you'll know when it's done.

You may serve it up as cabbage rootbeer soup with icecream on the top as Mike did, or you may just eat the icecream itself as a treat after working hard to clean up the mess. Your choice. Enjoy!

Yield- early spring cleaning.

Poor Mikey! Mmmm
Rootbeer Bomb]]> Arizona http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=3 Tue, 7 Oct 2008 23:06:32 -0500 http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=2 Every friendship has to start somewhere. When people ask how a girl from Utah met a guy from Iowa who was stationed with the Navy in Connecticut. Mike likes to tell them that we met at the Salt Lake City International Airport.

Technically this is true. However, there's a bit more to it than that. To make a long story short, I'll just say that Mike is the absolute best deal I've ever gotten online. ]]> About Us http://thesimonfamily.org/arizona/index.php?itemid=2 Tue, 7 Oct 2008 23:04:34 -0500